Quick Thoughts on Opening Night
> Miami’s offense definitely looked very rough but that will certainly improve with time. What should concern Heat fans, outside of their extremely poor big man rotation, is that when things got tight the offense devolved into the LeBron James Cavaliers version 2.0. Meaning there was lots of standing around while Bron held the ball or jacked up jumpers.
> Boston’s defense on the other hand looked air tight as always. You add Delonte West (suspended) and Kendrick Perkins (right knee) to this roster and they almost have too much talent. Obviously I feel very good about my pick of the Celtics to win the East.
Oh yeah, Kevin Garnett will absolutely eat Chris Bosh alive in a seven-game series. I’d bet money on this in Vegas right now if I could.
> Portland looked as good or better than I thought they would. Wesley Matthews seems to be fitting in nicely, Rudy Fernandez looked like his old self and rookie PG Armon Johnson might be a real find as the 34th pick. Once they get Joel Przybilla (right knee) and Greg Oden (left knee) back to solidify their big man depth, look out. Also keep in mind that the Blazers don’t really need a healthy Oden to be good. Marcus Camby and the “Vanilla Gorilla” is a center tandem that most teams in the league would kill for.
> As for Phoenix, you don’t want to make too much out of one game, but YUCK!
> Houston was exactly who I thought they were; ridiculously deep, talented and two completely different sides with Yao Ming and without. Coach Rick Adelman has to be smarter about how he uses Yao’s 24 minutes. Mainly, he needs to be on the floor for the last 4-5 minutes of the game.
> It’s obvious that with Kobe Bryant only at 65-75% and no Andrew Bynum (right knees on both) that the Lakers are just a really good squad, not a great one. The dirty little secret in LA has been, and will continue to be, that when Bynum doesn’t play the Laker D is nowhere near as good. That said the new additions paid immediate dividends.
I loved Matt Barnes’ hustle, tenacity (four of his five rebounds were on the offensive end) and how he played within himself and the offense. But Steve Blake was the real story making three huge 3-pointers. Two in the last minute of the 3rd quarter that cut a nine point lead to five, and of course the game winner with 18 seconds left. But most importantly Blake played the entire 4th quarter. One can only hope that coach Phil Jackson keeps this rotation and that we’ve seen the last of Derek Fisher as a regular season closer.
(And just for the record Blake (+13) and Barnes (+12) recorded the two highest +/- ratings for the game. Awwwww yeah…)
> Boston’s defense on the other hand looked air tight as always. You add Delonte West (suspended) and Kendrick Perkins (right knee) to this roster and they almost have too much talent. Obviously I feel very good about my pick of the Celtics to win the East.
Oh yeah, Kevin Garnett will absolutely eat Chris Bosh alive in a seven-game series. I’d bet money on this in Vegas right now if I could.
> Portland looked as good or better than I thought they would. Wesley Matthews seems to be fitting in nicely, Rudy Fernandez looked like his old self and rookie PG Armon Johnson might be a real find as the 34th pick. Once they get Joel Przybilla (right knee) and Greg Oden (left knee) back to solidify their big man depth, look out. Also keep in mind that the Blazers don’t really need a healthy Oden to be good. Marcus Camby and the “Vanilla Gorilla” is a center tandem that most teams in the league would kill for.
> As for Phoenix, you don’t want to make too much out of one game, but YUCK!
> Houston was exactly who I thought they were; ridiculously deep, talented and two completely different sides with Yao Ming and without. Coach Rick Adelman has to be smarter about how he uses Yao’s 24 minutes. Mainly, he needs to be on the floor for the last 4-5 minutes of the game.
> It’s obvious that with Kobe Bryant only at 65-75% and no Andrew Bynum (right knees on both) that the Lakers are just a really good squad, not a great one. The dirty little secret in LA has been, and will continue to be, that when Bynum doesn’t play the Laker D is nowhere near as good. That said the new additions paid immediate dividends.
I loved Matt Barnes’ hustle, tenacity (four of his five rebounds were on the offensive end) and how he played within himself and the offense. But Steve Blake was the real story making three huge 3-pointers. Two in the last minute of the 3rd quarter that cut a nine point lead to five, and of course the game winner with 18 seconds left. But most importantly Blake played the entire 4th quarter. One can only hope that coach Phil Jackson keeps this rotation and that we’ve seen the last of Derek Fisher as a regular season closer.
(And just for the record Blake (+13) and Barnes (+12) recorded the two highest +/- ratings for the game. Awwwww yeah…)
posted by D$ at 2:16 PM
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