by Holly MacKenzie / @stackmack
After a busy Sunday we were given a bit of a lighter schedule last night and I can’t lie, I flipped over to ice dancing during the halftime of the Clippers/Bobcats game and stayed there for a bit. Canada won gold, which I know means absolutely nothing to most of you, but the couple was so cute and happy, those are the moments of the Olympics that I love. As for the hockey, nah.
In some upsetting news, Josh Howard left the Wizards game against the Bulls in the first half and did not return after spraining an ankle. Without him, the Bulls went on a run, but Washington showed some grit, fighting back and held Chicago to a disastrous third quarter where the Bulls were outscored 31-16. While they would come back in the fourth, the deficit was too much to overcome and Andray Blatche’s 25-point, 11-rebound night helped the Wizards to hold on and keep the 101-95 victory, giving them three straight wins at home.
With the season the fans of Washington have had, I couldn’t be happier for them to be enjoying a little bit of success in the aftermath of the trade-deadline. It’s fun to watch a young, motivated group of guys go out there and scrap for wins. I really hope Howard’s knee isn’t as bad as it looked, buckling underneath him.
Randy Foye had 16 points and nine assists and Al Thornton scored 17 off of the bench for the Wiz. Derrick Rose led the Bulls in the loss with 22 points and six assists. Flip Murray added 16 off of the bench.
In New York, the fans continued to cheer for Tracy McGrady, but their team continued to disappoint, falling to the Bucks, 83-67. What’s worse, McGrady knocked knees and is unsure whether he will play in the Knicks back-to-back tomorrow. While McGrady finished with 15 points and David Lee scored 12 points to go with his 13 rebounds, the star in the Garden last night was Andrew Bogut. With 24 points –on 12-for-15 shooting– to go with 20 rebounds and five blocked shots, Bogut was huge for his team, but really, the Knicks were pretty awful, shooting just 33 percent from the floor as they were outrebounded 61-35. That’s a pretty wild stat right there.
In Dallas, the Mavs got the 91-82 victory against the poor Pacers who continue to struggle. Did you realize they are just 19-37 on the season? I knew it was bad, didn’t realize it was that bad. My man Rob Mahoney over at HP wrote an interesting blog post about Troy Murphy and the sorry state of the Pacers right now. Check it out.
So, yes. Ugly game in Dallas, but the Mavs offense was just a little bit better than Indy’s (which isn’t saying a lot), and Brendan Haywood had a big night finishing with 13 points and 20 rebounds, three blocked shots, too. Dirk had 23 points and Jason Terry added 13 off of the bench. The Pacers were led by 14 points from TJ Ford and Murphy’s 10 points and 11 boards.
Really, wanna know how ugly that game was? Both teams shot under 40 percent. Ick.
In Utah, the Hawks came away with a HUGE road win over the Jazz, pulling out the 105-100 victory. Yes, the Jazz were without Deron Williams, but this one is still a big one, because the Jazz are oh so tough at home, as we all know. Of course, they were also on the second night of a back-to-back, after getting the comeback win in overtime against the Blazers, but still. Nice, Hawks. I was loudly expressing my frustrations with Joe Johnson just as he nailed a huge shot in crunch time and I can’t hate. The Hawks are fun to watch.
Joe finished with 28 points, six rebounds and six assists, Josh Smith had 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Jamal Crawford had 17 off of the bench. Boozer flirted with a triple-double finishing with 10 points, 11 boards and eight assists in the absence of point guard DWill. The Jazz lost despite outrebounding the Hawks by 10 as Atlanta shot 54 percent for the game.
And in Clipperland, my man Stephen Jackson had what might have been the single worst performance of his career. 1-for-16 from the floor, 0-for-5 from three, five turnovers, five blocked shots, six fouls.
Oh, it was ugly.
The Clippers held on for the 98-94 victory, probably aided by Jackson fouling out. Trailing going into the fourth, the Clippers fought back, using their defense to hold off the Bobcats. With Jackson struggling, Gerald Wallace did his best to try and lead his team, scoring 32 points to go with 12 rebounds and five assists. For the Clippers, Baron Davis had 10 points and 10 assists, Rasual Butler scored 20 and Chris Kaman had another double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Hey, at least Jackson didn’t go 0-17, like Tim Hardaway did in 1991, right?
