The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

Terry Brown
Monday, April 5
Updated: April 5
1:52 PM ET

In a single game last week, Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points in 44 minutes and took only one free throw after averaging 6.3 per game on the season. I can only wonder how good this rookie is going to be when they stop treating him like one in about six games.

The Good
Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
Week's work: 3-0 record, 32 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 4 apg, 1.3 spg, 1 bpg, 5 triples, 57.1% shooting

Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki is unstoppable from distance, going 8-for-14 in the Mavs' last four consecutive wins. He's unstoppable in the paint, shooting 39-for-68 in that same span of time. The 7-foot shooter from Germany is unstoppable from the line, going 19-for-21 in the last week alone. The best player on the Dallas Mavericks is unstoppable when Steve Nash hands out 54 assists in those same four games while also shooting 57 percent from the field, 54 percent from distance and 92 percent from the line. Let me start this over again. Steve Nash is unstoppable . . .

Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs
Week's work: 4-0 record, 19.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.2 spg, 8 triples, 46% shooting
Let me try to explain how potent this guy is. As a starter, he averages 19.4 points per game on a 48-minute basis, which is very good. As a sub, he averages 23.5 points per game on a 48-minute basis, which is great. As a Spur, he is averaging 21.2 points per game on a 48-minute basis for a defensive-minded team that averages only 91.7 points per game while also playing a little part-time point guard. Which is phenomenal.

Richard Jefferson, New Jersey Nets
Week's work: 3-1 record, 22.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 6.7 apg, 1.5 spg, 4 triples, 57.9% shooting
Kenyon Martin has never averaged more than 17.2 points per game in his career. Jason Kidd has never averaged more than 18.7 in his career. As we speak, Richard Jefferson is at 18.6 after averaging 23.7 for the month of March.

Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
Week's work: 4-0 record, 22.5 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 6.2 apg, 1.7 spg, 2.7 bpg, 44.4% shooting
This is the kind of year this guy is having. Statistically, no one had a better overall week than Kevin Garnett yet he still failed to reach his yearly averages in points, rebounds and shooting percentage while barely getting enough steals, blocks and assists by decimal points in games 75, 76, 77 and 78 of a possible 78.

The Bad
David Wesley, New Orleans Hornets

Wesley
Weak work: 1-3 record, 7.7 ppg, 2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.5 spg, 0 bpg, 20% shooting
Could very well have been the worst 126 minutes of his career. It just doesn't seem right that they came when the Hornets, without Baron Davis and Jamal Mashburn and having lost five of six, need him the most.

Steve Francis, Houston Rockets
Weak work: 0-4 record, 13.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 8.2 apg, 2 spg, 40.4% shooting
It has been feast or famine for Steve Francis all season. Last week he starved. Playing essentially a playoff schedule, he recorded 20 turnovers in four games while shooting 63 percent against the Timberwolves, 41 percent against the Lakers, 33 percent against the Nuggets and 20 percent against the Kings, in that order as the week went on and the Rockets went from playoff locks to three games away from being the league's laughingstocks.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland Cavaliers
Weak work: 0-4 record, 16.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1 apg, 0 spg, 1.2 bpg, 57.5% shooting
Don't believe everything you read. Especially this boxscore. In a must-win game against Golden State in Cleveland with Warrior center Erick Dampier injured, Z went 5-for-13 with only eight boards. In the must-win game before that, he scored four points against Brian Skinner and the Bucks. In the must-win game before that, he failed to get a single steal or block or fourth defensive rebound against the Mavs. On the week, he tallied 65 glorious points as his sole contribution to the playoff cause while the opposing centers scored 71.

Donyell Marshall, Toronto Raptors
Weak work: 0-3 record, 5.3 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 1 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.3 bpg, 20.6% shooting
I thought last week's line was bad, but somebody please explain to me how this guy can grab 16 rebounds on Tuesday and another 16 rebounds on Sunday but a big, fat ZERO rebounds on Friday in 25 minutes.

The Ugly
The Los Angeles Clippers were awarded 82 free throws over their last two games and still have yet to win a game in their last 11 attempts.

The Kitchen Sink
THE PASSING OF THE KINGS
Did anyone really think that the Sacramento Kings, averaging a league-leading 104.7 points per game before March, were really going to start scoring 126 once Chris Webber and his 22 points per game returned to the lineup on March 2?

Didn't think so.

