January Awards:
Player of the Month:
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder – 29.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steal, 0.6 blocks per game.
Rookie of the Month:
Bill Stetson, Seattle Supersonics – 16.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.2 blocks per game.
January Trades:
Chicago trade:
PF Taj Gibson
2020 1st round pick
San Diego trade:
SF Joe Hite
Why for Chicago:
Although Hite was selected 12th in the previous draft he should have gone much higher. He has outstanding length and a scoring knack that can’t be taught. He is still quite raw and the Bulls gave up a high pick for him but they think that he will be a building block for the future.
Why for San Diego:
It is the opposite for the Riders as they believe that a team with a 17-31 record with result in a draft pick that can get a player that is better than Hite. Will that happen? No one knows.
Winner – Chicago
I’m betting that Hite will be a integral part to the Bulls line-up and should make sure that they get above a top five pick.
Our team is floating through these games, especially in our 97-88 loss to Houston as Darrell Hoiberg has the best of Darrell Holtz with 21 points and 11 rebounds while rookie Ketevan Abashidze shut down Danilo Gallinari with 19 points and kept the Italian to 2/14 shooting. Sam Baron was our best with 22 points and 8 assists but I’m hoping that this game is a wake up for the rest of the season.
Cleveland Cavaliers 45-7
That wake up call fell on deaf ears as we got smashed 119-92 to Philadelphia as we got outplayed, plain and simple. Luol Deng and Boroda Beketov top scored with 20 points each as Sam Baron needs to move back to SG as he went 1/4 against Chris Paul.
Cleveland Cavaliers 45-8
A 104-99 streak stopper against Toronto is just what we needed, with Danilo Gallinari, Darrell Holtz and Dwight Howard all recording double doubles.
Maybe they should be called ‘3D’ because they hit oppositions in three dimensions. The Raptors’ front court is a strange one as they have Reggie Williams at PF and Dexter Floyd at SF, I would have had them the other way around.
Cleveland Cavaliers 46-8
The Bobcats were well and truly shut down in our 100-76 win with Sam Baron having 20 points and 8 rebounds. JJ Hickson top scored with 17 points but the team shot 30% from the field.
Cleveland Cavaliers 47-8
Danilo Gallinari scored 28 points and sprained his ankle in our 116-79 shellacking of New Orleans. Sam Baron and Dwight Howard also scored over 20 points while Sebastian Ortega top scored with 13 points for the Hornets. Ortega is getting plenty of minutes in the Big Easy and is making the most of it, averaging 17 points a game so far.
Cleveland Cavaliers 48-8
Another win over Charlotte, twice in five days and it wasn’t close, 106-86. Sam Baron was given the Player of the Game title with 24 points but Dwight Howard was equally good with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
Cleveland Cavaliers 49-8
Our largest lead was 43 points as we held the Grizzlies to 5 points in the final term on the way to a 112-69 win. Dwight Howard (20 points, 15 rebounds), Sam Baron (29 points), Steph Curry (20 points, 9 assists) and Danny Granger (19 points in 14 minutes) did the damage as we held Memphis to 31% from the field. Great game by our side and we are headed in the right direction again after that small hiccup.
Cleveland Cavaliers 50-8
It’s time for the All Star festivities as Earl Summerall of Boston won the Slam Dunk Contest by easily taking care of Golden State’s Delawn Pederson 73-55 in the final.
It was another flogging with Anthony Morrow wiping the floor with the competition in the Long Distance Shootout, hitting 17 shots to Luther Marquis and Travis Howard’s 8.
The Rookie/Sophomore game was much closer as the rookies outscored the Sophs by 12 points in the final quarter to take out the game 120-117. Rickie Seegars was named MVP with 25 points and 7 assists while Chris Reese had 17 points and 8 rebounds. On the other side Brandin Schafer top scored with 22 points while Joe Price went toe to toe with Reese with 19 points and 13 rebounds in a losing effort.
Kevin King was named All Star MVP with 33 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in the East’s 146-130 win. Derrick Rose top scored for the West with 22 points while Matt Bailey had 19 points and 10 rebounds. We had two All Stars in Dwight Howard and Sam Baron while Detroit also had two with Kevin King and Tyreke Evans.
