Weekly Report: Awards and Injury Updates
Lakeshow Losses
The Lakers experienced quite a busy week over the past seven days. In addition to two close road victories against far-inferior opponents, the Spurs have been on pins and needles as far as injuries go. Gasol went from day-to-day with a “sore hamstring” to perhaps it being a “hamstring tear” back to “close to return” in a week’s time. He was slated as doubtful for last night’s game but is likely to return soon after he gets in some practice reps. To make matters worse the Lakers were without the services of Andrew Bynum as well last night. In the contest earlier in the week against the Houston Rockets, Bynum suffered a strained right elbow. A little adversity never hurts anyone and with a loaded roster and 17 out of their first 21 at the Staples Center, I do believe the Lakers will fight through this early rough patch.
Sad Days in Sacramento
It’s as if the sickness/curse that the Clippers organization has, has descended south to the capital city. Sacramento has been bombarded with injuries and shenanigans in excess early on in this 2009-10 season. After their starting wing Francisco Garcia went down for, all intents and purposes, the season, with a freak weight-lifting accident, Kevin Martin recently suffered a hairline fracture in his left non-shooting wrist. After much deliberation, Martin and the front office decided that it would be in the best interest for him as well as the franchise for him to undergo surgery on the fractured wrist. The procedure will be done on Monday and subsequently Martin will miss approximately two months.
As if those two punches were not enough, first-year head coach Paul Westphal has been shuffling the deck so to speak with his starting line-up as of late. Just trying to find some semblance of cohesion, he seemed to have found a pretty good combination when he rolled out a starting unit of Evans, Martin, Nocioni, Thompson, and Hawes on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks. The team really gelled and the scoring consisted more than simply pass the rock to Martin and if he doesn’t make it perhaps one of us will get a put-back. After Nocioni’s injection into the starting line-up he decided to go out and celebrate with a little booze. Nocioni was cited for a DUI after being seen swerving and weaving in his lane early Thursday morning. He paid the $1482 bail and was released around 3:30 AM. Needless to say, the Kings have their hands full moving forward.
Forward Progress
On a brighter note forwards Antawn Jamison and Kevin Love are progressing through their rehabilitation extremely well. Jamison worked out for 45 minutes prior to the team boarding their chartered plane to Indiana for Friday’s match-up against the Pacers. Jamison was very upbeat about his progress noting, “It’s just no contact—they don’t want me getting hit or pushing or shoving. But we haven’t had any limitations as far as drills, running, shooting or anything like that.” Love continues to work hard in rehabilitating and despite early reports that Love would be out until mid-December, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that a return date of November 20 has been set for the former UCLA Bruin.
Nets’ Nicked Up
As if their roster was not depleted enough to being with, the Nets have had a handful of setbacks starting with their point guard Devin Harris. He suffered a strained groin during an 85-95 loss to the Orlando Magic last week. After the injury, he projected that he would miss 7-10 days tops. After going to the doctor and a subsequent second opinion, Devin upped his timetable to 2-4 weeks.
Two games removed from franchise cornerstone Devin Harris going down, Yi Jianlian sustained a strained MCL against the Bobcats when forward Gerald Wallace came down awkwardly on the Chinese big man. Yi’s timetable for returning to action currently sits at 6-8 weeks.
With two of three best players out, CDR has taken upon himself to pick up the slack for the short-handed Nets but perhaps he did so at his own expense. Did he push himself too hard or was this just the flu bug? Regardless, the second-year man out of Memphis missed Friday’s matchup with flu-like symptoms as Lawrence Frank rolled out a roster of nine total players. And now for a look at the weekly awards….
This Past Week
Individual Stat of the Week: Dwight Howard 14-16 FTs Sunday vs. Toronto
Game of the Week: Rockets vs. Lakers
A great battle between two players who swapped addresses in Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza, a Cinderella story, and a Championship team trying to overcome adversity—there was no shortage of storylines surrounding this game.
Individual Performance of the Week: Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk led the Mavericks from down 15 to a home win over the Utah Jazz thanks to a 29-point fourth quarter that saw him go 14-14 from the line and 7-8 from the field.
Statline of the Week: Dirk Nowitzki vs. Utah Jazz
40 points (12-22 FG, 15-16 FT), 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks, 2 steals, 0 turnovers in 39:06
I hate to double-dip on the awards but Dirk’s line was just too impressive to overlook. The 0 turnovers sealed the deal.
Best Video of the Week:
Not so much helping your cause in attempting to become a GM Chuckster.
The Week Ahead
Best Game No One is Talking About: ORL @ OKC Sunday
One-on-one Match-up of the Week: Lebron James vs. Dwyane Wade Thursday
Upset Alert: ATL @ NYK Wednesday
Offensive Struggle: CHA vs. DET Wednesday
Offensive Horse Race: GSW vs. NYK Friday
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