We secure our 20th win of the year by toppling the Bucks 111-104 on April Fool's Day. Ben Gordon has a brilliant all-around game of 39 points, 5 assists, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, with Joakim Noah doubling up for 12 points and 14 rebounds. Jamal Crawford and Darius Miles provide 14 and 15 points off the bench respectively.
Tough 94-89 loss to the Pacers, as Indiana clamps down on defense. We lose the next two as well, 115-106 to the Nets, 101-96 to the Bulls. Shame we lost the New Jersey game, as Starbury and Noah each got double-doubles, 13 points and 16 assists, 17 points and 14 rebounds respectively.
Against Chicago, Noah had 12 points and 10 rebounds. We also shut down Eddy Curry, whose numbers have taken a significant drop since he's returned to Chicago. Raymond Felton scored 24 on us, but he, too, has seen a dip in his numbers since the trade, though nothing like what Curry's going through.
Our losing ways hit again, 114-106 against the Pacers, even though
Ben Gordon scored 66 points, with 2 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
I don't think I've -ever- seen anyone score 66 points in this game! Unfortunately, nobody else scores in double-digits.
Here's the box score:
Win #21 comes against the Raptors, a 95-82 victory keyed by Gordon's 33 points. What an absolutely phenemonal player he is.
The Cavaliers destroy us in the next game, Starbury's weakling double-double of 10 points and 10 assists the Knicks highlight. King James bombed us for 43 points, which put him over the 30 point per game hump. We lose two more, against the Bobcats and the Hawks, despite Gordon's 30 points and Noah's 10 points and 10 rebounds versus Charlotte.
Chicago ravages us 105-88 in the second-to-last game of the season, but we end the year on a high note, a 103-67 thrashing of the Wizards, highlighted by Gordon and Caron with 25 and 24 points respectively.
And so we finish the season 22-60, just one win less than last year. The Hornets and the Trailblazers were both 24-58. I'm shocked at Portland's collapse, though Steve Francis did miss 20 games with a broken ankle and Kevin Durant averaged a modest 14.4 ppg, not the explosive sort of production some expected out of him.
Speaking of scoring, Kobe Bryant won the title with 31.1 ppg, King James also at the court of 30+ with 30.2. Just behind were Gilbert Arenas (29.4), Ray Allen (29.2) and Michael Redd (29.1). Our own Ben Gordon polevaulted to 6th, with a 27.8 ppg average.
Four players averaged double-digit assists: Steve Nash and Baron Davis with 10.9, Jason Kidd with 10.2 and Chris Paul with 10 even.
16 players had 10+ boards per game, led by Yao Ming with 14.4, Ben Wallace second with 13.8. Andrei Kirilenko led in blocks average with an even 4, Elton Brand and Josh Smith the others with 3+ at 3.2. Ron Artest and Gerald Wallace led the league in steal averages, both at 2.1 spg.
Yao Ming absolutely dominated in double-doubles, with 72 double-doubles out of 82 games.
Chris Bosh was second with 59, followed by 55 from Dwight Howard, Baron Davis and Kevin Garnett rounding out the 50s with precisely 50.
10 players had triple doubles, but only Lebron James and Gilbert Arenas did it more than once, at twice.
Alando Tucker's up to 12.2 ppg (tied for 6th in the D-League) and 5.1 apg (6th in the D-League) down in Tulsa and there's a 3-way tie in the D-League East for 1st place, as the Tejanos, Great Apes and Mammoths are all 28-22.
Next time, postseason results.