Tag: Charlotte Bobcats

Fired-up Richardson erupts for nine 3s, leads Saturday’s S&Ds

Here’s a warning for  rival fans who might taunt Orlando guard Jason Richardson: he listens.

After being berated by a rival fan early in the game, Richardson erupted for 28 of his 31 points in the second half to lead the Magic’s 99-94 victory at Milwaukee.

A courtside spectator yelled ”you’re washed up” at Richardson during the first quarter.

Richardson told  reporters after the game that he was listening — particularly after missing his first three  shots  during that first quarter.

“I’m a competitor,” Richardson told the Associated Press. “I love when people talk trash to me.”

But this particular taunt rubbed Richardson the wrong way.

“When you go past the line where I thought the guy did,” he said, “I had to show the guy I wasn’t.”

Richardson hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to spark the Magic’s comeback.

“People think that once you turn a certain age, you don’t have it anymore. You don’t have the certain style of play you used to play,” Richardson said. “I’m still young, so I had to show the guy I still had energy.”

Enough, that is, to lead Saturday’s Studs and Duds.

STUDS

Orlando G Jason Richardson: Erupted for  31 points in 25 minutes, including nine 3-pointers, and was a team-best plus-19 in the Magic’s victory at Milwaukee. Richardson was the second player to top 30 points in 26 minutes or less this season.

Los Angeles Clippers G Chris Paul: Tallied  18 points, 14 assists, five rebounds, two steals and was plus-28 in the Clippers’ victory at Charlotte.

New York G Jeremy Lin: Another night, another big performance as he directed the Knicks’ fourth straight victory. Lin tallied 20 points, six rebounds, eight assists, was plus-5 and hit a couple of clutch foul  shots to lead the Knicks’ victory at Minnesota.

Minnesota F Kevin Love: Went for 32 points and 21 rebounds — his second 30-20 of the season and sixth of his career — in the Trail Blazers’ loss to New York.

Portland F LaMarcus Aldridge: Notched 33 points and 12 rebounds and was plus-1 in the Trail Blazers’ overtime loss at Dallas.

DUDS

Charlotte F Reggie Williams: Clanked through a 1-for-12 shooting effort with two points and was minus-17 in the Bobcats’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Milwaukee G Brandon Jennings: Went 3 of 14 from the field with three turnovers and was minus-9 in the Bucks’ loss to Orlando.

New Jersey F Marshon Brooks: Struggled with a 2-for-10 shooting night, scored seven points, had six turnovers and was a team-worst minus-19 in the Nets’ loss to San Antonio.

Sacramento G Tyreke Evans: Hit 1 for 9 from the field with four turnovers and was minus-9 in the Kings’ loss to Phoenix.

New Jersey F Shawne Williams: Clanked through a 1-for-9 shooting night and was minus-14 in the Nets’ loss to the Spurs.

Wade not ready to give up his ‘Air Jordans’

Michael Jordan has been about as popular as ants at a picnic for many NBA players since his strident views on the lockout have become common knowledge.

Jordan has been one of the most vocal owners who have demanded the league to turn down the recent deal for a 50-50 split in the basketball related income with the players. Considering that “His Airness” is an owner of the small-market Charlotte Bobcats, it’s not hard to see why. 

But those views have been an anathema to many basketball players who were weaned on “being like Mike” as they learned how to dunk wearing their Air Jordan Nike tennis shoes.

Indiana forward Paul George called Jordan  Former NBA player Stephon Marbury said he was . Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace said he by Jordan’s anti-union stance. Washington forward Nick Young .  

But Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who coincidentally is one of the NBA players with the largest deals with Nike to endorse Jordan’s apparel line, isn’t ready to diss the icon or his shoes.

“I really didn’t need to get involved in all that,” Wade . “Obviously I wear a different hat than certain other guys that got involved in it. And I stay away from it. I have an obligation and I have a job to do and I’m going to do my job.”

