Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 8:35 am  |  72 responses

Post Up: Mr. Bean

Toronto gets the Kobe treatment, plus the Celtics and Heat take down other East contenders.

by Abe Schwadron | @abe_squad

If there’s a better cure for a hangover than pounding Gatorade and watching an afternoon slate of NBA hoops, I haven’t found it yet. Finally, Sundays are for basketball.

Lakers 94, Raptors 92

Kobe Bryant does it again. And the Toronto Raptors are still the Toronto Raptors (in case you were wondering). The Kobester hit a baseline jumper with 4.2 seconds left after shaking free of James Johnson, the go-ahead bucket in the Lakers’ win. On Toronto’s ensuing possession, Rasual Butler couldn’t find an open man on the inbounds, and was called for a five-second violation even though it looked like both he and head coach Dwayne Casey called for a timeout. Scott Foster strikes again! The Raps got a second chance after Kobe split a pair of free throws, but DeMar Derozan (2-13 FG, 8 points) air-mailed a three at the buzzer, as L.A. improved to 16-12 on the year. Bryant finished with 27 points (9-23 shooting) and was in full Mamba mode in crunch time, but it was Pau Gasol who drove the Lake Show for most of the game—he finished with 16 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists. Jose Calderon was huge for Toronto (30 points, 13-18 FG, 4-4 3PT) but no other starter scored in double figures, and the Raptors squandered a chance to take the upset. The Dinosaurs are 9-20 and still missing Andrea Bargnani, while the Lakers’ W capped off their “Grammy” road trip at 3-3.

Celtics 95, Bulls 91

Think Rajon Rondo felt a little disrespected after not being selected to the All-Star team? Well, whatever motivated his 32-point, 15-assist, 10-rebound triple-double, the Celtics took it and held off the Bulls en route to 15-12 on the season. It’s just the tenth time in NBA history a player’s put on a show like that, joining some pretty incredible company (word to Magic Johnson). After Boston jumped out to a comfortable double-digit lead, Chicago stormed back and cut the deficit to just three points in the final minute of the game. But after a Paul Pierce turnover, Carlos Boozer (22 points, 7 rebounds) didn’t see a wide-open CJ Watson (22 points, 6 assists) downcourt, instead calling a timeout. Still down 3, the best shot the Bulls could come up with was a long fadeaway two from Watson, which fell short with just over 20 seconds to play, and the Celtics hung on to snap a 5-game win streak for Chicago. Then again, the Bulls—who shot just 39 percent on field goals—played without Derrick Rose, who is scheduled to see a specialist on Monday for lingering back spasms. Booz should thank Rondo for his epic performance, because without it, the story of the game would have been the power forward’s oddly obvious hair helmet/paint. C’mon, B…

Wizards 98, Pistons 77

Wiz win! Wiz win! The Pistons came in winners of four straight (I know, I didn’t believe it either) but Washington used a 22-2 run in the second half led by John Wall to take a lead that swelled to as many as 27 and cruise to the win. Wall shot just 3-10 from the field (9 points), but tied a career-high with 15 assists and took over the game in the second half even without scoring, dishing out alley-oops left and right, mostly to Javale McGee (22 points, 8 rebounds). This game was tied at 45 at the half, and as close as 62-61 late in the third quarter before the Wizards—behind Wall doing a CP3-ish impression—went crazy and pulled away, overcoming 21 turnovers to move to 6-22. Rashard Lewis deserves mention for his 10 points, which put him over 15,000 for his career. In other news, the Pistons (8-21) reverted to crappy form, shooting 33 percent from the field as a team and 1-11 from the three-point line. Detroit got 27 points from Greg Monroe, but less than 30 from the rest of the starting lineup.

