The Round Up - March 21st, 2013.

Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

I'm back. Sorry for missing a whole night of recap yesterday, wasn't feeling too well.

Rip City: This game was close for about the first 12 minutes and then the Chicago Bulls forgot how to pay defense allowing a 14-0 run in the second quarter to the Portland Trail Blazers, who would build on their lead from then on and never once let their foot off the gas pedal. LaMarcus Aldridge led the way with a game-high 28 points (14 of 23) and 8 rebounds, while the rookie, Damian Lillard chipped in for 24 points (9 of 17) and 7 assists in the victory. Taj Gibson of the Bulls returned for first time since spraining his MCL about three weeks ago. He had 14 points on 14 shots and 9 boards off the bench. Joakim Noah went for 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes, which could possibly the fewest amount of playing time he has had in this whole season, because you know, Coach Thibs is kind of crazy.

Gold Rush: For the first time this week, the Denver Nuggets scored less than 68 points in the paint, going for only 48 against the Philadelphia 76ers last night at the Pepsi Center. In the absence of Ty Lawson and Wilson Chandler, Andre Miller stepped into the starting spot to finish with 21 points (9 of 14) and 8 assists. Corey Bewer exploded off the bench for 29 points on 10 of 18 shooting (5 of 6 from three) and 5 steals in win. Down 2 with only 2.7 seconds remaining, Brewer drew a 3 point shooting foul from Damien Wilkins, who scored a season-high 24 points (10-15), for a chance to give Denver the lead, which he does after sinking all three free throws  With only 2 seconds left, Damien Wilkins tried for a game winning 23 footer, but would get blocked by Anthony Randolph to secure the Nugget's 14th straight win. Philly either really wanted this game, and I don't see why they would, or they are really bad at this tanking thing. The thing, where you lose games on purpose to get a good lottery pick in the draft, in hopes repairing the damages from signing Andrew Bynum.

Bottom of the Barrel: When two of the worst teams in the West face off against one anther, things aren't going to be pretty. Especially, if one of those teams have missing a few of their core players. But good news for the Minnesota Timberwolves. After missing most of the season with a torn left meniscus, Chase Budinger returned in uniform for the first time, coming off the bench for 9 points (3 of 7) and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes of play. Unfortunately, he did not make much of an impact from the outside as expected, as the Wolves would go 1 for 19 from beyond the arc. Nikola Pekovic had a team-high 18 points (6 of 12) and 12 boards in their 9 straight loss on the road. King's Isiah Tomas went for 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting and 6 dimes. Tyreke Evans, who has been quietly impressive in this season, added 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Round Up - March 14th, 2013.

D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images

Set in Stone: With the win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, the San Antonio Spurs extends their NBA record of 50 or more wins to 14 seasons. After a slow start, going 1 for 7 from the field, Tim Duncan would finish with 28 points on 12 of 20 shooting, and 19 boards to become the oldest player to get such a line since 1992. The Spurs, still without Tony Parker, got their other scoring punch from Gary Neal. He had 16 points (6 of 13), including a few critical threes down the stretch. The Mavericks, who were on the last of their 4 game trip hung in for the most parts of this game. Down 3 with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock, Dirk (21 points, 11 rebounds) would drain one from the elbow to cut the lead to 1. With a chance to win it after a Manu miss on the other end, the Mavs would come out of their time out with a Vince Carter (10 points, 4-12) fade way three that just rims out.

Yep, braids are cool again.

Via: Reddit

Bright Lights: In the dreaded return to Portland after spending a whole season at the Rose Garden slightly overweight, Raymond Felton, after insinuating that he would drop 50 points against his former team, had only 11 points on 12 shots. The rest of his teammates weren't of much help either, with the exception of J.R. Smith, who went off for 33 points on 11 of 21 shooting. The game was close in beginning, but after Portland closed out the second quarter with a 13-0 run, the Knicks would only come as close as 4 points in 4th, where J.R. Smith made three straight threes. In his second national television debut, Blazer's rookie, Damian Lillard erupted for 26 points (11 of 18), and 10 dimes, joining LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry as one of the 4 players in this season with at least 1,200 points and 400 assists. LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points (8 of 15), 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, while playing with a migraine.

Knicks' Stoudemire, Chandler and Anthony were all out due to injuries. Stoudemire will go under season ending knee surgery. Neither Chandler or Anthony have been confirmed for the next game.

He may or may not have traveled on this one.

The Round Up - January 29th, 2013.

Stats Rundown + Short Recaps

Lights Out: In the absence of Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on 69 percent three point shooting, they were 11 of 16 from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson led the way with a career high 32 points (6 of 8 from three) and 7 rebounds. Jarrett Jack added 26 points and 12 assists. Unfortunately for Cleveland, their savior, Kyrie Irving played with a cold and was unable to drag his team to victory.

Buck Wild: Brandon Jennings must have caught the All Star snub disease, because he could not miss tonight. After scoring only 4 points in the first quarter, Jennings went on a 16-0 run by himself in the second, knocking down a three in four straight possessions. He finished with a game-high 30 points (11 of 19), 2 rebounds and 6 assists. In spite of the 27 point loss, the Pistons were able to find a bright light in Andre Drummond. The rookie from UCONN had 18 points and 18 rebounds off the bench, making him the youngest to ever achieve this feat. Maybe Lawrence Frank will finally give him some quality minutes, I mean how can you not, after watching him grab a double double in 11 minutes.

New Formula: So apparently if Kobe passes the basketball, the Lakers will win whether they play defense or not. According to a small sample size of 3 games, which the Lakers have won, when Kobe has 10+ assists, the team is undefeated. Okay, enough of the sarcasm. This is Kobe's first time since 2009 to have 3 straight 10+ assists games. He has combined for 39 assists over this period, which is the most he has had in a 3 game stretch. Just so you know, we now live in a world where Steve Nash grabs more rebounds than Dwight Howard, Dwight Howard scores more points than Kobe and Kobe hands out more dimes than Nash. It's confusing, I know. Eric Gordon had a great game, he got 25 points on 7 of 12 shooting, and 6 of 8 from the three in the Hornets' (Pelicans) 30th loss of the season.

Don't Call it a Comeback: Down 21 points in the third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers managed to put together a late run to comeback for the victory against the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzski had his best game of the season last night with 26 points (11 of 21), 4 rebounds and 4 assists. However, he would get shown up by the double headed dragon of Portland. LaMarcus Aldridge had 29 points (12 of 20), 13 rebounds and two of the most important shots in the game, while J.J Hickson went for 26 points and 15 rebounds. The last 30 seconds of this game is absolutely bonkers. Words can not describe how crazy it was, so it is better if you just watch it below.

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.