by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
Last night, something amazing happened. During the halftime of the Raptors/Nets game, I watched Vanilla Ice perform. Yes, Vanilla Ice. Yes, I am serious. Secret time: Vanilla Ice was the first cassette tape I ever owned. I know I should not be admitting this and also that I should be much more embarrassed about it, but I’m a truthful. And I’ve got no shame when it comes to “Ice, Ice Baby” that’ll always make me smile.
So, yes. Vanilla Ice was the halftime performance during the game last night. Why, you ask? It was fan night and that’s what the fans voted on. It was fan night, against the Nets. I think that’s kind of like a “guaranteed win” which is cool, until the Raps let the Nets go on a 22-2 run to lead by 12. Then, the fans started booing. Loudly. On fan night!
It wasn’t pretty. Luckily, the Raps won 108-99.
The Raps quickly woke up though and Sonny Weems was a large part of the reason why. It’s pretty awesome when the kid you liked at training camp –because he had the energy and hustle that showed he wanted it– is suddenly a part of the puzzle, when everyone else had written him off of the active list before the season had even begun. Add in the fact that he’s just a nice, young, fun guy and it’s easy to root for him.
It was fun seeing him smile as he talked about his first NBA double-double, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Anyway, even though the Raps only led by one at the half, it felt like they were going to win the game. The Nets just looked like they’d fold. They did, and I feel bad for saying it, but it’s true. I’m not understanding the move of bringing Chris Douglas-Roberts off of the bench, but what do I know? It was fun to see former Raptor Kris Humphries have a double-double off of the bench. It was not fun having two women scream his name every single time he was even remotely near the Nets bench.
In ATL, the Hawks outlasted the Clippers, 103-97 and Jamal Crawford tied Reggie Miller for the most 4-point plays in NBA history. The Hawks came back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth and Joe Johnson was a big reason for the W, scoring 34 points. While Marcus Camby was a beast on the boards in the loss, pulling down 20, three Hawks players finished with 10 boards apiece.
In Philly, the Sixers were able to get the win against the Bulls in OT, hanging on for the 106-103 victory thanks to a 3-pointer from Andre Iguodala to give the Sixers the lead for good. Philly was without Allen Iverson who missed the game because one of his children was ill. Iguodala finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. For the Bulls, Rose finished with 30 and nine in the loss.
Our boys Tzvi and Adam were in Boston where the Celtics won against Miami, but the game went down to the wire. Dwyane Wade had 30 points and 13 assists, but the Heat were outrebounded by 10 and made 17-for-22 free throws while the Celtics went to the line 39 times, making 27 of their attempts.
Over in New Orleans, the Hornets continued on without Chris Paul, but they were unable to stick with the Thunder, falling 103-99. Kevin Durant had another big scoring night, finishing with 30 points, but he also had eight turnovers. My boy Russ Westbrook was stuffing the stat sheet again and had another huge line of 26 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Told you he’s going to be really good.
Pretty crazy to see Kobe with J. West, pregame in LA after he passed West to become the all-time Lakers scoring leader. What a special career he has had. I love that it all happened as a Laker. It’s why I want Bron to stay a Cav. Feels more special when the whole career is where it started. In LA, the Bobcats gave LA everything they had, but Farmar got the steal on the Cats final possession and the Lakers escaped with the three-point victory. Stephen Jackson was balling in the game, finishing with 30 points. Kobe sprained an ankle, but toughed it out, as always. With the victory, Phil Jackson passed Pat Riley to become the winningest coach in Lakers history.
It was a great effort by the Bobcats who were without Gerald Wallace.
The Kings lost a close one to the Spurs, falling 115-113, but apparently rookie Tyreke Evans put on quite a show in the final 1:40 of the game. If my Twitter followers are to be believed, Evans had 15 points,3 assts,2 stls in the final 1:40. If that’s true, that’s insane. Either way, the Spurs won, George Hill scored 23 and he hit four free throws in the final seconds to protect the W.
That’s about all I’ve got for tonight, guys. I know I haven’t touched on some of the games, but I haven’t seen much of anything and I’ve currently got hockey highlights on my t.v. Blech. I don’t think I’ll make it waiting for the NBA highlight packs to come on. I wanted Charlotte to win that game. How weird is that, coming from the (former, maybe?) Lakers fan.
