Results - Christmas Day Clash of the Titans!

Well, David Stern gave NBA fans the world over the perfect Christmas gift this year - a double-header clash of the titans with Shaq's Miami Heat going up against what is now officially Kobe's Lakers. Whatever he had against his former team, the jolly giant looked past it and gave his fans in L.A. a special Christmas treat by handing out presents with his Shaq-A Clause organisation. Anyway. The main point was the game. Shaq took the court to roof-raising cheers from the admiring crowd at the Staples Center. Kobe Bryant's season high 42 points were not enough to rescuse the depleated Lakers from defeat at the hands of Shaq and Dwayne Wade. In a thrilling game that went into overtime, Dwayne Wade put up 29 points on the scoreboard as Shaq fouled out in the fourth quarter. In the end though, Kobe Bryant missed a potentially game-tying 3.pointer in overtime, and Miami was able to secure the 104-102 win. As for interaction between the players, Shaq and Kobe had a cold greeting mid-court before the game kicked-off. Each acknowledged the other with a quick nod, and Shaq went as far to give Kobe a pat on the back. With all Shaq's talk about his being a 'brick wall' to Kobe's 'Corvette' and that 'everyone knows what happens when a Corvette hits a brick wall' I was expecting slightly more than a very cold greeting. But after the Indiana-Detroit incident, everyone's been careful not to let situations exacerbate into those kinds of proportions. Yay. Good thing too or else Kobe would've been suspended, a luxury Lakers can hardly afford right now.

Um...I don't exactly know what happened with the Indiana-Detroit game...hopefully you all caught that anyway and don't need my play-for-play rundown!

Well, hope you all enjoyed the games...let the 2nd half off the season begin!

Gayatri.

Random Observations

Welcome to another edition of your favorite NBA commentary site, NBAdiaries! There have been some interesting goings on in the NBA since my last post.

Probably the most important big news is the 6 man trade between the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets, which went down...well, today! In a strategic move, the Nets traded Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, and two future draft picks, to Toronto in return for five time All Star gard/foward, Vince Carter. Five guys for one? This Vince guy must be pretty amazing...who am I kidding?! This guy IS amazing! He's one of the NBA's most exciting players, thanks to the superlative dunks and moves he pulls on court. Last season, he averaged 22.5 points per game, as well as maintaining a .806 free throw percentage, and 4.80 rebounds per game. Not a bad stack of stats for someone who's been holed up in Toronto for his entire professional career! To cut a long story short, Vince is a hell of a baller who hasn't been able to fulfil his potential in Toronto. Now that he's in the Garden State with JKidd and Richard Jefferson, he should be able to bring his game to a whole new level and experience life playing with a championship-contending team! As the New Jersey management have so eloquently put it...START THE VIN-SANITY! indeed...


Vince Carter

As for Toronto...anyone who knows their basketball knows that Alonzo Mourning was part of the championship Chicago Bulls team back in 1992-1995. But, he succumbed to an ailing Kidney and left basketball during the 2002-2003 season. He joined the NJ Nets in 2003 upon his return, and has slowly brought some of his game back. But, he has been unable to get his game back to where it was before. Quite honestly, Toronto probably needed a center, and with the 6'10" Zo, they got one, even if he won't be putting that many points up on their scoreboard.

So. in games played yesterday (17th December), the NY Knicks upset the Philly 76ers 113-107 in an overtime; Indiana gave Vince Carter an upsetting departure by beating Toronto 89-85 in his last game there. In an exciting game, D.Wade and Shaq's Miami overwhelmed Melo's Nuggets 107-100 (more on this later; the T-Wolves crushed the LA Clippers 113-86 (but then that was to be expected!) and yes, unfortunately, the WIZARDS had their first win the Staples Center over the LA Lakers (120-116) in an overtime. Well...I guess you have to let the underdogs win some right?!

Speaking of the Miami Heat, I discovered something very interesting today. That, would be Miami's position in the L. As a matter of fact, Miami is leading the Eastern Division, (18-7, .720). Obviously Shaq's presence there is paying off big-time! Not to mention that he and D.Wade make a great combination. They are miles ahead of LeBron's Cleaveland, who are 14-9, .609, who in turn, are miles ahead of New York, 12-11, .522. The current standings for the East is:
1.Miami
2.Cleaveland
3.New York
4.Washington
5.Orlando
6.Indiana
7.Detroit
8.Boston
Philadelphia
Toronto
New Jersey
Milwaukee
Chicago
Charlotte
Atlanta


Shaq (Miami)


LeBron James (Cleaveland)

Afterthought: isn't it strange that last season's Eastern Conference Finalsts (Indiana and Detroit) and champion (Detroit) are being overshadowed by Cleaveland and Washington?!

In the West, Steve Nash is obviously working wonders in Phoenix, who are leading the conference, and leaguge, 20-3, .870. They're being tailed (but not too closely) by TD's San Antonio (19-5, .792).
Anyway, instead of me wasting my breath, I'll just give you the run-down.

1.Phoenix
2.San Antonio
3.Seattle
4.Sacramento
5.Minnsota
6.Dallas
7.LA Lakers
8.Denver
Portland
LA Clippers
Houston
Utah
Memphis
Golden State
New Orleans


Steve Nash (Phoenix)


Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers)

why?
WHY?!?
Why are the Lakers being outranked by Seattle, and Phoenix, and SACTO?!? Come on guys! What is going on?!

Ok. Sorry. Momentary lapse into partiality is over.

ABC is giving the best gift a TV station could to sports/basketball fans the world over this Christmas. What is that gift I hear you scream? A Christmas Day double feature - meaning two head-to-head games back-to-back! First up is the Pistons vs. the Pacers, and this time, Indiana has the home-court advantage. This could be interesting seeing how the last time these two teams played each other, the game was called and numerous players were suspended for varying amounts of time (see previous post)! The second game is the one I'm more excited about! The big dawg is coming home for Christmas: read, Shaq's Miami Heat are being hosted by Kobe's Lakers at Staples Center! This should be a very interesting match...Kobe's going all out to prove that the Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the Lakers organization made the right choice by trading Shaq to keep him; Shaq's out to prove that trading him was indeed, 'the stupidest move in sports history'! Watch out! For more on this feud and the expectations for the Christmas Day game, check out the following sites.

http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_2491483 - The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/1219nbacol1219.html - The Arizona Republic
http://www.nba.com/features/clickandroll.html - NBA.com Click and Roll

Well, that's about it for today! Keep watching the game!
Oh, and if you can, go pick up the December/January issue of Inside Stuff, it's got a good article about the "high flyers" of the NBA (i.e. Kobe, Vince, LeBron and Tracy), as well as a list of "the illest dunks of all time". To quote from the cover, "Bring in da noise, bring in da DUNK!"

-Gayatri.