Week in review (January 20-27, 2013)

  By Derek | January 28, 2013 - 2:30 am | , ,
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Looks like this rumored deal between the Maloofs and the Seattle investors group is finally getting somewhere. I know how much this sucks for Sacramento, but frankly, right now I’m happier for Seattle, where one of the NBA’s most loyal fanbases was betrayed five years ago.

Are the Lakers finally on the right track now? Two big wins over Utah and Oklahoma City has the team clicking both offensively and defensively. To top it off, Kobe Bryant (28) has more assists than Steve Nash (7). That’s 14 assists in each of the 2 games, including some absolutely beautiful ones like this.

Don’t look now, but the San Antonio Spurs have the best record in the league. They’re currently on pace for 62.8 wins for the season, which is a higher percentage than last season’s lockout-shortened 50-16. Would you also know that they’re on an 8-game winning streak? They’ve also won their last 16 at home. SIXTEEN. The Spurs haven’t lost a home game since falling to the Clippers on November 19 (they’re 20-2 at home so far this season, also tops in the NBA).

J.J. Redick was absolutely on fire Sunday vs. Detroit in the first half, with 21 points including six 3-pointers. Unfortunately, he cooled off considerably in the second half with only 10 points and the Magic couldn’t pull off the win. What a last possession it was for Orlando, though. In the Pistons’ win, Brandon Knight also quietly had a career game.

Rajon Rondo is out for the season with a torn ACL. That’s never good. Whatever hopes the Boston Celtics had for this already-disappointing season is fading fast.

Nicolas Batum recorded two triple-doubles this week, the first two of his career. I’m glad he’s proving his off-season skeptics wrong. He’s a great kid who’s doing everything he can to help the team win, which includes improving his playmaking and passing ability. He was kind of a non-factor Sunday night against the L.A. Clippers, but I’ll write that off as fatigue on the second night of a back-to-back.

During one of Batum’s triple-double games, Jordan Crawford did this. Listen to how heartbroken the Blazers’ announcers sounded. Oh, the agony of defeat.

Toronto won a game on Thursday on a buzzer-beater for the first time since 2006 on this incredible DeMar DeRozan jumper. The basketball gods apparently don’t like it when anything lucky goes Toronto’s way, so, to maintain the balance of things, this happened the next game on Saturday.

Speaking of last-second game-winners, here’s one by Gerald Henderson. Yes, the Bobcats, of all teams. Poor Minnesota. They played a great defensive possession, only to fall to a ridiculous shot like that. I had them as a lock for the playoffs this year, but alas, I guess that’s not to be. I really hope they get their injury issues worked out, though, because they’re an incredibly fun team to watch.

That’s it for this week. Due to my obligations as a full-time college student, I will have to limit my posts to two per week from now on. One will be a weekly recap of interesting moments, starting from this one. I’m not exactly sure what to do with the other yet, but it should be either a mid-week review or a “best GIFs and images of the week” compilation (or something of the sort). I will continue to write editorials for Yahoo! Contributor Network from time to time, so stay tuned for those.

My first piece on Yahoo! Voices

  By Derek | January 15, 2013 - 7:36 pm | , ,
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Last weekend, I posted that I had joined Yahoo! Contributor Network. I wrote an editorial piece for them regarding the possible Kings’ relocation and what it means to both Seattle and Sacramento fans. Check it out here. Any comments, suggestions and feedback are both welcome and appreciated.

Jazz beat the Heat!!!

  By Derek | January 15, 2013 - 12:00 am | , ,
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What a game. Just when it seemed like Utah was going to put it away after 3 quarters, going up by as much as 21, Miami storms right back, cutting the lead down to as little as 2 late in the fourth quarter. But in the end, the Jazz’s big man made all the difference, and their depth was too much.

Early on, DeMarre Carroll set the tone with some huge jump shots, putbacks and a three-point play and had 12 points in the first half. Hayward was also hot, hitting 3-pointers and cutting to the basket for easy layups. Marvin Williams looked good coming back from injury, going for an early block and 3-pointer. Unfortunately, he went just 2-for-8 overall for 5 points in 33 minutes.

