By: Holly MacKenzie
Since it is Thanksgiving and I am not sure if most of you are going to be logging on, I am going to do a condensed version of the Post Up today. Rather than running through all 13 games that were on the schedule last night I am going to save some time and instead go through the top games of the night. Hopefully, there are some of you out there reading! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating.
EDIT: While I had planned on only choosing a few games, I ended up covering them all, briefly anyway.
I have been harping on and on around here about Gilbert arenas needing to take time off, listen to JKidd and Jefferson and take care of himself and unfortunately he no longer has any choice in the matter. The ailing knee of Gil’s was far more than just a sore knee, he had torn some meniscus and cartilege. In his blog he talks of getting the torn meniscus removed as well as having microfracture surgery in the non-weight bearing part of the bone in his knee. He stresses that this is not the same type of microfracture surgery that Oden or Amare had, and that the recovery time will only be three months. It is promising that he feels the injury is less serious than his season-ending one last year. Still, thoughts go out to Gil as he trained very hard for this upcoming season and now will have to remain sidelined again. If nothing else, I am sure he has learned that sometimes rest is the best medicine for a tired body. From his latest blog entry he mentions that a series of unfortunate events have transpired in his life as of late. Be strong Mr. Arenas, and focus on that recovery. The NBA will miss one of their brightest and most comedic stars just as much as you will miss the game.
In another nba note, Ron Artest had to leave the Kings in Phoenix and fly to Indiana to be with his daughter as she underwent a “kidney-related procedure”. Thoughts and well wishes go out to his daughter as well.
I somehow always end up on youtube when I am taking a break from doing work or writing this column and last night I found some gems. Of course, I will probably be the only person who finds this amusing but, I’m linking it anyway. How some of these NBA-related videos see the light of day is a wonder to me. The clip, is of Washington rookies Nick Young and Dominic McGuire. The two are roommates and Gil is their landlord. In the video, they give a quick tour of their house as well as show the toaster that Gil wrote about in his blog a few weeks back.
Washington 114 Charlotte 111
While Washington managed to pull out the W against Charlotte behind Caron Butler’s 39 points, they received some unfortunate news yesterday. They will be without their superstar, Gilbert Arenas for at least the next three months as he rehabs from knee surgery, again. If Butler can continue to play as he did last night the Wizards may be able to stay afloat until Gil gets back. The win was the Wizards sixth straight and they accomplished it with only nine players active for the game. It was Butler who gave Washington a three point lead after hitting two free throws with 15.5 seconds left in the game. While Charlotte had a chance to tie, Matt Carroll misfired on a three-point attempt and Washington gladly took the victory. Besides Butler’s 39, Antawn Jamison finished with 27 points and 12 boards while Andray Blatche had another strong game with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Raymond Felton led Charlotte with 27 points and 12 assists, Gerald WallaceEmeka Okafor had a double-double with 20 points and 14 boards. had 25 points and
Atlanta 82 Miami 79
After erasing a 10-point deficit in the 4th quarter by going on a 15-3 run to start the period Atlanta took the lead with 6:43 remaining. While the game seesawed from there it was Joe Johnson who propelled the Hawks to the victory after hitting two big threes in the final minutes to put Atlanta on top. Josh Smith helped keep them there after he blocked Dwyane Wade’s potential game-tying lay up with 3.9 on the clock and the Hawks made Miami drop their eighth consecutive game at home. finished with 22 for the Hawks while Marvin Williams scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Josh Smith added 16 points and 11 boards. In the loss, Shaquille O’Neal finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocked shots while Ricky Davis and Udonis Haslem each added 17 points apiece. Wade finished with 14 points.
Boston 105 Golden State 82
Coming off of their first loss of the season at the hands of Orlando, Boston came out ready to play against Golden State. Leading 50-37 at the half, the Celtic’s big three continued to pour it on in the 2nd half and they blew the game wide open in the 3rd quarter. Ray Allen had 21 points while Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Paul Pierce added 19 points and another 10 rebounds for Boston. Monta Ellis led the way for Golden State with 21 points; Stephen Jackson had 15 and Baron Davis, 13, on only 3-13 field goals. Al Harrington was not with the Warriors for personal reasons.
Dallas 100 Houston 94
It was Tracy McGrady’s first game back, and Houston was feeling pretty good. Dallas was down 90-84 with 3:13 remaining in the game, and it appeared that the Rockets would come away with a big win versus the Mavs. Not so much. Dallas went on a 16-4 scoring run to finish the game and take away the victory, 100-94. Devin Harris continued to impress, leading the Mavs with 22 points, while Josh Howard added 20 and Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points and 14 rebounds. In the loss, Yao MingMcGrady added 15 points and 12 assists for Houston who also had an 18-point effort from Rafer Alston. It was Houston’s fifth straight loss. had 30 points and 15 rebounds while
Indiana 105 New Orleans 93
While New Orleans was without Tyson Chandler, Indiana was without Jermaine Oneal. With each team missing a big man it was Indiana who came out on to last night, 105-93. The Pacers used the 3rd quarter to take their lead, outscoring the Hornets 28-17 in the period as they opened a 10-point lead. Chris Paul scored only eight points for the Hornets who could not overcome the loss of Chandler and a bad game from Paul. In the victory, Troy Murphy had 23 points, Danny GrangerJamaal Tinsley had 18 points and 13 assists for the Pacers. David West had another strong game for NO with 23 points, while Peja Stojakovic added 17 in the loss. scored 22 and
Cleveland 97 Minnesota 86
LeBron James had another big game for the Cavs to lead them to victory against the Timberwolves last night. In addition to a 45-point performance, James went on his own personal 10-0 run all within a two minute period down the stretch as he turned a four point Cleveland lead into a 14-point Cleveland lead and ensured there would be no coming back for Minnesota. Besides James and his 45, Drew Gooden added 17 points and Daniel Gibson scored 11. Al Jefferson had a big game for Minnesota in the loss with 30 points and 8 rebounds while Antoine Walker and Gerald Green each scored 13 points off of the bench.
