Christmas Day Games Recap

Christmas Day Games Recap

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good set of NBA games. There were five NBA games today, with two of the matchups featuring teams with the top 4 records in the league. Here are some thoughts on each of the games.

1) Heat vs. Knicks

Dwayne Wade played the role of the Grinch in scoring 30 points and leading the Heat to a win over the New York Knicks in their return to Christmas basketball after an eight year drought. This game was about what I expected, but I will address a few things I noticed. First and foremost, Dwayne Wade is one of the ultimate closers in the league, scoring 10 points in the last few minutes of the game to put away the Knicks. He was able to score both on jumpers and drives as no one on the Knicks was quick enough to stay with him. Wade played a complete game, leading his team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals. Wade was also helped by his new “Robin,” Michael Beasley who added 19 points, 13 coming in the second half despite having a poor shooting night.

But the Heat didn’t win this game as much as the Knicks shot their way out of it. They shot 18% from 3, (5-28), and that helped limit the Knicks to only 87 points. Also as I stressed in my Knicks blog, the problems stem from the point guard position. This game was no different, as Duhon and Hughes had a combination of 5 turnovers and only 4 assists. As always, David Lee came to play putting up 19 and 16. The real thing I took from this game though was that Danilo Gallinari is continuing to develop. He played 43 minutes today, and was the team’s leading scorer with 26 points, even though he shot just 3-11 from the three point line. In the bit that I saw, he was attacking the basket and even posting up the smaller Quentin Richardson. He is such a deadly shooter that defenders have to respect that, and this only serves to his advantage in creating extra opportunities to ball fake and get by guys. He also had 8 rebounds today, and was the only player on the team to have more assists than turnovers.

Bottom line is that the Heat, and specifically Dwayne Wade were too good for the Knicks to beat shooting as poorly as they did. The Knicks struggled through the second and third quarters, and by the point they made their run, Wade was primed to take over, delivering in typical Wade fashion. Not a great game either way, but it was worth watching, especially considering that anytime Wade steps on the floor you could be watching something special.

2) Celtics vs. Magic

In a rematch of the Eastern Conference Semis last year, the Paul Pierce less Celtics went into Amway Arena and physically beat up on the Magic. This was a defensive battle from the beginning, and there were a lot of stretches of just bad offense, for both teams (Celtics had a season high 20 turnovers). The Magic tied their franchise low of only scoring 27 points in the first half, and the Celts used a big run to take a double digit lead into the break, including holding Rashard Lewis scoreless.

Vince Carter was the game’s leading scorer with 27, but as usual the Celtics used a balanced attack to lead them to the win. As I mentioned in my Twelve Days of Christmas blog, Rondo has the potential to have a triple double each game, and he was close again today with another stellar game of 17 points, 13 boards, and 8 assists. The Celts also benefited from a big game from the Allens, with Ray putting in 18, including a big mid range jumper over Redick to essentially seal it. Tony Allen had 16 points in filling in for the injured Paul Pierce. Pay attention to how he plays in the next two weeks, because this Pierce injury might come back to be a blessing in disguise for the Celtics. During these next two weeks, Tony Allen will get major minutes, and if he plays well it will do wonders for his confidence, and maybe allow him to play a similar role as James Posey did on the championship team. Allen can be a valuable asset, especially on the defensive end, providing another option to spell Pierce and Ray in guarding the likes of LeBron James or Vince Carter. Also, I would not be surprised if the Celtics were cautious of bringing Pierce back, as knee drains tend to be recurrent.

Another nod has to be given to Kendrick Perkins, who did another wonderful job on Dwight Howard, limiting him to only 5 points on 1 of 7 shooting. The combination of Perk, Rasheed Wallace, and occasionally Garnett were especially physical with Howard, and it paid off. Howard did have another 20 rebound game, but that is a trade the Celts will take any day. The Celtics were also an astounding +19 when Kendrick Perkins was out there. Now I don’t agree with Doc Rivers that he should quite yet be going to an All Star game but he did play his tail off tonight.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Celtics could care less as they win their 14th game in the last 15 tries. They have the best record in the East at 23-5, but they are facing a tough stretch of 6 of the next 7 on the road, although they are a very good road team, and the reactivation of Big Baby Davis will only further add to their depth.

3)Cavs vs. Lakers

It’s no secret that this was the game I was most anticipating, and from a Cavalier’s perspective it was a great win. The Lakers came into this game with the best record in the league, and jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, but after that it was ALL Cavaliers the rest of the way. Shaq came out with an energy that I hadn’t seen from him in a while, and though he didn’t have the lift I’d like to see on some of his jump hooks, he was active around the rim and had five dunks. Also, and more importantly, he played well on defense. He was quicker on the show of the pick and roll and in the rotations off helpside. I wrote just yesterday that I thought that Shaq had to go, and that this was a failed experiment, but no I am questioning myself. The Lakers are going to come out of the West, that is almost a foregone conclusion in everyone’s mind, and Shaq will be needed to beat them. Now I know that the Cavs have a long way to go to get out of the East even, but I think that if Shaq shows consistent effort, which I believe he will in the playoffs, than he can be a benefit. He is still a major force in the middle, and on more than one occasion, Kobe was deterred from the lane simply by Shaq standing there with his hands up. Also on the offensive end, he can be effective, especially in the beginning of quarters at drawing early fouls, which have a two pronged effect. Now I know Shaq is only shooting 48% from the free throw line this year, but I think there are positive results from him getting fouled. Not only does it get opposing bigs in foul trouble (got two quick ones against Howard in their lone matchup with the Magic this year), but it also sets up the Cavs to be in the penalty early in quarters which then benefits LeBron and Mo Williams who is attacking the basket more this year.

Talking about Mo, I consistently am impressed by him. He is a fearless competitor and is a knock down shooter, particularly from the corners and in big moments. In the ultimate compliment, LeBron has complete and total faith in Mo, and that has only increased his confidence. Because if the best player in the world thinks you can play, than you can, no questions asked. Mo played particularly well tonight scoring 28 points while also handing out 7 assists and pulling in 6 rebounds. Mo also showed another aspect of his game tonight when he posted up and scored on Derek Fisher on multiple occasions. Another thing I love about Mo is that he is never rattled. At the end of the game Fisher completely and unnecessarily body checked him, and Mo just shrugged it off and went about carving him up.

Looking purely at his stat line (35, 9, 8) it would seem like Kobe had a stellar game, but that isn’t the case. Sure he got his points, but it took him 32 shots to get, and that is not efficient basketball, and turning Kobe into a "volume" scorer like that is the most effective way to beat the Lakers. He faced a combination of defenders in Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon, each who had a couple of blocks on Bryant, and Moon’s length seemed to particularly bother Bryant. After stops on 19 different professional teams, Moon made the league as a “defensive stopper,” and for the Cavs to advance that is a role he has to reassume. Also he hit a couple of shots tonight, and that is what he will have to do as he will be the one left open when team’s double.

I have to give Mike Brown credit for his rotations tonight too. After another of his early mental miscues, JJ Hickson got pulled in favor of pairing Shaq and Z. Their length bothered Gasol and Bynum inside and limited Kobe’s driving abilities. It was this line up and then the addition of the game’s unsung hero Andy Varejao that helped the Cavs build their big lead. Realizing this, Brown used the super big lineup to start the second half after the Lakers cut the lead to single digits to close the half with Hickson on the floor.

It’s not often that I could ramble on about a great Cavs win without yet mentioning LeBron, but that is exactly what happened. He had a solid, but not great game by his other worldly standards, but it wasn’t necessary for him to be spectacular. The combination of defensive intensity and bench production was the difference in this game, with the Cavs winning both decisively, and leading the classy L.A. crowd to throw debris and boo their Lakers off the court.


4) Suns vs. Clippers

Ok, in the essence of full disclosure, I did not actually watch this game, but come on I really didn’t want to ruin a great day of basketball watching by spending two hours observing the Clippers. But here are the highlights…

Not surprising, the Suns beat the Clippers by 31 in their biggest win of the season. Seven Suns were in double figures, with Amare leading the way with 27. Even our BC boy Jared Dudley got into the action, hitting 4 threes and scoring 18 points. It was a tough shooting night for my favorite Clipper Eric Gordon, hitting just 4 of 15. If he’s not on, than the current Clippers roster doesn’t have enough playmakers to compensate. Nothing else really noteworthy from this game, and I don’t think I am even going to give the Clippers a second thought until Blake Griffin steps on the floor.

5) Blazers vs. Nuggets

The final game on the Christmas docket was one of two Western powers and showcased two of the game’s premier talents. This one opened up with a flurry, with both Melo and Brandon Roy coming out on fire in the first quarter. But while Melo had some help on the offensive end, other than LaMarcus Aldridge, no one on the Blazers seemed to want to help Roy score, and they trailed after the first. The deficit was due in large part to the uncharacteristically bad defensive rebounding by the Blazers. Normally the second best defensive rebounding team in the league, they game up 6 offensive boards in the first quarter alone which the Nuggets converted into 11 second chance points, including a tip in at the buzzer by Anthony.

After another rough start in the second quarter for some of the bench players, namely Jerryd Bayless, who found out the hard way why Chris Anderson is nicknamed the Bird Man, the Blazers pulled it together and used the energy of their crowd to win the quarter. Some quick thoughts on Bayless; I saw him play a few times in his one year at Arizona, and I think that he would have benefited from staying at least one more, but with the turmoil surrounding the Arizona head coaching position and the uncertainty of Lute Olsen’s health he decided to jump. Though he has talent, he has been kind of stuck in position no man’s land because he is not a true point guard, but for his future on the Blazers he doesn’t want to be playing the same position as Roy. This uncertainty has led to minute fluxuations for him his first two years, but due to some injuries he is finally starting to show what he can do. In starting for Brandon Roy in their last game against the Spurs, he scored a career high with 31 points in over 40 minutes. Now that Roy has returned his minutes will go down, but I think Nate MacMillan does believe in him, and stuck with him for long stretches at the point last night even though he was shooting the ball poorly.

One more quick observation from the second quarter is that say what you will about J.R. Smith, but he is exciting to watch. That being said, if I were a Nuggets fan he would drive me absolutely crazy. He reminds me a lot of a rec player, who even if they have missed their last 20 shots, the next one is still going to get put up no matter the situation. He’s a true “microwave” player, and can heat up in a hurry as evidenced by his 41 point outburst in just 30 minutes last game, including 10 3s. And it is just the fact that he can do that on any given night that makes him special to the Nuggets. Yes, that was a rare occurrence, but opposing teams have to know where is at all times, because it may only take one blown assignment and open look for Smith to get going and push a game out of reach. He’s an ultimate streak shooter, and is at times suspect on the defensive end, but I think he gives the Nuggets a valuable asset with instant offense coming off the bench.

The real star of the show though is a player that I think doesn’t get as much recognition as he deserves. Now I don’t know if it’s because he plays in Portland or because his game isn’t flashy, but as you saw last night if you watched this one, Brandon Roy is a superstar. I may be wrong, but I cannot think of another NBA star that has had this positive of an effect in the league after staying all four years in college since Tim Duncan. Roy doesn’t do anything spectacularly, but his fundamentals are off the charts, and he is very, very good at many aspects of the game, especially the mid range. He is the unquestioned leader on a very young and talented Blazers team, and last night he just willed his team to win. Scoring a game high 41 points, Roy handed the Nuggets their first loss after leading in the fourth quarter this year. He proved again last night why he deserves to be in the conversation of All-NBA performers, and I think he will be a perfect replacement on Team USA when Kobe bows out in a few years.

I know what to expect from the Nuggets, so this game I paid more attention to the Blazers. The Nuggets will be fine once they get Chauncey back fully healthy (he sat out the last two games, and the second half of this one with a groin injury), and Melo continues his scoring barrage- another 30 point outburst last night. (For more on Melo, check out the player profile post on him to the right). But the Blazers are a team that impressed me last night. They have been dealt some horrible luck the first part of the season, losing both of their centers to season ending injuries, forcing them to throw the corpse of Juwan Howard out there, and somehow getting him to record two double doubles in the last three games. At 20-12, they are a game behind Denver in the Northwestern Division and in fifth place in the conference. This record is even more impressive considering the injuries they have faced, even their coach blew out his Achilles, and that they have already played 17 games on the road with a decent 8-9 record. That means they have a bunch of games coming up in the Rose Garden which is a very tough place for any opponent to play. If you don’t believe me, just ask Kobe Bryant and his Lakers who haven’t won up there since February 2005. With Brandon Roy leading the way, and LaMarcus Aldridge continuing to develop the Blazers will make the playoffs again, but unfortunately without their bigs healthy they won’t be able to contend. That’s all I’ve got for you today, but come back tomorrow for the All-2000s teams to honor the end of the decade.