Their cry: ”De-fense! De-fense!”

Jordan’s shout back: ”No, no, no!”

The moment was both hilarious and fitting. Defense was in short supply on Sunday night during the NBA’s showcase game, one where Anthony Davis smashed a 55-year-old record with 52 points and the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 192-182. And it prompted some questions afterward on whether the glorified exhibition really needs to see at least the appearance of defense return.

”All-Star is about offense and giving the crowd a show, but if they want to see a little more defense as fans and everything – I mean, nobody wants to go out here and get hurt,” said Davis, the game’s MVP in his home arena. ”It’s all about fun. … I love it. I don’t really care. I’ll go out there and have fun. I didn’t play any defense.”

Few did.

There were 33 steals in the game, sure, but most of those were the byproduct of bad passes than picked pockets. There were 16 fouls, mainly ones players were taking to stop the clock and allow substitutions; only four were of the shooting variety. Stephen Curry laid down on the court at one point while Giannis Antetokounmpo was driving in for what became one of his 12 dunks.

”I’m going to play hard no matter what,” Antetokounmpo said. ”That’s the only thing I know how to do.”

Davis took 39 shots, making 26, both of those now All-Star records. The game also established records for total points (384), most field goals (162), most assists (103), most assists by one team (West with 60), most points in one quarter (101, first) and so on. The East set a rather dubious record, establishing a new high score by a losing team for the third consecutive season.

Put simply, it’s not a real game, and real-game thinking doesn’t apply. LeBron James made a shot from nearly half-court, something he would never try in a competitive situation.

He loves defense. He wasn’t missing it on Sunday.

”I think the biggest thing coming out of the game is that everybody leaves injury-free,” James said. ”We gave the fans what they wanted to see and everyone left injury-free. Another successful All-Star weekend for myself and everyone.”

West coach Steve Kerr said he and East coach Brad Stevens had jobs on Sunday night akin to the person who played the role of the title character in ”Weekend at Bernie’s,” that being a deceased man who gets dragged from place to place and propped up to somehow give others the illusion that he’s still actually alive.

Kerr’s point: How All-Star games are played isn’t up to the coaches, but rather it’ll be the players who decide if they want defense back.

”It would be good to possibly incentivize the guys somehow,” Kerr said. ”I don’t know if you can maybe get their charities involved or winner-take-all type thing, but I think it’s possible to play a lot harder without taking a charge. We know what silly is out there, if you’re undercutting guys, but it’s almost gone too far the other way where there’s just no resistance at all. I think there’s a happy medium in there somewhere.”

East guard Kyrie Irving expects that the game will change.

Like many, he said avoiding injury in the All-Star Game is paramount and that’s certainly understandable. But he also expressed a wish that the games had a bit more of a competitive aspect.

”I think going forward, the All-Star experience will probably get a little harder in terms of defense,” Irving said.

Down the stretch, the East did apparently try to raise the defensive bar. Stevens said it was discussed in the fourth quarter, with hopes of putting the East in position to win the game.

He almost sounded disappointed in how the flow went.

”We talked about trying to get back in it at the end and talked about how, obviously, the one way to do that is keep people in front of you,” Stevens said. ”But, no, it probably should have been a bigger emphasis in retrospect now.”

The post Lots of points, lots of dunks, not a lot of All-Star defense appeared first on IdealCapper.

L.A. Clippers At Cleveland
When: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, March 1, 2013
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), Fox Sports Ohio (Cleveland)
PREDICTION: Clippers 97, Cavaliers 93

Oddsmakers currently have the Clippers listed as 7-point favorites versus the Cavaliers, while the game’s total is sitting at 199.

Los Angeles got a brief scare when center DeAndre Jordan had his nose bloodied early in the third quarter and had to leave the game, but he returned briefly in the fourth after X-rays were negative. Forward Blake Griffin did the heavy lifting inside with his 24th double-double, scoring 18 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Shooting guard Chauncey Phillips is struggling to find his form. For the second straight game, he scored three points on 1-for-6 shooting.

The Clippers were a 99-91 winner in their most recent outing on the road against the Pacers. They covered the 1.5-point spread as underdogs, while the total score (190) made winners of UNDER bettors.

Los Angeles:
Team record: 42-18 SU, 34-26 ATS
Current streak: won 3 straight games.

LA Clippers are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games
LA Clippers are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of the LA Clippers last 6 games when playing Cleveland
LA Clippers are 1-11 SU in their last 12 games when playing Cleveland

When playing on Friday are 6-4
Before playing Oklahoma City are 5-5
After playing Indiana are 2-8
After a win are 6-4

Rookie guard Dion Waiters continues to carry the offense in Irving’s absence, averaging 24.7 points in the last three games. The Clippers got an early glimpse of his ability in a home loss to the Cavaliers during the first week of November, when Waiters hit seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 28 points. Veteran Shaun Livingston has performed admirably in starting the past two games in place of Irving, scoring 15 points in each and shooting a combined 10-of-18.

The Cavaliers were a 103-92 winner in their most recent outing at home against the Raptors. They covered the 5-point spread as underdogs, while the total score (195) made winners of UNDER bettors.

Cleveland:
Team record: 20-38 SU, 31-27 ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games when playing at home against LA Clippers
is 11-1 SU in their last 12 games when playing LA Clippers
is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games

When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing New York are 1-9
After playing Toronto are 2-8
After a win are 6-4

The post Los Angeles Clippers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Free Betting Pick & Matchup appeared first on IdealCapper.

Kobe Bryant scored 38 points and Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who lost for the second time this season to their Staples Center co-tenants.

Bryant carried the Lakers in the fourth quarter when they closed to 99-97 on his 23-foot jumper with 1:29 left. But Paul scored the Clippers’ final eight points to seal the victory and drop the Lakers two games below .500. The Clippers lead the Lakers by 10 games in the standings.

The Lakers continue to struggle under new coach Mike D’Antoni. They’ve lost three of their last four games.

The Clippers shot 50 percent and outscored the Lakers 52-36 in the paint.

Bryant scored 16 points in the fourth, when the Lakers rallied from 19 points down. The Clippers fouled for much of the final 5:51, and the Lakers made 10 of 12 free throws. Howard missed two foul shots but then made two to get the Lakers within four before Bryant’s jumper got the Lakers the closest they had been since early in the game.

But Paul closed with a flourish, including a 6-for-6 stretch at the line, while Bryant’s 3-pointer went in and out with 43 seconds to go.

The Lakers got within three early in the third only to have the Clippers push their lead to 10 points. It was a similar situation in the second, when the Lakers got within five points on Bryant’s 3-pointer before the Clippers ran their lead back to 10 points by halftime.

The first three quarters were punctuated with several highlight dunks from both sides. Paul fed DeAndre Jordan and Griffin on alley-oop slams that had the sellout crowd of 20,179 roaring.

The Clippers had dropped two consecutive road games earlier in the week, when their 17-game winning streak was snapped.

Jodie Meeks scored 14 points for the Lakers and fellow reserve Jordan Hill had 13 before he sprained his right ankle early in the fourth.

Game notes

Clippers F Jamal Crawford missed the game with a sore left foot that he hurt in Denver. … Clippers G Chauncey Billups will start working out Saturday after being out most of the season recovering from surgery. … Clippers F Grant Hill is expected to return next week after missing all season because of surgery.

The post Chris Paul pours in 30 points as Clippers hold off Lakers appeared first on IdealCapper.