NBA Weekend Playmakers: December 1st - 2nd
Moving beyond the NBA Weekend in Review column Basketballr.com has run in the past, we’re going to try something different. We’ll take a look at the NBA’s greatest playmakers of the weekend, reliving some big games that happened around the league that you may not have been able to catch. Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Share in the comments section below.
Friday, December 1st 2006
Friday night, the league’s leaders like Detroit, Dallas, and Orlando continued their dominance with strong performances. Orlando pulled past Portland with six players in double digits. Dallas defeated Sacramento with a partial game by Nowitzki and another big game from Josh Howard. And our favorite, the Detroit Pistons, owned New York with a career matching night from Tayshaun Prince, a 26 points from Hamilton, and an 88.9 FG%, 16 assist performance out of Mr. Big Shot himself.
What else happened over the weekend? Four career records were broken in Chicago’s 111-108 defeat of the New Orleans Hornets. Let’s take a look:
- Chris Paul dished out a career-high 18 assists on his third career triple-double. In addition to 18 assists, Paul grabbed 11 boards and put up 25 points on 46% shooting. This was Paul’s first triple-double of his second NBA season.
- NOK’s Rasaul Butler scored a career-high 33 points on 52% FG shooting– 7 from behind the arc. Only 2 of Butler’s points came from behind the free throw line, making this performance all the more impressive.
- Chicago’s very own Olympic gold medalist via Argentina (and this blogger’s favorite Bull), Andres Nocioni broke two personal records on Friday with 31 points and 5 trey’s. Nocioni also grabbed 13 boards.
Let’s take a look around the league at what else went down on Friday:
- Chris Bosh put up 25 points and 11 rebounds to carry the Toronto Raptors passed the Celtics, 102-106.
- Mo Williams had his 4th seasonal double-double, via 31 points and 10 boards, but not enough to lead the Bucks past Phoenix in their 116-122 loss. In that same game, Shawn Marion put up 27 points and yanked 14 boards.
- Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets to a 106 to 92 win over Minnesota. Anthony scored 35 with 8 boards and 4 dimes.
- Other noteables:
- Z. Randolph 28 Pts, 13 Reb, 3 Ast
- A. Harrington 28 Pts, 8 Reb, 3 Ast
- J. Johnson 31 Pts, 5 Reb, 4 Ast
- G. Arenas 33 Pts, 5 Reb, 10 Ast
Saturday, December 2nd 2006
On Saturday night, Utah, San Antonio, Houston and Miami picked up from losses earlier in the week (including Miami’s loss to Detroit on Thursday night, bitches). Utah defeated Seattle 109-107, maintaining their league-best record of 14-4. San Antonio gave the Sacramento Kings their second loss in a row to the Texas Trinity, with a 100-98 win for the Spurs. Houston spanked Cleveland with one hell of a defensive victory, holding Cleveland to just 63 points againts Houston’s 81. Last, Miami barely overcame Memphis with a 98-97 win. After Miami’s win, apparently David Stern was seen in panic mode, working on developing new rules that will keep his boy toy, Dwyane Wade, above 30 ppg. More on that story as it develops…
Let’s shoot-around the NBA for Saturday night’s big performances:
- Andres Nocioni had another close call with his personal best on Saturday night, with 24 points early on. Unfortunately, foul trouble had him sidelined to just 30 minutes in that game. With another nine or ten minutes, he had a chance to take his 60% shooting and improve on the record he set the night before. Chicago defeated the Washington Wizards regardless, with a final score of 112-94.
- Chris Bosh followed up the previous night’s big game with 26 points and 13 boards, enough to defeat New York 103-100.
- Allen Iverson’s 37 point, 10 assist performance on Saturday wasn’t enough to pull the 76ers past the Nets, who defeated the Sixers 112-107. New Jersey had a big help in Vince Carter, who put up 41 points, 8 boards and 4 dimes.
- ‘Melo carried the Nuggets to their 2nd victory in a row, this one against Indiana, 121 to 101. Anthony scored 38 points on 56% shooting.
- And the rest: