Archives for December 2009

Lebron James celebrated his 25th birthday with 48 points to guide the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 106-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Anderson Varejao also made the first three-pointer of his career with just 17.2 seconds left to tip the game in the home side's favour.

Elsewhere, the Indiana Pacers slumped to their eighth straight defeat as Rudy Gay scored 31 points for the visiting Memphis Grizzlies, while Vince Carter scored 25 points to help the Orlando Magic to a comfortable 117-92 victory at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The New Jersey Nets claimed only their third win of the season against the New York Knicks. The Nets ended a 10-game losing streak with the 104-95 victory with Brook Lopez returning 21 points and 14 rebounds.

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Before the start of the season all the marbles were placed on first overall draft pick Blake Griffin to capture the Rookie of the Year Award, but in the game of basketball nothing is ever a sure thing.

With Griffin out until mid-January, rookies such as Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings have stepped into the spotlight and have thrived while doing so.

After Brandon Jennings' outrageous 55-point contest, the youngin's scoring production has slowly digressed, but more importantly his assists have increased and his turnovers have decreased. Sacramento King's guard Tyreke Evans is our leading candidate for the award as he has completely taken over in Sacramento.

The former tiger is leading all rook's in PPG, dropping an impressive 20.3 points per contest. In addition, Evans has carried the lowly Kings to a fantastic 14-16 record on the season, inevitably giving him the edge on all rookies this season.

LeBron James will be a Knick come July 1st 2010 when he becomes a free agent according to sports journalist Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News and ESPN's Sports Reporter. According to him: "I am hearing, that Nike wants LeBron in New York even more than ever, because of Tiger.

And the reason they want it more than ever is because they know Tiger is going to continue to regress. That there's going to be a void to fill, even when he comes back and starts winning." But what about Hov's team the Nets?: And isn't he from Ohio? Shouldn't he be representing for the hood??? You know the saying, though, 'Money talks....'

LeBron James was two assists shy of a triple-double, ending with 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight helpers, as Cleveland held on to beat Milwaukee, 85-82.Mo Williams added 17 points and Delonte West 12 for the Cavaliers, winners of five straight.

Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings each had 18 points to pace the Bucks, who were coming off a heart-breaking overtime loss to the Lakers on Wednesday.

Jennings also had eight assists but hit just 5-of-21 from the floor and missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the waning seconds. "We had opportunities," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "Our last shot was a terrible shot. We didn't play well enough. We needed more guys to play well than what we got."

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There was a time when LeBron James was nervous, scared and even intimidated before a game.  "I mean I was nervous as hell," James remembered. "Like, scared nervous, shaking nervous."

It is hard to believe, even for James himself, that it was 10 years ago this month that he first stepped onto the basketball scene in this area.

Now known worldwide, in December 1999, James was a lanky 14-year-old with incredible skill, but a dearth of experience. And he felt it.

Which is why he sat in the bleachers on the night of Dec. 3, 1999, at Cuyahoga Falls High School with his stomach churning and his mouth dry.

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LeBron James got Cleveland back into the game with a flurry of three-pointers. Then Mo Williams one-upped him with an even more important shot for the Cavaliers.

James scored a season-high 44 points and Williams connected from halfcourt in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs close out a 102-89 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.

Williams tracked down the ball after Thabo Sefolosha had tipped it into the backcourt, then turned and fired a 48-footer with coach Mike Brown yelling to him as the shot clock ran down. The shot earned him a look of disbelief and a congratulatory hand slap from James, and it gave Cleveland its largest lead to that point at 94-87.

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 LeBron James had 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists while adding the role of peacemaker to his duties, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Jersey Nets 99-89 on Tuesday night. The Nets' Devin Harris was ejected with 3:48 left in the game after committing a flagrant-2 foul on Cleveland's Jamario Moon. With Cleveland leading by 11, Harris wrapped his arm around Moon's face and neck and pulled him to the ground while Moon was going up for a breakaway basket. It caused a brief skirmish that left James squarely in the middle.

