Tag: Utah Jazz

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Heeee’s Baaaack

1. Waiting on Wade no more
Dwyane Wade is back on the Miami Heat’s active roster and the playoff bound Eastern Conference teams have got to be sweating bullets. Flash took the court yesterday for the first time in a month and a half and scored 12 points in 27 minutes, but the Heat were unable to welcome their superstar back in proper fashion as they fell to the Bobcats by eight points, 111-103. Wade struggled from the field (3-9 FG) but still managed to dish out eight assists in the loss. But the Heat are still in good shape as they prepare for the post season. They are currently sitting in the fourth spot in the East and appear to have the Southeast Division wrapped up after Washington’s injury problems have basically taken them out of contention. However, the loss pretty much took away any chance Miami had to gain home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

2. Suns burn LA

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points and handed out seven assists but it wasn’t enough to knock of the Suns. In what could be a first round playoff preview, Phoenix beat the Lakers 115-107 in the star studded Staples Center in Los Angeles. Steve Nash continued his trek for a third consecutive MVP award as he led the Suns in scoring (25) and assists (11). Phoenix has now beaten LA in nine of the last 11 regular season contests between the two clubs and what’s worse for the Lakers is that the loss moves them into the seventh seed in the West, just three games ahead of the teams who are on the outside of the playoff picture. The Lakers must now win all of their five remaining games if they are going to prevent Phil Jackson from setting a new personal low for wins in a season.

3. Double triple-doubles
On Saturday, Vince Carter racked up big, fat triple-double with 46 points, 16 rebounds and ten assists. But he wasn’t the only Net to scoop up a triple dip. Mr. Triple-Double, Jason Kidd, amassed the 86 triple-double of his career and his 11th of the season as he went off for 10 points, 16 rebounds and 18 assists. The Nets superstars became the first teammates to accomplish the lofty feat since another well known duo pulled it off in 1989. That was when Michael Jordan (41 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) and Scottie Pippen (15 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) blasted the Clippers for a pair of TD’s. Now Kidd and Carter just need to win six championships and they’ll really be like Mike and Pip.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Tracy McGrady @ Sacramento 40 min, 40 pts (FG: 14-28, 3FG: 3-6, FT: 9-12), 8 reb, 10 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Monday’s Game to Watch: Utah (48-28) @ Golden State (37-40) The Warriors are coming off a tough loss to the Spurs on Saturday but they have still won four of their last five games as they continue to keep their playoff hopes alive. But if Golden State wants to close the one game gap between them and the Clippers, Baron Davis is going to have to lead his team past a playoff quality team in the Jazz. Utah has already wrapped up their division crown but they are still in a must win situation because they are currently in a battle with Houston for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Even though the Jazz have locked up the fourth seed in the West, the Rockets can steal the right to hold the majority of the series in Clutch City if they finish the season with a better record.

Buzzer Beater: Normally a rally from 17 points down to grab a five point victory would be considered a pretty sweet comeback. But Philly fans have got to be cringing as they watched their Sixers fight all the way back to beat the Hawks by five, 109-104, in overtime. The win gets them one step closer to nowhere and one step away from the possibility of grabbing Kevin Durant or Greg Oden in the draft this summer. Thanks to a late hot streak in which the 76ers have won 13 of 20, Philadelphia now joins four other teams in a tie for the fifth fewest wins in the league. Can you say Joakim Noah?

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Memphis wins again?!


1. The Grizz are rollin’!
For the first time all season, the Grizzlies have finally won two games in a row after they knocked off the Lakers on Tuesday and then the Trailblazers last night. Pau Gasol has been playing some excellent ball lately but it took an entire team effort to overcome Zach Randolph and his 43 point, 17 rebound performance. What’s even better fot Memphis is that they actually have a shot at extending this win streak. Tonight they will to Seattle to play a banged up Sonics squad before receiving a pretty tough test Golden State on Sunday. The Warriors sit just one game out of the playoff picture, so they should ready to put away the Gizz if they truly want to make a post season appearance.

2. Total eclipse of the Suns

It’s not very often that the Suns are the team getting run up and down the court by their opponents, but that was exactly what happened last night as the Warriors gave Phoenix a taste of their own medicine. Golden State opened the game by scoring 45 points in the first quarter before finishing the first half with a whopping 77 points and a 14 point advantage. The Suns struggled to fill the hoop with as much frequency as their opponents until the fourth quarter when they managed to outscore the Warriors 18 points but that was only good enough to get them within five points at the final buzzer. The Suns have been slipping in the standings lately, thanks to a 6-4 record over their last 10 games, and now they are just two games ahead of the Spurs for second place in the West. Next Thursday the two teams will get together for what should be a barn burner in San Antonio.

