Month: February 2008

Positive Pacers notes

Some positive notes on the Indiana Pacers:
Danny Granger enters this week’s games having made a career-high 51 straight free throws. The Pacers’ all-time record for consecutive free throws is 61 in a row by Reggie Miller during the 2004-05 season.

On his way to his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds vs. Portland, Feb. 9, Jeff Foster tied his season-high with eight offensive boards, which was one more than the Blazers had as a team. Foster is 10th in the NBA with a total of 157 offensive rebounds this season. With those 14 boards, Foster became just the ninth player in Pacers’ history with 4,000 career rebounds.

Ranked among the league leaders in turnovers committed with an average of 16.0 per game, the Pacers have had a total of just 13 turnovers in their last two games. At New York, Feb. 6, the Pacers had a season-low six turnovers, including just one in the second half.

The leading scorer on the team with an average of 18.0 ppg, Danny Granger has averaged 21.4 ppg in his last 18 games. Having hit 95 3-pt field goals this season, Granger is on course to join Reggie Miller and Stephen Jackson as the only players in franchise history to make at least 100 from behind the arc in consecutive seasons. Granger led the Pacers with 110 3-pt field goals in 2006-07.

With more than 30 games left on the schedule, the Pacers’ total of 453 3-pt field goals this season is the fifth highest total in franchise history. At their current rate of 8.88 3-pt field goals per game, the Pacers will hit over 700 3-pt field goals for the first time in their history. The team record for a season is 583 3-pt field goals in 1999-2000.

Ranked among the league’s best shot-blockers off the bench with an average of 1.09 bpg, David Harrison is sixth in the league (among those with at least 30 appearances) with an average of 4.2 blocks per 48 minutes played.

In his last five games, Travis Diener has handed out 32 assists and committed just three turnovers for an assists-to-turnover ratio of 10.67:1. For the season, Diener has recorded 96 assists and just 30 turnovers for a ratio of 3.20:1.

Kareem Rush scored 10 points and hauled in a career-high 11 rebounds vs. Portland, Feb. 9, for the first double-double of his NBA career.

Latrell Sprewell losing home, yacht

Many of you reading the title above will assume this is just yet another joke about former NBA star Latrell Sprewell, who made many millions of dollars playing in the NBA yet insisted he needed money to feed his family. But he actually does have economic problems. The AP reports:

Former NBA star Latrell Sprewell’s home is up for foreclosure and his yacht sold at auction to help pay off the $1.3 million he owes on the boat, according to court filings. Sprewell, who once turned down a three-year, $21 million contract extension from the Timberwolves, saying, “I’ve got my family to feed,” apparently has fallen on tough times.

RBS Citizens NA, or Citizens Bank, filed a foreclosure suit last week in Milwaukee County for the $405,000 home Sprewell bought in the Milwaukee suburb of River Hills in 1994. In court documents, the bank said Sprewell owed $295,138 in outstanding payments plus interest. Sprewell failed to make his monthly mortgage payments of $2,593 from September 2007 to January 2008, the documents said.

I can tell you that when InsideHoops.com buys mansions and yachts, we pay cash, in full, with no mortgage. That’s just how we roll, son.

Wizards – Warriors team connections

Gilbert Arenas was drafted 31st overall by Golden State in 2001. And Arenas and Antawn Jamison were teammates in Golden State from 2001-03.

Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson coached Jamison in Dallas in 2003-04.

Jamison averaged 14.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, and was named NBA 6th Man of the Year under Nelson.

Antonio Daniels and Golden State’s Stephen Jackson were teammates in San Antonio in 2001-02.

Golden State’s Chris Webber averaged 20.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in 212 regular season games for Washington from 1994-98.

Rockets notes after beating Blazers

Monday night the Houston Rockets, playing at home, defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 95-83.

With a 95-83 win tonight, the Rockets have won 11 of their last 12 games, including an active run of four consecutive victories at Toyota Center (1/29/08-2/11/08) to set the team’s longest winning streak at home this season. Houston also captured its seventh victory in a row, which stands as the team’s longest winning streak since the 2004-05 Rockets captured their final seven games of that season (4/7/05-4/20/05).

