Davis perfects the neckless jumpshot

The Timberwolves: I might have to start taking back some of the things I've said about Big Baby. His 28 points weren't even marred by any blocked attempts, which usually are his specialty. The Magic have now won 3 in a row, their longest winning streak of the season.

The Pups got plenty of production out of their bigs, as Pekovic and Love combined for 42 points and 27 rebounds. The guards however left something to be desired, with Alexey Shved missing 7 of his 8 shots, and Luke Ridnour continuing to lead the way at point despite Rubio and Barea being back. The Spanish sensation is still being handled with kiddy gloves, only playing 16 minutes, in which time he scored no points and had 3 turnovers and 4 assists.

The Knicks: Like I said the last time the Rockets thrashed the Knicks: you see what happens when Sheed takes a night off? Once again, the poet philosopher was held out with a sore left foot, and once again the Knicks lost by double-digits. It can't even really be argued that the Knicks lost because of the absence of Carmelo Anthony, seeing that they got a freakish 29 points out of Chris Copeland at the small forward slot. To put that in perspective, the 28 year old rookie's previous high of 11 points was set against the Cavaliers in the game immediately preceding this one. Copeland, the former University of Colorado Buffalo, went undrafted in 2006. He played one year in the D-League and has been playing in Europe ever since.

Carmelo Shmarmelo

So now that I've told you what went right for the Knicks, allow me to elaborate on what went wrong. Raymond Felton took 18 shots for 14 points; Jason Kidd had as many turnovers as assists and missed 7 of his 9 shots; and Steve Novak shot more like Kim Novak, making only 1 of his 5 attempts from deep. Meanwhile, Lin and Harden combined for 50 points, and the Rockets had an advantage in pretty much every statistical category but rebounding. Notably, the Rockets are the youngest team in the NBA and the Knicks are the oldest. That might have something to do with the advantage the boys from Texas have been enjoying.

The Spurs: Youth had its way with age in the Golden West as well. The Spurs were led by the French with Nando de Colo and Tony Parker each scoring 14. That might be delightful for Francophiles, but it's probably not gonna win the Spurs too many ball games. The Thunder proved that they could win with Durant getting less shot attempts than both Ibaka and Westbrook, for a night at least. 

The Pistons: Make that 11 in a row for the Clippers. Somewhere out there Danny Manning is sewing together a Chris Paul voodoo doll. Brandon Knight achieved the dubious distinction of having both the same amount of turnovers as assists, and precisely as many shot attempts as points. This Pistons as a whole matched the former feat with 15 assists to match their 15 turnovers, but they managed to narrowly edge out their 71 attempts with 76 points. The Pistons were clearly having trouble feeding Greg Monroe, who converted over half of his field goals but only got 7 of them. Who knows, maybe some of those turnovers were heading his way before they got snatched up.

Anybody who watched the Griz versus the Bulls: You'd think this would be at least a half-decent game, right? Well, you'd be wrong. Usually scoring 80 points on less than 40% accuracy isn't enough for a 9 point win, but it was for the Grizzlies. Mike Conley led all scorers with 17 points, and both teams had more turnovers than assists. Mmmmm, world class competition.

The Purple Paupers: Despite only having the 7th largest amount of minutes on the team, Jimmer led the Paupers with 22 points, which was 10 more than any of his teammates could score. Shannon Brown matched him with 22 points for the Suns, with both men attempting 13 shots. Unlike Jimmer, Shannon had some help, with sports guru Jared Dudley doing his part to keep the Suns rolling with 20 points. Strangely enough the team was led in assists by Luis Scola, who just so happened to return to the Suns starting line-up at the exact moment this 3 game winning streak began. 

Lacktion:

Rockets-Knicks: Terrence Jones had his lone attempt blocked for a +2 suck differential.

Thunder-Spurs: Jeremy Lamb and DeAndre Liggins joined the trillionaire club for the Thunder.

Suns-Kings: Diante Garrett treated the Phoenix crowd to a 23 second Mario.

Labels: The Kings, The Knicks, The Pistons