NBA Monday Round Up 12.29
Monday NBA Round Up
This year, more than most, will have teams just working out their roster problems on the court. Some are just giving experience to young lineups. Others are trying to figure where to go from here. And a few have the hope of a true contender. Monday night had all but the very best of the NBA.
(20-10) Atlanta Laps (22-10) Denver: 109-91
A battle of two probable playoff teams made this an interesting matchup. Final Decision: Denver needs a heart transplant.
Joe Johnson continues another strong season with 25 points and seven assists. Mike Bibby went 4-5 from downtown, while adding nine assists. Kenyon Martin led Denver with 19 points.
It is hard to believe that Denver had just seven turnovers all game and led by one with 6:30 left in the third quarter. Showing the heart of a mouse, they caved in following a Hawks' push, and lost by 18. They were without center Nene Hilario. They were not without excuse. Bonafide contenders find ways to make up for missing players.
They must have had a strong pre-game talk about picking up the rebounding slack in Nene’s absence. That makes it surprising that they were out rebounded by 44-27, (team rebounds were in their favor 14-8).
In a rare start, Chris Anderson (3rd in the league in blocks per game) led Denver with six—count ‘em—six rebounds. No one else had more than four. Playing with a sore wrist, power forward Kenyon Martin had just three boards.
This is one of the reasons the Nuggets have frustrated me for so long. The talent is there. Desire and motivation are not there nearly enough.
After all of the early season hoo-ha about how the Nuggets were going to play defense and show everyone how wrong they were about this team, their recent slide seems to indicate it was more talk than anything. They have allowed 100 plus points in seven of their last eight games and are 3-5 because of it.
Yes, Billups has given this team new life. Why he didn’t post up Bibby more, I’ll never know. They will be better than last year, but not by much. He will give them a more intelligent attack but he can’t play defense for everyone. The Marcus Camby giveaway will haunt them.
On the other hand, the Atlanta Hawks have also surprised everyone. Preseason predictors were unimpressed with their playoff performance against the Celtics. They are defying the predictions and are playing solid ball, winning their 5thstraight and 7 of 8 in a long home stand. They are now 14-2 at home (4th best) and improving on their road record with 6-8 this season.
It won’t be enough come play-off time, but at least they play like they care.
(18-11) Detroit Holds Off (24-7) Orlando: 88-82
Despite getting only 14 points in the paint, Detroit stopped Orlando’s 7 game winning streak, beating the league’s best road team (11-4) at the same time.
Rodney Stuckey’s 19 points paced the Pistons' win and his insertion into the starting lineup has proved to be the necessary counterpoint to Iverson’s shoot first, ball dominating style. Known for taking care of the ball, Detroit had an absurdly good three-turnover game. The Pistons are 7-3 in their last ten.
They have problems holding leads with their bench, though Antonio McDyess made sure that wasn’t the case in this game with 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in 24 minutes.
Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 23 points, while Dwight Howard powered an 18 point, 18 rebound game. It seems that Jameer Nelson is a key reason why they are a better team this season. Ending an 11-game run of double-digit scoring for the Magic point guard was less of a disappointment than zero assists from Jameer.
But have no fear, Hedo Turkoglu was there with a game high eight assists. Detroit takes another step forward.
(14-17) Chicago Steps On (15-16) New Jersey: 100-87
It was a match made in heaven. One of the worst road teams (4-14) played one of the worst home teams (5-12).
The Nets continue to defy NBA protocol by losing another home game while going 10-4 on the road. That just doesn’t happen in the NBA. Though the boxscore says 18,786 were in attendance, that is always an inflated figure, and due in part to highly discounted and giveaway seats. They have always had trouble drawing fans to the IZOD arena. Perhaps that is a reason for the poor home record.
That’s too bad, because they have some nice young players assembling in a rebuilding year, led by veteran shooting guard Vince Carter who led the scoring with 31 points, and point guard Devin Harris with 26 points.
Tonight that was it for scoring, as no one else made double digits.
The Bulls were led by Ben Gordon with 24 points and rookie phenom Derrick Rose with 21 points and 13 assists. Ben was 4th in the league (72) in three-pointers before making five more in this contest.
Another anomaly, the Bulls are the only team in the NBA whose bench has a positive plus/minus (+100) while their starters (-535) do not, according to 82games.com.
True to form, the Bulls bench scored 44 points, led by Andres Nocioni and Larry Hughes with 17 points each.
Luol Deng and Drew Gooden were out with injuries and the Bulls won’t take a step forward until they are both incorporated more into the offense.