Western Conference starters –
SF – Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder
PF – Nikolos Bocharkov – Phoenix Suns
C – Matt Bailey – Los Angeles Lakers
SG – Spair Ruffin – Honolulu Sharks
PG – Sam Dye – Denver Nuggets
Eastern Conference starters –
SF – Kevin King – Detroit Pistons
PF – Blake Griffin – Orlando Magic
C – Dwight Howard – Cleveland Cavaliers
SG – Jeff Brown – Nevada Neon
PG – Marlon Zinn – Orlando Magic
First time all stars – Matt Bailey (LAL), Jeff Brown (NEV), and
Sam Baron (CLE).
My job is done because we have passed the trade deadline so I take a holiday to Antarctica of all places. Here are the rest of the regular season games.
Houston 103 def by Cleveland 125
Dallas 96 def by Cleveland 145
New Orleans 83 def by Cleveland 103
Cleveland 104 def San Antonio 96
Detroit 106 def by Cleveland 130
Cleveland 125 def Boston 102
Los Angeles 86 def by Cleveland 92
Chicago 71 def by Cleveland 107
Chicago 75 def by Cleveland 111
Cleveland 118 def New York 106
Cleveland 111 def Orlando 88
Cleveland 98 def by Chicago 102
Cleveland 118 def Toronto 105
Cleveland 119 def Minnesota 80
Cleveland 101 def Detroit 79
Cleveland 99 def by San Diego 111
Cleveland 99 def Miami 79
Cleveland 110 def Oklahoma City 92
San Antonio 87 def by Cleveland 114
Cleveland 124 def Utah 88
I have to stop this because of our next game. Final Score – Cleveland 98, Milwaukee 47. That’s right, the Bucks scored a total of 47 points. Here is the box score –
Cleveland 100 def Miami 68
Cleveland 119 def Phoenix 81
Cleveland 119 def New York 90
So we end up at 72-10 and keep the top seed in the league. Here are the final standings –
Eastern Conference:
1st – Cleveland Cavaliers – 72-10 (.878)
2nd – Orlando Magic – 54-28 (.659)
3rd – Detroit Pistons – 52-30 (.634)
4th – New York Knicks – 52-30 (.634)
5th – Philadelphia 76ers – 50-32 (.610)
6th – New Jersey Nets – 49-33 (.598)
7th – Toronto Raptors – 48-38 (.585)
8th – Boston Celtics – 44-38 (.537)
Last – Indiana Pacers – 17-65 (.207)
Western Conference:
1st – Los Angeles Lakers – 54-28 (.659)
2nd – Dallas Mavericks – 53-29 (.646)
3rd – Sacramento Kings – 53-29 (.646)
4th – Portland Trailblazers – 51-31 (.622)
5th – Milwaukee Bucks – 50-32 (.610)
6th – Oklahoma City Thunder – 48-34 (.585)
7th – Denver Nuggets – 47-35 (.573)
8th – Houston Rockets – 45-37 (.549)
Last – Utah Jazz – 23-59 (.280)
Cleveland Top Points –
Sam Baron – 20.0
Steph Curry – 18.6
Dwight Howard – 15.4
Cleveland Top Rebounds –
Dwight Howard – 11.3
Darrell Holtz – 8.8
Tibor Pleiss – 4.9
Cleveland Top Assists –
Sam Baron – 7.9
Steph Curry – 5.8
Rajon Rondo – 3.1
League Top Points –
Kevin Durant (OKC) – 25.7
Lebron James (DAL) – 23.5
Sapir Ruffin (HON) – 23.1
League Top Rebounds –
Jarvis Collier (HOU) – 11.5
Dwight Howard (CLE) – 11.3
Tim Mozgov (DAL) – 10.7
League Top Assists –
Chris Paul (PHI) – 9.4
Russell Westbrook (OKC) – 9.3
Deron Williams (LAL) – 9.0
League Top Blocks –
Mike Ohnstad (SDR) – 5.0
Justin Cabrera (MIA) – 4.2
Travis Randolph (TOR) – 3.8
League Top Steals –
Sam Dye (DEN) – 2.3
Lawrence McSwain (DEN) – 2.3
Vlasi Kazapov (SDR) – 2.0
Rookie Top Points –
John Williams (CHI) – 14.9
Brandin Schafer (MIA) – 13.7
Ketevan Abashidze (HOU) – 12.8
Rookie Top Rebounds –
Joe Price (BOS) – 5.4
Ronell Minor (SAC) – 5.0
Steven Dukes (OKC) – 4.2
Rookie Top Assists –
Gorazd Spaho (DAL) – 5.3
John Williams (CHI) – 5.0
Mark Borman (PHO) – 4.0