Sorry guys, it’s been a bad week. I know it’s late, but it is better than never.
Torched: To the surprise of no one, the Miami Heat, trailing by 3 at halftime to the Detroit Pistons, would outscore their opponent 52 to 35 in the second half for their 25th straight win. Despite getting a season low 5 points from Chris Bosh, the Heat still won by 14 points on LeBron’s career best field goal percentage tying performance. The reigning MVP had 29 points on 12 of 15 shooting, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Greg Monroe of the Pistons led his team with 23 points (10 of 19), 15 boards and 6 dimes, but got virtually no help from his teammates as they shot 41 percent from the field, while the men in white went 56 percent on their home floor.
Free Basketball: Up 3 after a pair of Tony Parker free throws to put the Spurs ahead with only 10 seconds left to play, the Jazz looked like they were going on the road with another loss on their schedule, but Marvin Williams had other ideas, hitting the game tying three to sent the game into overtime. Unfortunately for Utah, their luck would end there, as San Antonio doubles their points scored in overtime for Coach Popovich’s 900th win, making him the second coach to ever do so with one team. Tim Duncan also reached historical mark of his own, surpassing Shaq on the all time rebounding list for the 13th most in NBA history. He had 19 points (4 of 13), 16 boards and 5 assists. Tony Parker returning after missing 8 games due to an ankle injury, went for 22 points (8 of 13) and 5 dimes. Mo Williams of the Jazz finished with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting and 8 assists in their 8th straight road loss.
Oh Matt, that is definitely not the right way to get on SportsCenter.
Storms: The Oklahoma City Thunder held off a late run by the Orlando Magic to send them off with a 6th straight loss. Arron Affalo left this game in 13 minutes of play after suffering a hamstring injury, and was later confirmed to be out for the rest of the season. In his place, Moe Harkless stepped up for a career night going off for 25 points (11 of 18), and 9 rebounds. But it was no match for the combined efforts of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, as the duo went for 25 points and 8 boards; and 19 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists respectively.
Trios: Josh Smith’s 24 points (9 of 21), and 10 rebounds. Al Horford’s 15 points (7 of 18), 17 boards and 5 assists. Jeff Teague’s 21 (8 of 11), and 7 dimes were not enough to best the Portland Trail Blazer’s own trio on Friday night. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points on 20 shots and 13 boards. Damian Lillard went for 22 on 8 of 16 shooting (4 of 5 from three) and Wesley Matthews added 28 points (10 of 18), hitting 5 of his 7 threes attempted in the Blazers’ second win of their east coast road trip.
Don’t Call it a Comeback: In the return of Kobe Bryant (ankle) and Pau Gasol (foot), the Los Angeles Lakers would blow a 18 point lead in the second half to make way for a Washington Wizards comeback victory. The Lakers was just sloppy on both ends of the floor, giving the ball away 17 times, leading to 21 Wizards’ points. The turning point of this game was the third quarter, where Washington (without two of their starters) outscored the the men in gold 31 to 17. Trevor Ariza was huge off the bench, exploding for 25 points on 7 of 12 shooting from behind the arc. He was left wide open through out the entire game, with Kobe never once making the correct rotation to prevent the shot. John Wall chipped in with 24 points (9 of 19), 6 rebounds and 16 assists. Dwight Howard had 20 points (8 of 9) and 15 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant shot 8 of 18 from the field for 21 points and 11 assists in the loss.
Fantasy Shoutouts: In his second game after draining his knee, Carmelo Anthony looked a lot more like Carmelo Anthony, going for a game-high 37 points on 14 of 31 shooting and 6 boards in the win over the Toronto Raptors. Raptor’s Alan Anderson came off the bench for a career high 35 points (11 of 18) and 6 rebounds, but his effort alone was unable slow the Knicks down, as they shot 54 percent in the Air Canada Center. Rudy Gay left this game in 14 minutes play with a back injury.
Highlights
Left on a Island: Paul George catches the Milwaukee Bucks sleeping and yams one on the league leader of blocked shots.
Fancy: The Spanish are really good at adding totally unnecessary theatrics to an easy pass, but we love it.
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