Houston has won the last three games by a double-digit margin: 92-77 (+15) vs. Cleveland (2/7/08), 108-89 (+19) vs. Atlanta (2/9/08) and 95-83 (+12) tonight. It marks the first time since March 2007 for the Rockets to grab three consecutive victories by 10 or more points (3/16/07-3/20/07).

The Rockets have held the Trail Blazers to less than 20 points in seven of 12 quarters played this season, including 19 points in both the second and third quarters of tonight’s games. Overall, Houston has limited Portland to 80.7 points per game in 2007-08. The Rockets have also won five of the last six meetings between these teams.

The Rockets had all five starters in double-digit scoring for the first time this season. Overall, Houston has had five players reach double-figure scoring totals in five of its last six games.

Yao Ming led the Rockets with 25 points (11-13 FT) to go along with his seven rebounds. Yao is averaging 28.2 points (141 TP) and 12.8 rebounds (64 TR) over the last five outings he has played at Toyota Center.

Rafer Alston, who finished with 17 points and seven assists, has scored a combined 25 points (8.3 ppg) on 9-of-13 (.692) shooting in the third quarter of the last three games, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.

Luis Scola has averaged 11.8 points on 41-of-70 (.586) shooting since entering the starting lineup vs. Utah (1/27/08). Scola has helped the Rockets to a 7-1 (.875) record over his first eight NBA starts.

LaMarcus Aldridge posted 22 points on 10-of-26 shooting, setting a career high in field goal attempts (prev. high: 23 on 12/3/07 at Memphis). Aldridge has now scored over 20 points in each of his last three games after hitting the 20-point mark just twice in his previous 17 outings.

Brandon Roy had 15 points, five rebounds and a game-high eight assists in his return outing for Portland. Roy had missed the last two consecutive games (family matters).

James Jones out 3-5 more weeks

Trail Blazers forward James Jones will be out of action an additional 3-5 weeks to rest his sore left knee, Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard announced today.

“James ability to knock down the three-point shot has proven to be one of the keys to our success here in the early going,” said Pritchard. “Originally, we felt holding him out through the All-Star break would be enough, but after consulting with our medical staff we feel an additional few weeks of rest is the best course of action.”

Prior to being sidelined on February 4, Jones averaged 9.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 23.2 minutes in 34 games for Portland this season. Jones is currently second in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage at .483.

Rockets – Blazers team connections

Rick Adelman still ranks as the second winningest coach in Trail Blazers history behind Jack Ramsay, racking up a record of 291-154 (.654) in the regular season and a 36-33 (.522) mark in the postseason.

Adelman twice coached the Trail Blazers into the NBA Finals, qualifying Portland for the playoffs in all six of his seasons.

Elston Turner also served as an assistant coach with Portland.

T.R. Dunn was drafted by Portland with the 41st overall pick of the 1977 NBA Draft, spending his first three NBA campaigns with the Trail Blazers.

R.J. Adelman, who was a four-year letterman in basketball at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, earned his law degree from the University of Oregon in 2001.

Pat Zipfel joined Houston after serving three seasons as an advance scout with Portland.

Rockets guard Aaron Brooks was an All-Pac-10 standout at the University of Oregon.

Guard Steve Francis, who returned to the Rockets after having his contract bought out by Portland, was part of a multi-player deal that sent Zach Randolph from the Trail Blazers to the Knicks on June 28, 2007.

In nearly six seasons with Portland, Rockets guard/forward Bonzi Wells posted averages of 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 310 games with the Trail Blazers.

Portland center Joel Przybilla was selected by Houston in the first round (9th overall) of the 2000 NBA Draft before Milwaukee acquired his draft rights.

Lakers sign DJ Mbenga for rest of season

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent center Didier “DJ” Ilunga-Mbenga for the remainder of the season, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

Mbenga, a 7-foot, 220 pound native of the Congo, signed a second 10-day contract with the Lakers on February 1st after signing his first 10-day contract with the Lakers on January 21st. In 8 games with the Lakers, Mbenga has averaged 2.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.75 blocks in 7.1 minutes. Earlier in the season, Mbenga signed with the Golden State Warriors November 17 after spending three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks prior to their request for waivers on him October 30. In 16 games with the Warriors prior to his release January 6, Mbenga averaged 1.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.63 blocked shots in 8.1 minutes.