Detroit 98 New York 86
The Knicks continued their downward descent and even the Pistons commented on how bad their body language was as Detroit defeated them 98-86 last night. While Detroit won by 12, they were up by as many as 21 points during the game and there was never and sense of urgency or threat of a comeback from New York. Chauncey Billups scored 25 points and dished 15 assists for Detroit while Antonio McDyess added 20 points of his own in the victory. On the Knicks side of things, Eddy Curry scored 26 points , Jamal Crawford had 16 and Zach Randolph added 13.
Milwaukee 110 LA Lakers 103
After winning big in Indiana on Tuesday night, the LA Lakers were not up to the task of keeping up with Michael Redd and the Milwaukee Bucks as the Bucks dropped them 110-103 last night. While the game was close throughout it was in the 4th where Redd helped the Bucks out not only on offense, but defense as well as he held Kobe Bryant to only one field goal in the quarter. Milwaukee outscored LA 35-23 in the 4th and Redd led the way with 26 points while Mo Williams added 18 points and 9 assists and Charlie Villanueva had 14 points and 9 boards off of the bench. Despite the 4th quarter, BryantAndrew Bynum continued the strong play with 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers. finished with 27 points and
Toronto 95 Memphis 89
While the Raptors shooting woes continued last night and they shot only 39% for the game, their three-point shooting was absent from that percentage as they nailed 52% of their shots from beyond the arc to help lead them to victory against the Grizzlies as they played without starting point guard TJ Ford. While the teams were tied at the start of the 4th, they traded 9-0 runs, but luckily for the Raps their run came last, putting them up 89-92 in the final minutes of the game as they held on for the win. Chris Bosh had 22 points and 19 rebounds for the Raptors who also got 14 points from Jason Kapano and 13 points apiece from Carlos Delfino and Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani also added 11 rebounds. Pau Gasol and Mike Miller had identical double-doubles for Memphis of 16 points and 10 rebounds each while Rudy Gay scored 15 points in the loss.
San Antonio 128 Orlando 110
Orlando has gotten off to a great start and their offense continued to operate just fine last night, while their defense did not check in for the game. The Spurs torched the Magic for 128 points in their 128-110 victory over Orlando. While San Antonio trailed at the break (64-59), allowed 56% shooting from Orlando for the game and gave up big games to both Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, they still managed to come away with the win as they stepped up their D in the final quarter and unleashed their offense at full throttle. Their franchise-record low of 3 turnovers in the entire game helped their cause as they played to near perfection to get their 7th victory at home this season. Tony Parker had 32 points and 9 assists for the Spurs while Tim Duncan had 20 and 16 boards and Manu Ginobili added 27 points off of the bench. For Orlando, Howard finished with 34 points and 16 rebounds and Turkoglu added 26 points but it wasn’t enough to stop the streaking Spurs.
New Jersey 106 Portland 101
The 90th career triple-double and some sneaky moves in the final minute of the game is what Jason Kidd contributed to the Nets in their 106-101 victory over the Trailblazers. With both teams tied at 101 and 42 seconds left in the game, KiddVince Carter’s first game back for NJ from an ankle sprain, but the night was all about Kidd who finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Richard Jefferson was the high-scorer with 30 and Bostjan NachbarBrandon Roy had a 25-point night for Portland who also got 15 points apiece from Martell Webster and Channing Frye. realized the players thought he was going to call a time out, he knew his coach wanted a time out, and instead of calling one, he attacked the open basket and drew the foul as well as hit a lay up to give New Jersey a 104-101 lead that led them to the victory. It was scored 23 points off of the bench for the Nets.
LA Clippers 101 Denver 90
It was the second night of a back-to-back for Denver and the Clippers ran them down with a 19-5 run in the 2nd quarter that gave them a lead they would sustain for the rest of the game despite frequent runs by Denver to try to close the gap. When Denver did threaten, closing the gap to seven points in the 4th quarter, Tim Thomas stepped up and knocked down back-to-back threes to extend the lead back into double-digits. Chris Kaman was the player of the night for the Clippers, scoring 17 points, blocking 4 shots and pulling down 21 rebounds as LA out-rebounded Denver by 10 for the game. Quinton Ross also scored 17 points off of the bench and Al Thorton had 12 points and 9 rebounds in his first career-start. For Denver, Allen Iverson had 29 points and 9 assists and Carmelo Anthony added 24 points while Marcus Camby had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks in the loss.
Phoenix 127 Sacramento 111 When the two teams played each other the night before in Sacramento, the Suns gave up a huge lead and pulled out the victory in the final seconds. Things were much different in Phoenix as the Suns poured in 47 first quarter points on their way to dropping a 127-11 loss on the Kings. They led 80-63 at the half and the starters got to watch the game from the bench in the 4th. The Kings were without Beno Udrih, (knee injury) and Ron Artest who flew home to be with his ailing daughter. The 47 points in the opening 12 minutes was a league-high for the season as the Suns led by as many as 30 in the game. Shawn Marion had 25 points for Phoenix while Nash had 18 points and 15 assists, and Leandro Barbosa added 18 points as well as he started for Raja Bell who was out with back spasms. In the loss, Francisco Garcia scored 31 points, John Salmons had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Kevin Martin added 19. Despite being out-rebounded 55-38 the Suns won big, finishing the game with 33 assists, 7 steals and only 7 turnovers as a team.
