NBA 24/7 365

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch any CBA games this morning… or any NBA games last night, for that matter.  For this reason there will be no “starting lineup” today, and this CBA Recap won’t be as detailed as usual.  I apologize to my loyal readers for all of this, but I was so sick last night I couldn’t have watched a game if I wanted to… my vision was too damn blurry to see the TV.

Zhejiang 122, Qindago 110: JR Smith made 14 of 18 threes on his way to 60 big ones (a CBA season high) in a must-win game for Zhejiang.  The Golden Bulls are now involved in a four-way tie for the 8th and final playoff spot, and they’ve got a couple of easy games coming up.  JR’s 60 points indicate to me that he’s still on board and I expect this team to qualify for the playoffs.  As for Qindago, they’ve got an even easier upcoming schedule than Zhejiang, but they’ve slipped to 12-15 (11th place) and will probably have to win nearly all of their final five games in order to qualify for the postseason.

Fujian 132, Guangsha 125: Wilson Chandler’s 36 points, 21 rebounds, and 6 assists weren’t enough to earn Guangsha a victory in this high-scoring affair.  While Chandler and Ramos (24/15) put up incredible numbers, Fujian got 25 or more from four different players.  Anthony Roberson led everybody with 36 and Zaid Abbas came up with 25 points and 24 boards.

Bayi 107, Shandong 87: Wang Zhizhi’s 30 points on only 14 shots led Bayi to their first win in six games.  This game had no real impact on the standings as both teams are bottom five.  For Shandong, Othello Hunter failed to record a double-double and Alan Anderson took only 9 shots.  That’s comparable to Kevin Love not getting a double-double and Kobe taking 9 shots.

Xinjiang 89, Shanghai 84: This was a huge game for both teams.  Shanghai was looking to separate themselves from that aforementioned four-way tie for 8th while Xinjiang was looking to get in on the tie.  Tim Pickett’s 15 and 12 came on just 5-16 from the floor, but in this low-scoring game where both teams shot pretty poorly I suppose points were points.  Marcus Landry led Shanghai in both scoring and rebounding with 20/10.

Guangdong 122, Liaoning 108: The Southern Tigers need just one more victory to lock up the number one seed.  Seeing as this was their 10th win in a row I’m thinking they’ll be getting it pretty soon.  Aaron Brooks, who led the way with 34, appears to be stuck in China for the long haul, because I don’t see anyone keeping Guangdong from winning their 6th title in a row.

Shanxi 129, Foshan 115: Marcus Williams went for 40 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists… and Charles Gaines had 34 and 17.  They’ve both been putting up crazy numbers for Shanxi all season long, but damn!  Foshan got some solid statistics from the unidentified white guy (31 PTS) as well as Marcus Haislip (24/10) but they lost their 7th in a row anyway.

Tianjin 105, Jiangsu 99: Tianjin is still undefeated since cutting David Harrison!  Donnell Harvey exploded for 30 and 18 in their third win in a row, while Herve Lamizana (Harrison’s replacement) collected 15 boards.  Jackson Vroman had 33/13 for Jiangsu… it was his second consecutive 30/10 game.

Dongguan 120, Jilin 98: Josh Akognon’s 32 points on 10-17 from the floor led Dongguan as they snapped a two-game losing streak.  They remain in third place for the moment (17-10), but they’ve still got a chance to catch Beijing (18-8).  Cartier Martin played just 14 minutes for Jilin… I’m not sure why.

The Orlando Magic dropped another game in which they failed to reach 70 points.  The 69-74 defeat at the hands of the Sixers is their 5th loss in six games as well as their 4th in a row.  Finally, the Orlando Magic team I expected to see from the get-go has shown up… but for some reason, many seem to want to blame the recent suckiness on Dwight Howard, and I don’t get that.  He’s not playing hard enough, he gave up his right to lead the team, blah blah blah… it’s as if people think they should actually be good or something, and that driving force behind the collapse is how Dwight Howard is going about his business.  How about this: before you start pointing fingers at Dwight, consider who he’s working with.  Ryan Anderson?  Solid young player, but not a second option.  Hedo Turkoglu?  Hasn’t given a sh!t about basketball since he signed his big deal.  Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson?  Complete shells of their former selves.  Keep in mind that Richardson was the major off-season signing, along with Big Baby Davis.  I’m sorry, but if you expect to keep a player of Dwight’s caliber interested in playing for you then you’ve got to do better than that.