Wade has heard the comments from the other players. But he doesn’t want to join them in their vituperation for Jordan.

“That’s on Nick Young,” Wade said. “That’s his moment. Obviously, that’s his own choice and decision and, you know, that’s something he’s going to have to deal with. I can’t let that affect me. I have my own things to run, my own stuff to think about what I’m doing with my own shoes.

“Obviously, I heard about it, because you can’t do nothing but hear about everything now, because there’s nothing else to do.”

Translation: It’s nice to be paid for endorsing Jordan’s shoes — particularly during the lockout.

Why Spurs fans should pause and praise the lottery tonight

David Stern’s annual role as a game-show host rolls around tonight as he hosts the league’s draft lottery to determine which team will earn the No. 1 pick in the June 23 draft.

The league’s previous system of picking envelopes is long gone away. No longer does Stern face allegations of grasping any alleged frozen envelope when the order is sorted out tonight.

Even though the system is flawed — the worst team doesn’t necessarily get the best player — the league has continued with the lottery system since NBA teams blatantly began throwing games to get a shot at the best player in the mid-1980s.

There will be 14 balls in a lottery machine, with the numbers 1-14 on them. It will result in 1,001 potential combinations that can come out as order does not matter, with 1,000 of those combinations assigned to teams.

The lottery machine will spit out four balls and the team with that combination will get the first pick. The process will be repeated two more times for the second and third pick. After that, the draft will go in order of record with the worst team first. 

Drew Carey or Pat Sajak couldn’t do it better.

No team has benefitted from the current lottery system in place more than the Spurs. Luck has played a huge factor in the success of the franchise over the years.  

After finishing with the fourth-worst record in the league in 1987, the Spurs  won the lottery and the chance to pick David Robinson. If they had picked fourth that season, they would have had the opportunity to pick among Reggie Williams, Scottie Pippen, Kenny Smith, Kevin Johnson and Reggie Miller. Pippen, Johnson and Miller had great careers. But none was as dominant as Robinson.

And in 1997, after finishing with the third-worst record in the league in Gregg Popovich’s first season coaching the team, the Spurs again won the lottery and picked up the chance to pick Tim Duncan. If they were picking third, they would have had their choice of Chauncey Billups, Tony Battie, Antonio Daniels and Ron Mercer. Tracy McGrady was the only player in the draft to average 20 points during his career other than Duncan. No player in the draft had the career of Duncan.

Here are the chances tonight for  the No. 1 pick among the teams that are eligible.

1. Minnesota Timberwolves 25 percent chance of getting the top pick (they have 250 combinations)
2. Cleveland Cavaliers, 19.9 percent chance
3. Toronto Raptors, 15.6 percent chance
4. Washington Wizards, 11.9 percent chance
5. Sacramento Kings, 7.6 percent chance
6. Utah Jazz (from New Jersey Nets), 7.5 percent chance
7. Detroit Pistons, 4.3% chance
8. Cleveland Cavaliers (from L.A. Clippers), 2.8 percent chance
9. Charlotte Bobcats, 1.7 percent chance
10. Milwaukee Bucks, 1.1 percent chance
11. Golden State Warriors, 0.8 percent chance
12. Utah Jazz, 0.7 percent chance
13. Phoenix Suns, 0.6 percent chance
14. Houston Rockets, 0.5% chance

Tonight’s lottery will mark the Timberwolves’ 14th time in the lottery. Minnesota has gone backward seven times and stayed in the same position the other six times in their 13 previous lottery appearances. And not since 2004, when Orlando claimed the pick and the right to select Dwight Howard, has the team with the worst record picked up the top pick.

So while Stern and the NBA honchos determine who gets the shot at Kyrie Irving of Duke in this year’s draft, Spurs Nation might pause for a few moments to be thankful that the current system brought them who it did and when it happened.

Because it’s not a stretch to think if the Spurs didn’t win the lottery in either of those two seasons, the team now likely could be playing somewhere else.