Built Ford Tough

I wouldn't want prime Kenyon Martin playing the 3, let alone a broken down version of him. What exactly would he provide for the team? He won't space the floor, he can't defend opposing 3's and he doesn't run the floor or move without the ball as well as Fields. I'd love to get an upgrade over Fields so that he can go to the bench since I believe his game fits with the 2nd unit better than it does the first since there is more spacing. The floor is more spread and less congested and that opens up cutting lanes for him that aren't available with Valanciunas in the lane or DeRozan in the post. Kenyon Martin is not an upgrade, though. If there was a trade that saw one or two of Amir, Ed or Bargnani dealt I'd be perfectly fine with signing him as an insurance 4, but nobody should consider signing him with the intention of giving him minutes at the 3. On another note, Kyle Lowry is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. Andrea Bargnani has grabbed 7 total rebounds in 93 minutes.

The Spurs controlled this game for pretty much the entire 48 minutes and they did it with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili all having relatively poor games. Duncan's numbers were decent (14 points/10 boards/3 assists/3 steals) but he missed a lot of easy shots tonight, Parker passed the ball fairly well but was just 3-13 and Manu is still getting his legs under him. Gary Neal was in a zone tonight. I know the box score says he missed 2 shots but I don't recall seeing him miss anything tonight. It really did seem like everything he put up went in and none of his shots even touched the rim. DeJuan Blair had one of the best games I've seen from him in a long time. He was assertive and decesive on offense, regained his rebounding touch that seemed to abandon him and, most impressive of all, had some really nice passes to get some of his teammates easy baskets. I don't expect anything like this from him for a while since this was a nice matchup for him, but it was nice to see a good game for a guy who has really fell off over the past year. As far as the Pacers go, they really miss Granger. Granger isn't exactly the ideal first option, in fact he is a pretty piss poor one, but take away his scoring and this team really does struggle to put the ball in the basket. Hill isn't consistent enough, George can't really create for himself, Hibbert is solid but not a guy you can run an offense through and West's body can't handle the load of high usage every night. They really do need Granger back and healthy because they definitely struggle to score the ball in a halfcourt set.

I really don't think he was even "off" in the first game of the season. His production wasn't anywhere close to how he has these last two games, but I really don't think there was a major difference between the way he was playing. The only real gripe in the Indiana game was that he was being too aggressive and trying to force contact and get to the line. He was driving with the intention of getting fouled as opposed to scoring and the refs can see stuff like that. Other than that, though, I don't really think he has played that differently over these last two games. He was getting the calls in the Brooklyn game that he wasn't in the Indy game and that really was the difference between those two as far as I'm concerned. This game, though, he was definitely different. I can agree with that. I don't think I've ever seen him as locked in defensively as he was tonight. Sure the scoring numbers were nice from him, but that is not even close to what impressed me the most from him tonight. It was the way he was playing the passing lanes, guarding his man and, my personal favourite, the way he was getting after it on the glass yet still not sacrificing transition opportunities. I absolutely loved the way he rebounded the ball tonight. It has always been something I wished DeMar did more of and he has over the first 3 games of the season. Even though he only had 2 assists, I was also impressed by his floor game. Aside from the opening possession where he forced a contested running hook over Kirilenko, I don't really recall many shots he took that would be considered bad. When posting up he looked to attack when no second defender came and when the second defender did come he did a nice job of kicking it out and eventually the ball would find the hands of an open teammate (usually Anderson or Lowry). He may not have gotten the actual assist, but he was the key part of many plays by simply being a magnet and drawing the defense in. Last year, and even in the preseason, the ball was not coming out of his hands when he posted up so it is nice to see him making those adjustments and getting teammates open looks.

Landry Fields should be very, very worried about Alan Anderson taking his minutes and starting spot. Man, did I really just type that? The joys of being a fan of a Bryan Colangelo run team.

The Raptors would be completely screwed without DeRozan and Lowry tonight, which is sad to say since the Wolves are missing their 2 best players in Love and Rubio (and also lost Barea in the 2nd quarter), yet they still need fantastic games from DeMar and Lowry to even be up 4 on the short handed T'Wolves. Combned they have 36 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals on 14-20 shooting. The rest of the team have 39 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal on 16-47 sooting.

It is ridiculous how different this team is when he is running the team compared to when Calderon is. Night and day difference.

Nice hesitation from DeRozan to freeze Kirilenko. That is what he needs to do in order to beat his guy one-on-one. He doesn't have the explosive first step so he needs to make effective use of hesitation dribbles and mix up his speed. That was a really nice move to get by a very capable defender in AK47.

