What the Los Angeles Lakers Can Do to Stop the Bleeding
A third of the way through the NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers sit as a 12-9 team, practically nothing more then a mediocre basketball team.
A less-than-mediocre sign is the fact that the 106 points that Kobe Bryant and Co. scored on Sunday in a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves was only the second time all season that Mike Brown’s team has scored 100 or more points in a game.
This is a team that averaged 102.5 points per game a season ago.
How do the Lakers stop the bleeding and get into contention in the Western Conference?
There are several scenarios to get the Lakers more consistent on offense, but most deal with acquiring a point guard and some much-needed shooting.
The prior can be done quickly. According to Yahoo! Sports‘ Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers have interest in Cleveland point guard Ramon Sessions.
They should jump on this opportunity.
Sessions is a very good point guard who would instantly make the Lakers better. They need a good point guard—it doesn’t have to be a superstar. Sessions fits that bill.
Finding anyone that could knock down a three-point shot would also be nice. The simple fact that the Lakers are next to last in the NBA in three-point shooting is killing them.
Internal options to make the Lakers option better include leaning on Paul Gasol and Andrew Bynum for a little bit.
Don’t worry, Bryant is still going to get his, but the Lakers need Gasol to be their legit No. 2 scoring option. In order for that to happen Gasol has to be aggressive on the offensive end. He’s done that lately, so the Lakers need to take advantage. You never know when Gasol will revert to being passive.
Overall, there are many things the Lakers can do to get out of their funk.
Unfortunately, most of the pressure is on the shoulders of general manager Mitch Kupchak. He has to make the necessary moves to tinker with this roster. In its current state, the Lakers really aren’t more then a mediocre team.
But with a couple of minor additions they could be a factor in the Western Conference.
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Dwight Howard Must Stop Whining and Step Up for the Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic went down with another embarrassing loss Sunday night, as they received a 106-85 beating at the hands of the breakout Indiana Pacers. Despite a 24-point, 13-rebound effort by Dwight Howard, the Magic could not muster up enough production to earn the victory.
This devastating loss marks the team’s fifth defeat in the last seven games. After starting the season with a fantastic 10-4 record, the Orlando Magic have dropped games against the Boston Celtics, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers.
Over this rough stretch, the Dwight Howard fiasco has heated up considerably. From calling out his teammates to expressing an interest in signing with the Boston Celtics, “Superman” has not restrained from making headlines.
Sunday night’s 21-point loss to the Indiana Pacers will probably not bode well for the Magic’s attempts to convince Howard to stay in O-Town. It would not come as a surprise if more trade rumors regarding Howard come to fruition.
After all, Howard has made a habit of whining to the media after losses. But, is all this complaining justified?
Sure, most of his Team USA buddies have formed big threes and twos in big-market cities, but that doesn’t mean that, as a superstar, you are automatically granted the opportunity to play with other All-Stars in cities like New York or Los Angeles.
The city of Orlando has been an extremely loyal fanbase during Howard’s seven-year tenure in the NBA, and it is growing at a rapid rate. From the miserable 2004-05 season to the 2009 NBA Finals, O-Town has had the Howard-led Magic’s back since day one.
Plus, the Magic currently have a talented roster. With breakout power forward Ryan Anderson, former All-Star Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu, there is no doubt that this team can make a run for a title come the end of the season.
However, Howard has been critical of the roster the Magic currently possess. Just last Friday, Howard ripped into his teammates for their lack of effort.
“Play basketball. That’s why we all get paid to do this, because we love the game and it’s basketball, so why not give it your all,” Howard said after a loss to New Orleans.
Whether you believe his comments were completely out of line or not, everyone can agree that his trade desire is negatively affecting his teammates. Magic GM Otis Smith believes no one has been hurt more than Jameer Nelson, who is having a slow start to the season. In Smith’s opinion, Howard “indirectly threw him under the bus.”
In the end, Howard should stop worrying about where he will play next year and start helping this Magic squad more.
Even though Howard is having arguably the best statistical season of his career, averaging a shade under 20 points to go along with 15 rebounds per game, there is no doubt that he has not been the leader Orlando needs. Ripping into your teammates and requesting a trade out of Orlando isn’t going to instill confidence in your team.
If Orlando wants to make one final push before Howard has the chance to leave in the upcoming free-agency period, they absolutely need “Superman” to focus on winning.
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Indiana Hoosiers Look to Stop Bleeding Against Nebraska
Thursday night, the Indiana Hoosiers (15-3, 3-3 Big Ten) travel to Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-8, 1-5 Big Ten).
