Breakfast with Berndon

Undergrads

Kansas vs. Colorado: The Jayhawks eventually wore the Buffs down inside with Cole Aldrich and company, staying atop the rankings for now with a 72-66 overtime win.

South Florida vs. Georgetown: The only major upset took place in DC, where a better than advertised South Florida team took out the Hoyas 72-66. I need to make a point of watching Dominique James play, as he had another phenomenal effort going for 29 and further advancing his campaign for Big East player of the year. Nothing I saw in the preseason had USF ranked higher than 14th in the conference, but right now they are in 8th with a 5-5 league mark.



Paid Professionals

Boston vs. Miami: The C’s went into the contest without Paul Pierce, who is out potentially until Sunday with a foot injury. In a game that stayed pretty close throughout, and took three hours to finish for some reason, two things stood out. First, was the fact that both teams did a tremendous job sharing the basketball, combining for 51 assists. Not to get all preachy or anything, but basketball is a much more aesthetically pleasing game when teams make the extra pass and share the ball, which both did a great job of on the night.

Man of the Match: Ray Allen (23 pts, 7 rbs, 3 assists, 3 stls )

Phoenix vs. Denver: The second ESPN game involved the Suns and the Nuggets. It was a boring game to watch, so I’m just going to go into NASCAR “the car ran good” type monotone to recap it. Amare Stoudemire played real good. Steve Nash is real good. The Suns have a real good team when Stoudemire plays good. Denver ain’t as good if they don’t have Carmelo, because he’s real good. George Karl got his feelins hurt because Denver didn’t play good, so he didn’t even talk to his team during the last time out of the game. LCB, “where subtle cross-promotion for a sport that the author hates happens.”
Man of the Match: Amare Stoudemire (20 pts, 17 rbs, 2 blks)

Other contests of athletic strength and fury:

Lakers 99, Charlotte 97: The Bobcats hung around, as Langston hinted at in "Garbage Time," even without All-Star Gerald Wallace to scare the Lake Show at home. Kobe only went for 5 points, uttering something about having some kind of menstrual cramps. Lamar Kardashian saved the day however with 19 points and 7 boards. He then ate his weight in Skittles after the contest.
Man of the Match: Andrew Bynum (17 pts 14 rbs)

Utah 118, Portland 105: In this contest of top 8 West coast squads, Utah simply shot the lights out, with a retarded 62 % from the field, proving also that the art of free throw shooting is not dead with their 90% tally. Mehmet Okur tallied 28 points on 11-13 from the field, while AK47 had 22-6-8. LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and 12 boards for the Blazers, who played their 8th game in a row without All-Star Brandon Roy.
Man of the Match: Andrei Kirilenko ( 8-9, 6-7 FT 22 pts, 6 rbs, 8 assts, 2 stls, 2 blks)

Oklahoma City 103, New Orleans 99: Oklahoma City is legitimate. Do you hear me world? They will make the playoffs and scare whatever higher seed they play against. Durant, Green, and Westbrook combined for 70 points as Russell the muscle again was close to a triple-double this time putting up 26 points, 8 boards, and 10 assists. Marcus Thornton continued his late charge at 2nd place in the Rookie of the Year balloting, netting 22 with 6 dimes.
Man of the Match: Westbrook (11-18 26 pts 8 rbs 10 assts)

Philly 106, Chicago 103:
Man of the Match: Andre Iguodala (25 pts 8 rbs 8 assts)

Atlanta 103, L.A. Clippers 97:
Man of the Match: Josh Smith (15 pts 10 rbs, 6 assts, 2 stls, 2 blks )

Toronto 108, New Jersey 99:
Man of the Match: Andrea Bargnani (20 pts 5 rbs, 4 blks)

Knicks 107, Washington 89:
Man of the Match: Nate Robinson ( 10-15, 23 pts, 6 rbs, 8 assts, 2 stls)

Dallas 110, Golden St. 101:
Man of the Match: Jason Kidd (6 pts, 16 assts, 6 steals)

San Antonio 115, Sacramento 113:
Man of the Match: George Hill (23 pts 9 assts)