Euroleague.net reports: His team was on the verge of one of the biggest upsets of the season, but when it didn’t happen, Armani Jeans Milano got the consolation prize of seeing Mike Hall earn MVP honors for Week 4 of the regular season. One of the great rivalries in European basketball history lived up to its tradition as Real Madrid won at home against Milano 70-69 on Lou Bullock’s intrepid layup with 3.8 seconds remaining. Hall had helped Milano stay close all game and made his team’s go-ahead free throws just before the final minute started. He would finish the game with a game-high 21 points and team-high 9 rebounds, making 3 of his 4 two-point shots, 3 of 6 from the three-point arc, and all 6 of his free throw opportunities. It all added up to a performance index rating of 28, best of the week among all Euroleague players. Following him was none other than Igor Rakocevic, the Week 3 MVP, who posted a 27 index rating while scoring 21 of his 23 points in the second half of a losing effort against Lottomatica Roma.
Month: November 2008
Examining the lousy Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are 2-6 to start the new season. It’s too early to write what should be a quality team off, but so far they’re a mess.
Dirk Nowitzki is scoring 22.1 points per game but not shooting well, and not doing much else aside from scoring. Josh Howard is playing decently but also not shooting particularly well. Jason Terry, at 16.6 ppg, is tossing up bricks. The only Maverick playing well and actually making shots is Jason Kidd (11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 8.4 apg, 47.9% shooting). Gerald Green has also been a nice surprise, scoring 9.4 ppg on good shooting. Erick Dampier is rebounding. Jerry Stackhouse is old and washed up. And Antoine Wright hasn’t impressed. Here’s the Dallas Morning News (Eddie Sefko):
The Mavericks are disjointed. It seems they haven’t figured out anything about coach Rick Carlisle’s system. But the rest of the NBA has certainly figured them out. Put your best defender, whether he’s big or small, on Dirk Nowitzki. Hound him as much as you can. And sooner or later, the Mavericks wilt. It happened for the second consecutive game as the Chicago Bulls hassled Nowitzki into a 5-for-17 shooting night.
Remember, they’re under a new coach, Rick Carlisle. And he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Give the team another two weeks before making a definitive statement about how good they really currently are.
–Jeff
Lindsey Hunter talks Bulls
Point guard Lindsey Hunter, who is so old he first started playing basketball before Earth’s ice age ended, signed with the Chicago Bulls yesterday. Here, he talks about it:
The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports: “I’m kind of a Chicago guy,” Hunter said before Thursday’s game against Dallas. “So I’m pretty familiar with it. I spend a lot of time here in the summer.” Hunter is in relatively good shape because he trained with his 13-year-old son, Lindsey, a middle school cross-country runner. Then when asked why bother playing again after 15 years in the NBA, Hunter pointed to his father. “My Dad (another Lindsey) worked at General Motors for 30 years,” said Hunter, a native of Mississippi. “He talks to me every day about if you get a chance to play, you should play. He said, ‘I worked at a plant for 30 years, and you get to play basketball. So, if you can do that, you do it.’ I thought about that and was like, OK.” The Bulls signed the 6-foot-2 Hunter to provide help at point guard while Kirk Hinrich recovers from surgery to reattach a ligament in his right thumb. The Bulls expect Hinrich to be sidelined until mid-February.
3 Jazz stars out tonight
The Deseret Morning News (Tim Buckley) reports: Usual starting point Deron Williams, starting center Mehmet Okur and sixth man Andrei Kirilenko all will not play when the Jazz visit the Charlotte Bobcats tonight. Williams said his sprained left ankle is just too sore to go, and he probably won’t play Saturday night in Cleveland either. “I can’t do anything,” said Williams, who played in two games after missing the start of the season because of the ankle. “I can’t push off of it, I can’t move like I want to. So, there’s no reason to play.”
Sixers fans not going to games
The Philadelphia Daily News (Paul Vigna) reports: Empty seats have been a chronic problem for the Sixers even before Allen Iverson left town. Now, even off last season’s playoff run and the offseason signing of Elton Brand, those low numbers are creeping back into the picture. Through four games, the Sixers are averaging 12,601 in attendance, ranking them 28th out of 30 NBA teams. That they started by losing five of their first seven hasn’t helped. Neither did that shadow the size of Yao Ming cast by the Phillies and their world championship.
