mcgee ball

The Milwaukee Bucks: Another night, another 85 points, and another crippling-for-their-playoff-hopes loss for the Bucks. Last season at this time, opposing teams were Fearing the Deer. This season, the Deer are Fearing the Headlights.

After being held to 56 points by Boston on Sunday, Milwaukee was shut down and lit up in Atlanta. Joe Johnson dropped 36 -- including 28 in the first half -- on 13-for-19 from the field and 6-for-9 from downtown. Josh Smith shot 8-for-12, Al Horford went 7-for-12, Marvin Williams went 7-for-9, and Kirk Hinrich and Damien Wilkins both went 3-for-3. As a team, the Hawks shot 63 percent from the field and 11-for-19 from beyond the arc and finished with an Offensive Rating of 120.8.

Hey...I thought the Bucks were supposed to be good at that "defense" thing.

Said Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles: "It's just another one of those games where we didn't play very well."

That's one bummed-out-sounding coach.

Status check: In their last two games, the Bucks have scored a combined total of 141 points (70.5 PPG) and been outscored by 56 points (28 PPG). And at 26-40, they're...only 2.5 games out of eighth place in the East?! Jesus Christ.

Update! Andrew Bogut, quote machine: From Basketbawful reader Dan:

"I think we focused too much on scoring today and not enough on defense," said Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut.

I guess scoring 30 more points than against the Celtics is focusing on offense, but that's just sad.
The Washington Wizards Generals: How low are the expectations for the Generals? The Bulls beat them by 19 points despite being without both Carlos Boozer (sprained ankle) and Joakim Noah (flu-like symptoms!) and commenters in ESPN's Daily Dime Live chat were wondering why the Bulls weren't up by 30 at the half.

What's more: The Bulls held Washington to 79 point on 43 percent shooting and scored 22 points off 16 forced turnovers. The Generals managed only 33 points over the final 24 minutes. And yet Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau expressed near-disgust with his team's defensive performance.

Kurt Thomas nailed a buzzer-beating three at the end of the first half. It was Big Sexy's first three-pointer since April 10, 2005.

Oh, and did I mention that Keith Bogans drilled five triples and dropped a season-high 17 points?

You know you suck when...

In all fairness to the Generals, they were missing Rashard Lewis (knee), Cartier Martin (knee), Josh Howard (knee), Andray Blatche (shoulder) and Nick Young (more flu-like symptoms!). So, yeah, they were undermanned. Or whatever.

Said Washngton coach Flip Saunders: "We started three rookies. We had a lot of opportunities to fold, especially the games we've played the last week or so. I thought our guys played hard. We just ran out of gas."

Nope, nosiree, no folding here. In probably unrelated news, the Generals are now 1-30 on the road this season. According to the AP game notes, only one team has gone 1-40 on the road since the NBA went to an 82-game schedule in 1967-68: The 1990-91 Sacramento Kings. C'mon. You knew I was going to work in a Kings reference, right?

JaVale McGee and the Quest for the Triple-Double Last night, McGee threw a block party in the United Center. He stuffed 12 shots...the most swats by an NBA player since Keon Clark registered 12 rejections back on March 23, 2001. It was also the most shots any player has had against the Bulls in a regulation game.

McGee ended up one block shy of the franchise record for blocks in a game set by Manute Bol, who returned 15 packages to sender for the then-Bullets on February 26, 1987.

Said McGee: "I had three [blocks] the first quarter and I was trying to match that in the second quarter and I had seven, so I was like I'm going to try and get 14. It was working for me tonight. I was blocking so good in the first half people were starting to hesitate and were more afraid to go up and it was easier to block shots."

Note JaVale never once said anything about his team in that quote.

Anyway, with the game way out of hand in the fourth quarter, the final few minutes were consumed by a) the United Center crowd's desire for free Big Macs and b) McGee's mad quest for the final point he needed for a triple-double. And JaVale got it on a dunk with 18 seconds left...then celebrated by hanging on the rim and screaming.

Said McGee: "That was the hardest one point I ever tried to make in my life. It was crazy, but I got it. It was a dunk of relief."

Note again that he didn't say anything about his team in that quote. In possibly related news, the Generals were down 18 at the time. And McGee earned a tech for his masturbatory celebration, and Kyle Korver knocked down the freebie, so McGee's dunk ended up being a net gain of only one point for his team. Kept 'em from losing by 20, though.

