Merry Christmas to all!! I spent a good 5 minutes this morning debating to myself whether it was Marry or Merry and thanks to the 82131 mass text messages I received I figured it out. Moving along, travel made sure I wouldn’t get to catch all three games today but I still have some thoughts.
- I’m not exactly sure that Miami realizes they aren’t very good. I love the throwbacks but they are playing like the 91-92 Heat. The way they started the game was just awful, and the sad part is they came back and were winning in the second quarter.
- Watching Shaq not even be able to back down Ilgauskas was really sad. I mean Big Z? Shaq took one dribble, went into Z and got bumped backwards. That happens to Channing Frye…not Shaq. Tears went to my eyes when I saw that. Regardless of any Heat team in history he needs to shoot the ball over and over and over. It’s better than Ricky Davis and Jason Williams clanking jumper after jumper.
- How did Jason Williams go from White Chocolate to Transparent. He doesn’t even get a flavor anymore. And why does everyone on Miami look like they have knee problems?
- Cleveland is even worse than I give them credit for. No one on that team can shoot. Miami’s lollygagging zone worked wonders early as Larry Hughes and Pavlovic clanked open jumper after open jumper. And all Gibson does is shoot threes. If teams defend them the right way they shouldn’t make the playoffs point blank.
- Definitely the worst Wade vs. James matchup in history.
- I love how the Lakers are finally beating the Suns only because this matchup feels like its been on TV 213 times over the past 2-3 years with the Suns dominating every time. Also it means the Suns won’t have won the Pacific Division by January.
- Amare Stoudemire is the reason why the Suns will not win a championship. It is all on his shoulders, he consistently gets destroyed by big men on a nightly basis. More on him tomorrow. No surprise Bynum had a career day.
- Speaking of the Lakers…reason for their improvement? Simple. They’ve been healthy, they have a point guard and they have a big man. Last year they weren’t that bad they just got hurt and alternated between Kwame (who couldn’t finish) and Bynum (who wasn’t ready). And I’m sorry even a 72 year old Derek Fisher would be an upgrade over Smush at the point. They are a very underrated complete team. They’ve got a superstar, a big man, a decent to good point guard, depth, shooters, athleticism…where is the weakness?
- Trevor Ariza stepped up big, moreso just with his athleticism and effort on both ends than anything. He made Grant Hill look like he was in Orlando again. And I don’t even want to talk about the dunk I just saw it on SportsCenter.
- Blazers; First off…I loved the red-out (even though the crowd might not have gotten the memo) AND I loved the fact that the visiting team wore their away jerseys too. None of this away team wears white I mean is it that confusing to tell the teams apart?
- Still not going to even put any sort of thought or emotion into the P word until after the nasty January slate (9 of 14 games on the road, 9 of first 11 on the road, 7 in a row). However…a couple of thoughts here. Are we like *gulp* a better version of the Baby Bulls? Just a young, selfless team that plays hard and plays together and finds ways to win minus a true, true superstar. Except we have B-Roy and a low post presence in LMA. Also I’m kind of reminded of that 04-05 Sonics team that Nate randomly coached to a 52 win season. I’m just saying.