Let’s check in on last year’s Finals participants, shall we? There was quite a game in Dallas, where the Mavericks were trying to extend their winning streak and the Clippers were trying to complete a spiffy 5-1 road trip. The night began and ended with Caron Butler. Butler spent last season with the Mavericks. He began as their starting small forward and helped Dallas to a 24-8 start before suffering a torn patellar tendon that cost him the rest of the season.
What Happened on Monday? The Magic beat the Timberwolves, though not because Dwight Howard dominated Nikola Pekovic. Pek double-doubled (16-13) and stayed out of foul trouble, D-12 settled for 11 and 7 with no blocks while playing just 28 minutes due to five fouls. The Minny wings (Wes Johnson and Martell Webster, starting for absent Luke Ridnour) were outplayed by veterans Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu. Philly had little trouble winning by nine in Charlotte. Run to the waiver wire for Corey
LeBron James tied a career-high Monday by shooting 76.2 percent (16-21 FG) , matching a similar shooting performance he had against the Hawks last season (16-21 FG, 3/18/11). Even Though James picked on almost everyone defending him, he did the bulk of his work against Carlos Delfino, scoring 15 of his game-high 35 points against him. Caron Butler, in his return to Dallas, scored a season-high 23 points, and just missed hitting the go ahead three with less than 5 seconds
Eric Gordon’s nightmare season continues. It began with the young shooting guard being shipped from the Los Angeles Clippers to the New Orleans Hornets as the key piece in return for Chris Paul. After making the game-winning shot in a season-opening victory over Phoenix, Gordon sat out four games with a bruised knee. He played once more and has not seen any action since. When the extension deadline rolled around, Gordon and agent Rob Pelinka could not get a deal from the Hornets,
Steve Nash, at 38, is about to play in his seventh career All-Star Game. 2012’s oldest NBA All-Star — he joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone as the only All-Stars 38 years or older — is leading the league in assists (10.3 apg) and is third overall in field goal percentage (.563). Nash is on pace to lead the league in assists for the sixth time. Only Hall of Famer John Stockton has accomplished that feat, having led the NBA in that category nine times.
For a six-game board, there are some pretty good games on League Pass on Monday night. The Miami Heat go to Milwaukee to try to solve the Bucks, who have beaten them twice this season. The top two rebounders square off with Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic host Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves. And there is the car-crash quality of the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the Charlotte Bobcats, who have lost 14 straight games. But the best game should be Blake
NEW YORK — Linsanity has been rewarded by the folks working in commissioner David Stern’s office. Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week for games played Monday, Feb. 6, through Sunday, Feb. 12. Lin led the Knicks to a 4-0 week, averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals. His 109 points over his first four career starts are the most by
