Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-14 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 17 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 2 TOs.
San Antonio, behind a brilliant performance from Manu Ginobili, was in control of this one early. Jonny Flynn's scoring got a boost in the fourth quarter, when he had seven of his 17 points. This seems like a trend with Flynn. I don't have numbers to back it up, but there have been several games this year where he's piled on the points in the fourth.
While there have been one or two games where his late scoring binges, such as they are, have come in close contests, the majority come when the Wolves seem hopelessly behind. As far as I can tell, it's not something that Kurt Rambis ever wants Flynn to do. My hunch is that Flynn's competitive streak takes over in those spots; he's willing to play a minimal scoring role up to a certain point, but when the game is slipping out of reach, he'll do everything he can to bring it back. That doesn't appear to be anything Rambis wants, either, as Flynn was yanked with about three minutes to go after taking a long jumper early in the shot clock.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Golden State 103, Boston 99
[recap] [box score]
"Annoying" is the word I will use to describe this loss. It was annoying for several reasons. First, it came the day after another annoying loss to a bad team, the Clippers. Second, we've now lost six in a row at Oracle Arena. Third, the officials in this one matched Delta Airlines employees in terms of incompetence. Fourth, we turned the ball over 25 times. And fifth, we blew an 18-point lead.
I'll try to tackle these one by one in reverse order. I'm not going to do bullets, because I have too much to say. Then again, I have to be up early to go to the dentist, so maybe I should do bullets. Nah, I'm too fired up to sleep at the moments. Narrative it is.
Blowing an 18-point lead. So, yeah, we had a big lead in the first quarter, gave up a few buckets to end the period, and then the second team came in and by halftime the lead was gone. The second team does this a lot; comes in with a big lead, decides to take the quarter off, and pisses the whole thing away. (You'll recall that this is what had Kevin Garnett yelling at Glen Davis in the famous crying incident last season). Oddly, the bench often brings us back in games after a sluggish first quarter. It's like they are paid by the NBA to keep games close, no matter what. Hmmmm. I probably shouldn't joke about that, or David Stern will revoke my League Pass and have my family killed.
Also, we shouldn't just blame the bench for blowing the lead. We should additionally blame the starters for not taking the lead back. Ray Allen hit something like six of his first eight shots and ended up finishing 10-for-21; Kevin Garnett never really established himself in the post against Vlad Radmanovic, of all people; and except for a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter from Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace (among a much larger hailstorm of misses), we didn't get much of anything out of the bench. House and 'sheed are bench guys, but hey, I was rollin'.
According to the Golden State broadcast, we had gone something like 88 straight games in which we had a 16-point lead at some point. I guess we were due.
25 turnovers. That's a season-high, thank God. The Warriors lead the league in steals, but some of that is due to the pace of their games and the relatively high number of possessions that result. They aren't a good defensive team, and yet at one point, it was as if C.J. Watson was wearing a green jersey, we were throwing him the ball that often. He had something like six steals in his first ten minutes of action and finished with seven. Also, when Tony Allen moves into your starting lineup, you are just going to turn the ball over more. That's a given. Five turns for Tony in 28 minutes, one fewer cough-up than team leader Rajon Rondo, but Rondo was so bloody masterful offensively (more later) that we are giving him a pass.
The officials. Just comically bad-slant-weird stuff from the crew tonight. Hard to say which team, if any, was favored. I'm obviously biased, but I had the Golden State broadcast on League Pass Broadband and the Warriors announcers spent as much time being mystified by calls against Boston as they did griping about calls against Golden State. I recognize that not everyone is Tommy Heinsohn, but when the your opponent's announcers ackowledge questionable officiating in their favor, that's generally a sign you're getting screwed.
A few things stood out. We got called for at least two and I think three offensive foul calls for pushing off with the off-arm while shooting a layup, a fairly high number considering this call didn't really exist five years ago. Monta Ellis actually got called for what my father has always referred to as "up-and-down," which was technically the correct call on the play, but I literally cannot remember ever seen it called in an NBA game. Davis left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter on a play where he was both dragged to the ground by his arms and body blocked by another player below the waist; no call. And Kendrick Perkins got called for the most ridiculous technical foul I have ever seen: Perk caught the ball in the post, went up for the shot, and made it despite being fouled (no call). While this was happening, Rony Turiaf came over to block Perk's shot from behind, only he was too late, and he ended up off balance, hanging on Perk's back, elbowing Perk in the head in the process (no call). Perk then shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, a fairly natural reaction for someone who suddenly finds himself with a 260-pound Martinican hanging on his back (you're damn right I Googled "What are people from Martinique called?"). Turiaf went crashing to the floor, which was his own fault, and Perk gets rung up for ... what? Who knows? The point that Golden State got on the ensuing free throw might have come in handy.
(Also, I know Ronny is listed at 247, but this was the first game he's played all month, and this is the holidays. Plus, he's added at least three or four pounds to his beard since the preseason. I'm sticking by 260.)
Losing to bad teams. I spent a lot of time talking about this last year, too much time probably, but in the big picture, losses to non-contenders like the Clips and the Woyas don't really matter. They happen every season, and they frankly just aren't a big deal. We don't need to send a message to these teams, we don't have to worry about them gaining confidence against us. They are horseflies to be swatted away by our thoroughbred tail.
With that being said, home court advantage could be really important this year, and the freaking Kings just lost consecutive home games in which they first failed to score a single point in overtime against Cleveland and then blew a seven-point overtime lead to the Lakers before falling in double OT. With other teams giving away games to our chief competition, it'd be nice if we won most of the games we should win and all of the ones in which we have an 18-point first-quarter lead. And while I'm not panicking at all about this, you'd like to see us play with the same crunch-time killer instinct that guys like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant always have. I'm not saying we don't have it, just that I'd like to see it a little more often.
Now we're ready for some bullets, for the denouement. This post is a masterpiece.
"Annoying" is the word I will use to describe this loss. It was annoying for several reasons. First, it came the day after another annoying loss to a bad team, the Clippers. Second, we've now lost six in a row at Oracle Arena. Third, the officials in this one matched Delta Airlines employees in terms of incompetence. Fourth, we turned the ball over 25 times. And fifth, we blew an 18-point lead.
