Saturday night came and went without much of a pulse.
Chicago Bulls 83, Washington Wizards 81
Quick Hits: Derrick Rose sat out because apparently he had a knee injury last season (how’d that one sneak past me?) … Taj Gibson led the Bulls with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting … John Wall had himself a hell of a night: three points, four turnovers, minus-19 plus/minus, 1-for-9 from the field … Jan Vesely still never shoots; scored three points in 30 minutes to go with nine rebounds … Joakim Noah is still sitting out with a groin injury.
Boston Celtics 111, New York Knicks 81
Quick Hits: Ike Diogu led both teams in scoring and rebounding, dropping 21 and eight on just 11 shots … Josh Powell amazingly posted a minus-41 plus/minus in a little more than half the game, which means that the team didn’t do too well when he was on the court … Toure’ Murry scored 16 points in 31 minutes, but needed 21 shots to do it; if you’re gonna get cut, you mind as well go down swinging … Boston had 10 players who scored six points or more.
Detroit Pistons 99, Brooklyn Nets 88
Quick Hits: Deron Williams is still on the shelf and the Nets are still not playing their vets too much (Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce combined for just 25 minutes) … Marko Jaric scored three points in 17 minutes and for some reason, I don’t think he’ll be cracking the Nets’ rotation this season … Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had trouble shooting once again, but at least the guy isn’t shy; he shot 4-for-11 from the field, including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc … In 56 minutes, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith combined 21 points (on 7-for-19 shooting), seven rebounds and 10 turnovers… Andre Drummond led the Pistons in scoring with 15 points (6-for-8 FG) in just 18 minutes.
Toronto Raptors 104, Minnesota Timberwolves 97
Quick Hits: Kevin Love was head and shoulders above the competition, scoring 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 28 minutes. It’s shocking that anyone could light up that Raptors frontcourt, isn’t it? … Austin Daye led the Raptors with 12 points. Yeah, it was that kind of night for the dinosaurs … Rudy Gay’s vision really has improved! He shot 50 percent! He’s cured. No, he just played 12 minutes and took four shots… Alexey Shved and Ricky Rubio combined to go 0-for-11 from the field.
Charlotte Bobcats 83, Milwaukee Bucks 76
Quick Hits: Charlotte outscored Milwaukee 33-9 in the fourth quarter … Bismack Biyombo grabbed 21 rebounds, including seven offensive boards … John Henson posted a double-double with exactly 10 points and 10 boards … Caron Butler scored 18 points in 33 minutes. Over/under 14.5 points per game going into the All-Star break? … Jannero Pargo scored 24 points on 8-for-12 from the field and made all four 3s he took … Patrick O’Bryant is still posting DNPs, which makes all of us draft nerds a little depressed (hey, Jay Bilas said he had a lot of upside).
Los Angeles Clippers 106, Utah Jazz 74
The Daily Rant: How many games are the Jazz winning this year? Who of their starting five (Trey Burke, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter) are the actual building blocks for Utah’s rebuilding program? I’m taking Burke to be their franchise guy; Favors to be very solid defensively but below average offensively; Enes Kanter to end up as a third big man in his prime; Hayward might be a starter in the right system (think a team like Memphis that is desperate for another attacking wing), but I think he’s probably a sixth man on a championship-level squad, in the mold of a tougher Mike Dunleavy Jr.; The book is still open on Burks. All Utah can do is let the kids play… which is almost certainly land Tyrone Corbin back into an assistant’s role.
Quick Hits: Byron Mullens led the Clippers with 15 points in 16 minutes. I think he’ll be Doc Rivers’ new Big Baby (we shall call him Big BJ?) … Darren Collison scored nine points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed five boards in 29 minutes. I’ve never seen a guy take a hometown special so early in his career. Can we blame him? Of course not. Who wouldn’t want to play behind Chris Paul and next to Jamal Crawford?… Richard Jefferson led the Jazz with 13 points and eight boards in 21 minutes … The Jazz’s bench has five players that either played for the Houston Rockets or were drafted by them (in case you were wondering, they’re Brian Cook, Richard Jefferson, Mike Harris, Scott Machado, John Lucas III).
Thanks for reading, folks.