White of the Night: Manu Ginobili

Great game by Manu Ginobili, taking the White of the Night award for Sat. Jan 3.

K-Love also deserves recognition for the noticable upswing in his game recently.

Ginobili: 21p (13 shots) - 3 reb - 3 stl -- 28 min
Stojakovic: 19p - 6 reb -- 40 min
Love: 18p - 12 reb -- 21 min
Scola: 16p (9 shots) - 11 reb -- 39 min
B Miller 13p - 9 reb - 6a -- 36 min
Nocioni: 13p - 3 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Murphy: 12p - 13 reb
Ridnour: 12p - 3 reb -- 29 min
B Lopez: 12p - 8 reb -- 30 min
Barry: 11p (6 shots) - 3a -- 23 min
Pachulia: 10p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 17 min
Gray: 10p - team high 9 reb -- 32 min
Kleiza: 9p (5 shots) -- 10 min
Nesterovic: 8p -- 6 min
Alexander: 8p (4 shots) - 9 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Dec 25 & 26

Utah, looking like a very White team, starting Koufos and Kirilenko, with Harpring, Korver, and Fesenko dominating the second team, resulting in Whites playing a remarkable 46% of the total minutes that game for the Jazz, leading them to victory over the Mavs.

Nowitzki: 30p (18 shots) - 5 reb -- 34 min
Belinelli: 22p (17 shots) - 4a - 2 stl -- 43 min
P Gasol: 20p (14 shots) - 5a - 3 blk -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 20p (12 shots) - 6 reb - 5a -- 36 min
B Miller: 20p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 34 min
Koufos: 18p (11 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 29 min
Nowitzki: 17p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 29 min
Calderon: 16p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 6a -- 38 min
Bargnani: 14p (5 shots) -- 21 min
Blake: 14p (11 shots) - 7a -- 38 min
B Lopez: 14p - team high 7 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
M Gasol: 14p (10 shots) - 5 reb -- 23 min
Milicic: 14p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 17 min
Nesterovic: 14p (9 shots) - 9 reb -- 27 min
Fernandez: 13p (8 shots) -- 28 min
Varejao: 13p (7 shots) - team high 13 reb -- 30 min
Nash: 13p (8 shots) - 4 reb - 8a -- 38 min
Gray: 12p (7 shots) - team high 11 reb (5 off) -- 25 min
Lee: 12p - team high 13 reb (6 off) -- 33 min
Ginobili: 11p - 4 reb - 4a -- 26 min
Kirilenko: 9p - team high 14 reb -- 38 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

White of the Night: Kevin Love

Kevin Love gets his first start tonight, and makes the coach look like a genius, putting in 20 points (team high) on only 7 shots (with 8-10 FT), and pulling down 8 boards in 30 minutes of play.

Biedrins was a close second, winning his rematch with Marc Gasol: producing game highs in points (27) and rebounds (12), on only 13 shots in his 35 minutes.

Marc Gasol had a statistically good night, scoring 8 on 4 shots, with 6 rebounds, but he only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

More good news from that game: Belinelli played for almost 10 minutes.

Other solid white gamers tonight:

Kaman: 23p (18 shots) - 11 reb (5 off) - 2 blk - 2 stl -- 42 min. The Caveman needs to stay mentally sharp and do this every game, it is that simple.

Brad Miller looks solid in his first game this season, sending Hawes back to the bench, although they played about the same minutes, and both put up solid games.
B-Miller: 11p (6 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 26 min
Hawes: 13p (9 shots) - 8 reb - 1 blk -- 21 min
Udrih also shows up strong for the Kings: 15p (11 shots) -- 32 min

Mike Miller does well for himself, scoring 16 with 6 rebounds.

Peja goes for team leading 20 points and a team leading 7 rebounds for the Hornets.
And STOP THE PRESSES!!! Matt Carroll gets off the bench for 27 minutes! Holy cow, what is going on? Larry Browns figures he might want to play his best shooter? Wow, what a concept! Matt goes a modest 3-8 for 7p - 4 reb - 3 a. Low and behold, Charlotte wins! Adam Morrison jacks up 9 shots in his 15 minutes, scoring 9 points, and hey, that is how you get it done.

Klieza scores 14 (on 10 shots) in less than 15 minutes!

Chris Quinn finally gets some minutes in Miami, pouring in 15 points on 9 shots in his 17 minutes.

Robin Lopez goes off for 14 points on 6-9 shooting in his first start as a Sun, to go with his team high 7 rebs and 2 blks, in his 30 minutes of play. Amundson has also earned some nice time for the Suns, playing 23 minutes off the bench, punching in 7 points, hauling 4 rebs and 1 blk.

Hinrich and Aaron Gray picked up the start for Chicago, but played on 16 and 15 minutes each. Weird. Kirk still picks off an insane 5 steals in that short time.

Okur and Kirilenko both pick up 16 points on 9 shots for Utah tonight in their 36 and 31 respective minutes. AK-47 also rips down team highs with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Korver scores 13 on only 7 shots in his 23 minutes off the bench.

