Before I even jump into anything that happened yesterday or last night, I’d like to apologize to Knicks fans everywhere for being misinformed about the Al Harrington free throw situation in yesterday’s Post Up. I don’t know, I swear the highlight showed him missing the first. Anyway, I was wrong and I’m sorry.
Congrats to Harrington for making both free throws. Congrats to the C’s for getting the W.
I noticed we had a piece on Vince Carter posted here on the site yesterday. When the Magic were practicing in town, I had a chance to talk with Vince in depth about his time in Toronto, and then followed up with a couple of q’s postgame, including asking him about the John Thompson interview. Here’s my piece for The Score. VC, My take, five years later.
Anyone else feel for Tracy McGrady right now? His team is playing well and gelling without him, he wants to come back, he’s getting paid a whole lot of money to play basketball this season and it appears as though his team would rather him be in a suit watching from the sidelines. I get that they want to ensure he’s healthy, but it seems like there’s something odd going on in Houston.
Logic would have told me that the Bucks would have a tough game against the Spurs and that Brandon Jennings would have a tough night of his own, going up against Tony Parker. My brain doesn’t always work logically, though, and I was hoping for a shock win on the road in SA for Milwaukee. As you can probably guess, I didn’t get it with SA taking the 112-98 victory. Jennings also had more than a rough game, shooting just 6-for-21 from the floor.
Michael Redd was back for the Bucks and rusty would be the grade I’d give him on his performance. Hakim Warrick was solid for Milwaukee off of the bench, while Redd played just 11 minutes but was still 1-for-3 from the floor and just 1-for-6 from the free throw line. Tim Duncan was the TD we know and love, scoring 24 points to go with 12 rebounds, while Matt Bonner found another team besides the Raptors that allows him to go wild, scoring 23 points off of the bench on 7-for-10 shooting, including a 6-for-8 performance from downtown as the Bucks tried collapsing inside. Didn’t really work for them last night.
Another big night for Tyreke Evans with 28 points, but his team took the L to Memphis, dropping 116-105. Jason Thompson was just 3-for-10 from the floor and he definitely killed my fantasy team as I forgot to change the lineups and he was my sole contributor on the night. Ouch. OJ Maaaaayo with 10-for-10 from the line and 2-for-3 from downtown as he scored 20 points on just eight shots. Rudy Gay added 24 and eight while Marc Gasol swatted four shots and also scored 18 points. Anyone else checking out the Grizz as much to see Tinsley as to see the young guys?
Portland dismantled the Bulls, 122-98, as they shot 57% from the floor in the game and pulled away late, outscoring Chicago 32-18 in the final period. LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden were huge for the Blazers, as Aldridge scored 24 points to go with 12 rebounds and Oden finished with 24 points and 12 boards. Brandon Roy scored 18 to go along with seven assists as Andre Miller came off of the bench and scored 16, while adding five helpers. The Blazers had a good flow going in the fourth as the Bulls simply could not keep up.
With all of this talk about the Nets, I’ve been avoiding Minny’s troubles. Oh, J. Flynn, I believe in you, just not your team right now. Yikes. 1-13 on the season after a 91-87 loss to the Clippers. Flynn had 17 and five in the loss while Marcus Camby was a beast, gobbling up 18 rebounds for the Clippers to go with his 12 points, four assists, three steals and blocked shot. Al Thornton (who will always have a special place in my heart, as my first print piece in SLAM the mag) had a great night, scoring 31 and grabbing 10 boards and our point guard Bassy scored 17 off of the bench.
Does Bassy still get love from the SLAM crew? He def still gets love from me.
ps What has happened to Ramon Sessions? Remember the numbers the guy was putting up not long ago? Feels like that was a different era, right?
pps Thoughts go out to Don Nelson, who was diagnosed with pneumonia. Get well soon, Nellie.