Heat 107, Hawks 87

I think I’ve written something to the effect of “Just when we start giving the Hawks credit…” or close to it about a dozen times already this season, and there’s no doubt it’s been written a hundred times over in previous seasons. But hey, it’s just one game, right? The score was tied at 16-16 in the first quarter, but by the end of one, the Heat held a commanding 30-18 advantage. By halftime, Miami had 63 points (most given up by ATL this year), was up by 22, Dwyane Wade already had 21 points, and Chris Bosh had a 10×10 double-double. The Heat led by as many as 32 and have now won 10 of 12 games. At least for one night, there was a massive difference between the top two teams in the East’s Southeast Division—Miami is now 21-7, the Hawks 18-10. LeBron James attacked the rim on his way to a 23/13/6 line in the blowout, Bosh finished with 14 and 16 and the Heat outrebounded the Hawks 52-38. If you had Willie Green in the “who will lead Atlanta in scoring” pool, you win—he had 17. The only ATL starter to score in double figures was Joe Johnson, who had 12 points on 5-13 shooting.

Warriors 106, Rockets 97

One game after beating Denver, Monta Ellis scored 33 points on 23 shots, and added 7 assists and 5 boards to pace Golden State past Houston, another Western Conference team with a winning record. Ellis helped the Warriors turn a two-point lead after three quarters into a comfortable double-digit lead late in the fourth, and as a team, GSW shot better than 50 percent for the game. David Lee chipped in a 15/13/6 line including a nice putback slam and Stephen (or “Steff-Fawn”?) Curry and Klay Thompson scored 14 apiece. After four games scoring less than 10 points, Kevin Martin broke out for 28 points, and Luis Scola scored 14 points to go with 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to get past the Warriors, who are now 10-14 (7-8 at home). Kyle Lowry had a rough shooting night (3-10, 10 points), but did have 9 dimes. The Rockets lost despite winning the rebounding battle 47-35—19 turnovers didn’t help. Houston (16-12) gets Memphis, OKC and Minnesota this week.

Jazz 98, Grizzlies 88

Gordon Hayward, y’all. 23 points on 8-12 shooting, including some clutch scoring down the stretch, as he and Al Jefferson (21 points, 15 rebounds) led the Jazz to a big fourth quarter to beat Memphis and move to 14-12 on the season. And frankly, the Grizz deserved to get a beatdown for wearing those Memphis Tams jerseys again—those unis are straight WTF material. By the way, in case you missed it, Rudy Gay admitted on the ESPN broadcast that he “picked them out,” whatever that means. Gay had 22 points, and Mike Conley and Marc Gasol had 17 each for the Grizzlies, but Utah shot 51 percent from the field and 26 assists as a team, plus the Jazz scored 30 points off Memphis’ 19 turnovers and 54 points in the paint. The win was the first of a back-to-back-to-back for Utah, as they’ll face New Orleans tonight and the Thunder on Tuesday.

Line of the Night: No competition: Rajon Rondo’s 3×2 — 32 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds.

Moment of the Night: Kobe doin’ work.

Dunk of the Night: The Celtics with back-to-back oops.

Tonight: Six more games on deck, highlighted by Lob City vs. the Champs at 8:30, and Heat-Bucks at 8. Can Milwaukee beat Miami for a third time this season?

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  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:09 am
    Like I wrote on here just a few days ago, I hate it when we have national TV games. We almost always play poorly, and our crowd is always a joke (almost always full of fans or in Miami’s case “fans” of the opposing team). No exception last night. The Hawks didn’t even bother to show up. Maybe they couldn’t wait to finish the game so they could catch the end of the Grammy’s. I don’t know. Miami played a great game, so all credit goes to them, but we didn’t even put up a fight. We obviously played Miami well the first time (beat them in their place). We lost a triple OT game at home that same week (of course they didn’t have Bron OR Wade that night so that loss was inexcusable). Last night’s game was simply embarrassing. It wasn’t a terrible week, since we picked up two nice wins (Indiana and Orlando), but the Hawks are certainly proving to be a notch below Philly and two notches below Chicago and about five notches below Miami. I still think a healthy (Horford) Hawks team is the 4th best in the conference, but ultimately, that’s not going to matter come Playoff time. Making Round 2 isn’t special (we’ve done it the past several seasons). Our ceiling is set. Maybe it’s time to just make some moves (trade Josh Smith while he still has trade value!) during the next month and just focus on next season. I still think we’re a good (not great) team, but let’s not kid ourselves: we’re not beating Miami or Chicago or even Philly. Let’s build around Horford, Teague, and Joe (no choice, because of his stupid contract) and focus on the future.

