Dwyane Wade's ankle didn't appear to be a factor as the Heat steamrolled Sacramento 117-97 in their first game back from the All Star Break. Wade had 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists as the Heat jumped out to a 35-16 lead at the end of one and never looked back. LeBron James picked up right where he left off in the all star game scoring 31 points and adding 8 rebounds in just 30 minutes and Chris Bosh added 22 points as the Heat just had Sacramento completely overmatched. DeMarcus Cousins, coming off his strong performance in the rookie challenge, was not able to carry that momentum over into tonight as he struggled with his shot all game hitting on just 3 of 14 field goals and finishing with 8 points. Samuel Dalembert led the Kings with 18 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Miami has now won 3 in row heading into their big showdown in Chicago on Thursday.
Photo Courtesy: opposingviews.com
NOTHING BUT LOVE
New half of the season, same result. 20 points and 17 rebounds for Kevin Love and another Timberwolves loss. Love now has 43 straight double doubles, but the Wolves fell to 13-44, the worst record in the Western Conference. Michael Beasley added 21 points and rookie Wesley Johnson had 14 points and 8 rebounds but the in wasn't enough for Minnesota. Brandon Jennings led the way for the Bucks with 27 points and 7 assists and Milwaukee got big contributions from their bench - 14 rebounds for Jon Brockman and 20 points for Corey Maggette - as they won for just the 3rd time in 11 games.
Photo Courtesy: brandonjennings.net
CARMELO WHO?
The Denver Nuggets dressed only nine for their game against the Grizzlies tonight and it sure didn't seem to phase them one bit. J.R. Smith had 26 points and Ty Lawson and Aaron Afflalo each added 21 as the Nuggets put up 120 points in their first game after losing Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. Lawson added 6 steals and the Nuggets hit 12 3-points en route to a 120-107 win over the Grizzlies. Memphis who was without Rudy Gay tonight got 26 from ex-Celtic Tony Allen and 21 off the bench from O.J. Mayo in a losing effort. Memphis is now just 12-19 on the road this season as opposed to 19-8 at home.
Photo Courtesy: thegrip.wordpress.com
REBOUNDING IN LAKERLAND
The Lakers looked to be in all kinds of trouble before the All Star break. Coming off of three straight losses, most notably to the lowly Cavaliers, nothing seemed to be going right. All of that changed tonight though. Starting off the second half against the 34-21 Hawks, the Lakers looked nothing like the team that we saw last week. L.A. just out to a 54-33 halftime lead and blew the Hawks out of the building. Kobe wasn't the prolific scorer we saw in the all star game on Sunday night finishing with 20 minutes on 11 shots in 26 minutes, but I almost feel they're a better team when he's not taking 29-30 shots a game. Tonight it was a team effort and balanced attack on the offensive end that got the job done winning by a final score of 104-80. Every Laker scored who dressed scored at least 2 points, and the Lakers dominated on the glass outrebounding the Hawks 54-32 led by Andrew Bynum's 15. The Hawks meanwhile, despite only turning the ball over 6 times just could not get things going on offense hitting just 1 of 15 3-pointers and shooting 36.6% for the game from the field. The Lakers are back on the road tomorrow as they head north to take on the Trail Blazers.
Photo Courtesy: nbadunkers.com
OTHER NOTABLE LINES
Kevin Durant - 21 points 8 rebounds
Blake Griffin - 28 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists
John Wall - 15 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists
Rajon Rondo - 19 points, 15 assists
No comments:
Post a Comment