The Curious Case of Kevin Love

The entire world is commenting on the lack of playing time for Kevin Love, who is clearly the best big man for Team USA, and among the best overall players on the whole team.

This odd lack of playing time is puzzling to many observers, but the fact is, we here at White Basketball have seen this exact situation time and time again. It is part of very regular pattern. In American basketball, quality White players are denied minutes and starting spots even when they are outplaying and out-producing the Black player in front of them.

The pattern is also holding true that this usually happens under White coaches. Why? No one seems to know. But once you start to look for it, it is everywhere, as I have documented extensively on this blog.

The first step to overcoming this discrimination is acknowledgement of the problem, and I hope this blog will help raise awareness. Getting articles like this publised by ESPN certainly helps:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/19616/team-usa-no-love-for-love-from-coach-k

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- One of the big mysteries surrounding Team USA at the World Championship is why Kevin Love's playing time has been so limited.

He has been, by far, the most productive and aggressive player for the Americans when it comes to producing points and rebounds off the bench, but he is playing behind Andre Iguodala at the 4 spot and behind Lamar Odom (and sometimes Tyson Chandler) at center.

In yesterday's victory over Iran, which I dissected in my postgame column with a critical eye regarding the Americans' offense, Love led the team in scoring with 13 points despite playing the fewest minutes (just under 11) of anyone on the roster.

"I just go out there and try to be productive. Coach said today everybody's in their roles. I think for me, I know Lamar is going to be the starting center, and he's going to play a lot of minutes. So when I get the chance to come in, whether I'm playing 5 minutes or 25 minutes, I have to get the job done. And I feel I've done a good job contributing thus far," Love told ESPN.com.

Love played only 5:20 in Team USA's 2-point victory over Brazil, 13:24 in the 22-point victory over Slovenia and 13:14 in Team's USA's tournament-opening 28-point victory over Croatia.

That's a total of just 42 minutes in five games, yet Love leads Team USA in total rebounds with 28 (Kevin Durant is second with 27, and Odom has 26) and in offensive rebounds with 10 (Iguodala is 2nd with 6). He also has shot 50 percent from 3-point range and 61 percent overall, and he is the team's fifth leading scorer (8.3 ppg) behind Durant (18.8), Chauncey Billups (10.0), Derrick Rose (9.5) and Rudy Gay (9.0).

World Championship Day 2 - Luis Scola

Star performers:

Luis Scola, PF, ARG -- 31p (19 shots), 9r (4 off)
Vassilis SPANOULIS, PG, GRE -- 28p (12 shots)
Hamed Haddadi, C, IRI -- 27p, 9r (5 off)
Joe Ingles, SG, AUS -- 22p (15 shots), 4r
Marc Gasol, C, ESP -- 22p (9 shots)
Jan Jagla, PF, GER -- 22p (11 shots), 9r, 4a
Kirk Penney, SG, NZL -- 21p
Kosta Perovic, C, SRB -- 20p (10 shots)
JJ Barea, PG, PUR -- 20p (12 shots)
Jackson Vroman, PF, LEB -- 19p, 5r, 3st
Linus Kleiza, SG, LTH -- 18p, 10r
Tiago Splitter, PF, BRA -- 16p (10 shot), 4r
Kevin Love, PF, USA -- 10p, 11r (5 off) in 13 minutes
Levon Kendell, PF, CAN -- 9p, 11r
Ilyasova, PF, TUR -- 10p, 10r

World Championships Day One - Kirk Penney

Of course, the big news of the day was the shocking loss of all-White Spain to the heavily Black squad from France. France actually started a White player at guard, who then got a grand total of 8 minutes playing time. We have seen that pattern of "starting only to sit on the bench" far too often in the NBA. It is hard to know what motivates it.

There were a number of incredible performances by White players at the Worlds today.

Kirk Penney, SG (NZL) -- 37p (20 shots and 16-20 FTs)
Linus Kleiza, SF (LTH)-- 27p (15 shots), 8r
Carolos DelFino, SG (ARG)-- 27p (18 shots), 8r
JJ Barea, PG (PUR) -- 25p (17 shots), 4a, 4r
Aleks Maric, C (AUS)-- 23p (14 shots), 9r
Derek Anderson, PF (AUS) -- 22p (10 shots), 9 r, 4a
Aleksandar Rasic, SG (SRB) -- 22p (9 shots), in 18 minutes
Ioannis Bourousis, C (GRK) -- 21p (12 shots), 8r
Luis Scola, PF (ARG) -- 20p (12 shots), 4r
Guilherme Giovannoni, PF (BRZ) -- 17p (10 shots), 7r
JC Navarro, SG (ESP) -- 17p (13 shots)
Ersan İlyasova, PF (TRK) -- 17p (8 shots), 8r, 3a, in 21 min.
H. Haddadi, C (IRN) -- 16p, 9r, 5 blocks
Goran Dragic, SG(SLO) -- 16p (9 shots), 8a, 5r
Marko Popovic, PG (CRO) -- 16p (8 shots)
Levon Kendall, PF (CAN) -- 11r (4 offensive)
Kevin Love (USA) -- 10r in 11 minutes.
Marcelo Huertas, PG (BRZ) -- 10p (5 shots), 9a in 22 min.
A. Ponkrashov, PG (RUS) -- 10p (5 shots), 11a

White of the Night: Jose Calderon

Beautiful night in Indiana, as the Pacers start three American Whites, and win a big one over the Rockets!

Interesting stat from NY: New York has outscored opponents by 53 points when Gallinari has been on the court during the four games since he returned from injury. Gallinari made our list of top performers again tonight, scoring a smooth 11 on 5, in only 17 min.

Sean Marks thrust into the starting C spot in N.O., and good to see him do well.

But, oh, J.C. Superstar! Jose Calderon, in his return from injury game, proves his worth, leading the Raptors to victory, and earning our White of the Night.


Top White Performers:

Nowitzki: 26p - 7 reb -- 36 min
Scola: 25p - 7 reb -- 38 min
Calderon: 23p (10 shots) - 10a -- 29 min
Bargnani: 22p (13 shots) - 5 reb -- 30 min
Turkoglu: 22p - 3 reb - 2a -- 38 min
Lee: 19p (11 shots) - 14 reb -- 34 min
P Gasol: 18p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 28 min
Hinrich: 17p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 7a -- 32 min
Stojakovic: 17p -- 39 min
B Lopez: 15p - 8 reb -- 35 min
Nocioni: 15p (10 shots) - 6 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Murphy: 14p (10 reb) - 16 reb -- 33 min
Dunleavy: 13p - 4 reb -- 27 min
Vujacic: 13p (7 shots) - 2 reb - 3a -- 25 min
M Miller: 12p - 9 reb - 5a -- 29 min
Gallinari: 11p (5 shots) -- 17 min
Love: 11p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 22 min
Marks: 10p - 7 reb -- 29 min
Novak: 10p -- 22 min
Szczerbiak: 10p (5 shots) -- 14 min
Radmanovic: 10p (5 shots) -- 13 min
Nesterovic: 9p (5 shots) -- 15 min
Pachulia: 9p (3 shots) - 6 reb -- 22 min
Najera: 9p (4 shots) - 6 reb -- 25 min
Foster: 8p - 7 reb -- 30 min
Barry: 8p - 8 reb -- 21 min
Ridnour: 7p - 4a - 5 stl -- 26 min
Gray: 7p - team high 7 reb -- 22 min
Biedrins: 6p - 13 reb - 4 blk -- 34 min

White of the Night: Steve Nash

Shocker in Cleveland: Pavlovic starts, and sees the most PT of any Cav tonight. Weird how erratic minutes can be in the NBA. But he performs spectacularly, scoring 19 on 10, in a solid all-around game. Wally Szczerbiak puts together a magnificent game at the same time, scoring 14 on 6 shots! Good work guys. As usual, our White athletes perform well when given the starting nod because of an injury ahead of them, making you wonder why they aren't getting more time to begin with...