  • Sxxmi Posted: Feb.13 at 9:10 am
    Kobe travelled!! No two ways about it, catch, one, two, three, bounce! Travel!

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:13 am
    Interesting observation that I noticed (not sure if anyone else has written about this): If the Knicks beat the Raptors (which they should), Jeremy will have had back-to-back-to-back wins over Pau, Ricky, and Jose Calderon. I know a lot of people could care less about that ignorant photo that the Spanish national team took in 2008 (when they slanted their eyes with their fingers), but I’ll always be offended by it and although I don’t hate any of those three players (I love watching Rubio), I still think they should’ve known better. I think it’s sweet that a team led by an Asian American can beat each of those three squads in a 5 day span. Again, I know no one else might care… but I’m definitely rooting for it.

  • TODOTO Posted: Feb.13 at 9:18 am
    With Calderons abysmal defense, put money on JLin torching up the raps tomorrow.

  • airs Posted: Feb.13 at 9:36 am
    Ayo first things first…
    What the HELL was on boozers head yesterday?
    Look like he spray painted a helmet on.

  • AD Posted: Feb.13 at 9:40 am
    the hawks need steve nash…….. jeff teague is ok but he needs to get open that team open shots….

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:52 am
    I wrote a similar thing about Boozer’s hair yesterday on my Facebook page. I thought it looked like he got a Sharpie and just colored his hair. He’s obviously done something with his hair. As someone who’s gone with the clean shave myself, I can tell cats with receding hairlines… just go clean. Boozer just looks ridiculous. I think Deron Williams also has some fishy stuff going on too. Obviously Bron and Kobe are heading that way, and we’ll probably see them with chrome domes in a year or two.

  • what Posted: Feb.13 at 9:54 am
    If Nash was walking the ball over the half court line and giving it to Joe Johnson and standing around he wouldn’t be getting many assists either. They need to take the leash off Teague and just let him play.

  • vtrobot Posted: Feb.13 at 10:24 am
    it must be really frustrating to be a hawks fan. over the past 5 years, i don’t think there’s a team in the L that’s been more up and then really down. was Loozer wearing guyliner too? is that why he couldn’t get back on D to stop Wilcox? it was running in yr eye, dude? get some colored contacts too. WTF? instead, just follow gibson’s lead in life, basketball, and grooming.

  • Caboose Posted: Feb.13 at 10:58 am
    I just picture Boozer one day doing the same thing Jackie Moon did: eyeliner. Then he’ll just collapse onto the court screaming. His defensive ability will remain unchanged.

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 11:02 am
    5 years? How about a little longer? I’ve been a Hawks fan for 25+ years. I would write you guys a list of the bad FIRST ROUND draft picks we’ve made since 1985 (let’s just say his name rhymes with Jon Koncak) through 2011 (wait, we traded that pick away, along with our 2010 draft pick Jordan Crawford because we wanted Kirk Hinrich, who is currently backing up the point guard we already had on our roster who was not getting any playing time a year ago, Jeff Teague), but it would just for a really depressing Monday so I won’t. Other than the Warriors (just imagine how differently things could have gone in the 90′s if they just had a better front office), Cavs, or Clippers (nice 2012 they’re having, but you can’t forget about the past several decades)… is there a more depressing franchise than the Hawks, whose only pro title came when they were in St. Louis? I still imagine how different things would’ve been had we just drafted Chris Paul in 2005. Joe was coming into town from Phoenix in a sign and trade and still hadn’t hit his prime. It would’ve been the best young backcourt in the NBA (deserved or not, Joe is now a 6 time All Star so it’s not like he’s a scrub, even if he’s overpaid like crazy). Josh Smith and Josh Childress would’ve been entering their second pro seasons. That could’ve been the foundation of the most exciting young team in the NBA, and I’m sure having CP3 here would’ve attracted more young talent to come to town (maybe Dwight would’ve signed with his hometown team rather than re-upping with Orlando a couple of years ago). Instead… yeah. But either way, the frustations have lasted MUCH LONGER than 5 years. The brightest moments of the past 25 years of rooting for this team: Dominique Wilkins, the Pac Man uniforms, a couple of great late 80′s teams, Slam Dunk contest winners (Nique, Spud, Josh), Dikembe signing with the Hawks, hosting the ASG in 2003, Joe Johnson coming here in 2005, Al Horford in 2007 (remember, Phoenix owned the right to our first round pick and had we gotten anything NOT in the top 3, we would’ve handed that pick over to the Suns… and somehow, we jumped up to #3 that year), and Jeff Teague in 2009. Those are the highlights of 25 years.

  • Kadavour Posted: Feb.13 at 11:18 am
    1) Deron Williams brought the tape up back. point blank period. 2) Why isn’t Al Jefferson mentioned when we talk about the post-up game. 3) Rondo is a BEAST

  • Abe Schwadron Posted: Feb.13 at 11:24 am
    Myung: “is there a more depressing franchise than the Hawks” Yes, there is at least one. Hint: I root for them.

  • Dub Posted: Feb.13 at 11:28 am
    of course kobe gets away with a travel and no one says anything! Typical NBA reffing

  • niQ Posted: Feb.13 at 11:29 am
    @Myung & Abe. Y’all forgot about my Raptors =.=
    Although if just looking at this season Abe has me beat lol

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 11:31 am
    Any team in New Orleans or Charlotte

  • MUBWAR Posted: Feb.13 at 11:34 am
    Abe i really don’t get how our wizards suck! Javale Wall and the kid who dunk on lebron should be enough to make you guys at least respectable. My raptors have more wins i mean come on Abe

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 11:38 am
    Talent + Brains = Winning.
    .
    Talent + Hollow Heads = Wizards.
    .
    That’s how/why they suck.

  • Abe Schwadron Posted: Feb.13 at 11:39 am
    Well the Wiz have beaten the Raptors twice this season…I’m not sure what (if anything) that means but frankly the Raps have more competent players up and down the roster than the Wiz. I don’t even know what to do with the Wiz….BUT if anyone dared to watch the game vs. Detroit yesterday, Wall showed during a dominant second half stretch what he can do, now if we could just get him some decent talent….and if someone could teach Javale Mcgee to NOT goaltend and learn how to play PnR defense, we’d be headed in the right direction. Amnesty blatche, buy out Shard, let NY1 walk, add a Top 5 pick and use some $$ in a smart manner….please!!!!

  • Abe Schwadron Posted: Feb.13 at 11:41 am
    Also Monroe is an absolute beast. And he gets his buckets without getting plays run for him or the offense run through him. He’d be an All Star lock if they fed him the rock but Detroit is the most selfish team in the NBA. Hard to watch, really…

  • megatron Posted: Feb.13 at 11:49 am
    the bobcats may just be the worst team I have ever seen

  • robb Posted: Feb.13 at 11:50 am
    I’m glad Kobe finally made one of those.

  • MUBWAR Posted: Feb.13 at 11:52 am
    actually Abe i think NY is the most selfish team before the arrival of Lin. The first man who gets a look at the rim is shooting a la Toney Douglas. Back to the raptors, with Valuncia.. Ed Davis Demar and James Johnson is not a bad place to start. If the draft is not rigged like last year, we might get a top 3 pick. promising future but then again the raptors organisation have done alot of promises over the past decade with no results.

  • niQ Posted: Feb.13 at 11:55 am
    @Mubwar, top 3 is stretching it as of now. I mean, NJ, Detroit, Washington, Charlotte and New Orleans currently have a better chance in the lottery.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 12:00 pm
    If the draft isn’t rigged, then you have no idea what pick you’ll get. lol, not the other way around.

  • datkid Posted: Feb.13 at 12:16 pm
    Myung who’s the first player you’d trade on the hawks to make them better… and for who? and abe is detroit really more selfish than the wizards?

  • Abe Schwadron Posted: Feb.13 at 12:30 pm
    @datkid yeah I think they are. Mostly because it’s obvious that they have a dominant force in Monroe and yet they fail to get him the ball. Tayshaun is out there jacking up shots, stuckey the same and rather than developing BKnight and Monroe together the vets are instilling selfish tendencies. With the Wiz I just see stupidity (starting with the coach…) — and Wall is very unselfish, to a fault even, given his teammates. NYoung is extremely selfish and McGee gets in “I’m shooting this no matter what” situations too often, but of the guys who will be around long term, starting w Wall (plus Vesely, Singleton, Booker, etc), they’re ready to play team ball….just waiting for talented vets to a) show them how, b) actually play well. Not like Shard.

  • megatron Posted: Feb.13 at 12:33 pm
    the kings also have an extremely selfish backcourt

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 12:36 pm
    Well, this isn’t a fair question because I’ve been Josh Smith’s most vocal critic, ever since his third year in the League (I gave him a pass his first two). He still deserved to make the ASG this year, based on his production on the court, but I never liked him as a basketball player. He’s a heck of an athlete and looks good doing things (dunking, blocking shots), but his low basketball IQ and inability to dribble and his affinity for jumpers he shouldn’t be taking… yeah… that’s an easy answer for me. Other than him, a no brainer trade is Hinrich. With Teague running the show, Hinrich is no longer needed here (which is ironic, because Teague should’ve been running the show when we traded for Hinrich last year but we never gave Mookie 2.0 playing time until Round 2 of the 2011 Playoffs… and we gave up Jordan Crawford, our 2010 first round pick, and our 2011 first round pick to Washington for Hinrich). No one on our roster should be untouchable. I love Al Horford, but if we traded my favorite player so the team could improve, I’d be OK with moving him too. I’m glad we didn’t amnesty anyone though. We need to save that amnesty to use on Joe in about 2 years (does anyone know how long you can hold onto your amnesty clause for? I figure the NBA wouldn’t just let you hold onto it for years and years). Right now, it’s prudent to get the most out of him while he’s still relatively young. He’s under contract; might as well let him produce. Once his productivity slows, we need to cut ties with that contract, the way Orlando did with Gilbert or the Cavs did with Baron. Joe’s contract is a major albatross, but it’s smart to hold onto the amnesty until we REALLY need to use it (again, 2 years from now, if the NBA allows us to hold onto it for that long). I wouldn’t mind blowing the whole thing up and starting over. Trade Josh and Hinrich and Marvin. Stockpile draft picks. Let’s just bring in pieces and start over because while we’re good enough to make the Playoffs and even win a round, our ceiling (in a conference where Miami and Chicago are dominating) is set. There’s nothing exciting about making the 2nd round every year if that’s your ceiling.

  • YKnot Posted: Feb.13 at 1:25 pm
    Just imagined Boozer singing love me sexy lmbo! Carlos “Jackie Moon” Boozer

  • Showtime Posted: Feb.13 at 1:29 pm
    lol @ robb i see what you doing their, but the lakes are putting to much effort to beat the bottom barrel teams thou

  • el_larsen Posted: Feb.13 at 1:41 pm
    kobe travelled
    rondooooooooooooooooooooo!
    what a dramatic lost for my pistons.monroe and …nothing
    i was confident after that 4 game winning streak but…
    can ‘t wait for the draft

  • airs Posted: Feb.13 at 1:44 pm
    In case you missed it:
    http://a.yfrog.com/img618/7259/b60dld.jpg
    who you tryin yo fool, carlos.

