Lakers center Dwight Howard and assistant coach Darvin Ham are men of imposing physical stature to say the least. Howard, nicknamed “Superman,” stands a reported 6’11” (though he appears to be an inch or two shorter) and weights in at just under 270 pounds. Ham, best known during his playing career for obliterating backboards, was listed at 6’7”, 240 — modest numbers in comparison to many NBA big men, but he was built like a tank and played like a bruiser. So, being that Howard and Ham are mammoths of men themselves, one would figure that they aren’t easily impressed by the size or strength of another. After all, they’re bigger, stronger, and more athletic than 99.9% of the human beings that walk this earth. Who could possibly be big and brolic enough to physically wow these two giants?
Some NBA players try to limit their time talking to the media. Lakers center Dwight Howard is not one of those players.
His pregame and practice chats can be informal rap sessions on a wide range of topics. On Tuesday, Howard declared which NBA player should join the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
“There’s one guy in the NBA right now who could be probably the best MMA fighter in the world . . . [Nikola] Pekovic from Minnesota,” Howard said. “I swear. I swear he looks like he could be a great MMA fighter.”
“Based on his body, I’m telling. He could go to MMA and be the champion,” continued Howard. “Have you seen Pekovic? He’s 7 feet. He’s 300 pounds.”
Howard roped Lakers assistant coach, Darvin Ham, into the conversation. After a moment’s thought, Ham enthusiastically agreed with Howard.
“Yes, yes with that neck,” Ham said. “He’d be a helluva MMA fighter.”
Pekovic is listed at 6-foot-11, 290 pounds. The second-year player is 27 years old and averages 16.4 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.
The Timberwolves and Pekovic won’t visit Staples Center until Feb. 28, but the Lakers will meet Minnesota for the first time this season on Feb. 1 on the road.
Naturally, us physically-average fans have long been enamored by Pekovic’s remarkable size, brutish image, and punishing playing style. I may speak for myself when I admit that one of my favorite pastimes is looking up fanciful adjectives to describe Nikola Pekovic, but I know I’m not the only one who gets a great deal of amusement out of exaggerating his legend into that of a superhuman figure. As I said, though, you and I… we are merely fans. To hear a couple of guys like Dwight Howard and Darvin Ham — peers of Nikola Pekovic — talk about him in such a fascinated light… it speaks volumes about how imposing he truly is.
For the record, Nikola Pekovic did dabble in Mixed Martial Arts. He never got to fight, though, because each and every one of his opponents fled the octagon the moment they laid eyes on the Montenegrin manbeast.
At approximately 6’9” 240, JJ Hickson may be a little undersized in comparison to your average NBA center. That said, he is still a positively massive human being, and an extremely athletic one, too. When given the length of an entire basketball court to build momentum, he can become an extremely powerful projectile… certainly not one that you’d want to step in the path of. To be dunked on by a streaking Hickson… I’d liken it to being hit by a midsized sedan. While you may not have been struck by the biggest vehicle on the road, you still got run over by a car, and that sucks.
Last night, Hickson had no intentions of braking at any crosswalks. Meanwhile, Alonzo Gee picked a bad time to try to cross the street. As you observe their collision, be sure to click pause when the camera focuses on the face of the fallen Gee (about eight seconds in).
That, my friends, is a classic “not bad” face. Short of giving the dunker some dap, this is probably the humblest method of temporarily conceding one’s manhood. Coming from an accomplished leaper like Gee, the respect speaks volumes about the magnitude of this jam.
Only 13 players in NBA history have achieved 20,000 points and 5,000 assists. Last night, LeBron reached both milestones in the same game. Not bad for a 28-year-old (James is the youngest ever to reach 20,000, but certainly not the fastest; that was Wilt Chamberlain). Around the five-minute mark of the second quarter, Draymond Green was given the unenviable task of trying to prevent LeBron from scoring the big bucket. He was just five points away, but Draymond appeared to embrace the tall order. As Shane Battier approached Draymond to set a ball screen, LeBron waved him away and prepared to take the rookie one-on-one. Moments earlier, Green had bumped James on the perimeter, apparently angering him. It was at that point that the King took over, dropping unassisted jumpers on three of six Miami possessions and scoring his 20,000th point in the process. Mad ’cause the MVP was stylin’ on him, Green picked up a technical foul.