White of the Night honors tonight to Steve Nash, for a very solid 20p-7r-14a game. Way to go MVSteve! The old man still gots it.

David Lee, 21 rebounds, wow. Perfect shooting game too, 6-6 for 15 points.

Dunleavy and Hinrich look to be coming on strong after their injury hiatus, great to see for us fans of the White America ballplayers.


Dunleavy: 22p (15 shots) - 3a - 2 blk -- 28 min
Nash: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 14a -- 45 min
Bargnani: 20p (14 shots) - 5 reb -- 40 min
B Miller: 20p (7 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Pavlovic: 19p (10 shots) - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 43 min
Kleiza: 18p (11 shots) - 4 reb - 3a -- 30 min
B Lopez: 17p (10 shots) - 6a - 2blk -- 32 min
Ridnour: 17p (11 shots) - 10a - 3 stl -- 37 min
Murphy: 15p (9 shots) - 15 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 41 min
Lee: 15p (6 shots) - 21 reb - 4a -- 42 min
Stojakovic: 15p - 6 reb -- 39 min
Radmanovic: 15p (9 shots) -- 15 min
Pachulia: 14p (8 shots) - team high 8 reb - 2 blk -- 30 min
Udrih: 14p (10 shots) - 2a -- 38 min
Szczerbiak: 14p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 29 min
Bonner: 13p (8 shots) - 3 reb -- 20 min
Love: 13p - 14 reb (7 off) - 2 stl -- 25 min
Okur: 13p - 8 reb -- 30 min
Kirilenko: 13p (7 shots) - 6 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Turkoglu: 13p - 5 reb - 3a - 2 blk
P Gasol: 13p - 9 reb -- 20 min
Hinrich: 12p (6 shots) - 3 reb - 5a - 2 stl -- 30 min
Harpring: 12p (8 shots) - 2a -- 15 min
M Gasol: 12p (8 shots) - 10 reb - 3a -- 34 min
Nocioni: 11p - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 37 min
Biedrins: 10p - 9 reb - 2a -- 33 min
Przybilla: 4p - 11 reb (6 off) -- 21 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Look at Birdman Anderson continuing his spectacular play, leading the team in boards and blocks, to go with 3 steals, in his 21 minutes. Oh yeah, and 15 points on 8 shots. The complete game!

Redick also continues his torrid pace, playing well, as usual, and trending up in minutes.

Nice game by Stevie Nashty, but his fellow MVP gets the prized White of the Night for his spectacular 44p-14r game! Monster game for Dirk!

Nowitzki: 44p (26 shots) - 14 reb -- 42 min
Nash: 23p (13 shots) - 5 reb - 6a -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 17p - 8a -- 35 min
Redick: 15p (9 shots) - 2 reb -- 26 min
Andersen: 15p (8 shots) - team high 10 reb - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 21 min
Hawes: 14p - 4 reb -- 27 min
Radmanovic: 12p (6 shots) - 6 reb -- 19 min
P Gasol: 11p - 7 reb - 4a - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 41 min
Pachulia: 10p - 11 reb (7 off) -- 31 min
Barry: 9p (5 shots) - 5a -- 17 min
Love: 8p - 9 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 24 min
Udrih: 8p - 2 reb - 3a -- 17 min
M Gasol: 6p - game high 11 reb -- 39 min

White of the Night: Nick Collison

Great game on Saturday night from Nick Collison, starting at C for OKC, winning the White of the Night recognition. Great to see Nick back in the lineup, with his thumb fully bandaged, but obviously still able to get the job done.



