Post by New York Knicks on Jan 28, 2023 2:04:58 GMT -6
Who's Hot
The Midwest division continues to dominate this league. In the last installment we highlighted the Utah Jazz. But today we gotta give the Denver Nuggets their flowers. Denver has won 16 of their last 17 games. Their only loss was a 6 point defeat @ Utah. A game in which Julius Erving scored 7 points on 2/11 shooting. So that means unless Dr J has a historically bad game, this Nuggets team has been unbeatable over the last month. Erving is leading the way with 24.6 PPG. But Denver really prospers with balance. Everybodies doing their part. Robert Parrish is averaging nearly 20/11. Mike Gale is scoring 15.7 PPG and dishing 9.9 APG (3rd in the league). Caldwell Jones is 3rd in the league in blocks (3.4) and 4th in rebounds (11.0). And Jamal Wilkes adds 17.5 points per game. That's pretty damn good starting lineup.
Who's Not
You know who else has a strong starting 5? Not the Charlotte Hornets. They take today's "who's not" badge of dishonor. Charlotte actually looked half way decent to start the year. At one point their record was 9-12 (after going 10-72 last year). Things were looking pretty good as the team was exceeding expectations. But now they're dropping back down to earth, as they've lost 9 of their last 10 games. During this recent rut, their lack of offense has plagued them. They've scored 90 points or less in 7 of the last 10 games. And have failed to crack 100 points going all the way back to day #23 (102 points vs Toronto). In a recent loss vs Memphis, they scored a putrid 65 points on 34.2 % shooting from the field. This Hornets offense is horrible. They score the fewest points in the league (87.8) and commit highest amount of turnovers (16.1).
Injury News
Hilton Armstrong - The Cavs have been struggling lately, losing 5 of their last 6. One of the main reasons for that is the recent bruised hip injury to PF Hilton Armstrong. In one of the games he missed, they lost by 40 points to the Clippers. Overall the Cavs have gone 1-2 without him in the lineup. He's expected to miss an additional 3 games.
Kim Hughes - A less notable injured player is Kim Hughes of the Knicks. He's no Hilton Armstrong, but he is an important player for New York. Hughes is their defensive stopper. He's averaged 2.2 BPG and 1.5 SPG in 24 games. He's expected to miss the next 2 contests. Cedric Simmons, and his 29.4 field goal percentage will start in Hughes's place. Good luck New York.
Ron Boone - Ron has a dislocated finger. But the good news for Portland is that they have some days off coming up, so he's only expected to miss their home game vs Memphis. Then he'll return @ Milwaukee. It's been a tough year for Boone. Last year he was a #1 option in Boston. He averaged 25 ppg and was named to the all league 1st Team. This year he's basically Portland's 5th option. As a result his scoring has dropped to 10.6 points per game. But you gotta make self sacrifices when you join a championship team.
More News Around The League
- The main reason why Boones numbers are down is because Portland is Randy Smith's team. Randy runs the show. And he's been running it well. He's leading the league in assists (10.8) and he's a great scorer as well with 21.1 PPG. Smith has Portland operating as the #1 offense in the league. They're 1st in scoring and 1st in field goal percentage. Due to his team & individual success, Smith was named the ITP Player of the Month (Again).
- I thought Killian Hayes would be the rookie of the month (Again). But I was wrong. Somehow the league handed the award to Hornets point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton is putting together a decent rookie season with 10 points and 7 assists per. But his numbers pale in comparison to Hayes. And as we mentioned, the Hornets offense has been miserable over the last month. So why are we rewarding the man that's orchestrating this mess?
- Speaking of struggling offenses, the Golden State Warriors have dropped to #23 In scoring this season. And after making the playoffs last season, they look lottery bound this year. And the Warriors fans are starting to take their frustration out on 2nd year point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry's field goal shooting has dropped from 45.4 % last year to 39.4 % this year. In their most recent home victory vs the Lakers. Lowry struggled once again with his shooting, going 5/14 from the field (after going 5/16 the game before). Everytime he would pull up for a jumpshot, you could hear the collective groans from the home crowd. Clearly Warriors fans are starting to ask themselves 2 very important questions. 1) Is Kyle Lowry really a franchise point guard? & 2) Was Lowry really worth being the #6 overall pick in the dispersal draft?
- One year after being traded by the Raptors, Rockets Forward Jorge Garbajosa made his first return to Toronto as a visiting player. Jorge did not play in this one. In fact he collected his 26th Coach Decision - DNP in 27 games this season. Last year Garbajosa averaged 17.3 PPG as a member of the Raptors. This year he has yet to score a single point. Asked after the game if he misses Toronto, Garbajosa began to cry and said "Yes".
- One guy that's scoring plenty of points is Bob Lanier. In the Sim 5 Edition we mentioned Lanier won the player of the week award. How did he celebrate? By collecting his first career triple double vs Sacramento the very next day. Check out these numbers: 48 points 16 rebounds 10 assists. And throw in 24 free throws, which was more than the entire Kings team attempted (22).
- Mickey Johnson is another West Coast Bucket Getter. Last year Mickey finished 2nd in the league in scoring with 27.1 PPG. The Mavs missed the playoffs. This year his scoring is up to 27.2 PPG. And guess what? The Mavs are once again outside the playoff picture. In Dallas they painted a mural for Luka Doncic which read "Send Help". Maybe it's time to paint one for Mickey as well.
- Jerry Stackhouse has been on an offensive tear lately. Numbers from the last sim: he dropped 28 vs the Knicks, 32 vs the Hawks in only 29 minutes, 28 vs the Wizards, and another 29 @ Cleveland. The problem with Stackhouse this season has been consistency. But it looks like he's starting to turn it around.
