Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 9:09 am  |  77 responses

Big Wins, Blowout Losses

And I’m seeing red and hearing Drake.

by Holly McKenzie / @stackmack

Well, gonna deviate from standard form a bit here today. I took a complete night off from the NBA. Almost. The Raptors had their Red Party last night, which is a fundraiser for the MLSE’s Team Up foundation. I went not as media but as a guest and had a wonderful time. The surprise of the night came when we found out that Drake had been flown in to perform for the crowd of 800.

It was pretty great. Having him home in Toronto, performing for such an intimate group of people, repping the Raptors, it was lovely. Lovely because it made me think –as always– how thankful I am to get to do something I truly love with every ounce of my heart. Lovely because, I can only imagine how much of a whirlwind these past two years have been for Drake and how he is living his dream. Sure, his may involve lots of money, cars, clothes and “stuff” but at the core, he’s living out the life he wanted for himself. I feel like I’m beginning to scratch the surface of my dreams, and while I’m still wanting to work, work, work for more, I’m living it. And, loving it.

It was a great night.

Now, apparently, the Warriors did not have a great night. Neither did the Thunder. Both of these nuggets of info kind of upset me. Orlando smoked Golden State, 117-90 as Dwight finished with 28 points 12 rebounds and two of each: steals/blocks/assists. The Magic killed GS on the boards, 58-29. Um, yeah. Can you think of a game this season where another team has dominated on the glass so much?

By the look of these boxscores there were a whole bunch of blowouts. A whole bunch of games, too, but that’s beside the point. Seriously, how did OKC lose to Denver so badly. I know, second night of a back-to-back, but damn, 119-90. That’s tough. They ran all over them.

After the Nets managed just 15 points in the first quarter, they allowed the Cavs to lead by 20 after the opening 12 minutes and were never able to recover. LeBron finished with 26 points, 14 assists, seven boards, three steals and a block. Not too shabby. His guy JJ Hickson continues to get better as he had a big night and big double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Also: According to John Krolik, Delonte West was unavailable, Mo Williams was in foul trouble, and Daniel Gibson was out with a baby. Yeah, didn’t quite catch that without watching the game. Now you know.

In a Knicks win against  Detroit, Bill Walker got his first start and scored 22 points on 13 field goal attempts. Yeah, he should continue to turn some heads as long as he gets time and stays healthy. After a few rocky performances, McGrady put in 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. If only he could have a night like this even every second game. David Lee continues to be a beast for New York, scoring 21 points and pulling down 18 rebounds while dishing eight assists. He also had three steals and a block, too. Add in 26 points for Al Harrington and the Pistons and their lack of D didn’t stand a chance.

In a Celtics 104-80 victory over the Bobcats, this stood out: Boston was 10-for-16 from the 3-point line while the Bobcats were 0-for-9. Yikes.

In a blowout, 100-87 loss to the Bucks, Shaun Livingston scored his first two points as a Washington Wizard. I can only hope there are many more NBA points scored for SL and he can score them for any franchise, as long as he’s suiting up to do it.

My man James Herbert aka @outsidethenba on Twitter informs me that the Rockets had prepared a highlight pack for Carl Landry as the Kings were in town. Wish I had been able to see that. If you did, let me know about it, below, thanks! In Houston, the Kings pulled off the 84-81 victory. They also pulled down 24 offensive rebounds and attempted 23 more field goal attempts because of them. Crazy. What’s crazy good was Landry hitting the “game-sealing” free throws in his old home arena and finishing with 22 points and 10 boards.

Meanwhile, the Mavs keep rolling and took down the TWolves, winning their ninth straight. Surprised? Not surprised? I kinda thought it would take the new guys a little longer to slide into the offense, but they’ve proven me wrong. I don’t like being wrong, but I do like good basketball. I’m enjoying the new look Mavs.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Comments
  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Thanks E, loving the trade and the results so far. Btw, saw Q. Like sky for an alley oop a game ago. I mean, SKY! What happened to him, better diet?

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Yes, I think, as well as trying to keep up with his boy, D-Wade’s, p*ssy plate.

  • http://www.myspace.com/weezyleezy337 GametimeWeezy

    MJ woulda killed Lebron just like he woulda killed Magic, Larry, Barkley, and all the rest of the greats in his day. Im not even convinced Lebron could have beat KG when he was in his prime in the Olympics and beat everybody one on one. And THAT was against good comp too. And im not sure if Magic is the greatest PG of all time cuz im basically too young to have analyzed The Big O’s game. Magic was flashier and def a winner but the Big O was Mr. Triple Double n got rings and Olympic Gold. Nuff said. And why isnt Isaiah one of the greatest scoring PG’s of all time? Do we forget that overtime game against Bernard Kings Knicks? Epic.

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    My 2 cents on MJ’s growing omnipotence up in here. Back in Jordan’s 1st NBA finals, Phil Jackson had to switch Pippen on Magic in game two, because Money was using up too much energy trying to limit Earvin, without much success. Magic would turn his back on Jordan, post him up or pass over him to cutting players like Scott, Divac etc. Magic Johnson, a matchup nightmare for unstoppaMike… Go figure. PS: i’m a huge MJ fan, but he wasn’t Mr. super ALL the time, Gary Payton (yes, The freaking Glove) gave him fits in the Bulls-Sonics finals, and he couldn’t shut down GP either on D.

  • LA Huey

    Weezy, Olympic gold medals in the 20th century aren’t that strong of an indicator on your resume. It only means you were good in college (pre-1992) or you were top-20 at the time. Big O was a monster though.

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

    The only argument I can make for Bron here is this:

    When MJ left the Bulls, they only lost two more games that season. So if we took MJ off the Bulls when they were rockin’ with rodman and pippen. If we replaced Mj with Malone, would they have still won a butt load of games… yes. If we take Bron off of the Cavs they would be a low seed playoff contender.
    Bron is not top 5 for the fact that he isn’t even at the mid point in his career. He hasn’t won a finals game. Zero rings. But he will be. In 15 years from now the best 3 players to touch a basketball will be MJ, Kobe and Bron.

    Also, the reason why I think Kobe will always be a head of Bron is because everyone loves an underdog. MJ and the high school, gambling problems, divorce. Kobe and the Utah series, the Colorado event, having basically all of his sponsors drop him and everyone hate him. Both had problems and over came them and still played amazing basketball. With bron, everything has been given to him, including his ridiculous athleticism! From high school to the NBA. I loved Bron… but the only thing he wasn’t given was good teammates, and the last 2 years they have slowly gotten there. So eventually I do believe he will be top 5. Maybe within the next 3-4 years even. But he will never be a head of MJ and Kobe IMO.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Dark, to be fair, Paxson was the guy initally covering Magic. Michael made switches throughout the beginnings of the series, and it was on the coaching staff’s suggestion (and Pip’s fervent agreement) that we saw just how great an on the ball defender Scottie was. Michael wasn’t as effective as Scottie was. There’s no denying that….and you kind of oversold Payton’s play against Mike in the 96 Finals. Payton knew he had good defenders behind him and didn’t have to worry about Mike driving as often as he may have liked. Mike’s numbers in that particular series seemed human, in part due to GP’s defense, but to think Payton would have had glowing success in that series if it wasn’t a 3-0 route from the beginning is kind of selling the totality of the Bulls team being disinterested for 2 games to close them out.

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

    I won’t lie though. I use to love watching Pippen play. For a while I liked him more then MJ. I think I would switch depending on who was playing better at the time!!

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    I think Oscar Roberton might have been better than Magic, just cursed with worse talent.
    But since I don’t have a time machine, I’ll never really know.
    Isiah was a beast. It’s hard to say he was as good as Magic, or better because Magic had such an impact on a game, but Isiah was just as valuable, if not more valuable, to the Pistons as Magic was to the Lakers.
    Isiah carried that squad as a scorer for his first three years, before turning into more of a pure point so that other cats could eat. And he was still putting up like 18 and 9.
    Isiah is criminally underrated. That series against New York, where the even more underrated Bernard King was killing, was amazing, particularly the last game.
    Isiah’s game was so raw, man.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Darksaber
    Don’t forget that it took George Karl three games to figure out that he needed to put his best defensive player on the Bull’s number one offensive player instead of trying to have Hershey Hawkins and Nate McMillian guard MJ.
    Just saying.

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

    Man, the Pistons SUCK this year. I think I may go into hiding.

  • ThatGuy

    I know right i had to temporairly switch my favorite team to the hawks this season

  • rocket14

    jordan3224: That fan is a freaking idiot. Everyone thinks everyone is the new Jordan. Nobody can or ever will touch MJ. Case closed. LeBron is top 20-15 at best.

  • http://slamonline.com GotHandles?

    Lebron is the most SKILLED player to ever play the game of basketball. 6-8 who can shoot, pass, block, jump, steal, hit treys the way he can. No question that he is the greatest basketball specimen to grace a basketball court.

    Being skilled is different than being dominant, clutch, and legendary. MJ is a legend and Kobe is working his way up there. Until Lebron hits last shots and wins multiple rings, Kobe had the edge. Lebron will get there and be a top 10 player of all time.

  • letsmotor

    Lebron’s top 20 right now. he’ll probably be higher by the end of his career. but sorry, he doesn’t touch mj in his prime one-on-one. not even close. lebron’s nowhere near mike’s skill level. am i saying lebron’s unskilled? absolutely not. he’s very skilled and clearly has great basketball IQ. but michael is still far more skilled. a good part of what makes lebron great (not everything, don’t misunderstand) is his freakishly strong and athletic body, not his skills. take away lebron’s freakishly strong and athletic body and he’s still a great player, but he’s not top 20 of all time.

    if you wanna know how much skill MJ has, just remember: he led the league and scoring when he was 34, when his best athletic years were well behind him.

  • letsmotor

    led the league IN* scoring. sorry.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    And since we’re talking about Jordan, I want to share an oustanding interview with him from back in the day:
    http://www.basketball.vuurwerk.nl/nba/michael_jordan/playboy.htm

  • http://www.myspace.com/weezyleezy337 GametimeWeezy

    @ gothandles….AMEN

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    T-Money: Ummm, Oscar Robertson?

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Yeah Bryan, David Lee isn’t an All-Star. Who cares about real games, you can tell he isn’t great by the way he played in the All-Star game.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    I think Hakeem Olajuwon’s championship run with the Rockets might be the most impressive ever. His right-hand men were Otis Thorpe and Mad Max… Both very good players, but let’s be real, they aren’t Pip or Worthy or Cap or whoever else was playing with Jordan and Magic.

  • http://lleonnardrahsaan@yahoo.com rahsaan leonard

    JORDAN WASN,T GETING BLOW OUT THAT

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    E & Allenp: thanks for your feedback and the circumstances are obvious to me too, saw all those games. I was trying to temper the out of control MJ is invincible talk here with examples that prove he had his problems on the court too. My belief being that at the Nba level, no player (especially all nba 1st team regulars like LBJ, MJ, Magic, Kob’s) would “dominate” the other in 1:1 matchups. Guess i didn’t clarify that with my earlier post.

  • jdn41

    why does everyone think lebrons strength is god given being strong i beleive is a skill that takes hard work to acheieve saying lebron is stronger than everyone else is jsut saying lebron spends more time eating right and working out

  • T-Money

    teddy: hes a 2 to me

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Ah, fair enough Money.

  • letsmotor

    jdn41: in most cases you’d be right, but in The Art of a Beautiful Game, Lebron says that for his first few years in the league, he hardly worked out. even if its not all natural, a lot of it is.

← Older Comments
Advertisement