The Jazz’s front line was brilliant again this game, and simply dominated the Heat’s undersized roster. Paul Millsap looked at ease, knocking down those awkward-looking jumpers of his and forming a great tandem with Al Jefferson. They were also huge down the stretch, hitting enough shots to keep the lead just out of reach late in the 4th quarter, saving the day. The two combined for 40 points and 20 rebounds, including 9 offensive.

Speaking of offensive rebounds, Utah won in that category, 13 to 5. Overall, they out-rebounded Miami 40-23 and didn’t allow a single second-chance point. Over the season, their size is an advantage they have to capitalize on, and they did just that this game, which proved to be the vital factor for Utah.

Alec Burks played some meaningful minutes from late in the 3rd quarter to midway through the 4th. He shot 1-for-2 and made 2 free throws, but when Miami started their run Corbin had to take him out. Jamaal Tinsley also made a few crucial 4th quarter mistakes, resulting in several turnovers on which the Heat were quick to capitalize.

But in the end, Utah had just enough left in the tank to avoid a similar collapse to the one they had against Atlanta. Now they play 15 of their next 20 at home. If they can take advantage of this easy schedule down the stretch (hint: play like they did the first three quarters of this game), they could find themselves in decent playoff position come April.

Great win tonight against the defending NBA champions.

Notes:

- Chris Bosh had 1 rebound. He’s averaging a career-low 7.4 per game this season. You’d figure that he should get more than that since he’s the biggest guy on the Heat’s small lineup.

- The EnergySolutions Arena was packed, as usual. But there were also an unusual number of people in the crowd cheering for the Heat.

- Matt Harpring’s giant hand must require a seat of its own in the Jazz’s broadcast booth.

- Speaking of broadcasting, Sportsnet Ontario (Canada) picked up the Root Sports feed. Probably the only Jazz regular-season game we’ll see on Canadian basic cable this year. And even then, they probably only showed it because Miami was playing. What do my fellow Canadians think of Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring?

Kings relocation rumors roundup

  By Derek | January 13, 2013 - 3:06 am |
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I know it’s old news by now, but I’ve been following the rumors too intently to actually post anything on them. After the initial optimism from the end of last week, things are quickly turning south for the Seattle relocation effort. Multiple groups have jumped in to the conversation with offers to buy the team from the Maloofs and keep it in Sacramento, hopefully with a new arena plan as well. Nothing official has been released yet. Make what you will of that.

For the latest updates on this situation, follow @BringBackSonics and @ArenaSeattle on Twitter. TrueHoop’s Cowbell Kingdom and SB Nation’s Sactown Royalty also has the latest news.

I’m on Yahoo! Contributor Network

  By Derek | January 11, 2013 - 12:27 pm | ,
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I wrote a piece for Yahoo! Contributor Network that should be published fairly soon. Check out my profile here! Stay tuned – I’ll be blogging on this site but hopefully be able to do some more meaningful articles and editorials on the Contributor Network. Now that school’s started again, things may get a little slow, but I promise to post as often as I can. In the meantime, check out my video highlights; I’ll be sure to do more of those too.

Blazers go 3-1 on the road for the first time in a long time

  By Derek | January 7, 2013 - 11:46 pm | ,
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Over the past few years, the Portland Trail Blazers have been known as a great home team and a not-so-good road team. That’s why I was very (pleasantly) surprised when they managed to win three games on their latest four-game road trip. They actually lost the game I felt they had the best chance of winning, which was at Toronto (which happened to be the first NBA game I ever saw live — post on the coming up later). Instead, they go out and win the three tougher games: New York, Memphis and Minnesota. Lillard and Batum came up big out of the gate as we have come to expect them to, but over these 4 games, the bench finally started looking like a decent second unit and not one that was outscored by San Antonio by 60 points or so earlier in the season. They’re looking good tonight against Orlando so far; hopefully they can stay hot and stay in the thick of the playoff race.

