Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The NBA by bullets (11/11)

Felt the urge to make note of some NBA action tonight...
  • Toronto/Chicago - Fairly ho-hum...but a couple season long issues...Derrick Rose's leap capability may have been a bit premature...he's only averaging 14 and 6 so far this year...Taj Gibson came out of nowhere tonight for Chicago (18 pts) but that's not sustainable... The league has FINALLY started to take notice of what Chris Bosh is doing this year...I dont know if he's trying to get dealt or something...but 29 and 11 so far is pretty stout
  • GS/Indiana - Ewww.... But had to mention Danny Granger's 31 and 16....16 boards! For the record, Golden State is still an abomination...mostly b/c of Don Nelson
  • ATL/NY - Hawks beat Knicks... nothing to see here... Larry Hughes is alive...and oh wait...it's a contract year...makes sense...
  • Philly/NJ - Brook Lopez is good.... the Nets are REALLY bad without Devin Harris (bad enough with him)...and Philly is a mess... Marreese Speights (19 and 9) is THOROUGHLY outplaying Elton Brand right now....and not just tonight...
  • Portland/Minny - Man I'm disappointed in the T-Wolves (props to @imryan for his bashing of them)...but I'm also convinced they are measurably better with Kevin Love on the floor... Greg Oden with 18 and 11...it's been covered, but he's good... and I continue to hate the Steve Blake/Andre Miller backcourt combo when playing together...why have Andre on the court if he isn't handling?
  • Cleveland/Orlando - Big win for the Cavs (as big as one could be this early) to go on the road and get one... Mo and Lebron combined for 60+... The bright side for Orlando? VC was strong (29 points) and JJ Redick is a legit rotation guy...averaging 13 a night for the year
  • Denver/Milwaukee - Denver continues to not be very good (saw this coming...consult the NBA preview)... despite Melo being at his all-time best this year (not disputable)....just no depth there...even with JR Smith or whatever his new name is... Milwaukee...wow... Brandon Jennings...32 and 9!?! that's insane for a rookie...esp. at the PG spot..he's been lights-out...
  • Memphis/Houston - A battle of teams with alternate universes....Memphis has alot of scorers but play no defense...Houston has team-first guys who lock-down, and are unselfish...Memphis has an atrocious GM who is always 2 moves behind.... Houston has a forward-thinking GM who has proven to be competitive even without his 2 franchise-level players....oh...Houston by 25 tonight? Who knew? Luis Scola is wildly underrated (22 and 15 tonight), and they keep getting late draft steals (Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, and even Chase Budinger)
  • Dallas/San Antonio - Not alot you can take out of this game as far as grand scheme...but San Antonio proved how much deeper they are than in the last couple of years winning without TD and Parker... that's pretty significant no matter how well Manu and R-Jeff are playing... Dallas is who we thought they were (thanks Denny)... alot of wings, and age...not a team that can play on back-to-backs unless Dirk can carry them
  • 2 games still going as of print on this... Kevin Durant is putting on a show (23 and 7 midway through the 3rd) in LA... if you wanna know about this game...follow Bill Simmons @sportsguy33 on twitter...he's live-tweeting lol... And Phoenix is absolutely laying the wood to New Orleans...speaking of the Hornets...I briefly touched on this...but George Shinn and the Hornets management should be ashamed of the wing combo they've assembled to help Chris Paul... Devin Brown and Peja start on this team? Mo Peterson? the Corpse of James Posey? No excuse for that...they won't compete...and it doesn't matter how good Paul is (and he's incredible)
More later

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