Nothing But Net: Vinsanity 1, LeBron 0 . . . Gasol can’t buy a dime
There’s definitely a little juice still flowing through 40-year-old Vince Carter. Hearkening back to the old days, Carter had 24 points as the Sacramento Kings upset the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, becoming the first player 40 or older to ever score more than 20 points coming off the bench. Carter’s production also made him the oldest to score 24 points in a game since John Stockton did it in 2003. “He’s a Hall of Famer for a reason, let’s not take that for granted,” LeBron James said after the game. “Once he got going, we couldn’t slow him down.”
NIK OF TIME: Nik Stauskas is thriving, relatively, after being dealt from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets this month. In Philadelphia, the Mississauga native had 17 games where he did not play by coach’s decision or was inactive, and in the six games he did play it was never for more than 10 minutes. He took a grand total of one three-pointer,
which he missed. Unshackled in Brooklyn, he seems to have been reborn, averaging nearly 15 minutes a game — after sitting out the first four to get acclimated — and going 19-for-33 from deep. Those totals include seven three-pointers made when the Nets lost to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.
OFF THE MARC: Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies is generally regarded as one of the best passing big men in the game, if not the best, but he’s been off his game a lot this year for the stumbling club. The veteran centre has already had three games where he didn’t record a single as-
sist. That matches his total of zeroassist games from the last two seasons combined.
INACTION JACKSON: It’s been a weird year for the Detroit Pistons and it got a lot worse this week. Having gone through a seven-game losing streak only to recover and win five of six, while hanging on to a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons were dealt a blow when point guard Reggie Jackson went down with a seriously sprained ankle. Jackson was hurt during a loss to the Indiana Pacers and will be out of the lineup for at least a month, a huge blow to the promising season that was unfolding in
Detroit.
HELP ME, RONDO: Rajon Rondo’s abilities as a facilitator are well known. At times in his career, the point guard has appeared to like nothing more than piling up assists without bothering to look to score himself. He set not only a personal high but a New Orleans Pelicans franchise mark — that’s a franchise that used to employ Chris Paul — with 25 assists Wednesday in a win over the Brooklyn Nets. Rondo accomplished the feat while playing only 30 minutes and scoring only one basket. It was the most assists in an NBA game since Jason Kidd had 25 back in 1996.