28 February, 2009

Sloan, Coach of the Year?

Jazz,

- Finally, we have some love from the press - link. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090228-0301


So, could Sloan get this long-overdue, well-deserved Award this season? Who is his biggest competitor?


My worry is Popovich, who is a not-so-obvious choice. But if we play the full-of-injury card, Popovich also deserves some respects. Spurs play quite some games without Tony Parker, and Ginobili this season too...

Others,

- Marbury is back to NBA after 13 months. He looks alright in his debut in Celtics, and Celtics is smiling.

- 45 pts, 11 rebs by an almost 37-year-old Shaq.

26 February, 2009

Jazz, 6-Game Winning Streak

Jazz Game,

- Would win a lot earlier if Mike Miller and Kevin Love did not shoot that well

Others,

- Parker, single-handedly bring Spurs to two impressive wins. 37 pts and 39 pts, without TD and Ginobili. And Coach Popovich decided to rest Parker (i.e. Spurs w/o Big Three) when facing Cavaliers. How unique, and smart perhaps!

24 February, 2009

We count on Brewer

Jazz game,

- We count on Brewer. He never got much appearance in press. He is seldom praised by fans outside Jazz environment (hey, to be honest, even within Jazz environment, the opinion is mixed). But I feel if we want a champion, he is a very significant factor both in defense and offense.

- I am willing to give Boozer 10 games to play back his normal standard. And I expect him to give more efforts in this year playoff considering he has taken enough rest in the regular season.

Others,

- Thanks Celtics.

23 February, 2009

Pleasant Surprises for Rockets, Bucks

Others,

- Nice win by Raptors, but Chris Bosh just had a lackluster performance. On the other hand, Marion seems to be enjoying his time in Toronto (at least for now). Playing 44 mins with 16 pts, 15 rebs, 5 asts, and 1 stl. Can't complain, right?

- I said earlier in this blog that missing T Mac at worst a neutral news for Rockets. I guess we can be almost sure that Rockets plays better ball without an half-injured T Mac. He is great when he is healthy, no doubts about that. Just not when he is hobbling.

- By the way, Yao is playing more minutes that usual in recent two games - link. Let's keep watching. It could be a short-term push for results, but may not be ideal for the play-off.

- Without Redd made Charlie Villanueva, and Ramon Sessions have more minutes. Villanueva proved that he could be a scoring machine in earlier seasons if he played enough time, but Sessions is definitely a surprise for the Bucks. They recently really beat some good teams, including Nuggets today. (A Big Thank You)

- "Lamar has been asked more than anybody to make sacrifices that guys of his caliber normally aren't asked to make," Fisher said, referring to Odom coming off the bench for 45 of the team's first 46 games. "Now that he's back in the starting lineup, he's letting the game come to him and his talent speaks for itself." - I am nodding my head, can't agree more. I said in pre-season that Odom and AK have a lot of similarities in their games. They are both very talented and versatile player.

22 February, 2009

Jazz Dedicated the Win to Larry H. Miller

Jazz Game,

- Okur, so under-rated in the NBA envrionment. I am not saying he is the Top 20 or even Top 30 in the league, but he has been under-estimated for all these years, especially to NBA fans who seldom watch Jazz games.

- Brewer's jump shots are unusually accurate in today game.

- I have to admit that CP3 could perform even better if he is in a better team. In Hornets, he needs to bear huge responsibilities in scoring as a PG. Not healthy to his development.

- Rasual Butler's perimeter shooting is quite deadly in the recent two games. In contrast, Peja Stojakovic has lost his touches. Look at his stats in the last five games and you will know why I have this comment -
link.

21 February, 2009

What is Chris Bosh doing this season?

Others,

- Chris Bosh, sub-par performance for a while already. His teammate Jose Calderon played much better than him.

- Lakers did it just perfect tonight. Forced the OT, and beat the Hornets. Hurt their energy, as well as morale (it should have been a W for Hornets). Jazz will welcome you at home tomorrow!

