Christmas Day Games

Orlando vs New Orleans

This excellent matchup turned into a sad excuse for a contest. The New Orleans Hornets never showed up, and were slapped around with impunity by the Orlando Magic. The Magic had leads of over 20 points for most of the game, topping the 30 point mark at times. The game was over 5 minutes into the third quarter, and from that point on it was garbage time.

The Magic were wildly impressive (stats taken with half the fourth still to play – game already over)

• Dwight Howard was the best player on the court. He dominated the paint and controlled the game. His rebounding + defense allowed his team to impose their will on the Hornets. I just looked at his stat line for the game, he finished with 12/12/3 blocks but on only 4-15 shooting, misleading stat line. Howard’s dominance and control over this game was something else.
• Eastern Conference Player of the Week Jameer Nelson continues his hot shooting and quality play by contributing 14 and 3 in only 24 minutes
• Hedo Turkoglu was fantastic. His playmaking, ballhandling and passing tore apart the Hornets in both the open court and halfcourt. He led the Magic with 20 points and 5 assists.
• Rashard Lewis beat West comfortably and had an impressive game.
• Pietrus was in constant motion on the court, very active. He finished with 11 points and was the best player off the bench. Nobody else on Orlando’s bench stood out, but they were solid across the board and made a positive impression on the game.

None of the Hornets played particularly well.

• Tyson Chandler had foul difficulties for most of the night, and after 12 minutes of action (early third quarter) Chandler was still boasting a stat line of 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks and 4 fouls.
• Chris Paul’s streak of 108 games with a steal ended. He finished with only 12 points and 4 assists. He was unable to take control of the game when his team needed him to, he was unable to match Howard’s dominance, he was unable to get the team’s offense going, unable to get his team easy shots to get them off. A pedestrian game.
• David West did no better. He failed to take advantage Rashard Lewis at the power forward slot, and was unable to give the Hornets the offensive lift they required. At halftime, West and Paul combined for 17 points but that was out of only 31 points, neither was able to step up and lift the team when they needed it. West played 33 minutes and put up 13 points and 7 rebounds, against 18/6/4 in 28 minutes from Lewis. The Hornets needed West’s interior play, his rebounding and scoring in the paint, in order to win this individual matchup and combat Howard + the Magic. He didn’t do that.
• Peja Stojakovic missed another game. I think it was back spasms.
• Byron Scott continues to start Devin Brown in Peja’s absence. I can’t for the life of me figure out why. His inability to shoot the ball this season has been a huge problem when playing alongside Paul. The rest of Brown’s game simply doesn’t make up for that weakness. It’s not like the Hornets don’t have other options either, they can call upon Mo Peterson or Julian Wright while leaving Posey on the bench as their 6th man. I don’t like this decision.
• Nobody on the bench had a good game. Posey was solid enough but he lacked a major impact. The backup big men where atrocious as normal for New Orleans. Antonio Daniels did nothing, again, for the Hornets. The other wings didn’t offer much either.

San Antonio vs Phoenix

I missed the start to this game, appearantly the Suns jumped out on the Spurs on a 9-0 beginning and were up 23-10 when I tuned in. The Spurs immediately went on a 8-0 run to close the gap, but Phoenix finished the first quarter strongly with a 4-0 run with Amare finishing off the quarter with a 17 foot jumper.

The game started to close in the second quarter, with the Spurs bringing the lead down to 29-25 off a Tim Duncan hook shot along the baseline off the right block. Suddenly it had turned into a close hard fought game. The next possession led to a defensive breakdown by rookie George Hill, where he allowed Barbosa to cut to the rim off the ball unfettered, resulting in a layup from a Shaq pass.

The Suns are defending Tim Duncan straight up. He has responded well and has 11 points four minutes into the second quarter. The Spurs are defending Shaq man-to-man also, with Duncan. Shaq has looked excellent when he’s attacking the rim, and also when he’s using his passing to get his teammates good shots.

Nice play by Grant Hill sandwiched in between two Shaq short shots (10 points now). Barnes brought down the defensive rebound, fumbled the ball, it looked like it was going out of bounds, Grant Hill dives on the floor saves the ball and saves it to a teammate. Extra possessions! Great play by Grant. Shaq just made his third straight basket with the baby hook off the spin move. He’s active tonight, you can see it in his demeaner and his activity.

The Suns look a much improved side over the one we saw a few weeks ago. They’re more cohesive offensively, a better understanding of where their options are and what type of shots they want. Good rhythm to their game tonight. I haven’t seen much of them since the Richardson trade, but hopefully they’re playing like this often.

Richardson looks in great condition, he had an impressive play earlier in the quarter where he skied for a defensive rebound, then showed his ball-handling by taking the ball upcourt, running a pick and roll, then setting up the offense. Nice sequence of solid plays to improve the Suns fluidity. Nothing forced, everything adding value+diversity+movement, and posing a threat throughout.

Shaq and Amare are a combined 11-15 from the floor and have 24 of Phoenix’s 37 points. They also have 9 rebounds. They’re dominating the paint right now.

The Suns have gone to a small ball lineup with Barnes at power forward alongside Amare at center. Barnes made a nice play, he drove from the top of the key, down the lane, nice spin move, then found the cutting Grant Hill along the baseline (from the corner) for a layup. Nice basket.

Neither Parker or Ginobili have been involved tonight, not at the levels you’d expect from players of their caliber, or to a level the Spurs need from them. The Spurs haven’t ran a lot of action for them, instead taking a team based approach and running their regular stuff. Phoenix are one of the worst pick and roll defensive squads in the NBA, Parker+Ginobili can rip them apart. If you’re the Spurs you have to highlight them and allow/force them to take over a game like this. As I write this they score 6 consecutive points. Then for the next couple of possessions they go away from what is working.

Ginobili has 4 points on 1-6 shooting. Parker’s little scoring spurt has him tied for the Spurs lead with 11 points, but his impact hasn’t been consistent in that first half.

Suns go into halftime up 45-39

Shaq has made three straight FTs. He started the game 5 FTs short of 5,000 misses, which would make him only the second player in NBA History (Chamberlain) to miss that many FTs, he’s now two short of the record. You have to be really good to miss that many freebies.

Finley nails a wide open three pointer. That’s his second basket of the game, he has 5 points. He’s been very quiet, as usual. He isn’t contributing enough for the Spurs. San Antonio’s supporting cast continues to let them down, and Finley is one of the main culprits.

Shaq has 17 points and 9 rebounds four minutes in the third quarter. Amare Stoudemire just made a nice steal while 3/4ering Tim Duncan in the low post defensively. Amare only has one basket since the first quarter ended, the Suns have gone away from him despite his good start and positive matchup against Matt Bonner.

Timeout – tie game at 52-52 five minutes into the third quarter. Tim Duncan has started the third quarter in impressive fashion and now has 17 points, 8 rebounds, on 8-17 shooting. He’s keeping San Antonio in this game.

Matt Barnes has 5 rebounds in 12 minutes. Richardson has 5 rebounds in 20 minutes. Good contribution from Phoenix’s wings to supplement their bigs rebounding. They’ve helped Phoenix to a 34-28 advantage on the backboards.

Duncan with a nice drive baseline, draws the foul on Shaq. Stoudemire was late on the rotation, left Shaq on an island. Amare scored a bucket on the possession prior, good to see Phoenix get him a shot. We’re halfway into the third quarter.

Nash knocks down a beautiful 16 footer along the baseline, after dribbling inside off the pick and roll, he wanted to go to the middle and create for his teammates but the Spurs caught that off, so Nash went to his backup option and hit a beauty of a jumpshot. Pretty play.

Jason Richardson outruns Manu in the open floor to steal the long outlet pass, and to stop an easy breakaway layup for Ginobili. Good hustle.

Spurs go to the Hack-a-Shaq in the final minute of the third quarter. Shaq misses the first, makes the second.

Finley with a nice pump fake, and one dribble pull up from 20 feet, open shot at the top of the key, unfortunately he missed the shot. Good play and good shot taken by Finley.

