Tag: Kobe Bryant

TP’s monster game vs. OKC ranks among NBA’s best this season

Tony Parker’s big game Saturday still resonates even 36 hours after it was produced.

Parker erupted for  a season-high 42 points and nine assists to lead the Spurs’ 107-96 victory over Oklahoma City. In the process, it enabled Parker to be included among a handful of the very best all-around games in the NBA so far this season.

The must-read web site compiles a game score for each player and each game under a formula developed  by ESPN.com’s John Hollinger. It’s a convoluted formula ( for those interested) that takes into account all aspects of a player’s statistical performance.

Parker’s game against Oklahoma City ranked as the third-best in the league this season, trailing only Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant.

Here’s a list of the top individual single-game performers according to their Hollinger game scores.

Dwight Howard, Orlando — 41.3 — 45 points, 23 rebounds, three assists, four steals, two blocks in the Magic’s 117-109 victory over Golden State (Jan. 12).

Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers — 36.9 — 48 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals in Lakers’ 99-83 victory over Phoenix (Jan. 10).

Tony Parker, San Antonio — 36.4 — 42 points, three rebounds, nine assists, two steals, one block in the Spurs’ 107-96 victory over Oklahoma City (Feb. 4). 

John Wall, Washington — 35.5 — 38 points, six rebounds, eight assists, four steals, one block in the Wizards’ 114-106 loss to Houston (Jan. 16).   

LeBron James, Miami — 34.1 — 37 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals, two blocks in Heat’s 105-94 victory at Dallas. (Dec. 25).

LeBron James, Miami — 33.8 — 33 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists, two steals in the Heat’s 118-83 victory over Indiana (Jan. 4).

Deron Williams, New Jersey — 33.6 — 35 points, two rebounds, 14 assists in the Nets’ 110-103 victory at Phoenix (Jan. 13).

LeBron James, Miami — 33.2 — 35 points, six rebounds, seven assists, three steals, two blocks in the Heat’s 96-95 victory at Charlotte (Dec. 28).

Stephen Curry, Golden State — 32.8 — 32 points, six rebounds, seven assists, four steals in the Warriors’ 101-93 victory over Portland (Jan. 25).

Derrick Rose, Chicago — 32.6 — 29 points, eight rebounds, 16 assists, one steal in the Bulls’ 114-101 victory at the Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 30). 

Paul George, Indiana — 32.6 — 30 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals, one block in the Pacers’ 98-87 victory at Dallas. (Feb. 3).

Greg Monroe, Detroit  — 32.5 — 32 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block in the Pistons’ 102-93 loss at Milwaukee (Jan. 12). 

Paul Pierce, Boston — 32.1 — 34 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists, three steals in the Celtics’ 100-94 victory at Washington (Jan. 22).

Anthony Morrow, New Jersey — 32.0 — 42 points, four rebounds, two assists in the Nets’ 108-105 loss to Minnesota (Feb. 3)

Parker gets All-Star nod, but not Duncan

By Jeff McDonald

NEW YORK — After 13 trips to the NBA All-Star Game, Spurs forward Tim Duncan has a pretty good idea of what an All-Star looks like.

In his mind, it looks a lot like Tony Parker.

“Easily,” Duncan said when asked if the Spurs point guard should make this year’s Western Conference squad. “There’s no doubt.”

Apparently, West coaches agreed.

When the NBA announced All-Star reserves Thursday night, Parker found his name on the list, an accomplishment that pushes him further into rarefied air in San Antonio.

The Feb. 26 game in Orlando, Fla., will mark Parker’s fourth All-Star appearance, making him one of only four Spurs players all-time to boast at least that many. Two of them (David Robinson and George Gervin) are in the Naismith Hall of Fame. The other (Duncan) one day will be.

“It will be a great reward for my team and the whole Spurs organization,” Parker said.

This time, however, Parker will be going alone.

Until now a death-and-taxes-style lock for the All-Star Game, Duncan was left off the West squad for the first time in his career.

His omission not only snaps a string of 13 consecutive All-Star appearances, it ends a streak of consecutive starts (12) that was the second-longest in NBA history. Only Boston great Bob Cousy (13) enjoyed a longer one.

Though Duncan’s numbers — 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 27.6 minutes — are similar to last year’s, he appears to have been outpolled by Memphis’ Marc Gasol for the final big man spot.

By rule, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could not vote for his own players while casting a ballot for the reserves, but offered Parker a heavy endorsement in recent weeks.

“Tony’s played All-Star basketball all year long,” Popovich said.

With star guard Manu Ginobili out with a broken hand since Jan. 2, Parker has lifted his game — and lifted the Spurs to the second-best record in the West (19-8).

Heading into Saturday’s game at New Jersey, Parker is averaging 18.9 points and a career-best 7.7 assists. Since the beginning of January, when Ginobili was hurt, he’s averaging 19.8 points and 7.9 assists.