- Suns score at least 140 points in three consecutive games. "I can promise you we are not get 140 Sunday (vs Celtics)," Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry commented. I guess so, but who knows, they won't have KG in the line-up :P

20 February, 2009

Jazz takes down Celtics at Home

Jazz Game,

- Very exciting game. Sloan said it rightfully - nasty game. Every rebound is a bloody battle throughout the game.

- I enjoyed some great moves by AK in this game. Of course we need to count the dagger by D Will at the end of the game. Harpring and Brewer did some good jobs.

- KG did not play in 2nd half. That's one of the reasons we can win this game. Their backups can't defend our athleticism.

19 February, 2009

Hornets-Thunder Deal Cancelled

Others,

- Okay, back to normal. The Chandler deal is cancelled. So, how much morale damage has put on those three involved players? The team that they are going to play for is exactly the team that wants to send them out for whatever reasons. And how long do they need to recover from that?

18 February, 2009

Jazz had a Good Start after All-Star Break

Jazz got an easy win, even without Okur.

Others,

- Tyson Chandler <=> Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox. We won't see all the alley-oops from CP3 to Chandler anymore.

- T Mac will miss the rest of the season. With all due respect, that's at worst a neutral news. Recently we can all see Rockets is actually playing better without him.


- A monster game by Dwight Howard - 45 pts, 19 rebs, 8 blks, in a OT win.

Shaq? MVP?

All-Star Game,

- Nate Robinson did a good job in the Dunk Contest. I guess Dwight Howard picked the wrong dunk for the last attempt, and also he executed it in a below-par standard.

- Shaq? MVP? He is very entertaining throughout the game, but I don't think he should be the co-MVP. And the bigger reason I feel so is that I think CP3 was doing a better job, though I don't like him that much (for obvious reason).

14 February, 2009

Heat-Raptors Deal

Others,

- Marion, Banks for Jermaine O'Neal, Moon. Well, if you read this blog for a while, you would definitely know I don't like to talk about release salary cap, etc...I focus on the immediate impact, and that's obvious to me, Heat is becoming a more dangerous team. They have a more solid defender in the Centre position, and Jermaine O'Neal is playing really well this year. Moon made everyone a bit excited about his prospect last year. Although he does not play as impressive as last year, he is still a solid contributor to Heat, and I don't think he is a lot worse when compared to Marion.

12 February, 2009

Jazz takes down Lakers!!!

Jazz Game,

- Nice win, nice win. Don't need to talk much about how important this win is.

- Hopefully D Will does not need to share so much burden after AK and Boozer come back. The only reliable help he is getting right now is from Okur.

- And...we almost lost this game by the sudden unusual missed on Free Throw lines, at Home...

10 February, 2009

Hornets showed they have ZERO depth in Bench

Others,

- Hornets, CP3 and David West did not play in today game. Result? Loss, 80-85. Looks alright? Looks deeper...Field Goals: 26/88 = 29.5%; Rebs: 38 vs 64. We seldom saw such a big gap in rebounds. If their FTs (21/22) were not that good, Grizzilies would have a landslide win.

- Big Al, out for season. Sorry for Timberwolves, and they can concentrate to play hard, or to lose more games for a better lottery.

07 February, 2009

D Will lifted Jazz for Two Wins

Jazz Game,

- Paul Millsap has an unusual off night, 2 pts with 8 rebounds.

- D Will has been attacking the baskets aggressively. I hope he does not need to do it after Boozer & AK are good to play.

Others,

- Kings retire the Jersey of C Web. A nice interview in NBA TV - link.

03 February, 2009

Jazz Won, without D Will, AK, Boozer

Jazz Game,

- I was cautiously optimistic before the start of the game, although we are without three STARS. The reason is they are also playing without Gerald Wallace and D.J. Augustin.

- Price showed his value, Brevin Knight continues to test my nerves. Both play 24 mins, and we can fairly (or unfairly?) compare their contributions by stats. Price is better, hands down. I prefer Sloan to use Price more when we need spark to come from behind, and only use Knight when we are having a comfortable lead.
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