Court Awareness: Lakers-Spurs, CP3's Almost Quadruple-Double, and the Rest

Every once in a while, a regular season game has the feel of a playoff game and actually lives up to the hype.

Wednesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs was no exception.

The shorthanded Lakers, playing on the second night of a back-to-back and without the services of Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic, fought back from an 11-point deficit with a little over seven minutes left, but ultimately fell to the hometown Spurs, 112-111.

Kobe Bryant gave the Lakers a 111-109 lead when he knocked down a three-pointer with 12 seconds left, but Roger Mason answered with a three-point play of his own when he buried a jumpshot and the ensuing free throw after being fouled on the shot by Derek Fisher.

The Lakers had one last chance to win the game, but Trevor Ariza was called for traveling with 0.8 seconds left.

Both teams shot 57 percent from the field, including a combined 19-36 from behind the three-point line. Both teams only turned the ball over 11 times.

The Lakers, playing with only three healthy guards, had to start the fourth quarter with a lineup of four forwards and one center—Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Vladimir Radmanovic, Josh Powell, and Ariza.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Andrew Bynum continued his most impressive stretch of the season with 18 points. Bynum has now scored at least 18 points in four of his last five games.

Manu Ginobili scored 27 points to lead the Spurs, 19 of them in the first half. Tim Duncan nearly had a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. 

The Lakers suffered a scare in the fourth quarter when Derek Fisher went to the locker room. The Lakers might have no choice but to consider adding another point guard to help limit Fisher’s minutes until Farmar returns from his knee injury.

Fisher, 34, who had only played 34 or more minutes in one game before Farmar got hurt, has played at least that many in 11 of the 13 games since Farmar has been out.

Farmar is expected to return around the All-Star break.

One option for the Lakers not being mentioned is former University of Washington guard Will Conroy—the NBDL’s current leading scorer. Conroy was a training-camp invitee with the Lakers in 2005 so there is some familiarity there.

He has spent time with the Bobcats, Grizzlies, and Clippers as well, and would jump at the chance to sign a 10-day contract with an NBA club.

Time to Bottle That Philly Water?

Pardon the people of Boston if they might have a case of déjà vu.

It wasn’t that long ago that their professional sports teams were in the middle of a championship drought. All that ended when the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2001.

After two more NFL titles came, two World Series victories for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007.

It all climaxed with the Celtics winning the NBA championship last year.

Philadelphia seems to be following Boston in shedding its reputation as a perennial runner-up. It all started when the Philadelphia Soul won the 2008 Arena Bowl. Next up for the City of Brotherly Love was a World Series title last October.

This Sunday, the Eagles will be playing the Arizona Cardinals with a Super Bowl berth on the line.

Now it's the NBA’s 76ers who seem to have caught the "victory bug." The Sixers won their fifth-straight game with a 100-79 victory over the visiting Portland Trailblazers on Wednesday night.

The Sixers are now only two games under .500 and have moved into eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 29 points in handing the Blazers their worst loss of the season.

The Blazers, already playing without Rudy Fernandez, lost Steve Blake in the first half with a separated shoulder.

Brandon Roy led Portland with 27 points.

The Blazers should be able to put the Darius Miles situation behind them when Miles plays in his tenth game of the season on Friday.

Miles' salary for both this season and next will go back on the Blazers’ cap, thus making the Blazers much smaller players in this summer’s free agent market as well as pushing them past the league’s luxury-tax threshold.

The Blazers might have to consider making a trade by the Feb. 19 deadline to not only compensate for the sudden loss of cap space, but to solidify their playoff prospects for this season.

One major chip the Blazers have is Raef LaFrentz’s $12.7 million expiring contract. 

One team that could engage the Blazers in trade discussions is the Chicago Bulls. With Kirk Hinrich back in the lineup it might be time for the Bulls to consider trading him.

The Bulls are currently a game and a half out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and no team has more to offer than Portland. With so many players due for big extensions in the next few years, Hinrich would bring them a cap-friendly contract that decreases each season.

