Solo Melo: Against the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers-less Miami Heat, the New York Knicks or should I say Carmelo Anthony, came up big, late in the second half to outscore the Heat by 20 in the 12 point win. Melo was literally on fire last night, he was engulfed in flames and everything, going off for a career high tying 50 points on 18 of 26 shooting (7 of 10 from three), and really nothing else (2 rebounds, 2 assists), but he had 0 turnovers, making him the only player in 5 years to score 50 without a single one of those silly mishaps. Also if you look at his shot chart, he did not score a single shot in the paint, which is super weird, or amazing.
His teammates added the rest of the 52 of the total 102 points on the board for the Knicks’ 9th straight victory, which is the current longest active streak in the league. Miami, on the other hand had quite a surprise of their own, getting a rare contribution from Mike Miller, who went for 18 points (7 of 12) and 8 rebounds after scoring only 2 in the last two months. It should be noted that all of Mike’s points were from the first half, meaning that he remembered who he really was at half time and returned to his frail old self late in the game. Chris Bosh led the rest of the team with 23 points (6 of 13) and 6 boards in the end of Miami’s 17 game home winning streak.
What year is it? 2008? This should not be happening.
No Shave Tuesdays: On Shaq’s jersey retirement night, Kobe and the gang honored the original Superman with a 20 point win over the visiting Dallas Mavericks. In the place of the injured Steve Nash, Kobe played the facilitator role, (a role which Steve Nash never really got to play in this mess of the Lakers’ team) and got a triple double out of it, finishing with 23 points (8 of 18), 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Dwight Howard chipped in for a game-high 24 points (7 of 12), and 12 boards. Earl Clark was huge off the bench, blocking a career high 5 shots to go with his 17 points and 12 rebounds. Trailing by 15 at the half, the Dallas Mavericks never looked like they were completely out of it, in fact they were primed to make a comeback in the fourth, but Dirk and Co. just ran out of gas. Dirk had only 11 points on 13 shots, 5 boards and 6 dimes. While Chris Kaman scored a team-high 14 points (7 of 10) in 20 minutes of play. The Mavericks are now 2 wins away from .500, maybe they won’t get to shave, ever.
This also shouldn’t be happening, because old. God bless those illegal German knees.
Bucket List: He might not be considered as one of the top 10 point guards in the league, but John Wall is sure making a statement for himself, as he goes off for 27 points on 8 of 17 shooting, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and a career high 3 blocks in the Wizard’s 8th straight win at home. Their opponents, the Chicago Bulls did not have the greatest of shooting nights, hitting only 39 percent of the shots from the field and an even worse 22 percent from beyond the arc. And things don’t get better from there, in addition to the poor shooting, Taj Gibson re-injured his sprained MCL injury that kept him out of 10 games in his 10 minutes of play and Kirk Hinrich would later get ejected on 2 technical fouls at a critical point in the game. Carlos Boozer led all Bulls with 19 points (9 of 18), 12 rebounds and 5 dimes in the losing effort.
Sorry guys, if you were wondering where I have been for the last couple of days, I was in bed, being all sick and stuff.
Anyways, follow me on twitter @Leslie_Kam. I am also on The Basketball Machine for more NBA laughs.