Welcome to your Daily NBA Fix for Monday, Feb. 3, the morning after the NBA went mostly dark … almost as if there was some big, important sporting event happening.
In all seriousness, that is one thing that marked David Stern’s tour as commissioner that new guy Adam Silver would be well-served to continue; a common-sense approach to knowing when the NBA isn’t the biggest game in town.
There was just one game scheduled on Super Bowl Sunday and it was played early in the afternoon, long before the Big Game at the End began. The NBA also has a practice of going completely dark the night of the championship game in the NCAA tournament, a nice nod to the league’s unofficial partner in talent production.
As for that game that happened, Rajon Rondo looked like his old self for the first time since returning from an ACL injury. In his seventh game of the season, Rondo had season highs of 19 points, 10 assists and three steals and was 9-for-11 from the floor (he came in shooting 27.9 percent) as the Celtics beat the Orlando Magic.
Of course, given how things have gone in Boston this season, Rondo may be in more danger of being traded now that he’s had a productive game.
But seriously, folks.
As for that football game that drew mild interest from the American television audience, the Seattle Seahawks captured just the city’s second major professional sports championship by edging the Denver Broncos 43-8 (yes, I know it was more than edging … it was a complete lawn makeover).
The only other Seattle champion, of course, was the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics, coached by Lenny Wilkens and led by Finals MVP Dennis Johnson, who beat the Washington Bullets in five games in a rematch of a seven-game win by the Bullets the year before.
The Daily NBA Fix will deliver highlights, game capsules, the top and bottom five players, the dreaded Goose Egg, Clean and Sober and Ironman awards, we’ll recap who’s circling the drain, there will be some interesting pieces of relevant (and not-so-relevant) information and we’ll look at today’s daily lines for those people who like to wager a buck or two.
Check out the highlights below from the night that was, then get into the game capsules (home teams in CAPS).