Ian WhiteNBA Highlights and Recap: Magic vs Knicks and Spurs vs Mavericks
December 31st 2010 12:25
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New York Knicks vs Orlando Magic
There was much to love, but much to hate in this marquee matchup between Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. Both big men were in foul trouble and added to their alarmingly high reserve of Technicals. Dwight finished with 24 points, 3 assists, and 18 rebounds while Stoudemire finished with 30 points, 4 blocks, but 4 rebounds.. Amare once again showed why the Knicks aren't going to be taken seriously as threats in this league. Your best player has to be complete. Amare is an offensive force but he shows inconsistent effort on the glass and while defending. He didn't get much help from his teamates either apart from an inspired effort from Wilson Chandler and reserve Shawn Williams. Orland benefited from a time machine game for Hedo Turkoglu who dropped 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists and hit a clutch 3 when the Knicks were within 4 with under 3 minutes left in the game. The role players Brandon Bass and J.J. Redick continued to shine, particularly Reddick who has been hitting clutch shots using a newly acquired stepback jumper. Orlando slowly but surely displays signs of promise, but they still don't appear to be a threat to Miami and Boston. Meanwhile the best thing New York could do is hope Melo is available in free agency. They need to strengthen their core with defensive players rather than blow it up to get another gunslinger.
San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Marvericks
Highlights
Mavericks coach Rick Carlise called this game a "lose-lose." Not much to prove here playing without franchise player Dirk Nowitski, but Dallas still competed with the Spurs as Dirk's partners in crime came to play. Caron Butler had 30 points, Tyson Chandler had 8 points and 11 rebounds, while Jason Kidd got another triple double; he filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. However, the rest of the guys, particularly the bench didn't step up with Jason Terry only managing 8 points on 16 shot attempts. The Spurs benefited from a late 21-2 run led by undrafted rookie Gary Neal's 21 points. Duncan bounced back from his abysmal game in LA with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while George Hill chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds allowing the Spurs to narrowly escape with a win despite average games from Parker and Manu plus a no-show from Richard Jefferson. The Mavericks still look to be a tough playoff out with the wealth of length and firepower, along with that impressive matchup zone. I anticipate the Spurs won't fair as well as experts think because of their middle of the road defense. They showed with their 20 point loss to Orlando that when their high octane offense can't makeup for their defensive lapses, it ain't pretty. It's the trade off when playing Matt Bonner and Dajuan Blair with Duncan rather than working in Tiago Splitter. More offense, but vulnerable defending the rim and rebounding. The absence of Dirk is the only thing that allowed the Spurs to pull this out.
There was much to love, but much to hate in this marquee matchup between Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. Both big men were in foul trouble and added to their alarmingly high reserve of Technicals. Dwight finished with 24 points, 3 assists, and 18 rebounds while Stoudemire finished with 30 points, 4 blocks, but 4 rebounds.. Amare once again showed why the Knicks aren't going to be taken seriously as threats in this league. Your best player has to be complete. Amare is an offensive force but he shows inconsistent effort on the glass and while defending. He didn't get much help from his teamates either apart from an inspired effort from Wilson Chandler and reserve Shawn Williams. Orland benefited from a time machine game for Hedo Turkoglu who dropped 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists and hit a clutch 3 when the Knicks were within 4 with under 3 minutes left in the game. The role players Brandon Bass and J.J. Redick continued to shine, particularly Reddick who has been hitting clutch shots using a newly acquired stepback jumper. Orlando slowly but surely displays signs of promise, but they still don't appear to be a threat to Miami and Boston. Meanwhile the best thing New York could do is hope Melo is available in free agency. They need to strengthen their core with defensive players rather than blow it up to get another gunslinger.
San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Marvericks
Highlights
Mavericks coach Rick Carlise called this game a "lose-lose." Not much to prove here playing without franchise player Dirk Nowitski, but Dallas still competed with the Spurs as Dirk's partners in crime came to play. Caron Butler had 30 points, Tyson Chandler had 8 points and 11 rebounds, while Jason Kidd got another triple double; he filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. However, the rest of the guys, particularly the bench didn't step up with Jason Terry only managing 8 points on 16 shot attempts. The Spurs benefited from a late 21-2 run led by undrafted rookie Gary Neal's 21 points. Duncan bounced back from his abysmal game in LA with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while George Hill chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds allowing the Spurs to narrowly escape with a win despite average games from Parker and Manu plus a no-show from Richard Jefferson. The Mavericks still look to be a tough playoff out with the wealth of length and firepower, along with that impressive matchup zone. I anticipate the Spurs won't fair as well as experts think because of their middle of the road defense. They showed with their 20 point loss to Orlando that when their high octane offense can't makeup for their defensive lapses, it ain't pretty. It's the trade off when playing Matt Bonner and Dajuan Blair with Duncan rather than working in Tiago Splitter. More offense, but vulnerable defending the rim and rebounding. The absence of Dirk is the only thing that allowed the Spurs to pull this out.
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