Tag: Trey Burke

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

Some athletes play better against the best.

Damian Lillard has a soft spot for the Golden State Warriors. Seemingly every time Lillard takes on the Warriors, he takes his career best performance to a new level. Wednesday night, Lillard figured he’d slay the Kevin Durant dragon, ya know, while he was at it.

Damian Lillard sprinted out of the gate, scoring 18 points in the 1st quarter, giving the Trailblazers a 40-27 lead. Kevin Durant would spend the rest of the evening chipping away at the Trailblazers’ lead. His 50-point effort simply wasn’t enough, as the Warriors fell 123-117. Durant was literally the only Warrior to show up last night. Seriously, he played 1-on-5 all night. Okay, that’s not true, but that’s how it felt. Durant made 17 field goals, while Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green combined for 18 field goals.

Lillard finished with 44 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in 40 minutes (including going a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line).

lillard 2

Add this to the list of Lillard’s outstanding performances against the Warriors:

12/11/17 – 39 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals

4/16/17 – 34 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block

5/7/16 – 40 points, 5 rebounds, and 10 assists

2/19/16 – 51 points, 7 assists, and 6 steals

Not bad for a guy who’s inexplicably made just 3 All-Star teams in his 6-year career.

From the really good..to the REALLY bad….

The New York Knicks.

Just when you think they can’t stoop any lower, they find a way. Tim Hardaway Jr., the 2nd streakiest shooter in the NBA (J.R. Smith will forever hold that distinction), was en fuego last night. Entering last night’s game, Hardaway Jr. was 5 for his last 41 from 3-point range. THAT’S 12.2%!! Last night, he went 6 for 9 from downtown. You figure it out.

hardaway jr

As for the game, the Knicks held a 22-point lead over the Washington Wizards with 11:14 to play in the 3rd quarter. Just 1 minute and 33 seconds later, the lead was 13. And thanks to a 15-point 3rd quarter, the Knicks actually trailed 90-87 heading into the 4th quarter. The end result: 118-113, not them.

How is this possible you ask?!?!

Remember when I told you Hardaway Jr. is streaky??

Well, he dropped 32 points in the 1st half, and just 5 in the 2nd half. That’s how!! Honestly, I’m glad. The Knicks should tank the last 23 games anyway. They should play Emmanuel Mudiay, Frank Ntilikina, and Trey Bruke as much as humanly possible. I swear, if I have to watch Jarrett Jack play 28 minutes 1 more time, I may lose it!!

By the way, the Knicks have now lost 8 games in a row.

As for Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks will be without his services for approximately 1 year. Porzingis, sent out a photograph, post-surgery, to let Knicks’ fans know he’ll remain positive throughout his rehab process and can’t wait to get back on the court.

kp surgery

So keep your heads up Knicks’ fans. At least you can look forward to 2020….

 

Where does Damian Lillard’s performance rank amongst individual accomplishments this season?? Will the Knicks win another game this season?? Tell me in the comment section below.

You can now find me on the Radio too. Download the TuneIn Radio App and search OWWR. I’ll be on live every Wednesday from 6:10 P.M. – 8:00 P.M EST. I also broadcast every show on Facebook Live via my DaveTalksSports.com Facebook Page: http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports.

Since you enjoy my writing, follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like my page on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. You can also Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading!! Now go tell all your friends!!

 

It’s Good To Be Rick Pitino

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 2 Comments

There are a select few that are inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. It is an unbelievable honor and it certainly should be a major highlight in ones life. Now coaching a college basketball team to the national championship is a special honor as well, and not just anyone can say they accomplished such a feat. How about accomplishing both of these lifetime achievements in the same day? Doesn’t sound too bad now does it? Well, you can just ask Rick Pitino how it feels because he just had the best day of his life. On Monday morning Pitino got the news that he had been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and on Monday evening he won the Men’s College Basketball National Championship. Pitino became only the 2nd coach in history (the other being John Calipari) to lead two different teams to national championships. He led Kentucky to the promised land in 1996. Last night’s game was very well coached by Pitino, and he along with some special performances earned Louisville it’s 3rd championship title. In case you missed the game because the start time was insanely late, let me give you a quick breakdown of what happened.

Michigan jumped out to an early lead and seemed to control the tempo of the game in the first half. Unfortunately, Trey Burke, Michigan’s best player, found himself in foul trouble after picking up two quick fouls. Anyone who watches Michigan basketball knows that head coach John Beilein sits players with two fouls for the entirety of the first half. This could have spelled major trouble for Michigan, but Burke’s backup, freshman Spike Albrecht, came to the rescue scoring 17 first half points off the bench. Thanks to little Spike, the Wolverines had a 12 point lead with just under 4 minutes to play in the first half. 3 minutes later, Louisville was up by 1. How did that happen you ask? Well I’ll tell you. Luke Hancock happened, that’s what happened. Hancock split the net from downtown not once, not twice, but four times in a row in the span of exactly 2 minutes. This shooting display not only brought Louisville back to life, but they found themselves with a 1-point lead with 24 seconds left in the first half. Michigan did carry a 1-point lead into halftime thanks to a layup by Tim Hardaway Jr, however the momentum had clearly shifted back to the Cardinals. In the second half, the game remained tight, however if you watched it you could see that Louisville had taken control of the game. Once Louisville gained the lead with 13:50 left, they would not relinquish it for the rest of the evening. At the same time Michigan never went down more than 8 points at any point in the game. The difference in the game for Louisville was a combination of Peyton Siva and Luke Hancock offensively and a solid team effort defensively. We already know that Luke Hancock went 5 for 5 from 3-point range, but the intensity and energy displayed by Louisville on the defensive end is the real storyline here. This must be a testament to Rick Pitino, because you must encourage players to defend like that. That style of defense is not engrained in your DNA like scoring, it must be taught. And while this is definitely a cliche, Defense Wins Championships!

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!