Wednesday Wake n Break

*The Knicks tried to make it 3 in a row, going 5-2 overall, but couldn’t pull it out against the Spurs in San Antonio. It wasn’t a pretty game, with both teams struggling to create offense in the first half, the score was 41-38. Jamal Crawford picked things up, going 6-8 from downtown, and David Lee finally saw some light in D’Antoni’s offense getting 15 points. Crawford’s scoring spree, and D.Lee’s flurry late in the game, still wasn’t enough to stop a Spurs team struggling to find an identity after losing Tony Parker to injury. Roger Mason was having difficulty leading the offense, and had to force himself to shoot the ball instead of running off the ball to catch and shoot. However, the elder statesmen, Bruce Bowen and Mike Finley stepped it up in the fourth and hit some key buckets. The big story was the Spurs defense in the fourth, not allowing the Knicks to score until 5:02 into the quarter. Spurs 92, Knicks 80

*Denver is undefeated since they picked up Chauncey (3-0). You can see they are distributing the ball more efficiently, by looking at how spread out the scoring was, with five guys in double figures (and one assist to Nene that shook the stadium). None of the five to score 10 or more was JR Smith. What happened to this guy? He was supposed to explode in the absence of Iverson, but for the third game, a very poor outing. Tonight he had his worst game, getting 3 points on 7 shots. Charlotte is finally getting some production from the third pick of the 2006 draft, A-Mo (formally known as Adam Morrison). His 16 points, and Jason Richardson’s 27, wasn’t enough to get a win in Charlotte against the up and coming Nuggets. Nuggets 88, Bobcats 80

*The Atlanta Hawks are 6-0! Only two undefeated teams left, the Hawks and Lakers. Is that a finals prediction for anyone?? The Hawks did it again tonight, this time without leading shot blocker, and defensive animal Josh Smith. But that was okay, since Al Horford, who many say should have won the Rookie of the Year award last year, stepped it up big time with 27 points, 17 boards, and 6 blocks! Joe Johnson wasn’t feeling it tonight, going 4 for 16, but Mike Bibby and Mo Evans took care of it, hitting 14 of 27 shots, netting 49 between the two of them. Now that Drew Gooden is out, the Bulls front court is once again a total mess. I’m still mad that John Paxson didn’t sell high on some of the assets he had, when he had a chance for KG or maybe even Kobe. Hawks 113, Bulls 108

*In 3 of the last 4 games, LeBron James has scored 41 points (!). LeBron hit another 3 pointer, and hit 8 of 10 foul shots, shutting up the critics who said those flaws in his game are hindering his superstar success. This was also Mo Williams first time playing his old team, and he enjoyed the win even more so because of it. At the interview after the game, LeBron says, “It doesn’t matter. It’s just one of those nights, again, whenever I get the ball, wherever I get the ball, it’s gonna go in. When I’m in the zone like that; no matter where I catch it.” Damn, that’s gangster. Cavs 99, Bucks 93

*The featured game on NBAtv tonight was Lakers vs. Mavericks in Dallas, where Kobe has been known to go off for crazy amounts of points. Only now, you can see Kobe is reserving himself, making sure he defers to his teammates and gets them involved throughout the game. It seemed as though the Mavs had good control over this game, but when the fourth quarter came, it turned into Lakers domination and they went +10 for the fourth. JKidd done did it again, with Triple-Double #101 (wow). But as usual, in a big game, it was Dirk disappearing again, finishing with 14 points on 5 for 17 shooting. Gerald Green looked great tonight, but was in and out of the game due to a bloody lip, and some foul trouble. If he stayed in, and continued playing like he did in the first, the outcome could have been different. He played some great D on Kobe, and hit a few shots that looked promising for this traveling NBA player. Lakers 106, Mavs 90

*I’m definitely worried about the Sixers. They had a huge game from Andre Miller, EB got 6 blocks, but once again the Sixers fell short, and by a lot. Elton Brand still hasn’t gotten into offensive rhythm, and I don’t see it happening until they get some shooters around him. It might not have mattered anyway, since the Jazz were playing great without Deron Williams, and now they have him back. He didn’t do much scoring-wise, but helped the team with 9 assists in limited (31) minutes. Kirilenko and Milsap came up big off the bench, each getting 16 points on great %’s (14-20), and outscoring the Sixers bench 38-12 (!). Jazz 93, Sixers 80

*It didn’t take long for AI to get back into true warrior form. He showed why pound-for-pound he is still the best player in the league (maybe best ever), scoring 30 with 9 dimes and 7 boards. Sacramento was without their leading scorer Kevin Martin, but still took the early lead, scoring 31 in the first quarter against Detroit’s 18. But in typical Detroit fashion, they stepped it up in the fourth quarter and outscored the Kings 25 to 15. T-Prince had a active game adding 27 and 11. Rip struggle most of the game, shooting 4-16, but finished with 17 and 4. Sacramento had a overall good game from every player, Spencer Hawes led the team in scoring off the bench with 19 and 6, and Jason Thomspon another strong rookie outing, getting 15 and 9 as a starter. Detroit improves to 5-2 getting their first win with AI, but they’ll have to beat a team better than the Kings without their best player, in order to stop the early criticism. Pistons 100, Kings 92

*This was a Don Nelson type of game, high-scoring with very little regard for defense. But sometimes your best defense is a good offense! Al Jefferson showed some defensive pride last night, getting 4 blocks to add to his 25 points and 12 boards. Someone invited Ronny Turiaf to the block party, and he got 3 of his own. This game came down to the last minutes, with the Warriors coming from behind to make things interesting. With 7 minutes left in the game the Wolves had a 10 point lead, but that wasn’t enough. The Warriors came back and tied the game 106-106 with .22 seconds left in the game to take the Wolves to overtime. The extra period belonged to Stephen Jackson, scoring 6 of his 30 points in OT, while the Wolves couldn’t get at bucket until 1:05 left in the game. The Warriors win while the Wolves continue their slide and make it 6 losses in a row after their promising opening day win. The Wolves are having some serious lineup issues, not sure who should be starting or sitting, and tonight only made it more complex with the bench outscoring their starters to 61-49 (!). Warriors 113, T-Wolves 110