Nothing hurts more than losing your spot at the gym because you lost to a bunch of random dudes. That’s what happened to the Lakers last night in Milwaukee. With Stephen Jackson corporate thuggin’ it off-court (suspended for verbal abuse of an official), Andrew Bogut out with his yearly injury and Brandon Jennings playing more passively than at any point over the past month, the Lakers took body blows from Drew Gooden, Mike Dunleavy and Ersan Ilyasova before finally falling 100-89. The Lakers chased from behind all night, and every second half run they made, Milwaukee always seemed to counter with a shot. Sometimes it was a hook from Gooden – who was doing that thing again where he was pretending to be a good player (23 points, eight rebounds). Other times, the Bucks would get a three from a wing player. They needed it because their point guard had one of his worse games of the season, at least in the box score (12 points, seven assists). Why wasn’t Jennings going at the Lakers collective point guard garbage? We figured he would’ve taken one look at the lot of them and started drooling … Scott Skiles = The NBA coaching version of Jason Statham, right down to the never dissipating scowl … In the second half, Kobe Bryant – who passed Jerry West for most free throws in franchise history with a fourth quarter technical foul shot – had the whole repertoire going: jumpers, treys, running one-footers in the lane. With the right camera angles, we were almost convinced he was subbing out his KobeSystem play-by-play, alternating between the different settings. Bryant (27 points, eight rebounds, nine assists) looked strong for most of the night, but Tim Grover still had to make the trip with the team to keep the Liam Neeson of the NBA on his feet … So what are the odds on them rolling the dice on Agent Zero this week? … In the third quarter of Houston’s 97-84 win over the Knicks, the Rockets’ color guys were giving the Knicks that s— that makes your soul burn slow. First, they flat-out said, “This is not a very good team.” Then they dropped the ether: “We saw the Wizards last night. The Knicks are not far from them.” You’d think the Knicks would’ve learned from shooting 43 triples in Miami. They took nine more of them in the first quarter, and finished 5-for-26. It’s like they’re trying to set some type of three-point record. The next thing you’ll hear out of New York will be they’re interested in J.R. Smith. Oh wait … Mike Conley, what were you thinking? After going for 15 and 10 and nearly leading the Grizzlies to a come-from-behind road win, Conley reached in and fouled Jared Dudley (20 points) 20 feet from the hoop in the final seconds. Dude was dribbling sideways, had no shot, was about to create a shot clock violation, and instead he hit two free throws that proved to be the difference in the Suns’ win. The final possession – a missed bomb from Conley – was still bittersweet for Phoenix. Steve Nash (21 points) ended up limping off after banging legs with Marc Gasol … … Keep reading to hear about Iggy’s incredible dunk …
How did you celebrate your 28th birthday? If your name is Andre Iguodala, you celebrated with the third triple-double in the NBA this season (10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), ANOTHER easy Sixers’ win and the single best play we’ve seen all season. Early in the first quarter against the Pistons, Iggy came down on the break and got caught in the air looking for someone to pass to. He ended up passing it to himself, off the glass, and finished it with a jam. Four Detroit players barely moved. Iguodala is now only 99 triple-doubles behind Jason Kidd for the top spot amongst all active players … Speaking of trip-dubs, Kemba Walker had one of his own (20 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) in the Wizards three-point win over the Bobcats. Is it possible the Bobcats are even more inept than Washington? Down three on one possession in the final minute, they never even got a shot off, dribbling out the entire shot clock … Jimmer‘s on his way to being the next Kobe. Not exactly. But he did airball a potentially game-winning triple in Utah last night. With the crowd fighting over what to do with him, Fredette caught an inbounds pass on the wing, wide open, and… missed everything. The Jazz got the W, 96-93, and must’ve been feeling really good after they survived a monster night from Tyreke Evans (31 points, six rebounds, nine assists). … As we said with Jimmer in his first night back in Utah, the crowd wasn’t sure what to do. At one point in the first half, Fredette caught the ball on the perimeter and heard some boos. So he split a double and scored on a finger roll, and then the arena erupted … Earlier in the night, DeMarcus Cousins (14 points, nine rebounds) had his shot blocked by Al Jefferson and the Utah play-by-play guys had to go with: “Welcome to Swat Lake City, Mr. Cousins.” That’s the third or fourth time we’ve heard that one when watching the Jazz this season … And Kentucky stomped out LSU by 24 yesterday with Terrence Jones going for 27, and Anthony Davis dropping 16 and 10. Eric Gordon tweeted that Davis is exactly like Marcus Camby. Normally we don’t mess with these comparisons, but this one fits … We’re out like Mike Conley.
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