The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

Terry Brown
Monday, March 1
Updated: March 1
2:42 PM ET

Who knew that on March 1, the Return Of The King would have just as many Oscars as the Chicago Bulls would have home wins?

The Good
Andrei Kirilenko, Utah Jazz
Week's work: 3-0 record, 25 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.6 spg, 3 bpg, 53.2% shooting

Kirilenko
Is he a center? Is he a power forward? If all you ever saw were his statistics, you'd have no idea that this guy is a paper-thin small forward who has led his $28 million team to within two games of the Western Conference playoffs while the Blazers, at $84 million, are three games out. Or maybe you missed him tipping in the game-winning shot in overtime against the Sonics last week as Ray Allen, $13.5 million in salary, and Rashard Lewis, $7 million in salary, watched. For the record, Kirilenko will make $955,000 this season. Thank you very much.

Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns
Week's work: 2-1 record, 27 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.3 spg, 1.3 bpg, 57.7% shooting
On Sunday night, outscored Peja Stojakovic 33 to 32 while outrebounding Brad Miller 17 to 10 before fouling out with 28 second left and really getting mad.

Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons
Week's work: 4-0 record, 19.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.7 bpg, 53.7% shooting
Has now scored 1,115 points this season as a shooting guard of which only 24 have come from 3-point range. Believe me, this should be required reading.

Michael Finley, Dallas Mavericks
Week's work: 3-0, 20.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.3 apg, 0.6 spg, 2 bpg, 9 triples, 50% shooting
This is all you need to know about Michael Finley's importance to the offensive-minded Mavericks. Prior to the midweek clash between Dallas and San Antonio, Manu Ginobili had rung up double-digits in the scoring column in eight of nine February games. Against the Mavs that night, he had seven points on 3-for-10 shooting as Dallas rolled. Believe me, this game was well in Finley's hand long before Duncan went down. The Mavs have won five in a row and are within half a game of the Spurs.

The Bad
Morris Peterson, Toronto Raptors
Weak work: 0-4 record, 6.5 ppg, 3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.7 bpg, 26.4% shooting

Peterson
Last year, he was a starter. This year, it took injuries to Vince Carter, Jalen Rose and Alvin Williams to get this guy onto the floor for opening tip off. And, by the looks of it, the Raptors should have, instead, started with four. In 125 minutes this week, he made a total of nine baskets. That's a hoop about every 14 minutes with a miss every 5 minutes as Toronto falls to 0-9 since February 12.

Brian Grant, Miami Heat
Weak work: 0-3 record, 5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.2 spg, 0 bpg, 36.8% shooting
They used to try an justify his salary by saying he plays solid defense. Well, last week he had a grand total of one steal and no blocks. Then they tried to justify his salary by pointing at his rebounding numbers. Well, last week he played one 30-minute game in which he grabbed a single board. Then, they tried to justify his salary by saying he was such a good citizen within the community. Well, the winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 10 million Swedish crowns. In U.S. dollars, that's about $1.35 million. Grant made $12.23 million this year alone.

Penny Hardaway, New York Knicks
Weak work: 0-4 record, 9.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.2 spg, 0 bpg, 36.5% shooting
Nobody averaging less than double-digits and shooting this kind of percentage should be getting 10.23 shots per game while averaging only 1.8 assists per game to 1.5 turnovers. There was a time we thought of Penny as both point guard and shooting guard. Now, he is neither.

Nick Van Exel, Golden State Warriors
Weak work: 1-3 record, 7.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4 apg, 0.5 spg, 0 bpg, 29.7% shooting
Nick is getting paid whether he's bored or not. But let's not forget that in Dallas' last 15 games of last season, Van Exel led it in scoring six times (all playoff games against the Spurs, Kings and Blazers). This year, as the hapless Warriors begin their last 24 games of the season, Van Exel has had a hard enough time just reaching double digits twice in the last five games.

The Ugly
Wednesday night, the Phoenix Suns missed 47 shots while the Knicks missed 46, meaning that there were, at least, 93 rebounding opportunities. Of those 46 offensive rebound opportunities, the Knicks managed only four. Of those 47 defensive rebounds, New York grabbed only 22.

