Built Ford Tough

The UNC performance wasn't too unexpected. As they say, live by the three, die by the three. This UNC team isn't going to win any games when they make 1 three, let alone against a team like Duke. They don't have the interior scoring or defense to be able to compensate for nights when their shots aren't falling. That is what makes them a dangerous team in the tournament because when they're hitting their shots they can run you out of the gym, but it is also what will prevent them from making a deep run as well. Basically, in a way, they are Mizzou last year.

Whelp. At least the atmopshere was electric for Wiggins' visit to Chapel Hill. That is about the only positive I can think of and even that is a load of BS, lol. Then again, I've never really thought that UNC had much of a shot with Wiggins anyways.

Not really. He is brutal at spotting up. He has been shooting 19% or something like that on spots since coming to Toronto. His 3 point shot has dropped from 35-39% pre-shoulder injury to mid-low 20% since then. I honestly think he may be damaged goods in that shoulder because I've never seen such a dramatic drop off in the prime of a guy's career.He's a limited playmaker so he doesn't help in that regard either. In order to get the most out of him you'd need to take the ball out of Nash's hands even more and also Kobe's a bit as well. That is the problem with Gay, though. Like you said, he isn't a first option but he doesn't do the things that you need from a 2nd/3rd option. He has the game of a first option player (and, the contract of a franchise player) but the talent of a 2nd/3rd option. It just doesn't work and we saw that in Memphis after Randolph and the emergence of Gasol.

Vander Blue hit a game winner at the buzzer in overtime against St. John's to give Marquette a share, along with G'Town, of the Big East title. Who saw that coming at the start of the year? UCLA also won the Pac-12 crown outright by beating Washington and Oregon laying an egg against Utah for their 2nd straight loss. Miami became the first team other than Duke or UNC to win the ACC crown since something like 2002. Speaking of Miami and Duke, looking forward to that game tonight. UNC wins they finished tied for 2nd with Duke in ACC play.

He is making Andrea Bargnani look like an efficient scorer ffs. Just look at this. He is averaging 19.6 ppg on 19.3 fga He is shooting 4 3's a game, yet shoots worse than DeMar from 3 at 23%. The only player with a worse TS% on the team is Linas Kleiza. Gay has the worst OWS on the team at -0.7. His total win share contribution is 0.1, which ties him with the likes of, once again, Linas Kleiza for the 2nd worst mark on the team. Only Mikael Pietrus has contributed less win shares at an even 0. Kleiza and Pietrus haven't played for about 40 games now. His FG% is 38%, yet his USG% is 30%, far and away the highest on the team. He had had 1 game where he has shot 50% from the floor, and that was his first game as a Raptor where he shot 8/16. He has had 7 games shooting under 40% and 4 of those he was under 30%. Honestly, through 16 games as a Raptor, the only thing seperating Gay from Bargnani is that Gay is averaging 6.5 boards and 2.4 steals. So how much longer before Gay gets heat for his shitty play? Or will the excuses keep on flowing because he's hit a couple of game winners? PS: Those games where Gay hit the 3 game winners (Knicks, Pacers and Nuggets) he shot a combined 31.7% (19/60). So, in other words, he doesn't play like garbage Toronto wins these games by 8+ points.

I'm done with Casey. That is all.

Telfair is just toying with his old team right now. Making no look passes, picking pockets, draining 3's and talking a lot of trash on basically every play. He's definitely been the best player on the court tonight, although Amir is being his usual awesome self as well.

Vucevic is a monster on the glass. I know it hasn't happened that often, but it seems like every time I check a Magic box score the guy is pulling down 20 boards and flirting with 20/20 games. 25/21 for him tonight and almost managed to snap Miami's winning streak if not for a late LeBron layup.

That was the best the 2nd unit has looked in a half since Calderon was traded. With Telfair running the show they actually looked like they were running plays and had a gameplan out there instead of the usual choas that unfolds when Lucas and Anderson are on the court together jacking up shots. That is probably the best quarter Telfair will ever play as a Raptor so I definitely don't expect that to happen on a consistent basis, but even if he plays 70% as well as he did in that quarter, I see no reason for Lucas to get the majority of backup minutes for the rest of the season.

DeRozan's numbers may not really back it up, but his handles and playmaking are about 10X better than they were last year. If he continues to improve these areas and can add a 35% 3 point jumper, he would be a damn good offensive player.

If Wall is such a disaster, care to explain why the Wizards winning percentage without him was 15%, which is amounts to 12 wins over an 82 game season and with him has been 56%, which over an 82 game season would be 46 wings. That is a 34 win difference. Another way of thinking about it, that is the difference between being the worst team in the NBA (and by a wide margin) and being a 6th seed (their winning percentage w/ Wall is slightly above the Atlanta Hawks). The Wizards are 10.2 points better with Wall on the court than when he is on the bench. That is a bigger impact than Kevin Durant has on the Thunder. The top 20 5 man units for the Wizards all have 1 thing in commong; John Wall. I get that you're frustrated with his poor shooting (28% from outside of 10 feet) and how he can be careless with the ball, but he is far from garbage and, no matter how you want to try and dispute them, the numbers fully support that John Wall has had a huge positive impact on the Washington Wizards.

