Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are two amazing rookies allowing the Oklahoma City Thunder to cruise along the playoffs against the Denver Nuggets. The first game they put up 72 points against the Nuggets in their 107 to 103 win where Durant scored 41 points and Westbrook scored 31 points. Durant shot 13 for 22 and Westbrook shot 12 for 23 which combined for a 55.5 percent for shooting. The first game was controversial with Perkins’ putback which may have been a goal tending and it was also the decisive play that allowed the Thunder to stay in the lead to win. The way I saw it, it looked like a decent tip in and it did not seem to be a goal tending play. The second game the Oklahoma City Thunder walk all over the Nugget with a 106 to 89 win but the two rookies only came with 44 points and they had more help from the other players starting and off the bench. The Thunder also dominated the glass by out rebounding Denver with 54 to 31 rebounds. If the Nuggets do not find a way to stop Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, they are going to have a hard time having a chance to win this playoff match-up. The other players on the Thunder team will only get better and if they are having a hard time stopping the rookies, they will have a handful to handle this series.

On a side note, the Sixers did make it to the playoffs but they are playing the Miami Heat and are trailing 2 games in this series.

The Eastern Conference

As the fight for the top place in the Eastern Conference goes on, the Boston Celtics lose to the Chicago Bulls 97-81. The Boston Celtics are slowly starting to dwindle down as a threat in the Eastern Conference with the consecutive losses the past couple of weeks. The Chicago Bulls are giving everybody a run for their money as possible MVP Derrick Rose and his teammate are plowing down teams left and right. Derrick Rose lead the team in points, 30, and assists,8. Carlos Boozer led the team in rebounds with 12 rebounds. The Celtics were a weak team overall with their top scorer being Paul Pierce with 15 points. Derrick Rose alone accounted for almost three of the top scorers on the Celtics and then the other Bulls took care of the rest. The Boston Celtics are 54-24 and the Chicago Bulls are 58-20. The division is still really close between the Heat, Celtics, and the Bulls but it seems that the Bulls are on a pace that cannot be stopped at the moment. I personally do not like the Celtics too much but it is disappointing for me to see a team to fall back this much. The lack of a big man down low is hurting their defense especially against players like Derrick Rose. The Bulls on the other hand have great chemistry with each other and with Derrick Rose on fire and on track to become MVP the Chicago Bulls will be one of the teams to watch for during the playoffs.

Suspensions and FInes

During last night’s game between the Washington Wizards and the Miami Heat, there was tension and a bit of violence which led to the ejection of some players following with fines and suspensions. Washington Wizards’ rookie, John Wall, has been fined and suspended for one game for throwing a closed-fist and forearm to the midsection of Ilgauskas. This started by Ilgauskas giving Wall an elbow to the face which aggravated Wall to act as he did. Both players were ejected and as Ilgauskas was being ejected he made some obscence gestures which he was fined for. John Wall will be serving his suspension when the Wizards host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, April 1 and Ilgauskas was fined $25,000 and Juwan Howard was also fined $35,000 for his behavior on the court as well. The game ended with the Miami Heat coming on top with a 123-107 victory over the Wizards.

It’s very disappointing to see athletes be angry over nothing and start “crap” for no apparent reason. As professional athletes, I expect them to keep their composure even when others may provoke them to do otherwise. John Wall’s reaction is somewhat understandable because he is a rookie and he didn’t necessarily start the conflict, but for Ilguaskas, he should have toned it down and as someone who has been in this league for some time, he should have known better. In addition, I feel that these punishments, fines, and suspensions are not enough to keep players from doing this again. There needs to be something more severe so things like this can be prevented and the game of basketball can be enjoyed for what it is.

Rookies Taking Over

The match up against the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers went into double overtime with the Clippers coming on top with 127 to 119. 