I'll try to tackle these one by one in reverse order. I'm not going to do bullets, because I have too much to say. Then again, I have to be up early to go to the dentist, so maybe I should do bullets. Nah, I'm too fired up to sleep at the moments. Narrative it is.
Blowing an 18-point lead. So, yeah, we had a big lead in the first quarter, gave up a few buckets to end the period, and then the second team came in and by halftime the lead was gone. The second team does this a lot; comes in with a big lead, decides to take the quarter off, and pisses the whole thing away. (You'll recall that this is what had Kevin Garnett yelling at Glen Davis in the famous crying incident last season). Oddly, the bench often brings us back in games after a sluggish first quarter. It's like they are paid by the NBA to keep games close, no matter what. Hmmmm. I probably shouldn't joke about that, or David Stern will revoke my League Pass and have my family killed.
Also, we shouldn't just blame the bench for blowing the lead. We should additionally blame the starters for not taking the lead back. Ray Allen hit something like six of his first eight shots and ended up finishing 10-for-21; Kevin Garnett never really established himself in the post against Vlad Radmanovic, of all people; and except for a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter from Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace (among a much larger hailstorm of misses), we didn't get much of anything out of the bench. House and 'sheed are bench guys, but hey, I was rollin'.
According to the Golden State broadcast, we had gone something like 88 straight games in which we had a 16-point lead at some point. I guess we were due.
25 turnovers. That's a season-high, thank God. The Warriors lead the league in steals, but some of that is due to the pace of their games and the relatively high number of possessions that result. They aren't a good defensive team, and yet at one point, it was as if C.J. Watson was wearing a green jersey, we were throwing him the ball that often. He had something like six steals in his first ten minutes of action and finished with seven. Also, when Tony Allen moves into your starting lineup, you are just going to turn the ball over more. That's a given. Five turns for Tony in 28 minutes, one fewer cough-up than team leader Rajon Rondo, but Rondo was so bloody masterful offensively (more later) that we are giving him a pass.
The officials. Just comically bad-slant-weird stuff from the crew tonight. Hard to say which team, if any, was favored. I'm obviously biased, but I had the Golden State broadcast on League Pass Broadband and the Warriors announcers spent as much time being mystified by calls against Boston as they did griping about calls against Golden State. I recognize that not everyone is Tommy Heinsohn, but when the your opponent's announcers ackowledge questionable officiating in their favor, that's generally a sign you're getting screwed.
A few things stood out. We got called for at least two and I think three offensive foul calls for pushing off with the off-arm while shooting a layup, a fairly high number considering this call didn't really exist five years ago. Monta Ellis actually got called for what my father has always referred to as "up-and-down," which was technically the correct call on the play, but I literally cannot remember ever seen it called in an NBA game. Davis left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter on a play where he was both dragged to the ground by his arms and body blocked by another player below the waist; no call. And Kendrick Perkins got called for the most ridiculous technical foul I have ever seen: Perk caught the ball in the post, went up for the shot, and made it despite being fouled (no call). While this was happening, Rony Turiaf came over to block Perk's shot from behind, only he was too late, and he ended up off balance, hanging on Perk's back, elbowing Perk in the head in the process (no call). Perk then shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, a fairly natural reaction for someone who suddenly finds himself with a 260-pound Martinican hanging on his back (you're damn right I Googled "What are people from Martinique called?"). Turiaf went crashing to the floor, which was his own fault, and Perk gets rung up for ... what? Who knows? The point that Golden State got on the ensuing free throw might have come in handy.
(Also, I know Ronny is listed at 247, but this was the first game he's played all month, and this is the holidays. Plus, he's added at least three or four pounds to his beard since the preseason. I'm sticking by 260.)
Losing to bad teams. I spent a lot of time talking about this last year, too much time probably, but in the big picture, losses to non-contenders like the Clips and the Woyas don't really matter. They happen every season, and they frankly just aren't a big deal. We don't need to send a message to these teams, we don't have to worry about them gaining confidence against us. They are horseflies to be swatted away by our thoroughbred tail.
With that being said, home court advantage could be really important this year, and the freaking Kings just lost consecutive home games in which they first failed to score a single point in overtime against Cleveland and then blew a seven-point overtime lead to the Lakers before falling in double OT. With other teams giving away games to our chief competition, it'd be nice if we won most of the games we should win and all of the ones in which we have an 18-point first-quarter lead. And while I'm not panicking at all about this, you'd like to see us play with the same crunch-time killer instinct that guys like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant always have. I'm not saying we don't have it, just that I'd like to see it a little more often.
Now we're ready for some bullets, for the denouement. This post is a masterpiece.
- 30 points and 15 assists for Rajon Rondo one night after missing two potential game-winning free throws against the Clippers. A friend and I had a brief conversation before the game, as we wondered how Rondo would respond to the situation. With 12 points and seven assists in the first quarter, apparently. The old Rondo sulks, maybe refuses to shoot, and certainly avoids drives to the basket so he doesn't have to step to the stripe. The new Rondo goes for 30 and 15 and knocks down seven of nine free throws. I actually thought there were two occasions where Rondo sought out contact in numbers-up situations where he normally would have (correctly) given up the pill. It was as though he wanted to shake those free throw demons right away. Man, I love this kid.
- Wallace has stopped going inside. 'sheed started the season only shooting from the outside, and shooting well; he quickly moved to only shooting from the outside, but shooting poorly; then, after Doc Rivers apparently begged him to do so, he went inside for several games and was going great. He's now back to shooting almost exclusively from the outside, but he skipped the stage where he makes them. He hit a couple wide-open ones tonight, but he missed three that he shouldn't have taken. All five of his shots came from beyond the arc.
- On a related note, I hate that we took 19 threes against a team like Golden State, which has so little in the post. Turiaf was in just his second game back after a month-long hiatus, and Andris Biedrins played just 14 minutes in his first action since November 8. No one else on their team is a legitimate player in the post (and Turiaf is barely that). And yet we didn't pound it into the paint, even without Paul Pierce.
