Who knows what the reason is?

Maybe it is playing in front of the bright lights in the big city, or maybe there’s something in the water at the hotels that other teams stay at, but one thing we know for sure is the fact that “The Mecca” brings out the best in people.

We saw that Wednesday night as the Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry gave a performance for the ages, dropping 54 points in a losing effort.

One day later, we can actually reflect on how special of a night Curry really did have and regret the fact that the Davidson product was one pick away from wearing a New York Knicks jersey.

But with all the special performances by opposing players in Garden history, where does Curry’s 54 rank?

Let’s take a look.

10. Richard Hamilton drops 51 in 2006:

Rip’s game against the Knicks as a member of the Detroit Pistons isn’t really talked about much as one of the best performances by an opposing player, but it is certainly worthy of making the list. Hamilton was an impressive 19-for-37 from the field and 12-for-12 on free throws, but the Knicks won in triple overtime.

9. LeBron James scores 50 in 2008:

You knew he was going to have a big game at The Garden sooner or later and during this 2008 contest, LBJ certainly put his name among the greats in Garden history. James had 50 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and four steals in leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 119-105 victory, by making 16-of-30 shots from the field, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range.

LeBron said after the game:

“I’ve dreamed about playing well in this building and it’s overtaken of how I could ever dream about,” James said. “To get a standing ovation in the greatest basketball arena in the world, it was a dream come true for me. It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

8. Rick Barry scores 57 in 1965:

It was Barry’s rookie season with the Warriors and he didn’t succumb to the biggest stage in the world, making 18 of his 29 shots and missing just one of his 22 free throws, but it wasn’t enough as the Knicks ultimately defeated the Warriors 141-137.

7. Reggie Miller’s 1995 postseason:

Miller’s heroics in Game 1 of the 1995 playoffs will always be remembered, painfully for Knicks fans, but as good as Miller’s eight points in 11 seconds was in terms of history, Game 5 of that series may have been an even better performance as Miller scored 39 points and dished out six assists, but he turned in one of the best fourth quarter performances in playoff history as he scored 25 points to lead the Pacers to  Game 5 win, although the Knicks would go on to win the series.

6. Curry’s 54 in 2013:

You don’t see nights like we saw Wednesday night as Curry was simply unbelievable. Curry drained a remarkable 11-of-13 three-pointers, just one shy of the NBA record and added six rebounds, seven assists and three steals, but Golden State ultimately lost one of the more entertaining games a basketball fan could ever watch.

Many view Kevin Durant as the Second Coming. We see him and the Thunder more likely coming Third through Sixth. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On Wednesday we discussed what the Eastern Conference Playoff picture looks like, and today we go west, young man.  We’d already previously examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’re talking about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter amongst friends?

#1 – Lakers

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Derrick Rose helped the US escape today's game against Brazil with a win. What concerns lie ahead though? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

With the FIBA World Championship Tournament in Turkey now completing its third day, the US squad squeaked past Brazil to now be 3-0.  During the run-up to the tournament, the team had looked better and better as they scrimmaged against other countries.  The pitiful looking team that only barely scraped by against a seriously undermanned French team, managed to not only come out strong against co-favorite Spain, but to even maintain their cool and snatch the one-point win when things got tight in the end.  Before that game, although bookmakers had the US listed as the favorites, everyone in the know (including many big-time USA supporters) had Spain as the true team to beat.  So things look more hopeful now, but there are still 3 big issues to overcome.

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As always, I do not support or stand by Shai in any way, so any issues you have with his choices should be completely directed at him.

#	Team	Player	Pos.	School
1	New Jersey	John Wall	PG	Kentucky
2	Minnesota	Evan Turner	SG	Ohio State
3	Sacramento	DeMarcus Cousins	C	Kentucky
4	Golden St.	Derrick Favors	PF	Georgia Tech
5	Washington	Wesley Johnson	SF	Syracuse
6	Philadelphia	Greg Monroe	PF/C	Georgetown
7	Detroit	Al-Farouq Aminu	SF	Wake Forest
8	LA Clippers	Patrick Patterson	PF	Kentucky
9	*Utah	Cole Aldrich	C	Kansas
10	Indiana	Ed Davis	PF	North Carolina
11	New Orleans	James Anderson	SG	Oklahoma State
12	Memphis	Xavier Henry	SG	Kansas
13	Toronto	Damion Jones	F	Texas
14	Houston	Ekpe Udoh	PF/C	Baylor
15	Milwaukee	Gordon Hayward	F	Butler
16	*Minnesota	Avery Bradley	PG	Texas
17	*Chicago	Quincy Pondexter	SF	Washington
18	Miami	Solomon Alabi	C	Florida State
19	Boston	Willie Warren	SG	Oklahoma
20	San Antonio	Lance Stephenson	SG	Cincinnati
21	Oklahoma Cty	Daniel Orton	C	Kentucky
22	Portland	Hassan Whiteside	PF/C	Marshall
23	*Minnesota	Donatas Motiejunas	PF	Lithuania
24	Atlanta	Eric Bledsoe	PG	Kentucky
25	Memphis	Larry Sanders	PF/C	VCU
26	Oklahoma Cty	Stanley Robinson	F	UConn
27	New Jersey	Paul George	F	Fresno State
28	Memphis	Gani Lawal	PF	Georgia Tech
29	Orlando	Elliot Williams	SG	Memphis
30	Washington	Luke Babbit	SF	Nevada

Shai’s Thoughts/Explanations:

I realized that if I just wrote a phrase or two about everyone projected for the first round, it wouldn’t be very interesting, and the non-top-10 picks I don’t know intimately (Editor’s note: I assume by “intimately,” Shai didn’t mean in the sexual sense, but who knows?). Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton from Kentucky, for example, didn’t get much pub last year because John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins were so ridiculous. Bledsoe is like Jrue Holiday at UCLA, pure potential (but more of a classic PG), no one really knows what he’ll do. I don’t even know what Orton looks like, but he’s a #10-#20 projected pick based just on flashes. He averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebs in 13 minutes a game. Who knows?

It’s an interesting year for the draft. Last year everyone agreed Blake Griffin was #1, but they also agreed that the rest of the draft was quite weak. Instead, a number of rookies played major roles on their teams. Tyreke Evans averaged 20, 5, and 5, which only three guys did their rookie year: Jordan, LeBron, and Oscar. Nice company. Stephen Curry broke the record for threes made by a rookie while shooting 43% from there. Brandon Jennings, as I write, is the starting PG for a team that is ahead of the Hawks 3-2 in the playoffs, after losing their best player to injury. Darren Collison, Thornton, Lawson, Taj Gibson…they are not stars, but they are certainly contributors. A lot of people would love to have DeJuan Blair on their bench right now. I thought Blair was too undersized and raw to do much in the League, but he’s doing a lot of the things he did at Pitt, all on offensive rebounds and putbacks. (In Game 4 against the Mavs, Blair had 7 and 7 in 11 minutes. Not bad.) Also, I have learned that energy is a talent. Lackadaisical college players are likely to be lazy pros. Someone with a bounce and a nose for the ball, like Blair, will show up in the League. Looking back, last year’s draft looks pretty solid, and that’s with the top guy not playing. So I think a lot of GM’s are wondering if their outlook and selection strategy is accurate.

So this year, there is a clear-cut one and two, and I will argue no different. The only way you pass up John Wall is if you have a proven top shelf PG. The comparisons to Derrick Rose are fair. Wall is a better shooter and better defender, but Rose is more powerful and a better finisher. Wall’s ceiling is in the Dwayne Wade range, though I think he will continue to play point, with all these new super-athletic PG’s in the league.

#2 is Evan Turner. This season, he came back from a broken back early and immediately started playing out of his mind. Triple-double machine. 6’7″, solid athlete, excellent rebounder, good passer, good defender. Has ‘star’ written on him too. At that height, their team had him at the point. He’s getting fair comparisons to Wade, better rebounder, not as good an athlete, but really an all-purpose player. Needs to work on his release. Caron Butler is a great comparison for Turner, but Turner is a better passer and rebounder.

Now it gets hazy.

