We know of what we speak…Monday’s marquee matchup lost a lot of shine when it was confirmed that Chris Paul (ankle) wouldn’t be playing against the Magic. Then Tyson Chandler (knee) went out in the first half, last seen on crutches. So while the Magic did get the W, the fact that they still blew a big lead against Jannero Pargo and Melvin Ely as opposed to CP and Chandler should be kinda bothersome to Orlando fans … Without Chandler in the way, Eastern Conference P.O.Y. Dwight Howard went off: 24 points, 15 boards and a bunch of dunks … Hedo didn’t have his best game (5 turnovers, 4-for-13 FGs) — maybe he was still disheveled after Sunday’s turkey incident — but Rashard (19 pts, 5 treys) stepped up and hit some huge shots down the stretch … You don’t wanna look ahead too far, but the way Orlando has been winning games is great prep for the playoffs. They’ve won on the road, they’ve won blowouts, close contests, overtime games, ones where they blew a lead, and ones against quality comp. Look out for this group come springtime … After the Jazz got humiliated by the Pacers the other night, we had a feeling they’d come back home and destroy the Nets, especially with Jersey in a downward spiral since Vince got hurt. It was as we expected; a near 30-piece McNugget. Deron Williams bounced back from two bad games to light up J-Kidd for 20 points and 6 dimes … The Nets have to get some kind of scoring while Vince is out. Richard Jefferson is doing all he can, but he’s not a create-his-own shot type of player, and Kidd’s jumper isn’t reliable enough. Boki gets buckets from time to time, but when Vince is out, this looks like a Lottery team … The battle of the Collins brothers produced six points (all by Jarron), one rebound (by Jason) and six fouls (split between them). Remember when those two were beasts in college? … A lot has been made over Yi being left off the All-Star ballot, but we think a few other guys got a raw deal as well. Sam Cassell and Tyrus Thomas were on our list of All-Star ballot snubs … No one was at Bobcats/Blazers to watch Emeka Okafor school LaMarcus Aldridge, and no one was at Grizzlies/Sonics to watch Stro, Warrick and Rudy dunk all over Seattle’s Swiss-cheese defense. Come to think of it, not a lot of people were at the Hornets/Magic game, either. Perhaps part of the reason the NBA schedule is usually light on Mondays … Did you see the dirty and disgusting things Duke did to Princeton? The defensive pressure was so high, Princeton couldn’t even set up their backdoor-cutting offense, let alone execute with any success. Not to mention Duke’s size advantages, the fact that they had guys who could just jump over everyone on the Tigers and it seems all of the Blue Devils can shoot, it was a clinic. Freshman Kyle Singler put up 21 points and 12 boards (this class is obscenely talented) for Coach K’s minions … And Kevin Love kept his name in the Freshman/Player of the Year discussion, dropping 18 points and 16 boards on Maryland’s experienced front line … Michael Jordan was at the Illinois/Arizona State Maui Invitational game to watch his son play. According to Bill Raftery, MJ didn’t start paying attention until Jeffrey Jordan checked in — or he was just bored because the Fighting Illini came out and smacked ASU from the get-go. It was a piecing early. When the walk-on freshman Jeffrey (11 mins, 0 pts, 3 turnovers) did get in, Raftery complimented his defensive footwork: “Look at the way he moves his feet, like he’s in a Bulls uniform.” We love Bill, but please don’t make it worse for the kid with that kind of stuff. It’s really not fair … So when the Illinois parents and family contingent goes out to a luau or grabs pizza after the game, who do you think is paying? And you know Mike is getting it POPPIN’ after-hours on the island … We’re out like Bobcats fans …
November 20th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Flying-Dutchman says:
Hey hey, i was trying to find out who will win the M.I.P this year? anyone got any suggestions??
November 20th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Flying-Dutchman says:
Oh and team stat of the night: 6 Seattle players scored 11 points
November 20th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Amar says:
Flying-Dutchman — I know that dime doesn’t know he exists, but Ronnie Brewer should get some votes. He’s that super athletic, tall, quick, defensive minded SG the jazz have needed. He even hits threes. He dunks hard and can drive and dish. Oh yeah, he’s also pretty good with steals . . . he had 14, 6 assists and 5 steals last night off of 5 shots in 30 mins.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/ronnie_brewer/game_by_game_stats.html
November 20th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Gee says:
LOL MJ better pay that 168 Million to ol’girl lol before he gets anything poppin lol. Dang she racked up off of dude. Like Kanye said “We want pre-nup!”
November 20th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Captain America says:
My aged grandma is faster than Kevin Love.
November 20th, 2007 at 9:21 am
seth says:
Don’t cry for Mike…supposedly that’s only one-third of his fortune, so by my math he’s still got a cool 336 millies to get by with. Love is unathletic and slow, but he can play. Just curious: what do you guys think, will he avoid becoming “big white stiff” type in the L?
November 20th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Celts Fan says:
Not to sound like a homer, but Rajon Rondo could be a M.I.P. candidate. Rondo’s been filling up the stat sheet, making jumpers (the big weakness that the “experts” were predicting could derail the season), and still playing some of the best D we’re seeing from a PG. Look at some of his stat lines. People better take notice, cuz he’ll be a top PG in the NBA within 3-5 years. Lightning quick, GREAT defender, willing to jump in w/ the bigs and rebound, good passer with nice court vision, has a nice handle that’s made even the great JKidd look silly this year, and he’s starting to make his J’s. He’s not a complete package yet, but he’s coming along really well (and htis from a guy that threw his remote when we took him over Marcus Williams. I was as skeptical as anyone, but damn, kid can play)
November 20th, 2007 at 9:30 am
dre in o town says:
Dwight Vs. Duncan
NBA Finals 2008!!!
