We’re talking about preseason
Welcome to the good life
By Holly MacKenzie
Okay… The dek of this post is directly related to the upcoming Kanye concert on Wednesday night that I am very excited to go to. With a preseason game here in Canada in under 2 week and the start of the actual season so close, life is good. So, here are some recaps from a Sunday in the NBA Preseason. As an aside, it sucks being unable to find decent highlights of the these games but it doesn’t even matter because tip off is almost here! In brief, here is what went down last night. Most importantly, only 15 more days until what we have all been waiting for. As excited as I am, I worry my head may burst from all of these Laker trade rumors and from trying to crunch the numbers and scenarios. From what I have been seeing, I’m happy for Portland fans that Aldridge is playing so well and I’m hoping for a Brandon Roy sighting soon.
Portland 102 Atlanta 89
Atlanta fans hoping to remain undefeated in preseason were disappointed with a 102-89 loss to Portland Sunday afternoon. Rookie guard Acie Law did not play after spraining his wrist in Charlotte Thursday night, but it was the post game that easily destroyed the Hawks. While rookie Al Horford had a nice game scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 boards to lead the team in 27 minutes of action, the Hawks big men were severely outplayed. Their lack of size inside was pounded home again and again, by LaMarcus Aldridge. Marvin Williams led the Hawks with 18 points and 7 rebounds while Josh Smith had 12 points, 6 boards and 5 blocks, before he fouled out late in the game. Trailblazer fans continue to ease the blow of losing Greg Oden for the season with the play of LaMarcus Aldridge. In Sunday’s contest Aldridge led his team with 29 points and 9 rebounds while Channing Frye had 14 point off the bench. 3rd year guard Martell Webster continued his improved play with 12 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. Joel Przybilla had a nice game, easily nabbing 12 boards and swatting 4 shots. In addition to Oden, the Blazers were also without Brandon Roy, last years ROY. Roy is expected to miss the rest of the preseason with a heel injury.
Detroit 105 Denver 104
NBA Action in Detroit saw the Pistons top Denver 105-104 after a close game that saw many lead changes throughout the 4th quarter. Denver played without Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin and Nene Hilario while Detroit had their normal roster with the exception of Richard Hamilton, who left the game in the 3rd quarter with an ankle injury. Denver reserves did their best to match up and almost pulled off the W with Anthony Roberson scoring 20 points and Von Wafer going for 16 points. For Detroit, Jarvis Hayes led the team with 24 points while Jason Maxiell added 16 and 11 rebounds. In limited minutes, Detroit rookies Aaron Affalo scored 8 points and Rodney Stuckey had 5, including the game-clinching free throws with 8 seconds remaining.
Washington 86 Philadelphia 80
After an 86-80 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Washington Wizards remain undefeated in preseason, even with Gilbert Arenas reduced to watching from the sidelines. In a game that had the Wizards ahead for most of the contest, it was rookie Nick Young who converted a three-point play to ensure his team had the win. Young, the 18th pick from USC finished with 8 points in his 24 minutes. Antawn Jamison was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points while 3rd year forward Andre Blatche added 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, continuing a stron preseason campaign after a nice showing in summer league. Also showing up was 2006 draft pick Olekisy Pecherov, who has performed well in preseason and continued with 11 points in the contest. Not surprisingly, Andre Iguodala led Philly with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Louis Williams came off of the bench to score 13 as well. Rookie Jason Smith had a rough night going 0-7 from the floor in 22 minutes of action while Herbert Hill had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes.
LA Clippers 99 Golden State Warriors 89
In getting their first win of the preseason, the Clippers handed the Golden State Warriors their first loss. In the win the Clippers looked good, while rookie Al Thornton looked really good. Thornton led the team with 24 points on 11-15 from the floor in only 26 minutes of action. He scored 18 points in the 2nd quarter alone. In addition to Thornton, Corey Maggette had a great game with 18 points and 14 boards while Ruben Patterson contributed 19 and 11. Newly signed point guard Brevin Knight had 7 points and 7 assists (0 turnovers), in 21 minutes The Clippers out rebounded Golden State 59-42 and were able to gain a lead after the 1st quarter, which saw Golden State hit only 4 of 19 shots. Before halftime, the Clippers were up by as many as 23 points and led by 19 at the break. For the Warriors, Al Harrington had 17 points and 9 rebounds while Baron Davis scored 13. Rookie Marco Belinelli had 5 points after scoring 18 in his last game while Brandan Wright saw limited action, but scored 6 points in his 13 minutes.
26 Responses to “We’re talking about preseason”
Oct.15 at 8:30 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
FIRST! Writing about basketball being played. What a gimmick!
Oct.15 at 8:50 am
Bryan says:
I hope Louis Williams does soemthing this year
Oct.15 at 8:59 am
floe says:
i need to pick up lamarcus aldridge on my fantasy league
Oct.15 at 9:06 am
Cheryl says:
Thank you for only reviewing Sunday’s games. The Heat SUCK right now (and I know it’s only preseason, but damn!)and I’m losing hope with the quickness. I hear JR Smith’s available, can he save us?
