NBA Round Up 12/8
Orlando (16-5) Rolls Over Clippers (4-17): 95-88
20 rebounds uncommon? Not for Superman. The NBA's Superman may not have x-ray vision, but he's got 20/20 eyesight.
Dwight Howard celebrated his 23rd birthday by coming within a single rebound of matching his age in points and rebounds, finishing with 22 boards and 23 points.
It was his second 20/20 game in a row, 3rd game in 6, and 17th of his career. He was within a rebound of doing it two other times this year. He also swatted 6 Clipper shots as the Magic improved their record to 16-3 since opening the year with two losses.
But magic is sleight of hand, deceptive and an illusion. So it may be with Orlando’s record. They have only played 4 teams that currently are over .500 and are 0-4 against them. They are just 3-4 against teams that were over .500 when they played them.
It was a game of runs. The Magic started out 11-2, but were losing by half time, 48-42. Leading by 75-66 after three, the hapless Clippers were done in by an Orlando 22-2 run to start the 4th quarter.
Both benches could be arrested for vagrancy – no visible means of support. They are the two worst in the NBA in point production according to 82games.com. Yet, Courtney Lee (8 pts.) and Brian Cook (5 pts.) contributed to the run that won the game.
In this season’s coaching carousel, if Mike "Elton-Don’t-Leave-Me" Dunleavy’s job isn’t in jeopardy, it is because his GM likes him (He is the GM). He is left barren with Baron.
Chris Kaman is out, but Marcus Camby is playing very well now, and Dunleavy has Zach Randolph, who was no match for Howard. The team is talented beyond its record, but the rumors are that Dunleavy doesn’t have control of the team.
Baron Davis, talented, but difficult to manage, has too much free reign and missed a large number of shots in this game. The Clippers chucked up 96 shots but made only .385% of them, indicating too many unwise, quick shots. When Camby grabs 17 rebounds, but shoots only 2-4 for 6 points, while Baron throws up 11 for 29, it suggests that things need tweaking.
Ironically, the Magic are not a great rebounding team, board eating Howard notwithstanding. They lost the board war against the Kaman-less Clippers 51-43 and have a minus 1.4 in rebounding for the season.
In another irony, the Clippers score 48 points in the paint to Orlando’s 32.
One of college’s best shooters, but an NA bust so far, JJ Redick, lost his brief starting job back to Keith Bogans. Bogans was once described by a scribe as one of the NBA’s worst shooters. Keith has improved his jump shot, hitting 3 of 5 from Redick land and actually plays defense.
They may be the Paperclips, but the Magic record, 3rd best in the Eastern Conference, may be a house of cards. In spite of Dwight Howard, they could upgrade at both guard positions, the bench, and rebounding in order to challenge the top teams, I believe.
Rumors abound that Chucky Atkins will soon be traded from Denver to Orlando, and he will help run the offense. Chucky is a liability defensively, (Jameer isn’t?) but is a capable offensive point guard, who isn’t afraid to take the big shot. Stay tuned.
Miami (12-9) beats Charlotte (7-14): 100-96
The Heat continue to surprise (me) with their 4thstraight win. Dwyane Wade scored 41 points and is averaging 34.75 points through the mini-streak. The do-it-all guard is playing well enough to carry this team forward on his back.
Even without a true center, (Udonis Haslem), the Heat are a top shot blocking team (6th in the league at 6.1) thanks to Wade (1.8) , Marion (1.5) , and second year man, 6’9" Joel Anthony (1.6). Go figure.
Dwyane posterized Emeka Okafor (see picture), and had ten points in the decisive 4th quarter when the Heat took the lead.
Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace was absent for personal reasons, and Jason Richardson scored 24 to lead the Cats. ‘Everybody doesn’t like Raymond’ Felton scored just 8 points on 2 of 11, with 8 assists as Larry Brown continues to get erratic point guard play.
Emeka is playing solid ball (12 boards, 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting) after a slow start this year, but Sean May (Not) is not the answer at power forward with his health issues. Emeka is averaging 19.2 points and 10.2 boards over the last five games, but is another player who could use some help down in the blocks.
Rookie DJ Augustin (14 pts.) has a bright future, but will need time to develop. Adam Morrison (13 points, remember him?) hit a big three point shot with 6.7 seconds left to draw within two at 98-96.
Memphis (6-15) drops Houston (13-8): 109-97
The Houston Ricketts are without Tracy McGrady for a while, Brent Barry and Ron Artest for the evening with minor injuries. That gave Memphis confidence enough to take down the Ricketts, who got a quiet night from Yao Ming, 14 points and 4 rebounds.
Former Spur, power forward Luis Scola started and had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the depleted Rockets. Rafer Alston has been picking up some of the scoring slack lately and tied for team honors with 16 points while adding 8 assists.
Memphis’ young roster can’t seem to get a point guard to play well enough on a consistent basis to stabilize the team’s offense . Mike Conley has been a disappointment so far. Kyle Lowry started and had 5 assist and 11 points though the team actually played better with Conley off the bench in this game. And that is part of the problem.
Tardy Rudy Gay had to come off the bench, but still led the team with 20 points. Marc Gasol played Yao Ming well and finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
Pressure is on coach Marc Iavaroni, as the young, talented Grizzlies need to show improvement this season. So far, 5 coaches have been dismissed. Is it asking too much for this young team to be doing better?
Hakim Warrick reminds me a bit of Josh Childress in his role for the Griz. He is athletic and active, scoring 18 points, with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks in a do-whatever-you-need role off the bench.
E.J. Mayo continues to produce, but this team’s identity is still being determined.
Golden State (6-15) outscores Oklahoma City (2-18): 112-102
Kevin Durant scored 41 points (10 rebounds) in another losing cause. I said at the beginning of the year that I feared for P.J. Carlesimo’s job. It took less than 20 games for him to be gone. Now Scott Brooks can absorbed all the losses that this team will take.
They simply are not talented enough to be very successful this season. The only thunder you will hear this year will be teams running over them.
Chris Wilcox (8 pts, 8 boards) is a classic under performer, greatly talented and not very motivated most of the time. Nick Collison (15 points, 10 rebounds off the bench) is just the opposite. Not as talented but will give a consistently solid effort for you. He’s just not a game changer.
Earl Watson has defensive shortcomings, but is a solid distributor of the ball (7th in assists per 48 minutes, good turnover to assist ratio 4.5) and can hit the three.
Russell Westbrook (8 pts, 8 rbds, 7 assists, 7 turnovers) is the future and has great tools for both ends of the floor. Should they play him more now? Or let the veteran Earl Watson (3 pts, 7 assists) teach him how to run an offense?
Don Nelson’s team was without its top two scorers in Cory Maggette and Stephen Jackson. It didn’t matter as even 6-14 teams like the Worriers drool to play the inept Thunder.
Jamal Crawford led with 19 points, and won his first game as a Warrior.
Andris Beidrins (21 rebounds, 17 points) remains a bright spot on a team that is going nowhere this season. Yet, it is surprising that they are doing so poorly. They just don’t play defense, giving up 112 points a game, by far the league’s worst.
They are negative in every offensive statistic compared to their opponents except foul shooting where they shoot 5 more foul shots. This team turned to mush in a hurry.
Something humorous here? Ummmm…..I got nothing. Nelly's got his work cut out for him with this roster.
So that is this week's round up from the ground up.
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