General NBA insight – Page 122 – NBA Blog

Zaza Pachulia now a villain in Orlando

Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Before Hawks center Zaza Pachulia took the floor in Orlando on Tuesday night he knew the good vibes he once shared with Magic fans were over.

“My rookie year I was fans’ favorite here,” Pachulia said before Game 5 of the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. “Now I am the most hated.”

The relationship soured after Pachulia head-butted Magic guard Jason Richardson during Game 3 in Atlanta on Friday. Richardson retaliated by smacking Pachulia in the face, and the NBA suspended both players for Game 4 on Sunday in Atlanta.

Magic fans greeted Pachulia with boos when he checked into the game and also when he touched the ball early. The Magic selected Pachulia in the second round of the 2003 draft, and he was on the cover of the team’s in-house magazine in April 2004.

Bulls set to play winner of Magic-Hawks series

Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

The Bulls will open their second-round series Monday against the winner of the Orlando Magic-Atlanta Hawks series, which is headed to Game 6 on Thursday in Atlanta after the Magic’s 101-76 victory at home Tuesday. The Hawks lead the series 3-2.

‘‘I’m speechless right now,’’ Rose, who played only 30 minutes because of foul trouble, not his ankle, said after winning an NBA playoff series for the first time. ‘‘I really can’t believe it. It’s a great accomplishment. We’re going to try to keep this thing going.’’

Coach Tom Thibodeau knew this was a moment for his players.

‘‘It’s always good to advance,’’ he said. ‘‘It doesn’t mean a lot to me as coach.’’

Still, he seemed pleased that the Bulls had delivered a solid knockout punch in Game 5 after four tough encounters.

‘‘We knew we were capable of playing better,’’ Thibodeau said. ‘‘There were things we had to correct, but we were also up 3-1. In the playoffs, every win is hard to get. I liked our mentality today.’’

Views: Tyson Chandler shines for Mavs in Game 5 vs Blazers

By Scott Spangler

Tyson Chandler looked like a man wanting desperately to atone for a rather forgettable performance in Game Four. Shawn Marion no longer appeared baffled about coaching strategy.

Chandler played this game angry. Who could blame him? The Maverick center was very much a part of what happened Saturday at the Rose Garden. That said, he certainly answered the bell 48 hours later.

Until tonight, LaMarcus Aldridge has clearly been a problem for Chandler. But as an All-Star caliber forward, that is to be expected. This is a tough cover for any big.

Monday evening, the Tyson Chandler that received consideration for the league’s Defensive Player of The Year showed up, and his teammates couldn’t help but to fall in.

The meek little Mavericks that wilted away two days earlier had been restored. Being at home didn’t necessarily mean better shooting for Dallas, but it did do something for the rebounding.

Try 49-37 on for size. How about twenty offensive boards? Thank Mr. Chandler for 13 of ‘em.

This game changed in the third quarter. Rick Carlisle dusted off his zone defense and put it to work. Dallas began to stretch that advantage, outscoring the Blazers by eleven to end the quarter leading 75-63.

And so, after JJ Barea scooped and scored, pushing the Dallas lead to 85-66, any sign of Blazer voodoo emanating from Brandon Roy and his magical meniscusless knees seemed unlikely.

For the record, nine times these two teams have met this season, regular season and playoffs. The visiting team has yet to break through.

DeJuan Blair changes diet, drops weight

Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News reports (via blog):

A self-professed fast-food junkie, Blair arrived in San Antonio from Pittsburgh and quickly discovered the joys of Whataburger.

Now he sounds like a man in a 12-step program.

“I’m not eating anything and I’ve changed from eating everything,” he said.

His dietary regimen is not a fast. It just feels that way.

“I just eat a lot of salads; eat a lot of little portions of a lot of things,” he said. “Portions, keep your metabolism up and drink a lot of water and you’ll be great.

“But no juice, no Whataburger with Strawberry Fanta.”

So far, he said, he has lost between 15 and 20 pounds in a little more than two weeks. Maintaining dietary discipline is easy, he said, because the stakes are so high.

Celts up 2-0 vs Knicks but have issues

The Boston Celtics lead the New York Knicks 2-0 in their first round playoff series, but both teams have been incredibly close, and had the ball bounced differently for just a few plays per game, the Knicks would be the ones with the lead right now.

John Schuhmann of NBA.com reports:

In Game 1, when Amar’e Stoudemire went off for 12 fourth-quarter points, the Celtics had to aggressively deny him the ball, sacrificing their ability to help on the ballhandler. In Game 2, with Anthony in the midst of scoring 26 second-half points, they blitzed him with a second defender on every possession, allowing Anthony’s teammates to make runs at the rim and grab countless offensive rebounds.