Barbosa`s mother dies
The East Valley Tribune (Jerry Brown) reports: The Suns won’t have Leandro Barbosa tonight and likely for up to a week after he left the team Thursday bound for his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Early Thursday afternoon, Barbosa received word that his mother Ivete had passed away. The relationship between Barbosa and his mother is a very close one. She visited Arizona every spring for an extended visit and the two talked by phone at least a half-dozen times a day. She survived a bout with cancer a few years ago but had been hospitalized in poor health for months. Barbosa lost his father to cancer in 2005.
Spurs assign Ian Mahinmi to D-League
The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have assigned center Ian Mahinmi to the Austin Toros, the NBA Development League team owned and operated by the Spurs.
Mahinmi is currently recovering from a sprained right ankle. He will use this assignment to the Toros as an opportunity to get back into basketball shape and complete his rehabilitation.
The 22-year-old Mahinmi is entering his second season with the Spurs. He split the 2007-08 campaign between San Antonio and Austin. Mahinmi started the season in San Antonio, appearing in six games with the Spurs, averaging 3.5 points in 3.8 minutes, before being assigned to the Toros on 11/21.
Mahinmi was named to the 2008 All-NBA Development League First Team. In 46 games with the Toros, he averaged 16.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.70 blocks in 29.6 minutes while shooting .615 (276-449) from the field and .766 (219-286) from the line. Mahinmi ranked 19th in the D-League in scoring, second in field goal percentage, eighth in rebounding and ninth in blocks. For the season Mahinmi posted 16 double-doubles. In four games in the 2008 D-League Playoffs, Mahinmi averaged 18.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.50 blocks in 38.3 minutes.
Mahinmi was selected by the Spurs in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft with the 28th overall pick. He was signed by the Spurs on 8/23/07 after spending the previous four seasons in the French A League.
Lousy Iverson shooting stands out
Allen Iverson has made a career out of being a big-time scorer (27.7 points per game).
But he’s also always shot a low field goal percentage (career 42.6% and a lousy 31.4% three-pointers).
Typically, when a team shoots under 43% for a game, they tend to lose.
Now, Iverson does make up at least partially for his low shooting percentages by drawing so much defensive attention that opportunities get created for teammates that don’t necesarily show up on a stat-sheet, but still, ideally he’d have taken fewer shots per game over his career and hit around 5-7% more of them.
Last night, the Pistons edged the Warriors 107-102, and Iverson’s vast talents were on display as he scored 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished an impressive 9 assists. But he shot 8-for-23. The team won in spite of his shooting, not because of it.
When his career eventually winds down, “The Answer” will be known as an awesome offensive force, a super-quick, ultra-tough little scoring guard, but also as a player who took a lot of shots and missed too high a percentage of them.
Nov 13: Pistons 107, Warriors 102
The AP reports: Rasheed Wallace tipped a ball into the wrong basket at one end and missed two free throws at the other. Just when it seemed like his fourth-quarter mistakes might doom Detroit, Wallace hit back-to-back 3-pointers that gave the Pistons the lead for good and sent them to a 107-102 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night… Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and Allen Iverson added 23 as the Pistons won for the second straight time to open their four-game road trip after losing their first two games with Iverson… Wallace finished with a season-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Prince grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds… Andris Biedrins had 17 points and 19 rebounds for his 16th straight double-double for the Warriors, who are still seeking their first back-to-back wins of the season. Watson and Stephen Jackson also scored 17 points apiece.
Nov 13: Bulls 98, Mavs 91
The AP reports: They barely had time to work up a sweat before the Chicago Bulls found themselves trailing by 19 points Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks. And less than six minutes into the game, the boos started rolling across the United Center… And that’s what the Bulls did. They turned up the defense, started running the floor, then caught up and passed the Mavericks for a 98-91 victory, sending Dallas to its fourth straight loss… “They were attacking us with transition and they put us on our heels early,” said Ben Gordon, who led the Bulls with 35 points… Derrick Rose, who shot 1-for-8 in the first half, was 6-for-7 in the third quarter, when he scored 14 of his 16 points. Luol Deng added 20 points… Josh Howard, returning after missing two games with sore wrist, led Dallas with 21 points and added 11 rebounds. Erick Dampier scored 16 and pulled down 18 boards… Dirk Nowitzki scored only 12 for the Mavs, shooting 5-for-17.