I’m fairly certain that no player has ever led his team in both points and rebounds during an NBA game one night, and then been sent immediately down to the NBA’s Developmental League that following morning.
That is until Luke Harangody did as much for the Cleveland Cavaliers this weekend.
Harangody played for the Canton Charge on Friday. He was called up Saturday to start in place of Antawn Jamison, who was ruled out of last night’s game so he could take a break or something, and now Luke is on a plane back to Springfield to help push the Charge further towards D-League playoff glory.
No matter what happens from here though, there’s no undoing the chapter he wrote last night in the legendary tale of Gody.
I set the over/under for total points scored by Luke Harangody at 13.5 last night just prior to tip-off. I had a feeling that Gody was about to get 14, and after I put that out on Twitter I received ten over picks and nine unders. Needless to say, Luke proved at least nine people wrong last night.
He scored an efficient 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting in 37 minutes of work, going way over that line of 13.5. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, had 2 steals, and his big league team go the 98-89 road win. Pretty solid work for the first start of your NBA career.
There will be no second start for Harangody however, at least not tonight against the Magic. Maybe this worked out in the sense that Antawn Jamison got that rest he apparently needed and now tonight he can step in refreshed and post Gody-like numbers of 17 and 11 or something. Or maybe it worked out because the Cavaliers want their new Charge team to win as many playoff games as they can in their inaugural season, and Luke can roll in swagged out ready to bomb on D-League fools to the tune of 25 and 20. Whatever happens though, there’s no taking that NBA double/double away from Mr. Gody, he earned it last night.
Where Luke Harangody goes from here remains to be seen. I don’t really know if he’ll be on the Cavaliers roster to open next season, but I also don’t know that he won’t I suppose. For most of this season, I’ve thought that Harangody was the ultimate in between NBA caliber player. His averages of 19.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game in 16 D-League games is evidence of a guy who is way too good for that level of competition, but he hasn’t quite seemed to be on the NBA level either. Maybe last night was a step towards changing all that I guess.
If it is or isn’t, I appreciate Gody’s effort for keeping things interesting last night. At least for me he did. I watched him essentially the entire time he was on the floor, and rooted for him to go over that line of 13.5 points every time he squared up to fire. I should probably do more with my Saturday night’s than that, but I still enjoyed seeing that corner three fall early in the 4th quarter to get him to 14. That last rebound he corralled with under one minute to play to give him 10 was a bonus too.
Immediately following the game, I started thinking about what I might ask Luke down at the Q on Sunday. Then I remembered he won’t be there. He’ll be in Springfield dominating the D-League today. One night after doing as much to John Wall an his Washington Wizards.