I do have to give props to Amir, though. He had one hell of a game tonight. 23 points and 15 rebounds, 12 of which were offensive on a perfect 10-10 from the field. Oh yeah, and then there is this... Not too bad.

High school basketball. Casey isn't good enough to coach college ball.

Wall hasn't lived up to the hype, but it is worth pointing out that they are 15-11 since his return. Not only that, they've been playing some of the best defense in the league during that stretch as well. He has been a bit of a train wreck on offense (he actually has negative offensive win shares), but his impact on the team has been undeniable. Also worth mentioning Beal's play. Pre Wall: 13 ppg and 3.5 rpg on 36.7 FG% and 32.3 3PT%. Post Wall: 16 ppg and 4 rpg on 47.6 FG% and 46.9 3PT%. Now, to be fair, I'm not saying this is all because of Wall's return. Beal is too good of a shooter to have continued to struggle so much and part of it is also just getting his feet under him in the NBA. But you are kidding yourself if you think Beal's drastically improved play isn't partially due to Wall returning to the lineup. I get your frustration considering the expectations Wall had coming into the league, but he isn't as bad as you are making him out to be. He certainly has some huge flaws, but he does some things at a very high level as well and he does have a substantial impact on the game when he is out there and playing to his strengths.

That crossover Barnes just put on Gay was absolutely filthy. A very impressive drive from Barnes to ice the game. Have I mentioned how much I love/hate watching Barnes play? Damn coin toss.

I wouldn't hold your breath, Brandon. Golden State is 5-1 this year when Curry has 20/10 and Toronto is 0-8 this year when Bargnani scores 20+ points

Klay Thompson is lucky that they called that foul on Curry because he was all over Amir's back. That guy is a complete bonehead defensively. He picks up some of the dumbest fouls and never seems to learn. Every game I watch he'll pick up at least 2 horrible fouls. DeRozan alone has drawn 3 on him tonight by simply using one pump fake.

He's been passive looking for his own offense. I think part of it is the defense Lowry's played on him, but part of it is just the way the game has gone. He's done a great job probing and finding the open man, though. He had 10 assists in the first three quarters. He's been a lot more aggressive looking for his shot in the fourth, though. Most of that is probably because he had Lucas guarding him, which really amounts to nobody guarding him.

Bargnani has 22 points and is 5/6 from three. He's drawn a charge, blocked a shot and deflected two passes. WTF?

Isn't mens related, but Brittney Griner dropped 50 points on 21-29 shooting tonight on Baylor's senior night tonight. Not bad. Speaking of Baylor, their mens team lost to Texas tonight. That likely eliminates any possibility of them getting a tournament bid.

Injuries have held him back as well. It seems like everytime he strings together a good stretch of games he ends up suffering some sort of minor, lingering injury that doesn't keep him out of the lineup for more than a game or two, but limits his effectiveness. Will he live up to the "next Kevin Garnett" hype that some people were throwing around? No, but that was never fair in the first place. I haven't see anything from him so far that suggests to me he won't be one of the better power forwards in the game for the forseeable future, though.

Accountability! Oh, wait, I guess that only applies to Rookies... Because, Alan Anderson and Andrea Bargnani sure get the job done every night with their chucking, sub 40% shooting and, in Bargnani's case, complete negative on the defensive end. I'm so fed up with this guy's hard on for scrub veterans.

Should be interesting to see how the new small ball lineup of UNC's does against a legit 7 footer in Alex Len. Will their pressure on the perimeter prevent the Terps, who struggle enough feeding the post as is, make up for the size McAdoo will be giving up against Len? It is also worth noting that if UNC wins that game, they'll go into the regular season finale against Duke with a chance to tie them (or even surpass them if Duke loses their next game) in ACC play. Wouldn't that be something considering how much publicity Duke has gotten and how UNC was written off by many (myself included) so long ago. Anyways, now onto the Michigan/Michigan State game. Should be a good one.

Maybe it is the homer in me, but I wouldn't want to play this UNC team in the tournament. I know FSU isn't very good outside of Snaer, but this new stretch offense that Roy is running where he has 4 shooters surrounding McAdoo is very prolific when you have Bullock and Hairston (and even Paige, who, despite the numbers, has a nice stroke) knocking down their perimter shots. They can break a game wide open with their shooting and then add to that the added space McAdoo has to fully utilize his athleticism (since that is basically all he is at this point, an athlete), and you have a great recipe to upset some higher seeded teams in the tournament. Not to mention the extra space also gives Paige and Strickland a lot more room to drive and either finish or dish if the opposing defense helps off the shooters. By no means am I predicting another Elite Eight appearance or anything like that, but I wouldn't want to be a top 3 seed that has UNC in my bracket.

I'm officially at the point where I'm not even going to bother watching the games as long as Casey continues to play Valanciunas and Ross under 20 minues combined. I'm not going to waste my time watching the chuck brigade coming off the bench. Last night was the first time I've turned a Raptors game off half way through in, well, I don't even know how long.