Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Get ready for some really made up stories about Dwight Howard
I’ve always contended that Orlando doesn’t use Dwight Howard correctly. They play an outside-in game when it should be the other way around. So there are stretches where he can, even at his size, disappear in the Magic offense.
But last night, Dwight showed off for a potential suitor by tearing apart their biggest weakness… no great size down low. Now with six days to the deadline, it’s time to cue up all of the Chicago/Dwight speculation. A 29 & 18 night in a five point win in Chicago, on a night where Derrick Rose and Luol Deng shot a combined 7-31, will do that.
But the speculation is a media creation. If anyone honestly believes that the Bulls executives sat there and watched Dwight last night and said “wow, we gotta get that guy,” then you have been grossly mislead about how the NBA works. I’m pretty sure Chicago was already of (a) it’s own weakness (b) how good Dwight is and (c) how much it would take to get him. He could have had two points and no rebounds or he could have broken Wilt’s record… it would have done little to change most people’s minds. People know what they know… the rest is just noise.
2: … and then Sabastian Telfair took over.
Those are strong words. But I couldn’t help myself when I read this:
The Suns took a five-point lead in the fourth quarter and handed it to Sebastian Telfair and Shannon Brown, who hit a 3-pointer and slammed home a vicious dunk on back-to-back possessions. Phoenix never looked back after that.
The Suns beat Dallas last night to move as close to Dallas in the standings as Dallas is to the second seed. It’s looking like Marc Cuban (and many others) are right. This is just a matter of survival.
Though I’m sure survival doesn’t include not getting the ball to Dirk Nowitzki in the crunch and having Rodrigue Beaubois take the shots instead. That’s called… well… I don’t know what that’s called. I suppose bad basketball would be the best term for it.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Let Shannon dunk!! Dwight’s nasty alley oop. And DRose beats another buzzer
4: Line of the Night: Dwight Howard 29 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks
The most amazing stat of Dwight’s night? He made 7-10 free throws.
I mean… you GOTTA trade for him now.
5: You can quote me on that
“I’m sick and tired of hearing it. Like I’ve said, this city speaks for itself. Chicago, marketing-wise, is a great city. If someone chooses to come here, they definitely could, but I’m cool with the teammates that I have.”
– Derrick Rose, on rumors of Dwight Howard being traded to Chicago
“These are games we should win. Down the stretch, that was our strength last year. That’s why we won the championship, ’cause we were the best executing team down the stretch and we just knew we were going to win. And that’s not the case anymore. Why that is, I don’t know, but we’ve got to keep working.”
-Dirk Nowitzki
“I can’t check myself in and out of games. You got to ask the person that didn’t have me in the game. Ask him his thoughts. What I think don’t matter, really. I’m not trying to be a smart aleck. I’m just telling you the situation. I root my teammates on and wish we could have come out with the victory. It didn’t happen.”
-Jason Terry, on being on the bench for the last play of the game
