1. Injuries Love Company
The injury bug is biting the big stars, and its 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 Boozers left leg will keep him sidelined for four to five weeks. But the Jazz and Wizards arent 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 ONeal, 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 Ginobilis 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 Mambas fourth career game with at least 40 against Boston. There are some great players who dont 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 ABAs Maryland Nighthawks. Sun Ming Ming is a 7-9, 370 pound center from China and hes only 23 years old. When being signed by the team, Sun had a difficult time squeezing into a XXXXXXL sweatshirt. The youngsters 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 hes gradually getting back into playing shape and its a pretty safe bet to assume that this giant will make his way into the NBA at some point because, if you havent noticed, most teams are willing to gamble on a seven footer.
Wednesdays 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
Thursdays 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 thats 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 nights 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.