The Round Up - January 10th, 2013.

Stats Rundown

Instead of the usual lists of stats, I have decided to summarize the three games on last night into digestible bits.

New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers: Paul George has continued his impressive play as of late, his 24 points on 10 of 24 shooting might not be the most efficient but he got 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals to take down the Melo-less Knicks. Carmelo was suspended for confronting Kevin Garnett after Monday's loss, he was reportedly at grocery stores burning down boxes of Cheerios. The Pacers held the Knicks to a season low in points in the 81-67 win. Nobody scored for New York except for the dude below. Too bad, he went for 25 on 29 shots.

Via: @cjzero

Dallas Mavericks vs. Sacramento Kings: Things are not going well for the Sacramento Kings lately. If you haven't heard, their incapable owners, the Maloofs are trying to sell the team to Seattle buyers for approximately 500 million dollars. Nothing is finalized yet, but the deal seems to be done. It sucks for a city with such a dedicated fan base to lose their team for the benefit of another, who also went through a similar situation. Back to the game, in a situation with high stakes, DeMarcus Cousins stepped up for the challenge. The Kentucky product led his team with 29 points (9 of 14), 9 rebounds and 4 assists, in the unfortunate loss. The game did go into overtime, thanks to a huge three from Isiah Thomas.

The bad news was that Cousins was ejected from the game for an inadvertent elbow to Vince Carter. It was definitely undeserving, especially with the game on the line. There is definitely unfair bias towards the big man and I am not so sure what he did to earn it in the first place.

Time Machine User: Despite the elbow to his face, Vince Carter played like he was back in 2001. He came off the bench for 23 points and 5 rebounds to help the Mavs avoid a 11 straight loss in overtime, which would be the highest in NBA history.

Miami Heat vs. Portland Trail Blazer: The Blazers came back in the 4th quarter to beat the Heat 92-90 at the Rose Garden. Miami led through out most of this game, until a psycho Nicholas Batum went on a run of his own. He stole the basketball twice, both ending in points in critical situations to fuel the comeback. The French man went for a game high 28 points on 8 of 15 shooting, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Down 3 with a minute left in the clock, Portland desperately needed someone to be their hero and Wesley Matthews was exactly that. He knocked 2 back to back three pointers to take the lead, and thanks to Mario Chalmers for missing the game winning shot, the Blazers take the win.

This is what Dwyane Wade does now instead of playing defense. Referees are not liking the new him. (Via: @cjzero)

Shout Out: To Chris Bosh's 29 points (13 of 18), 4 assists and 4 blocks.

Sager Suit: Craig has toned it down a little, but he kept the crazy on the tie. (Via: @jose3030)

Indiana Pride: Here's a taste of that great Reggie Miller color commentary. Everything he says makes sense.

Highlights

Freight Train: For you safety, please don't chase after LeBron James in transition. Trust me, the bad outweighs the good.

Unorthodox: J.R. Smith can jump off which ever leg he wants to and dunk the ball with which ever arm he desires because he can.

The Feed: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Portland Trail Blazers [11/08/12]

Recap:

The Los Angeles Clippers holds off the Portland Trail Blazers 103 to 90, after nearly blowing a 25 point lead they built in the first half. Chris Paul led the way with 21 points, 6 assists and DeAndre Jordan added another 21 (8 for 10 shooting) to go with his 8 rebounds.

After shooting only 35 percent (LA shot 58 percent) from the field in the first 2 quarters, the Blazers rallied a 18 to 4 run in the third. Nicholas Batum sparked the charge with 12 of his 23 points in the quarter, his defense on Chris Paul helped limit their opponent to only 17 points, while Portland went for 32 points on 71 percent shooting.

The Blazers managed to get as close as 4 points behind, but Jamal Crawford came off the bench with a 25 point performance that iced the game. Fatigue settled on the Portland starters in the fourth, with the lowest scoring bench in the league, Terry Stotts was forced to overplay them. Unfortunately the production failed to maintained. The Clippers closed the game with a 14 to 3 run that rendered the Blazer's comeback effort pointless.

Offensive End:

Los Angeles got whatever they wanted in this game. DeAndre Jordan looked great, using his length to score over LaMarcus Aldridge. As always, the Clippers go to the post,  ran Chris Paul pick and rolls that allows him to dissect the floor and utilized ball movement to take advantage of Blazer's rotations.

Portland plays an uptempo style, they space the floor very well but they weren't able to hit shots early and it buried them body-deep in the first half. LaMarcus Aldridge had a lot of opportunities, with DeAndre Jordan on him. The Clippers big man likes to stay in the paint to help, with Lillard's dribble penetration to kick the ball out, the All Star should have knocked the open jumpers down.

Defensive End:

Before they got lazy the Clippers played great defense, they completely stopped Portland in the paint, holding their foe to 30 points, to their 56. With their size, they like to pack the paint, so they are slower to get out to the shooters.

The Blazers only played defense in the third quarter. In the rest of the periods, their rotations were slow, and were just getting blown by every time.

Rookie Watch:

Damian Lillard didn't do bad against Chris Paul, scored 16 points and handed out 4 assists.

Meyer Leonard dunked a lot, got 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Highlight of the Night: Meyers Leonard might have read the instructions to get a NBA highlight.
Step 1: Find Ronny Turiaf.
Step 2: Dunk on him.