Tag Archives: basketball
Reuters
Carmelo Anthony played better, dropping 30 in Game 2. Tyson Chandler was back to being himself after having the flu and was far more aggressive at both ends. He had a real impact on the game.
It didn’t matter. The Miami Heat led most of the game, took charge when LeBron James went on a personal run in the third quarter, and went on to win 104-94. The Heat are now up 2-0 in the first round playoff series as it heads back to New York.
The Knicks need to treat Game 3 Thursday as a must win because if they go down 3-0 it’s all but over.
And it may be tough to win Game 3 without Amare Stoudemire, who hurt his left hand punching a glass-encased fire extinguisher after the game. Not smart. But it kind of fits in with how this series has gone for the Knicks. Stoudemire’s status for Game 3 is unknown.
The Heat led from the start. With Iman Shumpert out due to a torn ACL, Dwyane Wade was able to establish him self early and attack in the paint. He helped get the Heat off early and finished with 25.
But these Knicks were more aggressive than in Game 1 — they ran more pick-and-roll so the defense couldn’t focus on just Anthony. Chandler had a monster putback in the second. Anthony seemed to have his way with Shane Battier on him, they ran other sets to counter the Heat’s fronting of Anthony. ‘Melo tried to shoot the Knicks to a win.
The problem is that is not going to work. Maybe once in a seven game series, but the Heat’s defense is too quick, too athletic, you can’t just rely on one guy against them. The Knicks are not sharing the ball enough, they are taking a lot of jumpers while the Heat get points in the paint. Right now, the Knicks are strictly the ‘Melo show.
The Heat have other guys. LeBron had 19 points but was key in the third quarter when the Heat pulled away. After Game 1 the Knicks brought double teams and tried to take the ball out of his hands, and it sort of worked. Well, until the third quarter when he just attacked anyway and couldn’t be stopped.
Chris Bosh also had a better game as well, including the dagger. He had 21 points but just three rebounds.
The Knicks need more from everyone else. They need better and more consistent defense. They need J.R. Smith to make plays on the pick and roll and get hot shooting. They need Steve Novak to score and Landry Fields to stop hesitating when the ball gets swung to him. They need everything to go right — their margin for error against the Heat is small.
They need it all to come together back home Thursday night for Game 3. It’s must win for them.
Jerry Colangelo had said last week that despite the injury to Dwight Howard, Team USA would not be changing its list of invitees for camp. They were going to stick with their guys. That plan lasted right up until the 1:20 mark of the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Game 1 between Chicago and Philadelphia. After Derrick Rose tore his ACL, ending his season, there is a whole new modus operandi for the heads of the global basketball competition organization. From SI.com:
Just three days after saying the roster of Olympic team finalists would not be expanded after the recent rash of injuries to key players, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo told SI.com that he is reconsidering his stance after the Bulls point guard tore his ACL in Game 1 of their series against the Sixers.
“What I said [previously] was that we didn’t plan to do any additions, but we had to continue to monitor the injury situation,” Colangelo said. “Obviously this is a big loss. [Point guard] seems to be, at this point, still a pretty strong position. But at this stage, quite honestly, I think all bets are off.”
via Jerry Colangelo reconsiders expanding Team USA finalists after injuries – Sam Amick – SI.com.
It’s not surprising that they’re reconsidering. There will have to be more guard depth. LeBron James running point is fine for the NBA but with the quicker, smaller players available, you want James playing bigger (as Rudy Gay did) and need a real point guard. And they’re running out of available guys.
It certainly looks like there will be changes for Team USA in the future.
Back in January USA Basketball released a list of 20 players, a pool from which the United States basketball team for the London Olympics would be chosen.
But due to injuries, that list is down to 15. Derrick Rose’s ACL injury puts him on the shelf, along with Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Chauncey Billups. (Lamar Odom also is out after his season with the Mavericks.)
While recently he said differently, the Rose injury has USA Basketball head honcho Jerry Colangelo telling Sam Amick at Sports Illustrated he may need to expand that pool.
“What I said [previously] was that we didn’t plan to do any additions, but we had to continue to monitor the injury situation,” Colangelo said. “Obviously this is a big loss. [Point guard] seems to be, at this point, still a pretty strong position. But at this stage, quite honestly, I think all bets are off.”
I still think the 15 they have in the pool is enough. Here is my dozen:
Guards: Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant
Forwards: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love.
Center: Tyson Chandler.
Healthy Cuts: Eric Gordon, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay
You could make the argument that Iggy or Gay should be in and Griffin out because of Griffin’s iffy outside shot and not even iffy free throw shooting. I can see that, but I’d stick with Griffin’s size because at points the USA will need it. They could have used someone like Andrew Bynum but he said he is not playing this summer.
Still, however you divide it up Team USA will be very good. Providing the rash o injuries stops
From SI’s Chris Mannix, with a tip of the hat to The Basketball Jones and the DC Sports Bog:
Lately, [Young and Arenas] have been seeing each other plenty. In Memphis, the Clippers are staying at a hotel across the street from the arena, the same hotel Arenas moved into when he got to town. Young’s room is just a few floors above Arenas’, not that he spends much time in it. He’s downstairs, with Gilbert.
For hours Arenas and Young hang out, rekindling a friendship that was unceremoniously torn apart. They don’t do much. They watch television. They watch game film. And they talk trash. Arenas feeds Young disinformation (“We’re going to double you here”) and Young (“What do you know? You play like 10 minutes a game”) fires back. When they are hungry, they go eat. When they want to shop, they go to the mall. When they want coffee, they go to Starbucks together.
“Gil is like my family,” Young said. “His sons call me ‘uncle.’ It’s been really good to see him.”
Arenas and Young were, of course, teammates in Washington, which was a team with serious problems both on and off the court — problems which were often caused by Arenas and Young’s behavior, specifically Arenas’ decision to bring guns into the locker room. Now that both players have found their way into the playoffs, they’re putting their past behind them and focusing on their friendship, as well as the task at hand — beating each other’s teams.
Young was an integral part of the Clippers’ epic comeback win in game 1, as he came off the bench to hit 3 three-pointers in exactly one minute to cut the Grizzlies’ lead from 12 points to 3 points with just over a minute remaining. Arenas, who spent most of the season as an unsigned free agent, isn’t as important to his team as Young is, but he’s still being relied upon as a backup option at the point guard spot.
While we all love to see players battling it out on the court like nothing else matters, it’s also good to see stories like this, when we’re reminded that friendships can be more important than uniforms — at least until the opening tip.
How did the Clippers do it? They went on a 28-3 run to close out Sunday night’s game and steal a dramatic 99-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. If you want to see how they did it, above you can see all the baskets of that run. There are some easy buckets inside and Nick Young raining down threes.
Memphis slipped on defense, but the bigger problem was their offense disapeared — they stopped pounding the ball inside with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, and the good looks they did get they just missed. It snowballed. And every miss fueled the Clippers, who to the credit of the young team did not roll over.
We thought going in this would be the best series of the first round, but who saw this coming?
Hat tip to Eye on Basketball.
AP
UPDATE 11:16 am: Chris Bosh will make it back to New York for Game 3 Thursday night, reports David Aldridge of TNT and NBA.com. Here is his tweet.
Told Chris Bosh will be back in NYC in time for Game 3 tonight. Bosh’s wife, Adrienne, gave birth to the couple’s child this am in Miami.
8:36 am: Chris Bosh’s wife called saying it was time and the Heat big man has flown back to Miami to be with her and his child, who was born early Thursday morning according to a tweet from Bosh’s wife.
That makes him questionable for Game 3 Thursday night in New York. The Heat have not made any decision on whether he will play or no yet.
Heat fans should not complain about this — some things are more important than a basketball game, and this is one of them. By a mile. If you are questioning him… well, your priorities are poorly ordered.
Bosh has averaged 15 points and 5 rebounds a game in the Heat’s two wins in Miami. If he misses the game, and since the Knicks will be without Amare Stoudemire, we could see some real lineup shifts for this key contest.
The Heat are up 2-0 and Game 3 is pretty much a must win for New York.
You can get your Brooklyn Nets basketball gear now.
The new logo was officially unveiled Monday — a black-and-white shield featuring a prominent “B” was designed by Net minority owner Jay-Z. The idea is an update of both the old Nets logo and the “B” as an update to the letter that was on the caps of the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the day. Brooklynites really have not let that go yet.
Brooklyn Nets shirts, hats and everything but jerseys went on sale Monday, although Jay Z was wearing them at a concert he performed last week. Apparently as team owner and logo designer he has some sort of privileged access.
I like the look. It’s a stark change from the red, white and blue of the Nets, but it feels a lot more Brooklyn — and not just New York. Which is the goal Jay-Z talks about.
When the lockout came, Andrei Kirilenko took his talents to his native Moscow, playing for European power CSKA Moscow.
Now a Russian connection may be bringing him back to the NBA and Brooklyn. Here is a tweet from European basketball writer Wendell Maxey (via Sam Amick of SI):
spoke with two contacts in russia close to andrei kirilenko. say AK to brooklyn nets deal in place. plans to sign 3-year after euroleague.
Interesting. You can bet Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has his fingerprints on this. No official announcement would come until CSKA Moscow is done with Euroleague next month.
Obviously, Dwight Howard remains target number one for Brooklyn this summer, but that is at the whims of the Magic. But what if the Nets get Kirilenko — who played with Deron Williams in Utah — and keep Gerald Wallace. Would that be enough to convince D-Will to stay and not bolt for Dallas?
Either way, this is a nice pickup for the Nets. Curious what the price is, but he’s a quality NBA player at both ends of the floor, averaging 12 points — a 6-9 forward who shot 36.7 percent from three — and five rebounds per game his last season in Utah. In Europe this year he averaged 14 and 7, shooting 60 percent from the floor, and was named Euroleague’s top defender.
Getty Images
This summer, Luol Deng will be the face of British basketball.
The Olympics are coming to London and that means Great Britain got a spot in the Olympic basketball tournament along with powers like the United States and Spain. Deng is going to be out in front of that parade.
Which means the potential wrist surgery he needs will be put off. He hasn’t settled on having the surgery, however, he tells K.J. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Deng said Thursday he remains committed to the Olympics, where he will be the face of the British national team. Deng added he hasn’t decided on surgery but that it remains an option.
Deng did say he is more accustomed to playing with the injury now after initially struggling with the pain and limitations it placed on his game. Deng has been driving more and dribbling with his left hand, two things he mostly avoided when he first came back Feb. 4.
With the injury to Derrick Rose, Deng may get more time off between the end of the regular season and the Olympics than originally thought. That’s a little more rest for the wrist.
But if he does opt for surgery in August after the games he will miss the start of the season. Both he and Rose would be out. Which would make the start of next season interesting in Chicago.
AP
SEASON RECORDS
Hawks: 40-26 (No. 4 seed)
Celtics: 39-27 (No. 5 seed)
SEASON SERIES
Boston won the first two games of a three-game regular season series by a total of five points. The Hawks’ victory came when the most was on the line, however, as Atlanta upended a short-handed Celtics team last Friday to give themselves a lead for the East’s No. 4 seed that they’d never relinquish.
KEY INJURIES
Hawks: Al Horford played just 11 games for Atlanta this season since suffering a torn pectoral muscle in early January. There was some speculation that he might be able to play against the Celtics, but the latest reports say that he’s definitely going to miss the first round … Fellow big man Zaza Pachulia is day-to-day with a sprained left foot, but he’ll likely be available to start the series against the Celtics.
Celtics: The Celtics took the last few games of the regular season to heal up, costing themselves homecourt advantage while trying to ensure they’d be healthy against Atlanta. It worked for the most part, too, considering Ray Allen is the only player expected to be listed on the injury report when the season starts Sunday, and even then he’ll be listed as “probable” due to a right ankle injury.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE RANKING (points per 100 possession)
Hawks: Off. 104.8 (16th in NBA); Def. 101.3 (6th in NBA)
Celtics: Off. 101.2 (25th in NBA); Def. 98.6 (2nd in NBA)
THREE KEY HAWKS:
Joe Johnson: It’s incredibly difficult to believe that Johnson won’t be a huge part of this series considering he’ll likely be counted on to shoulder the majority of the scoring load for Atlanta throughout the playoffs. The swingman went through a bit of a slump through the first few weeks of April, but ended the season on a high note — and, for the history buffs among us, Johnson began his NBA career as a member of the Celtics in 2001 before being traded midseason for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers (whoops!).
Josh Smith: The enigmatic forward hasn’t made a lot of fans over his career due to a lot of people focusing on what he doesn’t do well on the basketball court. When one pays attention to what Smith does do well, however, they see that he’s a solid defender, a good rebounder (when he concentrates on that part of the game, of course) and is actually passing the ball better than every other big when looking at his 20.6 percent assist rate.
Jeff Teague: The quick-footed point guard broke out around this time last year when he was inserted into the starting lineup against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls during the second round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. Teague will need to step his game up in the postseason again this year, too, as his matchup against Rajon Rondo could easily be the deciding factor if he’s unable to step up in the playoffs once again.
THREE KEY CELTICS
Rajon Rondo: It was almost a given this season that when the Celtics were on national television, their point guard was going to have a magnificent game. The Celtics-Hawks series will be nationally broadcast in its entirety, however, meaning Rondo will be counted on to carry quite a bit of the load — if not scoring, certainly distributing — while trying to move his team to the second round as injury-free as possible.
Kevin Garnett: The Celtics struggled early this season, but things seemed to undergo a huge change when head coach Doc Rivers decided to move Garnett to the center position. He might not be as good as he once was, but considering the Hawks have had dealt with massive center issues, he should have at least one more series in which he’s able to showcase his game-changing talent.
Paul Pierce: Way to go out on a limb and pick the three healthy Celtics starters as the three Boston players key to the first round, our lovely readers are probably saying upon seeing Pierce’s name in this slot. The longtime Celtic will certainly be important for Boston’s chances in the first round, however, as the Celtics could use some scoring until Ray Allen returns to full health.
OUTLOOK
This series probably isn’t the sexiest of the eight matchups in the first round of the postseason, but it should be one of the best. The veteran-laden Celtics are likely making one of their last runs in the postseason and, fortunately for them, they got better as the season rolled on. The Hawks are trying to get a monkey off of their back this year, too, considering they enter the playoffs with the memory of losing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals the last three years. With both teams likely playing with a sense of urgency, it’ll be interesting to watch whether the Celtics are able to excel after starting the series on the road.
PREDICTION
These games could easily be very boring considering two of their three meetings during the regular season resulted in the winner scoring less than 90 points. Low-scoring basketball could also mean playoff-physical basketball, though, and both teams have two former D-League call-ups capable of delivering in those types of circumstances (say hello, Ivan Johnson and Greg Stiemsma). Hopefully it isn’t ugly basketball filled with missed perimeter jumpers, but it wouldn’t be so bad to see a sort of throwback game when the series starts on Sunday night.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, the veteran savvy of the Celtics should prove to be key.
Celtics in 6.