Here's video of McGee's sad end-of-game quest. I've seen WoW addict less desperate to lose their virginity.


Bad as that was, it was only the second-most pathetic attempt at a triple-double in Washington franchise history:


Looks like I need to update my old Worst Evers: Triple-Doubles post.

The New York Knicks: Okay. This one hurt:


But forget Danny Granger's heroics. What really killed the Knicks was letting Tyler Hansbrough score a career-high 30 points. Mind you, Psycho T's previous career-high of 29 points was established in New York last Sunday.

Reality check: Hansbrough averaged 10.5 PPG on 46.2 percent shooting. In back-to-back games against the Knicks and Mike _'Antoni's _efense, he scored 59 points on 65 percent shooting (24-for-37).

Said 'Melo: "We all know what he was capable of doing. I don't think we made adjustments to him at the top of the key. Especially after the game he had in the Garden, I would think we would make some adjustments after that. He's played great these last two games."

Added Shawne Williams: "It feels bad. We know we got to get it going, some kind of way. I feel like we all got to take a good look in the mirror and redefine ourselves. We got to take more pride in defense."

In possibly related news, the Pacers scored 119 points on 52 percent shooting.

By the way, the Knicks are 5-6 in their last 11 games, including two losses to the Cadavers (12-53) and back-to-back losses to the Pacers (29-38). It's true what people have been saying: The Knicks are back! The bad Knicks.

Amar''''''e Stoudemire, poster boy: Apparently, STAT things his offense is his interior defense.


The Dallas Mavericks: Last Wednesday, the Mavs choked away a seven-point lead in the final 1:13 of a 93-92 loss to the New Orleans Hornets, after which Dallas coach Rick Carlisle called his team "soft." Jason Terry was pissed. Caron Butler, who's not even playing at the moment, added, "I think this team is far from soft."

One week later, and the Mavericks (after thumping the increasingly defenseless Knicks) have lost back-to-back gut check games against the Lakers and Frail Blazers. And last night's loss in Portland was a particularly bitter pill to swallow, considering Dallas shot 59.7 percent from the field and got a Beast Mode game out of Dirk Nowitzki (28 points, 9-for-14 from the field, 9-for-9 from the line, 11 rebounds, and, of course, 0-for-1 on a potential game-winner).

Dallas gave up 15 offensive boards and got outscored 48-36 in the paint. But remember what Butler and Terry said: They ain't soft.

However, the Mavs have now lost four of six after winning 18 of 19, and the Lakers have leapfrogged them for second place in the West.

Chris's Invincible Lacktion Ledger:

Bucks-Hawks: Josh Powell chained himself to the ledger tonight despite a board in 6:06 by losing the rock twice for a 2:1 Voskuhl, while Zaza Pachulia put two assists aside in 11:49 with three fouls and a turnover for a 4:0 Voskuhl.

Generals-Bulls: Mustafa Shakur bricked twice (once from the Sears Tower) in 2:20 for a +2, a suck differential matched by THE Brian Scalabrine in 4:12 from Congress Street! Also recording lacktive marks for the heifers were Omer Asik, who negated a free throw and board in 9:36 with two fouls and a turnover for a 3:2 Voskuhl, and new Chicagoan Rasual Butler, powering up a Virtual Boy in 57 seconds for a Mario.

Mavs-Frail Blazers: Dallas's Brian Cardinal produced one piece of masonry for a +1 in 4:48.

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35 Comments:
Blogger Will said...
Good thing he wasn't a rebound shy of the trip-dub or he might have pulled a Ricky Davis .

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
Yeah. Ricky Davis clearly had the all-time saddest attempt at a triple double.

I vote JaVale McGee for second saddest, though. The shot jackery.. it burns my eyes. Turn around jumpers? Seriously?

Blogger Dan said...
"I think we focused too much on scoring today and not enough on defense," said Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut.

I guess scoring 30 more points than against the Celtics is focusing on offense, but that's just sad.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Yeah. Ricky Davis clearly had the all-time saddest attempt at a triple double.

I vote JaVale McGee for second saddest, though. The shot jackery.. it burns my eyes. Turn around jumpers? Seriously?


Whaaa...? What about Anthony Bowie?! And Bob Sura! For further reading, check out my old Worst Evers: Triple-Doubles post.

