Saturday, February 26, 2011

2/26: Friday=NBA Galore...

Greetings all... there was virtually nothing else happening on this Friday night... so we're going all NBA... at least until the "what to watch for" segment...
  • Orlando throttles OKC.... Dwight Howard was unreal last night... 40 points, 15 rebounds against the violently undersized Thunder... Ibaka fouled out in just 18 minutes (wow), and Nick Collison had nothing for Dwight... it doesn't help when Durant and Westbrook shoot a combined 14 of 41, but this one was on the defense...
  • Denver/Portland.... This was the game of the night... a 107-106 OT win for the Blazers.. Portland had 5 guys with 16+ points including Brandon Roy with an efficient 18 in 24 minutes... totally balanced effort and they did it without Gerald Wallace, and without an active center on the roster... for Denver? Pretty encouraging... Gallinari was great (7/14 FG, 15/17 FT, 30 points), Afflalo showed more signs of being a 4th quarter killer with back-to-back Js at the end of regulation (19 points), and they were firmly in this thing with Felton/Lawson shooting 5 of 20...
  • The Hawks get right.... there was no resistance for the Hawks front line... Al Horford did whatever he wanted to do all night, shooting 10-14 and putting up 22, 13, and 7 dimes... and even Josh Smith (sigh) played well in stretches... his line looks great (26 and 9), but it was typical ups and downs... I loved how he emerged with aggressiveness going to the rim, but he fell into the jumper zone for stretches... fortunately? He was making them... and then there's Kirk Hinrich... he played only 17 minutes, shooting 3 of 6 for 8 points and 3 dimes... he looked pretty good... seemed to be favoring his calf late, but we'll see what that is... I'm encouraged.... on the GS side... Ellis and Curry shot 9 of 28... they can't win when that happens...
  • A 2-guard battle... between Dwyane Wade... and.... Nick Young?... Yes, you read that right... Wade and Miami get the win led by DWade's 41 points on 18 of 27... but Nick Young went off for Washington... 38 points on just 19 shots, dueling him all night... but the difference was clearly that the rest of Washington's roster, er, wasn't up to the challenge.... John Wall played very well (24 and 12 dimes), McGee was good (18 and 17), but outside of that? 33 total points... oh... we haven't even mentioned Lebron James' 25/9/7 line... ho-hum...
  • New York loses to... Cleveland!... Cleveland? ew... Good stuff first... Melo/Amare/Billups combined for 84 points... that's outstanding... the rest of the team? 10 of 30 FG, 25 points... yikes... Cleveland got a balanced effort and a W.... no need for panic as an NY fan... but maybe a step back is in order... the depth just isn't there, and they can't guard anyone... but, then again, we knew that...
And then there's this...
  • The Pistons are a mess.... Head Coach John Kuester has just enjoyed a mutiny from his veteran players... ok, enjoyed is probably the wrong words... Tracy McGrady and company didn't show up for their morning shootaround as a player "protest" against Kuester... and then Kuester promptly got ejected early in their 110-94 loss to Philly... what followed that? McGrady and company LAUGHING about the ejection... on the bench... like school children... and none of the 6 players who formed the walk-out on practice saw the court on Friday night... I'm 100% sure that this will result in Kuester being fired, but there's no justification for the behavior of these vets...
What to watch for... and here's a hint... there's no NBA to be seen in Atlanta...
  • #7 BYU @ #4 San Diego State - CBS 2:00 - Mountain West game of the year... SDSU dropped their only loss in the original game in Provo, but they are playing this one at home, and Kawhi Leonard and co. should be ready to go.... I really like SDSU here... and I read a comparison to the Derrick Rose-led Memphis team that was a #1 seed... consider this, however? I believe the Mountain West this year is significantly better than C-USA has been... so why not the #1 seed buzz?
  • #1 Duke @ Virginia Tech - ESPN 9:00 - Best team in the country goes on the road... VT really needs this one for their sparse tourney resume... but I just don't see it... it'll be competitive though...
  • #10 Arizona @ UCLA - FSN 4:00 - Very nice Pac-10 game here... UCLA is a 20-win club, and while Arizona dropped a game on Thursday, they are still the class of the Pac-10 along with Washington...
  • #20 Syracuse @ #11 Georgetown - CBS 12:00 - Gotta love the noon tip-off... especially when it's a good matchup.... something to watch is how G-Town responds to the loss of one of their leaders in G Chris Wright...
  • #13 Florida @ #22 Kentucky - CBS 4:00 - The best 2 teams in the SEC IMO taking the court... Kentucky has more talent and plays at home... Florida has vets everywhere led by Chandler Parsons...
  • #25 St. John's @ #14 Villanova - ESPN 2:00 - The Johnnies appear in the coaches poll... they have big win after big win, and they get another shot at one on the road here in Philly...
Enjoy the action, folks...

No comments: