Kris Humphries posted 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Nets, his 17th double-double of the season. Paul Pierce played his 1,000th game of his career Friday. He is behind only John Havlicek (1,270) and Robert Parish (1,106). The Pistons shot a solid 56% from the field, but had a paltry 20 turnovers in their one point win over the Hawks. Kobe Bryant surpasses 29,000 points in his career in the first half Friday. J.J. Barea missed the game with a sprained ankle; Ricky
Traditionally, Kobe Bryant has enjoyed playing against Minnesota: he has yet to lose to them in 17 tries in the span of five years, the longest active winning streak by one team against another. That streak could come to an end if the Lakers (23-16) continue to drop winnable games away from home. They look to avoid a fourth straight loss on the road visiting the surging Minnesota Timberwolves (21-19) in Friday night’s best game. The Lakers are a force to be
There’s some sort of event called the Pac-12 Conference tournament being held in the Staples Center in Los Angeles. I think it has to do with college basketball. Anyway, it has forced the facility’s regular tenants – the Lakers and Clippers – to hit the road for a stretch. And things are not going well for either team. The Lakers were dispatched on a brief three-game sojourn and already have lost the first two, dropping to an abysmal 6-14 on the road.
If you are Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos, what are you thinking as you wake up this morning? For one thing, you’ve got to be grateful to be walking the earth for another day, still having your wits about you. But on the other hand, your team just had its most embarrassing loss of the season, your coach sounds apoplectic, your superstar’s intentions are unclear, and there is no way in hell you can convince yourself that your team is capable of
MIAMI – OK, he did it again. LeBron James, the talented and tormented Miami Heat forward, declined to take a late-game shot Friday at Utah. He saw a double-team coming and passed to forward Udonis Haslem, who missed a jumper. The Heat lost, 99-98. You’d be tempted to think it was the All-Star game all over again. It wasn’t. This wasn’t some made-for-TV pickup game. It was a regular-season game. It mattered. Now, the LeBron debate can continue. “At the end of the
A closer look at the top 3 leading scorers in the NBA: Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant. James is the more efficient scorer. He attempts fewer shots per game (18.6 compared to Bryant’s league-leading 23.7 and Durant’s 19.7, which rank second), yet shoots a higher percentage from the field (.549) and from beyond the arc (.397). James also boasts a superior Plus-Minus Score Differential. The Heat enjoys +9.0 ppg advantage with James on the court; the Thunder is +5.4
As expected, Rajon Rondo was on a mission against Jeremy Lin, with a triple double (18 PTS, 20 AST and an amazing 17 REB) and Paul Pierce was superb with 34, as the Celtics needed overtime to beat the Knicks. Lin had 14 & 5, Carmelo Anthony (25) and Amare Stoudemire (16 & 13) were solid and the New York bench outscored Boston’s 45-15, only to fall short. It was a great tipoff to a Sunday of hoops on TV. Elsewhere NJN
Do the Oklahoma City Thunder have a toughness complex? One of the reasons the Thunder have the NBA’s second-best record is because they have three young, explosive players – Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden – who simply cannot be contained off the dribble. When defensive schemes cannot prevent a player from getting to the basket, teams usually resort to rough stuff as discouragement. Michael Jordan went through it. So did Allen Iverson. Tony Parker still gets thrown to the floor