Bucks 117, Hornets 113
***Larry Sanders has never held public office, but I’m pretty sure he could run for Mayor of Milwaukee and win in a landslide. Sanders’ Faried-like hustle has made him quite the popular figure in Brew City, where chants of “LARRY, LARRY” regularly break out at the Bradley Center. The crowd certainly approved on Saturday night when Sanders’ defense of the rim essentially secured the Bucks their sixth win of the season.
***Anthony Davis was terrific. He scored a career-high 28 points and matched another career best with 11 rebounds. Greivis Vasquez only shot 5-16, but I thought he played an impressive game as well. He penetrated into the paint with ease, initiated a 113-point effort, and finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 assists.
Jazz 83, Wizards 76
***Jan Vesely’s numbers — 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2-6 — don’t suggest that he did a great deal of ballin’, but I thought he actually looked like an NBA basketball player in the early going. He was active around the rim and fought the good fight against Utah’s formidable frontcourt. That’s more than I’ve ever been able to say for him in the past.
***No basketball team, not even the 2013 Washington Wizards, is bad enough to warrant Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza taking 25 shots. And no fanbase deserves to be subjected to such a thing. As of now, this team is much, much harder to watch than last season’s Bobcats.
***Make no mistake about it, the Jazz played an awful game of basketball. They shot 37%, went 2-9 from range, bricked 8 FTs, and turned the ball over 17 times. That’s all it takes to beat the Wizards.
Grizzlies 94, Bobcats 87
***I didn’t watch much of this one, but I did catch Zach Randolph attempting to two-hand posterize Byron Mullens. Randolph would’ve converted the play had Mullens not reached through the basket to save himself with a goaltend.
***I’m kind of surprised Michael Jordan hasn’t done something really, really bad to Tyrus Thomas. I’m talking something much worse than what he did to Kwame Brown… something physically harmful in nature. Here’s a graphic depiction of Tyrus’s latest attempt at realizing his dream of becoming European:
Clippers 101, Bulls 80
***Jamal Crawford, who continues to make pretty much every shot he takes, torched the Bulls to the tune of 22 points in 27 minutes. Crawford took just 10 shots, but he cashed in on 6 of them, including a one-legged three-point buzzer beater as well as a bank shot from downtown. I keep thinking he’s going to cool off… but it certainly hasn’t happened yet. Jamal continues to lead the Clipps in scoring off the bench.
***DeAndre Jordan came into this game riding a streak of two straight games without a blocked shot, but DJ put an end to that sh!t real quick with 7 swats.
***Also worth watching: Blake Griffin. Oh, and this is hilarious: watch Matt Barnes, Lamar Odom, and Eric Bledsoe try to understand Joakim Noah’s shooting form. Barnes looks like he’s trying to reel in a fish.
Heat 97, Suns 88
***This is how seriously LeBron James takes the Phoenix Suns: reverse dunk between four white jerseys in the fourth quarter of a seven-point game…
The Suns did kind of alright in this game, but when the King decided it was time for them to get down or lay down… it basically played out like State Property (except Beans didn’t die at the end).
Knicks 88, Pacers 76
***Let’s talk about Ronnie Brewer. Coming off of offseason knee surgery, he looked pretty terrible in the preseason (out of shape, unathletic). However, he’s really come around since then, and he’s become one of many heroes in New York’s miracle on early season street. Today, Brewer scored all 8 of his points in a third-quarter spurt. I was only half paying attention, so I can’t really tell you how he did it. I can, however, tell you this: Brewer is making three-point shots. He’s knocked down 8 of ‘em so far, and he’s on pace to destroy his career high of 85 attempts in the ’08/09 season. Anyone who’s ever seen Mr. Brewer shoot will understand why I’m curious to see if he can continue at (or even near) this 40+ percent clip.
