It’s been a rough couple of days in The Association for the Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris.
First, the typically versatile big man [went scoreless][1] in a Saturday loss at Detroit.
Then on Monday at Madison Square Garden, Markieff got tossed from the Suns’ game against the New York Knicks after earning his second technical foul in the second quarter.
As reported by Andrew Gilstrap [at ArizonaSports.com][2], the first “T” came early in the second, when Kieff objected to a traveling call.
A few minutes later, after Kieff drew a foul on JR Smith while going up for a dunk attempt, he didn’t like the way Smith invaded his personal space and threw Smith’s arm off of him.
In case you’re counting — by the way, the NBA is, because the league suspends players once they reach 16 technical fouls in a season — Markieff is halfway there, with eight.
If he keeps it up, Markieff might catch up with [league leader DeMarcis Cousins][3], of Sacramento. Kieff’s eight “T’s” currently tie him for second in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin. Cousins leads the way with 10.
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Hinrich highlight
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Hey, not every former Jayhawk had a lousy Monday night. Well … [actually no one was that great][4], either.
But, hey! Kirk Hinrich made SportCenter’s Top 10. Now, given that Hinrich plays basketball and Top-10 plays usually involve monster throw-downs, you can probably guess Hinrich did something else to earn some extra TV time. I mean, it’s not like Chicago Bulls fans are calling him Air Hinrich, or anything close to that.
The always heady point guard improvised on the fly against Washington, realizing mid-air, upon receiving a pass, that his best move was to keep the ball moving to an open shooter, Jimmy Butler. To add a little flair, Hinrich threw the pass behind his back.
Check it out:
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McLemore looks to succeed in bench role
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Sacramento rookie Ben McLemore recently learned playing time is far from a guarantee in the NBA. After starting 26 games for the Kings, coach Michael Malone decided to move the high-flying rookie to the bench following a slump.
Jonathan Santiago, at the [Cowbell Kingdom blog][5], offers some insightful quotes on the situation.
> “I think he’s pretty confident,”
> Malone said (last) week of McLemore.
> “But when you put maybe five to six
> games together where you’re not
> getting many looks, your shot’s not
> going in and then you’re playing
> against some of the two guards out
> here in the west and in the NBA as a
> whole, it’s a handful every night.”
The Cowbell Kingdom piece also provided McLemore’s take on adjusting to playing as a reserve.
> “Same mentality,” McLemore said. “Just
> going out there, giving my all, doing
> whatever coach wants me to do
> offensively and defensively and just
> going out there and do some things to
> help my teammates and help the team
> win the game.”
Skip ahead to about the 0:15 mark of the below clip to see McLemore take out whatever frustrations he has with the situation on the rim.
In his last 10 games, McLemore has reached double figures just once, scoring 13 points on New Year’s Eve against Houston.
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Injury roundup
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– Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports Mario Chalmers, who has missed three games with Achilles tendinitis, [should be back][6] in the Miami Heat’s lineup tonight at Washington
– L.A. Times Lakers beat writer Mike Bresnahan provided an update on Xavier Henry:
Xavier Henry had knee soreness today after yesterday’s on-court workouts + will downgrade to non-weightbearing exercises for several days.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) January 13, 2014
– The Denver Post’s Christopher Dempsey wrote that the Nuggets left for a brief road trip [without Kansas product Darrell Arthur][7], who injured his groin on Saturday night.
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Keep up with the statistical output of all the former Jayhawks in the NBA daily at [KUsports.com][8].
[1]: http://www.nba.com/games/20140111/PHXDET/gameinfo.html?ls=slt#nbaGIboxscore
[2]: http://arizonasports.com/41/1691735/Phoenix-Suns-Markieff-Morris-ejected-in-2nd-quarter-vs-New-York-Knicks
[3]: http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/fouls/sort/technicalFouls
[4]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2014/jan/14/how-former-jayhawks-fared-nba-games-jan-13/?hawks_in_nba
[5]: http://cowbellkingdom.com/2014/01/11/ben-mclemore-readjusts-to-life-back-on-sacramento-kings-bench/
[6]: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-01-12/sports/sfl-miami-heat-norris-cole-s011214_1_norris-cole-mario-chalmers-brooklyn-nets
[7]: http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_24902507/darrell-arthur-anthony-randolph-out-nuggets-two-game?source=rss
[8]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/hawks_nba/
