Raza's Worst Of The Night: March 12, 2012

(Thanks again to guest author Raza for stepping up in the clutch, in other words, not being John Starks.)

"Dear Lord, thank you for letting me continue being one of the most overpaid players in the league.  And especially for those Luke Walton photos from our summer getaway."  

New Jersey Nyets:  Have a 29-11 free throw advantage at home? Check  


Manage a 13 point lead? Check  


Allow one of the least efficient volume shooters in the league (Brandon Jennings) who barely cracks shooting 40% from the floor go for 34 points on while shooting 52% on the floor thus losing the game?  More Checks

Well, what can I tell you folks, the Bucks were on a back to back, no Stephen Jackson (their most clutch player), no Bogut (their best big man), no Mbah Moute (their best perimeter defender) and no Shaun Livingston (their best waterboy).  To make matters worse they let the world's most repackaged and re-gifted player in the league (Drew Gooden, on his 9th team in 9 years) go off for 23 points on 11-19 shooting.

I guess to entice Dwight Howard the Nets wanna say "Hey, we got Deron Williams and a top 5 pick in the draft!"

New Orleans Hornets:  Yikes! Losing to a team that shot 0-12 from the 3 point land and only had 3 players hit double figures (highest of which was just 15) is bad enough.  But when I tell you that the team they lost to was the infamous Charlotte Bobcats.....well then, you can see why Eric Gordon has given up on the season with injuries so he can write his own version of Weezer's "Pinkerton" instead of spending another minute in uniform for the woe are we Hornets.  

If Lamar Odom is reported to be so depressed about playing for Dallas, what would he have done had he been traded to New Orleans?  Wait, don't tell me, cause I would hate to see Khloe and Lamar get canceled for good.



New York Bricks:  Well folks, I don't even know where to begin.  It felt like only yesterday the Knicks were on a 7 game win streak and D'Antoni was saved from the bread line at Trinity's.

And then this guy happened:




No, wait, had Carmelo been doing that for 48 minutes a game the Knicks probably would have continued winning and Lin would have been the face of the next 10 Disney films.   Melo shot 34% from the floor, which was worse than virtually every single one of his teammates that took at least 2 shots from the floor.  To maker matters worse, Lin continues to struggle a bit, Amare looks bored, and the Knicks have become.......well the Knicks we've known for years.

"(I try to) be an energy guy," Jimmy Butler of Chicago said. "It's easy to do when you see Taj. He played extremely well for us tonight. When you see the expression in his face and (Noah's) face, that rubs off on me. The energy, it comes from everybody."

Not sure if he was talking about the facial expressions during the game, or just in the locker-room showers afterwards.  I'm assuming it's the latter.

I get that losing to Chicago is nothing to frown about (even though they were without Deng) but this team is in such disarray that rumors have been reported about the team trying to offload Melo, Amare (non-insured contract, good luck with that!), and perhaps even Chandler (though it would probably take a Howard type player to make that happen).  But, at least the signing of JR Smith was a good idea right?  Especially when you have to deal with him doing this before and after games.

It makes you almost long for the days when Isiah Thomas was in charge.  At least those Knicks were just bad from the start.




Wizards Generals:  Speaking of teams who were just bad from the start, after coming back from a 21 point deficit against the Lakers, theWizards Generals came out and showed us exactly who we thought they were.

Playing what looked like some of the worst defense any team has played all year, they allowed the Spurs to race out to an 18 point lead before halftime.  And then it only got worse from there.

I mean, JaVale McGee missed not one but two dunks, and judging by his top 8 plays of all time, that could be the norm:

Somebody sign him up the 'Bawful HOF.



LA Clippers:  Well, maybe the battle for mediocrity in LA isn't as wide of a gap as I thought with the way the Clipps have been playing lately.  They have now lost 6 out of their last 9, and went from Lob City to Flop City.

They shot 37% from the field, at home no less, and just 21% from the 3 point land, in an ugly loss to the Celtics.

"I can't stand to lose. It's not acceptable," Paul said. "We talked about it after the game, that everybody has got to do their part. We're going to watch film and figure it out. There ain't no moral victories around here. I've been in this league too long. You've got to win, or you lose."

So what have the Clippers learned during this bad stretch?  That if you don't win then.....basically you lose.

I can see why you're a top 3 PG in this league Mr. Paul!



Nationally Televised Games:
Heat at Magic:  Both teams 2nd match up in as little as 6 days, and quite possibly Howard's last matchup with the Heat in a Magic uniform ever

All The Other Games:
Craptors at Cleveland:  Gotta love the Eastern conference, where you can go on a 6 game slide in one week, win 3 in a row the next, and find yourself just half a game out of the 8th playoff spot.  Judging by the matchup for the Cavs, something tells me that win streak will continue.

Blazers at Pacers: The Pacers try to avoid their second five-game losing streak in the last month Tuesday night when they host the Trail Blazers, who hope to win back-to-back games for the first time in seven weeks.  It's gonna be a long night folks.

Houston at OKC:  Kinda sad when you already have the next day's 'Bawful post with the heading "Houston Rockets" before this game is even played.  Still waiting to hear back from Kevin McHale about that mining trip to find the Rockets' mojo!

Lakers at Grizzlies:  The Grizz are just half a game back for the 3rd spot in the West, and judging by how the Lakers have looked on the road lately (7-14 on the road, back to back losses to the Pistons and Wizards Generals) I wish to congratulate the Grizz in advance.

Wizards Generals at Mavs:

Dirk:  You see Doc, we've been really struggling lately, I don't know if I'm going through a championship hangover, or if we're just clearing space to get Howard/Williams on board so this season is a wash for us.  Either way losing sucks.

Doctor:  Losing you say eh?  *whisks through filing cabinet for remedies*

*pulls out the game preview against the Generals*

I got just the thing!

Hawks at Nuggets:  Josh Smith has repeated his request to be traded, meanwhile the Hawks keep remembering that they're the Hawks (losers of 6 out of their last 11).  Don't expect Smith to change his mind after this one.

Warriors at Queens:  I don't even know if these guys care about this game.

Chris's Lacktion Report:

Bucks-Nyets: Larry Sanders showed two fouls in 28 seconds for a +2 and 
a Mario.

Knicks-Bulls: Josh Harrellson negated a board in 9:02 with a brick and 
two fouls for a 2:1 Voskuhl, and JR Smith bricked once in 9:15 plus 
lost the rock twice and fouled once for a +4.

Meanwhile, Brian Scalabrine mooed in just 90 seconds with a brick, 
foul, and turnover for a +3.

Generals-Spurs: In 95 seconds, Washington's Kevin Seraphin and San 
Antonio's James Anderson became opposite-team investment experts with 
1.6 trillions!!!

Celtics-Clippers: Sasha Pavlovic produced a new copy of Deadly Towers 
in just 55 seconds for a Mario, and Keyon Dooling lucked out with a 
fortune of 4.2 trillion (251 seconds).

Lob City's Eric Bledsoe fouled thricely and lost the rock once for a +4 
in 210 seconds.