Lay Up Line: NBA Recap 11/1/12

Music to listen to:  They’ll No Longer Suffer from Thirst by Maserati

Here are the headlines you need to know from last night’s action in the NBA

Harden shines in debut:  Earlier on Wednesday, the Houston Rockets signed James Harden to a five-year, $80 million deal that ensured that the best bench player in the NBA the last two seasons would earn primetime minutes with a salary to boot.  Harden lived up to the expectations with a spectacular debut for the Rockets, pacing Houston with 37 points and 12 assists , a career-high, in the squad’s 15-96 victory at Detroit in the season debut for both teams.  Harden even looked able to play alongside Jeremy Lin, who had 12 points and eight assists, well.  The backcourt of the future sure looked like it was ready for the present in the Motor City.

Lake Show 0-2:  The season is over for the Lakers!  That may be the thoughts of some Lakers fans and the sports media after Los Angeles’ 116-106 loss to the Portland Trailblazers.  The Lakers’ biggest reason for the loss was their 24 turnovers.  Part of that may have had to do with Steve Nash leaving the contest late in the first half.  Kobe Bryant had 30 points and Dwight Howard contributed 33 points along with 14 rebounds in his own right.  Portland just played a better game, led by Nicolas Batun’s team-high 26 points and rookie Damian Lillard’s 22 points and 11 assists in his NBA debut.  The Lakers are still a title-contender but the two biggest issues for the team, a thin bench and perimeter defense, were on full display against the Blazers.

Clippers show toughness in win:  The Clippers/Grizzlies may be one of the underrated budding rivalries in the NBA.  While it wasn’t at the level of Celtics/Heat in heighted animosity, Los Angeles and Memphis put on a physical battle last night with the Clippers emerging with the victory, 101-92.  Jamal Crawford put in work for Los Angeles, scoring 29 points in 30 minutes of action off of the bench.  The usual top players showed up for both squads as Chris Paul had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers while Rudy Gay had a team-high 25 points for the Grizzlies and Marc Gasol chipped in 20 points.  The real action was in the post where Blake Griffin and Zach Randolph put on a wrestling match throughout the contest that TNA Wrestling would be proud of.  Each player engaged in hard fouls and Randolph looked like he was one mean arm hack away from getting ejected.  Los Angles showed toughness and earned the gritty win.

Spurs survive New Orleans:  The Hornets/Clippers contest may have been billed as the past (Tim Duncan) versus the future (Anthony Davis), however both men looked content in the present on Wednesday night.  Davis had a solid career debut with 21 points and seven rebounds.  However, it was Duncan, who had a game-high 24 points and three blocks who nailed a couple of late free throws to seal the victory for the Spurs, 99-95.  The maturity of both squads was also on full display when Tony Parker scoring numerous jumpers late in the fourth quarter off well-executed plays to give the Spurs the lead, while the Hornets’ young players took ill-advised shots, particularly Austin Rivers and Greivis Vasquez, during the same period.  The Spurs are already there while the Hornets are still traveling towards the same level.

Rest of the league:  The Pacers needed a late rally in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead basket by George Hill with two seconds left, to earn a 90-88 win at Toronto…Spencer Hawes put up 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shot in place of injured Andrew Bynum to lead the 76ers to an impressive 84-75 win at home against the Nuggets, who were missing Danillo Gallinari due to injury…There was a Richard Hamilton sighting in Chicago last night as the Bull scored 19 points to help lead his team to a 93-87 win over Sacramento…Marvin Williams and Mo Williams had nice debuts for the Jazz as each man scored 21 points to get the Jazz a 113-94 victory over Dallas who are still missing Dirk Nowitzki…Steph Curry had a rough night for the Warriors after just signing a four-year, $44 million extension the previous day as we went 2-for-14 from the field and missed all six three-pointer attempts to score only five points in Golden State’s 87-85 win.  Carl Landry scored 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors earn the win.