Top White game reports:
Okur: 22p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 21 min
Collison: 21p (12 shots) - 9 reb (6 off) - 4a - 2 stl -- 35 min
Scola: 18p - 11 reb -- 27 min
Blake: 15p - 4 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 38 min
Bogut: 14p (8 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Lee: 14p - 11 reb -- 34 min
Ridnour: 12p - 9 reb - 6a -- 35 min
Fernandez: 12p (7 shots) - 6a -- 25 min
Morrison: 11p (6 shots) - 2 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Nocioni: 11p - 2 reb -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 11p - 7 reb - 7a - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 31 min
Harpring: 11p - 2 reb -- 17 min
Biedrins: 10p (5 shots) - 6 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 33 min
Krstic: 8p - 2 reb - 2 blk -- 13 min
Love: 5p - game high 12 reb -- 22 min

White of the Night: Pau Gasol

Wow, some incredible games by our White athletes on Wednesday!

-- Awesome efficiency by: Bargnani, 25 on 9, Love 16 on 5, Okur 20 on 10!
--Biedrins with an insane stat line: 12p-17r-8a-3s-3b
--Amundson leads his team in rebounds, ripping down 14, including 9 on the offensive glass.
--Kleiza takes his starting opportunity to show off his skills, leading the Nuggets in scoring.
--Brook Lopez with 5 blocks to complement is 17p-8r night.

But how can we not give the coveted White of the Night to Pau Gasol for his monster 33p-18r game? Beautiful game by the Spaniard, yet again.

And let us not forget: welcome back, Mike Dunleavy!

P Gasol: 33p (21 shots) - 18 reb (8 off) - 2 blk
Bargnani: 25p (9 shots) - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 34 min
Kleiza: 21p (13 shots) - 7 reb -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 20p (12 shots) - 7 reb - 8a - 2 stl -- 37 min
Okur: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb -- 28 min
B Lopez: 17p (11 shots) - team high 8 reb - 5 blk -- 31 min
Nash: 16p (9 shots) - 12a -- 43 min
Love: 16p (5 shots) - 15 reb -- 22 min
Szczerbiak: 15p (9 shots) - 5 reb -- 28 min
Korver: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb - 4a -- 21 min
M Gasol: 14p (9 shots) - 10 reb - 3 stl -- 40 min
Varejao: 14p (9 shots) - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Dunleavy: 14p - 4a -- 20 min
Belinelli: 14p -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 13p (10 shots) - 8 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Fernandez: 13p (10 shots) - 2 reb - 2a - 2 blk -- 30 min
Murphy: 12p - 6 reb -- 23 min
Kapono: 12p (8 shots) - 2 reb -- 25 min
Biedrins: 12p (8 shots) - 17 reb - 8a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 38 min
Redick: 11p (7 shots) - 2a -- 19 min
Ridnour: 11p - 4a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Harpring: 10p (7 shots) -- 12 min
Nesterovic: 10p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 16 min
Blake: 10p - 10a -- 33 min
Najera: 9p (6 shots) - 2 reb -- 14 min
Amundson: 9p - team high 14 reb (9 off) -- 25 min

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: David Lee

What a way to start out the new year! Honestly, this has probably got to be the most solid overall night from our White ballplayers this year. Lots of high scorers, with some incredibly efficient games. Very sweet stuff, and very difficult to single out one guy for tonight's award.

Dirk led the night in PRA with 46, Varejao had an incredible game starting at C, Brad Miller was a monster on the glass and on offense, Pau led his team in rebounds and assists, Troy led his team in rebounds, assists, and steals, K-Love and Bonner shot the lights out... As I said, very tough to decide, but I have to give the White of the Night again to D-Lee for his sweet efficiency, hard work on the boards, and incredible 5 steals!

Tip of the hat also to Sasha Pavlovic, making our list of top performers for the first time this year.


