Heels in the League 03/30/09 (NBA)

03/30/09

Very small line up for the NBA last night, just four games in all. Of those however two of them had ex North Carolina players in them, which can only mean that here on The Fifth Corner we are going to do the daily post called “Heels in the League”. As usual I will insert different links to other blogs that covered the game a lot more than I did, while I do my recap for the ex UNC players. I will also check out the NBDL web site in the hope that it is up and running with it’s scoreboard, and I can tell you how the ex Carolina guys did there as well.

In the first game with a touch of carolina blue we find a battle between the visiting Milwaukee Bucks (4th in the Central Division) and the host team, New Jersey Nets (3rd in the Atlantic Division). For the home team it’s Vince Carter getting the nod at the shooting guard, scoring just nine points in the 26 minutes he played. The ex Tar Heel also had three rebound, an assist and a steal, to go along with two turnovers, on the night. Neither Carter or the rest of the team was very impressive in front of their home crowd at the IZOD Center. Milwaukee (32-43, 12-27 away) destroyed New Jersey (30-44, 15-22 home) in this game by 29 points, saying it was an embarassment losing 107 to 78 is putting it mildly for a team that was still in the playoff chase against a team that had lost five straight coming into this one. With the loss the Nets fall 5 games behind the last playoff spot, and with 8 games to go their season is all but done.

In the other game with an ex Heel in it, it’s the Memphis Grizzlies (last in the Southwest Division) taking on the Golden State Warriors (3rd in the Pacific Division) at  the ORACLE Arena. For the Warriors it should have been Brandan Wright taking to the court, but he is still on the sideline with his left shoulder injury. As far as the game went, Memphis (19-54, 7-30 away) rallied from behind, outscoring beat Golden State (25-49, 19-17 home) by 12 in the last quarter, and winning by the final of 114 to 109. I have to say, again embarassing losing to a team that hasn’t won 20 games in all, and 10 on the road, by giving up a nice lead in the 4th quarter. The Warriors were nowhere close to making the playoffs, this loss just sets them one more game behind that.

Since yesterday the NBDL page didn’t work I was not able to check, so I will do in this recap. Both nights just had one game on their schedule and neither featured ex Tar Heels. So, while there is nothing to report on that front, I found an interesting piece on the site talking about the eight team playoff system that will be going on in the Development League.

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