As for his supposed forfeiture of his right to lead the team… just get off Dwight’s nuts, everyone.  He didn’t construct this pitiful roster, and he doesn’t have the ability to go and fix it, so maybe he wants to leave.  As of today I’m pretty sure he still plays for the Magic, though, so why are you mad at him for questioning his team’s effort after losing by 20+ to the f@cking Hornets?  Is he or is he not currently the best player on the Orlando Magic?  B-b-b-but he gave up his right to lead the team when he expressed interest in leaving! Get the f@ck out of here with that bullsh!t.  Is he or is he not still being paid by the Orlando Magic to be the franchise player?  Does he or does he not continue to average 20 and 15?  Basketball fans should be thankful that he even pretends to care at this point–be happy that he’s not making a circus of the whole thing like Carmelo Anthony did.  Go be mad at Turkoglu, Richardson, and Big Baby for playing like garbage.   Be mad at Otis Smith for constructing a sh!tty team. This is professional basketball.  If you put sh!tty players on the floor you will get sh!tty results.  Don’t buy the soap opera the media wants to sell you.  The Orlando Magic are sinking like the Titanic because that’s what the f@ck happens to a basketball team that depends on Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson in 2012.  Whether Dwight still has the right to lead or not… what difference does that even make?  Why is this being made into a story?  If you want to write a story about the demise of the Magic you ought to write one about Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Agent Zero, and Hedo Turkoglu… or maybe one about the man who brought those guys to Florida.  There’s the root of your problem right there: poor personnel decisions.

How about the Northwest division? As I watched the Utah Jazz come back to beat the Portland Trail Blazers last night it really hit me: this division is not only great right now, but it has an unbelievably bright future.  Currently there are four teams from the Northwest in the playoff picture.  The 5th team is just two games out.  It’s very likely that Oklahoma City, Denver, Utah and Portland will be playoff teams.  It’s a possibility that Minnesota could make it too, in which case the entire division would be in the playoffs.  I’m pretty damn sure that’s never happened before (I could be wrong, but I don’t think so)… at least not since the NBA expanded to 30 teams.

The thing that’s even crazier to consider, though, is how young all five of these teams are. OKC’s entire starting lineup is under 30 and their three best players aren’t even 24 yet.  The T-Wolves have Kevin Love, Derrick Williams, and Ricky Rubio all in the first three years of their careers.  The Blazers have some older guys in the rotation, but LaMarcus Aldridge, Wes Matthews, and Nicolas Batum, who should be considered the key pieces going forward, are only 26, 25, and 23 years old respectively.  Both of Utah’s prized big men, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, are yet to reach 28.  They’ve also excellent prospects in Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, neither of whom can even buy a drink yet.  Comparatively speaking, Denver looks older than the hills… but even they don’t start anyone who’s over 29.  Their best player, Danilo Gallinari, just extended for four seasons at the age of 23.

That’s five teams (possibly all playoff teams THIS YEAR) with not a single building block over the age of 29. If smart moves are made by GMs and major injuries can be avoided this division could become even stronger top to bottom than the Southwest of the middle part of the ’00s.  That division regularly put four teams into the playoffs and produced a champion in San Antonio, so I’ve got to give them the edge… for now.

JR Smith’s family got into another altercation with Chinese fans during one of Smith’s games.  This time it was supposedly JR’s girlfriend who got into a shoving match after someone threw one of those thunderstick thingies on to the court.  His sister then turned around and flipped the bird at the crowd, igniting the situation.  I watched the end of the game in which this happened and noticed that the crowd seemed to be extra worked up.  I figured it was because their lowly Tianjin team was about to upset a potential playoff squad with the best American player in the league on it, but I guess is was just JR’s band of hooligans acting up again.

Did you see the Clippers last night? I don’t know if that was some sort of freak thing or what, but I liked what I saw (in case you didn’t hear they beat the Thunder 112-100 despite 67 from Durant and Westbrook).  I see that they made 56% of their shots, which is obviously unusual, but I noticed that Blake Griffin was given the ball in the post on the first two possessions of the second half.  This followed a first half in which the Clipps buried 10 of 14 threes, making it seem as if Griff’s involvement early in the third wasn’t something that just happened by mistake.  I thought that was promising.  I’m also noticing that DeAndre Jordan had 7 field goals attempted… I love it when his attempts are high because it usually means the team is seeking out easy scores in the paint.  Also, when the Thunder got to within 10 late in the fourth Chris Paul took over and scored 8 straight points.  So… it was hot shooting early, Blake Griffin in the middle, and Chris Paul down the stretch.  Isn’t that the way you would script a Clipper victory over the NBA’s best team (by record)?  I don’t feel that the hot shooting was coincidental, either.  I mean, they can’t rely on making the three like they did last night, but part of the reason they made so many is because they got good looks.  The ball went into the paint first and then it was kicked out for the open jumpers.  Those are the threes I like… not Chauncey Billups pulling up off the dribble a foot behind the line.  Learn from this game, Clippers.  With the talent on this roster there’s no need for a bunch of bad shots to be taken.

