In case you were under a rock all day and didn’t notice, Deron Williams scored a career high 57 points today against the Charlotte Bobcats. Williams’ New Jersey Nets really needed it as they squeaked past the Bobcats 104-101 in Charlotte.

It got us thinking about where Deron Williams’ 57 points sits all time. Turns out, it’s 83rd all time. We didn’t expect there to be that many in front of D-Will but it turns out there was some guy called Wilt Chamberlain who torched everyone back in the day. So we narrowed it down to the modern game (since 1980). The list is:

81 – Kobe Bryant, 2006
71 – David Robinson, 1994
69 – Michael Jordan, 1989
65 – Kobe Bryant, 2007
64 – Michael Jordan, 1993
62 – Kobe Bryant, 2005
62 – Tracy McGrady, 2004
61 – Kobe Bryant, 2009
61 – Shaquille O’Neal, 2000
61 – Karl Malone, 1990
61 – Michael Jordan, 1987
61 – Michael Jordan, 1987
60 – Kobe Bryant, 2006
60 – Gilbert Arenas, 2006
60 – Allen Iverson, 2005
60 – Tom Chambers, 1990
60 – Larry Bird, 1985
60 – Bernard King, 1984
59 – Michael Jordan, 1988
59 – Purvis Short, 1984 (who the hell is that?)
58 – Kobe Bryant, 2006
58 – Allen Iverson, 2002
57 – Michael Jordan, 1987
57 – Michael Jordan, 1992
57 – Jerry Stackhouse, 2001
57 – Michael Redd, 2006
57 – Adrian Dantley, 1982
57 – Purvis Short, 1987 (it’s HIM again!)
57 – Domonique Wilkins, 1986
57 – Reggie Miller, 1992
57 – DERON WILLIAMS, 2012

Tied for 23rd best scoring output since 1980… and 11th best in the last 10 years. Nice work, D-Will!

PS – who the hell is Purvis Short?

The Miami Heat destroyed the Orlando Magic today (who are supposed to be one of the best teams in the East), 90 to 78. With 3 mins left in the game it was 88-68 to the Heat then the Magic scrubs poured it on in the final few minutes to make the scoreline a little more respectable. So we started thinking… if you are one of the best in the game, do you let your team get blown out? If you are a ‘Superstar’, how often does or should that happen? We started thinking about all the big time players in the game and decided we’d do a run-down of how many times each players team has been blown out. Our thinking is, if you are the best of the best… you’re a competitor. You can get the best out of yourself, the best out of your team-mates and whilst you may struggle in close games or fourth quarters (Hello Lebron James), you make it a game… you fight and you don’t ever give up. That’s what a true baller and a true competitor does. That’s a Superstar.

Superstars don’t get blown out.

We’ll leave it to ESPN to come up with an intricate & complicated algorithm calculating each players performance in every game… we prefer some simpler stats to see what our argument shows in the end. Looking at the number of 88-68 in that Heat-Magic game, we believe a 20 point margin is a blow-out in the NBA. When your team is down that much, do you check out or fight on? To us, a Superstar fights on. So of all the Superstar ballers in the NBA, which player has had the least 20+ losses since the 2008-09 season? Let’s check it out…

Dirk Nowitzki
12 regular season 20+ losses and only one post-season 20+ loss. 13 in total.

Tim Duncan
7 regular season, 2 post-season.

Kevin Garnett
5 regular season, 3 post-season.

Dwight Howard
6 regular season, 2 post-season

Carmelo Anthony
6 regular season, 1 post-season

Lebron James
3 regular season, 2 post-season

Kobe Bryant
3 regular season, 2 post-season

Considering Kobe has played in 56 post-season games since 08-09 and only TWO blow-outs… that’s amazing. Lebron has played 45 post-season games, Dwight Howard 44, Dirk Nowitzki 37, Kevin Garnett 32, Carmelo Anthony 25 and Tim Duncan 21. We’ve purposely left Kevin Durant & Dwayne Wade off the list as their teams were beyond terrible in 08-09 and Wade’s Heat also in 09-10 so the numbers are against them.

Bear in mind, it’s not just down to one guy, we get that. You need a team to get it done. But on the contrary, if you are the best of the best… you should be good enough to carry your team and get the most out of the other 4 guys on the floor with you.

Just for fun we thought we’d do the numbers on the grand-daddy of them all, Michael Jordan. As a comparison to the above, MJ had only 5 blowouts in his final 3 seasons with the Bulls, including one in the post-season. More numbers you say?!?!  Oh, we can do that! From 1990-91 to 1997-98, MJ played in over 500 regular season games and over 100 post-season games… his numbers during that time? 8 regular season blow-outs and 2 in the post-season. That’s only ten times in 600 games that Michael Jordan allowed his team to lose by more than 20 points… Plus, in 6 x trips to the finals, only twice in the post-season did MJ’s Bulls teams get beaten by more than 20 points in a playoff/finals game.

Superstars don’t get blown out.

Here at 3MW, we try to be diplomatic most of the time. We try to be impartial. We try to not let our individual feelings and biases enter the conversation. But sometimes things annoy us and we have to vent.

So…

We’ve decided to create a series of short pieces dedicated to whatever our current distain is… named ‘We talkin’ bout’, thanks to one of our favourite pieces of NBA history.