  • datkid Posted: Feb.13 at 2:13 pm
    that makes sense abe. and myung you don’t think Josh smith could maybe be built around?

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 2:17 pm
    heck no, sir.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 2:18 pm
    hell no

  • airs Posted: Feb.13 at 2:19 pm
    HAILNAH!

  • LakeShow Posted: Feb.13 at 2:23 pm
    gross

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 2:35 pm
    A lot of people value Josh for two reasons: 1. You’ve only seen his highlights or a handful of games on national TV that he maybe played well in 2. You have him on your fantasy team (he is a fantasy stud on most nights). If a GM wants to trade for Josh because of either of those factors (which is laughable), I’m good with that. But if you ask a Hawks fan who’s seen him play for a long period of time (I’ve seen almost every game of his pro career, since it began in 2004), they will tell you how flawed his game is. Bad FT shooter. Bad jump shooter. Bad dribbler. Low basketball IQ. Constant complainer and whiner. Sorry if I’m repeating myself here, but I always say this about Josh: he is such an amazing athlete and it is absolutely a testament to how good an athlete he is to be such an effective stat stuffer (I still contend he should’ve been an All Star this season) without being a great basketball player, per se. He can block shots. He can dunk. And in fairness to him, I’m sure he works hard on his game… but he is what he is. If you’re expecting a franchise player and/or a guy you can run an offense through, you will be severely disappointed. If you’re looking for a guy who will play hard (most of the time), throw down dunks, block shots, run the floor, and excite the crowd about 3 or 4 times a game, he is your guy.

  • MUBWAR Posted: Feb.13 at 2:36 pm
    hey leave boozer and his black ice alone.lool

  • Allenp Posted: Feb.13 at 2:45 pm
    Josh’s biggest problems are that he plays the four and that he shoots jumpers.
    When he stopped shooting jumpers, his game was amazing. Everybody agrees on this. Moreover, he just played the three and posted up smaller threes, his game would go to another level. Basically, if he adopted what Shawn Marion does.
    Unfortunately, he’s never going to correct these problems, or learn how to dribble better, so he’ll always have his current ceiling.

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Feb.13 at 3:01 pm
    You hit the nail on the head. Marion has never been a good dribble but he countered that by being a effective low-post threat and by learning to move without the ball. JSmith does a lot of standing around when he doesn’t have the ball and his post game hasn’t improved to the point of being able to punish smaller defenders and use his quickness on bigger defenders.
    The entire hawks starting 5 is just a mix of squares trying to fit in a round hole. Al Horford plays out of position at the 5, JSmith is a true 3, Marvin Williams has no business starting in the NBA (dude didn’t even start in college) and JJ is miscast as a go-to guy.

  • Caboose Posted: Feb.13 at 3:13 pm
    Boozer: “Don’t you want to love me…well not sexy but….”

  • Peter Walsh Posted: Feb.13 at 3:22 pm
    Rashard Lewis third player in NBA history with 15,000 points, 5,000 boards and 1,500 threes.

  • Mike from Spain Posted: Feb.13 at 3:25 pm
    @Myung -> easy with the hate against Spain. It was an unfortunate photo -> yes, did it offend the Chinese sponsor of the Spanish national team -> no, did they apologize for it -> yes. If anything, Spanish PR were ignorant of the history of American racism.

  • Allenp Posted: Feb.13 at 3:46 pm
    Oh, so now it’s American racism?
    Really? Because no European country has EVER been racist against the Chinese, or Muslims, or Blacks or whoever. Big bad America had to teach them all of that.
    GTFOH

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 3:49 pm
    I don’t hate Spain. I hated that photo.

  • buschfire Posted: Feb.13 at 3:53 pm
    wow Kobe actually did travel… I thought you guys were just trolling. effin NBA refs.

