Court Awareness: Bosh, Granger, Rashard and the Rest Of Wednesday Night

For a night that didn’t really offer too many marquee match-ups on paper, Wednesday night proved to have some pretty exciting finishes.

Four games went down to the wire—and the visiting team won each and every one of them. 

So far, the 2008-09 season is shaping up to be one of the oddest in recent memory. When the day started, ten of the league’s 30 teams had better winning percentages on the road than at home. By comparison, the Orlando Magic were the only team at the end of last season to have a better record on the road than at home (27-14 vs. 25-16).

Thursday, We Pass Turkey; Wednesday, Turkey Did the Passing

Hedo Turkoglu found a wide-open Rashard Lewis with 4.7 seconds left, and Lewis nailed the three-pointer to give the Magic the 96-94 win in Philadelphia. The Magic led the game by ten at halftime, only to see the Sixers take back the lead in the second half on the shoulders of Elton Brand.

It was the Magic’s seventh win in their last eight games. Dwight Howard led them with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Tony Battie added 20 off the bench. Brand led the way for the Sixers with 21 points after only scoring four in the first half.

The Sixers are now 7-8 this season, and things won’t be getting any easier anytime soon. After a game Friday night against the World Champs in Boston, the Sixers have a home-and-home with the Bulls, followed by a game against the Lakers, and then back-to-back with the Pistons and resurgent Nets.

There’s a decent chance that Philly could be five games under .500 by next Saturday. Not impossible to dig out of—but not exactly where you want to be in the much-improved Eastern Conference.

The Magic improved to 5-1 on the road, to go with their 6-3 record at home.

Taking It Personally

All of the talk about LeBron James leaving the Cavs in 2010 seems to have inspired his current squad. Tuesday night, they helped him destroy the New York Knicks. Wednesday night, it was the hapless Oklahoma City Thunder who received the 117-82 beating. It seems as if James’ teammates are on a mission to prove that, contrary to popular belief, they are good enough to compete for a championship.

James only played 17 minutes—but he scored 14 points and had two awe-inspiring highlights to please fans who might otherwise have been disappointed by his lack of playing time.

The Cavs are now 12-3 on the season, their best start in franchise history. However, that record is a tad bit misleading. The Cavs are only 4-3 in games against teams who participated in last season’s playoffs. By comparison, the Celtics are 7-1 in said games.

Their next six games are all against non-playoff teams, so don’t be surprised if the Cavs push their current winning streak to nine games, and improve their record to an impressive 18-3.

One of the many bright spots for the Cavs this season has been the play of rookie J.J. Hickson. In 31 minutes, Hickson scored 14 points, had six rebounds, and swatted four shots against the Thunder.

The emergence of Hickson is big for two reasons. The first is that he could provide the Cavs with the piece they need to acquire a big name in a trade this season. Of course, there are teams that will be interested in Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract. But Hickson gives them the type of young stud that could be the difference between getting a Chris Wilcox and getting an Andrei Kirilenko.

The second reason why Hickson is a big deal in Cleveland is because, with the exception of James, the Cavs haven’t drafted an impact player in the first round since Andre Miller back in 1999. The rest of the list includes names like Chris Mihm, DeSagana Diop, DaJuan Wagner, Luke Jackson, and Shannon Brown.

New Player, Same Result

Zach Randolph finally made his debut for the Clippers against the Nuggets. Chalk this one up to opening-night jitters, because Randolph definitely looked like a guy playing with his team for the very first time.

Randolph shot so poorly I couldn’t help but think he was missing on purpose. He finished the game with seven points on three-of-11 shooting, but the Clippers still had a chance to win it at the buzzer.

Marcus Camby missed the potential game-winning three against his former teammates, and the Nuggets hung on for the 106-105 victory. Carmelo Anthony led five Nuggets in double figures with 30 points.

The Clippers are now 2-13, with one of the NBA’s softest early-season schedules. Ten of the Clips first 15 games were at home, and they managed to win just one of them.

Mardy Collins, also playing in his first game in Los Angeles, didn’t score a point and missed the only shot he took in the game. Rookie Eric Gordon led the Clippers with 24 points—a direct result of increased playing time in the wake of Cuttino Mobley’s departure.

Not to make light of Mobley’s health, but I'm curious if his heart issues have anything to do with the Steve Francis trade that separated them back in 2006. Neither player has been the same since. Who knew it was a broken heart?



Those Aren’t Seat Warmers, Reggie

Reggie Theus might be the next coach to get fired in the wake of the Kings' 116-114 overtime loss to the Nets on Wednesday night. It isn’t often that a team has a six-point lead with 34.7 seconds left in the game and loses, but that’s exactly what happened.

But wait until you hear how!

With the Nets trying to inbound the ball out of a timeout, Bobby Jackson was called for a dead-ball foul for grabbing onto Devin Harris’ jersey (a move that should be referred to as the "Sam Cassell." Vince Carter knocked down the technical free throw, and the Nets retained possession.

Bobby Simmons then baited Spencer Hawes into fouling him on a three-point shot and Simmons knocked down two of the three to cut the Kings' lead to three with 26 seconds left.

The next 20 seconds consisted of a Devin Harris lay-up and another missed free throw by Salmons. With seven seconds remaining and the Nets down by three, Harris knocked down the game-tying three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Bobby Jackson.

For the second time in three nights, the Kings failed to execute a potential game-winning drive in regulation.

The Nets lost Vince Carter in overtime with what looked like a pretty bad hamstring injury. Carter led the Nets in scoring with 25 points. Salmons led the Kings with a career-high 38.

Texas Granger

Troy Murphy may have led the way with 21 points and 14 boards, but it was Danny Granger’s tip-in off his own missed shot that provided the winning bucket in the Pacers' 91-90 win over the Rockets in Houston.

Granger is really breaking out in his fourth year in the league. In addition to scoring 16 points, he also tallied six rebounds, six blocked shots, and five assists.

The Rockets were playing without Tracy McGrady, who was resting his sore knee. The team did welcome back Shane Battier for the first time after he missed the first fifteen games with an inflamed foot.

The Rockets are now 3-3 at home and 7-3 on the road. Of the Rockets' 90 points, 73 came courtesy of their frontcourt, while their guards—Rafer Altson, Brent Barry, Aaron Brooks, and Luther Head—combined to score only 17.

Yao Ming took an elbow to the eye in the first quarter that required stitches, but he returned.

Elsewhere

•    The Boston Celtics came back from 13 points down at halftime to beat the Warriors, 119-111. After surrendering 67 points in the first half the champs scored 65 of their own and held the Warriors to only 44 en route to their sixth straight win. Four Celtics scored at least 20 points and three others scored nine apiece.

•    All five Suns starters scored in double-figures, led by Steve Nash’s 20 points, as the Suns beat the Timberwolves, 110-102. Shaquille O’Neal returned to the lineup as head coach, Terry Porter, continued his trend of resting Shaq on the first night of back-to-backs. Although the Suns are much less entertaining under Porter, the team is beginning to realize how much easier O’Neal makes the game when he’s in there. Without Shaq on Tuesday, the Suns needed a big fourth quarter to overcome an eleven point fourth quarter deficit against Oklahoma City.

•    The Portland Trailblazers built up a 20-point lead after the first quarter and then cruised the rest of the way to a 106-68 blowout of the Heat. The Blazers are now 6-0 at home. The Heat played without Shawn Marion who was attending the funeral of a relative.

•    Deron Williams returned from his ankle injury and dished out 15 assists in Utah’s 117-100 win over the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay had 27 points to lead all scorers in the loss.

•    Al Horford’s three-point play with two minutes left in the game proved to be the deal sealer in the Hawks 102-96 victory over Milwaukee. Richard Jefferson scored 25 to lead the Bucks. Dan Gadzuric scored six and grabbed three rebounds, filling in for the injured Andrew Bogut.

•    The Knicks got 25 points from newcomer Al Harrington, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Pistons. Detroit had eight players in double-figures. The 110-96 victory was much-needed for the Pistons after their humiliating loss at home to the Timberwolves on Sunday night.

•    Chris Bosh led the way with 39 points and 11 rebounds in the Raptors' 93-86 win over the Bobcats. Point guard Jose Calderon didn’t get the chance to add to his record for most consecutive free throws made by a Raptor to begin a season. Calderon has made all of 40 of his attempts this season, and will attempt to add to it when the Raptors play Atlanta on Friday.

•    Rookie George Hill scored 19 points and pulled down 11 boards, and Manu Ginobili continued to look comfortable in his second game back from ankle surgery in the Spurs' 98–88 win over the Bulls. Ben Gordon had 23 points, and Drew Gooden scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the Bulls' losing effort.

One More Thing

Lindsey Hunter is averaging just over 12 minutes a game this season for the Bulls, one week shy of his 38th birthday. Just how old is Hunter? Keep in mind that when Hunter was a rookie, he was on a Pistons team that still had Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer on its roster.

This article also appears on FoxSports.com.