White of the Night: Mehmet Okur

What can we say about the White of the Night - Mehmet Okur! WOW An historic game, scoring 43 on only 19 shots.

Great display of White basketball in the game between the Jazz and the Pacers, with White athletes accounting for 48% of the minutes and 51% of the points for the Pacers, and 45% of the minutes and 63% of the points for the Jazz. It hardly gets any better than that!

Breakout game by Brook Lopez! He would have been the WotN on just about any other night. Beautiful.

Stop the presses: Scalabrine starts for Boston... Whoa

It is nice to see Ukic continue to trend upwards with his minutes and production. Hopefully he can keep it up even after Calderon returns.

And oh, yes, welcome back, Kirk Hinrich.

Okur: 43p (19 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 28 min
B Lopez: 31p (17 shots) - 13 reb - 2 blk -- 40 min
Lee: 24p (16 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Bargnani: 23p - 8 reb - 3a -- 38 min
Kirilenko: 23p - 12 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 41 min
Dunleavy: 20p (14 shots) - 7 reb - 2a -- 23 min
Bogut: 18p (12 shots) - 10 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 38 min
Ukic: 16p (12 shots) - 3 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 23 min
Blake: 16p - 10a - 3 stl -- 39 min
Ridnour: 14p - 3 reb - 10a -- 36 min
Krstic: 12p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 23 min
Murphy: 12p - 10 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 31 min
Nesterovic: 12p - 4a - 2 blk -- ? min
Scalabrine: 11p - 2 reb - 2a -- 28 min
Foster: 11p (7 shots) - 8 reb - 4a - 2 stl -- 34 min
Humphries: 9p (5 shots) - 4 reb -- 20 min

White of the Night: Mehmet Okur

Some very nice games in limited game action on Monday, Jan 5.

The Birdman actually led his team in rebounding in only 12 minutes of play, and Biedrins continues to rip down massive doses of rebounds, but the White of the Night goes to Mehmet Okur, for his efficient and high powered game manning the post for the Jazz.



Bargnani: 21p (13 shots) - 8 reb -- 36 min
Okur: 20p (12 shots) - 11 reb - 2 stl -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 15p (10 shots) - 5 eb - 3a - 2 blk -- 27 min
Murphy: 15p (10 shots) - 12 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Biedrins: 14p (10 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) - 3a -- 36 min
Bonner: 11p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 31 min
Ukic: 11p (8 shots) -- 18 min
Koufos: 11p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 19 min
Kleiza: 11p - 4 reb -- 21 min
Ginobili: 10p - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl -- 26 min
Korver: 9p - 6 reb -- 24 min
Foster: 9p - 4 reb - 4a - 2 blk -- 16 min
Quinn: 8p (4 shots) -- 14 min
B Miller: 8p - 7 reb - 8a -- 32 min
Andersen: 6p (2 shots) - team high 9 reb -- 12 min

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blake and the newly starting Rudy Fernandez lead the Blazers over the suddenly reeling all-black Celtics! Sweet.

Paul Davis mans-up and plays a spectacular game, including 10-10 FTs, in his first start for the Clips! Way to go, Paul.

Hell if Pachulia doesn't put together another gem of an efficient night, as usual in spot minutes. Free Zaza!

Haddadi, who some of you might remember from the Iranian Olympic team this last summer, scored his first NBA points tonight. Good on ya, lad!

Nowitzki: 24p - game high 13 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 38 min
Blake: 21p (12 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 38
Ridnour: 21p (15 shots) - 5 reb - 6a - 2 blk -- 41 min
Bogut: 20p (13 shots) - 14 reb - 4a - 3 blk -- 44 min
P Davis: 18p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl -- 38 min
M Gasol: 16p - 13 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 40 min
B Miller: 15p - 13 reb (6 off) -- 38 min
Lee: 13p - 16 reb - 38 min
Ginobili: 13p (9 shots) - 5a -- 25 min
Udrih: 13p -- 27 min
Foster: 12p - 12 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Murphy: 10p - game high 14 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Amundson: 10p (6 shots) - 8 reb - 18 min
Pachulia: 9p (5 shots) - 5 reb - 1 stl - 1 blk -- 14 min
Varejao: 2p (1 shot) - team high 10 reb -- 24 min

White of the Night: Joel Przybilla

from Dec. 23rd:

Joel Przybilla earns the White of the Night honors for his monster game on the boards, ripping down 19 rebounds for the Blazers.

Nice to see Robert Swift in the lineup for OKC. He was performing well before his injury, so hopefully he will be back in the regular rotation soon.

Indiana looked a lot whiter tonight, even with Murphy out, as four of our guys got good minutes, including McRoberts and Diener. Very nice trend there, especially if they can keep it up when Dunleavy and Murphy get back.

Kirilenko: team high 22p (13 shots) - team high 11 reb -- 29 min
Nowitzki: 21p - 8 reb - 4a -- 35 min
Kleiza: 20p (10 shots) - 4 reb -- 26 min
P Gasol: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 3a -- 35 min
Nocioni: 18p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 30 min
Blake: 17p -- 31 min
Nesterovic: 13p - 3 blk -- 21 min
Foster: 12p - game high 14 reb (7 off) - 2 blk -- 31 min
Fernandez: 12p (9 shots) -- 21 min
Ridnour: 11p - 11a - 6 stl -- 44 min
Scola: 11p - team high 8 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Ilgauskas: 11p - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Diener: 11p (6 shots) - 4a -- 18 min
Przybilla: 10p (6 shots) - 19 reb -- 39 min
Bogut: 9p - team high 11 reb -- 37 min
McRoberts: 8p - 4 reb - 5a - 2 stl -- 25 min
Pachulia: 8p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 17 min

White of the Night: Luke Ridnour

News of note:
Josh McRoberts had his first significant minutes of the season, and played very well, blocking 4 shots, white scoring 10 with 8 boards. Let's hope to see more of Josh!
Steve Novak also makes our list for the first time this season, showing some aggressive shooting in his minutes.
Diener also gets some rare minutes, and performs well.
K-Love down to 6 minutes??? WTF...
Luke Ridnour wins White of the Night for his incredible efficiency, leading his team to a blowout victory.

Okur: 23p - 13 reb -- 40 min
Ridnour: 18p (7 shots) - 7a - 2 stl -- 26 min
Calderon: 16p - 4 reb - 4a -- 35 min
Nash: 16p - 11a - 2 stl -- 37 min
Nocioni: 15p - 8 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 41 min
Novak: 14p -- 18 min
Turkoglu: 14p - 5 reb - 7a - 2 stl -- 42 min
Bonner: 14p - 3 reb - 3a -- 29 min
Belinelli: 13p - 4a - 2 stl -- 34 min
B Miller: 13p (8 shots) - 9 reb - 4a -- 28 min
Ginobili: 13p (8 shots) -7 reb - 3a -- 24 min
Bogut: 12p - 8 reb -- 22 min
Kapono: 12p -- 26 min
Diener: 12p (6 shots) -- 15 min
P Gasol: 11p - 7 reb -- 42 min
Kirilenko: 11p -- 29 min
Biedrins: 11p - 9 reb - 3a -- 34 min
McRoberts: 10p - 8 reb - 4 blk -- 28 min
Kleiza: 10p (3 shots) -- 16 min
Foster: 9p - team high 10 reb -- 33 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

After a long season with mostly DNPs, Rob Kurz gets the start for the Warriors tonight, and demonstrates the high quality of his game! There are so many White gems in the league, who shine when polished off and given the PT. God bless you, Kurz, here's hoping we see a lot more of you.

Chris "Birdman" Andersen is officially getting the shaft. Playing in only 9 minutes (WTF!!!), Chris blocks 4 shots, plus 5 rebounds, with 6 points (on 3 shots) . One of the best defensive players, one of the most athletic, and extremely efficient on offense, and he is the 10th man off the bench??? What universe are we living in?

