UTA @ MEM: Just another night at the office for Marc Gasol: 22 PTS, 8 REB, 8 AST, 4 BLK and holding Al Jefferson (11 & 10) in check. Zach Randolph had 9 OREB, 9 DREB and 16 PTS as the Grizzlies managed to win despite a horrible 3-for-17 by Rudy Gay. Utah has to be pleased with Mo Williams, who had another 17 points and 8 assists, but Marvin Williams, after a strong preseason and solid first game, has all but vanished.
POR @ DAL: That was the first ‘bad’ game for rookie Damian Lillard, who missed 11 of 13 shots, but most of us will take 13 PTS and 5 AST from our fantasy PG on an off night. Without his usual scoring and with a woefully thin second unit, the Blazers were blown out.
O.J. Mayo had 32 points (six triples) and Darren Collison (14 PTS, 13 AST) continued his strong play to key the easy Dallas win. Brandan Wright started again at C and shared time equally with Chris Kaman, who had an efficient 16 points and 6 boards. Troy Murphy, recently signed as frontcourt depth, got 16 minutes of conditioning work. The only unfortunate news was Shawn Marion (8 PTS, 7 REB, 2 BLK) leaving early with a left knee sprain; it’s too soon to know the severity of that injury but the Matrix would be hard to replace.
PHO @ MIA: Did anyone really think Michael Beasley would have a good game? Inconsistency is his middle name, the Suns played the night before and the Heat have some talented defensive stoppers. Beas missed 10 of 13 shots and finished with 7 points, Jared Dudley (8) was quiet again and this was no contest.
Miami’s superstars didn’t have to put up big numbers; LeBron James (23 PTS, 11 REB) and Chris Bosh (18 PTS, 4 REB, 2 BLK) never saw the court in the fourth quarter as garbage time arrived early. I’m really enjoying how Ray Allen has adapted to his role as sixth man. We all expected him to hit threes (he has 2,730 and counting) but the ball-handling has been an added bonus.
GWS @ SAC: In a game nowhere near as entertaining as I expected, the Warriors were worse than the Kings. Stephen Curry shot just 3-15, Andrew Bogut (12 PTS in 19 minutes) is limping and for reasons known only to Mark Jackson, his two hottest bench players were buried. Carl Landry settled for 6 PTS and 6 REB in 19:44 and Jarrett Jack (6 PTS) played just 18 minutes. Klay Thompson had a nice night (22 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL) until he missed an open shot that might have been the game-winner.
DeMarcus Cousins (23 PTS, 15 REB, 2 STL, 2 BLK) led Sacramento to its first win, with Marcus Thornton adding 16 off the bench. Tyreke Evans had the cold hand, missing 8 of 9, and James Johnson continues to look out of place as a starting SF. Keith Smart seems to have settled on the dreaded timeshare at PG, where Isaiah Thomas starts and Aaron Brooks finishes, effectively killing the fantasy value of both.