Spurs foul Shaquille once again, he goes 2-2 from the line this time. He’s 6-10 from the stripe tonight. Duncan knocks down a 20 footer at the top of the key on the other end. The Spurs, with 10 seconds remaining in the quarter, foul Shaquille again. Shaq makes both again. Spurs made the foul in part to get the final possession. High pick and roll, Parker drives to the hoop, good help D by Shaq, turnover. The third quarter is over.

The Suns lead 76-71 going into the fourth quarter

Spurs force a turnover to start the quarter, good backcourt pressure applied by both George Hill, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen. This is a defensive minded lineup by the Spurs with big men Tim Duncan and Kurt Thomas flanking their quick perimeter players.

Amare just earned a three point play inside. He has 23 points and 11 rebounds. Shaq has 22 points and 9 rebounds. Grant Hill adds another 14 points for the Suns starting frontcourt. They’ve made 22 of 39 shot attempts for 56.4% shooting from the field adding 15-19 shooting from the FT line (8-12 from Shaq).

Oh, that was nice by Ginobili, incredible move to stop on a dime after accelerating into the open court into a one-on-one move going towards the hoop, stopped on one leg and went up through Barnes to get the three point play. Impressive. Ginobili has a pair of buckets to start the fourth. He hasn’t been aggressive enough tonight, good start to the fourth though so maybe he’s heating up.

Popovich calls a timeout with 8 minutes and 44 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. The Spurs have rallied to close the gap to two points, Suns leading 79-77. Pop wanted a timeout while San Antonio had the ball to make sure the Spurs make the most of this opportunity now and over the next couple of minutes.

Steve Nash became the 13th player in NBA history to amass 7,000 assists during the third quarter. Great achievement by Nash.

You don’t see that often, Finley just took his man off the dribble and drove from the perimeter down the right hand side to the rim for a layup. Figures that the defender in question is Matt Barnes.

Two beautiful basketball plays. Shaq missed his 5,000th free throw near the five minute remaining mark in the fourth, long rebound, ball spills loose outside of the lane. Who dives on the ball to save the possession? Tim Duncan does, Spurs ball. Other end of the floor, the Spurs miss a shot, Shaq rebounds, he’s falling out of bounds with his back to the basket and with Manu in his armpit. What does Shaq do? He bounces it off Ginobili out of bounds. Suns ball. Great hustle from great players.

Final three minutes:

• Spurs ball, Spurs lead 88-87
• Kickball by Amare Stoudemire leads to a Spurs timeout. Jason Richardson nailed a long jumper on the Suns previous possession to keep it a one possession game. We’re in for a great finish here.
• Two offensive rebounds on the Spurs possession, the second with Tim Duncan falling to ground finding his teammate with the pass before he travels. Great hustle. The Spurs eventually turn it over, with Shaq deflecting the ball, Suns gaining possession with two minutes to play. On the other end, Duncan may have gotten fouled, anyway jump ball as Shaq-Duncan fight for the loose ball, Shaq gets the first tip, Duncan tips it second and gets it to Thomas.
• 1:36 to play, Thomas high on the right wing, passes to Ginobili, he drives, draws a foul on the floor. Sideline inbounds, hand off between Duncan-Manu, Manu dribbles into the FT line, one handed lefty runner, bounces high off the rim. So close. Suns post up Amare down on the left block, he faces up Duncan, drives hard right into the lane, goes up, rims out, rebound Duncan. Final minute, Spurs run the other way, Parker misses the running layup. Technical on Parker who wanted a foul and reacted angrily.
• 57 seconds to play, Amare posts up Duncan, Duncan slaps it loose, Amare retains possession, quick drive, Duncan contests the shot, miss, rebound. Spurs run up the other way, Parker takes it to the rim, misses another layup, rebound Shaq after Amare kept it alive and away from the Spurs two big men who had great position around the rim. Great play from Amare. Timeout Suns.
• There is 24.1 seconds remaining in the game with about 3 seconds gone off the shot clock. Amazingly the score is still 88-87 Spurs, no points in the final three minutes, lot of great basketball plays though. Sorry, correction the score is 88-88 after Nash’s technical at the one minute mark, my mistake. We have tie game. Both teams going for the win.
• Nash near midcourt, Suns space the floor, Amare sets the high screen at the 10 secoond mark just below the three point line top of the key, Spurs trap him hard, Nash picks up his dribble inexplicably without a pass to play, Nash forced into the timeout. Great trap by Parker and Duncan. Great play by the Spurs help defense to take away the passing lanes too.
• 7.7 seconds. 3.5 seconds difference on the shot clock. Suns inbound the ball into Stoudemire in the midpost right wing, ball inbounded from the right wing, Nash from the corner comes up and sets a backscreen for the inbounder Grant Hill, Hill cuts down along the baseline, Amare finds him, open layup, basket. Suns take the lead.
• 4.3 seconds to play. Spurs ball. Let’s see what they come up with out of the timeout. Spurs play Duncan and four three point shooters, with Finley at power forward along with Mason Jr and the backcourt stars. Inbounds to Parker top of the key, Grant Hill switches onto Parker, Parker drives left, goes into the paint, Hill’s size and length starting to look imposing and taking away Parker’s running shot, the help defense comes from the corner without cause (Richardson), pass to Mason, he shoots a three from the left corner at the buzzer, gets it off in time, scores it. Spurs win.