Gortat gets the start tonight for the Magic at C, performing admirably. While hesitant on O (only 5 shots), quite the monster on D, blocking 4 shots in his 30 minutes.

Bogut puts up a very solid 20-20, but how can we not reward Nowitzki with the White of the Night? Way to go, Dirk, for an incredible game.


Nowitzki: 46p (30 shots) - 8 reb - 4a -- 39 min
Turkoglu: 23p (15 shots) - 5a - 3 stl -- 40 min
Bogut: 20p (11 shots) - 20 reb (6 off) - 2 blk -- 41 min
Kurz: 20p (11 shots) - team high 7 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 32 min
Lee: 17p (9 shots) - 19 reb - 2 slt -- 35 min
Kirilenko: 17p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 30 min
Korver: 15p (9 shots) - 2 reb -- 29 min
Belinelli: 14p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 21 min
Foster: 14p (10 shots) - 5 reb (4 off) - 3a - 2 stl -- 25 min
Udrih: 13p (12 shots) - team high 6a - 4 stl -- 27 min
Ridnour: 13p (7 shots) - 6a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Okur: 12p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 33 min
Varejao: 11p (10 shots) - 8 reb (4 off) -- 37 min
Biedrins: 10p (7 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 24 min
Murphy: 9p (10 shots) - team high 11 reb -- 34 min


Games of Extreme Beauty (at least 2 points per shot): Kirilenko (17 on 8), Andersen (6 on 3), Pachulia (8 on 4), Croshere (7 on 3)

White of the Night: Jason Kapono

A few surprise starts:
--Jason Kapono, liberated by his new coach in Toronto, blows the lights out, and earns our White of the Night award for his 25 points and 8 boards!
--Adam Morrison for the Bobcats started and played a team high 37 min (but took only 7 shots???).
--Luke Walton was thrown into the starting lineup for the Lakers on Wednesday night after a bunch of DNPs and played well. It has been a real disappointment to see him buried, so here's hoping he continues to get more PT.
--Milicic starts for the Grizz, although he his basically splitting time with Marc Gasol at this point.

Chris Andersen should be getting consideration for defensive player of the year, but his low minutes continue to hamper his stats. In only 23 minutes off the bench, Chris blocked 4 shots, with 2 steals, to go along with his 6 rebounds (4 offensive). Why he is not starting in Martin's absense, I have no idea. Pure travesty.

Games of Extreme Beauty (at least 2 points for every shot): Belinelli, P Gasol, Ginobili, Biedrins, and Vujacic

White Highlights:
P Gasol: 28p (14 shots) - 5 reb - 4a -- 38 min
Ginobili: 27p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 3a -- 28 min
Kapono: 25p (16 shots) - 8 reb -- 38 min
Murphy: 20p (15 shots) - 20 reb - 6a -- 37 min
Biedrins: 18p (9 shots) - game high 14 reb - 4 blk -- 27 min
Stojakovic: 17p (11 shots) - 3 reb -- 26 min
Belinelli: 15p (7 shots) - 3 reb - 2a -- 14 min
Vujacic: 15p (5 shots) - 19 min
Varejao: 15p (12 shots) - 8 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Love: 14p (9 shots) - 14 reb (7 off) - 3a -- 31 min
Ridnour: 13p - 5a -- 26 min
Calderon: 11p - 14a - 5 reb - 3 stl -- 38 min
Foster: 10p (7 shots) - 12 reb (7 off) -- 25 min
Collison: 10p (7 shots) -team high 8 reb -- 33 min
Bogut: 10p - 9 reb -- 28 min
Carroll: 10p -- 25 min

White of the Night: Linas Kleiza

What a weird night in the NBA: both JJ Reddick and Brian Scalabrine started! It would have been nice to see them both score 20, but they both represented themselves well, being thrown in with the starters after mainly getting DNPs.