Green’s Warriors proceeded to have their asses handed to them, trailing by as many as 34 before losing 92-75. LeBron finished with 25/7/10.
Quietly, the Bulls are sneaking up on the Pacers in the Central Division. With Chicago’s 107-105 win in Toronto and Indiana’s 97-86 loss in Orlando, the Pacers’ edge is now just a half game. Indiana has to be disappointed in their most recent effort… they pride themselves on their defense, but they gave up 97 points to a sub-.500 team that only averages 95. Chicago, on the other hand, had an excellent showing last night. Though the strong play of Kyle Lowry (26 points) and Alan Anderson (27 points) kept the game close and ultimately forced overtime, the Bulls’ exquisite ball movement (26 assists) and dominance in the paint (54-36) set the table for Luol Deng to bring it home. The Bulls are now 6-2 in January, and Carlos Boozer deserves a lot of credit. Boozer, who destroyed the undersized Raptors to the tune of 36 points and 12 rebounds, has recorded seven double-doubles in eight games since the start of the new year (take note — the man is averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds on 55% from the floor in January). Props to Joakim Noah as well; he’s been nice all season long, and the way he passes the ball (4.1 APG leads all PF/Cs) is the primary reason why the Bulls lead the NBA in assists per made field goal.
Getting back to the Pacers for a moment…
Let me just say that I’m sorely disappointed in Roy Hibbert. He of seven feet two inches got completely dominated by the smaller Nikola Vucevic (16/15) and allowed Big Baby to shake his fat ass right in his face. I don’t typically condone violence, but you’ve got to slap the shit out of that man for thinking he can bring some fruity nonsense like that into your painted area. That’s just unacceptable.
Austin Rivers managed to put nearly 23 minutes of solid basketball together as his Hornets defeated his father’s Celtics in Boston. Playing without Eric Gordon, who continues to sit out the second game of back-to-backs, the Hornets snapped the Celtics’ six-game win streak in decisive 90-78 fashion. Austin came off the bench to score eight points on 3-6, which is a notable performance considering both the circumstances (in addition to his dad’s presence, there was Avery Bradley) and the way he’s struggled all season long (at 33.2%, Rivers is one of the league’s worst shooters amongst all regular rotation players). The Hornets also got boosts from various other role players, including Al-Farouq Aminu (18 points) and Robin Lopez (17 points), in their sixth win in seven games.
Washington’s three-game win streak has come to a heartbreaking end. In short, John Wall bricked two free throws that probably would’ve won the game. He actually made a great defensive play to earn himself the free throws, stripping DeMarcus Cousins and pushing the ball in transition. Amidst a Wizards chokejob that saw them miss five of their last six shots, Wall toed the stripe with 30 seconds to go, presumably to give the Wiz the lead. However, the score would remain tied at 94 as each of his attempts rolled off the rim. Tyreke Evans proceeded to drive to the basket, get tripped by Nene, and score the deciding point at the opposite free throw line. Kings win 95-94.
There was a moral victory, though! Bradley Beal dropped a career-high 26 points:
So don’t fret, Wizards fans. Moral victories are more important right now anyway, and your youngin’ is looking awfully nice in the month of January (18.8 PPG on 46% FG).
The Mavs, winners of their last four, and Rockets are currently headed in opposite directions. In Dallas, Houston lost their fifth in a row as James Harden had one of his worst nights of the season. Harden did score 20 points for the 22nd straight game, but it took him 23 shots to do so and his go-ahead layup attempt was rejected by the timely Elton Brand…
Remember, kids, there was a time when Brand blocked over two shots per game for six straight seasons. Though he’s never been the same since his severe achilles injury, he still swats his two per game on a per-36-minute basis. This particular rejection is simply an example of heady help defense from the 14-year veteran. When Omer Asik tried to create space for Harden by vacating the paint, Brand realized there was no reason to follow him and essentially zoned up. Had he not been there Harden likely would’ve dunked the basketball; as you can see, Mike James had been burned. Brand finished the game with 11 points, 10 boards, and 2 blocks, good enough for the 400th double-double of his career.