Neither strategy is sustainable for more than a quarter, let alone a seven-game series. Whether Stoudemire is 100 percent for Game 3 or not, the Celtics need to find a better way to slow down the Knicks’ stars.

The Celtics’ also need to get more production out of their bench, which has been dreadful. Boston led by 10 points near the end of the first quarter on Tuesday, but with the bench playing, the Celtics allowed Anthony to lead the Knicks on a 13-1 run. Poor bench play was largely responsible for the Celtics’ late-season funk, and poor bench play has kept the Knicks in Games 1 and 2.

As the series moves to New York, the Celtics can be happy about two things, other than the two wins. The first is their offensive execution down the stretch. In each game, they scored on four of their final five possessions, including four buckets that either tied the score or gave them a lead.

The second is Rajon Rondo’s aggressiveness in Game 2. With the Knicks failing to get back in transition and playing him soft in the Celtics’ half-court offense, Rondo attacked the basket and finished strong at the rim. He scored a season-high (and playoff career-high) 30 points, playing with a confidence that has seemingly been missing for the last two months.

Game 3 is in Madison Square Garden Friday. For a good time, blast your television, because the crowd energy is going to be insane.

Looking ahead to Mavs-Blazers Game 2

By Scott Spangler

A thing of beauty, it was not. The Dallas Mavericks suffered through an 11-minute second-half drought only to emerge an eight-point winner over the Portland Trail Blazers. For a stretch there, we could have been watching Butler hurl tire irons in the National Championship Game.

Then came the Maverick parade to the foul line, and a couple timely yet unlikely Jason Kidd jumpers – off the dribble. This is not to suggest Kidd cannot knock down an open look, but usually those are of the set-shot variety.

There was some mention today out of the Portland camp that the wide-open opportunities by Kidd must be eliminated.

Yeah, okay.

Believe what you like, but Blazers guard Andre Miller will not be playing the Maverick PG straight up. No one does. Nate McMillan will do what Gregg Popovich did last year against Dallas. Cut Kidd lose and live with the consequences.

Portland will look for Wesley Matthews and Gerald Wallace to get on track. Wallace logged 39 minutes and was little more than a warm body on the floor. Matthews took only three shots, made one, and never looked comfortable.

Andre Miller did enjoy a solid shooting night, but Dallas was all too happy to watch him launch 20-footers against the shot clock late Saturday.

All that said, the Trail Blazers plan to force the issue in Game Two. Nate McMillan talked Monday about Dallas packing the paint and daring his club to take perimeter shots.

Portland wants to make Dallas pay for playing straight up. To do that, Matthews has to bring more to the party than 1 for 3 shooting.

Miami leading in Heat-Sixers Game 2 first half

By Scott Spangler

After one quarter, Philly was shooting 4 for 20 from the floor. Had to feel fortunate to only be down six.

And not to take anything away from Miami, because they are scrambling and playing hard on the defensive end, but I wonder if this has to do more with the lack of shot-making ability by the 76ers in the halfcourt.

Good thing Evan Turner checked in with guns blazin’. The rookie has been pretty much hit or miss this season, but his play off Doug Collins’ bench is about the only bright spot for the Sixers so far. The 10 points turned in by Turner represent the bulk of Philadelphia’s scoring.

And their starters? Try nine total first-half points.

The Heat find themselves coasting at the half, leading 49-31, shooting 50 percent, and getting just about anything they want offensively. As usual, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are getting into the paint, and setting the table for a Miami route.

Commentary: Wild end to Celtics win over Knicks

By Scott Spangler

After Chauncey Billups was led off the floor with a knee injury, Toney Douglas hit a wing three to break an 82-all deadlock with 37.8 on the clock.

Kevin Garnett proceeded to flush a perfect inbound lob from Rajon Rondo. Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, obviously frustrated at the play, quickly called for a timeout to draw up a play for the most important possession of the evening. I like to think he wanted to huddle with his troops because ANY bucket taking less than two seconds is absolutely unacceptable by D’Antoni standards.

Carmelo Anthony was then called for an offensive foul. New York still up one, but that one hurt. Twenty-one seconds to play.

Another defensive foul on Melo, a kick ball call, and then Ray Allen launches one from deep… Boston by two with 11.6 remaining.

That is how this one would end, 87-85 Celtics. Carmelo would put a three up for the win, but the shot barely caught iron.

Boston got away with one. The Knicks played well enough to win. In fact, they should have taken this one. Sloppy execution down the stretch did NY in tonight. That and rebounding, once again.

Lost in the defeat was the brilliant performance by Amare Stoudemire. He grabbed 11 boards, even made what seemed at the time to be timely defensive stops – including one gorgeous block at the rim on Ray Allen.

But it was Allen who saved Boston today with 11 points in the fourth, including the game winner.

Commentary: Bigger Lakers fall victim to Hornets backcourt

By Scott Spangler

The New Orleans Hornets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 109-100 Sunday to take Game 1 of their first round series. Much could be attributed to the play of Hornets center Aaron Gray off the bench. Twenty minutes, 5 for 5 from the floor, and more than holding his own against that Laker front line.

Few plays bigger than Gray’s righty floater in the lane halfway through the fourth quarter. This following a dunk follow by Lakers guard Shannon Brown to cut the New Orleans lead to three.

Gray was later helped off the floor by teammates after what looked to be a pretty nasty ankle injury. Hard to believe it, but the condition of this particular ankle could be key to how this series goes from here. Yes, the ankle belonging to Aaron Gray.

Until the final 10 minutes, Kobe was doing all the heavy lifting for L.A. Then it was Ron Artest getting in on the act, hitting the offensive glass hard and coming away with a loose ball or two.

Once Hornets coach Monty Williams decided to go back to the three-guard lineup at the 8-minute mark of the fourth, the Lakers went after whichever Hornet guard found himself pinned down behind Artest. First Jarret Jack, then Willie Green.

L.A. did not get the production they have come to expect from guys named Bynum and Gasol. Certainly to be talking points for Phil Jackson and perhaps Kobe Bryant.

The story today would be Chris Paul. His final stat line (33 pt, 14 asst, 7 reb, 4 stl) doesn’t really do the performance justice. For every Kobe answer late in Game 1, Paul had one more.

New Orleans guards accounted for 66 of the team’s 109 total points, and knocked down 64 percent from the floor off 45 attempts.

Derrick Fisher is often criticized about his defense. He does seem to have his share of troubles with smaller guards who can score the ball. Hard for me to put all of this at Fisher’s feet. This looked like one of those days for Chris Paul. He had it all working.

This leads me to believe we see more Kobe matching up with CP3 going forward. Phil won’t say as much, and it wouldn’t be an exclusive thing, but in spots I would expect this sort of adjustment.

I still feel L.A. takes this series. They will find that gear, I believe. But after one game in a best-of-seven, the Hornets do have their attention.

Nate McMillan not a happy camper

By Scott Spangler

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan was visibly upset after his team dropped Game 1 in Dallas to the Mavericks Saturday night. After seeing the Mavericks shoot six more free throws in the fourth quarter than the Blazers did the entire contest, McMillan voiced his displeasure.

“The free throws, I just don’t get that,” McMillan said. “It’s hard for our guys to know how to play out there when it’s called a little different. And I felt like we were attacking and guys really didn’t know how to play with the fouls that we’re being called.”

Look, this is what a coach is supposed to do. Despite the rumblings out of that locker room or Portland, Nate would not be doing his job if he failed to lay into officiating fresh off this loss. Basically, this is Phil Jackson 101.

After watching the game last night, it was apparent the Mavericks had to change things up after going nearly 11 minutes without scoring. This is a team well-known for “settling” late in games. Dallas is a perimeter-oriented bunch, and they were playing right into Portland’s hands.

Dirk Nowitzki proceeded to force the issue. He drove the ball from the right baseline, got a call. Then another. When it was all over, Dirk ended up attempting (and hitting) 13 free throws.

Nate McMillan’s club would shoot only twice from the line in the fourth quarter compared to 19 for the Mavs. Whether you are of the opinion the calls were questionable or not, the discrepancy certainly affected the outcome.

“A lot of touch fouls and I thought that turned momentum and pretty much gave them control of the game in the fourth quarter,” McMillan said. “This game was pretty much decided at the line in the fourth quarter.”

Again, this is the game coaches must play in the playoffs. Was Nate legitimately irritated with the fouls? No doubt, he was. But this is a series. And any coach worth his salt realizes the media is a tool to campaign, to plant a seed. He realizes it might be the difference in a pivotal call late Tuesday night.

Expect a softening of his stance between now and then, but not too much. The message is out there and it lingers. NBA officials are human and while they may think to themselves, this sort of talk will not affect how a game should be called, more often than not it seems there is overcompensation the other way. Call me crazy, but that’s how I see it.

Should Dallas be be outshot by 15 attempts in Game Two, I would expect to hear some of the same out of Rick Carlisle.