Overall, they were outrebounded 58 to 26 by the Suns, meaning that Phoenix actually grabbed 32 more rebounds than the Knicks in the same game on the same floor using the same ball and the same set of rims.

By the way, the Suns ended up winning that game by 18 points (113-95) after grabbing 19 offensive rebounds.

The Kitchen Sink
UNLEADED DIESEL
Shaquille O'Neal's bark has been much worse than his bite, lately. In fact, it's been almost an entire calender year since Shaq has scored 40 points in a single game. March 21 of 2003 to be exact. In that same amount of time, Tracy McGrady has done it nine times, Allen Iverson seven times, Kobe Bryant four times and Tim Duncan twice. And, in case you're wondering, he's only reached the 30-point plateau four times this year in 43 games while his rebounding, assist, steal and block stats are all below last year's numbers when he was averaging 6.2 more points per game.

AROUND THE HORN

Van Horn
Turns out, Keith Van Horn just needed a change of scenery. Again. In his last year in New Jersey, the forward averaged 14.8 points per game and shot 34 percent from long range. His next year in Philly, which happened to be his only year in Philly, he averaged 15.9 points per game and shot 36 percent from long range. He started off this season in New York and averaged 16.4 points per game for the Knicks on 37 percent shooting from long range. Then, he was traded to Milwaukee where he is now averaging 17.7 points per game and shooting 52 percent from long range as the Bucks have won three in a row and are tied with New Orleans for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

FOOL'S GOLD
During the Nuggets' five-game skid (with losses to the Magic, Heat, Grizzlies, Lakers and Spurs), they were outscored in the fourth quarter by a grand total of 144-105. In the last two games, against Los Angeles and San Antonio, they were outscored in the final quarter by a total of 25 points.

THAT'S JAMAAL WITH A J

Tinsley
Jamaal Tinsley isn't ever going to win any shooting contests unless, of course, he's able to somehow compete against himself. This month, the Pacer point guard is shooting 47.3 percent from the field (44-for-93 in 11 games). Now, that might be average for some NBA players out there, but it's absolutely great for Tinsley. After all, he came into February shooting 37.5 percent from the floor after shooting 39 percent last year and 38 percent the year before. Even more impressive, though, is the fact that he's shooting 42 percent from long range after shooting 28 percent on his career.

OLD JERSEY NETS
In their last 15 games against Eastern Conference opponents, the New Jersey Nets are 15-0, destroying the competition by an average of 14 points per game. But in their last four games against Western Conference opponents, including Sunday night's blowout against the Lakers, the Nets are 0-4, getting blown out, themselves, by a sobering 16.5 points per game.

RATTLED
Last Sunday, the Orlando Magic took 100 shots and 25 free throws compared to the Portland Trail Blazers' 80 shots and 20 free throws and still lost by three points. And it wasn't because the Blazers shot particularly well at 46 percent from the field. Heck, they only shot 62 percent from the line. It was because new Blazer center Theo Ratliff blocked a whopping nine shots. Now, you may not be surprised that Ratliff continues to lead the league in that category at 3.23 per game. But you may be surprised that he's blocked nine shots in a single game five other times.

DOUBTING THOMAS
Tim Thomas, rookie season
1998: 11 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.2 bpg, 44% from field, 36% from three, 74% from line

Tim Thomas, career numbers
Six Years: 11.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.4 bpg, 44% from field, 36% from three, 76% from line

SHEED SPECIAL
Detroit Pistons (38-24) versus Portland Blazers (29-30)
Thursday, March 4 in Portland, Ore. at 7 p.m. PST on TNT

It's the return of Rasheed Wallace to the Rose Garden. Do you love him? Do you hate him? Does it really matter when the home team needs every win it can get to keep alive a consecutive playoff streak that started when 'Sheed was barely 8-years-old?

The End
"Listen, kiss my (butt). Coach your own team, don't be calling me up. I'll be all right. I've been through a few of these before. I don't really want to hear from anybody, going well or going bad, because it's all (garbage) anyway, unless they're really your friend."

Toronto head coach Kevin O'Neill waiting for the next telemarketer to call on his long distance plan after his team lost its ninth game in a row.