It was a notable night in hoops of college and professional importance as one team finished January without winning a single game, and one young lady made an 86-foot one-handed buzzer-beater to make headlines everywhere.
Cleveland Woes
The Cleveland Cavaliers knew they were in for a rough go of it when superstar LeBron James left to join an All-Star lineup in Miami, but they surely didn't expect this.
- They're the first team to 40 losses this year, doing so with just 8 wins besides.
- They've lost 21 straight games, just two off the dubious mark shared by the 95-96 Vancouver Grizzlies and the 97-98 Denver Nuggets.
- They went the entire month of January without a win, which is an NBA record (no wins in a whole month).
The Cavaliers were beaten 117-90 last night by James and his Miami teammates, James scoring 24 points and wingman D-Wade scoring 34 to lead the night.
"I have nothing bad to say about the players I left, and the team," James said afterwards. "I wish the organization the best."
His new organization, the Heat, improved to 34-14 win the win, 2 1/2 games behind the Boston Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Dunk-A-Thon
The Los Angeles Clippers, once rumored to be a possible destination of LeBron's, beat the Milwaukee Bucks 105-98 last night, and did so in acrobatic fashion. Six-foot-ten, 251-pound power forward Blake Griffin scored 32 points and added 11 rebounds for his 39th double-double of the year, which included several of his trademark monster dunks. Teammates like Randy Foye (20 points), Baron Davis (18), and DeAndre Jordan (16) gave big contributions, often in whirling, leaping style, to help the 19-28 Clippers creep closer to the .500 mark.
Feeling Melo
The New Jersey Nets brushed off memories of the woulda-coulda trade for small forward star Carmelo Anthony that fell through last month with a 115-99 victory over the Denver Nuggets, Anthony's current team. Melo put up 37 points and added 9 rebounds in an impressive performance, but the Nets as a team forced 16 turnovers, shot 60 percent from three-point range, and outrebounded the Nuggets 38-27.
Duking with Duke
I recently wrote about the sudden struggles of the Duke University men's team, a fabled former-No.1 squad under beloved coach Mike Kryzewski, who endured a beating from St. John's a few nights ago, but I didn't shed any light on the undefeated, number-three-in-the-nation women's Duke squad.
The light looks a little dimmer this morning, after the Lady Blue Devils were taught a lesson in streaking from someone to ought to know about it, the #2-ranked Connecticut Huskies, whose record 90-win streak ended on Dec. 30 in a loss to Stanford. All told, Duke's first loss came at a 87-51 score, with UCONN All-American Maya Moore starring with 29 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. The win was UCONN's 9th straight since their big streak was ended. Both teams trail #1-overall Baylor.
THE SHOT
Individual honors are often shunned by top-level athletes in favor of wins, but Stephanie 'Quatro ' Quattrociocchi' of the University of the Cumberlands might have to make an exception.
Last night, while playing at home in front of a small crowd and against Campbellsville University, Quatro took an in-bounds pass with seven seconds left, reared back and heaved a side-arm, uppercut shot that flew down the court and miraculously shot through the rim on the other side, an amazing 86-feet away, as the first-half buzzer rang.
"I was really lucky," Quatro said of the shot, which got a standing ovation and sent her teammates running to her for high-fives. "Maybe like this once out of 50 times I could maybe come close. I just turned and threw it."
It has been named ESPN's Play of the Week.
"When it went in, it was shocking," Quatro said, commenting that she and her teammates "goof around" with miracle shots during practice, but always quit before their coaches come in, "I had to turn around and ask if it went in."
Unfortunately, not every shot by Quatro and her teammates had such accuracy and success, as they lost the game 73-60.
"It was my dream when I was a kid to be on ESPN," Quatro told reporters Monday morning. "I didn't think it would happen, especially not like this."
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