Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are having a terrific season. With players like Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, they will go longer into the playoffs, because they believe they have a great basketball team on their hands. Stephen Curry and David Lee are the Warriors mainstays. With players like Andris Biedrins and Festus Ezeli and Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, they will go far. With a great motivator like Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, you can’t go wrong with Golden State failing to make the playoffs because of their smart basketball play and high team performance IQ.

NBA round-up

I’ve said it all along. If the New York Knicks agree that there is only one leader and team captain, they will succeed. They will not get far ahead if Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire are co-captains. If Carmelo Anthony is leading New York, then Stoudemire must be following Anthony. I’m not too surprised by what’s going on in the NBA. I like how the Memphis Grizzlies are grinding out victories. There’s nothing easy about victories and the Grizzlies are showing that with their tough-nosed defense and heart and desire. The Lakers are having a tough time and I know why. They need a coach who knows how to play Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard together at the same time. It could be Mike D’Antoni, but he’s not the right fit for them. The best coach is Phil Jackson, because he has coached the best basketball talent the NBA has to offer him.

NBA Round-up Part II

The L.A. Lakers brushed off hiring Phil Jackson, the 11 time NBA-champion former head coach and signed Mike D’Antoni instead. How cool is that? Not only will the L.A. Lakers not hire the Zen Master and coached all NBA teams to championship titles, but they will get an NBA head coach who will get along with Kobe Bryant in D’Antoni. Also, the New York Knicks are 5-0. 5-0! That says something about how well the Knicks are playing especially with new acquisitions in Jason Kidd, Ronnie Brewer, Marcus Camby, Pablo Prigioni, Kurt Thomas, Rasheed Wallace, and Raymond Felton. They are committed to playing lock-down team defense and are in your face about scoring baskets against New York.

Overall NBA Round-up

This is really interesting. The L.A. Lakers fired Mike Brown and are looking for a top head coach in the mean time. Shortly after firing Brown, the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors in a blow-out win 101-77. Kobe Bryant had a statement game with 27 points. The New York Knicks are 4-0 with a convincing win over Dallas 104-94. They are really hustling, these Knicks, and it starts with Carmelo Anthony. Anthony really is hustling now. His hustle, his stats, his energy, they’re all important for Anthony and for New York right now. Lebron James hit a clutch shot against Atlanta as the Heat won 95-89. Stay tuned for more NBA updates as time goes on.

Kobe Bryant: His Legacy

I was watching Kobe Bryant in the first three NBA games and boy, was he off-target on his jump shots. He should be making those shots automatically. As Bryant is advancing, he should be careful to defer to his teammates. He can still lead as before, however, he may not know it will be a Kobe-Bryantesque shot anymore. He has as good an opportunity to pursue his sixth NBA title. What will prevent him from reaching his sixth ring? Age. He still has his patent jump shot and he can still hoop with the best of them. However, at this stage of his career, he should be relying more on his jump shot than his layups. In a game against the Detroit Pistons, Bryant let Dwight Howard gather more points than him. In some games, Bryant should defer to Dwight Howard and D12 will have more points than him. Bryant doesn’t need to score more than 15 points to be an effective scorer. He should know that now. He should know he doesn’t need to attempt to make at least ten shots to amass 20 points.

November 2nd games

I was unimpressed by the Miami Heat’s ability to start basketball games, especially tonight’s game against the New York Knicks. They started out slow and flat. The Knicks were sharp and on the ball. If Lebron James and Dwyane Wade were starting a fast basketball game, they must know that their defense must lead to their offense and so, they must be able to showcase their basketball talents. They will play Miami Heat basketball and they will win basketball games this way. They will not win basketball games against the New York Knicks, if Wade and James start shooting 3-pointers. The Heat will win games if Wade and James see enough ball-time to score and their role players like Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, and Mario Chalmers make open shots. I am impressed by James Harden’s scoring outbursts playing for his new team, the Houston Rockets. Harden has had a couple of good NBA scoring games so far. He and Jeremy Lin are playing awesome. I am biased, but I am also very happy by how the Chicago Bulls are playing. Nate Robinson is thriving in his role with Chicago and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is giving him reins of playing point guard for him. I like how the Bulls have handled the Derrick Rose situation by having a three point guard rotation with Kirk Hinrich, Robinson, and Marquis Teague. Until then, the Bulls sit tight and hold the fort until Rose returns completely and rehabbed from his torn ACL injury. Carlos Boozer is a decent basketball player, although he has good hands, he is not the fastest or the most athletic player you want the ball to have in his hands. He can make a 15-foot jump shot and he can score and dunk with the best of them, but he will not run fast or do the most athletic thing you can think of. I don’t think you can do anything with a stretch-four in Vladimir Radomanovic, if I do misspell his name, I apologize, let me check, that’s Vladimir Radmanovic, because he is playing behind Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson. I really like and dig the L.A. Clipper’s additions in Grant Hill, Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, and Matt Barnes. They will contribute to a deep Clipper team that will help them beat talented NBA teams like the L.A. Lakers, the Miami Heat, and the Boston Celtics.