DJ IN DALLAS
DeAndre Jordan and the Dallas Mavericks have already had one meeting this season, but the first one was in the comfort of Jordan’s home arena. No booing. No different-sides-of-the-room, don’t-make-eye-contact tension. That won’t be the case today.
Jordan and the Clippers are set to take on the Mavericks in Dallas, in what is sure to be a hostile crowd of fans who feel scorned by Jordan after his offseason free agency saga.
The Clippers got the best of the Mavericks in the first meeting (104-88), but we’ll see if the Mavericks can use that extra energy and motivation to power past Jordan and the Clips.
THE KNICKS! WAIT…THE KNICKS? THE KNICKS!
The New York Knicks finished just 17-65 last season, so much so that they “earned” a lottery pick and drafted Latvian super athlete Kristaps Porzingis. Boom. Rebuilding period done, right?
Well, not exactly, but the Knicks are certainly showing signs of growth early on this year. They squared off against the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors Tuesday night and walked away with a gritty 111-109 win.
Porzingis added yet another poster to his growing collection when he slammed home a putback dunk off a Carmelo Anthony miss.
The Knicks will look to add to their momentum Wednesday on the road against the Charlotte Hornets.
BANGED UP
A host of the league’s best and brightest stars are dealing with early season ailments. Kevin Durant left Tuesday’s game with a hamstring injury and will have an MRI to determine if he’ll miss time.
Anthony Davis left Tuesday’s game – which was the Pelicans’ first win of the young season – with what the team called a hip contusion. In simple terms, that means a hip bruise, and X-rays came back negative. For New Orleans’ sake, hopefully he won’t be joining a long list of injured Pelicans.
And the Wolves held Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio out of Tuesday’s game with knee soreness. Both Wiggins and Rubio have been playing well, so here’s to hoping they can get healthy and return to the court as soon as possible.
BOOGIE VS. DRUMMOND; ALDRIDGE RETURN TO PORTLAND
Wednesday’s slate of games is rife with interesting frontcourt stories. There’s DeAndre’s first game in Dallas. There’s Cousins vs. Drummond. And then there’s LaMarcus Aldridge’s return to Portland.
Let’s start with the Boogie-Drummond matchup.
Cousins and Drummond are two of the best young centers in the league, and they’ll face off today in Sacramento. Drummond is averaging 19.4 points and 19.6 rebounds per game and has already racked up three 20-20 games.
But he’ll have a hard time adding to that with Cousins as his frontcourt matchup.
And then there’s Aldridge’s return to Portland. Now with the Spurs, the big man will play in the Moda Center for the away team for the first time after spending his first nine season in the Rose City, earning four All-Star bids.
Aldridge was a fan favorite, so it will be interesting to see what type of welcome the Portland faithful give him in the return.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Paul George has recorded four straight games of 25+ points, which is the longest such streak of his career.
- Since player minutes starting being tracked, no one has more triple-doubles than Russell Westbrook while playing less than 30 minutes.
- Karl-Anthony Towns now has five double-doubles through seven career games. He’s only the fourth player in the last 30 seasons to do that, the others being Shaquille O’Neal, Dikembe Mutumbo and David Robinson. Meh. That’s okay company.
