Nobody saw that coming. In L.A., the Timberwolves clipped the Clippers, behind a career night from rookie Derrick Williams: 9-10 (including 4-4 from deep) for 27 points. Almost as surprising was Michael Beasley getting 30 minutes and scoring 27 of his own. That’s the good news. The bad is, Kevin Love left the game with sore ribs. He says nothing is broken and will try to play tonight, but we’ll see. Tuesday Reflections BOS @ CLE: Despite an 0-6 shooting night from
Does Lamar Odom want out of Dallas? And if he does, will the Mavericks let him leave? Well, that depends on who you believe. It’s no secret Odom is unhappy in Dallas. The reigning Sixth Man Award winner is having by far the worst season of his career, unable to adapt his all-around game – that normally would fit almost anywhere – with the defending champions. Right now, Odom is not even with the Mavericks. He left the team midway through last week
As the second half of the season looms, the contenders to finish “in the money” in fantasy hoops leagues have been established. Most likely your league’s standings look like the following: a few teams at the top battling to earn first place; a handful of teams scrapping to essentially win back their entry fee and finish third; and lowly bottom-feeders desperate to avoid the dubious distinction of finishing last. As of the All-Star Break, my 9-CAT squad is locked in a
A chance to win a 12th consecutive game was not as important to the Spurs as getting a night of scheduled rest for Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. With rookies Cory Joseph at PG and Kawhi Leonard at PF, they lost to the Blazers by 40 points. Even D-League callup Eric Dawson played 31 minutes off the bench for San Antonio in one of those games that should be completely ignored by astute fantasy owners. It did mark the first
Ouch! I’d been touting Manu Ginobili as a buy-low trade target, anticipating that his minutes and production would improve as his left hand got stronger. Now he’s strained his oblique. There’s no official diagnosis yet, or an accurate prediction of how much time he’ll miss, but this is bad news for the Spurs, Manu and his fantasy owners. Hope you didn’t cut Danny Green or Gary Neal, whose value won’t be fading after all. Neal had 17 points yesterday, going
Teams usually struggle when starters and franchise players are constantly in and out of the lineup. But try telling that to the Chicago Bulls, who hold a record of 25-7, the best in the league. Derrick Rose missed his fourth straight game due to back issues Thursday night, but it did not matter as the Bulls improved to 7-2 without their franchise point guard and continued their dominance at home by defeating the Celtics 89-80. Granted, most of those wins without Rose
The return of Kyrie Irving (22 points) is great for his fantasy owners and the Cavs. The probable Rookie of the Year showed no ill effects from his recent mild concussion, and made his teammates much better. Semih Erden is suddenly a hot fantasy pickup in many leagues. The big Turk had 18 PTS on 7-8 shooting and grabbed 8 REB, cementing his role as the starting center while Anderson Varejao is out. Coming off the bench didn’t hurt Ramon
Kevin Love got paid. So did Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos – yes, Kosta Koufos – as the Nuggets dropped a cool $50 million. The rest of the 2008 draft class, including Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez and Nicolas Batum? Please take a number, young man. A dose of fiscal responsibility by owners – brought on by the new CBA – and a combination of trepidation and smarts by executives make it unlikely for most 2008 first-round picks to get some early financial