antawn jamison – Sportscolumn Blog

1. When it rains, it pours
Things just keep getting worse for the Spurs. The defending champs have been withering away before our eyes for close to two months now, but San Antonio hit rock bottom on Tuesday, first losing their point guard indefinitely and then losing a ~~heartbreaker~~ ~~gutstomper~~ soulcrusher to Seattle. Yup, Tony Parker is out for an unknown amount of time with a bone spur in his heel and, yup, they went on to lose 88-85 to 14-losses-in-a-row Seattle. It was the first win of 2008 for Seattle and the Spurs third consecutive defeat. Kevin Durant stepped up big for the Sonics with 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Chris Wilcox had 16 points and 10 boards. San Antonio had a three point advantage entering the fourth quarter, but gave up big shots down the stretch, ruining perfectly good performances from Tim Duncan (27 pts, 12 reb) and Manu Ginobili (29 pts, 7 ast).

2. Kidd and play

Jason Kidd might want a trade, but the Nets sure like having him around. New Jersey was riding a nine-game losing streak into their contest against Milwaukee on Tuesday, but Kidd’s 11 assists helped the Nets to an 87-80 victory. Vince Carter finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists and Richard Jefferson scored a game-high 20 points. And it’s a good thing Jefferson was stroking it because Kidd and Carter combined to shoot 7-of-28 from the floor. But in the eyes of the Jersey faithful, Kidd can do no wrong. After telling the world that New Jersey basically doesn’t have a chance in hell of amounting to a hill of beans, he gets a standing ovation from the crowd. It might sound strange, but this is exactly what should happen for a guy who carried his team to NBA Finals…twice. Pat yourself on the back Jersey.

3. Antawn holds down the fort
No Gilbert Arenas, no Caron Butler, no chance; right? Wrong! Antawn Jamison shouldered the load usually distributed evenly among the big three and had to put in some overtime to get the job done but, after a long night’s work, the Wizards knocked off the Raptors 108-104. Jamison recorded 24 points and 20 rebounds, offsetting some Jurassic efforts from the Raptors. Chris Bosh had 37 points, 12 rebounds and three steals while Jose Calderon went bonkers, scoring 23, dishing 13 and grabbing six boards, but in the end it just wasn’t enough. Luckily for them, they get another crack at the Wizards tonight as the home-and-home series shifts to Toronto for part deux.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Yao Ming vs. Golden State 40 min, 36 pts (FG: 11-19, FT: 14-15), 19 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Golden State (27-19) @ New Orleans (32-12)
The Warriors are coming off a loss to Houston on Tuesday, but it’s no biggie; after all, they just inked C-Webb to a contract through the end of the season. So, all is good in the Albaland. And even though New Orleans is rolling like never before, the Warriors average 10 more points per game than the Bugs and they have a pretty decent point guard in Baron Davis who should put on a show against his counterpart Chris Paul.

Buzzer Beater: Some great quotes came out of Tuesday’s game between the Celtics and the Heat. It’s a good thing too because Miami certainly didn’t give the home fans a reason to be interested in the 117-87 spanking.

When asked how long Kevin Garnett’s strained abdominal muscle could keep him sidelined, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn’t have an exact answer.

“You know Doc’s a nickname, correct?” deadpanned the coach, whose given name is Glenn.

But Rivers wasn’t the only Glen with nickname news.

With Garnett — “The Big Ticket,” as he’s known — sidelined, [Paul] Pierce gave Glen “Big Baby” Davis a new nickname before the game. “He’s ticket stub now,” Pierce said.

Around the Rim: Even Mr. Clutch can’t save Memphis

1. West walks away
Jerry West will always be the logo of the NBA, but yesterday he announced that he will no longer be the face of the Memphis Grizzlies. West told reporters that his five year run as the Grizzlies’ director of basketball operations will end on July 1. Mr. Clutch said “I’m not a youngster anymore,” and said that the constant losing, uncertainty and injuries have all added up to be too much for the soon-to-be 69 year old. West has done all that he can for the Memphis franchise and while they might have some pieces to build on; they seriously need a centerpiece to build around. And according to West, Pau Gasol is not that guy. But with the luck of the bouncing ping-pong balls, perhaps Kevin Durant could become what Gasol never did.

2. Skiles shoots down Curry’s season

If the Tim Duncan/Joey Crawford drama isn’t enough to keep your NBA interest peaked, then perhaps a coach/player rivalry will be more intriguing to you. Last week, Bulls coach Scott Skiles said that the Knicks Eddy Curry is “having a very good year but it seems like he’s being put on a pedestal awful quickly here.” It sounds to us like somebody is upset that Curry didn’t have his breakout season while playing in Bulls’ red. Curry said that his former coach was “very disrespectful” in his comments. This is a great start to a bad blood rivalry, but it’s not going to get a chance to get fully rolling until next season since New York won’t be participating in the post season.

3. Jamison doesn’t mind carrying the load
With Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler out of the lineup there are gobs and gobs of points available for the other 12 players on the active roster. And on Tuesday night Antawn Jamison did his absolute best to make sure that he grabbed as many of those points for himself as he could by scoring 48 points against the Magic. Unfortunately, the 48 point effort was in vain as the Wizards fell by six to Orlando, 95-89. Jamison jacked up 26 of the Wiz’s 80 field goals and attempted 24 of the team’s 44 free throws. Talk about a one many show! Jarvis Hayes was the only other Wizard to finish in double figures with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Antawn Jamison vs. Orlando 48 min, 48 pts (FG: 14-26, 3FG: 5-9, FT: 15-24), 9 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Golden State (41-40) @ Portland (32-49) Portland might be the home team in this contest, but the Trailblazers have nothing to play for. Golden State, on the other hand, has everything to play for as their post season hopes ride on the last game of the last day of the schedule. If the Warriors can pull out the victory, then they are in the playoffs for the first time since 1994, snapping the longest current streak of going without any post season lovin’. However, if Golden State fails to win against Portland then the Clippers can sneak into the post season by beating the Hornets in LA.

Buzzer Beater: Jermaine O’Neal didn’t try to hide the fact that he wanted out of Indy if the Pacers failed to reach the playoffs, but now that the season is over O’Neal is backing off of his demands for an off-season trade. “I want to retire here, but I understand the business part of it. The business part is brutal. If they feel they can’t rebuild the team, they have to tear the team down.” While O’Neal isn’t admitting it, he’s probably still looking for a change of address and one attractive location is in LA; with Kobe Bryant, not Elton Brand. The Lakers desperately need a big man to compliment their superstar scorer but they’ll have to give up some young talent in return; perhaps Andrew Bynum. Unfortunately, The Captain would not be happy with that.