Orlando Sentinel rehashing an old quote from Goukas
We’ll say it again: Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is a more dominating defensive player than Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell.
As every season passes and every Howard blocked shot is rejected into the stands, the more I believe this bold statement made last season by Orlando Magic TV commentator Matt Guokas. Read the rest of this entry »
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reports
Rick Carlisle could stick with the kid only so long.
At some point, Rodrigue Beaubois had to earn his starting job. That didn’t happen during his abbreviated sophomore season. Read the rest of this entry »
The field is set
The playoff match-ups in the East are now complete set and as follows:
- San Antonio (1) vs. Memphis (8)
- LA Lakers (2) vs. New Orleans (7)
- Dallas (3) vs. Portland (6)
- Oklahoma (4) vs. Denver (5)
The two top seeds should have little difficulty in dispatching their opponents. Memphis and New Orleans are both battling without key injured stars Rudy Gay and David West respectively. The Spurs and Lakers should win quickly in four or five games. Read the rest of this entry »
The field is set (via RealGM)
The playoff match-ups in the East are now complete set and as follows:
- Chicago (1) vs. Indiana (8)
- Miami (2) vs. Philadelphia (7)
- Boston (3) vs. New York (6)
- Orlando (4) vs. Atlanta (5)
The top three seeds are vastly superior to their competition. I expect all three teams to win comfortably and quickly in four to five games. Read the rest of this entry »
These would be my choices:
All-League Awards
All-NBA First Team
Detroit News reports
The Pistons thought they had a tentative deal with Avery Johnson two years ago, but Davidson nixed the deal because she was hesitant about paying a new coach perhaps as much as $4 million annually while still paying off Flip Saunders’ contract and Michael Curry’s parting gift after one season as coach.
John Kuester became an inexpensive alternative.
Players aren’t dumb. They saw an owner who wasn’t fully engaged and committed to doing whatever necessary to provide the best possible winning environment. Read the rest of this entry »
Great article by Ian Thomsen over at SI.com on the Nike Hoop Summit
Biyombo produced the first triple-double ever seen at the Nike Hoop Summit on Saturday, with 12 points (5-of-7 from the field), 11 rebounds and an astonishing 10 blocks in the World Select Team’s 92-80 loss to the U.S. Junior National Select Team.
The internationals arrived with more size, but the Americans performed as if they were the taller team thanks to their superior athleticism and teamwork. They’ve been playing together in international competitions, and their cohesion was intimidating from the opening minute. The World players were alarmed by the speed of the game and were forced to hurry their shots against the fast-closing American defenders. Read the rest of this entry »
Very interesting article on NBA.com’s Hang Time blog on the value of Shaquille O’Neal
Top 10 five-man units, minimum of 200 minutes played (68 lineups total)
Team Lineup GP Min. Pace Off. Eff. Def. Eff. Diff. DAL Kidd, Stevenson, Butler, Nowitzki, Chandler 20 257 93.3 119.0 94.4 +24.6 BOS Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, O’Neal 18 266 95.3 115.1 96.1 +19.1 BOS Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Davis 54 504 93.0 111.4 94.4 +17.0 Read the rest of this entry »
A couple of stats to kick off
Boston are a below average rebounding team? True or false? Read the rest of this entry »
Another popular argument for Rose is that he’s won many games for his team in the clutch. And if you’ve watched enough of the Bulls this season, you’ve seen Rose hit several big buckets down the stretch of tight games. Heck, you’ve seen several in the last couple of weeks.
But Rose has made fewer than 40 percent of his shots in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime with a score margin of five points or less (either way). And even when you account for getting to the free-throw line, he hasn’t been particularly efficient.
But when the stakes have been a little bit higher, Rose has been better. Read the rest of this entry »
