by Stop Mike Lupica on October 31 at 10:25AM
Caught bits and pieces of the three NBA games last night. Some quick thoughts:
-LaMarcus Aldridge looked good against the Spurs, dropping 27 points. If he can do that against the best team in the NBA, then a 20 ppg season isn't out of the realm of feasibility. He might want to improve on his 3 rpg average right now, though.
-Joel Pryzbilla might end up on some fantasy basketball rosters if he keeps doing what he's doing. Martell Webster you should have already picked up.
-Ginobili was a monster off the bench: 16 points, 7-8 FT, 1 3PTM, 8 assists, 5 steal, and a block. In 29 minutes.
-Channing Frye barely got off the bench.
Caught most off the first half of the Warriors-Jazz game. As expected, the Warriors were incredibly inconsistent. They had little spurts here and there, especially at the start, but in the end the Jazz were too strong for the Warriors. The Jazz are a good team, though, so don't read too much into that. Also, the Warriors are missing Stephen Jackson for 7 games while he serves a suspension.
AK47 continues to struggle to find his shot (3-10 yesterday, missing badly on some shots), but he was a monster in the stats categories: 9 pts, 9 rebs, 8 asts, 5 blocks, 1 steal, and 3 TOs (bad). Of course he benefited from playing the Warriors; against bigger teams the Jazz will play more half court pick-and-roll ball, and he won't be able to put together the big number like that. Still, it's good to see AK47 get off to a hot start. Maybe he can work himself back into the top-20 fantasy players this season.
The best game of the night turned out to be the Rockets-Lakers. The Rockets took control in the third quarter, and had this game locked up until late in the forth, with 3:00 to go. The Lakers mounted a furious rally, led by Kobe of course. The Lakers had a 13-0 run that tied the game with 13 seconds to go when Derek Fisher hit a long 2-pointer (his foot was on the line). The Rockets, with no timeouts and no momentum, had Tracy McGrady bring the ball up slowly. He swung the ball out to Shane Battier, who let a three fly that hit with 2.5 seconds to go.
The Yao/T-Mac combo scored 55 points, which is about standard for the Rockets. The rest of the starting lineup barely contributed (Shane's three notwithstanding). The difference this year? The bench play. Mike James and Bonzi Wells combined for 20 points off the bench, and they outscored the Laker's bench by 10 points.
Kobe had 45 points on 13-32 FGs (ouch), and 18-27 FT (66.7%). Not a good fantasy night. He did have 8 rebounds, 4 assist, 4 steals, and 5 TOs. He's going to be an up and down fantasy producer this year.
Yao Ming was solid yesterday, though he didn't have the MVPish impact we are predicting for him. Oh, that reminds me... one other name for the MVP race: Allen Iverson. The logic goes like this: the MVP is going to come from a top-4 team. The Spurs and Mavs are locks, but voters would probably prefer to avoid giving the award to Dirk again (after last year's embarrassing MVP presentation while his team was knocked out), and Tim Duncan (who deserves it every year, but has "won enough"). So that leaves the rest of the top-4 teams. In my opinion, the other candidates are the Rockets (hence Yao, who would be a likelier MVP - foreign player, NBA wants to make inroads in China - than equally deserving T-Mac), and the "improved" Nuggets (assuming they win 50+ games and are a top-4 team). The Nuggets likeliest candidate? The reformed, mellow Allen Iverson.
The Suns are also a candidate for a top-4 team, but the Steve Nash MVP thing has got to stop!
I don't think any of the top teams in the Eastern Conference will be a top-4 team overall, with the East now more squished - the top 3 in the East and the middle 3 aren't that far apart anymore, as opposed to last season when the Pistons, Cavs, and Bulls all topped 50 wins, and the Raptors were the only other team to top 44 wins in the conference. Presuming that teams like the Celtics, Knicks, Nets, Bobcats and Hawks are all improved, it'll be harder for an Eastern Conference team to top 50 wins.
*************
Robert Goulet passed away yesterday. Like most people, I only know him has a sort of punchline, whether in the Naked Gun movies, or by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live. In fact, here's one of Ferrell's skits where he played Goulet:
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-LaMarcus Aldridge looked good against the Spurs, dropping 27 points. If he can do that against the best team in the NBA, then a 20 ppg season isn't out of the realm of feasibility. He might want to improve on his 3 rpg average right now, though.
