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.
Well, well, well. What do we have here? It seems like the Eastern Conference Playoffs are trying to show that their side of the bracket can be entertaining in the first round. Series that seemingly were no brainer picks are quickly turning into interesting series. The only series that was supposed to be somewhat interesting (and the only one I picked the lower seed to win in) was the Wizards and Cavaliers. One, because of the LeBron James factor, and two, because of Deshawn Stevenson’s big mouth. Well that series is now at 3-1 with Cleveland in command.
As of last night the biggest surprise of the series has to be the Atlanta Hawks. Who would have thought after four games this series would have been even? I thought it would be over in four and the Celtics are wondering what the hell just happened. Doc Rivers had to tell his team in the locker room that they have to “make it happen” when they get back to Boston. Make it happen? This is the number one seed in the East and had an .800 winning percentage. Make it happen? I guess Boston thought they were just going to roll on Atlanta because they are The Celtics. I expect this to be a huge wake up call for K.G. and company and they will close out the series in the next two games (which will take two weeks). They will not be the Mavericks of this year.
The other big surprise is the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers are even with the playoff hardened Detroit Pistons after four games and they do not look afraid to go toe to toe with this Detroit. And they are doing it with their leading scorer, Andre Iguodala, averaging 10 points. Nine points below his season average. AI 2 is also shooting a measly 22% from the field. Eddy Zucko could go out and shoot 22% blindfolded. Philly has been lead by Andre Miller, Louis Williams, and Samuel Dalembert. They are all averaging double figures and shooting decent to good from the field (led by Miller’s 53%). But Philly is matching Detroit’s defense, holding the Pistons to under 90 points per game. While Detroit is matching this proficiency, Philly is giving themselves a chance late in games, and against a seemingly superior opponent, it gives them confidence that they can beat the Pistons. And they have come through twice. This series may well go 7 and at this point I would not be surprised if the Sixers pull it out. But I think Detroit will win in 7.
As for the other two series, I’ll let Eddy handle the Cleveland side show, and Orlando handled Toronto in 5 (which I predicted) with Dwight Howard asserting his dominance on and overmatched Toronto front line. As the kids would say “Dwight Howard is a BEAST!” Howard went for 20 points and 20 rebounds in 3 of the 5 games of the series. If that is not dominance I don’t know what is. I would be not want to be Detroit or Philadelphia who have to face Orlando in the second round.
In the year after the Golden State Warriors shocked the basketball world and beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs, one would think that they would finally get their due, especially after winning 32 games in the first half of this year. But no. Not only do they have the third best record in all of basketball since getting Stephen Jackson back in the lineup, but they also have possibly the most exciting team in the league. They definitely have the most exciting back court duo. So when it’s Baron Davis’ turn to be on the All-Star team, he’s passed by. Maybe Baron will use the frustration to help him when the Warriors beat someone in the first round of the playoffs again. You know it’s happening.
Also, no Young Randall, no Eddy Zucko, no HJ, and no Luchadors. They were with me last year, but this year, it’s just little old me.
Predictions:
I think the West will win, Carmelo Anthony will win MVP, and Antawn Jamison will win the Tyrone Hill award for least minutes played in the game. Kobe could possibly win it, but I think he’ll play at least 10 minutes.
I’m not sure that the Western team’s b-boy pose after the introductions can be topped. The smile on Yao’s face was priceless. The NBA, where “what do I do with my arms?” happens.
And before we actually get to the game, we might as well show the best part of last night’s All-Star Saturday Night. Superman was in the house.
Every All-Star game I’ve blogged, the West has won. So you can pretty much bet the house tonight on the West.
I wonder if Jason Kidd will accidentally pass it to Dirk Nowitski, thinking that he’s supposed to be on the Mavs?
The East scores the first six points and all on dunks. Let’s just say defense isn’t on the mind of the Western squad.
Kobe only played the first three minutes and I’m not sure if he touched the ball.
So far, the story of this game is that the West likes to settle for jumpers and the East likes to dunk. Guess who’s winning?
Thanks to Melo and AI, the West is back in this thing.
Rip Hamilton is so old school, he caught an alley-oop and instead of dunking it, he laid it in.
TO is in the house, but I don’t see any tears. I guess no one made fun of Tony Romo.
David West is in this game? Oh yah, he took B-Diddy’s spot.
The youngsters Brandon Roy and Chris Paul are working it together. By the way, Roy and West are the two guys in this game I couldn’t pick out in a police lineup.
There’s been a Chest Hair Boozer sighting. He just grabbed a rebound.
The East just threw three alley-oops on one play. I think it was Joe Johnson to Jason Kidd to Lebron James to Dwight Howard.
David Aldridge mentioned earlier that it looks like the Jason Kidd trade is on. All they have to do is convince Keith Van Horn to play again after not playing for over a year as he’s a part of the deal. While they’re at it, why don’t they get Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn to come out of retirement and trade them as well?
Bring This Guy Back So You Can Trade Him
Rasheed just nailed a three pointer from the top of the key. No biggie right? But he shot it left handed.
At the half, Lebron has the Magic Johnson All-Star game stat line with triple double definitely in sight.
Looks like Kobe and his pinkie finger are done for the rest of the game.
AI is trying his hardest to keep the West in this, but Lebron and company have other ideas.
If Chest Hair Boozer would make his layups, this game might be closer.
Has Byron Scott always had the porn stashe going? Dude needs to buy some little scissors to trim that dirty thing.
The Dirty Stashe
Paul is bringing these guys back. Amare Stoudamire looks like the East Dwight Howard and Dirk is finally playing well. The West just took their first lead.
Big Play Ray Allen is killing it and wearing the new Jordan’s at the same time.
Brandon Roy is getting some definite crunch time play over AI, Melo, and Stevie Nash.
Thanks to a Lebron dunk in traffic and a D-Wade layup where he hit the floor and got the foul (what’s new?), the East is back up by four with 30 seconds to go.
Big Play Ray and LBJ put the game away, though the West made it fun in the end. Lebron is the MVP and he just missed a triple double. And my predictions were terrible.
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