Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am  |  123 responses

The Post Up: 2010, Baby

Nate, Kobe, Allen, Chris. It’s gonna be a good year.

by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack

Happy, happy Monday, people. First Monday of 2010. Crazy. Happy New Year to you all. Hope you were safe and had a great finish to 2009 and are ready to make 2010 even better. I know I am.

Well, what can I say about weekend games when we’ve got this Washington Wizards drama going on? I don’t really wanna comment on it in here without having the time/space/proper info to really delve into it, but I do want to say that if I could have done anything last night, it would have been to go to Gil’s house and smash his computer for him. I know he doesn’t have an agent, but he’s gotta have friends or someone who can tell him the tweeting isn’t a good idea right now.

I wish it could just be Gilbert Arenas being Gil on Twitter, but with everything else going on… There are still so many unknowns with this situation that we’ll have to see how it all shakes out. It felt weird having just written about Crittenton on his birthday, which was New Years Eve, and then for this story to unfold late that night after Critt has been basically entirely out of the spotlight all season long.

I wish the best for both of these players, and everyone else in the league. I hope it gets sorted out swiftly and soundly.

Now, onto the best story of 2010, so far. On Friday night in Atlanta, exactly one month and/or 14 games since Nate Robinson had gotten off of the bench for the New York Knicks, Mike D’Antoni finally threw him into the game. I don’t think any of us expected what happened next. Somehow, Nate was still totally in game shape, played 38 minutes and scored 41 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished eight assists and had a steal. 11 of his points were in the overtime session where the Hawks were unable to keep up with the Knicks and New York took down Atlanta, thanks to Nate Rob.

The best statement Nate could make was with his game and he punctuated it with an exclamation point. I was happy for him. It was exciting. Hope you saw it!

I also hope you saw Kobe against Sacramento on Friday night. Jesus, Kobe. He was wild with that game-winning three, but how the hell do you leave that man open? Of all players on the court, of all players in the league, you don’t allow Kobe to get breathing room, let alone the time/space the Kings gave with the game on the line in LA without Tyreke Evans in the lineup. The Kings were awesome, but Kobe was simply great.

Allen Iverson helping the Sixers to a victory in Denver last night just felt right. Sure, they were without Chauncey and Carmelo and on the second night of a back to back, but it was still a big victory for Philadelphia and it had to feel good for Allen. Iverson finished with 17 points and seven assists as the Sixers survived a late push by Denver to pull out the victory. The Nuggets lost despite shooting 53 percent from the floor as they shot just 58 percent from the free throw line.

The Bobcats got the 91-88 victory against the Cavs in Cleveland one night after getting another road win in Miami. Back to back road wins was a huge step for a team that had just one win on the road all season long before this weekend. Charlotte was able to grind out the victory and breathe easy after LeBron James missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Bron had 29/7/6 in the loss. Gerald Wallace scored 19 points to go with 12 boards in the victory for the Bobcats.

Congratulations go out to Chris Bosh for passing Vince Carter and becoming the franchise’s all-time scoring leader last night in a 91-86 victory over the Spurs. Tim Duncan came off of the bench for just the second time in his career, as Gregg Popovich wanted him to rest the first quarter and be fresh for the fourth after he had played extended minutes the night before in a victory against Washington.

With the Spurs unable to make free throws, the Raptors took the W and Bosh was happy to have the win under his belt so he could celebrate his milestone.

I don’t really have words for the Lakers/Dallas game or the New York/Indiana game…. Indy and Dallas didn’t really show up and each lost by a gazillion points. NYK defeated Indiana 132-89 (seriously) and the Lakers took down Dallas 131-96. David Lee had 22 and 16 and our boy Nate came back down to planet Earth, shooting 2-for-11 after his big night in Atlanta.

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  • james

    Kobe haters get sprayed like afrosheen Ya herd!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    Quit hating on Kobe he is clearly more clutch then LeBron. If LeBron took jumpers in the clutch his clutch stat or whatever that stupid 24 seconds or less on the clock stat is would be way lower. Ask any coach who would you want the last shot Kobe or LeBron that answer would be Kobe. If Kobe was on the Cavs he’d be doing 35 ppg again.

  • http://www.luketynan.blogspot.com litetitan

    Hello room: question.
    ___
    Can anyone explain what Mike D’Antoni is doing?

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Mike D’Antoni knows his offense will work, he is just too stubborn to listen to anyone else. In other words, he is either gonna do it his way or it wont get done

  • L

    Joel O’s, all your stats are bananas. If your life was depending on one play, one shot. You’d take kobe anytime. The guy hit three game winning shots in 29 days. i haven’t seen lebron doin it once this year. Those shots are the difference between great and the greatest..L

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    @L: What stats? I don’t recall quoting any stats. And well, I *did* agree with you, I’d pick Kobe to take that shot.

