LA Lakers @Utah Jazz, Game 3, April 23, 2009

Scouting report

Utah Jazz

The Jazz set the game tone right at the start of the game. They played tough defense, aggressively harassing the Lakers, protecting the paint by roughing the Lakers’ big men, and controlling the board on both end. The Jazz outrebounded the Lakers 55-40, which is one of the main reasons why they won the game.

On offense, they executed perfectly. I didn’t see them running their famous pick-n-rolls much, but rather they had some good ball and player movement, breaking down the Lakers’ substandard defense, generating open looks both on the perimeter AND in the paint.

More importantly, despite being undersized, they were able to grab tons of offensive rebounds. All of them hustled for second chance. Good attitude.

Overall, the Jazz managed to play the grind-it-out type of slow paced game, which is definitely to their advantage. They also executed perfectly in the clutch time and were able to hang on with the 2-pt lead.

Deron Williams did not have his A-game today. His shots were off, worse is his FTs, an uncharacteristic 7-for-12. Well, he did come around before it’s too late and hit a clutch shot to win the game. As usual, he had 9 dimes and did a good job running the offense.

Carlos Boozer is a beast on the boards, 22 rebounds, including 5 offensive ones. He also scored as required, 22 pts, which was mainly from mid-range Js.

Ronnie Brewer scored some (12 pts), but what he contributed the most is playing in-your-face defense on Kobe, who obviously had an off night. He is clearly the unsung hero in this game.

Andrei Kirilenko was promoted to starter. However, he’s not the guy to finish the game. He made some early damage, but was largely invisible in Q4.

Jarron Collins… hmm… 7 mins, 1 reb, 1 stl, 1 pt.

It is their bench that won the game. Trailed by 60-68 after three quarters, the Jazz bench began a rally early in Q4. Again, the Lakers’ defense slipped a bit, which allowed Kyle Korver, Matt Harpring and C.J. Miles to hit consecutive outside shots as the Jazz eventually took back the lead at 73-72 with 9 mins to go. Harpring scored 8 pts during the run.

Paul Millsap did not start but he played a pivotal role in the last quarter. He flat out controlled the glass while protecting the paint. He even blocked Kobe’s J once! Millsap is the reason why the Jazz did not miss Okur in Game 3.

Korver was horrible in three quarters, passing out open shots, or missing shots badly. He’s defense is worse as ever. Well, Korver redeemed himself late in the game by hitting a few timely jumpers when the game was on the line.


L.A. Lakers

Facing Jazz’s suffocating defense, the Lakers shot badly (36.8% FG). They always settled for outside shots. Gone are the precise ball movement, as the Lakers relied heavily on iso, but they were not able to take any advantage when they called iso plays for guys like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. The Lakers clearly was not comfortable playing with such a slow-paced game.

Right at the start of the game, the Lakers showed better defense. They were aggressive, and were quick on double-teaming guys like Boozer. However, they soon returned their old self. Poor baseline rotation resulted in a wide-open lane, as the Jazz repeatedly found open men in the paint for some easy layups. Andrew Bynum was ultra slow in defense, while Gasol always stayed too high and forgot to box out. Can’t imagine how the Lakers would survive when Mehmet Okur comes back, whose outside scoring ability will pull the Lakers’ big man further away from the paint.

I repeat, defense wins championship. I have the feeling that whenever they were down, instead of stopping the Jazz, the Lakers always tried to outscore the opponents. Maybe they could beat teams like Utah with such strategy, they are not going to win it all the way playing like that.

The only time when Lakers showed satisfactory performance is at the start of the 2H. They focused on closing down the lane, denying passing lines and challenging shots. In the first 3 mins of Q3, the Jazz missed 3 FG and committed 2 TO. With better ball movement, Kobe, Gasol and Trevor Ariza were able to have more open looks and started to hit the shots as the Lakers took a 10-1 run to take back the lead 49-44. They were able to maintain the lead as Ariza and Gasol continued to make shots. Too bad they let the Jazz come back in Q4 and eventually lost the game by 2.

Kobe settled for outside shots, as always. He particularly liked to fire (and miss) those tough, fade away jump shots. When he became aggressive attacking the basket, it was effective. He either made the layups, drew the fouls, or somehow his teammates scored. The Lakers is much easier to score when Kobe is attacking the basket. I don’t know why he did not do it more often.

Gasol scored 20 pts but hit just 4 of 10 FTs. They were lost by 2 pts, so go figure. Also, Gasol was not able to play acceptable defense. He remained as a sfot player after the tough Jazz big men.

Ariza was guarded by AK47 and was not as effective as in Game 2. He did hit 2 3-pters in Q3 when the Lakers began to build up their lead.

Derek Fisher had a silent game. His shots is off, he did not do a good job in distributing the ball, and he was outplayed by D-Will.

Bynum is clearly not 100%. He was very immobile and super slow in lateral movement. Though he made a few low post moves and scores, his defense was so bad that he either left his man wide open, or committed stupid fouls. He took his seat at the bench after committing his 5th foul with 1.30 min left in Q3! His total PT? 7 mins!

To me, Lamar Odom was the best player in the team. Not only he scored 21 pts, but he is the only Laker that cared about defense. He had 14 reb, including 5 offensive rebounds, which helped the Lakers to stay in the game.


This is how the Jazz won the game:

- After Boozer made 2 FTs to help the Jazz to take a 82-80 lead, Kobe penetrated and made a perfect dish to Odom for an easy layup. 82-82 1.07 min
- Next possession, D-Will and Boozer executed a perfect pick n roll with Boozer finishing with a tough layup. 84-82 Jazz. 47 sec
- The Jazz doubled-teamed Kobe at the corner, forcing him to call a 20 sec timeout. 30 sec. After the TO, Kobe drove at the baseline, getting past 3 defenders and hit a layup. Game tied at 84-84. 28.9 sec
- Boozer post up Gasol, then made a power move, driving past Gasol for a thunderous dunk. 86-84 Jazz. 16.9 sec
- This time, Kobe and Gasol made a perfect pick-n-roll as Gasol had a wide open running dunk. Tied at 86-86. 11.7 sec.
- Winning play: Deron Williams dribbled at the top of the key, shaking off Fisher, with a not-so-pretty crossover, the made a fade away jumper over a stretched Gasol. 88-86 Jazz. 2.2 sec.
- Kobe missed a 30-ft 3-pter badly. Game Utah

As you see above, the Jazz executed flawlessly in the closing minutes, scoring in 4 consecutive plays. On the other side, Kobe stepped up to make clutch plays, either scoring or setting up teammates. But they were not able to stop D-Will and Boozer when it matters. It is an impressive win by the Jazz. Give props to coach Jerry Sloan, who was able to play the game they want, and made perfect execution at clutch time.

Let’s see if the Jazz could be able to ride on this win and get another game in Salt Lake City on Saturday.

New Orleans Hornets @ Cleveland Cavaliers, Fri, Jan 16

A short scouting report on the Hornets:

• Peja was sharp, but was ultra slow on defense.
• CP3 hogged the ball for too long, he’s still a super quick PG who has superb court vision. However, his shots were off, as he was allowed very few open looks under the D of the Cavs.
• David West’s scoring was clearly affected by the Cav's tough D.
• What happened to Tysan Chandler? He was not doing his job grabbing rebounds, while he is ok in defense, he’s extremely passive in offense. At one early possession, he was fronted by Mo Williams(!) several times, unable to settle in a position in the paint and eventually committed an offensive foul by pushing Mo Williams. I mean, losing ground in a post up position to a guy 1 ft shorter than you? WTF?
• Rasual Butler was able to hit some outside shots and played some defense. He is strictly a role player.
• James Posey was MIA (missed in action) the entire game, both offensively and defensively.
• Other bench players? Please.
• One thing is I don’t see CP3 playing much pick-n-roll with the Hornets big men, including Chandler, Varejao or West. I thought pick-n-roll is the lethal weapon of the Hornets. Indeed, late in Q3, when CP3 and West started running high screen roll, it resulted in an easy layup by CP3 and a contested layup by West who drew a foul and completed the And-1. Don’t know why Byron Scott did not run enough of that.
• Otherwise, if they are patient and makes full rotation of the ball with at least 3-4 passes, they could get open looks on the perimeter. Again, don’t know why they didn’t do that often.
• Transition defense is questionable. Worse, they were defenseless on the perimeter, allowing the Cavs to hit 3s at will. Pavlovic hitting 4-for-4 and Szczerbiak 4-for-5 from beyond the arc? C'mon!
• As usual, they were helpless defending LeBron James. Who isn’t anyway?
• The Hornets were so frustrated that eventually Paul and Posey were ejected late in the game.
• The Hornets were simply outplayed by the Cavs and that they didn't show any energy in the game. Give credits to the Cavs' superior defense and their sky-high confidence. This is even more impressive considering that the Cavs were without Delonte West and Big Z Ilgauskas. Based on this game, the Hornets do not look like a title contender and they are not as powerful as last year. I'm not sure it's the superiority of the Cavs or just that the Hornets were not yet there. They will not even go to the Conference Finals by playing like this.

Boston Celtics @ Cleveland Cavaliers, Fri, Jan 9 2009

a scouting report on both teams:

Cleveland Cavaliers

• LeBron played like a MVP. He’s completely smooth. He didn’t force any moves or shots, but just following the flow. Seems like he’s come to a stage that he would let the game come to him. He’s unstoppable when penetrating, splitting double team easily. He hitall the shots. layups, floaters, 3s and fadaways, even when there’s a hand on his face. He played hard, even diving for loose balls; and most important of all, he played excellent defense, esp. against Paul Pierce, both pick-n-roll and iso situations. Oh, and he hustled for blocks too! In the past, people (including yours truly) always complained about his defense, but apparently he has put considerable works on that, studied enough films and apparently he played like a terrific defender. Or maybe it’s just this game, as he said beforehand that he had circled this date right when the schedule come out. Simply put, he wanted to win this game badly and he for sure gave his best.


• Mo Williams is an amazing scoring threat. He hit some tough shots.


• Varejao was surprisingly aggressive in offense, but his moves and shots were just too ugly to watch. As usual, he hustled a lot, grabbed rebounds and made some good defense by flopping.


• Delonte West did a passable job as a role player. He facilitated the offense, hit open shots and palyed defense.


• Once again, Big Ben is completely washed out.


• The bench (Boobie Gibson, J.J. Hickson, Wally Szczerbiak) was their weakest link. The Cs were able to outscore the Cavs whenever their starters (in particular LBJ) sat. They missed “Big Z” Ilgauskas badly, since they had to rely on J.J. Hickson as backup big man.


• The Cavs played with energy and were 100% focused. They played with confidence and were determined. While the Cavs didn’t need to worry about offense when LBJ was basically scoring at will anywhere on the court, it is their stellar defense that won the game. As said, LBJ played first class defense on PP, in addition, the Cavs was very aggressive guarding the perimeter, challenging shots and shut out passing lanes. They had terrific defense rotation and stole many balls while the Cs were definitely over-passing. As always, defense won games.

Boston Celtics

• PP was fully covered by LBJ, ended up forcing shots and drives. He was also careless with the ball, letting the ball being stolen several times (esp. by LBJ). He was also helpless defending LBJ. Don’t blame him, LBJ was simply superman tonight.


• KG played hard and did a good job in rebounding. However, except for a few nice lob passes from Rondo resulting in dunks and easy layups early on, for most of the game, KG always settled for outside jumpers. Give credits to the Cavs’ tight defense which made him hard to stay in the paint.


• As usual, Ray Allen hit his outside shots. Arguably, he’s the best among the Big Three.


• Rondo was terrific in running offense and finding open teammates. His court vision is superb. He played ok defense too and rebounded well as a guard. However, he simply couldn’t shoot, be it a layup, an open J or even FT.


