Washington beats Memphis: Wiz cover. Arenas has a nice game. Doesn't get to 50 points but is quite efficient. Wiz's entire "big three" played well.
Bucks beat the Spurs: Ginobili and Barry were out which makes this game a little less surprising. I'm not sure that Barry mattered, but Ginobili would have been some help. Redd did his thing. Like I said, he likes to abuse the Spurs and Pistons.
Utah beats Clippers: Clips are looking at acquiring Ron Artest. He'll never be a long term solution, but things can't get any worse than they are now. Maybe Billy Crystal can tell me what is happening at these Clipper games.
Seattle beats New Orleans: Ray Allen shot an extremely rare 4/8 from the free throw line. Fortunately he shot just fine on his other shots, including a big late 3 pointer with the shot clock running down and the Hornets making a late rally. The real story here is Chris Paul, who went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter. He's young and I don't think it was too bad, so I'm guessing he won't be out too long, but this team is sorry. Look for another favorite bench warmer of mine, Jannero Pargo, to get big minutes. Wow man, I don't know if I've ever seen a team as depleted as the Hornets are.
Denver beats Boston: Three guys had double digit rebounds for Denver: Nene, Najera and Evans. These guys are all bruisers - just the kind of enforcers you need to protect, rebound, set screens for AI and Carmelo. This win wasn't that impressive. The Nuggets won't be fantastic until they get their brawlers back, but I think this team could do some damage. Think '99 Knicks - the Knicks had Camby as well, and they had a bruiser in Kurt Thomas at PF. Sprewell and Houston did all the scoring. The Knicks didn't need a big post man because Sprewell and Houston were both dangerous scorers out of the post. They had Larry Johnson too, but he was not the focal point of their offense, and a big part of his value came from his willingness to play tough D and be the 3rd option on offense. The Knicks finished in the 8th seed in the lockout shortened season, and shocked the world by knocking out the #1 seed Miami heat and making a run all the way to the finals. I could see a similar scenario playing out here, with Denver finishing in the 6-8 seed range, and playing Dallas, San Antonio or Phoenix. Phoenix is tough, but I think the Nuggets could knock out the Spurs or Mavs (or both).
Look, that's a two-armed hug! Latrell Sprewell had no problem getting along with Allan Houston. Can Carmelo and AI replicate their success?
My wrongs:
Pistons beat New Jersey: Detroit didn't cover. They were up big early, nets came back, up big again in the 3rd and the Nets came back. The Nets can sense their season slipping away here. They lashed out at the officials after VC didn't get a foul call on his last second attempt. Even Rasheed admitted that in almost any other situation that woulda been a foul. I watched the replay and it was definitely a foul, but I've seen worse fouls go uncalled. Either way, a game isn't lost or won on one play, and the Nets had their fair share of favorable calls. Watch out for Josh Boone - Frank is realizing what I've been saying here. Boone played a career high 30 minutes and finished with 6 points and 12 rebounds. Also noteworthy is that Rasheed Wallace went nuts in the 1st quarter, scoring 16 of his 21 points, all before Boone came in. Why? Because Boone can move!
Minnesota beats Chicago: Chicago came back from a 24 point 3rd quarter deficit to tie this game with 7 seconds left. Randy Foye then came down and made a 6 footer with about 2 seconds left, and Nocioni missed for the Bulls in their final attempt. On a side note, let's get one thing straight: Luol Deng is not a future all-star. Okay, maybe he'll make the all-star team once or twice, but he is not that great of a player. He knows what his strengths are and plays to them, and he plays hard, but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well and he isn't that physically gifted. In fact, for a starting small forward he's a little slow. He's a good defender, but he is about as close to Scottie Pippen as Ben Gordon is to Jordan. The fact that he's a clean cut, and apparently good person -- An under control player who knows his role, doesn't make him any better of a basketball player. KG should have taken it easy on his future team. This loss may hurt their playoff seed.
Phoenix blows out Portland: Portland couldn't keep up. Phoenix jumped ahead early and Portland never got close.
Golden State blows out Philly: God, somebody get Matt Barnes back to the CBA. Not only did he destroy Philly, preventing them from any chance at covering, but he is on two of the teams I am facing in my fantasy basketball league. Seven three pointers and 89% fgs is a real pain in the ass to come back against. Baron Davis also had a nice game, and Rodney Carney scored a career high 25 points on 12/22 shooting. He also had a career high 8 rebounds, something that he had been doing very little of until last night.
My ????s:
Dallas beats Charlotte: Dallas won by 13 and that's what the spread was. Morrison shot 50%. Someone send him some sugar-free cookies so he can celebrate. I think this team could break the record for fewest wins in a season if they didn't have Knight or May.
Indy beats Houston: I should have finalized my pick in more certain terms. The spread ended up being 3 1/2 but I didn't realize that until it was two late, and my pick of Indy by 4 and later my update of maybe taking off a point or two, left this pick to ambiguous. T-Mac returned, started slow (1-7), finished 7/22 with 7 turnovers. Bonzi contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds in a season high 32 minutes. He's the key if this team wants to get through these injuries and still be in the playoff hunt.
Last night: 5-4-2(???)
Overall: 35-36 (we're dropping those two odd games)
Pick of the night: 1-1
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