Eight-Second Violation: Monday, January 5, 2009

By Zach Harper

Celtics Free Fall

Nearly two weeks ago, the Boston Celtics were 27-2 and threatening to tear down the doors to the exclusive 70-win Club that was founded by the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls.  Now, thirteen days later and the Celtics would be ecstatic to just put together two straight wins.  The Celtics have faltered from their Christmas time road trip that has featured four losses in six games and now has the Celtics barely hanging on for the second best record in the league.  70 wins is nearly a mathematical impossibility and home court advantage throughout the playoffs is something they'll have to work for. 

The Christmas Day loss to the Lakers in the Staples Center was excusable because the Lakers are a good team with a deadly superstar.  And the following loss to the Golden State Warriors in Oakland seemed to be the product of a back to back hangover that left this team searching for some West Coast swagger.  But after the 45-point annihilation of the Sacramento Kings, the Celtics appeared to be a feared team once again that could impose their will against anyone that wasn't tough enough to take being smacked in the mouth. 

Except, nobody told the Blazers that they had to be afraid of the Celtics two days later and Boston was once again trying to rebound from a road loss.  They did so by thumping the Washington Wizards in their return home but followed that impressive win up with an unexpected loss last night against the Knicks.  So now they find themselves again trying to rebound from a road loss as they enter Charlotte tomorrow night. 

What has been wrong with the Celtics?  Turnovers. 

No, Big Baby hasn't eaten too many turnovers and his lethargic and blob-like nature isn't affecting the Celtics.  Boston is simply turning the ball over far too much. They've had 66 turnovers in their past four losses.  66!!!  The Celtics need to take care of the ball and that comes in finding a solid backup point guard to relieve Eddie House of his ball-handling duties. 



Let's Recap All of the Upsets Games from Yesterday
By Zach Harper

Toronto Raptors 108, Orlando Magic 102-
Going into the game without Jermaine O'Neal, the Raptors knew that they just had to endure the mismatch that was created down low and get to the fourth quarter. Thanks to Anthony Parker, Roko Ukic, and superior free throw shooting in the fourth quarter, the Raptors were able to weather every time Dwight Howard drop-stepped against Andrea Bargnani to dunk from the baseline (and that happened A LOT).  Parker dropped in 26 points, Ukic had 12 points and 7 assists off the bench, and Toronto made 14 of 15 from the charity stripe in the fourth.

Washington Wizards 80, Cleveland Cavaliers 77- 
The Cavaliers shooting themselves in the collective foot seemed to be the only shot that they could consistently hit throughout this game.  I hope you're sitting down for this; LeBron James was called for a traveling call as he attempted his "crab dribble" move with two seconds left on a basket that would have tied the game at 79.  Instead, we witnessed the refs finally growing a pair with LBJ and the Wizards got the rare three-point win against the Cavs. Antawn Jamison torched James and the Cavs for 26 points as the Wizards took advantage of a Cleveland team that was missing Zyndrunas Ilgauskas (out for a month with a fractured ankle).

Detroit Pistons 88, Los Angeles Clippers 87- 
Marcus Camby grabbed 20 rebounds for the third time in four games to complement Eric Gordon's 31 points but it wasn't enough to beat a Sheed-less Detroit team who has now won seven straight games.  Allen Iverson scored the game-winner thanks to Al Thornton doing his best Samuel Dalembert impression by goaltending the shot. But the biggest highlight of the game was when Tayshaun Prince proved that he's longer than Al Thornton as Tayshaun went to the seventh floor on a dunk attempt and dropped Thornton off on the fifth.  Prince's flush made Larry Nance very proud, wherever he is.

Memphis Grizzlies 102, Dallas Mavericks 82- 
The Grizzlies finally won a game against the Mavericks as they held all but three Dallas players to four points or less in a stunning defensive effort.  O.J. Mayo scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and Marc Gasol chipped in 19 points as he dominated Erick Dampier, something every other center in NBA history has done at some point. Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and Jason Terry dropped in 18 off the bench but the rest of the team made just 13 of 40 shots. The Grizzlies are now 1-13 in their last 14 games against the Mavs.

