Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 9:01 am  |  56 responses

Post Up: Grizzlies Top Cavs

The NBA gives us amazing all over the place.

by Holly MacKenzie/@stackmack

My goodness. The Raptors are in Milwaukee today. This means I’ve got writing to do, but a morning off from practice and you know what I’m going to be doing? Watching League Pass Broadband to catch all of the games I missed last night. Sounds like I missed some night.

Four games going down to the wire, not including the Raptors/TWolves game I was working. LeBron had 43 points and 13 rebounds but lost to the Grizzlies (Hi….. OJ Mayo!), the Nets got a close one against the Bulls (sorry, Russ), New Orleans squeaked by the Kings and Charlotte took down Denver. Oh yes, the Suns and Mavs had a battle to the finish with a boxscore that took me back a few seasons ago.

Want to know what I did  instead of watching these?

- watched the Raptors shoot 32 percent from the floor and still win their game against the Timberwolves.

- saw the Raptors wear their Toronto Huskies throwback jerseys.

- enjoyed Jonny Flynn’s section standing on their feet, dancing for most of the fourth quarter.

- squinted my way through a game and a game story for nba.com because I lost a contact out of my eye on my way to the game. That part wasn’t fun. Had a wicked headache by the time I was finished.

- wanted to pull my hair out when the Raptors started the game 0-for-17 from deep.

- smiled because I love this game. Even when it’s ugly as it was in Toronto last night.

One of the coolest parts of the game last night was seeing Flynn’s cheering section. You all know I’m a huge fan of his from his Syracuse days, but what’s more than that is, I love rookies. I love their excitement and passion and how everything is a “first” of sorts for them in their first season as a pro. I asked Jonny before the game if his parents were going to be in attendance and also how many times they’ve gotten to see him this season. He couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face as he said they would be there and it was their third game of the season watching him live.

Now, about these games that I missed. I’ll be watching them, but how about you fill me in on the must see plays so I can keep an eye out when I turn them on? 32 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and 11-for-11 from the free throw line for Zach Randolph looks nice on the boxscore. Rondo with a line of 11/9/13 and five steals looks nice, too. As does Kevin Garnett apparently rounding into form. Looks like Tyreke Evans is continuing to kill it for Sacramento, another 25-point, nine assist night for him.

We’ve also got to give Gerald Wallace props for killing it on the boards. Another big night with 25 points and 16 boards as the Bobcats stunned the Nuggets. I’m sure George Karl was fuming after that one.

And finally, it looks like Dwight heard everyone talking about the drop off in his blocked shots average this season. The birthday boy went out and dropped 25 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and seven blocked shots onto the Clippers last night. Beauty line. Happy Birthday, Dwight.

Oh, had my fellow writer send me this during the game last night. How’s that for some SLAM love. I think my “reporting” was in a tweet I posted pregame, but hey, kinda fun, right? Still feels wrong to me when SLAM isn’t capitalized, though.

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  • Ken

    I hope Conley starts putting it together. He’s having trouble breaking the starting lineup on the Grizzlies… and he was a lottery pick?

  • http://www.slamonline.com James the balla

    What happened to Bron dancing last night???

  • http://www.slamonline.com James the balla

    Oh yeah, that is right, a REALLY bad team beat the Cavs and I guess if he danced he would have to be up by 25?

  • http://www.slamonline.com James the balla

    I LOVE Jonny’s jumper as well … so smooth.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    James, you’d be the first one to criticize if he was dancing while the team was losing/in a tight game, am I right? WHere was Kobe’s jaw jutting and big balls dance when they lost to Denver? Was KG’s getting up in people’s face when the Celts were losing this year? That’s just plain, silly hate. Now if you would have said that Bron had a terrible game last night (even if the statline looked nice), then you would have been onto something. Total lackluster effort, careless turnovers and sporadic D at best.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    I am not a fan at all of the whole dancing thing, it’s a bit too much and he’s not even a good dancer. Corny. But to set the record straight, Myles was insinuating that he only danced against weak-ass teams and wouldn’t dare to pull that shii on the Celts or the Lakes and that proved that he was ‘scared’. Which was not true. He danced on the Celts last year and he does so whenever the Cavs are clicking.

