NBA Preseason-October 18th

New York 106, Maccabi Tel Aviv 91

The Good: Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 19 points and David Lee notched another double-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists as New York beat Omri Casspi's former team, Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Israeli side was led by 20 points from Alan Anderson.
The Bad: The Knicks are BAD. I mean bad. They only managed 40.4% from the field and collected 47 rebounds. Both of which were actually bettered by Tel Aviv, who posted 42.5% from the floor and 52 total rebounds. Had Tel Aviv shot better than 1-for-14 from 3-point range and forced more than 11 turnovers, they may have actually WON THIS GAME.
The Ugly: The game was delayed more than 10 minutes in the third quarter, when Tel Aviv's head coach was ejected from the game and refused to leave the court. Only in America? Maybe not.

Boston 101, Toronto 82

The Good: Kevin Garnett led Boston with 21 points and Ray Allen added 20 as the Celtics improved to 5-1 on the preseason. Hedo Turkoglu led Toronto with 16 points and Chris Bosh added 15 points and 8 rebounds on only 3-of-4 field goal shooting. (Bosh did convert 9-of-12 free throws.)
The Bad: Paul Pierce struggled in this one, posting only 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 5 assists in 26 minutes. Toronto missed 10 of their 27 free throw attempts on their way to a 63% showing as a team.
The Ugly: Rasho Nesterovic missed 5 field goals, 2 free throws, and collected 2 rebounds in a dreadful 13 minutes.

Philadelphia 116, Phoenix 94

The Good: The 76ers got the win on Sunday that alluded them against Phoenix on Friday. Andre Iguodala turned things around, scoring 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and added 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Marresse Speights continued to give Phoenix trouble, notching his second straight double-double, with 14 points and 1o rebounds. Jason Richardson led the way for Phoenix with 17 points off the bench and Steve Nash added 14 points and 7 assists.
The Bad: Phoenix shot just 38.2% from the field and 63.6% from the free throw line in this one. They also committed 20 turnovers. Channing Frye, who has had a feast-or-famine type of preseason, had another rough night, shooting just 2-for-11. Elton Brand struggled again against Amare Stoudemire, posting just 6 points and 8 rebounds on 3-for-9 shooting.
The Ugly: Phoenix was badly out-rebounded again by the 76ers, who this time put up 104 shots as a team, making 47 of them. Maybe Phoenix could persuade Cleveland to send Shaq back to the desert?

Utah 110, Charlotte 103

The Good: The Jazz had six players reach double-figures, led by Carlos Boozer with 22 points and Deron Williams with 17 points and 8 assists. Paul Milsap got the start alongside Boozer with Mehmet Okur out of the lineup, and added 12 points and 7 rebounds. D.J. Augistin had a huge game off the bench for Charlotte, posting 29 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-9 from distance.
The Bad: Charlotte's starters combined to score just 35 points, as the Bobcats only managed 40% from the field as a team, while yielding 51.9% to Utah. Charlotte also mustered just 30 rebounds (only 17 defensive) to Utah's 43. The Jazz let Charlotte stay in the game by committing 20 turnovers.
The Ugly: Stephen Graham scored in double figures with 11 points, without making a field goal. He was 0-for-7 from the field and 11-for-12 from the free throw line.

Portland 98, Denver 96

The Good: Portland came from behind to beat Denver thanks to 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists from Andre Miller, and 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks from Greg Oden, both of whom came off the bench.
The Bad: Denver had 11 of their shots blocked by the Blazers, including three by Travis Outlaw. They also committed 17 turnovers and only managed 68 field goal attempts in the game. Portland shot just 2-for-13 from 3-point range.
The Ugly: For the second time in as many days, a West Coast game featured more total fouls (67) than made field goals (61). Most had believed that the replacement refs weren't a problem, but I'm starting to disagree.

LA Lakers 114, LA Clippers 108

The Good: If you haven't noticed the theme yet, I'm a huge fan of Andrew Bynum. He's had great performances in all five of L.A.'s preseason games to this point, including Sunday night against the Clippers. Bynum finished up with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Shannon Brown had 20 as well. Kobe Bryant shot 3-for-11 for the second straight game, but the Lakers prevailed due to a 9-for-17 showing from beyond the arc, including a 4-of-4 day for the once great Adam Morrison, who added 14 points. Craig Smith led the Clippers with 26 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench, Blake Griffin notched his first NBA double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Eric Gordon added 18 points and made four 3-pointers.
The Bad: Smith fouled out for the second straight game and Baron Davis picked up 5 fouls after also fouling out against Utah on Saturday. This could be a sign that Davis' old legs are again unprepared for the long NBA season. Derek Fisher, who has struggled with his jumper in the preseason, shot just 1-for-7 for the Lakers.
The Ugly: Bynum had as many offensive rebounds (8) as the entire Clippers' team.