The Post Up: Lakers Fall Short.

By: Holly MacKenzie
Oh, was I excited for the Laker/Celtic game. It was a rude awakening, especially since the Celtic’s were finishing up a back-to-back. It is going to be a shorter weekend edition of the Post Up today, because I have awoken to another morning of snow, snow, snow and as a result the internet is alternating between working and not working so we’ll see how much I can get posted. The weather has been crazy so far this winter and there is supposed to be more snow for the next two days. I am predicting a messy night ahead.

About the Laker short-shorts. Originally, when I had heard of it I was worried that it would tick the Celtics off, or that people would think the game wasn’t taken seriously. After awhile though, I thought it was a cool idea for throwback night, especially with the video of the Lakers and Celtics that was shown before the game. It was cool to honor the rivalry and it was fun for the fans. While we have now all seen more of the Lakers than we needed, it was funny to see Rambis get into it and of course, have Jerry West in attendance. The good from the game last night stopped there, as a Lakers fan. When Kobe has a game as bad as he did last night against a team as good as the Celtics, it’s usually not going to be a good game for the Lakers. As soon as I saw KG with the blood on his eye, I knew the Celtics were going to try to draw some Laker-blood.

Onto the rest of the NBA.

Golden State 105 Denver 95

After losing in a nail biter to Denver on Friday night the Warriors were able to recover and get the 105-95 victory against the Nuggets last night. While Friday’s game featured the high-scoring, running teams putting up more than 120 points apiece, last night the pace was slowed and it was defense that allowed Golden State to come out on top. While Allen Iverson was the star on Friday night scoring 39 points in the win, he had only 13 last night on 2-12 shooting. After holding Denver to 35% shooting, the Warriors held a three point lead going into the fourth quarter. While they were able to extend it to as many as 10 in the quarter, the Nuggets cut the lead back to four but Golden State went on a 10-4 run from there to close the game out. Baron Davis played defense on Allen Iverson all night and finished with 28 points and 8 assists while Stephen Jackson had 23 points, Al Harrington added 18 and Andris Biedrins had 8 points and 14 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 26 points as Linas Klezia and JR Smith scored 15 points apiece.

Toronto 83 San Antonio 73

Without Manu Ginobili, the Spurs seemed lost on offense and after being held to 32% shooting against the Raptors on Friday night, they gave up only their second home loss this season. While the first quarter was close the Raptors led the rest of the way, going up by as many as 17 points before San Antonio rallied back to cut the lead and trailed by only three, 59-56 at the start of the fourth. In the final period the Spurs fell apart as Coach Popovich was ejected and then both Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner were tagged with technicals. Toronto took advantage of the Spurs disarray and extended their lead back into double figures with four and a half minutes to go in the game. Jason Kapano had 15 points for Toronto, Jose Calderon scored 14 and Kris Humphries had 14 points as well, going along with 11 rebounds. Michael Finley scored a game-high 20 points for the Spurs and Tim Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds, Tony Parker scored 15 and Matt Bonner had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Detroit 114 Indiana 101

The Detroit Pistons used a 40-point second quarter to break open their game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. After leading by five after the first quarter, the Pistons outscored Indiana 40-22 in the second to take a 64-41 halftime lead. Their big second period was fueled by a 13-point effort in the quarter by Jarvis Hayes. Coming into the game under the weather, Hayes had his big second quarter and then was sick at halftime and did not return with the game already in hand for Detroit. Richard Hamilton had 23 points and 9 assists, Tayshaun Prince had 15 and Chauncey Billups added 14 points and 6 assists. Jermaine O’neal had 25 points for Indiana in the losing effort as Troy Murphy had 12, and Ike Digou had a 9 point, 10 rebound performance off of the bench.

New Orleans 86 Cleveland 76

While Chris Paul has been fantastic for the Hornets this season, David West has been playing great for them as well. It was a 27 point, 15 rebound performance from West on Saturday night that gave New Orleans the 86-76 victory over the Cavaliers to stretch their winning streak to five games. 20 points, 9 assists and 7 steals from Paul helped the Hornets outshine LeBron James and the Cavs. While New Orleans led 46-42 at the half, they opened the second half with a 12-0 run to gain separation from Cleveland and went on another run in the fourth that stretched their lead to 21 points as they cruised to the win. In addition to Paul and West, Tyson Chandler had 11 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans. James led Cleveland with 21 points and 6 assists while Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Drew Gooden had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

New Jersey 97 Milwaukee 95

While the Nets came away with the 97-95 victory against Milwaukee on Saturday night it was one that they had to grind out, with neither team leading by more than six points in the contest. While New Jersey struggled early they showed up late, getting 11 fourth quarter points from Jason Kidd and big shots from Vince Carter in the final minutes of the game to hang on for the win. After giving up 35 points to Michael Redd, Kidd hit a big three-pointer with 1:33 left in the game to put New Jersey up by two points but Yi Jianlian tied the game with a jumper of his own. Carter hit a layup and Malik Allen connected on a jumper to put the Nets up by four, 92-88, with 23.1 seconds left in the game and it was enough of a lead to get them the win. Carter finished with 23 points and 7 assists for the Nets, Kidd had 17 points and 15 assists and Richard Jefferson added 19 points. In addition to Redd’s big night, Mo Williams scored 24 points before fouling out late in the game, and Yi Jianlian added 12 points and 8 rebounds.

Portland 97 Philadelphia 72

13 games, 13 victories. The Portland Trailblazers have managed to turn what had been a disappointing start to the season into a league-leading 13-game winning streak, thanks to the leadership of Brandon Roy and strong play from their core group of players. Last night it was more of the same as they took it to Philly and used a 21-0 run in the third and fourth quarters to stomp out the 76er’s hopes for a victory. While Philadelphia had gone up by as many as 11 points in the third, Portland stuck around and took control in the fourth. In that final period Philadelphia was outscored 35-9 as Travis Outlaw scored 10 of his 12 points in the quarter as Philadelphia went cold and shot only 38% for the game as compared to 47% from Portland. Brandon Roy finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Travis Outlaw and James Jones each scored 12 points and Jarrett Jack had 11 points and 8 assists off of the bench. Andre Iguodala led the 76er’s with 24 points, Andre Miller had 17 points and 11 assists and Rodney Carney added 11.