Nowitzki: 31p - 4 reb - 5a - 4 stl - 2 blk -- 39 min
Varejao: 26p (14 shots) - 8 reb - 3 stl -- 31 min (starting C)
Lee: 26p (15 shots) - 11 reb - 3a - 5 stl -- 40 min
B Miller: 25p (18 shots) - 16 reb (8 off) -- 38 min
Okur: 21p (13 shots) - 13 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
P Gasol: 21p (13 shots) - team high 11 reb - team high 6a -- 30 min
Love: 19p (9 shots) - 8 reb -- 25 min
Fernandez: 19p (11 shots) - 4 reb -- 36 min
Bargnani: 19p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 32 min
Biedrins: 18p (12 shots) - 13 reb
Bonner: 16p (9 shots) - 29 min
Murphy: 15p - 18 reb - team high 5a - team high 3 stl
M Gasol: 15p - 11 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Stojakovic: 14p -- 36 min
Pavlovic: 13p (8 shots) - 5 reb -- 21 min
Ginobili: 13p - 6 reb - 6a - 5 stl -- 23 min
Nocioni: 11p (7 shots) -- 14 min
Belinelli: 10p - 6a -- 29 min
Przybilla: 10p (6 shots) - 7 reb -- 32 min
Kirilenko: 10p (6 shots) - 2 stl -- 11 min

White of the Night: Jose Calderon

Some great performances for all us White basketball fans last night, but I've got to give the prestigious White of the Night to Jose Calderon for his 21-6-16 night! Belinelli come in a close second for his spectacular game. Commendations to Love (17 on 7) and Scola (16 on 8) also.

--Utah looking more and more like a White Basketball team, their White players getting 50.75% of the total playing time in their deletion of the all-black 76ers! Sweet! Kirilenko also looks rejuvenated back in the starting lineup for Utah, filling up the sheet like the old days.

--The best rebounder in the league continues to perform miracles in spot minutes, of course I'm speaking of Zaza Pachulia.

--The Birdman thrown into the starting lineup for the Nuggets, but takes only 1 shot in 31 min??? Come on, Chris, play like you belong! He did lead the team in rebounding, but we expect more!

--Swift got the start down in OKC, nice to see. Go Big Red!

Belinelli: 23p (12 shots) - 6a -- 37 min
Calderon: 21p (14 shots) - 6 reb - 16a -- 44 min
Okur: 19p - 10 reb -- 35 min
Love: 17p (7 shots) - 7 reb -- 31 min
Nocioni: 17p (10 shots) - team high 8 reb -- 24 min
Scola: 16p (8 shots) - 5 reb -- 34 min
Kirilenko: 16p (12 shots) - game high 13 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 36 min
Turkoglu: 14p - 5 reb - 8a -- 42 min
Biedrins: 13p (8 shots) - 15 reb - 2 stl - 5 blk -- 30 min
Korver: 12p (7 shots) - 5a -- 25 min
M Gasol: 12p - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 37 min
Kapono: 11p - 3 reb -- 30 min
Humphries: 10p - 4 reb -- 10 min
Pachulia: 8p (4 shots) - 8 reb -- 18 min

White of the Night: Hedo Turkoglu

Dec 27

Spectacular night from Hedo, scoring 26 on 12 shots, leading the Magic, and good old fashioned stat stuffer from Kirilenko for the Jazz. Also nice to see Fesenko, Korver, and Koufos step up for the Jazz.

Turkoglu: 26p (12 shots) - 7 reb -- 37 min
Kirilenko: 20p - 10 reb (5 off) - 5a - 3 stl -- 49 min
Ginobili: 20p (16 shots) - 4 reb - 4a -- 40 min
Bogut: 17p - 10 reb -- 26 min
M Gasol: 15p - 10 reb - 4 blk -- 41 min
Koufos: 14p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 20 min
Bargnani: 13p -- 21 min
Korver: 13p (10 shots) - 6a -- 40 min
Fesenko: 12p (8 shots) - team high 11 reb - 3 blk -- 34 min
Nocioni: 11p -- 22 min
Calderon: 11p - 8a -- 38 min
Scola: 10p - game high 14 reb - 4a -- 46 min
Pachulia: 10p (7 shots) - 7 reb -- 20 min
B Lopez: 6p - game high 13 reb -- 30 min
Love: 5p - game high 10 reb - 20 min

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: Jose Barea

Two solid games in a row for JJ Barea, earning the coveted White of the Night as he got even better in his second start. Barea's 18 shots highlights my oft-repeated point: White SGs take note -- shoot like you belong, if you want to stay on the floor.

The experiments continue in Chicago, with Aaron Gray getting the start, and ripping down 9 boards in his 21 min.

The Birdman Andersen continues to produce miracles in ridiculously few minutes, blocking 4 shots in his 18 minutes, to go with 8 points (on 4 shots) and 5 boards.

Marc Gasol responds to his benching with one of his best games of the season.

The solid White games tonight:

Nowitzki: 24p (17 shots) - 11 reb - 3a -- 35 min
Barea: 22p (18 shots) - 4a -- 31 min
M Gasol: 21p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 26 min
Stojakovic: 20p (10 shots) - 27 min
Nocioni: 19p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 26 min
Kirilenko: 17p (12 shots) -- 23 min
Bonner: 14p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 19 min
Collison: 14p (8 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 27 min
Pachulia: 13p (7 shots) - game high 12 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 34 min
Love: 13p - game high 15 reb -- 33 min
Okur: 12p - 13 reb (5 off) -- 33 min
Oberto: 12p (5 shots) - 6 reb -- 23 min
Nash: 12p - 9a - 5 reb -- 38 min
P Davis: 10p (7 shots) - 3 reb -- 15 min
B Lopez: 6p - team high 11 reb - 3 blk -- 26 min

White of the Night: Pau Gasol

Give the White of the Night honors to Pau Gasol tonight, leading his team in rebounds and blocks and second in scoring, on a very efficient night for the big man from Spain.

Other notable White players tonight:

Stojakovic: 24p (16 shots) - 6 reb -- 35 min
P Gasol: 22p (12 shots) - 13 reb (5 off) - 3 blk -- 36 min
Turkoglu: 22p (16 shots) - 3 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 39 min
Lee: 16p (12 shots) - 16 reb (6 off) -- 41 min
Love: 16p (10 shots) - team high 12 reb (8 off) -- 26 min
Blake: 15p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 5a -- 34 min
Ilgauskas: 14p - 10 reb (6 off) -- 23 min
Fernandez: 13p (6 shots) - 4 reb - 3 stl -- 25 min
Ridnour: 12p - 10a - 4 stl -- 41 min
Radmanovic: 11p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 19 min
Murphy: 10p - team high 10 reb -- 27 min
Varejao: 9p - team high 10 reb -- 19 min

White of the Night: Troy Murphy

Troy Murphy earns White of the Night for his strong game against the Lakers, winning the game for the Pacers with his buzzer beating tip shot, just one of his 17 monster boards.

Other solid games over the past two nights:

Nowitzki: 29p (27 shots) - 10 reb -- 2 stl - 2 blk -- 43 min
P Gasol: 20p (12 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) -- 36 min
Lee: 19p (11 shots) - 12 reb -- 40 min
M Miller: 19p (13 shots) - 10 reb - 5a -- 34 min
Turkoglu: 19p (16 shots) - 5 reb -- 40 min
B Miller: 18p (13 shots) - team high 9 reb - 4 blk -- 38 min
Fernandez: 18p (11 shots) -- 21 min
Biedrins: 17p (10 shots) - 15 reb -- 34 min
Udrih: 17p (12 shots) - 4a - 3 reb -- 36 min
Murphy: 16p (12 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) -- 37 min
Korver: team high 15p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 28 min
Blake: 15p (9 shots) - team high 6 a - 4 reb -- 28 min
Barea: 15p (11 shots) - 6a -- 24 min
Hawes: 14p (12 shots) - 7 reb - 6a - 3 stl -- 34
Ukic: 13p (9 shots) -- 16 min
Ginobili: 13p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 27 min
Kleiza: 12p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 23 min
Love: 10p - 8 reb -- 22 min
Przybilla: 8p - 14 reb - 2 blk -- 25 min

Many of our guys are out with small injuries right now, including Foster, Harpring, Kirilenko, Kaman, Barry, and Bogut. Not to mention the longer term injuries to Hinrich, Dunleavy, Gallinari, and LaFrentz.

