Outside The NBA » Hedo Turkoglu

The Outside The NBA Podcast / Episode 17

James Herbert — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:27:57 +0000

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

First podcast in almost a month!

Some topics: the dunk contest field, bagpipes, DeAndre Jordan, Hedo Turkoglu, the most disappointing players of the season, and the O.J. Mayo/Tony Allen fight.

Supplementary material after the jump…

Bethlehem Shoals on the dunk contest [and Shoals and Eric Freeman on other interesting things because that's how The Works works.]

John Hollinger’s All-Disappointment Team [Insider]

Matt Moore’s Bourré alternatives for players to avoid trouble

The Outside The NBA Podcast / Episode 15

James Herbert — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:34:06 +0000

Rick Bowmer / AP Photo

John’s back hosting this week, yay!

We begin with the depressing, depressing Blazers. Then, Chris Bosh, Michael Beasley, Julian’s “statgasm” segment, All-Star balloting, J.R. Smith & Marcus Thornton sitting at the end of the bench, Wagman’s “basketball bubble” segment, Sham’s point guard question, my “broner” segment, and “predictions on last night’s games.”

Click here to listen to the podcast.

LeBlog James, featuring a look back at a whole lot of insanity and this week’s stats and quotes

James Herbert — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:00:46 +0000

Alex Gallard / AP Photo

Some week to inexcusably slack on my daily blog, right? Holy crap.

You’ve no doubt watched/read about all of this already by now, but let’s have a quick look at what happened over the past week:

The Jazz came back from double-digit deficits in four straight road games, after coming back to beat the Clippers in double-OT at home. Two of those wins were against the Heat and Magic on a back-to-back. Against Miami, Paul Millsap went Reggie Miller at the end of the fourth and ended up with 46 points. I’m still not sure that all of this really occurred. I’ve no idea how good Utah actually is. And I don’t think we’ll learn much from tonight’s game against the tired Thunder… but I do know they’ve been successful against teams with singular names recently.

The Pacers scored 54 freaking points in a quarter. They made twenty straight shots, before Josh McRoberts missed a three-pointer on their last possession. Mike Dunleavy scored 24 points in that quarter.

Yes, I realize that I linked back to a post on this site. I’m allowed; I didn’t write it. I couldn’t have written it.

Michael Beasley hit a ton of J’s against the Kings. He hit J after J after smooth J and ended up with 42 points. Two days later, against the Knicks, he did the same thing without getting to the line as often. He ended up with 35 points. Nick Flynt had to apologize to him.

In that Knicks/Wolves game, Kevin Love had a double-Reggie. He scored 31 points and grabbed 31 rebounds. As I’m sure you’re aware, the last person to reach 30/30 was Moses Malone 28 years ago. That same night, the entire Wizards team only grabbed 30 rebounds against the Bobcats. Love didn’t grab a single rebound in the first seven minutes of play. He outrebounded the Knicks 22-17 by himself in the 2nd half, 15 of those coming in the third quarter. He raised his rebounding average from 12.8 to 14.6 per game. Press row was counting each rebound out loud after #25. None of these sentences look like they can possibly be accurate.

Lost in Beasley’s and Love’s numbers is the fact that the Wolves’ comeback was crazy in its own right. They were down by 21 with nine minutes left in the third. In the last 21 minutes, they outscored New York 55-25. And the game wasn’t even on local TV in Minneapolis.

From a New York perspective, this game was not fun. Take a look at this recap on Bandwagon Knick.

And of course, the week had to end with something absolutely ridiculous. Last night, the Suns hit twenty-two threes against the Lakers. That’s their franchise record, that’s the most the Lakers have ever given up, and that’s one short of the NBA record for threes in a game. Jason Richardson shot 7-10 from deep and is now 31-61 on the season. Obviously, an absurd 30-footer from Hedo Turkoglu was the dagger. Makes perfect sense, this week.

Fun with stats

Joakim Noah is hitting 56% of his ugly jump shots from 16-23 feet.

Josh Smith has 1102 career blocks. He moved past Dikembe Mutombo (1,094) on the Hawks’ all-time blocks list a bit over a week ago. Tree Rollins is #1, with 2,283. Smith led the league in blocks per game before recording only 1 last night. Now, Roy Hibbert (3.0, #TeamHibs) leads the league. And JaVale McGee leads the league in block percentage – he’s blocked an INSANE 10% of his opponents’ 2-point field goal attempts.

Brook Lopez is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game. Chris Bosh is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.

When the Warriors beat Utah 85-78 on Nov. 5, Utah’s 78 were the fewest GS had given up since beating the Clippers 109-77 in November of 2006. Eight days later, the Warriors lost in Milwaukee 79-72.

When the Wolves beat Sacramento on Wednesday, it was their first road victory since a February win against a Heat team that started Carlos Arroyo, Daequan Cook, Quentin Richardson, Michael Beasley, and Jermaine O’Neal.

The Heat are awesome in the third quarter. They average 27.3 points in the third and give up only 19.6.

As you know, the Jazz have won five straight. The last time Al Jefferson won five straight was in December 2006. That Celtics group lost 18 straight later that season.

Rashard Lewis played 25:40 against the Raptors on Saturday and, for the first time in his Magic career, did not attempt a three-pointer. Mickael Pietrus, however, attempted 11 three pointers and made 8 of them. Pietrus didn’t take any two-pointers or free throws. Also, Lewis has been in a MAJOR shooting slump – he’s only shooting 27% from 16-23 feet and 32% from three.

Also shooting poorly – Brandon Roy. His problem is different than Lewis, though. His shooting from distance has actually improved, but at the rim Roy is shooting 52% (down from 63.6% last year), within 10 feet he’s shooting 43% (down from 46% last year), and from 10-15 he’s shooting 33% (down from 47% last year). It’s safe to assume this is because of his stupid freaking knees that I’m not ready to talk about yet.

The 8-0 Hornets have yet to trail by double figures in a game.

Rajon Rondo has had 15+ assists SEVEN TIMES this season. All other NBA players have combined to do it five times.

I don’t want to put any of Darko’s terrible stats here so just click this link.

Shannon Brown is shooting 47% on threes this season, after shooting 33% last season. He’s averaging 3.4 attempts from downtown this season, up from 2.3 last season. Shot looks way, way better, as well.

Matt Bonner shot 7-7 on threes last night. Those seven were a career high and none of them touched the rim. On two point attempts, he was 0-3. You should read this post about it.

The Spurs are 8-1. That’s their best start in franchise history. THEY WILL NOT DIE.

Quoted

“This would have been a tough one if we would have lost it. I might have cried. I’m glad we won… seriously.” – Deron Williams, after playing 54 minutes in Utah’s double-OT win over the Clips back on Nov. 6. I know this quote is old, but it’s good.

“I’m a Monster and everyday is Halloween.” – Michael Beasley, after scoring 35 against the Knicks.

“Coach Sloan motivates us. He makes you want to run through a brick wall for him.” – Al Jefferson, after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“Even when we had a little trouble to start the season, at least they stayed together and worked themselves out of it. That’s the only way you have a chance. If you get [in] an ice pick fight out in the parking lot, then you have to try to solve that problem.” – Master motivator Jerry Sloan, also after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“We’re asking him to play a position he’s never played and do things he’s never had to do. He’s never had to guard Zach Randolph, have to guard Pau Gasol… I think we have to give him a little bit of a break, it’s a huge transition for him. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do.” – Alvin Gentry, on Hedo Turkoglu. What I wonder is WHY you’re asking him to do things he’s never had to do. He’s not capable of doing them.

“Losing four in a row isn’t fun.” – Jamal Crawford, on snapping a 4-game losing streak.

“I think [the Pistons] are a playoff team in the East. I don’t think there is much doubt about it.” – Paul Westphal, after the Kings lost to Detroit. They could be a playoff team, but I think there’s some doubt about it.

The Outside The NBA Podcast / Episode 13

James Herbert — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:08:27 +0000

KG's all like, "Why'd you spend so much time talking about me and Villanueva?"

We recorded a monster episode of the podcast yesterday. Part 1 is 53:39, part 2 is 33:37.

Topics covered include: The KG/Charlie V. mess, Rajon Rondo’s early-season excellence, Mike Conley and Al Horford’s contract extensions, David Kahn’s guarantee that Ricky Rubio is going to be in Minnesota next season, Baron Davis being out of shape and acting like it’s something new, Eddy Curry as a possibility for Miami, first coach/GM to be fired, our least favourite teams to watch, and the Clippers’ backcourt. Then we get to some new segments…

1) Me talking about a player that I’m loving this week… the other guys are trying to call this “Broner” but I’m vehemently opposed to this.
2) Statgasm – Julian’s numbers-themed weekly thing.
3) Predictions on last night’s games – where we guess what’ll happen in the TNT doubleheader so you can laugh at our stupidity while the results are fresh.
4) Basketball bubble – where my and Julian’s ignorance on things other than basketball is exposed for all to ridicule.

The best part of the show by far is Julian performing some of our favourite parts of Matt Moore’s Mike Conley rant.

Click here to listen to part 1.
Click here to listen to part 2.

Hedon’t

Eric Wagman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:27:05 +0000

Sports is a funny thing. It’s like real life, only it’s not real life. We are drawn to sports because it is a microcosm for life. We get to play voyeur and watch a person develop from a kid to a man to a grown-ass man. We see him learn the ways of the world on his journey from being a wide-eyed rookie to a hardened, smart veteran. The other thing we like about sports is, unlike real life, there are clear winners and losers.

Since wins and losses are black and white and our lives are constantly filled with various shades of gray, real life/sports comparisons don’t normally hold up. When I felt lazy at my previous job, I’d sometimes think to myself, “I’m no better than that whiny, entitled bitch named Vince Carter.” This isn’t really an apt comparison, though. There are surely mitigating circumstances – Vince had reasons for his behaviour and they are probably totally different than the reasons for mine.

As far as mitigating circumstances go, there are none better than those annoying things we need to do our work but have no control over: our co-workers. In real life work settings, no matter what our industry, job or pay scale, we all know some people who just drive us up the wall. The people who have seniority and don’t seem to ever do anything other than hang out by the coffee machine. The people who never get asked to do ‘special projects’, who seem to escape the criticism that accompanies the rest of the employees. The people that seem ‘untouchable’. The people who never seem to do anything, but when it’s job cutting time they always seem safe and when it’s pay raise time they always show up. And while they never show up with a bunch of coffees for the rest of us, they’ll be first in line when someone brings in a box of doughnuts.

You know someone like this, I know someone like this, we all know someone like this. Well, the Toronto Raptors have someone like this. His name is Hedo Turkoglu.

I had an ex-girlfriend who was obsessed with this karma and energy stuff. Since she believed in it so strongly, I’d have to hear about it fairly often. One of her favourite target in her rants was the “energy vampire,” someone who manages to sap other people of their strength and energy. My opinion was that it was a bunch of crap (I kept that to myself since I am sane – telling your girl she’s crazy tends to not work out well). That was until I met the person I described above. No, not Hedo Turkoglu, the person at my previous work who made it so unbearable to work there that I had to tell my boss off and walk out.

Before it got to that point, I (at that point the hardest working member of my ‘team’) lost all will to work. The work environment became hopeless. Here I was, a competent and capable worker putting in a full day’s work every day and loving the challenge whilst other people took a more laid back attitude. It didn’t bother me much because we were all equal and if I’m stuck at a desk for 9 hours every day I’d rather be busy than not. Besides, I love having responsibility. Even if I wasn’t making any more money than the rest of my small team, I enjoyed ultimately being responsible for our relative success.

This lasted for almost 2 years, until a small promotion shook things up. One of my better friends received what was essentially a promotion in title only, no added job duties and a very small raise. My boss however, in his wisdom, decided that my friend would be too busy to continue doing his old duties and that they would have to be moved to the most capable person on the team. I got all of them.

Again, I didn’t mind this since I love responsibility and a good challenge. Life continued on normally but when it was my turn to talk to the boss about what my raise would be, I was told there was no room in the budget to give me a raise. Despite my doing about half of my boss’s job and all of the newly promoted guys’ jobs on top of my own job that already involved more time and energy than anyone else’s.

