Writing this while NFL Network is playing the Cowboys/49ers 1992 NFC title game. This was before the Cowboy’s depth was ravaged by free agency, before all the uniforms were shiny… and before flat tops were deemed unbecoming of the major American athlete. Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters… all of them are rockin flot tops. Is so cool.
Jameer Nelson had a very strong line, and Dwight and Rashard followed suit with nice lines of their own.
*
This game was a lot closer than the final score would lead you to believe. Multiple lead changes throughout the game as the Wizards young centers were playing out of their minds, and the Rockets were just playing sloppy ball. Then T-Mac caught fire in the fourth (I think all 4 of his threes came in the fourth?), and it was over. Overall, the majority of
Things to watch: Javale McGee will put up serious rebound and block numbers in games when he doesn’t have to man up a well disciplined giant such as
LA Clippers – 88 at
Baron Davis protested the trade of Cuttino Mobley by turning the ball over seven times, but finished with a line that was otherwise acceptable. Kaman was plagued with TO’s as well, but if not for foul trouble he would have turned in another strong performance.
Roster update: Ricky Davis started tonight and played terrible in 20 minutes. Eric “Gordo” Gordon logged 28 minutes off the bench but also failed to really distinguish himself. My guess for LA’s immediate post trade roster is Baron/Ricky/Thornton/Z-Bo/Kaman. I would be shocked if Kaman or Camby are not traded in the near future… and I would put my money on Kaman as the guy to go. I don’t really understand what the Clips are trying to do, mixing players who are in/at the end of their prime now with players who are still a year or two away from even being reliable… just seems like a mess. And not an exciting mess like the Warriors, just a disgusting mess, like the room mate who clips his toe nails in the front of the TV and then doesn’t pick up the clippings.
Tons of huge lines in this one. Vince has the sort of game that he usually saves for weeks that he plays against me, with 39-9-6-1-0 with 3 threes, on a single TO, 17/28 FG and 2/2 FT. Devin Harris continued his run of sweet games with absurd FT volume, hitting 30 points (10/12 from the line). Brook Lopez registered a serviceable center line in 30 minutes, and Bobby Simmons and Jarvis Hayes both had useful supporting lines… although I would be surprised if anyone owns either of them (esp Simmons). Bargnani posted an old school Dirk line, 29-10-2-0-1 and 5 threes on 1 TO and hot %’s, but Chris Bosh one upped him with 42-9-4-0-0 with 1 three on 2 TO’s and even better %’s!!! (actually, I think I like Barg’s line more, 5 threes from a C is just indescribably sexy) Jose Calderon had a strong night as well, making me forgive the 5 TO’s by knocking down 4 threes and providing godly %’s. Anthony Parker was overshadowed by the aforementioned, but managed a very nice line of 8-6-6-2-0.
Injury Note: Jermaine O’Neal left the game in the fourth after irritating his surgically repaired left knee thanks to a Sean Williams flagrant foul. No word on how serious this is (he left the court under his own power), but Kris Humphries could pick up some short term value if JON misses time. When he got minutes last year Humphries provided very workman like, no frills double doubles. Another possibility is that Bargnani plays C, and JaMario Moon returns to the starting lineup.
It finally happened. DJ Augustin started and showed the entire Bobcats nation how awful Raymond Felton is. Side by side, Augustin’s line crushes Felton’s to such an extent it is comical (one has to wonder where this 3pt stroke came from though, not only did DJ make more tonight than he had in all games combined to this point, but he was 2 attempts shy of trying half the number of his season total to this point). Gerald Wallace had a strong performance with healthy %’s, and 17-10-5-2-0, and Okafor… is kind of a bust this year? Joe Johnson feasted on
Wouldn’t it be cool if: DJ replaced Felton? I mean once J-Rich gets back, one of these PG’s will go to the bench… and it will probably be DJ because Larry Brown is more of a curmudgeonly old dude, than a “cool uncle” old dude (see: Don Nelson), but a few more games like this, and I don’t know how Larry Brown could stick with Felton.
The Celtics starters played short minutes, and outside of Pierce and Rondo, did not put together stimulating stats at all. Tony Allen scored 14 off the bench, but didn’t surround it with enough to make it worth anything. Leon Powe had a double double, but considering 2/4 from the line, 3 TO’s, and nothing else… I would not like to own this. Randy Foye impressively had his worst line of the year, and it resonated throughout the wolves roster. Really, the T-wolves lines are just too grotesque to bring up. Thanks for ruining a game by being so effing good Celtics!
SPEAKING of grotesque…
Matt Bonner Update: 18 minutes, 5/8 from the field, 2 threes, 12-4-2-0-0 with 1 TO. This is pretty much exactly what I wanted when I picked up Bonner. I mean, I still wish I hadn’t dropped Bargnani for Jason Thompson… but I am pleased with Matt Bonner.
Rudy Gay… is it your mission to destroy your poor owner’s FG% every week? 5/19 is just silly. Granted, the rest of the Grizzlies were pretty cold as well, but 5/19 is just flat out sick man. Mayo had decent volume with poor efficiency, Gasol had a solid line for a late round/FA C, and the rest of the Grizzlies were unmentionable. Kidd now has 5+ TO’s in 7 of his last 9 games, obviously under pressure to adjust for the string of 1 TO games at the beginning of the season. Apart from the TO’s, he did have a strong outing tonight. Dirk came dangerously close to his MVP line, and Jason Terry had a nice spread of cats on a low FG%. I have a feeling Gerald Green’s starting days may be numbered, as he picked up two fouls in the first today and did not return to the game. Josh Howard was absent and replaced by James Singleton in the starting lineup once again, but I would attribute the Mavs struggling with the Griz in the first half to Deavan George making his season debut. The Mavs re-sign him time after time, even now that Avery is not around to pollute their former cunning with derivative Spurs geezer logic, even though he always does nothing but alternate between playing terrible and missing time with injury. Bleh.
The Knick starters collected some OK lines despite being grossly undersized and underskilled. Chris Duhon led the team in points which should be enough to tell you that they lost (in case you missed that thing I typed above this?). D-Lee had a strong double double, Nate had one as well but his FG% was disgusting, Wilson Chandler had a great line if you ignore his 5/21 from the field, and despite the absence of Jamal and Z-Bo, Q STILL couldn’t manage a decent scoring line. The Buck starters played short minutes, but their bigs had plenty of time to feast on missed Knick shots with Bogut and Mbama both posting huge rebound totals. Sessions had a strong overall game, and Charlie V returned to score 20 points in 13 minutes off the bench.
The Knicks and their trades: ok… I am not going to try and guess what their frontcourt rotation will be. However, I am curious about whether or not Al will be happy here. I mean wasn’t his complaint with GS that they only used him as a 3pt gunner? Isn’t that essentially what he will be for D’Antoni? I mean, I know that despite the small players and high paced schema, that a D’Antoni offence and Nellie offence are quite different (Nellie much more iso in half court, D’Antoni excels when all players can handle and pass), but won’t his role be relatively unchanged?
Irrelevant Note: Stephon Marbury actually dressed for this game.
*
I realize that ESPN thought it was so cute to put this game on their Friday night broadcast, the team that plays in OKC now and the team that played there after their home town was destroyed by a hurricane OMGOMGOMG so cool!!!! But really… why was this game on TV? Not just ESPN, why was it on TV anywhere? I have watched half a dozen or so Thunder games this season and it is enough to make me never want to watch them again. I mean… the least they could have done was make a cool uniform, or chosen colors from something other than a laundry detergent commercial, or even just get a hilariously misplaced mascot like that giant bear that is always bouncing around at Rockets games. All
OOOH BOY! Another blowout! Non-Przybilla Portland starters did not play in the fourth. Roy and Aldridge had the lines you would expect given their minutes. Steve Blake was cookin though, hitting 6 threes on his way to 20 points. Travis Outlaw posted a very Thad Young-esque line, Rudy continues to be a guy to own as he salvaged his line with 4 threes tonight, and despite fouls and short PT Greg Oden has future beast written all over him (and I will admit right now that I was wrong about him). The best way to sum up the King’s starters is that they were all awful, whether through short minutes or poor play, with the lone exception of Jason Thomspon. Dare I say this team misses Mikki Moore? Spencer Hawes had a nice line in 34 minutes, and everything else from this game should be ignored, as it was a blow out.
This game is not as close as it looks, as the Lakers were up by 20 at the half and 21 after 3.
Mourners could be found nation wide tonight, as it became clear that Anthony Morrow is in fact HUMAN. A paltry 2/9 from the field, left his line completely bare aside from three steals. Biedrins, Captain Jack, and Maggette all had big scoring nights however (although Stephen Jackson did secure the golden butter gloves tonight, but registering 8 turnovers). Anthony Randolph had a sick line off the bench, but I have a bad feeling he will be taking turns with Brandan Wright in this capacity. Drew Gooden had a monster double double for the Bulls, while Derrick Rose had solid numbers before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter with an undisclosed injury to the side of his torso, and Larry Hughes saw heavy minutes in a game where the Bulls used an inexplicably short bench to knock down 5 threes and shoot 50% from the field.
About Larry Hughes: He will have tons of opportunity in the immediate future, especially if the injury to Derrick Rose is anything mildly serious. But for those of you who may not be familiar with him, this is a total buyer beware situation. While he is capable of games like the one tonight, he is more likely to devastate your FG% and turn it over a lot while not really contributing much of anything (especially considering the dearth of supporting talent on the Bull’s roster).
Injury/trade report: Azubuike missed the tonight’s game with injury, and could very well be droppable once Jamal Crawford gets in the fold. The lineup I have read will be put out is Crawford/Morrow/Jackson/Maggette/Biedrins. While Azubuike can back up three of those positions, Jackson and Maggette are likely to log close to 40 minutes each on most nights. Assuming Crawford never plays SG, there are a glut of young bigs on the GS roster who will be vying for the backup 4/5 minutes. What I am saying is that Azubuike will be lucky to come out of it with 15mpg.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment