HOLIDAY’S GALEN PARTY IS SEALED BY ST. NIK

The Bruins Deck the (Heritage) Hallsters with a 64-60 slay-ride, improving to 3-0 at the Galen Center;  Life of the Party Jrue Holiday, Darren (No “L”) Collison and Virgin (to Starting) Nikola Dragovic are the brightest stars

Does that mean that Ben Howland is the 1 Wise Man in this town? 

UCLA owns the Galen Center.  But victory #3 — Jrue Holiday’s coming-out party — was no picnic.  The trojans, despite Taj Gibson being in severe early foul trouble, came back from a double-digit deficit to take a 6-point lead of their own late in the game.

But the Bruins recovered from their 5-minute drought, and forced a 5-minute drought on sc, turning the game around.  UCLA had the lead throughout the stretch, with the kethcup and mustard playing catch-up.  But Nikola Dragovic hit a dagger three, and the Bruins made enough Free Throws to keep the trojans at bay, and maintain a perfect record at sc’s new arena.  Or is it “UCLA’s new arena?”

All kidding aside, Demar Derozan was close to spectacular, and must be getting held back by Tim Floyd.  He carried sc while Gibson was on the pine, and he looked like he could score 35 points a game if he were given some more freedom.  However, he MAY lack heart, like O.J. Mayo appeared to last year.  Derozan was conspicuously LESS of a factor during crunchtime.  Regardless, this guy MUST go Pro this year — He already has the requisite skills right now.  What — does he really feel the NEED to complete a Ballroom Dancing curriculum at Fig Tech first?

Unfortunately, Jrue Holiday may be going the same one-and-done route.  He came out on Sunday night COOL, hitting two threes right away before a heat-check airball.  But later, he hit another three, and a crucial, driving high-arching bank-shot that showed off what he can really do when he penetrates.  He also made key Defensive plays, a great backdoor Assist,  and got at least one tough Rebound.  And finally, in the final minute, his tight Defense kept sc from climbing back into the game, for what would have been a Miracle on Figueroa Street.  But instead, It’s a Wonderful Life, as UCLA beat the Holly out of ’em.