Attacking the Boards: Blowouts Galore This Weekend

Orlando 122, Miami 99

When your best player drops half a hundred on a Top Five team, you’d expect to win the game, right? Well, if any Heat fans thought that, they are probably very disappointed. Despite 50 points, five rebounds, and five assists from superstar Dwyane Wade, the Heat still fell to the Magic in Orlando.

Wade didn’t get much help from his teammates, with only one other player in double figures. Michael Beasley was that player and he only had 14. Jermaine O’Neal, who had just six points, began the game defending Dwight Howard well with the quick blocks, but it was all downhill from there.

Superman finished with a team-high 32 points on 11-14 shooting while grabbing 17 rebounds, but he wasn’t the only starter for Orlando in double figures. Every other starter and two bench players ended up with at least 10 points. Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Courtney Lee had 20, 18, and 14 points respectively.

They got those points by doing what the Magic do best—shooting threes. Both Turkoglu and Lee were 4-7 from downtown and Lewis, who leads the league in three-pointers made, was 4-5 from beyond the arc. Those shots alone got the Magic 36 points.

Boston 128, Phoenix 108

The Suns had a very good night offensively against one of the best defensive teams in the league, but their weakness was definitely exposed thanks to the quickness of Rajon Rondo. Rondo went off against a terrible Suns defense, scoring a game-high 32 points with 10 assists and six rebounds.

Even though Rondo had his best game of the season, Ray Allen almost caught him in the point column, putting up 31 points while shooting 4-8 from deep. Paul Pierce also had a good game with 26 points and six rebounds.

Despite the loss, four Suns starters were over 16 points. Jason Richardson lead the team with 21 points. Steve Nash wasn’t far behind with 19 and 11 assists. Leandro Barbosa had a pretty nice all-around game with 18 points, four rebounds, two assists, three steals, and a block.

Cleveland 99, Detroit 78

LeBron James wasn’t impressive as he was two nights ago against Milwaukee, but he did lead his Cavs to another victory. James finished with 20 points, nine assists, five rebounds, two steals, and a block. Delonte West was very impressive in his return from a wrist injury, scoring a game-high 25 points with five rebounds and four assists on 5-5 shooting.

Allen Iverson lead the Pistons with 14 points and five assists. Rodney Stuckey had another poor game, scoring just eight points and accumulating just three assists. I wonder if the Pistons front office is having any second thoughts about trading veteran Chauncey Billups?

Los Angeles (Lakers) 111, Minnesota 108

Kobe Bryant passed Laker great Elgin Baylor on the all-time Lakers scoring list with his performance in this one, leaving only Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Jerry West left for him to pass. Bryant also moved to 20th in NBA history in scoring, with 28 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds.

The Lakers also dominated the post in this one with Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom both scoring 25. Odom also added 14 boards and three assists, while Gasol only added five boards and five assists.

The T’Wolves kept this one close due to poor defense by the Lakers. Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes both had a team-high 20 points and rookie Kevin Love had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Note: The National Anthem was sung by former Vikings defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo.

Portland 116, Los Angeles Clippers 87

LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy lead the Blazers in this one with 28 and 20 points respectively. Blazer point guard Steven Blake tied an NBA record with 14 assists in the first quarter, but only finished with 17. Eric Gordon was the high point man for the Clippers with 21.

Houston 99, Charlotte 78

Ron Artest had an impressive 26 points and seven rebounds, with three other Rocket starters in double figures. Yao Ming had 19 points and seven rebounds and Luis Scola had 12 points and 10 boards. Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor both had double-doubles. Wallace had 11 points and 10 boards while Okafor had 13 points and 11 boards.

Indiana 98, Chicago 91

Ben Gordon led the Bulls with 28 points and Joakim Noah had five points and 12 boards, but it wasn’t enough to top the Pacers. Troy Murphy finished with 27 points and 14 boards and point guard T.J. Ford had 19 points and eight rebounds.

Milwaukee 120, Denver 117

Carmelo Anthony had 33 points and nine rebounds to lead the Nuggets, but Charlie Villanueva had 36 and five for the Bucks in the win. Both point guards in this contest had pretty good games as well. Billups had 21 points and 4 dimes while Ramon Sessions had 27 points and eight assists.