Booz Blues
Rajon Rondo (photo. Christian Kozowyck)Maybe this injury thing will turn out to be a positive for Carlos Boozer. You know how Chauncey Billups and Brett Favre became expendable once their respective teams developed crushes on Rodney Stuckey and Aaron Rodgers, but then Billups and Favre have enjoyed career-rejuvenating success with their new teams? That could be Booz, who has a $12 million player-option looming in ‘09, but may walk if the Jazz make it clear they’d rather open the checkbook and throw their support behind Paul Millsap. While Utah lost in Boston last night — the C’s 15th win in a row — Millsap was a BEAST. He posted a career-high 32 points and pulled down 10 boards, looking like an All-Star and blowing up whatever Doc Rivers had planned for him defensively. While we always saw Millsap as one of those Maxiell/Powe/Bass types, the all-effort and little-skill guys, he was throwing in everything from turnaround fadeaways to finger rolls against the C’s. Millsap is already gonna have a very strong case for Most Improved (along with J.J. Barea) come springtime, but are these monster games he’s registering as a starter going to count for or against his case for Sixth Man of the Year? … The difference for Boston was Rajon Rondo, who thoroughly outplayed Deron Williams to the tune of 25 points, nine boards, eight assists and three steals. Rondo dominated the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points in the final five and a half minutes, abusing everyone off the dribble and eventually fouling out Deron, who was visibly frustrated all night … The bad news for Boston? Paul Pierce went down in the fourth with what looked like a hyperextended knee and had to be helped off the court. Pierce went to the locker room to chants of “M-V-P!” and later said he’d be fine, but we’ll keep you updated if anything more serious develops … BTW, what was up with that purple velvet jacket Booz was wearing on the bench? We know Booz was leasing one of his real estate properties to Prince a while back, but we didn’t know he was taking fashion advice from the little man on top of the rent … At least the Raptors can say they didn’t let Vince Carter beat them this time. While VC put up a healthy 20 points, 10 boards and five assists in his favorite arena, the Nets won primarily due to controlling the glass (54-38 rebounding edge) and holding a 26-2 edge in second-chance points. The Raps made a run in the last couple minutes of the fourth when Jose Calderon, Jason Kapono and Chris Bosh knocked down threes in quick succession, but it was too little, too late … Joey Graham likes that right baseline. For the second game in the last few days he threw down a pretty sick dunk from that spot, this time with Ryan Anderson playing the nail to his hammer …
Shaquille O’Neal (photo. Chenoa Maxwell)Mike D’Antoni didn’t feel too bad about dropping his first game back in Phoenix, because he’s seen many a team get their eyes shot out by Steve Nash before. “He put the dagger in us at the end,” D’Antoni said after Nash (21 pts) hit a backbreaking three in the final 30 seconds. “But I’ve seen that a thousand times. I knew it was going to happen. It didn’t surprise me.” … Shaq, one of the guys indirectly responsible for D’Antoni’s departure (no way Steve Kerr would’ve let Coach D go if Kerr had stayed committed to the running style), put up 23 points and 12 boards against the Knicks’ one-man front line, and Amare added 21 and 14. It would have been a real battle if New York had been hitting their threes. They went 5-for-37 beyond the arc in one of those games where their only chance was to get monster nights from Al Harrington and Q-Rich … He can try to be diplomatic and complementary of his former players, but it’s obvious that George Karl loved the Billups/Iverson trade. A few seconds before the Mavs and Nuggets tipped off, Karl was strutting the sidelines with an actual smile on his face, looking like a dude on vacation with his unbuttoned shirt and no tie. All that was missing was the pizza stains on his collar. While Chauncey’s floor leadership and defense has noticeably rubbed off on everyone, that his influence has extended to J.R. Smith is another reason Karl isn’t pulling those remaining strands of hair out. In our “One Player, One Three-Pointer” post yesterday, one of the readers suggested J.R. could develop into a Ray Allen-type shooting specialist as he gets older, but for the moment he’s doing OK blending his outside stroke with his above-the-rim athleticism. He dropped a team-high 25 on the Mavs, with one nasty tip dunk in the first half and some big threes in the second half to help Denver pull away … Is it us or does Jason Thompson look like he could be Chris Paul’s overgrown little brother? … Twilight Zone sequence during Magic/Warriors: Fourth quarter, J.J. Redick AND Marco Belinelli were both on the court at the same time. If that isn’t bizarre enough, Redick then missed two free throws in a row (that happened, what, twice in his four years at Duke?), and then Andris Biedrins came down and calmly nailed a plus-one freebie like he was Chris Mullin or somebody … Orlando got the W, with Marcin Gortat predictably having a career night (16 pts, 13 rebs, 3 blks). At this point you could put a good high school big man in there against Golden State, and the kid would put up at least 10 points and eight boards easy. Matter of fact, somebody give Derrick Favors a Roy Hibbert mask tomorrow night for Pacers/Warriors and we’ll test this thing out … We’re out like Boozer in ‘09 …
December 16th, 2008 at 3:30 am
gift of gab says:
1st.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:33 am
sans says:
Is Boozer honestly going to command more than $12M on the open market?
