Eight-Second Violation: Tuesday, January 13, 2009

By Zach Harper

Breaking News: Tim Hardaway May Hate Eddy Curry

I don't even know where to begin with this. I truly don't.

It's not often that a story leaves me feeling confused, animated, fearful, overjoyed, enthusiastic, amused, giddy, horrified, intrigued, dubious, euphoric, and flat out entertained. If I were to tell you that a player for the New York Knicks is being sued for sexual harassment, what would your reaction be?

Something like, "Great, who did Stephon Marbury offend now?"

Maybe something like, "Wow, I'm shocked that David Lee could pull that off" or "Isn't Nate Robinson too short to sexually harass someone?"  

If I were to give you 15 guesses, where would Eddy Curry fall in this category?  Fifth? Seventh? Somewhere between Wilson Chandler's youthful exuberance and Malik Rose's utter malaise?

Now what if I was to tell you that the sexual harassment case was a male driver claiming that this player had appeared nude to him and said to "Look at it" and "Touch it?"

Now where does Eddy Curry rank? 12th? 13th? Somewhere between Jared Jeffries' crossed eyes and Malik Rose's unbridled enthusiasm?

For the rest of this article, click the link.  The Link.
 


Let's Recap All of the Games from Last Night
By Zach Harper

There seems to be some happy sentiment towards the covering of every game in a brief recap.  So we'll stick with that for now.  Here are the games from last night:

Milwaukee Bucks 97, Washington Wizards 91 in D.C.-
Michael Redd and Nick Young had a fourth quarter duel that resulted in them combining to score 17 of the final 25 points in the game before the Bucks prevailed with their eighth road win in 22 tries.  Redd finished with 29 points and Nick Young finished with 30 points as the Wizards fell to 7-30. Charlie Villanueva remains on his hot streak as he finished with 16 points on 6-12 from the field. He's averaging 18.4 points per game in the month of January and that's with a five-point and seven-point performance on the books. 

Boston Celtics 115, Toronto Raptors 109 OT in Boston- 
The Celtics tried to give this game away when they turned a four-point lead with 24 seconds to play into an Andrea Bargnani three that tied the game with one second to play in regulation. The Celtics drew up a confusing inbounds alley-oop from Paul Pierce to Rajon Rondo that was tipped off course by Jamario Moon and the game was sent into overtime. In overtime, both the Raptors and the Celtics scored more points in the five-minute extra period than they did in the 12-minute fourth quarter.  The Celtics managed 22 points in overtime (19 in the fourth quarter) to best the Raptors' 16-point overtime effort (15 points in the fourth) as Boston won back to back games for the first time since chaos ensued for the Green and White.

New Jersey Nets 103, Oklahoma City Thunder 99 OT in East Rutherford- 
Brook Lopez dominated throughout the game that was nearly ended in regulation when Vince Carter hit a second chance three-pointer that was negated because of a timeout called by Lawrence Frank as he ran onto the court to call it.  Instead the Thunder and the Nets went into overtime before New Jersey pulled their season record to .500 with the win over OKC. Lopez finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds before having an awkward interview with the female sideline reporter that ended with Brook eye-intercoursing her. 

New York Knicks 101, New Orleans Hornets 95 in New Orleans- 
With a couple minutes left in the third quarter, Chris Paul only had two assists and the Hornets were down double digits. Yes, they played the Knicks last night. It's hard to believe. They used a late third quarter flurry to pull the game close but couldn't outscore the Knicks in the fourth period (32 to 32) and eventually lost for the fifth time at home this year. Chris Paul finished with 23 points and 7 assists but Al Harrington stuck dagger after dagger into this Hornets team with 20 points off the bench.

Portland Trailblazers 109, Chicago Bulls 95 in Chicago-
Greg Oden, Travis Outlaw, and Steve Blake more than made up for the poor showings by Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge as the Blazers ruined the return of Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng to the Bulls lineup. Oden chipped in with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Steve Blake made four of his nine three-pointers and finished with 16 points to go with 10 assists, and Travis Outlaw scored 33 points off the bench.

Utah Jazz 120, Indiana Pacers 113 in Salt Lake City-
Here's a fantasy basketball tip for you. Whenever a big man is playing the Indiana Pacers, play that guy in your lineup. Mehmet Okur dropped 43 points on the Pacers and Utah had all five starters in double figures in their win over the Pacers. The Jazz used a 72-point first half to build a modest lead and maintained in the second half. Mike Dunleavy, Jr. scored 20 points off the bench but the Pacers gave up 26 points off of their 19 turnovers as they fell to 13-25.



Dallas Mavericks (22-15) at Denver Nuggets (25-13) 6:00pm PST League Pass
By Brandon Gallawa
 
Tonight is Denver's first true test without Carmelo Anthony.  Anthony will be out for three weeks with a hand injury, and the Nuggets don't have the easiest schedule to look forward to while he is out.  Six of their next nine games are against potential playoff teams, and the Nuggets are already coming off a loss to Detroit on Friday night.  They do have a few things going their way.  This game along with three others will be played on their home court where they currently hold a 14-5 record.

