by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
They call it madness for a reason.
Tell me you at least took some of NBA Thursday off to watch some college hoops. Holy. What an opening day. I think we say/think this every year, but really, two overtime games, a double-overtime game, more than a handful of games that were decided by three points or less and a couple upsets, including Jeff Green’s beloved Georgetown. It was a great day to be an NCAA fan.
I mention Green because the Thunder are in town and I hit up their practice yesterday to talk to them about why they all get along so well. If you were wondering, Kevin Durant said his favorite player in the tourney is Evan Turner. I always wonder what it feels like as an NCAAer to hear an NBA superstar who is only a few years older than you give you love like that.
Kinda like our boy getting the quote of Kobe saying Tyreke is a grown ass man. Love that stuff.
Okay, really, I didn’t do much in the way of NBA watching. I even missed almost all of my man Stephen Jackson on Inside the NBA because my Twitter peeps failed to let me in on the secret. I was on the hook for college coverage at The Score — who, by the way, KILLED it on day one, seriously, I feel bad for everyone who isn’t in Canada and can’t watch it- so I didn’t see much, but I did hear that Dwight got T’d up and is just one away from missing a game because of the techs this year. That’s rough. I see why he gets frustrated. He’s one of the toughest guys to officiate because almost everything is a foul it’s just that contact bounces off of him. Or something like that.
Anyway, in Miami, the Heat came back from 12 down in the final five minutes to force overtime before falling to the Magic. In the extra session, it was Rashard Lewis that found himself wide-open beyond the arc and nailed a three to clinch the game for Orlando. Vince Carter finished with 27 points and six assists while Lewis had 24 points and 11 boards as the Magic survived an off-night from Dwight Howard who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 3-for-9 from the floor. Dwyane Wade played the part of Miami’s superman, scoring 36 points to go with 10 rebounds and seven assists, but he didn’t get much help outside of Jermaine O’Neal’s 14 points and five blocked shots.
In Denver, the Nuggets defeated the Hornets 93-80 thanks to a career-night from Carmelo Anthony who was all over the boards, hauling down 18 to go with his 26 points and four assists. The Nuggets won despite shooting just 2-for-14 from the three-point line. Nene added 20 points and JR Smith scored 17 off of the bench. For the Hornets, Darius Songaila had 13 points and nine boards while rookies Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison each added 15 points.
Come back soon, CP3.
Enjoy the weekend of madness, everyone. Who’ve you got winning it all?
