Happy Valentines D.A.Y.

By Sam Rubenstein

Happy Valentine’s D.A.Y., if you care about such a holiday. My girlfriend got me a new coffee maker with a timer, so now when I wake up in the morning, there is fresh and hot coffee waiting for me. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to anyone, ever. I started the marination process last night and tonight I cook a filet mignon as payback, I mean for part of her present. Nervous. A while ago Bethlehem Shoals of Freedarko emailed a bunch of people about submitting something for a very special Valentine’s Day episode. I responded quickly, and, well…. FIRST!!!!! Mutoni wrote something for them too.
NEW YORK 107 LA LAKERS 106
Kobe Bryant hit another big shot to give the Lakers the lead with just under 30 seconds left. One David Lee offensive rebound and Jamal Crawford lob to Eddy Curry (E-City?) for the dunk and the Knicks had the lead. At the other end, Kobe was too busy chatting with the talk show host that made him famous, Stephon Marbury from Stars on Stars. The Knicks have matched their win total from last season already. Isiah Thomas is going to receive coach of the year votes. Kobe led the Lakers with 31, Crawford led the Knicks with 24. Starting NBA PF Jerome James grabbed 2 boards and missed his only shot in 3 minutes. He didn’t even foul anyone, he just never got back into the game. Here’s a wild idea, David Lee should start.


TORONTO 112 CHICAGO 111
The Raptors blew a 12 point fourth quarter lead, until Chris Bosh stepped up to the line and hit the free throws to win the game. He finished with 25 and 14, while Bargnani had 22 off the bench hitting 4 of 8 threes. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 30 points, none of them coming on free throws or threes. He didn’t attempt one of either, which is kind of odd. 18 and 13 for Hinrich, and Ben Gordon nearly did his Ben Gordon thing, taking over in the fourth quarter and winning the game with a three point play. The Bulls would have finished the game on a 13-0 run for a crushing defeat of the Raptors. But Chris Bosh saved the day.

HOUSTON 109 SACRAMENTO 104 OT
Ron Artest could have been the frontrunner for Player of the D.A.Y. with his hot shooting night (5 of 7 from three) and 39 points and 8 boards, but he couldn’t close the game out at the end of the fourth while T-Mac took over. After struggling with his shot for most of the game, Tracy got hot in the fourth and finished with 28 and 12. Shane Battier threw in 25 of his own, including 4 of 9 threes. Chuck Hayes pulled down 14 boards coming off the bench. Ron Ron matched his career high, but couldn’t get the W to go with it.

MEMPHIS 108 NEW ORLEANS 104
Lord Byron speaketh “I’m not surprised when we don’t come out and play hard.” Yeah? Maybe the team should hire a head coach so that doesn’t happen anymore. “Our guys, for whatever reason, every three or four games, we’re going to take a night off.” Come on Byron. Hakim Warrick was the best player down the stretch, finishing with 15 and 12 off the bench, as Toney Barone’s team won their first game against a divisional opponent. Tyson Chandler did what he could with a monster 17 and 23 game, but Chris Paul couldn’t hit a shot, literally (0 for 7, though he did have 10 assists). New Orleans dominated the glass with 24 offensive rebounds (12 for Tyson alone) contributing to an 103 shot attempt game, 20 more attempts than Memphis. It didn’t matter, because as assistant head coach Lord Byron says, the Hornets took the night off.

DALLAS 99 MILWAUKEE 93
The Bucks were actually winning for a lot of the game. Not all of it though. The 28-11 fourth quarter made sure of that, with Dirk hitting the go-ahead layup. He also had 38, 11, and 8. Andrew Bogut had 16 and 17 in the loss. Even when the Mavs are sloppy and beatable, they still win.

SAN ANTONIO 107 NEW JERSEY 82
Jake and Russ actually volunteered to go out to Jersey on a night when a snowstorm was promised. Lucky for them, the storm was laaaaaaaame. Today it’s freezing rain and sleet. I am mentally in Vegas already. Appleson was unlucky in that Jason Kidd has a bad back and without him, the game was over before tip-off. Maybe they’ll have game notes. It was 59-38 at halftime. The Spurs scored the first 20 points of the second quarter. Marcus Williams had 10 assists as a starting point guard playing 35 minutes.

MIAMI 104 PORTLAND 85
Typical Dwyane Wade game. Injury, leaves game, comes back, scores 16 points in the fourth, Miami wins. DWade’s final numbers were 35 and 5. Z-BO led the Blazers with 17.