2011 NBA Playoffs: One Star from Every Second Round Team Who Won't Shine Bright
The postseason is the time for some stars to shine. Unfortunately, sometimes it's the time for others to fade away. Most of the time it's as much a product of the star playing badly as it is the case of the star being played well.
In other words, there's a bad matchup for him and the defensive person on him or the defensive play against him will step up and stop them.
Here are 10 NBA stars in the second round who will be having a series to forget.
Atlanta: Joe Johnson
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In their three regular season games Joe Johnson only scored 41 points and only shot .391 from the field. What's worse is that that's not likely to get any better. Johnson is all too willing to settle for bad jump shots and Chicago's defense likes to force you into bad jump shots.
On top of that any penetration the Hawks were going to get against Chicago they aren't gong to get so that means that Chicago's perimeter defense is going to have even less to worry about.
Meanwhile Johnson is going to feel pressure, just because he's making more money than anyone , to carry the team. He'll fail often. Look for Johnson to have a miserable series against the Bulls.
Boston: Rajon Rondo
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Rajon Rondo, for all his positives, really does struggle shooting. His field goal percentage is misleading as he makes almost all his shots at the rim. When you get more than three feet away from the rim, he's not bad, he's horrible. He makes only 32.7 percent of his shots outside the restricted area.
Miami will continue to dare him to beat them with his shot, and that will turn the game into three on three and the Miami three are just better than anyone's three. Boston will lose the series and it will largely be because of Rondo's inability to exploit the Heat's defensive weakness at point guard.
Chicago: Carlos Boozer
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Carlos Boozer did not have a good first series and there are some grumblings in Chicago about his contract. He'll continue to his rebounds this series as the Hawks are plenty adept at missing shots, but don't look for his scoring to go up. Al Horford is a terrific defender and he will put some defense on Boozer. Boozer will average 10 boards but he will barely average 10 points for the series.
Dallas: Jason Terry
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The secret is out. Jason Terry is the Mavericks closer. Well it wasn't a very well kept secret anyway. Look for Jett to struggle late in games closing out against the Lakers though. Kobe isn't a wire to tire top defender, but he is a clutch top defender. It's not advisable for him to spend too much energy on defense,but when it counts, he'll be asked to stop Terry, and he will.
Los Angeles: Andrew Bynum
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You might be byin' 'm, but I'm sellin 'm. Feel free to boo. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol have the same issue, sustained effort. Bynum will be going against the most energetic center in the NBA that doesn't play for Chicago in Tyson Chandler. Bynum is the better player, but Chandler will play this series better. Byum's physical superiority won't be enough as Chandler will put up better numbers for the series than Andrew Bynum.
Miami: Chris Bosh
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Chris Bosh was scared to go against Kevin Garnett yesterday afternoon. He's going to continue to be intimidated, and intimidated players don't make for good players. The Celtics will lose this series but the one matchup where they will play clearly superior ball is at the power forward spot. Bosh's reputation for being soft isn't going to be helped going against the hardest power forward in the league.
Memphis: OJ Mayo
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OJ Mayo wants to be a star, but he's not. He won't be until he wants to make himself into one by committing to the work to be one. Unfortunately he hasn't settled that in himself yet so he tries to be one without working for it. So far in the playoffs he's got a usage rate of 21.8 percent and a field goal percentage of .357.
Put together that means putting up too many bad shots. He scores only one 1.08 points per shot attempt. Look for Mayo continue to force bad shots and continue to justify not being in the starting lineup.
Oaklahoma City: Russell Westbrook
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Tony Allen is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. That's strike one. Russell Westbrook wants to be Derrick Rose. That's strike two. Russell Westbrook is not Derrick Rose. That's strike three. Westbrook's late game non-heroics are likely to continue as he continues to try and wrestle the identity of the team from the man who should be carrying the team down the stretch, Kevin "Monster Face" Durant.
Westbook will have decent overall numbers but he'll have enough negative plays to either keep this series very tight, or possibly even lose it.
