Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: [Insert Magic/disappearing pun here]
Of course as soon as I write the Magic might be forced to keep Dwight Howard because they’re playing too well right now, they go out and lose to the Charlotte Bobcats. And if you called Dwight Howard getting matched by Bismack Biyombo, then I need you to buy me some lottery tickets. Dwight hat 15 points, 17 rebounds & 2 blocks while Biyombo had 10 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks.
The Magic had a 20 point lead, but they blew it and lost by 16… leading to some classic Stan Van Gundy quotes (later in the post).
So cue the madness. The Dwight stuff has been quiet lately, but there’s nothing like a loss to the worst team in the league to stoke up the crazy talk again. Especially when Dwight only had 15 points.
2: Really, Kobe?
He looked like the Hamburgler out there. He ditched this ridiculous thing at halftime.
”The mask we tried tonight didn’t work,” he said. ”It just slid all over the place.”
He shot 8-26 on the night and the mask is still an issue. I say let’s just get it over with Kobe. Come out with the mask you really want to wear.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Kobe’s buzzer beater, Maxiell’s monster putback, and LeBron from half court
4: Line of the night: Rodney Stuckey – 34 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
Six of Stuck’s 34 points came in overtime as the Pistons shocked the Lakers. And don’t look now, but the Pistons are 9-6 over their last 15 games. There really wasn’t much to Stuckey’s night beyond the scoring, which he did on 13-20 shooting and a perfect 7-7 from the line. The Pistons were out-shot, out-rebounded, and out-assisted… but they weren’t out-scored, thanks to 13 Lakers turnovers, a bad shooting night from Kobe, and a great shooting night from Stuckey.
5: You can quote me on that
“Our guys are satisfied that we came in with the third-best record in the East and the fifth-best record in the league. They’re satisfied with that. I don’t think there’s any push to be better or any push to be great. If there is, it doesn’t show up in games.
“This is who are. Whether we change that or not, I don’t know.”
– Stan Van Gundy, on the Magic’s lethargic play
“I knew I could get a few easy baskets with Steve Blake and (Andrew Goudelock),” Stuckey said. “But from there, I just got going.”
-Rodney Stuckey, on his big night
“I’m very fortunate to be in a position to be a part of NBA history. It’s always been a big deal for me to leave a legacy or leave some footprints, if you will, or some type of mark on the game, and to have played [alongside] one of the best, if not the greatest, big men to ever play the game — it’s more than a pleasure to be in the same category, if not on the same list. I’m more than honored, to all the coaches and players I’ve played with, who have put me in a position to create some of those footprints and some of those marks, so thank you.”
-Kevin Garnett, on tying Shaqulle O’Neal for 12th All-Time on the NBA’s rebounding list
