The Post Up: Smooth Spurs

by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack

Sometimes I swear that I will things to happen. Okay, okay, I know that I don’t have that kind of power, but it really does seem like when I’m talking about something, somehow my NBA night ends up involving it.

Last night, this happened twice.

After talking with a friend (shout out to @bomani_jones! If you need a radio show to listen to between the hours of 7-10 a.m. check this guy out. Seriously. He is the only talk radio I can do. And not just do/handle, but thoroughly enjoy. For real) about the Spurs and their struggles this season –I still do not like Richard Jeffferson in a San Antonio uni– naturally they’d go out and smoke the Lakers.

I also will have you know that we talked about Stephen Jackson and well, you know how that turned out last night.

So, LA was without Pau Gasol and they lost Kobe Bryant in the second half because of back spasms, but the Spurs still dominated through the first two and a half quarters. Midway through the third the Lakers showed fight and the game was much closer in the fourth than the final score showed, but Tim Duncan was fantastic, finishing with 25 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals. Tony Parker killed the Lakers in the second half with his drives to the bucket, scoring 22 points to go with six assists and while the stats don’t show it, George Hill was awesome. Stripping Kobe in the first half, dunking, hustling, battling with Ron Artest in the second half, kid had it going on.

Oh.. and his stat line was pretty nice: 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting, four rebounds, six assists and two steals in his 28 minutes. He was one of my favorites to watch at Summer League, so I’m loving the progress he’s made.

The water break thing in Memphis that required the arena to be evacuated and game to be stopped for 40 minutes was kind of insane. Sounded scary to hear the place was being evacuated because of an emergency. Thank goodness everyone was okay and it was nothing serious. While the Clippers had a huge night from Baron Davis –27 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and five steals– they were outscored 25-12 in the fourth as the Grizz got the 104-102 victory on their home floor.

We spoke about the Pistons yesterday and they were finally able to snap their 13-game losing streak last night. Against the Wizards, of course. What a mess in D.C. If I didn’t know what to say about Detroit then I sure as hell don’t know where to go to talk about the Wizards. Blatche, look at your team, man. Be quiet, work hard, earn your pay cheque and don’t make life more difficult. Mike Miller, I hope you get well soon, and I’m glad you got the haircut. Randy Foye, LOVE seeing you score 20 and dish 10 dimes… Just wish it didn’t have to be like this for you to have the ball in your hands so much. Caron, tough juice always and Antawn? Oh, Antawn. I just want you to be on a team that deserves you. You deserve more than what you’re getting from where you are right now.

Now, Stephen Whoo! Jackson. Stand up, Stack Jack fans. Our boy had a career night last night in a 102-94 victory over the Rockets. Scoring a career-high 43 points, SJax was awesome. I didn’t see it live, but caught it later on and, ohhhh love that guy. The 43 points topped his previous high of 42 that he had six years ago and it was also a Bobcats franchise single-game record.

And… In Sacramento, the Kings were sticking with the Magic until the fourth quarter came and then they kinda fell apart, allowing the Magic to outscore them 33-10 in the fourth. The win stopped Orlando’s road skid at three games as Dwight Howard scored 30 points and grabbed 16 boards, dominating the Kings inside. Vince didn’t play for Orlando, but it didn’t matter with Mickael Pietrus scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds off of the bench and Jason Williams adding 12 points and six assists in a reserve role as he returned to his old stomping ground.

As for tonight? I hope Kobe’s healthy and if he’s not, that he takes the game off against the Mavs. I hope that the Milwaukee/Portland game is fantastic and that the OKC boys keep on rolling.

What about you?