Inside The NBA- Thursday 1/26/12

A Rivalry Is Born
It’s possible that we ultimately look back on Wednesday’s Lakers-Clippers game and remember it as the night the Los Angeles rivalry (we need a better name for it, “Staples Showdown” perhaps?) got its start. There were six technical fouls and a couple of skirmishes in the fourth quarter as the Lakers rallied for a 98-91 win and pulled back into a first place tie for the Pacific Division lead.

Kobe Bryant scored half his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Pau Gasol had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Lakers. Then after the game, Gasol patted Clippers star Chris Paul on the head, and Paul did not respond well to that and unofficially fired the first verbal shots in this newly minted rivalry.

“He touched the top of my head, and I didn’t like that,” said Paul. “You know what I mean. I don’t know if Pau’s got kids, but don’t touch my head like I’m one of your kids. I don’t know what his intentions were, like, ‘I’ll treat him like little Chris.’ I don’t know if he’s got kids, but I’m not one of them.”

Gasol said he meant nothing by it, but the heated nature of the fourth quarter ensured that every gesture made by either team was intensified, which is a sign of a quality rivalry itself. Blake Griffin scored a game high 26 points to go with nine rebounds, but downplayed the budding rivalries between two of the Staples Center’s basketball playing occupants.

“It was chippy out there because we both want to win and we both need to win,” Griffin said. “I think they know what we’re going to bring every time, and we know what they’re going to bring. So both teams are going to be ready, but we’re not sitting here trying to call it a rivalry or anything like that. It’s another game on our schedule.”

However, as we all saw from last night’s game, Griffin could not be more wrong. As long as Griffin and Paul are wearing Clippers red, white and blue, there’s going to be an intensified atmosphere when the two rivals from the City of Angels clash.

Indiana’s Confidence Grows With Windy City Win
Indiana rode a 31-20 third quarter run to hand division rival Chicago its first home loss of the season, a 95-90 decision at the United Center. In a battle between two of the three best scoring defenses in the Eastern Conference, it was the Pacers holding the Bulls to 40 percent shooting and making head coach Frank Vogel quite proud.

“They are just thrilled to get the win here,” Vogel said. “The difference between this year’s team and last year’s team, we have confidence that we’ll score at crunch time. We’ll score in the fourth quarter. We didn’t have that last year.”

Danny Granger led six Pacers in double figures with 22 and Roy Hibbert scored 20 for Indiana, who has won seven of 10 and are now tied with Orlando for the third best record in the conference. Discounted last year as an afterthought, the declines of the Celtics and Knicks has allowed for the Pacers to be in the conversation as one of the top four to five teams in the east. Granger has noticed the change in the team’s perception.

“This was a big win for us,” Granger said. “Right now we expect to win… In the third quarter we knew we were going to make a run and we did.”

Thoughts & Theories
-Sometimes statistics defy explanation, and that’s what makes them so interesting. Here’s one example. Portland’s Gerald Wallace is regarded as one of the top rebounding forwards in the game and is putting up numbers consistent with his career averages so far this season. What’s completely abnormal is his field goal percentage. His .489 field goal percentage overall is pretty good, but his field goal percentage is an incredible .638 at home and an equally incredible (for the wrong reasons) .296 away from the Rose Garden. He shot 3-9 in a road loss to Golden State on Wednesday, which actually improved his numbers outside of PDX.

-Though they were without starters Gerald Henderson and DJ Augustin, Charlotte staked a pretty good claim to the worst team in the league by being blown out by Washington 92-75. Randy Wittman won convincingly in his Wizards debut, which wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate. This Charlotte-Washington battle for the league’s worst record will be extremely interesting to watch all the way through the season.

Games To Watch
Thursday- After scoring a franchise low 56 points against Boston on Monday, the two sides play again to begin a TNT doubleheader. Memphis visits the Clippers in the second game after the Grizzlies had their seven-game win streak snapped and the Clips dropped their heated battle with the Lakers.

Friday- Not excited about Friday night’s Knicks-Heat battle on ESPN? New York has lost seven of eight and their woes will be broadcast on the national stage. Boston will try to continue to get back on track against Indiana, with Utah taking on Dallas and San Antonio visiting Minnesota.