• Kendrick Perkins benefitted from the nice passing job of Rondo and scored some easy layups in the paint. However, he is slow in defense rotation, letting the Cavs’ big penetrating at will, and even grabbing offensive rebounds.


• The Celtics’ bench was actually ok and arguably won the battle against the second team of the Cavs. I like Leon Powe. But they would love to have James Posey to guard LBJ!


• Overall, the Celtics were severely bothered by the defense of the Cavs. Their reaction to such top notch defense is over-passing. And when they lost their confidence, they started to look tentative. On defense, they have no clue to slow down LBJ and were slow in defense rotation. They didn’t play with their usual intensity in defense. They clearly were outplayed, out-hustled and outscored by the Cavs. They were so desperate that they resolved to do the Hack-a-Ben (Wallce) strategy late in Q4! What a shame!

Conclusion

• From the bottom of my heart, I don’t believe the Celtics are as lousy as this game shows, nor the Cavs are so superb as this game shows. Afterall, it’s just one out of 82 regular season games. However, the domination by the Cavs in this game will for sure have some not-so-small psychological factor when the two teams inevitably meet in the playoffs.

Boston Celtics @ LA Lakers, Thu, Dec 25, 2008

A brief scouting report:

Boston Celtics:

• Boston mainly relied on high screen pick-n-roll of Rondo and Perkins, and they were successful in generating open lanes for Rondo or back door passes to Perkins.


• Ray Allen still has the smoothest and quickest 3-pt shot in the league.


• Rondo got into early foul trouble. Eddie House or Tony Allen is not exactly the type of PG that pushes the ball and attack the basket. No wonder the Cs struggled early in Q2. That’s why even Rondo hit the 3rd foul with 6 mins left in Q2, Doc Rivers did not lift him off the court. Although not exactly The Fantastic Four, Rondo has been a very important player in the team.


• Rondo kept on finding open teammates to score in the low post, KG in particular. He was 6-for-6 and scored 12 pts in 1H.


• During a possession in 2H, there was a good hustle by Rondo, grabbing his own miss between two 7-footers, Gasol and Bynum, which turned out to be a 3 by PP to tie the game at 62.


• PP was quiet in 1H but took up the lead to score in 2H. Again, when PP's shots were off, he would lower his head and drive the lane, 80% of which would end up him going to the FT line.


• The bench is weak. Eddie House, Tony Allen, Glen Davis and Leon Powe was ineffective. I think they miss James Posey.


• Somehow, the Celtics failed to execute their famous suffocating defense. The Lakers kept on getting open looks in the perimeter. They even allowed a back-to-back 3-pter by Odom in Q4. OK, the Lakers made some perfect screen to get him open, but where’s the D?


• The worst is at the last 2 mins. The Cs focused too much on stopping Kobe, and played Gasol soft, who managed to score numerous clutch shots when the game was on the wire.

LA Lakers:

• The Lakers had a change of lineup for the Lakers, starting Luke Walton at SF, instead of Vladimir Radmanovic.


• The Lakers had some good basketball movement early on, as they managed to get open look after several passes.


• But there were some terrific defense loopholes. First, Bynum was confused in baseline rotation. The Lakers also had serious flaws in defending pick-n-roll, as the Speedy Rondo kept on getting to the rim and scored on layups.


• Poor in transition defense too.


• Lakers offense relied mainly on Kobe Bryant’s brilliance. Kobe was phenomenal tonight. This was helped by the fact that he was guarded by Ray Allen, who obviously couldn’t catch up with Kobe. Why didn’t the Cs double-team Kobe?


• Trevor Ariza is one of my favorite players. In one sequence in Q2, he hustled for a loose ball, threw the ball to the fast breaking Vujacic just when he was falling out of bound. Vjuacic his the shot. And 1! Another hustle play by Ariza in Q3, he stole the ball from the fast break Celtics, and managed to pass the ball to a teammate before falling out of bound. Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet Trevor "Mr. Hustle" Ariza!


• Fisher has been hitting some nice 3-pt this season. This game included.