That was a dirty blow by from Anderson on Budinger. He absolutely left him in the dust. Too bad Davis couldn't finish the dunk because that was a damn impressive move from Anderson. Excellent use of the jab step.

Not even two minutes into the game and I'm already sick of Fields. The Raptors might as well just play 4-5 on offense. At least then Fields wouldn't have a chance to [expletive] everything up.

This really is a huge game for the Raptors, whcih is strange to say considering it is only the 3rd game of the season. If the Raptors drop this game there is a very good chance that they could start the season something awful like 2-7, 1-8 or even 0-9. Their schedule is just brutal to start the season and dropping those first two games, two games that were very winnable (Indiana game in particular), really hurts since wins are going to be hard to come by this month. They really do need to take advantage of this Love and Rubio-less Wolves team.

I still say they miss out on the playoffs. Bargnani is proving that his hot start last season was just that; a hot start. We simply can't expect him to play like that over the course of the season and the Raptors getting that Bargnani for much of the season is, in my opinion, the key factor in whether this team makes the playoffs or doesn't. Add to that the fact that they get negative production from the 3 spot (whether it is Fields, Anderson or Kleiza whenever he rejoins the team) and I just don't see the Raptors making the playoffs. I mean I guess it is possible if Lowry continues to play like he has the first two games of the season and DeRozan plays like he did last night all season, but that isn't going to happen. Lowry is a very good player, but he isn't a top 5 point guard and DeRozan isn't going to be able to string consecutive games like last night all season long. It would be nice, but I don't think the Raptors become a playoff team until Valanciunas develops more and is able to consistently stay on the floor, which isn't this year.

Pretty hard to play defense when you have been getting called for every little thing all game long. Paul was struggling finishing in the game but was damn near automatic from the line so the Warriors were almost better off just hoping he continued to have his shots rim out. Barnes came up with two huge baskets late. People are going to give Curry a lot of credit for the Warriors holding on, but I don't think that GS holds onto this lead if Barnes doesn't hit that huge 20 foot jumper off the curl and then makes that runner in the lane. Both shots were huge as they came when the Clippers looked ready to take the lead and had all the momentum on their side. Those were definitely some cold blooded shots by the rook. On the other hand, his defense tonight was abysmal. He did a terrible job of sticking with Butler on those screens, especially in the 3rd quarter where he lost him at least 5 times and it resulted in 4 wide open looks from deep. He needs to do a better job of being more aware off the ball and fighting through those screens. His man defense hasn't been bad at all these first 3 games but he has had troubles off the ball. I thought Jack was the best Warrior in that game. He did a fantastic job of running the offense, knowing when to look to pass or when to look for his own, played solid defense and seemed to come up with a lot of loose, 50/50 balls. His statline was good (16/6/7) but I thought he played even better than the numbers suggest. I also loved how he got in Griffin's face after he dove on Thompson's head and drove it into the court. I know it wasn't on purpose on Griffin's part as he was just going for the loose ball, but good on Jack for sticking up for his teammate. That is one thing that I really enjoyed from him when he was a Raptor. Landry was the best Warrior big for the 3rd game in a row. He really is a huge reason why this team is 2-1 right now instead of 0-3. He single handedly won the game agaisnt Phoenix and he stepped up big time tonight again. They could easily be 0-3 right now given how little Lee has produced. I loved the signing for Golden State when it was announced and it has paid huge dividends so far in this young season.

I thought he looked really good on offense, but Casey kind of iced him in the 4th by leaving him on the bench way too long. He was pretty ineffective after coming back into the game with around 4-5 minutes left. I think he was on the bench for close to 25-30 minutes of real time, though, so it kind of threw off his rhythm. Prior to that, though, he had a nice game. He stuck a few jumpers to open the game (one from about 18 feet off a curl and another was a corner 3) which then opened up some driving lanes that he took advantage of. I thought he did a very nice job of mixing up his offense so I have to disagree with DunkinDeRozan when he said he took too much jumpers. DeMar has to keep the defense honest or else he will have no driving lanes. He did a great job of keep the defense on their toes with his jumper but not settling for anything. He had one move in particular that was absolutely beautiful. He had the ball around the left elbow area, took a dribble towards the middle of the court, used a beautiful reverse pivot to completely shake his defender and then stuck the open 18 foot jumper. It was a very Kobe-like move. I believe it was in the 2nd quarter. But yeah, it was defintiely one of the better games I can remember from DeRozan. I thought he looked really good on offense. Defensively he was sort of there. Johnson didn't have a very good game but I'm not sure I can accredit that to DeRozan's defense. I think Johnson was just off more than anything DeRozan did. He wasn't bad defensively by any means, but I didn't really see much from him on that end of the floor either.