- Down 101-98 with 44 seconds left, Doc called a timeout and drew up a play for a Ray Allen three-pointer, which he always does in those situations. I generally hate that call, especially since Ray hadn't hit anything in a while. Forty-four seconds is too much time to force a three. Two points aren't exactly guaranteed, but defenses are generally so concerned about not giving up the three (especially with Ray and Eddie House on the court) that it's pretty easy to get to the bucket. A Rondo penetrate-and-kick probably results in a cleaner look anyway.
- Ray missed that three, but we got a stop on the other end and Golden State ended up fouling intentionally. Ray went to the line down three with under five ticks left. He made the first and then missed the second on purpose. What's noteworthy about this, for me anyway, is that Ray did what I've been saying for years that people should do in this situation: Throw a line drive at the front rim without going through your usual pre-shot routine or shot motion. The other team isn't expecting you to shoot out of rhythm; the element of surprise will be enough to get the rebound, if not often, then at least more often than taking a conventional shot with the intent to miss. Ray's execution was lacking -- his fastball was a little high and rocketed off the backboard without scraping the rim, resulting in a dead ball and Golden State possession -- but the idea was right.
Next game is Wednesday at Phoenix, where the Lakers just got their faces melted by the Suns tonight. A win in the desert would avenge an early-season home loss, but without Pierce, Boston's going to have to play awfully well to avoid a third straight defeat.
Catching Up
It's been...two weeks since you heard from me.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)
Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:
Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.
Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.
Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.
Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.
Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.
A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.
This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.
This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).
Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)
Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).
Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.
What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.
What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).
The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.
On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.
It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.
A couple of notes on other players:
Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.
Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.
In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.
TMJF:
The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.
Stat lines from the seven games are below:
Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs
Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs
Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs
Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs
Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs
Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.
Monday, December 14, 2009
TMJF: Kings 120, Wolves 100
Stat Line: 28 minutes, 4-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 8 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 2 TOs.
I think this game was played on Saturday. It might have been 8 billion years ago.
Terrible performance from the Wolves, playing their fourth game in five nights. Jonny Flynn wasn't good, but neither was anyone else in a blue jersey not named Al Jefferson, and Flynn wasn't particularly bad. My big complaint with his game this time around was not settling the offense in the third quarter, when the Kings made their big run to put it out of reach. The team needed to slow down and find Big Al J inside, and Flynn, as the point guard, is in charge of that. It's not so much that he rushed or forced things offensively; he just didn't calm the team down. But he's a rookie, and he'll grow into that.
I think this game was played on Saturday. It might have been 8 billion years ago.
Terrible performance from the Wolves, playing their fourth game in five nights. Jonny Flynn wasn't good, but neither was anyone else in a blue jersey not named Al Jefferson, and Flynn wasn't particularly bad. My big complaint with his game this time around was not settling the offense in the third quarter, when the Kings made their big run to put it out of reach. The team needed to slow down and find Big Al J inside, and Flynn, as the point guard, is in charge of that. It's not so much that he rushed or forced things offensively; he just didn't calm the team down. But he's a rookie, and he'll grow into that.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Boston 106, Chicago 80
Saturday, December 12, 2009
TMJF: Lakers 104, Wolves 92
Stat Line: 25 minutes, 3-8 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-6 FT, 10 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 3 stls, 4 TOs.
Reduced minutes for Jonny Flynn because Ramon Sessions was red-hot from the field. Not much noteworthy from Flynn in this one, although his teammates did blow a few of his assists.
Reduced minutes for Jonny Flynn because Ramon Sessions was red-hot from the field. Not much noteworthy from Flynn in this one, although his teammates did blow a few of his assists.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Boston 104, Washington 102
[recap] [box score]
This game probably deserves more coverage than I'm going to give it. Here's my summar: Awesome first half; terrible third quarter where we looked disorganized and got absolutely no help from the officials; and then a better performance in the fourth quarter, where I never really felt we were in danger of losing, even though the score was tied.
Rajon Rondo played as aggressively as I've ever seen him play. His 20 FG attempts were as many as he's ever taken in a regular season game (matching his high game from last year against Miami). He took a mix of jumpers and drives, and hit enough that I think teams will at least start to think twice about completely ignoring him, particularly if he continues to take advantage of these opportunities. He picked it up on a night when Paul Pierce couldn't seem to get going, which is exactly the time we need it. Oh yeah, and he had an awesome jam over Andray Blatche late that I surprisingly can't find video of. I can, however, find video (it's at the end) of Ray Allen dunking over Blatche, which means that Andray may be the first player in history to get posterized by Allen and Rondo in the same game.
Just because I can't resist a dig at Gilbert Arenas: Agent Zero went 1-for-6 from the line, and missed two big FTs that would have tied the game with like 26 seconds left.
Fun stat: In the entire second quarter, not a single Wizard got a rebound.
Sorry I can't write more, gang, although perhaps brevity is best for you all. Next game is Saturday.
This game probably deserves more coverage than I'm going to give it. Here's my summar: Awesome first half; terrible third quarter where we looked disorganized and got absolutely no help from the officials; and then a better performance in the fourth quarter, where I never really felt we were in danger of losing, even though the score was tied.
Rajon Rondo played as aggressively as I've ever seen him play. His 20 FG attempts were as many as he's ever taken in a regular season game (matching his high game from last year against Miami). He took a mix of jumpers and drives, and hit enough that I think teams will at least start to think twice about completely ignoring him, particularly if he continues to take advantage of these opportunities. He picked it up on a night when Paul Pierce couldn't seem to get going, which is exactly the time we need it. Oh yeah, and he had an awesome jam over Andray Blatche late that I surprisingly can't find video of. I can, however, find video (it's at the end) of Ray Allen dunking over Blatche, which means that Andray may be the first player in history to get posterized by Allen and Rondo in the same game.
Just because I can't resist a dig at Gilbert Arenas: Agent Zero went 1-for-6 from the line, and missed two big FTs that would have tied the game with like 26 seconds left.
Fun stat: In the entire second quarter, not a single Wizard got a rebound.
Sorry I can't write more, gang, although perhaps brevity is best for you all. Next game is Saturday.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
TMJF: Hornets 97, Wolves 96
Stat Line: 33 minutes, 4-9 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-7 FT, 14 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
For the second straight night, Jonny Flynn had to go to bed thinking about a late crucial play that may have cost his team the game.