New York Knicks 100, Boston Celtics 88-
Last season, the Celtics embarrassed the Knicks with a 45-point drubbing that made Walt Frazier's hair to gray (reports indicate that he didn't get any play that during this time).  This season, the Knicks took advantage of a Celtics team that is reeling (see: above) by frustrating them throughout the contest.  Paul Pierce scored on Quentin Richardson whenever he wanted as he dropped 31 points but Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo shot a combined 2-13.  Al Harrington took a break from doing the audio commentary on the Dinosaurs: Season One DVD Set and scored 30 points off the bench for Mike D'Antoni.

Los Angeles Lakers 100, Portland Trailblazers 86- 
The Portland Trailblazers attempted to prove that they weren't a one man show with Brandon Roy missing due to a hamstring injury.  Unfortunately, it only lasted for two quarters.  The Lakers used a 15-3 run in the third quarter to separate themselves from the Blazers and the Lakers finished the night with the best record in the NBA.  Portland received just 10 points from their bench on 2-21 shooting, which wasn't enough to neutralize the Lakers' bench that had 38 points. 


Indiana Pacers (12-21) at Denver Nuggets (23-12) 6pm PST
By Zach Harper
 
The best and most exciting 12-21 team that I can remember will come into Denver tonight to take on the Denver Nuggets.  The Nuggets are coming off of a tough victory at home over the New Orleans Hornets, which started a seven-game homestand against primarily Eastern Conference teams.  The Pacers on the other hand have started a five-game road trip that pits them against some tough Western Conference teams and the Warriors. 

The Pacers are still trying to survive without Mike Dunleavy, Jr. and have struggled to put together a good stretch of basketball since starting the season out 5-5. Indiana is 5-5 against Western Conference teams so far this year with a home win over the Lakers and a road win against Houston. The Pacers will need to find a way to stop the surprisingly effective and good play of Nene Hilario and Kenyon Martin.  They'll rely on Troy Murphy and Roy Hibbert to get that done, which means that anything could happen. 

For the Nuggets, they have really become a different team since the trade for Chauncey Billups.  Denver is 8-3 against the Eastern teams this season and have been scoring with high efficiency all season long.  They're shooting 47.1% as a team from the field, which is good for sixth in the league.  Whatever, the over/under on this game is, you're likely to see the over win out.  The Pacers and Nuggets are sixth and fourth in the league in scoring, respectively. 

Key Match-up: Danny Granger versus Carmelo Anthony
So, which superstar small forward can lead his team to victory?  Danny Granger is having an All-Star season that is quickly putting his name amongst the top players in the league.  He is fifth in the league in scoring and has had a couple of 40-point games added to his game log so far this season.  But he's facing a hot Carmelo Anthony who has finished off the last two Nuggets wins with clutch shooting.  Melo is averaging the third lowest scoring average of his career but is second in the NBA in clutch scoring per 48 minutes, according to 82games.com.  He's shooting 63% from the field in these situations. 
Prediction: Carmelo makes another clutch shot and gives the Pacers a tough road loss.



How about you get caught up in some Memphis Grizzlies' throwback transactions?
By Zach Harper

The Memphis Grizzlies have made two curious moves over the past couple of weeks with their acquisitions of two names that were known throughout NBA households around the turn of the millennium, which shouldn't be confused with the Willennium.  The Grizzlies acquired Steve Francis from the Houston Rockets for pretty much what it costs to get Marcus Camby these days and then signed Darius Miles who just finished his 10-game drug suspension. 

At first thought, you might be thinking, "Why would they get these guys?"  I know that I thought that exact same thing.   Well, I know that it seems confusing but perhaps it is a public service announcement to those young players that they already have.  The Grizzlies seem to have had very little luck in developing their young talent.  The players (Mike Bibby, Pau Gasol) that they've had have gone on to much better glory once they left the grasp of the Grizz.  And other players like Stromile Swift and Shareef Abdur-Rahim have never really lived up to the hype in terms of contributing to wins.

And if that's what they're worried about with guys like Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, and Mike Conley then this could be a very good move. Bringing in Steve Francis and Darius Miles to mentor young guys is like having Vanilla Ice and Right Said Fred try to mentor your music career.  But if they can show these guys their own career paths in order to steer the young players onto the right path, then maybe Chris Wallace is more of a genius than we give him credit for. 

Either that or Memphis is secretly being run by a 15-year old that still believes that these guys are going to be great. 