This game was probably one of the most exciting games I have watched this season. Both teams have star rookie players, Blake Griffin on the Clippers and John Wall on the Wizards, and they have put on a show for the fans that night. The matchup was very even and this was reflected in the scoring percentages with the Clippers with 50 percent from the field and the Wizards with 48% from the field. The major difference came from the 3 point shooting percentages where the Clippers shot 35 percent and the Wizards shot 23 percent. This difference was shown clearly at the end of the game when the 3 point shots clinched the game for the Clippers.

The game was full of blocked shots, incredible dunks (Griffin of course), and intense buzzer beating shots that pushed the game into overtime. The fans of both the Wizards and the Clippers must have been at the edge of their seats when they were watching the game.

More notables during this game was that John Wall put up a career-high 32 points and 10 assists and Blake Griffin put up his first career triple-double with 33 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. These stats are hard to come by from some NBA players that have been playing in the league for quite some time.

Looking at both these teams, I am really excited to see Wall and Griffin mature and hopefully lead their teams into the playoffs and shine not as rookies, but veterans on the court.

Derrick Rose. A Chance to Make History

Derrick is one of the most phenomenal and youngest players in the NBA. He is currently 22 which still makes him eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament. To think that a player of this level can be still be competing at the college level is astonishing. Rose is a third-year guard at the Chicago Bulls and he has impacted this team in so many different ways whether it is on the court with his scoring abilities or off the court, where he is a young leader helping his teammate out. The crazy thing right now is that Derrick Rose has a chance to make history. If he was to be named the 2011 MVP, he would become the youngest MVP in league history. The youngest MVP before Rose was Wes Unseld who was 23 just before he received his MVP award while he was playing for the Baltimore. In addition, as I mentioned above, he would be the first MVP winner while still being able to compete in the NCAA tournament. If Rose was still in college, he would be a Senior in Memphis. He would also be the first MVP winner who never received a vote in the previous MVP nominations. The last person to do this was Bostion Celtics’ Dave Cowens in 1973. As Rose drives on toward the finish line of becoming the MVP, legends Michael Jordan, Doc Rivers and Avery Johnson are among the many people that are on board the Derrick Rose MVP bandwagon because they see the potential that Derrick Rose has.

Thoughts on Motives of Trades

After reading about the many trades that occurred during the past month, a lot of thoughts were running through my head as I reminisced about what used to be. There was a time when players had the pride and loyalty to their teams in times of good or bad. Star players wouldn’t just move around to different teams in hopes of getting a championship ring. Players wouldn’t move around to teams to play with other star players to increase their chances of winning. Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, and Hakeem Olajuwon are just some of the star players, back in the day, which stuck around their teams and led their teams to terrific seasons even if some did not end up being championship finishes. Comparing these guys to NBA players of the present era, players today do not have the same fervor and zeal for the game of basketball. All they look for is better chances of winning and leaving a mark in the game of basketball.

We can take Lebron James as an example that started the chaotic sequences of trades. For seven seasons, Lebron James has carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to terrific seasons even if they weren’t championship victories. He was the Star player and the face of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The unfortunate thing about Lebron is that he chose to move teams and not only did he move teams, but he also communicated ahead of time so he can play with other super stars to up his chances of a championship. As a star player, Lebron is now a player in Dwayne Wade’s team. If he was to stay in Cleveland, eventually players would have flocked in that direction because he is a star player. Yet he did not have enough patience and literally damaged his legacy by doing so. This trade set a precedent for other players to follow and now the eastern conference is “loaded” with star players only on a certain amount of teams, leaving “weak” teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers without a star player and decreasing their chance of ever getting another player that will take that place.

Carmelo Anthony...

Of the numerous trades that happened the night of February 22^nd, the most notable trade in the NBA has got to be Carmelo Anthony’s move to the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony has wanted to play for the Knicks for a very long time and now has finally gotten his wish to become reality. The trade itself seemed a little lopsided towards the Nuggets, but the Nuggets played this trade very well because after seeing what happened to teams who lost their franchise players, they wanted to make the most of this trade. For this trade the Knicks received Forward Carmelo Anthony, Guard Chauncey Billups, Forward Renaldo Blackman, Guard Anthony Carter, and Center Sheldon Williams. The Nuggets received Forward Wilson Chandler, Guard Raymond Felton, Forward Danilo Gallinari, Center Kosta Koufous, Center Tomfey Mozgov, $3 million in cash, 2014 first-round pick, and 2012 & 2013 second-round picks. This trade definitely benefits both teams a lot and helps with the cores for both teams.