Hoosier fans are teetering on the edge of the cliff. The result of this game could push them in either direction.
Indiana is facing some adversity for the first time this season, suffering from back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Ohio State. One was expected and one was not, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Hoosiers really didn’t come with any kind of competitive edge in either outing.
I’m going to be completely upfront and honest: I can’t give you much of a breakdown on Nebraska.
I’ve probably seen a combined 30 minutes of their basketball games this season. So much of this is going to be about what Indiana needs to take care of.
Bo Spencer is Nebraska’s leading scorer and most athletic player. The 6’2″ guard is a transfer from LSU and averages 14.8 points per game. He is excellent at getting to the basket, but struggles from the outside. Indiana has had problems stopping dribble penetration for much of the year. So with Nebraska’s four-guard rotation, it will need to be their main focus.
The Cornhuskers only start one player over 6’6″, who is forward Brandon Ubel. So defending the paint shouldn’t be an issue. My only request to Tom Crean: Stay out of the 2-3 zone.
Indiana’s version of the “zone” on Sunday against Ohio State was as bad as I’ve seen. The problem is the Hoosiers think just standing in a zone formation is an effective form of defense. They were lethargic and lacked the awareness to understand where they needed to be and how they needed to rotate.
Simply put, they don’t understand the concept of it, so they shouldn’t be running it.
Indiana has also struggled immensely on the glass in the last two games. Allowing second and third chance points never allowed them to mount any kind of comeback against Minnesota. It was a big reason for the Buckeyes’ huge start on Sunday.
Against a four-guard team like Nebraska, Indiana shouldn’t have issues rebounding the basketball, which could lead to a lot of extra possessions on offense.
Because of their similarities, the Hoosiers need to attack Nebraska in the same manner they went after Penn State: Establish the ball early inside and it will open things up for the rest of the team.
On top of getting the ball to Cody Zeller in the paint, Christian Watford also needs to see a lot of looks inside—as he will have a nice height advantage over whoever gets the assignment on him.
Will Sheehey is primed for a breakout game because Nebraska doesn’t have a good answer for him defensively. Sheehey should be able to attack them from the mid-range all night. I expect him to have quite a few second chance opportunities on offensive rebounds.
Nebraska is a team that Indiana has a distinct advantage over in just about every aspect of the game. And it’s a team that they should beat.
Win this game and Indiana fans will back off the ledge—at least for another few days. Lose it, and it’s panic time in Bloomington.
For more articles by Dan, go to Hoosier Cafe
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Hawks stop Bulls’ 6-game winning streak (AP)
Josh Smith was embarrassed at how easily the Atlanta Hawks let Derrick Rose dominate them earlier in the week. That wasn’t the case against the Chicago Bulls star on Saturday night. “We did a good team job on him defensively in crowding him, trapping him and showing him different looks,” Smith said after the Hawks held Rose to just eight point in a 109-94 win over the Bulls.
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Magic look to stop the Bulls, go 5-0 at home
Tune into Sun Sports at 7:30 p.m. to watch the Orlando Magic take on the Chicago Bulls. NBA Magic territory.
Derrick Rose put one of the finishing touches on his MVP campaign with a stellar performance against the Orlando Magic last April.
The Chicago Bulls are hoping he’ll be healthy enough to produce another such game when they return to the Amway Center on Friday night.
Rose has helped Chicago (6-1) to its best start since winning 12 of 13 to open the 1996-97 season. He had 17 points and 10 assists Wednesday in the team’s fifth straight victory, 99-83 in Detroit.
Rose, though, banged his left elbow on the floor after a drive to the basket late in the fourth quarter. He stayed in the game but had the elbow wrapped afterward, and told reporters an X-ray was negative.
“Just like any other time when you fall, you’re definitely going to be sore,” Rose said. “Thank God we don’t play tomorrow and I can rest.”
The Bulls are hoping that rest will enable Rose to help them add to their strong start with a fourth straight win over the Magic (5-2). In the previous matchup between the teams April 10 in Orlando, the point guard had 39 points while making 13 of 17 shots.
Magic star center Dwight Howard missed that game due to a suspension for his 18th technical foul of the season, but the Bulls still needed to hold Orlando to five points over the final 2:47 to secure a 102-99 victory.
Howard enters this game after recording a season-high 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting and pulling down 20 rebounds in a 103-85 rout of visiting Washington on Wednesday.
Ryan Anderson contributed 23 points and 15 boards as the Magic bounced back from an 89-78 loss in Detroit two nights earlier – its sixth game in nine days – and improved to 4-0 at home.