The next group of players is DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, and Greg Monroe. Cousins is a huge thick PF, a bit under-sized at 6’11″ because he’s not a great athlete, but he’s so big he powers through. He and Wall on Kentucky just ran people out of the gym this year. …but he’s slightly nuts. He was regularly caught on TV yelling at his coach, and the usual whispers of him as a thug. But I bet no NBA manager asks if his mother is a whore. Uncool Jeff Ireland. Derrick Favors is a pure PF at 6’9″ 250 (Cousins is 280), and he is very strong and athletic. The funny thing about him is that Georgia Tech’s guards were so terrible at getting the ball to their big men, no one really knows how good he will be. He’s pretty raw. But his frontcourt mate is also a prospect this year. You’d think a team with one decent guard could get two NBA first-rounders past the NCAA first round. I’m a big fan of Wesley Johnson. I just realized Joe Johnson is a good comparison, maybe Grant Hill in his prime and with range. I think he’ll be very good. 6’7″, good shooter, a little thin, had a huge game in the NCAA first round. Greg Monroe I loved in college, but the concerns about him are accurate. Lamar Odom-like handle, shot-blocker, most skilled big in this draft, but disappeared for long stretches in games big and small (hello again Lamar). This is why Georgetown bounced in and out of the Top 25 all year; GT is in the Big East, so they play tons of games against top teams. They would have done much better if Monroe comes up big regularly, instead of inconsistently.

There have been a couple of super-talented players that came into the league recently and coasted, so GM’s are a little nervous. I’m thinking of Rudy Gay and Charlie Villanueva. (Both UConn guys. Will Stanley Robinson follow a similar path? Great athlete, some fire, but a massive regular disappearing act. Still, he’s a projected first-rounder.) CV hit some 3’s, rebounded, got a big contract and sat back down. Rudy is probably going to get overpaid by someone who loses the LeBron sweepstakes this summer, but his ceiling is Luol Deng. Anyhow, that makes people a little nervous with Monroe.

The next couple are Aminu, Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Ed Davis, James Anderson, Xavier Henry, Damion James, and Ekpe Udoh. Aminu is still a pretty raw PF at Wake Forest, skills have improved, excellent athlete. His progress has been retarded by his terrible coach. Patrick Patterson was the elder statesman at Kentucky, put up great numbers (scoring and rebounding) in his previous years. Still had a solid year at KY with Wall and Cousins dominating, and extended his range to 3. Also showed himself a character guy, both by restricting his game with the influx of talent, and being a senior leader on an immature, ragged team. I think he will be overlooked in this draft a bit, but he could be a Millsap with better shooting touch.  I don’t like Cole Aldrich. He was a good shooter at Kansas, nice energy, shot-blocking and rebounder, but he has an insanely ugly shot, is not a great athlete or finisher despite his touch. I’m thinking of Eric Montross, the star white center at UNC, drafted in 1994 in the top 10, averaged 10 ppg his first year, a number that never improved. Aldrich will be drafted too high.

I like Ed Davis from UNC, looked great as a freshman, didn’t improve much this year, but a 6’11” PF with nice skills, nice touch around the basket, not enough fire in the belly. James Anderson is a skilled wing player, shooter and slasher. Xavier Henry disappeared for stretches, but he and Anderson could be nice contributors from the wing, or could be Mo Pete or Von Wafer guys who barely make a mark in the league. I think Damion James is really talented, was a freshman with Kevin Durant and DJ Augustin (and that team lost in the FIRST ROUND. Man, Rick Barnes is a bad coach). All purpose forward, 6’7” battler on the boards, needs to work on his release and shot selection, but could be a rebounder and scorer off the bench, like a Brandon Bass. My favorite in this group is Ekpe Udoh. I don’t know why he’s not higher. I didn’t get to see him a ton this year, but when Baylor went up against Duke, check out Udoh’s line: 18 and 10 (7 offensive), 6 assists, 5 blocks. 6’10”, good athlete, and he’s got the fire. I rate him higher than any big other than (crazy) DeMarcus.

For late first-round value:  I like Gordon Hayward, but he needs to work on his handle, passing, and fire. I don’t know if he’s really committed to being an NBA player. I like Avery Bradley, an athletic freshman PG at Texas, and Quincy Pondexter, a 20-ppg wing scorer from Washington. Solomon Alabi is a big 7-footer with ups and long arms, he will be a nice weak-side defender off the bench. Willie Warren, the backcourt partner of Blake Griffin in 2009, could be a very good point guard, strength, shooting and vision like Deron Williams. I should also mention Lance Stephenson, who I didn’t see in many first round projections but should be. PG skills at 6’7”, great passer, can shoot and finish and defend. Could he be a Scottie Pippen? I loved the way he seemed to come up big for his team with regularity.

