Three games, three blowouts, not even one amazing individual night from any one player. Fri-Day and our trip to Vegas can’t come soon enough. Lang is already trying to get me and Khalid fighting with each other. He told Khalid that I don’t think Mary J Blige is the undisputed greatest R&B icon of her generation and somehow things got heated in the SLAMdome. Truthfully, it was not an argument that I was interested in having, but the Passion of the Salaam made me turn it up a notch and there was hostility. Ben wasn’t around for that part of the day, so he missed all the “fireworks.” Lang said something negative about Shakira. He’s lucky Omar wasn’t there to hear that. I repeat: FRI-DAY can not come soon enough. In other news MILD SPOILER WARNING: 24 was good. END OF SPOILER.
DENVER 123 GOLDEN STATE 111
From Golden State’s perspective, all you need to know is that Stephen Jackson arrived late to the game because of his hearing earlier in the day (where the other guy’s brilliant attempt at saying that he turned into a hit and run driver in self defense, didn’t work out so well) and quickly picked up a tech. Baron Davis underwent knee surgery. They were down by 24 in the fourth quarter. There was no Baron or Iverson. The best PG in the game was Steve Blake with 13 assists. Let’s talk Denver. A three game winning streak after possibly hitting rock bottom. J.R. Smith had one of his “Good J.R.” nights where he can actually hit a shot, this time going off for 28 hitting 6 of 11 from three. One of those 11 was a 27 footer with the Nuggets up by 19 in the fourth. How J.R. Smith of him. Carmelo had 28 of his own before leaving with a thigh bruise. Al Harrington led the Pacers Warriors (my bad. What team is he on again? Who? What? Huh?) with 24 and 8 and their second leading scorer was… Kelenna Azubuike with 23.
DETROIT 92 LA CLIPPERS 74
The Pistons won their seventh in a row, taking advantage of Elton Brand’s absence. Back spasms, sit down. The Chris Webber signing has done more for Detroit than any free agent signing over the summer. I’d even go so far as to say that he’s done more for the Pistons than his ex-teammate Allen Iverson has done for the Nuggets. Different roles and expectations and most importantly conferences, but it’s true. Since moving him into the starting lineup, the Pistons are 11-2. The Clips were down 27-23 after the first quarter and it all went downhill from there. They never cracked the 20 point mark in any of the remaining three quarters. Webber led the Pistons with 19 and 9. Corey Maggette started and played 37 minutes. I guess him and Big Dun made up, or it could have something to do with Elton’s injury. Tim Thomas shot 3 of 13, including 3 of 10 from three. New Orleans is now just a half game behind the Clippers for the 8th seed.
UTAH 102 ATLANTA 76
The Jazz handled Lang’s team without much of a fight, even with Memo Okur dealing with a stomach bug. Lang’s parting gift are these words of genius from Jerry Sloan “We need everybody out there. We can’t continue to survive with guys playing so-so and then having guys out of the lineup. We’re just not that good.” Utah is 5-1 since Boozer broke his leg. The quote from Atlatna’s Mike Woodson was vintage Hawks coach speak “Our team didn’t come to compete tonight. We were a non-factor from beginning to end.” Rafael Araujo busted up Marvin Williams’s nose with a forearm and was sent to the locker room for it, and this allegedly is the second time these two have had an incident like this, with the first one taking place in the summer league. Memo led the Jazz in scoring with 19, and this was a nice relaxing blowout win for a team that goes down to the wire every night.
