White of the Night: Luis Scola

Scola shoots like his name is Dirk or something, jacking up 20 shots tonight for the Rockets, leading the team in shot attempts and points. Nice work, Luis! I think he should definitely be more aggressive getting his shot off, but he is a great team player, and usually focuses on the dirty work, averaging only 9 shots a game. It is nice to recognize him as tonight's White of the Night.

Kirilenko missed the last two games with a dislocated finger, which was still slightly discolored and swollen after tonight's game, but he returned to his new role as Utah’s sixth man and flourished again, including a spectacular block of a Shaq dunk attempt.

Harpring was also back after some injury time off. Okur has returned and was available, but did not play tonight.

Kevin Garnett hit with suspension for striking Bogut in the face. This on top of last week's well publicized taunting of Jose Calderon and his refusal to acknowledge Pachulia. Can we say Garnett is an obvious racist? Or is he this much of a classless punk to black players too?

Ahearn plays his first minutes! Hitting a three pointer in his 4 minutes for the Spurs.

Mark Cuban, idiot owner of the Mavericks, will hopefully be serving jail time, charged today with insider trading.

Scola: 23p (20 shots) - 9 reb -- 34 min
Kirilenko: 19p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 3 a - 2 blk -- 32 min
Kaman: 17p - 13 reb (4 off) - 3 blk -- 38 min
Nash: 14p (10 shots) - 8 a - 3 reb -- 32 min
Korver: 11p (7 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 22 min
Swift: 6p - 8 reb (4 off) - 2 blk -- 25 min

Welcome back Blake Ahearn

If anyone deserves a place in the big leagues, it is this guy, probably the best shooter on the planet.

The San Antonio Spurs signed guard Blake Ahearn on Sunday, adding a new face in the backcourt with Tony Parker still recovering from a sprained ankle. The Spurs signed the 6-foot-2 Ahearn from the Dakota Wizards of the NBA D-League. He played in 12 games for Miami last season, averaging 5.8 points and 1.6 assists. San Antonio made room for Ahearn by waiving guard Desmon Farmer. The rookie had not played since going 2-for-9 in the Nov. 7 game against Miami, when Parker suffered the injury that’s expected to keep him out until next month.

Blake is the the first GATORADE Call-Up of the 2008-09 NBA Development League season, and the 120th overall since the league began play in November 2001. The Call-Up marks the second of Ahearn’s career, following a stint with the Miami Heat during the 2007-08 season when he averaged 5.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 14.8 minutes in 12 games. A member of the Minnesota Timberwolves training camp this season, Ahearn appeared in five preseason games and averaged 7.8 points and 1.2 assists in 11.8 minutes.

Ahearn played in 41 games (15 starts) for the Wizards during the 2007-08 season when he earned the NBA D-League’s Rookie of the Year award and averaged 19.0 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 29.5 minutes, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 43.9 percent from three-point range and 96.0 percent from the free throw line.

A standout at Missouri State, Ahearn averaged 13.1 points and 1.8 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from the field during his career. He finished his NCAA career as the all-time leading free throw shooter in NCAA Division I history, while finishing as Missouri State’s seventh all-time leading scorer with 1,677 points.

Blake Ahearn waived

Wow, as cynical as I am, this one kinda surprised me. Despite how well he has played in the preseason, Minny cuts Blake Ahearn, and keeps a washed up journeyman (Kevin Ollie) in his place.

Really makes you wonder what it takes for an unheralded white American to get a shot in the league. Very depressing.

Here is a video news report showing Blake's game winning shot the other night, plus an interview with him.

www.kxmb.com/video.asp?ArticleId=287795&VideoId=23072

Ridiculous discrimination, squared and cubed

This is the crap that really pisses me off. A white player will play a fantastic game when given minutes, outplaying the starters coming off the bench, and the next game, rather than being rewarded with some PT and the chance to keep the hot streak going, they actually see a drastic reduction in minutes.

Cases in point:

Ryan Anderson, NJN, yesterday scores 20, on 11 shots, playing 25 minutes against Boston. Today, buried, playing only 9 minutes. Not even like he was playing bad, scoring 4 on 2 shots, with 3 boards, but it looks pathetic even touting it. No one can get to double digits as the 10th sub in 9 minutes of PT, and what is point of mentioning single digit production...

JJ Redick, DNP tonight against the Hawks. WTF? Was he was injured, because what other reason is there for a DNP??? Two nights ago JJ scores 14 on six shots and led the team in plus-minus in his meager 21 minutes. The rookie who started ahead of him and played 26 minutes that night, scoring 2 (on eight shots!!!) to go with his 3 TOs, HE GETS REWARDED tonight with 33 minutes. Are you kidding me???

Blake Ahearn, against Toronto, scores 15 (2nd on team) on only 9 shots in his 21 minutes. Then in the very next game, he gets thrown in for a grand total of 4 minutes of PT, at the very end of the game against Denver, no less (but STILL hits a clutch 3 to help Minny win).

Where is the logic or sense in all this? Unless discrimination against white Americans makes sense, and it's logical not to play your best players.

Ahearn continues strong play

Blake Ahearn leads all Minny guards in scoring tonight in their victory over Toronto, scoring 15 on only 9 shots, playing just 21 minutes. He also picked up a steal, zero TOs, and zero fouls! Which shows how smart he is, avoiding getting busted for DWW (Defending While White).

His highly touted (1st round draft pick) but younger, smaller, and worse-shooting rival at PG (Sebastian Telfair), played more minutes (over 24), but had only 4 points and 1 steal, while producing 2 TOs and 3 fouls.

Weird how that works, isn't it? You can be younger, smaller, more careless, more foul-prone, more crime-prone, and worse shooting, but if you are a "playground legend" with dark skin, you get a fat first round contract and average over 30 mpg. Yup, that's the NBA.

Ahearn making his case

Blake Ahearn is making a strong case in Minny. Will his skill and shooting prevail over a "playground legend" (Telfair)? Ahearn is quite possibly the most accurate shooter in the league, so he should be getting major minutes if not starting. But given that he is an undrafted, pale skinned, d-league call-up, that is probably expecting too much.

At at rate, last night Blake made his case, scoring 17 points on 10 shots, including an impressive team-leading 8 shots from the line, in 23 minutes of play. Given that there were no technical fouls in this game, it must mean Ahearn was playing very aggressively, which is especially good for him. Given the color of their skin, if whites don't play uber-aggressive, they are labeled as soft.

Blake Ahearn joins the Timberwolves

Blake Ahearn (6'2 190 PG) 1 year pro, is trying out for the Wolves 3rd PG spot. In the 2007-2008 season, Ahearn plated with the NBA Development League's Dakota Wizards. He worked his way to the starting lineup, averaging 19 points, with a 96% free-throw percentage, shooting 49% from the field and 44% from 3-point range in 41 games.

Ahearn was signed to a 10-day contract by the NBA's Miami Heat whose roster had been depleted by injuries, did well, and played a total of 12 games.

Ahearn was named the Rookie of the Year of the D-League and All-NBA Development League Second Team.

He holds the career record for career 3-pointers at Missouri State with 276, and was selected the Missouri Valley Conference MVC Freshman of the Year (2004), also being a 2-time all-Missouri Valley Conference first teamer (2006 and 2007).