Anderson had a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds while filling in at center for his All-Star teammate during the April 10 defeat. Howard had 40 points in one of last season’s losses to Chicago, and the Magic have dropped the last three meetings when he’s scored at least 20.
The Magic are still looking for the backcourt duo of Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson to get on track.
Nelson is averaging 6.7 points – 5.7 below his career mark – and shooting 38.1 percent. Richardson, a career 17.9-point-per-game scorer, is averaging 8.7 points and shooting 36.4 percent, but said after Wednesday’s eight-point performance that his shot felt better.
“We play a lot of games, but that’s no excuse for not coming out with energy and ready to play,” Richardson said. “I see myself on film not bringing energy and I’m an energy player. So I gotta do a better job of doing it every game.”
Richardson has averaged 19.0 points in his last five games against Chicago, hitting 17 of 34 from beyond the arc.
The Bulls are hoping Luol Deng can bounce back from a rough night. Deng, who scored two points and missed 5 of 6 shots Wednesday, has averaged 19.0 points on 56.1 percent shooting in his last three matchups with Orlando.
Carlos Boozer, meanwhile, will try to build on a season-high, 19-point effort. The Bulls big man, though, averaged 11.3 points last season against Orlando, his second-lowest against an Eastern Conference team.
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Chris Paul Trade Fallout: Are NBA Owners Trying to Stop Future Superteams?
After the Chris Paul trade was broken up the NBA, initial reports today indicated Dwight Howard had illegal contact with the New Jersey Nets.
Although later reports have indicated that Howard was eligible to speak with the Nets, it seems to me that NBA owners are making a strong effort to stop future superteams, like the one in Miami, from developing.
The NBA is extremely different from the other major sports.
Great players will always have a huge impact, but there is no game where a player can have more of an impact than in basketball.
In basketball great players like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant can go out for 48 minutes and just totally dominate. They can get the ball on every possession, they can score half the team’s points and they can play shutdown defense.
In sports like baseball, football and hockey it is impossible for one player to have such an impact on a game.
In baseball if you do not want a player to hurt you, then you can just pitch around him.
In football players most players do not play both offense and defense.
Hockey is the closest comparison, because of the fluidity of the game, but still players go out on short shifts, and thus you need four solid lines of players to make up a strong team.
In basketball though, you can get two or three good players and be in the playoffs.
Many of the small-market teams believe they are being exploited by this and are not being given a chance to keep their top players.
The rejection of the Chris Paul trade to Los Angeles and the earlier allegations against Dwight Howard prove this point. The top players in the NBA want to form superteams to keep up with the superteams that have already been formed, and many owners do not like this.
In a sport where a game can so easily be taken over by one player, it is hard to build a competitive league of 30 teams. The good teams and the bad teams are miles apart in the NBA, and the gap needs to be narrowed.
Just look at Cleveland.
The team lost one player and was a total disaster the next season. Now look at the Cardinals in baseball. They lost Albert Pujols this year, but will still most likely remain competitive for years to come.
The small-market teams are tired of not having a chance to re-sign their franchise players, and frankly many fans are tired of it as well.
Sure, the playoffs are exciting because all the superstars are playing each other, but the regular season is getting boring.
I would not be surprised if we see some interesting changes in the NBA over the next few years so that the smaller-market teams can stay more competitive.
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Stop All the Talk, Kentucky Will Easily Defeat North Carolina
For weeks, everybody has been talking about the UNC-Kentucky matchup.
I can see why all the hype. The teams were ranked No. 1and No. 2 respectively in the preseason poll. Currently Kentucky is No. 1 and North Carolina is ranked No. 5.
Lots of bloggers/fans want you to actually believe this game will be close, and many have North Carolina winning. Let me tell you why they are all wrong. Kentucky is clearly the better team here, and to add to that, the game is in Lexington were Calipari is undeafeated with Kentucky.
Just for the sake of making my point, let’s take a look at the matchup.
North Carolina is led by player of the year candidate Harrison Barnes. No doubt, Barnes is an excellent player. His 17.7 points and 4.6 rebounds a game are pretty good.
My question: Is he that much better than Terrence Jones? The answer is NO! Jones averages 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds a game while also blocking 2.4 shots a game.
The next matchup to look at is John Henson and Anthony Davis.
Henson is a great player. I actually like him more than Barnes. Henson is averaging 14.7 points and 10.9 rebounds a game. John also blocks over three shots a game. With that said, Davis is a beast. His 13.0 points and 9.1 rebounds a game doesn’t even begin to explain his presence. Another thing, he’s blocking almost five shots a game.
