ALL BALL NERVE CENTER – One of the NBA’s most venerable mascots is Benny the Bull, Chicago’s longtime fuzzy cheerleader. And as part of being an NBA mascot, it is important to have no fear of the opposition, as saw earlier this season with Denver’s Rocky and Russell Westbrook.
Just because we’re in the postseason, the mascot’s responsibilities don’t change. With the Brooklyn Nets in Chicago over the weekend for Game 4 of the Playoffs, Benny the Bull wandered onto the Nets’ end of the floor during pregame warmups. We’re not sure what Benny was doing out there, but if he was looking for a rumble, he found one at the hands of Brook Lopez and several of his teammates… -
As everyone knows by now, the compressed NBA schedule will force every team to play three games in three nights at least one this season (42 times in total). With only 66 games to stake a claim to a playoff spot or seed, how teams perform during these killer slates could have a large impact on how their seasons turn out.
With that in mind, we’re going to keep track of each of the 42 three-plays to see which teams take advantage and which teams fall apart. Up next, the New Jersey Nets, who played three straight from Feb. 18-20.
This hasn’t been the best season for the Nets. In a season full of injuries, they’ve been perhaps the most afflicted, suiting up the minimum eight healthy bodies for several games. They put up only 2 points in their first three for all challenge, and that is mainly because they got to play one of the only teams worse than they are. Playing this threeplay would be just leading lambs to the slaughter, right?
Game 1: Nets 97, Bulls 85 - Say what? Yeah that’s right. The Nets, behind 29 points from Deron Williams and a huge 24 and 18 rebounds from the guy you love to hate, Kris Humphries, came into the United Center and put it on the Bulls, jumping out to a 34-19 lead after one and never looking back. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose, but still — they’d only lost one home game all season before this spanking. Didn’t see this one coming. 3 points (1 for win, 1 for road, 1 for +10 margin)
Game 2: Bucks 92, Nets 85 - Naturally, after the road win in Chicago, the Nets returned to New Jersey and promptly lost to the Bucks, despite the season debut for center Brook Lopez (nine points and two rebounds in 12 minutes) Game ball goes to Bucks F Ersan Ilyasova, who had perhaps the most surprising stat line of the season with 29 points and 25 rebounds — and fouled out as well! -1 point
Game 3: Nets 100, Knicks 92 - Oh sure, the Nets go right into Madison Square Garden, overcome Linsanity and the return of Carmelo Anthony to drop the Knicks, who had only won eight of their last nine coming in. Makes perfect sense. I gotta say, people were dogging on D-Will for getting an All-Star nod, but let’s not forget how freakin’ talented this dude is. A career-high eight 3-pointers and a season-best 38 points stole the show in this one. 6 points (5 for win, 1 for road)
No question about it, this is the surprise result of the season in the three for all. 8 points for the Nets, impressive regardless but especially so considering who they beat. Tip o’ the cap.
Up next: The New Orleans Hornets play three straight Feb. 20-22.
For the complete Bragging Rights rules and to vote for other matchups, click here. Our first Bragging Rights matchup features two schools known for producing big men: the Stanford Cardinal and the LSU Tigers.
VS
Stanford Cardinal
Starters (all stats per 48 minutes for their current teams):
Team synopsis: The Cardinal are interesting for this kind of tournament, with two wingmen (Childress and Fields) and three centers (the Lopez-Lopez-Collins combo). In a regulation NBA game they’d get killed, but in a pickup game, their size could be difficult to deal with. Josh Childress hasn’t gotten a ton of run in Phoenix this season, but his per-48 stats show he can be a productive player. He’s not a great perimeter shooter, but that may be a good thing for Stanford, as I would imagine a team like this would get a lot of offense off putbacks. (more…)
The Nets and Rockets played two preseason games in China this past week as part of the NBA China Games 2010. And while both teams are in the middle of training for the upcoming season, you still have to get in some sightseeing while you can. The Nets did just that, checking out the Great Wall during the off time between games.
The best part? Brook Lopez acting like a deer in headlights when Nets’ coach Avery Johnson turns the camera on him. It’s the preseason, Brook, so we’ll forgive it for now. But better have those sports platitudes ready for when the season starts.
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Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
