Heels in the League (NBA) 12/29/09

As we inch ever so close to the new year, meaning more and more bowl games and less and less sleep on the 31st, let’s keep rocking and rolling with the recaps from the National Basketball Association. In this edition of “Heels in the League” (NBA) we check out the games from Tuesday, December 28, 2009. In all the NBA had seven games on tab, five of them featured teams with Carolina players on them, one had a head to head match up.Just be warned that as far as results went this wasn’t a good night for the teams with a touch of carolina blue. But I don’t want to spoil anything else, so let’s get going with the recap from 12/28/09…

First game of the night is the head to head match up, as the Cleveland Cavaliers fly east to take on the Atlanta Hawks. A game that was played at an over crowded Philips Arena in front of 20,150 fan (max capacity: 19,445). For the visiting team from C-Town it’s Jawad Williams and Danny Green, where the first one dresses and see no action while the second one isn’t even changed for the game. While for the Hawks we have Marvin Williams, who gets 31 minutes as the starting small forward, scoring 12 points in all (3 for 6 ~ 0 for 1 ~ 6 for 6). The ex team mate of Jawad also has one board, an assist, a block and turns the ball over once on the night. As far as the game went it was visiting Cleveland winning this one, taking down Atlanta by the final of 95 to 84. With the win the Cavs are now 25 and 8 (.757 winning percentage) and leading the Eastern Conference by half a game over the Celtics. The loss drops the Hawks to 21 and 9 (.700 winning percentage), 2.5 games back of the leader.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Cavs: The Blog (True Hoop) by John Krolik
Hoopinion (True Hoop) by Bret Lagree
Peachtree Hoops (SB Nation) by Bronn
Fear the Sword (SB Nation) by John Bena
King James Gospel (FanSided) by Cody Norman
Slam Dunk Central by Jeff Sack

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Extra video, the Cavs/Hawks post game:

The second game of the night is the one that has the Washington Wizards hosting the Oklahama City Thunder at the Verizon Center in front of a crowd that numbered 17,152 (max capacity: 20,173). For the home squad we have Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood, two starters for the team from the nation’s capital. For the forward it’s a 41 minute night, where he scored a team high 28 points (12 for 25 ~ 1 for 1 ~ 3 for 4) to go with three rebounds, an assist and a TO. For the big man in the middle, who plays 36 minutes in this one, he scores 16 points (7 for 9 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 2 for 2) to go with eight boards, a block and a pair of turnovers. As far as the game is concerned it’s Oklahoma City winning this one by a dozen, defeating Washington by the final of 110 to 98. With the loss the Wizs are now 10 and 20 (.333 winning percentage), 13.5 games behind the Eastern Conference leader and 2.5 games behind the eighth place Bobcats.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Truth About It (True Hoop) by TruthAboutIt

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Extra coverage, head coach Flip Saunders goes off:

The third game of the night has the Indiana Pacers going to the windy city to take on the Chicago Bulls. A game that was played at the United Center in front of a crowd of 21,887 (max capacity: 21,711). For the team from Naptown we should see rookie Tyler Hansbrough, but he doesn’t play (DNP – Inner Ear Infection) in this one. As far as the game went it was all the home city in this one as Chicago took down Indiana by the final score of 104 to 95. With the loss the Pacers are now 9 and 21 (.300 winning percentage) and 14.5 games behind the conference leader and 3.5 games behind eighth place.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Indy Cornrows (SB Nation) by spstevenson

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Moving on we have the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the San Antonio Spurs, played at the AT&T Center in front of a basically sold out crowd of 18,581 (max capacity: 18,797). For the team from the City of Lakes it’s another rookie, Wayne Ellington. The shooting guard played 17 minutes, scoring eight points (3 for 8 ~ 1 for 3 ~ 1 for 1) to go with two assists, a rebound, a steal and a turnover. In the end it was not too close of a game as San Antonio took down Minnesota by 18 points, with the final score being 117 to 99. With the loss the TWolves drop to 7 and 25 (.218 winning percentage), last in the Western Conference.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Box Score — Play-By-Play

And the last game of this recap is the one between two teams from California as the Golden State Warriors go to the STAPLES Arena to take on the Los Angeles Lakers in front of a sold out crowd that numbered 18,997 (max capacity: 18,997). For the Warriors we should be seeing Brandan Wright, but as we all know by now the young man from Chapel Hill is not going to be on the hardwoods for a while as he recovers from his shoulder surgery. In a very high scoring game it was Los Angeles taking this one by six, as they defeated Golden State by the final tally of 124 to 118. With the loss the Warriors are now 9 and 22 (.290 winning percentage), placing 16 games back of the Western Conference leader and 8.5 back of the eighth place squad.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Golden State of Mind (SB Nation) by Atma Brother One

Box Score — Play-By-Play