• Lakers defense is getting better in 2H, aggressively double teaming PP and other Celtics. And instead of taking their advantage in the paint, the Celtics suddenly settled for outside shoot, which is not exactly their forte.


• Unlike in the past, Bynum remained on the court with 5 mins left. (usually it’s Odom finishing the games instead of him). You know my theory? I think Phil Jackson is trying to keep Bynum as a secret weapon. He wouldn’t use it on a daily basis, but to surprise people in critical games like this one, or in the playoffs.


• Bench difference is huge. Vujacic, Odom and Ariza easily outplay the Cs’ bench.

Here’s how the Lakers won the game:

• Gasol first hit a 20-ft J on the right wing. Next, Kobe dribbled for like 20 sec and then make a perfect lob pass to the rolling Gasol in the paint who made the running J. 85-81 Lakers. 2min left.


• After KG hit an open J. it’s Gasol again! Kobe dished to another rolling Gasol, this time he hit the leaning layups, got fouled, and hit the FTs. 88-83. 1.28 min. all 3 baskets were assisted by Kobe.


• Oh, Gasol again! This time, he blocked a 3-pt attempt by Ray Allen, which led to a breakaway dunk by Ariza. 90-83. 1 mins. Game over.

Verdict:

• Overall, the Lakers relied on outside shootings, while the Celtics managed to score in the paint with more success. But the Celtics failed to stop the Lakers, especially Gasol, who was aggressively attacking the basket. It is obvious that the Lakers are way more versatile in offense that the Celtics can no way match, that’s why the Celtics need to play top notch defense to beat the Lakers. They failed to do so terribly.


• As for the Lakers, seems like they managed to switch to their "A" game and come to the game focused with a killer instinct. They were able to play tough defense down the stretch and then execute on the other end to finish the Celtics. The stepping up of Gasol is somehwat surprising, but I think it's a very good development for the Lakers since they no longer rely on Kobe only at clutch time. At least for this game, they were the better team.

New Jersey Nets @ Chicago Bulls, Sat, Dec 13, 2008

Scouting report: New Jersey Nets

Starters

• Devin Harris (22 pts, 7 ast) is the real deal. He has tremendously quick first step, and the ability to split double team. He’s unstoppable when driving to the rim, finishing with both hands, drawing fouls or making some nice drive-and-dishes. He’s also excellent in initiating fast breaks. Rose had absolutely no clue in stopping him. The only weakness of his game is his streaky jumpers. Once he can get more consistent with his outside shots, he will easily become one of the best PGs in the league.
  


• Vince Carter (39 pts, 14-14 FT, 6 reb) scored in various ways, posting up, driving layups, 3-pters, drawing fouls, you name it. The best thing is, he was not hogging the ball. In the past, after receiving the ball, he would hold on with the ball, stare at the opponent, fake once, twice and thrice, hold on again, before launching a fade away long J (and miss). Nowadays Vince Carter is more quick on decision. He will either pass or make a move before the opponent is set up. More surprise is that that he has become a more willing passer, making a few nice drive-n-dish.
  


• Bob Simmons (12 pts, 5-11 FG) is a very serviceable SF, hitting several mid range J.
  


• Yi (2 pts, 9 reb) looks ok, though his shots are off (1-8 FG, 0-4 3PT). At least he’s not as lost as last season. Maybe he’s having some good Chinese food in New Jersey? By no mean he’s a star, but he is an acceptable role player who can score on post up and 3s and rebound. He’s not an athletic swingman, or a bulky banger, but at least he doesn’t make his team worse.
  


• Brook Lopez (17 pts, 7 reb, 3 blk) is no white stiff. He’s tough and solid. He runs the floor well and set some solid picks. His post up move is a bit stiff and robot-like, but he did manage to score a few post up baskets. OK, he scored over Aaron Gray and Drew Gooden. Not exactly elite defenders. Lopez’s defense, however, is as bad as any rookie.
  


