Built Ford Tough

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20120217_MIL@ORL

Baylor started 17-0. Since then they are 5-5. While it is somewhat understandable since 4 of those losses came against Kansas and Missouri, but today's loss against K-State was a bad one. They really benefitted from an easy OOC schedule and it is showing with their lackluster play in Big 12 conference play.

How pumped are you to have Bryz signed for the next 6 seasons?

Could return in early March: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/feb/13/injured-grizzlies-forward-zach-randolph-cleared-no/

A few days ago he admitted that he isn't playing as hard as he can in games: In the 9 games he has played in Feburary he has yet to shoot above 40% from the floor. So is this a case of him just mailing it in and waiting for a trade, a la Vince Carter's final days in Toronto, or was he simply playing over his head earlier in the season and is now coming back down to earth as the sub 40%, chucker that he was in his first two seasons?

Cunningham really saved the Grizzlies asses in this one after blowing a 23 point lead. Nice tip on the Gay miss to give the Grizzlies the 1 point win.

Dallas was without Terry, West and Beaubois in this game and Philly's two leading scorers are Holiday and Williams. With Dallas lack of guard depth, you would expect Jrue and Lou to light it up, right? Well... Holiday - 3 points on 0-9 shooting Williams - 12 points on 4-15 shooting Hell, for good measure lets throw in Turner and Iguodala who see time at guard from time to time... Iguodala - 10 points on 2-9 shooting Turner - 4 points on 2-11 shooting In fact, the only Sixer players to shoot above 50% from the floor in this game was their two rookie, Vuecevic (7-8) and Allen (4-8). Just a brutal 2nd half for the Sixers. On the other side of the court, Dirk starts off something like 2-11 and then goes off in the 2nd half to finish with 28 points on 10-22 shooting.

The Kings had basically a 10 point lead throughout the first 3 quarters with Evans really focusing on facilitating and getting his teammates involved. I think all 9 of his assists came in the first 3 quarters. In the 4th he started looking for his own shot much more frequently and the Kings saw their lead dwindle and, eventually, erased. I'm not saying it was his fault or anything like that but it is interesting to see the Kings lead disappear after Evans started playing more selfishly. Cousins absolutely had his way with Monroe tonight. I was really looking forward to that matchup (it was really the reason why I started watching but eventually continued as the game was pretty entertaining) but it was an absolute blowout in favour of Cousins. He had 26/15 while Monroe made just 1 shot all night. Very impressive showing from Cousins against a player who he is compared to quite often considering their draft positions. Stuckey was running circles around the Kings defense. I lost count of how many times he leaked out for a layup or got the ball in transition and ran straight to the rim for a layup. I'd be willing to bet that out of his 12 made shots, around 8 or 9 of them were right inside the paint. I also liked Brandon Knight's game tonight. His shooting wasn't anything to rave about (9-21) but he had 10 assists and 0 turnovers. He did a really nice job of pushing the ball in transition and getting his teammates easy looks. He also had some pretty impressive drives where he showed nice explosiveness, which I haven't seen from him before. It was definitely the best game I've seen from him so far.

I thought it was the Knicks making plays and not the Hornets playing bad?

No, it was the Hornets playing bad. Jack throwing the ball 10 feet over Ayon's head for the turnover. Jack charging out of control at the rim and throwing up a ridiculous circus shot. Vasquez taking a contested pull up 18 footer with 15 seconds on the clock. New Orleans giving up offensive rebounds off of a missed free throw. Giving up wide open looks off of basically no ball movement from the Knicks offense. There is no reason this game should've even been anywhere near as close as it was considering how shitty the Knicks played.

Yes, its not like I made that post after they allowed a 12 point lead to go down to 2 in a matter of minutes or anything.

Glad the refs didn't bail out Lin on that drive. There was some contact on the play, but Lin was completely out of control on that drive and the only chance he had to do anything was if the refs bailed him out. It was a nice crossover to get himself into the lane, though.

Lucky break for the Hornets. Ariza definitely traveled there. Bad foul by Belinelli after what was a solid 18 seconds of defense.

[expletive]ing Hornets and their awesome tanking ability. Jack is doing everything in his power to blow this lead. Stupid shots, brutal turnovers and letting Shumpert torch him. Great vet leadership from him.

You should ask all your followers who your jump shot looks like.

Lmao, Calderon tries to throw a lob to DeRozan off the inbounds play, but throws the ball in the basket. Raptors turnover and, the game is basically a wrap. So pumped. I did not expect a loss tonight at all.