Young Damn Lillard experienced the misfortune of encountering a rabid Kyrie Irving in Portland’s 93-88 loss to Cleveland. Irving, who was noticeably determined to snap the Cavaliers’ three-game losing streak, dropped 10 of his game-high 31 in the fourth quarter, and he did so in typical Kyrie Irving fashion. Observe:
For the record, I think he double-dribbled before that last jumper… but damn. Just… damn! From the killer crossover to Kobe’s reverse pivot, this kid literally has every move in the book. Lillard, on the other hand, has much to learn yet; though he hit a big shot to give Portland a one-point lead with two minutes to go, he struggled mightily (3-9, 13 points) in trying to hang with Irving.
The Blazers will have two much-needed days off before they face the Bucks on Saturday, when they’ll aim to snap a four-game losing streak. I suppose it should come as no surprise that Portland sputtered through a stretch of four games in six nights; their biggest deficiency is their lack of depth, and the way they’ve been falling behind early in games is certainly an indication of sluggishness. That’s not to mention that the competition was stiff. Having played Golden State, Oklahoma City, and Denver over the past week, the Blazers will look forward to seeing the Bucks and Wizards. We’ll see if they can recapture the magic this weekend.
Box Score Observations: Jeff Teague went off for 28 points and 11 assists to pace the Smoove-less Hawks as they ripped the Nets 109-95. Discouraging loss for Brooklyn, who’d won 9 of their last 10. Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Martin came together like Voltron, scoring 72 points on 44 shots as the Thunder beat the Nuggets by 20. Serg Abaka was ’bout dat life with five blocks in his return from injury. Timmy Duncan had five rejections of his own (averaging 3.9 in January) in a 103-82 victory over the slumping Grizzlies.
Highlight Recap: I want to get this thing posted, so here’s the top 10…
Finally, T-Mac’s Chinese saga appears to be taking a turn for the better! This morning, McGrady and his Qingdao Eagles defeated the Liaoning Hunters — currently a playoff-caliber team — 99-97 for their third consecutive victory (!!!). In the midst of dropping a team-leading 31 points, McGrady threw down the impressive tomahawk slam in the video embedded above, then went on to drill the game-winning jump shot. With their three straight victories, the Eagles are yet to lose since McGrady was suspended one game for referring to game officials as “three blind mice” after a sketchy loss to Bayi. While Qingdao remains in last place at just 5-17, it’s been a surprising if inconsequential turnaround that has seen McGrady be showered with boisterous MVP chants at opposing arenas, according to NiuBball.com.
It’ll be a while before we know exactly who’s going to be wearing them, but Adidas and the NBA decided to give us fans a look at the top half of the uniforms that will be donned by those players voted into/deemed worthy of the 62nd All-Star game, which will take place in Houston, Texas. As usual, the jerseys have a very futuristic look with a wide-shouldered cut, all-over pattern, and newfangled neckline. Basically, they’re ugly as hell. Here are a few of the sensationalized details courtesy of NBA.COM…
PORTLAND, Ore. (January 16, 2013) – adidas, the official on-court apparel provider for the National Basketball Association (NBA), today unveiled the uniforms and apparel for the 62nd NBA All-Star Game on February 17, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX .
Designed by adidas, the uniforms take inspiration from Houston’s rich aeronautical history and the speed of the jet planes that dot its skies. The uniforms’ eye-catching impact camo pattern evokes the world’s fastest fleet of aircraft with the classic silhouette of a basketball net.
“The NBA All-Star Game is an exciting time to unite adidas’ line of performance and style products to celebrate the court-to-street style that runs through basketball culture around the world,” said Lawrence Norman, adidas Vice President, Global Basketball. “2013 marks adidas’ sixth season designing NBA All-Star uniforms and every year we look forward to introducing performance innovations that help the best basketball players in the world lift off and take their games to the next level in front of a global audience.”
The adidas 2013 NBA All-Star uniforms feature specially-engineered mesh to provide maximum mobility and breathability. The West (red) and East (royal blue) uniforms also feature the adidas iconic three-stripe design flanking the side of both the jersey and shorts. The uniform lettering and numbers are inspired by the stenciled style on jet planes.
Players will take to the court in black-and-white aviator-style NBA All-Star warm-ups featuring metal zippers made with a similar anodized finish that is used on airplanes. Each player’s jacket will be customized to represent individual career accomplishments such as NBA All-Star Game appearances and All-Star MVP awards, NBA titles, in addition to season awards including MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Scoring Championships.
Replica 2013 NBA All-Star jerseys are available at retail with a full range of NBA All-Star apparel from adidas including men’s and women’s T-shirts, track jackets and headwear.
Aeronautic history… impact camo pattern… jet plane numbers… ugly, ugly, ugly. What ever happened to normal basketball uniforms? Why must we try to turn a garment into an airplane? If airplanes have to be a thing, why not design a cool airplane logo and slap it on the chest? It worked for the Spirits of Saint Louis in 1974, and it’d work for the NBA All-Star game in 2013. It’s a shame that simplicity, a time-tested concept in style, has been completely tossed out the window by the folks at Adidas.
It should also be noted that, according to the USA Today, the shorts are going to be woven. If that has no significance to you, think 2012.
Kobe Bryant’s argument for the All-Defense berth he will inevitably receive can now be made on the basis of one game. As the Lakers held the Bucks to just 35.8% shooting and 15 fourth-quarter points in a 104-88 victory, Bryant took the responsibility of checking Brandon Jennings, the Eastern Conference’s reigning Player of the Week. It’s been no secret that the Lakers have struggled to contain speedy perimeter players like Jennings, so Mike D’Antoni resorted to some interesting cross matches to hide Steve Nash, the team’s weakest defensive link. Basically, he was able to get away with putting Nash on Luc Richard Mbah A Moute because the Bucks needed their prince on the floor to pester Kobe Bryant (though it didn’t really make a difference; Bryant dropped 31). After being held to 12 points on 14 shots, here’s what Jennings had to say about Kobe’s D (via the Twitter feed of Kevin Ding)…
“Probably the best defense anybody’s played on me since I’ve been in the league… For the whole game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guard put that much pressure on a point guard full-court.”
So… yeah. When Kobe beats out a deserving candidate for his trillionth consecutive All-Defense nod you can probably expect to see this quote again. No, the fact that Kobe’s defense was nothing short of laughable through the season’s first 37 games will not matter. He locked up Brandon Jennings for 29 minutes and 23 seconds, and that’s more than he had to do.
Dwight Howard posted some Orlando numbers in the Lakers’ second consecutive victory — 31 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks, to be specific. Dwight had little trouble scoring against the defensive-minded Larry Sanders, and he had even less trouble with string bean John Henson. Howard and his comrades did get beaten up on the boards, however, allowing the Bucks 21 offensive rebounds and countless second shot opportunities. While the Bucks shot so incredibly poorly that it was inevitable that they’d establish an advantage on the offensive glass, the Lakers definitely could’ve done a better job on the boards overall; they lost the battle 54-46, though they won the war and I suppose that’s all that matters.
How there were only 19 total turnovers in this game… I have no freaking idea. This was one of the sloppiest games I’ve seen all season. Passes were constantly getting deflected, good dribblers couldn’t dribble, layups were missed… it was ugly at times, particularly for Milwaukee. The final score doesn’t exactly indicate the course of the game, however, as the Lakers failed to pull away until the fourth quarter. Despite the not-so-good play of the Bucks, this was basically a close contest for 36 minutes (79-73 through three). It’s a two-game win streak for the Lakers, but I remain underwhelmed.
From this point forward my “Games To Watch” posts will simply consist of the Trail Blazers’ schedule. For the fourth time in five games Portland became involved in a barn burner, this time winding up in OT on the road against the Nuggets. Ty Lawson (24/12) had a brilliant fourth quarter for Denver… he drove to the basket fearlessly and scored the Nuggets’ last eight points in a row, but it was none other than Wes Matthews (he who recently sent Heatles fans to cry in their beer) who extended the contest by five minutes. I realize that the Nuggets were doubling LaMarcus Aldridge, who dominated the painted area with 28 points, but how did they lose track of Wes Matthews up three with 32 seconds to go? That’s just… unwise.
In the overtime period it’d be the Nuggets who exploited the three-point line. First, it was Andre Iguodala beating the shot clock from the left wing. Next, it was Danilo Gallinari beating the shot clock off the bounce from the top of the key. Finally, with just 14 seconds to go, it was Wilson Chandler with the tie-breaking dagger from the far corner. Throw in a go-ahead, backhanded alley-oop dunk by JaVale McGee and I think it’s fair to conclude that the Nuggets had won the favor of the basketball gods this Tuesday. Just look at the expression on Ty Lawson’s face after the McGee alley-oop. He knew that shit never should’ve worked.
Iggies gonna Iggy: Andre Iguodala happened to hit a huge three-pointer in overtime, but his shot selection at the end of regulation is part of the reason why Portland was able to force OT in the first place. Denver had a nine-point lead with 3:30 to go in the fourth, but three of the Nuggets’ final six possessions yielded Iggy jumpers. Surprisingly, he didn’t airball any of them… but none went through the hoop. Iguodala’s shot selection has always been questionable (I’m being kind), and he has a penchant for settling in crucial situations. He finished with 9 points on 4-16.
Kenneth Faried and JJ Hickson.
They did not disappoint. Faried and Hickson both recorded double-doubles of 21/11 and 19/13 respectively. Add those numbers up and you’ll find that their battle was something of a wash; their combined point/rebound totals both equal 32. I’ve come to find that many favor Faried over Hickson, but their season averages are almost identical (12/10, basically) and JJ is just 14 months older. At this point they’re virtually the same player. Hickson should probably grow dreads, though. Faried’s hair definitely makes it look like he’s trying harder.
No Chris Paul? Still no problem. Even without their MVP candidate, the toe nail Clippers gave the Rockets a pedicure in H-Town, riding a 27-8 third-quarter wave all the way to the beach in an easy 117-109 victory. The Rockets actually led by one (59-58) at halftime, but they began to look a bit lost when Matt Barnes got up in James Harden’s jockstrap and the threes stopped falling. If I’m not mistaken, Harden scored 14 of his 23 in the first quarter and the Rockets made 8 of their 13 threes in the first half.
Jamal Crawford provided all the extra offense the Clippers needed off the bench. Crawford made five shots in a row and scored 12 points in less than two minutes to start the fourth quarter. Of those five shots, three came in isolations against Jeremy Lin. What made Kevin McHale think Lin would be able to even dream of hanging with Crawford one-on-one… I’m not really sure. Maybe the assignment was some sort of cruel and unusual punishment.
Crawford ended up finishing with a season-high 30 points in 29 minutes on 11-20 and 5-7 from downtown. To put that in perspective, a third of the leagues benches don’t average 30 points per game, and only New York’s averages five made threes. Solid game, Jamal.
Coming off of a DNPCD on Saturday, Nick Young was briefly released from Doug Collins’ dog house. Collins probably should’ve let him out sooner (like maybe when he had cornrows, you douchebag; I kind of wanted to see if they turned him into prime Allen Iverson). With the Sixers trailing 86-68, Swaggy checked in at the start of the fourth quarter and immediately begun making up for lost time. It only took him one minute to get his first shot up, and less than six and a half minutes later he had 14 points. He helped Philly get as close as eight, but Ryan Anderson and Greivis Vasquez sunk crucial three-pointers to stop the run in its tracks. Vasquez led the Hornets with 23 for the game, continuing his incredible month of January (17.5 PPG, 10.4 APG, 50% FG, 50% 3FG).
Box Score Observations: George Hill, Roy Hibbert, David West, and Paul George all scored 15+ as the Pacers kicked the crap out of the Bobkittens 103-76. Twenty-six players saw action in the game, all of them scoring with the predictable exceptions of DeSagana Diop, Tyrus Thomas, and Dominic McGuire. Thomas has not attempted a shot from inside the painted area in his last three appearances, which is probably why he played three minutes. In Brooklyn, the Raptors started Aaron Gray. They lost, but they really won because they started Aaron Gray.
Highlight Recap, Blake Griffin Edition: Who collects a loose ball at the three-point line and tomahawk dunks off two feet without dribbling? Blake Griffin, because it’s a totally practical way for him to score two points.
With just three combined field goals on Tuesday evening, Gerald Green and Terrence Ross believe in quality over quantity. Or maybe they just missed a lot. Either way, Green and Ross came up with two of the most incredible putback scores that you’ll ever see, and I promise you that. Totally defiant of gravity, watch two of the game’s premier leapers do offensive rebounding their way. First, Gerald Green…
What makes this particular play so ridiculous is that Gerald obviously mistimes his jump. If you pause the video at the precise moment that Green leaves the floor you’ll actually find that he takes off when Hansbrough’s badly bricked jumper is just about to reach its apex — right around the level of the shot clock. No normal human being could possibly hang in the air long enough to wait for a ball to fall from such a height (probably about 15 feet) to make contact with it above the rim, but Gerald Green is most certainly not a normal human being. With full-grown NBA player Kemba Walker’s head by his knees, Green simply stays focused on the basketball and bats it in with his right hand.
As for Raptors rookie Terrence Ross…
…he exhibits better timing than Green, allowing him to finish with a spectacular one-handed slam. Ross never gets up as high as Green, but he does pull off a pretty remarkable feat by jumping from one side of the rim and dunking the ball on the other. With his head just inches from smashing into the bottom of the backboard, Ross floats across the paint like a long jumper, does a 180 in midair, and spikes the ball through the rim on top of two Nets and one Raptor, none of whom had even jumped yet.
So… which of these unbelievable putbacks is better? I’d say it’s certainly debatable, but I think I’m going to have to argue the case for Gerald Green. To understand the true ridiculousness of what he did, notice that the Bobcats’ Jeff Adrien also jumps for the falling basketball. More importantly, notice that Adrien actually times his jump correctly. He leaves the floor much, much later than Green… but Green just never comes down. Amazingly, the two players return to the floor at the very same time despite Adrien having jumped when Green’s elbow was already above the rim. As much as I love a fine slam dunk, the way Gerald hangs in the air as if he’s suspended from the ceiling is just pure athleticism in its most astonishing form.
There’s a laundry list of things I like about the dunk that Kevin Durant sent home over the top of Marcin Gortat last night. First of all, I like that Gortat is seven feet tall, 240 pounds. That’s a big damn Pole to be smashing on with such authority. In addition, I like that Durant took off from the dotted line, that he drew enough body contact to warrant a whistle, and that this dunk and the ensuing free throw accounted for his 39th, 40th, and 41st points of the game. That’s what I’d call one hell of an exclamation point!
Taj Gibson’s dunk on Anthony Tolliver, though… there’s a soccer mom’s grocery list of reasons why I like that.
The way he goes straight up off of his vertical. The pendulum-like motion of his hammer-bearing arm, and the way it drops with the force of mighty Thor. The helplessness of Anthony Tolliver, who so often seems to become caught up in these disastrous situations. The commentary of Stacey King, whose lamenting of Nate Robinson’s heat check so quickly turns to sheer jubilation. And of course, that rim hang. With only his sleeve-bearing arm, Taj swung like the king of the jungle. We are not worthy, your swagness!
Let’s play a little game, shall we? The game is called, Why Did The Heat Lose Last Night?