• Their starters played some ok defense protecting the paint, they were able to prevent Derrick Rose from driving the lane and they challenged all the shots in the paint. But their perimeter defense is another story. The defense rotation is just slow on the perimeter. Players like Vince and Harris are just half hearted when playing defense, respeatedly allowing the Bulls to have wide open shots. The Bulls scored mainly on Js beyond 18 ft. The Nets were also lousy in transition defense, as the Bulls often scored fast break points off a long miss by the Nets.
  

Bench

• The Nets’ second unit is flat out lousy. Very limited offense skills other than Keyon Dooling hitting some open Js. On one possession in 2Q, they failed to put the ball into the basket after 3 consecutive put back attempts. Their defense was absolutely atrocious, allowing the Bulls to score off the picks, back doors and was just helpless in defending fast breaks. The Bulls were able to turn an 8-pt deficit into a 2-point lead.
  

Clutch time performance

• This is where the Nets failed to show up. The Nets experienced some critical defense breakdown in Q4. Unfortunately, despite his early committment to teamwork, Vince Carter returned to his old selfish form with the game was on the line, as the Nets down by 96-99. Vince forced the drive to the rim, drew fouls, hit the FTs. Then when the Bulls scored an easy shot on the other end, the almighty self-absorbed Vince launched a deep, deep 3-pter, I’d say at least 25-ft, which was way off, and led to yet another Bulls’ fastbreak and a tough shot by Derrick Rose. That’s vintage Carter. What was he thinking? I think deep down, he’s watched too many Lakers’ videos. He thinks he’s as good as Kobe to launch such kind of desperate shots.
  


• Anyway, down by 98-103, after a timeout, Lawrence Frank drew a play for Harris to curl around Vince Carter’s pick and drove to the rim. Derrick Rose obviously was blocking Harris, but somehow the ref didn’t call a foul (home court advantage). Harris argued with the ref and was assessed with a T, and the Bulls make the T FT. 104-98 Bulls. Next possession, apparently still bothered by the non-call, Harris simply lost his concentration, mistakenly passed the ball to Tyrus Thomas under no pressure, and TT was fouled, made 2 FTs and the lead swelled to 106-98 with 37 sec left. Game over.

Verdict

• This team is young and talented. They have a franchise player, Devin Harris, to build upon. Overall, the Nets had extremely good ball movement, and they played unselfish basketball. Give credits to coach Lawrence Frank. They also got decent size in the frontcourt, therefore they have some good rebounding, esp. several valuable offensive rebounds.
  Also due to their youth and inexperience, they did an awful job at the clutch time. This is part of the learning and I believe Lawrence Frank should be able to improve that as the season goes on.
  


• While they may sneak into the playoffs this season thanks to the mighty performance of Devin Harris, they are by no means competitive enough to go past 1st round. They would need at least one more scorer, preferably a shooter, and 2-3 more quality backups before we can talk about them as a quality team. But so far, they have far exceeded the expectation this season.

San Antonio Spurs @ Houston Rockets, Sat, Nov 29 2008.

Scouting report - San Antonio Spurs

Offense:

• Tony Parker started the first time after coming back from ankle injury. His stat, 15 pts and 7 ast, is not bad but he seemed like half step slow. Instead of relentlessly driving the lane, he relied too much on outside jumpers. And when he did penetrate, he generated more missed shots and turnovers than points. His handle is not stable too. The Spurs need him to be 100% to compete.
• Duncan was aggressive posting up the Rockets early on but he was not effective as the Rockets played superb defense against him. He went 1-for-9 FG in 1H. The Spurs began to have better ball movement in 2H and TD was getting easy shots from passes, instead of working iso against the Rockets’ big men. But overall his production was severely hindered by the Rocket defense. He even committed a stupid hand-checking foul on Yao in Q3 after the ball being stripped by Yao. Popovich immediately sat him. That’s a cool act by Pop. TD finished 17 pts and 9 reb, clearly not his best.
• Manu Ginobili is the real energy guy. Early on, whenever he checked in, he would give a big boost to the team. He could always find some ways to score for the team, either by a penetration layup, a long range J, drawing fouls or a nice dime to teammate for an open shot. But the Rockets clamped him down in 2H, and their D was so good that Ginobili was ineffective in their pivotal Q4 run.
• Roger Mason is their most reliable shooter, hitting a few mid-range J.
• Matt Bonner is no white stiff. He is quite a smart player. He kept the game close in Q2 and Q3 by hitting a number of 3s.
• All of Michael Finley, George Hill, Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen, Ime Udoka and Anthony Tolliver were off and shot horribly. They combined to shoot 6-for-27 FG.
• Basically, no matter how Popovich changed their game plan, the Spurs could never get away with the Rockets’ suffocating defense.

