1. Milwaukee
Maybe all teams can take a page out of the Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks notebook. Simply get rid of your best player, make up some ellaborate excuse about an injury or something, and then watch the wins roll in quicker than a Miss Kitty slot machine.
He'd be hoping that the news is good so he can get back on the court and be a part of the success that his teammates are enjoying.
Expected to be one of the worst teams in the leauge, Milwaukee are on top of the Central division. Sure, they have had a pretty favourable opening schedule that doesnt really start to look tough until very late in November, but they are beating teams.Last night's win against Denver was their best.
Andrew Bogut, the 7 foot Austrlian, posted his best numbers of the season (23 points, 10 rebounds), but it was Brandon Jennings who had everybody talking. His skill set had already been recognised by many experts, as he took over the scoring load when Michael Redd sat out, but last night against the Nuggets he elevated his game to another level.
Perhaps the highest praise is from that of his peers. Chauncey Billups said of Jennings "Give him credit, he stepped up and made some big, big shots. He was great all night. That, to me, is sometimes more than the result. That you have the ultimate confidence than you can hit those shots. That was impressive."
The Bucks will be hoping that they can keep him around and build up their franchise. Over the last few seasons they have parted ways with Mo Williams, Charlie Villenuva, Ramon Sessions and Richard Jefferson.
2. Richard Jefferson finding his way without Duncan and Parker
It was always going to take some time for Richard Jefferson to grow accustomed to playng as a starter in an offense that, for the most part, already was working. With Tony and Tim on the court the ball will typically be given to Tony to drive and create off pick and roll situations , or given to Duncan on the block. That leaves little opportunity for Jefferson to find his spots on offense.
With Parker and Duncan out due to injury, Jefferson was forced to take on more of the scoring responsibilities, and perhaps the absentism of the two all-stars is just what was needed for Jefferson. Without Parker on the floor Jefferson has scored 19 points (against Portland), 24 (against Toronto), and in last night's win against the Mavericks 29.
3. Will Bynum's Dunk fest
I've always liked the Pistons young bench. Rodney Stuckey impressed me right away. Jason Maxiell can change a game with his activity and then you have Will Bynum. This guy can flat out deliver for his team. Last night against the Bobcats he scored 16 points (5-6) in 21 minutes of action.
While small, Bynum has a V8 motor. The guy can flat out get up the court and get up in the air to heights that 6'0" people just should not be able to achieve without the aid of a step ladder.
Check out these two nasty dunks by possibily the best small dunking machine next to Nate Robinson.
Click here. Courtesy of Detroit for Life and need4sheed.com
Basketball is a tremendous sport. It's a game where scoring is something that occurs every minute of every game, not maybe once in a game, but 40-50 times a game. There are so many ways to score points in a basketball game. Players can shoot free-throws, take shots from long range that are rewarded with 3 points instead of 2, shoot measured 2 point jump shots, and then there are the creative shots that often draw wow's from the crowd and are seen as the games' most impressive feature. The rim-rattling dunks, the twisting body contorted lay-ins, the turnaround jump shot out of the post.
Passing is an under-utlised compoonent of many teams. One of the first things a player learns as a junior is that it is quicker to pass the ball down the floor than it is to dribble down the floor. Too often though, teams forget about what a dynamic weapon the pass can be, turning the game into a one-on-many contest.
Basketball truly shines when a team plays team basketball. When you see a team sharing the ball, making the extra pass to find an open shooter, or a cutting player through the paint basketball truly shines as a beautiful game.
My favourite teams to watch are the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. Jump onto youtube, nba.com, espn.com and watch highlights of the Utah vs Boston game and you will see some of the best basketball since a Bob Cousy led Celtics team in the 1950's. When you see passing like that where the ball just moves, almost like a tem-playing hot potato you see an easy score result and a rousing cheer from the fans. Passing the ball gives a team easier shots.
Then you have the passers who thrive on the break - Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd. These players excel at giving the ball to the right player at the right time, while being able to deceive the defense as to where the pass is headed. One of my favourite passes of all time was made by Isiah Thomas who threw an alley-oop bounce pass over an opponents head.
My only concern with the NBA is that rules are changed so much that the leauge will eventually become just a scoring league, and I hope rules stay in place that give the defense a chance to fairly stop a player who drives to the rim.
Long live the pass.
5. A Good read
The following is excerpted from "When the Game was Ours," by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson with Jackie MacMullan. This article was published on ESPN.
It began as a friendly game of pool.
Magic Johnson awaited his turn while Michael Jordan, a premium Cuban stogie dangling from his mouth, lined up his shot in the game room of the Ambassador Hotel in Barcelona, Spain, a cordoned-off area on the second floor designated as a sanctuary for the members of the U.S. Olympic basketball team.
An arm's length away, Magic surveyed the maze of faces and also held his breath. He found their energy to be exciting, exhilarating.
"Isn't this amazing?" he said to Bird.
"Are you kidding me? I want to get the hell out of here," Bird answered.
The "Dream Team" needed buffers, for their privacy and their safety. During their 16 days in Barcelona, the Ambassador's game room served as an exclusive club where the players could shoot pool, play cards, enjoy a beer, and invent occasions to compete with one another.
By day the room was littered with books, toys, movies, and video games, a haven for the players' families. Earvin Johnson III, barely eight weeks old, sat wide-eyed in his bouncy seat, intently following the movements of the older children. Conner Bird, a toddler who kept his mother and father awake half the nights during the Olympic Games, loved to jump on the leather couches and throw balls from the pool table down the hotel's elegant marble steps.