My thinking was, “Fine, there is a recession and money is tight.” So everything remained good in Eric’s World. The problems didn’t start until I found out that the laziest, most frequent absentee person in our team had managed to get a 5% raise. This guy was the weak link; he would nap and frequently use his cell phone at work. He passed off work to other people after he’d been too lazy to do it himself, ruining people’s days. After a few months of this, the rest of us began lobbying for him to be moved. Six months of the entire team lobbying for the guy to be removed and he got the raise the rest of us were denied.

Suddenly, our little team was far from equal. Two of our six were making fairly substantially more money than the other four, despite the other four of us doing roughly 85% of the work. That’s when the laziness started creeping in for me. I explained to my boss that I didn’t have time in the day to complete all the tasks I had on my plate. “Fine,” my boss said. “You do a lot, let’s shuffle some responsibilities around.” A band-aid was put on the situation.

The problem really began when the newest member of the “I got a raise” club saw what I had done and went and tried telling my boss the same thing… SUCCESSFULLY! He managed to get half of his work passed off to the other three people who were already over-worked. Now not only had I become lazy but the other three members of our ‘team’ became lazy and, worse, disgruntled. The first person to leave was a friend of mine named Ragoo. She told off our boss something fierce on the way out. Since she quit, naturally there was work to be split up. Which was split between myself and the other two remaining competent workers.

Within six weeks all four of us who actually functioned at work were gone. In January I was told that my boss fired my friend who had been promoted and our department, which had previously been the best of roughly 20 others in a national company, was now consistently near the bottom. In three months one lazy guy receiving a raise managed to cause four good employees to quit and one good employee to get fired. My experience there is why I’ve been sounding alarm bells about Turkoglu for so long.

I am a notorious homer. I defend the Vernon Wells contract. I defended Wade Belak. I defended Milt Palacio. There generally isn’t a single person who wears a Toronto jersey I won’t support. I may not support the management who brought them in, but anyone who plays for my team is someone who is part of my extended family. After all, if a player is in over their heads, it’s not his fault he is being put in a situation he can’t handle. Players are at the mercy of a coach and general manager and no-one guaranteed that the people in those positions are always going to be competent.

An athlete’s job is simply to show up and do their best. That’s it. As long as they meet that modest modicum of success for athletes I have, I will have their backs any day of the week. So what if Vernon Wells is overpaid? True, his offense has dried up, but who’s been protecting him in the line-up? He is still one of the best defensive centre fielders in baseball and he hustles out every ground ball. Again, it’s not his fault JP “I’m functionally retarded” Riccardi wasn’t able to find a single decent power hitter in 8 years.

Turkoglu on the other hand doesn’t even PRETEND to be busy when the boss walks by. He IS the jackass from my office who got a 5% raise despite being useless and after getting the raise managed to do even less. In real terms, a 5% raise on a $25 000 salary isn’t even very much money, and it wasn’t a results-oriented business. In sports, his lack of effort directly affects the ability of his teammates to do well, and in turn directly affects their own abilities to earn raises. Not to mention that his pay isn’t a few hundred dollars more than his colleagues, but millions of dollars.

How is Antoine Wright supposed to feel going into a free agent year, when he is killing himself for his team but can’t get minutes over someone who not only doesn’t pretend to try but doesn’t pretend to care, let alone pretend to actually be productive.

How are Amir Johnson and Reggie Evans supposed to feel when they both have half the skills of Turkoglu, yet work five times as hard while making one-fifth of his overall salary?

How is Andrea Bargnani supposed to improve when he sees his closest comparison on the team, a potential mentor for him, spend his days loafing around and acting lackadaisical?

How is Chris Bosh supposed to feel when he sees the guy who was supposed to be his second banana, the missing piece on a talented team, playing and acting like he’s on a stroll with his wife? Bosh is a guy who looks like he goes home and practically cries after every loss, you don’t think his main help on the court not ever showing up might upset him after a while?

How is Jay Triano supposed to feel knowing he HAS to play Turkoglu lest Turk become MORE of a disruptive force in the locker room? Knowing if he doesn’t find a way to turn Turk into SOMETHING somewhat effective he could get in trouble with HIS boss for not utilizing a $50 million asset?

How are Jarret Jack, Jose Calderon, Demar DeRozan, Sonny Weems and the rest of the roster supposed to feel when they’re asked to defer to a glorified pylon with legs? What are they supposed to think when they watch Turk again not bother to get a hand up? Again not hustle back on defence? Again laugh off a bad loss and a bad effort? We’ve all heard basketball commentators talk about how energy is contagious; doesn’t that mean the inverse is true too? If I was a professional athlete getting sat behind someone who loafed around but was very well paid, and thus needs to be on the floor, to say I would be displeased would be akin to saying Kevin Garnett doesn’t enjoy losing very much.

I like to think of myself as a bit of a realist. While we like to think of athletes in different terms than ordinary people, ultimately they ARE ordinary people who just happen to be extraordinarily skilled. I wouldn’t expect a pro athlete’s mental makeup to be too different from my own. Are they mentally tougher, stronger and basically everything more than me? Of course, they’re pro athletes. But they are still humans and we’re all wired using the same technology. My reaction when I saw laziness being rewarded was to gradually stop caring. I was mentally tough enough that it didn’t poison the work environment for me, I still enjoyed coming in every day, but the rest of my team didn’t. Not only did they stop caring but they began to loathe the company. They began to loathe coming in to work every day. I don’t know that this is the situation that the Raptors are dealing with, but I have a hunch that it is.

Sports is a results-oriented business and the recent results speak for themselves. The other day, after weeks of crappy effort and blowouts, Turkoglu didn’t play against the Denver Nuggets. Against one of the top teams in the league conventional wisdom said another probably bigger blowout was on the horizon, but somehow the Raptors found an energy and effort that had been lacking since the All Star break. What changed? Well, Turk wasn’t there. There’s a different energy, a different vibe around the team that just disappears when Turk-a-do-do is around. Not just last game but also in the various other times that Turk was away from the club for his varied and borderline plausible reasons. While my theory as to his laziness and lack of emotion may be wrong I don’t think that any Raps fan could disagree that there is a different vibe around the Raptors when Turk isn’t there.

As a result of this, Turkoglu has reached new ground in my history of sportsfandom. I am, and have been for some time, cheering for him to get seriously hurt. When I say hurt, I mean as in out for the season hurt. I’ve never wished that on the players that I’ve ever ‘hated’ in my life, let alone a player on my own team.

Sports is similar to real life, after all. Again, we all know people who we love working with but, god bless ‘em, they just aren’t great at their jobs. And, no matter how great of a person they are, YOUR life would be much easier if they were in a different department or a different job entirely. There’s no inconsistency in real life with liking someone as a person but not as a coworker. That’s how I view sports hatred. When I talk about hating athletes I’m talking about hating them as an athlete, not as a person. I’ve never met Vince Carter. I don’t know what kind of man he really is, if he’s cool to hang out with, or if he’s generous with his time and money away from cameras. I only know him as an athlete. As such I loved him as an athlete and now I hate him as an athlete. While I may drunkenly scream obscenities at him from my seat, I’d probably very politely say hi and thank him for his time in Toronto if I saw him on the street, despite my ‘hatred’ of him.

Turk however has transcended sports hate for me. I have realized that I legitimately hate Hedo Turkoglu. If I saw him walking down the street I would either scream obscenities, spit, or just turn red and walk away to avoid somehow making him worse. Remember, this man plays for MY Toronto Raptors! Turkoglu has managed to personify everything I hate about modern athletes. Entitlement? Check. He needs the ball to be effective, doncha know. Laziness after a big contract? Check and check, no explanation required. Lack of hustle and emotion? BIG check. But hey, jogging 60-70 feet to get back on defence once every ten to fifteen minutes IS something. Lack of desire to fit in to a ‘team’, and a system? “Ball”. I’d call him a mercenary but mercenaries are actually EFFECTIVE.

I’m no coach or General Manager, hell I’m not even a real writer, but I know a problem when I see one and I know a solution when I see one. The only addressable problem the Raptors have is Turkoglu, assuming Bargnani continues to develop, particularly on the glass. This Energy Vampire is a cancer that has infected the locker room and the only solution is to operate and remove the cancer permanently. Whether that’s through injury (paging Shane Stant, Shane Stant there is a phonecall for you), trade or even in a worst case scenario a buyout he needs to be as far from the Toronto Raptors as possible. I mean restraining order far. This team will NEVER be able to succeed as presently structured unless Turk makes a serious attitude change.

The Raptors are an emotionally fragile team. Maybe on Orlando it didn’t matter if Turk had a bad attitude or was lazy. After all, Dwight’s personality is a bit strong if you hadn’t noticed. He’d be happy if you told him he had to get 4 teeth pulled. But Toronto isn’t Orlando and Chris Bosh isn’t Dwight Howard. Bosh is a brooder, from what I can see. He WANTS to win. Scratch that, he NEEDS to win. He’s the type to dwell on losses to attempt to figure out what he could possibly have done to change the outcome of the game. He lives and dies with the success of his team. And when he sees his teammates uncaring while he goes home and agonizes over what he has to do to make the team win, it has to hurt. And what hurts him hurts the whole team. And what hurts the whole team hurts the city. And me. So please Mr Colangelo, I’m begging you. Remove this cancer from me; it’s eating away my insides. If this cancer isn’t cleared up, I fear Bosh will have to flee for safety. And so might I.

Basketball for Breakfast, Feb. 18

James Herbert — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:41:21 +0000

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Different uniforms, now. (Ned Dishman/Getty Images)

Here are some things that happened on February 17, 2010:

The Washington Wizards started a lineup of Randy Foye, Nick Young, Mike Miller, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee. Josh Howard came off the bench, wearing #55. Blatche scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Washington beat Minnesota, 108-99.

The Memphis Grizzlies scored 5 points in the last 37 seconds of the 4th quarter to force overtime in Toronto. In OT, Rudy Gay scored 8 of his team’s 12 points because the Raptors kept switching Jose Calderon onto him when they ran the same play over and over. Grizz win, 109-102.

In that MEM/TOR game, Hedo Turkoglu scored 1 point on 0-5 shooting and added 1 rebound, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, and 3 fouls in over 29 minutes of action. Amir Johnson, in less than 18 minutes of action, scored 10 points on 5-5 shooting and added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and, yes, 3 fouls.

Against Detroit, Dwight Howard had an insane night – 33 points on 16 shots, 17 rebounds, and 7 (!) blocks. Rip Hamilton turned back the clock for 36 points on 18 shots, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, but it didn’t matter because Orlando outscored his Pistons by 19 in the 4th quarter and won 116-91.

Tim Duncan shot 4-23 and only scored 8 points… but he had 26 rebounds (11 offensive), 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. And his team beat the Pacers 90-87.

Chicago beat the Knicks for the second night in a row, 115-109. Derrick Rose scored 27 points on only 19 shots because he got to the free throw line!

Dwyane Wade left the MIA/NJ game after 7 minutes because he hurt his calf. Still, his team beat the Nets, 87-84.

Courtney Lee played 31 minutes against Miami and scored 2 points, shooting 0-9 from the field including 0-5 from downtown. He was -14 in that time. Chris Douglas-Roberts only had one more point than Lee, but played 12 fewer minutes and was +11.

In New Orleans, Peja Stojakovic scored 24 points on 12 shots. Surely, this had something to do with his new look. Paul Millsap also scored 24, though, on 11-13 shooting, and his Jazz won 98-90.

The Rockets outscored the Bucks 43-14 in the 3rd quarter and ended up winning 127-99 . Luc Richard Mbah a Moute somehow led Milwaukee in scoring.

The new-look Mavs beat the Suns 107-97. Jason Kidd had 18 points (on 11 shots), 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and 7 steals. Despite the million trade rumours, Amar’e Stoudemire suited up for Phoenix and had 30 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks.

The Clippers lost their sixth straight and the first game of the Steve Blake era, falling 110-92 to the Hawks. Al Horford posted a career-high 31 points (on 15 shots) and Josh Smith, who should have been an All-Star, posted 20 points (on 12 shots), 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. The Clippers turned the ball over 22 times and shot 10-17 from the free throw line, with Baron Davis sitting out with a sore lower back.

The Warriors annihilated the Kings, 130-98. C.J. Watson scored 40 points. 40! He did this on 16-23 shooting and added 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. This made Stephen Curry’s 24/6/15 seem less impressive than it should.

Golden State scored 42 points in the second quarter and held Sacramento to just 16.