Wow, what a finish to the game. Two very good sides battling hard tonight. Great game.

Very good win for the Spurs, but the Suns will also be happy with their performance today.

Los Angeles vs Boston

I made a detailed Game Time post – click here – for further information on this game.

This was the game of the day and good tell-tale sign for both teams.

Cleveland vs Washington

I didn’t watch a lot of this game so it’s hard to comment on it.

Washington made a lot of hustle plays, and fought hard on the boards. That helped keep the possessions close. They also kept LeBron quiet until late on in the game, again helping them keep it close. Washington actually held a lead late on, but James wouldn’t be denied and he led his team back into it.

Mike James had a fantastic scoring effort, dropping 16 of his 26 points in 12 and half minutes from late in the third through most of the fourth quarter.

Caron Butler had a mixed game. He supplied good rebounding (6) and ball distribution (10 dimes), but he had only 6 points on 3-13 shooting and had 4 turnovers. He couldn’t get anything going late on in the game when his team needed him the most, and his charge late on sealed the win for Cleveland. Overall, it was a below par game.

Antawn Jamison had a solid game. He had his offensive game on, supplying 28 points on 11-21 shooting. But his defense and rebounding both proved costly for the Wizards.

Dominic McGuire had some impressive moments; particularly in his rebounding, defense and some of his decision making. McGuire made numerous solid decisions while on the ball late in the fourth, helping the Wizards attack the Cavs excellent D and get good shots. McGuire also added 11 rebounds from the wing spot.

Anderson Varejao had an excellent game finishing with 13 points and 13 boards. His offensive rebound, and the foul he drew on Antawn Jamison was one of the deciding moments in the game. His defense, energy and rebounding were outstanding.

LeBron, by his incredible standards, only had a decent game. He never found his scoring rhythm, and could patch together consecutive baskets until the final minutes of the game. But when his team needed him he stood up and was the difference maker.

Mo Williams helped keep the Cavs afloat despite poor offensive contributions from LeBron, Ilgauskas, West (18 points, but inefficient, took 6-18 shooting and two FTs), Wally and Gibson. Mo finished with 24 points and 7 boards.

Portland vs Dallas

Dirk had a solid first half scoring 24 points on 9-14 shooting. Unfortunately he did little of anything else, pulling down only one rebound in 19 minutes. Jason Kidd on the other hand dominated the proceedings and he did withever scoring basket, leading the team in rebounds (5) and assists (8).

The Blazers backcourt starred in the first half. Brandon Roy and Steve Blake both scored in double digits, combining for 26 points. Then the Spanish connection came onto the court and added 17 more points. That’s 43 of the Blazers 55 points. No other player has more than four points.

Both teams did a poor job taking care of the basketball finising with 9 turnovers apiece, and easy points off turnovers.

Portland need to establish LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden down in the paint in the second half. Too perimeter orientated in the first.

Second Half – Dirk picks up an early fourth foul. His replacement can’t handle Aldridge who suddenly goes off and forces a timeout from Dallas. Both Carlisle and Dirk picked up technicals in the first five or so minutes of the third quarter.

