Knicks/Magic was easily the best game on Tuesday’s run of NBA matchups with Melo, STAT and Dwight battling with playoff-like intensity in an extremely physical game in an electric arena … When the Knicks came out and started 6-9 Shawne Williams on Dwight Howard, we thought Howard was poised to get himself a 40/20 night (as did Dwight, we’re assuming). And after he steamrolled his way to 22 first half points, he was well on his way. Howard ended up with 30 points, 16 boards and five blocks in a 116-110 win for Orlando … Dwight Howard will beast any team’s front line, but with the Knicks, it seemed to make their front court deficiencies all the more glaring. They have zero depth along their front line, making defending opposing bigs an adventure. And their rebounding? Abysmal. Amar’e Stoudemire played 38 minutes and had only two rebounds (with zero defensive boards)! Their leading rebounder was Landry Fields with 11, and at least half of them were hustle boards tracking down long misses … Another glaring Knicks issue following the Melo trade? Defending quick guards. Chauncey Billups may have gone for 30 last night, but he got his face shot off by Jameer Nelson in the second half. Billups was totally unable to stay in front of Jameer or keep up with him through ball screens as Nelson got 23 of his 26 points in the second half … The game ball might have to go to Quentin Richardson. Stan Van Gundy dusted off Q and had him harass Carmelo into a brutal 8-24 shooting mess. Clyde Frazier was impressed too, noting that Q “has lost a lot of weight. He had chubbed up at one time.” … The Sixers tried to keep their momentum rolling at home against the Mavericks, but it wasn’t meant to be as the Jason Kidd/Jason Terry combo performed open heart surgery on the Sixers’ young backcourt in a 101-93 Mavs’ W … Kidd knocked out a 13-point, 13-dime, 10-board triple-double and The Jet went for 30, sticking jumper after jumper in the faces of Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday … Read More …
In Minnesota, the Lakers made light work of the T-Wolves, cruising to 90-79 win. The Timberwolves just had nothing for Kobe (24 points) or Pau (12 points, 17 boards) … A telling fact from the game: With just a few minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, Kevin Love was the only Minnesota player to attempt a foul shot. What does that mean? Too many jump shots, not enough attacking the basket. Exactly what the Lakers wanted … After the game Kevin Love tweeted this: “Very tough game tonight for us…especially for me. Shot poorly from the field, so I apologize to the fans for the let down!” … Weird moment on the TV broadcast when coming back from a commercial we spotted Wally Szczerbiak on Minnesota’s jumbotron screaming into a microphone. If any of our readers know what that was about, let us know … The Rockets were another team shooting lights out last night in their 103-87 win over the Blazers. Houston finished the game shooting 60% from the field for the night and it really did seem like everything they were putting up was dropping. At one point, an exasperated Blazers color guy said of the Rockets’ shooting, “I think if they bounce the ball off their head it will still go in.” … To make room for Mike Bibby, the Heat waived Carlos Arroyo yesterday. A lot was made about Bibby giving up the $6.2 million owed to him so that the Wizards could buy him out. As we saw yesterday though, that’s not quite the case … In other NBA action last night: Chris Paul‘s shooting woes continued as he went just 2-12 for a season low of six points in a loss to Toronto. What makes it worse is that Jose Calderon looked like a superstar, going for 22 points and 16 assists. Afterward, CP3 sounded was quoted in the locker room, struggling for answers: “I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m getting a lot of shots. A lot of shots are right there. Last game, I missed everything right there around the rim, tonight it was just off. I think I’ve got to find a rhythm or something like that, find a way to get some easy baskets.” … The Grizzlies were all over the Spurs in 109-93 beatdown of San Antonio … Very cool giveaway from the Dime Crew that we posted late yesterday on the site: Click Here to see how you can win a copy of the classic Michael Jordan to the Max on Blu-ray … We’re out like Knicks’ boards…