The Midwest division continues to dominate this league. In the last installment we highlighted the Utah Jazz. But today we gotta give the Denver Nuggets their flowers. Denver has won 16 of their last 17 games. Their only loss was a 6 point defeat @ Utah. A game in which Julius Erving scored 7 points on 2/11 shooting. So that means unless Dr J has a historically bad game, this Nuggets team has been unbeatable over the last month. Erving is leading the way with 24.6 PPG. But Denver really prospers with balance. Everybodies doing their part. Robert Parrish is averaging nearly 20/11. Mike Gale is scoring 15.7 PPG and dishing 9.9 APG (3rd in the league). Caldwell Jones is 3rd in the league in blocks (3.4) and 4th in rebounds (11.0). And Jamal Wilkes adds 17.5 points per game. That's pretty damn good starting lineup.
Who's Not
You know who else has a strong starting 5? Not the Charlotte Hornets. They take today's "who's not" badge of dishonor. Charlotte actually looked half way decent to start the year. At one point their record was 9-12 (after going 10-72 last year). Things were looking pretty good as the team was exceeding expectations. But now they're dropping back down to earth, as they've lost 9 of their last 10 games. During this recent rut, their lack of offense has plagued them. They've scored 90 points or less in 7 of the last 10 games. And have failed to crack 100 points going all the way back to day #23 (102 points vs Toronto). In a recent loss vs Memphis, they scored a putrid 65 points on 34.2 % shooting from the field. This Hornets offense is horrible. They score the fewest points in the league (87.8) and commit highest amount of turnovers (16.1).
Injury News
Hilton Armstrong - The Cavs have been struggling lately, losing 5 of their last 6. One of the main reasons for that is the recent bruised hip injury to PF Hilton Armstrong. In one of the games he missed, they lost by 40 points to the Clippers. Overall the Cavs have gone 1-2 without him in the lineup. He's expected to miss an additional 3 games.
Kim Hughes - A less notable injured player is Kim Hughes of the Knicks. He's no Hilton Armstrong, but he is an important player for New York. Hughes is their defensive stopper. He's averaged 2.2 BPG and 1.5 SPG in 24 games. He's expected to miss the next 2 contests. Cedric Simmons, and his 29.4 field goal percentage will start in Hughes's place. Good luck New York.
Ron Boone - Ron has a dislocated finger. But the good news for Portland is that they have some days off coming up, so he's only expected to miss their home game vs Memphis. Then he'll return @ Milwaukee. It's been a tough year for Boone. Last year he was a #1 option in Boston. He averaged 25 ppg and was named to the all league 1st Team. This year he's basically Portland's 5th option. As a result his scoring has dropped to 10.6 points per game. But you gotta make self sacrifices when you join a championship team.
More News Around The League
- The main reason why Boones numbers are down is because Portland is Randy Smith's team. Randy runs the show. And he's been running it well. He's leading the league in assists (10.8) and he's a great scorer as well with 21.1 PPG. Smith has Portland operating as the #1 offense in the league. They're 1st in scoring and 1st in field goal percentage. Due to his team & individual success, Smith was named the ITP Player of the Month (Again).
- I thought Killian Hayes would be the rookie of the month (Again). But I was wrong. Somehow the league handed the award to Hornets point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton is putting together a decent rookie season with 10 points and 7 assists per. But his numbers pale in comparison to Hayes. And as we mentioned, the Hornets offense has been miserable over the last month. So why are we rewarding the man that's orchestrating this mess?
- Speaking of struggling offenses, the Golden State Warriors have dropped to #23 In scoring this season. And after making the playoffs last season, they look lottery bound this year. And the Warriors fans are starting to take their frustration out on 2nd year point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry's field goal shooting has dropped from 45.4 % last year to 39.4 % this year. In their most recent home victory vs the Lakers. Lowry struggled once again with his shooting, going 5/14 from the field (after going 5/16 the game before). Everytime he would pull up for a jumpshot, you could hear the collective groans from the home crowd. Clearly Warriors fans are starting to ask themselves 2 very important questions. 1) Is Kyle Lowry really a franchise point guard? & 2) Was Lowry really worth being the #6 overall pick in the dispersal draft?
- One year after being traded by the Raptors, Rockets Forward Jorge Garbajosa made his first return to Toronto as a visiting player. Jorge did not play in this one. In fact he collected his 26th Coach Decision - DNP in 27 games this season. Last year Garbajosa averaged 17.3 PPG as a member of the Raptors. This year he has yet to score a single point. Asked after the game if he misses Toronto, Garbajosa began to cry and said "Yes".
- One guy that's scoring plenty of points is Bob Lanier. In the Sim 5 Edition we mentioned Lanier won the player of the week award. How did he celebrate? By collecting his first career triple double vs Sacramento the very next day. Check out these numbers: 48 points 16 rebounds 10 assists. And throw in 24 free throws, which was more than the entire Kings team attempted (22).
- Mickey Johnson is another West Coast Bucket Getter. Last year Mickey finished 2nd in the league in scoring with 27.1 PPG. The Mavs missed the playoffs. This year his scoring is up to 27.2 PPG. And guess what? The Mavs are once again outside the playoff picture. In Dallas they painted a mural for Luka Doncic which read "Send Help". Maybe it's time to paint one for Mickey as well.
- Jerry Stackhouse has been on an offensive tear lately. Numbers from the last sim: he dropped 28 vs the Knicks, 32 vs the Hawks in only 29 minutes, 28 vs the Wizards, and another 29 @ Cleveland. The problem with Stackhouse this season has been consistency. But it looks like he's starting to turn it around.
