Our grades for what happened around the NBA Sunday, or what you missed while you were turning in your neighbor who stole monkeys and grew marijuana…
The entire Atlantic Division. With the losses Tuesday of the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, Atlantic Division teams have now lost 14 games in a row. As a division the Atlantic is 19-36, a winning percentage of 34.5 percent. The Philadelphia 76ers are on top of it at 5-7. It’s not going to stay this way all season… please, don’t let it stay this way all season. The idea of a sub .500 team as the No. 4 seed in the East because makes me queasy. This losing streak will end Wednesday — the Raptors and Sixers play each other and by NBA rules one of the teams has to win. (Hat tip to Michael Levin of Liberty Ballers for pointing this out.)
New York Knicks offense. We warned you earlier in the day that for all the issues with their soft-as-a-Twinkie defense, New York’s offense could be a bigger issue. The team proved that point Tuesday night. The Knicks went up against a Pistons team with the worst defense in the NBA so far this season (allowing teams to shoot 49 percent) and could only manage 86 points on 43.4 percent shooting. For those of you scoring at home, that works out to less than a point per possession (the Pistons have allowed 107 points per 100 possessions this season, the Knicks scored 98.9). Yes, Raymond Felton was out, but it was more than that and wasn’t pretty: Carmelo Anthony had 25 points on 20 shots, J.R. Smith 18 points on 15 shots. Wednesday night the Knicks get the Pacers — the team with the best defense in the league. Cover your children’s eyes, they don’t need to see that.
Chris Bosh, Miami Heat. This is what Miami needs out of Bosh. He had been in a funk for a few games, had only taken four shots in the Heat’s last game, but with Dwyane Wade out he stepped up. Bosh finished with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. He had a corner three but his other buckets all came within 15 feet as he stretched less and just went after the Hawks. He played solid defense and pulled down five boards as well.
Terrence Jones, Houston Rockets. Great line from him — 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting, plus nine rebounds and a couple of blocks. Jones was aggressive and attacking the Celtics inside, all but one of his makes came inside five feet of the rim (the other was a three). Jones is making a good case that with Dwight Howard in the center spot he is the best choice on the roster to play power forward because of his athleticism and you have to respect him from the outside. The Rockets have looked much better with him starting.
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings. Good stat line — 27 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists, 2 blocks — and he did it playing through a shoulder injury. Cousins tweaked his shoulder in the second quarter and wore a brace the rest of the game. He also had three points, a block and a steal in the Kings’ 10-0 run at the end of the game to get the win. He also had a turnover and an offensive foul in that stretch, it wasn’t always pretty, but (as tends to be the case with with him) there was more good than bad, and in this case he carried the Kings to that win. Bad shoulder and all.
