This (My) Week In NBA: 3

(Hyperlinks to videos in RED)

Stat of the Week: the number of people that get away with not giving Russell Westbrook a “good game” high-five–zero.

Jeremy Lamb, for your safety, please never omit the “good game” high-five when interacting with The Brodie. Please.

I’m sorry to say that everyone’s favorite team, the Hawks, lost. It’s sad to see the streak end (at 19 games), but we knew it had to come to a stop at some point; either the end of the season, or whenever another team felt like out-rebounding/out-assisting the hell out of ’em, all while having Anthony Davis. It was the latter that came first, surprisingly–the reign is over.

And in this weeks MMA news Jon “Bones” Jones fractured Rajon Rondo’s orbital and nose–oh, wait, that was Richard Jefferson, and everyone hates him for it. It was obviously an accident, but it was still a textbook flying knee. (See below.)

                

Maybe a career change in the twilight of Jefferson’s NBA career? He’d have the reach…

It’s bird, it’s a Hawk, it’s Mike Scott?

Okay, that’s an irrelevant video, except for the fact that every time I here “Mike Scott” during a Hawks game, I can’t help but think of the Dunder Mifflin Man Himself–Michael Gary Scott. And I’d like to think that during this recent clash vs Golden State, Mike Scott transitioned into “Date Mike”. (Seriously–watch the clip above.) 

So, the two best teams, with the two best records, met up in Atlanta, where–apparently–the best organ player in the world resides. And as you’d expect, Curry got his, Klay got his; and the Hawks four got theirs, mostly (Teague, Millsap, Korver and Horford). But the surprise difference maker, as you can guess from the above paragraph, was Mike “Gary” Scott. (Go watch every episode of The Office real quick.) Scott was perfect from the line (4-4) and beyond the arc (3-3); he threw together 17 points in less than 17 minutes. A forward that comes off the bench and has the upside (I’m using “upside” liberally) to out score your starters… sounds exactly like the type of guy that you want on your team in the playoffs. If you remember, Scott also put up numbers similar to this last year, when they faced the Pacers, in the playoffs (first round). Anyway, Mike Scott is on my Top 10: Names That Get My Attention When They Are Mention On A Broadcast For Not 100% Basketball Reasons list; along with–Dion Waiters (mentioned in a Meek Mill verse [explicit] I like), Brandon Bass (his mid-range jumper in 2K is too wet–I don’t have evidence, except for my strained vocal cords, which came from yelling), Rondo (dang he looks like franklin, the turtle) and a few others. Disclaimer–all I did was type in ‘franklin the turtle’ to get the Rondo comparison picture. I swear on my league pass. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Hawks beat the Warriors (124-116; now, that’s how you hit the over!). I knew I was forgetting something.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough excitement for Friday night, Anthony Davis traveled to OKC for the performance of his life (41-10-3-game winning shot). And Russell Westbrook (48 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds) would’ve just about matched him if not for the Brow’s game-winning, buzzer beater, double-clutch trey. Poor Russ, almost stole the show. Sounds like a lot of action, huh? Oh, wait, I’m forgetting someone–oops, I guess Tyreke Evans slipped a triple-double in there, too… (22-16AST-10); he almost even tried to spoil his crazy line by missing two free-throws down the stretch. And that’s the story of how The Brodie broke his career-high (45 and 48 points) two games in a row, and The Brow saved the game and Tyreke Evans from spoiling his triple-double. Just to let you know, the reigning MVP, Kevin Durant, played in this game, too. Holy shit. Just watch the highlights linked…

Since this game, Anthony Davis has been diagnosed with a shoulder contusion after falling off the rim during an ally–oop (Chicago Bulls @ New Orleans). Get well soon, Brow. Once AD left the game–up two points, 32 to 30–the Pelicans fell apart and, eventually, lost by thirty. If that’s not enough evidence that AD is an MVP candidate, I don’t know what is; his team was competitive with him and incompetent without him. Fact.

Staying with the talented big men with injuries topic, Blake Griffin was diagnosed with a staph infection, and after surgery, he should miss 4-6 weeks. As if the Clippers road trip from hell wasn’t already bad enough, it just got worse; which was on display this Sunday, when the Clips got smacked in OKC by KD and Company (Lost 131 to 108). The loss was highlighted by Chris Paul staring down the Thunder bench after a made mid-range jump shot, of which Durant responded with: “You’re down 20, bro”. Well put. You can’t be talkin’ slick, while down 20+.

