Buy Low:
Kobe Bryant, as everyone knows, is very banged up right now. The Black Mamba’s lost some of his bite during the past month, thanks to poor shooting from the floor and the free throw line. But with All-Star Weekend on the horizon, expect Kobe to get enough rest to heal up a bit and bring sexy back before February’s done. Unless his fantasy owner is impatient, or if your league is incredibly shallow, you probably won’t be able to nab him for too little. Offering your second-best player might do the job though. Read More »
Beast of the Night:Deron Williams returned from a personal leave of absence and put up 18 points, 7 rebounds, 15 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and hit a three. He shot 47 percent (7-15) from the field and 100 percent (3-3) from the free throw line. January was a forgettable month for Williams, who should get things rolling again in February. Read More »
Score a few more votes for Lionel Hollins in the Coach of the Year race, because he may have just figured out the best way to guard Kobe Bryant at the end of a game. Last night the Grizzlies were up two on the Lakers with 21 seconds left when Mike Conley blew a chance to ice the win and bricked two free throws. Then it was Kobe’s turn, and as he was going into his move to get space for his trusty mid-range jumper over O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol switched onto him. The 7-footer kept his arms up the entire time, and was quick enough on his feet to stay in front of Kobe long enough to force him to pass. Kobe did find Ron Artest wide open on the wing, but he missed and Memphis won. Read More »
In a lot of ways, Lakers/Celtics shouldn’t have even come down to Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce looking to trade daggers in the final seconds. The Lake Show dominated the first quarter as Andrew Bynum (19 pts, 11 rebs) took ownership of the paint and Kobe (19 pts) hit his typical array of tough shots that he made look easy. Then, after Boston recovered to make it a ballgame, L.A. found themselves down by double-digits in the fourth thanks to Rajon Rondo (21 pts, 12 asts) carving up the defense and Eddie House throwing in some big threes. So the Lakers rallied, and with 45 seconds left, Ron Artest made an awkward runner — yes, you could say all of Ron-Ron’s buckets are awkward — to cut the lead to one. Read More »
Late last night I was watching Rick Pitino weekly Louisville coach’s show — one of my favorite things about having 264 sports channels — when Pitino made a great point about defensive mentality.
Essentially, Pitino said, there are guys who get upset when they miss a shot, but aren’t nearly as bothered when they get beaten off the dribble. “We’re not going to be a good team until it bothers us more to get beat defensively than it bothers us to miss a shot,” he said. Read More »
Though it’s tough to cover everything in a concise manner, let’s attempt to traverse this broad topic by way of using a simple grading system. The first letter grade after each player’s name will be based on their performance thus far, in addition to how they’ve fallen short of, met or exceeded expectations; and the second grade will be based on their expected value during the second half of the season. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (3-34)
Last week: Lost to Milwaukee; lost at Atlanta; lost at New Orleans; lost at San Antonio.
There’s no good reason to bury Terrence Williams on the bench right now. T-Will’s minutes began declining sharply in mid-December, and this month he’s been clocking only five minutes a night. The Nets aren’t going anywhere anytime soon; forget Trenton Hassell and Jarvis Hayes and get the rookie some experience.
29. Detroit Pistons (11-25)
Last week: Lost at Dallas; lost at San Antonio; lost to Philadelphia; lost at Chicago.
The 13-game losing streak is clearly making the Pistons’ announcers go crazy. During Monday’s loss to the Bulls, Greg Kelser described a basic one-hander by Chris Wilcox as “dunking history.” Read More »
Sometimes he’s the enforcer. Sometimes he’s the fullback. Sometimes he’s the safety outlet. Sometimes he’s the emotional center. Whatever you want to call him, he’s usually not the star of the team; he’s the guy the star can’t win without.
The NBA is set up for each team to have its superstar (or two), who is then surrounded by role players. And truth be told, there isn’t that much difference between the superstars — Kobe and Brandon Roy can go shot-for-shot on any given night, same goes for Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki, and so on — but what separates stars with rings to stars without are the role players. Read More »