  • Caboose Posted: Feb.13 at 3:54 pm
    Mike, that American add in was pretty unnecessary man. Yeah, America is definitely a racist place but Spain has that little thing called the Inquisition. Just saying, calling out countries isn’t the smartest thing to do here, only cause you’ll ALWAYS be wrong.

  • davidR Posted: Feb.13 at 3:57 pm
    …anyway,
    i’m glad the dubs have been keeping up the intensity and focus to close out these recent games. they always play well, but seem to go away from what works in the 4th, and eventually fall apart.
    if they can play with this intensity every night, they can definitely sneak into the playoffs. i don’t know how far they would go (depends on the seeding), but they would definitely be a scary team to play in a series.

  • Allenp Posted: Feb.13 at 4:00 pm
    It’s not even about the inquisition. It’s about the fact that racism in modern times it not confined to America. All you have to do is read the freaking Guardian to figure that out.
    France, Spain, Italy, basically all developed Euro countries have definite biases.
    Pretending to be Asian has nothing to do with American racism. That’s ludicrous. Why the hell are you mocking Asian people’s eyes? Why is that funny? It’s funny that their eyes are different? WTH!
    People are crazy sometimes. They just make excuses for stuff that’s not excusable. Just take your L, improve and move on. Don’t try to defend it. It was very wrong, there is no defense, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. That’s all you have to say.

  • Caboose Posted: Feb.13 at 4:05 pm
    We know Allen, we know. The world is not a place of equality, intelligence, unity or enlightenment. And whining about that sadly won’t change it. If you’ve read Watchmen…

  • blakos Posted: Feb.13 at 4:33 pm
    @Allen. The Guardian is a quality paper. One of the best imo.
    @Abe co-sign your requests regarding Wizards
    Trade Blatche
    Waive/don’t re-sign Lewis.
    Continue to tank season. Get Drummond, Barnes, SUllinger, Davis in draft.

  • LakeShow Posted: Feb.13 at 4:35 pm
    “Blame it on LeBron” … “Blame it on America” Just place blame elsewhere is what I’ve learned.

  • robb Posted: Feb.13 at 4:39 pm
    Lebron being american…Lebron’s fault!

  • davidR Posted: Feb.13 at 5:10 pm
    caboose, the watchmen is crazy. the graphic novel, that is. the movie… ZZZZZ

  • Tae Posted: Feb.13 at 5:37 pm
    I saw two steps and tha jumper. Didnt look like a travel to me

  • what Posted: Feb.13 at 5:45 pm
    Josh Smith is the 2nd offensive option on the Hawks. Ideally, he should be the 3rd or 4th offensive option on a good team. I like him a lot more than Myung does, but even I’ll admit he has always had way too much offensive responsibility for his talent level, and a big reason for this is that until this year the Hawks haven’t had a legitimate starting point guard.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 5:50 pm
    I don’t feel like Josh Smith should be apart of the offensive pecking order. I see him as I saw Shawn Marion. The perfect role player – top dog defender. Offensively he should just take the opportunities that he gets, he shouldn’t have plays ran for him.

  • Allenp Posted: Feb.13 at 5:55 pm
    I disagree. I think he should be catching on the block against smaller threes and high post against against bigger defenders, once or two bounces and then explode. He can shoot a left hook, he can put the ball the deck once or twice and can execute spin moves. He should almost never venture past the free throw line extended though.

  • TADOne Posted: Feb.13 at 6:03 pm
    Ok Abe I’m late on this but I would dispute you calling Detroit a selfish team. Lacking in talent? Yes. Lacking in cohesion? Yes. Bad defense? Yes. Bad offense? Absolutely. I would agree the Pistons have a couple of selfish players; Stuckey, Gordon and Charlie V. But of those 3 only Stuckey has played a majority of the games this year. I think your confusing a bad team with a selfish one. I agree that they need to get Monroe the ball more, but that falls on Lawrence Frank. He is still learning the team.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 6:43 pm
    Makes sense Allen. At this point your Right. If all the Hawks are healthy however I stand firm. Plays should
    Be run for Horford, Johnson, and Horford/Teague. I do wish Smith was a little tougher and set good screens. He could be a scary PnR type of guy.