November 20th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Amar says:
Rondo is def. a candidate for MIP
November 20th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Bron42 says:
I swear if I ever lose my job with the nets I’m goin to the hornets cuz who ever trains them needs to get fired. How is it that EVERY year, they have tons of killer injuries?
Kevin Love is gonna be a big country/chris mihm combo if he ever goes pro. Look out NBA.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:17 am
wat_helmet says:
the worser new jersey plays, the more likely they trade away jason kidd?
kidd to the lakers again?
maybe…
the lakers are actually playing well though…
November 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Myrie in NY says:
Most Improved Player might be Jameer Nelson in Orlando.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Austin Burton says:
I’ll throw in an M.I.P. mention for Chris Wilcox, but his team would need to win more games for him to get consideration. How about Andrew Bynum? LaMarcus Aldridge?
November 20th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Myrie in NY says:
In addition to MIP, there is a good battle brewing for Sixth Man:
Leandro Barbosa, Manu Ginobli and Jason Terry.
Someboday please help me out and drop the stats for each of these guys for comparison purposes including minutes and FG%. Thanks!
November 20th, 2007 at 11:18 am
jnuh says:
Rajon Rondo?
Hahahahhahahhahaahhahhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahhahaahhahahahhhhhahahahhahahahahhahahahahhhahah.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:20 am
JC says:
“Remember when those two were beasts in college?”
No
November 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Amar says:
I think they should make a rule that guys who haven’t been in the L for over 3 seasons can’t get MIP, because each season you’re going to have guys who are talented players who have bad rookie seasons and so forth. Gil got MIP, he’s a superstar. Shouldn’t MIP go to guys who climb from scub to starter, instead of young future all-star to less young, all-star?
As that’s not the case, you have a whole bunch of high DPs who just needed seasoning getting th awards. We’re just rewarding them for not being ready as rookies. Bynum and LaMarcus are having good seasons though. Gotta give them a look.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
B says:
After watching last night’s Blazers/Bobcats, I’d say both Martell Webster and Gerald Wallace are MIP candidates. Martell’s J is one of the purist in the L, and Gerald is really rouding out his whole offensive game to compliment the athletic ability he already displayed on drives and defense.
IMO opinion Wilcox hasn’t really improved per se, he’s just getting more looks with Ray and Rashard gone, so his stats have increased. But I haven’t seen anything he really added to his game.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
jo says:
“You don’t wanna look ahead too far, but the way Orlando has been winning games is great prep for the playoffs. They’ve won on the road, they’ve won blowouts, close contests, overtime games, ones where they blew a lead, and ones against quality comp. Look out for this group come springtime”
blah-blah-blah
November 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
DOC says:
I never saw the Collins brothers as beasts either. I remember the hype and Mcdonalds game but they never did shit far as I recall.
November 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
b3beast says:
“In addition to MIP, there is a good battle brewing for Sixth Man:
Leandro Barbosa, Manu Ginobli and Jason Terry.”
Manu sucks, get the fuck out of here with thinking he should be sixth man, he shouldn’t even be playing. Fucking flopp ass pussy.
November 20th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Austin Burton says:
I’m pretty sure both the Collins were All-Americans in college.
November 20th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Jwin says:
Manu is the man-you dummy. He constantly adjusts his game to give the Spurs what they need on any given night. He scraps on D, makes his teammates better, throws daggers in the clutch, and goes hard every night. He also does the little things that don’t show up in the box scores that produce wins(as do most of the Spurs). He’s got a handful of rings (w/ more to come) and a gold medal (that he took away from the stacked US squad). What more can I say? Yeah he flopps, at least he does whatever it takes to get the rock back & is willing to sacrifice his body for his team.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Amar says:
academic all-americans maybe . . .
November 20th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Bone says:
The Collins Twins had one good year at Stanford (01-02) where they got to the Elite 8 and lost to eventual NC Maryland. That was kind of an in-between point for the Pac 10. Arizona lost four of their five starters from their National Runner-Up the year before, Washington hadn’t got any good yet, Oregon was a year away with the Luke’s, UCLA was heading down, so they had one good year in a bad year for the Pac 10.
And by the way: 01-02 was the WORST year for college ball in a long time - capped off by the WORST Final Four in ages with Maryland beating Indiana in the Finals.
Sidenote - why is Stanford constantly overrated and overhyped? Andy Katz from ESPN LOVES them for some reason, and they always seem to get a ton of pub but flame out early in the tourney. Is their problem the same as Duke’s - when they play teams that are atheltic, their slow, system guys cannot adapt?
November 20th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Bone says:
Let me correct myself - Oregon did make the Elite 8 on 01-02 but they had the Luke’s and Fred Jones and no size so my point was still that the Collins Twins were good be default since there were no good big men in the Pac 10.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Bron42 says:
jwin, why dont you just marry him. He isn’t all that nice. Hes a glorified slasher who understands his role on the spurs. He isn’t kobe, lebron, even joe johnson. And stacked usa squad? you win once year and suddenly its like you destroyed the usa in basketball lol. The team wasn’t even stacked considering wade,lebron,melo and amare were all first or second year players with no international experience and larry brown didnt let them play anyway. The you had guys like marbury, boozer back in his cavs days when he wasnt that good, etc… so it was pretty much AI and Duncan vs all. And thanks to euro rules, everyone can just collapse on the center. So lets not make it like they beat the dream team or something. Manu is a 6 on a scale of one to 10. He plays his part on the roles but stop makin it like hes some elite superstar.