This is exactly why I kinda laughed when I heard on one of the ESPN bball podcasts this week lauding their bench. They acted as if Iggy and Lee were huge bench upgrades compared to the rest of the league. Gotta say i think these two are well past being "elite" bench guys.
We will see where Iggy and Lee are as the season goes on. They were still useful players as of last season and are not so old that a drastic decline is all but guaranteed. But I do wonder if there is something going on chemistry/ego-wise with the new coach coming in and changing things. Nobody likes losing minutes, that's for sure. Also, wasn't Iggy close to Mark Jackson? Remember this "Mark Jacson's mole" episode? http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...es-being-mark-jacksons-mole-in-playoff-series I can see him sulking after the team fires a coach he loves and then the new coach reduces his role. Kind of what happened with Kevin Martin after Adelman left.
Moving him to the bench seems to have been a huge negative on his game/psyche. I'm relishing it though. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who understood what the commentator said as a shot at the Rockets.
My takeaway from last night is this: - Tobias Harris is a pretty good player. I don't know what position he plays, but he's a pretty good player. - Jonas Valancuinas looks really lost out there. I have seen him in the past and didn't get that impression but he just looks like something is wrong out there - maybe he's unhappy or out of shape. It's hard to tell but he stunk out there for his team. He just seems a step slow and possibly like he has lost his confidence. I thought this was suppose to be his breakout year...
Hornets got screwed big time, regardless of how the first 47 minutes and 57 seconds went, it should've been OT. Here is why: from all the angles they showed, you could still not conclude whether he had let go of the ball or not. Yet you could clearly see a shadow of the ball on Neal's hand and it was out of the palm clearly, the fingers / tips was not clear. If you cannot conclude it was out of his hands or not, let the freaking players decide the game in OT!
http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/eye-o...the-white-version-of-the-dream-shake?v=1&vc=1 here's the actual link
Their defense is still good. Probably better than last season. They just can't rebound and turn the ball over this year. New system explains the turnovers but the rebounding will hurt them in the playoffs.
Not if the Rockets will play smartly. I mentioned several times in CF - the Mavs are having the best overall O in the league now, however, their defense is close to a joke. They will play more zone to avoid getting killed by layups because their players are very bad on 1v1 defense. Hence, they are very weak against 3 pt shooting. That's how the Kings jumped up to a big lead in the first Q yesterday but somehow they went back inside for ISO dump plays non stop after that. Once the Rockets will pass the ball effectively and make some 3s, it will open up everything and we should beat them 3 out of 4.
Avery Johnson tonight on espn getting my respect: Yes, he is the only analyst that really emphasized that the only loss the rox have had was when 3 starters were out against GSWs. He said the rox were in his top 4 teams. He liked that we have the JET. When the J. Rose said he is 65.....Avery Fired back - so are many of the Spurs...... The Lil' General!
