The Hornets kept their over-achievement going (10-1 thus far) with a win over the sliding Cavaliers. I realize that Chris Paul created David West out of thin air because he was bored one weekend, but West needs to get some respect in any case as he scored a season-high 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. CP3 finished with 15 points and 10 assists but didn’t have to do much since the Cavs were colder than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rendition of Mr.Freeze, shooting 35% from the field. Even though Cleveland managed to break triple digits in scoring, it was the Hornets’ defense that made the difference, anchored by Emeka Okafor blocking shots in addition to Paul and Ariza playing the passing lanes. I’m not entirely sure that this is a huge accomplishment, but Peja Stojakovic is now in 5th place in the 3-point attempt category in the league. Relevant or not, I found this stat quite shocking because I assumed either Antoine Walker or Z-Bo had that record on lock.
The game of the night was as good as advertised, with a tug of war that resulted in the first victory for the Bulls in Dallas since 1998. Presumably, the Bulls partied post-game like its 1999. The Bulls held the Mavs to a season-low 35 halftime points before the Dirkmeister got his swag back and started shooting the lights out like that one Simpsons episode where Homer buys a gun and disregards light switches. Nowitzki made his soccer dad Cuban proud with a season-high 36 points on a variety of elbow jumpers with the patented leg kick-out as well as three pointers. Derrick Rose (22 points, 6 assists) ran the show for the Bulls as Chicago was struggling to get anything going without him. The player of the game was most likely Taj Gibson who played tough defense, grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with 17 points. He also hit a desperation 3-pointer (the first in his career!) to push Chicago’s lead in the 4th. Any Cavs fans find that shot reminiscent of Anderson Varejao’s heave against the Hawks this time last season? Anyone? At least peep that shot and pretend you know what I’m referring to. Those were the days.
Anyway, this was the definition of a scrappy win as the Bulls out-rebounded the Mavs 59-34 which is incredible considering Dallas had at least two 7-footers on the floor at all times. Chicago’s offense will only get better once Boozer comes back, since now the defense is playing off the screen-setter as Noah isn’t a huge scoring threat off pick-and-rolls.
According to Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Cuban is the most-improved jump shooting owner in the league. When asked compared to whom, JVG answered: “He’s better than Brian Scalabrine!”. Put the “J” back in because Kidd is 5th all time in 3 pointers made. Forget the shots, I’m still marvelling at the fact that a 37-year-old starting point guard can still push the tempo.
Randomness of the night: I missed seeing Heather Cox courtside (pause?). As Boozer was sitting on the sidelines (presumably text-voting for Bristol Palin in Dancing with the Stars), I noticed his diamond-encrusted G-Shock watch. I’m not exactly fashion-conscious, but isn’t that like putting a Bugatti bumper sticker on a Yaris? Lastly, anyone else wonder why pure shooters like Korver use mouthguards? Makes as much sense as Rondo wearing a shooting sleeve.
The Kings were able to claw back to a win over the Nets with Tyreke Evans’ 20 point-4-assist night. Kris Humphries led the Nets with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Now I’m not saying DeMarcus Cousins is selfish, but I think I saw him shove teammates out of the way for rebounds while no one was looking. I wish I could tell you more but I fell asleep by the middle of the 1st quarter. Wake me up when either of these teams are getting close to being playoff teams.
Despite Monta Ellis’ 40 points and 5 assists for the Warriors, the Knicks shot the lights out (57% FG) en route to a victory. Raymond Felton led New York with 35 points and 11 assists while Amar’e balled to the tune of 26 points and 11 rebounds. Without David Lee down low, the Warriors went back to the Ellis/Curry combo, with Steph contributing 29 points and 8 assists to complete the two-headed backcourt monster. Watching these two play in a free-wheeling offense is like a good old fashioned drunken salon cowboy shoot-out: the result might not always be positive, but the process is spectacular.
Overtime
“Check My $tats” of the night: Tim Duncan – 19 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 sandwich. Keep on truckin’, Timmy.
Separated at Birth of the day: James Jones and a Ninja Turtle.
K-Love has the rebounding down, but he doesn’t quite have this handshake thing down.
Speaking of love, Tim Duncan can’t get none. To the contestants on this Jeopardy: C’mon son!
I copped some back-issues including SLAM 54 with the 2001 Finals re-cap. Besides pleasantly dreaming of Diesel domination, I couldn’t help but catch that Kobe was listed at 6’7”. I had to investigate so I re-watched the entire 5-game series. Aside from noting how deceptively close the series was (and how un-deceptively terrible AI’s teammates were), it dawned on me: the ‘fro.
Okay, is someone playing a really long April Fools joke? After watching the investigative reporting of TNT’s Inside the NBA, I found out that Antonio Daniels is in the D-League. Whoever is responsible for this prank, please call it off. Daniels can still be a solid back-up point guard in the (real) league.
The best part of being a part of the SLAM team is that I am officially a journalist. Why not? I have all the requirements. Writing for a magazine – check. Owning a laptop – check. That’s pretty much all you need. So what are the perks associated with being a member of the media? My favorite by far is that I can now use “Multiple Sources“, “Sources Close to the situation”, and “Other Sources” in any article giving me instant yet vague credibility. Don’t quote me on this, but multiple sources say that it’s very likely that Carmelo Anthony might or might not be on the move this summer. Stay tuned for sketchy yet seemingly important details.
I’m out like Frobe.
