Noah, Deng Add All-Star Stats to Their Game

February 18, 2013 @ admin → No Comments

Monday meanderings: The good news for Chicago Bulls fans regarding the all-star game Sunday (Feb. 17)? The Bulls had two players in the game. The bad news? Neither was named Derrick Rose, and neither was a starter.

Not particularly sports-related. It’s swimsuit model Hannah Davis.

* Given the 143-138 Western Conference all-star victory, you have to wonder what would happen if the Bulls ever won a seventh NBA title and Tom Thibodeau ended up coaching in a game that featured defense as an after-thought.

* Joakim Noah had eight points, 10 rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in 16 minutes in his all-star debut. Luol Deng had 10 points in 17 minutes in his second all-star appearance. Deng had as many field-goal attempts (10) as did game MVP Chris Paul of the Western Conference and one more shot than Kobe Bryant. Any other similarity among Deng, Paul and Bryant would appear to be coincidental.

* Speaking of defense (as we were before the previous paragraph), Noah actually played some. Guess someone forgot to give him the memo that such play is discouraged — although the game might be more interesting if there actually was some, as Bryant’s two blocks of LeBron James showed.

* Still speaking of defense and Noah, here is what he had to say about being part of the all-star scene: “I enjoyed every minute on the court and I had a lot of fun. I haven’t slept in three days, man. I had all my best friends; there’s not one of my friends who isn’t here. I got my pops [former tennis star Yannick Noah] here. I’m looking up, he’s smiling and proud. It just really means everything. I just felt like I might as well go out there and just give it everything I got. I can’t half-ass it because otherwise I would really look like [bleep].”

* Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts is optimistic about the team’s future. He said so Sunday at spring training in Arizona. Thanks to a 101-loss season in 2012, there’s reason to believe the 2013 version could be better than that. At some point, the team needs to have the performance on the field be more noteworthy than the ballpark where it plays.

* Speaking of the Cubs, right-hander Matt Garza is way ahead of schedule — as far as being sidelined by injury is concerned. He didn’t seem particularly concerned after cutting short a scheduled 40-pitch performance after 20 tosses Sunday because of a strain in his left side. “It shouldn’t be a big thing,” he said. Well, unless the discomfort is persistent. In which case the Cubs will feel the pain — either of his inability to pitch or their inability to trade the free-agent-to-be during the season.

* For those who might have been unaware, Sunday was the birthday of one of the sports world’s true legendary figures. Slightly belated happy birthday to Jim Brown. Football, lacrosse, basketball and baseball were his sports. The former Cleveland Browns running back was as good as any who played the game.

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More Sports Illustrated swimsuit video? Seems a reasonable way to start off the week:

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While some people still are upset that wrestling is being dropped from the 2020 Olympic Games, some of of us (mainly the editorial staff at elliottharris.com) are hoping someday pole dancing will be an addition to the schedule. Winter or Summer Games, it doesn’t matter to us.