12/30/10: Shorthanded Blazers Beat Shorthanded Jazz.

The Blazers went without the services of Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, and the Vanilla Gorilla, but that left 11 guys on their active roster, which is like four or five more players than they normally dress, so this sh!t was a piece of cake.  The Jazz, who are not accustomed to playing without most of their roster, struggled with the absenses of Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko, and CJ Miles.  Wes Matthews, pictured above, threw up his 30s in the face of his former team.  I’m not sure if they represent the amount of points he scored last night, or if it’s symbolic of the millions he’s earning over the next few years.  Thirty would be the appropriate figure in either case.

Random Observations:

  • Highlight Recap: It was a three-game Thursday, so you already know this section’s gonna be a tad weak.  Anyway, Brandon Bass dunks with two handsAmare Stoudemire drives and dunksJason Kidd swats Tony ParkerDeron Williams banks it in from midcourtLaMarcus Aldridge alley-oop slamLaMarcus cleans up a Marcus Camby missAmare Stoudemire swats the crap out of Gilbert Arenas.
  • Wes Matthews, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Andre Miller scored 73 of Portland’s 100 points, carrying the Blazers to an 11-point victory over the Jazz.  This is the second time in four days that Portland’s defeated Utah… once at Salt Lake and once at the Rose Garden.  The key to last night’s game was the turnover differential: Utah gave it up 18 times, double the Blazers’ total, helping Portland to get 12 extra shots up.  Utah also shot themselves in the foot by leaving 10 points at the freethrow line.  Wes Matthews dropped 16 of his game-high 30 in the third quarter as his team extended their lead to 15 points.  LaMarcus Aldridge, who activated beast mode on December 15th, dropped another 27 points.  Since the 15th of this month his team has played eight games.  He’s averaging over 25 PPG and has led the Blazers to a 5-3 record.  Brandon Roy appeared in just one of those games, and it’s not like it really mattered because he scored four points.  LaMarcus and company are currently sitting in the 8th spot out west with a record of 17-16.  Obviously there were much higher hopes for the Blazers this season, but with all the injuries they’ve endured 17-16 is rather impressive.  The word is that Brandon Roy will be sidelined indefinitely, and admits that it’s possible that he could miss the entire season.  Looks like it will be on Wes and LaMarcus to try to drag this battered squad to the playoffs. 
  • Amare Stoudemire scored 30 for a league-best 13th time this season, but his Knicks were abused on the glass and fell to the Magic by nine.  Five of New York’s last seven have been against one of the east’s top four teams… they’ve dropped four of them.  The Knicks have had a surprisingly successful season, but the past two weeks have essentially been a placement teast, which they’ve failed.  New York had an opportunity to show that they belong with the top-flight teams of the Eastern Conference, but clearly they’re still in that second tier.  They suffered two blowout losses to Miami… last night’s loss to Orlando wasn’t much of a contest… I’ll cut them some slack on the one against Boston, but it still shows up in the game log as an L.  Amare Stoudemire’s going to have to be less Bargnani-like in big games if he wants to lead the Knicks to anything significant.  Stoudemire grabbed just four boards while Dwight collected 18, leading to a 51-35 Magic victory in the battle of the boards.  Basically I’m just telling you what you already know if you follow the NBA; New York needs to D up and hit the boards much harder.  Anyway, Wilson Chandler dropped 29 points on 11-19.  Dwight Howard scored 24, and Hedo Turkeyglue dropped 17 (including the dagger, a three-pointer in the face of Stoudemire).
  • The Western Conference’s finest faced off on national TV… but my current choice for league MVP was absent, so that pretty much ruined it.  The Dirk-less Mavs ended up losing by just six.  I had the game on, but I’d be lying to you if I claimed to be paying much attention.  From looking at the box score I can tell you that Caron Butler scored a season-high of 30 points.  I can also tell you that undrafted rookie Gary Neal dropped 21 off the Spurs’ bench and got the post-game interview on TNT.  I was really happy for the guy until I realized it was Cherryl Miller asking the questions… then I just felt bad.  Oh, Matt Bonner made a dunk.  That’s all I’ve got.

Quote of the Day: Charles Barkley doesn’t think highly of the Knicks.  Here’s what he told Kenny Smith when asked if anything about New York impresses him…

“Yes. Spike Lee and Ellis Island.”

I’m honestly surprised Chuck knows what Ellis Island is.  As far as I know it isn’t home to any doughnut factories or casinos.

Photo of the Day: Ill Will…

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4 Responses to 12/30/10: Shorthanded Blazers Beat Shorthanded Jazz.

  1. Pingback: 12/30/10: Shorthanded Blazers Beat Shorthanded Jazz.

  2. My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

  3. Harvey says:

    I wish Dolante West should have been on LeBron Jame’s side when he transferred from Cavs to the Heat. They make a great team too. My heart is torn because of that. I hope to see a lot better on the next season. And please guys, beat the crap out of Dirk!

  4. Freddie says:

    Portland Blazers is not the team that I was betting on for the past NBA 2010. NBA 2010 was about the LA Lakers winning the championship over the Boston Celtics which was my favorite team at that time. However, as everyone knows, NBA 2011 is not the year for the LA Lakers. On NBA 2011 I find myself rooting for the Blazers to win the championship but still no luck for them. I would just have to watch the upcoming 72nd game season of the NBA.

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