On the night of August 7, little Conner and baby E.J. were already asleep. Their daddies were wide awake, embroiled in an emotional debate over a simple question posed by Bird: which NBA team was the greatest of all time?
"Obviously one of our Laker teams," answered Magic, leaning on his pool stick. "We won five championships. More than all of you."
"No, it's the great Celtics teams with my man Bill Russell," said center Patrick Ewing, who played for the New York Knicks but was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "He won 11 rings."
"You're forgetting the '86 Celtics, with the best front line in the history of basketball, including this guy right here," added NBC commentator Ahmad Rashad, pointing to Bird.
"That Celtics front line was brutal," agreed Charles Barkley.
Jordan, refusing to allow the chatter to disrupt his concentration, knocked his ball into the corner pocket and puffed on his cigar. He was 29 years old and had just won his second straight championship and his sixth consecutive scoring title. His counterparts in the room were decorated NBA veterans, yet their body of work was nearly complete. The maestro of the Bulls was only just beginning to add new strokes to his championship canvas.
"You haven't even seen the best NBA team of all time yet," Jordan announced. "I'm just getting started. I'm going to win more championships than all of you guys. Tell you what. Let's have this conversation after I'm done playing."
"You aren't winning five championships," Magic protested.
"Michael, I'm going to steal at least one of them from you," Barkley shot back.
The flurry of protests continued, with five of the greatest players in NBA history sparring over their owplace in basketball history. Magic was indignant at the suggestion that the best team could be anyone other than his 1987 Lakers, the team he had determined was the finest of his title years.
"Put me with Kareem, James Worthy, Coop, and Byron Scott, and we'd dominate your Bulls team," Magic claimed.
Barkley was about to chime in again, but Bird, taking a slug of his beer, shot his hand up.
"Quiet," Bird said. "Charles, you ain't won nothing. You're out of this discussion. Ahmad, same thing. You're gone. Patrick, you don't have any championships either, so you need to shut up and sit down right here and learn some things."
Barkley, subdued by the unfortunate reality of his basketball résumé, wandered off. Ewing, who had once considered Bird a bitter adversary but would develop an unusual kinship with him during their Olympic experience, dutifully sat on the bench next to his new friend. Rashad lingered also, fascinated by the banter between these elite basketball stars, each of whom at some juncture of his career could have argued that he was the best player in the game.
Jordan insisted that his Chicago teams belonged in the conversation about the all-time greats; Bird reminded Jordan that he used to torture Scottie Pippen regularly before his back betrayed him.
"I feel sorry for you," Magic told Jordan. "You will never have what Larry and I had. We went two weeks without sleep knowing, if we made one mistake, the other guy was going to take it and use it to beat us. Who do you measure yourself against?"
The conversation lurched on with no resolution until the topic switched to the inevitable follow-up: who was the best 1-on-1 player of all time?
"Gentlemen," said Jordan, "give it up. You've got no chance on this one. Larry, you don't have the speed to stay with me. Magic, I can guard you, but you could never guard me. Neither one of you guys can play defense the way I can. And neither one of you can score like me."
"I don't know about that," Magic retorted. "I could have scored more if I wanted to. It would have been a good one."
Jordan's face darkened. He had been uncommonly conciliatory in Barcelona, stepping aside as Bird and Magic shared the title of captain and revered elder statesman. Jordan deferred to Magic, allowed him to become the face of the Dream Team, even though Jordan was the reigning back-to-back league MVP. He did so because he understood that Magic's career was at an end and this was his final basketball indulgence.
"I didn't want to burst his bubble," Jordan said.
But now Jordan expected Magic to acknowledge the obvious: that Michael Jordan was the best player in the world. He turned to Magic, plucked the cigar out of his mouth, and approached his fellow future Hall of Famer with his voice rising.
"You better give it up," Jordan told Magic. "I'll come into your gym and drop 60 on you. I've already done it to the Celtics. Ask your friend Larry. You and Bird were great players. You did some amazing things. But it's over. This is my game now."
"Michael, don't you forget," Magic said. "Larry and I turned this league around. We are the NBA."
"Well, I've taken it to a new level," Jordan replied. "And it's not your league anymore."
"You're not there yet," Magic insisted.
Bird watched silently as the debate between Magic and Michael escalated. He detected a swagger in Jordan that he hadn't seen before. Bird recognized that strain of confidence, bordering on arrogance. It was exactly how he had felt when he was on top of the basketball world.
"There were plenty of years when I knew in my heart I was the best guy in the room," Bird said. "That night I knew in my heart it wasn't me anymore. And it wasn't Magic either."
Rashad, a friend to both Michael and Magic, tried to soften the increasingly heated rhetoric. He was unsuccessful. Jordan wanted concessions from Johnson that Magic stubbornly refused to provide, and His Airness remained relentless in pursuing them.
"I just think it's too bad we couldn't all have been young together," Magic said. "We could have all been the face of the NBA at the same time."
"Your time has passed," Jordan said. "C'mon, old man, give it up."
"I'm not sure about that," Magic persisted.
"Magic," Bird finally interjected, "stop. We had our moment. There was a period when nobody was better than you and me. But not anymore. Michael is the best now.
"Let's pass the torch and be on our way."
Excerpted from "When the Game Was Ours" by Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson with Jackie MacMullan. Copyright © 2009 by Magic Johnson Enterprises and Larry Bird. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
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