Kleiza earns the honors tonight for his mind-boggling scoring efficiency, on only 9 shots scoring 25 to lead the Nuggets to victory.

P Gasol: 34p (21 shots) - 6 reb - 3 a -- 34 min
Nowitzki: 32p (21 shots) - 9 reb -- 36 min
Kleiza: 25p (9 shots & 13-15 FTs) -- 28 min
Turkoglu: 22p (20 shots) - 7 a - 4 reb - 3 stl -- 39 min
Nesterovic: 21p (19 shots) - 7 reb - 5 a - 2 stl - 3 blk -- 35 min
Croshere: 17p (11 shots) - 6 reb - 3 a -- 17 min
Biedrins: 17p (9 shots) - 9 reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 33 min
M Gasol: 16p (6 shots) -- 23 min
Alexander: 14p (12 shots) -- 4 reb - 2 stl - 3 blk -- 31 min
Hawes: 14p (7 shots) - 4 reb -- 18 min
Fernandez: 13p (11 shots) - 7 reb - 3 a - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 35 min
Foster: 12p (6 shots) - 5 reb - 3 a -- 22 min
Rodriguez: 12p (8 shots) - 2 reb - 2 a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Gray: 11p (9 shots) - 5 reb (4 off) -- 21 min
Udrih: 11p (5 shots) - 5 a -- 27 min
Murphy: 10p - 19 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Reddick: 10p (9 shots) - 3 reb -- 34 min
Lee: 10p (8 shots) - 7 reb -- 21 min
Nocioni: team high 8 reb -- 22 min

Whites of the Night: Biedrins and Brad Miller

Brad Miller filled up the stat sheet across the board tonight (20p/11r/7a), earning co-White of the Night honors. The Kings are becoming a very easy team to root for, essentially playing 3 white starters, with all three of them dominating the ball, really. Hawes is technically coming off the bench (for some reason), but he is getting the lion share of minutes at PF, including the crunch minutes in the fourth quarter and OT.

Biedrins earns co-White of the Night as he had yet another monster night last night for the Warriors (17p/19r). Andris is by far the best center in the Western Conference so far this season, scoring at an slightly higher clip while pulling down a full 5 more rebounds a game than Yao, for example (who will no doubt be the All-Star starter because of racist Chinese voting).

Other news of note for tonight:

Robert Swift finally gets the start in OKC and plays a solid game (hopefully the Petro experiment is finally over)! Good for you, Robert.

Kosta Koufos (7'0 265) comes into his own tonight, posting a very strong game, playing 29 minutes as starting center for the Jazz (filling in for Okur).

Larry Brown continues the madness in Charlotte, actually starting Matt Carroll, then playing him only 18 minutes.

Ryan Anderson finally gets off the bench for the Nets, outscoring (by far) and playing more minutes than the starting forwards, helping propel the Nets to victory.

Strong games, home grown:
B Miller: 20p (16 shots) - 11 reb - 7 a - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 48 min
Hawes: 14p (10 shots) - 10 reb - 3 blk -- 36 min
Ridnour: 14p (10 shots) - 7 a - 6 reb -- 1 blk - 38 min
Lee: 18p (8 shots) - 6 reb - 1 blk -- 27 min
Anderson: 15p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Swift: 4p - team high 13 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Koufos: 9p, 10 rebs (6 offensive) - 5 blocks -- 29 min
Foster: 10p (6 shots) - 11 reb - 2 blk -- 18 min
Collison: 14p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 29 min
Morrison: 15p (8 shots) -- 24 min
Bonner: 11p (6 shots) - 19 min