Kevin Martin only played 19 minutes before being pulled because he is GETTING TRADED TO HOUSTON. Holy shit. Yeah. It looks like he’s being sent to the Rockets with Sergio Rodriguez, Hilton Armstrong, and Kenny Thomas. In return, the Kings will get the exceedingly awesome Carl Landry, as well as Tracy McGrady’s big expiring deal, Joey Dorsey, and cash. McGrady and Rodriguez might end up in New York before the 3:00 PM EST deadline, still.

Quick analysis: The Kings got a fantastic scoring power forward in Landry and now have 16-17 million dollars of cap space in the summer. Not too shabby. And in Martin, the Rockets got the super-efficient backcourt scorer that they’ve coveted. This is exciting for both clubs.

John Salmons didn’t play for Chicago last night because he’s going to be traded to Milwaukee. It might be for Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson. It might be for Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander.

And finally, Antawn Jamison was, thankfully, traded to Cleveland. The Cavs also received Sebastian Telfair from the Clippers. The Clippers gave away Al Thornton to Washington and took back Drew Gooden, who never actually suited up for the Wiz. Zydrunas Ilgauskas went to Washington along with the Cavs’ 2010 first-round pick, but he will likely be bought out and he will hopefully return to Cleveland.

On the subject of that Cavs trade, you should really read this piece by John Krolik and this piece by Kelly Dwyer.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Another great trade occurred.

I love the trade deadline. Podcast coming when it’s all over.

Basketball for Breakfast, Jan. 20

James Herbert — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:12:54 +0000

David Liam Kyle/Getty Images

Just two games on the sched, Tuesday night, and I only watched one of them. This doesn’t feel right, and neither does being done with writing by 1:00 AM. A much quicker BfB than normal as we hit the halfway mark of the season.

Cavaliers 108, Raptors 100

“Conflicted” doesn’t even properly capture how I felt watching LeBron James in this game. Generally, when I watch players I love up against the Raptors, I’m simultaneously rooting for them to do well and for the Raptors to win. It’s weird – things get tricky when it’s a close game and a favourite of mine on the opposing team makes a big play. With LeBron, it’s weird every time I watch him anyway. I feel privileged to watch him as he makes breathtaking plays, and then I get angry as he needlessly hoists up three-pointers. As Twitter favourite Noam Schiller pointed out, LeBron’s shot selection was plain stupid at times. He could score whenever he wanted to on drives or post-ups, but he chose to bail the Raptors out with jumpers on numerous occasions. As a Raptors fan, I was hoping he would jack shots because I knew my team couldn’t stop him otherwise. As a LeBron fan, I wanted to yell, “do that every time!” when he scored around the rim. Every missed jumper had me instinctively frustrated and then thinking, “well, at least the Raptors have a chance.” Unfortunately, the Raps didn’t capitalize on those chances.

One reason why: Chris Bosh disappeared down the stretch. This bothered me because of the stage: a nationally televised game with essentially no NBA competition. People who don’t watch every Raptors game will have seen this and assumed that this is who Chris Bosh is. After an unbelievable start to the game, he missed his last two field goal attempts in the first half and then went just 2-6 in the second half, almost entirely on jump shots. In the whole game, he only shot 3-4 from the line (he averages 9.2 FTA’s). I feel guilty criticizing Bosh at all with how amazing he’s been all season, but I can’t let him off the hook here. Sure, his coach and his teammates should have made more of an effort to feature him. Sure, he can’t be expected to do it all by himself. But he’s got to demand the ball and he’s got to be aggressive when his team needs a bucket. That doesn’t mean no jump shots – if his man is playing off him, I want him to take the J because he’s so damn good at it. I still don’t think 4 free throw attempts is acceptable, though. And I don’t think franchise players should be held to just 5 points in the second half very often.

Marco Belinelli and Hedo Turkoglu are going to take years off of my life. I’ve seen both of them at various times described as having “high basketball IQ” but I think that’s basically because they’re European and are good at passing. Seriously, they take some of the most maddening shots I’ve ever seen. Sometimes, they go in. Other times, you know as soon as it leaves their hands that there’s no chance. And I haven’t even mentioned the defensive end of the floor… K, I’m not a hater, I’ll stop there.

I don’t want to hate on Jay Triano either, for a couple of reasons. First, no one should expect Toronto to beat Cleveland in Cleveland. Second, I think .500 is an acceptable place to be right now with the Raptors’ roster and tough early-season schedule. But, again, I have to complain a bit. I just can’t see the logic for keeping both Jarrett Jack and DeMar DeRozan on the bench for the entire fourth quarter. DeMar was fantastic, scoring 14 points on 10 shots and showing the same aggressiveness that was there against the Knicks the other day. I have learned not to expect his good early minutes to be rewarded with fourth quarter burn, but his play in this one had me hopeful. No dice. Now, Jack: the man started at point guard and scored 11 points on 6 shots, but played less than 22 minutes. I haven’t been a huge fan of the duel point guard lineup that’s received a lot of crunch time minutes for the Raptors this season, but against Mo Williams and Delonte West I’m cool with it. There’s also the fact that Jose Calderon failed to play the same type of ball we’d seen from him in his past couple of games. He missed shots I assumed he would make and he lost Mo Williams on a couple of occasions. I wouldn’t have been mad if he was sent to the bench along with Marco and Hedo.

Positivity: Antoine Wright was very good for Toronto on both ends. This man took a lot of shit earlier this season, at least online, and I’ll admit that much of it was deserved. In this game, he produced just fine in his 23:49 of action: 12 pts (5-8 FG, 1-1 3PT, 1-3 FT), 5 reb (1 off.), 1 TO. This, while putting in more than respectable work against LeBron on the other end.

Speaking of LeBron, that guy who I blasted just a few bullet points ago… He barely missed a trip dub: 28 pts (8-18 FG, 0-7 3PT (!), 12-14 FT), 9 reb, 11 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl, 3 TO in 41 minutes. The man is incredible, right?

Mo Williams had one of his best games of the season. Check the line: 22 pts (7-15 FG, 4-8 3PT, 4-4 FT), 3 reb, 10 (!) ast, 4 TO in 37:37. He remains terrifying to me when he’s left open, but Cleveland fans know his shot has been inconsistent at best. Especially in the last two weeks. On nights like this, when he is hitting his shots AND piling up assists (he averages only 5 a game), Cleveland is going to win the vast majority of the time. And they did here, even though I don’t think the team played very impressive basketball on the whole.

Heat 113, Pacers 83

I recorded this game and intended to watch it following Raps/Cavs, but the final score is just gross. I asked the internet if it was worth my time and this is what Jared Wade said: “Don’t bother. Flash had 18 in the first. Other than that? Huge waste of time.”

I feel bad for Pacers fans. They start games terribly so freaking often. Sometimes, they make a run and make things exciting. Against the Raptors and Suns recently, they had huge comeback victories. This time? They were down by 17 after the first and they were outscored in each of the following quarters.

Some efficient stat lines to look at: Dwyane Wade had 32 points on 20 shots in 31 minutes. Michael Beasley had 21 (on 15 shots) and 10 rebounds, but it took him 40 minutes. Brandon Rush, with his sub-50 TS%, remarkably finished with 17 points (on 10 shots) along with 10 rebounds in 36 minutes.

Again, I feel bad for Pacers fans.

Basketball for Breakfast, Jan. 12

James Herbert — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:26:22 +0000

It’s been a little while, hey? Nothing from me since the podcast. Time to recap what’s gone on since then.

On Thursday and Friday, I watched a total of three NBA games. THREE! That’s… nothing. And it’s not my usual routine. But I can explain: On Thursday, Knicks/Bobcats was the only game (you see that DEEP Gallo three?) and, on Friday, I actually went out. I usually feel like a bit of my soul is dying if I’m out somewhere while basketball is on, but wasn’t the case on Friday. I’ve gotta applaud the Raptors Republic team for putting on the awesome ‘Raptors Fan Fridays’ – a bar packed with basketball fans is always a place I want to be. In Canada, where the average person inexplicably prefers an unbearable sport called “ice hockey,” it’s also rare. So yeah, thanks RR. Anyway, I saw the Raptors pull out a win in Philly and I saw the Blazers (Webster! Roy) upset the Lakers, then came home and crashed. To make up for it, I decided to have a basketball-watching marathon on Saturday and did my usual thing on Sunday after catching Raptors/Celtics in person. It’d be a shame to watch all that ball and not discuss is, so weekend stuff is going in this piece along with last night’s happenings.

Friday, Jan. 8

Hawks 93, Celtics 85

As soon as I started watching this game, I was reminded of an episode of The Basketball Jones when Skeets & Tas were talking about watching an ESPN/ABC game after the fact but not fast-forwarding like they normally do. When Hubie Brown talks, you must listen. Instead of fast-forwarding through free throws and 20-second timeouts, I stayed with the game. Well worth it. I love Hubie for his analysis, in particular the little things he points out, but I think my favourite line of his came early in the game after Kendrick Perkins had muscled the Hawks’ frontline on the inside. He said, simply, “This guy is a bear.”

Another Hubie line: “If he gets some catches, fine, but he never stops working.” He’s referring to Al Horford here. Love him, especially this year. The numbers don’t even tell the story and the numbers were great: he finished with 16 points (on 7-10 shooting), 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block. What stands out to me is his defense. He’s good at man defense and help defense and the Hawks can pretty much switch EVERYTHING when he’s out there. People talk about his relative lack of size as a weakness, but it’s what lets him move his feet quick enough to stay with ballhandlers on the perimeter. If I ever think a bigger guy like Perkins is going to eat him up, my mind returns to this piece on Peachtree Hoops. He’s not a proper center, but it doesn’t look like the Hawks need him to be.

When they show a replay of Rondo’s insane alley-oop to send the Heat game into overtime from Wednesday night, I can’t help but smile. Sooo thankful that John Schuhmann tweeted a #LeaguePassAlert with 5.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. I saw none of the action before that, but was able to catch Dwyane Wade’s ridiculous steal and dunk, then Rondo, then the ensuing Celtics overtime victory. Fun fact: That was the first alley-oop basket of Rondo’s career. The viewing audience was told he’d assisted on 73 of them, though. Seems a bit low to me.

More Rondo: he hit two threes in the first half – one from the corner and one from straightaway. Neither basket elicited any sort of reaction from him. It seems that, even though teams don’t respect his J and he doesn’t take threes very often, he expects the shots to drop when he takes ‘em. Some people hate his confidence, but I love it.

Josh Smith has been a joy to watch since he entered the league. He has always made absurd, athletic plays (see: him blocking a Kendrick Perkins dunk attempt in this game) and he’s always been capable of filling up the stat sheet. But, in his first few years in the league, you weren’t going to see Hubie Brown analyzing his highlights at halftime and talking about how he doesn’t force anything and moves well without the ball. I know I’ve brought this up before, but it’s just fantastic to see Smith excelling this year. Always great when a guy’s mental game catches up to his physical gifts. I really, really hope I’ll be saying this about Anthony Randolph in a couple of years.

Jamal Crawford was on FIRE. He scored 18 points on 12 field goal attempts. Jon Barry commented that Crawford is “one of the guys you just hate to guard” and, on this night, it was even more true than it normally is. He can rise and shoot at any time and, when he’s on, it’s scary. Two plays stick out, looking back. First, a corner three over Perkins – Perk fouled him on the play and he converted the 21st 4-point play of his career (Reggie Miller’s 24 is the record). Second, a dagger three with 52.5 seconds left from wayyyyyyyy downtown to bring the score to 91-82. Gotta say I’m thrilled at the success he has had in Atlanta – he’s a good dude who has never been on a good team. Watch Sonicsgate if you have never seen an interview with him. Actually, just watch Sonicsgate regardless.

Jon Barry said he did not consider the Hawks an elite team yet because of their inconsistency. I suppose that’s a fair point, given how they’ve had multiple fourth-quarter collapses against good teams. But, um, are they supposed to be an elite team right now? There weren’t a lot of prognosticators who had them ranked them with the elite teams before the season started. Also, it’s January. It’s okay if they’re inconsistent now. The Hawks have shown a lot of promise and they should be expected to stumble a few times. The key is that they learn from their losses and are ready come playoff time. Everything Kevin Arnovitz wrote to Lakers and Magic fans at the end of December still applies here.

