NBA Triple Threat: Your daily roundup of last night's action in the Association.Cleveland 100 Dallas 81 LeBron James finally broke out of his scoring slump and he even shot better as he led the Cavs in a blowout win over the Mavs. Cleveland was up only 6 points going into the 4th quarter but with LeBron on the bench, the Cavs big offseason acquisition Mo Williams powered the Cavs to a 13-0 run to start the quarter and put the game out of reach for the Mavs. LeBron scored a game high 29 points on 8-20 shooting, 0-2 from the three point line (he still hasn't made a three this season) but 13-15 from the free throw line is pretty solid. LeBron added 8 rebounds and 3 assists to his 29. Zydrunas Ilgauskas showed he still has it with a double-double (17 and 11). For Dallas, Dirk had a very forgettable game with only 8 points on 3-11 shooting which was the first time Dirk had been held below 10 points when playing 30 minutes since Dec. 14, 2007. Dallas falls to 1-2 while Cleveland improves to 2-2 on the young season and hopes that LeBron's scoring has returned.
Orlando 96 Chicago 93 Orlando still has some way to go to show that they are a real contender in the East. The Magic had a 17 point lead going into the 4th quarter but with only 15 seconds left Ben Gordon missed a jumper that would have tied the game up. Dwight Howard did everything he could through three quarters but only 2 points and a rebound in the 4th quarter didn't help. Howard was able to get his third 20-point, 10-rebound, five-block performance in four games this season though. If Howard is the new Superman, his kryptonite is the same as the last Superman to roam the paint in Orlando...Free Throws. Howard went 4-11 and for the season he is 17-33 (52%). Derrick Rose played 39 minutes but only had 1 assist. When your potential superstar point guard only has one assist you don't deserve to win.
Philadelphia 125 Sacramento 91 The 76er's blew out their 2nd bad team in 3 nights and proved to everyone that if they could play crappy teams every night, the 76er's would be your champions. The Sixers used a balanced attack - as in everyone on the team scored at least 2 points - in just demolishing the awful Kings. The Sixers bench scored 65 points to the Kings' 43. In their two wins (New York and Sacramento) the Sixers are averaging 120.5 points and in their two losses (Toronto and Atlanta) they are averaging only 86 points. The Sixers look like they are going to be this season's Jekyl and Hyde team.
Best Lines
- "Big Tubby" Marc Gasol: 27 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks (from now on, I will refer to Marc as Big Tubby because I think he looks like a big tubby goofball)
- Dwight Howard: 22 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks
- Chris Kaman: 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Rumors and Random Notes
- Allen Iverson was traded to Detriot for Chauncey Billups. We touched on this earlier and I guess after a day of thinking about it, Greg Johnson over at MLive.com thinks that the Pistons are in a better position to contend for a title this season. My take, this trade helps Denver by getting a proven clutch player who has far fewer NBA miles on his legs than Iverson. The Pistons on the other hand will probably use AI less and less and save him for the playoffs and get Rodney Stuckey some more minutes and build for the future while still contending this season.
- Chris Paul and Chris Bosh named players of the week for last week. After one week of action, those two have their teams at 3-0 and looking like serious contenders in the West and East.
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