MVN: Most Valuable Network

For some reason, I labeled yesterday's ESV as December 6th. Clearly, I'm illiterate.  With that said, enjoy today's Eight-Second Violation.



By Zach Harper

Carmelo Anthony out three weeks with a broken hand

During Monday's romp of the Indiana Pacers, Carmelo Anthony injured his hand and you could hear the collective gasp of Nuggets fans who knew what the outcome would be. The Nuggets' leading scorer has a fractured hand and will miss the next three weeks to let it heal. Now while this initially sounds like a disaster for a team that is off to the best start in franchise history, it may not be all that damageous (I know it's not a word, but it was once created by our resident cynic at the Talkhoops.net HQ) to their playoff positioning.

Denver is still a solid defensive team that runs down people's throats and has plenty of offense outside of Carmelo Anthony. Will it be easy for them to keep their position of first in the division with a three-game lead?  Not really. But can they do it?  Absolutely.

The Nuggets don't have a killer schedule coming up in the next three weeks.  Their supposed "gimme" games would be Sacramento and at Memphis. The other seven games are against tough but not unbeatable opponents.  They take on the Heat tonight but since it's the Heat, it's in Denver, and Joel Anthony will be prominently involved for Miami for 16 minutes at some point, the Nuggets should be able to still win this game. They face Detroit and Dallas who seem to have more mental issues than Jim Carrey in The Number 23. Their three-game stretch against Phoenix, Orlando, and at Houston will be the real key as to whether or not Carmelo returns to a team that is leading their division still.  Luckily for the Nuggets, they face a battered Utah Jazz team and the Portland Trailblazers are still letting Brandon Roy nurse his injury. 

The Nuggets will have to get some consistent production from J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza but assuming Melo is back in time for the showdown January 28th in New Orleans, I expect the Nuggets to at least be tied for the division lead when their lead scorer returns.



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:

Orlando Magic 89, Washington Wizards 80 in Orlando-
After an extremely pathetic second quarter performance in which his team scored just six points, Caron Butler decided to make this more of a game than the Magic expected it to be.  Butler scored 21 points in the third quarter and scored all of his 29 points in the second half.  I'd love to gloss this game over with a great story but this was a terrible game to watch other than a couple Dwight Howard dunks and the hot second half shooting of Caron. The difference in this game was three-point shooting (plus 21 points for Orlando), free throw shooting (plus 8 for Orlando) and rebounding (plus 10 for Orlando).  Now let's never speak of this hideous game ever again.

Philadelphia 76ers 104, Houston Rockets 96 in Philadelphia- 
The 76ers outran and outdunked a lethargic and lazy Houston Rockets that seemed more intent on giving the fans a Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala highlight reel than protecting the basket.  Yao Ming had his worst game in years and the 76ers scored 29 fast break points as the Rockets dropped their third game in a row on the road.  Lou Williams and Marreese Speights each scored 15 points off the bench and Iggy scored 28 points in his first quality game since signing his contract in the summer.  The one positive from the Rockets' side of this game was the 18-point, 17-rebound effort from Luis Scola who seemed to be the only player who gave a damn.

Charlotte Bobcats 114, Boston Celtics 106 OT in Charlotte- 
Hey, remember when the Celtics seemed to pride themselves on defense and giving more effort on a 48-minute basis? Well, maybe someone should remind them of those times.  The Celtics have now fallen to 2-5 since they started the season 27-2 and are being outplayed by far less talented teams.  Raymond Felton received some encouraging words throughout the game from Michael Jordan on the sideline and responded with a 25-point effort that reminded everybody why he was once a lottery pick.  Gerald Wallace's reckless abandon chipped in 23 points and D.J. Augustin scored 20 points off the bench. Kevin Garnett had another terrible shooting performance, Rajon Rondo couldn't hold onto the ball and Ray Allen couldn't knock down a clutch shot to save his life.  Celtics now have to rebound with a home contest against the Rockets before the travel to Cleveland for a showdown on Friday.

Oklahoma City Thunder 107, New York Knicks 99 in OKC- 
The Thunder jumped out to a big lead, maintained through the first half, and even increased the lead to 23-points before trying to give the game back to the Knicks.  The Knicks fought back and cut the lead to two but couldn't get over the final hump to take the lead. Kevin Durant had 27 points to match Jeff Green's 27 points.  The Thunder shot 52.7% from the field and held the Knicks to under 40%.  Nate Robinson missed 14 shots from the field, including all of three-pointers to help bury the Knicks whenever they needed a bucket.

Minnesota Timberwolves 94, Memphis Grizzlies 87 in Memphis-
All you need to know about this game is the fact that the T'Wolves have become a team that plays Brian Cardinal regularly and makes me feel like a five-point lead is a 10-point deficit. I can't even enjoy the wins anymore. Ugh.

Chicago Bulls 99, Sacramento Kings 94 in Chicago-
Kevin Martin inexplicably went for a finger roll layup that he nearly airballed with the Kings down three and less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation. The shot never came close, the Bulls hit a couple of free throws, and Sacramento fell to 2-17 on the road.  They also have their worst start in the Sacramento era and for those of you who remember the debacle that was the Kings in the 80's and early 90's, that's saying something.  Kevin Martin scored 29 in his return to the starting lineup but the Kings gave up 29 points on their 20 turnovers. Drew Gooden returned to give the Bulls 18 and 10 off the bench.

Dallas Mavericks 107, Los Angeles Clippers 102 in Dallas-
For most of this game, it wasn't even worth paying attention to. But Eric Gordon decided to make a game of it and led the Clippers from a 18-point deficit to a three-point lead before wilting under the pressure of the Mavericks. Gordon scored 17 of his 31 in a 12-minute stretch that spanned from the end of the first half to the end of the third quarter. Dirk Nowitzki had 34 for the Mavs and Dallas only gave up eight points off of their nine turnovers.

New Orleans Hornets 116, Los Angeles Lakers 105 in Los Angeles-
Kobe Bryant went into 2K9 mode (according to Rey Rey of No Look Pass) and had 37 points at the end of the third quarter. But David West and Chris Paul dominated the fourth quarter and the Hornets team only allowed two points to be scored by the Lakers star as the Hornets turned a three-point deficit to start the fourth into a double-digit win.  The Lakers took 34 threes in the game but couldn't seem to hit one when they needed it in the fourth to match any of David West's 15 fourth quarter points. 


Orlando Magic (27-8) at Atlanta Hawks (22-11) 4pm PST
By Brandon Gallawa
 
This is without question the best game of the night and possibly the week.  How these two teams play this week could determine who wins the Southeast division.

The Hawks have been nearly unbeatable at home holding a 15-2 record at Phillips Arena.  They have already beaten top tier teams like Cleveland, Detroit, Denver and Houston at home.  The Hawks hold a +6.7 point differential in Atlanta.  The biggest beneficiary of the home court advantage has been Marvin Williams.  Williams has averaged nearly 4 points and 2 rebounds more per game at home than on the road.  He has also shot 11% higher from the field and free throw line on his home court.

The Magic won't be going down without a fight.  They'll bring the league's best road record (12-5) into Phillips Arena.  Amazingly they have scored more points per game on the road this season.  Despite their great record on the road, this would be the Magic's best road win yet.  Jameer Nelson has been a difference maker on the road.  He has scored more points on the road and has really stepped up of late averaging 17.4 points per game in his last 5 road games.

Key Match-Up: Rashard Lewis versus Josh Smith
Dwight Howard is going to get his, and the same can be said for Joe Johnson.  Jameer Nelson and Mike Bibby should also be a nice match-up, but they won't decide who will win this contest.  The real match-up to watch is Lewis against Smith.  Smith has been the main reason for Atlanta's fantastic run over the past few weeks.  He plays both sides of the ball as well as any forward in the league and has anchored the Hawks' resurgent defense.  It seems how Lewis goes so go the Magic.  He has been significantly more efficient in Magic wins than their losses.  The Magic cannot win if he shoots under 40%, and it will be an epic great offense versus great defense at the power forward position.
Prediction: Atlanta hands the Magic a rare road loss.



How about you get caught up in some Good Knowledge Blog?
By Brandon Gallawa

After a long hiatus, I have made my triumphant return to my blog and the internets.

I can't complain because I spent Christmas week on a Mexican cruise.  I didn't even get sick after eating tacos at some shack south of Puerto Vallarta, and I drank a six-pack of Pacifico beer before 11am and came within 10 feet of a humpback whale on Christmas.  If that weren't enough, Mrs. Good Knowledge and I finally got a Nintendo Wii.  Let me tell you, bowling and golf on the Wii are more addictive that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups sprinkled with crack.

Apparently John Salmons hasn't been having a very good New Year.  Salmons seems to be upset with his lack of production since the return of Kevin Martin.  Salmons has only averaged 13 points per game on 31% shooting in the four games since Martin returned.  During that same stretch Martin has averaged 30 points per game on 45% shooting from the field and 42-43 from the line.  Salmons' complaint that plays aren't being drawn for him is completely unfounded.  He has averaged 14.5 FGA per game in the last four games which is second only to Martin's 18.5 FGA during that stretch.

This does serve to point out a more serious problem for the Kings: Martin is as efficient as any scorer in the league, but he is not a one-man show.  He would be an absolutely lethal second option on a good team.  The Kings are obviously not that, so Martin has been forced into a role that doesn't become him.  I could argue that Martin is a top 10 scorer in the league, but he doesn't give the Kings the same playmaking ability of Kobe Bryant or Brandon Roy.  This isn't a bad thing, but it points to the Kings' desperate need for a better point guard/playmaker.

To read the rest of Brandon's blog, click the link. The link.

By Zach Harper

"'Everything I do is a big deal. It's easy for people who don't play the game of basketball to say something about a certain move. You hear all the people on SportsCenter talk about it, but they've never touched a basketball in their lives. They just report about it." -- LeBron James on why he should be allowed to travel and people shouldn't criticize it.

Everybody loves LeBron because he's so charming and personable but I've never bought into it. I always feel like he's acting for marketing purposes. I think we got a glimpse into the real LeBron with this quote. The cocky, arrogant, sense of entitlement LeBron that resides under that global icon exterior. Someday, he'll slip up again and we'll see more of it. Sorry, LeBron but Jalen Rose who has played quite a bit of basketball in his day called your "crab dribble" a travel.  Would you classify him as one of the Sportscenter people who's never touched a basketball?  Take responsibilities for your failures, "Chosen One."



Top 3 of the Night
1. David West - 40 pts, 11 rebs, 14-23 fg, 12-13 ft
Kobe Bryant had 37 points at the end of the third quarter.  David West had 25 points. At the end of the game, David West had 40 points and Kobe Bryant had 39 points. David West played like one of the best players in the NBA during last night's fourth quarter while Kobe Bryant was taken out of this game. That's why the Hornets won big in what was a close game.
2. Chris Paul - 32 pts, 15 asts, 3 stls, 9-9 ft
Chris Paul carried the Hornets for the first three quarters before setting David West up during the fourth. His 15 assists compared to zero turnovers is not the worst performance you'll ever see. CP was an unstoppable force.
3. Kevin Durant - 27 pts, 12 rebs, 3 asts, 11-16 fg, 46 mins
The Thunder had a great night from a lot of players but Kevin Durant led the way. His 17 first half points helped build the early lead and his presence on the court allowed everybody else to free up for open looks for OKC.  

