House (of Glanville) Cleaning

This is somewhat of a public service announcement for the few of you that actually visit this site. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, like people actually thinking I'm good at my job and giving me a promotion despite doing everything in my power to do as little as is required, my time isn't as free as it has been the past couple of years. That means much less time to write my ramblings and completely biased opinions. Which also means not as many posts, because god knows none of these other "contributors" ever write anything.

Regardless, I will do my best to keep putting my often incoherent thoughts here on the internet as much as is humanly possible. And by humanly possible, I mean a very lazy human like myself, one that hates having obligations and responsibilities.

I started this blog more than a year and a half ago to help me get through my immensely long work days, which were filled with tons of down time. It's amazing how little people expect from you when you first start. Conversely, it's insane how much those same people expect from you after a little while and several layoffs later, but I digress. As I was saying, I started this whole thing to help me get through my day and put my voice out there. As time has passed, I've really grown to enjoy it, which is why I'm going to make every effort to continue doing it. The rigors of a new job title be damned. So the frequency may not be as great, but the show will go on.

On that note, how about last nigh, huh people? Your Philadelphia 76ers took a 55-44 lead into halftime against the Freed-Up-Cap-Space-to-Woo-LeBron-and-Bosh/Wades Knicks, who threw out a starting lineup of Toney Douglas, the carcass of Tracy McGrady, Wilson Chandler and two white guys, and then completely fell apart by scoring a grand total of 29 points in the second half, losing 94-84.



Yes, you read that correctly. After scoring 55 points in the first half, the Sixers managed just 29 total points (14 in the 3rd, 15 in the 4th) against the New York Knicks. The same New York Knicks coached by Mike D'Antoni — a defensive genius if ever there was one. The same New York Knicks that surrender an average of 104.5 points per game. The Sixers scored 20.5 points less than that. At home. Awesome.

Everyone's favorite $80 million man scored 7 points on 3-8 shooting and grabbed a grand total of 3 rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Against the Knicks. Elton Brand had just 3 rebounds and 7 points against the Knicks. Going up against the likes of David Lee and Danilo Gallinari. Way to earn that money, Elton. To be fair, Gallinari and Lee are First Team All Defensive Players awful at defense. But hey, Duke's a No. 1 seed! He went to Duke! So me must be good! Great investment, Mr. Stefanski.

Our other $80 million man shot a remarkable 5-22 from the field, 0-7 from three and 4-8 from the line. In case you have trouble with math, that's 22.7 percent from the field, 0 percent from three and 50 percent from the line. Against the Knicks. I repeat, against the Knicks. He did grab 17 rebounds, which I can only assume he got off his 17 misses from the field.

Thank heavens for Jrue Holiday. Honestly, he is the only reason to watch this team. If he's not on the floor, don't even bother. But if you must get your fix, make sure to glue your eyes to Jrue wherever he is.



It's no secret that I wanted to Sixers to draft Ty Lawson with the 17th pick. And Ty Lawson has certainly had a bigger impact on the playoff-bound Nuggets this season than the 19-year-old has had for the Sixers. But ever since Eddie Jordan finally decided to play the youngest player in the NBA — about, oh, I don't know, 3 months too late — he's been far and away the best, most exciting player on the team. Yes, even better than Andre Iguodala. And he's showing the upside that had him rated as the best point guard in the nation when he was in high school and why he was projected as a lottery pick talent. Frankly, in a year or two, he may be better than Lawson. Hell, the more he plays, he might be better now.

He certainly was tremendous last night. Besides Sammy D's 11 points and 18 rebounds, Jrue was the only 76er who looked like he gave a damn. Sure, Willie Green scored 17 points on 8-14 shooting, but he didn't look interested in doing anything but shooting — as per usual with worthless Willie. But Jrue, he had a team-high 18 points on 7-14 shooting and 2-6 from three, went 2-2 from the line, had 8 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals and a block in 41-plus minutes. He actually took what the Knicks call defense gave him and had an extremely efficient, impressive games. Somehow, the youngest guy in the league knew how to attack the Knicks infinitely better than two veterans who each have $80 million contracts … and everyone else for that matter. It's really a shame that Jrue is stuck learning with a bunch of guys who just really don't know how to win. Even with the playoff experience the past two seasons, these players really have no idea how to play without Andre Miller showing/telling them how to. Now Jrue's the only one who seems to know what to do and when to do it, but as a 19-year-old rookie, can't quite convey that to his older, more experienced teammates as of yet. At least he's not stuck with all these players who have unbearable contracts for the the few years or anything. Oh wait.

Speaking of rookie point guards … have you seen Stephen Curry lately?



Now, there's no doubt about it: Brandon Jennings is my favorite rookie in this class, Tyreke Evans is the best rookie in this class and a lock for the Rookie of the Year — I mean, 20-5-5 joining only Oscar, Jordan and LeBron to average that as a rookie if he can sustain it is just insane — but Stephen Curry might be the most fun to watch. At 6'3" and just 185 pounds, people just weren't sure he would be able to score and create like he did at Davidson. Well, Stephen has completely silenced any critics, averaging 16.4 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He's shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from three and 88.4 percent from the foul line. He's actually made it a discussion as to his merits for Rookie of the Year, even though he won't be able to overtake Tyreke.

That's why I was excited to see him play last night. Against the West-leading Lakers, Curry went nuts, scoring a game-high 29 points (tied with Kobe) on 11-19 shooting including an absurd 5-9 from three, dishing out 9 assists with exactly 0 turnovers, nabbing 5 boards and adding a steal for good measure. On top of that, he hit some huge threes in the fourth quarter to make the Lakers sweat.



Ultimately, his efforts weren't enough as the Lakers held on for a 124-121 win, but Curry was head and shoulders above everyone else on the Warriors. Better than Monta Ellis, who shot an Iguodala-like 5-23 from the field and 1-6 from three. Better than Corey Maggette, who did manage 18 points on 9-15 shooting but only added 4 boards and 1 assist along with 3 turnovers beyond that. Frankly, he was as impressive as anyone the court, though there were several Lakers that matched his efforts.

Kobe scored 29 points on 9-18 shooting and 9-11 from the field, and he was arguably the fourth or fifth best Laker last night, what with his 9 turnovers. Pau Gasol was a monster with 26 and 9 on 10-13 shooting and four assists. Andrew Bynum nearly equaled that output with 19 points on 6-11 shooting, 7-8 from the line, 14 boards and 3 blocks, though he did have 8 turnovers himself. Lamar Odom had 17 and 12 on 7-9 shooting. And Ron Artest had a quietly brilliant game, taking just 8 shots and hitting five of them for 12 points, while also adding 6 boards, 5 assists and a block.

That's the thing about the Lakers. On any given night, they have five guys who legitimately can carry them … which is usually unnecessary because Kobe is capable of doing that just about every night himself. That's why I just don't see anyone being able to beat them come playoff time. Not the Nuggets. Not the Mavericks. Not the Jazz. Not the Cavs or Magic or Celtics or anyone else.

But for all the talent the Lakers throw out on that court, no one was more fun to watch last night than Curry. He always did seem to have great performances in March.