Game Notes: 11/11

Oh man, today is my favorite day of the season. It comes at a different time each year, but today was the day that Yahoo! updated their player profile pictures!!! My favorite so far is Adam Morrison’s, but I am sure this will change as I stumble upon more gems in the comings weeks.

Denver – 88 at Charlotte – 80

The Nuggets got the win, but their individual stats leave much to be desired. Melo collected 25 points and had a nice FG% (10/19) but very little else worthy of mention, Chauncey was 7/7 from the line with 5 dimes and 2 steals but again… didn’t really fill things out, Nene put up beastly hustle stats (2 steals, 4 blocks, 8 boards) and acceptable %’s but turned it over 4 times, Kleiza played 35 minutes but appeared to do little outside of be in position for rebounds from time to time. JR Smith had another cold night, and Renaldo Balkman collected a nice line before fouling out in 27 minutes of play. J-Rich and Crash both had strong lines for Charlotte, but outside of Morrison’s 16 points off the bench there isn’t much to comment on. Sean May finally returned to action, but was pulled after 2 minutes when Larry Brown was informed that the training staff had forgotten to charge the team’s defibrillator.

Milwaukee – 93 at Cleveland – 99

Charlie V had a decent night ruined by a weak FG%, Richard Jefferson had a nice all around line (can he do this once Redd returns?), Bogut found foul trouble again and Mbama cleaned up reasonably well in his absence all things considered (Villanueva or Luc Richard is playing C for stretches, I know it happened in this game because I watched the box live, I was not being crazy when I suggested Mbama getting a C the other day), Sessions had a down game (for him), and Elson took Gadzuric’s spot in the rotation. LeBron had another big scoring night and is continuing to hit FT’s at a respectable rate (8/10 tonight), Z was business as usual with nice %’s 15-10 and a block, and Varejao had a nice double double +2 blocks off the bench.

Is it just me?: Has Mo Williams disappointed anyone else? I didn’t think he would explode in Cleveland, but I was thinking something like 20-3-3 with 2 3ptm was a possibility. As of now his line is worse than Delonte’s was in the starting PG role last year. Are the Cavs the equivalent of the late 90’s/early 2000’s Dallas Stars? ie they bring in a new high profile scorer (Bret Hull, Bill Guerin, Pierre Turgeon… Larry Hughes, Wally World (stretch, I know), Mo…) every year and watch his numbers crumble in their system?

Utah – 93 at Philadelphia – 80

DERON IS BACK! He started and posted a modest 7-2-9-0-1 with 1 three and 2 TO’s on 1/8 FG and 2/4 FT. This was very good and surprising news considering the reports of his ankle swelling on the flight to the east coast and all of the talk about him sitting out the entire east coast road trip. Carlos Boozer put up a classic Boozer line, but more importantly AK maintained a strong line with Williams back in the starting lineup (Williams even assisted a few of AK’s shots!!! Wouldn’t it be so cool if they were like bff’s OMGOMGOMG!!!). Paul Millsap had a very strong game (3 blocks!) off the bench and Ronnie Brewer matched Iggy stroke for stroke… which was odd because Iggy had a good game. Thad Young had an off night shooting but made up for it by collecting 11 boards 4 assists and a block. Andre Miller had a big scoring night but a small assisting night, and Elton Brand struggled… outside of the 6 blocks he recorded. Philly’s bench didn’t do anything.

Don’t Worry about: Memo. He’s not hurt, simply tending to a family emergency in Turkey. No hints as to when he’ll be back, but if you dig on taking advantage of others misfortune, pick up Paul Millsap! Hopefully whatever god you honor will not see fit to condemn you to an afterlife of going 0-9 every week.

*LA Lakers – 106 at Dallas – 99

The refs let both teams play in this one. Kobe and Dirk each received a couple of touchy calls in their favor early in the third, but for the most part the teams were allowed to bang each other around (in other words, very little in the way of pansy over the back calls etc. were whistled, hence Erick Dampier’s massive line). That being said, Kobe is an amazing player (newsflash), he just sort of floated until early in the fourth when he ripped Dallas for a handful of buckets and ignited a 20-6 run or something. Dallas played well, it is just like they wear themselves out mentally by the end of the game and stop running their offense, and instead give it to Dirk 25 feet from the basket with 5 seconds left on the shot clock… it makes no sense, because they looked great for most of the first half. Kidd had a triple double and showed a scoring touch I hadn’t seen from him in a long time, Jason Terry continued to thrive in his starting role, and Gerald Green put up another nice line (and looked really good in the process, maybe it is because I am seeing him in relation to Antione Wright, but Gerald has an array of tricks he uses around the basket and is just an ultra athletic freak. He’s fun to watch). Jerry Stackhouse had his first good game of the season coming off the Mavs bench. Gasol and Kobe had good but not overwhelming lines, and Ariza was an absolute monster off the bench making the Mavs guards pay several times for lackadaisical cross court passes and other things you are taught to never do on your first day of organized hoops.

Basketball in real life: What is all the fuss about Andrew Bynum? Maybe every time I see him he is having an off night… but his lone talent seems to be that he is really big. The only times he scored were on put backs and extremely generous set ups from Kobe or Pau (ie Kobe/Pau would draw Bynum’s man away from him and toss him the ball so he had no one in the 3 foot space between himself and the basket). Every time he was given the ball in a situation where a post move would be expected he either got into a move and flubbed it up, or finished the move and threw up an AWFUL shot. Is this normal for him? Or does he know how to score on something other than an uncontested dunk?

