The Scores Report - The National Sports Blog » Line of the Night

Jason Kidd registers triple-double, draws one incredible foul [video]

John Paulsen — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:08:06 +0000

Jason Kidd posted 19 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds in the Mavs’ impressive 111-103 overtime win in Atlanta. I’m not a huge Kidd fan, but I absolutely LOVE this play he made late in the fourth quarter…

It drives me nuts that coaches are always standing on the court and I think it’s great that Kidd took advantage of that to get his team an extra point, which eventually forced overtime.

I don’t know what Woodson is yelling about. He looks like a complete idiot. Get off the court!

Line of the Night (1/12): Tim Duncan

John Paulsen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:20:10 +0000

Tim Duncan led the Spurs to a 105-85 win over the shorthanded Lakers, posting 25 points (on 12 of 19 shooting), 13 rebounds, four assists, four blocked shots and two steals. Kobe Bryant left the game in the second half with what was described as “severe back spasms.”

Line of the Night (1/11): Joe Johnson

John Paulsen — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:15:57 +0000

The Hawks beat the shorthanded Celtics, 102-96, in Boston, and are now 3-0 against the C’s this season. Johnson hit 14 of 25 shots (including 5 of 7 threes) to score 36 points. He had a rather thin line, with just three rebounds and one assist, but the Hawks needed him to score last night, and that’s what he did.

Another interesting thing to note about the Hawks is that Jamal Crawford is getting a ton of minutes at point guard at Mike Bibby’s expense. In six January games, Bibby is averaging just 25 minutes per game to Crawford’s 29. More importantly, in crunch time against the Celtics, the Hawks went with Crawford, not Bibby. At this point in Bibby’s career, Crawford is simply better able to get his own shot. He’s not a much of a distributor, though he’s capable of hitting the open guy when he doesn’t have a shot (which doesn’t happen very often).

Line of the Night (12/29): Kobe Bryant

John Paulsen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:30:45 +0000

The Golden State Warriors have trouble playing defense, and Kobe took advantage of this fact on Tuesday night, posting 44 points, 11 assists and four rebounds in the Lakers’ 124-118 win at the Staples Center. Bryant has a tendency at times to be more of a volume shooter, but on Tuesday, he scored 44 points on 27 shots (making 13) and also hit all 16 of his free throws. It was a very efficient night.

Line of the Night (12/23): Jerryd Bayless & Kevin Durant

John Paulsen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:10:12 +0000

Since it’s the holiday season and I’m feeling generous, I’m going with a two-fer for the LOTN. First up is Jerryd Bayless, who has been getting a ton of minutes with all the injuries that the Blazers have been suffering. Last night, Portland (without Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla) beat a healthy Spurs team in San Antonio, 98-94. Bayless posted 31 points and seven assists.

This is the kind of game that makes one wonder if something is seriously wrong with the Spurs.

Meanwhile, in Phoenix, it was youth over experience as the Thunder beat the Suns, 117-113. Durant had 38 points, six rebounds and three assists, and hit 12 of 20 shots from the field, including a crucial jumper that put OKC up four with just seconds to play. Amare Stoudemire had 35-14 for the Suns, and basically had his way inside. If the Thunder can land a good power forward/center this offseason (Chris Bosh?), they’ll be in business. It’s hard to root for OKC given what the ownership did to the city of Seattle, but it’s just as hard not to like the young core of Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and James Harden.

Line of the Night (12/16): Michael Redd

John Paulsen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:00:44 +0000

Normally, I pick a player from a winning team, but tonight I’m going to give the Line of the Night to Michael Redd because the Bucks got royally hosed against the Lakers. There were a series of bad calls down the stretch and in overtime, but the killer was a travel and charge by Kobe that was somehow turned into a three point play. Lakers win, 107-106, in OT. Ridiculous. You’d think the game was in L.A. the way the officiating crew was cowtowing to the Lakers.

Anyway, Redd has been coming off the bench the last few games as he tries to come back from his ACL surgery, and tonight he finally looked like himself. He posted 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and hit some big shots in the second half to bring the Bucks back from an eight-point deficit. In a game where Brandon Jennings had an off night, Redd stepped up. If he can get back to being an efficient scorer, the Bucks will have a pretty potent backcourt.

Line of the Night (12/15): Kobe Bryant

John Paulsen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:50:18 +0000

The Lakers started their longest road trip of the season in Chicago last night (5 games, which isn’t very long) and Kobe was in shoot-first mode for the entire game. He posted 42 points (on 15-26 shooting), three assists, two rebounds, three steals and EIGHT turnovers.

Is the Ron Artest move working out? Against the Bulls he went 3-14 from the field for nine points, four assists and five rebounds. He is shooting just under 43% for the season, which is right around his career average. I expected his accuracy to rise this season as he really doesn’t have to be much of a scorer and should be exercising better shot selection. So much for that.