But did anybody really think they'd be scoring 99.2 points per game last month, either?

Here's why.


Chris Webber
Power Forward
Sacramento Kings
Profile


2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
17 18.4 8.9 5.0 .417 .693

Going into the month, without Webber in the lineup, Vlade Divac was averaging 6.1 assists per game while Brad Miller averaged 5.1. That's 11.2 assist per game from the power forward and center on the team. They knew they couldn't score 20 a game. But they also knew that they could be worth 20 a game.

As a direct result of their ball movement, the Kings went on to shoot 47.7 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from 3-point range to start the season in November. And it continued. In January, they shot 47.4 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from long range. In February, they shot 45.9 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from long range.

But then came March, and Webber and his 18 points per game (down three or so from his career average while also shooting a career-low 41 percent from the field). Sure, he also contributed 4.9 assists per game but his presence in the paint stymied the games of Divac and Miller either through a decrease of minutes or decrease of time and space within the lane.

During the month of March, Divac averaged only 3.8 assists per game and Miller averaged only 3.3. That's a decrease of 4.1 per game. That's 8.2 points. That's the team shooting only 45.4 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from 3-point range.

That's the Kings going from 104.7 points per game to only 99.2 and a 9-8 record since the return of Webber.

He's hurt, I know. But he's also hurting the team.

THE D IN SHEED
Since leaving Portland, Rasheed Wallace has blocked 44 blocks in 20 games for an average of 2.2 per game after averaging 1.4 blocks per game prior to the departure.

TASTES LIKE KANDI
Officially, Michael Olowokandi returned to the Minnesota lineup on Feb. 20. But if you ask his teammates, he just showed up three games ago. Up until last week, he averaged only 4.7 rebounds per game on the season after grabbing 9.1 per game for the Clippers last year. That resulted in only 10 minutes of action on Monday against the Rockets in which he totaled one measly rebound for the game. But on Wednesday, he grabbed 11. On Friday, he grabbed 12. And on Sunday, he grabbed 14 while his minutes have gone up from 10 to 21 to 26 to 30 and the Timberwolves are on a five-game win streak.

DEATH, TAXES AND THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS
The Milwaukee Bucks are by no means the best free-throw shooting team in the league at 76.9 percent. In fact, that places them at No. 7. But in their last three wins, they've made 68 free throws to their opponents' 34.

Leading the way has been Joe Smith, who is now shooting a career-high 85.5 percent from the free-throw line after shooting 87.3 percent in March (55 of 63) and is so far perfect in April (5-for-5). But it's not just making the free throws. It's getting those free throws. And in his last six games in which the Bucks have gone 4-2 while the rest of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket crumbles around them, Smith has gotten to the line 31 times. Not so coincidently, he's also scoring 17.1 points per game in those last six games after averaging 11 on the season.

MUST BE MAGIC
Since Tracy McGrady, the league's leading scorer at 28 points per game, hung up his sneakers for the season on March 24, Juwan Howard has averaged 24.7 points and nine rebounds on 44 percent shooting. On the season, Howard has averaged 16.6 points and 7.2 boards per game also on 44 percent shooting.

MIDWEST MONOPOLY
With about six games to go for each NBA team, the Midwest Division doesn't have a single team with a losing record. Add up all seven teams' records and they're 325-212, winning 60.5 percent of their games. The rest of the league is 788-901, winning only 46.6 percent of their games.

GUARDED OPTIMISM
Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton after 77 team games
2004 Season: 2568 points, 655 rebounds, 725 assists, 196 steals, 42 blocks, 115 triples

Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton after 77 team games
2004 Season: 2610 points, 541 rebounds, 713 assists, 178 steals, 22 blocks, 145 triples

TIE BREAKER SPECIAL
Minnesota Timberwolves (54-24) versus Sacramento Kings (53-23)
Thursday, April 8, 2004 at Arco Arena at 7 p.m. PST on TNT

If the Timberwolves win this game, then they'll both be tied for the Western Conference title. If Sacramento wins and then loses to the Lakers on Sunday, then these same two teams will, again, be tied with the same overall record (55-25) and same head-to-head record (2-2) and same conference record (30-19).

The End
"You don't have to talk about us. We're just vanilla, whereas the Lakers are Chunky Monkey or something like that."

San Antonio Spur Bruce Bowen giving Los Angeles fans the cold shoulder.