Beaneball

Tuesday, 11/7, saw six NBA games, including the Lakers winning at home over the Wolves. Andrew Bynum led the team with a career-high twenty points, grabbed fourteen rebounds, blocked three shots, and committed a combined zero turnovers and fouls. That's just a remarkable game. It's unlikely that he had to mess with Kevin Garnett (that was probably Lamar Odom's job - I'd guess, in fact, that they guarded each other, which means more credit for Lamar, since Garnett ended up fouling out), and that means that he was only contending with Mark Blount, but Blount's a big guy (if not quite as big as Bynum) who's been in the league long enough to play nearly 450 games, but Bynum wasn't going to let that slow him down. Given Bynum's out-of-nowhere start to the year along with Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm's flashes of usefulness last year, one starts to get the feeling that Kareem is actually having some effect over there as a big man coach. The game smells like a team effort all over for L.A., as all five starters scored in double digits, and Kobe, even though he committed five turnovers, had six assists and took just seven shots (making five of them). Luke Walton had the kind of all-around offensive game he's capable of if he gets the rock, scoring 14 and adding five assists. He also contributed nine boards, a steal, and two blocks, all of which are pretty good for a guy singularly lacking in athletic ability. But hell, NBA history is replete with smart players who overcome less-than-stellar tools to become good players. Sometimes, in the case of John Stockton, great players. Ronny Turiaf, it should be noted, made the most of his thirteen minutes off the bench, committing five fouls. The rest of the games:

• Atlanta outscored Cleveland 14-5 in the overtime period to take a win in Ohio. Joe Johnson led Atlanta in scoring again, with 25 points, but Tyronn Lue had the line of the night, with nineteen points and eleven assists off the bench. LeBron poured in 34 and added seven boards, six dimes, two steals, and a block (and turned the ball over just once), but his supporting cast was terrible: James was the only Cav to shoot at least 50%, as the team shot 36.3% overall. Drew Gooden grabbed 14 rebounds, but fouled out and missed ten shots, including two threes. Why is Drew Gooden shooting threes?
• Indiana had a 25-point lead going to the fourth quarter and cruised to an 11-point win over the Sixers. Six players scored in double digits for Indiana, include Rawle Marshall's 5-5 (16 points) night off the bench. Energetic White Guy (TM) Jeff Foster grabbed ten boards in just 21 minutes. Jermaine O'Neal swatted four shots, but couldn't match Stephen Hunter's five blocks in just 23 minutes for Philly. Andre Igoudala shot 5-6 and Kyle Korver 5-10, but the Sixer stars, Alley-I and C-Webb, combined for 21 bricks. Webber, besides no offensive game, only contributed three boards. Is there any reason why he's still starting? I haven't said a good thing about him yet this year.
• Miami beat Seattle in Florida despite scoring just eleven in the first quarter. The Heat shot under 40% in Shaq's absence, but Dwyane Wade's 14-17 line from the free thrown line went a long way. Nobody else on either team shot more than six times from the line. I realize that Wade goes to the basket more than almost any other player, but still, seventeen free throws? The refs already made Miami's playoff run a 6-5 affair in every game - are they trying to win him an MVP now, too? Seattle's rookie center, Sene, didn't even get off the pine despite starting against the Lakers just a few days earlier.
• The Hornets beat the Warriors with a balanced effort: no starter played more than 36 minutes, no starter scored fewer than 10 points (Tyson Chandler), and the four guys not named Tyson took 15, 15, 16, and 16 shots, respectively. Chris Paul made the most of his shots, scoring 22 points while also dishing eleven assists. How many teams passed on drafting this guy again? Andre Biedrins blocked six shots for the Warriors, but also grabbed just five boards in 35 minutes. That's an inexcusable number for a starting five.
• Houston beat Memphis in a battle of teams I like to root for in minor ways. Jeff Van Gundy coaches an ugly game, sure (and this was an 86-80 affair, just his style), but I love his style. The Rockets turned the ball over too much (Yao, McGrady, and Skip had 6, 6, and 5, respectively), and got nothing from their bench (nine points), but they held the Grizz in check: Stromile Swift led the team in scoring with 15 points; Memphis was outrebounded by 12; and they were out-foul-shot by 13. Rudy Gay took ten shots in just 17 minutes off the bench for Memphis, which won't make too many coaches happy, though he did make five of them.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 22:13 | |

ESPN has the story that the A's will announce soon that they're moving to Fremont. This is sure to provoke all kinds of reactions from the fans who live in the area, go to the games, etc. I'm not one of those fans, so this move will impact me far less than it will them. The only effect on my end will be whether Lew Wolff will see revenues rise enough to authorize an increase in payroll. The happy thing, from the standpoint of "I'm never in favor of public funding for stadia," is that the stadium will apparently be privately funded (it's supposed to cost about $300 million).

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 17:29 | |

Monday night in the NBA saw seven games played. In order from closest to most-blow-outest, then:

• Utah improved to 4-0 by beating Detroit in Salt Lake. Andrei Kirilenko, my favorite player who I never get to see on TV, had two blocks, four assists, eight rebounds, and eleven points, and was one of six Jazz in double digits. These were led by Mehmet Okur's 23, and included backcourt benchies Derek Fisher and Gordan Giricek scoring a combined 25, making up for CJ Miles's empty game: 0-3 shooting for no points, three fouls in twelve minutes, and no assists, rebounds, steals, or blocks. The Pistons, trying to re-establish themselves in the post-Ben Wallace era, fell to 2-2. Five players scored in double digits, but their problem was defense, as they allowed the Jazz to shoot 48.2% and score 103 points. 'Sheed was good, with 25 points, 12 boards, and four blocks. The backcourt was bad, as Chauncey and Rip combined to shoot 7-25 and dish five assists.
• Orlando beat Washington by three, powered by Carlos Arroyo (again), who scored 23 off the bench. Hedo Turkoglu came back from a bad game to score 18, Dwight Howard grabbed fourteen rebounds, including six offensive, and Grant Hill fouled out in just 27 minutes. The Wizard bench scored just 16 points (remember that Arroyo scored 23 off the bench by himself; Keyon Dooling also added 15 as a reserve for Orlando), but it was Gilbert Arenas shooting just 6-20 and turning the ball over six times that sunk Washington. Antawn Jamison had 29 and 10, and Etan Thomas had a nutty game: 14 points (remember that he's probably the fourth or fifth option on the floor at any time), 15 rebounds (nine offensive, which likely explains a lot of the points), and six blocks.
• Dallas also lost by three as Golden State sent the Mavs to an 0-3 start. Mike Dunleavy came off the bench for the Warriors (and played just 13 minutes). Mikael Pietrus started instead, and had a mediocre game: 12 points, five boards, five fouls, and four turnovers. Don Nelson went with an eight-man rotation, only six of whom played more than the 13 minutes that Dunleavy did. Baron Davis led the team with 26 points despite shooting 9-22, and also had eight assists and seven boards. Dirk Nowitzki had a good game against his former coach, with team-highs in points (26), rebounds (11), and assists (6). Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse's bad games, though (5-15, 3-12) helped sink Dallas.
• That's it for the close games, as the rest all finished with double-digit margins. San Antonio beat the Knicks by 12. Tony Parker had 24 points and ten assists and Brent Barry dominated off the bench again, scoring nineteen by shooting 5-7 from behind the arc (and 0-1 from inside; he also shot four free throws). Steve Francis looked on his way to a good game, shooting 3-3 in eleven minutes in the first quarter, before he injured his left ankle and sat the rest of the game. Attempting to fill the gap were Jamal Crawford (3-8) and Nate Robinson (5-15). Channing Frye also had an awful game, shooting 0-5 and grabbing two rebounds in 13 minutes.
• The Kings beat the Wolves by 12 as well. The five starters all scored in double digits, as did John Salmons off the bench. Ron Artest paced the team with 22 and also added four steals (Shareef Abdur-Rahim also had four pilferies). The starting backcourt struggled with the shot again, as Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby combined for 9-22, and Bibby turned the ball over six more times. Mike James had the only performance of note for Minnesota, scoring 23 on 13 shots. Minnesota got to the free throw line just 14 times in the game, which is far too few.
• The Clippers beat the Blazers by 13 despite a huge game from Zach Randolph: 35 points on just 17 shots, 13 boards, three blocks, two steals. Unfortunately for Portland, no one else contributed. That's in sharp contrast to the Clippers, who played an eight-man rotation (minute distribution: 33, 33, 32, 32, 31, 29, 28, 22) and spread the ball around, letting everyone pitch it (point distribution: 20, 17, 16, 15, 13, 8, 8, 5). Every Clipper had at least two assists (except Corey Maggette) and one steal (Quinton Ross and Elton Brand had two each). Five different Clippers even blocked a shot, with Brand swatting five by himself. Nobody turned the ball over more than three times. Nobody had more than six nor fewer than two defensive rebounds. Everybody but Tim Thomas grabbed at least one offensive board. This is kind of remarkable, actually. I can't remember seeing something quite like it. It's one thing to spread around the scoring, but how often do you see rebounding, steals, etc. distributed that way?
• Finally, Chicago killed the Bucks by 25. Michael Redd scored 30 for Milwaukee, and Charlie Villanueva shot well again (8-11), but Mo Williams and Charlie Bell shot a combined 6-25, and Ben Gordon was just too much: 37 points and nine assists. Luol Deng, my favorite Bull, scored 17, and Andres Nocioni (the new Bruce Bowen) chipped in 17 more off the bench. Ben Wallace had a Ben Wallace night, with ten rebounds, five blocks, and three steals. Worth the money? This year, at least.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 16:47 | |

Monday night in the NBA saw seven games played. In order from closest to most-blow-outest, then:

• Utah improved to 4-0 by beating Detroit in Salt Lake. Andrei Kirilenko, my favorite player who I never get to see on TV, had two blocks, four assists, eight rebounds, and eleven points, and was one of six Jazz in double digits. These were led by Mehmet Okur's 23, and included backcourt benchies Derek Fisher and Gordan Giricek scoring a combined 25, making up for CJ Miles's empty game: 0-3 shooting for no points, three fouls in twelve minutes, and no assists, rebounds, steals, or blocks. The Pistons, trying to re-establish themselves in the post-Ben Wallace era, fell to 2-2. Five players scored in double digits, but their problem was defense, as they allowed the Jazz to shoot 48.2% and score 103 points. 'Sheed was good, with 25 points, 12 boards, and four blocks. The backcourt was bad, as Chauncey and Rip combined to shoot 7-25 and dish five assists.
• Orlando beat Washington by three, powered by Carlos Arroyo (again), who scored 23 off the bench. Hedo Turkoglu came back from a bad game to score 18, Dwight Howard grabbed fourteen rebounds, including six offensive, and Grant Hill fouled out in just 27 minutes. The Wizard bench scored just 16 points (remember that Arroyo scored 23 off the bench by himself; Keyon Dooling also added 15 as a reserve for Orlando), but it was Gilbert Arenas shooting just 6-20 and turning the ball over six times that sunk Washington. Antawn Jamison had 29 and 10, and Etan Thomas had a nutty game: 14 points (remember that he's probably the fourth or fifth option on the floor at any time), 15 rebounds (nine offensive, which likely explains a lot of the points), and six blocks.
• Dallas also lost by three as Golden State sent the Mavs to an 0-3 start. Mike Dunleavy came off the bench for the Warriors (and played just 13 minutes). Mikael Pietrus started instead, and had a mediocre game: 12 points, five boards, five fouls, and four turnovers. Don Nelson went with an eight-man rotation, only six of whom played more than the 13 minutes that Dunleavy did. Baron Davis led the team with 26 points despite shooting 9-22, and also had eight assists and seven boards. Dirk Nowitzki had a good game against his former coach, with team-highs in points (26), rebounds (11), and assists (6). Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse's bad games, though (5-15, 3-12) helped sink Dallas.
• That's it for the close games, as the rest all finished with double-digit margins. San Antonio beat the Knicks by 12. Tony Parker had 24 points and ten assists and Brent Barry dominated off the bench again, scoring nineteen by shooting 5-7 from behind the arc (and 0-1 from inside; he also shot four free throws). Steve Francis looked on his way to a good game, shooting 3-3 in eleven minutes in the first quarter, before he injured his left ankle and sat the rest of the game. Attempting to fill the gap were Jamal Crawford (3-8) and Nate Robinson (5-15). Channing Frye also had an awful game, shooting 0-5 and grabbing two rebounds in 13 minutes.
• The Kings beat the Wolves by 12 as well. The five starters all scored in double digits, as did John Salmons off the bench. Ron Artest paced the team with 22 and also added four steals (Shareef Abdur-Rahim also had four pilferies). The starting backcourt struggled with the shot again, as Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby combined for 9-22, and Bibby turned the ball over six more times. Mike James had the only performance of note for Minnesota, scoring 23 on 13 shots. Minnesota got to the free throw line just 14 times in the game, which is far too few.
• The Clippers beat the Blazers by 13 despite a huge game from Zach Randolph: 35 points on just 17 shots, 13 boards, three blocks, two steals. Unfortunately for Portland, no one else contributed. That's in sharp contrast to the Clippers, who played an eight-man rotation (minute distribution: 33, 33, 32, 32, 31, 29, 28, 22) and spread the ball around, letting everyone pitch it (point distribution: 20, 17, 16, 15, 13, 8, 8, 5). Every Clipper had at least two assists (except Corey Maggette) and one steal (Quinton Ross and Elton Brand had two each). Five different Clippers even blocked a shot, with Brand swatting five by himself. Nobody turned the ball over more than three times. Nobody had more than six nor fewer than two defensive rebounds. Everybody but Tim Thomas grabbed at least one offensive board. This is kind of remarkable, actually. I can't remember seeing something quite like it. It's one thing to spread around the scoring, but how often do you see rebounding, steals, etc. distributed that way?
• Finally, Chicago killed the Bucks by 25. Michael Redd scored 30 for Milwaukee, and Charlie Villanueva shot well again (8-11), but Mo Williams and Charlie Bell shot a combined 6-25, and Ben Gordon was just too much: 37 points and nine assists. Luol Deng, my favorite Bull, scored 17, and Andres Nocioni (the new Bruce Bowen) chipped in 17 more off the bench. Ben Wallace had a Ben Wallace night, with ten rebounds, five blocks, and three steals. Worth the money? This year, at least.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 16:47 | |

