Built Ford Tough

Good god, cry me a river. I clearly acknowledged that I didn't see Griffin supposedly push Chalmers from behind on purpose and I clearly said that if he did, it was a dick move on his part. Nobody is running around celebrating that Griffin supposedly did some dirty move to a players who had his back turned to him (nobody even mentioned anything about it other than you and me, from what I remember, but I'm not 100% sure and I'm not going to look back to check if I am right). They are giving him credit for putting up 25 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists including the dunk that basically put this game on ice.

Clearly, which is why I asked what happened between the two of them about 4 posts ago. If that is what happened, I agree that it was a dick move on Griffin's part. Bad shot from Wade. No need for a three that early in the shot clock, especially when you have been able to get into the paint all night long. Davis has come up big down the stretch. Two huge baskets from him. Now Bosh takes a three? Brutal execution from the Heat down the stretch. Just awful shots that should not be taken. EDIT: Another Bosh three? What the hell. Just terrible execution from the Heat. Why on earth is Bosh taking back to back threes?

Seriously? The two were just yapping at each other for a good 30 seconds and received double techs. Of course he would be pumped up after a huge dunk like that considering what just happened. It's not like it was just some random act of him trying to be hard or something. If a point guard is going to run his mouth to a big man, why shouldn't he be allowed to do something like that after throwing down a huge dunk? If Chalmers hadn't ran his mouth with Griffin (and Griffin did it back, I'm not saying he is in the wrong or anything), then I would have a problem with Griffin "trying a point guard", but considering Chalmers was running his mouth 15 seconds earlier, I fail to see how you can fault Griffin for being emotional.

I really hope that no Heat fans start complaining about the officiating considering how many times Griffin has been hcked with no call and the fact that there has been 3 possessions in a row where you could easily have called a foul on the Heat. I like that they are letting them play, though. As long as they are allowed to do it on both ends, I love it. This has been a great game and hopefully we are in store for a great finish. Griffin with the staredown of Chalmers after the nasty dunk. I love it! EDIT: What happened between Griffin and Chalmers in the first place? I missed it and didn't see what sparked the animosity.

Wasn't that a travel on LeBron? I just happened to look up at the end of the play, but it looked like he took two hops after catching the ball (due to rolling his ankle or something previously). I only caught the portion just befor ehe took the stepback, so I could definitely be wrong. Of course then he drains a stepback three pointer off of a quick move and then started hobbling around afterwards. It is amazing how much players forget about their injuries/pain when the have the ball in their hands. Not saying he was faking it or anything like that, just always find that entertaining.

Gomes has played really well defensively on james in this quarter. He has forced him into some very tough shots and, most importantly, has kept him on the perimeter for the most part. Bledsoe with another highlight reel block, this time on James. What will go unmentioned because of that awesome block is the amazing rebounder from James over Bledsoe to give him the 2nd shot opportunity. That was a nasty block from Bledsoe, though. The Clippers have managed to get their transition game going again, and they are up 10 now. This has been the key of the game all night long. Whoever controls the tempo has controlled the game. Should be interesting to see how the 4th quarter goes.

Bosh has done a great job of getting to the line tonight, but he has really struggled from the field. He has gotten a lot of nice looks from some of his favourite spaces on the floor (the elbows and the top of the circle), but he just hasn't been able to knock down the shots. Miami's half court defense is stifling the Clippers offense right now. They just can't score on them in the half court. They have missed some open looks, but Miami has played great defense. Forcing the Clippers to play a half court game and limiting their opportunities to run is what has allowed them to cut this lead down to 5 points. If the Clippers are going to have any chance of extending their lead, or even keeping it, they are going to have to find ways to get out and run because their half court offense is no match for Miami's defense.

The first 4 minutes of this quarter are going to be crucial for both teams, but more so the Clippers. If they can maintain this lead, perhaps improving on it by 3 or 4 points, they will be in good shape for the rest of the game. However, if they allow the Heat to get it down to 6 points, I can see them starting to panic and force their game. Not saying that the winner of this next 4 minutes will win the game or anything. Impressive rebound by Griffin. The only Clipper with 4 Miami players around him and he is the only that comes down with the rebound and the basket. Impressive hustle by him there. Nice up fake from Bosh to draw the foul on Jordan. He knows that Jordan is anxious to block everything in sight, so he gave him the pump fake to draw the foul. Smart move by the veteran to take advantage of the anxious youngster.