A) LeBron James choked.
B) Jamaal Tinsley is god.
C) They couldn’t get a rebound.
If you chose letter A, kill yourself. If you chose letter B, you’re wrong, but you’re alright with me. If you chose letter C, you are correct! The Heat, who trailed the Jazz by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter, clawed their way to within two points but ultimately fell 104-97 because they were unable to secure loose basketballs. Despite winning the fourth quarter 32-20, the Heat were out-rebounded 13-6. And it was actually worse than that. How, you ask? Well, you see, in their struggles to gather rebounds the Heat fouled the Jazz numerous times (I’m seeing three loose-ball fouls in the play-by-play, but it seemed like more than that). This not only allowed the Jazz to maintain possession of the ball following missed shots, but put them in the penalty early in the period. Eleven of Utah’s last 20 were scored from the foul line and six were second-chance points. Miami should’ve won this game — LeBron (32/4/6) was an angry beast down the stretch, and Utah’s offense evaporated — but they simply made matters too challenging by repeatedly failing to corral defensive boards. The Jazz scored four field goals in the entire fourth quarter whilst allowing 32 points; there’s no way their lead would’ve held up had they not completely dominated an alternate facet of the game.
As I suggested with my little game, the Heat being unable to rebound the basketball is nothing new. So, what can they do to solve the problem? Well… this won’t happen, but I’d explore trade opportunities involving Dwyane Wade. Like I said, it won’t happen, so there’s really no point in discussing it… but I don’t believe Wade is vital to the team’s success. Ultimately, this is an issue that the Heat will continue not to address as they simply hope to overcome it by virtue of being super-talented.
Mighty fine move by Gordon Hayward to free himself for the short jump shot that assured a Jazz victory. Hayward scored three of Utah’s four fourth-quarter field goals and finished the game with 22 points.
Break up the Wizards! Having clobbered Orlando 120-91, Washington has now won three games in a row. John Wall finished with 12 points and 6 assists in 20 minutes off the bench, turning heads and dropping jaws as he dropped an invisible banana peel underneath the feet of Ish Smith, who’d humiliated him earlier in the game.
Sweet, sweet revenge.
The box score from any game in which the Wizards score 120 points is going to be pretty weird, of course, but the weirdest of all the weird has to be Jan Vesely’s line, which features 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. To make matters even more weird, Vesely actually had an impact on the game by scoring six consecutive Wizards points in the first half. That’s correct: a 6-0 Vesely run is something that actually happened in an NBA basketball game. In other weirdness, AJ Price dropped 18 points.
Before I move on from the Washington Weirdos, John Wall did something in this game that really stood out to me: Unguarded, Wall caught the ball at the top of the key with an opportunity to step into a wide-open three-point shot. Instead, he hesitated before driving the ball straight ahead into the chest of a defender. The Wizards were called for three seconds. John really needs to be able to knock that jumper down in the flow of the offense.
Things that happened in Atlanta’s loss to Chicago:
First and foremost, the Bulls scored 97 points. The Hawks scored 58. Do the math.
The Hawks scored FIVE points in the second quarter and TWENTY points in the first half. Neither of those are NBA futility records, but it was the Hawks’ second-worst half of the shot-clock era.
Ivan Johnson scored a driving layup with 2:54 to go in the first quarter. The Hawks missed their next 17 shots, failing to score until Al Horford finally stopped the bleeding with a layup at the 5:15 mark of the second quarter. That’s 9 minutes and 39 seconds of bucketlessness. Clearly, the Atlanta Hawks have a vendetta against Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Of the Hawks’ 14 turnovers, 8 came during their aforementioned scoring drought. There were five bad passes, one shot clock violation, one backcourt violation, and one lost ball. To their credit, they did manage to avoid traveling.
Mike Scott led the Hawks in scoring with 10 points. Never heard of Mike Scott? That’s understandable, as he is averaging just seven minutes per game in 14 appearances.
Ivan Johnson had his shot blocked three times in five minutes of playing time. The Hawks had their shots blocked a total of 13 times in the game.
The Bulls had more rebounds (59) than the Hawks had points (58). I’m done.
As horrific as it was, a loss is but a single loss no matter the final score. There are 82 games in an NBA season and not all of them are going to be pretty. That said, this is an indication of the direction in which the Hawks have been traveling ever since December ended. Having lost seven of their last nine, the Hawks are plummeting towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They’re now just a single game ahead of seventh-place Boston, and having played the league’s easiest schedule so far they’re going to have to turn it around against teams that are better than the ones they’ve been losing to.
Thomas Robinson and Dion Waiters had the best outings of their respective NBA careers as the Kings beat the Cavaliers 124-118. In Monday’s most competitive game, Waiters carried the Cavs with a career-high 33 points on 12-18 from the floor. Unfortunately, I can’t really hype the performance in good faith. While 33 points on 18 shots are absolutely impressive under any NBA circumstances, it’s no coincidence that random people continue to have career games against the Kings (Mario Chalmers’ 34 points, for instance). Their defense is downright dreadful; often laughable, even.
As for Thomas Robinson… he matched a career high with 12 points, but it was his work on the offensive glass that really impacted the game. Of T-Rob’s seven rebounds, four came at the offensive end. That may seem unremarkable given the fact that he played nearly 28 minutes, but let me assure you that he’d have had many more rebounds had he been credited for every loose ball he tipped to a teammate or batted out of bounds off of a Cleveland Cavalier. If none of that knocks your socks off, there was this:
Robinson has generally been pretty underwhelming this season, but one thing I’ll say for him is this: his hustle has been unwavering. Despite a range of experiences that could understandably cause a young man’s spirit to become suppressed, Robinson has been unwilling to allow his struggles to get the best of him. While his underdeveloped skill set has indeed been disappointing, his efforts to do whatever it is he’s capable of to help the Kings win ball games has been exactly the opposite.
No Chris Paul? No problem. Despite the absence of their best player, the Clippers made easy work of the Grizzlies (99-73). Eric Bledsoe filled in effectively with 14 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals while Matt Barnes and Jamal Crawford combined to score 32. It was a blowout from the jump, and all things interesting can be summed up as follows: Tony Wroten. Wroten, the Grizzlies’ first-round draft selection, got his most extensive run of the season, scoring 8 points in 14 minutes. The skinny on Wroten is that he’s a big (6’6”), athletic point guard with a lot of physical ability and solid basketball instincts but no jumper whatsoever. He showed the physical ability and the instincts last night as he made a couple of successful drives to the basket along with an impressive assist to a cutting Tony Allen. Wroten has been compared to Tyreke Evans and Rajon Rondo, and while I’m hardly making the declaration that he’ll be as good as either one of them on the NBA level, I did see flashes of both in 14 minutes of garbage time. Take that for what it’s worth.
Box Score Observations: Two of eight games were decided by a single-digit margin on Monday, and I’ve discussed them. The six that weren’t were decided by an average of 22 points. Kevin Durant dropped 41 on the Suns and Rajon Rondo f@cked around and got his 26th career triple-double in a win over the Bobcats. That’s all you need to know.
An hour ago, I’d have confidently bet my entire bank account that Orlando’s Ish Smith wouldn’t make a more athletic play this season than the one he made on Saturday when he dunked on Eric Bledsoe of the Los Angeles Clippers. Good thing no one offered to wager with me, because I’d have lost.
For the record, Ish is listed at six feet even. That makes it at least a little impressive any time he blocks a shot, and nothing short of mind-boggling when he jumps over a guy’s head, lands, jump again, does a 180 in midair, and blocks the shot of the guy he just jumped over. Smith literally did all that in the amount of time it took John Wall to throw a pump fake, wait for the coast to be clear, and shoot a layup. And John Wall is known for being fast.
Just wait until Wednesday when the Magic head back to Orlando to meet the Pacers. I have no idea what Ish Smith plans to do, but the current trend in his ridiculousness suggests that it’ll probably be unprecedented.
