We try to make The Bernucca List somewhat challenging, but last week’s edition appeared to be a bit too challenging. Just one reader chimed in – Dylan, whose incorrect guess was followed by, “This is a tough one.” Apparently so. For the third time in for weeks, our readers were unable to come up with the right answer, which was “Active players who have been suspended or fined for moving violations.” We thought the inclusion of Tyreke Evans, J.R. Smith and Delonte
The following sentence you are about to read is true. In Tuesday night’s home win over Philadelphia, LeBron James scored 14 straight Miami points in the fourth quarter. Look, a lot has been made of James’ disappearing acts in the guts of the game. Some of it is hater bait, but some of it is warranted. And most of what has been warranted dates to when he arrived in Miami at the beginning of last season. For the most part, James wasn’t like
NYK @ IND: It took a tremendous fourth-quarter comeback led by Danny Granger (27) and Paul George (18) but the Pacers pulled this one out. Carmelo Anthony was heroic in defeat with 39 PTS and 10 REB; the Knicks need much better guard play than they got from Iman Shumpert (2-6, 5 PTS) and Baron Davis (2-8, 6 PTS) although J.R. Smith had 11 PTS, 9 REB and 4 AST before being ejected. Elsewhere SAS @ CLE: A ridiculously easy win as
It was the Rajon Rondo show, with a triple-double (16 PTS, 14 AST, 11 REB) that left Heat coach Eric Spoelstra fuming on TV at halftime about his team’s defensive effort. Paul Pierce added 23 while Brandon Bass had 16 & 10 in the unexpected rout. Miami got very little from Dwayne Wade (15) and almost nothing from Chris Bosh (4 points on 2-11 shooting) in one of their worst performances of the season. Ray Allen (ankle) missed another game; Avery
Today, we will spare you the details of the Sunday afternoon blowouts that made for a fine laundry day. The Heat were held to 72 points by Boston and lost. Miami is doggin’ it during the dog days, and to quote Ned Flanders: “That’s a D-D-D: Dig Diddly Doo.” The Bulls didn’t have Derrick Rose again and got waxed by the Thunder, whose former in-house beat writer, now employed here, now says they appear to be championship worthy after knocking off the
Derek Fisher returned to the Staples Center for the first time since being swapped for Jordan Hill at the trade deadline two weeks ago. Los Angeles showed its appreciation for him in a big way — playing a tribute video just before tip-off followed by a rousing ovation from the crowd. Perhaps inspired by the exciting atmosphere, he picked the perfect time to snap out of a personal funk, too. Coming into the game averaging just 3.8 points on 22.7% shooting since joining his new
It was the Russell Westbrook show in L.A., especially in the third quarter, when he scored 17 of his 36 points. Kevin Durant missed eight of his first nine before heating up; he finished with 21 PTS and 11 REB, plus 5 AST and 2 BLK. The Lakers — except for Andrew Bynum (25 PTS, 13 REB, 4 BLK) — did not shoot well. Kobe Bryant had 23 points on 25 FG attempts. Elsewhere WAS @ IND: Hardly a classic, but a
Through the first half of the season and leading into the All-Star break, the MVP award was LeBron James’ to lose. The way the Miami Heat has played since the All-Star break, however, may re-open the MVP discussion for debate. After losing just seven games through the first two months of the season,”The King” and the Heat have lost six of 14 games in March. More alarmingly, all six losses have come on the road against some of the top teams in