Oct.15 at 9:12 am
Captain America says:
Thanks for recapping these games. Watching preseason is boring, so getting the summary helps. Didn’t like to old blazers but the blazers are interesting (even without grandpa Oden).
Oct.15 at 9:18 am
Rod Strickland says:
Blatche didn’t play summer league this year cause he wasn’t under contract and he was picking up hookers.
Oct.15 at 9:27 am
Holly MacKenzie says:
Aghhh Strickland… you’re killing me. Of course you’re right. See, I had a smart little comment in there originally, about Blatche being able to play basketball in addition to picking up female police officers, then figured I had better just stick to the basics for my first time out. So, I was looking through Blatche’s file and noticed the play from the Summer League. Yeah… summer league of 2006. I stand corrected. Thanks for reading carefully enough to notice!
Oct.15 at 9:29 am
Keith says:
Nicely done. Any chance we can have a feature on cheerleaders any time soon?
Oct.15 at 9:30 am
Keith says:
And you’ve done a nice job there Holly. May we read many more in the future. With cheerleader reports included.
Oct.15 at 9:34 am
Holly MacKenzie says:
If there are cheerleaders at the Suns/Sonics preseason game I promise they’ll get a mention in my game notes, Keith!
Oct.15 at 9:35 am
Gerard Himself says:
Cheryk: what? Smith is available? Didn’t know that. If the Nuggets have any sense, they should keep him. He was playing quite alright before AI came to town. Dude might have some issues, but he can play. Maybe even coming off the bench, scoring a bunch. I hope they won’t trade him.
Oct.15 at 9:37 am
Keith says:
Much appreciated Holly!
Oct.15 at 9:38 am
Gumdrop says:
A text recap of cheerleaders is every guys dream. You feel the temperature rising boys.
Oct.15 at 9:52 am
Z says:
JR Smith is Ricky Davis: The Remix
Oct.15 at 9:56 am
Cheryl says:
Gerard, yeah I thought that was strange too, cuz JR can score “in bunches”, but a change of scenery might just do him some good. And the Nuggets can get some cap relief if they take on an expiring contract of Doleac (though I would be very afraid to give up a center given the injury prone-ness of Shaq and the age of Mourning) and a young talent in Dorrel Wright.
Oct.15 at 10:00 am
Holly MacKenzie says:
Cheryl, think Shaq is going to miss any games with the bruise thing?
Oct.15 at 10:01 am
Holly MacKenzie says:
should be strictly a preseason thing right? You just never know with Shaq , you know what I mean?
Oct.15 at 10:03 am
Cheryl says:
Shaq claims that his injuries are “freak”, but I’m not sure at this point in his career. His idea of “freak” may just be his body breaking down. I do know that what some players seem to be able to play through, Shaq doesn’t. But he’s really big, so these types of injuries may impact him more, I don’t know. The short answer is, it could put him out for the first game or two of the season. With or without Shaq we’ll start the season 0-4, I’m betting.
Oct.15 at 10:08 am
Holly MacKenzie says:
yeah…I get that nagging injuries are going to hurt him more because he is so much bigger, but I also think the big guy is in a bit of denial about being on the decline. Of course he knows, but he doesn’t want to give that as the excuse for his limitations. I loved Shaq in LA but I was never so angry as I was when he went in for toe surgery and missed the start of the 02-03 season. argh! ahahaa hopefully for you, it’ll only take the rest of preseason to work itself out
Oct.15 at 10:14 am
Keith says:
Shaq is definitely on the decline but I’ll stand up for him on the injuries thing. The guy takes a ton of punishment throughout a year (or the 36 regular season games he plays!). Because he’s such a monster, people just see him absorb the hard contact and carry on, forgetting that he’s getting brutalised on a nightly basis. Having said that, he isn’t in great shape.
Oct.15 at 10:20 am
Cheryl says:
He does look good, Keith, in terms of weight and he and Riley say he’s in great condition. It’s just that this team lacks so much in offense, that Shaq will be unable to carry the load until DWade gets back. And even when D gets back, he shouldn’t have to carry the Heat the way he has these last two seasons. He’ll break down eventually too. Riley has to do something this season, even if it means playing the youngsters and losing a lot of games. It’s imperative that he develop the young bunch, even if it means to simply showcase the talent for trading purposes. I’ll write more about this on my seriously antiquated blog in the next day or two.
Oct.15 at 10:26 am
Keith says:
Completely agree Cheryl. It’s one thing to ride a superstar (DWade) for a whole year but there is no way he can continue to do it, season after season. If the Heat don’t start looking to the future, by the time that Shaq retires, the Heat are going to be in a similar situation to the Lakers when Shaq left them. The paths are all too similar. And for the love of God, get rid of Fathead Walker!
Oct.15 at 10:31 am
HaJJja says:
This is Louis Williams year!!!!
Oct.15 at 11:17 am
Allenp says:
Does it make Russ said to see how well Aldridge has developed? Cause, I told a whole bunch of people that the Bulls should have kept him in the draft because of his scoring ability, which is exactly what they still lack.
Oct.15 at 11:20 am
Keith says:
Well done AllenP, you would make an excellent GM. I think Deng will step up this year and become the main offensive threat for the Bulls.
Oct.15 at 10:56 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Get this girl her own blog!