Unlike Tuesday's crucial turnover, however, last night mis-step was almost entirely Flynn's fault. Just a tick under four seconds remaining, the Wolves up, and the Hornets inbounding the ball on the sideline. Chris Paul was the trigger man, and given that he's the Bees' best playmaker (indeed, one of the NBA's best), you just knew the ball was going back to him. Paul inbounded to David West, took a step like he was going to go around West to take a handoff, then cut to the basket.
The wire story says that Flynn turned his head to look at West; I don't think he did. I think Flynn was, for whatever reason, unconcerned with Paul cutting to the basket and was concentrating on keeping the ball out of hands up top. Maybe he thought he had help behind him (which he should have). I don't know. It was just a bad defensive play, and the Wolves lost.
It's too bad, too, because it overshadowed a very nice defensive play that Flynn made a few possessions earlier on a New Orleans fast break that preserved the would-be victory. Flynn stripped Peja Stojakovic and then saved the ball to a teammate while flying out of bounds.
For a while, Flynn had his first double-double, but a late Corey Brewer jumper was (correctly) taken off the board because it came a split-second after the shot clock buzzer went off. Flynn's seven first-half assits included a beautiful, one-handed forty-foot bounce pass -- probably the toughest pass to throw in basketball -- to a streaking Ryan Hollins. Flynn also paid homage to Paul on a pick-and-roll with Hollins, arcing a lob between two defenders that Hollins, every bit the leaper Tyson Chandler was with New Orleans when he and Paul ran this play to perfection over and over, skied for and rammed home.
For the second straight night, Jonny Flynn had to go to bed thinking about a late crucial play that may have cost his team the game.
Unlike Tuesday's crucial turnover, however, last night mis-step was almost entirely Flynn's fault. Just a tick under four seconds remaining, the Wolves up, and the Hornets inbounding the ball on the sideline. Chris Paul was the trigger man, and given that he's the Bees' best playmaker (indeed, one of the NBA's best), you just knew the ball was going back to him. Paul inbounded to David West, took a step like he was going to go around West to take a handoff, then cut to the basket.
The wire story says that Flynn turned his head to look at West; I don't think he did. I think Flynn was, for whatever reason, unconcerned with Paul cutting to the basket and was concentrating on keeping the ball out of hands up top. Maybe he thought he had help behind him (which he should have). I don't know. It was just a bad defensive play, and the Wolves lost.
It's too bad, too, because it overshadowed a very nice defensive play that Flynn made a few possessions earlier on a New Orleans fast break that preserved the would-be victory. Flynn stripped Peja Stojakovic and then saved the ball to a teammate while flying out of bounds.
For a while, Flynn had his first double-double, but a late Corey Brewer jumper was (correctly) taken off the board because it came a split-second after the shot clock buzzer went off. Flynn's seven first-half assits included a beautiful, one-handed forty-foot bounce pass -- probably the toughest pass to throw in basketball -- to a streaking Ryan Hollins. Flynn also paid homage to Paul on a pick-and-roll with Hollins, arcing a lob between two defenders that Hollins, every bit the leaper Tyson Chandler was with New Orleans when he and Paul ran this play to perfection over and over, skied for and rammed home.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Boston 98, Milwaukee 89
[recap] [box score]
I was excited for this matchup because it was my first look at Brandon Jennings, the point guard for the Bucks who hung a double-nickel on the Warriors last month, the most points by a rookie in a single game in more than 40 years. Jennings was decent, but his opposite number stole the show. Rajon Rondo did a nice job of keeping the clamps on Jennings, spent three quarters setting the table for his teammates -- my favorite was a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins after an offensive rebound on which three Bucks defenders bit on Rondo's ball fake -- and then scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Rondo's fell one rebound short of a triple-double, adding five steals to go with 13 assists.
Kevin Garnett continued his torrid shooting, and Rasheed Wallace came up with big offensive contributions off the bench.
Marquis Daniels missed this game, and it appears it was the first of what will be quite a few more: He had thumb surgery today and the Boston Globe is reporting that Daniels will be out about eight weeks. I didn't even notice that Daniels wasn't playing, only that the Rondo-Eddie House-Ray Allen combination Doc Rivers ran out there for a while was a little odd. These are the kind of details you miss when you are watching a game at 4 in the morning, having spent the past 12 hours staring at law review articles about Christian political realism.
Losing Daniels hurts, for all the reasons that we got him in the first place: He can handle the ball and let House play the two with the second unit; he can guard both big guards and small forwards; he gives us someone other than Tony Allen to spell Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the wing. Daniels' contributions aren't apparent from the box scores, but he'll be missed. His absence will probably cost us a game or two down the line, and Doc should be advised to ensure those losses come while Daniels is still out, rather than in the playoffs (due to Ray and Pierce being worn out from playing more minutes during the regular season in Daniels' absence).
Speaking of Tony Allen, he played for the first time all season, and picked up where he left off: Canceling out roughly every positive play he made with a negative one. Relatively early into his brief return to the court, he went up and gathered a very tough defensive rebound over two Bucks. The carom took him towards the left sideline, and while falling ever so slightly backwards, with the Bucks retreating back downcourt, he whipped a chest pass towards the Celtics basket that missed an understandably surprised Brian Scalabrine (he is, after all, a power forward, and had no reason to think that Tony would be passing him the ball) by about three feet. Tony just never looks comfortable with the rock in his hands. I'd like to be able to say that this was just rust, but I know better. It's Tony being Tony.
Next game is a TV game; Thursday on TNT at 8 p.m. Eastern against the Wizards.
Muy Beno: A quick note on Brandon Jennings. I saw him play in Summer League in Vegas, and while you could tell he had talent, he seemed like he was a ways away from being a positive contributor. Moreover, this was when all the stuff about him being brash and undisciplined was coming out. I was sitting fairly close to Bucks coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond in the Vegas crowd, and Skiles -- a notoriously tough, no-nonsense guy as both a point guard and a coach -- had this look on his face the entire time that read: "This is the asshole you drafted to be my point guard?" If you could bet on stuff like Skiles performing a reverse Sprewell and strangling Jennings by season's end, I would have.