James wrapped his arms around Harris and tried to pull him away while restoring order as some of his teammates, including Shaquille O'Neal, began jawing and pushing their way toward Harris. No punches were thrown and Harris was the only player ejected. It was another ugly moment in a frustrating season for the Nets (2-23), who opened the year by losing a league-record 18 in a row.

Cleveland centers O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas combined for 32 points and 10 rebounds in producing the type of night the Cavaliers had hoped for when they acquired O'Neal during the offseason. The 16 points for Ilgauskas were a season high.

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Basketball great Kobe Bryant is a wanted man - at least by World Wrestling Entertainment Champ and former “Real World” star Mike “The Miz” Mizanin.

The 29-year-old (joined by several other WWE superstars and divas) just got back from a week in Iraq filming the 7th Annual “WWE Tribute to the Troops” to air December 19 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

But for the eighth year, he wants an extra guest. “LeBron James is always a good one since he's the second biggest star in Cleveland behind me.

Haha,” Miz told Tarts. And, understandably, the experience was a real eye-opener. “One camp we visited didn't even have running water. Could you imagine living without running water?

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LeBron James scored a season-high 44 points and Mo Williams hit a backbreaking halfcourt shot in the fourth quarter to help the Cleveland Cavaliers close out a 102-89 win against the Thunder last night in Oklahoma City.

Williams tracked down the ball after Thabo Sefolosha had tipped it into the backcourt, then turned and fired a 48-footer with coach Mike Brown yelling to him as the shot clock ran down.

The shot earned him a congratulatory hand slap from James, and it gave Cleveland its largest lead to that point at 94-87.

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LeBron James scored 33 points and made an incredible, soaring block on Brandon Roy in the final seconds, and Anderson Varejao had a season-high 22 as the host Cleveland Cavaliers rebounded from consecutive sloppy road losses with a 104-99 win over the hobbled Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

James added seven assists, seven rebounds and swatted Roy's shot with the Cavs holding on late. Portland's star tried to drop in a floater, but James came across the lane and rejected his shot, his fingers going above the backboard square — 12 feet off the floor — to send it into the seats.

"I didn't see where the ball went," James said. "It's still rolling, that's a good thing." Shaquille O'Neal left with a bruised left eye in the third quarter. Cleveland's center got poked by Portland's Joel Przybilla while going up for a shot.

He was taken to the Cleveland Clinic after the game for precautionary tests and is expected to travel with the team to Oklahoma City today.

Lakers 104, Timberwolves 92: Kobe Bryant scored 20 points while playing with a small break in his finger, and host Los Angeles wrapped up the generous portion of its schedule with its 11th straight victory.

Pau Gasol had 17 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for the defending champions, who improved the NBA's best record to 18-3 while finishing a season-opening stretch with 17 of their first 21 games at home. Ron Artest

scored 16 points, and Lamar Odom added 13 for Los Angeles, which hasn't lost since Nov. 15.The Lakers received a scare when Bryant got an avulsion fracture in the index finger on his right hand while reaching for a pass late in the first quarter.

Rockets 96, 76ers 91: Aaron Brooks made a jumper with 8.8 seconds remaining, and Houston handed Philadelphia its 12th straight loss. Brooks had 16 of his 19 points in the second half, including two 3-pointers as the Rockets went on a 13-0 run in the third quarter and never looked back. The Rockets have won five of their last six, with four of those victories coming on the road.

Elsewhere: Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Erick Dampier finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds, and Dallas added to Miami's home woes with an 106-93 win. The Mavericks have won 11th straight regular season games against the Heat since March 2004. The Heat are 2-5 at home since Nov. 10. ... Center Roy Hibbert made his first career 3-pointer and scored a career-high 20 points to lead host Indiana to a 107-91 win over New Jersey. ... Joe Johnson scored 20 points, and Jamal Crawford and Maurice Evans each had 15 as visiting Atlanta handed Toronto a 111-89 loss.

Magic: Coach Stan Van Gundy says it was "no big deal" that Rashard Lewis refused to re-enter the game in the second quarter Thursday night at Utah. Speaking before the Magic played the Phoenix Suns, Van Gundy said he knows Lewis' act was not in defiance but in what he thought was best for the team, that he had two fouls and his replacement was playing well.