By Zach Harper

"I'm not opposed to Steph. I feel Steph still has a lot of basketball in him, I know his IQ is very, very high. He is one of the best point guards out there to play with. I wouldn't be opposed to that/ I know where this is going, ya'll. Y'all relax, OK? If Steph came to this team and made it better, I'm all for that. If anybody came to his team and made it better, I would be for that." -- Kevin Garnett on a possible Stephon Marbury acquisition.

I mentioned above that the Celtics need a backup point guard so Eddie House doesn't have to pretend to be one anymore.  But is Stephon Marbury the answer? Could Starbury really coexist with KG after all he's put the big man through?  Does Doc Rivers want to chance it?  I'll have more on that tomorrow.




Top 3 of the Night
1. Dwight Howard - 39 pts, 8 rebs, 14-19 fg
Even though he was a paltry 11-18 from the free throw line, Dwight Howard was unstoppable with his moves in the post.  He continually used the drop-step to his advantage and overpowered the thin Raptors frontcourt.  If he can do this on a nightly basis, I'll be willing to take the Magic seriously.
2. Wilson Chandler - 31 pts, 8 rebs, 9-19 fg, 11-12 ft
If you didn't know who Wilson Chandler was before watching this game, you certainly know him know.  He hit big shot after big shot and gave guys with two last names (no, not you Chris Douglas-Roberts) something to be proud of.  Chandler has been a gem in D'Antoni's system this year.  Is he the next Shawn Marion?
3. LeBron James - 30 pts, 10 asts, 6 rebs
Even though he made up the "crab dribble" argument by pulling it from his ass, LBJ still had a great game with 30 points and 10 assists.  He accounted for 54 of the Cavs 77 points in the loss. 

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. Jason Kidd - 1 pt, 5 asts, 0-4 fg, 31 mins
You're a future Hall of Famer.  You have an incredible skill set that gives you an advantage most nights, even at the tender age of 58.  And you can only muster one point in 31 minutes against the Grizzlies?  C'mon, Jason!
2. Kevin Garnett - 6 pts, 9 rebs, 1-6 fg, 4-4 ft
The knock on KG for years was that he wasn't aggressive enough when his team needed him too. That proved to still be true when he wouldn't assert himself against Al Harrington. Garnett rolled over in this one and allowed his team to be passive.
3. Hedo Turkoglu - 9 pts, 5 asts, 4-12 fg, 1-6 3fg
Hedo, you're killing my fantasy team!!!!  Please do something!  And do it consistently!!!!


Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Hardwood Paroxysm-
The Rockets, the Mirror, and Tracy McGrady
2. From NBA Noise-
An Interview with Yours Truly
3. From Basketball Jones-
They're back and Tas is freezing


We're going to change this section from Multimedia Fun to our new Ask a Blogger section.  Assuming that people want to answer my asinine questions on a daily basis, we'll have three new questions with answers from a different blogger/media member every day. 

Our first experiment with this was the incredible Wade of Bothteamsplayedhard.net.  He's one of the few people that I know who can have entire conversations by just using White Men Can't Jump and Arrested Development quotes. See how many references to WMCJ you can find in his three answers:


1. You and I share an affinity for the movie White Men Can't Jump in as much for our love of John Keats shout outs as for everything else that is fantastic about that movie. Who in today's NBA are the equivalent to the Sidney Deane-Billy Hoyle combo? 

BTPH: I'm gonna go with Vince and Devin Harris. Half-Man-Half-A-Season is the epitome of a guy who would rather look good and lose than look bad and win. And while Devin may be able to pull a couple of passes out his ass, he also sticks clutch jumpers like he has the luck of the Irish -- only he's not Irish, so you explain it. Plus, Devin aka "Cindy Brady" was clearly shaving points for the Stucci Brothers when he got embarrassed by Stuart Tanner and, unlike most people, I bet Vince plays better when he's mad (see road games in Toronto). That said, Devin and Vince might be able to win the TTBBT, but no way would they beat the King and the Duck in Venice Beach. Nor can Devin hear Jimi.

When it comes to starters, the Wizards should be forced to disband before starting Mike James at the point. Similarly, I present Kevin Ollie as Exhibit A that there are too many teams in the NBA. He's 36 and despite having played for 12 NBA teams in his career (not including a second stint with Philly), I've never once seen him score a single point. Still he's somehow the starting PG for a team built entirely around 25-and-unders. Truly quixotic. And Ray Felton should really just head to the bench, too. Augustin is the Bobcat PG of the future and we clearly know that no one in Charlotte loves Raymond.


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