Spurs put on an absolute clinic in the first half. Their offensive execution was spectacular. I think they shot something like 85% in the first half. It was just ridiculous to watch. They got a bit complacent in the 3rd quarter and were sort of just going through the motions it seemed like. That enabled the Jazz to go on a 24-5 run to finish the 3rd and erase the Spurs big lead. In the 4th they took over down the stretch again, though. It is remarkable how they can just flip a switch and absolutely torch teams. Duncan is continuing to turn back the clock. He had another superb game tonight. His defense in the first half was great. Jefferson, Millsap and Favors were getting absolutely nothing down low, although Jefferson started to get on a bit of a role late in the game. Leonard had another rock solid game as well. I don't think he missed a shot all game and he was his usual self on defense. This guy is going to be a star once he puts it all together. I didn't buy it when Pop was talking about him like that last season, but I do now. He has really improved since the end of last season. For Utah, Mo Williams had an awesome shooting night. He got on a real run late in the 3rd knocking down around 4 straight shots including a three or two (think he might've had a foot on the line on a pull up transition shot) to really make this game interesting. He didn't do much in the 4th as Jefferson started to get into a rhytym and they were going to him on the block quite a bit. Other than Mo, I don't think anybody had a particularly good game. Millsap, Jefferson and Hayward were solid but nothing they did really stood out. Kanter was bad and Favors was active, but not all that effective.

Bargnani and Gray on the floor together at the same time is such a [expletive]ing train wreck defensively. Gray can't even move 1 foot in either direction to help and Bargnani is simply clueless. Why are you trying so damn hard to run Gerald Wallace off the 3 point line? You want him shooting. Valanciunas may foul like a mad man, but at least he has the quickness to rotate and contest these shots. Brooklyn would probably still be winning, but at the very least Valanciunas would've made that Watson floater and that last Lopez shot difficult instead of easy looks.

So you have a guy in Ed Davis score 7 or 8 straight points and playing great defensively so what do you do? Take him out and leave Aaron Gray on the floor, of course. Casey's rotations have been absolutely moronic to start the season.

Lucas is such a scrub. Thank god Casey came to his senses and took him out. Speaking of scrubs, awesome play from Gray. Why the hell is he even on the floor? It's not like Lopez is out there and you want his size on Brook and even if Lopez was, he still shouldn't be on the floor because he is a bonafide scrub. Thank god for Davis, though. Boy has came to play in the 4th sparking this comeback.

It also helped that Casey decided it would be a great idea to have Lowry, Bargnani and DeRozan sitting at the same time. I think the Raptors lineup for much of the 2nd was something like Johnson/Davis/McGuire/Anderson/Calderon, which is just awful. With that said, I do agree with you that the defense of the Nets was vastly improved in the 2nd. Even when the starters did come back, the defense was still a lot better. Also, lol at the offensive board from Bargs. Everybody on the floor seemed absolutely shocked, Bargnani msot of all.

I'll get a better picture after tonight seeing what Jackson's gameplan is knowing that he won't have Rush in the lineup. Last night he played a two point guard lineup of Jack and Curry and moved Thompson to the 3 quite a bit. Barnes played 10 more minutes than he did in the opener against Phoenix, but I don't think that Rush's injury was a major reason for his increase in minutes. I think Jackson just wanted to play him more than 13 minutes a night. But yeah, I think there is a good chance we may see a lot of that Jack/Curry backcourt with Thompson at the 3 with Rush out. I wouldn't be too sure that Barnes will see much more of an increased role because of this injury.

And they looked like complete garbage in the 2nd. Brooklyn was getting whatever they wanted on offense and the Raptors offense became completely stagnant.

http://blog.sfgate.com/warriors/2012/11/03/brandon-rush-is-out-for-the-season-with-torn-acl/ Not really surprising to anybody who saw the injury happen, but it still sucks to hear regardless. Losing Rush is going to be a huge blow to the Warriors as he is one of the most important players on that team. I'd even go as far as to say that he is the 3rd most important player behind Curry and Bogut. I know it may sound crazy, but I think it is true. For anybody who didn't see the injury, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGVzG1NTH9w

Yeah, I'm not very confident about this game either. I really don't like how Toronto matches up with Brooklyn. The Raptors only hope is if Bargnani can really abuse Humphries. I'm not expecting much from DeRozan because he won't have his usual size advantage against Johnson (or Wallace, if they hide Johnson on Fields) and Lowry is going to have his hands full with Williams. I'd be surprised if the Raptors can keep this game close. I'm thinking Brooklyn wins by at least 8 points and has a comfortable lead throughout most of the game.

Yeah, he defintiely did. He even went to the Warriors locker room to apologize to Rush. I believe it was just before the start of the 2nd quarter or maybe half time. I can't remember since I watched the first quarter last night and then the final 3 quarters this morning. But yeah, you can tell he felt awful. As for the game, Curry's jumper looked a lot better. He still seems to have some trouble getting by his man and I'm not sure how much of that is physical and how much of it is mental. Is he having troubles because his ankle is still bothering him? Or is it because he is hesitant to really push it in fear of putting himself in a position where he may roll it or come down awkwardly on it? I really liked what Landry gave them for the 2nd straight game. If I was Jackson, I would've had him close out the game and kept Lee on the bench. I might've even went small and had Lee and Landry on the floor together since that lineup worked well for them in the 2nd quarter when they went on a nice run and Bogut still isn't right out there. Landry's quickness and ability to knock down mid range jumpers was a huge asset against the slower Memphis bigs and he was taking advantage of that all night long with his 20 points and 12 trips to the stripe. I thought Barnes played pretty solid defense for the most part. He did have some plays where he completely lost his man or got beat off the bounce, but he did a nice job of recovering on many of them. Gay didn't really get into a real rhythm when Barnes was on him and he was forcing him into tough shots. On offense, Barnes doesn't really have a role on this team other than spotting up behind the arc, so there isn't a whole lot to say about that. He seemed to get a bit frusturated with a lack of touches so he tried to force some things which led to him picking up his dribble or forcing a pass. It is an adjustment he will have to make as for the first time in his life he isn't the go to guy offensively. For Memphis, I really liked what I saw from Conley. I thought he played a fantastic floor game. His defense on Curry wasn't great as he lost him on quite a few screens, but he did do a nice job of stripping the ball and playing passing lanes. On offense I have absolutely 0 complaints about the way he played. He did everything you would want him to do tonight and the offense was about 10X better when he was on the floor as when he was off it. Gasol was the other Grizzly who stood out to me. He had a very nice game as well. His passing in particular is such a huge asset to this team, especially when they have him operating in the high post and he can survey the floor better than when he is on the low block. His ability to find cutters and players spotting up in the corners makes Memphis a very efficient half court offense when they are clicking. Golden State, while far from a defensive juggernaut, was getting picked apart by Gasol's passing.

I really don't understand how a team like OKC gets the reputation as being an entertaining team to watch yet the Spurs are still considered boring. OKC just bores me with their constant isolations, overdribbling and sloppy play. Sure, Westbrook and Durant will make some jaw dropping plays, but for about 90% of the game I really don't see how this team is considered to be one of the must see teams in the league. As for the game, Duncan had another awesome game, especially in the first half. I'd be absolutely shocked if he keeps up this play as I'm sure he'll take a backseat to conserve energy as the season goes on, especially when Manu comes back, but it has been great to see him turn back the clock these last two games, especially since the Spurs offense isn't clicking just yet. They looked a bit better tonight than they did last night, but there is still some kinks they need to work out. One thing I noticed is that the Spurs were a lot more physical with Durant. Are teams starting to realize that he is really soft when trying to establish position? Miami really took advantage of that in the Finals last year and I defintiely think teams are going to be taking a page out of their book when defending Durant.

The Ross thing is what really gets me. I could maybe understand the logic behind giving DeRozan this extension if they had drafted, say, Harrison Barnes or some other non-shooting guard. I still wouldn't agree with it since at the end of the day DeRozan simply isn't worth this kind of money, but I could understand it a bit. However, you just used the 8th overall pick on Terrence Ross (and if Ross wasn't the pick, it sounds like Austin Rivers would've been) so what exactly happened between the draft and now to make Colangelo so confident of DeRozan? It's not like either one of DeRozan or Ross are capable of playing the 3 (even if DeRozan's game is more suited to the 3, he doesn't have the size and Ross is a pure 2) so I can't really imagine the intention was playing the two of them together, despite what Colangelo, Stefanski and company have said. So what, do you plan on having Ross just wallow behind DeRozan for the next 4 years? What was the point in drafting this guy, a guy who clearly wasn't the BPA and was a reach in the first place, if you planned on giving DeRozan this extension just a few months later? Then, to top it all off, you just signed Landry Fields for $19M (or whatever it was) and are playing him out of position at the 3 as well. I just don't understand what the hell goes through this guys head. He really has absolutely no plan. The day Colangelo gets fired can't come soon enough.