The Hoop Scoop – 11/7/2010

News and Notes From The Day

• Another night and another double-overtime game, this time between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers. It was a great game – the Jazz battled back from an 18 point deficit in the second half to eek out the victory.
• The New Orleans Hornets continued on their hot streak and beat the Milwaukee Bucks to stay undefeated.
• There is a rumor floating around that the Knicks are attempting to trade for Steve Nash and I hope, for Nash’s sake, that it goes down. Nash has great relationships with Amare and D’Antoni, he also loves New York City as well. Phoenix is going nowhere this season – place Nash on the Knicks and they have a shot at the playoffs this season. The crazy thing is the Knicks have the pieces to trade for both Nash and Carmelo this season – could get interesting.

Top 5 of the Night

1. Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies: 32 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.
2. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings: 30 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
3. Deron Williams, Utah Jazz: 30 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.
4. Paul Millsap, Utah Jazz: 25 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
5. Chris Kaman, Los Angeles Clippers: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 blocks.

Picking the fifth spot was tough with so many options to choose from: Chris Kaman, Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, Al Jefferson, Gerald Wallace, Dwayne Wade, Tony Parker and the list goes on and on. I had to go with Kaman tonight, because of how much he has been struggling this season and he finally had a breakout game.

Fantasy Stud of the Night

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Al Jefferson were all possible choices tonight, but ultimately I went with Blake Griffin who put together another nice line:

• 16 points, 6 of 8 from the free throw line, shot 50% from the field, 17 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

While it looks like Griffin will be a double-double machine every night he plays, I have to admit that I am disappointed with his lack of blocked shots so far – he is only averaging 0.2 blocks per game. A guy with Griffin’s leaping ability and athleticism should be blocking at least two shots a night. Hopefully this is something that he can improve upon as the season progresses – I’d be willing to bet that it does.

Dunk of the Night

The nice thing about having Dwyane Wade and LeBron James on the same team is the potential to have stellar dunks like this on a nightly basis. LBJ grabs the board, outlets to Wade who drives to the bucket and leaves the ball hanging for James to throw down a two-handed slam.

As a bonus, I am including an extra dunk of the night, which also involves Wade. It is one of my favorite plays from the 2008 Olympics. Wade steals the ball, chases the ball down before it goes out of bounds, makes a great save by lobbing the ball to Kobe, who throws it down. Classic!

Deadbeat of the Day

Carlos Delfino, who has been one of my early-candidates for Most Improved Player of the Year, took a couple of steps backwards tonight with this atrocious line: 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. He made just one of his 6 shots and missed all of his 3-point attempts.

The Bucks only lost by 6 to the Hornets tonight, had Delfino had a decent game tonight there is a good chance they could have ended the Hornets undefeated streak. That may be a bold prediction, but that’s they type of impact that Delfino can have on his team.

Hilarious Pic of the Day

I have no doubt that this trainer is probably a very nice guy. That being said, anyone who is grinning like that, behind Sam Cassell, while in that already-awkward position, is going to look super creepy.