At the moment, we are a little sick of all the Dwight Howard talk. This guy:

At the moment, thanks to our friends in the US media we are reading far too much about Dwight Howard. Where he wants to go, where he doesn’t, is he happy, is he not, who wants to play with him, who he wants as team-mates, what teams are going to have to give up to get him and so on and so forth.

Honestly, we’ve heard enough. At a time when there are more elite point guards than we’ve ever had in the NBA (see Derrick Rose, John Wall, Deron Williams, Chris Paul & others), Kevin Durant is torching the entire league with class and giving us the most amazing offensive display for a 23 year old basketball player since a young Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant is averaging 32 points a game at age 33, Steve Nash looks like an All Star at 38 years old, Lebron James, Ricky Rubio, the Knicks are relevant again and Chris Paul & Blake Griffin have already given us more than our fair share of alley-oops. We talkin’ bout Dwight Howard? Really?

He’s huge, he’s athletic, he’s physically overpowering the other 449 players in the NBA and averages 20 points, 15 boards & 2.5 blocks a game… but seriously? In todays game, with the competition Dwight faces each night, he is ridiculously underachieving. He has no go-to move, he never seems as though he takes the game seriously, he’s openly bagged his own team (who are paying him a cool $18M this season) and he’s going into his 8th season barely more talented and mature than when he entered the NBA. Yet he’s filling the headlines and we’ve heard enough. We talkin’ bout Dwight Howard? Please…

True that, Pat!

Dwight is a talented basketball player and possibly the best centre in the NBA, but in the current game is that really saying much? Would you put a current Dwight Howard over a prime Pat Ewing? Shaq O’Neal? Hakeem Olaguwon? David Robinson? Bill Russell? Wilt Chamberlain? Bill Walton? Kareem? Hell no… not in the same class, not even the same school.

Funnily enough, it was the below image of Kareem that made us say, ‘Hot Damn! Kareem was really amazing… we talkin’ bout Dwight Howard?’

Australian Patty Mills has been released by Xinjiang in the China Basketball Association and is awaiting FIBA clearance before he can rejoin the Portland Trailblazers. Thoughts around the league are that he’ll be waiting until the Chinese season finishes in March. Add to that, the Blazers already have 15 players on their roster and would need to create room for Mills.

Yes. Derrick Rose dropped 17 of his 30 points on Atlanta in the fourth quarter in the Bulls HUGE come from behind 76-74 win. The Bulls outscored the Hawks 34-18 in the fourth.

Atlanta are one of the only teams employing a regular zone defence. It’s been good for 9th best defence in the league so far.

So Kobe dropped a lazy 37 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in a Lakers win over Houston today. Not bad for a guy playing in his 16th season who is supposed to be old & past it… we won’t believe it. Ever. Kobe along with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Andre Miller, Chauncey Billups and Derek Fisher are the last of the old school. Ain’t no way Kobe is slowing down.

We love you, Greg Poppovich.

Welcome to the limelight, Spencer Hawes.

We all know that current number one draft pick Kyrie Irving was born in Australia and his dad played in Australia’s professional league, the NBL. But did you know that Kyrie’s godfather is ex-NBA player Rod Strickland?

Drew Gooden had 24 points & 12 boards today for the Bucks. Do we really care? Plus, the Bucks lost. In the two games he didn’t play… the Bucks won. He’s 6-10 and 250.. yet shot 43% from the field last season. Also last season, the Bucks were 22-28 without Gooden in the lineup (.440%) and 13-19 when he played (0.406%). Are these true numbers?  Yes. Are picking what stats to use to suit ourselves because we really don’t like Drew Gooden? ……yes.

Whilst we’re hating, does anyone else still find it weird that Lebron is still referred to as King James when he hasn’t won anything?

Does anyone else realise that Steve Nash turns 38 years old in February 2012? 38!! And Jason Kidd turns 39 in March!

Sad to see Manu Ginobili go down with a broken left hand… he was playing some brilliant basketball this season.

Who has made the most three pointers so far this season? Ray Allen with 22 is tied with…. Orlando’s Ryan Anderson.

And lastly,  we ALWAYS THOUGHT RICKY RUBIO WOULD PLAY THIS WELL.

Carmelo Anthony could be the best offensive player in the league. 37 points against a good defensive team today (Celtics) on 10-17 shooting and 13-15 from the line.

The Celtics’ Brandon Bass could be the best off-season acquisition.

The Mavs don’t look like the NBA Champs.

Goodbye, Nate Robinson.

The Oklahoma City Thunder look very good.

Carlos Boozer looks sick.

Tyson Chandler blocked 6 shots for the Knicks, but was bested by the Clippers DeAndre Jordan who swatted 8 shots.

Good for you, Chauncey Billups.

Derrick Rose can shoot threes? Good luck defending him NOW, rest of the NBA…

Kobe Bryant looks a step slower and had 8 turnovers in their loss to the Bulls today. But still good for 28 points, 7 boards & 6 assists.

The Lakers defended quite well today, showing more urgency on the defensive end than we’ve seen in years. A lot more double-teams and guys getting out in the passing lanes… great to see the influence of the defensive-minded Coach Mike Brown already. We still don’t get how the Lakers blow that game up 87-81 with under a minute left… to lose 88-87. Probably that Derrick Rose guy, dropping a jum,p hook over Gasol with 4.8 left.