Random Musings From Tonight

I meant to get off work earlier, but when you have more issues than Britney Spears coming up every damn shift, you can only do so much. Man, life will be so much easier when I get a real job (snicker).

Even still, I got to see a decent amount of basketball tonight, mainly the Lakers/Nuggets game. Allow me to go beyond the 111-107 score for a couple of impressions.

• First off, how about Allen Iverson? I can't believe there are people out there who think he's washed up just because he doesn't look to score 30 + every night. C'mon, people! That's by design for the betterment of the team. Iverson might be one of the only people who can average 24 a game and critics will be like, "Oh, he's lost a step." 51 points on 17-28 shooting should shut up those haters for a minute. More amazing than the 51 points was a crazy stat that one of the announcers (okay, the one who wasn't Jon Barry) said. It's well-documented that Iverson is one of the best conditioned athletes on the planet, that's a no-brainer. What I didn't know was that he was clocked at 4:30 in the mile. 4:30!!! Makes me wonder if he chose the wrong sport.


• But, in the 4th quarter, we all saw who the best player on the floor was. After sitting out all but 30 seconds of the 3rd, Kobe Bryant came out and dominated in the final frame, making an array of MJesque shots. Actually, you know what? We as fans and members of the media have to stop comparing him to MJ. Kobe Bryant is Kobe Bryant. I know I'm going to catch flack for this comment but that's okay, that's why Blogger has comment boxes: if I were playing a pick-up basketball game on the playground and I had every single NBA player who's ever played the game in the talent pool... alright I guess I'd still take Jordan first. But, I'm telling you, I'd have to really think about it (I did, it took me about a minute and a half to write that sentence, but mostly because I had to check my grammar).


• J.R. Smith is one of the most enigmatic players in the league. He's got ridiculous athleticism, a pretty good jumper and a decent handle, but he's also constantly out of control and makes some God-awful decisions at both ends. I'm about to make a sad comparison. On talent alone, do you know who he reminds me of? Josh Howard. Actually, I'd make the argument that he has a better jumper, better handle and more athleticism than Howard, and as we all know Howard's an all-star in the West. But, aside from lockdown defense, Howard excels at the intangibles, and Smith straight-up Justin Cherot's them (flunks). I said it before the beginning of this season: I think if Smith is ever going to fully blossom, he needs a change in scenery.

I was a little frustrated that the Mavericks/Spurs game wasn't on ESPN tonight, but that was nothing compared to how I felt when I found out that the Mavs lost to a Spurs team without Tim Duncan. That loss puts them at a very human 12-7 this season. What the Hellmuth is going on?

Wait, wait... I promised myself before the start of the season that I wouldn't get hung up on regular season results, even though I assumed I'd have to pump myself down rather than the other way around. So, that being said, it's way too early to hit the panic button with this team. I could delve deep into stats, the rotation (hopefully Avery will go back to starting Jason Terry with more regularity) and defense, but what it really boils down to is that the Mavs are playing down to their competition. Let's see, they've lost to the following teams: Atlanta, Portland, Indiana (who incidentally is better without Jermaine O'neal than with him), Milwaukee, Washington's lucky asses, New Orleans, and San Antonio. With the exception of New Orleans and maybe Milwaukee, all of those teams are pretty mediocre (yes, without Duncan the Spurs fall into that category, too).

This isn't anything to celebrate. You really should win the games you're supposed to win, but sometimes you don't. That's why they play the games, I suppose. Anyway, my point is that Dallas will be fine. They'll finish anywhere from 1-3, and then they'll do their thing once the second season starts. This Maverick fan is not worried.

Now, if they're 12-12 by the next time I write, I'm going to purchase a domain name on GoDaddy called http://www.fireaveryandtradedirk.com/. If the link works in two weeks, you'll know something went terribly wrong.

Speaking of terribly wrong, how about them Terps, who lost on Sunday to VCU? I could go on a mad Maryland rant here, and I really want to (by the way, any feedback from the Hayes' comment, ladies?) but as I said a couple posts back, I'm not expecting Maryland to be world-beaters. Right now honestly VCU is a better team... or at least they have a better back-court. Either way, I don't consider this loss an upset of Appalachian proportion. After all, they did beat Duke in the tournament last year.

I guess what worries me more than the loss is James Gist's lack of improvement from junior to senior year. Okay, I guess that's not really fair; his statistical improvement. The only number he's improved significantly from last year is his turnovers, which are a Telfair-like 3.3 a game. Even if his guards aren't knocking down perimeter shots to take the pressure off of him downlow, I think he's still a good enough player to drop more than 13.4 points per game. Bold statement: out of Terrence Morris, Lonny Baxter, and Chris Wilcox, I think Gist probably has more talent than all of them combined. Somehow Maryland has to get him more involved.

For now, that's about all I have. I'm Justin Cherot, somebody sue me.