December 16th, 2008 at 3:35 am
sans says:
man, I really hope that isn’t the real ‘gift of gab’ posting a nonsense “1st”. I had so much respect for you before now…
December 16th, 2008 at 3:37 am
gift of gab says:
barea for most improved? that’s being sarcastic right? millsap has that one locked down.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:48 am
smity far away says:
@ sans
i think he might. i think a team disparate and/or foolish enough will pay up if he leaves…
December 16th, 2008 at 3:57 am
BUDZ says:
early early!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:12 am
heartbreaker85 says:
booz underperformed in the previous two western playoffs really. the first one it was all d-will, last year it was ak 47 showing glimpses of what he’s doing this year.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:42 am
dat dood says:
ha! i’m a warriors fan and i have been saying it for the last couple years… every big man has his career night against the warriors. I think last season brandon bass set his career high and then broke it the next time the two teams met. yao has his season high this year against the w’s. I have now seen gortat, andre blatche, david lee and the other gasol have their best games of the year against the warriors. if you are a big man, you are marking your calendar and telling all your boys to watch when this game is coming up.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:03 am
John says:
I think something is wrong with Miami, maybe there is something behind the door ,,, Lose to the sorry ass Bucks by 20 in Miami ??? 3 straight … If we somehow trade Marion with a nice a pick and a young prospect to Charlotte for Okakor and Wallace, and pick Boozer over the summer, we would be like :
Chalmers - Wade - Wallace - Boozer - Okafor. Forget 2010, keep 2009 in place and Wade will be a keeper.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:06 am
M Intellect says:
A few observations…
Paul Pierce ain’t hurt. He hyper-extended his left knee, dislocated his right knee and broke his toe in the NBA Finals and still came back for the 4th.
How you gonna light up Boozer’s jacket and then put Shaq’s picture with that outfit up there.
Seriously though, how did AI, JR Smith, Kenyon Martin and Carmello not get into some predicament similar to when Jamaal Tinsley and Stephen Jackson shot up the Titty Bar and then got run over?
Does Gortat look someone from Space Jam?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:28 am
solomon says:
there’s gotta be some media crap on that one - dislocated right knee’s one nasty shit not even matt harpring can play on, moreso play the series moving forward…
and GS is one messed up team… from the looks of it, they forgot how to win since JC came in… no d-ho should’ve been FT fiesta, but well, maybe they’re scared of marcin gortat’s assasin mojo… and by the way, mr. gortat, enjoy it while it lasts…
we’re out like dragan tarlac v2.0
December 16th, 2008 at 5:38 am
sans says:
Gortat looks more like the bad guy in Men In Black than anyone from Space Jam.
Does Space Jam even rank in a top 5 for ball movies?
