The Wizards’ group of California natives scored a combined 53 points in front of their friends and family members, but they couldn’t quite earn their team a victory. Still, props to Young and Arenas for making that game worth watching. It was the only 10:30 game last night, and I figured I’d either have to watch a blowout or find something else to do. No, going to sleep is never an option. My body clock is in NBA season mode… I start getting tired around 3:30 AM.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: NBA.com did most of the work for me today by organizing a quality top 10. Check for the 360 layup by Nick Young and a couple of nasty dunks by other Wizards. Somehow they missed this monster block by John Wall on my least favorite player in the league. They also missed this nice left-handed dunk by Tyrus Thomas.
- Gilbert Arenas scored 23 and Nick Young came off the bench to score a season-high 30 while hitting a career-high six threes, but the Wizards were unable to secure key rebounds and lost to the Lakers by seven. John Wall added 22 of his own along with 14 assists as the Wizards played an excellent offensive game. They shot 50% from the floor and assisted on 27 baskets, but that inability to grab a rebound killed them. The Lakers grabbed 22 offensive boards, including two very important ones down the stretch by Gasol and Artest, that kept Washington from completing a come-back. Pau Gasol had nine offensive rebounds on his own, and Ron Artest added five more. Kobe scored 32 points. The Lakers scored 58 points in the paint, and I can’t find a number for second chance points, but I imagine they must’ve had a lot of those too. One final note: how ’bout this guy Trevor Booker (6’8 240 PF for Washington)? He’s a little short, but he’s built like a tank and he can really get up off the floor. He went 7-9 from the field last night and looked excellent finishing around the rim. He’s scored 23 points in just 34 and a half minutes of playing time in the last two games.
- George Karl was supposed to return to North Carolina, where he played his college basketball, and get his 1,000th win. Instead, his Nuggets allowed DJ Augustin and Stephen Jackson to get wide open looks from three-point land throughout the fourth quarter and they lost by two. Chauncey Billups badly missed what would’ve been the game-tying jumper from the baseline. The Nuggets probably should’ve called timeout and gotten the ball into Melo’s hands… they had a chance to do so with almost 10 seconds left. George Karl regrets it: “It was a tough number. We rebounded at 7 (seconds) or something like that. The initial bust out I thought was good. At the end, we didn’t have enough guys flooding the rebound, flooding the lane and trying to make something happen. I’m sure I’ll look on film and I’ll probably think I’ll want to call timeout.”
- T-Mac returned to Houston and scored 11 points on 3-6, but his Pistons lost to the Rockets by 14. Houston got 78 of their 97 points from Lowry, Scola, and Martin. Scola had 35 points and reached double-figures on the glass (12) for just the second time in the last 17 games. Kyle Lowry had another great game with 22/12. He’s averaging 22 points and 9.3 assists over his last three games. Kevin Martin flopped his way to the line 15 times and converted on 14 of the attempts on his way to 21 points.
- Andre Miller’s streak of 632 consecutive games played has come to an end. He was suspended from last night’s game for intentionally leveling Blake Griffin a few days back. It’s kind of impressive that ‘Dre was able to knock Blake over… although he did have a full-court sprint to build up momentum and Blake never saw him coming. Anyway, the Miller-less Blazers still beat the Suns by seven. Steve Nash had 24/15 and the Suns were red hot from the everywhere, but Portland made 32 of 33 from the charity stripe compared to PHX’s 17 of 21. Brandon Roy, Wes Matthews, and LaMarcus Aldridge all scored 20+ (64 combined). This was Roy’s first 20-point night in his last five outings. Hedo Turkeyglue had what was probably his best game of the season: six points, two boards, and five dimes on 50% shooting without a single turnover. I guess he really wanted to show the Blazers what they missed out on when they failed to sign him two summers ago. I’m sure Portland’s front office can hardly live with themselves after this display of efficiency.
- The other games: Josh Smith went 14-16 from the field on his way to 34 points as his Hawks creamed the Nets 115-101. Following the win, Josh was given a chance to show why he should probably never be the guy that talks to the sideline reporter after the game. Starting around the 53 second mark he sounds like the fat kid from Billy Madison. T-t-t-today junior! Cleveland’s worst week ever continues… the Crapaliers lost to the Suxers by 20. Thad Young dropped 26/11 off Philly’s bench. My main man Dorell Wright had his third straight double-double (17/11), but DeShawn Stevenson and his Abe Lincoln tattoo just keep on winning. The Mavs got a five-point W over GS, and have now won 10 in a row. They improved to 14-2 when DeShawn starts the game, and 14-0 when he plays 10+ minutes. Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points on 10-18… he’s my MVP at this point. Dwight and his Magic haven’t been doing so well lately.
Quote of the Day: Thad Young on his season-high 26 points…
“I definitely wanted it to keep going. If it kept going, I get to 40 (points).”
And if I was 7’5 I might be your teammate. Seriously, what’s this supposed to mean? NBA games last 48 minutes, that’s why scoring 40 is hard to do. I could probably hang 40 on the Cavs if they made the game a bit longer. Not the 7’5 me, either. The 5’7 me could do that.
Photo of the Day: Nick Young loves his hometown crowd so much he decided to dive right in, head first…