And the Griffin spin move on Anthony wasn't an obvious foul that they didn't call? The Heat have maybe 3 plays all game long where they can legitimately complain about a no call (Davis hacking Bosh early in the 1st, a James layup and one other one that I can't remember at the moment). That is hardly a lot this far into the game, and the Clippers have a few no calls that they could complain about. I just think it is pretty wack to complain about the officiating when your team has looked so lifeless and been completely outplayed.

How about Griffin so far? 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and he has led the fast break about 3 times, as well as just ran the half court offense a possession ago. Now he spins baseline on Anthony, gets hammered by two Heat defenders and still finishes, despite no foul being called. And Flash, I hope you don't complain about the officiating for at least the next 5 minutes after the refs didn't call a foul on Griffin when he was clearly hit by two Heat defenders, and then Wade gets a ticky tack call on the next trip down.

I'm sure that the lead won't last and Miami will go on a run at some point later in the game, but the Clippers looked very impressive in that first quarter. I don't remember the last time that I've seen a Clippers team play such good basketball for an entire quarter. They were running the Heat out of the building and completely abusing them in transition. They seemed to hit everything that quarter and really fed off of the crowd, who were fantastic.

The Heat are playing brutal transition defense right now. How do you let Eric Gordon get a wide open dunk like that after a made basket? Davis with a huge dunk as well, off of a great play by Griffin to lead the break and a very nice pass from Jordan as well Bosh has looked really effective in the post tonight, though. I don't recall too many times when he has looked this good with his back to the basket on the block. Flash, are you really complaining about the officiating right now? There have maybe been 1 or 2 bad no calls all game so far, but when you are playing aggressive defense like the Clippers are, you are going to get the benefit of the doubt. Instead of complaining about the refs, I would be furious with how awful the Heat's transition defense has been.

Nice set of moves in the post from Bosh to draw the foul on Jordan. I've seen him do moves like that before, but I've never seen him combine the spin, head fake and up and under in such a smooth fashion before. Baron Davis has looked great to start the game. I haven't caught a Clipper game since the beginning of the season, but he looks like a completely different player from then. I know it is only the first 4 minutes, but already he has had a nice three to beat the shot clock, a great lob to Jordan and an impressive And 1 in transition where he ran the ball right down the Heat's throat. He looks so much more energized than I've ever seen him in a Clipper uniform. The Clippers have done a great job of attacking the Heat's defense so far. They aren't allowing them to get set in their half court defense and as a result they have scored 16 points in the first 5 minutes. This is the kind of game that they are going to have to play all night long because they aren't going to be able to scoring consistently in a half court set. Late foul call to send Bosh to the line, but the right one. He was definitely fouled there, even though the ref had his thumb up his [expletive] and didn't call it until the shot was missed.

I noticed this in the first half and was going to post about it but I forgot to mention it before leaving. What is up with the blue headbands the Raptors are wearing? Ed Davis had one on tonight and I've seen Julian Wright wearing one in previous game highlights as well. None of the Hawks were wearing any of them so is it just a Raptor thing? I've never seen the team wear blue headbands before. I've seen them wear purple, red, purple and white/black mixtures as well as red and black/white mixtrues, but I've never seen them wear blue ones before. As far as positives to take from this game from a Raptors standpoint, this is the 2nd straight game that they've scored 60+ points in the paint. They are something like 4th or 5th in the NBA in points in the paint per game which is something to be proud of considering for as long as I can remember this team has been labeled as a soft, jump shootnig team that shies away from contact.

I didn't see the call as I just got home from class with about 3 minutes left, but no matter how bad a call it may have been, that would be an awful excuse to use to justify the Hawks losing. Judging from the box score, the reason why the Hawks would've lost this game would be from their abysmal, 15 point, sub 40% shooting third quarter. Blaming one bad call for an excuse is one of the most annoying things that a fan base does. Not only do the bad calls even themselves out over time, 99% of the time you can't point to one specific call and legitimately say that is the reason why the game was decided one way or the other.

Why would you draw up a play for Calderon considering Bargnani and Barbosa both have 20+ points on 50%+ shooting? Terrible play call and the turnover was a result of that. And then the 3 to tie the game comes from 35 feet away from Bargnani. Jesus christ, the Raptors just can't run any late game plays well. I find it hilarious how Devlin was saying how great a look that was. Newsflash, Bargnani was wide open because he was 35 feet away from the damn basket. Of course he will be wide open.

Sonny Weems makes his return to the lineup tonight after missing the previous 11 games. Should be interesting to see how many minutes he gets and how many shots per minute he takes. He has got a lot of chucking to make up for. I won't be able to watch much of this game, like usual. I have class in an hour and a half so I'll be able to watch probably the 1st quarter and that is is. I can't even remember the last full Raptor game I've been able to watch.

Wotjek Wolski to the Rangers for Michael Rosival. Should be interesting to see how Wolski and Torts get along.

^^^ To add to your point, his 14.8 ppg makes him the 5th highest scoring sophomore in the NBA, behind Curry (18.6), Jennings (17.9), Evans (17.2) and Mathews (16), but he is attempting only 11.5 shots a game which is 3 less than Curry, 4.3 less than Jennings, 5.2 less than Evans and 1 less than Mathews. His 47.5 FG% is higher than all four of the players ahead of him as well. On top of that, his 5 FTA per game is the most out of all of these players as well. I honestly think that if he was given the opportunity to put up at least 17 shots a game on a consistent basis like a lot of these guys are, he would be right up there for the lead in sophomore scoring. His efficiency may take a bit of a hit, but I haev no doubt that he would flirt with the 18-19 ppg mark with his ability to draw fouls.

Based on their play this season, I think it is a fair comparision. Lopez has taken a step back from his solid sophomore season while Nene is leading the league in FG% at around 64% and putting up 15/8 (I think, haven't looked in a while) compared to Lopez's 19/6 on like 44%. These numbers may be a bit off as I didn't bother to check them, but I think my point stands. I'm not saying that Nene is better than him or anything because he isn't, but is isn't completely ridiculous to compare them based off of their play this season and this season alone.

The Raptors are now 3-16 when Linas Kleiza attempts 10 or more shots. Can this guy please be benched? Julian Wright puts up something like 18/8/5 against Cleveland and what is his reward? 12 minutes. Brilliant! Barbosa's chucking is starting to get annoying as well. Hopefully the Raptors are able to move him at the deadline because him and Kleiza are just too much chucking on one team, and Kleiza won't be going anywhere. At least DeRozan scored 20 points tonight. Oh yeah, Luke Harangody put up 17 pts/11 rebs/2 blks on 8-11 shooting. Only against Toronto.

Of course. I can't believe you actually took anything he says seriously. You should know better, haha.

Best part of the episode was when Situation was miming all of the new girls actions beside here when she was freaking out on Sammi/Ronnie. I was in stiches at that point. There was not enough MVP tonight. Situation and Pauly make this show, with Vinny being a bit below them. I couldn't care less about any of the other characters, especially Ronnie and Sammi.

It is a done deal now (to Dallas). Langenbrunner for a conditional 2011 3rd (becomes a 2nd if the Stars win a playoff series or re-sign him).

Barnes makes sense because of how awful he has been and a good sophomore season could easily vault him back into the top 3 of a draft considering the hype around during his senior year in high school and coming to UNC. As for Irving, I still think he will enter the draft, He may want to go back to Duke considering he will have missed basically all of his freshman season and he might just want to stay for the experience. This is all premmature, though. A great showing in Conference play of the tournament will suddenly vault Barnes back into the top 3, maybe even the top spot, making him want to declare. Irving may come back in time for the ACC tournament or something and if he wins a National Championship with Duke, he may decide to just go to the pros. Who really knows at this point. What is so absurd about that? He was lighting up the NCAA before he was injured and was arguably the best point guard in the nation as a freshman. He doesn't have the upside of a John Wall or somebody, but he definitely has the upside to become an All-Star point guard.