Play of the game: Witness the glory of Gregory Echenique, a Venezuelan amalgam of three of my favorite inessential NBA big men of the last 10 years. He is a 6-foot-9, 260-pound Tonka truck that combines the size and maneuverability of Glen Davis, the glutes of Chuck Hayes (good eye, Doug Collins), and the beard of Kyle O’Quinn, which creates the illusion of his head being the size of an Easter Island moai.
Look at how low this dude can get! Just before he makes the spin, his ass is lower than Boogie’s bended knees — and his girth forces Cousins to keep a wide stance to make sure he’s actually covering the guy. By getting that low, his spin radius widens significantly. He gets right by Cousins. Beautiful. Echenique was Doug McDermott’s former running mate at Creighton, and is a veteran of the Venezuelan national team.
Player of the game: Can Echenique be the player of the game, too? He scored 18 points on an über-efficient 6-for-7 from the field and spent the entire game running out to the perimeter, setting screens for pick-and-rolls that he knew were never coming his way. On his one putback dunk, he wound up on the play by running around in a half-circle — this guy is the player of my heart.
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