3. Chicago showdown
With a two point victory over the Pistons last night, Chicago was able to clinch a post season spot. Ben Wallace had a big game against his old team and helped to reverse a trend that has been plaguing the Bulls since Michael Jordan retired. Since 1998, the Pistons have owned the Bulls inside of the house that Jordan built, also known as the United Center, to the tune of winning 15 of their last 18 in the building. Now, Big Ben knows what it is like to be on both winning sides of the rivalry, but he almost didn’t get the chance to enjoy it. With under three minutes remaining in the game, Ben Gordon went to the line and missed three consecutive free throws which left the door open for the Pistons to take over. But Gordon lucked out and these two could just be warming up for a seven game series in the playoffs.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Zach Randolph vs. Memphis 40 min, 43 pts (FG: 16-26, FT: 11-16), 17 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk

Friday’s Game to Watch: Utah (47-24) @ San Antonio (51-20) The Spurs almost dropped an easy game against the Hornets on Wednesday, but they had a late rally and won their fifth game in a row to pull within 2 ½ games of Phoenix for the number two spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. But they are going to have to play for a full 48 minutes against the Jazz if they expect to pick up a victory. Utah has already wrapped up their division title and they have won four of their last five games thanks to Carlos Boozer who has been putting up some of his best games of the season of late. There are so many great individual match-ups when these two teams get together, hopefully we can see these two hook it up at some point in the post season.

Buzzer Beater: In October, the Cavaliers and the Magic will be meeting up for a pair of preseason contests on a neutral court in China. Talk about a road trip! Good thing there are a lot of youngsters on these squads who can recover from jetlag in a jiffy. Dwight Howard and his boys will be playing an additional game against the Chinese national team in between the other contests. But this should be becoming routine for the NBA starved nation, after all, David Stern did send their native son Yao Ming along with the Rockets to play against the Kings back in 2004. And next year the United States will send an outfit of the NBA’s best and brightest talent to Beijing for the Olympics. They did qualify for the Olympics, didn’t they?

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Utah Jazz

Kirilenko doubles as Utah’s bracketologist


The Utah Jazz know a thing or two about pro hoops, after all they are one of the top teams in a vicious Western Conference. But it looks like the guys could really use a refresher course in College Basketball 101.

Like most coworkers, the Jazz got together and set up a March Madness pool for bragging rights and probably a nice chunk of change. So, who has the cleanest bracket on the team after all but four teams have been eliminated you ask. Why, Andrei Kirilenko of course.

I’m telling you,” Kirilenko said, “I filled out my brackets in, like, 30 seconds.

If a Russian dominating the team’s tourney pool isn’t strange enough for you, then what do you think about Jazz sophomore C.J. Miles claiming that he doesn’t even care about bracketology. Now, that’s just sad. But guard Derek Fisher can’t get over the fact that Ivan Drago is winning the team’s pool.

That’s proof that there’s no science to the whole thing. I’m like tied for eighth or ninth or something like that. I’m so far removed from college basketball. Other than the big schools, I don’t even know half these schools.

And then you always have the problem with that guy in the office that fills out multiple brackets and then brags about getting one right.

This is my first time to participate with the Jazz and, personally, I think you should only be able to submit one bracket,” Fisher said. “But people around here, you can submit, like, four, five or six brackets. That doesn’t make any sense to me. So of course you can end up in first place because at some point, one of your brackets is going to be good. But if you just have to pick one bracket, which I did because I’m a man of (integrity), you’re tied for ninth.

Sounds to us like somebody is a lil’ bitter.

Links:

[NewsOK.com]: Kirilenko knows his stuff

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Is 17 Straight The Best You Can Do?


1. We Own You!
Not too many teams can say that they have the Mavericks number, but Golden State can. The Warriors improved to 2-0 on the season and 5-1 (4 straight) over the past two seasons after they snapped Dallas’ 17 game winning streak with a 117-100 victory in which the Mavs never led after the first quarter. Dirk Nowitzki struggled all night long to maintain his composure both on and off the court as he struggled to finish with just 13 points on 3-of-11 and managed to pick up a technical foul while sitting on the bench. But it’s hard not to get frustrated when eight different players light you up for at least 16 points a piece. What’s even worse for the defending Western Conference champs is that with the victory the Warriors are now one game behind the Clippers for the final playoff spot out west. If the season were to end with Golden State grabbing the eighth seed and Dallas remaining atop the league it would produce a best of seven series between the two. And you know Don Nelson is licking his chops at the opportunity to get even more revenge on his old boss and current enemy, Mark Cuban.

2. The NBA’s Teflon Don

No foul was called after an abnormally high elbow from Kobe Bryant caught Kyle Korver on the face during the Philadelphia/Los Angeles game on Friday night. But after reviewing the tape, the NBA decided to issue Bryant a flagrant 1 foul which is worth one point (a flagrant 2 foul is worth two points) and, as difficult as it is to comprehend, it’s only his first flagrant foul of the season. So, three players have felt the wrath of the Mamba but he only has one lousy flagrant foul point?!?! It takes at least five before David Stern starts handing out suspensions. Bryant can’t be suspended for the latest elbow because any suspension would have needed to be announced before the Lakers played in their next game which was against Dallas on Sunday. Basically, Kobe got off the hook without a scratch once again. Looks like even Bill Clinton and O.J. Simpson could learn a thing or two from No. 24.

3. JC And Kobe Would Be An Awesome Combo
It’s obvious that Phil Jackson is getting a tad depressed over the Lakers current situation but the Zen Master might be going a bit overboard with his latest comments. When asked about the team’s injuries and losses Jackson said, “The way they are playing now, it doesn’t matter who comes back. Jesus Christ could come back and we still wouldn’t have a chance because we’ve ruined the mix by not playing together.” Don’t be so sure about that Phillip, from what we hear Jesus has a pretty smooth outside jumper. Apparently it’s awfully tough for a nine time champion to suffer through a career-worst six game losing streak twice during the past 15 games. But look on the bright side Jackson; you’re still in the playoff picture and you still have Kobe Bryant at your disposal. Things could be much worse; you could be Jake “The Snake” Roberts.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Vince Carter @ Memphis 41 min, 30 pts (FG: 10-19, 3FG: 3-6, FT: 7-8), 10 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Utah (43-19) @ Miami (33-29) No Wade, no sweat. Well, at least when you have Shaquille O’Neal playing like he did back in the purple and gold. Shaq is averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists during the Heat’s current six game win streak. And Miami has played remarkably well at home this season where they are 21-10. But Utah is on a six game roll of their own as the Deron Williams to Carlos Boozer connection is back in full swing for the first time since Boozer returned to the team in late February. Throw in the poor man’s version of Dirk Nowitzki in Mehmet Okur and you’ve got a Utah club that is on the brink of making some serious playoff noise.

Buzzer Beater: What happened to the meaning behind the cause? In just one short month since John Amaechi came out of the closet because he hoped it would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse, he has changed his mind and decided to use his sudden new found celebrity to make a quick buck by pushing a brand of head-shaving razors. But, hey, no corporation says intelligent discourse quite like HeadBlade Inc. Amaechi is now just inches away from becoming the new Jared of Subway.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: The Suns Run


1. On the Verge of History
The Suns are 4-0 since Steve Nash returned to the lineup and nobody is happier about it than Amare Stoudemire. Last night, Nash had 14 points and 13 assists with a bunch of those passes going toward helping Stoudemire score a season-high 43. Phoenix pulled out a 115-106 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta to improve to 13-0 against the Eastern Conference on the road. The Suns are now only two wins away from sweeping the East in their gyms with back to back games at Indiana and Philadelphia on Tuesday and Wednesday. While Phoenix has already obtained some lofty accomplishments this season, should they win their next pair of games they would become the first team to sweep its interconference road schedule.

2. Nets Bets Payoff
For a majority of the season, rumors surrounded the possible trades of Vince Carter and Jason Kidd from New Jersey. Well, the Nets are probably breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t pull the trigger on any deals leading up to last Thursday’s trade deadline. New Jersey is 2-0 since the deadline passed thanks to big games from their resident superstars. Against Sacramento on Friday the duo combined for 48 points, 24 rebounds and 15 assists. Last night against the Knicks, they went off for 51 points, 13 boards and 22 assists. The good news for the Nets is that with the win they moved two games ahead of New York in the Atlantic Division. The bad news is that they are still five games behind division leader Toronto.

