BEYOND THE BOX SCORE - November 9

Minnesota 88 Lakers 74 – Watching this one it looked as though Casey had the Lakers scouted to the nth degree …. The key to Kobe is keeping him off the free throw line and he had just 6 free throw attempts …. This is how Minnesota is going to have to win because they don’t a true second scorer. Last night Trenton Hassell was the offensive source other then KG ….. Eddie Griffin was the game changer. Minnesota was +24 when he was on the floor ….

Philadelphia 112 Dallas 97 – Dirk Nowitski got hurt and left in the 2nd Quarter ……Nowitski was +9 when he left with the injury …. 3 point shooter Kyle Kover went 9 for 11 but just 2 for 4 from 3. I am not sure he was ever taken more shots inside the arc then outside the arc ….Chris Webber is back on track with an 18 shot 19 point game and was a -9…. Keith Van Horn had a nice line, 19 points and 13 rebounds, except the Mavs were outscored by 24 when he was on the floor …. John Salmons and John Thomas of Philly had great games off the bench, they were +24 and +17, respectively.

Clippers 102 Washington 97 – Great performance in the clutch by the Clippers. Elton Brand can’t score late in games and that has always been the Clips downfall, but last night Cassell, Mobley and Maggette all made plays … Last year the Clips got crushed in two areas, point guard play and turnovers. Cassell is changing both of those. It makes sense that the Clips are for real and a playoff team …. Clippers only had 12 turnovers in the game … Brand was great, 14 of 18 from the field …. Antonio Daniels did not play. 21 missed games to go to get to my projected 60 game season.

Boston 99 Memphis 98 – Great game. Pierce hit Ricky Davis for the game-winner, one play after Eddie Jones hit a fantastic baseline shot to give Memphis the lead. The Eddie Jones play was most telling because it touched all five members of the Grizzlies. Their ball movement and unselfish play was impressive all game …. Delonte West is a sick athlete … Memphis bench kept then in the game after their starters got crushed early in the game … Boston is playing Al Jefferson for the entire 4th quarter.

New Jersey 91 Utah 83 – The first bad defensive game of the year by Utah …. Talk about unclear rotations, Jerry Sloan didn’t play any of his starters other than Kirlenko in the 4th quarter …. Keith McLeod was a –17 and Okur was a –16 in 15 minutes … Richard Jefferson continues to be terrific, NJ was +18 with him on the floor and he had 17-9-12. …. I still like New Jersey a lot.

San Antonio 94 Charlotte 86 – mismatch.. . Tony Parker might be better then he was last year … Van Exel has been struggling off the bench as we showed in a previous Beyond the Box Score so they started him last night with Parker and had Manu come off the bench … Manu is the ultimate team player.

Chicago 85 Golden State 84 – The Warriors closed the game with Derek Fischer, Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy. That is small ball … The Bulls went at the small lineup on the final play of the game isolating Mike Sweetney on Troy Murphy and drawing the foul …. Foyle is some sort of hit or miss player. Last night he was a –10 and the previous nights he was off the charts on +/- in a good way …. Chicago was #1 in the NBA in field goal defense last year and they held the Warriors to 33% last night …. Kirk Hinrich is a total stud.

Portland 95 New York 83 – Way to go Nate… Larry Brown without a win… Jerome James did not play … Nate Robinson had double figures for the first time in his career …. Jarrett Jack is getting more time then Sebastian Telfair, though Telfair was a +21 in his 20 minutes. The two of them played together to open the 4th Q .. In the 16 minutes Antonio Davis was on the floor the Knicks got outscored by 21 points. That is hard to do …. Jamal Crawford was a –15 … Who was the Knicks best +/- player last night, Nate Robinson at +6 …

Denver 107 Sacramento 91 – The Rick Adelman death watch starts now …. The Kings are a bad team …. They only scored 9 points in the 4th quarter … What does this tell you about Abdur-Rahim? Every team he has been on losses. Same can be said for Bonzi Wells … Nice off-season Geoff Petrie … Earl Boykins was a +20 for Denver …. Earl Watson does not play again.

Orlando 88 NOK 83 – two bad teams …. I am not sure how long they run Chris Paul out there for 40 minutes a night.

Indiana 95 Miami 90 – Holy smokes. Miami was outscored by 20 points with Payton on the floor and GP only played 27 minutes …. Indiana has quite a player in Sarunas Jasikevicius. He closed the game for the Pacers and made two big plays down the stretch … Indiana closed with Fred Jones and Jasilevicius in the back-court …. Miami closed with Payton which might be why they lost …