Nuggets 99, Cavaliers 97

The game kind of looked scripted at one point in the first half, as they showed an interview snippet with LeBron James where he was asked about his dancing, which seems to have divided America. He said, “Every night I go out on the court, I feel like a kid again.” This was immediately followed by an alley-oop where Joey Graham hacked him and he was able to convert anyway. Then he got a layup on a fast break off of a turnover. All the while, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson were talking about LeBron’s passion for the game.

More JVG: “Every time you double team him, you’re making a mistake.” He was talking about Shaq and how he’s such a great passer, after The Big Witness found Jawad Williams wide open under the hoop. I nodded my head in agreement, but it’s not because of his passing ability. As John Krolik has pointed out all season, Shaq has simply not been a very effective scorer for the Cavs. You usually don’t need to double him these days.

I got upset with George Karl when I saw Anthony Carter enter the game before Ty Lawson. Then I remembered that Lawson had an injured ankle. Damn. Get back soon, Ty.

Kenyon Martin was amazing in the first half. He did a bit of everything, including a chasedown block on Delonte West and a fantastic bounce pass to Nene down low. He also hit from the outside, crashed the offensive glass, scored on the inside, and played his normal brand of solid/aggressive D.

Anderson Varejao has impressed the hell out of me this year. He used to bother me because he’d flop in places where he should just play textbook defense, but to my eyes this isn’t happening nearly as much now. I laughed at his contract extension in the summer, but now I think Cleveland must be happy with their investment. His pick-and-roll defense is masterful and he’s leading the league in individual +/-. Gotta love how he picked J.R. Smith’s pocket on the pick-and-roll and blocked Kenyon Martin going to the hole in this contest.

My DVR apparently ran out of space at the end of the fourth quarter, but at least I got to see a wild third. LeBron scored 11 points in the Q. and a big Delonte West three-pointer capped off an 11-0 Cleveland run before the Birdman had a nice dunk. Denver was behind by 4 as the quarter ended.

So, what did I miss in the fourth? Kenyon Martin shut down LeBron (!) in the final minute – the King missed a layup and stepped out of bounds on back-to-back possessions. That turnover was just one of LeBron’s 8 and Cleveland’s 19 TO’s on the night.

More fun stats: Chauncey Billups had 23 points on just 14 shots in his first game back from a groin injury. LeBron James shot 6-18 from outside of 15 feet (thank you Hoopdata!).

Mavericks 112, Spurs 103

NOBODY was happy with the refs during the first half of this game. Erick Dampier, DeJuan Blair, and Antonio McDyess each picked up two quick fouls. Gregg Popovich got T’d up and I think it was general ineptitude rather than one particular play that set him off.

It was very, very cool to see Manu Ginobili and Josh Howard matched up against one another and both playing well. These two need to find a way to stay healthy. I want them both playing All-Star caliber ball as we approach the playoffs. Howard hit his first three field goals, but missed his next four. Still, he finished with 12 points on 7 FGA’s and his +21 was the best on his team. Ginobili had 12/7/5 and did things that just shouldn’t be possible in the NBA. He did this hesitation crossover move that should be seen, not written about. Unfortunately, I can’t find a bloody video. Bah.

Up until the fourth quarter, Dirk Nowitzki was taking tough shots and missing them. He even got rejected by the rim on a dunk attempt, trying to do a reverse on the baseline. His teammates stepped up, though. As Jason Terry, Dampier, Drew Gooden, Howard, and Shawn Marion converted shots, I was reminded that everything has changed for this Mavericks team.

Rodrigue Beaubois got some burn in this game. This made me very happy. I considered it the universe evening things out for me with rookie minutes, as Blair was limited to just 7:31 in this game due to foul trouble. I’ve been working on a piece on players who I’d love to see get more burn for what seems like ages now and Beaubois is #1 on that list now that Anthony Randolph is hurt. He hit a J from the corner and a floater, but missed his other 2 attempts in his 5:32 of game action. Yeah, 4 shot attempts in that amount of time. And a rebound and a foul. Trust me: when he’s out there, you’ll notice him. If you saw him against the Spurs, you might have also noticed that it was the first time you’ve ever seen Tony Parker being only the second-quickest French guard on the court.

I want to say that Beaubois was the Mavs’ best guard after his fun five minute stint, but that would be a blatant lie. Jason Terry scored 21 points on 7-13 shooting, with 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals to his name. He played with the fire that you love to see and hit numerous difficult jumpers over much bigger players. I didn’t like him tripping George Hill, though.

Plays of the game: Richard Jefferson’s chasedown block on JET and, well, everything Dirk did in the fourth quarter. Let me explain…

…If the first three quarters reminded me of Rob Mahoney’s words about this Mavericks team not overly relying on Nowitzki anymore, the fourth reminded me of Tim McMahon’s words about how he comes through in the clutch. The man went crazy in the final frame, scoring 16 of the Mavs’ 42 (!) points. He got going early at the expense of poor Richard Jefferson and from then on nobody could stop him. After Jason Terry hit a three to put the Mavs up 95-92, he rejected an Antonio McDyess shot and then hit a three on the other end. Following this, Manu picked up an offensive foul and Dirk came back with a fading jumper. A tie game was turned into an 8-point one very, very quickly.

San Antonio did manage to bring it a bit closer, as it was 104-100 with less than a minute left in the game. But then, with 51.7 seconds on the clock, Dirk hit a dagger three from the top of the key with Richard Jefferson’s hand in his face to bring the lead back up to 7. It was amazing. The crowd fell silent as they knew Dirk would simply not let his team lose the game.

Other Friday Games

Raptors 108, 76ers 106: It was pretty cool to see Andrea Bargnani showing some emotion in the Raptors’ win in Philly. He made a few big plays on both ends down the stretch, including a block where I was proud of him. Also was cool to see Allen Iverson have a big offensive game (22 points on 13 field goal attempts), as my friends have been talking shit about him all year and I got to shove it in their faces every time he scored. Ivy’s defense wasn’t the greatest, though.

Blazers 107, Lakers 98: Portland is incredibly fun to root for. I don’t like rooting against Kobe (or Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown, for that matter) but I was fully on the Blazers’ side, cheering every time Brandon Roy or Jerryd Bayless would find a way to get to the line. I know the Blazers ALWAYS seem to beat this team at home, but this is quite obviously not the same Blazers team we’re used to. I mean, Juwan Howard played over 34 freaking minutes and had to guard Andrew Bynum. Still a win. Nice.

Bucks 96, Bulls 93: I was kinda miffed I didn’t record the Bucks/Bulls game. I pretty much automatically DVR every Bucks game, but I figured I owed San Antonio and Dallas some viewing time because they’re two of the better teams in the West and I haven’t seen enough of them. Turns out I missed Andrew Bogut having a Duncan night (27 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 blocks), Brandon Jennings blocking three of Derrick Rose’s shots, and Michael Redd having what would turn out to be his last good game for a long while. Damn it. Shout outs to a couple of Bulls before I move on: Derrick Rose (25/9/5, although he took 25 shots) and Joakim Noah (10/18, although he took 10 shots) produced pretty well. Oh, and let me say that when I read that the Bulls needed a three to tie the game on the final possession and failed to get it, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Read into that what you will.

Wizards 104, Magic 97: Washington outscored Orlando 33-20 in the final quarter and that was the ballgame. For ORL, Vince Carter only played 10 minutes because he separated his shoulder and Dwight Howard had 23/11. For WAS, Antawn Jamison had 28/11 and Brendan Haywood had 18/15, shooting 6-6 from the field and 6-6 from the foul line. Check this tweet, heh.

Timberwolves 116, Pacers 109. One team had to win and Minnesota did. Frontcourt players starred in this one. For Indy, Roy Hibbert had 15/6/3 with 3 blocks and Troy Murphy had 21/5/2 with 4 steals and 5-7 shooting from behind the arc. For Minnesota, Big Al had 25/12/2 and Kevin Love had 18/13/2, with a block and a steal each. This was Danny Granger’s first game since December 5 and he scored 19 points on 19 shots. His return was a surprise; coach Jim O’Brien had said a day earlier that he wasn’t going to come back on the weekend.

Grizzlies 91, Jazz 89. This would have been a nice finish to see live. O.J. Mayo hit a jumper to put the Grizz up 2 with just 5 seconds left and Marc Gasol registered his fifth block of the night on a C.J. Miles attempt on the final possession. Nice revenge for Memphis at home, as they had lost in Utah by 23 points just two days earlier. Zach Randolph, most improved player and team leader, had 29 points, 15 rebounds, and a block.

Hornets 103, Nets 99. The Nets shoot a league-worst 28% on threes on the season, but in this game they shot 9-17, which is 52.9%. Thank Courtney Lee (5-7 from downtown, 28 points) and Keyon Dooling (4-7 from downtown, 21 points) for that. Still, the Nets found a way to lose. David West had 32/10 and Chris Paul had 11/18/5. Those two are pretty good.

Heat 109, Suns 105. Balanced scoring from the Suns – their starters posted totals of 16, 15, 15, 18, and 18 points. Unbalanced scoring from the Heat – Dwyane Wade (33) and Michael Beasley (21) accounted for just about half of the team’s points. The team stats are pretty even across the board except for one category – the Suns’ 17 turnovers killed them.

Warriors 108, Kings 101. I briefly mentioned that Anthony Randolph is hurt – this is the game where it happened. At the very end of the first quarter, he went down on a Tyreke Evans drive and teammates had to help him off the court. Sprained ankle, blah. He’s out 3-6 weeks. Monta Ellis picked up the slack, though, besting Evans’s 25 points by scoring 39 in 46 minutes. The Kings were actually ahead by 10 going into the fourth quarter, but the Warriors dominated the final frame. The first 7 points of the quarter were scored by Ellis and he had a total of 13 in the Q. 10 of Sacramento’s 17 turnovers came in the fourth and GS scored 17 points off them. That was the game.

Saturday, Jan. 10

Magic 113, Hawks 81

The last time these teams met it was (American) Thanksgiving, or “the night that the Orlando Magic started playing defense again.” Dwight Howard set the tone for another impressive defensive night by rejecting Joe Johnson on the very first play of the game in this one. He would have two more blocks in the game despite only playing 22 minutes. The great Orlando D forced the least turnover-prone team in the league to cough the ball up 16 times. It seemed they were pissed off about losing four straight games.

Maybe this game proves Jon Barry’s point about the Hawks being inconsistent and not quite an elite team. Maybe, though, it just proves that Orlando is a terrible matchup for Atlanta and they haven’t figured out how to counter them yet. This is the Hawks’ 5th-straight loss to the Magic and this was not the only blowout. I think it’s fair to put some blame on the coaching staff here, as long as you acknowledge that there is still time to fix the problem. These two teams meet on January 30 and March 24 – you know Hawks fans will be expecting an adjustment or two.

I loved the bench play of Ryan Anderson and Jason Williams. After not playing a single second in the previous two games, he came in and scored 5 very quick points. Finished with an efficient 16 points on 10 shots, doing his usual “threes and layups” routine and posting up when Atlanta switched players on him. J-Will was having a bad hair day, but his game was on point. He made me flash back to the days Whit Eboy was in Sactown – he was pushing the pace, hitting threes, and getting the crowd into it. The Magic outscored the Hawks 37-16 in the second quarter and their backup point guard (who finished with 14 points and 6 assists in the game) was the biggest reason why.

Anderson and Williams weren’t the only Magic role players to get into it. Marcin Gortat had 12 rebounds, Michael Pietrus had 4 steals, Matt Barnes had 18 points (on 11 shots!) and 7 rebounds, and J.J. Redick filled in for the injured Vince Carter very nicely with 17 points in a starting role. The Magic are the deepest team in the league and it’s not close.

Can’t lie, I stopped watching this one after halftime. It was 66-37 at that point so I don’t think you can blame me, especially seeing as Orlando’s bench managed to increase the lead by 3 points in the second half.

Thunder 108, Pacers 102

I was excited pregame when the Thunder broadcasters were talking about All-OTN Team member Serge Ibaka. The sideline reporter (Elissa Walker Campbell, I think) said “he has been bringing it night in and night out.” Cliché, yes, but I’ll take it. Too bad he only played 5:15. In that time, he converted one field goal and grabbed one rebound. And Roy Hibbert scored on him. Blah. I was looking forward to that matchup.

