Court Awareness: LeBron's Magical Night at MSG and the Rest of Wednesday Night

Now that didn’t take long, did it? 

Just 48 hours after Kobe Bryant set a Madison Square Garden record for most points scored in a game with 61, LeBron James made everyone quickly forget about it with his own night for the ages.

James recorded the 21st triple-double of his career and scored the second-most points ever recorded in a triple-double. James had 52 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 107-102 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

James might try to downplay the timing of the game and call it a coincidence that both games happened in the same week—but I find it hard to believe that he didn’t go into Wednesday’s game with the intention of proving that he too can make history at the world’s most famous arena.

What people won’t be talking about on Thursday was that this game, unlike Monday’s contest, wasn’t decided until the final moments. The Knicks had trailed by as many as 15 points before grabbing their first lead of the game on Tim Thomas’ three-pointer with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter.

18 seconds later, James reclaimed the lead for the Cavs and they held off a Knicks team that just wouldn’t go away.

Al Harrington led the Knicks (21-27) with 39 points and 13 boards. David Lee recorded another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

As if things couldn’t get worse for the Knicks, next up for them is a home date with defending NBA champion Boston Celtics on Friday night. The Knicks won the last meeting between the two teams back in January.

Next up for LeBron and the Cavaliers (39-9) is three days off followed by a nationally-televised home game versus Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon.

We’re Going Streaking

The Toronto Raptors lost their fourth game in a row on Wednesday night but they may have also lost All-Star Chris Bosh in the process. Bosh headed into the locker room just a few minutes into the fourth quarter with what is being called a sprained right knee. He was taken to the hospital for further testing.

Jermaine O’Neal did his best to fill in for Bosh but Bryant and Pau Gasol combined to score 67 points and grab 24 rebounds in leading the Lakers to their fourth straight victory, 115-107.

O’Neal finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, and nine blocks to lead the Raptors (19-32), and Joey Graham added a career-high 24 points.

The Lakers (39-9) have now won the first four games of their current six-game road trip. On Thursday night the Lakers play their first game in Boston since the Celtics humiliated them in Game Six of last year’s NBA Finals.

The Lakers have shown a tendency over the past month or so of allowing teams to score and put up big numbers in the first quarter. While this might look like horrible defense at times, it seems almost deliberate. 

It’s as if they are willing to concede dunks and layups early in games to preserve fouls and not mess up their rotation.

Andrew Bynum’s slow start was partly attributed to his inability to stay out of foul trouble early in games. Once he was able to make it out of the first quarter without getting into foul trouble, he was able to find his rhythm and with that his production and conditioning improved.

Even with Bynum sidelined for the next 8-12 weeks, the Lakers will probably continue with the strategy because it seems to be working. It’s the same strategy that worked so well for the Detroit Pistons against the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals.

The Lakers managed to balance out their generous first quarters by playing great defense down the stretch. After giving up 31 points in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game, they held the Raptors to only 20 in the final frame.


This Rodney Gets Respect

Rodney Stuckey scored 18 points, grabbed six boards, and tallied six assists in helping the Detroit Pistons put an end to their four-game losing streak at home, beating the Miami Heat 93-90 on Wednesday night.

Stuckey hit two huge shots late in the game, including an acrobatic bank shot over Dwyane Wade as the shot clock ran out. Wade had a chance to tie the game but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

The win put the Pistons (26-21) back into fifth place and dropped the Heat (26-22) to sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Rasheed Wallace also scored 18 points for Detroit and Antonio McDyess grabbed 17 boards.

Wade scored 29 points, handed out 13 assists, and pulled down seven boards to lead Miami.

With the Celtics, Cavs, and Orlando Magic essentially locked into the top three seeds in the East, the battle for the fifth seed is turning into one of the season’s more interesting subplots. While the sixth seed is looking at a first-round date with the Celtics, Cavs, or Magic, the fifth seed will likely play a series with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Pistons failed to sell out the game, bringing an end to their streak of 259 straight sellouts that started over five seasons ago.

It’s hard to image that fans stayed away due to the team’s recent mediocre play, especially since one of the NBA’s most exciting players was in town. Most likely, it’s just another example of how the current state of the economy is affecting professional sports—especially in Detroit.

Move Over Oscar

The Dallas Mavericks are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season after beating the Portland Trail Blazers 104-99 on Wednesday night.

It’s the fourth year in a row that the Mavericks have needed longer than the previous season to reach that milestone.

Last season they were 10 games over .500 on Jan. 2, the season before that it took them until Dec. 21, before that it was done on Dec. 16, and in 2005-06 it occurred on Dec. 14.

The win also brought the Mavs within one game of the Blazers for fourth place in the Western Conference and assured them a victory in the season series—giving the Mavericks the tiebreaker should the two teams finish with the same record.

Josh Howard led the Dallas (29-19) with 23 points but it was Jason Kidd who had the biggest night when he passed Oscar Robertson for fourth place on the NBA’s career assist list.

Next up on the list for Kidd is his childhood hero, Magic Johnson. It isn’t unfathomable for Kidd to pass Johnson this season.

Brandon Roy led the Blazers (30-18) with 26 points and seven rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge chipped in with 21 points.


Good News on a Bad Day

The Orlando Magic played their first game without All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson, and backup Anthony Johnson proved to be an adequate replacement in the Magic’s 125-96 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Johnson scored 25 points, including 6-8 from behind the three-point arc. In fact, the entire Magic team shot an impressive 16-26 from downtown.

The Magic got the news Wednesday that Nelson had torn the labrum in his right shoulder and has to decide whether to undergo season-ending surgery or try to rehabilitate the shoulder. 

Nelson will have to make a decision in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, expect the Magic (37-11) to try and acquire another point guard before the Feb. 19 trade deadline. Mike Wilks, who was signed to fill the third point-guard role, is out for the entire season after injuring his knee during the preseason.

Al Thornton scored 27 points to lead the Clippers (10-39), who have now lost seven straight games and 21 of their last 23.

Elsewhere

O.J. Mayo scored 32 points and Mike Conley had 10 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in leading the Memphis Grizzlies (13-35) to a 104-93 victory over the Houston Rockets (30-20).

Carmelo Anthony hit his second game-winning basket in Oklahoma City this season, and helped the Nuggets (33-16) hold off the hometown Thunder, 114-113. Kevin Durant led the Thunder (11-38) with 31 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.

With Joe Johnson out with an illness, Marvin Williams filled in admirably scoring 23 points and grabbing 10 boards to lead the Atlanta Hawks (28-20) over the Minnesota Timberwolves (17-31) by a score of 94-86. The Timberwolves have now lost four of their last five games after beginning the New Year by winning 10-12.

The New Orleans Hornets are finding out how tough life is without point guard Chris Paul. Rookie sensation Derrick Rose scored 21 point to lead the Chicago Bulls (22-28) to a 107-93 road victory. It was the fourth straight loss for the Hornets (28-18) who didn’t lose more than three games in a row all of last season.

Devin Harris led five of his teammates in double figures with 26 points in helping the New Jersey Nets beat the Washington Wizards 115-88. The Wizards (10-39) have already matched the total number of losses they had all of last season. It was the third straight victory for the Nets (23-27).

Stephen Jackson recorded his first career triple-double in leading the Golden State Warriors (16-34) to a 124-112 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns. Jackson had 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Jason Richardson led the Suns (26-21) with 24 points. The two teams meet again in Phoenix on Friday night.