To the point where I almost came when the refs didn't call that obvious travel on Augustin.

That was a sick spin move from Augustin. Him and Walker have taken over in the 4th. Also, lmao at Matt and Jack standing up and singing to the crowd. Dell Curry joining them was even better.

Watching a Calderon/Barbosa backcourt play defense is pretty comical.

I think Ed is more talented and will be the better player in the long run, but I'd probably keep Amir simply because I think you could get more for Ed. With Bargnani/Valanciunas as the likely long term 4/5 duo, I'd rather cash in on Davis' value in hopes of filling a more pressing need elsewhere (ideally small forward or point guard) than sitting on the bench. Amir has proven to be a very good energy big during his time with Toronto and is exactly the kind of player you want coming off your bench. I'd be perfectly fine with either one of them, though. They are both really similar players who give you a lot of the same things.

I haven't seen a whole lot of Lamb (about 3 or 4 games this season) so I don't have nearly as much of a grasp on his game as somebody like Barnes who I've seen close to 10 times this year on top of the 10+ I saw last year. Anyways, Lamb is a scorer first and foremost. He isn't as limited at creating his own shot as DeRozan is as he does have a nice crossover and makes great use of his length (has an absolutely freakish wingspan) to get his shot off. His jumper is more advanced than DeMar's as well. He doesn't have the body control or the ability to take a hit like DeRozan, though. He isn't much of a playmaker, but still better than DeMar. With Napier and Boatwright on the roster, he really isn't asked to do much playmaking and is used more as a finisher. Earlier in the season when Boatwright was out he played some backup point and was competent enough, although he was clearly out of his element. He likely would come at the expense of DeRozan since he is only 6'5 and doesn't exactly have the frame where you could project him to add enough size to play the 3. His length is a nice asset, but it wouldn't be enough to have him play the 3. Personally, I have Davis, Barnes, Drummond and MKG ahead of him for sure (in regards to the Raptors). Perry Jones is more gifted, but with his lack of motor or energy, I can easily see him busting.. I'm also not sure who I like more between him and Bradley Beal. EDIT: Do you have access to TSN2 at all tomorrow? I'm not sure if you are still at school or not, but anyways, if you do, UConn is playing at noon EST on TSN2. UNC is also playing at 4 EST tomorrow.

He said after last year's contest that the only way he would compete again was if it was held in Toronto or if they got rid of the props/gimmicks. There is no final round. All 4 dunkers get 3 dunks each and then the fans will vote on the winner. There isn't an elimination round, judges or anything like that this season.

Nice block from Biyombo on Amir. He covered a lot of ground there as it looked like Amir had an easy dunk after the nice pass from DeRozan.

Trade Favors and Harris, who would need to be involved for salary reasons, for Nash. With the Warriors 1st daft whoever is still on the board between Jeremy Lamb, Bradley Beal and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. C: Jefferson PF: Millsap SF: MKG or Hayward (if Beal/Lamb are drafted) SG: Beal/Lamb or Hayward (if MKG is drafted) PG: Nash with Watson, Burks, Kanter, Howard and possibly Kirilenko if they can get him back over next season off of the bench. They would also have their own pick to use however they see fit. Hell, they could trade the Warriors 1st if it would land them a legit wing. Not bad. The only problem is you would have to hope that whichever rookie comes in is able to contribute immediately considering Nash's age. All three that I mentioned seem like they are NBA ready, but who really knows. That team could make some noise, though, especially with Nash still playing at an elite level.

Some stats from today: Harrison Barnes - 23 points*, 6 rebounds (4 offensive) on 9-20 shooting. Jeremy Lamb - 18 points, 5 rebounds on 8-13 shooting Andre Drummond - 15 points, 9 rebounds on 7-14 shooting Cody Zeller - 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists on 9-11 shooting Meyers Leonard - 9 points, 12 rebounds on 4-7 shooting Those were really the only expected lottery talents playing tonight, and even then, I doubt the Raptors have much interest in either Leionard or Zeller, but I figured I'd throw their numbers in there anyways. *Barnes had either 14 or 17 (can't remember if he had 6 or 9 in the first half) of his points in the 2nd half to bring his team back from a 5 point half time defecit to a 9 point win. In regards to lottery positioning, Toronto currently sits tied for 5th with the Pistons, 0.5 games out of 4th, 1.5 games out of 3rd and 2 games out of 2nd.