by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
Man, alive. It’s been a wild weekend of basketball.
Let’s start out by sending some well wishes to Chris Paul who has to get arthroscopic surgery on his knee to repair a tear in his meniscus. I know what everyone is going to say, but they’ve got to move those cameramen sitting baseline. They’ve got cameras with zoom on them, they can be pushed back a bit. I know people pay lots of money for those seats, but dammit, is it going to take a star taking a season-ending injury before they think about it?
Okay, sorry for the rant.
Since we’re talking about the Hornets, holy rookie love. Darren Collison started in place of Chris Paul on Saturday night and he led the Hornets to an overtime victory against the Memphis Grizzlies. 17 points, six rebounds and 18 assists. Oh, yes. The rookie was killing.
That’s awesome.
Here in Toronto, the Raptors went up by 16 in the third quarter against the Pacers and then, of course, allowed them to come back and tie the game at 97. For the final 7:21 of the game, Indiana had just one made field goal and allowed the Raptors to finish on a 20-5 run. Yeah. That was the ball game. Give me a heart attack, make me scrap my story in the fourth and have to start over, then pull out the victory. Sounds about right for the Raps.
The win was their fifth straight and Bosh had another monster night, finishing wth 26 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots. Dude’s good. Really, really good.
You know who else is good? Kobe Bryant. Overcoming an awful night from the floor, a sprained ankle and Lord only knows how many other ailments, Kobe hit the game-winning shot for the Lakers. In Boston. Oh, the game meant more than the Lakers will let on. What did you think of the offensive foul that was called on Paul Pierce when Ron Artest ended up five-deep in the crowd near the end of the game? I didn’t see the game live, only saw the highlights afterwards and I’m still not sure what I think.
I almost get disappointed every time Ray Allen misses a big three. It’s just more fun when he makes them and lives up the rep of being that clutch amazing shooter, you know?
Going back to Saturday night, um… Andre Miller scoring 52 points. Two shy of the Blazers franchise record held by Damon Stoudamire. Yeah. The guy was unconscious against the Mavs and yet, somehow they allowed him to get the ball again and again. Craziest part, he attempted (and made) just one 3-pointer and only shot eight free throws. That’s INSANE for a 50-point night. As I’ve been saying for awhile, the NBA Gods reward you when you stay home on the weekend to watch bball.
In Cleveland, LeBron James showed how insanely good he is, scoring 23 points in the opening 12 minutes as he helped the Cavs go up 46-20 at the end of the first quarter against the Clippers. Didn’t see a second of this one, but looks like I didn’t need to, as Cleveland owned the game from the jump. Bron finished with 32 points and 11 assists. Shaq had 16 and 12. Baron scored 30 for the Clippers, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Cleveland hit 16 3-pointers and shot 60 percent beyond the arc.
The poor Nets lost another close one, this time to the Sixers, falling 83-79.
Steve Nash had 11 points, eight rebounds and 16 assists, Amar’e Stoudemire scored 36 points to go with 11 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns were able to take down the Rockets in Houston, 115-111 in overtime. It looked as though Aaron Brooks was going to give the Rockets extra life when he perfectly missed (sounds weird, but really, it was perfect), a free throw intentionally and jumped in to get the offensive rebound, but was called for a lane violation.
Efficiency line of the night: Kevin Durant: 45 pts, 16-21 fgs, 2-3 3pt fgs, 11-11 fts, 11 rebs 2 asts, 2 stls.
My goodness. Kevin Durant is a ballllllller. That’s a ridiculous line and I love it. Love OKC, who took down Golden State 112-104 on KD’s big night. Russell Westbrook also had 28 points and eight assists.
Okay, okay. Bedtime for me. I know there’s a ton of other things I haven’t mentioned yet, but it’s getting late over here and I’m a little scared my brain is going to do something silly like type “phased” instead of “fazed” or something. Haha. I’ll catch you guys later.
