Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 91 of OKC’s 124 in their OT victory over the Nuggets. Throw in Serge Ibaka and James Harden and you can make it 115. Durant was responsible for 51, including the game-tying dunk. It was the first 50-point game of his career, and it’s pretty f@ckin’ crazy that it came in a game where Westbrook dropped 40 of his own. Even crazier, though? You can argue that neither Durant nor Westbrook posted the game’s standout line, because Serge Ibaka had a 14-point, 15-rebound, 11-block triple-double. Ibaka had already completed the triple dip prior to overtime, too… KD and RW needed the extra five minutes to reach their marks. Amongst Ibaka’s contributions that didn’t show up in the stat sheet was this moving screen that helped KD get free for his crunch-time dunk…
I mean, he was set when Miller ran into him, but then he started blocking like an offensive lineman. I don’t think that’s legal, is it? I’m not even mad at the refs, though… I just couldn’t help but notice it as I re-watched the video to try and figure out how the hell OKC keeps getting Durant freed up when everyone in the damn building knows he’s getting the ball. It’s not like KD isn’t long gone before Miller ever recovers even if Ibaka stands completely still anyway. That’s just terrible defense by Birdman, really, who failed to cut off the angle to the basket.
If you’re a Nuggets fan, none of the above is even what had you all pissed off, though. It’s the inability to secure that f@cking rebound. Here they are, up five with 30 seconds to go, and Daequan cook misses a three. For the second game in a row it’s about to come down to one single rebound. See the 2:10 mark. That’s the type of sh!t that’ll have a dude smashing his remote control. The two smallest guys on the floor collaborate on the game-saving offensive rebound, and do so right between a couple of Nuggets. You were gonna be a hero, Al Harrington. You’d come up with a HUGE board the possession before, and you even knocked down both of your FTs (how does Al Harrington not shoot 50% from the stripe? He goes one for two every single time he toes the line). All you had to do was be all of 6’9, 245 and rip that goddamn ball away from a couple of little guys. That’s all you had to f@cking do. You would’ve averted a loss, a 51-point victimization, and most importantly, you would’ve spared us all from having to watch this f@cking nonsense…
Really, Russell? The basketball gods tipped that ball into the basket because they hate me. You didn’t do a damn thing but fire a brick. No three-point guns on a bullsh!t shot like that.
Nikola Pekovic’s favorite movie is Gladiator. Not only does that make complete sense, but it’s f@cking awesome, because Gladiator is also my favorite movie. When I’m done watching the NBA for the night, often times I’ll check HBO to see what movies they’ve got playing at 2 or 3 in the morning. I don’t know how many of you regularly tune in to HBO in the very early morning, but there was a month-or-so-long stretch this winter where it seemed like they were playing Gladiator every single night. I probably watched it at least 10 or 11 times, sometimes even opting for the back-to-back showing. If that final scene doesn’t get to you… man, you don’t have a f@cking soul.
Pekovic’s streak of four consecutive double-doubles actually came to and end last night, but he still played an excellent game against a Sixer team that looked to exploit his lone weakness–his tendency to bring the ball down low before going up for the finish. I believe Philly leads the league in steals, and even if I’ve got that wrong just let me assure you that they’ve got some very active hands… Thad Young in particular, he’s always deflecting balls. Anyway, Pek wasn’t involved in the action early on as Minnesota played impatient basketball. He still finished with 17/9, though, and came up huge in the second half. It was a great game, and it went somethin’ like this…
As Kevin Love got off to a rough start, the Wolves elected to settle for jumpers rather than to establish Pekovic in the post. Lucky for them, Ricky Rubio stepped up and had the (scoring) game of his NBA career; he posted a season-high 22 points, 14 of which came in a first quarter that had seen the T-Wolves fall back by double digits. It seemed to take all damn game for them to finally get over the hump, but eventually, despite playing a nonsensical zone while Lou Williams, Jodie Meeks, and other shooters were on the floor for Philly, they took their first lead of the game with 8:44 to go in the third… on a string of four-straight Pek points. They’d end up losing that lead about three possessions later, though, and three K-Love buckets in a row were required for them to earn it back early in the fourth quarter. It was a back-and-forth game from that point on, with Love (12 4th Q PTS) making it happen for the Wolves, and a combination of Thad Young, Lou Williams, and Jrue Holiday getting it done for the Sixers. Young appeared to have hit the game-winner… his short jumper gave Philly a 91-90 advantage with 40 seconds to go, and Minnesota remained down one with just four ticks left. I called Love for three, and it appeared that that was the play, but Love elected to take the ball to the rack aggressively. In the process, he drew a questionable foul call on Andre Iguodala, who reached. He knocked down his FTs, and that was that.
Was it a foul? Well, if Jeremy Lin got fouled on what turned out to be his game-winning take against the Wolves, then Kevin Love got fouled on this game-winning take against the Sixers. While it sucks to see such a great game end at the stripe, you’ve got to applaud K-Love for making a great decision. You’re the Sixers? Remember what just happened and flip the script on the next team that’s got you by one with seconds to go in the game.
Kevin Love wasn’t the only one winning a game at the stripe. Kyrie Irving brought the ice water to the line as well, as he knocked down a pair to beat the Kings with .4 left on the clock. Was Tyreke Evans under the impression that he had a foul to give or something? If not, that was some of the most mystifyingly-bad defense I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s kind of a shame that ‘Reke had that lapse in judgment, ’cause Isiah Thomas had a career night with his 23/8/11.
LeBron James has hired a new PR strategist. Hopefully he’ll teach LeBron how to shut the eff up when the cameras and microphones come around. Like I always say, I sincerely think LeBron’s a pretty good guy, but he simply has a tendency to say the wrong stuff when you place a recording device all up in his face. This causes him come off like an ass at times, which ultimately leads to a lot of unnecessary grief.
Box Score Observations: Jeremy Lin scored 28 points and dished 14 assists in a win over the Mavericks. Yes, I am putting this in with the box score observations. Not because I’ve got something against Jeremy Lin, ’cause I don’t… just because I simply have nothing to say about that game. He looked great, it shows in the stats, the Knicks won, and that’s that. Ersan Ilyasova had 29 points and 25 rebounds as the Bucks beat the Nets. Kyle Lowry had 32 points and 9 rebounds in a 16-point win over the Jazz, who have lost 8 of their 11 games in February. The Pacers beat the Bobcats by 35. Kobe Bryant had 10 turnovers in a 12-point loss to the Suns. Greg Monroe’s 17/10 helped the Pistons put a 15-point beatdown on the Boston Celtics.
