Props to the Nets, who became the first association assemblage to match last season’s win total following Friday’s punishing of the Pistons.
This is what happens when the bar (a dozen victories) is set so low and you’re able to limbo under it regardless.
New Jersey welcomed Jason and Joumana Kidd last night before tomorrow night’s seismic showdown against clinically-dead Cleveland.
Loser goes home with Bye-ron Scott.
Can’t figure out what’s more improbable . . . dropping 15 games in row and 25 of 26 (prior to visiting Chicago last night) or actually winning seven of their first 15.
Hate to bring this up, but Cleveland’s sole victim was the Knicks in overtime.
By the way, the Heat hit town Thursday night . . . provided LeBron James can get Mayor Bloomberg to subsidize his latest birthday bash.
If your success is predicated on outscoring your opponent and you’re not scoring . . . well, boys and girls, do the math.
Such is the case of the stinking-toward-sea-level Knicks, who schlepped a five-game skid into Thunder Island last night.
Their Texas two-step was low-lighted by 89 points and 42 percent shooting in Houston and 92 points and less than 38 percent from the field against the incessantly surging Spurs.
Lest we forget that 83-point, 31.5 percent performance they put on in losing to Sacramento at the Garden. If a Mike D’Antoni-coached team has to rely on making holds instead of hoops . . . well, boys and girls, do the math.
What does D’Antoni mean when he says Eddy Curry must “perfectly be in shape” before he plays? Wonders column contributor Rasheid McCorvey: “Must he score over 1,000 on the SATs, too?”
The Hornets are 15-1 at home when their crowd is held under 100. On the road Friday, they did far better. With just under six minutes to go in the first half, the Hawks and Hornets were knotted at 29.
Final score: New Orleans 100, Atlanta 59 . . . the same Hawks team that took down the Heat at home in overtime Tuesday . . . when LeBron dribbled the ball for the final 24 seconds of regulation and decided to try to break the tie with a 3-pointer.
Going into last night’s home invasion by the league-leading Spurs (eight straight), the Hornets had won seven straight. I haven’t seen such rolling like that since I was Rashweed Wallace’s designated driver.
How come Emeka Okafor never gets mentioned for Most Improved, readers demand to know? I’ll take it a step further: How come I left him entirely out of the All-Star center conversation? What has Amar’e Stoudemire or Raymond Felton done for the Knicks that Okafor is not doing for the Hornets?
When I look at the Knicks, I see a crush of scorers. When I look at the Hornets, I see a team winning games because of their defense, and Okafor is their anchor.
Additionally, his field goal percentage is 59.1 and is averaging 10.4 points and 11 rebounds. In his last five, he’s drained 24 of his 38 shots and is averaging 11.8 points and 12.8 rebounds.
Want more? Okafor has cracked double-digit rebounds in 16 of his last 19 games, has played in 301 consecutive, the league’s fourth longest active streak, and has done a nice job defending the post (1.6 blocks), more rugged than we remember, and doesn’t require help. That allows Monty Williams to double up somewhere else.
The NBA selected DeMar DeRozan to replace Brandon Jennings in the dunk contest because Michael Redd had other commitments All-Star weekend.
For whatever it’s worth, Kobe Bryant is going to become the first athlete to have hand and foot imprinted in a ceremony at the world-renowned Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Apparently, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi weren’t good enough. Just thinking out loud . . . do the Chinese own Grauman’s Chinese Theater?
A center, a center fielder and a centerpiece. Willis Reed, Willie Mays and Lenny Wilkens were honored before the Chicago-Memphis game Monday with the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Awards in remembrance of Dr. King’s birthday.
Ron Artest’s erratic play in the first half of the season has been rescinded by the NBA.
Stan Van Gundy has 39 games left to improve his team’s defense and lame first quarter starts. Jeff Van Gundy has 39 telecasts to explain why his brother didn’t give Brandon Bass more daylight last season.
Jazz have one win (Knicks) against a team over .500 since Dec. 10. If Deron Williams doesn’t dominate, they stagger. In fact, even when he does dominate, they struggle. A team’s starters at the two and the three usually are the scorers but Andrei Kirilenko and Raja Bell are those two guys and opponents are leaving them wide open to pack it in on Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson . . . or double Williams on the perimeter. Think Utah misses Wesley Matthews?
“Nice to see the Pistons finally figure out Rodney Stuckey is not a point guard,” submits column contributor Ricky St. Jean. “He wouldn’t know how to balance the floor at a truck weigh-in.”
Joel Anthony hauled in 16 rebounds without hoisting a field goal or free throw attempt against the Hawks. Carmen Electra claims Dennis Rodman did likewise three times without makeup in a three-week span with the Spurs in 1994. Wilt seized 15 without a shot attempt in the 1967-68 season, but more than made up for it later that evening in his hotel room.
This just in: Today’s AFC title game is so bad, Antonio Cromartie has vowed to abstain from sex at least until halftime.
In the interest of full disclosure, today’s one-liners were signed off by Cathie Black.