  • J

    Charlotte looks pretty good.. damn, i hate that we lost to them, but they’re really SOLID. crash for all star.! seriously Shaq needs more touches 5 fg attempts last game.. FIVE! i know i know the guy is what he is.. but he’s more than capable of what he’s currently producing. back to CHA: that haslem for Dj would even make them tough.. and welcome to chicago dwade? hmm. i still think Riley has something out on his sleeve..

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    Manu is $tatistically more clutch than any player in the L.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Mike D’Antoni is refusing to play his rookies, most notably Toney Douglas, who scored 21 points early on in the season and then rode the pine until now.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    manu is probably statistically more injured than 98.87543%ish players from argentina

  • J

    the cavs really need that solid 4 aside from varejao.. man, i’m finished with JJ, forget the fast start, i won’t mind trading him, if he’s really something worth the wait he should be consistent double digit scorer right now. package him with Z, though I’m hoping they could buyout Z for us to get him back. (still hoping for a troy Murphy/antawn Jamison/Caron butler) winks.

  • J

    and where the hell is boobie gibson?

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    I’d really be more comfortable if the Cavs would add one more scorer. you know that Bron gon brin it everytime but Mo is a question mark. With a Jamison to take off some of the scoring load, it’s championship time.

  • http://dsjfhklf.com Jukai

    I’d just like to add that I’ve seen the Cavaliers lose a couple of games because James drove and left 3-5 seconds left on the clock instead of taking a buzzer beater. Not saying take a contested jumper at the buzzer is a better option, but it’s not black and white…

  • Gary

    My argument would be that,
    we know Kobe and LeBron will be the one who make plays for their team at clutch time, Kobe going for last second shots and converting some of them, while James look for high percentage shots, laying it up and drawing contact, and when he don’t get it he passes out to teammates who may or may not make the shots.
    As they are the playmakers in clutch time, why don’t we compare their teams’ winning% in close games or maybe the points per possession of their respective team under such circumstances?

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    You know what, Gary… that’s makes way too much sense. They play to win the games, right? (shout out to herm edwards)

  • http://slamonline.com Niya-girl-fresh

    Yall need to stop referring to ESPN’s useless statline, “The most clutch with 2 seconds left”? Who actually takes the timeout to focus on that? What matters is field goal shooting and winning the game. Kobe is a head of LeBron in that category for sure.

    You guys need to go to NBA.com and look at Kobe’s shot chart compared to LeBrons, his is a lot better and doing it with a busted shooting hand he had to adjust to, now check those stats lmao!!

    I love Kobe haters they make him want to get better, and that’s scary.

  • http://slamonline.com Niya-girl-fresh

    Nba.com, ESPN.com, Sportscenter.com, Slamonline.com, youtube shoot everywhere you find the same kind of people under every Kobe article. Learn how to separate the player from the person, and your personal feelings, from actual emotion of the game fellas. It’s been 14 seasons with the same mess let it go.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    As someone who’s followed and cheered for Kobe Bryant for essentially half my life – and his entire career, I’d like to ask those of you Kobe “fans” out there (who stupidly denounce every tiniest bit of criticism against Kobe, whether warranted or not, as “hating”) a question: where the heck were you people between 2004-2007, during the Kwame/Smush years? Because it seems like after the Lakers’ recent championship, you guys seem to really have gotten a lot more courageous. It must have been great during 2004-2007 for you guys, hopping from one bandwagon to the next (Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, etc.) while Kobe dragged flawed Laker teams into the playoffs, despite the inevitability of losing against far superior teams.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Being a fan doesn’t just mean supporting your hero and being stupidly blind to his faults. It means accepting them and supporting him in *spite* of them. There are a lot of die-hard Laker fans on this forum who I’m sure are really embarrassed by the numbingly idiotic sheep who’ve hopped onto the Laker bandwagon since they signed Pau. You guys see Kobe as this faultless, perfect, super-clutch, super-smart unstoppable player who’s the epitome of a basketball player and a teammate. Guess what? He’s not. He’s a bit of a nerd, he spent the first half of his career trying way too hard to emulate MJ, he has the same occasionally-grating superstar ego Shaq and Lebron has, he’s made a ton of mistakes off the court in spite of trying his darndest not to, he came off the Karl Malone drama looking insecure. He sulks, pouts, and until recently, used to be a very exacting teammate (ask Kwame). But in spite of all of these flaws and mistakes, and more importantly, BECAUSE of them, Kobe has become the best player in the league right now.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Since Kobe won the title last summer, you guys have been especially bold in proclaiming him the undisputed best player on earth. And who can argue with that – he’s world champion! So it’s easy and convenient to support him now, and call everyone who doesn’t agree with you “haters”. Just know that your ignorant arrogance and blind faith in your team and hero doesn’t glorify them – it only cheapens their struggle, and puts real fans who’ve followed their team through thick and thin to shame. It’s probably even worse for Celtics die-hards who lived through the Rick Fox / Dino Radja / Toine / etc. decades who suddenly have to put up with the explosion of fake-ass wannabe massholes.

  • Mvp23100

    Deep cosign

  • J

    i’m with you Z, the only thing drawing me back for Jamison is age and contract. but eff that, we want to win now!

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