This Toronto team is better than I anticipated. They are resilient, they have very good shooters and they have a go to guy that works his tail off. At least for the first three games that is.
Chris Bosh was battling Dwight Howard all day long, and it some respects, he whipped him. Howard could stop Bosh from hitting the mid-range jumpers and CB4 gave Dwight all kinds of post moves that confused him. Bosh finished with 35 points and 16 rebounds, which is some kind of line to put up with the defensive player of the year is guarding you for most of the game.
Bosh seems to have a full set of offensive skills. He can drive to the bucket, hit mid-range jumpers and hit the occasional three (he had two today).
Impressing again for the Raps was center Andrea Bargnani. While playing more of an outside game, Bargnani rained in four triples and knocked down four other field goals to go along with six free throws. It was a nice complete game for Andrea as he finished with 26 points.
Hedo Turkoglu added 19 points against his former team and DeMar DeRozan, who I think should get more shots, had eight points on five shots.
But in the end, Orlando one this game, despite playing without Vince Carter. Superman had 24 points and 11 rebounds. Perhaps most import was Dwight’s unbelievable accuracy from the charity stripe, as he knocked down 14 of his 16 free throws.
Filling in for Carter was marksman J.J. Reddick, who had a career high 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting (5-of-8 from three), six rebounds and five assists. Ryan Anderson also got hot from beyond the arc, scorching the net with five threes and 20 points.
The best part of the contest for Orlando was the performance they got out of their point guard Jameer Nelson. Nelson was back to his all-star form, dropping 30 points with five threes and a lot of drives to the hoop. He has his explosiveness back and he should produce another all-star quality season because of his out side shooting.
Surprisingly, the Hornets actually hung tough in this game and tied the score at several points during the fourth quarter. The relentless drive of Chris Paul kept NOLA alive, as he knocked down contest shots and got to the cup when he needed to. CP3 finished with 22 points on a very efficient 9-of-13 shooting (2-of-3 from deep) along with eight assists.
Paul actually got some help tonight from his wingmen. Peja Stojacovic had a revival in this one, shooting the lights out from beyond the arc leading to a 26 point performance off the bench.
Unfortunately, the Hornets almost never seem to have get a great game out of all of their key players. Chris Paul is a constant, and to win they need at least one bench scorer and their starting power forward and center to do well. Tonight Paul and Peja had good games, but Emeka Okafor and David West combined to shoot 6-of-23 from the field for just 15 points. Those numbers were heavily influenced by the overwhelming defense by Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins.
Rajon Rondo held his own against Chris Paul in the first half, but he couldn’t stop him at all when he started shooting. Still, Rondo finished with 10 assists, giving him four straight games with at least 10 dimes.
Paul Pierce was the high point man for the game with 27 on a near perfect 10-of-14 shooting performance. Somehow, Pierce is still underrated. Kevin Garnett added 14 points and seven rebounds and changed a lot off shots on the defensive end.
Dwyane Wade went out against his future team and took home the W. I’m sorry Miami fans, but why wouldn’t Wade leave to go play in his hometown with Derrick Rose? I can’t think of many reasons.
One big reason would be if Miami was a serious contender, which might be the case. Wade had 25 points on a relatively quite night for him. Wade got some help from power forward Udonis Haslem, who had 19 and 11 off the bench.
Luo Deng had his first of what Chicago fans hope is just the first of many big scoring nights, dropping 26 points with eight rebounds. John Salmons added a solid 17 points. Derrick Rose missed quite a few shots, which led to just eight points and 11 misses for him on the game.
Don’t let the score fool you. Despite Portland’s desire for a better defensive effort tonight, this was just a very ugly game for both sides.
The Thunder had an unbelievably bad night on the offensive end, finishing up with a 19 to six turnover to assist ration. Russell Westbrook accounted for a lot of that as he racked up nine turnovers and just two assists, making his game high 23 points a moot point. Kevin Durant also had an absolutely horrible game, shooting an astounding 14% (3-of-21).
Don’t think that Brandon Roy dominated this game for Portland either. Roy was pretty much shut down on the offensive end (16 points on 17 shots) by Thabo Sefolosha. Sefolosha had just two points on the offensive end but his ability to keep Roy in check made it unreasonable for the Thunder to take him out of the game.
As for Durant. He was missing some wide open shots that 99% of the time he makes, but he was also taking poor shots that were bad because of very good defense by Martell Webster. Webster really kept Durant in check and that only makes Carmelo Anthony’s 41 point performance against the Blazers that much more impressive.
Three pointers by Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw were big reasons that the Blazers came up with the win.
Rookie James Harden also nailed a couple of big threes for OKC, but he didn’t have much more time on the court because of the awesome work Sefolosha was doing on Roy.
And finally, because of all of the bricks, Greg Oden notched first double-double since February of last season. He had 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting with 10 rebounds. Defensively, Oden held Nenad Kristic without a bucket.
