Points in the Paint

» June 11, 2009 12:33 AM | By Brandon Hoffman

Darren Rovell: “What a disaster that the Orlando Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers! Poor David Stern and the NBA! Well, we just got the ratings from the folks at Nielsen and check out this news bulletin: Lakers-Magic is outrating last year’s ultimate matchup of the Lakers-Celtics. The first three games of this year’s NBA finals have averaged 13,797,000 viewers per game. Last year’s first three games had an average viewership of 13,791,000. So much for tradition. So much for markets. So much for star power.”

Matt Calkins of The Press Enterprise: “Compared to the league average, Orlando’s shooting percentage in Game 3 was astronomical. Compared to teams of playoffs past, it was sensational, as the Magic set a postseason record for a half by shooting 75 percent through the first two quarters. But compared to Pau Gasol on Tuesday night, it was, you know, OK. Gasol’s performance won’t likely be remembered given how his team lost, but in scoring 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting, an 81 percent clip, he may have been the game’s best offensive player.”

Chad Ford on Brandon Jennings: “Several veteran NBA scouts, who have been scouting both college ball and the international game for years, rolled their eyes at the criticism Jennings was getting. One scout, who claimed to have watched Jennings in person during ‘at least a dozen games’ and ‘tons of practices’ (the most of any person I spoke with), was particularly adamant. He felt strongly that Jennings was one of the two or three best prospects in the draft. ‘I ask two questions about every prospect. First, do they have the talent to play in the NBA? Second, have they gotten better? I think Jennings gets two huge check marks on both accounts. First, Jennings is a crazy athlete. He’s as quick as anyone in the draft. No one is going to be able to stay in front of him. He explodes around the basket and he’s a clever passer when he wants to be. We saw all of that in high school and if you watched him enough in Europe, you saw it there too. Yeah, he needs to get stronger and work on some stuff. But the raw talent is totally there.’” (Via Sactown Royalty)

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Five times the Lakers have come back after a loss with only one day between games in this postseason, and five times they have won the next game. Bryant — who allegedly succumbed to fatigue again Wednesday night when he faded down the stretch in Game 3 of the Finals against the Magic — has averaged 33.4 points while shooting 56 percent in those games (60 for 107). Among them were the aforementioned 41 points in Game 3 at Denver, a 40-point performance in a Game 2 win against Houston, and a 26-point, 10-for-19 shooting night in a 40-point win in Game 5 against the Rockets. Some wall. ‘I’m aware of bouncing back after a tough loss,’ Bryant said Wednesday. ‘Hopefully we can do it again. As far as me hitting the wall, so what if I did? I didn’t, but so what if I did?’ ‘What does it mean if you did?’ I asked. ‘It means nothing,’ Kobe said. ‘Because?’ ‘Because I’ll run straight through it,’ he said. Bryant’s relentless, single-minded, virtuoso pursuit of his fourth championship has entered the danger zone — for both Kobe and his opponent. Just when you think he is vulnerable, he hits you. He hits you hard.”

Kevin Pelton: “Down the stretch, we saw a couple variations of Orlando’s default Turkoglu/Howard pick-and-roll that I thought were effective. Twice, once with the clock running down after a failed Turkoglu/Howard pick-and-roll, we saw Rafer Alston initiate the pick-and-roll as the ballhandler. This does more to play to the Lakers’ weaknesses, and while it did not open up opportunities for either Alston or Howard, it did give wings (Turkoglu once, Lewis the other time) a chance to drive. Turkoglu’s miss was tipped in by Pietrus, while the Lakers did a good job of closing down Lewis and forcing him to miss. What I especially liked was one play where the Magic first had Lewis screen for Turkoglu, knowing that with two players of similar size involved in the screen the Lakers would switch Lamar Odom on to Turkoglu in place of Ariza. Orlando then went to the staple Turkoglu/Howard pick-and-roll with Odom in the relatively unfamiliar position of having to navigate the screen. Turkoglu was able to draw a shooting foul on the play.”

Sean Deveney of The Baseline: “Van Gundy has always been a very good Xs and Os basketball mind, going back to October 2003. At the time, he was an assistant to Pat Riley, and had the head coaching job thrust upon him by Riley’s abrupt retirement. Van Gundy knew strategy. But he didn’t know players, and eventually that cost him the Heat job 21 games into the 2005-06 season. ‘I think now he has a clearer understanding of the different personalities as a head coach as opposed to being an assistant, and I think he’s adjusted to that,’ said Orlando point guard Rafer Alston, who played for Van Gundy in Miami. ‘I think down in Miami he had us all as the same person, and he came to find out that Dwyane Wade was totally different from Rafer Alston and Rafer Alston is totally different from Lamar Odom and so on. That’s one way I see his adjustment from then until now.’”

Ronald Blum of The Associated Press: “The Nets say they must break ground for the arena before the end of the year. Barclays PLC had the right to terminate its naming rights deal when construction failed to begin by last December, according to Yormark, but decided to give a one-year grace period. Yormark said that despite the recession, there was still sufficient resources in the area to sell luxury suites. ‘There is so much money in New York, and people still have it and made lots of it over the years,’ he said. ‘In today’s market, if you can create that value proposition, they will spend it. And yeah, you can’t take it for granted anymore and they’re not out there leading with their wallet, but if there’s good justification, people have disposable income in this market. There are 20 million people, and you can be successful.’”

Sponsors