White of the Night: David Lee

David Lee racks up career highs in points and rebounds in an offensive spectacle between the Knicks and Warriors. Woulda loved to have seen that game. God bless D'antoni. What a difference a good coach can make.

Also want to make a tip of the hat to Matt Bonner, whose minutes have been on the rise, and showed his worth tonight with 17 points on only 7 shots, to go with 5 rebounds, in his 22 minutes.

From the WTF!!! files:
-- Belinelli starts, plays 7 minutes.
-- Kirilenko: 9 min PT
-- Redick starts, plays 30 min, shoots only 4 shots. Come on, JJ, get your head out of your ass. As a rare White who starts at SG, if you don't shoot like you belong there, you will be riding the pine real quick.

Solid White games of Saturday night:

Lee: 37p (29 shots) - 21 reb (8 off) - 3 stl -- 38 min
Ilgauskas: 23p (17 shots) - 17 reb (7 off) - 2 blk -- 31 min
Turkoglu: 22p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 3a - 4 stl -- 39 min
Nowitzki: 19p (12 shots) - 8 reb -- 31 min
Love: 18p (9 shots) - 12 reb(6 off) - - 28 min
Bonner: 17p (7 shots) - 5 reb - 2 stl -- 22 min
Songaila 16p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 23
Biedrins: 16p - 7 reb (6 off) - 3 a - 5 stl -- 29 min
M Gasol: 16p (8 shots) - 6 reb - 24 min
Ridnour: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 31 min
Kleiza: 15p (11 shots) -- 24 min
Murphy: 13p (11 shots) - 11 reb -- 31
Udrih: 13p - 9 reb ( 4 off) - 7 a - 2 stl -- 29 min
Scola: 11p (7 shots) -- 24 min
Okur: 10p - 11 reb -- 34 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

White of the Night: Luke Ridnour

Luke Ridnour is the White of the Night for his very solid night leading the Bucks to victory tonight: 20p (13 shots, 6-7 FT) - 11a - 7reb - 2 stl -- 42 min

Jose Calderon was close second: 24p (12 shots) - 8 a - 4 reb -- 35 min

A number of whites played well the in the battle of the whitest teams: Utah vs Portland.
Blake: 16p (10 shots) -- 35 min as starter
Pryzbilla: 7p (3 shots) - 16 reb (6 offensive) - 2 blk -- 37 min as starter
Rudy: 14p (8 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 27 min off bench
Okur: 22p (14 shots) - team high 9 reb -- 36 min as starter
Kirilenko: 17p (8 shots, 7-8 FT) - 4a - 4 reb - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 32 min off bench


Other notables:

Mike Miller: 25p (19 shots) - 7 rebs - 6 assists -- 48 min

K-Love also posted a solid game making progress off the bench: 14 p - 9 reb - 3 blk -- 36 min

Andersen: 9p (5 shots) - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 18 min off bench

Bargnani: 12p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 21 min off bench

Bogut had a solid game in support, bagging 10p (7 shots), 13 reb - 2 blks -- 37 min.

Biedrins: 12p - 11 reb (5 offensive) - 5 blks -- 34 min

Songaila played a surprising number of minutes tonight for Bullets, woops, I mean, the Wizards and put together some solid numbers: 9p (5 shots) - 2 blks -- 23 min.

Amundson also played some strong but limited minutes for a deep Suns squad: 6p (3 shots) - 5 rebs -- 10 min

Kevin Love shows up at last

Kevin Love (6'10 270 PF), much heralded rookie from UCLA, finally has a solid game for the Timberwolves. I must admit, I have expected more from him this preseason, but so far, his stats have been pretty weak.

In 21 minutes of action tonight, Kevin scored 14 on only 6 shots, including a team-high 5-5 FTs, and collected a team-high 10 rebounds, as well as 2 steals.

Very nice night for Kevin, let's hope he can build on the momentum and live up to his billing.