***Ehem… RASHEED WALLACE THUNDER DUNK ALL UP IN YA MUG HOE!
Raptors 97, Magic 86
***The Craptors (it’s been far too long since I last said that) got 24 points from Linas Kleiza and Amir Johnson… in the fourth quarter. As impressive as the two of them were, Jose Calderon was the player of the game. The dude assisted on 10 of Toronto’s 12 fourth-quarter baskets, including these two alley-oops (something I’d do if I had the resources: pay the fines resulting from ridiculous taunting technicals on behalf of dunkers like Amir). The Eastern Conference’s second-longest-tenured point guard finished with 9 points and 18 helpers. The Eastern Conference’s longest-tenured point guard, Jameer Nelson, didn’t fare so well. He went 3-13, and had the Eastern Conference’s funniest-named point guard, E’Twaun Moore, not come in and dropped 16 off the pine, the Magic probably would’ve lost by 20.
***In a surprising development, DeMaR DeRoZaN continues to earn his $44 million raise. This here play had to have Craptor fans salivating. He scored 20 points.
Nets 99, Kings 90
***Holy Andray Blatche, Batman! In the most efficient game of his life, Blatche came off the Nets bench to score 22 points on 11-12 shooting. He finished the first half 9-9, and the remarkable performance drove his season shooting percentage up from 36% to 46%.
Thunder 119, Warriors 109
***Well aware that the Warriors couldn’t stop a square ball from rolling, Kevin Durant elected to put together his first ever NBA triple-double.
Pistons 103, Celtics 83
***The fourth quarters of 20-point blowouts usually aren’t suspenseful, but you can thank Doc Rivers for keeping this one interesting right to the final buzzer. With his point guard in search of his 10th assist, Rivers kept Rajon Rondo in the game until the bitter end. Boston couldn’t make a shot to save their lives, and it probably didn’t help that they spent the last five minutes of the game turning down any look that hadn’t been created by a Rondo pass. Rondo eventually got his 10th dime thanks to a jumper from Jared Sullinger, extending his streak to 34 games with just 50 seconds to spare.
***Detroit’s PA announcer refers to Jason Maxiell as “The Rainbow Maker.” Kyle Singler is “Bucket Man.” Rainbows, buckets, and other such glorious things have been rather scarce in the D, but I thoroughly enjoyed this nonetheless.
***I promised a friend of mine that I’d include Will Bynum’s garbage-time dunk. It was of the uncontested variety, but it was still cool because Bynum is basically as tall as you are. Unfortunately, the people who do the highlights had already turned the game off. The dunk isn’t on Youtube.
Blazers 102, Bulls 94
***The Bulls got their panties in a bunch when Damian Lillard elected to dunk the ball rather than dribble the last few seconds off the clock. I’m not really sure what Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson were so upset about… they could’ve prevented the whole ordeal simply by not losing.
Lakers 119, Rockets 108
***Kobe Bryant casually recorded his 18th career triple-double as the Lakers rolled over Houston. Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, and a couple of buckets that were just straight up silly. Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol also had a blast at the Rockets’ expense; Howard repeatedly shook the basket stanchion on his way to 28 points, and Pau Gasol’s 17 put him past 15,000 for his career.
***Jeremy Lin doesn’t look anything like James Harden, leading me to believe that Ron Artest can’t see very well. I suppose that would also explain his three-point shooting.
***Chandler Parsons was one of two bright spots for Houston. He made 8 of 10 shots on his way to 24 points, and 1 of his 3 assists came on a gorgeous behind-the-back pass (on the move, in traffic). Also, Terrence Jones. The rookie from Kentucky came in off the bench to dunk three times — most notably on the soul of Jodie Meeks — in the process of scoring a career-high 8 points.
***Bernie Bickerstaff for Coach of the Year! The Lakers are 4-1 since Bickerstaff took over, and if Mike D’Antoni debuts next game Bickerstaff will step down with the second-best winning percentage of all head coaches in Laker history (.800).
