Showing posts with label Deron Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deron Williams. Show all posts

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Team USA vs. China

I wasn’t about to wake up at 7:15AM on a Sunday morning, but my DVR did.



1st Quarter



- Kobe is the defensive stopper, and instead of the Mamba, he’s now the Doberman.



- Yao just hip checked Kobe on the screen and knocked down a three.



- Yao was sitting in the key for what seemed like 5 seconds. Lebron runs right over him and scores. Blocking foul. No home town officiating on that one.



- Remember Wang Zhi Zhi? He’s on Team China.



- China can’t really get any shots off, but they’re shooting them anyway. And they’re making them.



- Yao rejects Kobe and on the way back down, Lebron pins someone against the backboard. I still haven’t got Team China’s names right. Well, except Yao.



- First subs for Team USA were Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, DWade. Kobe and Lebron remain from the OG starting lineup which also included Carmelo, Dwight Howard, and JKidd.



- It’s weird because I’m watching the basketball specific HD channel and they don’t go to commercial. They just run replays without any commentary during the timeouts.



- Kobe’s three pointer gives USA a lead of 14-11 with just over 4 minutes left in the first.



- China is 4 for 4 on three pointers.



-  Hometown officiating in full effect. DWade drove to the hoop for a layup right as the shot clock expired. They called traveling. How can one be called for traveling when he’s already in the air?



- In 1992, the margin of victory for Team USA was a staggering 43.8 points per game. In 2004, it was 4.6.



- End of the 1st Quarter - Team USA 20 China 16.



Monday, June 23, 2008

2008 Team USA

ESPN.com announced that the roster for Team USA was released.



Here is the squad.



Carmelo Anthony

Jason Kidd

Carlos Boozer

Chris Paul

Chris Bosh

Tayshaun Prince

Kobe Bryant

Michael Redd

Dwight Howard

Dwyane Wade

LeBron James

Deron Williams



What stands out immediately is that they are carrying 3 point guards on a 12 man team, and also have LeBron, Kobe, and Dwayne Wade, who all take turns at bringing the ball down the court. It looks like they are just going to try to run teams off the court.



They also seem a tad bit small with only Dwight Howard there to swat away shots. You’re going to see a lot of LeBron and Carmelo at power forward and because they are such good athletes, they’ll get away with it. What I worry is that if you play a team with two good post players, Dwight Howard isn’t going to be able to block every shot.



I’m sure I’ll be blogging a few of the Team USA games as well as the upcoming NBA Draft on Thursday.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Alexander The Great

by Mystery Cow

interestingly enough, there’s a dictionary listing for “brouhaha” but not one for “sasha”. the closest thing is “sashay” which is fitting since Mr. Vujacic seems to “sashay” back up court while fixing his luscious locks. with Denver it was Luke, now it’s Deus Ex Machina hurting them in Mormon-Land.



Hater-ade

it’s easy enough to crow about the last two wins, but i sense a disturbance in the force. bad jujus are upon us, something wicked this way cometh. here’s a neat stat: Utah has lost a total of only FOUR times at home. while the Lakes were one of the FOUR, without Le Bestia i might add, the math still looks scary. even scarier in print. ekk. both games were won by double digits, BUT (and it’s a big “but”) those pesky Jazz flat out refused to go away into the cold, dark night. they stayed competitive till the very end with nary a nill of give up. that’s something that mayhaps bite the Lakes in the city near a Salt Lake where a rowdy crowd might just be enough to inch these Jazz over the hump. scary times indeed. you know what else was scary? sports talk radio today was all aflutter with thoughts of parade. IT IS WAY TOO SOON to even think about parades! that last time i was hearing this type of nonsense over the putrid airwaves was back when the Southland was abuzz with notions of a Clips vs. Lakes second round square off. arg! and we of the faithful know how that sordid story unwrapped in front of our very eyes, oh the horror!



tangent quips time, now to wander over to my feelings over Mamba getting his first MVP award. pure ambivalence. sure i would have been mad as hell if he didn’t get it, but now that he did get it…eh. like with everything in Mamba’s journey, it’s just another quirk that’ll be second guessed ad nauseam. Shaq got one too. now if he ever surpasses The Cap or Magic in hardware…now THAT’s something to get excited about.



back to why the Jazz might win some games. have you seen our defense? no really, have you seen it? the loud cries of “we want Tacos” haven’t been heard late in games at Staples since early April. some guy name Millsap was eating us up inside the box. while the Lakes aren’t noted as clog the lane defenders, but Jesus Maria! Millsap?!?!? this concerns me, here’s another thing that’ll only exponentially become a positive factor in formerly said rowdy crowd in the city near the Salt Lake. also, did you see how Deron absolutely had his way with Jordi Farms in the third quarter? he still hasn’t called the morning after to thank him for such a nice evening out. it’s customary for a guy to call up a girl after a great date. yeah, i know it’s a bad joke when you have to explain it. that’s how bad Jordi’s d-fense was. the you have to explain it after bad type. bad times are brewing. of all this, the scariest omen might be the latest weather report. there be snow up on them Utah mountains. do we remember the last time Vlad Rad was in Utah and there was snow up on them Utah mountains?



if Sloan, AK47, Deron, and Mr. Stabs-a-blind-man-in-the-back win one at home it’s not time to panic just yet. i HOPE they win one. while i want them to win game 3 platonically; i kinda hope deep, way back in the rear, next to the shallowest and darkest part of my mind that they get a loss out of the way. preferably game 4 with the series going back to LaLa. why for this wish? so no added pressure to this already combustible group of guys. seriously, i haven’t seen a group of guys complain about being fouled so much ever since a guy named Shaq used to play for us and complained about being hacked on each play. which he did, you know, get hacked.



but this guy, this gritty kid from the streets of Harlem, this guy is MONEY under pressure.



Monster