Give Me The Rock
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Line of the Night: Few players are as simultaneously good and bad as Boris Diaw (1.42). Diaw followed up a 4 point, 1-6 shooting night on Friday with a 28 point, 10-12 shooting, 5 three 2 block game against the Sixers yesterday. I’ll need to see him to that at least one more time before I’m ready to call it a positive trend for Diaw.
Honorable Mentions: It’s the academy award speeches of honorable mentions: Vince Carter (1.3) would like to thank the Golden State Warriors for allowing him to really explore the space on his way to 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists, while going 12-12 from the line; Chris Bosh (1.21) would like to thank the Chicago Bulls big men for sucking so badly on defense that he could score 25 points with 12 boards in only 22 minutes on the court; Dirk Nowitzki (1.09) would like to thank the Dallas Mavericks for letting him get in touch with his musical side, the 32 points, 9 boards and 4 blocks was just business as usual; Gerald Wallace (1.05) would like to thank his body for not betraying him on his way to another 24 and 14 double-double; Marcus Camby (0.99) would like to thank HIS body for not betraying him so he can continue to grab boards (17 yesterday); and Anthony Randolph (0.92) would like to thank the entire Warriors team for getting injured and Mikki Moore for playing like a 34-year old Mikki Moore, so that he’d finally get an opportunity to play and pull down a 28/13/5 in 35 minutes on the court.
Talk About Jumping Right Back In: In only his second game back after missing 7 weeks with a fractured hand, Kevin Love (0.85) notched his second straight double-double with 18 points and 10 boards in a win over the Jazz. Welcome back kid, the Wolves really missed you.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Willie Green (0.83). Jrue Holiday is now hurt, so Green played 40 minutes, scoring 26 points with 4 assists while starting at PG for the Sixers. And of course this is the last we’ll hear from Green this season as Iverson is set to join the team Monday. Thanks for the game, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Ryan Gomes (0.73) had a 23/5/5 in a start against the Jazz. That’s 4 good games in a row for Gomes, who must be feeling the pressure of Love’s return. Eventually Gomes will start to feel the squeeze of Love and will lose his hot shooting hand, so if you do plan to pick him up as a short-term move, the sooner the better.
D’oh: Greg Oden fractured his left knee cap in Saturday’s game against the Rockets and will likely miss the rest of the season with the injury. He was just starting to put in all together on the court too, averaging 11 points and 8.5 rebounds on the year. The Blazers will likely look to trade for a big man to replace Oden (I hear Al Harrington might be expendable), but in the meantime Joel Przybilla (-0.01) and his 3.6 PPG becomes a must add in nearly all leagues. Przybilla had 6 points and 12 boards in 35 minutes yesterday after Oden left the game with his injury.
The Biggest Loser: Besides all the Greg Oden owners? Probably Josh Smith (-0.72). Smith did have 12 points and 6 boards, but wasn’t very efficient in getting there – shooting 4-11 from the floor and 4-10 from the line with 4 turnovers.
Derrick Rose (-0.57) was also pretty awful with 9 points on 3-9 shooting and 5 assists in 28 minutes as Chicago got destroyed by Toronto 110-78.
All Eyez on Me:
Phoenix (15-5) at Los Angeles (15-3) – Kobe and the Lakers are coming off a buzzer-beating win over Miami. How do you put Kobe’s three pointer into words? This is about as close as you can come.
New Jersey (1-18) at New York (5-15) – Not much of a real NBA game, but probably a hell of a fantasy one. Can Chris Duhon repeat his strong 25 point, 10 assist performance? I put my money on unlikely.
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Tags: Boris Diaw, Greg Oden, Josh Smith, Kevin Love, Willie Green
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December 6th, 2009 at 11:40 am
And this slick move by the Bulls could have easily qualified for a biggest loser too.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Greg Oden should now officially be on everyone's Do Not Draft list.
December 6th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
It's a sad day in Rip City. We really love the Old Fella out here. Maybe it's the Benjamin Button thing. And I thought the whole point of taking on a Western Conference team as my number two was to offset the suckitude of my Knicks.
I am wondering if he had a hairline fracture in the knee cap from the previous week's injury because there was no contact at all. It just cracked during the jump. From a post on the Oregonian, this appears to be the same injury McDyess had during his one-month tenure as a…Knickerbocker. So maybe it's me that's the jinx.
If LaMarcus aggravates his injury and Rudy's sciatica keeps acting up, we'll be down to a seven-man squad. What is this Golden State?
I'm not ready to give up on Oden just yet; I want to believe that this is a freak accident. But it is a tremendous setback to him and the team this year. This is an opportunity to reset this roster, though, which has been in disarray of late. If only they'd listened to me and signed Marion instead of Miller, we wouldn't be playing four guard sets. Maybe it's time to move Miller and/or LaMarcus and get in the 2010 hunt. Although, those contracts are not very favorable to takers.
December 6th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I watched the replay a bunch of times and it looks like his knee simply gives out him when he lands off the jump. A lot of guys injure themselves jumping, but it takes Greg Oden to break his kneecap doing it. I actually went back and found this about McDyess which mentions that he also broke his kneecap while jumping. So, maybe a McDyess-to-Oden career comparison might not be that far off.
As far as the Blazers go, I mean they have to be in the hunt for another big man, right? I love Joel Przybilla more than his mother does, but they can't be loving the thought of him logging 40 minutes a game for them. They really have no need for Andre Miller at this point and could possibly use him as part of a trade, but like you said with that contract it doesn't seem like they'd be getting much value in return. And Aldridge? Isn't trading him now kind of like admitting you've failed as a GM? It's an interesting idea, but GM typically don't do that kind of thing. Plus, wouldn't their fans revolt?
December 6th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
They are definitely going to back to the grinding team they were last year. Low possessions, lots of iso plays for LA and Roy. They tried to run for what, two games? It's not Nate's coaching style at all. Pryz only averaged probably 28 mpg last year as a starter and Frye never played, so LA will likely have to move to C at times again. But Nate can't adjust on the fly. I've long thought that he's holding the team back from achieving their potential; not because he's a bad coach, but he's the wrong coach for this group of players. To me, the Rockets playoff series showed that his strategy is too rigid.
The LA contract was a disaster. Probably a result of Pryz being overpaid at $7 million. He's really Al Harrington with a little post game and no 3 ball. Maybe Pritchard was banking on Oden taking the next step and they'd have a 5 year window on championships. He seems to love him for some reason. Yes, admitting you're wrong never happens in the NBA, unless Isiah Thomas is involved in the deal, so they're stuck. They have no cap room. No more Raef LaFrentz's expiring contract. And Memphis, it turns out, fucked them badly by signing Darius Miles to spite them. As good as Pritchard has been, the last year has not been kind to him and the Blazers.
If they could trade LA and land Nowitzki, Bosh, or Amare, people would forgive. Roy and Oden and Rudy are bigger here, I think. But are any of those three coming to Portland? I don't know.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Do people in Portland not realize that if they didn't have Aldridge the alternative would be Tyrus Thomas?
December 7th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Let me lead off by saying I don't think LA's a bad player, I just don't think he's worth a contract that averages $13 million. He's what, 109, on the player rater thus far?