Game Notes: 11/12

There are a lot of games to get to, and I am sure that some of you follow this blog, but I have to call attention to Free Darko. Their book dropped yesterday, and between receiving mine in the mail yesterday afternoon and now I have read about ¾ of it, and it is amazing. Mixing statistical minutiae such as Gilbert Arenas increasing 3pt% as he gets further from the basket (up to and including 38 feet), with semi subjective analysis of the personal style that make a handful of the games best players so great. I mean there is a guide on how to interpret Kobe Bryant’s career milestones (on and off court) for the Kobe love vs. the Kobe hater, a simple chart that breaks down the gothic dimensions of Tim Duncan (American Gothic, Gothic architecture, Visigoth Barbarians, Goth subculture), charts that attempt to objectively prove every thing from a player’s “cancer effect” (win differential of team left versus team joined), “chaos factor” (take blocks steals and TO’s, then find how many times a player has done T+1 of any combination of those three in T minutes (ie two blocks in one minute, one block one steal one TO in three minutes, etc)) to why no one even knows who Joe Johnson is, much less actually likes him. And that is just the beginning; there is still a break down of the 2000 draft as the worst draft of all time, a media package for a future Stephen Jackson mayoral campaign in his hometown of Port Arthur TX, a glossary of Amare’s tattoos, a separate glossary of several popular terms and players who were not covered elsewhere in the book such as “Iverson, Allen – The personification of every reason uninformed people give for why they prefer NCAA basketball to the NBA. Also credited with single-handedly destroying the league after Jordan’s second retirement.”, “Wade, Dwyane – Explosive Miami guard who somehow still manages to be boring as hell”, and perhaps my personal favorite “Butler, Caron – Tough as nails Wizards forward who promised himself to basketball while in the hole at juvy. Favorite player of indie rockers Stephen Malkmus and Janet Weiss” just because I fucking love Pavement so much… I mean this book somehow relates my two favorite things (basketball and Pavement), what is there not to love?

But the point is that this book is worth checking out, should be at all major book sellers, and if you are lucky enough to live in the pacific northwest, NYC, or Chicago, you can even go to a signing, and kick it with Bethlehem Shoals and friends!

On to the games!

Philadelphia – 106 at Toronto – 96

Elton Brand arguably had his best game of the season, and Iggy definitely had his as he not only flirted with a triple double but collected 18 points (on a still stinky FG%... but hey, what can you do?). Sammy was in foul trouble much of the game, eventually fouling out, and this led to increased time for Willie Green (small lineup? None of the Philly’s backup bigs played much) who registered what I will assume is a career high of 9 assists. Jermaine O’Neal, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani each had nice lines for Toronto, but it looks like everyone else had trouble finding offense while Jose Calderon was in the locker room (he did return, so it was diagnosed as cramps of the hamstring variety, not the menstrual variety Michael Redd has been rumored to be suffering from currently).

Don’t read too much into: Willie Green. Unless you are in a very deep league, it is not worth owning him for his 1 hot game every 20ish days. Even then, the assists tonight were an aberration.

What is the deal with: Thad Young and his TO’s! Seriously, has anyone seen a sixer game this year? All I see on highlights are spot up shots and dunks where he might take one dribble. I just think it is weird that he has 9 more TO’s on the season than Andre Miller.

Indiana – 98 at New Jersey – 87

TJ Ford approached a triple double for the third game in a row (hawt %’s and 3 steals to boot!), Marquis had another solid game, and Jarrett Jack turned in a serviceable line thanks to his 6/7 FT number. Vince Carter and Jarvis Hayes were the only standouts for New Jersey. Yi had plenty of opportunity but shot 4/13 from the field and failed to get to the line in 30 minutes.

New Jersey frontcourt news: Josh Boone was limited to 18 minutes for no apparent reason (other than his sucking, but it’s not like they have better options… or like he hasn’t been going for 30+ multiple times this season). Brooke Lopez received 20 minutes and did nothing with it, and Ryan Anderson returned with a vengeance after a few DNP-CD’s to post a furious 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block and 2 TO’s in 12 minutes. Sean Williams and Eduardo Najera leeched some time as well, but taking their cue from the other bigs, did nothing with it.

UPDATE: Boone turned his ankle but returned... this situation just keeps getting uglier...

Pacers Injury update: Rasho returned to action tonight, which would normally make Jeff Foster irrelevant… but with Troy Murphy out again (stomach virus), and Danny Granger missing the game with a quad cramp, Foster started and had a nice line. Given the short term nature of these injuries though, it looks like the short ride on the Jeff Foster train has come to an end, and it is time to move on to Zaza Pachulia or Solomon Jones (adjust to taste ie do you need blocks at the risk of getting nothing, or boards at the risk of getting ugly %’s?)

