Atlanta Hawks's Atlanta Hawks friend's fan blogs

The NBA league pass is awesome, but nothing beats a good TNT double-header.

Tonight, we get a great TNT double-header.

The night starts off with Cleveland at Miami. I’ve written this before, but LeBron vs. Wade is the best head-to-head matchup to watch in the NBA right now. These guys always bring out the best in each other.

In 19 career games against each other, LeBron is averaging 28.6 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.2 steals. Wade is averaging 27.2 points per game, 5.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 2.4 steals.

In seven of the last nine meetings, at least one of the two has dropped for at least 30. Twice in that span has each player scored 40 in the same game.

With Miami having only one loss so far this season, and Cleveland coming off a big win against the Magic, I would expect nothing less than a shootout tonight. I expect both superstars put their respective teams of their back and play out what, hopefully, is a very entertaining game to watch.

Continue reading "Great TNT Double-Header Tonight"

The New Orleans Hornets became the first team to make a coaching change this season, firing head coach Byron Scott today.

Scott being fired doesn’t come as much of a shock to anyone who has watched the Hornets play this season. They look brutal. They are just 3-6 this season. Every time I turn on a Hornets game they seem to be getting blown out.

Add that to the fact that Chris Paul looks like he’s about two weeks away from punching a teammate in the face on the way back to the bench and I would say that it was time to make a coaching change.

In reality, Scott should have been fired in the offseason. The Hornets lost game four of their first round playoff series against the Nuggets by 58 points. That’s not a typo. 58 points. And New Orleans was at home.

Continue reading "Hornets Fire Byron Scott"

Have you looked at the league leaders yet this season?

There are some familiar faces atop some of the big categories. Kobe leads the league in scoring. Nash leads the league in assists. Rondo leads the league in steals.

You almost expect to see those guys near the top of those categories.

But have you taken a look at the league leaders in rebounds? It’s not exactly a who’s who of NBA big men over the past few years.

Here’s the top ten:

1. Gerald Wallace 13.8

2. Marc Gasol 11.9

T3. Chris Bosh 11.6

T3. Carlos Boozer 11.6

5. Dwight Howard 11.1

6. Joakim Noah 11.0

T7. Brendan Haywood 10.7

T7. Al Horford 10.7

T7. Zach Randolph 10.7

10. Emeka Okafor 10.5

Continue reading "New Era of NBA Bigs?"

I wrote a short blog last week about Allen Iverson being unhappy with his role in Memphis, and I predicted that by March 1st the Grizzlies would send him home.

I mean, it was obvious that it was a marriage that was doomed from the start.

But not even I could see this coming. Just three games into his Grizzlies career, Iverson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team, and sources are reporting it’s doubtful that he’ll play again for Memphis.

To me, it looks like his career is done. Iverson had a hard enough time finding a team this offseason because of all the baggage that comes along with signing Allen Iverson, but taking a leave of absence less than two weeks into the season just reaffirms that he is too much of a cancer to take on anymore.

Continue reading "Who is Allen Iverson?"

Last week in “Fun With Box Scores” I took a look at about ten different things that jumped out from the previous week’s box scores.

It was the initial plan to roll out ten more fun little facts that I discovered while rummaging through the box scores this week, but I came across one box score that was so unique that I don’t feel like any other stat line from the week is worthy of being in the same post as this one.

Therefore, this week’s “Fun With Box Scores” is just one box score.

It comes from Wednesday night’s Lakers-Rockets game.

The stat line looks like this:

D. Fisher 35 minutes, 0-5 from the field, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

You read that correctly. In 35 minutes of play, Derek Fisher was unable to accumulate a single point, rebound, or assist in the Lakers overtime win over the Rockets.

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"

LeBron James makes his only trip to Madison Square Garden tonight.

For the past two seasons there has been plenty of talk about LeBron bolting his hometown of Cleveland for the bright lights of New York City.

In his career, LeBron has been fantastic at the Garden. He’s averaged 30.1 points, 6.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals in ten trips to The Garden. In his last two trips to the Mecca of Basketball, he’s had a 52-10-9 game and a 50-10-8 game.

Needless to say, all eyes will be on LeBron tonight to see if he can put on another show on Broadway.

Also on tap for tonight, the undefeated Nuggets make their only trip to Miami to take on Dwyane Wade and the Heat; the Pistons look to continue their dominance over the Magic in Orlando; and the Suns try to outrun the Celtics in Boston.

Continue reading "LeBron Makes His Only Trip to "The Garden" Tonight"

He fooled me yet again.

We’ve seen this act before. Andrew Bynum, through the first five games, is averaging over 20-10, yet again.

It’s nothing new. For the third straight season, the young, potential stud, center for the Los Angeles Lakers has hit the ground running and has shown flashes of being an all-star caliber center in the NBA.

And, for the third straight season, Bynum’s great start may be overshadowed by, yet another, major injury.

With 24.7 seconds left in the Lakers overtime win over the Rockets last night, Kobe Bryant dished a perfect pass to Bynum under the hoop and he was fouled as he tried to convert the lay-up. It wasn’t an obscenely hard foul, but certainly one in which the Rockets were making it clear they weren’t about to allow Bynum to score without heading to the free throw line.

Continue reading "Andrew Bynum: The Oldest 22-Year-Old in the NBA"

Earlier today, the Celtics awarded point guard Rajon Rondo with a 5-year contract extension believed to be in the neighborhood of $55 million. I like Rondo as a player but I’m a bit concerned about banking the future on a mercurial 23-year-old hot shot with a burgeoning prima donna complex and a history of instigating senseless scuffles.

Critics say Rondo lacks a consistent jump shot but I disagree. He’s basically money with that 15-20 foot baseline jumper. He’s not a three-point shooter but the C’s already have Ray, Pierce and Rasheed chucking the long ball on a regular basis. Furthermore, with Rondo’s speed, jump shots should be used as a last option anyway.  

What primarily concerns me is Rondo’s attitude and potentially divisive personality. During the course of his three-year career, he has engaged in numerous (and mostly pointless) altercations with other players. In addition, word is he is aloof from teammates and generally unresponsive to coaching or advice. That Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers actively shopped him this past off-season should speak volumes about management’s doubts and concerns. While supremely talented (I would rank him among the top-five point guards in the league), I think the C’s should have waited for the season to play out before making this kind of commitment to such a young and generally unproven player.

Continue reading "C's Banking on Rondo"

From the who-didn’t-see-this-coming-department, Allen Iverson is not happy with his role after his first game in with the Memphis Grizzlies.

After coming off the bench and playing just 18 minutes in the Grizzlies 127-116 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings last night, Iverson dropped this gem to reporters after the game:

 “Go look at my resume and that will show you that I’m not a sixth man,” Iverson said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league.” 

First of all, what did Iverson expect? He barely played in the preseason and then missed the first three regular season games with a partially torn hamstring. Even superstars would be eased back into the rotation after something like that. Iverson is far from a superstar these days. 

Continue reading "Allen Iverson Is Unhappy (again)"

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school.

To me, all the new stats in the world can’t tell the story of an NBA game as well as the good, old fashioned box score.

Therefore, I’m starting a new feature today called “Fun With Box Scores”.

Every Monday, I’ll be posting some of the more interesting things that jumped out at me from the previous week’s box scores.

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"