Larry Hughes continues to complain about needing more minutes to be effective, but played a solid game with seven rebounds and five assists to go with his 17 points in 31 minutes.
(17-10) Phoenix Beats (3-29) Oklahoma City: 110-102
Despite the record, OKC has a few solid young players on the roster in Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook. Their own inexperience and totally unremarkable support are going to make this year a long one and there is little they can do about it.
Durant you know, Green is solid if unspectacular, but Westbrook shows signs of eye-opening play with his quickness. He just has to reduce the turnovers as he goes forward.
Adding center Nenad Krstic will help, if New Jersey doesn’t counter, but it’s not going to turn things around.
Joe Smith will have interest with most contending teams and a few non-contending teams whether he is bought out or traded, to make room for Krstic. A buy out is expected to send him back to Cleveland, which will definitely up the ante for the Celtics to get past them this year.
With Steve Nash out with back spasms, 35-year-old Shaq became the point center, scoring 28 points himself, with 12 rebounds, three blocks, and dishing off for two assists.
(6-24) Minnesota Surprises (10-21) Memphis: 108-98
Memphis ties Sacramento for second worst road team at 2-13, by losing to Minnesota in overtime for just it’s 6th win this year.
Lone Timberwolf star Al Jefferson exploded for 38 points and 16 rebounds, while the Grizzlies were led by O.J. Mayo’s 23 points.
Minnesota scored a single field goal in the second quarter, and came back to win.
Make no mistake, Minnesota is not a good team. But I believe that a good coach could do much better with this squad. They absolutely need some height. But even as is, a more competitive team could be created, utilizing Mike Miller, Kevin Love, Kevin Ollie, Ryan Gomes, and Randy Foye around Al Jefferson better. I would give up the Foye at point guard experiment.
Adding interest was that O.J. Mayo was traded for Kevin Love and Mike Miller before the season started.
Memphis is young, talented and inexperienced. In a few years, their time will come.
(6-23) Washington Squeaks By (20-12) Houston: 89-87
A squeak is better than another loss, and Houston is a contender even. This Washington team is a few votes away from the D-league.
Another of the league’s bottomless pits, Washington actually has a two-game winning streak now, as they stop the Rockets seven-game streak. The old adage must true about, "on any given night." The Wizards were without Caron Butler, but managed to beat one of the league’s top teams.
Antawn Jamison led both team with 30 points while Ron Artest came off the bench for 20 for Houston.
Many think Eddie Jordan was unfairly dumped as coach of Washington. It is true that two-fifths of his starting five were out with injury, but there was little semblance of team play, defense, or effort from the remaining players.
But one bad turn deserved another by not having a solid replacement coach in the wings. It has been a league epidemic. This is what you get.
Houston continues to juggle its line up over injuries, and continues to play winning basketball anyway. Remarkably, Yao Ming has missed only two games so far.
(19-14) Utah beat (12-18) Philadelphia: 112-95
Yet another league surprise ‘coach firing’ continues to try to right their ship, but the Utah Jazz keep them losing. Tony Dileo, instant head coach of the 76ers after the firing of Maurice Cheeks loses his 5th straight game.
They are trying to recreate last season’s success, now that Elton Brand is out long term with a separated shoulder. That means a return to fast break basketball (26 points), but it hasn’t meant a return to winning yet. Andre Iguodala should benefit from the changes, as he and Thaddeus Young both garnered 17 points for the 76ers.
Utah’s Deron Williams took up the scoring slack left by losing both Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap, by dropping 27 points. Mehmet Okur returned to add 19 points.
Even with all the injuries, the Jazz are just a game and a half in back of Denver in the Northwest Division.
(10-23) Golden State Outlasts (12-19) Toronto: 117-111
While machinations go on behind closed doors in Golden State in a power struggle between Chris Mullin and Don Nelson, the Warriors win yet another game in a battle of teams going nowhere.
They do it while showcasing a player that is rumored to be desired by Bryan Colangelo of the Raptors.
Marco Belinelli contributed 23 points and six assists while making five three-pointers for the victorious Warriors. Andris Biedrins added 15 rebounds, 13 points, and five blocked shots to the Golden State win. Colangelo favors Euro players, and it has been intimated that Belinelli might fit in well with the Raptors.
Jermaine O’Neal left the game with flu-like symptoms, leaving Chris Bosh and Jose Calderone to try to eek out a win in their final road game. Bosh tied Warrior Stephen Jackson for game honors with 30 points, while Calderon had 21 points and 16 assists.
Toronto was another team expected to be in the playoff picture with the acquisition of Jermaine O’Neal. Their season still could go either way. A resurgent O’Neal would be important to any turnaround this season.
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