Parker’s inclusion on the West team gives the Spurs a representative in 14 consecutive All-Star games. In Orlando, he will join a backcourt that includes starters Chris Paul (L.A. Clippers) and Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers) and reserves Steve Nash (Phoenix) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

“We’ve needed Tony to be a scorer the whole time Manu’s been out,” Popovich said. “He scores, he assists, he’s been leading us out there. He’s been really special.”

Barring a setback, Ginobili is due back Saturday in New Jersey. Because of Parker, the Spurs were not only able to survive Ginobili’s absence, but thrive.

The Southwest Division-leading Spurs will carry an NBA-best six-game winning streak into New Jersey.

In the past 2 1/2 weeks, Parker turned in the top assist game of his career (17 at New Orleans) and two of his top-10 scoring nights (42 against Oklahoma City, 37 at Philadelphia).

The All-Star honor is one Parker openly courted and coveted in the past few weeks. He missed participating in last year’s game in Los Angeles, when Duncan and Ginobili played and Popovich and his staff coached.

“It would be great to go back,” Parker said a day before the announcement. “It would be nice after what happened last year. Everybody went, and I wanted to go.”

In the end, the Western Conference coaches gave Parker his golden ticket to Orlando. It will be a lonely trip, but a well-deserved one.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Bucks rein in high-octaine Heat

Milwaukee coach figured the most logical way to win in Miami would be to keep the Heat from running in their typical high-octane style.

Fortunately for the Bucks, the weary-legged Heat cooperated with that plan.

Brandon Jennings scored 23 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 16 off the bench and the Bucks — despite shooting 35 percent — snapped Miami’s three-game winning streak with a 91-82 victory on Sunday night. It was the second straight road win for Milwaukee, which started 0-8 away from home and held Miami to a season-low 37 percent from the floor.

“Huge,” said Milwaukee guard . “Especially for us being winless on the road and going 2-0 against two good teams, especially the quality team like the Heat, it’s huge for your confidence.”

Andrew Bogut scored 13 points for the Bucks, who got 10 apiece from Livingston and .

LeBron James finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which had won three straight. scored 23 for the Heat, who got 12 from . Milwaukee turned 22 Miami turnovers into 22 points and the Heat tied an season-low with nine assists, matching their second-lowest total in the franchise’s 1,870-game history.

Miami had wins over the Spurs, the and Philadelphia in a five-day span ending Saturday.

“We can make no excuses for ourselves,” James said. “But no one had energy from the start of the game to the end.”

It was the first time Miami lost this season in seven games without , out with a sprained right ankle.

Pacers 98, Lakers 96: Roy Hibbert scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter playing with a broken nose, and six of his teammates also scored in double figures to help Indiana beat the Los Angeles Lakers on their home court.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points for the Lakers, but missed what would have been a tying 3-pointer from 30 feet from the top of the key with 3.5 seconds to play and the Pacers clinched it at the free throw line.

The Lakers, coming off road losses to Miami and Orlando, failed to reach 100 points for the 11th straight game — their longest streak since a 12-game stretch in 2003-04.

Hibbert, the Pacers’ second-leading scorer, left the court with the broken nose after fouling Bryant with 6:46 left in the first quarter.

Clippers 103, Raptors 91: Mo Williams scored 19 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Blake Griffin had 18 points and nine rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers sent the visiting Toronto Raptors to their eighth straight loss.

DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 16 rebounds and Chauncey Billups had 14 assists for the Clippers, playing their fifth straight game without point guard Chris Paul because of a left hamstring strain.

Caron Butler finished with 15 points for Los Angeles.

Williams scored Los Angeles’ first 17 points of the final quarter to give them a 93-73 lead with 7:22 remaining, after the Raptors trimmed a 22-point deficit to 13 on Leandro Barbosa’s 3-pointer with 8:25 to play.

Barbosa scored 19 points and Linas Kleiza added 16 for the Raptors, who began a five-game road trip by missing their first 15 shots and were 35.8 percent from the field overall.

Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan had 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Raptors leading scorer Andrea Bargnani missed his sixth game in a row with a left calf strain. Guard Jerryd Bayless returned to the lineup after sitting out 13 games due to a sprained ankle. He scored seven points in 18 minutes.

Nets 97, Bobcats 87: In Newark, N.J., Deron Williams had 19 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Nets over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Williams’ near triple-double would have been the first of the season for the Nets, who improved to 5-12 on the season.

MarShon Brooks added 20 points for the Nets, while Anthony Morrow added 19 points.

Rookie Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Gerald Henderson had 15 points while Bismack Biyombo and Derrick Brown had 11 each.

Without the injured Brook Lopez, New Jersey has relied on its perimeter shooting.

The Nets shot 38 of 86 from the field, including 7 of 27 from three.

Charlotte shot 46.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on 3-pointers.

Bobcats guard D.J. Augustin played the first quarter before leaving the game because of an inflamed big right toe.

The Bobcats’ youth coupled with the abbreviated season has Bobcats coach Paul Silas concerned about how his team will respond to the challenge.

“It’s tough because you don’t have the practice time,” Silas said. “Playing as many games as we do, you’re not used to it.”