Heels in the League 03/29/09 (NBA)

03/29/09

Another pretty big night for the National Basketball Association, with nine games being played, as well as a pretty big night for the ex Carolina players, with six games having teams with a touch of carolina blue on them. That means that today’s recap about the games, the daily post called “Heels in the League”, should be pretty big as well. And as usual, I will link to the ESPN recap as well as to other NBA bloggers’ recaps of the games. After checking out these games I will also see if there was any ex Heel in action in the NBDL last night.

First game of the night is a East vs West game, with the Dallas Mavericks (4th in the Southwest Division) going up north to take on the NBA’s top squad right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers (1st in the Central Division). As we all know on the Mavs there is ex Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, but he is not on the Quicken Loans Arena’s court yet again, and won’t be for the rest of the season, and probably it’s not a stretch to say he won’t be wearing the Mavs uniform when he does come back to play next season. As far as the game went, it was a tale of two halves, with Cleveland (60-13, 35-1 home) beating down on Dallas (43-30, 17-21 away) by 28 points, 102 to 74. Or as C over at And One writes: “LeBron James continues to raise the bar for excellence”. Even with the loss the Mavericks are still 3.5 games ahead of the Suns for the last playoff spot in the West.

In the second game of the night, again a East vs West contest, and yet again one where the ex Heel isn’t going to be on the court, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers (1st in the Pacific Division) going cross country to meet up with the Atlanta Hawks (2nd in the Southeast Division). Marvin Williams, who most likely won’t be back this season, was not able to take on the Lakers on his floor at the Philips Arena. But, in what was definitely a defensive effort, Atlanta (43-31, 29-9 home) beat Los Angeles (58-15, 27-10 away) by 10, with the final tally being 86 to 76. With the win, along with the Heat not playing, the Hawks’ lead for the fourth place (and home field advantage in the first round) is now up to 3.5 games.

Third game of the night is once again a East/West match up, with the New Jersey Nets (3rd in the Atlantic Division) going to the Target Center and taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves (4th in the Northwest Division). In this one ex Heel Vince Carter leads his team with a game high 36 points (14-23 ~ 2-8 from beyond the arc) in 37 minutes of playing time. The shooting guard also had eight rebounds, two assists and a steal on the night, while committing 3 turnovers. While Carter had a great game his team mates didn’t follow suit and the end result was Minnesota (21-53, 11-26 home) beating New Jersey (30-43, 15-22 away) by 9, 108 to 99. With this loss the Nets are now 5 games back with less than ten games to go in the regular season, meaning that it’s very unlikely that this team will be going into the playoffs.

The next game with a touch of carolina is yet again a game where the ex Tar Heel will not play. It’s the Detroit Pistons (2nd in the Central Division) hosting the Philadelphia 76′ers (2nd in the Atlantic Division) at the Palace of Auburn Hills. In what was a pretty close game, Detroit (36-37, 19-19 home) beat Philadelphia (37-35, 16-20 away) by the final tally of 101 to 97 as ex UNC big man Rasheed Wallace stayed on the sideline with his strained left calf. With the Pistons’ win and the Bulls’ loss Detroit now has a full game on Chicago for seventh place in the East.

Moving on to the fifth game of the night it’s a match up between two bottom dwellers of their respective divisions. The Washington Wizards (last in the Southeast Division) heads to Conseco Fieldhouse to take on the Indiana Pacers (last in the Central Division). For the visiting team it’s a duo of ex Heels taking the court, but Brendan Haywood was a “DNP – Right Wrist”, but Antawn Jamison did play, getting 29 points in 38 minutes. The ex Heel and NPOY also had six rebounds and a block on the night, while turning over the ball once in the game. In what was a very high scoring game, Indiana (31-43, 21-14 home) beat Washington (17-58, 5-32 away) by 9 points, with the final tally being 124 to 115. While the Wizs have no shot at making the playoffs, with less than ten games in the season, they now have almost no shot to win 20 games altogether.

The last game of the night is between two divisional foes, with the Phoenix Suns (2nd in the Pacific Division) and the Sacramento Kings (last in the Pacific Division). For the home squad it was Rashad McCants, who had 24 minutes in the game coming off the bench, scoring 12 points on a 4 for 8 shooting night (0 for 2 from 3). The ex Heel also had five assists, two rebounds and two steals. In what is the shocker of the night, Sacramento (16-56, 11-25 home) beat Phoenix (40-34, 16-21 away) by the score of 126 to 118. The win was greatly in part to the hot shooting of the Kings, even though Steve Nash had 31 points. While the Kings are not making the playoffs they might have just played spoilers, as the Suns’ chances dimished in a big way with this loss.

I will have to check out the Development League later because it is once again not working properly (letting me see yesterday’s scoreboard).

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