Kemba Walker Kills it Again; Find Out Why Kobe Was “Scared Sh**less” Last Night

What an end to a great Big East Tournament last night as UConn beat Louisville by three, 69-66, in an intense, up-and-down slugfest at MSG. The battle itself felt like it boiled down to the Kemba Walker/Peyton Siva matchup. Players stepped up on both sides, but it felt like those two were involved in almost every big play, whether it be scoring (Kemba had 19, Siva 13), setting up teammates or keeping the tempo at a blistering pace (they are clearly two of the fastest guards in the nation) … As Kemba was imposing his will in the second half and drawing foul after foul, Jay Bilas relayed that Rick Pitino was telling the refs that “Kemba Walker is not Michael Jordan.” When he was told about Pitino’s quote after the game, Kemba replied, “I’m not Michael Jordan, I’m Kemba Walker”… Kemba finished with 130 points in his five games – a Big East record – and was the easy choice for tourney MVP … So how does this UConn run change the way you look at the Huskies as an NCAA team? Sweet 16? Further? … Think Louisville’s Mike Marra will have nightmares about last night’s game for the rest of his life? He was 0-3 from the field for the game and was an adventure down the stretch on inbounds plays, including an absolute killer turnover with :23 to go in the game and his team down by one. He then found himself in a spot where he drew a foul shooting a three with his team down three. He made the first foul shot, but then missed the second. Then, when he was apparently trying to miss the third foul shot in order to set up a putback chance for his teammates, he drilled it. Just couldn’t do anything right … If you’re going to launch a fake Kemba Walker Twitter account pretending to be him, at least be smart enough not to start following us while Kemba is actually playing … The Jimmer Fredette magic ran out yesterday in the MWC championship game against San Diego State. Jimmer still got his 30, but it was on 10-25 shooting. And he got next to nothing from his teammates … It would appear that Nolan Smith is just fine. After leaving Friday’s ACC Tournament game with a foot injury that had Duke fans fearing another Kyrie Irving situation, he came back to hang 27 on Virginia Tech in a Duke W. The win sets up a Duke/UNC ACC Championship matchup this afternoon after the Tar Heels beat Clemson in OT. UNC got 40 from Harrison Barnes in the game on what seemed like a never-ending run of deep threes. Is this finally the Barnes that everyone envisioned when he committed to UNC? Can’t wait to see what version of him shows up today against Duke …

“Crap to awesome to awesome.” That’s how Chris Bosh described the Miami Heat‘s last three games after last night’s 118-85 bashing of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Miami onslaught was led by Dwyane Wade‘s 28 points, nine dimes, five boards, and five blocks. Four of those blocks came in a 55-second stretch in the first quarter, effectively setting the one for the rest of the game. The Grizzlies had nothing after that … Bulls/Jazz was another game that was over in the first quarter last night. Derrick Rose had 17 points in the first quarter – as many as the entire Jazz team. In a Holy-Crap-What-If-He-Can-Do-This-All-the-Time shooting display, Rose knocked down five threes in that first period … They were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Chicago championship at halftime of the Bulls game, and brought out a bunch of players, including MJ and Scottie Pippen. “You guys are in store for a lot more championships. Look at this team tonight,” Mike told the crowd. “Don’t be surprised if you’ve got six more coming.” … Chris Paul returned from the head injury he suffered last week to decimate the Kings with 33 points and 15 dimes in a 115-103 Hornets victory … After barely losing an overtime battle with the Thunder on Wednesday and then beating the Celtics on Friday night, there was real buzz around the 76ers as being a real problem for a the Heat or the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Then Philly flew to Milwaukee and got cracked by the Bucks, 102-74. Truly good teams don’t have that type of letdown when they’re battling for playoff positioning … The Lakers beat the Mavs 96-91 despite another poor shooting performance (and twisted ankle) from Kobe Bryant. Andrew Bynum was dominant though, with 22 and 15 boards … Kobe’s ankle roll was so bad that after the game he told reporters that he thought he was “done” for the year when it happened and that he was “scared sh**less.” … Blake Griffin was rampaging his way to a 50-point night in D.C. last night against the Wizards, scoring 26 in the first half. Then the rest of the game happened and the Clips didn’t need him to score again as they rolled to a 122-101 win … We’ve seen Griffin dunk on so many people this year, it’s weird to see him be the guy getting caught. That’s what happened in the first half though when Blake found himself outjumped and dunked on by JaVale McGee on an alley oop … We’re out like fake Twitter handles.