It wasn't enough to keep me from drafting Jennings late in one of my fantasy leagues, on the theory that he was going to play a lot and guys who play a lot put up decent fantasy stats (this worked very well with Oklahoma City's Russeell Westbrook last season). It was enough, however, to get me to drop Jennings before the season when I discovered that Andray Blatche would be starting the first several games for Washington while Antawn Jamison recovered injury. Jennings was quickly scooped up, and now I'm starting T.J. Ford in one of my "utility" slots on a team that is one good assist man away from being about as close to a lock as you can get in a semi-competitive league.
I overlooked a lot of things about Jennings, particularly the fact that the guy was perhaps the best point guard in his high school class, and that his modest averages (something like six points and two assist per game) in his one year playing professionally in Italy could be explained by many things: Transition to a foreign culture; playing a different style of basketball (an adjustment for any player, but particularly a point guard); the fact that European teams give sparse minutes to young guys, particularly those who they know will be jumping to the NBA soon. (Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio, the 19-year-old point guard whom the Wolves made the fifth pick in the NBA Draft this past summer, continues to make NBA mouths water despite averaging around 20 minutes, five points, and five assists in 17 games for DKV Joventut in Serie A and EuroLeaugue competition.)
Anyway, Jennings is quick and wiry, with a very mature-looking floater and a jumper that looks decent but wasn't falling last night. Moreover, he seems to have won over the Milwaukee organization. So, yeah, I was wrong about him.
I was excited for this matchup because it was my first look at Brandon Jennings, the point guard for the Bucks who hung a double-nickel on the Warriors last month, the most points by a rookie in a single game in more than 40 years. Jennings was decent, but his opposite number stole the show. Rajon Rondo did a nice job of keeping the clamps on Jennings, spent three quarters setting the table for his teammates -- my favorite was a no-look feed to Kendrick Perkins after an offensive rebound on which three Bucks defenders bit on Rondo's ball fake -- and then scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Rondo's fell one rebound short of a triple-double, adding five steals to go with 13 assists.
Kevin Garnett continued his torrid shooting, and Rasheed Wallace came up with big offensive contributions off the bench.
Marquis Daniels missed this game, and it appears it was the first of what will be quite a few more: He had thumb surgery today and the Boston Globe is reporting that Daniels will be out about eight weeks. I didn't even notice that Daniels wasn't playing, only that the Rondo-Eddie House-Ray Allen combination Doc Rivers ran out there for a while was a little odd. These are the kind of details you miss when you are watching a game at 4 in the morning, having spent the past 12 hours staring at law review articles about Christian political realism.
Losing Daniels hurts, for all the reasons that we got him in the first place: He can handle the ball and let House play the two with the second unit; he can guard both big guards and small forwards; he gives us someone other than Tony Allen to spell Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the wing. Daniels' contributions aren't apparent from the box scores, but he'll be missed. His absence will probably cost us a game or two down the line, and Doc should be advised to ensure those losses come while Daniels is still out, rather than in the playoffs (due to Ray and Pierce being worn out from playing more minutes during the regular season in Daniels' absence).
Speaking of Tony Allen, he played for the first time all season, and picked up where he left off: Canceling out roughly every positive play he made with a negative one. Relatively early into his brief return to the court, he went up and gathered a very tough defensive rebound over two Bucks. The carom took him towards the left sideline, and while falling ever so slightly backwards, with the Bucks retreating back downcourt, he whipped a chest pass towards the Celtics basket that missed an understandably surprised Brian Scalabrine (he is, after all, a power forward, and had no reason to think that Tony would be passing him the ball) by about three feet. Tony just never looks comfortable with the rock in his hands. I'd like to be able to say that this was just rust, but I know better. It's Tony being Tony.
Next game is a TV game; Thursday on TNT at 8 p.m. Eastern against the Wizards.
Muy Beno: A quick note on Brandon Jennings. I saw him play in Summer League in Vegas, and while you could tell he had talent, he seemed like he was a ways away from being a positive contributor. Moreover, this was when all the stuff about him being brash and undisciplined was coming out. I was sitting fairly close to Bucks coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond in the Vegas crowd, and Skiles -- a notoriously tough, no-nonsense guy as both a point guard and a coach -- had this look on his face the entire time that read: "This is the asshole you drafted to be my point guard?" If you could bet on stuff like Skiles performing a reverse Sprewell and strangling Jennings by season's end, I would have.
It wasn't enough to keep me from drafting Jennings late in one of my fantasy leagues, on the theory that he was going to play a lot and guys who play a lot put up decent fantasy stats (this worked very well with Oklahoma City's Russeell Westbrook last season). It was enough, however, to get me to drop Jennings before the season when I discovered that Andray Blatche would be starting the first several games for Washington while Antawn Jamison recovered injury. Jennings was quickly scooped up, and now I'm starting T.J. Ford in one of my "utility" slots on a team that is one good assist man away from being about as close to a lock as you can get in a semi-competitive league.
I overlooked a lot of things about Jennings, particularly the fact that the guy was perhaps the best point guard in his high school class, and that his modest averages (something like six points and two assist per game) in his one year playing professionally in Italy could be explained by many things: Transition to a foreign culture; playing a different style of basketball (an adjustment for any player, but particularly a point guard); the fact that European teams give sparse minutes to young guys, particularly those who they know will be jumping to the NBA soon. (Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio, the 19-year-old point guard whom the Wolves made the fifth pick in the NBA Draft this past summer, continues to make NBA mouths water despite averaging around 20 minutes, five points, and five assists in 17 games for DKV Joventut in Serie A and EuroLeaugue competition.)
Anyway, Jennings is quick and wiry, with a very mature-looking floater and a jumper that looks decent but wasn't falling last night. Moreover, he seems to have won over the Milwaukee organization. So, yeah, I was wrong about him.
TMJF: Raptors 94, Wolves 88
Stat Line: 32 minutes, 6-14 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 17 pts, 4 rebs, 8 assts, 3 stls, 3 TOs.
Nice all-around game from Jonny Flynn, mostly against Jarrett Jack, as regular Raps starter Jose Calderon sat out this game with an injury. Given Calderon's weaknesses on defense, that may have actually hurt Flynn's production.
