Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “With last year’s scoring leader, Manu Ginobili, out until mid-December, Duncan has been called upon to carry more of the scoring duties. He has responded by averaging 29.5 points in the Spurs’ first two games. ‘I’m getting more shots,’ Duncan said. ‘With Manu down, that’s going to come with the territory. I’m going to have to score a little bit more to fill that void, and shots are just going down.’ Duncan averaged 19.3 points last season, the second-lowest scoring output of his career. Before the new season began, coach Gregg Popovich implored Duncan to be more aggressive in looking for his own shots. Duncan seems to be taking that to heart so far. Through two games, he’s attempted 40 field goals, connecting on 25 of them. His scoring average — and remember, it’s still early — ranks second in the NBA.”
Blog-a-Bull: “Rose is this team’s closer now, and I’m already more comfortable with late deficits than I was in the past because of him. So to see him stand in the corner in late game possessions while Hinrich handles the ball and Gordon takes the shots makes me think the veterans don’t realize how they’ll help themselves and the team: let Derrick Rose run the show. Gordon especially: after having a solid game, he still thought he was the man, and rushed up a bad shot with the team down two and barely over a shot clock’s time remaining. But while that poor decision likely sealed the game, the entire contest was full of Bulls taking shots that seemed dictated by whose turn it was and not who was open and in position to shoot in rhythm. Hinrich still thinks he’s the PG even when Rose is in the game.”
Alan Hahn of Newsday: “What happened after is not all Marbury’s fault and I would go as far as saying Marbury’s argument about his Knicks career should be that Isiah never provided the right kind of talent to play with him (i.e.: an athletic, pick-and-roll big to match what Stephon had in KG with the T-Wolves way back when). But at this point, what’s the difference between having Marbury dominate the ball, dominate minutes you could otherwise give to Nate Robinson (you have to know what you have in this kid before you decide what kind of extension you’re going to offer him). No, Chris Duhon isn’t anywhere near Marbury’s skill class, but, again, this is more about moving on. Duhon was the best fit available this summer (not a lot of credible deals to be made for point guards) to replace Marbury and D’Antoni’s choice. They signed him for only two years for a reason. Oh and by the way, it is the role of the NBA players union to monitor this situation for the best interests of the player, but they have little say at this point. Nowhere in the CBA does it say that a team must play a player, regardless of contract.”
Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune: “Through three games, the Jazz are now giving up 82 points a game. That is not a misprint: The Jazz are giving up 17 points a game fewer than they did last season. It’s impossible to keep up, but it bodes well for the Jazz going forward. For the first time, the Jazz beat a full-strength team with Deron Williams out. Baron Davis and Marcus Camby both came off the bench for the Clippers. Camby looked a far cry from the player who nearly had a points/rebounds/blocks triple-double against the Jazz last season. The Clippers announced a crowd of 12,712 for Monday’s game, with entire sections in the upper deck at Staples Center empty. As I said to the person sitting next to me during the game: ‘I don’t understand how Elton Brand could leave all this.’”
Adam Lauridsen of the San Jose Mercury News: “There’s a difference between bringing the ball up the court, then passing it and actually running a team. It’s what separates the Steve Nashes of the world from the Steve Blakes. Both DeMarcus Nelson and CJ Watson are sufficiently skilled when it comes to dribbling up court, looking left, then right, then passing. That offensive strategy, unfortunately, is only as good as the position players away from the ball fight to obtain. Jackson rarely moves without the ball to find open spots. Same for Harrington. Maggette is a bit better about his work to get open, but has already settled into an isolation heavy pattern of play with Nelson’s system. Belinelli is arguably the best at this on the team, but has yet to break the rotation. To shake these things up and create opportunities, the Warriors need a point guard capable of thrusting into the defense and creating opportunity. At his best, Davis did this (although we saw little of it the last half of last year). Ellis has the potential to be this type of player, but time will tell whether he can master it. Nelson and Watson, unfortunately, seem far away from developing that sense on the court.”
Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: “Even coach Reggie Theus had to change course from his recent silver-lining ways. With veteran center Brad Miller still out because of a suspension and swingman Francisco García injured, Theus said there is a leadership void. ‘Right now, I’m looking for a guy who’s going to step up and lead,’ he said. ‘You can’t wait for the next guy to step up. We’re consistently on our heels defensively, and that takes away from the offense. The offense is fine, but if we’re backpedaling the whole time, we’re not going to get any calls. Those things aren’t going to happen. I am looking for someone to lead this team.’ Martin who had 14 points, one assist, no rebounds and three turnovers and is shooting 38.6 percent overall put much of the blame on himself. ‘It’s just hard right now,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of soul searching. We need to go back home, and it’s time to look at ourselves in the mirror. It starts with me. I don’t know why I came on this trip because I didn’t do anything to help this team.’”
Forum Blue & Gold: The Strong Side Zone and You
Tim MacMahon of The Dallas Morning News: “The Mavs still can’t beat good teams. And the offense is still ugly when the game’s on the line. The Mavs want to run — and they’ve done that well when they’ve had opportunities — but you can’t beat good NBA teams without being able to score in the halfcourt. That’s especially true in fourth quarters (and playoffs, for that matter, but we’ll worry about that later). The Mavs had a chance to win entering the fourth quarter against playoff teams Houston and Cleveland. They lost both home games by double digits: Combined shooting percentage for those 24 minutes: 25.6. The bench gets part of the blame for sorry starts to begin both quarters, but the Mavs’ stars have been clutch failures so far this season.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “He finished with 14 points and six assists, hardly gaudy numbers, but considering his timing and the competition, it was easily his best performance of the season. ‘We’ve seen that from Mo before, against us [last season] and in practice,’ James said. ‘The guys really took care of their business in the fourth.’ Paired with James and a strong overall defensive performance, it was surely the team’s most complete effort thus far. James shook off his mini-scoring slump from the last three games and put up 29 points with eight assists. He did not shoot all that well, going just 8-of-20 from the floor, but he made up for it by being aggressive to the basket.”
Jeff Rabjohns of the Indianapolis Star: “Granger hit the floor face first when he went for a steal against Paul Pierce and Pierce landed on him. Granger finished the game Saturday and doesn’t expect to miss any time. The Pacers play Phoenix Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse. ‘As professional athletes, we’ve bled throughout our careers,’ he said. ‘We’ve broken bones, torn ligaments, busted teeth. It’s part of the game. It’s kind of fun when you do it, and you actually win.’” [Via Indy Cornrows]
Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel: “During the preseason, Van Gundy said he hoped to get to a point where Pietrus would be the go-to guy to help slow down some of the NBA’s best guards. So far the production hasn’t been as tangible on paper in the first three games, with Atlanta’s Joe Johnson posting 25 in the opener, Memphis rookie O.J. Mayo scoring 17 as Pietrus struggled through foul trouble against the Grizzlies and Sacramento’s Kevin Martin racking up a game-high 31 for the Kings most recently. Pietrus hasn’t been the disruptive defensive force he showed in flashes during the preseason, with only two steals so far while being tied for second on the team with 11 fouls.”
Don Seeholzer of the Pioneer Press: “Randy Foye is ‘Lost,’ like the Oceanic 6 and the other castaways from that maddeningly convoluted TV series. Whether he has lost his job as the Timberwolves’ starting point guard remains to be seen, but Foye had another nightmarish night in Sunday’s 88-85 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Coming off a 3-for-14 shooting game against Dallas, Foye nearly had a pointless evening, missing all 10 of his field-goal attempts and finishing with two points on two free throws.”
Supersonicsoul: “Through three games last season, Kevin Durant attempted 19 3-pointers. After three games this season, he has attempted three (and missed all of them).”
Ramona Shelburne of the Los Angeles Daily News: “In the life of an NBA player, there are about 50 of these kinds of things to deal with every day. Little things to show up for: commitments, appearances, favors for someone. Once a guy gets to a superstar level, it’s almost imperative to hire a personal assistant to handle all of that kind of stuff. But when you’re still on a rookie contract, that’s not exactly in the budget. And so it was that Jordan Farmar momentarily forgot he’d told Lakers’ public relations director John Black he’d do a phone interview at 9 Wednesday morning. Just to be sure, Black reminded Farmar about it Tuesday night after the Lakers’ season opener. ‘Wait, 9?’ Farmar said, clearly having forgotten and/or not realized he’d essentially agreed to give up an hour of sleep when he assented to the interview. ‘Really?’ Black was sympathetic, but it was too late to re-schedule or cancel. At this point, about 90 percent of the players in the league would’ve squirmed for another five minutes, trying to get out of it. Farmar is different. He gets it. There are other people involved, his word has been given and it should mean something.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Various studies put the percentage of the world’s left-handed population at about 10 percent. Yet, the NBA world probably should know better about dismissing that percentage as statistically insignificant, considering what Nate Archibald, Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Gail Goodrich, Bob Lanier, Chris Mullin, Willis Reed, Bill Russell and Lenny Wilkens have produced over the years, and what Chris Bosh, Manu Ginobili, Tayshaun Prince, Zach Randolph, Michael Redd and Odom are delivering these days. ‘Everybody always says it’s just the same,’ says Spoelstra, who previously spent a decade preparing game plans. ‘All I know is when I’m scouting and preparing for somebody, I’ve always disliked preparing for a left-handed player.’ If lefties are ‘different,’ then Beasley is as different as they come. ‘I’m right-handed off the court,’ he says. ‘I write righty. I throw a football with my right hand. I can’t even throw one with my left. Don’t know how. Can’t do it. I do everything but basketball right-handed. Except when I eat.’ He stops, pauses, smiles. ‘I do that with whichever hand is closer to the food.’”