No defense whatsoever was played in this game, but hey, that wasn’t a bad thing in this case. Memphis hung around because of a pretty good night from the field but their lack of defensive stops cost them when the Nuggets got into a transition multiple times in a row.
Carmelo Anthony had another insane game, dropping 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting, while adding seven boards, five assists, and a couple of steals. Melo was yet again unstoppable from mid-range, energetic on defense and exciting with his finishes at the rim.
The Grizzlies were lead by second year shooting guard O.J. Mayo, who went off for a career high 40 points. Mayo was even more effective than Carmelo Anthony from outside, knocking down 17 of his 25 attempts as well has four of eight three. Mayo added five boards and four assists to his stat sheet.
BTGIO favorite Rudy Gay had a tough assignment for most of the night in Carmelo, but he still had a solid 18 points and four boards in limited action because of foul trouble. Gay also had a few electrifying dunks.
Color me very impressed with Marc Gasol this season. Gasol got 20 and 11 against a very athletic Denver frontline. If Gasol is this good, it only makes the drafting of Hasheem Thabeet that much more curious. Of course, they could invision Gasol moving to the power forward spot when Thabeet is ready, but then why trade for a power forward in Zach Randolph that like to hog the ball?
Anyways, speaking of Thabeet, he showed some of his abilities at the basket tonight, with six rebounds and four blocks. Unfortunately, he still has problems with fouls and ended up with six after just 12 minutes of play.
Denver’s rookie Ty Lawson was impressive in yet another contest for the Nuggets. He is so explosive on the drive and it seems like he is much better at the natural point guard position than Chauncey Billups. Billups is much better at hitting threes in transition than leading a fastbreak for a teammate. This begs the question when Lawson will take Anthony Carter’s starting job as the point guard. I think a Lawson-Billups combo is better than Carter-Billups. Then again, George Karl has always liked to have his sparks come off the bench, so I don’t see a change coming very soon.
Has Ryan Gomes finally arrived? Maybe. Tonight he had 23 points on 12-of-13 shooting and 15 rebounds. The T’Wolves really need him to be that explosive wing player every night. Al Jefferson added 21 and eight for Minny.
Important stats for Phoenix: 23 and 10 for Grant Hill, 19 and eight for Amare Stoudemire, 25 points with six threes for Channing Frye, 14 points and 14 assists for Steve Nash, and 23 points for Jason Richardson.
Kobe Bryant was the Mamba tonight. After a tough loss to Dallas Friday and a strong start for Joe Johnson tonight (18 points in the first quarter), Bryant turned it on and led the Lakers to the victory.
Johnson was on fire in the first, knocking down every shot he took really, but after Kobe switched onto him, Joe scored just nine points the rest of the game.
The turning point in this game came in the third quarter when the Lakers went on an 18-0 run that involved such plays as: Atlanta turnover, Kobe dunk. Atlanta miss, Kobe dunk. Atlanta miss, Kobe lay-up. Atlanta turnover, Bynum stuff. Kobe steal, Ron Artest dunk. Odom Steal, Bynum dunk.Walton steal, Kobe jumper.
Atlanta would make a surge in the fourth quarter with the Laker bench in, but when Kobe came back, he iced the game with several hustle plays and a few put backs.
Bryant had 41 points on 15-of-29 shooting, nailing all kinds of jumpers and getting to the hoop with numerous transition jams. It was one of his better games in terms of mobility that I have seen in a while. He was leading on all fast breaks, swatting at every pass, and contesting every shot on the perimeter no matter who took it. He hit his pattented should shrug and fadeaway several times and broke Jamal Crawford’s ankles (and his brain) with several spin moves in the low post that ended up putting Kobe right at the rack for two.
The Black Mamba also added eight rebounds, five steals and three assists. Kobe is an absolute monster on the defensive end. Never have I seen Kobe with such quick feet and reaction when getting into passing lanes and that truly will be huge when it comes playoff time.
Words can’t describe how huge Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were in this game while Pau Gasol continues to rest his hamstring. Odom was two assists away from a triple-double, finishing up with 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. Bynum was the focal point of the offense when Kobe didn’t get the ball, finishing with 21 points and three boards (Odom took a lot from him, but he did a good job boxing out anyways). Heck, even Josh Powell hit all three of his field goal attempts.
The weak spot for the Lakers was once again the bench play. They allowed Atlanta back in during the fourth and were outscored by Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford alone. When Lamar or Andrew goes to the bench, hopefully that will change.
Other than Joe Johnson’s 27 points, only Crawford and Teague scored meaningful buckets. Teague showed a lot of talent in the fourth, blowing by defenders in transition and knocking down five of his seven shots in just 17 minutes of play for 12 points.
Videos of Kobe’s dunks should be up tomorrow.
