A weekly look at the statistical oddities around the NBA
After a brief hiatus from our overnight around-the-league postings, we're back with a new weekly feature here at CelticsBlog: Boxed Out. Inspired by a recent Knicks-Cavs game in which Anthony Roberson attempted 12 three-pointers, we'll be taking you around the league on paper for a look at some of the goofiest, most impressive and most intriguing box score lines of the last seven days. Without further ado, away we go...
Dwight Howard, Monday night at LA Clippers: 23 points, 22 rebounds, 6 blocks
The guy is a beast. He put up a scary good performance and was no doubt a large part of the reason the Magic went plus-16 in the fourth quarter to come back to beat the Clips, 95-88.
Baron Davis, Monday versus Orlando and Friday at Portland: 11-for-29 shooting
Two 11-for-29 performances in consecutive games? Baron's freehwheeling style is entertaining to watch, but there's a reason the guy has a true shooting below 50 percent this season and why the Clips' offense is checking in at 29th in efficiency.
Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal, Tuesday at Cleveland: combined 6-for-17 from the field, 17 points, 8 turnovers
The Cavs play really good defense. The Jay Triano era isn't exactly off to a roaring start in Toronto.
Rip Hamilton, Tuesday at Washington: 10-for-17 from the field, 29 points
The interesting note here is that this came when Michael Curry inserted Rodney Stuckey into the lineup at the point for the Pistons. Stuckey put up 10 points and 11 assists, and Rip and Allen Iverson both shot more effectively from the field than they had been of late, though the Pistons fell by 13.
Al Harrington, Wednesday at New Jersey: 11-for-21 from the field, 15-for-16 from the foul line, 39 points, 13 boards
In ten games since joining the Knicks, Harrington is shooting the ball 20 times per game from the field. To his credit, he is putting up 25.5 points and a true shooting mark of 58.4 percent. Of course, one can only wonder how many games the Knicks will win with Al Harrington making up such a large portion of their offense. Seems like more of a concern for 2010 in the Sizable Apple.
Zach Randolph, Friday at Portland: 47 minutes, 15-of-30 from the field, 38 points, 11 boards, plus-17
I've made my negative feelings about Z-Bo quite clear in this space, but it's hard to kill the guy for a night when he was integral to his team pulling off a double-overtime upset over a Portland team that typically plays excellent ball at home.
Anthony Randolph, Friday versus Houston: 24 minutes, 15 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks
The rookie from LSU was everywhere in a nationally televised appearance against Houston. Though the Rockets cruised, Randolph certainly made them work for their buckets under the basket when he was on the floor, and he earned the Warriors several extra possessions with six offensive boards.
Rob Kurz, Friday versus Houston: 15 minutes, 4-for-4 shooting, 10 points, 3 blocks
The sort of energy he displayed might help the undrafted rookie increase on his 108 minutes played for the season.
Stephen Jackson, Saturday at Denver: 1-for-13 from the field
Over the Warriors' weekend back-to-back, Jax totaled a composite 3-for-27 shooting for 12 points and a combined minus-43. Forgettable couple days for the captain.
That wraps it up here for our first edition of Boxed Out. We're back Monday afternoon with the regularly scheduled Daily Babble. In the meantime, feel free to bombard us with all the notable stat lines we missed from the past week.