I spent Saturday evening flipping between several NBA games and was able to catch both good games and great performances all over the dial. It was the major part of a deep sports Saturday. Allen Iverson played a fabulous game in New Jersey, LeBron dropped 52 in a great game in Milwaukee and Reggie Bush won the Heisman in overwhelming fashion.
I spent Saturday evening flipping between several NBA games and was able to catch both good games and great performances all over the dial. It was the major part of a deep sports Saturday. Allen Iverson played a fabulous game in New Jersey, LeBron dropped 52 in a great game in Milwaukee and Reggie Bush won the Heisman in overwhelming fashion.
The Milwaukee-Cleveland game was exciting all the way. LeBron James had 31 at the half and the Cavs held a three point lead. He did a little bit of everything, 19-29 from the floor, 9-10 on free throws and 5-9 on threes. Throw in 7 rebounds and 7 assists and a banked three from 5 feet beyond the arc to put the Cavs back within two for good measure. It’s good to be the King. But the Bucks came back behind Andrew Bogut down the stretch. The Croatian born, Australian raised Bogut hooked up with ancestral countryman Toni Kukoc on a couple of sweet combos. Bogut was sporting some protective headgear, a step in the right direction for a big man who’s previous attempt at intimidation was the moustache of a pubescent hood. Bogut also gave a great postgame interview explaining that, other than James’ 52, “None of their players got on track offensively.” And the Good Lord willing, it’ll all work out. The Australian accent is a nice touch though, more on that later. T.J. Ford and Michael Redd also played outstanding games and the Bucks have a roster of players who complement each other as well as any team in the league. James isn’t fortunate enough to be on such a team; Larry Hughes, in particular, looks as lost as he did when he was A.I.’s running mate.
Speaking of The Answer, he may have been even better than his young counterpart last night. Iverson finished with 15-28 shooting, 42 points, and 12 assists, many of them to Kyle Korver who shot 10-11 on his way to 25 points. No lay-ups for Korver, who looks like the bassist for an indie band but shoots considerably better than anyone in the Strokes. It may not have been the best shooting performance in the Swamp on Saturday, J.J. Redick gets that award, but me thinks they have some good lighting and soft rims out there in East Rutherford.
In other games, Gilbert Arenas had 42 points but 9 turnovers helped the Bulls top the Wiz 118-111. The Hawks outscored the Spurs 25-13 in the most stunning 4th quarter of the season thus far. Zasa Pachulia outplayed Tim Duncan and Josh Childress played very well for the 3 win Hawks. I went into the night expecting to watch primarily the Pacers-Grizzlies game, what can I say I’m a sucker for a bearded Spaniard, but the Grizz scored just 9 in the first quarter and were routed by a Pacer team without Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley.
In other sports, Reggie Bush won the Heisman. His speech, the parts I heard without hearing a packed stadium of Jets fans chanting “REGGIE! REGGIE!” anyway, was typically Heisman, i.e. humble and respectful. With Vince Young right there in the first row though, it would have been cool, if neither humble nor respectful, to see some boxing style promotional savvy. Bush calling out Vince Young, “I see Vince Young over there, looking at me, this is my house Vince! MY HOUSE! Gonna be my house on the 4th too. See you in Pasadena, bitch, you’re next.” Or not.
Maybe it was my final sports viewing of the evening that made me think of Bush calling out Young. I took in a pair of middleweight fights on HBO. A replay of last week’s Jermain Taylor-Bernard Hopkins rematch was up first followed by LIVE action featuring Winky Wright and Sam Soliman. I liked the first Taylor-Hopkins match more, Taylor started fast in both matches but Hopkins had more of an answer the first time around. I think the Hopkins train has reached the station, he seemed comfortable with retirement, and it’s good that he finally got some recognition as his career wound down. I think Taylor, while a good fighter, would do well to avoid Winky Wright. People have been doing it for a long time now, because it’s hard to see weakness in Winky. The fight last night was better than it had any right to be, as Soliman relished the massive underdog role and came to fight. He averaged over 100 punches a round, but Wright landed every meaningful blow. Wright is great, but I’d love to see Soliman fight again, there’s nothing better than a guy who just punches from bell to bell. Like Bogut, Soliman is Australian, which is an odd accent to hear after a championship fight. He just got the hell pounded out of him but the accent, as it always does, gives off the good times vibe. The HBO show closed with a look back at the year in boxing, and as always was half-great fights and half-scandals and how boxing is endangered. I love boxing and have always found all the hand wringing about the immorality and seediness of it pretty stupid. You have to be a mix of desperate and off-kilter to be a great boxer; it’s not going to draw people who handle success well.
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