The Mavericks have their own injury to a starting small forward with which to deal.  Josh Howard sprained his wrist in a loss to Phoenix on Friday night and was sorely missed in a 102-95 loss to the lowly Kings.  Jason Terry has filled in the void left by Howard.  He scored 33 points on 14-24 from the field against the Kings on Sunday.  That was only his seventh start of the season, but Terry has actually been even better off the bench.  He has scored more points and shot better from the field and from three as a super-sub.

This will be the third match-up of the season between Dallas and Denver.  Denver won the first game on their home court back on November 8.  It was Chauncey Billups' first game back in Denver after being traded from Detroit, but Anthony was the real star of the game scoring 28 with 8 boards, and 6 assists.  Their game in Dallas on December 15 was more of the same.  The Nuggets won by 10 and were paced by Anthony's 23 and J.R. Smith's 25.  The Mavericks were without Howard for the game in Dallas, and Jason Kidd had one of his worst games of the season.  They Mavericks will need strong performances from Kidd and Nowitzki to win tonight.

Key Match-Up: Jason Kidd versus Chauncey Billups
Billups has been a breath of fresh air for the Nuggets ever since coming over in the trade with Detroit in mid-November.  Since that trade the Nuggets have gone 24-10 and have looked like the class of the Northwest Division.  Billups' presence has had a huge impact on the rest of the Denver roster.  Nene seems to have benefited the most from the Billups' trade.  He is having a career year.  Kidd's shooting hasn't been great this season, but his is still averaging 8.7 points, 8.3 assists and 6.4 boards.  The key to Mavs' success is Kidd racking up assists.  They are 7-4 when Kidd has double-digit assists and is setting up his teammates.  He should have no problem doing that in what should be an up-tempo game.
Prediction: The Mavs rebound and take advantage of the Anthony-less Nuggets



How about you get caught up in some Week 12 Power Rankings?
By Zach Harper

1. Cleveland Cavaliers | Record: 29-6 | Previous Rank: 2nd | Last Week: 2-0
Upcoming Schedule: at MEM, at CHI, NOH, at LAL
Comments: You have to assume in the playoffs that LeBron is going to score 40 points. And you have to assume that the Cavs won't give up more than 90 points per game. So can you keep the rest of the Cavs players to under 50?   -- Zach Harper

2. Los Angeles Lakers | Record: 30-6 | Previous Rank: 1st | Last Week: 3-1
Upcoming Schedule: at HOU, at SA, ORL, CLE
Comments: This is where Lakers' fans start emailing us about how moronic we are, but they just haven't been nearly as impressive as the Cavs. -- Brandon Gallawa

3. Boston Celtics | Record: 31-9 | Previous Rank: 3rd | Last Week:  2-3
Upcoming Schedule: NJ, at NJ, PHX
Comments: According to Brandon Gallawa, the way to get off the snide is to play the Raptors in back to back games. But with Kendrick Perkins missing a week, a starting Brian Scalabrine could mean further doom for the Celtics. -- Zach Harper

4. Orlando Magic | Record: 30-8 | Previous Rank: 4th | Last Week: 4-0
Upcoming Schedule: at SAC, at LAL, at DEN
Comments: The Magic had as good a week as any team this season last week and they are still under the radar. Can we start calling it a Northeast Coast Bias? -- Brandon Gallawa

5. San Antonio Spurs | Record: 24-12 | Previous Rank: 5th | Last Week: 1-1
Upcoming Schedule: LAL, at PHI, at CHI, at CHA
Comments: Dammit, Tim Duncan is the MVP thus far. Look at what they have and where they are and the injuries they started out with for the first month. Tell me this guy isn't the front-runner! Tell me! -- Zach Harper

To check out the rest of the Power Rankings, click the link. The Link

By Zach Harper

"'When it's time, we'll talk about it. These guys understand. Y'all write about it enough and talk about it. They know that it's out there. But at the proper time, we'll sit down and we'll explain the decision that we make, and we'll explain why." -- Michael Curry on the possibility of bringing Richard Hamilton or Allen Iverson off the bench.

The Pistons are clearly a better team when they have Stuckey on the court and only Allen Iverson or Richard Hamilton. These guys can't play well together and neither are good enough to be the point guard. I vote for Iverson coming off the bench because he's a pure scorer that doesn't need to be in a rhythm early on. Let Rip get something going and spell him with a 20-point scorer. This is the only way that the Pistons stand a chance in the playoffs.