A trade of Hinrich and the expiring contracts of Drew Gooden and Michael Ruffin for LaFrentz, Travis Outlaw, Jerryd Bayless, and either Channing Frye or Ike Diogu would work under the cap and make a lot of sense for both teams.

The Blazers would get a franchise point guard under contract for three more years and two expiring contracts. The Bulls would get themselves a rookie combo guard in Bayless, who could backup and play alongside Derrick Rose, a veteran small forward with huge potential in Outlaw, and a power forward in Diogu or Frye—either of whom would be playing with the incentive of a new contract.

Everyone Beats the Wiz

David Lee scored 30 points, Al Harrington scored 27, and Quentin Richardson added 26 in helping the Knicks hand the Washington Wizards their sixth-straight loss, 128-122.

Nick Young set a career-high for the third time in six days with 33 points to lead the Wizards.

All has been quiet of late on the Stephon Marbury front. I get the feeling that some time after the trade deadline the Knicks will make a final offer to buy Marbury out of his contract.

If Marbury declines the deal, then I can see the Knicks either letting his contract expire or releasing him in March so he won’t be eligible for the postseason should he sign on with another team.

Marbury will have to decide if he’s willing to lose some money for a chance to play this season or wait until the summer to hook on with another team.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Nothing helps to cure a losing streak like a pair of home-and-homes with two sub-.500 teams. That’s exactly what the schedule-makers prescribed the Boston Celtics with these four games against Toronto and New Jersey.

After winning both games against the Raptors on Sunday and Monday, the Celtics beat up on the Nets on Wednesday night, 118-86. Paul Pierce led six Celtics in double figures with 22 points—18 in the third quarter.

The two teams meet again in New Jersey on Saturday.


Elsewhere

·         Derrick Rose scored 17 points in the fourth quarter in helping the Bulls come from behind to beat the Raptors in Toronto, 102-98. Rose recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 10 assists to go along with his 25 total points. Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with a career-high 31 points.

·         Chris Paul came within three steals of recording a quadruple-double in the Hornets 104-97 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Paul finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and seven steals in helping the Hornets snap a 13-game losing streak to the Mavericks in Dallas that dated back to 1998. Jason Terry scored 28 to lead the Mavs.

·         The Thunder won their first game against a team with a winning record this season in beating the Jazz, 114-93. Four of their seven total wins this season have come in the past 14 days. Jeff Green scored 23 to pace the Thunder. Deron Williams had 25 for the Jazz in the loss.

·         The Pistons’ record with Allen Iverson dropped to 18-15 with their overtime loss to the Pacers in Indiana on Wednesday. Danny Granger scored 24 points and Troy Murphy added 18. Rodney Stuckey scored 30 points to lead the Pistons.

·         The Miami Heat won just 15 games last season. Wednesday night they recorded victory number 21 with their 102-99 victory in Milwaukee against the Bucks. Daequan Cook scored 24 points and Dwyane Wade had 13 assists. Luke Ridnour led the Bucks with 25.

·         Two of the NBA’s worst teams participated in the season’s longest game when the Sacramento Kings beat the Golden State Warriors, 135-133, in triple overtime. It was the Kings’ first road win since Nov. 19. Brad Miller had 30 points and 22 rebounds for the Kings. Jamal Crawford scored 35 for the Warriors in the losing effort.

·         The Clippers have now lost 12 games in a row after losing to the Atlanta Hawks, 97-80. The Hawks snapped their four-game losing streak in the process. Josh Smith scored 26 for the Hawks. Al Thornton scored 25 against his hometown team.

One Last Thing

The NBA’s salary cap is determined by total basketball-related revenue divided by the total number of teams in the league (30). With the nation in the midst of an economic crisis and basketball-related revenue likely to decline, there’s a strong possibility that both next season’s salary cap as well as the luxury tax threshold will decrease.

As a result, there could be an unprecedented amount of player movement between the Feb. 19 trade deadline and the start of the 2010-11 season.

In other words, unless you are a fan of Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tim Duncan, or Danny Granger, you might want to think twice before buying a jersey.