Lets watch Vince: Devin Harris gets hurt, his rebounds go down and his 3pta’s go up… it’s not a thing, just a curious trend over a sample too small to draw any meaningful conclusions out of.

Atlanta – 102 at Boston – 103

Al Horford had some foul trouble issues, as the Hawks watched Boston live at the line and ride 42 FTA’s to victory. Joe Johnson had a beautiful line if you ignore the FG%, Mike Bibby and Mo Evans were respectable but nothing special, and Marvin Williams continues to can threes at a rate that is as amazing as it is surprising (the 4 tonight give him 8 on the year, 7 more than he had in 80 games last year, and only 17 short of matching the number he hit in the 3 seasons leading into this one). Rondo stuffed 10 assists into an otherwise disgusting line, Paul Pierce killed the scoring cats but did little else, and KG had what is easily his best line of the season (25-12-4-1-2, 1 TO, 10/16FG, 5/5FT, no threes). The Celtics bench didn’t do anything worthy of mention since they barely see the floor in marginally close games (which is beginning to make me question if the C’s actually have a good bench, or if their bench only looks good because they get to play free of care and responsibility since they are usually charged with doing little more than not blowing 20+ point leads against the other team’s bench). Unfortunately, this Herculean smooveless effort will probably result in little more than a condescending Celtic slurping remark by Mike Wilbon tomorrow.

San Antonio – 78 at Milwaukee – 82

The Spurs had this game under control until the fourth quarter. I didn’t watch, so I don’t know how it happened… I DO know that Andrew Bogut SOMEHOW avoided foul trouble for the first time in the past 5 games, and gave a nice return of 10-17-4-3-0. The remaining Bucks did not post useful stats. Even Richard Jefferson’s 19-9 was devalued by stinky %’s. Tim Duncan had a great line if you look past his lack of boards (only 5), Finley put in a strong line off the bench, and Roger Mason struggled with his jumper but still collected 6-5-4 with 2 threes on one TO.

Bucks lineup change: Mbama started for Charlie V. This could have been a match up thing since Timmy is really all the Spurs have right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it sticks for a few games since Skiles is in love with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

Spurs rotation news: George Hill saw shorter minutes than he did last night against New York (down from 30 to 22), and Roger Mason struggled shooting as a starter for the second straight game while Michael Finley was hot off the bench. Nothing to read into, since the Spurs troubles came finishing the game, not starting it… but I would watch for Finley to move into the starting lineup if neither Hill nor Mason distinguishes himself.

Utah – 97 at Washington – 95

AK47 was seen mocking Deron as the game ended, saying something along the lines of “What are you talking about? Why would turnovers be included as part of a 5x5?”, and while that may have cut to the heart of the teams issues, no one on Utah’s side posted a good line outside of Boozer… and even he was not himself against a previously winless Wizards squad. I take that back, CJ Miles finally had a decent line! I don’t think the 16 points will become a regular thing (10 if he’s lucky), but he is a guy to keep in mind a streamer for 3ptm, since his role seems a bit more concrete than Korver’s. Javele McGee put up a double double in 27 minutes off the Washington bench, but was the only guy other than Caron and Antawn to do anything significant.

UPDATE: AK47 injured his right index finger and is currently listed as day to day

*Orlando – 109 at Oklahoma City – 92

I think it was Silvio who mentioned the Magic burning their starters long and running things up on people? They did the same thing tonight, allowing Dwight, Turk and Jameer to play deep into the game. A game in which they led a Durant-less Thunder team 71-42 at the half. Dwight got the first triple double of his career in a truly dominating performance (30-19-3-0-10, 12/21 FG, 6/13 FT, 1 TO), Rashard was relatively invisible all night, Turk had nice FT and assist numbers but a stinky 3/13 from the field put a damper on his line, Jameer scored 17 but did little else, and the bench contributed nothing despite Orlando having a huge lead for most of the game. Jeff Green is really starting to come into his own, knocking down threes and getting to the line (where he also knocks the shots down) at an impressive rate while filling in the other areas of his line… if only he could pick up that FG%!!! Earl Watson had a nice game with 12 points and 8 assists, and Russell Westbrook had a line that was nice but could have been a lot better considering his 3/19 from the field (Dwight is lucky the age of consent in Oklahoma is 16 (and not 20… like it is nowhere?)… because the number he did on Westbrook could easily be misconstrued as nefarious through arbitrary eyes)

*Portland – 104 at Miami – 96

Brandon Roy was cruising along great until he missed a late FT to knock his % under 80, and despite getting tons of Jon Barry lip service LaMarcus Aldridge actually put together a pretty rank line (good volume, gut wrenching %’s). The Vanilla Gorilla put up a good line on short PT (good for Przy = 8+ boards and don’t mess up anywhere else), but the story of this game was Rudy Fernandez who caught fire down the stretch and carried the game home for the Trailblazers. 25 points, beautiful %’s, 2 steals and a block, a few threes… what more could you ask for? Dwyane Wade had a monster game with 36-6-8-2-3, but Haslem was really the only other Heat played to scrap anything decent together.

