Adidas recently came out with some commercials with four of their preps-to-pros (Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, Josh Smith) going to “school” called March Is A Brotherhood. I’m not really sure how they decided on the schools but I guess the guys just got to pick (an Adidas-sponsored) school to align with for this year’s tournament. I am certain those aren’t the schools they would’ve gone to because I know KG would’ve gone to either Michigan or North Carolina and Dwight had his heart set on Chapel Hill as well. (I’m thinking they aligned Dwight with Kansas because of the UNC/Kansas ties). Unfortunately for them (and Tar Heel fans) they are Nike-sponsored schools so obviously it was impossible for them to be used. Nonetheless, it’s a cool idea and I’m glad to see Adidas has been stepping their game up with their ads.
Check out this monster swat by Shannon Brown. It was called a foul but still amazing. Can’t believe MJ traded him away to get Vladimir Radmanovic. And poor Mario West. He’s forever been Youtubed.
Take a look at the new Jordan Brand commerical entitled Lead the Charge. It features Melo, CP3, Joe Johnson, and Rip Hamilton. Pretty good commercial though it has sort of a football feel to it. I wonder if Rip would be as well known if he didn’t wear his mask.
The Atlanta Hawks were so close. So close to keeping their undefeated record intact. So close to sending a message to the rest of the league that last year’s playoff series against the Celtics was no fluke. And so close to proving to the whole world they are for real. But Paul Pierce crushed all those thoughts all in one sweet jump shot. After Marvin Williams gave the upstart Hawks a one point lead with a corner 3, Pierce shook Al Horford and hit a fallaway jumper that hit absolutely nothing but net. That’s what NBA Finals MVPs do. You know what though, yes the Celtics won and Pierce is looking like the early season MVP, but how about those Hawks? There’s no reason for them to hang their heads. They had the defending champs on the ropes all night long on their own home floor without their second-best player, Josh Smith. And not only that, his replacement Zaza Pachulia left the game with an injury as well. Despite losing, Atlanta did prove that they are for real. They have all the confidence in the world now that they can beat ANYONE in the NBA on any court. That’s the scariest thing you can give to a young and talented team. Even on the playground, you give a crappy player some confidence and he’ll start doing things he’s really not capable of. Well, the Hawks players are plenty capable so you can only imagine what they can do now. Watch out for this team the rest of the way.
Around the league:
Fight in Phoenix as Matt Barnes takes out Rafer Alston and the officials completely missed it, which caused a huge scrum. The refs should’ve T’d themselves up for making such a gross oversight.
Greg Oden came back. Nice to see him score the first points of his career.
Dwyane Wade had a nasty dunk over three Blazers.
Elton Brand showed up for the first time since the game against the Knicks and the Sixers won. Correlation maybe?
Speaking of the Knicks, theydropped 132 on the Grizz. I guess they had to make up for only scoring 80 against the Spurs.
Speaking of San Antonio, bad loss against Milwaukee after leading for most of the game. Tim Duncan can’t win by himself.
PERFORMER OF THE NIGHT
DWIGHT HOWARD
38 MINS 30 PTS 19 REBS 3 ASTS 0 STLS 10 BLKS 1 TO 12-21 FG 6-13 FT 0-0 3PT +16 +/-
Despite The Truth’s heroics, I gotta go with big Dwight and his triple-double. 10 blocks? You don’t see that very often. What a monster performance by Howard.
ROOKIE OF THE NIGHT
RUDY FERNANDEZ
29 MINS 25 PTS 3 REBS 2 ASTS 2 STLS 1 BLK 2 TOS 7-11 FG 8-8 FT 3-7 3PT +4 +/-
JaVale McGee had the best game of his career so far but the rookie from Spain takes it tonight. He almost scored a point a minute and hit some big shots all night long, none bigger than a tough jumper in the lane with 45 seconds left to seal the win for the Blazers.
SELL-OUT OF THE NIGHT
SAMUEL DALEMBERT
20 MINS 2 PTS 2 REBS 0 ASTS 0 STLS 0 BLKS 1 TO 1-2 FG 0-0 FT 0-0 3PT +13 +/- FOULED OUT
Although the Sixerswon, Dalembert truly put on a pathetic performance. Fouled out in 20 minutes of play, ending up with 2 points and 2 rebounds. Terrible.
Both the Lakers and the Hawks continued their undefeated starts on Tuesday night. Los Angeles had to come from behind against the Mavericks and the Hawks downed the Bulls despite another fine performance from the rookie, Derrick Rose. And how about those Hawks? I thought they’d drop off after taking the Celtics to 7 games last year but they’ve done the exact opposite. And now they’re winning on the road. After winning only 12 games on the road all of last season, they’ve already won four road games this year and look like one of the best teams in the league. I guess a full training camp with Mike Bibby has really benefited the young Hawks. Or maybe all the talent is finally coming together. But how will Josh Smith’s injury (sprained ankle, will miss a month) affect this team? Their next big test comes Wednesday against Boston and while I expect them to lose, let’s see what kind of a fight they put up without Smith.
PERFORMER OF THE NIGHT
AL HORFORD
41 MINS 27 PTS 17 REBS 3 ASTS 1 STL 6 BLKS 2 TOS 9-18 FG 9-13 FT 0-0 3PT +11 +/-
Despite LeBron’s 41, today’s award goes to the Hawks’ Al Horford. I guess he’s taking it on himself to pick up the slack with Josh Smith out. Six blocks? What a beast.
ROOKIE OF THE NIGHT
DERRICK ROSE
42 MINS 26 PTS 10 REBS 6 ASTS 0 STLS 0 BLKS 3 TOS 9-17 FG 8-9 FT 0-0 3PT -11 +/-
The #1 overall pick responded to OJ Mayo’s monster game last night and is making his early case for Rookie of the Year.
SELL-OUT OF THE NIGHT
SEBASTIAN TELFAIR
14 MINS 0 PTS 2 REBS 2 ASTS 0 STLS 0 BLKS 1 TO 0-5 FG 0-0 FT 0-0 3PT -1 +/-
Yeah I know, I keep changing the name. I can’t think of a good one though. If you have any suggestions, send them to hoopsplayground@hoopsplayground.com. Anyway, in his third start of the season, Telfair really made a case to keep the starting job by going 0-5 from the field and scoring a whopping 0 points.
The Hawks almost pulled off an upset for the ages against the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately for them, they could not win Game 7 (as a matter of fact, they didn’t even bother showing up, losing by 34 points). Nonetheless, making the playoffs was a giant step forward for this team that many think is one of the most talented not just in the East, but in all of the NBA.
Face of the Franchise: Joe Johnson. I was tempted to put Josh Smith here as he is establishing himself as a great player in the league, but when you look back at the series against Boston, it was obvious that Johnson was their go-to player. Possession after possession, Johnson would have the ball at the end of games and have the fate of his team in his hands. And he performed admirably.
Send Him Away: Mike Bibby. I kind of questioned why the Hawks would want Bibby (though they really didn’t give up much to get him) as he didn’t quite fit in with the image of the team. I felt they needed more of a pass-first point guard or a better defensive point guard rather than a scoring one. They did make the playoffs but he isn’t in their long-term plans (well, he shouldn’t be at least) and with him in the last year of his contract, it should be easy for the Hawks to trade him.
Impact Newcomer: Rick Sund. The Hawks were relatively quiet in the offseason with the biggest news obviously being the departure of Josh Childress to Greece. One move they did make was bringing in Sund to replace former GM Billy Knight. He will be responsible for upgrading the Hawks’ deplorable bench and it won’t be an easy task dealing with the ownership situation.
It’s time for the former Tar Heel to take his game to the next level.
X-Factor: Marvin Williams. The former #2 overall pick will forever be compared to Chris Paul, whom the Hawks decided not to choose (but should’ve) in favor of Marvin. He has been somewhat of a disappointment his first three years but when you look at his numbers, he hasn’t been that bad. 14.8 ppg and 5.7 rpg is not bad for a third year wingman. But more importantly, he’s improving each year and now with Childress playing in Greece, he will have a more vital role. He’ll play those fourth quarter minutes that he used to watch from the bench and he will have to step up his game if he wants to keep playing those minutes.
Forecast: Mid Lottery. I originally penciled the Hawks in the playoffs but that bench is just terrible. Their starters will have to play at least 40 minuets a game in order for them to have a chance but that’s unlikely to happen. Sund will pawn off Bibby at the trading deadline and the Hawks will have to wait another year at least to go back to the playoffs.
Posted by david im 
