The Knicks have now lost five straight, falling to 18-23. Metta World Peace is the Lakers worst shooter, shooting a paltry 35% on the season. Kyle Lowry has been hospitalized with abdominal distress and fever since last week. According to the Associated Press, Kyrie Irving was saddened after hearing of Ricky Rubio’s injury, saying “It’s tragic. He was my nemesis — me vs. him at times. I’m used to seeing his stats every single night, seeing how many points and assists he had.” Dwight Howard
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> What can people take from the Lakers’ decisive victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday? How about the difference Metta WorldPeace made, both defending LeBron James and putting up one of his better stat lines of the season (17 points, seven rebounds, four steals). It also tells you the Lakers aren’t all that bad, but it also can’t mask the fact that they eventually need to get some younger pieces and some production off the bench — which is
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
Jim Buss is in over his head. Of course, with the Lakers’ predicament, Jerry Buss, his father, would be in over his head, too. Actually, that remains to be seen. But it goes back to their last time at such a crossroads, after trading Shaquille O’Neal to keep Kobe Bryant, when I wrote, “Mitch Kupchak is in over his head,” adding, “Jerry West would be in over his head, too.” Amazingly, Kupchak and the Buss family tunneled out of that one and were
Last week’s edition of The Bernucca List produced a handful of wrong guesses until reader Dashiell broke through with the right answer – former scoring champions who played for the Celtics. Get this: Throughout their illustrious history, the Celtics have never had a scoring champion. Unlucky edition 13 is below. The idea is to correctly identify the list with the proper parameters. First correct answer gets a mention in next week’s list. You can answer via the comments or Tweet me. The Bernucca
The Los Angeles Lakers make their first trip to Dallas this season tonight, looking to prove they can win on the road as both teams’ stars are heating up for All-Star weekend. Kobe Bryant (32.3 over his last three games, league-leader at 29 ppg) and Dirk Nowitzki (29.3 points, 11 rebounds, 31-of-66 shooting over last three) face off in Dallas’ last game before a much-needed breather. L.A., 14-2 at home, beat Dallas 73-70 on a late 3-pointer by Derek Fisher January 16th
NEW YORK — Pau Gasol was frustrated with his Los Angeles Lakers teammates after they allowed Jeremy Lin of the Knicks to go off for 38 points, and he has a warning about their upcoming game against the Toronto Raptors. “It’s another tricky game,” Gasol said of tomorrow afternoon’s tilt in Toronto. “If you don’t come out ready to compete, ready to play and control the game with the team that we have and the players that we have, you know we