After signing with Dallas as a rookie free agent in 2004, Mbenga, 27, played 79 games over three seasons with the Mavericks, totaling 106 points, 75 rebounds and 35 blocked shots in 374 minutes. In his rookie year of 2004-05, he averaged 4.10 blocks per 48 minutes played while improving to 5.00 blocks per 48 minutes in 2005-06. In 2006-07 he was limited to just 21 games after missing the first 16 games of the year with a left foot tendon strain and suffering a torn right ACL 2/7/07 vs. Memphis.

In 103 career games including two starts, Mbenga is averaging 1.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.50 blocked shots in 5.4 minutes.

Off Topic: Kanye West’s huge ego

If you stood a great singer in a room and made them sing all by themselves, they’d sound great.

If you stood a great musician in a room and made them play by themselves, they’d sound great.

If you stood Kanye West in a room and made him rap/sing by himself with no production and no instruments or anything, just him, your reaction would be something to the effect of, “Wow, THAT’s your musical ability? That’s it?!? There are around a million or so kids in Brooklyn that can do that!” And you’d be fairly right.

I like his albums. But, the above needed to be said.

Wolves visit Nets on Tuesday

The Wolves will play their first road game of February Tuesday night, traveling to the Meadowlands to take on Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets.

Minnesota defeated the Nets in dramatic fashion back on Jan. 27 at the Target Center, edging the Nets 98-95. Al Jefferson put home four late free throws and Vince Carter’s three-point attempt to tie at the buzzer rimmed out, helping the Wolves claim their eighth victory of the season. Al Jefferson poured in a career-high 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, helping the Wolves rally from a seven-point deficit in the final 1:19. Rashad McCants scored 16 points and Sebastian Telfair added 12 for Minnesota.

The Wolves have gone 6-2 in the teams’ past eight meetings, pulling ahead 19-16 in the all-time series.

Over the last 12, Minnesota is averaging just 87.6 ppg but is holding the Nets to 87.8 ppg.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is 12-5 at home, with the Wolves’ lone victory in their past seven visits a 96-75 decision ion March 26, 2005. New Jersey comes into Tuesday night’s game having lost 12 out of their last 15 games and lay claim to the third place in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division.

The Wolves will return home to the Target Center where they will face the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night at 7 PM.

Balanced Raptors smoke T-Wolves

After winning their previous four at the Target Center, Minnesota dropped it’s third straight, losing to the Toronto Raptors Sunday night, 105-82.   Andrea Bargnani led a balanced attack for Toronto, scoring 16 points and hauling in six rebounds.   Four other Raptors were in double figures and both Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford each had 10+ assists.

Sunday evening’s contest started on the right foot for both teams, each team connecting on over 50% of their shots in the opening stanza.  Toronto nudged ahead after one, 29-25.   Guard Marko Jaric had a strong quarter for the Wolves, tallying nine points on 4-4 shooting.  The tight play continued into the second with both teams continuing their superb shooting.  Toronto pulled ahead 39-27 thanks to a 10-2 run to start the quarter.  The Wolves answered, using a 15-4 run to tie the game at 45 before Toronto’s Jose Calderon connected on back-to-back three-pointers to pull Toronto head by four, 51-47 at half.  Things would turn south for the Wolves in a hurry, starting with a 12-4 Toronto run to start the third to pull the Raptors ahead 63-51 just four minutes into the quarter.

The score continued to go in the wrong direction for the Wolves; Toronto bumping their lead to as many as 18 points, eventually taking a 77-61 lead into the final quarter.  Toronto continued their hot-shooting into the fourth, leading by as many as 26 before eventually defeating the Wolves by a final of 105-82.  Toronto shot 50.6% from the field for the game and dished out 31 assists on their 41 made baskets.

Pacing the Wolves efforts was once again Big Al Jefferson.  Big Al finished with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds.  Marko Jaric was the lone Wolf to join Big Al in double figures, scoring 11 points, only two coming after his nine-point first quarter.  Sebastian Telfair led the Wolves with eight assists.  The Wolves will look to end their three-game losing streak tomorrow night when they head to New Jersey to close out their season-series with the Nets.  Tip off is set for 6:30 PM.