Insider Special: Good, Bad, & Kitchen Sink

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The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

By Terry Brown

Monday, January 27 Updated 2:58 PM EST

Just past the midway point of the season and the Cleveland Cavaliers are 26 1/2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the best record in the NBA or 26 1/2 games ahead of them for the right to pay off that infamous Hummer.

Depending, of course, on how you're looking at it.

The Good

Pierce

Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics

Week's work: 3-1 record, 35.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 6.2 apg, 3.2 spg, 6 triples, 52% shooting

In his worst game this week, Pierce scored 30 points and had three3 steals. That was the easy part. The hard part is deciding if the 40-point game with six assists and four steals was better than the 45-point game with 10 rebounds and fourr triples or the triple-double game featuring 27 points, 13 boards and 13 assists.

Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs

Week's work: 3-1 record, 28.2 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3 bpg, 50% shooting

One rebound shy of four more double-doubles this week in four games and some better free throw shooting shy of quite possibly being the perfect player. On the same night he throws in that game-winning dagger at the buzzer against the Jazz he shoots 11 of 17 from the charity stripe. But I guess you couldn't have one without the other.

Chris Webber, Sacramento Kings

Week's work: 3-2 record, 26.8 ppg, 13 rpg, 7.8 apg, 2 spg, 1.8 bpg, 48% shooting

If he's not careful, Webber is going to be the first power forward in NBA history to lead the league in triple-doubles (currently tied for second with 3) or be named MVP or both.

Tracy McGrady, Orlando Magic

Week's work: 2-1 record, 33 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 8 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.6 bpg, 5 triples, 51% shooting

I might be getting a little picky, but it's been 13 games since T-Mac hung 40-plus on anyone and he didn't even play in the last game. Wouldn't want to be Cleveland on Wednesday. Wouldn't want to be the Orlando trainer on Thursday. Wouldn't want to be Doc Rivers on Friday.

The Bad

Dampier

Erick Dampier, Golden State Warriors

Weak work: 3-1 record, 3.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1 apg, 0 spg, 0.7 bpg, 29% shooting

Surprise, surprise. I guess he isn't going to be the 12-point, 10-board demon he was back in November when he blocked three shots a game and shot 50 percent from the field. Surprise, surprise. It doesn't look like the Warriors need him to be.

Anthony Mason, Milwaukee Bucks

Weak work: 2-0 record, 5.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 5.5 apg, 0 spg, 0.5 bpg, 25% shooting

Coach George Karl thought he was getting an old school roughneck who would provide some interior punch on offense and a backbone on defense with some nifty passes here and there to boot. Well, Mason can still pass.

Rodney White, Denver Nuggets

Weak work: 0-4 record, 5.7 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.2 spg, 0.2 bpg, 37% shooting

Look, ma! I'm second in the league in turnovers per 48 minutes!

Kwame Brown, Washington Wizards

Weak work: 1-3 record, 5.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.2 spg, 0.7 bpg, 27% shooting

Good: He's still leading the Wizards in rebounding. Bad: He's averaging 5.7 rebounds per game. Indifferent: No doubt about it.

The Ugly

After scoring 11 points in the first quarter of their game against the Celtics last Friday on four buckets and three free throws, the Nuggets went on to take a one-point lead over Pierce into halftime, outscoring the small forward 29-28.

The rest of the Celtics chipped in to make it a 77-58 final score, the 11th lowest total in NBA history since the 24-second shot clock popped up in 1954.

The Kitchen Sink

CRISS CROSSED KEVIN

Kevin Garnett is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Prior to Jan. 8, he led the Minnesota Timberwolves in scoring in 26 of their 33 games and a 17-16 record. But in their last 11 games, six different players have led them in scoring and their record has been 9-2 in that span.

In fact, in the 12 games this season that KG has not been the leading scorer, the Timberwolves are 9-3.

But you try explaining that to the Portland Blazers, who had a 53-51 halftime lead over the Timberwolves on Jan. 18 before Garnett finished with 31 points and 20 rebounds in Minnesota's upset 104-98 upset victory at the Rose Garden in Portland.

The Blazers, themselves, had won 13 of their last 16 games coming into that night while not another Timberwolve starter would finish with more than 12 points in the game. Heck, the Blazers would go on to win their next four games, which all happened to be on the road.