Anonymous Marylander said...
Whaaa...? What about Anthony Bowie?! And Bob Sura! For further reading, check out my old Worst Evers: Triple-Doubles post.

ROFL this is a must read for every triple-double aspiring player!

Anonymous Batmanu said...
"In all fairness to the Generals, they were missing Rashard Lewis (knee), Cartier Martin (knee), Josh Howard (knee), Andray Blatche (shoulder) and Nick Young (more flu-like symptoms!). So, yeah, they were undermanned. Or whatever."

I think they're undermanned even when everyone is playing.

Blogger Dan B. said...
Surprise, surprise. Tracy McGrady has a "We're talkin' about practice, man" moment.
 
"I don’t just see how going hard in practice is going to take my talent to another level."
 
Sigh.

Blogger chris said...

Anonymous JJ said...
"I don’t just see how going hard in practice is going to take my talent to another level."

To see quotes like this is what I come to this blog for. Totally. Awesome.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Reality check: Hansbrough averaged 10.5 PPG on 46.2 percent shooting. In back-to-back games against the Knicks and Mike _'Antoni's _efense, he scored 59 points on 65 percent shooting (12-for-37)."

12 for 37 doesn't seem like 65% shooting? Maybe 24 for 37?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
12 for 37 doesn't seem like 65% shooting? Maybe 24 for 37?

Ugh. Yeah, it was 24-for-37. He hit 12 field goals in each game. I'll update the post as soon as I can...Blogger's acting all funky right now.

Blogger Will said...
I think my favorite triple double belonged to Bo Outlaw

Blogger 49er16 said...
That Ricky Davis attempted Triple-Double actually happened 8 years ago today.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
I think my favorite triple double belonged to Bo Outlaw.

How could you bring up Bo's triple-double and leave out the best part?!

In the locker room after the game the media asked Bo what he thought of his triple-double. He said: "Triple-Double? What's that, some kind of hamburger?"

Anonymous Simos said...
I know that T-Mac is the poster child in this blog of pretty much everything aweful (unfairly in my opinion), but whoever reads the hoopshype story and concludes that this is a "we're taling about practise" moment, without taking into account all the qualifications t-mac offers, then he really need to take some basic reading skills class.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I think it's worth noting that Dallas was shooting 11 for 11 before Brian Cardinal's one piece of masonry.

Blogger Cortez said...
"...without taking into account all the qualifications t-mac offers, then he really need to take some basic reading skills class."

His qualifications made it worse, not better, worse.

He is claiming that he maxed out his individual ability on his own therefore he couldn't get any better. Really? This bum perfected every facet of the game, offensively and defensively to the very limit of his mental and physical potential?

"Ok Mel."
~Tony Montana

Even if that was/is true, is that even the ultimate fucking point in team sports anyway? Maximizing your individual skills while giving little more than passing thought to maximizing the team?

"That is why you fail"
~Yoda

He really could have used that Intro to Logic and Rational Thinking class that he missed out on by declaring early.

Blogger Michael Hsu said...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPlLyVuMf7U

Anthony Bowie triple double.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MezCclCSjNw

Ricky Davis triple double + Jerry Sloan expression

Anonymous Simos said...
Cortez, so there is no difference between (a) a lazy athlete who sits on his contract without ever improving any aspect of his game and (b) a player who worked on his game, albeit not in a way that would satisfy our purist fantasies about how champions are made?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Doug Collins should have told his team to surround Bowie and then foul him hard if he touched the ball on the last inbound play.

Anonymous Koggz said...
I know Woj is known to have a creepy love for Kobe in his articles, but he wrote an article about the evils of Stern and Sterling that I think more or less sums up any respectable fan's opinion of these two.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-sternnba031511

Blogger Cortez said...
"Cortez, so there is no difference between (a) a lazy athlete who sits on his contract without ever improving any aspect of his game and (b) a player who worked on his game"

Yes, there is a difference.

The primary differential being, when it comes to TEAM goals, the former is lazy and selfish and the latter is merely clueless and only possibly selfish.

Knee-Mac makes (or one can reasonably infer) two claims...

1. He reached the apex of his basketball ability due to his individual workouts.

2. Improved practice habits and effort with the team would not have raised his individual play.

My original comment rejects and mocks these absurd premises.

"...albeit not in a way that would satisfy our purist fantasies about how champions are made?"