3. Go Go Kapono
There was no continuation of the friendly rivalry between LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in yesterday’s game between the Cavs and Heat but Miami didn’t need the services of Wade as they outplayed Cleveland in the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game. The hideous orange uniforms probably didn’t help the Cavaliers any either. The future is up in the air for Miami while Wade is seeking a second opinion before having surgery on his injured shoulder. But Shaq is beginning to round back into form for Miami after going off for 19 points and 11 rebounds in the club’s latest victory. Sounds good, but it’s gotta be a brutal blow to the Daddy’s ego that the team’s best perimeter shooter, Jason Kapono, is matching his stats by scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 boards of his own. .

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Amare Stoudemire @ Atlanta 45 min, 43 pts (FG: 14-25, FT: 15-17), 16 reb, 6 ast, 3 blk

Monday’s Game to Watch: Los Angeles Lakers (32-25) @ Utah (37-18) The rotating door in Salt Lake City continues to revolve as Carlos Boozer finally returns to the lineup but the Jazz immediately lose Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur to injuries. Both players are questionable for the game against LA, but even if they don’t make it into the game Utah will still have a decided home court advantage (22-6). The Lakers have no chance to catch Phoenix over the final stretch of the regular season as they are already sitting 11 ½ games behind their division’s leader. But the Lakers can improve on their current sixth seed position. Kobe Bryant’s All-Star MVP performance has spilled over into his current run as he has now lead his team in scoring for 12 straight games. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, they are 5-7 over that span that included the worst losing streak of Phil Jackson’s career (6 games). Still, it’s hard to feel bad for a guy that has nine rings on his fingers.

Buzzer Beater: Even though the trade deadline has passed, the rumors are still running wild. Kevin Garnett can opt out of his contract after next season and there is already speculation that he will join the Lakers after doing so. If KG can remain patient for another season then his dreams of a NBA championship could be finally fulfilled. Sure, there’s lots of time and anything can happen but if Garnett and Kobe Bryant are able to join forces and have quality role-players surrounding them, it could become a pretty dominant team. But, at this point, the talk is nothing more than guesswork and guesswork isn’t going to get The Big Ticket past the first round of the playoffs.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: It’s a Ring Thing


1. Lord of the Rings to Be?
Now that the trade deadline has passed, the only interesting move left for teams to make involves the veteran champion, Scottie Pippen. Looks like the two leading candidates in the Pip sweepstakes are the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. Pippen would be an excellent addition to either team, but he could probably adapt to Phil Jackson’s system a little bit quicker since he has some past experience with the Zen Master. San Antonio would offer a better opportunity for Pippen to get his seventh ring. He’d be joining a veteran team and most likely assume a role similar to the one Robert Horry has filled for the past few years. Pippen can’t be the player he once was, but any team would be happy to acquire a guy who has big game experience as the season is reaching its end.

2. The Nowitzki Experience
The Mavericks franchise tried to give their superstar a push for MVP last night by passing out about 20,000 T-shirts to the crowd. But Dirk didn’t really need any help as he scored 31 to go with 11 rebounds, six rebounds and two blocks. There’s lots and lots of big-time talent in the league this year, but Dirk has outshined them all. The Mavs have been riding on the back of Dirk all year en route to the league’s best record on three separate 10+ game win streaks. With one of the sweetest strokes in the game today, Nowitzki has been shooting the lights out all year long as he is averaging 25 points per game. And considering that the award usually is simply handed to the best player on the league’s best team; Nowitzki is definitely in the driver’s seat for the NBA’s most prestigious individual award.

3. Headbandless Hero
Remember at the beginning of the season when everybody thought that something was wrong with Ben Wallace? Well, that doesn’t seem to a topic of conversation anymore. Big Ben might have had the greatest game of his career last night against the Cavaliers when he had 14 points, 19 rebound, five assists, two steals and seven blocks. After a slow start to the year, Wallace has methodically increased his rebounding average back to double digits (10.5). But the Bulls are still sitting five games behind the Central Division leading Pistons. Chicago could have probably benefited from a trade, but Luol Deng and Ben Gordon just have too much potential for the Bulls to let them go.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Gilbert Arenas vs. Sacramento 45 min, 43 pts (FG: 12-22, 3FG: 3-8, FT: 16-17), 7 reb, 7 ast, 3 stl

Friday’s Game to Watch: Utah (35-18) @ Denver (26-26) Every game involving the Nuggets is interesting as everybody is waiting to see Carmelo

Anthony and Allen Iverson finally gel. So far, it hasn’t happened. In fact, the two have still yet to even play in a significant number of games together. Overall, the Nuggets are 9-4 over their last 13 games with the latest loss coming while the dynamic duo was intact. Utah hasn’t been the team they were when the season started, but they are still a very dangerous club. The Jazz have won six of their last seven as Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams continue to pick up the slack while forward Carlos Boozer continues to watch from the bench.

Buzzer Beater: As usual, we approached the trade deadline with lots of talk about superstars changing teams. But, as usual, the deadline came and went and nobody of significance was involved in a swap. Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Pau Gasol, Mike Bibby and Ray Allen were just a few of the names dropped in the weeks leading up to yesterday. And what about Corey Maggette? Trade rumors have been swirling around him for months now as his relationship with Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy seemed to deteriorate daily. Apparently, they are going to have to tolerate each other for a few more months. In the end, only lower tier players got new addresses; Anthony Johnson to Dallas, Fred Jones went to Portland in a deal for Juan Dixon who got sent to Toronto and the Jazz picked up Alan Henderson.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: They played basketball yesterday too


1. O.K. Okur
While Carlos Boozer has received most of the praise for Utah’s fast start this year, it will be Mehmet Okur who must keep the Jazz in tune over the next month. Okur has been far more important to the Jazz than his stats show, and his last two games are far more indicative of how Jerry Sloan will utilize the Turkish big man. Against the Spurs, Okur had 31 points (10-14), hitting three 3-pointers, and 11 boards. He followed that with a 29 point, 12 rebound effort against the Suns. The Jazz won both games. Okur is a poor man’s Dirk Nowitzki who must now play at a consistently high level for Utah to maintain in the West. That’s something he hasn’t done over any significant span of his career.

2. Road Trip Detour
The Lakers thought they were heading to a routine morning shootaround before meeting the Wizards on Saturday. Instead they received a 45 minute long tour of the historical landmarks surrounding the D.C. area by a bus driver who doubled as an untrained tour guide. Call it one of the Zen Master’s many means of motivation because it worked as Los Angeles beat the Wizards with all five starters scoring in double figures. Kobe Bryant was so inspired that he dropped 39 on Washington. This might sound like odd pregame behavior, but Phil Jackson is known to have some very eccentric conduct. Jackson won’t touch fans before a game because it disrupts his aura; which is probably a medically sound decision when in L.A.

3. Gambling Man
Gilbert Arenas combined two of his favorite things in life, gambling and filling the hoop, to make a little extra cash off teammate DeShawn Stevenson. Arenas bet that he could make more college treys with one hand than Stevenson could with both. And Agent 0 came through again, hitting 73 of 100 one-handers while Stevenson started hot but couldn’t keep his cool and came up short as Arenas constantly taunted and distracted him. How much does a simple wager of this sort cost friends in the NBA? Just a meager $20,000; that should be enough to pay off the ice sculptures Gilbert had at his birthday party.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Joe Johnson @ New Jersey 49 min, 37 pts (FG: 12-23, 3FG: 4-6, FT: 9-10), 5 reb, 8 ast, 1 blk

Monday’s Game to Watch: Chicago (28-20) @ Utah (31-17) Ben Gordon is smoking hot and the Bulls are rolling because of it as they have now won eight of their last 11 games. Chicago received a scare when Ben Wallace went down last week, but he seems to be back to his normal intimidating self again. The Jazz are undermanned without All-Star Carlos Boozer in the lineup but they still hold an impressive 17-6 record at home. The Mehmet Okur/Ben Wallace match-up should be interesting, considering Okur use to ride the pine behind Wallace in Detroit. While Gordon and Deron Williams will provide plenty of backcourt highlights.

Buzzer Beater: New Jersey just cannot get over the hump as they lost yet another game by two points or less. Two weeks ago, the Nets lost three games in a row by a single point each. Then it looked like they might have finally gotten on track when they beat Denver and Utah in back to back games. New Jersey even got a little break of their own when Vince Carter buried a buzzer beating 3-pointer to beat the Jazz by a point. But now, the Nets have lost three in a row that includes Sunday’s home loss by two points to the lowly Hawks. The only thing worse for New Jersey than all of the close losses are all of the blowout losses.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Is There a Doctor in the House?


