Morning Drills is a spin around the league with some newsy links.
Kevin Love and his agent Jeff Schwartz supposedly want an extension offer from the T-Wolves by January 15 or else he won’t re-sign with the team next summer.
Mavericks 100 Thunder 87: Dirk Nowitzki finally looked like the Finals MVP, scoring 26 points with a barrage of jumpers. Plus, the Mavs got 47 points off the bench compared to just 25 for the Thunder. OKC looked sluggish which will happen to every team at least a few times this season. Dallas has to hope this win will finally get them on track. Despite the loss, Russell Westbrook provided the most exciting play of the game.
Hawks 100 Heat 92: This was tight until the fourth quarter when Atlanta outscored Miami 33-21 to secure the victory. The Hawks got a great performance out of Tracy McGrady who got in the way back machine as he went off for 13 points, five rebounds and four assists in the final quarter. A big part of the win was the Hawks decision to go with the zone defense throughout the game which the Heat have trouble with. More and more teams are going to start using it against them until they figure it out too.
Timberwolves 106 Spurs 96: Youth prevailed on this night as San Antonio found themselves down by 10 after the first quarter and never caught up. Kevin Love had another big game with 24 points and 15 rebounds and Minny connected on 12-of-21 from downtown. To make this loss worse for the Spurs, Manu Ginobili broke his left hand and will likely be out for at least the next month.
Pistons 89 Magic 78: A sluggish performance for Orlando who was playing in their fourth game in five nights. The Magic scored just 32 points in the second half and the Pistons owned them on the boards. Ben Gordon was locked in with 26 points.
Raptors 90 Knicks 85: Carmelo Anthony went into full chucker mode, taking 31 shots with Amare Stoudamire sitting this on out. He did score 35 but the Knicks shot just 35.9% from the field. The Raptors broke this one open in the second quarter, outscoring the Knicks 29-11. Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan each scored 21 in the win.
Celtics 100 Wizards 92: The Wizards just look bad. And apparently Flip Saunders didn’t want to see his team as he got ejected just 1:46 into the game. Actually, the Wiz were in this game until the fourth quarter when the Celtics turned it on just enough to pull away for the victory. Ray Allen had 27 points and connected on 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Pacers 108 Nets 94: Very efficient effort from the Pacers who shot almost 53% from the field with five players scoring in double digits lead by Paul George with 21. The Nets are really hurting up front with Brook Lopez out with a broken foot for another month and now Kris Humphries sidelined with a bad shoulder.
Suns 102 Warriors 91: Steve Nash is back! Well, he looked much better in this one as he deals with a bad hip as he had 20 points and nine assists including several key buckets to put the Warriors away late. David Lee missed this one and Stephen Curry is really slowed with his bad ankle.
Nuggets 91 Bucks 86: This was the third game for the Nuggets in their back-to-back-to-back this season which they finished 2-1 and almost swept if not for some blunders down the stretch against the Lakers on Saturday. Denver struggled from the field but got it together in the final quarter and held Milwaukee to just 12 points in the fourth.
Jazz 94 Hornets 90: Jarrett Jack had 27 but it wasn’t enough as the Hornets faltered in the fourth quarter on the road. Al Jefferson had a nice game with 22 points while Devin Harris had 19.
At the end of last season, Kobe Bryant looked worn down. He had been playing with a variety of injuries including a bad finger that bothered him for well over a season and an arthritic knee. Then during the preseason he tore a ligament in his shooting wrist which he insists on playing through.
You would think he is breaking down, especially now in his 16th season in the NBA at the age of 33 and with all the miles he has put on his body between regular season and playoff games.
But the man knows how to take care of his body. During the offseason, he went to Germany and had a procedure done on his bothersome right knee which has him feeling much better.
“It made a huge difference for me,” Bryant said before Thursday’s game against the Knicks. “It’s about 95% better, if not to say 100.”
He looked incredible on the court as he tore up the Knicks with 28 points, hitting on 10-of-17 shots in the 99-82 victory. Bryant has been spectacular during the first four games of the season, averaging 27.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists and shooting 48.1% from the field.
He is showing no signs of slowing down and looks much better than he has in the last few seasons. And this is with a bad wrist that he admits affects his range of motion.
He has put the rest of league on alert: the Black Mamba is healthy and you better look out.
Dwight Howard has made his intentions known. He wants to be traded from the Magic and has put the Nets, Lakers and Mavericks on his wish list where he would sign an extension.
That hasn’t stopped Orlando and GM Otis Smith from hoping that other teams will get involved in the bidding to have the services of the best big man in the game, even for half a season according to Brian Schmitz of The Orlando Sentinel.
The Magic are talking to more teams than the ones on Dwight Howard’s wish list. They will listen to anybody who is willing to take a risk and give up a few good men for Howard if he can lead them to the NBA Finals as a temp.
It’s another reason why they will wait until the March 15 deadline to make a deal for Howard, after he’s played 44 games in Orlando. His new team would land him for 22 games, plus the postseason.
That sounds good but it’s going to be hard to find a team that is willing to give up a real asset to ‘rent-a-Dwight’ for just a portion of the season with no assurance that he will sign long-term with the club.
At the end of the day, the Magic will feel the heat come the trade deadline to move him rather than get nothing in return and the teams on his list – especially the Lakers with Andrew Bynum as the biggest trade piece – will be their best option.
Dallas finally found themselves in a game late at home on Thursday night against the Thunder. The Mavs had a chance to take the lead when Dirk Nowitzki drove in the lane and found Vince Carter for an open three which he nailed, giving them a 102-101 lead.
Game over? Hardly.
With just 1.4 seconds remaining on the clock, the Thunder found Kevin Durant wide open from beyond the three point arc.
Money.
This is why so many people have predicted that the Durantula will be the MVP and the Thunder will playing for the NBA championship.
On the latest podcast, Tony Mejia and Brian Fritz discuss the start of the NBA season and why not to jump to conclusions on anyone, the importance of coaching this season, the latest Dwight Howard rumors, thoughts on the Nets and attracting star players there and a look ahead to games on Wednesday and Thursday night.
You can now subscribe to the Pro Basketball News podcast on iTunes by clicking here.
You knew there would be some guys who wouldn’t be in real game shape entering the NBA season with a shortened training camp and just two preseason games.
We found out that Sean Williams of the Mavericks is still working on his conditioning. And in a nasty way.
Williams – who typically sits on the end of the bench – got some extended minutes on Monday night while his team was getting blown out at home by the Nuggets. While he scored 12 points in 11 minutes of action, he was so out of sorts that he lost it once he finally got a break.
Literally.
Yes, Williams puked his guts out right in front of the Mavs bench which had Mark Cuban laughing and Dirk Nowitzki covering his nose from the stench.
Dallas broadcaster Derek Harper said it best when he stated that Sean Williams left it all on the floor.
Bad news for Warriors fans as Stephen Curry re-injured his already bad ankle on Monday night against the Bulls and now will sit out against the Knicks on Wednesday night according to his agent.
He was hobbled in Golden State’s opener on Sunday against the Clippers. On Monday, Curry looked more like himself with 21 points and 10 assists in leading his team to a win over Chicago.
In the fourth quarter, he turned his ankle for the second time in a week and immediately left the game. It’s good that he is taking a game off to be safe. However, this has to be a scary situation for Curry and the Warriors as he dealt with ankle issues throughout his rookie season which forced him to have surgery over the summer.
Yes, this is the knee-jerk reaction to seeing just one game. But that one game left quite the impression on a lot of people after seeing the Timberwolves in their opener on Monday night.
Even though the team lost to the Thunder, they put up quite a fight before falling 104-100. The new fit-and-trim Kevin Love had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Michael Beasley scored 24 points. And a certain someone from Spain named Ricky Rubio finally made his NBA debut and he dazzled with six assists off the bench and a new, exciting brand of basketball that has Minnesota fans excited.
And rightfully so. Those people have languished in basketball hell with the teams they’ve have for the past decade or so. Now, there is actually some hope in Minnesota.
“That’s a team that’s a contender and we took them down to the last minute,” Love said after the game. “The best thing is we gave ourselves a chance and if we play like that the rest of the season and continue to get better we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Add to the mix J.J. Barea and rookie Derrick Williams along with a good coach in Rick Adelman who has been around the block and the Wolves have the makings of a real team this season that can be fun to watch and actually win some games.
There is something seriously wrong with the Dallas Mavericks right now.
Sure, the season is still very young but the defending champions are 0-2, both blowouts losses at home. Losing to the Heat is one thing but it’s another to get ransacked by the Nuggets on their own court.
You name it, it’s going wrong right now for the Mavericks. The offense isn’t clicking. They’re not defending the rim like last season. But that’s to be expected when you lose Tyson Chandler in the middle.
It’s just a mess right now and Dirk Nowitzki said as much to the Dallas Morning News.
“We look old and slow and out of shape — a bad combination,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 20 points and sat out the entire fourth quarter for a second straight game, yet another indication of how bad things are going. “I still think this team has a lot of potential. But we have to turn the corner.”
That has to come with team chemistry and they need to find a way to come together. Fast.
Lamar Odom is still looking a bit lost but once he picks up the offense, he should be a great addition. Vince Carter is a wild card and anything positive you can get out of him should be a bonus. Meanwhile, Brendan Haywood has got to do his best Chandler impression to help fortify the defense.
Coach Rick Carlisle is taking his share of the blame too and sounded very frustrated after the loss to the Nuggets on Monday night.
“I’m the head coach and it’s my job to make sure these guys are ready to play — and it’s clear that they’re not,” Carlisle said. “Right now, that’s something that’s not easy for me to say and it’s not easy to live with. I got a lot of work to do.”
The good thing is that’s it’s early and the Mavericks have time to work it out. The bad news is that this is a shortened season and you don’t want to dig yourself too big of a hole to start out.
Even though Kevin Garnett looked possessed when he put his hands around the Bill Walker’s throat after missing the game tying show on Christmas, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the league won’t hand down any punishment.
Celtics Kevin Garnett won’t receive suspension or fine for physical incident with Knicks Billy Walker, NBA says.
Luckily for Garnett, Baron Davis stepped in didn’t let the situation get out of hand. While it’s not surprising that the league didn’t issue a suspension, it is interesting that KG wasn’t asked to pay a single cent over it.
The common belief around the league is that it’s not if but when the LA Lakers will pull the trigger and trade for Dwight Howard. But exactly what they would have to give up remains a mystery other than Andrew Bynum would have to be included in any deal.
The has been talk that to get the deal done, the Lakers would have to trade Bynum and Paul Gasol to the Magic. But that is way too much according to Jim Buss who told T.J. Simers of the LA Times exactly that.
“Where does this stuff come from?” Buss said. “You’d have to be kind of silly to give up two All-Stars like that for Howard. Zero truth to it. We have never been asked for Andrew and Pau and we’ve never offered them. I think they know we’d either say no or they would sound crazy for asking … I personally believe now that we have the team that we will be playing with all season long.”
Well, there you have it. And you can’t blame Buss either because the pressure is on Orlando to get something for Howard before he leaves in the offseason and the team gets nothing in return. Plus, this Lakers team probably won’t be as bad as many have expected.
They lost a heart breaker on opening day to an elite Chicago Bulls team after leading most of the way without Bynum and with Kobe Bryant playing with a bad shooting hand.
The Lakers can be a good team as made up but to be championship contenders, they need another superstar like Howard. But they cannot overpay to get him either and that is something Buss and Co. won’t do.
Tony Mejia and Brian Fritz run down the opening day of the NBA season with the five Christmas day games, how each team looked and what stood out to them. Plus, they look ahead to a busy Monday night with 12 games on the schedule.
Listen to the podcast or download it below and be on the lookout for the link to the Pro Basketball News podcast on iTunes which will be up shortly.
It’s no wonder why the LA Clippers gave up so much to get Chris Paul.
With the game tight with 6:07 to go, the all-star point guard took over, going 4-for-4 for eight points and adding four assists to lead the Clippers to a 105-86 win over the Golden State Warriors.
For the first three quarters, LA did not look like the exciting newcomers that would take over the league by storm. Their energy was lacking on both ends of the court as they allowed a sloppy Golden State team to hang around. But when things got serious, Paul was there to bail out his team.
He finished with 20 points and nine assists while Blake Griffin scored 22 and grabbed seven rebounds. The Warriors were led by David Lee who has 21 points and 12 rebounds. The Golden State backcourt was a mess as Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis combined for 8-of-31 shooting and nine turnovers.
It was just the first game for the new look Clippers who looked anything like Lob City. But the pieces are there and with CP3 leading the way, the chemistry will be there after a few more weeks.
There’s a reason why many are picking the Oklahoma City Thunder to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
The Thunder showed exactly why on opening day as Kevin Durant looked like a strong MVP candidate with 30 points in an easy 97-89 win over the Orlando Magic.
This game was never in doubt as the Thunder showed off their youth and athleticism in a game they led by 18 at the end of the third quarter.
On the other side, the Orlando Magic were confused and out of sync throughout the game with 18 turnovers. Dwight Howard never found a rhythm, going 4-of-12 for just 11 points.
With their big man shut down, Orlando turned to their three point shooting but that was also shut down, connecting on just 8-of-28 from beyond the arc.
The Thunder looked very deep with their bench going for 39 points including 19 from James Harden.
Orlando will have to go back to work and continue to answer questions about Howard and his mindset as trade rumors continue to swirl. Meanwhile, OKC looks to be exactly what everyone thought: a real power and major contender to win it all.
