24 HOURS ON HARDWOOD 2.27.08

by HP, Hardwood Paroxysm

Sorry for the missing days, couldn't be helped. But I'm back like Jamiroquai. Or something that's actually back.

Well, This Is Just Embarrassing: In a win that made Pat Riley feel, and I quote, "like a mosquito in a nudist colony," the Heat finally got off the snide and beat someone. Who was wretched enough to get beat by this sub-D-League team? The Sacramento Kings. Their leading scorer? Rookie Spencer Hawes with 16. Marion had 24 and 8 to lead the Heat who have now one 1 in a row.

Oooh, I Saw Redd: Yeah, so about that new Cleveland lineup that was supposed to be unstoppable. Ben Wallace was a hot hot hot -14 on the floor, Wally went 5 for 18 (!) and Michael Redd drained a three at the buzzer to lift the Bucks over the Cavs, 105-102. Mo Williams had 37 points for the Bucks, while LeBron led the Cavs (shocker!) with 35. He didn't get close to his near-triple-double numbers, though, and the Bucks got solid contributions from all their starters.

Good For What Ails You: You know what picks me up when I feel blue? Beating the crap out of the Memphis Grizzlies' leftover crap. Even if Rudy Gay springs for 36 and we still don't look overpowering. Who am I? If you guessed the Phoenix Suns, you win... NOTHING! Just like the Suns.

In An Amazing Twist, They're Really Good: The Lakers jerked around for a half, then remembered how bloody good they are these days and beat the Blazers by 13 behind Kobe's 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. That Kobe, he's good. Real good. You might even say valuable. Heck, you could even say that he's the most valuable...too early.

Elsewhere: Jazz feel bad for Houston, and lose to the Wolves to give them false sense of hope. Rockets say, no Yao, no giant 7 footer that can lead us to a championship, but we can still kick the crap out of the Wizards without Zero or Caron.