1. Injuries Love Company
The injury bug is biting the big stars, and it’s biting hard. The latest victims are Carlos Boozer and Antawn Jamison. Jamison is out for anywhere from two to eight weeks with a sprained left knee, while a hairline fracture in Boozer’s left leg will keep him sidelined for four to five weeks. But the Jazz and Wizards aren’t going to be receiving much sympathy from the rest of the league. All-Stars are dropping like flies around the Association. Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson (whew!) are all currently out of action with a variety of injuries.

2. Cold Blooded

Kobe Bryant returned to action against the lowly Celtics after being suspended for a game because of an elbow to Manu Ginobili’s melon. And when he got back on the court, he let out his frustrations by dropping 43 points on the leprechauns. Bryant showed again why he is the best scorer on the planet, despite his tendency to take a cheap shot from time to time. Kobe hit 13 of 25 overall and was dead on from behind the arc, going seven of nine. This is the Mamba’s fourth career game with at least 40 against Boston. There are some great players who don’t even have four games of 40 in their entire career. His scoring ability is almost underappreciated because he has been so explosive, so consistently since joining the league.

3. XXXXXXL

If you thought Yao Ming and Shaq were a couple of big boys, just get a load of the newest member of the ABA’s Maryland Nighthawks. Sun Ming Ming is a 7-9, 370 pound center from China and he’s only 23 years old. When being signed by the team, Sun had a difficult time squeezing into a XXXXXXL sweatshirt. The youngster’s career has been on hold for the past year while he underwent a pair of surgeries on a pituitary tumor that was the cause of his enormous size. But he’s gradually getting back into playing shape and it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that this giant will make his way into the NBA at some point because, if you haven’t noticed, most teams are willing to gamble on a seven footer.

Wednesday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant @ Boston 41 min, 43 pts (FG: 13-25, 3FG: 7-9, FT: 10-13), 8 reb, 8 ast, 2 blk

Thursday’s Game to Watch: San Antonio (32-15) @ Phoenix (36-9) Nobody likes playing in back to back games, especially when the second game is against the run ‘n gun Suns. But the Spurs are going to have to quickly forget about their four point loss in Salt Lake City last night and prepare themselves mentally to take on the hottest team in the league. Sure the Suns are coming off a loss to the T-Wolves on Monday, but 17 of 18 and 35 of their last 39 is still considered scorching where I come from. If that’s not impressive enough, Phoenix has only lost three games at home this season, but they are winless in five games against the Spurs, Mavs and Jazz.

Buzzer Beater: Talk about offensive productivity! In the third quarter of last night’s game between Washington and Toronto, the two teams put up an incredible 77 points. In a 12 minute shootout, Toronto scored 43 points while the Wizards responded with 34. Chris Bosh put in serious work during the quarter as he scored 16 of his game-high 34, including a 56 foot three pointer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. After missing his first four shots of the game, Bosh went 15 of 15 during the remainder of the contest.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Jazz Perform a Late Jam Session


1. Turkish Sharpshooter
With a 21 point lead at the end of the third quarter, Atlanta figured they had stolen a win from a formidable Western Conference foe. But the Hawks didn’t count on Mehmet Okur and company making a furious fourth quarter rally that would bring the Jazz all the way back to win the game 112-106 in Atlanta. With twelve minutes remaining in the game the score was 93-72. Then Okur lead the comeback with 12 points in the fourth, including two big threes with less than two minutes in the game. Okur shot four of five from behind the arc and finished the game with 30 points and ten rebounds to go along with 14,823 broken hearts in Hotlanta.

2. Rare Sprewell Sighting
Latrell Sprewell disappeared from the NBA faster than you can say “choke artist” after turning down an offer from the Timberwolves in 2005. And while, according to Spree, $21 million wasn’t enough money to feed his family, apparently he found the funds to dine out with former Minnesota teammates Kevin Garnett, Trenton Hassell and Troy Hudson in Milwaukee last week. Reports are that Sprewell has no desire to return to the league but maybe New York could change his mind with another ill-advised, over-inflated contract they have become infamous for.

