Sunday, December 09, 2007

Nuggets - Mavericks

Well I finally had a little time to watch a game. The Nuggets played well, while the Mavs were pretty bad, especially on defense.

I like how KMart played. Cutting to the basket, running the floor, playing defense.

But for the Nuggets to be successful, Melo must be a force on the inside and he and Iverson have to take better shots. Melo's first 1 for 8 or 1 for 9 start is a great example of that. He must use his inside game to open up the outside. Not the other way around.

Transistion D is still inconsistent. And defensive rebounding could be better.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Nuggets - Pacers

Just a quick note on the Nuggets - Pacers game on Saturday night. My Dish Network DVR has been flaky of late recording so when I went to check if it was working (it wasnt') it was right at the end of the first half. I looked at the score and thought, "74-56 there is no chance." But I recorded the rest of the game anyway.

I tuned in midway through the 4th quarter to see the Nuggets finish their comeback, take the lead, and then extend the lead. Wow! Now in that quarter they were playing some defense. They were blocking out. And the Nuggets were pretty much unstoppable. If they can just learn to play this way for 4 quarters, the sky is the limit.

I thought KMart looked especially good defensively and on the boards.

Way to go Nuggets.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Nuggets - Knicks

Will the Nuggets ever learn to block out? Box out? Play transistion defense? One begins to wonder. Defensive rebounding was terrible last night.

I know all their point guards are injured except AI. But, that is not the position you want to lead in defensive rebounds. I don't question their effort. I question their commitment to do the little things that separate good teams from great teams.

We are only 4 games in. Hoping for improvement.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Durant

I don't know why the media always wants to compare every talented rookie to Michael Jordan. Kevin Durant made his debut last night in Denver and he is no MJ. As Paul Westhead commented, he is a lot closer to a young Tracy McGrady. He has a very good outside shot and drives well to the hoop. But I didn't witness any MJ thunder dunks in traffic.

My guess is he will put up some very big numbers over the next few years. Definitely a good player to have on your fantasy team.

Nuggets 120 - Seattle 103

Nice win for the Nuggets. But, the game was close right up to the fourth quarter when the Nuggets pulled away. Iverson and Melo looked great. Looks like Klieza has been working on his outside shot as he nailed a bunch of 3's.

Same concerns for me from last year. Transition defense looks shaky. Perimiter defense also looks shaky and no one boxes out. Unless those things improve, the Nuggets won't be challenging the Spurs or the Mavs this year.

Fantasy Notes
  • KMart will be limited to 20 minutes a night for some time. Doctor's orders.
  • Nene's coming back from an injury. Look for his stats to be a bit low to start off. Probably a good 2nd or 3rd center pickup off of waivers.
  • When the 3 bigs are all healthy, each person's stats are gonna suffer. So I would not plan to have any of the three as your starter at PF or C.
  • Who is gonna end up at the 2 guard is a mystery, both Adkins and JR Smith are injured. Karl didn't exactly give Smith a huge vote of confidence on his radio show yesterday. If he starts to play defense, expect his minutes to go up and him to be a big contributor. If he doesn't, I would expect the opposite and that he would be traded by the trade deadline.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Hope Solo's Comments at Women's World Cup

I saw Hope Solo's comments after the USA's 4-0 loss to Brazil. If you haven't heard them she basically said and I paraphrase.
I'm the best goalkeeper on the team. If I started, I would have kept out a number of the goals. The coach shouldn't have started Briana Scurry because of what she did in the past. The team should be picked based on performance, not reputation.
Although these comments are impolite and draw attention to the defenses poor performance and specifically to Scurry, they are pretty much right on. If you have had one keeper play the entire tournament with basically the same defense, why change what is working?

I think the blight of political correctness has raised its ugly head in this situation. Although its probably not the best idea for team unity to criticize your coach and team mate I hardly think banishment is the appropriate punishment. Hope Solo spoke the truth and deserves some recognition for saying what needed to be said. Typical punish the messenger for the message bovine feces.

Welcome

I set up this blog a couple years ago and then moved it to another site. Well I'm moving it back to help simplify my life.

Also, originally it originally gonna be about politics, sports, whatever. But make things so broad never works. So this blog is only gonna focus on the NBA and soccer. Mainly English soccer as that is what I enjoy watching, but I'll also post on the MLS and US Soccer in general when stuff comes up.

Hope you enjoy it.