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Only 3 games in the NBA today. Here’s the roundup:
Jason Kidd lets slip that Amare Stoudemire may come back by the end of the month. And Steve Nash plans to rejoin practice next week. In case of Nash his return should be viewed with guarded optimism. He has started running in the last few days, but he is not a young man any more, and another injury to his leg may effectively end his entire season. Brandon Roy has also started practicing after his knee surgery.
All star votes have been released, and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James lead the pack. James is the overall leader with 641,348 votes, while Kobe Bryant is second with 639,419 votes. You can see why Dwight Howard was upset with the center position being excluded from the ballot and being clubbed in with the forwards. Howard is second in the Western Conference among the forwards with 434,168 votes, trailing Durant (605,965) and just ahead of Blake Griffin who is at 307,855.
Howard is not the only center feeling the pinch. Tyson Chandler is fifth among East front court players. And Joakim Noah is much further down the line.
Led by Melo:
Carmelo Anthony was the hero of the day for the Knicks. Tragedy adds to the heroism and he was tragically injured and forced to leave the game. The Knicks are now in the club of the teams which are thrashing the Lakers this year. But this win came at a price, as Carmelo Anthony left midway with a sprained left ankle after Dwight Howard decked him. A mild enough foul, but Melo fell on his backside and his ankle twisted under him. Kobe had said that Carmelo is the toughest player he has had to guard and Melo proved him right by blasting off for 22 points in the first quarter alone, en route to 30 points before leaving with an injury. Maybe Mike D’Antoni was so overwhelmed with emotion on his return to New York that it affected his coaching. (Lakers fans: “What coaching?”)
Kobe extended his painful record, as the Lakers are now 1-11 when Kobe scores 30 or more this season. Against the Knicks, Kobe had 31 points and 10 rebounds, but the Lakers couldn’t get it done. Now the Lakers have lost 4 in a row.
The Spurs featured in the last KeedaHoops as a victim of the Jazz. This time they were victims to the Portland Trailblazers. They did shoot themselves in the foot with sloppy turnovers, to the tune of 19, which resulted in 17 fast break points for the Blazers. Rookie Damien Lilliard burned the Spurs with 29 points, 7 rebounds and six assists. Spurs were led by Tony Parker, who had 21 points and 5 assists.
Two days ago the Spurs’ record was 18-4. Now they have lost two straight and their next matches are against the Boston Celtics, OKC Thunder and Denver Nuggets, with the last two games being back to back. Doesn’t bode well for them.
The Atlanta Hawks deep bombed the Charlotte Bobcats with a season high 14 three pointers while coasting to a 113-90 win with a balanced attack, where three players scored in double figures. Their bench added a whooping 56 points to this one, led by Devin Harris’s 20 points. The Bobcats fall to 7-15, after matching their last season’s win record of 7 games.
Here are the scores from today’s only three games:
Charlotte Bobcats 90-113 Atlanta Hawks
LA ?Lakers 107-116 New York Knicks
San Antonio Spurs 90-98 Portland Trail Blazers
And here are the highlights:
