MVN: Most Valuable Network

1. What's Going on in the Association
Sam Mitchell fired from Toronto, Jay Triano named interim by Darren Spicer

On Wednesday, in the wake of an 8-9 start, the Raptors' brass decided to fire Sam Mitchell.  Assistant coach Jay Triano was named the interim coach until further notice.  Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo was quoted as saying: "This is a difficult but necessary step the franchise must take."

Over the last 4 years, Mitchell led Toronto to the playoffs twice (the last two seasons), taking the team from the bottom of their division up to 1st and 2nd.  He even won the 2006-07 Coach of the Year in the NBA.  Upon winning the award, the Raptors signed Mitchell to a 4-year contract extension.  So why did he get the boot after a year and change?  While Toronto's record sub-.500 record isn't great, it is good enough for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East.  Let's also remember that the Raptors added Jermaine O'Neal this year to run alongside Chris Bosh, and they are still making progress in regards to playing side by side. 

Toronto has the talent to be a top-four team in the East (see Boston, Cleveland and Orlando).  Bosh is going for 27 and 10 every night, and they have stellar PG play from Jose Calderon (13 ppg and 9.5 ast).  Along with those two, Jermaine O'Neal is beginning to figure out his position as a role player.  This looks as if it's one of the most formidable trios in the league.  I think this move by the front office was too soon into the season.  Let's face it, we're talking about a guy a year and a half removed from being honored as the top coach in the league.  8-9?  This isn't the Wizards disastrous 1-11 start of a week ago.  My gut feeling tells me that this move was made to serve as a "spark" to the team; a wake-up call of sorts.  And if Toronto doesn't ride the playoff train for more than one round (a la the last two seasons), look for a new permanent replacement to be hired.

So who is Jay Triano?  A breakdown below:
*Played for the Canadian National Team in '84 and '88 Olympics
**Coached Canadian National Team from '98-'04
***In 7th season as Raptor's assistant coach
****First Canadian-born coach in NBA history

While Triano does have an extensive coaching background, I'm not sure that he will be able to do anything differently that Mitchell.  The Raptors need to find some D (currently giving up 101.6 ppg), and allow Calderon, Bosh and O'Neal time to mesh.  I like the fact that Triano has been with the team for a while, and I'm hoping his familiarity with the players will lead to a seamless transition from assistant to top gun. 

Look for the Raptors to turn this ship around; I'm predicting a 44-38 finish, with the Raptors clinching the 4th or 5th seed in the East.  And all the while I will be bowing to Chris Bosh's MONSTER STATS: my fantasy team loves his 27 and 10, with .535 FG% and .834 FT%.  Now we won't have to watch his southern-redneck All-Star commercials anymore; you deserve this one Chris.

2. Game of the Night Recap
New Orleans Hornets 104, Phoenix Suns 91 in New Orleans
By Zach Harper

There's that saying that goes something like, "we can either do this the easy way or the hard way." Well, when you're facing Chris Paul (who's playing like he's the best player in the league) there is no easy way. But there is a hard way and an extremely hard way. The Suns took the extremely hard way last night when they went to New Orleans without Shaquille O'Neal and Steve Nash playing. Leandro Barbosa and Robin Lopez got the starts instead and they just couldn't keep the Hornets from running away with this game. The Hornets outscored the Suns by 12 in the decisive third quarter and won their tenth game of the season.

For the Suns, they appeared to be out of it early when they gave up 35 first quarter points to New Orleans and found themselves down 14 after the first stanza. But they surged back in the second quarter by holding NOLA to 16 points with only four of those coming in the first six minutes. They cut the lead down with a three-point barrage but essentially used up all of their fight during this run. Leandro Barbosa finished the game with 19 points but did a poor job of running the point for most of the night, which put the responsibility on Grant Hill. Hill finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points but was only able to grab 4 rebounds and committed 6 turnovers.

For the Hornets, they were fueled by Chris Paul's dominance, David West outplaying Stoudemire, and Peja Stojakovic's three-point blitzkrieg. Paul had 24 points, 15 assists, and 3 steals, which is becoming the norm as he takes over the entire universe. David West was physical inside and ended up with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and he made all 10 of his free throw attempts. Peja Stojakovic made 5-9 on his threes and finished with 24 points. The Hornets were much more aggressive all night and it showed in their 35 free throw attempts compared to the Suns' 13.

3. What to Watch Tonight
By Zach Harper

Well, it's tough to pick between games when there are only two to pick from.  It's like trying to decide who your favorite Disney Twin is.  So I'm going to give you a truncated version of each game on tap for Thursday night.

Phoenix Suns (11-8) at Dallas Mavericks (9-8), 5pm PST on TNT
The Suns are coming off of a blowout loss to the Hornets in which they were completely outplayed in the second half. Sure, they didn't have Shaq or Steve Nash but they still put up a poor fight against New Orleans. The Dallas Mavericks come into this game with a great comeback against the lowly Clippers on Tuesday night in which JJ Barea hit the go-ahead/game-winning three to cap the erasing of a fourth quarter, double digit Clippers lead. The Suns should be at full strength with Shaq rested from not playing the front part of the back to back and Steve Nash supposedly over his illness (see: Scared of Chris Paul-itis. By the way Steve, I don't blame you.).
Key Match-up - Amare Stoudemire versus Dirk Nowitzki
Even though he's confused and frustrated by his place in the offense, Amare Stoudemire is still leading the Suns in scoring at 21.9 points per game. Amare may not be cemented into the Suns lineup for the next 10 years with his thoughts on upcoming free agency but his career numbers of 22.3 points on 56% shooting against Dirk Nowitzki make him a lock to have a solid game as long as Nash is running the offense. For Dirk, he's going to have to dodge the love letters from Marc Stein and continue his recent success against Amare. In the past three meetings, Dirk has scored 33 points per game, grabbed 11 rebounds per contest and made 30 of his 4 free throw attempts.
Prediction - Suns pull out a close victory

San Antonio Spurs (9-8) at Denver Nuggets (13-6), 7:30pm PST on TNT
The Spurs are finally back to full strength with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker back in the lineup. Ginobili is being brought back slowly from his ankle injury but he's already added enormous depth to the thin bench. The Spurs were able to maintain without their All-Star backcourt and the fact that they bring an above-.500 record into this game is something that should scare the rest of the league. For the Nuggets, they are rolling after a laughable blowout against the Raptors, which helped lead to the firing of Sam Mitchell. Denver is 12-3 since acquiring Chauncey Billups and have scored triple digits in seven straight games.
Key Match-up - Tony Parker versus Chauncey Billups
Tony Parker gets a tough assignment in only his fourth game back from an ankle injury. Parker was leading the league in scoring when he went down with the sprained ankle but has scored just 16 points per game since he returned. He's often outplayed Billups throughout their head to head meetings but that has more to do with the Spurs great defense than his own personal prowess. For Billups, he's coming off the best offensive stretch of the past couple of years. In his past three games, he's averaged 26 points, 9 assists and shot 59% from the field. If Chauncey can score like he did against Toronto then he could easily lead the Nuggets to victory.
Prediction - Spurs start to remind everybody how good they still are with a convincing win

4. Get Caught Up in Life Section
How about you get caught up in some Peja Heads?
By Zach Harper

Not only do you get the benefit of watching the disgustingly brilliant play of Chris Paul when you catch a Hornets' game on the League Pass but you also get the joy of seeing the Peja Heads run across the bottom of the screen. It's one of the best arena inventions of all time and it has to be extremely fun to see this movement progress before your eyes in New Orleans. I think that eventually, the logo on the court will be Peja's head instead of the Hornet, a giant Peja head will be the mascot, and the entire NOLA bench will have to hold up these NBA Cares arts and crafts.

Click Here and Scroll down to Section 4 to view the Peja Head madness.

5. Top Quote By Zach Harper

"That's what you get when you try to pay for your freedom. You can't pay for your freedom. Freedom has to come free. I'm not giving nothing. That's for real." -- Stephon Marbury on his buyout situation.

I got this from Slam Online and while I was reading it, I couldn't figure out if it was another Stephon Marbury diarrhea of the mouth or if I was watching Glory with Morgan Freeman. Sometimes agents/handlers should get a muzzle on their clients so they don't keep digging a deeper foxhole grave.

6. Three in the Key

Top 3 of the Night
1. Rajon Rondo - 16 pts, 17 asts, 13 rebs
Rajon Rondo is one of the more entertaining players in the league because he has a fun style on a team full of offensive weapons that can benefit from his playmaking ability. He's a deadly mid-range jumper from being Tony Parker.
2. Chris Paul - 24 pts, 15 asts, 3 stls
Chris Paul is so good that I spent most of the first half trying to figure out if I could fit him into the Top 12 players of all time. By the way, you can't yet but it might be debatable in 15 years.
3. Kevin Garnett - 26 pts, 14 rebs, 3 asts, 4 blks, 11-14 fg
This used to be a regular occurrence (minus two blocks) when KG was stuck on the Wolves. Now that he doesn't have to do so much, it's a nice throwback when he gets a chance to dominate for a night on offense instead of working so hard on defense.

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. Elton Brand - 3 pts, 5 rebs, 1-7 fg
Elton didn't exaclty give his best effort last night and ended up being completely dominated by Pau Gasol. Brand still seems uncertain of his surroundings despite playing with a good point guard and a solid playmaker on the wing. Maybe Elton isn't used to the East Coast yet.
2. Drew Gooden - 2 pts, 9 rebs, 1-11 fg
I would like Drew Gooden to know that he was dominated by the frontline of Milwaukee last night. And Andrew Bogut played like crap. Charlie Villanueva outplayed him in a bizarro battle of no hair vs. weird hair.
3. Deron Williams - 13 pts, 5 asts, 6 tos, 4-12 fg
Williams is not right since he came back and looks to be slowed by his injury. There's no way that he's 100% healthy and looks extremely slow in his movements and reactions. Perhaps he should rest another week or two and come back at full strength.

7. Top Web Posts
Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Jones on the NBA-
I realize I'm the last one to link to this but it's really clever
2. From ESPN.com-
A truly amazing story about Wayman Tisdale and his bout with cancer. Anna Clemmons did a great job with this
3. From Ball Don't Lie-
Two days old but this is hilarious and genius

8. Media Fun

To check out today's media fun, click this link and scroll down to Section 8. 

Thanks for reading today's Eight-Second Violation.  Send your comments, criticism and words of praise to zharper@talkhoops.net.


Support the Habit