Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  75 responses

Post Up: James Tops Wade

And CP3 comes up big in Portland.

by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack

LeBron James. Dwyane Wade. LeBron James. Dwyane Wade.

LeBron James.

After Wade went off in the first half, scoring a season-high 30 for a half on just 12 field goal attempts, he kind of disappeared. Okay, the Cavs doubled and instead of disappearing, he missed a bunch of free throws, scored just two more points and then after doing some good things on defense, inexplicably decided to attempt a lazy behind-the-back pass on the Heat’s final possession and –of course– Bron got the steal.

It was a little scary to see Wade and Bron both on the floor, slow to get up after Wade fouled LeBron after the steal. With the game on the line, LeBron hit both free throws to give the the Cavs the 92-91 lead and Wade’s three at the buzzer was off. Wade finished with 32 points, but missed a pair of free throws with under a minute in the game and really, really screwed up when he made that silly pass.

James finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Wade had 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals in the loss. While the game slowed down in the second half until the final few minutes, the first half, especially the second quarter, was just awesome. Two stars going back and forth, one for one. It was really fun to watch.

26 points for Danny Granger as the Pacers took down the Sixers, 109-98. I don’t think I saw a minute of this game. Watching Philly just kind of stresses me out. I feel like they should be so much better than they are. I don’t know what to think about these Andre Iguodala trade rumors, either.

The Clippers put up a fight against the Celtics in Boston as they tried to get the season sweep, but fell 95-89. Kevin Garnett looked good, finishing with 17 points on 7-for-12 field goals and a huge slam that erased some of the memories I’ve got of a creaky-kneed KG from the start of this season. Rondo was solid again in a battle with Baron Davis, finishing with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting to go with seven rebounds, 12 assists and four steals. Davis led the Clippers with 16 points and seven assists. Ricky Davis had 13 off of the bench and I can’t seem to get used to Ricky still playing and scoring in the NBA. Makes me think of Scoop J. and that triple-double attempt against the Jazz.

In Memphis, the Grizz picked up their 11th straight home win and took down the Magic, 99-95. Zach Randolph had another strong, strong game as All-Star weekend approaches, finishing with 23 points and 19 rebounds in the victory. Dwight Howard had 27 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots, but it wasn’t enough for the Magic who continue to try and figure it out. Was happy to see Howard make his free throws, shooting 9-for-11 at the line.

VC had 15 points on 15 field goal attempts and once again had more fg attempts than Dwight. What do you think about that, Magic fans? I know Dwight’s at the line, so he’s getting touches, but do you like how VC fits into your offense?

The Hawks outlasted the Rockets, 102-95 and Josh Smith had 22 points to go with 10 boards, four steals and four blocked shots. He also had two more eyebrows than his head coach. For some reason, Mike Woodson showed up to the game sans eyebrows. Like, seriously, he didn’t have any eyebrows. He didn’t offer an explanation for it, either. Perhaps he lost a bet? Either way, his team got the W so they had other things to talk about.

Bulls over Spurs! Bet Russ Bengtson was happy… and his mother –a Spurs fan– was not.

Didn’t see this one, but looks like it was close throughout with the Bulls hanging on, thanks to a jumper from Derrick Rose to take the lead and a pair of made free throws from Joakim Noah. Blocking Manu, scrapping down the stretch, the Bulls pulled out the 99-93 victory. Rose finished with 27 points and six assists despite missing shootaround with flu-like symptoms and Kirk Hinrich added 18. TP had 20 points and eight assists to lead the Spurs.

Goran Dragic has come out of nowhere….. He wasn’t able to give the Suns the win against the Jazz as they fell 124-115, but the second year player scored 32 points on 10-for-13 shooting in 31 minutes off of the bench. Not bad for a guy I just couldn’t get a feel for last year.

A big reason why the Jazz got their 26th victory of the season was the 20-20 night from Carlos Boozer who finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds. Deron Williams added 18 points and 11 assists and Andrei Kirilenko scored 25.

While Charlotte has been hanging tough lately and have impressed people in 2010, the Nuggets on their homefloor were too much for the Bobcats to handle taking them down, 104-93. While Nene couldn’t hit a layup to save his life and JR Smith’s shot continued to be MIA (5-for-14 fgs, 2-for-9 from three), Chauncey Billups was once-again Mr. Dependable, scoring 27 points to go with 11 assists as Arron Afflalo scored a career-high 24 points with Melo sitting the game out after spraining his ankle Saturday night.