-Joel Pryzbilla might end up on some fantasy basketball rosters if he keeps doing what he's doing. Martell Webster you should have already picked up.
-Ginobili was a monster off the bench: 16 points, 7-8 FT, 1 3PTM, 8 assists, 5 steal, and a block. In 29 minutes.
-Channing Frye barely got off the bench.
Caught most off the first half of the Warriors-Jazz game. As expected, the Warriors were incredibly inconsistent. They had little spurts here and there, especially at the start, but in the end the Jazz were too strong for the Warriors. The Jazz are a good team, though, so don't read too much into that. Also, the Warriors are missing Stephen Jackson for 7 games while he serves a suspension.
AK47 continues to struggle to find his shot (3-10 yesterday, missing badly on some shots), but he was a monster in the stats categories: 9 pts, 9 rebs, 8 asts, 5 blocks, 1 steal, and 3 TOs (bad). Of course he benefited from playing the Warriors; against bigger teams the Jazz will play more half court pick-and-roll ball, and he won't be able to put together the big number like that. Still, it's good to see AK47 get off to a hot start. Maybe he can work himself back into the top-20 fantasy players this season.
The best game of the night turned out to be the Rockets-Lakers. The Rockets took control in the third quarter, and had this game locked up until late in the forth, with 3:00 to go. The Lakers mounted a furious rally, led by Kobe of course. The Lakers had a 13-0 run that tied the game with 13 seconds to go when Derek Fisher hit a long 2-pointer (his foot was on the line). The Rockets, with no timeouts and no momentum, had Tracy McGrady bring the ball up slowly. He swung the ball out to Shane Battier, who let a three fly that hit with 2.5 seconds to go.
The Yao/T-Mac combo scored 55 points, which is about standard for the Rockets. The rest of the starting lineup barely contributed (Shane's three notwithstanding). The difference this year? The bench play. Mike James and Bonzi Wells combined for 20 points off the bench, and they outscored the Laker's bench by 10 points.
Kobe had 45 points on 13-32 FGs (ouch), and 18-27 FT (66.7%). Not a good fantasy night. He did have 8 rebounds, 4 assist, 4 steals, and 5 TOs. He's going to be an up and down fantasy producer this year.
Yao Ming was solid yesterday, though he didn't have the MVPish impact we are predicting for him. Oh, that reminds me... one other name for the MVP race: Allen Iverson. The logic goes like this: the MVP is going to come from a top-4 team. The Spurs and Mavs are locks, but voters would probably prefer to avoid giving the award to Dirk again (after last year's embarrassing MVP presentation while his team was knocked out), and Tim Duncan (who deserves it every year, but has "won enough"). So that leaves the rest of the top-4 teams. In my opinion, the other candidates are the Rockets (hence Yao, who would be a likelier MVP - foreign player, NBA wants to make inroads in China - than equally deserving T-Mac), and the "improved" Nuggets (assuming they win 50+ games and are a top-4 team). The Nuggets likeliest candidate? The reformed, mellow Allen Iverson.
The Suns are also a candidate for a top-4 team, but the Steve Nash MVP thing has got to stop!
I don't think any of the top teams in the Eastern Conference will be a top-4 team overall, with the East now more squished - the top 3 in the East and the middle 3 aren't that far apart anymore, as opposed to last season when the Pistons, Cavs, and Bulls all topped 50 wins, and the Raptors were the only other team to top 44 wins in the conference. Presuming that teams like the Celtics, Knicks, Nets, Bobcats and Hawks are all improved, it'll be harder for an Eastern Conference team to top 50 wins.
*************
Robert Goulet passed away yesterday. Like most people, I only know him has a sort of punchline, whether in the Naked Gun movies, or by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live. In fact, here's one of Ferrell's skits where he played Goulet:
Ferrell as Goulet rapping was always great. Here is the audio clip of Ferrell playing Goulet again, this time with Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek in the ride, smoking in the back. The best part is when the Big Horn ram pulls up to the car in the sketch, and Bleek and Jay-Z break character and start breaking on the ram... then Ferrell tells them to offer the ram a hit from their "reefer". A great underappreciated skit.
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