Highlight Recap: Should’ve been continuation.  Gerald Wallace stuffs Gordon Hayward.  The lob, THE JAM! DeAndre Jordan swats James Harden, knocks him over.  LeBron, you needed to smash this.  Jeremy Evans, OJ Mayo, do their things in the top 10.

I didn’t get all excited about Clippers @ Nuggets because it was Chauncey’s “homecoming” game. As a matter of fact… I never even thought of that.  I was simply ready for some up-and-down, high-scoring, high-flying action.  Unfortunately, Chauncey and his little storyline stole the whole damn show.  Right from the get-go I was forced to listen to commentators, sideline reporters, former teammates, and coaches ramble on and on about how incredibly brilliant and amazing he is.  Next, I had to watch him shoot 10 times in the first half.  Then it was on to halftime… during which the commentators gushed over the five shots he’d made.  After that it was another 10 shots, and finally, he drew the “offensive foul” that sealed the deal.  In his “homecoming” game the almighty Chauncey Billups had just posted 32 points and committed the game-winning flop.  Woo-F@cking- hoo.   Because of this jump-shooting assclown I wasn’t able to enjoy a 109-105 battle between two of my favorite teams in the league.  I f@cking hate Chauncey Billups on the Clippers.  My furious anger probably renders me a tad biased, but I’m not even willing to say he played well yesterday.  Seriously, he didn’t play any differently than he has all season long… the bad shots just happened to go in this time.  He’ll probably fire 25 more tonight, make about 6 of ‘em, and the Clippers will lose to the Thunder.  They damn sure won’t win with 30 points in the paint, which is how many they came up with last night.  They’re lucky that Denver just didn’t play very well and that the jump shots happened to go in.

Observations from Clipps/Nuggs unrelated to Chauncey Billups: Al Harrington pulled the chair on Blake Griffin twice in the first half.  Danilo Gallinari wears #8 because he was born on 8/8/88.  Chris “Birdman” Andersen never left the nest due to a DNPCD.  Maybe he and George Karl haven’t kissed and made up.  Speaking of George Karl, he was wearing a fitted cap with the hologram sticker on the underbrim during his pregame chat with reporters.  Anyone who finds me a picture of it gets a 5/5 on the –Swag-O-Meter–.

What a putrid finish to that Bulls @ Heat game, eh? All of those questionable calls and I can’t even be mad at the officials.  How are the refs supposed to figure out what’s going on when guys are flopping all over the place, fumbling the ball like they’re that dude from the 49ers, and failing to recover rebounds off of missed freethrows?  Sometimes I talk about a great game and say that neither team deserved to lose.  Well this was a game that neither team deserved to win.  Miami got it, 97-93, by the way.

I hate the Spurs. How awesome is Gregg Popovich, though?  Timmy D, Tony P, and the rest of the starters were allegedly playing like crap (I didn’t see the game myself but I’ll take NBAtv’s word for it), so Pop benched ‘em.  When the reserves brought San Antonio back from a double-digit deficit Pop left ‘em in there.  Danny Green, Gary Neal, and James Anderson ended up losing to the Mavs in overtime, but if there had been another tenth of a second left on the clock at the end of regulation we’d be talking about a Spurs win (Green hit a shot that would’ve won the game had it not been released just a fraction of a second too late).  Anyway, the point is that no starter saw the floor in the final 20 minutes of a tight game.  What other coach can pull that off?

The Celtics didn’t make a basket in the final 4 minutes and 58 seconds of their 87-88 loss to the Cavaliers.  Kyrie Irving made two, including the game-winning layup.

Those of you who have Ricky Rubio penciled in for ROY, that’s on account of his impact, right?  I love Ricky Rubio and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s made the Timberwolves a better team, but let’s not act like Kyrie Irving hasn’t made an impact on the Cavs.  That’s stupid.  The Cavs are 8-11 right now.  The Wolves are 9-11.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no Rick Adelman or Kevin Love in Cleveland, is there?  Nope.  Just Byron Scott and Antawn Jamison.  At this point last season the Cavs had six wins playing on the adrenaline of the whole “we’ll show that guy LeBron that we don’t need him!” sh!t.  Now they’ve got eight without the point guard/best player from last year.  How’d that happen?  Kyrie Irving, that’s how.

Box Score Observations: LeBron out-scored Rose 35-34, and I bet people are still on his case for making a few f@cked up plays during the ugliest finish ever while Dwyane Wade was busy going 4-16 for 15 points all damn game long.  The Magic lost by 20+ again… this time to the Pacers.  The Craptosaurs beat the Nets by 21 without Bargnani.  Alonzo Gee matched Boston’s entire bench with 14 points.

Highlight Recap, Chris Paul Edition:

I think it’s fair to say I’ve watched my share of basketball over the 23 years I’ve spent on this earth.  Most people who know me would tell you I’ve watched far too much over the past 5 to 10 years, and even before that I would see highlights and the occasional game because my dad was always paying attention to it.  Basically what I’m getting at here is that I’ve seen a ton of basketball, so to see something I can’t say that I’ve ever seen before… that’s pretty rare.

Well damn.  That was pretty unique, wouldn’t you say?  Unlike Mike Breen, I think I’ll acknowledge the fact that LeBron James just hurdled a man as he one-hand dunked the basketball.  He does it again!, Mike Breen?  Really?  I’m pretty sure he’s never done that before.  That was one of the worst calls of an epic highlight that I’ve ever heard.  This man just cleared a full-grown adult without giving himself a boost, and without doing the scissor move, and all you’ve got to say is he does it again!?  Way to make one of the extraordinary dunks of all-time sound like a routine play, Mike Breen.

Anyway, forget Mike Breen.  LeBron James.  LeBron “I think I’ll just pick my knees up over this dude as I one-hand this alley-oop” James.  Are you f@cking kidding me?  You win.  10/10.

Dunk rating on the Starbury Nastiness Scale:

10/10 Starbury Nasty Faces

2011/12 Daily Poster Stats

Throwback Poster of the Day: Grant Hill goes baseline and dunks on a whole group of players…

Delonte West is a character.  He’s been known to make rap videos outside of fast food chains, play basketball with a sock, and live by the g-code.  It seems that absolutely everything he does is hilarious, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered how such a unique individual prepares himself mentally for a game of NBA basketball.  Thanks to Youtube and the Dallas Mavericks I don’t have to wonder anymore.  With a little help from Brendan Haywood, here’s the one and only Delonte West getting in the zone…

I’ve got two questions, and two questions only: First of all, why isn’t someone paid to follow Delonte around with a video camera 24 hours a day?  Secondly, can we get a 2 Chainz/Delonte collaboration?  Maybe give Stephen Jackson a feature as well.  Recruit Lou Williams, bring AI out of musical retirement… f@ck, man, forget the whole 2 Chainz idea (no disrespect to Mr. Tity Boi), I want an NBA posse cut!  Man, would that be epic or what?  It would have to be kept under the radar, though.  David Stern wouldn’t be having that sh!t.

I lied… I have a third question: why hasn’t Red Bull given Delonte an endorsement deal?  Notice the can in his left hand.  Those commercials would be gold.

To dunk on Earl Watson… it doesn’t seem very impressive.  However, this slam happens to serve as a prime example of why you should never judge a book by its cover, or a dunk by its description.  You’ve got to see this one for yourself, or else you’d probably figure Tyreke just plopped it in the bucket over a five-foot-something point guard.  That’s not how it went down, though.  Not at all…

As you can see, what ‘Reke actually did was take off from the dotted line, strike the pose of a famous statue, and send it down with authority.  Anything but your run-of-the-mill slam dunk.

I wish I had a chance to post Friday’s poster, because it was pretty awesome.  I chose Hakim Warrick’s one-handed facialization of Chris Johnson over LeBron’s power smash.  It was worth 8 faces and came with an awesome photo.

Dunk rating on the Starbury Nastiness Scale:

8.5/10 Starbury Nasty Faces

2011/12 Daily Poster Stats

Throwback Runner-Up Poster of the Day: John Wall lands on Tyrus Thomas.  Sorry to break away from the usual procedure, but this video had to be posted.