While I enjoyed Miami/Cleveland a lot, I think my game of the night was in Portland as the Blazers fell just short against the Hornets, falling 98-97 after a Jerryd Bayless missed jumper at the buzzer. Trailing by 16 early, the Blazers fought back to take the lead at the break and the second half of this one was back and forth throughout until Chris Paul hit a jumper with 3.8 seconds remaining. Without Brandon Roy, the Blazers went to Bayless and he was unable to deliver the game winner. Paul finished with 24 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists and five steals. Monster night. Marcus Thornton added 19 points and David West added 18 points to go with seven rebounds. Juwan Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 16 points apiece.

How impressive has Portland been throughout this season with the injuries and setbacks? Perfect example of a franchise working it’s way through the ups and downs of a season. Love watching them play. I think I just love Portland. I’ve got this love affair with a city I’ve never been to. If you’ve been to Portland, tell me about the city I so desperately want to visit.

If you saw the Heat game, do tell me: Was Wade trying to make a behind-the-back pass or was he just dribbling behind his back? It’s still kinda perplexing me and I’ve got wrestling on my sports channel rather than highlights right now. Eeeps.

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  • vtrobot

    it’s nice to have KG back. dude seemed mentally unstable towards the end of the game. granted it was the banged up clippers, but with kg back, it think it’s a lot easier for the C’s to adopt the attitude that they’re not going to lose the game, and then play accordingly. rondo should be starting in the ASG. nice going, “fans.”

  • http://www.slamonline.com T-Money

    he should just lose the headband altogether. too gimmicky for a star of his magnitude.

  • Royal

    @Anton – yea ha ha I noticed that on Christmas lol… I wonder if he’s gonna jus go bald. Like MJ did ?

  • http://www.myspace/nathanjames101.com nate the great

    yeah portland is amazing. i live in canby oregon, which is like 45 mins away from portland.
    i go to a lot of games, and im so happy to see batum back. batum is my favorite blazer.
    and i think bayless shoulda kept driving to the hoop instead of the stop and pop.
    but if you were visiting portland on none basketball related issues. (just for fun) it isnt all the great.

  • http://nicekicks.com meloMan2.0

    This is totally irrelevant but…. If Dwill doesnt make the All Star game this year than its safe to say the league is fu(ked..

  • http://www.slamonline.com T-Money

    you dont say

  • http://digitalthread.com AlbertBarr

    nate the great…you said portland is amazing unless you arent going to see the blazers and then it isnt that great? Aside from that not making sense, I wonder why you still live in a suburb of the damn city if you dont like it? Personally, I think Portland is pretty cool…I am relatively half way between P-town and SF and they are both fun places to visit. I would gladly live in either place if I had to.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    KG is insane. When he went crazy at the end of the game, after running down Baron Davis on the fast break, even his teammates were shocked. They were like “Dude, it’s the Clippers.”

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    thanks for the love for the Blazers Holly. I havent even been to the US (european hoops fan here) and somehow I feel fascinated by the Trail Blazers. they would chalenge LA Denver and Dallas with th full roster! you better bealive it! next season, here they come!!! but sneaking into the playoffs in the tough West would be invaluable experince, also LaMarcus, ATTACK THE F#CKING BASKET TO SHOOT FREEBIES LIKE DAVID WEST!

  • anton

    T-Money he is wearing it to cover his advancing baldness….i guarantee it

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Lamarcus Aldridge needs to touch and shoot the ball more. He’s only averaging 13.7 FGA per game. Come on big fella, get mean!

  • Johnson

    Portland is a great city, i’d have to say living in the northwest all of my life that its by far the best city in Oregon/Washington/Idaho/Utah, great mix of big city culture with small town charm. It has all of the pros of seattle without the obscene amount of mills and grungy industry not only making the city ugly but i can’t stand the smell of large portions of sea-tac. Also teddy, L.A. has admitted this himself although watching him play is evidence enough, he is not a clutch player whatsoever. I love l.a.’s game aside from low defensive tenacity but he gets really hesitent in the 2nd half and even more in the 4th. He reminds me a lot of a young sheed with a better head on his shoulders, he is a player you would love to have on your team but you can see he doesn’t respond well to pressure and having to be the go to guy just like wallace but i think if he keeps working on his game and as long as roy is healthy he’ll be a great compliment player. The most obvious example of how late game situations affect his performace is the play calling down the stretch, most teams would run off high pick and rolls repeatedly having a pf that skilled but nate lets the backcourt drive for fts instead.

