Allen Iverson Returns to Philly
By Matt Schuler
Lakers Road Trip… And All of us Laker Fanatics thought the Purple and Gold was going to just trample through the league and remain unbeaten now that Pau Gasol and the entire team was healthy with the exception of poor Luke Walton. I guess they’re not invincible after all. The Lakers 11-game winning streak since Gasol returned to the line up came to a halt on Dec. 12th when Western Conference rival Darren Williams (21 points, 11 assists) and the Utah Jazz rained on the Lakers sunshine with a 102-94 victory over the defending champs.
Kobe Bryant also dislocated his right index finger during the loss, but with the expertise of Gary Vitti it has not slowed him down one bit. In the win against Chicago everybody was asking what dislocated finger? Kobe, wearing a splint on his shooting hand, lit up the Bulls for 42 points hitting 15 of 26 shots. He dropped in 20 by the end of the first quarter after scoring a season-low 16 against the Jazz.
The Lake Show, now 19-4 overall after beating the Bulls, has not had a streak of 11 wins since the 03-04 season when they reached the NBA Finals for the 4th time in 5 years with the help of Karl Malone and Gary Payton. That was also the same year the “Dream Team” couldn’t handle Malone’s late season injury and the Detroit Pistons denied the Lakers another ring and beat L.A in 5 games.
In the Utah loss Gasol pulled down 20 rebounds, which tied his career high, including 9 offensive boards. The Spaniard is averaging a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds since returning from an injured hamstring. The Lakers play in the second game of their first of two back to backs on their road trip. Lakers are 1-1 on their five game trip and now head to Milluakee to face the bucks and their hot rookie Brandon Jennings, who is averaging 21.1 PPG.
The Lakers have another five game road trip in March and also play 8 consecutive away games beginning January 21 against King James, Prince Shaq and the Cavs. They do not return home until February 3 with a welcome home match against an up and coming Charlotte Bobcat team.
Iverson Gets 76ers in the “W” Column… Allen Iverson scored 20 points and was one of seven players who scored in double figures for the 76ers, who snapped a 12 game losing skid with a 117-101 win over the Golden State Warriors Monday night. Second year player Thaddeus Young led all scorers with 26 points and topped the charts in boards with 14 rebounds.
Elton Brand, Andre Igoudala and Samuel Dalembert all scored over 10 points. Dalembert also pulled down 13 rebounds. The Sixers are now 6-18 and looking to gain chemistry with newly acquired teammate Iverson. Therefore I am going to ask the question again. Does Allen have “The Answer” for a struggling Philadelphia 76er team?
Not Just Any Average J O E in Atlanta…Joe Johnson has put his name and face on the Atlanta Hawk franchise since he joined the team in 2005-06. after coming from the Phoenix Suns and originally being drafted 10th overall by the Boston Celtics, Johnson has now engraved his imprint in Hawks History when he joined the likes of Dominique Wilkins, Pete Maravich, Bob Petit and Lou Hudson as one of the Atlanta Hawks career scoring average Leaders with a career average of 21.8 ppg.
Dominique Wilkins (26.4), Bob Petit (26.4), Pete Maravich (24.3), Joe Johnson (21.8), Lou Hudson (20). Johnson has been one of the Hawks young athletic high flyers and is a crucial part in the success of Atlanta and the reason they took the Boston Celtics to an epic 7 game series in the first round of the 2008-09 playoffs.
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