Saturday, November 13, 2010

11/13: Kevin Love, Hawks/Jazz, etc.

Short and sweet today...
  • Kevin had 31 points last night... sounds like he a good game, right?... He also had 31 rebounds... 31! Rebounds! 31!... The first 30-30 game in the NBA since Moses Malone in 1982, and honestly a ludicrous stat-line... One "asterisk" is that this game was against the Knicks, who are pretty much the ideal team to rebound against b/c they don't have any above-average rebounders and they jack alot of shots... but 31 rebounds is 31 rebounds, and just for comparison, Love got 30% of the game's rebounds last night... next highest league wide? Gerald Wallace, who got 17% of his game's rebounds... that may as well be a million...
  • The Hawks blew a double-digit lead at home yesterday... 4 straight losses, and while Utah seems to make a living at this now (4 straight), it doesn't explain away this one.... the issue? The Hawks didn't play badly... even in the 4th quarter collapse it wasn't an egregious meltdown outside of Al Horford missing 4 straight free throws at the end... It was little things like 3 straight dreadful possessions late as a result of iso-Joe (I got Vietnam-like flashbacks here), and a seeming insistence on playing the second team all together for extended stretches... I don't want to go too over-the-top advanced here... but I'll drop this one on you... when Josh Powell is on the court, the Hawks are being outscored by 10.8 points per 100 possessions.... that is one of the top 10 worst per 100 possessions numbers for any player in the league... and while some of this is because Josh Powell isn't very good... part of it is also Larry Drew's insistence on playing him and Pachulia together... anyway, It's not full-on panic time yet, but this team is who we thought they were... a high 40s/low 50s win team that has no threat of contention...
  • NBA Box Score Check - Russell Westbrook put up 36-7-7 in a 2-point win over Portland... he had the more impressive stat-line, but it was Kevin Durant who scored 8 straight points to cap a 10-0 run that ended up being the difference... Steven Q. Nash dropped 28-7-14 last night... including 13-18 shooting from a point guard... Going back to the Minnesota game, Michael Beasley took 29(!) shots, converting 16 of them for 35 points, and won't get any public mention today b/c he played alongside Mr. Love.... and while we're here, Blake Griffin threw up an 18 point, 18 rebound game in the Clippers loss to Denver... is it too early for "Free Blake Griffin"? lol...
  • Boise State wins 52-14 on the road... Kellen Moore continues to be absurd (19/26, 3 TDs, 0 INT), and 38 point road wins are just that... that's insanity... but it really doesn't matter at this point... they need help, and there's STILL a way they can be left out of the BCS games altogether...
What to watch for today...
  • College Football - All day - It's saturday in the Fall... come on...
  • Wizards/Bulls - 8:00 WGN - John Wall vs. Derrick Rose....
  • Warriors/Bucks - 8:30 NBA-TV - another chance for the Dubs to prove they may be a little bit legit...
Until next time...

No comments: