Noteworthy: 11/30/2013

Tough Trip:  The Bulls finished their road trip 1-5 as they lost to a Cavs last night.  Things aren't looking so hot if you're a Bulls fan, even though this was a close game.  Luol Deng had 27 points and dish out 11 assists to keep them in it but the Bulls blew four bunny attempts at the basket that could have tied the game.

The Cavs got the second excellent game in a row from Dion Waiters and a performance from Andrew Bynum that I almost hesitate to call a throwback mostly because Bynum is only 26 years old and there's no such thing as a retro for someone that young.  But the Andrew Bynum that was playing last night looked like one we haven't seen since Lebron James was ringless. His presence on defense and ability to score in the post was the difference maker in this game as he logged 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had 5 blocked shots.

Not the best angle of the crossover Kyrie Irving had, but if you've seen the other ones he's done on other guys, this was basically another one of those except Tony Snell's cornrows almost ripped off his head from the whiplash he had trying to regather himself.



Injured vs More Injured
After getting destroyed in their last game against the Rockets, the Nets played much better against the Grizzlies last night.   It definitely helped having KG and Brook Lopez in the lineup although Paul Pierce and Deron Williams are still out with their respective injuries.

The Grizz have been hit with injuries too as Marc Gasol is still out with his knee injury and Zach Randolph must have had a really bad ingrown toenail as that was the reason he was not with the team and did not play in their loss to the Nets.

Zaza Pachulia Highlight:
These seem pretty rare to me, so I'd thought it be worth showing a no look bounce pass by Za-Pa

Pretty Good Week

John Wall (26) and Trevor Ariza (24) combined for 50 points as the Wiz beat the Hawks to go 3-1 this week.  If only those Pacers hadn't been their ole dominant selves in beating the Wiz on Friday, this woulda been a really excellent week for the team from D.C.

Coincidence:

Wolves beat the Mavericks at home 112-106 which is significant because it is the exact same score of another game that was going on in Texas over at AT&T arena between the Spurs and Rockets.

Ricky Rubio with the Matrix type stuff on this pass.

Firsts:

We got a glimpse of how good the Rockets can be last night as they took down the Conference-leading Spurs in San Antonio.  The difference being the play of Terence Jones who matched San Antonio's total amount of offensive rebounds just by himself.  First home loss on the year for the Spurs.

First road win for the Jazz as they redeemed their loss on Friday to the Suns at home by beating the Suns on their home court.  The hero was rookie Trey Burke who is currently the only Trey in the league and definitely lived up to his name last night knocking down four three pointers on way to 20 points.

End of a Bad Streak
Bucks with their third win of the season.  More significantly, they've ended that horrible 11 game losing streak they've been on by beating the Celtics at home.  They got time to enjoy this one as they don't play again until Tuesday against those same Celtics but this time in Boston.

The Bucks have a couple guys that are really really lanky including the Greek rookie with the endless limbs and really long last name.

This was impressive to me because Giannis basically showed off his ability to stretch out every inch of that spidery-long body. First, to block Jordan Crawford's weak layup attempt, and then he only needed 3 steps from the three point line in order to take off for dunk.  Really nice job by the guy with the really hard to spell last name.

Other: Lionel Hollins is looking to come back to coaching which reminded me that I have no idea who the current Grizz coach is so here's a link in case you're like me and never heard of David Joerger.

Video: Best Fan-Recorded Version of Westbrook's Game Winner Ever

You know this is good cause you're so close you can see that back wrinkles on that ref. 

Thanks to the fan who decided to pull out his phone to record this last sequence of the game, I almost feel like I'm there in person when I see Westbrook holster his finger pistols.

I am especially impressed because I have no idea how this fan didn't start jumping up and down or shaking uncontrollably in joy.  I can't even watch the videos I've made of my dog kicking in her sleep without getting serious motion-sickness.

Noteworthy: 11/29/2013

Full night of games as 26 out of 30 teams were in action, including the Rockets doing what looks to be a reenactment of a Mortal Kombat finish.   

Also, Lebron doing unreal pregame dunks and Tim Duncan showing he can still catch and throw down an alley-oop dunk. 

You Ok?

Whoever that lady is, here's Gerald Henderson's apology on twitter for her and everyone else to see.

Way to go, Wes:
Nice game for Wesley Johnson who had 27 points and a nice win for the Lakers who were wearing their home gold jerseys cause the Pistons were wearing their darker Motor City ones.



Everyone clamoring on the interwebs about Wes Johnson's alley-oop dunk, but that Steve Blake wrist flip pass from out of bounds looked really tough too ya know.

Kinda Odd: Rockets with more threes than free throws last night, which makes sense cause you're probably not getting fouled that much when you're shooting all them threes.  Also makes sense cause it was against the Nets who are really bad at defense.

Nice Passing, Rockets:

Poor Omri Casspi is the only who doesn't do anything in that highlight.

Fancy Passes, Lance:





Lance Stephenson was 3 points away from his third triple double of the season and after completing the no-look-mid-air behind the back one to CJ Watson, you are right to think that Lance may have been a little too risky with the ball last night (he wound up with 8 turnovers).

Best part of all these passes?  The scissor skippies he does after seeing the successful baskets that result from them.



Pleased:
Jordan Crawford did get a triple double last night as the Celtics dominated the Cavs.  Lookit how pleased Jordan looks.

Really good game by Serge Ibaka (you know aside from getting spun around by Steph Curry) but that was spoiled by a career high in points from Harrison Barnes who had his game made forgotten by this ridiculous broken play three shot thrown in by Russell Westbrook.



Former Teammates:
In the game between players that have been on both teams at one point or another, the former Knicks and current Nuggets, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson did not have the fanciest of stats but they got the win over former Nuggets and current Knicks, Jr Smith, Ray Felton and Carmelo Anthony.

Nate Robinson and all 5 feet and 9 inches of him did a good job stopping Melo on the last possession of the game.  With the way the Knicks are playing, the current Nuggets player definitely rubbed some salt in the wounds of those Knicks by reminding them that they coulda been with the competitive Nuggets, rather than these hopeless-looking Knicks.

More like DeMeanie
No Chris Paul tonight so we weren't able to see if Demarcus Cousins would let Isaiah Thomas shake hands with CP3 in this game.  Demarcus is not playing any favorites, as he himself is also not shaking hands with JJ Redick either.



Deandre Jordan with a huuuuge night.  At the end of regulation he had 9 blocks and 13 boards.  After the overtime period, DeAndre ended up scoring 5 more points (13 total) and 2 more boards (15 total) and finishing just 1 block short of a triple-double.

Other:  Lots of coaches last night (e.g. Erik Spoelstra) joking about the Jason Kidd's cup manuever and one guy wearing a t-shirt with a zinger about it on the sideline of the Rockets/Nets game...Nick Young took a charge in a key moment of the Laker win, so you know i was like "swaggggy deeee" and fist-pumping like crazy....hey Dejuan Blair, Al Horford makes that top of the key shot pretty often, so you might not want to be so far away...Nate Robinson wearing what looks like the pattern of a native american teepee for a shirt.

A Pair of Memphis Grizzlies With John Mayer

Wanted to make this a "Do You Know This NBA Player" post, but i don't think anyone would know who Jon Leuer is even if he wasn't wearing a Justin Bieber wig or some Native-American outfit.

Anyways, it looks like Quincy Pondexter and Leuer are a fan of Mr. Mayer as they were both at his concert or at least backstage with him tonight as he performed at the Grizz's home arena, the FedEx Center.

First, Pondexter looking pretty reserved with his arms by his side while Mayer's hand looks to be on the small of Quincy's back.

via @QuincyPondexter

John Leuer cheesing it a  bit more  than Pondexter and Mayer with a friendly hand-around-the-waist stance.

via @JLEU30

Bonus:  Pondexter did seem psyched to be hanging with John Mayer, despite how that other photo looks.  He also posted this one of Mayer strumming some girl's leg because you didn't really think John Mayer would only take photos with his arms curiously, curiously low on the waistline of his fans didya?