Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: The Nets <3 Dwight… maybe a little too much.
The Magic beat New Jersey last night in a game that was secondary to the hype surrounding all the chatter about Dwight wanting to go to the Nets. Dwight was cheered by Nets fans, who erupted into a “we want Dwight” chant. The Nets PR staff put on a thinly-veiled recruiting effort, placing these Brooklyn Nets plans just outside the Magic locker room.
And Dwight was eating it up.
“I just have fun with it. It’s a humbling experience,” Howard said. “I wish more people can see how it feels to go into another arena and have big faces and posters, it’s a humbling experience. It’s a blessing. I’ve been to every arena and it feels good to have a great reception, not only here but everywhere I go. And like I said, it’s humbling and I really appreciate it.”
Just so you know: “humbling experience” means “I loved that I was getting all that attention.”
As for the Nets, I find their efforts a little embarrassing. It’s like going to a work function with your current girlfriend but putting on your best suit and getting a hair cut in hopes of impressing that hot girl from accounting. Dial it back a notch.
2: The Lakers have life… I guess
I’ll quote CBS/NBC/ESPN/[your organization here] blogger Matt Moore, who summed the Lakers up thusly:
The Lakers are fascinating. They’re neither totally fine nor imploding, they’re still dangerous in the playoffs but not a Finals contender.
Just when you thought their front office follies would maybe take a toll and push the Forum Blue & Gold to the brink of implosion, they beat the defending NBA champs in a hard-fought game. Nothing has changed with them, but they still have the talent to make good things happen. And I guess that talent can still trump that external BS… but for how long?
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Blake Griffin… just… wow. Blake Griffin
Luke Ridnour beats the buzzer… and the Jazz
Kobe Bryant with the circus And-1 finish
4: Line of the Night: Chris Paul – 36 points (11-16 fg), 9 assits, 2 steals
That’s a season high for CP3 who has brought the Clippers to a point where, when they get to a revenge game, they can do something about it. The Clippers are off to their best start as the Clippers, going 20-11 to start the season (the Buffalo Braves went 21-10 through their first 31 games in 1974-75). CP3 scored 17 straight points as he entered takeover mode and put some distance between the Clips and the Nuggets. Now it’s time for him and the boys to rest up have some All Star fun, and see if the Clippers can finish this thing off and make some noise out West.
5: You can quote me on that
“I’m not tired of him but I’ve answered these questions more than once. He’s a good player and he does good things for their team. They needed a point guard and they found one.”
–LeBron James, on Jeremy Lin, whom the Knicks face tonight
“It feels good. It feels even better to have this break right now. We just wanted to come out and play hard and be focused for tonight. Got the W. It’s my birthday in a couple days so there’s going to be a team function tonight with all the Bulls players. It’s going to be fun tonight.”
–Joakim Noah, after his first career triple double
“I’m disgusted with the way we played. I’m disgusted that we’ve got a chance to (enter) the break on something really upbeat and positive, and instead we just walk through the first 10 (expletive) minutes of the game.
–Alvin Gentry, after the Suns lost to Golden St. last night