Carmelo’s impact was immediately shown during his first game as a Knick versus the Bucks, where Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and his partner from the Nuggets, Chauncey Billups, scored 21 points to help the Knicks win the game against the Bucks 114 to 108.

A lot of people have mixed feelings towards this trade because some people, Knick fans, love the fact that Carmelo has joined the Knicks to play. Other people find it not as entertaining to see the Eastern Conference so stacked with star players compared to their Western counterparts. These people think that the distribution of key players should be all over the conferences to make basketball games more interesting.

ALL STAR WEEKEND!!

One of the most exciting events during the NBA season is the All Star weekend. This year's All Star weekend, as well as the ones before, is going to be action packed and the excitement is just uncontrollable. The events that will be shown are the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker 3-Point Contest, Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, and the All Star Game.One of the most exciting events during the NBA season is the All Star weekend. This year's All Star weekend, as well as the ones before, is going to be action packed and the excitement is just uncontrollable. The events that will be shown are the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker 3-Point Contest, Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, and the All Star Game.

My personal favorites are the Rookie Challenge, Dunk Contest, and the All Star Game.

The T-Mobile Rookie Challenge is when the rookies of this season face off against the “sophomores” of this season. It really is an interesting matchup because last year the rookies beat the sophomores so people are curious as to how well the rookies of this season will fair with this year’s sophomores.

The Sprite Dunk Contest, to me, is the best part of the entire All Star weekend. It gives a stage for dunkers to express their creativity and explosiveness as they perform different types of dunks to impress judges and crowds alike. I am especially excited to see Blake Griffin perform because even his regular season game dunks seem like they belong in a dunk contest.

The All Star game is just so entertaining to watch the best players of both the Western and Eastern Conference come together to put on a show for the audience. Some players fool around and do stuff they usually don’t do, like Dwight Howard, last year, shot his only 3-point shot of his career at the All Star game.

This year will be exciting and interesting to watch, as always, and I’ll be back with the results after this weekend.

A Historic Night

A match up that is never boring to see again the Lakers and the Celtics were at Boston Thursday, February 10 and Ray Allen made history that night. Ray Allen broke the 3 point shooting record that was held by Reggie Miller at 2560 and Ray Allen only needed 2 more 3 pointers and he MADE 3. The crowd at Boston just went insane when the first 3 pointer tied the record and when he made the shot to pass the record, the entire arena shook from the applause and cheer.

Unfortunately, Ray Allen’s historic night was not enough to pull the Celtics through in their defeat against the Lakers, 92 – 86. Performance wise, each team did not play extraordinarily well nor did they play extremely badly. Field goal percentage, field throw percentage, and the 3 point percentage were all relatively close and it really goes to show that in tight game situations like this, you never know what to expect in the end. The lead scorers for the Los Angeles Lakers were Kobe Bryant(23 points), Lamar Odom(12 points), and Derek Fisher(5 points). The lead scorers for the Boston Celtics were Ray Allen(20 points), Kevin Garnett(11 points), and Rajon Rondo(10 points).

The biggest factor that affected the outcome of this game was probably Rajon Rondo’s inability to take advantage of crucial points when the Lakers’ defense was considerably loose. He missed 9 of his 11 shots during the final minutes of the game which really held the Celtics back to ultimately lose to the Lakers.

Other than the loss, however, it was a great night for Celtics’ fans and they got to witness history in the making. Congratulations Ray Allen!

Bulls and Clippers

The Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers played Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at the Staples Center. The Clippers lost to the Bulls 106 – 88. The Clippers were outscored every quarter and the Bulls did a phenomenal job of keeping the pace throughout the game. Even though the Clippers lost this game, Blake Griffin had an outstanding game leading the team in points, rebounds, and assists, 32, 13, and 7 respectively. Unfortunately, one outstanding player could not cover for the whole team and they suffered a lost which ended the Clippers’ 9-game winning streak at home. For the Bulls, Derrick Rose led the team in points (32) and assists (11), and Taj Gibson with 12 rebounds.

