This is going to be a quick one, games weren’t all that great yesterday, thought the schedule would be better today, but then I opened up ESPN. Anyways, here are the recaps.
Apple Man: After going off for 50 points on Tuesday and then 40 points on Wednesday, Carmelo Anthony took a day off before following both performances with 41 points on 17 of 28 shooting and 14 rebounds on Friday night in the win over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks. In the last three games, Melo, not only tied the Knicks franchise record with 3 straight 40+ point games (previously held by future Hall of Famer, Bernard King), he also became the first player since Michael Jordan to score 40 plus and shoot 60 percent in 3 straight since 1991. J.R. Smith came off the bench for 30 points (11 of 22) and 10 rebounds to extend the New York winning streak to 11. The Bucks had them early, but after the third quarter, the game was a whole different story. Who knew letting your opponents drop 42 right out of half time can cost you the lead
Dynamic Duo: Against the top ranked Indiana defense, the Oklahoma City Thunder and their second best offense, stormed their opponents out of the gym with a 22 point win. Everything was calm and close until the Thunder decided to score 25 points in the 4th quarter, while holding the Pacers to only 8. Kevin Durant scored 15 of those 25 points to finish with a game-high 34 points (13 of 21) and 9 rebounds. Russell Westbrook added 24 points on 24 shots, 7 boards and 9 assists. For those who care, Kevin Durant is still the current leading scorer in the NBA, but only by a small margin. Trailing close behind is Carmelo, who played 14 games less than the reigning scoring champ.
Walking Canes: In a game that should have never aired on ESPN or any other national network, Mike Miller took us back to the Jurassic period (Get it? It’s because he’s old and Jurassic Park 3D was released this week, perfect timing. This is not a plug by the way, I wish I could tell you that I got paid for that, but no. Apparently, the guys at Universal Studios were out of budget, at least that is what they told me.), with 26 points, 7 of 11 from the land of triceratops, and 5 rebounds to lead the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Ray Allen-less Miami Heat to a win over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Reptilians: The Toronto Raptors won an actual close game, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on a Ricky Rubio free throw miss that could have tied the game. Super efficient shooters, Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan combined for 51 points on a total of 46 shots. Real life caveman, Nikola Pekovic of the Wolves arrived on Earth too early, his 24 points (6 of 12) and 8 rebounds was just not enough to fend off the giant red lizards.
Don’t Call It A Comeback: The Golden State Warriors fought back from 18 down to defeat the Phoenix Suns. Stephen Curry shot a poor 6 of 15 from the field for 18 points, but he did most of his damage in the other highly underrated faucet of his game with 15 assists. The Suns wasted a rare 61 percent team shooting performance and a career high 32 points (11 of 13) from Goran Dragic in their 8th straight loss.
8th Seed Struggle: The Lakers (vs. Grizzlies) and Jazz (vs. Hornets) both won yesterday, which means that they are now tied in the win column, but Utah falls behind in the the race with one more loss on their record (due to more games played).
Fantasy Shoutouts: Without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett , the Boston Celtics would fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tristan Thompson had 29 points on 10 of 17 shooting and 17 boards to finally put an end to their 10 game losing streak.
The Chicago Bulls escapes another one without 5 of their guys in the victory over the Orlando Magic. It wasn’t pretty, but Beno Udrih did score 27 points (10 of 17), to go with his 5 boards and 7 dimes in the place of Jameer Nelson.
In the 18 point win against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Houston Rockets outscored their opponents in every single quarter, getting a combined effort of 55 points from James Harden (33) and Jeremy Lin (22). For the Blazers, only LaMarcus Aldridge showed up to work, going off for 32 points (12 of 19) and 13 rebounds to lead the NBA with seven games of at least 30 points and 10 boards.
Follow me on twitter @Leslie_Kam. I am also on The Basketball Machine, where I write way too many NBA jokes than I really should.
