Tuesday, March 19, 2013

3/19: Heat, Bynum, etc.

Greetings! Let's go...

  • The Miami Heat won their 23rd consecutive game with a wild, come-from-behind 105-103 win over Boston last night. Lebron James made the go-ahead bucket with 10.5 seconds left, and finished with (another) ridiculous line of 37 points, 12 assists, and 7 rebounds to lead Miami back from their largest deficit during the streak (17 points) on the road. Jeff Green was the story all night for Boston, as the former Georgetown star went for 43 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks, but his last-second attempt was blocked by Shane Battier, and the C's fell just short. Really a great game here, but the takeaway is that Miami now has the 2nd-longest win streak in NBA history. Wow. 
  • Elsewhere on the NBA hardwood, Dallas scored a season-high 127 points in a 14-point rout in Atlanta over the Hawks. The Mavs shot a blistering 57% for the game, and if they hadn't pulled the reins back in the 4th quarter, they probably would've scored 135-140 points. I can't even talk about the lack of defense for Atlanta. Brooklyn gained a game on Atlanta in the standings after a 37-point road smackdown over Detroit that was led by 31 points from Deron Williams. Denver edged Chicago 119-118 in over time thanks to a 35-point explosion from Wilson Chandler. The Nuggets now have a streak of their own, having won 12 straight games... except no one is talking about it yet. Finally, the Lakers absolutely no-showed in Phoenix and lost 99-76 to that awful Suns team. LA managed just 10 points in the 4th quarter, and shot a meager 33.3% from the field in the absence of Kobe. Not a stellar job. 
  • Andrew Bynum will officially miss the entire season after scheduling surgery on both of his knees. Yes, you read that correctly. BOTH of his knees! Philly shipped out half of their core players (seemingly) and they were left with a zero-game sample of the enigma that is Bynum. I'm not objective on this (as he's my least favorite player in the league), but this is shockingly bad. 
  • San Diego Padres star 3B Chase Headley broke his thumb yesterday and will miss the start of the season. Headley is coming off of his "breakout" 2012 campaign, and he's the anchor in that San Diego lineup that actually looked promising heading in to the year. Ouch. 
What to watch for on Tuesday...
  • 1:00 - MLB - Yankees @ Phillies (ESPN) - I'm really, really down on the Yankees this year and I'm on record, but it's baseball on national TV. 
  • 6:40 - NCAAB First Four - #16 North Carolina A&T vs. #16 Liberty (TRU-TV) - Real, live NCAA tournament basketball! That's all I can give you on this one. 
  • 8:00 - NBA - Nuggets @ Thunder (NBATV) - This is an awesome game, as the Nuggets have won 12 straight games, but face one of the biggest challenges in the league in OKC. No one seems to win there, but this should be a battle. 
  • 9:10 - NCAAB First Four - #11 St. Mary's vs. #11 Middle Tennessee (TRU-TV) - This one actually matters, as the winner faces an overrated (IMO) Memphis team in round one. I like the Gaels in this one, but MTSU is a real opponent. 
Enjoy!

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