Flynn's eight assists included three of his most spectacular passes this season: a looping, three-quarter-court flick that hit Damien Wilkins for a layin and a foul; a soft bouncer threaded between two defenders that found Wayne Ellington for an easy two on a fast break; and a left-handed no-look from the right corner that found Wilkins alone under the basket. He also made two very pretty left-handed post feeds to Al Jefferson off the dribble that led Big Al J perfectly for easy buckets.
The dish to Ellington, along with a pass-that-led-to-an-assist to Corey Brewer, are particularly noteworthy. Toronto's color guy on the broadcast, Leo Rautins -- the Canadian national team coach -- mentioned this in connection with the pass to Brewer, and it's what got me all excited about Flynn the first time I saw him play. Flynn is one of the few point guards who leads his teammates with passes to where they should be. Rautins, whose son, Andy, is a sharpshooter for Syracuse, would know about this, having followed Flynn's two-year career with the Orange rather closely. (Leo himself is a 'cuse grad.)
Unfortunately for Flynn and the Wolves, one such pass didn't work out, and it cost them a chance to take the lead late. With the score tied at 84, Flynn ran the pick-and-pop out high on the right wing, and Flynn flipped a blind, behind-the-back bounce pass to where he thought Love would be. However, Love had, for whatever reason, faded all the way to the opposite wing. Flynn's pass bounced twice before being picked off by Hedo Turkoglu, who coasted in and gave the Raps a lead they didn't relinquish.
Because the pass was thrown behind his back, I was worried that Flynn was going to take some heat for it at such a crucial time. But this post over at Canis Hoopus, despite the title, lets Flynn off the hook, and quotes T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis as more or less doing the same. I didn't rewind the play to see whether Love made a mistake, but when they've run that set in the previous two games, Love has been right there to catch and fire. It was just an unfortunate time for a missed connection.
Nice all-around game from Jonny Flynn, mostly against Jarrett Jack, as regular Raps starter Jose Calderon sat out this game with an injury. Given Calderon's weaknesses on defense, that may have actually hurt Flynn's production.
Flynn's eight assists included three of his most spectacular passes this season: a looping, three-quarter-court flick that hit Damien Wilkins for a layin and a foul; a soft bouncer threaded between two defenders that found Wayne Ellington for an easy two on a fast break; and a left-handed no-look from the right corner that found Wilkins alone under the basket. He also made two very pretty left-handed post feeds to Al Jefferson off the dribble that led Big Al J perfectly for easy buckets.
The dish to Ellington, along with a pass-that-led-to-an-assist to Corey Brewer, are particularly noteworthy. Toronto's color guy on the broadcast, Leo Rautins -- the Canadian national team coach -- mentioned this in connection with the pass to Brewer, and it's what got me all excited about Flynn the first time I saw him play. Flynn is one of the few point guards who leads his teammates with passes to where they should be. Rautins, whose son, Andy, is a sharpshooter for Syracuse, would know about this, having followed Flynn's two-year career with the Orange rather closely. (Leo himself is a 'cuse grad.)
Unfortunately for Flynn and the Wolves, one such pass didn't work out, and it cost them a chance to take the lead late. With the score tied at 84, Flynn ran the pick-and-pop out high on the right wing, and Flynn flipped a blind, behind-the-back bounce pass to where he thought Love would be. However, Love had, for whatever reason, faded all the way to the opposite wing. Flynn's pass bounced twice before being picked off by Hedo Turkoglu, who coasted in and gave the Raps a lead they didn't relinquish.
Because the pass was thrown behind his back, I was worried that Flynn was going to take some heat for it at such a crucial time. But this post over at Canis Hoopus, despite the title, lets Flynn off the hook, and quotes T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis as more or less doing the same. I didn't rewind the play to see whether Love made a mistake, but when they've run that set in the previous two games, Love has been right there to catch and fire. It was just an unfortunate time for a missed connection.
Monday, December 7, 2009
TMJF: Wolves 108, Jazz 101
Stat Line: 34 minutes, 7-12 FG, 2-3 3FG, 16 pts, 1 reb, 4 assts, 1 stl, 1 TO.
This game was played two days ago and I didn't watch it until this morning, half-awake after three hours of sleep. Really just posting to keep anyone interested updated.
Best game of the season for Jonny Flynn. Career-low in turnovers despite playing the second-most minutes he's played in a single game this year; his lone transgression was an overly fancy dish on a three-on-one that he zipped through the hands of a teammate. Other than a heat check three-pointer in the first quarter after having drained a couple, he didn't do anything else that made you shake your head.
He didn't get to the line (the second time this season it's happened) but that's not for lack of aggressiveness. The three three-pointers he attempted to start the game aside, Flynn took just one shot outside of ten feet in the other nine attempts. He's going to the basket more and more.
This game was played two days ago and I didn't watch it until this morning, half-awake after three hours of sleep. Really just posting to keep anyone interested updated.
Best game of the season for Jonny Flynn. Career-low in turnovers despite playing the second-most minutes he's played in a single game this year; his lone transgression was an overly fancy dish on a three-on-one that he zipped through the hands of a teammate. Other than a heat check three-pointer in the first quarter after having drained a couple, he didn't do anything else that made you shake your head.
He didn't get to the line (the second time this season it's happened) but that's not for lack of aggressiveness. The three three-pointers he attempted to start the game aside, Flynn took just one shot outside of ten feet in the other nine attempts. He's going to the basket more and more.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Boston 105, Oklahoma City 87
Ok, so, I was wrong.
[recap] [box score]
I thought we might struggle coming off of the tough win against San Antonio the night before, but we jumped out quickly on the Thunder and never really had much of a problem. Paul Pierce, who had struggled against the Spurs, got off to a good start, and the rest of the team sort of fell in behind him. Kevin Garnett, by the way, made 10 of 11 shots. He's made 41 of 52 field goal attempts over the last five games. In all, seven Celtics scored in double figures, with Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace supplementing the starting five.
I apologize for the dull recap here; I was more than a little asleep while watching, having not finished studying last night til north of 4 a.m. before getting to this one on DVR. I'm afraid this is how it's gonna be for the next few weeks.
Off til Tuessday, when we host the Bucks and rookie sensation Brandon Jennings. The next national TV game is Thursday at Washington on TNT.
[recap] [box score]
I thought we might struggle coming off of the tough win against San Antonio the night before, but we jumped out quickly on the Thunder and never really had much of a problem. Paul Pierce, who had struggled against the Spurs, got off to a good start, and the rest of the team sort of fell in behind him. Kevin Garnett, by the way, made 10 of 11 shots. He's made 41 of 52 field goal attempts over the last five games. In all, seven Celtics scored in double figures, with Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace supplementing the starting five.
I apologize for the dull recap here; I was more than a little asleep while watching, having not finished studying last night til north of 4 a.m. before getting to this one on DVR. I'm afraid this is how it's gonna be for the next few weeks.
Off til Tuessday, when we host the Bucks and rookie sensation Brandon Jennings. The next national TV game is Thursday at Washington on TNT.
TMJF: Hornets 98, Wolves 89
Stat Line: 27 minutes, 2-8 FG, 1-2 3FG, 1-2 FT, 6 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.
Frustrating night, I'm sure, for Jonny Flynn, who had a relatively quiet game against one of the players he says he looks up to, New Orleans' Chris Paul. Flynn wasn't bad in this game, he just didn't do much. He gave Paul a little too much space on defense, perhaps over-reacting to Paul's cold start from outside (which may be attributable to his having missed the previous eight games with an ankle injury). Paul ended up with a ridiculous line -- 16/6/15 with eight steals -- but it's not like he just abused Flynn or anything.
(You can tell Flynn has borrowed from Paul's game, particularly on the pick and roll, where Paul leans in to the recovering defender to keep him on his back. Flynn does the same thing, although he needs to work on protecting the ball better and making quicker decisions.)
I thought Kurt Rambis would've gone to his two-point-guard lineup with Flynn and Ramon Sessions when the Bees went small with Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Wayne Ellington was having the best game of his rookie season, however, so it's understandable that Rambis wanted to ride him.
Last night marked the return of Kevin Love to the Timberwolves' lineup, and the difference is easy to see. Love had a double-double, and Al Jefferson had his best game in a while.
Frustrating night, I'm sure, for Jonny Flynn, who had a relatively quiet game against one of the players he says he looks up to, New Orleans' Chris Paul. Flynn wasn't bad in this game, he just didn't do much. He gave Paul a little too much space on defense, perhaps over-reacting to Paul's cold start from outside (which may be attributable to his having missed the previous eight games with an ankle injury). Paul ended up with a ridiculous line -- 16/6/15 with eight steals -- but it's not like he just abused Flynn or anything.
(You can tell Flynn has borrowed from Paul's game, particularly on the pick and roll, where Paul leans in to the recovering defender to keep him on his back. Flynn does the same thing, although he needs to work on protecting the ball better and making quicker decisions.)
I thought Kurt Rambis would've gone to his two-point-guard lineup with Flynn and Ramon Sessions when the Bees went small with Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Wayne Ellington was having the best game of his rookie season, however, so it's understandable that Rambis wanted to ride him.
Last night marked the return of Kevin Love to the Timberwolves' lineup, and the difference is easy to see. Love had a double-double, and Al Jefferson had his best game in a while.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Boston 90, San Antonio 83
[recap] [box score]
Spurs fans were left grumbling over their team's performance last night. I think Boston can take credit, to an extent, for San Antonio's shooting (42 percent from the field, 2-of-16 from deep), as well as a great number of their 18 turnovers. Boston can't take assert that they had any influence on San Antonio's free throw shooting (an awful 7-for-17), and had the Spurs knocked down a few more freebies, it might have had a different outcome.
Of course, it might have been an easier win for Boston if not for Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair, who threw up an 18/11 on 9-for-11 shooting, with five offensive boards. Like many people, I was stunned when he fell as far as he did in the draft this summer, and he's proved all of us right. He's going to be a handful, if not a beast, in this league for as long as his problematic knees hold out. I might be able to forgive passing on using a first-round pick on him and thereby giving him guaranteed money, because of his injury history, but there's no excuse for not snapping him up immediately in the second. San Antonio's other major offseason acquisition, Richard Jefferson, hasn't found a rhythm with the team yet, but Blair was the Spurs best player, hands down, Thursday night. If I have one critique of him, it's that he doesn't use his strength enough to go through people with the ball on the way up for his shot. He's very short for a post player, and he does a lot of double-clutching to avoid shotblockers. I'd like to see him seek out that contact more and get a few more and-ones, but man, that guy is going to be good. Super relentless on the O-glass, too.
A couple of you pointed out to me, before I noticed, that Brian Scalabrine and Matt Bonner spent a lot of their court time guarding each other. Quite a treat to watch these two red-haired, perimeter-oriented-despite-being-six-foot-nine-and-unathletic-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-NBA veteran forwards go at each other, even exchanging baskets during one sequence. Really, switch these guys' uniforms and I don't think anyone notices.
Next game is tonight at Oklahoma City in a really tricky second game of a back-t0-back. I haven't gotten to watch a ton of the Thunder this year. I saw them play the Clippers live here in LA, and they seemed to content to stand around and throw up jumpers, making just enough to win in a very listless performance. On the other hand, they've blown out Orlando at home and have road wins in Orlando, San Antonio, and Utah already this year. It's going to take a hell of an effort to beat Kevin Durant & Co. tonight on tired legs.
Spurs fans were left grumbling over their team's performance last night. I think Boston can take credit, to an extent, for San Antonio's shooting (42 percent from the field, 2-of-16 from deep), as well as a great number of their 18 turnovers. Boston can't take assert that they had any influence on San Antonio's free throw shooting (an awful 7-for-17), and had the Spurs knocked down a few more freebies, it might have had a different outcome.