Bottom 3 of the Night
1. Rajon Rondo - 16 pts, 6 asts, 9 tos
He played against Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin and ended up with nine turnovers.  Nine! Include him losing his shoe at one point for the 26th consecutive game and you have a peculiar performance from a supposed All-Star.
2. Nate Robinson - 12 pts, 4-18 fg, 0-7 3fg
I've never liked his game and performances like this give me a petty validation to these feelings. Robinson just flat out missed shots last night and it ended up costing the Knicks at chance at redemption from their early game failings. 
3. Peja Stojakovic - 6 pts, 2-9 fg, 1-6 3fg
It's time for another edition of Who's Killing My Fantasy Team. This time, we're featuring Peja Stojakovic whose career 45.6% field goal percentage is being lowered by the pathetic 40.6% from the field that Peja is shooting this season. 


Here are the Top Blog Posts from yesterday.

1. From Esquire-
A fantastic Larry Bird Interview
2. From Blowtorch-
Goatman is back and he's figuring out the real Chris Mihm
3. From NBA Fanhouse-
Joe Alexander is working hard to be in the dunk contest



In today's Ask a Blogger, we check in on the man who is as obsessed with dead spots in the parquet floor as he is with Scott Wedman's career stats. John Karalis of RedsArmy.com joins us for a quick Q&A about the defending champs and where they stand on their run to a second straight NBA championship. Here's what John had to say:

1. The Cavs seem to have the most complete roster in franchise history and the Lakers now have that Finals experience that teams allegedly need to win one someday. Who do you think will be the bigger road block for the Celtics repeating this year?

I'm going to say the Cavs just because they'd be up first.  I also think, despite the Christmas day results, that the Celtics total package is better than the Lakers total package.  But the Cavs have built a perfect complimentary team to LeBron James.  No one on that team harbors any thoughts of "this is my team too"... but they all are good enough to do their jobs very well.  They key to the Cavs is everyone making sure they don't try to do more than their jobs.  If they fall apart, it's because someone decides he's going to try to do more than what he's been doing... and that will throw the whole thing out of whack.  It truly is like a machine right now.  LeBron makes it go... and he's playing at a level right now that you haven't seen before if you're under 30 years old.  And unlike the Celtics right now, all of their parts are humming along. 

The Celtics won't make it past Cleveland playing like they are right now.  But it's only the first week of January.  It's still way too early.  We've still got three full months of basketball before we can really make judgements.  That's a long time.
I think he's gone.  I forget after which firing it was (there have been so many), but I wrote that each coaching vacancy makes it more likely that Thibodeau is gone.  The Celtics best chance at retaining him, oddly enough, is winning a championship.  The season is sooooo long, that teams will get antsy about waiting and they'll fill the opening before Thibodeau has a real shot.  The draft is only a few weeks after the finals end... and no team wants its new coach to still be learning names in the war room.

But the simple fact is that we live in a "follow the leader" world.  The Celtics have created an emphasis on defense in the NBA, and Thibodeau is regarded as the premier defensive mind.  I have a hard time believing he's going to remain an assistant for much longer.
I don't like the Marbury idea either.  But if he's available, I think Danny Ainge will become that person who pulls a kind of ugly shirt off the clearance rack.  It used to be expensive, but now it's 90% off... so you feel like you almost have no choice BUT to buy it.  However, in the end, no matter how you accessorize it, it's still an ugly shirt.

Leaving the Marbury diatribe aside for a second, I think the Celtics have Sam Cassell on the roster just for this reason.  He's still working out with the team and he's comfortable with the system.  I can't see anyone becoming available that becomes a better option.  The Celtics will probably try to literally repeat... not only as champion.. but in the way they win it.  Sam Cassell for a while until he starts shooting too much.  Eddie House when the team needs energy and shooting.  And whatever 6'10"- 7 foot guy they sign late to shore up the post.  Maybe Danny will surprise us by picking someone out of the D League... but I doubt it.



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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