The best team flying under the radar has two rookies in its starting lineup. But it’s not the Charlotte Bobcats. It is missing its oft-injured big man. But it’s not the Philadelphia 76ers. It has All-Star candidates at point guard and power forward. But it’s not the Los Angeles Clippers. It is an original NBA franchise that has not won a title since the 1970s. But it’s not the New York Knicks. [Read more…]
In the game of the night, Gary Neal scored a career-high 27 points to lead a furious Spurs comeback. Manu Ginobili (17) had his best game yet, and even without Tony Parker (illness) they scored 39 fourth-quarter points to prevail. For the Blazers, Nicolas Batum (33) and LaMarcus Aldridge (29) were terrific in defeat and rookie Damian Lillard added 20 points, but the Portland bench is really, really bad — they were outscored 63-4 by the San Antonio reserves. Other November 10 Games WAS @ IND:
You can point to a handful of reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of panic. Dwight Howard missed all of training camp and most of preseason recovering from back surgery. Kobe Bryant has a sprained foot that requires him to wear a walking boot. Steve Nash is out for a while with a fracture in his fibula. That lack of continuity led to 11 straight losses – all eight in the preseason, which the Lakers dismissed as games that don’t count,
What would James Harden do for an encore? How about a career-high 45 points? On deadly shooting (14-19 from the floor and 15-17 from the line, the newest Rocket led his team to a road win over Atlanta. Jeremy Lin provided excellent support with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and while Omer Asik was scoreless on seven shots, he grabbed 19 boards. Patrick Patterson (9 PTS, 7 REB) made his first start at PF, with backup Marcus Morris
A loyal reader from Singapore asked about Harrison Barnes yesterday. Almost simultaneously, Bruce Wrigley’s weekly column examined the battle between Barnes and Brandon Rush for minutes at SF. Then the rookie started last night and scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Is he suddenly a hot fantasy commodity? Not exactly. The Warriors were playing at home against Maccabi Haifa, which is hardly the best team in Israel, which is not the strongest foreign league. They do have a wealthy owner
