Wednesday, January 16, 2008

HUGE Wednesday Night

Wednesday was a huge night for basketball in an early ending night. The last game that finished was in Milwaukee at 7:30 pm pacific time. A lot of blowouts tonight and not too much drama, but TONS of fantasy implications.

- The night started in Miami, where the Bulls were the visitors. Kirk Hinrich was out again (day-to-day) with back spasms, but the Bulls still spanked the Heat (126-96), who got a boost with the return of Shaq. He played fairly well too with 24 pts, 10 rebs, maybe his best performance of the young season actually. Thabo Sefolosha had a second straight start at SG, with Duhon at PG, and was more than solid in this one (17 pts, 6 rebs, 2 stls). The Heat looked like the team Pat Riley wanted on the court at the beginning of the season in terms of personnel, but were far from good. I think this team is honestly done. They're the worst team in the league. I don't hesitate to say that either for a team that's lost 11 straight. Being blown out at home by a team that's struggling itself is not the sign of a team that is ready to make a push. They're worse than the Knicks and the T-Wolves. At least the Knicks aren't afraid of making moves and losing money (because their pockets have no end, just terrible front office decisions) and the Wolves look like they have a future with their young talent. Miami has a 26 year old superstar, who might already be past his prime, although I don't believe so he has, but he will consider leaving Miami in two years. Miami has to look at its future and they need another big-time player alongside D-Wade. A lottery pick in this year's deeeep draft is the answer.

- Another blowout in the next one, this time in Toronto. This game was the biggest of the night though as far as I'm concerned. Sacramento got completely healthy. They lost by 25 (116-91), but Kevin Martin, Mike Bibby and Ron Artest were all in this game. All also came off the bench, in favor of John Salmons, Beno Udrih and Francisco Garcia. After a 25 point loss, I wouldn't be surprised if Reggie Theus inserted all three of his fragile stars in the next contest. My Bargnani watch has him with another terrible night - 7 pts, 6 rebs on 3-13 shooting in 26 imnutes. The Raps won again behind Chris Bosh again. Maybe he should make a video every couple of weeks promoting himself because it's working. He had 31 pts, 9 rebs on 11-12 FG shooting in this one. Oh yea, only Garcia scored double digits out of him, Beno and Salmons and he had only 10 pts. I think the early waiver wire pickups of Kings players is just about done. I will say that I believe Udrih has the most value of the three due to the many trade rumors surrounding him. Udrih has proven a more than capable starting PG this season.

- Even though I've been trying to give Charlotte their dap for being competitive, I forgot to mention that after their freak losses at PG, both have been re-inserted to the starting lineup. Charlotte is a good team though. They beat Orlando at home tonight, overcoming Dwight Howard's monstrous 20-20 game (24 pts, 21 boards). Gerald Wallace was huge again for the Cats with 36 pts, 14 rebs and 3 stls. He and J-Rich, 26 pts in this one, have been carrying the Cats along with Nazr Mohammed off the bench.

- Golden State in Indiana had to be the depressing game of the night. It was an exciting one as the Warriors usually make them, but they forced 24 TOs to lose in a huge lead in the 4th quarter. They were outscored 46-24 in the final frame and lost 125-117 overall. Fantasy implications aside, this game disgusted me to see a team with so much explosion and talent to have such polarizing qualities. The highs in their wins so so great, yet the losses seem so painful. With that said, the Pacers were missing Jamaal Tinsley in this one with Andre Owens starting again in his spot. Troy Murphy continues to come off the bench, while Jermaine O'Neal has been starting at the center spot.

- The battle of the two New York teams - well, the Nets will be in New York shortly enough - swung in favor of the Knicks, who are playing surprisingly well lately. This time, even on the road as they went in and took the game in the Meadowlands. Jason Kidd had 10 assts in the 1st quarter, but finished with only 17 (only 17 assists... only Jason Kidd can put the word "only" in front of 17 assists). The Nets played well, but couldn't keep the score going with the Knicks because of their unproductive bench (13 pts total, 9 from Bostjian Nachbar). Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph led the way for New York, 35 pts, 8 assts and 24 pts, 11 rebs respectively.


- Portland visited the C's in a matchup of the hottest young team in the league and a team who might be reeling... at a record of 30-6. The Celtics did win this one behind Ray Allen's 35 pts, but missed Rajon Rondo, who missed another game. Portland and Boston both played like a couple of really good teams in this league, but Boston pulled it out at home in the end.

- Another blowout occurred in New Orleans. This one wasn't surprising though as the Hornets took advantage of having a young, unexperienced Sonics team at home. Earl Watson started at PG and played like a starter in this one with 17 pts, 11 assts in the 31 point loss. The Hornets got a big boost off the bench in this one as no starter played over 30 minutes with the exception of Tyson Chandler (36 minutes - 14 pts, 21 rebs). They got 52 of their 123 pts off the bench. I always thought they had talent off the bench, the starters were just playing at such a high level that Byron Scott wasn't letting him reserves get a rhythm in games. This is gonna be a huge boost in the long run for the talented and young Hornets team.

- The last game of the night was in Milwaukee, where the Bucks beat the Hawks. Mo Williams was replaced in the starting lineup by Royal Ivey. I don't think Mo's issues to be a big one and would expect him to return their next contest. The final score in this one was 87-80. I wasn't real excited that this was how the NBA night ended, but Andrew Bogut did have 21 pts, 10 rebs to lead the Bucks to a win.

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