I haven’t published an NBA post since the beginning of the month. Don’t worry I’m not dead, just insanely busy with finals and then visiting home in NYC. Since we’ve been gone, the league is a bit different. Al Horford is out, likely until next season. Kobe is out, likely until some point next year. Russell Westbrook is out, likely until some time after the All-Star Break. Brook Lopez is out, likely until next season.
Last night, Dallas got its 8th win in December, increasing their record to 8-5 for the month and 18-13 for the year. Dallas caught a major break at the end of the game against Minnesota. The Mavericks were up by 2 and Minnesota was inbounding the ball. Kevin Love caught the pass and attempted a shot (trying for a game winning 3, but his foot was on the line.) As Love shot the ball, Shawn Marion (who had a great game including a season high 32 points), clearly hit his arm. No foul was called, and Kevin Love missed the shot (and by missed, I mean “barely got the ball out of his hands”). Game Over. Dallas wins.
This morning the NBA released an official statement, which stated that Kevin Love was fouled and should have gotten 2 shots. On one hand, it doesn’t do the Wolves any good. They get an extra loss on their record (to go with the other 7 games they’ve lost where the point differential was 4 points or less). On the other hand you don’t know that Love hits those shots or if they would have gone to OT and lost anyway. I do think that it’s a good thing that the NBA does point out where the refs have made mistakes. It’s better than the alternative where the NBA pretends that the mistake didn’t happen and just moves on, which is really easy to do with a 82 game regular season.
Nationally Televised Schedule *All Times EST
Tuesday
Portland at Oklahoma City NBATV 8PM
Last week, I got to watch the Thunder live for the first time. It was great to watch Westbrook get a triple double and for Kevin Durant to put up 29 points (both in 3 quarters as they sat out the 4th quarter). Now Westbrook is out, again, and the Thunder are back where they began the season, with KD carrying the team and hoping that Reggie Jackson and Ibaka pick up the slack. So far they’ve done well, beating the Bobcats and tearing apart the Rockets in convincing fashion.
Now they get the division rival Blazers. They have been amazing all year. Last post, I gushed about how they raised their floor by having better bench players this season, but since then they have been consistently good against top competition. A win on the road in a nationally televised game would be huge for them
No Nationally televised games on Wednesday, for unclear reasons. (Really, we couldn’t have flexed in New Orleans at Minnesota or something?) Actually, the schedule is bleak for Wednesday unless you want to watch hockey. Spend time with your family, recovering from your hangover or both.
Thursday
Brooklyn at Oklahoma City NBATV 8PM
2013 has been rough for the Nets. On the other hand, they are still in the East, and they aren’t far out of the division lead. (about 4 wins as of 12/31). That’s all I got.
Friday
New York at Houston NBATV 8PM
Houston is about who I thought they were. Right now they are the 5th seed in the West. They aren’t a bad team but they aren’t on the same level as a healthy Spurs or Thunder team. They just got slaughtered by the Thunder, without Westbrook. However there is hope. The Rockets are either going to trade disgruntled center Omer Asik or play him. Either way, this will improve the team. While trades for Millsap and Ryan Anderson may be purely fantasy, any improvement at PF or PG will change the Rockets from being a second tier team team in the Western Conference. They already have the best Shooting Guard in the league (Harden) and arguably the best Center (Howard, as long as Marc Gasol is not playing).
Saturday
New York at Dallas NBATV 730PM
At the aforementioned Thunder game I watched in MSG, the Knicks… were there. Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton and Mike Woodson were all in well-tailored suits. The Knicks faithful made it clear that they hoped that none of them would be there for long. Commentators said (hoped, really) that Carmelo and Felton would be healthy soon and “FI-RE WOOD-SON” chants echoed through out the arena.
As far as those who weren’t suited I didn’t see a lot to be happy about. Tim Hardaway, Jr. was electrifying and gave the crowd a reason to be excited. Shumpert was his usual, defensive-stopper self. However, J.R. smith got booed on his way to the bench. Chris Smith got his first, inconsequential minute for the Knicks (he got a wonderfully appropriate trillion) and likely, his last minute for the Knicks.
Meanwhile, Dallas keeps chugging along and working towards earning their playoff spot, just like that other Dallas team.
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