Of course, it might have been an easier win for Boston if not for Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair, who threw up an 18/11 on 9-for-11 shooting, with five offensive boards. Like many people, I was stunned when he fell as far as he did in the draft this summer, and he's proved all of us right. He's going to be a handful, if not a beast, in this league for as long as his problematic knees hold out. I might be able to forgive passing on using a first-round pick on him and thereby giving him guaranteed money, because of his injury history, but there's no excuse for not snapping him up immediately in the second. San Antonio's other major offseason acquisition, Richard Jefferson, hasn't found a rhythm with the team yet, but Blair was the Spurs best player, hands down, Thursday night. If I have one critique of him, it's that he doesn't use his strength enough to go through people with the ball on the way up for his shot. He's very short for a post player, and he does a lot of double-clutching to avoid shotblockers. I'd like to see him seek out that contact more and get a few more and-ones, but man, that guy is going to be good. Super relentless on the O-glass, too.
A couple of you pointed out to me, before I noticed, that Brian Scalabrine and Matt Bonner spent a lot of their court time guarding each other. Quite a treat to watch these two red-haired, perimeter-oriented-despite-being-six-foot-nine-and-unathletic-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-NBA veteran forwards go at each other, even exchanging baskets during one sequence. Really, switch these guys' uniforms and I don't think anyone notices.
Next game is tonight at Oklahoma City in a really tricky second game of a back-t0-back. I haven't gotten to watch a ton of the Thunder this year. I saw them play the Clippers live here in LA, and they seemed to content to stand around and throw up jumpers, making just enough to win in a very listless performance. On the other hand, they've blown out Orlando at home and have road wins in Orlando, San Antonio, and Utah already this year. It's going to take a hell of an effort to beat Kevin Durant & Co. tonight on tired legs.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
TMJF: Grizzlies 97, Wolves 95
Stat Line: 30 minutes, 5-12 FG, 1-4 3FG, 1-2 FT, 12 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 2 TOs.
A career-high in assists for Jonny Flynn, mainly because his teammates knocked down a few jumpers. Flynn's averaging around four assists per game, but I think it could easily be six if Minnesota could shoot it a little better as a club.
Only two turnovers for Flynn, and they came on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. He missed a tough layup that would have given the Wolves the lead with about 30 seconds to go, but other than that, this was a solid game for the rookie. He played most of the fourth quarter alongside Ramon Sessions, who kept the Wolves in the game with his offense in the second half. Kurt Rambis has for the most part resisted deploying his two point guards at the same time despite the fact that they are probably the team's two most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson, probably for defensive reasons. Memphis' dimunitive -- but effective -- backcourt of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo let Rambis go small. As productive as the Flynn-Sessions combo was, I wouldn't expect to see it too often.
A career-high in assists for Jonny Flynn, mainly because his teammates knocked down a few jumpers. Flynn's averaging around four assists per game, but I think it could easily be six if Minnesota could shoot it a little better as a club.
Only two turnovers for Flynn, and they came on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. He missed a tough layup that would have given the Wolves the lead with about 30 seconds to go, but other than that, this was a solid game for the rookie. He played most of the fourth quarter alongside Ramon Sessions, who kept the Wolves in the game with his offense in the second half. Kurt Rambis has for the most part resisted deploying his two point guards at the same time despite the fact that they are probably the team's two most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson, probably for defensive reasons. Memphis' dimunitive -- but effective -- backcourt of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo let Rambis go small. As productive as the Flynn-Sessions combo was, I wouldn't expect to see it too often.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Boston 108, Charlotte 90
[recap] [box score]
I watched this game on League Pass Broadband in the basement of the law school, where the connection isn't great. The feed kept freezing and I never got a great feel for the rhythm of what was going on. We jumped on 'em early, though, and didn't really let up.
I did manage to catch Rasheed Wallace's antics, which included picking up a technical foul while walking to the bench, then yelling his trademark "Ball don't lie!" when Charlotte's Flip Murray missed the ensuing free throw. This was the third straight game that 'sheed's picked up a T, and its his eighth on the year after going his first four games in Boston without one. I believe he is now halfway to the 16-tech threshold, after which you start getting docked a game for each infraction.
As much as I like what Wallace brings to this team, I'm already tired of his act vis-a-vis the referees. He doesn't just argue with them; he actively antagonizes him. When he got rung up against Charlotte, it was after a play on which not he, but Marquis Daniels, was whistled for a foul. Though I didn't catch what he was saying at that particular moment, I earlier had heard him chastise an offical with a comment along the lines of "Wait for me to foul him before you blow that whistle." In other words, 'sheed was not arguing that he didn't foul the guy; rather, he was arguing that the call came too early.
There's only so much of this the refs can and will put up with. Even without 'sheed last year, we got a rep for woofing to our opponents and barking at the refs, and Wallace's behavior exacerbates that. To their credit, I haven't noticed the officials treating us more harshly because of all this, but it's not absurd to think that might happen. Moreover, we really don't want Wallace suspended when push comes to shove in the spring.
I watched this game on League Pass Broadband in the basement of the law school, where the connection isn't great. The feed kept freezing and I never got a great feel for the rhythm of what was going on. We jumped on 'em early, though, and didn't really let up.
I did manage to catch Rasheed Wallace's antics, which included picking up a technical foul while walking to the bench, then yelling his trademark "Ball don't lie!" when Charlotte's Flip Murray missed the ensuing free throw. This was the third straight game that 'sheed's picked up a T, and its his eighth on the year after going his first four games in Boston without one. I believe he is now halfway to the 16-tech threshold, after which you start getting docked a game for each infraction.
As much as I like what Wallace brings to this team, I'm already tired of his act vis-a-vis the referees. He doesn't just argue with them; he actively antagonizes him. When he got rung up against Charlotte, it was after a play on which not he, but Marquis Daniels, was whistled for a foul. Though I didn't catch what he was saying at that particular moment, I earlier had heard him chastise an offical with a comment along the lines of "Wait for me to foul him before you blow that whistle." In other words, 'sheed was not arguing that he didn't foul the guy; rather, he was arguing that the call came too early.
There's only so much of this the refs can and will put up with. Even without 'sheed last year, we got a rep for woofing to our opponents and barking at the refs, and Wallace's behavior exacerbates that. To their credit, I haven't noticed the officials treating us more harshly because of all this, but it's not absurd to think that might happen. Moreover, we really don't want Wallace suspended when push comes to shove in the spring.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
