Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  133 responses

Post Up: Warriors Outlasting

While Chris Paul handles the Clippers.

by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack

So the Lakers lost to the Bobcats and narrowly defeated the Bucks last night (104-98). Are we really going to talk about how a team that’s one win shy of 60 isn’t that good? Their defense has looked shaky at best on this trip, but there are a lot of teams who deserve the hate a whole lot more.

Sometimes I think we get spoiled. The Lakers have a ton of things to improve on before the playoffs come, but, they don’t suddenly suck. It’s a long road trip. They lost two games. Perhaps they should be more concerned than they are, but it truly isn’t the end of the world. Yet.

Iverson saying he’d rather retire than be a reserve next season? Charlotte. Larry Brown-A.I. reunion. Please? Raja and Brown. I bet Iverson respects them both even more now than before. That would make me happy. Regardless of where he ends up, he needs to find a place because I am nowhere near ready to give him up yet.

The Raptors won again last night. This time against Orlando, in Orlando. Yup, a healthy Jose makes a huge difference. Still, it’s pretty damn frustrating watching this team look so fluid and smooth on the offensive end after the clunky year we’ve had watching here in Toronto. Yes, clunky. It’s the best descriptor I can think of for a year of bad.

I posted my interview with Raymond Felton over at The Score yesterday. Check it out if you’re a fan of Felton/Charlotte/me.

Okay, about the games last night. In the Milwaukee game, Ramon Sessions had a triple-double in the loss with 16 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds. Kobe finished with 30 for LA.

Paul Pierce scored 32 for the Celtics in that double-overtime affair as Raymond Felton had 14 points and 12 assists and Gerald Wallace finished with 20 points, 10 boards, 4 steals and a block.

The Raptors got a big win against the Magic, taking them down 99-95 as they sealed the game with a jumper from Bosh and free throws from Marion. Chris Bosh finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds and Marion added 17 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists. Dwight finished with 30 and 9 for the Magic.

The Nets bounced back from that embarrassing loss to take down the road-weary Pistons, 111-98 thanks to 19 and 11 from Devin Harris and six players finishing in double-figures including 23 from Keyon Dooling who was moved into the starting lineup as Vince was slid down to the SF position. The Pistons were led by Rip Hamilton’s 29 while Walter Hermann and Rodney Stuckey scored 16 points apiece in the loss.

Josh Howard drew a controversial charge against Mario Chalmers in the Mavs 98-96 victory over the Heat last night. Dirk Nowitzki finished with 30 points for the Mavs while Howard scored 20 and Jason Terry had 13 off of the bench. Dwyane Wade scored 23 for the Heat who also had 18 from Chalmers nd 17 off of the bench from Michael Beasley.

The Suns played the role of spoiler against the Rockets, taking them down 114-109 behind a 25-point, 17-assist night from Steve Nash. Shaquille O’Neal had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Grant Hill added 23 as the Suns shot 54% from the floor in the game. The Rockets were led by Ron Artest’s 28 points while Yao Ming had 20 and 14 and Shane Battier scored 18.

Chris Paul had 30 points, 14 assists and 6 steals as he stole the game away from the Clippers in the final minutes last night. David West scored 19 and Julian Wright had 18. Eric Gordon had 25 points to lead the Clippers as Zach Randolph scored 24 to go with 14 rebounds and Baron Davis added 13 points and 12 assists.

The Warriors took down the Kings, 143-141 in the second straight painful loss for Sacramento. This one went into overtime and the Warriors just escaped. 42 points 9 rebounds and 9 assists for Monta Ellis. That’s a nice line. 50 for Kevin Martin. One 22 shots. That’s nice, too. Jason Thompson added 14 points to go with 19 boards before fouling out and Francisco Garcia scored 22. Kelenna Azubuike had 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors.

While each of these teams are most definitely not playing for the postseason, they are still two I enjoy watching. Love watching McCants in Sacramento and of course, my Warrior guys. Even if Nellie’s all over the place with his lineups, the guys he puts out there have something to play for and I enjoy watching them.

I loved this piece on Bobby Jackson that basically said the same. Some guys are all about the game. Those are my favorite.

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  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Oh, i could have thought of that from my site. the more graphics are used on a specific page, or flash animations/vids, the slower the buildup hmm?

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    the lag’s been gone for a while now. It was around the time i first wrote about it that the slowdown occurred. Thanks Ryne.

  • http://slamonline.com/ Ryne Nelson

    Allenp, I actually began watching college as a “recruiting” tool for the NBA, if you know what I mean. It’s not bad if you look at it as a talent search.

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    It’s bad if you watch it from the standpoint of a slave auction.
    William Rhoden’s book was the final straw.

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    College basketball creeps me out.

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com DP

    Allen, I honestly wouldn’t be made if you left the game and untied your laces. I loved “A.I.” but now you are just Allen. in my eyes at least you are.

  • http://where-basketball-b-longs.blogspot.com B. Long

    @9:38am Eboy posted:”Shut the f*ck up with that ghey sh*t, Shia. Seriously. Are you a Knicks fan are you a switchout bi*ch too?” This is a man who has openly admitted to rooting for the Lakers, Bulls, and the Heat. My work here is done.

