Nets 96 - Knicks 89 in OT: Brook Lopez is damn good!
Watching this game I realized a few things ... there were six former Nuggets playing as the Knicks boast Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby, J.R. Smith, Ray Felton, and James White and the Nets with Reggie Evans. One entertaining contest too. Back-and-forth the action went, but if I had to pick out the best weapons on the floor. One guy is easy ... Melo. But the other I didn't expect: Brook Lopez.
Lopez is a monster physically and loves to play the old school post game. He finished the night with 22 points and was hungry for the ball in every late game possession. He even finished off a nice play in transition with a goofy catch, two step, and dunk. On a team that has a lot of moving parts in Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Gerald Wallace it's nice to have a steady post presence in Lopez. I can't help but to think he fits better than Dwight Howard would have. I'm thinking Lopez might be the best big man in the league right now ... am I crazy? The rebounding thing is nuts, but he doesn't really get into the air and seems to fumble a lot of rebounds ... I don't know.
Oh and Jerry Stackhouse is still in the league and playing! He put up 14 points in 22 minutes on 4-5 shooting from deep. The Nuggets do not have a savvy vet off the bench to hit the long ball ... Michael Redd isn't the answer and I don't know if I'd want to see a near-40 guy on the team, but it was fun watching Stack sinks shots last night.
Nets Daily has their recap right here.
Hornets 105 - Clippers 98: Long live the three!
I haven't watched a more entertaining game in awhile, from the perspective of just silly shots. Caron Butler nailed six threes in the third quarter, but the Hornets were humming from deep as well. The Hornets finished 15-25 from deep and the Clippers 18-37 ... that's a total of 33-62!
Towards the end of the game with the score 101-95 Bugs, the Clips attempted five threes on one possession trying to get back into the game with just over a minute remaining. They were all pretty good looks, expect for Chris Paul trying to draw a foul in the corner on his flail of an attempt. Butler finished 9-15 from downtown and his team went away from him a little late when he was hot.
The Hornets didn't put up much of a fight in Denver the night before and then they come out and defeat the Clippers in Los Angeles ... wowza. It was almost as if the Clippers were more concerned with the three late in the game than they were in actually getting back into the game.
Bucks 93 - Bulls 92: Watching games on re-play
One of my favorite things about League Pass? They replay the games for basically 12 hours! I checked out the final score of the Bucks at Bulls game and noticed a one point win for the Bucks - so I flipped on the re-play and I'm in the second half and it's 69-48 Bulls. How in the hell do the Bucks come back? It's the opposite of the Nuggets game as the road team makes the furious comeback in this one ... Let's see ...
My first note ... does anyone else think it's funny that Stacey King is the color commentator for the Bulls? For those who read The Jordan Rules, you know King was an emotionally unstable player and sort of a weirdo with a big head, it seemed. Funny to think he is making it as an announcer.
It's now 75-51 Bulls with 3:26 left in the third -- I'm about to watch an absolutely epic comeback ... I cannot wait! 78-51 now ... am I reading the final score correctly? I gotta check that box score again real quick ... yep, Bucks win. And the opposite of the Clippers/Bugs game ... only eight total threes made in this game and only three by the Bucks! They were 3-15 on the night from deep ... wow.
The Bulls are always a little boring to watch and when they score just 12 points in the fourth ... well, it's even worse! Yes, even with Derrick Rose the Bulls can go through big stretches of being a boring team to watch. I do enjoy watching Rose play, can't wait until he gets back on the court!
Awesome recap here from Brew Hoop's Dan Sinclair.
On to the links ...
Mozgov piece by Hochman from a couple days ago. AK-47 with some good words on the Moz.
The Post's recap of the Nuggets vs. Jazz game, not by Hochman.
Andre Iguodala and the NBA transition game - Matt Moore CBS Sports.com
Matt is talking all about how Iguodala is starting to fit in, in Denver.
The Utah paper tackles last night's Jazz game vs. the Nuggets.