Martin Luther King Day is my favorite holiday. Never mind that I'm a 22 year old white Jehovah's Witness from the suburbs, and I don't celebrate holidays...I just love the NBA. MLK Day has always been one of the best days of the regular seasons schedule. I had a chance to watch four of the games and follow the others on my laptop. I think that's how Martin would have wanted it. A few thoughts from yesterdays action:
Orlando will be a Legit Contender by the Spring
Last nights Celtics Magic matchup may have been the most entertaining game of the season. You forget how exciting it can be when two talented teams trade baskets down the stretch of a close game. Boston did what it had to do to pull out the win late.
I thought it was a good sign for Boston that KG came out and looked more than active. Last season and through the finals I thought that Garnett was playing at maybe 60% to at least 2008 Garnett. I thought that this season he's more like 85% of the player we saw the year Boston won it all. That is HUGE. That's why coming off his latest injury I was particularly interested to see him against Dwight Howard last night, and he showed that there's nothing to worry about.
As for Orlando, despite the loss I think there is quite a bit to take away from that game. Dwight Howard showed that he truly has made an offensive leap this season. Seeing him score 30 or more points in all of these primetime games has been more than impressive. What it means long term is that Boston may not be able to play him one on one like they did last year in the playoffs. This opens things up for the plethora of chuckers the Magic have that hang outside the three point line. As goofy as Hedo, Gilbert, and J-Rich are, wouldn't you rather do just about anything with them over V.C and Rashard. All of them have yet to truly settle in with their roles yet, but I actually like this team a lot going forward. To be there to the last second on a night the Celtics had it rolling, AND a raucous home crowd...I think that is a good sign for the Magic.
OKC Really Blew it in the Draft two years ago
That was the only thought going through my head as I watched the Thunder go 2-22 on threes last night against the Lakers. The Thunder are an incredibly entertaining team to watch and have raw talent that cant be matched in the league. Every time that I watch James Harden come into the game and be useless (9 points, 1-6 on threes in 29 minutes) like last night, it almost makes me angry.
OKC had the third pick in what turned out to be a pretty loaded draft in 2009. Everybody knew that Blake Griffin would go number 1 to the Clippers, but after that there was a large number of players available who could help teams 2-15 in the draft.
OKC went with James Harden. A guy who in in last game against Syracuse in the NCAA tournament was as quiet as a Laura Bogart. Harden from an outsiders perspective possessed no great go to skill, didn't seem to have any fire in going down to Cuse, and really wasn't like he had great size. Now I know it's easy to look back and say I told you so, but here are eight GUARDS who were taken after Harden that seems light years ahead of him: Evans, Curry, Collison, Jennings, Holiday, DeRozan, Lawson, and I will even count Rubio.
The player on that list that truly angers me that I missed out on seeing with Westbrook and Durant is my man Steph Curry. Forget this draft, I'm not sure another player in the entire NBA is a better fit with those two than Curry. He would make it impossible to matchup and guard the Thunder, as you will pay the price for leaving to double Durant or help on Westbrooks drives, because Curry is already a top 5 shooter in the NBA (maybe higher, he shoots most of his threes of the dribble because of the Golden State offense he plays in). The only knock on him is his size, but on the Thunder Westbrook is big enough to guard the opposing teams physical/large guard. Curry is also unselfish, and by all accounts an incredible teammate. It's such a shame to see the Thunder wasting years when they could contend for a title tow an anchor like Harden who looks like he smells and that's about it.
The Bulls are Really, Really Good
I'm not sure any player this year has been as impressive as Derrick Rose. Now that he's added a 3 point shot top his game, there is literally nothing you can say to knock his game. The Bulls have been killed by injuries all season long, and no matter who is in the lineup Rose wills them to victories. Boozer and Noah will make up a front line that pulls off the rare feet of complimenting each other offensively and on defense. Boozer is a high scoring methodical forward who doesn't block shots, and Noah is a garbage man on speed who gets steals and blocks shots.
The playoffs these last few years have shown that the winning formula is having a crunch time scorer and front line depth...Chicago is defined by these two traits. After watching Rose again yesterday, and knowing when healthy what their front line has, I think that Chicago is another outside shooter (an Anthony Morrow type player) from being the favorite to win it all. Yes I said it, the fate of the NBA title rests on the shoulders of Anthony Morrow.
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Good point on Rubio. He would have probably come over to the NBA if he had the chance to play with Durant, but I'm not sure his shooting would complement Westbrook and Durantula the way Steph's would.
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