Pinwheel Empire made a great (as usual) mini-movie recapping the highlights of the impressive stretch:

Andrei Kirilenko reflects on his Utah days

  By Derek | January 3, 2013 - 9:07 pm | , ,
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Andrei Kirilenko return to Salt Lake City yesterday for the first time since his 10-year Jazz tenure ended in 2011. Played a great game too, with 12 points (on 4-7 shooting and 4-4 free throws), 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in a losing effort. He said that he was looking forward to returning to Utah and commented on how it was both a familiar (“I probably know, like, first 20 rows throughout the building. I know all the fans”) and strange (“I didn’t even know the guest locker room was here. I kind of like, ‘Where the guest locker room…’”) experience.

AK also talked about his return to the NBA after a season in Russia, and whether he was close to re-signing with Utah:

…after a year, I think my position of small forward got filled in. You know, Gordon Hayward play very good basketball right now. He’s young [and] promising, and they got Marvin Williams…

(Thanks to Moni from Living and Dying by the Jazz for transcribing AK’s comments and interviews)

Grammatical nitpicking aside, it sometimes makes me wonder why the Jazz didn’t go for Kirilenko instead of Marvin Williams. I know the Harris-for-Marvin trade was well before AK started looking at potential suitors, but I figured that the Jazz front office (as well as that of every other team) would’ve expected him to return, now that the lockout is a full season behind them. He knows the team as well as anyone on it right now, and has proven to be a solid player capable of doing a bit of everything. In fact, Rick Adelman has been consistently heaping praise on him for being the ultimate professional and do-it-all glue guy. My bet is that he would’ve been a better fit for this team. He’ll be a veteran presence, yes, but unlike the Derek Fishers and Juwan Howards of the league, he can actually still be a top contributor for a good team.

Best of luck to Andrei Kirilenko in Minnesota, and glad to see him getting the love there that he deserves and that’s been lacking in his later years in Utah.

McGee’s 3-pointer celebration

  By Derek | January 2, 2013 - 4:11 am | ,
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It finally ended tonight. The team that has arguably taken over as LA’s main attraction (at least from the outside) was red-hot coming into tonight, with their 17 wins in a row being the longest streak in franchise history. Three of those wins came against Utah, two by two points or less. Believe me, I was on the edge of my seat both those games. And both those games, Utah held late leads but was beaten in the final minute. Good to see another great team finally upend that streak with a 92-78 win. Denver shut them down defensively tonight, holding the Clippers to 38.5% shooting and more importantly, a lot of long-distance shots (5-for-29 from three).

JaVale McGee had a good game, scoring 11 points in 17 minutes, including a 3-pointer to beat the 3rd quarter buzzer. Maybe that celebration will catch on among the rest of the Nuggets. It sure beats them “borrowing” the Trail Blazers’ three-goggles.

Full game story here.

Speaking of the Blazers, Portland survived a late run to beat New York at Madison Square Garden. It seemed like every time they surged ahead, the Knicks would come right back with some big shots by Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. But Damian Lillard once again came through in the clutch. Man, that guy is exciting to watch.

On the other hand, Wesley Matthews just didn’t look like his old self coming off that hip injury. Nicolas Batum made some costly mistakes that allowed momentum to shift toward New York toward the end of the first half, but his huge third quarter maintained Portland’s lead. It’s really great that Batum’s actively trying to get into more of a playmaking role, and his assists have gone up after averaging just over 1 per game during his first five seasons, but he’ll have to keep a leash on those turnovers. At times during the second quarter, he tried to be the primary ball-handler, and Portland’s offense really suffered through those stretches. He’ll undoubtedly continue to improve throughout the season, though.

Full game recap on BlazersEdge here.

 

One last post before 2013

  By Derek | December 31, 2012 - 11:12 pm | ,
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Just some random notes from today.

Nikola Vucevic  had a 20-29 game today, both career-highs. Those 29 rebounds were the most by a Magic player since Shaq in 1993. In fact, since 1985, only two other players have grabbed that many boards. Impressive stuff indeed.

Charlotte finally broke its 18-game losing streak. At least they can still go 59-23.

Houston makes 16 three-pointers en route to a 123-104 win over Atlanta.

San Antonio beat Brooklyn by 31. So much for that 2-game winning streak under P.J. Carlesimo.

That’s it for today. Happy New Year, everyone. My resolution is to put up more great stuff on this site as often as I can. Yours had better be to read it!