This weekend's NBA landscape looks a little like this:

• Saturday saw Boston fall to 0-3, losing a shootout (124-117) to Washington. With that kind of score, you'd expect some big individual performances, and here they are: Paul Pierce for 23 (and twelve rebounds; when did he become such a rebounding threat?), Wally World for 33, Bassy Telfair for 24, Caron Butler for 20 (and five steals), Antawn Jamison for 29, Antonio Daniels for 15 off the bench, and Gilbert Arenas for 44, including 15 from behind the arc. The key was turnovers: Boston turned it over 23 times compared to just ten for the Wizards. That resulted in a +19 points-off-turnovers differential for the Wiz.
• Cleveland, coming off a big win in San Antonio, lost in Charlotte. That's called a letdown game if I've ever seen one. LeBron shot just 3-13, though he did contribute with nine rebounds and seven assists. The recap claims that Adam Morrison, of all people, kept Bron-Bron off balance. Morrison, by the way, was hit with his first technical (and almost certainly not his last - he's not a player who hides his emotions) in the game, apparently for using inappropriate language while arguing a call. Big Z turned the ball over seven times for Cleveland, and added a technical foul, and Anderson Varejao fouled out in just 18 minutes off the bench. Besides the fact that they won, fouls were the story for the Bobcats: starters Gerald Wallace (28 minutes), Emeka Okafor (22), and Jake Voskuhl (15) all fouled out. That's pretty remarkable in a win, but the starting backcourt for the 'Cats carried the team: Ray Felton and Brevin Knight combined for 40 points, 13 assists, three steals, and just four turnovers.
• Detroit took care of business at home, beating the Grizz by nine. It's going to be a long couple of months for Memphis without Pau Gasol. Jake Tsakalidis played just 15 minutes in the game, and the only real big guy on the bench is Lawrence Roberts, a 6'9", 240 pound forward. Hakim Warrick and Mike Miller are nice players, but they're not going to carry this team to the playoffs by themselves. Rip Hamilton was the leading scorer in the game with 24 despite fouling out. Chauncey Billups had a bad shooting night at 1-9, but he had ten assists to just one turnover, and Jason Maxiell, a second-year forward, picked up some of the slack, scoring 13 off the bench. Five T's were whistled in the game, including one on Rasheed Wallace (you know he's not going to miss out on picking up a tech when that many are given out). Quote of the night comes in response after the game:

  I know they're going to have to do something about this crazy zero tolerance law. That's retarded. In my mind, it's kind of like a slave and master or father and son. You've got your little son and [you say] don't say nothing back to me - and to me, that's totally wrong. It ain't like that in any other sport.

  "That's retarded"? What are you, 'Sheed, 12?
• Indy beat the Knicks by 14 in the Garden, led by Al Harrington's 32 points, which makes Donnie Walsh look like a genius. On the other hand, Marquis Daniels shot 1-5 off the bench, which makes Walsh look like an idiot. Steve Francis fouled out for the Knicks after 35 minutes of playing time, but led the team with 25 points on just nine shots. Starbury scored just four points by shooting 1-9, turned the ball over six times, and only had one assist. I wonder who was guarding him. Maybe Daniels? Jamaal Tinsley isn't exactly known as a stellar defensive player (though nobody's going to bitch about D when you have 14 assists in a game). Nate Robinson had another nice game off the bench, scoring 13. If he keeps doing that, he'll garner some support for Sixth Man of the Year (and he's not one of those sixth men who's likely to play his way into the starting lineup, either, not with Francis and Marbury ahead of him).
• Houston destroyed Dallas in what's being termed a statement game. Dallas fell to 0-2 by getting blown out by 31. Only Dirk had a good scoring night, dropping in 24, but getting to the line just three times and contributing only four rebounds and one assist. Yao Ming dominated for the Rockets, scoring 36 points and hitting all twelve of his free throws. My two favorite things about Yao's game: his passing and his free throws. Both are rare in big men, and both are unprecedented in big men of Yao's size. Of course, Yao's size by itself is nearly unprecedented. But if we think about guys a few inches above players like Shaq, we're in to Shawn Bradley / Gheorge Muresan / Manute Bol territory. Yao separates himself by actually having skill. And remember, while it seems like he's been around forever and kind of disappointing, he's still just 26 and should have 5-6 more really good years in the league. In case you couldn't tell, Yao's probably my favorite non-Laker in the NBA.
• Milwaukee beat Sacramento by 13, mainly by winning the third quarter by 21. The Kings had five players in double digits, but nobody over 18 (John Salmons), and Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby combined to shoot just 9-29, including 2-10 from behind the arc. All five starters scored in double-digits for the Bucks, with three clocking in at over 20: Charlie Villanueva, 27, who had yet another good game with 11-17 shooting; Michael Redd, 26, who dropped in what seems like a totally-normal-for-him 4-6 from behind the arc; and Andrew Bogut, 21, who shot 7-10. Bogut did have five turnovers, and Mo Williams added six more, but both players contributed anyway: Bogut with his previously mentioned scoring, and Williams with twelve dimes.
• Utah beat Golden State in Salt Lake by 24. The Jazz improved to 3-0 with the win, which is pretty remarkable, but really shouldn't surprise anybody who actually looks at their roster: Andrei Kirilenko is an honest-to-god force on the defensive end (three steals and four blocks in this game), Carlos Boozer is a very good all-around power forward (17 points and 14 rebounds), Mehmet Okur, while not the bangingest center in the league, has a lot of skill (21 points on 9-13 shooting, 12 rebounds), and Deron Williams was very highly regarded coming out of Illinois. Plus, there's an interesting quartet of shooters coming off the bench: Matt Harpring (12 points), Derek Fisher, Gordan Giricek, and Williams's Illinois teammate Dee Brown. The Warriors had another miserable shooting night, hitting just 38.4% of their shots. Troy Murphy had another odd game, grabbing exactly zero rebounds. Remember, this is a strong 6'11" power forward. How do you get no rebounds?
• Portland beat Minnesota, sending the Wolves to their first loss, as the three-man bench overcame some mediocre games by the starters: Travis Outlaw had 18 points and 15 rebounds, Martell Webster scored 16 on 6-8 shooting, and Juan Dixon added 10, including the go-ahead three with six seconds left. Brandon Roy shot just 4-17 for the Blazers, though he got up to 16 points by getting to the line nine times. Craig Smith got tossed for the Wolves, picking up a couple of technical fouls.
• The Clippers sent the Suns to their third loss of the year, winning 114-108 in the Staples Center. The Suns shot 44% through a mixture of good games and bad ones: Shawn Marion was 11-19 (and 15 rebounds) and Steve Nash was 10-16 (and 13 assists), but Raja Bell, who hasn't gotten untracked at all yet, shot 2-10, and Leandro Barbosa was 4-12 off the bench. Bell also fouled out, along with Kurt Thomas, who contributed 15 points and 12 boards. Corey Maggette exploded off the bench for L.A., scoring 23 and grabbing 12 rebounds. Shaun Livingston also had a nice game as a reserve, scoring 14 and dishing nine assists. Tim Thomas had 13 rebounds and five assists as the equivalent of a starting center for the Clippers, and Sam Cassell hit all eleven of his free throws to help overcome a poor shooting night (6-15). The Suns added another player, by the way, picking up Jalen Rose, who had been waived by the Knicks. I'd have to guess this will cut into James Jones's playing time the most, with Marcus Banks perhaps also suffering, since Rose unlikely to replace Raja Bell (too much defensive value), Leandro Barbosa (a far better player at this point), or Amare Stoudemire (positional). In fact, re-thinking this, given the Suns proliferation of guys who can bring the ball up the court (Nash, Diaw, Barbosa, maybe Bell), perhaps Banks is the more superfluous as between Jones and Banks.
• Sunday saw five games, led off by San Antonio beating Toronto by nine in Canada. Tim Duncan had his usual good game, with 26 points and nine rebounds, Brent Barry had a remarkable game off the bench, scoring 15 on 5-6 shooting, with his only miss also being his only shot from inside the arc (i.e. he hit 5-5 from three). Even beef jerky magnate Fabricio Oberto got into the act, hitting 5-6 for 12 points. Chris Bosh had a Kevin Garnett-style game, scoring 19 and grabbing 17 boards, but the inability to keep the Spurs under 50% shooting sunk the Raptors, as they shot just 42%. The rest of the team numbers (rebounds, turnovers, free throws, fouls) are all very close, so the key really was just knocking down shots / stopping the other team. It's should come as real surprise that San Antonio did this better than Toronto.
• Atlanta beat Orlando by 13, which is very disappointing to me as a newly adopted Magic fan. Carlos Arroyo had a great game for the Magic, scoring 22 points on 9-9 shooting off the bench, but nobody else was over 14 (that was Grant Hill), and a couple of players were very disappointing: Hedo Turkoglu shot just 1-10, and Dwight Howard had five fouls and five turnovers. Joe Johnson continued to light it up for the Hawks, scoring 31 on 11-19 shooting. I honestly thought when he signed with the Hawks before last year that he'd be a Phoenix phenomenon, a guy who was vastly overrated by virtue of playing with Steve Nash and the up-tempo Sun system. He continues to prove me wrong with his scoring, and Atlanta has a .667 winning decimal, so he must be doing something right. I'll spoil this, though, and say that Atlanta fans should enjoy the present, because this kind of success shouldn't be counted on to continue throughout the year.
• Philly improved to 3-0 by sending Miami to its second loss. Shaq sat out with a knee. Knee injury! Knee injury! Damn you Al Michaels! (Shades of Bill Simmons.) Alonzo Mourning started in his place but played just 15 minutes due to foul trouble (he finished with five). Antoine Walker scored 23 by shooting 6-10 from behind the arc, but Dwyane Wade chose a bad night to have an off game, hitting just nine of his 21 shots and turning the ball over five times (though he did dish eleven assists). Allen Iverson shot the same 9-21 that Wade did, but also got the line twelve times, so he tallied 31 points in all. Kyle Korver had his second consecutive good game, hitting five of his six treys and finishing with 22 points, second on the team. Andre Igoudala did what he does best by contributing in multiple areas: 20 points, seven boards, five dimes, a steal, and a block. Iverson, it should be noted, also had 13 assists. That Alley-I managed to shoot the ball twenty-one times and still have 13 assists says a couple of things: Iverson is the center, almost the exclusive center, of the Sixer offense (and rightly so); guys were hitting shots when Iverson got them the ball.
• A night after its statement game, Houston had a let down, losing to the Hornets by six. NOOK improved to 3-0, matching Philly and Utah as the only undefeated teams (the Lakers, as we'll see in the next note, lost last night). The Hornets won despite getting outrebounded by fifteen. The keys were five different players scoring in double digits, facilitated by Chris Paul's remarkable sixteen assists; five fewer turnovers; a far better rate of turning those turnovers into points (1.333 points per turnover for the Hornets; 0.875 for the Rockets, which is pretty horrible); and a seven-point advantage in shooting percentage, meaning that they made one more field goal despite taking nine fewer shots. Yao Ming had seventeen and ten, but Tracy McGrady had his second straight mediocre game (5-15 shooting, five turnovers [though also seven assists]), and Shane Battier shot just 5-13 (though he was 5-11 from behind the arc, and added seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals - i.e. "glue guy").
• Seattle beat the Lakers by 16, sending L.A. to its first loss. Ray Allen scored 32, Rashard Lewis had 25, and Luke Ridnour added 22. Three guys over 20 points by shooting 11-16 from behind the arc isn't going to get it done for the Lakers. That could be just a hot night shooting for Seattle, but it was probably caused at least in part by too many open looks, particularly for Rashard Lewis, who was 6-10 from three by himself. (Is it me, or were there a lot of huge three-point shooting nights over the weekend? Brent Barry, Lewis, Battier, 'Toine, ...) Everybody got into the game for L.A., as they entered the fourth quarter trailing by 23. Even Shammond Williams got to play three minutes (and missed his only shot, a three). Kobe Bryant picked up five fouls and didn't shoot great (4-10), but it looks like he was playing the facilitator last night (nine assists to his ten shots), perhaps because of the foul trouble, or perhaps because his knee didn't feel explosive enough. Lamar Odom only took six shots as well, and when you've got Odom and Kobe taking a combined 16 shots, that means a lot more attempts for guys like Smush Parker, Andrew Bynum, Luke Walton, Brian Cook, Jordan Farmar, and Vlad Rad. Now, I like all those guys. I think most of them are legitimately good players. But they're good players at what they do. Walton's good at creating things for other players and being a general nuisance on the offensive end (backing down a smaller player for a layup, hitting a backdoor cutter for an easy two, etc.). Bynum and Farmar (who combined for 10-11 shooting, actually) are still learning. Cook and Vlad are good shooters, but they need the ball in wide open spots. When they're shooting a combined 17 times, you have to guess that quite a few of those aren't wide open.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 21:36 | |

Ron Washington was named the Rangers' new manager today. It states to obvious to say that it's too bad he's leaving the A's. Washington was given nearly all the credit for turning Eric Chavez into the dominant defensive player that he is, and got good marks for his work with all the infielders. He's also a fan favorite, at least as evidenced by the reaction on the A's message board at scout.com when it started to become clear that the Rangers were going to be making him an offer. As with all new managers, it remains to be seen how he'll fare in that role, and this might be his one shot at the manager post, particularly considering that he'll turn 55 at the beginning of next season. Bob Geren, by contrast (likely to be named the A's manager sometime toward the end of this month, I'd guess), turned 45 a few months ago. That's the difference between playing your final game at the age of 37 (Washington) and 31 (Geren). Interesting factoid about Geren, by the way, is that he was the player to be named later in the winter, 1980, trade that involved, among others, Rollie Fingers, Gene Tenace, Terry Kennedy, and Steve Swisher (father of A's first baseman / outfielder Nick).

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 21:27 | |

The Lakers improved to 3-0 last night with a win over the Sonics. The game was on national TV, and I've DVR'd it, but not watched it yet. Kobe made his season debut and had an ok night: 8-15 shooting (which is good for him, particularly the fact that he only took 15 shots, regardless of how many he made) for 23 points, six assists, but just four rebounds, and he tossed in six turnovers to boot. A couple of other players broke out for big nights, though: Lamar Odom did what he's "supposed" to do, with 28 points on just twelve shots, while dishing six assists. He also had just four rebounds, which is more surprising than disappointing; Luke Walton scored 20 for the first time in his career, and also had eight boards, five dimes, and even two steals; and Ronny Turiaf scored 13 in just 16 minutes off the bench while also grabbing seven rebounds and swatting three shots. On the defensive side, even though Earl Watson, Rashard Lewis, and Ray Allen (the top three scorers for the Sonics) combined for 71 points, it took them 60 shots to get there. Ray-Ray, in particular, struggled from downtown, hitting just three of his twelve trey attempts. Allen did manage six steals in the game, though, which is a little excessive from the L.A. standpoint. Kobe's return spelled a "DNP Coach's Decision" for Sasha Vujacic, which is too bad. The acquisition of defensive stalwart (and all-around good athlete) Maurice Evans and the drafting of Jordan Farmar seems to really have squeezed Sasha out. One problem with this is that he's the guy on the team most likely to turn into a real sniper from the outside. His spot on the pine didn't hurt the team last night, though, as the Lakers shot 9-16 from outside the arc. Speaking of getting squeezed out, I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going to happen when Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, and (lest we forget) Aaron McKie return from their injuries. It'd be kind of funny to send Andrew Bynum to the injured list considering that he's been the starter in the absence of those two guys. Ronny Turiaf has been out of his mind in these first three games, doing precisely what a good-athlete / widebody is supposed to do for a basketball team. Shammond Williams hasn't gotten into a game yet, so he's likely out. Brian Cook, as much as he might have been obsoleted by Vlad-Rad, just signed a two-year extension, so the team has committed to him. It'd be kind of senseless to then dump him. My guess, then, is that Aaron McKie never makes it off the list, Shammond Williams heads there whenever Brown or Mihm comes back, Sasha heads there when the later of the two injured bigs returns. That'll leave the Lakers with just two backup guards, though (Evans and Farmar), and one of them's a rookie who's likely to be just as shaky at times as Smush Parker is all the time. This isn't that alarming on the offensive side, since the triple post kind of de-emphasizes traditional positional roles, but on the other end of the court, you need some people who can guard the other team's little men if someone gets hurt or into foul trouble. All of that said, it's a nice situation to be in, certainly a better one than having three or four guys on the 15-man who you know aren't going to make an impact. I see the benefits of having every single one of these current Lakers on the roster (except McKie).

• The Hornets went to 2-0 against the Pacers, with rebounding being the story of the game. Tyson Chandler grabbed 15 boards for New Orleans, with eight of those coming on the offensive end. (He didn't have many putbacks, though, as he only took five shots in the game.) Desmond Mason also had more offensive rebounds than defensive, by a four-to-three count, and David West had three of each kind. In fact, the Hornets' 19 rebounds on the offensive side nearly matched the Pacers' 23 on the defensive side. That's just a terrible job by Indiana of protecting the glass. The best individual game of the night came from the guy who was probably the best player on the floor, Jermaine O'Neal (though Chris Paul would argue the latter contention): 25 points, six boards (three offensive), and five blocks. No assists to go with 19 shots is a little troubling, as is only getting to the line three times (post players should get fouled more than that, shouldn't they?).
• Philly beat Orlando by two, with Allen Iverson (duh) carrying the day: 39 points, ten assists, and one technical foul. Kyle Korver did what the Sixers are paying him to do, scoring 28 points in 30 minutes off the bench, shooting 10-13, including 4-4 behind the arch. He contributed nothing else to the box score aside from five fouls, but his job is to be a shooter. When he's doing that, it doesn't matter if he's not rebounding. The problem is that he doesn't go off for these kind of nights often enough to justify his long and expensive contract. The ever-rejuvenating Grant Hill led the Magic, scoring 25 on just eleven shots. J.J. Redick was active, but didn't get into the game, while Darko shot 5-6 off the bench. Somehow, the Sixers won despite grabbing just 22 total rebounds (compared to 44 for the Magic). How often do you see that?
• Toronto took out Milwaukee in Canada, winning by 17. All five Raptor starters scored in the double digits despite none of them playing more than 33 minutes. Those minutes came from Chris Bosh, who had a great night, shooting 12-16 for 26 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. T.J. dished 11 assists, and two benchies added double-digit scoring as well: Jose Calderon scored eleven and Fred Jones fifteen. Michael Redd had an off night shooting the rock, hitting just five of his fourteen shots. Andrew Bogut shot well (8-12), but couldn't pick up the slack left by Redd. Charlie Villanueva had another nice night, though, shooting 8-15 and grabbing eleven rebounds.
• Atlanta beat the Knicks. Fire Isaiah! The S.O. asked me last night whether it was ok to dislike Isaiah as a coach. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's ok. Whether Isaiah's good or not, though, he must've gotten into the heads of Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury. The two combined for 71 minutes in which they dished fourteen assists while turning the ball over just three times and, most shockingly, taking just fifteen shots. These are guys who haven't had trouble taking that many shots in a half in the past. Of course, it'd be more impressive if they'd done this in service of a win, but you have to think that would've come with better performances out of guys like Channing Frye (2-11 shooting), Jamal Crawford (1-8), and Eddy Curry (just two rebounds). In Curry's defense, he led the team with 20 points, but if you're as big as he is and you're on the floor for 39 minutes, you have to have more than two boards to show for it. Hell, Nate Robinson, all 5'9" of him, had two rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Joe Johnson led Atlanta with 30 points and also passed out eight dimes while turning the ball over just twice. He missed a fair number of shots (twelve), but the guys around him (Zaza Pachulia at 8-11 and Josh Childress at 5-8 in particular) shot well enough to make up for it.
• Detroit laid out Boston, beating them by 13 in Beantown. The Pistons did their usual, with the Big Four (Rip, Chauncey, Sheed, and Tayshaun) each playing a minimum of 35 minutes, scoring at least 12 points (Tayshaun bringing up the rear, Rip leading the way with 27), and each playing their role (Chauncy: 11 dimes; Tayshaun: helping keep Paul Pierce to just 22 points; Rip: four steals; Sheed: nine boards). Even Nazr Mohammed got into the act, going for fourteen and eight (five offensive rebounds) in just 22 minutes. The bench managed just ten points, though Antonio McDyess grabbed ten rebounds in his 27 minutes. Wally Szczerbiak and Paul Pierce shot well (8-13 and 7-13 respectively), but Wally turned the ball over six times, helping Detroit to a 15-6 turnover advantage that was partly responsible for the Piston's getting the chance to take 13 more shots than the Celtics. Sixteen offensive boards (eight more than Boston) also played a role. The "no rotation" Celtics had an odd distribution of minutes, with Bassy Telfair starting but playing just 19 minutes (which likely contributed to his having just one assist), while Delonte West got 16 minutes off the bench (enough time to shoot 1-8), and Rajon Rondo played 32, dishing six dimes in that time. Al Jefferson had 11 points and ten boards off the bench while playing more minutes than starter Ryan Gomes.
• The Heat beat Jersey, with Shaq having a near-vintage night, shooting 10-16 (21 points) and grabbing nine boards. The difference between this Shaq and the old one is that he went to the line just three times, while also turning the ball over five times. The Heat either won with defense or won because the Nets couldn't shoot, as Jersey made just 39% of their shots, "led" by Richard Jefferson's 4-15, as well as Jason Kidd and Marcus Williams' matching 2-7's. Nenad Krstic was the only Net with a significant number of shots to break 50%, at 7-11.
• Bron-Bron, as you've likely heard by now, went into San Antonio and beat the Spurs, leading the Cavs to an 88-81 victory. The numbers for the two teams match up pretty well: LeBron outscored T-Dunk by 10, but the Spur's next two highest scorers (Parker and Ginobli) made up seven points of that difference over the Cavs' next two highest (Hughes and Big Z); the teams matched assists, with sixteen apiece; the Spurs shot four more free throws, and the teams tied in makes; and the turnover count was 12-11. The significant gap seems to be the nine more rebounds that the Cavs grabbed, allowing them to take five more shots, which led to four more makes, and, hence, a seven-point win.
• Memphis beat Charlotte with a huge fourth quarter, winning it 36-13, turning a ten-point deficit into a 13-point win. Adam Morrison had his first good game for the Bobcats, shooting 8-15 (3-7 behind the arc) for 21 points (and, typically, doing nothing else: no rebounds, one assist, no steals, one block). The rest of the team, though, did nothing offensively, managing just 62 points. Raymond Felton had eight dimes (out-assisting even Brevin Knight), but 4-15 shooting and no free throws isn't pretty. Mike Miller showed Morrison how it's done, scoring 27 on just 13 shots, with 5-7 shooting behind the arc and six free throws (eight attempts). He also added nine rebounds, so he wasn't utterly useless on the other end of the court. The key, as in a few of the other games last night, was the shot disparity: the 'Cats actually outshot the Grizz by twelve percentage points, but Memphis managed to take 19 more shots overall by grabbing 19 offensive boards (just five for Charlotte) and turning the ball over six fewer times. Memphis also shot what you're supposed to shoot (24-28) from the charity stripe, allowing them to win eight points in that department compared to Charlotte despite shooting one fewer free throw. In the "big name rookie watch" department, Rudy Gay shot 0-4 in 14 minutes for Memphis.
• Chicago fell to 1-2, losing at home to Sacramento, who were led by Ron Artest (22 points, 13 boards), Mike Bibby (23 points, nine assists), and the kind-of out-of-nowhere Kevin Martin, now the starting two-guard for the Kings (30 points on just fifteen shots). The Kings held down Ben Gordon (2-7, five points, three turnovers) and Chris Duhon (3-10, six turnovers). It kind of looks like it was an ugly game, though. Artest shot just 7-20, clanked five treys, and committed five fouls. Bibby went 5-15, turned the ball over a whopping eleven times, and also had five fouls. Kenny Thomas shot 0-1 and fouled out. Shareef Abdur-Rahim committed five fouls off the bench. John Salmons got whistled four times in just eleven minutes. Luol Deng, in the midst of a good scoring night (29 points), committed five fouls. Kirk Hinrich had five more. Ty Thomas had four fouls in just six minutes off the bench. Victor Khryapa had three in nine minutes. The teams shot 37% and 41%, with the winning team shooting the lower number. Ugh.
• Minnesota improved to 2-0, sending Denver to 0-2 by turning a seven-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter into a three-point win. K.G. took care of business as usual, scoring 27 points on 16 shots, grabbed fifteen rebounds, and swatted three Nugget attempts. He also got good work from Ricky Davis (19 points on 6-11 shooting) and Craig Smith (20 points on 10-16 shooting in just 15 minutes off the bench). The Nuggets also had some great individual performances, with Carmelo going for 28 points and Earl Boykins matching that point total with just ten shots off the bench (13-15 from the line will do that) while adding seven dimes. The key to me looks like shot distribution. On a night when Earl Boykins, Andre Miller, Nene, and Kenyon Martin all shot pretty well, 'Melo missed seventeen shots all by himself, including five from behind the arc, while contributing just two assists (compared to four turnovers). This is the big reason why 'Melo is a clear (at best) third in the behind Wade and LeBron: he just shoots too damn much, and he doesn't do enough other things to make up for it (compared to LeBron's excellent all-around game especially).
• Phoenix dropped to a disappointing 1-2 as Utah won their second straight. This was another game where the losing team went into the fourth quarter with a not-insignificant lead (six points this time). The Sun starters went for all but 18 of the team's 108 points with a balanced effort: 22, 19, 17, 17, and 11 (Barbosa and Thomas at the front and back). The Suns didn't shoot very well, though, hitting just 41% of their shots, with Barbosa "leading the way" at 5-15, including 1-7 behind the arc. He did hit eleven free throws, though. The key looks like Utah's big men, who, as you'd expect (this is the plan for every team against the Suns now, particularly after what the Lakers did to them last year), pretty much took it to Phoenix: Kirilenko, Boozer, and Okur combined for 51 points and, most important, 37 rebounds, despite the AK-47 fouling out. The Jazz also balanced their scoring, though it was four starters and two benchies who went for 21, 18, 17, 17, 13, and 12. Raja Bell fouled out in just 32 minutes for the Suns, though Phoenix got whistled ten fewer times overall than Utah.
• Golden State killed Portland in Oakland, winning by 13. Michael Pietrus was the key off the bench for the Warriors, scoring sixteen points on 6-9 shooting and grabbing ten rebounds. Brandon Roy scored 19 for Portland despite shooting 5-16. My man Troy Murphy managed just two rebounds in 35 minutes, which is pretty terrible. Jamaal Magloire picked up two techs off the bench for the Blazers, though he managed 28 minutes and ten boards before getting run.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 16:53 | |

There were two NBA games last night, both Western Conference matchups of teams that should be in the playoffs. The first game featured two title contenders, with San Antonio making the trip to Dallas. San Antonio won by six after trailing by that margin at halftime. With the "losses" of Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed, the Spurs are down to cookie magnate Fabricio Oberto starting at the center position. Will it matter? The rest of the starting lineup is still Bruce Bowen, T-Dunk, Manu, and Tony Parker, and of course Big Shot Bob and Michael Finley are still waiting on the bench. The worry for the Spurs has to be depth in big men, though, because the only big benchie I see is Francisco Elson. Horry's tall, and he's a good rebounder and defender (at least, he was six years ago, and his reputation has survived; his actual skills may or may not be around), but he's a perimeter offensive player (1-4 last night with two treys attempted). In other words, where are the bangers? On the other hand, as Bill Simmons has noted many times, and as is becoming clear with these strolls through the box scores, size is out, and speed, quickness, and shooting are in. Look at Dallas's lineup, after all: Dirk was playing the four, and Josh Howard started at the three. The only big man who played off the bench was Erick Dampier (Austin Croshere will mix it up inside, but one indication of his game is his 2-3 mark on treys last night). Pops Mensah-Bonsu is also on the bench for Dallas, but you can't figure he'll get much time. As to the game itself, it looks like it came down to Tony Parker getting to the free throw line. Jason Terry and Devin Harris finished with five fouls apiece and Parker shot 9-12 from the stripe (Beno Udrih, the backup one, shot 6-6). The Spurs as a whole, as a matter of fact, shot 19 more free throws than the Mavs. The Clippers beat the Nugs in a game that produced a much more interesting box score (and, considering that the margin of victory was just one point, was likely an exciting game overall). Consider, for instance, Carmelo becoming the latest victim of the 'Sheed Rule, picking up two techs and thus finishing with just 21 minutes played. Marcus Camby nearly carried the team with a big-time Camby-type effort: 16 points, 18 boards, four blocks, just two fouls, and what appears to be a shutdown job in the paint: Chris Kaman and Elton Brand combined for just 14 points. The Nugs couldn't overcome Andre Miller's 0-11 shooting night, however, particularly since nobody could stop Sam Cassell (whether that was Miller or someone else, I don't know) on the other end. Sam the Man sprang for 35 while dishing six dimes and turning the ball over just twice. No other starter for the Clips scored more than nine (Cat Mobley), but Tim Thomas was huge (Lakers-series huge, really) off the bench, hitting five of his eleven threes and finishing with 21 points. Shaun Livingston got fourteen minutes for the Clippers off the bench but was awful: 0-3 shooting with four turnovers. He did somehow manage to block three shots and pick up two steals, though. Given what was written above about the move away from bigs, one has to wonder how the Nuggets are going to cope. They've got two legitimate bigs at center (Camby) and power forward (K-Mart), a small forward who won't be among the quickest around ('Melo), and a bench that includes Nene (6'11", 270), Eduardo Najera, and Reggie Evans, bangers all, but not the type to keep up with the Tim Thomas / Corey Maggette breed of forward. Normally, a mismatch works both ways: the banger can't run with the little guy, but the little guy can't match the banger in the post. The problem is that Najera and Evans aren't offensive threats, so the new-breed forwards won't have to face these matchup problems.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 13:18 | |

The Lakers, miracle of miracles, are 2-0 after beating Golden State last night by a 110-98 count. Lamar Odom carried the team again in Kobe's absence, this time with a near-triple-double: 22 points, nine boards, and nine dimes. The team lost ten points off its shooting percentage, dropping to 45%, but it didn't matter because they held the Warriors to just 41%. Don Nelson teams don't win games shooting at that clip. The big surprise for me, looking at the box score, is the distribution of minutes: Sasha Vujacic, who started against Phoenix, came off the bench for just seven minutes in this one; Ronny Turiaf played 32 minutes, second only to Odom (it helps that he had 23 points, nine rebounds, two blocks land two steals in the game - if you produce, you'll be on the floor); and Smush Parker and Maurice Evans started in the backcourt, but played just 23 and 16 minutes, respectively, while Shammond Williams and Jordan Farmar got 22 and 25. The only other number that really jumps out at me is that Brian Cook grabbed eight abounds in just 17 minutes. It's been noted that Vlad-Rad essentially duplicates what Cook does. Thus, it'll be imperative for Cook, if he wants playint time in this, his contract year, to show that he does some things that Vlad doesn't.

• The Hawks lost. Yawn. Joe Johnson dropped 25, but shot just 9-23 in the process. Zaza Pachulia, new competitor for “best name in the league,” scored 15 on just ??? shots and also grabbed 12 boards. Rookies Sheldon Williams (starting) and Salim Stoudamire (not) combined for 0-5 shooting in 24 total minutes. On the winning side, Allie-I did what he always does: shoot a low percentage, but get to the line a lot to make up for it. The result: 32 points on 21 shots. Big salaries Chris Webber and Kyle Korver combined to shoot 6-24, though at least Webber led the team with 13 rebounds.
• Chicago had a letdown a night after blowing out the champs, losing by 15 to Orlando. Following Ken Arneson's logic, that makes the Magic the current heavyweight champs of the NBA. I'm a shameless thief. The Magic shot a ridiculous percentage in this one, going 35-59. It was a team effort, as no single player missed more than four shots (Hedo Turkoglu went 4-8 and Tony Bettie shot 2-6). The Magic might be my favorite team in the East, now that I look at their roster: they've got a lot of players that I just like, including Hedo, Dwight Howard, Grant Hill, Jameer Nelson, Darko, and Travis Diener. Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich did something interesting for the Bulls: they played a combined 63 minutes without grabbing a single rebound.
• Utah beat Houston in a game in which nothing would make me happy. When their games don't matter to the Lakers' place in the standings, I tend to root for both teams. Unfortunately, the guy that keeps me interested in the Jazz, Andrei Kirilenko, played just 24 minutes, likely due to foul trouble. Carlos Boozer picked up the slack, however, scoring 24 points and grabbing a whopping 19 boards. Did you know that Derek Fisher was a Jazz? I didn't. He scored 13 off the bench. The Rockets' starting lineup looks awfully good, but it also looks awfully small: T-Mac is playing at the three position, and Shane Battier, while a very nice player, is no starting power forward, particularly in the West! does he have a chance trying to guard KG or Odom or Elton? The lack of bench depth will also hurt Houston: Yao and Tracy are going to play a lot of minutes over the next six months.
• The Pacers beat Charlotte despite being outshot by seven percent. The seven point difference seems largely explained by nine more free throws shot and made by Indiana. Nobody had a standout game, but Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 20 points with just six shots off the bench. (He also shot twelve free throws.)
• Phoenix hosted the other L.A. team and beat them. Shawn Marion scored 27 despite missing fire treys, and Steve Nash dished out eleven assists. The Clippers, despite their loss, look preposterously deep: Chris Kaman, Sam Cassell, and Corey Maggette all came off the bench in this game. A lot of teams would be upgrading their starting lineups if they acquired those guys. Elton Brand put up his usual 28 and 13.
• Detroit lost its opener at home to the Bucks. Maybe Ben Wallace really was important. Natr Mohammed, the new starting center, grabbed twelve boards but also fouled out in under 30 minutes. the starting backcourt for Detroit scored 25 apiece, but Detroit couldn't overcome the fact that Nazr isn't that good and, more importantly, the ejection of Sheed, who, predictably under the new rules, picked up his second technical after just 23 minutes played. On the winning side, Michael Redd dropped 37 in 22 shots, and Andrew Bogut (who I can't help but root for) shot 7-10, in sharp contrast to frontcourt mate Charlie Villanueva, who needed 21 shots to get his 16 points.
• The Nets took care of business against Toronto, winning the first, second, and fourth quarters by one, three, and six points (they tied the third). Jason Kidd started the year sharp,dropping a 14-10-10 triple-double. Toronto's international flavor, Jorge Garabajosa and Andrea Bargnani,combined to shoot 2-11 off the bench.
• The Hornets' overhauled lineup took down the Celtics in Boston, but the new additions took a backseat to Chris Paul's mad game: 20 points, ten dimes, seven boards, three pilferies, and, most importantly, just one turnover. Paul Pierce and Wally World combined for 50, and Pierce hauled in a remarkable 19 boards, but of the seven other guys who got into the game, only Al Jefferson made so much as a dent in the boxscore, shooting 6-8. Speaking of small lineups, by the way, this game saw Pierre essentially starting at the four spot. And despite the lack of size, Michael Olowakandi couldn't even get off the pine for Doc Rivers.
• The Knicks and Grizz played 15 extra minutes before New York prevailed. My favorite thing about extra-long games like this is seeing who winds up getting "DNP – coach's decision" next to their names. In this game, that's Malik Rose. Rudy Gay debuted with 21 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks, though he needed 21 shots to get his points. Q-Rich was the game's high scorer, with 31 points on 10-13 shooting) including 5-5 behind the arc.
• The all-Pacific Northwest game between Portland and Seattle came out with the Blazers on top. Nobody in the rest of the country cares very much. That could be a little harsh, actually, since Brandon Roy is now the starting two-guard for the Blazers. He had an “auspicious debut” (I'll stop at some point, I promise), shooting 10-16 for 20 points. Note that this line means he didn't get to the free throw line even once. Not that we can extrapolate from one game, but that's obviously something you have to do to have success as a score in the NBA. Roy should look at his teammate, Zach Randolph, who shot 8-18, and also didn't make a three, but ended up with 30 points because he got to the line fifteen times. Randolph even tossed in ten boards for good measure. Luke Ridnour had as many assists as the entire Blazer team (13), but outside of Earl Watson (six dimes), his team wasn't passing the ball either: just four other assists were tallied by Sonics players (three by Ray Allen and one by Rashard Lewis).
• Minnesota beat Sacramento by nine by taking the final quarter by a count of 28-17. Ron Artest shot just 6-24 for the Kings. I don't know who he was guarding, but Trenton Hassell and Ricky Davis combined to shoot 10-20 (but with no free throw attempts for either player), so it's not clear that he was doing a shutdown job. Kevin Garnett took just nine shots, but by making seven of them and hitting all ten of his free throws, he tallied 24 points. That's efficiency. Are you listening, Kobe? Randy Foye came off the bench in his debut, but played just six minutes and missed his only shot.
• Finally, the Bron-Bron game. (The swimming pool commercial is pretty good, isn't it?) Caron Butler (who is hereafter known as “The One Who Got Away” -- we couldn't get Kwame Brown for less than Caron Butler? Really?) led the Wiz with 23 points, as Gilbert Arenas had an off night, shooting just 2-12. On the other side, Bron-Bron and Larry Hughes split 53 points down the middle (26 for James, 27 for Hughes) and contributed in myriad other ways as well: ten rebounds for James, nine for Hughes; five dimes apiece; two blocks for James; two steals for Hughes; and Hughes didn't turn the ball over once (though Bron-Bron had five gaffes). Damon Jones continues to be overpaid, shooting just 2-10 off the bench, and Z Ilgauskas looks like he was playing (or rather, not playing) with foul trouble all night, as he finished with five fouls in just twenty minutes.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 21:38 | |

The Lakers opened their season against the Suns last night in a game I thought they needed Kobe to win. Turns out, though, that all they needed was a strong game from Lamar Odom, an "auspicious start" (in the words of Phil Jackson) from Andrew Bynum, and everybody on the team except Sasha Vujacic to shoot better than fifty percent (Vujacic, who got the start in place of Bryant, went 0-4, with all his shots coming from beyond the arc). Odom, especially, was exactly as huge as he needed to be in a game against a superior team, whether his best teammate was on the floor or not. Obviously, there's no sense in expecting 34/13/6 with three steals every night, but that kind of line is well within his talent level. It's not like Brian Cook suddenly jumped out with those numbers. Leandro Barbosa jumped all over LA, scoring 30 points off the bench. You can let him have that, though, if you (a) score enough; and (b) don't let anyone else on the Suns also have a big game. the Lakers succeeded on both counts, putting up 114 points and not letting any Sun outside of Barbara score more than 16 points. The three starters that Phoenix counts on to score, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Raja Bell, combined for just 17-41 shooting. Had they shot the combined 50% you tend to expect from the Suns, that's three or four more shots made. When you consider that the Lakers won by eight, three or four shots is all you need to decide the game. - - The Heat, on the other hand, needed a lot more than three or four shots. They were absolutely demolished at home by Chicago, who won by 42 points. Kirk Hinrich led the way with 26 points and Chris Duhon complemented him nicely, shooting 7-8 off the bench. Only Ben Gordon had a bad game for the Bulls, going 1-9 and not really adding anything in the non-scoring department. Of course, that's the trouble with these shooting guards. If they're not shooting, they're often not doing much at all. Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha made their debuts, and the latter's was "auspicious," as he shot 4-4 and made all three of his free throws in just eleven minutes. Thomas had less luck, breaking his nose in a rebound battle with James Posey. It doesn't seem like it's serious, so expect Ty to don one of those goofy masks and be right back in the mix soon. As to the Heat, they embarrassed themselves. The world champ in any sport should not get blown out on opening night (unless there's been some type of Marlins-style fire sale in the off-season). Only Dwyane Wade played a game worthy of his ring. This doesn't really mean too much for Miami long-term, but reports did have the team a step slow, which should surprise no one, given the reliance the team has on Shaq, Gary Payton, and Antoine Walker. There's not a spring chicken in the bunch.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 22:53 | |