Line Of The Night — 03/05/2008
Wednesday night was full of sound and fury signifying a lot of nothing — a ton of games, but mostly blowouts. There were a lot of stand-out individual performances, at least.
Line AKA Who Is Playing The Knicks Tonight? Of The Night:
LeBron James — 50 points, 10 assists, 8 boards, 4 steals***
***DISCLAIMER: Stats achieved against the NY Knicks may not be valid in all states in the continental U.S. Void where prohibited.
But despite all that… SICK. And he called it against Spike! At one point LeBron could be seen mouthing “50″ to the famed court side director, and then he did it! To make the the evening slightly more surreal, as the game ended, a fan in a James jersey rushed the floor to kiss the King’s ring. Wild.
Worst Of The Night:
Dan Dickau — 20 points, 4 boards, 4 assists
Last night’s performance notwithstanding, Elgin Baylor and the Clippers continuously have TERRIBLE backup point guards. Doug Overton, anyone? This year’s addition to the club is Dan Dickau. Now, it’s one thing to sort of go with a guy as a last resort. You know the situation — everyone gets hurt, and a team signs a guy to a 10-day contract, just to get by. Not the Clips; they went out and traded for Dickau prior to the season! Now, Dickau has a great shot and a beautiful mop of curly hair. What is his biggest weakness, you might ask. He is slower than molasses on a winter day. Inserting him into your lineup GUARANTEES that you will be running a slow down, plodding style. And don’t let the other team decide to pressure him all the way up the court! That is a nightmare. While he has the ball-handling ability to eventually get the ball across half-court, it comes with excruciating effort and a solid 6 seconds off the shot clock. Not only is this painful to watch, but it’s a terribly ineffective way to play basketball. We can only pray this madness will end this off-season, but expecting it to would be to ignore history.
Beast Of The Night:
Kendrick Perkins — 20 boards, 10 points, 2 blocks, 1 assist
With the Pistons throwing up brick after brick (36% shooting), SOMEONE was bound to put up a line like this.
Near Beast Of The Night:
Shaq O’Neal — 18 boards, 12 points, 2 assists
The rebounding was there against the Nuggets, but the defense — both individual and team — was not. It is still very much a work in progress in the desert.
Near Distribution Center Of The Night:
Chris Paul — 23 points, 18 assists, 2 steals, 2 boards
M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P! We’ll take it… anybody but Mr. Cryant.
Contraction Club Of The Night:
Detroit Pistons 78 points vs. the Boston Ceatles
The Pistons are known to put up a clunker like this every now and again, and facing the C’s on the road, in the 2nd of a back-to-back, is not exactly an ideal situation. However, they knew they weren’t getting it done on the offensive end, and used their trademark D to keep it closer than the final score would make it appear. This playoff series is going to be a classic… unless LeBron ruins it!
Minnesota T-Wolves 76 points vs. the Utah Jazz
At least there are some things we can rely on in this mad, mad world. Utah = money, at home.
Rookies Of The Night:
Jared Dudley — 18 boards, 10 points, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist
Getting extended minutes due to Gerald Wallace’s injury, Dudley is turning out to be everything he was billed to be — a tough, gritty, ball hound. He’s a guy you want on your team. His Bobcats teammates agree, as he helped garner a win against the playoff hopeful Warriors.
Al Thornton — 27 points, 5 boards, 4 blocks
This guy is quickly becoming the go-to guy for the Clip Joint. He’s still a little unrefined and rookie-ish, but his heart definitely does not pump Kool-Aid down the stretch. He’ll shoot it anywhere any time, and he shot the Clips to victory against the Kings in double-OT, this time around. He probably had the play of the night, as well, with his baseline, up-and-under, and-1 dunk.
The Boston crowd was great for the C’s/Pistons game… Julian Wright reached waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back for the tip dunk!… LeBron’s near-half-court YANK to end the first half was ridiculous in it’s apparent ease… Jason Richardson drops 42 against his old mates from G-State… KEVIN JOHNSON FOR MAYOR! Literally. The Ex-Phoenix Sun is running for mayor of Sacramento… Theo Ratliff comes back home to the Pistons… P.J. Brown brings some more veteran presence to the C’s…