Strong games, imported:
Biedrins: 17p (14 shots) - 19 reb (7 off) - 1 stl - 1 blk -- 35 min
M Gasol: 18p (8 shots) - 7 reb - 1 blk -- 39 min
P Gasol: 15p (11 shots) - team high 10 reb (5 off) - 6 a -- 40 min
Nowitzki: 24p (18 shots) - 6 reb (3 off) -- 35 min
Bogut: 12p (8 shots) - 15 reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 39 min
Udrih: 18p (16 shots) - 4 reb - 4 a -- 40 min
Turkoglu: 12p (10 shots) - 5 reb -- 27 min
Fernandez: 10p (6 shots) - 2 a -- 29 min
Kleiza: 10p (7 shots) -- 19 min

White of the Night: Rudy Fernandez

Rudy explodes! Scoring 25 on only 11 shots (8-8 FT), throwing in 3 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block just for good measure.

Notable events from tonight and yesterday:

Rookie Koufos plays strong, after riding the pine all year, starting for the second time in Okur's absense: 12 points (7 shots), in 21 minutes.

Swift is definitely on the rise: playing a full 18 minutes, gathering up 7 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.

Steven Hill gets his first NBA minutes for OKC as well, pulling 3 boards in 2 minutes of play.

Top two scorers for the Kings last night: 19 from Hawes and 18 from Udrih.

Quinn looks like he is working his way back into the rotation in Miami, playing almost 30 minutes, scoring 10 on 7 shots and dishing 5 assists.

Pachulia starts again for the second night in a row, but played only 25 and 22 minutes, scoring 12p (6 shots) and 9p (5 shots), with solid rebounding as usual. How good can you play, and still not start in this league?

Other solid games by whites the last couple nights:

Udrih: 30p (20 shots) - 7 a - 5 reb - 2 stl -- 38 min
Jeff Foster: 16p (8 shots) - 7 reb (4 offensive) - 2 blk - 2 steals -- starting PF
Brad Miller: 16p (10 shots) - 11 reb - 8 a -- 40 min
Pau: 22p (15 shots) - 11 reb (5 off) -- 35 min
Varejao: 13p (5 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 22 min
Morrison: 16p (11 shots) -- 28 min
Kirilenko: 16p (8 shots) - 8 reb -- 32 min
Bargnani: 15p (11 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Aaron Gray: team high 10 reb (5 offensive) in his mere 17 minutes.
Lee: 15p (9 shots) - 9 boards -- 30 min
Bogut: 10p - 17 reb (7 offensive)
Biedrins: 13p - 15 reb -- 43 min
Pryzbilla: 7 p (4 shots) - 10 reb -- 22 min
Marc Gasol: 16p (11 shots) -- 28 minutes

On the WTF list: Reddick buried; Belinelli still getting only 4 minutes a game, like clockwork; Herman again disappears, Lee's minutes dropping game by game, not even starting anymore....

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blake, where have you been??? Showing off his skill and aggressive play tonight for Portland: 20p (8 shots, 10-11 FT) - 5 reb - 4 a - 2 stl -- 32 min

Rudy continues his solid play, rising to the top of the ROY chart: 16p (10 shots) - 3 a - 3 stl -- 32 min

Hedo goes off the way it is supposed to be done: 35p (21 shots, 9-12 FT) - 4 reb - 3 a -- 42 min

Jeff Foster puts together a solid game: 15p (8 shots, 7-9 FT) - 5 reb - 3 a - 4 blk -- 36 min

Kapono gets some decent minutes tonight to show his stuff: 14p (10 shots) - 6 a - 4 reb -- 29 min

Marc plays a solid game against a monster Sun's frontcourt: 15p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 27 min

Quinn puts together a tight game, leading the Heat in plus-minus: 9p (4 shots, 6-6 FT) -- 21 min

Dragic plays to perfection in his 13 backup minutes: 8 points on 2 shots, going 2-2 FG and 4-4 FTs.

Robert Swift continues to build momentum, playing for over 12 minutes tonight and showing his worth: 9p (4 shots) - 7 reb. Very nice production for such limited time, definitely earning more.

McRoberts finally gets off the bench, playing 10 minutes for the Pacers.