Ibaka’s minutes have been down for a while now because of the strong play of Nick Collison, who has been playing both the 4 and 5 for OKC. I can’t say enough about how good he is at setting screens. In this contest, he went 3-4 from the field and grabbed 7 rebounds, while adding 3 blocks and a steal. All this in 23 minutes. Oh, and a move he put on Solomon Jones inspired this awesome tweet.

Another guy who took minutes from Ibaka on this night? “Byron” Mullens. This was the first time I’d seen him and I was impressed. He wasn’t spectacular or anything, but he ran the floor well and showed some skill with the ball in his hands. 4 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist won’t blow you away, but he was only on the court for a bit over 7 minutes. I don’t know how to deal with the fact that the Thunder might have another player I like.

Speaking of players I like… JAMES HARDEN. There’s more to this man than the beard. J.G. of Daily Thunder revealed about a month ago that he was putting up numbers that made him one of the top shooting guards in the NBA. I’ve been paying close attention to him during games and I really love what I see. He has a pure three-point stroke, as he demonstrated by going 3-4 from deep in this game. He’s got good handles and the ability to run the Thunder’s offense when he’s asked to (although this happens less now that they have Eric Maynor on the roster). Plus, like everyone else on this team, he plays defense and hustles. This was made clearest when he made my favourite hustle play of the season by someone not named Amir Johnson – check out how he sprinted back to strip Danny Granger on the break.

I still can’t believe what’s happened to T.J. Ford. Check what Jared Wade wrote about him in this piece. For the longest time, I thought Ford had star potential. He always had great handles, an ability to get his shot, and a knack for finding teammates open looks. Friends in Toronto would argue with me, calling him selfish and complaining that he took too many bad shots. I’d make excuses for his shot selection, saying that most of his bad shots came at the end of the shot clock and he would try to take over games sometimes because no one else on the team would do so. I think part of it was that I always remembered this SI feature. Here’s a quote:

“The only time I have to score is when the team needs me to,” he says. “My job is to make guys better. If you average four, I can get you to average eight or 10.”

I suspect Indiana fans would laugh at this now. He’s not playing like the proper distributor and leader I thought he was. In fact, he’s basically the exact opposite. When he plays, he takes questionable shots and fails to rack up many assists. And he hasn’t played yet in 2010. Here are some nauseating stats: he’s shot 1-28 from downtown this season and has an assist percentage of 24.4% (down from 44.4% in his last season in Toronto). Oh, and his true shooting percentage is 50.1%. Ugh. I feel bad for him – he had tons of potential and in interviews he came across as a nice, thoughtful guy. I’m not totally ready to accept he’s a shit player – maybe a change of scene would do him some good. Can’t be easy to trade him right now, though.

With T.J. in the doghouse, the point guard minutes went to Earl Watson and A.J. Price. Weird what’s happened to Watson in the last year and a half: he was a starter for the Thunder at the beginning of last season, but (rightly) was demoted to backup duty when Scott Brooks took over. He then signed in Indiana as a backup, but ended up starting again when the team gave up on Ford. It’s pretty obvious what Watson is about – he’s a very good passer and he can run an offense, but he’s no great shakes on D and he isn’t a good shooter. That’s a decent backup for you. Price is more intriguing – he hasn’t played a hell of a lot this season, but he took over this game for a little bit. In the fourth quarter, he hit a couple of HUGE threes including one that closed the gap to 93-92 with 5:16 left in the game. His 23 points were more than double his previous career high and his 9-15 shooting (including 3-5 from downtown) was very impressive. The problem was that he started off so strong that he tried to do too much. Near the end of the game, Price missed three field goal attempts in a row. He had a great game, but he probably shouldn’t have become the #1 option down the stretch.

Kevin Durant is just silly-good. Guess how many field goal attempts he needed to score 40 points. Come on, guess… 18! EIGHTEEN. That’s insane. He went 12-18 from the field, 2-2 from downtown, and 14-16 from the line. Add 12 assists and you have happy fantasy owners everywhere, except for me because I’m a damn fool and forgot to set my lineups that day. He was benched. Blah. Anyway, 11 of those points came in the 4th quarter and a few of those baskets were followed by scowls. Loved that. We know KD is a joker off-court but it’s great to see him being mean on it. His step-back J over Brandon Rush on the right side put his squad up 8 with 51 seconds to play and that was the ballgame.

Kings 102, Nuggets 100

Game of the weekend. You should already know about Tyreke Evans’s game-winner. It was glorious, and it followed a Chauncey Billups three that was glorious in its own right if you’re a Denver fan. A few plays before that, Omri Casspi hit a corner three that had me jump out of my seat. You could say I’m a big fan of his. You could also say this game had a pretty exciting finish. I couldn’t believe some people were watching Saturday Night Live instead, even with Charles Barkley hosting.

Francisco Garcia joined the announce team for a little bit in the first half. He said he and Kevin Martin are “desperate” to get back and the Kings have “got a special thing going on right now.” I am thoroughly enjoying watching this group right now and am very curious as to how they’ll look once these two scorers get back in the mix. A couple of notable things that happened while Garcia was hanging out – first, Tyreke made a nice one-on-one move against Chauncey Billups and looked hurt afterward. No one mentions it on air, even when they show a freaking replay. I’m freaking out as ankle injuries terrify me, but ‘Reke relatively quickly signals to the bench/coaching staff that he’s okay and stays in the game. Phew. Second, he talked about Omri for a bit. It’s clear that he’s been a mentor for the rookie, even while injured. When Casspi received the ball, ready to launch a three, ‘Cisco yelled “Give me, one baby!” It dropped through and he excitedly exclaimed, “That’s what I like!” I liked it, too.

It wasn’t just the game winner for Tyreke, it was everything. 27 points on 10-15 shooting? Nuts. I’m not going to call him a rookie anymore because I don’t think of him as one. The Nugs’ team defense was completely geared toward neutralizing him and he was unfazed. It didn’t matter who guarded him, he was getting where he wanted. Don’t think he’ll make it to the ASG this year, but he’s a star. Count on an appearance next year.

You’ve probably seen this J.R. Smith play by now. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Still can’t.

Spencer Hawes still frustrates me but he did go 8-10 from the floor for 17 points in 26 minutes, scoring in a variety of ways. Very nice. I’ll forgive him for only grabbing 3 defensive rebounds… this time.

I want Kenyon Martin on my fantasy team. Check this: 20 Pts (9-17 FG), 10 Reb (5 Off), 5 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO. Well done, sir. Pity you couldn’t stop Tyreke on that last play, though. Ha!

Joey Graham had a very good first half for the Nugs. He was aggressive, got to the line repeatedly, took a charge on Spencer Hawes, and did this to Jason Thompson.

Fun note: this was rookie Jon Brockman’s first start of his career. Always cool to witness a milestone for a player. He played 37:56, almost 12 minutes more than his previous career high. Unfortunately, the Brockness Monster shot too much, especially in the first half. He finished 2-9 from the field, but because he is awesome he added 12 rebounds, 7 coming on the offensive end.

Other Saturday Games

Bobcats 89, Grizzlies 87. I missed the very beginning of the second half of the Thunder game because I was watching the crazy finish here. It looked like O.J. Mayo was might be a hero for the second straight night, as he tied the game with 8.8 seconds left, hitting a three from the top of the key with Gerald Wallace’s hand in his face. My favourite part was the way he reacted. As in, he didn’t. At all. Just walked to the bench calmly as Charlotte called a timeout. Unfortunately for O.J., Wallace would be the hero – he tipped in an errant Raymond Felton attempt at the buzzer to get his team the W.

76ers 104, Pistons 94. Allen Iverson wasn’t in the lineup for Philly in this one, but he was still unfortunately booed by the fans at the Palace when his name was announced. Luckily for the Sixers, Elton Brand came back and provided a scoring punch, scoring 25 points on 16 shots. The Pistons lost because that’s what they’ve been doing lately. Rip Hamilton attempted 22 field goals in almost 41 minutes and made just 6 of them. It was only a 10 point win in the end, but Detroit was down 26-10 (!) at the end of the first and 56-30 at halftime. Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey nursed their lingering injuries in the second half instead of playing. Ben Gordon scored 20, including the NBA’s 10 millionth point.

Bulls 110, Timberwolves 96. Kirk Hinrich had, by my count, his third super-awesome game of the season: 20/4/7, 8-15 FG, 4-9 3PT. Joakim Noah had himself a game as well, scoring 20 on 9-13 shooting and adding 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Fun rookie Jonny Flynn had 14/4/8 with 2 steals but his team was outscored 51-32 in the second and third quarters.

Jazz 111, Mavericks 93. Josh Howard and Drew Gooden were both missing in action for Dallas. Utah managed 126.1 points per 100 possessions, shot 53.2% from the floor, and only turned the ball over 4 times. This is the kind of game that will help the Jazz move up the offensive efficiency rankings to where they’ve been in previous years. You’ve gotta expect more from the Mavs on D, though. Dirk had 29 on 22 shots; Deron had 20 on 13 shots. 9 assists for Utah’s PG, too. Hope he finally gets to play in the All-Star Game.

Rockets 105, Knicks 96. Houston was down by 11 after one quarter, but outscored the Knicks in each of the next three to get the W. Luis Scola (23 points, 10-16 FG) and Aaron Brooks (20 points, 8-15 FG) both scored often and efficiently and the always-awesome Carl Landry scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Nate Robinson had a fine game (20 points on 13 shots), but David Lee was the star for NYK: 26/12/6 with 12-17 shooting. Daryl Morey pointed out that Houston surprisingly won the transition points category 51-32.

Sunday, Jan. 10

Celtics 114, Raptors 107

I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from applauding Rondo all afternoon and thought this would earn me some dirty looks from the ACC crowd. Couldn’t have been more wrong, I was surrounded by Celtics fans. The two loudest people in the arena were directly next to me, decked out in C’s gear and supporting their club. My guy Rajon had a 22/10/13 triple-double with 4 steals and a ridiculous buzzer-beating three to boot. I’m beyond impressed with him and seeing him zip around in person is something else. Not sure how you stop Rajon right now. If he’s not an All-Star I might go on a killing spree.

Don’t get me wrong about the Rondo love – he’s great and I couldn’t shut up about him during and after the game, but I was definitely rooting for my Raps. I went crazy when Chris Bosh ruined Shelden Williams and Rasheed Wallace’s dominance completely pissed me off. Sheed hasn’t been fantastic this season, but he’s been amazing against the Raptors. He always is. 29/8 in this one, shooting 9-12 from the field and 5-7 (!) from downtown. If you’re wondering, Sheed was shooting less than 30% from deep entering the game. Bosh scored 31 on 17 shot attempts (13-13 FT), plus 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Just a fantastic all-around effort. I don’t even want to think about the possibility of him leaving Toronto…

…except people wouldn’t shut up about it on Sunday! Peter Vescey rumoured a Bosh-for-Bynum swap, even though in his article he quotes Bryan Colangelo as saying he hasn’t talked to the Lakers or anyone about Bosh. Ugh. I don’t even feel like I should have to comment on this, but it doesn’t make sense. Check what Kelly Dwyer said. Bosh is better than Bynum, but he doesn’t complement Gasol as well. If L.A. keeps everything together they could, seriously, have the best defense and best offense in the league by the season’s end. Bosh makes their offense worse because he isn’t the type of back-to-the-basket post player that Bynum is and he makes the defense worse because, quite simply, he isn’t the same defender Bynum is. Especially if they’re going to ask him to defend centers. Bynum-Gasol remains a downright terrifying combo in the triangle and they are great at defending around the rim. Why break that up by exchanging a 5 for a 4? Talent generally reigns supreme, but the Lakers already have more than enough of that. They need to have complementary players. As for the Raptors, um… Bosh and Bargnani might not be a great fit long-term, so I can see Colangelo trying to get a 5 for Bosh if he does indeed move him. Of course, that brings up the question of whether Bargs poses as many matchup problems against 4s as he does against 5s and blahblahblah I’m not going to get into that now. Let’s be clear: I don’t like this idea. I don’t want Bosh gone. He’s in the midst of having the best season of anyone in this franchise’s history, statistically at least. Unless he’s given an indication he wants to move on, you try to keep him.

Eddie House makes me nervous and angry. He just runs around the perimeter and around screens, trying to get open threes. Every team knows that’s what he does. So, I HATE when he gets an open look. He hit 3 triples in this game and each one drove me nuts. Took some satisfaction in every one of his five fouls, though.

