Author Spotlight
Michel Di Feliciantonio
No Peace in Artest’s World.
The Lakers won against the Thunder yesterday after a double OT but this is the game everyone is talking about for another reason. With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, during the Thunder-Lakers game, Mr. World Peace turned into Dr. Artest:
Nothing to do with this shame but still, what World Peace did is just unaccetable.
James Harden went to the looker room and did not return for the rest of the game but his teammates started to play physically and because of a 18 points lead thought that the game was over. But the Los Angeles Lakers came back. Coach Mike Brown found unexpected help in Jordan Hill and Devin Ebanks who combined for 22 points, 20 rebounds and three steals. Kobe Bryant struggled during the game (9-26 from the field) because of the very good defense on him by Thabo Sefolosha, but hit two very important three-pointers at the end of regular time and Kevin Durant (35 points, 11-34 FG) did not find the basket with the final shot. After two overtimes the Lakers won this battle, reminding the young Thunder that you want to win a game in regular time when you play away, especially if you have such advantage like they had yesterday.
Thanks to this victory the Lakers keep the third place in the Western Conference and the Thunder see the first place go away but it is almost sure that the Lakers will start the play-off without their #15.
Yes, because the San Antonio Spurs added one more game to their winning streak that is the longest in the NBA at the moment, with 7 W. Manu Ginobili led the way with 20 points in 22 minutes coming off the bench. Coach Popovich decided to give a rest-turn to Tim Duncan but the team did not miss him too much and shot with a very good 54.3% from the field.
Here is a little sample of Ginobili’s unchanged quality:
The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets 97-88. LeBron James had 32 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Because of this loss the Rockets will not take part in the next playoff for the championship and now there is just one more team fighiting for a playoff berth, the Phoenix Suns (who will be hosted by the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in a crucial game for the last spot). The Rockets shot better from the field but had more turnovers (19 to 15) and less rebounds (37 to 48).
After the defeat against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, the New York Knicks reedemed themselves with a victory against the Atlanta Hawks. This time both Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire played well. Anthony had 39 points and 10 rebounds, Stoudemire finished with 22+12. Hawks’ Marvin Willialms, who had a team-high 29 points, came this close to the victory:
