by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
Last night was a rare early night in the NBA! There were not any West Coast games and the latest start was 8:30 p.m. This is kind of amazing for someone who has to wait until the final game is over before they can start writing. One thing I “resolved” for 2010 –besides reading a book a week– was to start taking better care of myself. This means more sleep and having more than coffee in my days!
I’m determined to get more sleep. If I am writing about how tired I am next week, remind me of that in the comments please! Thanks. Now, onto the other resolution: Give me your favorite reads, books that have changed you, stayed with you and made you think. Nonfiction, fiction, sports, life, music, etc, let me hear em, thanks.
And onto the bball. The prettiest thing I saw all night was LeBron’s chase down block on O.J. Mayo. We’ve seen so many of these, but they never get old to me. LeBron chase down blocks are the equivalent of guys finishing up practice with halfcourt shots. You see one, you see 100, it doesn’t matter. They all amaze.
The Cavs took down the Grizz, 105-89. On the night after they took down the Lakers, Memphis just didn’t have enough to compete with Cleveland. LeBron was a distributor, and for some points of the game, played the PG spot, with a lineup of guys all over 6’8″. Kinda nuts. Bron finished with 22 points, seven boards, 15 assists and that beautiful block. Shaquille O’Neal added 13 points and 13 rebounds (and four blocks of his own!) and Daniel Gibson scored 16. The 15 assists for Bron tied a career-high. He’s pretty awesome, yeah?
After winning five straight, the Raptors went into Indy and gave up 130 points. It wasn’t pretty for us Canadians. 130-115 was the final score and the Raps were without DeMar DeRozan and Hedo Turkoglu from the tip and lost Jose Calderon to an awful ankle sprain before it was over. He came down on Jarrett Jack’s foot and it was one of this sickening sprains, where you roll your ankle so much the ankle actually touches the floor. Blech.
While Danny Granger was just 3-for-13 in the Pacers loss against the Raptors on Sunday, he came alive on his home floor, finishing with 23 points and seven boards. The Raps lost despite big nights from Bosh and Bargnani as Bosh finished with 35 and 15 and Bargnani added a career-high 34. Allowing the Pacers to score 72 in the second half is usually going to result in a loss.
In Orlando, apparently having Lawrence Frank around has given Vince Carter a spring to his step. Against the Bucks, he was pretty solid, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists a steal and a block. Dwight had 22 points and 11 rebounds (but six silly turnovers) and the Magic won 99-82 as Milwaukee was held to just 36 percent shooting for the game. Orlando won despite playing without Mickael Pietrus and Jameer Nelson. Maybe they need to keep LF around? I’m just happy the man isn’t in Jersey.
Speaking of Jersey, the Nets fell to 4-43 last night, losing another close one, this time to the Pistons. With the return of Will Bynum, Detroit made free throws –and benefited from awful shot selection/clock management by Devin Harris at the end of the game– to get the 97-93 victory. Harris had 24 points and 14 assists in the loss while Rip finished with 22 points and seven assists for the Pistons. I was just happy to see Bynum back on the floor.
Hear that Del Harris may be leaving the Nets? What a mess. They are in town tonight here in Toronto and guess what our halftime entertainment is? Vanilla Ice. I kid you not. Could I make that up? Crazy.
The Bulls were unable to pull off their sixth straight victory, falling at home to the Clippers. 24 points from Eric Gordon, 21 points and 11 rebounds from Chris Kaman and 16 from Rasual Butler helped the Clippers overcome just an eight-point performance from Baron Davis. Luol Deng had 18 points and Derrick Rose scored 16. You know it’s an ugly game when the Clippers manage just 12 points in the fourth and still win by eight.
In Houston, the Rockets killed the Warriors, 119-97. That’s about all I have to say about that one, besides mentioning that the Warriors roster is a mismash of players that I’d bet the average Warriors fan doesn’t even know. Aaron Brooks had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. How that guy gets eight rebounds, I don’t know. Love little guards. The Rockets outrebounded GS 57-35. Yeah.
Agh. So my paragraph about the game of the night, the Hawks and Thunder just randomly got cut and it won’t let me re-paste it. Kevin Durant scored 33 on 18 shots and the Thunder got the season sweep of the Hawks, taking them down 106-99. KD added 11 boards, too. Russ Westbrook was awesome with 12 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. He also had a dunk that shows why he should be in the dunk contest. For the Hawks, Joe Johnson was solid with 37 points, but it wasn’t enough. The game was close down the stretch with Durant hitting two buckets and Jeff Green hitting a huge 3-pointer to give the Thunder some breathing room.
Josh Smith become the youngest player in NBA history to record 1000 career blocks. Kevin Durant became the first player since Allen Iverson to score 25 points or more in 22 consecutive games.
I was a happy girl because the Thunder are awesome.