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    Isn’t everything a “slave auction” in some sense? Like med school, you dont really get to pick where you serve your residency, right? Heck, lots of jobs force you to live somewhere you might not want to live, and the owners of the business always make more than the workers. It’s the way of the evil capitalist world. And professional sports in particular has always had a lot of give-and-take: you take a lot of money and give up the right to pick where you work (and your privacy). I never read Rhoden’s book, but the title always rubbed me the wrong way.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    Essay Question: Do you think Allen Iverson would be a good fit on the Bobcats? Explain your answer.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Can somebody give me a quick rundown of what Cap has done? I don’t know anything about him personnaly other than he gets great recruiting class. I can’t say that he’s a douche just because he took a dream job for twice the money.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    I rooted for the Lakers against the Celts in the 80′s (where you even alive then?) because you know (actually you wouldn’t since your knowledge of basketball started in 1997), that’s what you were supposed to do when you were a young teen in this country to be anti-establisCeltics at the time, unless you were from Boston or by extension Indiana. I never wore a jersey or jerked off into an autographed sneaker from of it’s players, if that’s what you were implying.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    from *one of it’s players

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    I thought we were talking about college basketball, not the pros.
    In Rhoden’s book, he has a section dealing with the conveyor belt that moves kids from diapers to academic universities where they play ball. The whole system is effed up, and everybody is making good money except for the kids.
    Sure, they have an “opportunity” to get an education, but the way the system is set up, that’s not encouraged. I think college basketball is a misuse of young men of all colors and it reminds me in a way of a form of slavery. It’s not as bad as slavery, far from it, but the whole system is built on the backs of unpaid workers.

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    I’m not denying that the college basketball system is f*cked up, that’s for sure. But there’s plenty of programs that value academics: like UNC and Duke. Didn’t Dean Smith graduate ALL of his players? A lot of these kids are complicit in their own downfall. I mean, anyone who went to Cincinnati to play for Bob Huggins (for example) wasn’t looking to become a Rhodes Scholar.

  • http://web.mac.com/roaringred bbaby

    Whoa Eboy, let’s take it easy. You shouldn’t be bitter. After all, you guys did win the Finals. But you have to admit that Wade got special treatment in that series.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Isn’t $40,000,0000 “slave” a bit of a contradiction of terms? I mean, I get the analogy, but still I think its a bit of an exaggeration. Its as much cultural as it is systematic, and I’m not implying that the “system ” has no impact on the “culture” of being an (potentially professional)athelete, but its only a part.

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    Russ
    Are you arguing that teenagers groomed to be athletes since the fifth grade are complicit in what happens in the NCAA?
    Nah, I can’t agree with that.
    I can’t say they are innocent, but they are not the ones who created or promote the current system. They are typically misguided youth who believe that the NBA is the most viable career path for them despite the evidence to the contrary, and are unprepared for the rigors of college academics due to their own decisions and the choices of their elders.
    They aren’t anymore complicit than the 13-year old girls hooking up with 22-year olds on the internet.
    They are just caught up.

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    Ciolk
    It was a title to sell his book. I stopped paying attention to the title when he admitted that his publisher choice because his original “dry” title probably wouldn’t have caused as much of a stir.
    The book is a decent, not great read. I learned some new stuff, and rehashed some old stuff. I would recommend you check it out at your local library.

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com Moose

    bbaby, Wade didn’t get any more special treatment than any of the other huge stars get. You win, you get some calls. Personally, I think they called it fair, but let’s say that they didn’t for the sake of your argument. LeBron gets calls, Melo gets calls, Kobe gets calls, CP gets calls . . . if you’re good, you get the easy way out sometimes. But that’s beside the point.; I don’t think it was a “Wade love-fest”.

  • http://web.mac.com/roaringred bbaby

    Moose I see your point. Still in Games 5& 6 Wade shot only two less free throws (46 compared to 48) than the whole Dallas team combined. You can chalk it up to aggressive play by Flash, but that’s still a bunch of freebies by one guy.

  • http://where-basketball-b-longs.blogspot.com B. Long

    LOL@E:Your constant whining about the Lakers reminds me of a jilted lover who still stalks her Ex. Kind of creepy. Your constant Bush-like self contradictions sustain me, Troll King.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    In that Rockets game, the refs were stupider than Jukai’s dumb @ss! Seriously, that play by Wafer was NOT a travel. Somebody else had hit the ball before he landed. Stupid @ss Jukai-esque refs!

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Audi 5000.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Allenp: Ummm, we have a named for 13 year old girls who choose to hook up with 22 year olds… We call them Jukais. We also call them idiots (synonym). We also don’t say they’re completely innocent. We also don’t say College basketball players are SLAVES. Jeez dude, what is it with you and references to slavery? I agree, college basketball players should be paid and they ARE exploited to some extent.
    But they get free schooling. You know how expensive American Universities are without scholarships?
    They get free housing, expenses, whatever.
    They get favored by their professors (don’t think the majority of these athletes are passing their classes through hard work).
    They get exposure to scouts and the media, which allows them to show off their talent to the world.
    AND when some make it to the pros, well, you know what they get.
    So don’t give me that BS about NCAA being a “slave auction.” That does an injustice to both what slavery really was, and what college basketball really is.
    That was a long comment, but I blame Jukai for being such an @sshole.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Eboy

    I could just say I follow a winning team because you know, I’m a sheep and like to cheer for people that commit sex crimes……but yeah…..you’ve got that covered in spades, B. Why bother.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQEmmgDl9I Boing Dynasty

    @Holly, Marion actually bricked his FT’s at the end.

  • nate the great

    how come the blazers dont get any publicity?

  • http://double-technical.blogspot.com Zee!!

    The ether, still flowing this late in the day!!!!

  • http://double-technical.blogspot.com Zee!!

    Oh yeah, Lake Show all day.

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    It’s no so much that they suck, it’s that I want them to suck. Why? Because they don’t deserve a title. In last year’s playoffs, I wanted Boston to win party because I hate LA but mostly because KG and Ray Allen legitimately deserved a ring.

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    *partly

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    JR Smith is en fuego. 6/8 3 pointers and 20 points with 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter…. straight fire.

  • chintao

    As usual, Teddy is talking around the point, not directly on-topic.

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