In Sketches, we'll be taking you on a quick trip through the NBA blogosphere to get our finger on the pulse of all of the key happenings and storylines in the L today.
DAILY THUNDER: Today (April 19) is the 16th anniversary of the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing. In 1995 in downtown Oklahoma City, 168 people were killed. Send a thought or two to those people’s families and friends today. I remember being in third grade and my teacher being called out of the room only to come back in a couple minutes later crying. I’ll never forget what that day felt like.
KNICKERBLOGGER: I can’t defend having Jared Jeffries on the floor for the last possession. Not when the Knicks are down a point and need to score. Yes he was 5-6 with four offensive rebounds. However the larger body of Jeffries work (aka his entire NBA career) suggests that type of production is an outlier. Heck it’s a career game for the 6-11 charge-master. You don’t have to go far to find Jeffries’ offensive impotence. He was flat out awful in Game 1. The missed layups and the dropped passes came in the paint with nary a defender in sight. That he seemed to magically transform into Mr. Jeffrightened for 25 minutes didn’t mean that Dr. Jeffryl wasn’t around the corner. I understand that the number of options was reduced due to injury. But Shawne Williams was the only rational choice at center. It doesn’t even make sense to say New York was worried about playing defense after making the basket. The Knicks have to score to have that problem (and Boston would likely call a time out anyway).
CELTICSBLOG: To say that Rajon Rondo was "aggressive" to start the game would be a vast understatement. He was a predator and he smelled blood and kept going after the soft underbelly of the Knicks defense. The Knicks countered with a whole lot of Carmelo Anthony and some inspired play from Toney Douglas and (of all people) Jared Jeffries. In the end, everyone was wondering who's number Doc would call. Would it be Pierce? Back to Ray? Or maybe go with Rondo's hot hand? Instead, it was Kevin Garnett who backed Jeffries down for the go ahead bucket and it was KG who shut the door with a game saving steal.
BLEACHER REPORT: 'Melo was a threat from just about everywhere, scoring from all over the floor and sticking his nose where it didn't belong to grab a playoff-career-high 17 boards. Whether it was in the post, atop the key, from behind the arc (4-for-8 on treys) or at the free-throw line (10-for-11 at the stripe), Anthony found ways to get and make good shots. In other words, it was the Carmelo Anthony show at the Boston Garden.
But it wasn't enough.
ORLANDO PINSTRIPED POST: [A] Hawks head coach mismanaging Horford's minutes is not news. That Stan Van Gundy altered his point guard rotation is, though. Orlando's head coach used only Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu at point guard after halftime, leaving Gilbert Arenas and Chris Duhon benched. The decision forced the usually gunshy Turkoglu to play more aggressively, and though he missed 12 of his 16 shots, he at least ran the offense well and made proper passes. The 6-foot-10 matchup nightmare dished 5 of the Magic's 9 assists, with just 1 turnover, in splitting his 39 minutes between small forward and point guard. If Arenas, who's struggled mightily since coming to Orlando in a midseason trade with the Washington Wizards, is out of the Magic's rotation, you bet your sweet behind that's news. For what it's worth, Arenas shot 1-of-3 from the field, with 1 rebound and 1 turnover, in 6 minutes.
HOOPINION: The Hawks, even after the intentional fouling, played the Magic even in the second half. Orlando outscored the Hawks by 12 during the second quarter, in which Al Horford did not play, Zaza Pachulia (8 rebounds in 19 minutes, finished with 4 fouls) played 22 seconds, Jason Collins (purported Dwight Howard stopper, finished with 3 fouls) played 3:38, fourth- or fifth-string center Hilton Armstrong (1 offensive rebound, 1 turnover, 3 fouls) played 6:33, and the aforementioned career-long and rightfully (albeit previously) demoted incompetent Josh Powell spent 2:11 on the floor en route to one foul and one offensive rebound. Dwight Howard scored 20 second quarter points.
MAVS MONEYBALL: One of the key story lines headed into Tuesday night was the Mavericks 2-16 record when Danny Crawford reffed a Mavericks playoff game. However, the Mavericks were able to break the typical Tuesday night. Early on, it appeared as if it might be the same old same old; Chandler committed a questionable offensive foul early in the first, giving him two, and Shawn Marion had to sit down mid-way through, also with two fouls. Chandler was given a technical for venting his frustration over the call, and even Dirk was getting into the officials' ears when he was called for a charge when it appeared the Blazer was still shifting. However, the officials stayed relatively lonely in the 2nd half, with very few players aggressively protesting calls one way or the other, and the Mavericks were able to move their record to 3-16.
BLAZER’S EDGE: The Mavs were pretty brilliant, figuring out when and how the Blazers were going to help on Dirk and then putting their shooters in the right spot to capitalize. Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, DeShawn Stevenson...these guys did nothing in this game. But they didn't have to because Peja and J. Kidd did it all. Bottom Line: Portland has serious trouble containing Nowitzki to the point of not being able to do it without extra men. Dallas gets clean shots from the resulting rotations and they're hitting them.
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