Hedo Turkoglu was mainly invisible out there. He got 9 assists, yeah, but he shot 2-9 from the field and didn’t score his first basket until halfway through the third quarter. I remember Kelly Dwyer (yes, again with the Dwyer references) talking about how pretty much everything Turk does shows up in the stat sheet. I’m with that. The 9 assists didn’t impress me. I want to see him help his team when the ball isn’t in his hands, but he can’t really do that. He doesn’t play good defense, doesn’t rebound well, and doesn’t hustle. The only positive contribution I can think of from him aside from what he creates with the ball in his hands is floor spacing. But, hell, guys like Eddie House can do that. This is why I was pissed when I heard he was sort of complaining about not being as much of a facilitator this year. Man, you’re coming to a team run by Jose Calderon (I know Jack is starting right now – irrelevant), who is one of the most efficient players in the league. The team needs the ball in his hands. You’re 6’10, be a real small forward. And grab a damn rebound! Argh. I probably shouldn’t be mad at Hedo, really. His skillset is the same as it always was. It’s just frustrating to watch him sometimes.

It’s nice to see Jose Calderon back for Toronto. He played hard and effectively on both ends, if only for 22 minutes. Hollinger’s called him the worst defensive point guard in the league this season and I haven’t even been able to argue with him. Kills me because I know he CAN play D, but he wasn’t doing it. Against Boston, he was moving his feet and staying with people. Even Rondo, who is impossible to check. One trip down, he ended up on Ray Allen and played him perfectly, forcing him into an extreeemely difficult shot. I yelled out, “GREAT D, JOSE!” and then watched the shot drop. Deflating as anything. Couldn’t be mad at Calderon, though. Just like I couldn’t get mad at the Raptors for losing to a superior team.

Cavaliers 106, Blazers 94.

LeBron James is insane. Check this pic. That’s probably the only time I’ll ever link to a picture of somebody catching an alley-oop pass and not scoring. I don’t know how James can still be considered human. I mean, did you SEE that first half? 31 points and it all seemed so easy. The game began with him driving every damn time and then he made some perimeter J’s, too. And then, in the second half, when Portland was determined to make other players beat them, he made the right passes. That’s how you end up with lines like this one: 41/10/8. I’d say you’re in pretty good shape if you can score 41 whilst only taking 19 field goals, but to almost have a trip-dub too? It’s unfair. Everything about LeBron is unfair, except his sometimes-shaky shot selection.

Shaq’s 11/11/5 in 24 minutes? Huge. I know his close encounter with a Baldwin made headlines, but it’s also worth noting that he was +16 on the night. It helped that Juwan Howard had to guard him, but still. Give the big man credit, he has been playing significantly better lately.

Brandon Roy: 34 points on 23 shots. LaMarcus Aldridge: 18 points on 11 shots. Offense wasn’t the problem for the Blazers here – this was an 84-possessoin game. They just couldn’t stop Cleveland. This is actually a bit of a misconception about the Cavs – you’d assume that because their offense looks (and is) simple that they’re simply relying on their D to get wins. Not the case, they’re 6th in the league in offensive efficiency. Believe me, I want Mike Brown to add to his playbook too, but it’s not as if they’re having a lot of trouble scoring.

Other Sunday games:

Hornets 115, Wizards 110. New Orleans remains undefeated in 2010, getting their 6th win in a row. Check out the margins of victory in those games, though: 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5. Ha. Does this mean they’re good at executing down the stretch or they’re just getting lucky? As with everything, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Anyway, Chris Paul had 26 points and 14 assists, 8 of which came in the opening period. Antawn Jamison, who we’d like to see in Cleveland, had 32 and 8 rebounds. but it wasn’t enough. Neither was Randy Foye’s 23 points and 8 rebounds or Nick Young’s 20 and 6 on 7-10 shooting. Andray Blatche didn’t attempt a shot in the losing effort and he didn’t like that one bit.

Clippers 94, Heat 84. Again, Miami got most of their offense from Wade (24) and Beasley (20). This time, it wasn’t enough for a win. Some fun figures for the Clips: Baron Davis had 14 assists and Kaman and Camby had 14 and 17 rebounds, respectively. I’m not upset that I missed this game, with the ugly shooting. The teams combined to shoot 40.5% from the field and 28.6% from downtown. Gross.

Spurs 97, Nets 85. The Nets returned to their normal crappy three-point shooting, finishing 3-14 on the night. San Antonio didn’t do much better, at 4-12, but they made up for it in other areas. A big one: they outrebounded NJ 48-35. Timmy D. finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks while Manu Ginobili contributed 21/3/3 and only had 11 field goal attempts. As for the Nets, Brook Lopez had himself a great night – 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and a steal. 10-17 FG, 8-8 FT as well. This efficiency wasn’t shared by Yi Jianlian, who shot 4-10 on shots closer than 10 feet but 0-7 otherwise.

Lakers 95, Bucks 77. I recorded this game, but didn’t end up watching any of the first three quarters (besides the very end of the third) because I heard they were incredibly ugly. I mean, the Bucks only scored 8 points in the first Q. 8! It was 39-28 for the Lakers at halftime. Brandon Jennings shot 4-17 and Kobe Bryant and his completely fucked up finger shot 4-21. No thanks. Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 18 rebounds and Lamar Odom had 17 rebounds and 9 assists. With the amount of missed shots available, those rebounding numbers probably aren’t as impressive as they seem. As I said, though, I did watch SOME of the game. This was purely because of Shannon Brown. The All-OTN Team guard hit a hell of a buzzer-beater to end the third. Then came a dunk. Then came two blocks on the same play. Yeah. Finished with a career-high 19 points as well, helped by the fact his jump shot was falling.

Monday, Jan. 11

Pacers 105, Raptors 101

Troy Murphy started this game as the only Pacer doing anything offensively. After Roy Hibbert’s layup in the first minute, the next FOUR Pacer field goals were threes by Murphy. This didn’t sit well with me. You know my deal with Eddie House? The scouting report tells you “no open threes” yet he seems to somehow get open threes. With Murphy, it’s the same except for the fact that he doesn’t run around screens. Ever. He just trails in transition or stands on the perimeter in the halfcourt. There is no excuse for not staying with him out there. I wanted to slap Bargnani around a little bit after those threes. But with the way the rest of his team was playing, it was alright… I guess.

How was the rest of his team playing, then? HORRIBLY. They were taking quick (read: poor) shots and, when the Raptors were on offense, it seemed pretty damn easy to score. If one Pacer got beat, the rotations weren’t there. It looked like this was going to be a blowout when the Raptors were up by 23 in the second quarter. Things changed, though, when Danny Granger and Sonny Weems got in a little bit of an argument. After this, Granger went on a scoring spree and his team cut it to 13 by halftime. It was a 16-3 run and the Raptors went 1-6 from the field to end the quarter before Antoine Wright hit a lucky/exciting shot from the backcourt at the buzzer.

I felt pretty good about the halftime lead even though it could have been bigger. So did Jose Calderon, apparently. He was asked about strategy and he said it was simple: “get a stop, run, easy basket.” Couldn’t argue, with how most of that first half went.

The second half felt like a different game. The Raptors looked tired and the Pacers looked… decent. I’m not ready to say the Pacers made a fantastic comeback because of the sloppiness of the whole thing. It felt like an NCAA game to me and I don’t mean that in the fun/intensity good kind of way. I mean that in that there were a ton of missed three pointers, turnovers, and mental mistakes. Still, their defense improved and they held the Raptors to only 4 made field goals in the third quarter. Credit A.J. Price, Earl Watson, Mike Dunleavy, and Danny Granger for efficient scoring in the comeback.

Andrea Bargnani had a very un-Bargnani like line of 12 points on 4-14 shooting, with 17 rebounds (4 offensive) and 3 blocks. Chris Bosh had a very Bosh-like line of 27 points on 6-14 shooting, with 10 rebounds (2 offensive), 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Hedo Turkoglu had 10 points and 6 assists, but everything I said about him in the Boston game applies here. I liked what I saw from DeMar DeRozan in 20 minutes and Rasho Nesterovic in 4 minutes and would have liked to have seen more from both of them. Oh well.

Roy Hibbert only played 7 minutes. Dahntay Jones and T.J. Ford both received DNP-CD’s. Weird, right?

Cavaliers 117, Warriors 114

If LeBron continues to go in the post and works on improving his game down there, the whole league is fucked. When he catches there, it changes everything. I think he’s starting to realize this – don’t think he hasn’t noticed Kobe Bryant this season. His work in the second half of this game is just a taste of what might be to come. This is either exciting or horrifying, depending on your perspective. His line? 37 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 12-23 FG, 12-14 FT.

More fun stats: Anderson Varejao unsurprisingly had the highest +/-, with +16. Monta Ellis played 45 minutes, scored 30 points, took 25 field goals, dished out 5 assists, picked up 5 steals, turned the ball over 5 times, and had his shot blocked 5 times. Corey Maggette scored 32 points on just 14 field goals, going 17-18 from the line. Anthony Morrow only attempted (and made) one shot, a three that looked absolutely perfect.

Cartier Martin just got called up from the D-League. Guess who he was matched up against when he checked in for the W’s. You got it, LeBron James. I can’t even imagine what was going through his mind.

Ronny Turiaf sprained his ankle. X-rays were negative, but he didn’t return after playing just 11 minutes.

I don’t understand how anyone could NOT root for Stephen Curry. I’m a bit biased because I love PG’s and rookies, but seriously… he looks like he’s 14 years old, but he’s schooling people with his handles and he has one of the purest shots in the league. This, plus his awesome passing ability. Did you see that steal + behind-the-back pass near the end of this game? Insane. If he had hit that three to tie it at the buzzer, I would have lost my mind.

Other Monday Games

Hawks 102, Boston 96. Saw the very end of this one and I’m going to go back and watch the whole thing on my PVR. It always seems like a good game when these two teams meet, but lately Atlanta has just had Boston’s number. 3-0 against the Celts this year. You just know they’re hoping to face Boston and NOT Orlando in the playoffs. Atlanta needed a 25-16 4th quarter to get the win and, again, Jamal Crawford made key clutch plays to seal it. Rasheed Wallace didn’t play because of a sore foot, but Boston’s coaching staff made up for it by picking up three technical fouls. Head coach Doc Rivers was ejected. Joe Johnson and Rajon Rondo both put forth good arguments to be named an All-Star starter, even though neither of them will be. JJ: 36/3/1 on 14-25 shooting including 5-7 (!) from downtown. Rondo: 26/3/7 on 12-20 shooting.

76ers 96, Hornets 92. Allen Iverson continued his efficient scoring, finishing with 16 points on just 9 field goal attempts, but only racking up 1 assist. Sam Dalembert continued his strong play since the addition of Iverson – he had 14 rebounds and 5 blocks. For New Orleans, David West and Emeka Okafor combined for 33 points and 24 rebounds, but the 6-game winning streak is over. Chris Paul had 13 points and 14 assists, but he didn’t shoot well (5-13).

Thunder 106, Knicks 88. OKC was up by 17 at the half and 23 after three. Not close, people. Kevin Durant scored 30 points on just 14 field goal attempts and Russell Westbrook scored 17 on 11. All-OTN Team member Serge Ibaka tallied 10 and 7 in 24 minutes and added a block, a steal, and 5 (ugh) fouls. For the Knicks, Chris Duhon and Danilo Gallinari combined to shoot 0-15 from the floor, including 0-9 from downtown. But hey, Jonathan Bender had a good game! 16 points on 6-10 shooting, including 2-5 from downtown. 2 blocks, as well. Happy he got those numbers, but this is a sorry effort from his team.

Bulls 120, Pistons 87. Detroit was outscored by 25 points in the second and third quarters and failed to win a single Q. Sad times for Piston fans, as they haven’t seen their team win since December 12. The Bulls average 96.9 points per 100 possessions, good for 29th in the league. Last night? 126.3 points per 100 possessions. The Pistons made the Bulls look like they’re WAY better than the best offensive team in the league. I feel like I’m piling on if I go any further, so I’ll leave it at that. 27/6 for Deng, 22/9 for Rose, 16/11 for Noah.

