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: Luis Scola

Weird news from Tuesday, Jan 6: Darius Songaila thrown into the starting lineup for the Wiz, then only gets to play less than half the game. Aaron Gray, Robert Swift, and Matt Carroll are stuck in the same "starting only to sit" routine. It is very weird.

Fantastic scoring night for Dirk, but the White of the Night award goes to Luis Scola for his monster game, pouring in 18 on 10 shots, and ripping down 17 rebounds. Nice job Luis!

Nowitzki: 34p (23 shots) - 4 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 38 min
Turkoglu: 22p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 7a - 3 stl -- 34 min
Scola: 18p (10 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) -- 36 min
B Miller: 18p (12 shots) - 12 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 34 min
Lee: 14p (9 shots) - 13 reb -- 35 min
M Gasol: 13p - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 29 min
Morrison: 13p (9 shots) -- 15 min
P Gasol: 10p - team high 8 reb - 5a -- 42 min
Redick: 8p (4 shots) - 3 reb -- 18 min

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blakes earns White of the Night honors tonight for his solid night overall, including hitting the game winner 3 pointer to lift the Blazers to victory.

Look for Calderon's assists to go way up as his new coach unleashes the Raptors into a Dantoni- style running attack.

Marc apparently played his way back into the starting spot, posting a very solid game for the Grizz, leading them in steals, blocks, and rebounds.

Belinelli finally breaks through? Getting a whole 18 minutes, Marco produces 13 points, on only 7 shots, and 2 steals. Free Belinelli!

A bunch of our guys down with minor injuries right now: Kaman, Barry, Diener, Quinn, Gortat, and Humphries.

Solid games this night and last:

Blake: 19p (14 shots) - 7 reb - 4a -- 32 min
Biedrins: 17p - 21 reb - 5a - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 40 min
Fernandez: 16p (8 shots) - 8 reb -- 26 min
Scola: team high 16p - game high 15 reb (6 off) -- 33 min
Alexander: team high 15p (10 shots) -- 24 min
Calderon: 15p (9 shots) - 13a -- 38 min
Murphy: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 40 min
Collison: 15p (10 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 23 min
Morrison: 13p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 22 min
Lee: 12p (8 shots) - 19 reb - 3a -- 37 min
P Gasol: 12p (5 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) - 5a -- 29 min
M Gasol: 10p - team high 8 reb (4 off) - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 34 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Although I am boycotting the Dallas Mavericks because of Cuban's ridiculous defense of his racist, unAmerican player Josh Howard, I have to give it to Dirk tonight, pouring in 39 points and ripping down 15 rebounds.

Other news:

Bargnani finally back in the starting line up! Good job, Andres. Looks like coach is realizing he is too good not to start, and went with the tri-towers tonight, starting Bosh, O'Neil, and Bargnani to nice effect as they beat the Heat.

Kris Humphries also had a very solid game for Toronto tonight in his first significant action of the year.

Amundson had a game-high 3 blocks for the Suns tonight, in only 15 minutes of play. Good to see him get to show his skills every now and then, thanks to coach Porter's use of the deep bench, which is definitely something more coaches should do.

Nowitzki: 39p (27 shots) - 15 reb - 4 a -- 44 min
Turkoglu: 20p (15 shots) - 3 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Nash: 17p (10 shots) - 7 a - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 37 min
Udrih: 16p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 4 a - 3 stl -- 35 min
Morrison: 14p (10 shots) - 3 reb -- 21 min
Lee: 14p (12 shots) - 11 reb - 3 a - 1 blk -- 36 min
Humphries: 14p (6 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) - 3 a -- 16 min
Bargnani: 12p - 4 reb - 3 a -- 31 min
Kleiza: 11p (4 shots) - 7 reb (4 off) -- 25 min
Bonner: 11p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 2 stl -- 27 min
Quinn: 11p (10 shots) - 3 a -- 24 min
B Miller: 10p - 8 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Kapono: 10p (8 shots) - 3 a - 3 stl -- 18 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: 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: Marc Gasol

Wow. Just wow. What a game. Marc leads the Grizz to victory tonight:
27 points, on 11 shots (w/ 9-11 FTs), 16 rebounds, 3 blocks -- in 35 minutes.

I think I have been the only person pointing out that he will be a top Rookie of the Year candidate. I guarantee you, after tonight's game, others will start adding him to the list.

Biedrins had a monster game in his own right tonight: 16p, 22 reb (9 offensive). However, no trips to the line, no blocks, 3 blocked attempts. Marc won the battle of titans tonight, clearly.

And hey, what do you know: Belinelli got off the bench! Played 4 whole minutes, and managed to hit a 3 pointer.

Caveman Kaman put in a solid night: 19p (12 shots), 10 reb, 3 blk, all team highs -- 39 min

Kirilenko also with an outstanding game: 15p (10 shots), game-high 11 rebs, and game-high 4 stl -- 32 min off the bench

Hinrich: 5 shots, 0 FTs, 4 points, in 35 minutes??? What is he thinking?

He needs to take a lesson from his oppenent tonight Hedo Turkoglu, who went 3-16 for 10p! Now that's what I'm talking about, that's how you have to play in the NBA: shoot like you deserve it.

Nocioni showed them how it is done, scoring 20 points, on 12 shots, in 26 minutes. Earned 9 trips to the line, to go with his team-high 7 boards. Nocioni needs to be starting.

Hawes continues his solid play as a starter for Sacramento, scoring 15p (11 shots) and team-high 8 rebs and 2 blks.

A ray of (white) light in Charlotte? Morrison went 4-6 for 10p in his 24 minutes. So, where is Matt Carroll?

Adam Morrison posts a nice game

Adam Morrison (6'8 205 SF) has not logged many minutes this preseason, and his prospects under his new coach do not look good, given Larry Brown's preferred style of play and narcissistic, hard-headed personality. In the five previous pre-season games before tonight, Adam has played this many minutes: 13, 21, 0, 12, and 0, putting up a grand total of 12 shots over those 5 games.

However, sharp shooting nights like tonight should help keep Adam in the lineup, as he scored 12 on only 6 shots, while playing just 18 minutes.

Adam attracts a lot of hate, because, like JJ Redick, he is a non-submissive white. The very personality traits that are lauded and admired in black athletes, like passion, anger, and ultra-competitiveness, make a white athlete an object of hate. It is a huge double standard.

Everyone seems to be an expert on the weaknesses in Adam's game, but he has basketball talent galore and can do great things on the court, not the least of which is SCORE.

Good luck to Adam in what seems to be destined as a frustrating sophmore year, under a new coach.