Sixers get Smoked by Kobe; Lose Brand in the Process

Kobe Bryant torched his hometown team again, scoring 32 to help the Lake-show rebound from a last-second loss with a 114-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.  Pau Gasol had 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Andrew Bynum scored 18 points for the Lakers.

Andre Miller scored 26 points and Iguodala had 19 for the Sixers, who played the entire fourth quarter and the last 4:50 of the third without Elton Brand.  Brand left early with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

The Sixers said Brand had a strained right hamstring amnd only finished with three points on 1-for-7 shooting in 25 ineffective minutes. Brand will be evaluated on Thursday.

Redeem Team Advances to Gold Medal Game

Team USA came out the gates strong, but looked quite shaky in the second quarter allowing Argentina to cut what was a 21 point lead to 9 at the half (49-40). Manu Ginobili went down mid 2nd quarter with what looked to be a sprained ankle and Argentina just wasn’t quite the same.

USA came out determined in the second half and went on a quick run and blew the game wide open and never looked back. Team USA was led by Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James who ended the game with 21 and 15 respectively.

Argentina was led by Luis Scola who stepped up big in Manu’s absence and really played a solid game ending with 28 points and 11 boards. I definitely wouldn’t mind if the Sixers could somehow get this guy.

The Redeem Team will face the Spaniards and Pau Gasol in the Gold Medal Game on Sunday.

$4 Million to Make (wink, wink) a Return

With the Jason Kidd to Dallas Mavericks trade made official this morning, there is one laughable detail in the trade, and oh how sweet it would be to be one former Philadelphia 76er Keith Van Horn.

Van Horn was “talked” out of “retirement” to sign a pro-rated $4.3 million dollar contract to make the deal go through after Devean George utilized his early bird rights and block himself from being traded.

Van Horn of course has to make an “honest” effort to make a comeback, in order to collect his $4 million over the next 2 months.

Van Horn, who has not played in the league since the 2006 Dallas Mavericks finals loss, is GUARANTEED a pro-rated $4.3 million this year to go to the Nets to find out if he still has the skills, stamina, and desire to return.  Of course, to them, Van Horn is an expiring contract and will be gone at the end of the season. But, just like Aaron McKie in the Pau Gasol to the Lakers trade, Keith Van Horn has to report, pass a physical and soon enough be released because his contract expires at the end of this season. 

Just chew on that tomorrow morning while eating your breakfast cereal and getting ready to go to your 40 hour a week office job you where you hate your co-workers and earn $35,000 to do so. Ain’t that some $hit.