Saturday, February 2, 2008

Friday Night on ESPN

I've already noted the Lakers great move in getting Pau Gasol, so here are last night's game after the trade:

- The Lakers were actually in action 1st continuing their extended roadtrip in Toronto. They got a big win, 121-101, with a huge game from Kobe (46pts on 28 shots) and still 4 other Lakers scored double-digits. Kobe looks to be putting his name atop that MVP list. Andrea Bargnani is becoming solid again (28pts in this one).

- Houston visited Indy next and pulled out a narrow victory (106-103) in T-Mac's return (again). McGrady had 19pts and 9assts in this one. The Pacers were led by Jeff Foster's 13pts, 17rebs and Danny Granger who had 22pts. Jamaal Tinsley played in this game coming off the bench to play 21mins and score just 2pts, but did have 8assts. Tinsley's never been a huge scorer so expect that he'll be fine and contributing in the starting rotation again soon.

- In Philly, Orlando got the win in another close one (108-106). The news in Orlando lately has been JJ Redick's frustrations and trade requests (putting it lightly; he got the DNP - CD in this one). My take on it is that he just needs to shut up and sit on that bench considering he's basically telling the league that he'd rather play on a bad team and get minutes then play on the contender that he's on. He should sit on that bench and wait until Stan Van Gundy has a reason to play him. He was an undersized, slower, not very athletic 2-guard coming out of Duke anyways. I understand he was a great scorer in college, but that doesn't mean anything in the bigger, stronger, faster NBA. The Magic are a contender and Redick needs to just enjoy the ride. I do think that the Magic are better served sending him to the D-League to develop a little if they aren't going to use him at all. The Magic and Sixers both had all 5 starters in double figure scoring, but the Sixers just didn't have enough. I'll give dap to Hedo in this game (23pts, 7rebs, 6assts), who should be in the ASG, but got snubbed. I can't really say who he should replace (maybe Antawn Jamison), but the Wizards are a more surprising team without the services of Gil and Hedo is the more surprising player (between him and Jamison). Tough call, but I do think Hedo has to be one of the top alternates if someone goes misses due to injury or other matter.

- Minny got their biggest margin of victory this season beating a bad Clippers team, 104-83, who were still without Chris Kaman, another snub (although I don't think so since the Clippers have been awful). Al Jefferson was his usual 20-10 self with 25pts, and 11rebs, while Gomes continues to prove that he needs to be owned in all leagues. He's that team's 2nd option right now (18pts, 9rebs) even with the return of Randy Foye (5pts off the bench again in this one) and Rashad McCants being a solid scorer (14pts).

- In Miami, New Jersey became the most recent team to beat the Heat. D-Wade only had 15pts in the loss as the Heat leading scorer. Jersey got 25pts from Jefferson, 15pts from Boone and 14pts, 11rebs from VC. Luke Jackson has been a decent scorer for the Heat recently (double digits in his last 3 games and 10pts off the bench in this one, he had been starting in Haslem's absence, who's still out).

- In Washington, Utah got a win that they hadn't been getting in the early season. Both Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer struggled from the field (6-23 combined), but Mehmet Okur carried the scoring load with 27pts, 11rebs, 5assts. Antawn Jamison had 31pts and Andray Blatche had 19pts and 13rebs in Caron Butler's starting spot. He's shown that while starting, he's a legit source of rebounds, blocks and some scoring. Pick him up until Caron Butler returns.

- In New Orleans, the Hornets are starting to show some signs of weakness, losing 2 games in a row after a 9 game win streak. Chris Paul was still Chris Paul, scoring 15pts and dishing out 19assts in this one, but NO came up short 103-112 against Sacramento, led by Brad Miller (22pts, 14rebs and 4assts). Sacramento as a team made 10 threes.

- The biggest blowout of the night came in GS, as it will when the Warriors are hot. They beat the Bobcats 127-96, shooting 54.8% as a team and making 10-18 threes. They got scoring from all 12 players on the roster, led by Monta Ellis' 21pts. The Cats got a big game from Emeka Okafor (20pts, 18rebs), but it wasn't close to enough. The Cats also picked up Earl Boykins for the rest of the season, hoping he can help them make the playoffs. He'll need some time to get back into game shape, but he could be a decent option for scoring if he cracks the starting lineup (in place of Jeff McInnis) and/or Raymond Felton gets injured, as he's been a bit injury-prone during his young career.

- The lone OT game came in the Pacific northwest in Portland, where the Knicks played tough. Brandon Roy had a solid triple-double with 21pts, 10rebs, 11assts to lead the Trailblazers and showed why he should be an All-Star, making my reasoning that he shouldn't be one look dumb. The Knicks were without Eddy Curry and David Lee got the start at center (14pts, 15rebs) and probably should be starting on a team as bad as the Knicks. Jamal Crawford played a game high 50mins and had just 13pts on 6-27 from the field (1-11 from three).

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