A Bad Night for Some Good Players
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by Ea34
Wait a second! Aren’t these guys supposed to be pretty good?
Check out the box scores of Friday nights games around the NBA and you’ll see an odd trend- a collection of the league’s best players putting up some incredibly bad shooting performances. With all eleven games scheduled for Friday in the books, consider this collection of less than stellar performance from around the NBA:
- Antawn Jamison managed to connect on just six of his twenty one shots in Philly as he and the Washington Wizards fell by a point to the 76ers, 85-84. C’mon Antawn, you’re in a contract year, remember?
- In the same game Andre Iguodala, the Philadelphia 76ers ’ best player, “contributed” to his team’s win with eight points on an embarrassing 3-for-19 from the field, missing all six of 3-point attempts.
- One of the league’s best shooters, Peja Stojakovic, also went 0-6 from 3-point land (2-12 overall), as he was only good for just four points in New Orleans’ win over the Atlanta Hawks.
- Speaking of the Hawks, Joe Johnson didn’t exactly have his “A” game on Friday night, as he missed fifteen of his twenty shots and turned the ball over six times in the loss to the New Orleans Hornets.
- The Boston Celtics managed to run their November record to an outstanding 13-2, but no thanks are due to Ray Allen for this win. Although he was 10-11 from the free throw line on his way to seventeen points, Allen was a rather sad 3-for-17 from the floor as Boston beat the Heat, 95-85.
- If you’re a fan of strong shooting guard play, hopefully you weren’t in South Beach Friday night (in you are in South Beach tonight and are overly concerned with shooting guard play in the NBA, you may want to take a serious look at your priorities), as Dwyane Wade was able to do very little to keep the Celtic from cruising to another easy win, hitting just two of his twelve attempts from the field, making just six of eleven free throws and turning the ball over six times.
- On a night when Dirk Nowitzki, the league’s reigning MVP, shot just 5-for-15 from the field (11 points) and attempted just one free throw, why were the Dallas Mavericks still able to record an easy win against the Portland Trailblazers?
- Because Portland’s main man Brandon Roy was just 3-for-12 from the field with eight points.
- The NBA’s most significant (and entertaining) game of the night saw the 14-3 Orlando Magic visit 11-4 Phoenix Suns, with the home team holding on for a 110-106 victory. What could Orlando have done to pull this one out? They could have found a way to Rashard Lewis on track (or stopped giving him the ball!). Lewis was just 6-for-19 from the field (3-for-12 on 3-point attempts) on his way 18 points I a losing effort- on a night when Dwight Howard went for 30 points and 23 rebounds!
- And finally, we have Indiana’s Danny Granger, whose 4-for18 outing probably played a little bit of a role in Seattle getting its first home win of the year, 95-93. Granger did manage to top his season average with 21 points on Friday night by staying aggressive and getting to the foul line (12-for15), but the Pacers need more from him.
Of course this is nothing more than a random coincidence, but it’s still pretty weird to see ten players the caliber of these guys combine to shoot 38-for-160 (23.8%). It may not have been for the better, but any fan of oddities in sports would have to appreciate that fact that this group of talented NBAers combined to put on a performance that we’re likely to see very often.