The Bulls’ defense was very well played and forced the Clippers to make bad shots all throughout the game. Statistically the Bulls showed superiority over the Clippers in every category. Field Goal percentage was 51% to 47%, free throw percentage was 70% to 52%, 3 point percentage was 46% to 33%, and the list continues.

Something that should be mentioned from the game was that Blake Griffin was 4-for-13 from the free throw line which prevented him from getting a 40 point game. This could have helped him and the team drastically changing the mood of the game as well as the pace of the game. The Clippers did manage to close the lead to 2 points during the game, but that was the closest they ever got to beat the Bulls.

On a personal note, just watching Blake Griffin play is ridiculous. Every dunk that he does seems to feel like dunks that should be shown at a dunk contest. Watch out ladies and gentlemen for this young man as he is also participating in the All Star game.

Shocking news...

Miami Heat and New York Knicks duke it off and as a result, 88-93 Knicks with the win. The Heat has beaten the Knicks in the previous 2 games. With this win the Knicks have ended their 6 straight game losses with this win. 

Both teams played well but the Knicks just out hustled the Heat during the 4th quarter. Percentage wise, the Heat had a 41.7% field goal percentage compared to the 36.1% of the Knicks. However, the Knicks beat the Heat in the 3 point field goal, 30.3% to 26.3%, and the free throw, 82.1% to 69.7%.

The entire game looked like the Heat had the game in the bad. Relentless shootings, drives, and alley-oops just made the game seem like an utter loss to the Knicks. Starting the 4^th quarter, however, the Knicks picked it up and made a 76-72 deficit into a 89-84 advantage with the help of Danilo Gallinari, who had 20 points, and Landry Fields, who had 19 points. The Heat still could have caught up but they failed to make the big plays and big shots like the Knicks did. During the last seconds of the game, Heat Guard Mario Chalmers failed to make an open 3 point shot that could have tied the game.

I just find this lose for the Heat to be shocking because even though Chris Bosh sat out, the Heat should have this game easily. The players easily stack towards the Heat even in the starting lineup and the bench as well. This game is just frustrating to see a good team lose because of mistakes that should not have been made which prevented an easy win.


The Highlights of the Game

The Very First....

      Hi guys my name is San Kim and I will be updating you on one or two games from the NBA every week.

      

     This week I will be covering the game of the Philadelphia Sixers vs. Orlando Magic. First off, WHAT A CRAZY GAME! Going into overtime and ending with a score of 99-98 with the Orlando Magic on top.

      

     The lead scorer for the Sixers was guard Louis Williams, who scored 19 points off the bench, and the lead scorer for the Magic was also from the bench, Forward Ryan Anderson who scored 20 points. 

      

     During the entire 265 minutes of basketball there have been 14 lead changes and the game was tied 12. The game was very close but there are a couple of things that would have made a big difference for each team. The Orlando Magic only made 23 of the 41 foul shots and the Philadelphia Sixers made 23 of 32 foul shots. Making these foul shots could have been decisive to the victory of either team and the biggest error was made by Dwight Howard, Center for the Orlando Magic. He had 22 attempts to shoot but only made 10 buckets which really let the team down when they really needed him. The Sixers also gave key fouls to the Magic which led to two 4-point plays the first to tie the game for overtime and another during overtime to finalize the score which was scored by Jason Richardson and J.J Redick respectively. The Sixers, however, lost the game on two jump shots during the last seconds of the game and overtime which were missed by Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner.

    

    A disappointing game for Sixers fans and a “whew that was close” moment for Magic fans. The Sixers will play the Jazz on 1/22 and the Magic will play the Raptors on 1/21.

    Please let me know what other information you would like to know for the next update. Specific teams or specific stats will be noted. Thanks for stopping by.