This was a good game following a good game for Jeff Teague, which is the first time he’s done that since December. On Wednesday, he went for 28 points (3-5 from deep, 12-18 from the line) with 4 rebounds and 11 assists. If he can string a third quality game in a row, then we’ll have something to chatter about at our Joy Luck Club meeting. In the meantime, I’m going to do some cross-promotion and tell you to check out our sister wife Hockey section. Frank has some sleepers up (what, no Chris Kreider?) if you want to take a gander. The basketball stuff will still be here when you come back. In fact, it’s just below this line:
Carloos Boozer – His double double saw an impressive 36 points (no threes, 4 free throws) and 12 rebounds, plus 3 assists and a steal. He now has 15+ points in 10 straight games (and at least 10 rebounds in 9 of those), and he has 20+ points in 6 of 8 games this month. It’s hard to kill an old Boozer (usually the liver takes care of that).
Bradley Beal – Even with John Wall back (14/3/10/3/1), Beal continued his high production for the Wizards (their mascot should get the guy with the bird crap on his head from The Hobbit) with 26 points (6 of 7 from downtown, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal, a block and only 1 turnover.
DeMarcus Cousins – So he didn’t turn out to be the elite Center I wanted him to be, but his 21 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals add to a month where he is averaging 22 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals per game. If your attraction has faltered, it’s time to renew your love for Cousins.
O.J. Mayo – Despite missing 11 of 14 shots (including 3 from the perimeter), he hit 12 of 13 from the free throw line to finish with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and even a block. He was playing like a bat out of Hellman’s.
Tyreke Evans – As I stated yesterday, Evans is taking advantage of his starter’s minutes, and ya’ll should, too, knawmean? He went for 21 points, 8 boards, 8 assists and 3 steals last night. He’s averaging 17 points over the past 4 games.
Tristan Thompson – He had a healthy double double with 19 points and 14 rebounds, supplemented with 2 assists and 2 steals. He also missed half of his 10 free throws.
Nicolas Batum – He had his usual 23 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and steal, but he also took 9 three pointers, hitting 3, and tallied 9 turnovers, which, believe it or not, isn’t good. Until then, he was only averaging 2.3 per night in January. Maybe his beret got in his eyes (because he’s French, people, come on, it’s a stereotype, stay with me).
James Harden – Nothing really wrong with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, but the problem is he only hit 1 of his 8 shots from behind the arc. For the month of January, he’s averaging .270 and .237 over the past 5 games. During that latest stretch, he’s hitting less than 2 per game despite taking nearly 8 long distance shots. Someone should reach out and touch Harden…and tell him to cool off on the deep launches for a few days.
Greivis Vasquez – Speaking of bad perimeter shooting, General Greivis missed 6 of 7 from downtown, although he still finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Slightly concerning is he has not had double digit assists in 3 straight games (although last time out he did reach 9).
Paul Pierce – While we are poo-pooing players, let’s take a dump on P.P., who went 12/10/4 with a steal but still missed 6 of 7 from behind the arc. Over the past 3 games, he’s made 6 of 22 attempts. This is also his first double digit rebound performance since December 21, although no one owns him for his prolific rebounding (and if you do, I think we should sit down).
Alan Anderson – He earned 27 points (including 4 threes), 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal. Nice to see him find his sea legs again after two shaky games. Okay, yes, last game he took an elbow to the face and had to see a doctor, but he still came back from that. It’s all about overcoming obstacles, people. That’s what they say at the A.A. meeting.
Al-Farouq Aminu – Al-Fa dog produced 18 points, 9 rebounds, an assist and a steal. Well, nice to see the points join the boards (an average of 10 rebounds over the past 5 games).
Brook Lopez – Brook added 22 points and 9 rebounds, plus a block, to the throbbing (pulsating?) Nets. That’s 3 games in a row falling 1 shy of double digit rebounds. He also has at least 1 block in all but 1 game this month. As an aside, shouldn’t he really change his middle name to Lynn? Or maybe change his last name to Lynpez?
