11/16 Observations
DeMarcus Nelson had the worst week but the Utah Jazz were a close second. Yes they beat the Sixers but they dropped games to the Knicks, Wizards, and Bobcats. Oh, and Deron Williams's comeback came to an abrupt halt. He played one game and was back out the next night, admitting that he probably tried to come back too soon.
Is there any chance in the world that the Thunder don't win the 2009 NBA lottery? Let's look at it: team that just moved, needs to solidify the fan base, and arguably the top prospect in the draft plays for Oklahoma University and was born and raised in Oklahoma City. Although maybe there will be some justice in this world; the Bobcats will win the lotto, take Griffin, and immediately move to Seattle.
You don't want to play Charlotte on a Friday night. They knocked off New Orleans and Utah the past two Fridays. They're 1 - 5 any other day of the week.
Greg Oden looks good. I think it's obvious why he was the #1 pick and got so much hype. That being said, I think he's going to get hurt every time he jumps. If they ever do make a sequel to Unbreakable, he could play Sam Jackson's father.
The Hawks desperately need to find another big man to help out Al Horford. With Josh Smith and now Zaza Pachulia banged up, he's getting swamped. Unless he gets to face more "big" men like Ty Thomas and Jo Noah, he could have a rough go of it until his mates heal up.
For all the noise that was made about Baron Davis and Elton Brand this past offseason, neither has looked great nor have they been that helpful. Corey Maggette meanwhile must feel like Nicole Kidman after getting free from Tom Cruise. And yes, that makes Baron Kate Holmes. And Dunleavy Sr. is L. Ron Hubbard (accent on the L).
Allen Iverson has brought new life to most of the Pistons but Rip Hamilton doesn't seem to be handling to loss of buddy Chauncey Billups too well. Since AI arrived, he's shooting Rip's shooting 28%.
The Heat are lucky they have two gifted individual scorers in Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley because their team offense is basically non-existant. As much as I like Beasley, I'm starting to question whether he and Wade really fit together. It's early, I know, but still...
Milwaukee's announcers must have gone to the Bob Uecker school of announcing. NOBODY drinks as much Kool-Aid as those two. Part of me thinks that they might actually get shocked if they say anything disparaging about the Bucks. This week's highlight was: The Bucks have a few second to run an inbounds play to win the game. The play turns out to be an utter disaster and ends with a three point running hook shot by Ramon Sessions. The commentary was: "Well, it wasn't a GREAT shot but it was close." They spend the rest of the time talking about how great it would have been had the shot gone in. Then against the Celtics, they have 6 or so second left, are down three, spend two minutes talking about how the Bucks need to take a three, and then, when the Bucks possession leads to a Dan Gadzuric awkward 7 foot jumper, start saying that it wasn't a bad shot and that going for the quick two made sense. It's just sad.
Larry Hughes is back, Derrick Rose is clicking, the Bulls are .500. Enjoy it while it lasts because the Bulls are about the embark on a West coast swing that could bring them crashing back down to Earth.
With a friendly schedule coming up, the Spurs might actually not be in such bad shape when Parker and Manu come back. I really have no idea how they beat the Rockets.
My man Kelenna Azubuike is putting up numbers but he can't hit the three to save his life this season.
Don Nelson needs to work on his halftime speeches. In the last four games, the Warriors are -47 in the third quarter.
Besides the uniforms and two-tone court, the other thing making the Wolves unwatchable is the fact that they remind me of the 2006 Celtics. They are in most of their games (5 of their 7 losses have been by five points or less) but always blow it in the end. As frustrating as the Celtics have been in the last few games, watching the Wolves reminds me of how bad we used to have it and helps me appreciate even the ugliest of wins.