David Lee scores 13 on his 10 shots in almost 27 minutes, but only 1 rebound? What's up with that, D-Lee?

Varejao, very nice! 18p (12 shots) - 8 reb (3 off) - 3 stl -- 30 min
Szczerbiac goes off for 11 points on only 4 shots in his 26 minutes.
Ilgauskas scores 17 on his 9 shots, very efficient as usual in his 29 minues.

Scola: 14p (10 shots) - 7 reb -- 18 min

Barry: 2 shots in 29 minutes??? WTF

Whites of the Night: Bargnani and Turkoglu

Bargnani is one of the co-Whites of the Night, scoring 19, on only 10 shots, and blocking 3 shots, along with 5 rebs, in his 30 minutes. He clearly outplayed the washed up J. ONeil (2-10 for 5 p - 6 reb - 34 min), who for some reason, took his spot at starting C. Have you ever heard off an up-and-coming 1st overall draft pick having his development shut down, being replaced by washed-up old guy from another team? Only when the guy is white, obviously. What a joke. Way to show 'em tonight, Andres!

Turkoglu is my other co-White of the Night after he put together a fantastic night: 18 p (10 shots) - 9 reb - team high 7 a - 40 min

Caveman Kaman came alive tonight, with 15 p - 15 reb - 4 blk in his 44 min. He needs to keep his game at that level if he wants to make the jump to all-star status, and he was the closest American white to reach that level last year.

In the same game, the Birdman Andersen showed his skill, but despite outplaying both of them in the preseason, continues to play small minutes behind two lesser skilled blacks at PF and C. In only 15 minutes, Andersen had 5 p (2 shots) - 5 reb (2 off) - 3 blk. Free the Birdman!

Looks like nothing is going to hold Biedrins back now. He actually led the Warriors in minutes, producing 17 p (on 13 shots) and team high 13 rebs (5 off). Has Nellie had a momentary flash of sanity? Doubtful, since Belinelli continues to ride the pine, with another DNP-CD.


Kopono, only 4 shots in 21 minutes? Come on, give him the green light, coach!

Hinirch, only 3 shots 25 minutes? Dude, you've already been displaced at PG, you now need to shoot if you want any minutes at all. Wake up, Kirk!

At least the monster in the middle Aaron Gray got off the bench in Chicago, cleaning up 6 boards and 3 blocks in his 18 minutes. Compare the starter D. Gooden's 4 boards and zero blocks in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, starting PF Tyrus Thomas goes 2 for 17, with only 6 boards, yet plays 29 minutes. Are you kidding me? Nope, no double standard here, move right along, please.

Udrih: 1-7 for 2 p - 5 TOs - 21 minutes??? You better step up, Beno, only blacks can get away with numbers like that an expect to keep their spots in the NBA. Don't believe me, just look at the boxscore, when his own teammate at G went 2-8 with 5 TOs, but played 10 more minutes, as well as the above mentioned Thomas who starts and never gets pulled even while going 2-17.

Seriously, have you ever seen a white go 2-17? Number one, they are better shooters than that, and two, they would pass it off if they were having such a bad night, but three, they are never given the chance! The only high-volume white shooter in the league is Dirk! Time to start jacking up shots like the blacks that surround you, white men, or you will never get the publicity.

Aaron Gray, monster in the middle

Aaron Gray (7'0 270) is a stud basketball player, begging to be used to his capability. Last year, his rookie campaign, his numbers were pedestrian, averaging 10.0 mpg, producing only 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds.

However, a glimpse of his power came in the last game of the season, as he was given 35 minutes of PT, and produced 19 points (on 13 shots) and an eye-popping 22 rebounds.

Aaron's minutes this preseason have been all over the board, under the new coach and with lots of team injuries, let's just say there have been a lot of experiments with the lineup. The one constant: when given minutes, Aaron is a beast.

He has played 20+ minutes three times (out of six games so far) this preseason, but look at these numbers:
21 minutes, 10 boards (2 offensive)
24 minutes, 9 boards (5 offensive)
28 minutes, 11 boards (5 offensive)
14 minutes, 7 boards (3 offensive)

Not only does he put up big rebound numbers, overall, a full 40% of his rebounds are on the offensive end, which is an absolutely incredible stat, and truly demonstrates his skill.

These numbers are sick, and if given starters minutes, there is no doubt, Aaron would be one of the elite rebounders in the league.

Aaron Gray earns it on the court

When white ballers are allowed to play, they show up strong, so why are they given so little playing time? Case in point, 2nd year center Aaron Gray (7'0 270):

In the Bulls first preseason game against Dallas, Aaron comes off the bench for 24 minutes, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, and blocks, with 14 points (on only 8 shots), 9 boards (4 offensive), and 2 blocks. Also throw in 1 steal.

Given the starting nod against the Pacers, and over 28 minutes of PT, big man Aaron Gray punched in 13 points (on 8 shots), including a team leading six trips to the line, to go with his team leading 11 rebounds (5 offensive) and 2 steals.

Seriously, what is not to like about this kid?