Atlanta – 113 at Chicago – 108

Al Horford had a HUGE game for the Hawks, and really seems to enjoy rolling as a PF, so much so that I am kind of wondering if Josh Smith will shift to SF and Marvin to the bench once Smoove’s ankle is good. All of the Hawks starters made competent contributions, and the distribution of bench PT seemed more standardized than their last game (Mo – 26, Flip – 22, Law – 8, Jones – 6) with Mo Evans enjoying a hot shooting night. Derrick Rose had a beautiful game of his own, and was joined by Deng and Nocioni… and to a lesser extent Gordon (nice points, but weak %’s, 4ea of assists and rebounds though) and Sefalosha.

Starting lineup news: Chicago started Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas at PF and C. Noah produced modestly in 27 minutes, but Tyrus (21 minutes) spent most of the game watching Andres Nocioni.

New York – 80 at San Antonio – 92

As though it were scripted, Popovich received the only thing that could remedy a TP/Gino-less Spurs team on the very first adventure without the battle tested duo. I speak of a Mike D’Antoni coached team of course! You could say that these two coaches represent a sort of yin and yang, or good and evil basketball methodology… but if you were to do that, you would be forced to add a foot note that explains while ones heart may say that Pop is the bad guy in this metaphor (which is already extended to an absurd degree), it is much more logical for D’Antoni to be the evil doer… and not even a bonafide villain, but like Rocksteady and Bebop in the ninja turtles ie just there to add pizzazz and comic relief, as they never pose any real threat to he who carries the flag of the righteous. This game was actually pretty close until the fourth quarter. Zach Randolph had a decent outing, and Jamal Crawford was on fire (hit 6 threes), but the only other Knick to top 10 points was David Lee who had his best game since going to the bench. Tim Duncan carried the Spurs with a near triple double, but received plenty of help from Roger Mason, George Hill and Fabricio Oberto.

Starting lineup news: San Antonio shook things up quite a bit. They started Mason/Hill/Udoka/Duncan/Oberto, but Udoka only saw 20 minutes as Bowen was on the floor for 28. Finley and Anthony Tolliver each saw 20, Jacque Vaughn 11 and Kurt Thomas 9. George Hill may be worth grabbing, but I wouldn’t expect too much as the Spurs may give their bigs more PT against teams with more traditional lineups.

Detroit – 100 at Sacramento – 92

AI nearly had a triple double, and Tayshaun Prince continued his phenomenal (of late) play (a surprise because I thought he was just doing it for me, as I faced him in two leagues last week!). Rip had a rough night from the field, but still managed 17 points by getting to the line. The Pistons bench saw very little action as all starters other than Amir saw 35+ minutes (with AI topping them out at 46). Brad Miller had a great line… if you discount the 2/16 from the field (he hit a three though!! …It sounds like he has been hanging out with Spencer Hawes too much). John Salmons was very much in the same situation, putting up very nice volume numbers but nasty %’s. Beno Udrih on the other hand, put together a very nice (although not very PG-like) all around line. Spencer Hawes continues to thrill off the bench, putting up 19-6-1-0-1 in 27 minutes.

Injury report: Rodney Stuckey missed the game for Detroit as a result of the dizziness he experienced the other night, but is expected to play in their next game (rotoworld). Kevin Martin was out for the Kings which moved Jason Thompson into the starting lineup (Salmons shifted down to SG). Thompson produced well and avoided fouls tonight, but Martin is only expected to miss a week, so you probably shouldn’t drop anyone too valuable for him.

Minnesota – 110 at Golden State – 113 (OT)

This game almost went to 2OT, but Rashad McCants saved his lone TO for the worst possible time. Andris Biedrins had another monster double double, but continued the ugly FG% and TO’s that have been dragging him down recently. Biedrins fouled out late and passed the baton to Captain Jack and Azubuike, who carried the Warriors the rest of the way, each posting strong lines. Brandan Wright started and improved his points and rebounds over his last couple of games, but failed to record a block in 33 minutes. Anthony Randolph (20 minutes) and Ronny Turiaf (28 minutes) on the other hand, collected a good block numbers and very little in the other cats (ok, Randolph had 8 boards… I still wouldn’t pick him up though, his FG% will not be pretty, much like every other 7 foot dude who has played in the NBA at less than 200 pounds). Minnesota’s bench scored a lot, with Foye, McCants and Gomes each getting 15+. Mike Miller nearly had a triple double (10-8-7, 2 threes, zero TO’s), and Al Jefferson had a strong big man line of 25-12-2-1-4. K-Love started and played 28 minutes, but didn’t do much outside of his 9 boards.

Don’t worry about: Telfair. He didn’t play much because Golden State did not play a PG sized guy for most of the game. And since Telfair is arguably smaller than “PG size”, he became a significant defensive liability. This means Foye won’t be getting 38 minutes again any time soon as long as Telfair is healthy and the wolves are not playing Golden State. Definitely something to keep in mind for future streamers and bench/start decisions though (unless GS gets a nice PG for Al).