Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The idea that the production of any star for a bad team needs to be discounted is a bad cliché. But NBA discounts do exist: when you play a bad defense, your production might be a bit inflated.
Three stud guards saw such nights on Wednesday, with Chris Paul at the frontier against the Clippers (the NBA's No. 27 defense). In a 94-possession game, Paul went for an astounding 30 points on 19 FGAs, 14 assists and six steals. Goodness gracious.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Pollakoff, who talks to Nuggets coach George Karl and some of his players about whether the refs are short-changing Carmelo Anthony.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
LeBron James' triple-double streak ended at three, keeping Michael Jordan's modern-era streak record (seven) safe. LeBron, however, knows a few different methods in which to peel a potato. Usually, it's the Swiss Army knife -- carving off the skin with a variety of tools, each one at the ready for immediate use and abuse.
Friday night in Sacramento, LeBron decided to use a hachet. With his Cavaliers down 14 to the Worst Team in the League, LBJ scored 16 points in the fourth and six points in overtime to get Cleveland the victory and by extension the Central Division crown. The Chosen One finished with 51 points and nine assists.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
(Man, how long has that fork been in dude's back? Looks rough.) The Kings have not been above .500 since December 4, 2006. Officially eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, Sacramento hasn't been able to put together a winning streak of even two games since the second week of November. The Kings boast (boast?) the fifth-worst defense of the modern era. To date, Sacramento has racked up an 0-24 record against the East.
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. What went wrong? What went wrong?! Wrong question, Holmes. Everything went wrong.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Blame the Clippers more than you credit Alvin Gentry, but whatever dude. Amar'e Stoudemire went off for 42 points on 20 FGAs, and added 11 rebounds in a second straight massive win for the Suns over L.A.'s stepchild.
Amar'e dominated the ball, taking eight more FGAs and seven more FTAs than any other Sun. That's smart for Phoenix: Stoudemire and Steve Nash (21 points, 12 assists) should be controlling the offense. And that's exactly what happened Wednesday. Cheers.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Super Bowl Sunday presented a limited line-up of games, but a couple offered some real entertainment. And when I say entertainment, I know you're thinking Thunder vs Kings!
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Kobe Bryant got the game-winner and the requisite SportsCenter attention, but the lig's other stars didn't go quietly into the night. In fact, a number of stars had much better lines than Bean. Sorry, Holmes: 33 points on 32 FGAs is not that amazing. To wit, check out what the rest of the league did.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Sacramento's Kevin Martin is one of the league's most efficient scorers, but after missing most of the season with an injury, the team wanted to work him back in by bringing him off the bench. I think he's ready to start now.
Martin poured in 36 points on 11-21 shooting (25 came in the first half) against the Nets, after dropping 45 on the Pacers in the previous game. Martin set an NBA record by scoring the most points off the bench in consecutive NBA games, besting Calvin Murphy's 80 back in the 1980-81 season by a single point.
Milwaukee Is a Tough Place to Play: The Bucks are 7-1 at home over their last eight games, and with performances like the one from Michael Redd put up against the Raptors, you can see why. Redd finished with 35 points, six rebounds, and four assists. His teammate Charlie Villanueva added 25, six, and four off the bench, including 13 in the fourth quarter to get the win over a previously hot Raptors team.
Even Against the Warriors, It's Still Impressive: It's not usually fair to put up players' stats when the play the Gol*en State Warriors (no D -- see what I did there?), but Deron Williams' 25 points and 15 assists -- on 9-of-15 shooting with just three turnovers -- is a line definitely worth noticing.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
While everyone else was watching Darren Sproles make himself about a bazillion dollars en route to a San Diego win, the NBA had itself one heck of a night.
It started off with Kevin Martin unleashing a 45-point barrage in a losing effort against the Pacers and Danny Granger's 35, 6, and 4.
Then the universe decided to implode as the Bobcats, yes, the Bobcats, polished off the surprisingly good Bucks by 10. The Bobcats cruised in this one, which was both a model for the 'Cats' success and completely bizarre. And not just because the 'Cats won. It was a perfect setup for this roster because they were led by Gerald Wallace, Emeka Okafor, and Boris Diaw, who continues to be brilliant since his trade to Charlotte. They got 12 points and five assists from D.J. Augustin, and they attacked the Bucks in the paint. It was bizarre because the Bobcats were outshot (50 percent to 47 percent), out-rebounded (35-32), and had only two fewer turnovers. Still, if the 'Cats are going to get anything going this season, this has to be the model. Did I mention Wallace and Okafor only had nine rebounds between them? Bizarro World.
Longtime Kings GM Geoff Petrie has added a potential successor to Sacramento's front office: Jason Levien. That slice might only be interesting to the most devoted NBA heads or Kings fans. But here's the key: Levien is a player agent.
More specifically, he's Kevin Martin's player agent. Levien actually has a long history with Petrie. The Sacramento Bee reports that when the Kings drafted Hedo Turkoglu in 2000, Levien accompanied Petrie to Istanbul to negotiate Hedo's release from European club and Turkish national team obligations. Levien clients Orien Greene and Loren Woods have also had short stints in Sacramento.
Levien will soon join the Kings as an assistant GM alongside Wayne Cooper, who has been with Sacramento for 15 years, the last 12 of which have been served as Petrie's deputy. The writing on the wall is legible: Levien was brought in by Petrie and the Maloofs to add some expertise now and later have at least a shot at the team's top job when Petrie retires or moves on.