November 4 2012

Today had a bunch of fun so let’s get to it:

PHI-NYK

Jason Kidd continues to be WILDLY effective. Starting at the 2 guard for the 2nd straight game, he picked up 12 points on 4-8 shooting, 2-5 from deep and 2-2 at the line. He added 3 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals and never once turned the ball over in 25 minutes of action.

Pablo Prigioni scored the first basket of his NBA career. He did just score the one basket though, finishing with 2 points, 2 steals and 4 assists in just 15 minutes.

JR Smith led his squad in rebounding with 9, he also dropped in 20 points on 8-15 shooting (4-5 from 3 point land) and 2 steals.

Jrue Holiday played well for the 76ers with his 27 points, on 11-18 from the field & 5-6 from the great beyond, 7 assists and a steal but he did turn the ball over 6 times.

The Knicks fan chanted for Sheed again. They were rewarded. Rasheed Wallace scored 3 points again, this time from going 1-2 at the line and dropping in a jump hook in the lane, which I got right here: 

MIN-TOR

Kyle Lowry & DeMar DeRozan had nearly identical stat lines: 22 points, 3 steals, 7 rebounds and 2 turnovers. The only difference was the DeRozan dished 2 assists while Lowry got 5. Both also hit 8 shots from the field (DeMar 8-14, Lowry 8-10)

Alan Anderson came off the bench to score 18 points. He also lead the team in the plus/minus category with a +20. If you’ve been following his career, good. If not, Anderson won the Spanish King’s Cup MVP Award 2 seasons ago. Past winners include Pau Gasol, Rudy Fernandez (twice), Jorge Garbajosa & Pablo Prigioni. Here’s a little bit of him showing out back in 2009:

Andrea Bargnani’s rebounding numbers plummeted this game, which is made even more impressive by the fact that he’s gotten only 3 rebounds in each of the past two games. Drea pulled in just 1 board.

On the subject of rebounds, no one broke double-digits in the rebounding category. Lowry & DeRozan had a team high 7 while Derrick Williams of the Wolves had a game high 8.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong about Andrea. Maybe the reason Kyle Lowry, Toronto’s starting PG (and an entire foot shorter than Bargnani) is outrebounding their starting center is because he keeps ripping em away like this:

PHX-ORL

The Orlando Magic are undefeated. Let me say that again: the Orlando Magic are undefeated. JJ Redick led the way for the Magic with 24 points on 9-14 shooting, including 3-4 from deep and 3-4 from the line, he also added 6 assists.

The Magic had 3 players score 20+ points: JJ Redick (24), Arron Afflalo (22) & Glen Davis (22). Nikola Vucevic fell just short with his 18.

E’Twaun Moore started in place of the injured Jameer Nelson and played well. Moore scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3-3 from 3), 6 assists & 3 steals.

Marcin Gortat played well for the Suns again with 14 points (7-12 FGs), 11 rebounds (7 on offense) and 4 blocks.

The combo of Beasley & Scola accounted for 46 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists & 3 blocked shots.

Have you ever seen a player go 1 vs 3 and thought he made a good play? Well, I don’t know that this’ll change your mind but it sure worked for him:

ATL-OKC

Kevin Durant did everything tonight for the Thunder: 22 points (7-14 FG, 1-4 from deep, 7-8 FTs), 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks but also 6 turnovers.

Zaza Pachulia had a unique stat line: 6 points (3-5), 6 rebounds & 6 assists.

Russell Westbrook had more shot attempts than KD for the 3rd straight game, going 5-18 including 2-6 from the great beyond. He did add 5 boards & 9 assists but turned the ball over thrice.

While we’re on that subject, Westbrook’s shot attempts have steadily gone up every season he’s been in the league and it if he continues playing the way he’s been playing, this’ll be the season he finally outguns the 3x scoring champ (he outshot KD these past playoffs but not by a lot). It’s worked out well for them so far right?

Kevin Martin is clearly feeling more comfortable in his new uniform. 28 points (8-11 shooting, 6-8 3’s, 6-6 FTs) but there’s always room for improvement (4 turnovers).

Al Horford was the man for Atlanta tonight with 23 points (11-19 FG), 12 rebounds (6 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. One of his easier baskets came at about 3:03 left in the 4th when Russell Westbrook committed one of basketball’s cardinal sins: don’t save the ball under your own basket.

Jeff Teague had a monster dunk that was called a charge in his last game. This one wasn’t waved off though:

DET-LAL

Well, it finally happened. The Lakers won their first game. They were locked in from the get-go and never let the Pistons lead.

A team with a front court featuring Dwight Howard & Pau Gasol finally did what they were supposed to: dominate the paint. The Lakers had 56 points inside compared to the Pistons’ 34 and outrebounded them 46-33. Pau & Dwight also blocked 3 shots apiece.

The man in the middle for LA finished shooting 12-14 from the field (4-9 from the line) for 28 points, 1 more than the entire Pistons starting 5 put together. He also had 7 rebounds (including 4 on offense), 2 steals, 3 blocks and 4 turnovers.

Steve Blake was also a force with 6 points (2-4 FG, 2-3 3’s), 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.

Jonas Jerebko was the leader for the Pistons off the bench with 18 points.

Kobe Bryant had 8 assists in the first half. He finished with 15 points (5-10 from the field, 3-5 from deep and 2-2 at the line), 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 8 assists. Yes. He didn’t pick up a single dime in the 2nd half. It’s a shame he couldn’t just have done this twice more for a double-double