Top 3 of the Night
1. Mehmet Okur - 43 pts, 9 rebs, 13-19 fg, 14-15 ft
When Mehmet Okur had 37 points with a few minutes to play in the third quarter, I really thought he was going to end up with a minimum of 50. Instead he was primarily an attention grabber in the fourth quarter and it freed up the rest of his teammates.
2. Brook Lopez - 31 pts, 13 rebs, 10-17 fg, 11-12 ft
In addition to the stellar postgame interview in which he offered up his bed for the night without saying any words, Brook Lopez was brilliant against Nenad Krstic and the rest of the Thunder bigs. He showed great post moves and was tenacious on the boards. He completely bullied the OKC players inside. Perhaps I was wrong about him.
3. Paul Pierce - 39 pts, 9 rebs, 4 asts, 13-26 fg, 10-11 ft
Via Ball Don't Lie and Reds Army, this is all you need to know about Paul Pierces' clutch performance. 

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. Caron Butler - 6 pts, 7 rebs, 2-13 fg
Couldn't contain Michael Redd and couldn't score on Richard Jefferson or Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Tough shooting night in a loss. Can he and Antawn Jamison ever put together a good stretch of basketball at the same time?
2. Peja Stojakovic - 8 pts, 3-12 fg, 2-7 3fg
Absolutely killing my fantasy and his fantasy trade value on a nightly basis.
3. Luol Deng - 14 pts, 5 rebs, 3-10 fg
Hard to fault a guy in his first game back from injury but Deng should not be shooting jumpers to get back into a rhythm. Attack the basket. But hey Bulls fans, only four more years of that ungodly contract. So that's nice.


Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Reds Army-
The Rondo Pose: Just Rondo It
2. From Ben's Suns Blog-
Getting to know Louis Amundson, everybody's favorite Sun.
3. From Hardwood Paroxysm-
Let Corn take this Eddy Curry thing home



In today's Ask a Blogger, we check in with our own senior writer, Phillip Barnett, who currently holds more jobs than the Jamaican family on In Living Color and is one of the best young writers you'll ever read. He's a college and NBA expert and is our resident Lakers fan. His one drawback is the fact that he foolishly thinks NBA Live is better than NBA 2K. Let's see what he had to say in response to our questions:

I actually think Yi Jianlin deserves to be where he's at because he's becoming an ambassador for the game of basketball. Er... uh... what team is he playing for again? I'm hoping that Yi isn't voted in as the starter at the power forward position for the Eastern Conference because it would be an outrage. Kevin Garnett has been one of the leagues premier power forwards since he stepped foot in Minnesota and continues to be - and that should be recognized in the All-Star game. I think the NBA's increase in global popularity is amazing for the game, but things like All-Star voting can be skewed by people voting because of country rather than court production. The only way to combat this is to only have players on the ballot who are deserving of starting. Of course, coming up with this criterion will be a whole new problem in itself, but at least we wouldn't have the possibility of Yi starting in the East. Maybe, at some point, David Stern can start implementing an International v. USA All Star Game. That would be fun to watch.
I. Toronto is much better than what their record shows and I think Sam Mitchell was unjustly fired. They have a nice nucleus of young players intertwined with some seasoned veterans. It's a team that just hasn't found a rhythm and probably won't find a rhythm before this season ends. They won't make the playoffs, but this may be the best team in the league that doesn't make the playoffs.

II. No one is talking about Milwaukee right now, but they're also another pretty good team. They have six guys averaging double figures and they have an above average defense giving up just under 97 points per game. I love Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's game. He's one of the few glue guys in today's game and he's going to help them in their push for the playoffs. They're a couple games under .500 now, but I think they'll finish a couple games over and end up with the eighth spot in the East.

III. Finally, I think everyone, as they do every year, is sleeping on San Antonio. They're a top five defensive team, they shoot the ball well and they don't turn the ball over. Tony Parker is playing on another level in the same way that Manu Ginobili was last season. They always find a way to finish strong. Tim Duncan is looking as good has he's ever looked and George Hill has been yet another great draft pick - which brings me to your final question.

(Quick side note: Indiana may be the greatest last place team of all time)
My cousin and I were just talking about this earlier today. Of course, as long as Greg Popovic and Tim Duncan are a part of the Spurs organization that I will fear San Antonio. They've played quality basketball for too long for me to leave them out of the conversation. Utah hasn't been completely healthy all season, yet they're eight games over .500. I can't imagine how good they're going to be when Deron Williams and Paul Millsap (who I love) are 100 percent with Carlos Boozer back. I'm less scared of New Orleans this season than I was last season, but Chris Paul can do amazing things, so they stick in the back of all Lakers' fans minds and I'm still a little scared of Houston. They're just a very physical team, and well, Pau Gasol doesn't like to play that way. Shane Battier has always given Kobe fits and Ron Artest is still crazy enough to change a game.

However, it's 2009 and I'm trying to be more optimistic about things. I'm pretty confident, barring injury, the Lakers can make another trip back to the Finals. As far as the Finals go, I think home court advantage is going to play a huge role (cliché, I know) in determining who wins it this year. Winning the games they're supposed to win is going to be the Lakers biggest challenge as far as a title goes. 



Thanks for reading today's Eight-Second Violation. Any comments, criticisms, or words of praise can be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Support the Habit