With the comment made about the female ref still hanging the air (CP3 has since been fined 25K for his comment), Paul needs to put a word limit on himself–maybe he should only talk in tweets… never mind, that’d be horrible. Adding insult to injury, Durant was quoted saying, “They cry too (bleeping) much.” I mean, at this point, he ain’t lying; and KD is NOT NICE. (I’m not sure if people are still saying that.)

And one last thing: BOOOOOOGIE!!! A DeMarcus Cousins game-winner; you couldn’t write a better ending to a week of NBA.

 

This (My) Weeks NBA

In these weekly looks into the NBA, I will be going over the ups, downs, the hilarious and all around J.R Smith-y/Raymond Felton-y shenanigans.

So let’s just get this one out of the way: Klay Thompson is jumpshot-stroking robot. If you payed any attention to NBA basketball this week, you heard/saw about this. Thompson scored 37 points in one quarter, while going 13 for 13 on field goals; and, now, it’s only a matter of days before Drake (or any other current rapper) name drops this less mentioned splash brother in some type of single. (I ain’t missin’, like Klay in the third; I know you see me, so fuck what you heard.)

Sorry, I had to.

Anyways, my condolences to Brandon Jennings and the Detroit Pistons. Jennings went down with a ruptured left achilles in a loss to the Bucks, this Saturday. He tweeted, “6/9 Months.” So, with BJ out for the season that’s one more team that the Western Conference can laugh about; that is… as long as DJ Augustin doesn’t try and drop 40 every night. (Augustin had 35 points–5 threes–in a loss to the Raptors this most recent Sunday, while replacing BJ.) That loss also marked Detroit’s first back-to-back losses since the addition by subtraction banishment of Josh Smith. Either way, hopefully Jennings is back to getting 20 & 20 soon enough–Odin speed. Just remember, you still don’t have Josh Smith. Just a little something to smile about. DEEETROIT BAASKETBAALLL (big shout Jalen Rose)!

And back to the Warriors for a second. Okay, so we saw the Dubs blowout the Rockets this week, and we saw Steph Curry try and go at Ariza for hitting him with the Blade Liger side-swipe. (See/Compare below)

I love Curry, but man, tough guy Curry is not a good look; I mean, let Draymond Green or Bogut handle that. Ariza is 6’8″–240lbs; Curry is 6’3″–185lbs, so somebody HOOOLLD him back before he gets ejected. Also, now that I’m mentioning Draymond Green, does anyone know if he actually WILL get all Stephen Jackson out there? Of course, I don’t want to see Dray get in a physical altercation on the court; I’m just saying–do we know if he’s all bark, like an edgier Nick Young? Besides that, Warriors are still rolling and sitting pretty with that No.1 seed, and I don’t see that changing this season.

And Biggest news of the week: Pelicans are on a three game win-streak, due to their recent win over the Dallas Mavericks! And they just overtook Oklahoma City Thunder (they can thank LeBron & Co.) for the No.9 spot in the West, this Sunday. In past weeks, this Pelicans squad couldn’t break .500, so three W’s in the win column sure look pretty. But don’t freak out yet, the Pelicans (23-21) are still several games behind No.8 seed, Phoenix (26-20); but the Pels (do fans call them that?) fans can wave the .500 Gods goodbye, because they are streaking! Damn, did I just jinx it… Oops.

And then there was Kobe.

The man that might have been playing through a torn rotator cuff and is just now conceding the rest of the season. First, I’m just going to commend this man for being as tough as he’s been for his entire career. I would say he’s as tough as nails, but that doesn’t quite do it for me. Kobe is as tough as trying to open something that is in that hard-sealed plastic packaging. By hand… (You know exactly what I’m talking about.) For real, despite what people think Kobe is doing to the Laker franchise, there’s something about watching someone give their all (when he plays), and knowing it won’t affect the outcome in the end. And it would, honestly, shock me if Kobe didn’t come back next year, even though I wish he wouldn’t. That man has written his legacy and–I feel–that anything else is just eroding was people might think of him. Regardless, Kobe is Kobe and should be able to do whatever he wants. I mean, it’s not its boxing, it’s not like these players get punch-drunk (only soda can knee syndrome). Oh God–imagine how punch-drunk Shaq would be; he wouldn’t have even have known what team he was on towards the end–not that I did… he hopped teams more than a confused college girl, buzzed on Malibu Rum.

Some final thoughts: I think Rondo made a free throw this year. I think. Reddit’s (/r/nba) sweetie, Ty Lawson,  broke their hearts (DUI), Hassan Whiteside upped his NBA 2K rating and Blake Griffin got some on-court assistance from a trainer.

Until next Sunday.