The Portland Trailblazers' coach, Nate McMillan. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On the front page of FanSided I had the following:

First off, congrats to Oklahoma City’s Scott Brooks for winning Coach Of The Year. Without a doubt, the dude deserved it. As everyone likes to point, he took a team that started last year 3-29 and without any real significant personnel additions, turned them into this season’s 50-win team. We all knew they’d be good, particularly since after that 3-29 start they went 20-30, but no one expected them to be this good this soon. The scary thing to imagine is how good they’d be if they’d used their #3 draft pick on Tyreke Evans or Stephen Curry instead of James Harden. I know they wanted Russell Westbrook to remain the man at point guard so they chose the top shooting guard prospect, but c’mon, both ‘Reke and Curry can play the two. At 6′6″, presumed Rookie of the Year ‘Reke is even an inch taller than Harden. I imagine he’d get more than the 13 minutes/game that Harden’s averaged during the first two playoff battles. But I came here not to talk Thunder, but Trailblazer.

The man who came in second place for Coach Of The Year was the Bucks’ Scott Skiles, another well-deserving candidate. In the off-season Milwaukee lost Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions, then only got 18 games out of leading scorer Michael Redd (and in many of those games even Redd’s minutes/abilities were limited due to injuries). Yet Skiles got his team to buy in on defense (which has always been his calling card), and with the late-season trade for John Salmons, brought them to an impressive 46 wins (& they might’ve had even more if not for Andrew Bogut’s season-ending injury at the beginning of this month). Um, however, this isn’t about him either.

Click here to read the rest.

–To Be Filed Under “And You Thought Jordan Hill Was A Bad Draft Pick”

When Brandon Jennings, the #10 pick in this last year’s draft, started showing he’s fo’ real, everyone bitched about the Knicks not snagging him with their #8 pick.  ‘Course that means 9 other teams passed on him too, so it’s not like NYC was the only one who misjudged him.  And with #1 pick Blake Griffin injured and unable to play a single minute this season, really the only two higher picks who’ve been clearly better are Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry.  Others like James Harden and Jonny Flynn have been solid, and word is that Minnesota Timberwolves’ pick Ricky Rubio has been phenomenal  …playing over in Europe.  Everyone thought the draft would only produce one stud (Griffin) and the other players would be mediocre.  Instead, they’ve done wildly better than anyone would’ve guessed.  Which only makes it sting more for the Memphis Grizzlies who just sent their #2 pick, Hasheem Thabeet, to the D-League.  While his name is pretty darn fun to say (or even to sing, particularly when you replace the chorus of the Go-Go Girls’ “We Got The Beat” with his name), he will be the highest draft pick EVER sent to the D-League.  The dude is so bad that the Grizz decided to replace him at backup center with Iranian, Hamed Haddadi, who thinks he’s playing something called “net ball.”

–The Last Straw

Newly acquired Dallas Maverick, Caron Butler, has been banned by the NBA league office.  Banned from chewing on straws during games.  Really?  We’ve become so overly concerned about appearances that we’re cracking down on straw chewing?  And for those of you who think “straw chewing” is a euphemism or slang for something, no, it’s literally what it sounds like: Caron likes to sit on the bench and chew on McDonald’s straws.  Since Butler used to play for the Wizards, the Washington Post once did a hard-hitting news piece on this insidious habit:

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Del, an NBA player himself has said he hasn’t heard any word of the Knicks making a promise to pick his son at the 8th spot if he’s there.

Now that could be true that Del wasn’t made aware of this situation, but to believe the Knicks haven’t spoken to Steph is very slim. Whether Steph is relaying all the information to his father could also be a factor in what seems to be an “out of touch” father with his son’s draft status.

Perhaps, Del should sit down with Steph and the Knicks and really get on the same page. This could get ugly if the Knicks get a top pick and don’t draft the young phenom from Davidson.

Only time will tell though.