December 16th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Big Sia says:
VC did it again
this time with leadership down the stretch, clutch boards, and letting ryan anderson sip his gatorade before the game
nets in the east bitches
December 16th, 2008 at 6:19 am
solomon says:
over cleveland and boston?
please…
December 16th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Quedas says:
# 4
“gift of gab says:
barea for most improved? that’s being sarcastic right? millsap has that one locked down”
Well, it’s definitely NOT locked down. Devin Harris is making a pretty strong case for himself there (and Danny Granger has to be in the equation also). Don’t get me wrong, I love Paul Millsap, and if he gets I will applaude, but it’s not locked down. It just isn’t…
December 16th, 2008 at 6:50 am
TCL says:
“sans says:
Is Boozer honestly going to command more than $12M on the open market?”
You’re kidding, right? $12 million is a STEAL for a guaranteed 20/10. There are a ton of players making more that produce less.
And Devin Harris is definitely my pick for most improved.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Celts Fan says:
MIP IS Devin Harris, it’s not a ?
Great call by the biggest homer ever (but actually on point on this one) last night. AFter Perk posts up Okur and backs him in for an easy hook, “Okur’s like a big lump of, umm, of nothing down there!”
December 16th, 2008 at 8:24 am
mules says:
Harris and Granger were already too good going into this year to win MIP. Right now I think it’s Duhon’s award to lose…what has he done before this year to ever indicate he had 8.5 APG in him? Barea and Milsap definitely make cases for themselves too but they’ll need to keep getting minutes after their teams heal up, still a question mark.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:38 am
GEE...He slapped that girl in the library! Hahaha! says:
Houston Up!
Of course when a starter is down, there is often some cat who comes in his place and drops 20 or 30.
So with that you have to wonder how many cats really could be averaging a whole lot more if they had more touches or if they started.
I mean it’s plenty of dudes in the NBA that can flat our score or find ways to create their own shot. Many of them just don’t get the time to shine as much.
So what players could probably start and drop about 20 -30 consistently if they had the touches.
The first name that comes to my mind is Jordan Farmer. Dude has the versatility to get it done.
I think Boston is trying to break Houston’s streak and they have alll the tools to do it!
Ron is injured way more than I expected. Guess that Houston water has gotten him too!
Sometimes when your squad is losing or your stars aren’t playing up to their potential, the season can be sooooo long lol.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
No mention of the Cleveland State three-quarter court buzzer beater to beat Syracuse? That was nasty.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:19 am
yoda says:
did pierce had to use again wheelchair to get of the court? or, its still early for drama queens…
December 16th, 2008 at 10:20 am
that's whats up says:
5-37 from 3 point land.
As a coach, wouldn’t you tell your team at some point - “Stop Jacking and start attacking”.
Five for Thirty-Seven = 13.5%
December 16th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
srb says:
Dime.. hit list me please.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Buffalo Brave says:
The Jazz would be foolish not to dump Boozer now in return for what ever they can get. Not only has millsap proven himself they have other young bigs just waiting for him and okur to move.
Keep AK and get Deron a better backcourt mate and they’re fine.
It’s obvious he’s gonna leave, and you cant take him at his word (See: Cleveland) so i would trade boozer now.
Fuck him.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Lady Luck says:
“5-37 from 3 point land.
As a coach, wouldn’t you tell your team at some point - “Stop Jacking and start attacking”.
Five for Thirty-Seven = 13.5%”
one would think. This is unbelievable. I can make a better percentage than this and I haven’t played in 10 years. My 11-yr old nephew shoots better than this. I am astounded. I think Marbury makes a better percentage than that……
I agree that Utah needs to consider trading Boozer now. They can get Marion for sure. Start Marion at the 3 and keep Kirilenko on the bench.
OR they can trade Boozer BACK to Cleveland and get Wally’s expiring deal and Varajao.
OR to NY for a draft pick (which will be high) and whomever they wanted outside of Al and Nate….even Lee.
OR to Dallas for Josh Howard.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Lady Luck says:
I doubt Cleveland would trade for him, but since DIME says that’s what they are offering for Marion, I thought I’d throw it out there.