NBA Match Game, 10.29
Dwight Howard (photo. Mannion)Five matchups to watch on the season’s first (almost) full slate of NBA action:
Atlanta @ Orlando: Al Horford vs. Dwight Howard
Young Beast meets Younger Beast. After surprising everyone with how seamlessly he adapted to the NBA game, Horford’s sophomore season begins with a bang (or by getting banged on). With Howard and Horford in the picture, there might be 10 available rebounds for everyone else to share. Dwight promises more jumpers and variety on offense this season, but don’t think he’ll pass up a chance to put his division rival on blast.
Milwaukee @ Oklahoma City: Michael Redd vs. Kevin Durant
Redd was fantastic last night, dumping 30 points on the Bulls and allegedly great defender Thabo Sefolosha. Durant isn’t known for his D, but he can trade buckets with Redd shot-for-shot. It’ll also be KD’s debut in front of the OKC fans, who start off the new era with arguably the worst two teams the NBA has to offer. Good for them.
Phoenix @ San Antonio: Steve Nash vs. Tony Parker
The last time we saw these two, TP was destroying Nash in Round 1 of the playoffs, including this 41-point gem. The Suns as a team have made a bigger commitment to defense under new coach Terry Porter, but Nash is still Nash, and Shaq has been misplaying the pick-and-roll for years. Robin Lopez might be Phoenix’s best hope here.
Memphis @ Houston: Rudy Gay/O.J. Mayo vs. Ron Artest/Tracy McGrady
If Artest can come close to shutting down Memphis’ best player (Gay), Houston should win in a rout. For O.J., his first NBA test is one of the hardest he’ll face all season, although T-Mac is still feeling the effects from last summer’s knee and shoulder surgeries. Remember that McGrady commercial where he talked about taking the kids to school every night? This could be a replay, or O.J. could set the tone for a R.O.Y. campaign with a big outing.
New Orleans @ Golden State: Chris Paul vs. DeMarcus Nelson
Tonight’s “Red Stripe Beer Special” has potential to get VERY UGLY. One of this year’s MVP front-runners goes up against an undrafted rookie who — while he was always solid defensively in college — has never really been a point guard and isn’t playing in college anymore. I believe they call this “Baptism by fire,” a.k.a. “Bring several pairs of shorts” for DeMarcus.
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October 29th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Jah says:
DeMarcus won’t do THAT bad…
October 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Ian says:
nash will get abused 2nite
October 29th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
thabo sefolosa as a “great defender”?
hahaha austin. no one would ever confuse thabo for a good denfender.
stan van gundy needs to tell him team to throw the ball in to dwight more often. dwight is their matchup advantage almost every night. enough with the 3s in orlando.
who’s on the OK City roster anyway?
phoenix and san an…two washed up teams. i bet niether gets to 52 wins this season.
mcgrady taking kids to school….funny. he never went to (college) school…so what does he possibly know about it?…lol
new orleans perimeter defense is weak. sjax and corey maggette should get buckets…but warriors will no doubt lose
October 29th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
rangerjohn says:
i like parkers chances in that nash/parker matchup
i like the spurs chances against the suns regardless
October 29th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
raf says:
what about Toronto vs philly, 2 of the summers biggest acquisitions. Brand vs Oneil??
October 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
this section is INCOMPLETE…
Dime: if you are going to do a daily/nightly MATCHUP edition, then you must preview EVERY game on the schedule for said day/night.
the only exception for select games should be games played on the weekend.
Have more respect for your readers….do not leave out games, players, matchups, teams or cities.
I need to speak to an editor or supervisor in your office. this type of ‘incompleteness’ is getting untolerable.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
QuEsT??? says:
what about utah vs denver????
October 29th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
dagwaller says:
yall, seriously? While I wouldn’t call Thabo a GREAT defender, that’s definitely his forte.
and think about what you just said about Orlando. Throw the ball into the paint more. So you’re saying that you want someone with as predictable an offensive game as Dwight Howard has (HULK WANT DUNK!!) to have the ball MORE? Let me tell you what would happen. Horford (or insert random center) mans him up; Josh Smith (or any help defender) collapses and either blocks his shot, steals it from him, or fouls him (resulting in a 1-2 performance if he’s lucky).
Or…Orlando could rely on its shooters (4th best at shooting the 3 last year) to…you know…space the floor? Ever heard of it? Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Mo Evans, and JJ Redick (if he ever saw the floor) are all very good to great shooters.
But you’re right. Probably best to just throw the ball to Dwight Howard every time. No one will (has already) figure that out.
Phoenix and San Antonio will probably both break 52 wins, since they’ve done so for the last bzillion years and haven’t gotten any worse.
(I do agree with your comments about T-Mac and N.O. tonight though.)
October 29th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
nick says:
utah will rout denver without melo.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Austin Burton says:
@dagwaller — “Hulk Want Dunk” is hilarious.
@yall — Feel free to fill in the rest of the games/matchups.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
austin…
not a problem. just cut the check
October 29th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
dagwaller–
hahaha. kiddish in ur response. i am not a big dwight fan (just a stan van hater i am)..but if your gonna quote dwight, at least get it right. he reps superman, not the hulk. insert your new joke–i couldnt careless.
as for your pretense on orlandos offense…comical. hey..why throw it into a 6’11 inch (hulk as you put it) beast from 6ft away, when you can chuck up 30 footers?!!?
do you see the error in your thinking? by giving it to dwight, you put pressure on defenses, get others in foul trouble, and btw dwight was amonth the leaders in FG% shooting.
but you rather chuck up 3pts? tsk tsk tsk.
and space the floor?…that starts with either 1 of 2 things…an inside presence that can create double teams (like hmm…dwight howard?) or a point guard who can get into the paint and create by dishing it out. but jameer nelson is 5 foot NOTHING. is that what you rather have when playing a team with 4 athletes on defense like atlanta (joe johnson, marvin williams, josh howard and al horford)?
van gundy isn’t as good a coach as most believe and they way he ignores his offense is senseless. dont stick up for him….
thank you, come again
October 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
doc says:
Memphis 4 the upset
October 29th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
dagwaller says:
Yall, you’re right about the Hulk/Superman thing, but you have to admit, Dwight is pretty Hulkish.
I see what you mean about needing to feed it to the beast, but doing it MORE? All I’m saying is that outside shooting and Dwight go hand in hand. You can’t just throw it in to him more – at least not til he develops more moves and/or free throw shooting techniques.
We’re really arguing for the same thing, I think. Getting space by either feeding the post (so they can dish it out) or by putting good shooters on the floor (so Dwight has space to operate).
I could care less about SVG, although I feel bad for what happened in Miami.
…do I have to pay you since I came again? Just wondering…
October 29th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Ian says:
yall
how about a little bet on the spurs and suns not breaking 52 wins?
u need 50 to get in the playoffs so with your logic both the suns and spurs dont make it.
goh with that
October 30th, 2008 at 10:14 am
yallallreadyknow says:
Ian–
I will take that bet. I believe niether the Suns nor Spurs will win more than 52 games.
So, what is the wager going to be? How about loser buys the winner 2 tix to a playoff game or maybe the allstar game?…or maybe just bragging rights on this board?
You can decide. But I really do not see either team exceeding that win total. Mainly because the eastern conference is so much better. Last year, the west was able to beat up on the east and collect 12 extra wins….i just dont see that happening again this year—thus i believe in the win totals in the west will be less.
BTW….
if either team ends with 52 regular season wins….I would win the bet. They would have to win 53 or more