  • MooButter

    Turnovers doomed cleveland last night…that and z-bo.

  • http://www.slamonline.com James the balla

    The big balls dance happened once, they lost. Never did it again. Bron has done it all last season, and again this season. ONLY when they are emberrassing a sh1tty team.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    ”ONLY when they are emberrassing a sh1tty team.” Didn’t you just read what I said about him doing it against Boston?

  • http://www.twitter.com/mansonovic Mansonovic

    Good evening and welcome to another episode of “Lakers Fans Have The Most Selective Memories”!

  • Bruno

    I think Memphis don’t like dancing

  • Kadavour

    please don’t start this again. instead, can we please show CRASH Wallace some love? If this man is not in the All-Star game i’m boycotting the NBA.

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    Holly, I was getting texts about your little fantasy injury scoop too. Great work!

  • http://hoopmixtape.ning.com/ Simon S.Y Lawy

    Queen Lebrick SUCK

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    Get ‘em, James!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    Queen Lebrick suck! Yeah!

  • http://www.mybleedingfingertips.blogspot.com/ Myles Brown

    “And here we….GO!”

  • Jacqueline Mitchell

    I was very impressed with the Memphis Grizzlies win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. They got stoopped cold last night. Whoo!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    You too Simon! LeBron sucks! Love it!

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Simon obviously didn’t get the memo. The jumper has been fixed. You have to b-tch about the post-up game now. Step your game up, son.

  • Peter

    big balls, shimmy, shaq stiff armed run can not be compared to lebron’s dancing…they are all post play celebrations that can be done while running back on D…the dance is lame. Lebron is great, he should come up with something better if he wants to showboat.

  • LA Huey

    Only caught the highlights but it looked like the Grizz were clutch last night.

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    Wow. I think I need to get Twitter and add Holly now. Clutch updates!
    On another note, for like a good 5 minutes for some reason, Yahoo! sports boxscore last night had Cleveland win the game. I guess they thought Lebron’s shot went in. But then I checked on again and the score was corrected.

  • http://www.twitter.com/mansonovic Mansonovic

    For the record, I totally agree with Kadavour. Wallace is potentially one concussion away from being done, yet he’s still crashing boards to lead the league in rebounds AS A SMALL FORWARD! Show the man some love!

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    And yea Holly, I watched the Raptors game too. Although both teams had pretty horrible shooting percentages, you can either say 1) they played good defense for once, or 2) both teams can’t shoot. lol

  • http://www.slamonline.com James the balla

    Gerald Wallace is dope. Too bad he plays for the Bobcats.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    Hi Holly.

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

    Ryan is doing the Electric Bugaloo all over the comments section.

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    Lebrick Shames suckssssss

  • http://juan.garcia@computershare.com That’sWhatSheSaid

    The Cavs need a new system. LeBron has outrageous numbers because he always has the ball in his hands. Don’t give me none of this “they don’t have talent other than James”. How are they if they barely get a whiff of the ball. Basketball is a game best served when the ball is moving around the perimeter and inside and out. To have one guy hold on to on almost every possession is asking for playoff failure. So you get what you see with the Cavs. They need a Larry Brown type coach to show them the right way to play basketball.

  • http://myspace.com/brandnew Bryan

    Tyreke Evans is a beast. Not a point guard but a beast nonetheless.

  • http://slamonline.com Holly MacKenzie

    Hi, Ryan. I don’t like the dancing much, but I still love LeBron. Ben, that’s so fun, I love that Twitter makes this stuff happen!