  • T-Money

    I used to be the biggest KG fan ever back in HS. He has completely turned me off though. He is prolly the biggest front runner in the L, always barking when Boston is up but nowhere to be found when the team is trailing. That’s when PP and Ray Ray take over.

  • Hangtime Hec

    Well I wasnt saying it was fair Eboy. Its just great inspired basketball to watch. And lmao at Darksaber. Ugh I hate that moniker.

  • Jesse

    Several issues with bron/wade joining the same team, none bigger than:

    – They play virtually the same game, dominate the ball and volume shoot/pass. Both teams offense is completely structured around them. They can’t both play that game on the same team – ONE will have to accept the lesser role – what have we seen that makes us think one would do that. This in no way resembles a MJ/Scottie pairing unless one player completely overhauls their style of play.

    – The idea that Bron couldn’t win without Wade, does anyone think this will be acceptible? This isn’t exactly a teaming with a star that is clearly of lesser standard (ie Gasol). It is two relative peers joining, does anyone think these two want to share the credit?

  • http://www.slamonline.com melvin ely

    @johnson: That ‘Sheed comparison with Lamarcus is spot on. I think that like ‘Sheed, LA is that kind of dude that needs to be extremely motivated to step his game up, like getting matched up against great post up guys from the opposing team, just like Rasheed. I remember a game where someone mentioned to him how ‘soft’ his game was, then he proceeds to hang something like 36 points (can’t completely recall tho). The blazers offense confuses me. They run such a slowdown type of offense yet depend heavily on their guards and wingmen, but can’t seem to run anything for LA, who is a remarkable post up guy. And Portland seems like a cool laid back town, looks like a nice place to raise a fam and stuff. Why is it called Stumptown again?

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Good points, Johnson and melvin.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    I think Aldridge will be one of those players who ups his game during the postseason. He’s getting better at rebounding too, despite his drop off in points.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Jesse: Good point, but Bron and Wade could BOTH sacrifice. There doesn’t always have to be a clear-cut Captain on each team. Bron and Wade are both unselfish players with great court vision–they would thrive off passing to each other. I think it could definitely work, because both guys have shown that they respect each other enough to share the credit.
    Now, if people were speculating say, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant pairing together, it would be a different story altogether.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Which leads me thinking: Imagine how good the Orlando Magic would have been if T-Mac was in his prime and Grant Hill was still healthy? Wow.

  • The D Train

    I live just across the river from Portland. Great city. Very liberal in the sense that they love and accept anyone and anything. Save the exorbitant prices, my family would live there instead of across the bridge.

    As for the game, and the Blazers in general: I was at the game last night and there was not a single time that Aldridge impressed me, as per usual. He is so lackadaisical as a second banana. I actually think he’d be best served as the third or fourth option on a team. His propensity for shooting mid-range jumpers and avoiding contact is almost embarrassing for someone of his size and skill-level. The Blazers close-game offense with Roy out is non-existent. They were seriously going to Juwan Howard and ‘Dre Miller post-up / turn-around’s in the clutch. Not a pretty sight for Blazer fans.

  • http://jayemmbee.blogspot.com ClutchPerformer

    i was so hoping Wade would beat them, but he had to get fancy

  • J

    wade and bron won’t exist unless its the Olympics.(where there are other ego’s too) but IF and only IF they play together, just like what Myles said it won’t be on the others current team. that leaves NY as the biggest possibility for both. they woudnt want to be on LA’s other team and under bryant. the nets are still trying to get out of NJ. and they’ll be forever in the shadow of MJ if they play Chicago. but i highly doubt they will play together.

  • J

    the best thing here is that we won the last two games by SOLID DEFENSE.

  • WOODY

    I agree with Jesse. I don’t believe Lebron and Wade could coexist because both consider themselves #1 and neither would take second place. Would also be bad for the league, since one team would dominate, and it would prevent great Wade – Lebron battles for the next 8 or 10 years. Think Lebron stays put. Mo, Varajao and Delonte trio are much better than someone suggested and Hickson, Jawad, and Danny Green are coming on strong unless they’re traded for someone better like Jameson. Lebron really likes all his teammates and likes going HOME at night – not to some apartment in NY no matter how good the view. Ferry will add a good piece and Lebron stays put – I think.

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