Defense:

• Very bad perimeter defense by the Spurs. Just a couple of ball rotation or a simple screen and the Rockets got all the wide open looks they like. Alternatively, after a few crossovers or passes, the Rockets would get a clear path to the paint for easy scores. The Spurs’ perimeter defense was slowed in rotation, overreacted to penetration by collapsing to the paint, thereby leaving the perimeter wide open. Even Rafer Alston looked like a sharp shooter against them.
• At the front court, Oberto failed miserably to guard Luis Scola. Even Duncan was slow to rotate defensively, leaving Artest and Yao to fire and hit the mid range J.
• The Spurs later changed to more pressurized defense and really roughed up the Rockets in the paint. That’s at least more effective than the slow-footed, half-hearted defense rotation. And it has really disrupted the rhythm of the Rockets. They managed to cut the 19-point deficit to 7-points at the half.
• In the 2H, after the Spurs narrowed the deficit to just 5 pts, their defense relaxed a bit. The Rockets immediately took the opportunity to score. The Rockets were at least a step ahead of the Spurs, and the Spurs failed to stop them at all. Aaron Brooks and Battier took turn to score on easy baskets.
• Several defense breakdown, and a couple of TOs by the Spurs, and just like that, the game was blown open to 17-pt early in Q4. The game was over with over 6 mins left in the game when the Rockets was leading by 19 pts.

Conclusion:

• Overall, the Rockets took advantage of the pathethically poor perimeter defense of the Spurs by repeatedly scoring outside or penetrating inside. This is probably the worst defense I have ever seen the Spurs play in years. On the other hand the Rockets played terrific defense in the paint, in particular in both slowing down Duncan and creating TOs.
• TP is obviously not ready, and he relied too much on his J.
• Manu was ineffective tonight under the tough D of Artest and Battier. He was not able to take the ball to the rim.
• Bruce Bowen no longer can guard elite wing players like he used to be, and he’s absence in offense.
• George Hill is awful, at least for this game. He failed to make the open Js, forced shots and repeated got beaten by the opponent guards like Aaron Brooks and Luther Head.
• Finley was completely abused on the defensive end, as the Rockets guards took turn to blow past him and score. And he didn’t make enough baskets to justify his presence on court.
• Matt Bonner is a reliable big man who can hit 3s. He’s quite slow, but at least he set good screen and box out, and he can his 3s.
• Last but not least, Pop really looks like a fugitive, uncombed hair and long beard.
• To say the Spurs play worse defense than they should is an understatement. The Spurs used to own one of the best defense in the league. But right now, they were not even playing acceptable defense, their D is completely atrocious. Their offense was bad, fine. They have never been built on offense anyway, and we have seen some fearless scoring by the newcomers like George Hill and Roger Mason which should help to compensate the decreasing production from Finley and Bowen in the long run. But defense is their bread and butter. Unless and until they could play their top notch defense, there’s no way that the Spurs could get past the first round of the playoffs this year.

Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls, 15 Nov 2008

Pacers 91 Chicago 104

Scouting report:

The Bulls:

- Derrick Rose is the man. Can’t believe he’s just a rookie. His decision making is terrific. He has a super quick first step, was aggressive driving to the basket (and finished either hand), while also effective dishing out the ball to teammates. Never over-dribble or over-handle. The most impressive possession is this: while he’s on the right wing, guarded by T.J. Ford. He made a perfect left-to-right crossover to shake off Ford, driving towards the lane, and then dished a perfect alley-oop lob to Joakim Noah for slam dunk. And-1. That’s sportscenter highlight worthy. On another stretch at Q3, he hit back-to-back 3-pters to pull away. This has really ignited the stadium. Everybody in the United Center went crazy, and I was also yelling and waving my hands in my couch . To finish things with a high note, he made a two-handed fashbreak slam dunk in Q4. His major weakness is his defense, and the somewhat streaky Js. It is not like he can shoot back-to-back 3s on any given night. But ROY? No doubt. At least so far.

- Nocioni is the second best player in the team. He hit most of his shots (9-13 FG, 20 pts), grabbed a lot of rebounds and was aggressive on both ends, bullying around in the paint. He hit a clutch 3 too.

- Luol Deng played extremely selfishly, seldom gave up the ball, and whenever he got the ball, he would drive hard, but always forced shots. If lucky he would get fouled and shoot the FTs, but most of the time it ended up as misses. I was surprised because I didn’t recall he was such a selfish player. Maybe he thinks he’s a superstar now after signing the fatty contract. Sigh.

- FA-to-be Ben Gordon shot a lot and did nothing else. He did help to score some big baskets in 2H though. But clearly he had absolutely no chemistry with teammates. Yup, this is their leading scorer.

- Noah played hard and hustled, but he basically has no skills at all.

- Gooden played ok as a role player but need to improve his D.

- Tyrus Thomas was completely useless, even white stiff Aaron Gray is better than him as a backup big man.

- Hughes’ shots were way off, even worse than mine. He tried to draw fouls and score on FT instead, but his offense is really limited. He recorded 3 steals but in general not an effective defender.

- Overall, the Bulls didn't look like a well coached team. Seldom offense plays were drawn and the defense was just so-so. It’s just the brilliance of Rose and the toughness of Nocioni won the game for them.


The Pacers:

- This is the first time I saw them play in almost a year. I’d say they are better than I expected but not at all an elite team. In general, they are just like any other Jim O’Brien’s team: defense and 3-pters. They played good defense, and most of the time played half court offense. They relied on ball rotation to find open man for perimeter shooting, esp. 3-pters by Granger, Troy Murphy and Jarrett Jack. Not that fun to watch but you can see they are well trained and played under control.

- PG T.J. Ford (16 pts) is still very quick. For sure he can score and finish the basket, but he’s not a good playmaker and his shots were a bit off (7-18 FG). The thing I don’t like is that he likes dribbling and dribbling and dribbling. He dominated the ball too much that the ball movement of the Pacers was stalled. Another problem is his poor D. It’s embarrassing watching rookie Rose burning Ford time and time again.

- Danny Granger (15 pts) is a star in the making. He is ultra athletic and play with energy and intelligence. His J in particular impressed me the most, cuz I never recalled that he can shoot in the past. He played earnest defense and was actively running around the court on both ends. He’s not Shawn Marion though, he doesn’t dominate the board like the Matrix and he doesn’t have that crazy athleticism that once the Matrix possessed. He’s more like a Richard Jefferson type, only is quicker.

- Marquis Daniels (13 pts) is another good role swinger. He will never be a star but he can shoot Js and he’s quick.

- Troy Murphy (12 pts) shot and missed too many perimeter Js but he did his job on rebounds (13 reb).

- Nesterovic is surprisingly effective, esp. against the so-so Bulls big men. 12 pts on 6-13 FG and 12 reb. He has a knack on passing too. I think he should go back to San Antonio and play for Greg Pop.

- Jeff Foster’s game has deteriorated a lot. In the past he relied mostly on hustles and hard work to earn his job. Now at 31 and after the injury, it seems like he no longer can be that effective.

- I think the Pacers are better than last year but they are far from a playoffs-bound team. They need at least 1 more solid scorer at the wing (Daniels should be off the bench), a strong rebounder at PF/C (Murphy or Foster off the bench) and to trade T.J. Ford for a pass-first PG.