Admittedly, I'll never know with 100% certainty that he didn't reach his personal basketball apex but one thing is beyond dispute, his efforts, whatever they may have been, didn't forge him, nor his team, a into champion. Hell, they didn't get him out of the first round!

On the other hand, they certainly made him a millionaire so, congrats. I wish I could be so lazy!

Anonymous SirGirthNasty said...
They should have had Charlie Sheen at T-Mac's practices just to repeat, "Winning, duh" every time that Knee-Mac coasted. Now we know why (injuries played a part, obviously) that he always underperformed. Approximately 20 extremely caucasian Basketbawful reader's just shook their heads and muttered, "If only I had his physical abilities."

Blogger chris said...
Maloofs trying their hardest to weasel their way to SoCal:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/16/3481107/maloof-attorney-files-trademark.html

Anonymous Simos said...
Cortez

If you go back to my original comment, I didn't say that T-Mac did everything perfectly (it would be interesting to examine where this idea of perfection comes from, and who actually lives up to it in his chosen profession).

I said that let's not make this into an Iversonian moment. I think the qualifications he offered don;t necessarily lead to him being selfish, even though it might be easy to conclude so (working on your game, does not necessarily mean that you are the only one who stands to gain; if Lebron actually worked on his post game, it might actually help his team, you know?).

And don't forget that his comments are aimed to defend himself from the "accusation" that he didn't work on his god-given talent; he is merely saying that he worked, and actually goes on to say in what aspects he didn't work, without though missing practices and stuff.

Overall, I am pissed off when I see a player who was top 5 for 6-7 years, who never lost a series from an inferior opponent, to be treated as if he was a Eddie Curry. T-Mac gave a lot to be appreciated while he was on top of his game, and I don't know what kind of twisted and perverted idea of perfection can stop us from appreciating and actually remembering what he did, before he was left 1/10th of the player he was because of injuries and not lack of conditioning or whatever.

Anonymous Aaron said...
with steve nash back, the suns are still getting killed by the hornets.
so i guess this makes Amare the MVP for last year's team.

i believe both hill and nash will retire if there is a lockout...good for them..

Blogger LotharBot said...
(sigh... comment got eaten.)

Joe "the $124 million dollar man" Johnson followed up his 36 point outing against the Bucks by dropping 12 points on 13 shots, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a +/- of -22 against the Nuggets.

Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia came to play. Horford got 5 shots, and Pachulia got 9, but 4 were from offensive rebounds and only 5 were from his teammates passing him the ball. The rest of the team was apparently content to shoot 23-68 (under 34%) on mostly bad jumpers.

All of this happened in a game where the Nuggets shot 50% from 3 and 53% overall (and would've shot better were it not for some iffy non-calls in the paint.) So on a day when the offense wasn't working, at least the Hawks could count on their defense to do the same, much like the famous John McKay rant: "we didn't block, but we made up for it by not tackling."

Anonymous Baconater said...
Stat curse! Curry's shooting a tech FT in the 2nd quarter, play-by-play guy on ESPN says "Steph Curry is the best FT shooter in the NBA" and of course, Steph boinks the FT.

Blogger chris said...
The Purple Paupers Who Are Somehow Still In Sacramento (I'm sure if the Maloofs could, they would've moved them midseason)...

choked a 4th quarter lead for the 22nd time tonight.

Is that an Association record?

I should be reveling in Yet Another Heat Fail but...if the team that gave me a reason to care about this league in the first place is going to be gone next year, I don't know what to feel but numbness over it all.

Blogger stephanie g said...
No comment:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-clippers-baylor-sterling-20110316,0,3704624.story

Blogger Unknown said...
Kenyon Martin, quote machine nomination:

"We got Zaza Pachulia being their leading scorer," Martin said. "You know what I'm saying? We'll take that."

Anonymous Anonymous said...
"He stuffed 12 shots...McGee ended up one block shy of the franchise record for blocks in a game set by Manute Bol, who returned 15 packages to sender for the then-Bullets on February 26, 1987."

Am I reading this wrong, or is twelve three short of fifteen?

Great bawful though.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Wizards bench:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/truth_about_it/5530096197/

Anonymous Batmanu said...
Anonymous, I read that, too. I was hoping I wasn't the only one...

Or maybe, since JaVale can dunk three basketballs at once, he can stuff three at a time, too?

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
BTW, I know I'm late, but nothing can be more desperate than trading ingame WoW gold for sex, so JaVale atleast is above that.