Greg Oden also found foul trouble early in the third, picking up three quick fouls and ending up on the bench with four. Josh Howard just scored his 15th point. Two minutes later Josh Howard picked up a double tech and got ejected after arguing over a non-call and a flagrant foul he made. He lost his cool, completely unnecessary.

There is four minutes and thirty seconds remaining, with Travis Outlaw giving the Blazers the lead at the line 71-70.

Lovely cut by Fernandez, Blake leaves it on a plate for him, Rudy with the layup, draws all the defense, drive and dump, leaves it for Przybilla for a layup. Unselfish play by Rudy, clever play too. A couple of possessions later, Rudy comes over from the weakside and taps in a missed jump shot to put the Blazers up 3 as the third quarter ends. Great plays by Fernandez.

I think Dirk and Aldridge are having a low rebound totals battle. Dirk has 2 boards in 23 minutes, Aldridge only 2 in 20 minutes. Which team’s rebounders will step up and give their team the advantage in the fourth quarter? I think Przybilla will lead a Blazers charge on the backboards.

Przybilla opens up the fourth with an offensive board, and drew the foul on the way down. Good start for Portland. Joel is defending Dirk, he’s up close and trying to take away that jumpshot, Dirk is a tad confused but doesn’t rush anything, faces up, jab step, drives baseline, draws the foul. That’s the third Blazers inside of the first 75 seconds. Foul problems could cause the Blazers some problems in the fourth quarter. Bass knocks down a baseline J to give the Mavs the lead back, forcing a timeout from Nate McMillan.

Oden gets an early post up after the timeout, travels on his move. Next possession, Oden does a good job to make Bass hesitate inside, then Aldridge comes over from the weakside and blocks it from behind and rescues the possession. Dirk and Aldridge trade baskets, they’re matched up against one another, good matchup.

Controlled fastbreak by Portland, Blake pushed it up, noticed he had numbers, dribbled a bit below the three point line, left it for the spotting up Roy who pump faked and passed down to the baseline to Outlaw, slam dunk. Timeout Dallas. Good run by Portland to move ahead by 3. We have less than 7 minutes left in the game.

You have to admire Carlisle’s closing lineup – JJ Barea – Jason Terry – Jason Kidd – Brandon Bass – Dirk Nowitzki. That’s a lot of offense, shooting and speed. Barea has made a bunch of impressive plays in the fourth; jump shot, rebounds (7 for the game), a drive, creating a shot for a teammate. Nice play.

Dallas have taken a 97-92 lead with 3:35 left to play in the game. Timeout Portland. Bass just got an offensive rebound and putback, that seemed to upset Nate. Half of Dallas’ 25 points in the fourth have been scored by Barea and Bass.

Seven Mavericks players have 3 to 6 points. Josh Howard has 15 more, then Terry with 19, and Dirk leads the way with 30 points. Huge difference, you can tell the problems Dallas have with their fourth scorer immediately by looking at that difference here, it describes the situation well.

Great play by Bass. He was on the far side, right wing, Roy was at the top of the key, drove down the lane, rebound bounced at on the left side of the rim with two Blazers and two Mavs in the vicinity. Bass couldn’t grab the rebound, but he outjumped everyone and tapped it away from the Portland players to his teammate. Great play. On the offensive end, a pick and roll with Barea and Bass, slam dunk Bass. That dunk was too easy. Next Dallas possession, Barea gets Aldridge on the switch, takes him off the bounce to rim and finishes before the shot blocker can recover. Next Mavs possession turns into a Barea fallaway which he misses. Defensive rebound Kidd as Portland have a costly miss.

There is 1 minute and 20 seconds to play – Kidd brings the ball up, uses the entire shot clock and makes sure Dallas get a good shot, but they miss. Portland rebound, timeout.

Portland are losing 101-94. They have 69 seconds to play and possession of the ball. Roy misses the three pointer, Kidd pulls down another defensive rebound. He runs down the clock again, kicks it out to George, offensive rebound Barea who misses, another offensive rebound. Portland foul. 20 seconds to play. This is over.

Excellent win for the Dallas Mavericks