Monday, December 18, 2006

NBA notes - 12/17/2006

I feel prophetic for pimping the Wizards-Lakers game yesterday. What a match-up that turned out to be like I had predicted. Gilbert Arenas is one of the best scorers in this league. He is still a relative unknown and woefully underrated in the league, but the Wizards fan should absolutely love this guy. He has been carrying the team on his shoulders the last 2 years. He can be an unstoppable force on any given night. He is one of the quickest players in the league. He is athletic, fairly big for a PG and can shoot with range. He is quirky and weird, but always seems to step-up for big match-ups. So I knew he would have something special for Kobe. He had 60 (8 boards and 8 assists) to Kobe's 45 (8 boards and 10 assists) in a overtime thriller. Kobe rallied the Lakers back from a huge deficit, but Gil took it to whole another level in the overtime. It was fun watching Kobe defend Gilbert too. Kobe doesn't shy away from any challenge on either end of the floor, but Gil was just too much tonight. It's hard to overshadow Kobe and Kobe is going to be a must-watch the the next few weeks with Lamar out.

Heard an interesting theory about why George Karl had 4 of his starters in the game with 2 minutes to go and Denver leading by 19 points yesterday in the “brawl game”. Apparently that was George's way of showing up Isiah for firing his friend and fellow tarheel Larry Brown. Thats very interesting and probably accurate considering how tight those 2 guys are. Anyways, that decision is going to came back and bite George's butt because people are saying Melo is going to be suspended for 10+ games. Scremain' A Smith is saying he might be gone for 15 to 20 games. It also looks like Isiah warned Melo not to go near the basket just before the brawl. That might suggest some premeditation on the part of the Knicks and I am not sure how the league deals with that. Things should clear up in a day or two.

The Clippers lost again at home, this time to Yao and the Rockets. Yao had 32-10 and Rafer Alston had 26. Looks like the street-baller is loving life without Mcgrady. He gets to shoot the perimeter shots now when Yao throws it out. Greg Anthony is saying Yao Ming is the MVP of the league. High praise for Yao and it shows how far he has come along.

Houston @ LA Clippers – 108-103
Washington @ LA Lakers – 147-141

Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 18-th (Monday)

Hornets @ Miami – Can Chris Paul lead the Hornets over Wade's Heat?

Washington @ Denver – What will Gil do the day after the 60 point night? Who plays for Denver and how long does Melo gets suspended? We will know tomorrow.

Dallas @ Sacramento – Great rivalry from the recent past. Can Sacramento play Dallas tough at home?

Golden State @ New Jersey – Could be a high-scoring, fun game if Golden State shows up.

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