SUCKA FREE 2: Who didn't suck in the NBA last week

If you want to see which NBA blogs that didn't suck check out hoopsaddict.com's Carnival of the NBA #62 Suprisingly, we made the list.

Who didn't suck in the NBA last week? Here are your un-sucky teams and players for last week:

Joe Johnson, Atlanta Hawks
Last Week: 30.5 pts, 7 reb, 9.5 assists, 1.5 steals
The Atlanta Hawks have won four straight all thanks to Joe Johnson. The Hawks have been on a 7-game home stand and Joe Johnson went off for 41 against the Bulls and had a triple double (20, 11 & 11) against the Thunder.


Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Last Week: Averaged 29 pts, 5 asst, 6 reb and 2 stls
Flash led the Heat to 2 wins in three games last week knocking off the Warriors and Bulls.


Emeka Okafor, Charlotte Bobcats
Last Week: Averaged 22 pts, 12 boards and almost 3 blocks
Emeka had a monster game against the Wizards last week scoring 29pts with 18rebounds and 3 blocks.

Shaquille O'Neal/Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns
Last Week: The duo combined for 48 pts, 15 rebounds, 3 steals and 6 blocks in their lone game against the Spurs.
The game resulted in a one-point loss for the Suns on Christmas Day but the towering duo led the Suns throughout the game until the Roger Mason buzzer beater three in the closing seconds.

Jermaine O'Neal, Toronto Raptors
Last Week: Averaged 25 pts, 7 boards, 2 steals and 3.3 blocks
J.O. looked like the old Indiana Pacers All-Star as he was a defensive presence for the Raptors and had a big game with 36 pts and 9 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks against the Sacramento Kings.

Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland has been the hot team and have won six straight knocking off big opponents like the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets. Lebron James was named Player of the Week last week and the Cavs have their best franchise start with their 25-4 record.

Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic sit on top of the Southeast division and have wont 7 straight. Last week they knocked off the New Orleans Hornets by 20 points and are winners of the last 11 of 12.

San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs have won their last five games and seem to have got their groove back. Squeezing out a one point win against the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day and a 3-point win against the Memphis Grizzles. They are 0.5 game ahead of the New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets in the Southwest Division.





Photo Credit: (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Flash for 40 but Raps win...

Too bad the Raps couldn't play the Heat for 82 games.

The Raps looked a hell of a lot better tonight beating the Heat 101-95. First of all, the Raps didn't need to deal with inexperienced Will Solomon at the point because Jose Calderon was back and they needed his return. I still can't get over the fact that Matt Devlin dissed Solomon's game on the air on Tuesday.

The word of the day was "turnover" when talking about the Raps 20+ turnover performance (Will Solomon had 7 of them) on Tuesday. Every blog, new article, sports highlight, Sam Mitchell quote, etc. had talked about how bad the Raps turned it over last night. Well, they made big improvements with only 10 turnovers this time around.

Dwyane Wade & the Heat made a run, and Wade went off for the Heat for 40 points, 11 assists, 5 blocks and some sick, wicked & nasty jams.

Andrea Bargnani had a great game with 25 pts going 3 for 4 from beyond the arc....Anthony Parker played well going 5 for 5 at the three point line...JO was a monster on the boards with 16 pts and 17 boards for his 5th stragiht double double. This was a performance very similar to Sunday's game.

As a Raps fan, it was a good win but keep in mind that the Heat were a lottery team last year. We need the Raps knock off some tough teams like Boston, Detroit or a Western powerhouse.

And for our Filipino readers, U-E found out this gem of a fact. Miami coach, Erik Spoelstra is half Filipino...and he's currently the youngest NBA head coach.

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Dwight Howard Scores 100 points! Fantasy Points that is!

I have been playing fantasy sports (mostly football and basketball) for at 7-8 years now and I’ve come to a conclusion: Fantasy sports are for nerds (I can say that because I’m one of them)

I think real sports fans play in fantasy leagues but nerds dominate them. It’s a numbers game, made for computer geeks and accountants who like doing research, like working with percentages, watching stocks rise and fall, buying low and selling high. The true fantasy nerds are the ones who can tell you the stats of any particular NBA player but can’t tell you what happened in last night’s game or who won. Fantasy sports just scream Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Chess, Checkers, Pokemon, you name it... but it has a mask of "sports" to hide behind.

In my current fantasy basketball leagues, each player is valued by their players stats. The players aren’t just measured by just the points they score, we measure them in fantasy points. (as I continue in my nerdy voice) The formula is pretty simple:

Free throws made = 0.5 point each

Threes made=1.5 points each

Points scored=1 point each

Rebounds=2 points each (Offensive ones get you a bonus 0.5 point)

Assists=2 points each

Steals=3 points each

Blocks=3 points each

Turnovers= -1 point each

Technical Fouls= -5

Your average player averages roughly 30 fantasy points (fp’s) per game. If a player breaks 100 points in one game, it’s a pretty rare occasion.

Last night there was one player scoring 100+ fantasy points, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. I mean Lebron and J-Kidd always drop triple doubles but nothing like Dwight Howard's line:

Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic - 30 pts, 19 rebounds, 10 swats! and 3 assists (his first career triple double) = 108.5 FPs!! Dwight Howard is a beast.

Eric Snow said it best on NBATV last night describing Howard. Snow said Dwight Howard is not only 6’10-6’11 but he’s also quick and can jump like Vince Carter. He beats the big guys guarding him with his speed and just jumps over the little guys.

And for the other line of the night…

I have to admit, Chuck Swirsky was cheesy at times (no pun intended) but the guy was memorable. Every Chris Bosh dunk, every Mo Pete three, every Anthony Parker three, the Swirsk had to put his mark on it. It was late last night as I watching Heat-Blazers. Towards the end of the 4th quarter, Dwyane Wade had just dunked it on three Blazers...but what got me even more was the call by the Heat commentator (I think it was Eric Reid).

The call:"Dwyane Wade just applying some Noxema!!!! What a facial by Wade!!!!" (They show the play again on replay) "He just took him to the spa for a facial!"

THIS GUY should have replaced Chuck Swirsky and be calling Raps games... that was a total Swirsky-esque call.

Finally, the Atlanta Hawks are the real deal. They lost their first game, but it was a one point game (without Josh Smith at that) against the World Champs. I mean the Hawks could have pulled it out but “The Truth” is just too good.

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