Jan 8, 2001
NBA BASKETBALL
on InsideHoops.com - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Around
the NBA
By INSIDEHOOPS.COM
How
can you possibly hope to contain Toronto guard Alvin Williams? Actually,
it's pretty easy. Last night against the Sonics, Williams managed just
4 points, but two of them came on a follow-up shot with less than a second
to go, giving the Raptors a win. That ends a three-game losing streak,
and from the look of things, Toronto really needed this. The team isn't
happy with their performances lately, and unhappy faces were the norm.
(Norm!) Unfortunately for Toronto, Vince Carter collided with Mo Peterson
and suffered a contusion on his right calf. Knowing Carter he's probably
forgotten about the injury already.
To
the Grizzlies, winning a basketball game is as rare as a John Stockton
reverse windmill dunk. It just doesn't happen too often. But Vancouver
stepped to the plate last night and edged out the Bucks, 120-117. Shareef
Abdur-Rahim went nuts and scored 38, on an amazing 15 of 17 shooting and
went 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Ray Allen had a chance to tie with
a 3-pointer at the buzzer but he clanged it.
The
Knicks have won 7 games in a row after blowing out the Wizards last night.
Charlie Ward returned to action and scored all 7 of his points in a 3rd
quarter run. Marcus Camby continued his fine play with 21 points.
Penny
Hardaway made his return for the Suns and enjoyed a 20 point blowout at
the hands of the Timberwolves. Yeah, the Suns got crushed. Wolves coach
Flip Sanders got his 200th win. Garnett stunk tonight but Anthony Peeler
and Terrell Brandon had big games.
Antonio
McDyess shot 14 of 23 to help lead the Nuggets over the seriously slumping
Hornets. Denver has won 4 in a row and 9 of their last 11 games.
For
the first time in about 4 years, the Clippers beat the Lakers! They didn't
just win, but absolutely crushed Shaq, Kobe and company, 118-95. Lamar
Odom was on a mission and shot 13 of 18 for a season-high 29 points along
with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Cherokee Parks had the game of his life
(his Clippers life, at least) with 13 points. The coolest story of the
night was the Earl Boykins show. Boykins, who stands proud at 5 feet 5
inches tall (that's not a typo - he's 5'5"), scored 11 points and dished
out 3 terrific assists. Several of his shots were high floaters over the
outstretched arms of Shaquille O'Neal. He also managed to run in at least
300 circles. I was waiting for circus music to start playing. Kobe Bryant
shot 10 of 24 and while I'm a Kobe fan it must be said that he hogged the
ball and had no interest in passing the ball except when forced to. No
matter how many guys were around Kobe, unless he wasn't happy with his
footing or handle on the ball, he shot. Very disappointing, especially
since I just asked Phil Jackson about Kobe last week and was told that
the shots he's taking are in line with their offense. Not tonight they
weren't. Anyway, it was great seeing the Clippers finally beat their hometown
rivals.
Rick
Pitino is just about done. Anytime you want the latest, check our NBA news
page. It has every news headline from espn, cnnsi, nba.com, cbs, and like
5 other sources, all together. Visiting our news page is like visiting
10 sites at the same time. When it's official that Pitino is gone our news
page will have about 20 headlines bringing you to all the coverage on it.