Suns 105, Bucks 101. I’ve got to watch this on my DVR, too. Really weird game, as the Suns were up by 21 after one quarter. It was 43-19 in the second quarter before the Bucks went on a 12-0 run. With Scott Skiles in hospital for an irregular heartbeat, the Bucks tried to get out of the hole they dug for themselves under Jim Boylan. Almost had it, too, and Alvin Gentry sounded like his team had LOST the game in the post-game presser because of the way they let the Bucks get close. Steve Nash had an unreal line of 30/7/11, but had 7 turnovers. Grant Hill reached the 15,000 point plateau. Hakim Warrick had 21 and 10 on 8-13 shooting for the Bucks.

Nuggets 105, Timberwolves 94. Carmelo Anthony returned for Denver and scored 24 points on 17 shots, but only added 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Chauncey added 18/10 and a couple of timely threes, Kenyon Martin had 8/15, and the Birdman almost had a double-double off the bench with 10/9 along with 2 blocks and a steal. Corey Brewer (25), Al Jefferson (22), and Kevin Love (20) all scored big for Minnesota, but the Wolves are just not in Denver’s league right now.

Jazz 118, Heat 89. This one was close (24-22) after one quarter, but broke open quickly. Miami could not take care of the ball and could not stop Utah’s offense, falling to .500 on the year. Deron Williams had 23 points and 10 assists, Carlos Boozer had 25 points and 11 rebounds, undrafted rookie Wesley Matthews scored 18 points on 8 shots off the bench, and Mehmet Okur (not a typo, not AK47) had 5 blocks.

The Raptors at the quarter-season mark

Eric Wagman — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:27:13 +0000

Ned Dishman/ Getty Images

As you may or may not recall, I actually wrote two previews for this current Raptors squad. One was a glowing, optimistic preview. The other, a pessimistic, worst-case preview. So now we’re 21 games in to the season and it looks like (true to common sense), the Raptors have landed somewhere between the two predictions. My prediction of an epic Raptors offense has come to pass (somewhat), as has my fear of an epically bad Raptors defense. The results thus far (in terms of total wins/loses) aren’t really surprising to me, nor do I think it would be to anyone who follows the NBA. Consider who the Raptors have played so far: Cleveland, Memphis, Orlando (twice), Detroit, New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, L.A. Clippers, Phoenix (twice), Denver, Utah, Miami, Indiana, Charlotte, Boston, Washington (twice), and Atlanta. Any right-thinking NBA fan would have the Raptors with a record of 9-12 right now. So the record of 8-13 in of itself doesn’t worry me. What worries me is the effort the Raptors have given of late, especially against Washington and Indiana.

The NBA is structured in three levels: the Haves, the Have Nots, and the I Don’t Knows. In the East, the majority of the teams fall into the I Don’t Know category while in the West it’s pretty split between the Haves and the Have Nots (thought the IDK movement is starting to build steam in the Pacific Time Zone as well). What those three categories do is essentially tell us which teams should win each game. For instance; The Haves should always win, the Have Nots should always lose (obviously reality isn’t that neat and tidy, but it usually works out).

The I Don’t Knows are the interesting characters. We don’t know if they should win or lose games at tip time, it’s equally plausible that they could do either in spectacular fashion. But one thing we do know is that the Haves are better than the IDK’s, even if an IDK can beat a Have team on occasion. Against “Have” teams (Easts Big 4, any West playoff team), the Raptors are 1 and 10. That is to be expected. Except there were a few of the 10 loses that were very close games that the Raptors were in, and competing hard right to the end. Specifically the first Phoenix game, the first Orlando game and the San Antonio game. Against Have Nots, the Raptors are 1 and 1 (the loss to Memphis). Against IDK teams, the Raptors are 6 and 2. “So what?” you say? 1-10 against good teams is still unacceptable? Well it is and it isn’t. 1-10 vs. good teams is terrible if the goal is to win an NBA Championship. But we all know the Raptors aren’t contending for the Larry O’Brien Trophy this year.

The Raptors’ goal is to make the playoffs with a somewhat decent seeding. In that context, 1-10 vs good teams doesn’t matter too much, because spots 5-8 in the Eastern Conference (the spots the Raptors are competing for) are going to an IDK team. We have to assume that Orlando/Atlanta/Boston/Cleveland are going to beat the teams like Milwaukee, Charlotte, Chicago, Indiana, Washington, Toronto and Detroit at least 7 times out of 10. No, what separates teams in the IDK category is their record against each other. These evenly-matched games count for double in the standings. They are the variable that ultimately makes the difference between the playoffs or not (for the IDK category), or a top seed or not (in the Have category).

For a topical example, let’s look at the Wizards’ and Raptors’ schedules. First let’s set some basic structure: The Have Not crew consists of New York, New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota and Golden State. The Haves are Boston, Orlando, Cleveland, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, the Lakers, Dallas, Portland, San Antonio and Utah (I’d like to think these lists aren’t too contentious but let me know if you disagree). The rest of the teams fall into the I Don’t Know category. Toronto plays 30 Haves, 14 Have Nots and 38 I Don’t Knows. Washington plays 29 Haves, 14 Have Nots and 39 I Don’t Knows. Assume against the Haves and the Have nots, at the end of the day, both teams finish with records of 18-26. Sometimes they beat teams they shouldn’t, sometimes they lose to teams they shouldn’t, whatever. It’s not particularly likely that either team would finish with more than 22 wins (do you see either team beating the haves 8 times or more? Ya right.), or with less than 14 wins (I mean really, those Have Nots are TERRIBLE. Plus every underdog has his day at least once in a while).

Logically, both teams should fall within a few wins of each other in that section of their schedule in the 16-19 win range. That’s why the inter-category games are so important. The Raptors 6-2 schedule against IDK teams puts them on pace for a 28-10 record in-category. Add that to the between 16-19 wins against the Haves and the Have Nots and you have a 43+ win season. Easily good enough to make the post-season in the Eastern Conference. Compare that to the Wizards’ 4-7 record against IDK teams which puts them on pace for a 14-25 record in-category. When added to the 16-19 wins against Haves and Have Nots, that puts them on pace for a 30+ win season. An unmitigated disaster if the goal was to make the playoffs, and also a long way from the number 1 pick in the draft.

So what does that mean for the Raptors? It means as long as they continue to beat the bad teams and the I Don’t Know teams at a good rate, they can lose to the Suns as many times as they want. A loss against Phoenix shouldn’t really hurt their playoff chances. A loss against Washington does significantly more damage. Which brings me to my worry. I worry when the Raptors don’t show up with the same effort and intensity against mediocre teams as they do against good teams (sometimes). Arguably (Ed.: inarguably!), the game in Phoenix (the 101-100 loss) was the Raptors’ best game thus far this year. That same effort and intensity would turn games against the IDK teams into blowouts. But they don’t seem to bring that same energy to those games consistently. Allowing Indiana to score 112 isn’t bringing the intensity, even if the Raps won that game. Giving up 106 points at home to the Wizards isn’t going out there and working real hard either. I’d personally be happier losing to Phoenix by 19 points like the game on the 29th and giving the GREAT effort against Washington than see the Raps give everything they have, play an amazing game and come up short 101-100 to the Suns. A GREAT effort against Phoenix only gave the Raptors a chance to win the game. A great effort against Washington GUARANTEES a win. As a fan, I may say I want competitiveness, or close exciting games, but that’s bullshit. At the end of the day I want wins and playoff games.

See, here’s the thing: Every fan wants/expects consistent effort and intensity for 48 minutes. But the reality is that consistency is what separates good teams from bad. Very few teams will be totally consistent (even Cleveland/Boston are still getting there this year), and expecting a team like the Raptors or Wizards to be that consistent is realistically expecting too much. The vast majority of teams with have some good days and some bad days and that is the defining characteristic of an I Don’t Know team. (Important note: By bad day I mean taking 8 or 9 minutes off on one end of the floor or another. Anything beyond that is simply unacceptable from a professional athlete). Well, if the Raptors have 41 good efforts and 41 bad efforts in them I’d rather see the bad efforts in the games that the team is probably going to lose anyway. Obviously that’s an oversimplification, but I think you get my point. The Raptors wasting a great effort against Phoenix and shitting the bed against Washington (the first time) led to an 0-2 record. Had they reversed the efforts in those games they’d have one more win. It’s that simple. This is basketball, not figure skating. There are no style points or moral defeats. There are only wins and losses.

Besides that, psychologically there’s no shame in losing to a team that’s better than you are. If as I’m writing this, Kelly Dwyer is writing something using the same basic premise and just flat out wrote a better article than I did, I can walk away going “Wow. We were thinking the same thing! I just need to get to his level of writing.” Whereas if James was writing something using the same basic premise and did a better job than me, I’m sitting in my room rocking back and forth trying to figure out where I went wrong with my life (Ed.: Asshole. Good to see the Dwyer love, though.). NBA teams are starting to embrace the impact that psychology has in pro athletes, with some (like the Raptors) bringing in psychiatrists to talk to/help the players. Think about it in terms of your own life. When you attempt to do something against someone who is better than you and come up short (whether it’s in bowling/golf/pool/drinking contests, whatever), you aren’t going to take the loss as personally. The loss shows you the gap in talent, and how much you need to improve to try and challenge the person next time. It’s a constructive loss, no matter if you were close or not.

Contrast that to if you lose to someone inferior than you, instead of that admiration/respect for the other person, you instead get angry at yourself. After all, YOU blew the game you were supposed to win. Since everyone there KNEW you were better, but you just got unlucky, or fucked up. Well if you’re on a team, that anger can cause the disintegration of a team. That anger leads to finger pointing, and finger pointing if done inappropriately can fracture a team. (Side note: this is where vets with winning experience help). This finger pointing is what worries me. The Raptors DO have some strong veteran leadership available (I’m thinking mainly of Rasho here), but they also have a lot of veteran leadership who don’t really know how to win. I’m not convinced Turkoglu has the intestinal fortitude to play the role here he’s being asked to play. I’m not sure that Jose has the necessary abilities to play the role he is being asked to play. I’m not sure that Chris Bosh is able to properly vocalize his needs to anyone, and I KNOW Bargnani mentally isn’t there yet (just look at his numbers at home vs. on the road). The Raptors have the makeup of a fragile team, a team with a number of fault lines that could crack from the right pressure.

Ideally, I’d say just get Colangelo to fix those fault lines. But mid-season it’s hard to make serious changes to a team, so they basically are who they are (unless a GM gives away a player anyway). The best way for the Raptors to avoid melting down and to maximize their potential wins this season is to continue to bring the ruckus against the other teams fighting for the playoffs in both conferences. If the Raps want to take a night off, take it off against one of the elite teams. There are 30 games they can coast through if they want. I personally would be happy if they won 6 of those games. If they won 10 I’d be over the moon. The other 20 they can sleepwalk through. They can be lackadaisical getting back on defence, they can make bad passes, run stagnant offensive sets, not switch on defence. I don’t care. Just do me (and my heart, and most breakable objects in my basement) a favour and don’t let me see that against other I Don’t Know teams.

Sometimes, you just get beat. It happens. If the Raptors were good enough to beat every I Don’t Know team every time, they wouldn’t be an I Don’t Know team. But losing due to a lack of effort is an insult to the fans and to the players themselves, and it should be made clear through the entire organization, from Larry Tannenbaum to Marcus Banks, that it won’t be tolerated. THAT is the difference between playoff teams and non playoff teams, and eventually what allows teams to transition from good I Don’t Know teams to Have teams. After all, ultimately that is the goal: move up the IDK team hierarchy, eventually become a Have team, become a contender for the title, win a title. That’s the plan, anyway. See? The sky isn’t falling. Yet.

Basketball for Breakfast, Dec. 02

James Herbert — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:25:33 +0000

Hey, check it out – a new feature! This is the debut of Basketball for Breakfast, my stab at a daily recap. I know, I know, there is already a wealth of excellent recaps in the NBA blogosphere. I read them all and that won’t change. This isn’t an attempt to compete with anyone; I’m simply trying to add something of my own. I’ll do my best to keep it fun and unique.

The All-OTN Team

Amir Johnson: 2 Pts (0-2 FG, 2-4 FT), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 4 PF in 20 min.

Not the most impressive stat line in this 106-102 loss to the Wizards, I’ll admit. He was enjoyable to watch, though. The man always brings the energy. Those 7 rebounds? 6 of them came in the first half, including an amazing grab that he followed up with an assist to a cutting Chris Bosh. What’s most impressive about Amir’s rebounding is that he gets them in different ways – last night, I saw him tip the ball to himself, tip it to his teammates, and straight-up wrestle it away from opponents’ fingertips. He is one of the few Raptors in the franchise’s history who manages to get rebounds that he shouldn’t. The 4 fouls in 20 are unfortunate, but he’s still learning.

Jared Dudley: 7 Pts (2-5 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 1 TO, 2 PF in 18 min.

Again, these numbers won’t blow you away, but they rarely do with Jared. I’ll tell you this: I didn’t see much of this 126-99 blowout, but in the couple of minutes where I tuned in during the 2nd quarter I saw Jared Dudley make three impressive plays in succession: hitting a three-pointer, drawing a foul underneath the basket, and saving a possession for his team. Clyde Frazier, calling the game for the Knicks, seemed positively smitten with him. It’s always nice to get 7 rebounds from your backup small forward, too. Shame his effort wasn’t anywhere close to enough to avoid this embarrassing defeat.

Shannon Brown: 4 Pts (1-6 FG, 0-2 3PT, 2-2 FT), 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 PF in 23 min.

Argh. More crappy numbers. Doesn’t mean he had a bad game, though. On the night where his new website launched, he entered the game with 1:07 left in the 1st quarter and stayed there through most of the 2nd, absolutely shutting down sharpshooter Marcus Thornton. Brown quite obviously wasn’t on the court to score; he was there to stop Lil Buckets from doing so. And he succeeded – Lil Buckets couldn’t get anything going in the first half. Unfortunately, the Hornets didn’t Let Shannon Dunk on this night, as his best opportunity was a missed alley-oop from Kobe Bryant. His one FG was pretty nice, though:

Rookie Watch

DeMar DeRozan: 2 Pts (1-4 FG), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 Blk, 1 PF in 16 mins.

Not a standout night for DeMar, as he missed a couple of jumpers we know he can make. It’s important to remember what his role is on this team, though. Since Jay Triano has opted to play him pretty much exclusively with the starting unit, he is not asked to take a lot shots and doesn’t get many opportunities to get in rhythm. We saw some nice plays, though – DeRozan’s 1 FG came on an alley-oop from Jose Calderon, where he didn’t have the angle to slam it down so he adjusted and layed it in. His block on Gilbert Arenas in the 3rd quarter was fantastic, too. I’ve got to add that the 1 Ast is a bit deceiving, as he made a couple of aggressive plays that led to scores where he was not credited for any stats. One in particular stands out, where he drove on the right baseline and kicked it out to Chris Bosh, who found Andrea Bargnani at the top of the key for three. That’s a hockey assist. Nice to see. Still firmly on this bandwagon.

Ty Lawson: 13 Pts (5-7 FG, 1-1 3PT, 2-3 FT), 5 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 PF in 24 mins.
Very nice line for Lawson, on the night that his alma mater beat my Spartans by 7. 13 points on 7 shots, in 24 minutes? You have to love that efficiency – this is why statheads love him. And why you should love him? He can score in various ways, as he hurt the Warriors last night with his jump shot, his runner, and his ability to get to the basket. He outscored fellow rook Stephen Curry on this night, despite playing 16 fewer minutes and attempting 7 fewer field goal attempts. Another fun fact: his PER so far this season is 17.6. His teammate J.R. Smith’s? 15.1. Can’t give Denver enough credit for acquiring him in the draft.

Dante Cunningham: 6 Pts (2-6 FG, 2-3 FT), 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 4 PF in 18 mins.

Four fouls in 18 minutes? Ah, rookies. You have to be happy for Cunningham, though, as he made his first career NBA start last night due to LaMarcus Aldridge nursing his knee. While he obviously didn’t make up for Aldridge’s production, he had a positive impact on the game with his hustle. You know I love players like that. And I’m not the only one, check out what Seth Johnston of Bust A Bucket had to say:

Energy like Cunningham’s is something I am craving more and more as we sit and wait for the team’s bigger personalities to sort out their issues. I want a hyperactive role player power forward to just go nuts out there and provide me with some sort of vicarious catharsis. So thanks for giving me a little of that, Dante.

Darren Collison: 20 Pts (7-14 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT), 5 Ast, 2 Reb, 4 TO, 2 Stl, 2 PF in 34 mins.
Collison continues to be awesome. I cannot BELIEVE Byron Scott was playing Bobby Brown over him earlier this season. I mean, I feel bad that Byron is without work, but I’m sorry, that was inexcusable. A kid this quick, with his ability to penetrate, knock down shots, and play defense? You put him out there over a chucker like Bobby, every time. Some analysis from Niall Dohery of Hornets247:

He would have had a few hockey assists if anyone kept count, and he was pesky as always on defense. He had two nice plays against Kobe, first getting by him on the perimeter late in the third quarter, keeping him on his back and then using a hesitation dribble to open up a gap for the layup. About a minute later he shadowed Bryant brilliantly to slow down the break and help stop the Lakers getting an easy bucket at the end of the period.

Additionally, he had a crazy buzzer-beater at the end of the 1st half. I’ll put the video here when/if it surfaces.

Fun With Stats

Brendan Haywood shot 1-8 from the line last night against Toronto. This, obviously, hurt his team. Fortunately, he made his minutes worthwhile by doing a very respectable job on Chris Bosh, who was held to 7-22 from the field. If the big man had just made his free throws, though, this game wouldn’t have come down to the final couple of minutes. The Wizards managed to escape with a victory after Hedo Turkoglu committed an unforced turnover with 31 seconds left in the game, but if you’re a Wizards fan you have to think it shouldn’t have got to that point.

In the Phoenix/New York game, the Suns failed to reach 100 points for the first time this season. The Knicks managed 100 points by the end of the third quarter. I should also point out the magnificent work of Danilo Gallinari: 27 pts (10-19 FG, 6-12 3PT, 1-2 FT), 10 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Blk, 0 (!) TO in 36 mins. Check out what Seth of Posting and Toasting had to say about Gallo’s fantastic all-around game:

He looked much more confident and made his way into the center of the court to participate more in the offensive flow. There were backdoor cuts, frontdoor cuts, and even a stop-and-pop banker from about 12 feet out.

So great that he’s being more than just an excellent three-point shooter, isn’t it? I am sure that Francesco Cappelletti of Ball In Europe is proud as hell right now.

Also scoring from all over the floor last night was Anthony Morrow, who scored 27 points against Denver while only hitting 2 three pointers (in all of his other 20+ games this year, he’s had at least 4 threes). It may be because of the limited bodies the Warriors have at their disposal right now, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to see that gorgeous shot launched so often these days.

Two more statistical shout-outs for before I move on – Michael Beasley and Ray Allen were huge in winning efforts. Beas was one point short of his career high, finishing with 27 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor and 11-12 (!) from the line. Pleasing his fantasy owners, he also contributed 8 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Jesus Shuttlesworth came through with his best game of the season, too, as he poured in 27 points on only 9 field goal attempts. When you go 5-6 from downtown and 10-10 from the line, that type of statistical improbability can happen. Oh, and he threw in 5 rebounds, 5 assists, a block, and a steal. Nice to have you back, Ray Ray.

Quoted

“They spread, they go, and they’re kind of all over the place.” – Carmelo Anthony, on Golden State’s offense, from Denver’s telecast. So few words here, but I don’t think he’s missing anything.

“Who are these guys?” – Clyde Frazier, on the Knicks, from New York’s telecast. I must say, Clyde, I was wondering the same thing. 71 points in the first half?

“Just pathetic defense by the Suns.” – Clyde Frazier again, providing spot-on analysis of how Larry Hughes was able to amass about 48 assists in about 4 seconds against Phoenix.

“I’m happy for our fans. They got to go home and watch (North) Carolina and Michigan State. If any of them were smart, they would have left early and watched that game.” – Larry Brown. Wait, there’s more, check out this next gem…

“I think even Doc Rivers had 12 points.” – Gerald Wallace. Ouch. I don’t think you need me to say any more about last night’s Boston/Charlotte matchup.

“I decided today I was going to be more aggressive. It’s fun. It relieves the pressure, it gets me off the ball and puts me back into my old mode where I was just scoring.” – Gilbert Arenas. I was quite impressed with Gilbert last night, even if he’s not quite back to his old self yet. Actually, that gives me an idea…

Impressive

Gilbert Arenas: 22 Pts (7-17 FG, 3-7 3PT, 5-5 FT), 3 Reb, 9 Ast, 1 TO, 1 Stl, 1 Blk in 38 mins.

It took Gil a little while to get going with his shot, but he was dishing out assists as soon as the first quarter began. Only once the fourth quarter began did Agent Zero really join the party, but when he did it was something to see. Like the Gilbert of old, he took control of the game near the end, scoring 12 points in the final frame. Not trying to ignore Antawn Jamison’s 10 fourth-quarter points, but Arenas was leading the team. As a Raptors fan it was annoying, but as a Gilbert fan it was heartening. Give him some more time and he’ll be dominating more quarters.

Andrea Bargnani: 20 Pts (8-14 FG, 2-4 3PT, 2-2 FT), 11 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 Blk, 5 PF in 35 mins.

I could definitely get used to seeing double-doubles next to Bargs’s name. Love that. The Italian Rodman grabbed 7 of those boards in the first half, with 3 of them coming on the offensive end. As always, you love his efficient scoring, but when Bargs is boxing out properly and getting after it inside, all of Raptors Nation is proud. More of this please, sir. Oh, almost forgot – his one block came against Earl Boykins. I can’t recall a single instance of Earl Boykins getting a perimeter jumper of his blocked in the NBA, but Bargs managed to do it. Kudos.

Tweeted

@stackmack: On the pizza promo front: Turkoglu’s ONLY make in the fourth quarter was a pointless three at the buzzer to win pizza for the crowd.

@Nat77: Raptor fans cheered when for a buzzer beating slice of pizza and booed while their team was only down 3 and had a chance… #teampromofail

@LakersReporter Lakers crowd is incensed with N.O. scrapping during garbage time enough to threaten free tacos. 99 pts. w/04.8 left…

BAH. Rant time. This stuff pisses me off. Get rid of all of these stupid promotions. If the crowd is chanting, I want it to be about the game. End of story. And, Raptors fans, you’re letting me down lately. I love your passion for the team, I love that there seem to be a gazillon of you on the internet, but smarten up. This isn’t directed at all of you (after all, I am a Raptors fan), just the pizza people and the two fools in the section next to me who were heckling Chris Bosh on Sunday. Not cool.

@ticktock6: I think it’s hilarious that my entire twitter feed is cracking jokes about that Devin Brown airball. Lord, it was so bad. I’m still laughing

@kpelton: Every time I watch this Hornets-Lakers game, Bobby Brown is shooting. He does not lack for confidence.

I don’t even know how I feel about the Browns anymore. It’s just ridiculous at this point. At the beginning of the season, I was screaming at Byron Scott for playing them. Now, they both kind of need to be on the court for at least some stretches, but come on. What is going through their heads with some of these shots? The Devin Brown shot Ticktock6 from Hornets Hype is talking about was honestly one of the worst shots I have EVER seen. Very comparable to Zach Randolph’s boneheaded end-of-game three-pointer last year, except it came in the 1st quarter with plenty of time on the shot clock. As for her reaction (which was the same as mine) – sometimes, you have to laugh because the only other option is to cry. I’ll definitely post the video here if it surfaces later today. Here’s hoping.

To Watch

Lamar Odom destroying Hilton Armstrong:

(This spot is reserved for when nba.com puts up John Thompson’s interview from last night about Allen Iverson. Come on, guys.)

To Read

Generally, I’m going to use this section for articles/posts published the previous day, leaning more heavily on stuff that hasn’t been linked much elsewhere (like this piece on Carl Landry, this one on Jarrett Jack, this one on Mike Wilks, and this one on the Wolves). Today, though, I’ve got to direct you to three excellent Thanksgiving-inspired pieces from a few days ago. If you’re American and you took a break from the NBA for a couple days there, I forgive you, but do yourself a favour and read these. The first two speak perfectly for me, and the last one speaks to me.

Giving Thanks To The Game, by Holly MacKenzie

Guess what I’m thankful for? by Kelly Dwyer

A Different Set Of Eyes, by Tim Donahue