NBA Monday Round-Up: Dec. 22, 2008

Monday NBA Round Up Dec. 22, 2008

It has become a league of haves and have-nots.

 

Orlando tramples (22-6) Golden State (8-21): 113-81

In this version of Meet the Nelsons, Jameer gives Don a noogie.

Jameer Nelson set a new Amway Arena record with a perfect 9-9 shooting, while leading both teams in scoring with 22 points. In addition to coming off his first NBA Player of the Week Award ever, Jameer is averaging 26 points a game over his last four, all Magic wins.

I’ve said in the past that the enigmatic Nelson is a key to this team’s larger success. Van Gundy has him scoring more (16.8) and apparently finally finding a way to fit in to make the team better, while allowing him to put points on the board himself.

After knocking off Utah, San Antonio, and the Lakers, you (meaning I) can no longer say the Magic haven’t beaten anyone good. They are now in the discussion in the East with Boston and Cleveland. A solid shooting guard and a rebounder away from being part of the East’s Big Three, they are now the Big 2.8

The other enigmatic Nelson, named Don, coaches a team that moves him closer to being kicked upstairs with a 30-point loss. Assistant Keith Smart is a rumored replacement in the Year of The Quick Knives if that is a part of Don’s Machiavellian machinations.

With leading scorers Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette sidelined, Nelson finally unwrapped his other Euro toy, Marco Belinelli, and changed the offense to enhance his abilities. Belinelli has responded with scoring (18.5 over the last five games), assists (five) and steals. Trade anyone?

68-year-old Don took over a moribund team that hadn’t done anything in years, and revamped the entire atmosphere.

Nelson masterfully challenged and motivated team leader Baron Davis enough to create a 42-win season, and a playoff appearance knocking off his former team Dallas in the first round in a shocking upset. He followed up with a 48-win season where they did not make the playoffs. Baron left. Don was bereft. The gild is off the lily.

 

Houston Mings (19-9) New Jersey (13-14): 114-91

Yao beats Yi in the meeting of China, NBA style.

With new rumors that Yi is 24 years old, not 21, New Jersey says "so what" and Yi continues to deny it. However old Yi is, he will never be old or young enough to be 7’6" like Houston’s Yao Ming.

The Nets, whom I called a NBA surprise only a few weeks ago, have returned to earth and lost six of their last eight games. As with most NBA teams, they had no one among their talented young bigs to contend with Ming’s 24 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocks.

The Rockets won for a season high fourth time, as they are just trying to get through the season and get their main three players healthy in McGrady, Ming, and Artest for the playoffs.

Aaron Brooks replaces injured Rafer Alston and scores a career-high 22 points in the blowout win.

The defensive-minded Rockets held Devin Harris and Vince Carter, the highest-scoring guard tandem in the league to ten points each, 27 below their combined averages. That alone will kill any chance of winning for the guard-oriented Nets.

 

Lakers (22-5) escape with win against Memphis (9-18): 105-96

Close to losing for the third straight game, Kobe says uhmmm...no, as he drops 36 on the Griz with 10 of LA’s last 17 points in a three minute barrage to finish off the game, and the Grizzlies.

The young and talented Grizzlies have been showing signs of life lately, but are a few years away from executing down the stretch like a team like the Lakers, who are not the dominant team they began the year as.

Some say teams have caught on to their corner-trapping defense. Others say they have stopped playing defense with the same intensity. Either way, the Boston Celtics now have an important three-game edge in the loss column for home court advantage all the way through the playoffs.

Andrew Bynum hasn’t been playing as well lately (-1 in the plus/minus while he was in the game) and Jordan Farmer will have surgery, keeping him out for up to eight weeks.

Get used to hearing this...Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo led the Memphis scoring with 23 and 22 points respectively, while Hakeem Warrick keeps producing off the bench with 14 points last night.

The trade of draft choice Kevin Love to Minnesota for O.J. Mayo looks like a good one right now.

 

San Antonio (17-10) whacks Sacramento (7-22): 101-85

If you thought the talent on the floor was unequal, then it made sense that Greg Popovich took the night off from coaching (almost). Greg called few time outs and let his team call plays and defenses in the huddle against rookie King Coach Calvin Natt—a member of the second round of coaches 2008-09.

Tony Parker overcame five first quarter turnovers to lead the Spurs with 18 points. John Salmons proves that timing is everything as he is averaging 19 points and producing on a consistent basis, as he has done a few times before when Ron Artest was out and even before that, with Philadelphia, when he was given the chance when Iguodala was out.

But that is unlike Kings' point guard Beno Udrih, who was playing against his old team, the Spurs. After a solid season with the Kings last year, and getting his first big contract, Udrih has been a major disappointment this season. His play and stats are down, and he turns the ball over way too much for someone of his talent level.

Sac studs are young big men Steve Hawes and Jason Thompson, as they try to trade veteran Brad Miller to make more playing time for them both.

The Spurs have the league’s fourth best defense (points allowed) are still getting things together with the recent return of Manu Ginobili. Their roster never looks good enough to me, but Popovich is a master of developing role players to make his system work, and should be counted on to get better as the season progresses.

Matt Bonner is now patrolling the middle and hitting three point-bombs. Go figure.

 

Denver (18-10) beats Portland (17-11): 97-89

In a battle of two likely playoff teams, the Nuggets prevailed, even with team leader Carmelo Anthony out with injury and ended a three-game losing streak. Chauncey Billups and Nene led the Nuggets with 19 each, while Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge took game honors with 20 points.

Brandon Roy finished with just eight points, one game after scoring 52. He was in foul trouble for most of the night and played just 24 minutes.

Denver out-rebounded Portland by 43-32 and Chris Andersen went block crazy with six in just 21 minutes.

Denver has the fifth best offense (points scored) but their early season commitment to defense has already faded, as they end a three-game losing streak, though Anthony played hurt in two of those three games.

Soft spoken 7’0" Greg Oden fouled out with 10 points, three rebounds, and two blocks.

Joel Prizbilla might become part of the nation’s lexicon as he continues his Pryzbillian shooting percentage at 78 percent with 2-3 from the field, and from Pryzbillian range (one foot or less from the hoop), while contributing eight rebounds in 21 minutes.

He probably won’t qualify with enough attempts but he is on his way to shattering the NBA field goal percentage record.

 

Toronto (11-17) clubs depleted Clippers (8-20): 97-75

In the final game of have-nots….

With Los Angeles centers' Marcus Camby (personal reasons) and Chris Kaman out, and Zach Randolph leaving with injury early in the fourth quarter, the Raptors' Chris Bosh took advantage by scoring 18 of his 31 points in the fourth.

Jermaine O’Neal score 23 points and added nine rebounds, in another worthless game that is indicative of what is happening this year. So many teams are already out of the playoff race, it is ridiculous.

Toronto has a fighting chance talent-wise to recover and make the playoffs, but it’s rumored that Bryan Colangelo is panicking and would be ready to give up on the O’Neal Experiment, which isn’t working so far, if he could find a taker for O’Neal's $23 million contract—not likely.

The Clippers, when healthy, have good talent as well with Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, and Zach Randolph. It’s just an odd mix of it and Davis and Mike Dunleavy don’t see eye to eye, though things are supposed to be better lately.

That ends a night of mostly lopsided wins and losses between the haves and the have-nots. Expect more of these as the year wears on. It’s been a funny season when it comes to that.

The league is unbalanced for the near future, as many teams made moves that mostly haven’t paid off as of yet.

See you next week. Same Time. Same Channel.