Due to time constraints..er..due to my aunt calling and asking me to clean out a garage, I’ll only be able to touch on three games today. I suppose only six were played anyway, but five of them were close. Unfortunately, I’ll have to skip Blazers/Grizzlies (tank fail) and Pacers/Wizards (choke job). Sorry about that.
I don’t know what happened to the Milwaukee Bucks, but they laid a massive egg in a huge match up with the Celtics. Milwaukee came into this home game having won six in a row thanks to incredible ball movement and inspired play, but they looked completely out of sync. First of all, their defense was poor from the get-go. Mickael f@cking Pietrus hit somethin’ like three threes in the first half, all uncontested. Other reserves, such as hometown kid Greg Stiemsma and former Buck Keyon Dooling, also stepped up and contributed to a 31-point bench effort. That may not seem like a fatal explosion, but keep in mind that Boston has the league’s second-worst bench in the scoring column… they only get 24 from their reserves on an average night.
It wasn’t just the defense that was bad, though. The brilliant ball movement the Bucks have displayed in recent games never really took effect, and they struggled to finish at the rim. In the first half alone Milwaukee missed nine shots (to eight makes) within four feet of the basket, and although they’d only committed five turnovers, I feel like at least three or four of them were of the unforced variety. Still, even after Boston’s 35-point first quarter, Milwaukee led by two at the half… 58-56. I suppose that’s the most frustrating aspect of this game from a Bucks perspective… they played poorly at both ends of the floor, yet remained in position to win a big contest at the half. Hell, even after a 13-point dud of a third quarter they had opportunities to make a push. It never happened, though, because they continued to miss in the paint and carelessly turn the ball over (10 giveaways in the second half). They never dug in and played defense, either. Boston got the looks they wanted all night long, and although they had sub-par shooting nights overall, Brandon Bass and Kevin Garnett drained dagger after dagger from about 15 feet.
I hate to say it, but Drew Gooden did not play the finest game of this strong run he’s put together over the past two months. Six points, 2-12, 3 boards, 2 turnovers… and it was as bad as the numbers indicate. He got, for lack of a better term, owned by KG (who had 16/10/6). Neither Brandon Jennings (5 TOs) nor Monta Ellis played very effectively either. As a matter of fact, they combined for just 32 points on 32 shots. All in all this was a huge letdown from the Bucks in front of their home crowd, and they now stand 1.5 games behind the 8th-place Knicks.
I’m glad I’m not a Kings fan, because DeMarcus Cousins would drive me off the goddamn deep end. Just take his game against the Jazz. He scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, but he took 28 shots and his man made the game winner. I didn’t see the entire thing, but I imagine the 10 offensive boards he gathered went hand-in-hand with the 19 shots he missed. Also, I would say he flopped like a fish, but that would be an insult to fish. They don’t typically flop face first into stationary objects.
Did you know this borderline-seven-foot, probably-300-pound man leads the NBA in taking charges? How anyone can root for this doofus… I’m sorry, but I have no idea.
Alec Burks is impressive, folks. Although he scored just 8 points on 10 shots last night, he converted on what very easily could’ve been the game winner. With somethin’ like 15 seconds to go, Burks drove into the lane and finished a floating layup to put Utah up one. Although he may have created it, there was quite a bit of contact on the play. If he’s Kobe, LeBron, or Dwyane it’s a three-point opportunity, no question. This is the second time in three games that he’s finished a crucial play in the paint despite contact. In the case of last night’s game, Marcus Thornton would proceed to bully him on the other end and score a layup of his own, but I’m not worried about that (the kid was born in ’91, he’ll bulk up). Burks doesn’t always play a whole lot, but when he’s on the floor he always seems to make positive things happen. At 6’6 he’s got great size for a shooting guard, and he’s very athletic as well. He finishes 66.7% of his shots at the rim, which is better than almost all shooting guards with any significant amount of attempts.
Jason Smith scored a season-high 17 points on Thursday evening, but he was feelin’ himself a bit too much in the closing stages of the game. With his Hornets up six on the Clipps with just four minutes to play, Smith decided it would be a good idea to give a streaking Blake Griffin two shots from the stripe. While this may seem like a pretty sound decision, the way he went about committing the foul was goddamn stupid. As Blake was about to take off, Smith hit him like a middle linebacker, resulting in a flagrant penalty two–aka two free throws AND the ball for Los Angeles. Clearly, it was not only a poor decision, but a dirty play on a vulnerable target… yet Smith acted as if he was some sort of martyr as he made his way to the locker room. Observe…
It worked out okay for the Hornets–they won the game 97-90–but that’s just not a smart play to make late in a six-point game; period. Not only that, but it wasn’t even the type of hard foul that can be considered a respectable one. It was just a dirty, dangerous play from a dude that’s never really done jack sh!t in the NBA. Just look at how gassed up he was over his 17 f@cking points. After the game, he tried to tone his act down: “I apologize to Blake Griffin. I didn’t want to hurt him at all. I just wanted to try and cut off his lane to the basket.”
…and act like a jackass after making what would’ve been the bonehead play of the week had the Clipps been able to capitalize. Sit the f@ck down, Jason Smith.
As for the Clipps failing to capitalize… it was as ugly as ever. They were forced to sink or swim on some contested jumpers by Randy Foye and Caron Butler because they have no semblance of an offense. They’d get down to five or six seconds on the shot clock and CP would still be dribbling out by the Hornet at mid court. No one was really doing anything… just standing around, watching. I can’t imagine that Vinny Del Negro will last much longer. This team looks f@cking dreadful, and their abundance of talent only magnifies the ineptitude being displayed at the offensive end.
I guess I can’t talk about Clipps/Hornets without mentioning Chris Paul’s return to New Orleans. Paul was alright–he had 16 and 9 on 5-14–but Jarrett Jack was better. Jack, Paul’s student, dropped 17 points and matched CP with 9 dimes. Neither player made a big offensive impact down the stretch… Paul didn’t score at all in the fourth, and although Jack scored five, three of his points came at the line, and two of ‘em when the game was already over. Jack did assist on both of the huge buckets Xavier Henry (wait, who?!) scored down the stretch. Give Henry a lot of credit… he only plays 15 minutes a game, but he stepped in and went 3-4 in a pretty intense regular-season contest. Also, shout out to former Clipper Chris Kaveman… he certainly had his moments as he led New Orleans in both scoring and rebounding with a 20/10 double-double.
