The Starting Lineup: T-Mac Comes Up Big As Hawks Beat Heat

Tracy McGrady scored 13 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Hawks recovered from a four-point deficit and beat the Heat 100-92.  Equally as impressive as his scoring was his passing.  Mac dished all 4 of his assists in the final period and also made a pass that led to a pair of freethrows.  All but one of the assists resulted directly in scores in the paint, and he was definitely the primary creator of offense in the fourth quarter.  I’m not going to say he individually took over because most of his scores came on assisted field goals, but it was a borderline takeover.  Any time a guy contributes to about 72% of his team’s points in a quarter it was something like a takeover.  On a few possessions the Hawks had absolutely nothing doing until they passed the ball to T-Mac, and then he proceeded to make the play.  It’s a damn good thing he did, because when it wasn’t T-Mac making it happen it was Josh Smith shooting a jumper or Jeff Teague nearly dribbling out of bounds.  The only thing that I didn’t see from T-Mac was a lot of movement, which would’ve been super-encouraging.  He did most of his work from a standstill, hitting cutters and knocking down jumpers.  Had he controlled the ball and taken guys off the dribble I probably would’ve made some sort of “T-Mac’s back!” declaration. 

 

Atlanta’s victory obviously means the Heat are no longer undefeated, which means they won’t be starting 10-0 like I predicted.  I’ve seen a little ATL hype this morning… not sure why.  Nice win, but they’re a semifinals out at best.  Dwyane Wade was completely off his game last night.  If he shows up Miami probably wins… and as cool as it was, how often is McGrady gonna score 13 fourth-quarter points?

Greg Stiemsma took the floor in Boston for his first career start ranked 7th in the league in blocked shots, despite ranking 272nd in minutes played.  That’s according to Celtics play-by-play guy Mike Gorman, who narrated the action as Stiemsma quickly made his presence felt in Boston’s win over the Wizards.  It’s pretty ridiculous that there’s no Youtube video of Stiemsma’s early dominance that had Flip Saunders angry enough to get tossed just minutes into the game, and got Tommy Heinsohn so amped up that he handed out a Bill Russell comparison… not the Bill Russell comparison you hear every time a guy blocks a shot and keeps it in bounds, either; a legitimate Bill Russell comparison. 

On Washington’s second possession of the game Stiemsma blocked the sh!t out of Rashard Lewis, and kind of ran him over in the process.  Flip was right… it was a blatant foul, but I’m glad the officials didn’t call it.  Some plays are so awesome they deserve an exception.  It’s not like the Wizards are ever gonna win a game anyway.  As much as I want to believe it was Stiemsma’s dominance that sent Flip over the edge, the truth is he probably just wanted to leave.

The Steamroller wrapped up his first career start with 13 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, and a pair of rejections in 21 minutes of play.  He struggled to contain Javale McGee at times, but other than that he looked great.  Remember, Stiemsma is an undrafted training camp invitee while McGee is one of the most hyped young big men in the league.  I was much more impressed by Stiemsma despite Javale’s 17 points and 14 boards.  I seriously think Boston has accidentally found themselves their new center.  This guy is going to beast when Jermaine goes out for the year.

Avery Bradley’s pressure defense had Jordan Crawford so flustered that he had all he could do to get the Wizards into their offense.  On one Washington possession Bradley stifled him so badly that he was still standing on the logo near midcourt with 10 seconds to go on the shot clock.  Crawford mailed it in and pulled up for a three-pointer from about a foot behind the line, and at that point he was removed from the game.  Bradley then showed some intelligence by backing off of John Wall, who continues to prove that jump-shooting ability displayed in those charity games and lockout leagues doesn’t translate to the NBA floor (4-13). 

It’s too bad Bradley’s so bad on offense.  I love what he brings on the defensive end.  As for John Wall, he’s making me look stupid.

Suns rookie Markieff Morris is “The Dirty Man”

Markieff has been impressive in the early going, contributing in a variety of ways on both offense and defense.  His 16 points and 9 boards in Phoenix’s easy win over the Warriors both set new career bests. 

The Spurs @ Wolves game got off to a pretty wild start.  By halftime, the T-Wolves had already put 66 points on the board, and the Spurs weren’t far behind with 59.  Minnesota was shooting an incredible 67.5 percent from the floor, including 7 of 8 three-pointers.  San Antonio was also over 50 percent in both categories, but they lost Manu Ginobili to a fractured hand and everything went downhill from there.  Minny actually finished the game at 57 percent from both the field and the three-point line.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch much of this one, but I did tune in just in time to see Rubio float one up for Derrick Williams…

The Milwaukee Bucks need to get in shape.  The majority of their late-second-quarter lineup, which included some starters, was noticably huffing and puffing during breaks in the action.  I didn’t notice anything until Denver’s commentators pointed it out, but from that point on I observed that they frequently looked gassed.  Denver has that funny air and they play an uptempo style, but still… I’ve watched a lot of Nuggets games in recent years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team so visibly tired. 

While I’m on the Nuggets, how ’bout Al Harrington?  He scored another 17 points and grabbed 8 boards to help make up for the absense of Nene, who missed the game with a bruised foot.  Harrington guarded Bogut down the stretch as Denver closed it out, and I must say, he did an impressive job.  Bogut wasn’t able to pull down a slew of boards or establish deep position for easy scores.

The Knicks were only able to score 85 points against the Toronto Raptors, who managed to reach 90.  The following screenshot effectively sums up their struggles. 

As you can see, they aren’t getting good looks.  The lack of a capable point guard is killing them right now.  The offense is completely stagnant, and even with Amare Stoudemire they’ve looked pretty bad.  Time for a coaching change?  They’ll probably never win anything of significance with this team at all, but if they do it won’t be with Mike D’Antoni calling the shots.

Box Score Observations: Ben Gordon scored 26 points in a Detroit victory over Orlando.  That’s the most points he’s scored against a team other than the Knicks since October of 2010.  Paul George had 21 points on 5-5 from deep in a Pacers win over the Nets.  The Thunder appear to play good defense on Dirk Nowitzki, but whatever it is that Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison do seems to bring out the best in the big German.  He dropped 26 on 10 of 16 to put Dallas over OKC, a previously unbeaten squad.

Highlight Recap: Ricky Rubio records his first blocked shotDwyane Wade denies Vlad RadLeBron James finishes a reverse alley-oopRussell Westbrook lobs one to Durant, then finishes a few on his own.  I guess it was a pretty weak night in the highlight department… that’s all I’ve got.

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