Ballin': Ricky Rubio Dribbles Around His Back Twice and Lopez on Lopez Crime
By Jason McIntyre
Minnesota 107, San Antonio 83: Ricky Rubio with the best line of his career – 21 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists in 34 minutes. Also, he went behind his back twice on his way to the hoop. That’s slick. Also, Chris Johnson may have just punched his ticket to the 2013 dunk contest with this effort (for the night, he had a 6-6-6 line in 22 minutes, with the last number being blocks).
Charlotte 100, Boston 74: The Celtics could only muster 28 points in the second half – Gerald Henderson scored 35 by himself for the Bobcats – and were routed on the road. Paul Pierce (rest) didn’t play, and offense was a challenge, to put it mildly.
LA Lakers 106, Orlando 97: Hack-a-Howard failed miserably, as Dwight went to the line 39 times (!) and made 25 of them to finish with a solid 39-16 in his return to Orlando. The crowd was unruly. LA has won four in a row and – stop me if you’ve heard this before – looks dangerous. Kobe missed 10 of 14 shots, but when your opponent is starting young Mo Harkless and Tobias Harris (17 points, 15 rebounds) in the frontcourt, you needn’t worry.
Miami 98, Atlanta 81: I was joking last week when I mentioned it’d be cool if the Heat didn’t lose again in the regular season … anyway, this rout was 19 in a row. LeBron was only 3-for-11 from the field, but hit 9-of-12 FTs and had this tip-assist to D Wade.
Brooklyn 108, New Orleans 98: Brook Lopez outscored his brother, 26-15, and dunked on him for good measure. Also, Eric Gordon still has plenty of lift in those legs.