Line Of The Night — 03/12/2008-03/13/2008
Line Of The Night:
Baron Davis — 38 points, 9 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
What a stark contrast to watch the Warriors and Suns play after two straight days of college basketball tourneys. These pros are good. Boom Dizzle had it all going last night, but his teammates seemed to run out of juice in the 2nd night of a back-to-back, against Phoenix. Looks like the Suns are starting to figure this Shaq thing out.
Beast Of The Night:
Josh Smith — 22 boards, 16 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
The rare small forward beast. The sick part is, his potential is barely tapped since it’s unclear how much ethic and basketball IQ he has. Imagine the possibilities of Smith with Tyler Hansbrough’s mentality?
Contraction Club Of The Night:
Atlanta Hawks, 75 points vs. the Houston Rockets
No wonder Smith had so many boards… the A-T-Liens couldn’t shoot! But that’s what happens when you go up against the Houston juggernaut! What a great story. The team is displaying the camaraderie of a college Cinderella (even though Jordan is telling us there is no Cinderella) team and it’s just fun to watch. The Rockets could potentially get the #1 seed in the West! 20-0. McGradles for MVP!?!??!?!
San Antonio Spurs, 75 points vs. the New Orleans Hornets
David West came back with a vengeance, dropping 29 and 10 on the heads of the reigning champs. Give Manu the ball! He only had 11 points on 5-10 shooting.
The Unpaid Intern On Location Of The Night:
Editor’s Note: Sorry for delay in publishing this, but it’s karma. The Unpaid Intern should not have waited so late in the season to go to an NBA game.
Friday, March 7, 2008, Madison Square Garden, NYC — There will never be a day when “I just got 10th row tickets to the Knicks game” will come as bad news. In fact, it will always be great news–especially when the Knicks are hosting the Detroit Pistons. Our seats were behind the basket, just about eye-level with the players. Free and great. There were plenty of Pistons fans in attendance, although we can’t claim to have had any sort of faux home court advantage like the L.O.N. C.E.O. witnessed at the Clipper’s game. After one of our Deeeee-troit Baaaaaasket-ball calls, one Knicks fan told us to go back to Detroit. That’s fun.
The night started off with one bad and one good surprise. The good was that newly acquired Piston Theo Ratliff was not only suited up, but starting. The bad was that there was no sign of Rasheed Wallace. So unlike the L.O.N. C.E.O., we were not privy to Sheed’s infamous pre-game dance ritual–which would have been right by us. The team still did some kind of dance-huddle, but it wasn’t the same. As a big Rasheed fan, it was a pretty big disappointment for him to have the night off for what will probably be the only Piston’s game I’ll see in person this year.
The Pistons started out cold, perhaps still feeling whatever it was that led to that terrible game against Boston. But soon enough the score was tied, then the Stones were up by 15 and the world seemed right. The Knicks fought hard until the end though, and were within striking distance. But when you’re sending Chauncey to the line at the end, you can pretty much take the W to the bank.
The Billups-Crawford match-up was fun to watch. J-Creezy can ball, too bad he plays for a terrible team/organization right now. Rip got tossed, like an idiot, for running his mouth. If there’s one thing we’d like to see the Pistons do, it’s button those lips and just play basketball. Detroit is a tough as nails, blue collar city, not a crybaby blabbermouth town. Get it right. Watching Eddy Curry play makes me wonder how many guys in the league don’t really enjoy basketball. Sometimes it seems like Curry is only out there because he happens to be a giant and it’s a good way to make a living. He looks sad and bored and like he’d rather be somewhere else. Never a good look when you’re a cornerstone of the franchise. And I think that if I were a Knicks fan, I would want to vomit every time I saw Renaldo Balkman. Ugh.
Perhaps the best part of the night, for me as a Piston fan, was seeing the young guns out there. The trio of Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey looked solid. They still need a few years, but there’s the young core of a possible future dynasty there. It was the first time I’d really seen Stuckey play and it looks like he’s got “it” — that confidence and killer instinct, coupled with superb athletic ability. Sometimes you see a rookie out there, looking timid and unsure (see Dorell Wright’s first three years). Stuckey had none of that hesitation; I think he’s going to be a special player. And that’s not to take anything away from Amir, who could grow into a possible Amare-style beast, and Maxiell, who has already shown that his grit and hustle transitions to the NBA game.
In famous person news, there were numerous NY Rangers seated in the front row near us, as well as fan-favorite and former Red Wing Brendan Shanahan. Spike Lee was in attendance, as usual, and even got involved by standing up and shagging down a ball, talking some smack as he handed it back to the ref. And Aaron Ross, rookie DB for the Super Bowl Champion Giants got an ovation and was mobbed for autographs by kids as he made his way down the aisle.
The Garden is such a great atmosphere, it’s too bad Isiah and James Dolan have basically ruined that team.
Pistons win in a game that was much closer than it should have been. 101-97.
Green-on-green crime: Boston stomps Seattle 111-82… Philly will play anyone, anywhere, anytime. Wednesday they knocked off the Pistons in the Palace… Tough Juice back in the house. Caron Butler scores 19 and gets a win for Washington, over Cleveland, in his return to the lineup… Bruce Bowen suspended for Friday’s game, after hitting Chris Paul with his leg on Wednesday. This ends the current longest consecutive games played streak at 500… Smush Parker, back in business after signing with the Clip Joint. Maybe they read our Dickau rant!… LeBron James becomes only the third man to ever appear on Vogue, AND he’s moving in on Tom Brady’s woman!