  • BlackPhantom Posted: Feb.13 at 7:32 pm
    Another game-winning shot for the collection…

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:02 pm
    A pick and roll guy has to be able to hit jumpers too. If you’re always rolling to the rim, you can be effective, but the threat of a jumper makes the offense that much more effective. Look at how Amar’e improved his game from his rookie season (when he was all dunks) to the past few years. Josh is not that type of player. Blake also needs to work on his J. But Blake is in his 2nd year. Josh has been in the League since 2004. His mechanics on his jumper aren’t terrible. His wind up is slow, but he launches it from up high and his form and follow through are consistent. The end result is just… bad. There are several players I thought would be too raw to ever develop good jumpers, but they worked hard and developed a nice midrange game. Karl Malone. Shawn Kemp. Antonio McDyess. Amar’e. But those guys developed a J fairly soon into their careers. Again, Josh is now in his 8th season. He is what he is.

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Feb.13 at 9:14 pm
    Myung is right. To be an effective PnR guy, you need to have a good mid-range game in your arsenal and JSmith has none. It would be like running PnR with Ben Wallace (okay, that’s a stretch). Smoove should be on the block abusing smaller 3s not on the perimeter setting PnRs and taking 18 footers. Any decent orginazation/coaching staff would see that but I guess it’s asking too much from an organization that thought Marvin Williams would be a better Pro than DWill and CP.

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:22 pm
    Hey, take it easy on the front office. They corrected the 2005 draft fiasco by drafting Shelden Williams with the fifth pick in the 2006 draft… oh wait.

  • Myung Posted: Feb.13 at 9:25 pm
    I would LOVE for Josh to emulate Ben Wallace’s career. He is certainly more physically gifted than Wallace. He doesn’t rebound with nearly as much tenacity as Ben, but if he didn’t look to spend so much energy on the offensive end, maybe he’d become a better rebounder. In fairness to Josh, he’s a much better offensive player than Ben, but that’s not saying much. Half of us on this message board are better offensive players than Ben Wallace.

  • shutup Posted: Feb.13 at 10:45 pm
    Just wanna point out for a long stretch of the fourth quarter Griffin has been playing the 3 with martin at the 4 and evans at the 5

  • nbk Posted: Feb.13 at 11:55 pm
    I didn’t literally mean all he needs to do is learn to set picks. I just wish he develop(ed) that part of his game. Starting with being tougher. Prolly to late in the game to think its really a possibility.

  • Justin G. Posted: Feb.14 at 3:58 am
    I’m torn whether Kobe travelled or not but that was such a ridiculous call from the ref. It was painfully obvious that a timeout was being called and for Kobe to say “I didn’t go to college but I can count. That was five seconds” makes him look like an idiot. I find it funny when guys agree with calls when it goes in their favour but I guarantee if it was against the Lakers he would have lost it. Of course, that’s not going to happen to the Lakers because they would probably have been allowed 10 seconds to throw the ball in. Other than that, it should be pointed out how gutsy a performance the Raptors put in. After beating the Celtics they could have rested on their laurels and after getting down 18 early could have easily given up. They fought back hard and Calderon was brilliant, which makes that call even worse to take

  • KwamePooh Posted: Feb.14 at 11:08 am
    shout out to Carlos Boozer
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_H8ojnEJEg&feature=related

  • Mike from Spain Posted: Feb.15 at 2:21 pm
    @Caboose, I wasn’t calling out the US right now, but the fact that the photo infuriated the Asian American community because of a history of the gesture in America, rather than because the Chinese complained about it. Anyway, this is flogging a dead horse, we discussed the thing so much in the past. I am just saying, whoever came up with the idea of the photo did not intend to insult a whole ethnic group and probably checked only with the Chinese sponsor. I am not dissing on anyone …

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