Now, Carolina will throw Tyler Zeller at Davis also. Zeller scores 13.3 points a game and grabs 7.1 boards. Davis will mostly defend Zeller or Henson with a little help from Jones, but the secret weapon here will be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. This 6-7 Freshman plays like a big man grabbing 6.6 rebounds a game. Gilchrist can score also at a clip of 11.4 points per game.
Let’s get to guard play now. Kentucky will come out with a combination of Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague and Darius Miller. These players average about 34 points a game as a group. North Carolina will counter with Dexter Strickland, Kendall Marshall, P.J Hariston and Reggie Bullock.
These Carolina players account for 29 points a game. Marshall will try and set the pace for the Tar Heels; I just don’t see that happening. Look for Teague to show the country why Calipari brought him to Lexington and shut down Marshall all night.
Don’t get me wrong, North Carolina is a great team. I just think Kentucky is better. Playing at home is a big advantage for the Cats.
Game will be close in first half, but Cats will pull away in second half and win by eight or more.
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Duke vs. Ohio State: Blue Devils Won’t Be Able to Stop Jared Sullinger
It doesn’t get much bigger than this: Duke vs. Ohio State.
The Blue Devils, led by legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, are currently No. 4 in the nation, with all five of their starters averaging in double figures.
Beyond double-double machine Mason Plumlee, the Blue Devils have four players who can make you pay from long range: Seth Curry, Ryan Kelly, Andre Dawkins and freshman sensation Austin Rivers.
Rivers entered this season as ESPN’s No. 3 prospect. He’s shown the tools that could make him a star in college basketball and beyond, but he’s struggled with inconsistency and turnover problems thus far.
Duke has a very balanced team, with the ability to put up big points and defend well at the same time. They’re 7-0 and coming off two victories against then-No. 15 Michigan and then-No. 14 Kansas.
As for No. 2 Ohio State, the only ranked team the Buckeyes have played has been then-No. 8 Florida, who they defeated, 81-74.
The big challenge for Duke is stopping the Ohio State offense, led by superstar sophomore Jared Sullinger, who is averaging 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals while shooting 63 percent from the floor and 85 percent from the charity stripe.
That’s where I see the Blue Devils falling.
I just don’t see any way Duke can stop Sullinger. He’s coming off a 14-point, 13-rebound, five-assist, four-steal performance against Valparaiso and nobody has been able to stop him this season.
There’s a reason why Duke is ranked 250th in the nation in rebounds per game: they don’t have much size in the post. That’s a problem when matching up with an athletic freak of nature in the 6’9″, 280-pound Sullinger.
Ohio State also has someone to make the Blue Devils pay if they pay too much attention to Sullinger in the post. That someone is senior guard William Buford, who is averaging 17.7 points per game while hitting 50 percent of his 3-point attempts.
You add in the fact that this game is being played in Columbus and it’s going to be very hard for the Blue Devils to score the upset.
Of course, Krzyzewski’s teams have always had the ability to do amazing things.
Look for this to be a great game, with Sullinger and the Buckeyes ultimately coming away with the victory.
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Anderson Varejao Can’t Stop Dwyane Wade on Fastbreak in 2009 (Video)
Editor’s note: The 2011-12 NBA season was supposed to tip off Nov. 1. With no games to watch, NESN.com will help fill the void by posting a dunk video every day until the lockout ends. It seems like a long time since Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were on their own teams, but it was just two years ago that the two were competing against each other. In November of 2009, the Heat and Cavaliers clashed early in the season. After James was blocked by Jermaine O’Neal, Wade corralled the loose ball and pushed the ball up court. No one…
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NBA Solutions: Contraction Is Necessary to Stop Future Lockouts
The lockout: It seems to be the theme of the sports world this year. I have no doubt that like the NFL, the NBA owners and players will resolve their issues and bring a conclusion to this nonsense, it’s just going to take a little more work.
Once the hardwood re-opens, how do we stop this from happening again?
The answer: Contraction.
It is time for the NBA to trim some fat. The league was at its greatest in the 1980s, when it was comprised of only 23 teams. Each team had at least one All-Star caliber player on its roster, creating a better overall product for the casual fan.
Now, in its current state, the league is comprised of 30 teams, and some teams struggle to find that star or leader. If one of these teams is lucky enough to find that special somebody, who knows how long they will get to keep them before they become thirsty for greener pastures.
I’m not saying to get rid of the seven franchises that have joined the league since 1988—the Timberwolves, Heat, Hornets, Magic, Raptors, Grizzlies, and Bobcats—many of these teams have had success and managed to build a decent fan base.
But, the NBA does need to drop at least four teams—two from each conference.
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