MVN: Most Valuable Network

By Zach Harper

Marbury Potential Hard For People To Give Up On

What is it about potential, skill sets, and athleticism that makes us all clamor for those who don't deserve the attention?  

Is it because not even one percent of the world can accomplish the things that we see on the hardwood/parquet floor every night?  

Is it because we can make anybody in NBA 2K9 a threat to be great?

(First side note: It really is true that NBA 2K9 is the Matrix for anyone that we want to turn into Neo and give them free reign on the pixilated battle ground that resides in my XBOX 360. I have seen Kevin Ollie and his mustache drop 62, Steve Francis play like he actually still existed, and Earl Watson perform like Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas settled their difference, had a love child, and named him after Earl Monroe and Matt Watson to show his greatness. I've seen all of these guys dominate in video game form at one time or another and it's completely mind bottling.)

(Second side note: Sorry, Phillip but Live sucks and 2K rules all. I'm waiting for your counter.)

For reason, there is a large percentage of us that gets caught up in the hype of players even when the evidence that has been presented to us on a nightly, weekly, and yearly basis is screaming to go the other way.  Even though we see guys fail time after time on a grand scale that proves how little they can contribute to making their team a winning squad, we still believe that talent ultimately wins out in the NBA and will eventually shine through.  But sometimes, that talent never translates to wins.  

It happened to guys like Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Christian Laettner.  It's happening right now to guys like Elton Brand and Vince Carter.  There are some guys that are just inherently losers despite their incredible talent.  And I'm not even talking about the busted number one picks of the past like Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi, and Joe Smith.  Those guys were primarily hyped potential with tremendous upside that never seemed to put it together.  I'm talking about the guys that actually have all of the talent they could ever need to dominate but they either don't have the heart or the mental capacity to put it together in the form of a title run for their team.  

And nobody embodies this like Stephon Marbury.

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Let's Recap All of the Games from Last Night
By Zach Harper

There seems to be some happy sentiment towards the covering of every game in a brief recap.  So we'll stick with that for now.  Here are the games from last night:

San Antonio Spurs 91, Miami Heat 84 in Miami-
The box score to this game doesn't match what I remember seeing on the screen.  When I was watching this game, it felt like the Heat were in control with a suffocating defense that forced turnovers and wreaked havoc.  But when you look at the box score, you see that it looks like this was a very unaggressive and slow-paced basketball game.  Both teams had just 12 turnovers and the two teams combined to shoot just 23 free throws.  The biggest play of this game was Manu Ginobili's block on Dwyane Wade during a fast break that saved a bucket and ended up being a four-point swing.

New Jersey Nets 98, Sacramento Kings 90 in East Rutherford- 
The Sacramento Kings' explosive second quarter that was fueled by Kevin Martin seemed to be the turning point in the game.  Unfortunately for the Kings, the offensive surge in the 37-point second quarter was two more points than they would score in the entire second half.  The Nets dominated the Kings in nearly every statistical category and Yi Jianlin scored 22 points to complement Vince Carter's 29-point effort. The thing that kept the Kings in this game was their ability to take care of the ball. They committed just eight turnovers in the game as they fell to 2-16 on the road this season.

Milwaukee Bucks 107, Toronto Raptors 97 in Milwaukee- 
Throughout much of the first half, it felt like the Raptors were running away with this game.  But the Bucks continued to fight and rode Michael Redd's shooting and Charlie Villanueva's energy to a much-deserved fight.  Villaneuva dropped 25 points off the bench by filling in for the inside presence that was left empty by the injured Andrew Bogut.  Chris Bosh's 31 points and 11 rebounds weren't enough to lead an injury depleted Raptors' team to victory.  The key to the Bucks win was the improbable play of Luke Ridnour down the stretch. He was scoreless during the first 45 minutes of this game but made two crucial three-pointers to bury Toronto.

Utah Jazz 119, Golden State Warriors 114 in Salt Lake City- 
Deron Williams had his first truly great and dominating game of the NBA season as the Jazz outlasted the Warriors in a fantastic shootout.  D-Will had 25 points and 15 assists as he perfectly controlled and managed the game for a Utah team that is still missing Carlos Boozer.  Corey Maggette scored 23 points off the bench to go with Jamal Crawford's 28 but the Warriors could not force turnovers (just 10) throughout this game. The key to the Jazz win was the dominance of Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur inside. They combined for 39 points and 25 rebounds.

Denver Nuggets 135, Indiana Pacers 115 in Denver-
The Nuggets and Pacers combined for 144 points and shot the lights out.  And then the second half began.  In a defense-absent shootout, the Nuggets used 40 fast break points to pull away from the Pacers in a game in which Indiana showed very little resistance in the second half.  Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, and Kenyon Martin all scored at least 21 points to neutralize the 36-point effort from Danny Granger.  But Carmelo Anthony injured his hand during the second half and will have to get it examined to see if there is any fracture. 


New Orleans Hornets (20-10) at Los Angeles Lakers (27-5) 7:30pm PST on NBA TV
By Brandon Gallawa
 
I feel like I've previewed this game thirteen times so far this season.  I know that this is impossible, but it still feels like these teams have played each other once per week.  It doesn't help that the schedule makers have given us this game along with 7 other yawn-inducing match-ups.

This game isn't a stone cold lock to be as epic as it appears on paper.  The Lakers have dominated the season series winning by seven in November and by thirteen two weeks ago.  Both of those games were played in New Orleans, so we'll see if the Lakers can parlay those two wins into home court dominance.  It will be no easy task with the Hornets owning a 9-6 road record.

The Lakers have been all but unbeatable at home winning fifteen in a row on their way to an 18-1 record at Staples.  The Hornets may have what it takes to hand the Lakers their second loss at home, but they'll need big production from Peja Stojakovic and David West.

Key Match-Up: Chris Paul versus Kobe Bryant
More often than not we do our match-ups based on positions, but it isn't often you can preview a match-up of potential MVP candidates.  Bryant has been playing like the guy who won the MVP last season over the past few weeks.  Kobe has led the Lakers in scoring their last 11 games averaging 31 points per game.  Paul has been no slouch.  He leads the Hornets with 20.1 points, 11.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game.  Those are pretty ridiculous numbers, but I've grown to accept Chris Paul as the greatest point guard alive.
Prediction: Lakers keep rolling at home



How about you get caught up in some Week 11 Power Rankings?
By Zach Harper and Brandon Gallawa

This week, I had Brandon Gallawa rank the teams and I split the comments with him.  Usually, we average out our rankings, come to an agreement on the ties and then comment but with being sick, I put the responsibility on him.  Here are the Week 11 Power Rankings:

Week 11 Power Rankings

1. Los Angeles Lakers | Record: 27-5 | Previous Rank: 2nd | Last Week: 2-0
Upcoming Schedule: NOH, at GS, IND, MIA
Comments: Lakers fans will disagree but it almost feels like they took back the top spot in the power rankings by default.  A 4-0 week will change that feeling.  -- Zach Harper

2. Cleveland Cavaliers | Record: 27-6 | Previous Rank: 3rd | Last Week: 1-2
Upcoming Schedule: CHA, BOS
Comments: LeBron is the MVP front-runner. Their defense is allowing less than 90 PPG and their point differential is the best in the league. Throw out 77 points against the Wiz all you want, this team is legit. -- Brandon Gallawa

3. Boston Celtics | Record: 29-6 | Previous Rank: 1st | Last Week:  1-2
Upcoming Schedule: at CHA, HOU, at CLE, at TOR, TOR
Comments: The sky is falling!!!!  The sky is falling!!!!! Everybody panic!!!! -- Zach Harper

4. Orlando Magic | Record: 26-8 | Previous Rank: 7th | Last Week: 2-1
Upcoming Schedule: WSH, at ATL, ATL, at SA
Comments: The Magic could be the most under the radar "team that wins 76% of their games" ever. They can send a big statement with a strong showing against Atlanta and San Antonio this week. -- Brandon Gallawa

5. San Antonio Spurs | Record: 23-11 | Previous Rank: 4th | Last Week: 3-1
Upcoming Schedule: LAC, ORL
Comments: It's about time we seriously start discussing Tim Duncan for MVP.  The fact that his team was left for dead early on and is still winning two-thirds of their games at this point in the season is damn impressive, Timmy. -- Zach Harper

For the rest of the Week 11 Power Rankings, click the link. The Link

By Zach Harper

"'Crab dribble' is when you, uh, travel. That's the hottest thing on the market right now... I couldn't do it in AAU, I couldn't do it in college, and obviously I can't do it now." -- Caron Butler on LeBron James' explanation that his "crab dribble" is within the rules and guidelines of NBA play.

Why is this a controversy right now? Is it a slow news day?  This guy gets away with traveling all the time just like every superstar of the past 30 years and yet, we're debating whether or not the time he actually gets called is legit or not?  It was a travel! There's no such thing as a "crab dribble!" Loud noises!




Top 3 of the Night
1. Michael Redd - 35 pts, 11-20 fg, 9-9 ft, 4-10 3fg
I've been pretty tough on Michael Redd over the past two years because I feel like he's the classic case of a mid-market franchise putting all of their eggs in one basket by overpaying a guy who shouldn't be a player that you build around.  Well, Redd shut me up for one night with his sharp-shooting effort against the Toronto Raptors last night. He torched the Raps, time after time.
2. Kenyon Martin - 25 pts, 7 rebs, 2 blks
The numbers don't look overly impressive for a guy that makes $14 million this season but when you factor in the defense he helped play on Danny Granger in the second half of last night's win, it was quite the good performance. He face-guarded like he was wearing eye-liner for the Flint Tropics and made Danny Granger look into his eyes.  Without the defensive effort, the Pacers might not have become stagnant on offense. 
3. Kevin Martin - 36 pts, 11-21 fg, 10-11 ft, 4-7 3fg
There is not a better player coming off of an injury than Kevin Martin. It seems every time that he's missed a few weeks with a leg injury, he comes back to torch opposing teams off the bench while he regains his wind.  He's scored 81 points in his last two games.  

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. John Salmons - 3 pts, 2 asts, 1-8 fg
Maybe John was too preoccupied with trying to slow down Vince Carter to give a good effort on offense.  But whatever it was, he hurt his team when they had the ball and needed him to create.  A more typical Salmons offensive night probably gives the Kings the win on the road.
2. Will Solomon - 4 pts, 11 asts, 2-13 fg
Will filled in admirably for the injured Jose Calderon for most of this game with an 11-assist effort.  However, he couldn't knock down his shot consistently throughout the game and it helped the Bucks win a tough fight at home. 
3. Indiana Pacers Defense - 135 pts given up, 58.1% fg allowed
Here's a quote from the game recap on IndyCornRows.com - "The Nuggets came into the game leading the league in dunks and they had to expand that lead tonight. There was an inordinate amount out run out open dunks off Pacer misses that ought to make film sessions quite uncomfortable tomorrow."


Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Hardwood Paroxysm-
Probably the last one to link to this but it's truly an amazing piece of writing. I feel like I link to these guys three or four times a week. And with good reason.
2. From Obsessionism via Both Teams Played Hard and True Hoop-
This took a lot of work and I'm not sure I'm drunk enough to understand it, yet.
3. From Talkhoops.net-
A very interesting Q&A from Phillip Barnett with Rapper Tee Calee


For those of you who missed yesterday's inauguration of the Ask a Blogger section that now has taken over the Multimedia Fun section, you missed Wade of Bothteamsplayedhard.net brilliantly reference White Men Can't Jump in a way that only the truly great ones can. 

In today's Ask a Blogger, we turn to the best Indiana Pacers coverage/analysis on the internets with IndyCornRows.com. IndyCornRows is to the Indiana Pacers what Sactown Royalty is to the Sacramento Kings or Jean Claude Van Damme is to the splits.  You can't think of one without the other.  ICR was kind enough to answer three questions while recovering from a drubbing at the hands of the Denver Nuggets.  Here are the three questions:

1. It seems like over the past couple of years, the Pacers have had problems finding a balance in their roster.  They had an inside presence with Troy Murphy and Jermaine O'Neal but couldn't get the guards situated. Now they fixed the point guard problem in theory with T.J. Ford and Jarret Jack but had to sacrifice their big man to do it. Can this team compete as constructed and be a legit playoff contender or will they have find that balance before they can be taken seriously? (taking a deep breath...moving to my happy place) I agree that team was nasty and built to beat anyone in the East that year. I have come to the realization though that despite the talent on that team and their ability to destroy any opponent on a given night, they were still not built to win a championship. The key players in Artest and J.O. just weren't/aren't built to lead, let alone lead a championship team. Even if the Palace brawl doesn't happen, other issues would've popped up that year to create road blocks for success. At least that's what I keep telling myself.


Thanks for reading today's Eight-Second Violation. Any comments, criticisms, or words of praise can be emailed to zharper@talkhoops.net


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