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    I must’ve been watching a different LeBron James playing last night, because the one I saw scored 43 points and suffered through another loss due to his playbook being the hands of the most incompetent coach in the NBA. Oh yeah, if he would’ve faded away on one foot and used glass on that last shot, he would’ve hit it. Ask Kobe.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    that’swhatshesaid, the numbers are outrageous because he’s just that good. the 40-point games come out of necessity when the other guys aren’t stepping up (i.e., Orlando series). bron was averaging like 14 a game for the past 4 games when they were clubbering teams. guys missed shots at the rim yesterday, it happens. i was more concerned by the fact that bron is kinda sloppy with the ball so far. not meeting passes but just waiting for them to come to him. and the intensity is not there on 1vs1, getting bodied by rudy freaking gay on dribble-drives is unacceptable.

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    Rudy Gay was D-ing him up on a couple of possessions last night, but Dude still had 43.

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    Holy christ, why do people STILL believe Lebron has the ball in his hands the entire friggin’ game? The myth is as outdated as the myth that KOBE has the ball in his hands the entire game. NEITHER OF THEM DO THAT ANYMORE! Both of them spend the MAJORITY OF THE GAME OF THE BALL! Both teams would probably BENEFIT FROM THEIR SUPERSTARS TOUCHING THE BALL MORE!
    Stop!
    Please!
    Just watch a damn game!

  • http://slamonline.com Holly MacKenzie

    LeBron is pretty great. I don’t think anyone should ever try to deny that because they just look silly.

  • Vish

    Lebron is great..and he got the ball a little too deep otherwise that three looked on point. The dancing is something he does…he does not look at it as showboating I guess…just him having fun. Maybe that is how the new generation of players think. I always believed that you show your opponent respect, no matter if you are up by 40, 4 or down by 10. That is the right way to play the game or at least used to be. I think Lebron will also realize this the more years he spends in the league. He just needs to understand that a whole generation of up and coming kids from all over the world look upto him and this is not something that they should be emulating…

  • Brian

    It is kind of hard to take the Griz seriously since they decided to try and win instead of making sure that AI was happy. Idiots.

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    Co-sign Mansovic.
    lol @ Ryan
    Myles wins for a Joker reference.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    LeBron James IS the Cleveland Cavaliers. Just ask Mo Williams.

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    If good ball movement and a fluid offense CONSISTENTLY leads to 15 point first half leads, why would the same not be true in the 2nd half?
    Why would those principles not work when the game is tied with 8 minutes left? It just makes no sense. Cavs don’t get 20 point 1st half leads by giving the ball to LeBron and saying “Go!,” so why do it in the 4th quarter CONSTANTLY?
    That is, by far, the most frustrating aspect of the Cavaliers, and it has been for the last half-decade.

  • http://Vikturus Vikturus

    What you wanna see from grizz-cavs was Hadidi picking up his offensive rebound and faking the shot before dunking it on shaq, and shaq returning the favour a few possessions later by dunking it right over Hadidi (without getting Hadidi up in the air first, like shaq was the earlier play)

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

    This is probably the first time and will probably be the last time we see Mike Conley’s picture on the Post Up. Unless, of course, we find out he had relations with Tiger.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    ^lmao

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

    Bobcats are 7th in the east, and have beaten the Cavs (no dancing for lebron that game!), Atlanta, and now Denver. But we lost to the Nets. LOL

  • A

    the grizzlies are very underestimated! i am a grizz fan and have been for a while now and i see big changes for this team. that’s not the only “surprising win” they’re gonna get this season!

  • LeoneL

    Crash must be thinking that he’s Ben, not Gerald the way he’s been crashing boards.

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    I’m so f*cking done with the Cavaliers. This game really sucked my willpower to continue to defend and root for them. Down by 7 in the fourth with seven minutes to go, they take OUT LEBRON JAMES TO GIVE HIM A MINUTE AND A HALF REST? Of course, five quick points in a minute and a half by the Rockets puts the game out of reach for the Cavaliers. I’m in utter shock about this. Kobe would not allow himself to be taken out of the game.

  • J

    @Anton: +++++++1000

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