Interbasket: News & Notes 2009-03-11
- The severely-undermanned Thunder continues to surprise. OKC have won 5 of their last 6 games with Kevin Durant out with an injury, thanks in large part to Nenad Krstic’s 15.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks during the run. Oklahoma City is also doing it without the second leading scorer, Jeff Green.
- Dirk Nowitzki scores a game-high 34 points and grabs 13 rebounds in the Dallas Mavs’ 122-117 win over the Phoenix Suns. With the win, Dallas pushes Phoenix 5 games out of the #8 spot as well as taking a 2-1 lead in the regular season series. It’s not looking good for Steve Nash, Shaq and the Suns. And they aren’t getting any younger.
- French rookie Nicolas Batum dunks on Pau Gasol again. The 6-9 rookie raises two fingers after serving up the facial…
- Rudy Fernandez falls hard on flagrant foul by Trevor Ariza, taken to hospital on stretcher. Blazers beat Lakers 111-94. Though I don’t Ariza meant to hurt Fernandez, I think he has played enough basketball that making that kind attempt at the ball with the momentum and directions each player had was a definite risk.
- Memphis can’t keep Yao Ming (24 points, 17 rebounds) and Luis Scola (18 points, 14 rebouds) from dominating the paint, Rockets win 93-83 sending Memphis to their 10th loss in the last 11 games (Mar 9th).
- Marc Gasol, aka the Spanish Tank, has career high 30 points (and 13 rebounds) in Memphis Grizzlies 110-105 loss to the Philadephia 76ers… Gasol is putting up 11.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in his rookie campaign (Mar 7th).
- Artisom Parakhouski of Belarus leads little Radford University into March Madness, the 7-0 center was Big South Player of Year and Radford won the Big South regular season for the first time in school history (Mar 7th).
- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute tallies career-high 21 points and 5 steals (and 11 rebounds) in the Bucks’ 117-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls. In a frustrating Milwaukee season, Mbah a Moute has been a bright spot for the future, the Cameroon native has averaged 7.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 25 minutes of play… (Mar 6th)
- After sending Aussie rookie Nathan Jawai to the NDBL, the Raptors sign 6-10 British baller and journeyman Pops Mensah-Bonsu to bolster Toronto’s interior. (March 6th)