3. Overtime State of Mind
After a blowout loss to Denver which ended with an ugly brawl, New York has responded by playing competitively in their last two contests. On Monday, a shorthanded Knicks squad pulled out a one point win in overtime against an excellent Utah team, and last night they squeaked out a 111-109 victory in double overtime versus Charlotte. While David Lee has been solid throughout the season, he has been especially active since the team received their share of suspensions from the outbreak against the Nuggets. The second year forward from Florida followed up a 17 point, 20 rebound effort against Utah with a ten point, 19 rebound game against the Bobcats that included a buzzer beating tip-in to win the game for New York.

Wednesday’s Player of the Day: Mehmet Okur @ Atlanta 36 min, 30 pts (FG: 11-17, 3FG: 4-5, FT: 4-5), 10 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk

Thursday’s Game to Watch: Detroit (15-8) @ Cleveland (14-10) After starting the season with a 2-3 road record, the Pistons have become road warriors going 6-2 since then. Detroit currently sits atop the Central Division, two games ahead of the Cavs. Despite their recent struggles, Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland has provided an edge to the Cavaliers who have gone 11-2 at home. LeBron James is coming off a 37 point, eight assist performance in a loss to New Jersey on Wednesday.

Buzzer Beater: Tim Duncan proved once again why he will forever be remembered as a horrible free throw shooter. Along with Shaquille O’Neal, Duncan has dominated opponents from everywhere on the court. Everywhere except the charity stripe. Last night against Memphis, Duncan was a perfect 8-8 from the field but he was a pathetic 5-10 from the line. Big men are notoriously bad free throw shooters, but once a percentage dips below 65, it’s probably time to resort to a more effective granny shot. While it’s quite embarrassing, at least there’s nothing underhanded about it.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Purple and Gold vs. Black and Gold



Uglier than the Sabres uni?

1. Must Be the New Uni’s
Washington guard Gilbert Arenas has been extremely flammable this season and last night he decided to torch the Los Angeles Lakers by scoring a franchise record 60 points. The Wizards have now won eight out of their last ten games. Last night was the fifth time this season that Arenas has scored at least 40 points and it only took him a half to do it. He had 43 points after halftime, including the overtime. Arenas had been struggling to score on the road, but in his last three road games he has averaged 43.3 points. And Arenas wasn’t the only hot player on the court as Kobe Bryant went off for 45 points, including 7 of 11 from behind the arc.

2. Cheap Shot
Carmelo Anthony recently donated $1 million to a recreation center in downtown Baltimore. The facility’s goal is to help kids find a healthy alternative to the criminal element that plagues the area. While the center has a gym and offers sports and recreational activities, it is unknown if there is a ring set up where children can practice throwing sucker punches just like their hero. Maybe they offer classes in how to back peddle as the league’s leading scorer has been doing since his pathetic behavior in the Garden. After watching the video, it’s obvious why Anthony is in the NBA and not a pro boxer. He’s a flyer, not a fighter.

3. Back on Top
It took a while for somebody to catch the Jazz who started off the season so hot, but the league has a new best team. San Antonio has been consistently winning and now owns the NBA’s best record at 19-6. With the best road record in the league, the Spurs have been able to hold on to the Southwest Division’s top spot for the entire season despite impressive winning streaks from both Houston and Dallas. San Antonio has the best defense as they only give up 90.6 points per game and, unlike other seasons; the Spurs are averaging over 100 points a night. The Spurs have a solid core that has been together for several years and they have a ton of playoff experience together. Throw in the teams trademark defensive capabilities and they are a team that will be hard to beat in the postseason. Injuries could be the only things to slow this team down in 2006-07.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Gilbert Arenas @ Los Angeles Lakers 49 min, 60 pts (FG: 17-32, 3FG: 5-12, FT: 21-27), 8 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl

Monday’s Game to Watch: Dallas (17-7) @ Sacramento (10-12) This match-up might not have the intensity that it use to, but it is still a great rivalry. The Kings have been sporadic this season and you can never be sure which team will show up, but when they play at their best they can hang with any team in the league. Dallas is building on new winning streak after struggling for a bit after they won 12 in a row. The Mavericks’ role players have been the ones to excel recently as Josh Howard and Jason Terry have picked up their scoring.

Buzzer Beater: Pau Gasol is finally back and while his numbers aren’t up to his old standards, he is showing why he is so important to his team. Gasol is one of the most complete seven-footers in the league. The only column this guy doesn’t fill up on a stat sheet is three-pointers. Gasol can single handedly make Memphis a playoff team again. Obviously, this season is out of the question but if he can be 100 percent for next year then Memphis will be back on the NBA map.