Needless to say, if Garnett doesn't, well, go Garnett, then the Timberwolves lose, fall to 21-19 and who knows if Wally Szczerbiak scores a team-high 18 in their 88-85 win over the Clippers last Friday or Kendall Gill scores a team-high 19 in their win over the Wizards on Saturday.

As it is, Minnesota stands at 26-18, one spot below home-court advantage in the first round but all Garnett knows for sure is that Tom Gugliotta and Stephon Marbury are in Phoenix, Terrell Brandon is on injured reserve, Szczerbiak might be going back on it at any time, Troy Hudson (his teammate of only 41 games and only other player to lead the team in scoring more than three times) is shooting 42 percent from the field while Gill (his teammate of only 44 games and only other player to lead the team in scoring more than once) is averaging 10 points per game.

So it really doesn't matter if Garnett's never shot below 47 percent in his career or that he's averaged 20 or more points per game in each of the last five seasons.

If the Timberwolves lose, he didn't take over the game like superstars are supposed to, especially the highest-paid player in the game.

But if the Timberwolves don't win, then he was probably trying to do too much.

Either way, they play the San Antonio Spurs tonight and guess who gets to match up in the boxscore if not on the game floor with reigning MVP Tim Duncan, who has the luxury of knowing exactly what he needs to do each and every night even if it is scoring the fifth-most points in the league or grabbing the third-most rebounds.

TIN MAN

Newsflash. Jamaal Tinsley can't shoot. Exclamation point!

But at least last year, he made his way to the free throw line 186 times in 80 games to help boost his scoring average to a decent 9.4 points per game as a rookie despite shooting 38 percent from the field.

This year, he's gotten to the line only 53 times in 41 games and his scoring is down to 7.7 per game on 39 percent shooting.

PEAKING PEJA

He's baaack.

In November, still recovering from that blown out ankle, Sacramento swingman Peja Stojakovic shot 40 percent from the field. In December, he shot 53 percent. So far in January, the defending three-point shooting king is at 53 percent, including 46 percent from three-point range and averaging 20.5 ppg.

In his last nine games, not counting Sunday's 10-point egg against the Raptors, Stojakovic averaged 25.4 ppg on 59.8 percent shooting while hitting 3.4 three-pointers per game compared to 1.7 per game before the run.

PART-TIME POINT

Either Jason Terry is the Atlanta Hawks' starting point guard or he isn't or he is or . . . In his last five games, he's dished out 54 assists after handing out only 53 in the previous 10 games.

On the year, he is averaging 17.8 points per game. No, really, 17.8 points per game. In the 16 games that the Hawks have won, he's averaged 17.8 points per game. In the 28 games that the Hawks have lost, he's averaged 17.8 points per game . . . the difference being that he also tallied 8.6 assists per game in those wins compared to 6.8 in the losses.

MIDAS TOUCH

The Warriors are in a golden state after beating the Lakers, Nets and Jazz in three consecutive games last week. They cut down on the three-pointers (from 13.5 per game to 11.3) and went down low to Troy Murphy more who shot 70 percent in the span (after shooting 43 percent on the year). As a result, Golden State shot 54 percent in the three games compared to the 43 percent that it had been shooting on the season.

EASTERN COLD FRONT

Take the records of the 15 Eastern Conference teams over their last 10 games and they are a lackluster 69-81 (only the Pacers, Celtics, Bucks and Knicks have winning records in that time) while the 14 Western Conference teams are 74-66.

WHATCHA GONNA DO

Dennis Rodman, former Bad Boy

1992 Numbers: 9.8 ppg, 18.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.8 bpg, 54% shooting

Ben Wallace, current Bad Boy

2003 Numbers: 6.5 ppg, 14.8 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 2.7 bpg, 50% shooting

DO OR DIE SPECIAL

Los Angeles Lakers (19-23) versus Sacramento Kings (32-13)

Friday, Jan. 31, 2003

Arco Arena in Sacramento

7:30 p.m. PST on ESPN

After losing three of their last four with the rising Suns and Kings this week, the Lakers could be one more loss from dead last in the Pacific Division. Sacramento, on the other hand, and despite just losing two in a row, rolled over and yawned while asking: Lakers, who? before hitting the snooze button. There'll be enough time for Mrs. O'Neal to massage their feet later.

THE END

"Just remember, you watched me. I didn't watch you." -- Michael Jordan dropping 25 points and a history lesson on Nugget rookie Vincent Yarbrough last Monday at no extra charge.