Things to watch: Mario Chalmers is making it very easy for Chris Quinn to take his minutes. If he doesn’t step up soon I would not be surprised if Quinn takes the starting gig… I mean Chalmers last few games have just been awful.

Injury report: Shawn Marion sat out this game with a groin injury that is reportedly not a big deal. The only people benefiting this seem to be the Heat opponents.

New York – 132 at Memphis – 103

As you should guess from the score, several Knicks players popped off nice lines, most of them on golden %’s as New York shot 59% as a team. Jamal Crawford and Wilson Chandler led the way, with Crawford finally getting a nice assist number (8) and Chandler missing only 1 shot on his way to 27 points. Randolph was nice, and Duhon collected a quiet but very friendly mix of assists, threes and steals. Nate Robinson was a perfect 8/8 off the bench and hit 5 threes on his way to a lovely 21-3-5. Really the only disappointments on this side of the ball were David Lee, who was appropriately quiet in a mere 17 minutes off the bench, and Q-Rich who only took 8 shots in 28 minutes of action. Mayo, Gay and Gasol scored well for Memphis, but no one (including these three) provided anything useful in the non-scoring cats.

LA Lakers – 93 at New Orleans – 86

A late charge by the Hornets makes this one look closer than it was. CP3 put together most of his splendid line in the second half, and seems to be completely immune to the variation in effectiveness of his team mates (just another thing that confirms his position as #1 fantasy beast). D-West was acceptable if you discount TO’s, and Peja struggled with his shot early. The Lakers have surprisingly unappealing stats considering they won the game, Bynum had a nice line highlighted by 4 blocks, Derek Fisher put up 20 points and 4 threes but very little else, while Gasol and Kobe did nice things but definitely had their flaws (FG% for Kobe, overall low production for Pau).

Houston – 94 at Phoenix – 82

I can’t believe I am about to say this… but for the second time this year Shaq had the Suns best line!? Amare struggled from the field and had visit from the TO fairy, Nash is just kind of invisible in the box score, and Barbosa nearly duplicated Kobe’s line… but with fewer FT’s and zero peripherals (which is my way of saying he also shot 5/15 from the field). Ming, Skip and T-Mac all had good lines for the Rockets, Artest was nice outside of his venomous 1/12 from the field, and Aaron Brooks poured in 19 from the bench (25 minutes, 8/13 FG, I think the 13 in 25 is much more impressive than the 19 or the 8 considering all of the scoring talent on this team). The rest of the players involved in this contest were not mentioned for good reason.

FIGHT!!! Alston and Barnes were ejected, but Nash, Shaq and T-Mac also received technicals. What will happen with suspensions? Only that crazy cat Stu Jackson knows! (actually he probably doesn't know, as most of his judgments seem to come directly from his ass)

Sacramento – 103 at LA Clippers – 98

Brad Miller has revived the Kings! Harkening back to the days of yore, Miller put together a ridiculously clean, wet dream of a center line 16-11-8-1-1, 7/10 FG, ½ FT, no TO’s, 1 three. WOW. Beno Udrih topped his last outing by pouring in 30 points on 13/20 from the field along with 5 boards, 7 assists, and only 1 TO! John Salmons struggled from the field, but still managed a nice line, and Jason Thompson not only outplayed Mikki Moore but RECEIVED 10 MORE MINUTES THAN MIKKE MOORE! Spencer Hawes had one of his worse outings, but the 4 blocks alone make him better than the majority of fantasy C’s (and he is still getting solid PT, so there is nothing to worry about). Baron Davis had a rough shooting night, but still put up 12 points and 11 assists. Al Thornton dropped in 20 with 2 threes on a weak FG%, but offset that slightly by adding 3 blocks. Kaman returned to the ways of the terrible, and Camby had a quiet night on the boards… but much like Spencer Hawes, salvaged the day with 4 blocks (which I am sure is exactly what Camby owners want to hear, their second round pick likened to Spencer Hawes). In an update on the activities of the mentally challenged, Mike Dunleavy played Ricky Davis 22 minutes, and Ricky hit a lot of threes. If the Clips bench has been anything this year, it has been inconsistent. Not only in the quality of play, but in the night to night decisions of who is going to play. Don’t read into Ricky popping off.