Game Preview Article: Dallas Mavericks @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City didn't resist to such a trap game at Cleveland on their last game and they lost the game outright, when they were a double digits favorite! It was a very tough spot for them mentally and also in terms of focus. They were coming from a TNT game against Memphis at home and after 12 games in a row against Western conference teams plus the three following games being also against Western conference teams, this trip to Cleveland in the middle of this span was clearly overlooked by the Thunder and so, it was easy for me to take the Over on a Double Dime Play. For today, Oklahoma City has a bounce back game against Dallas, who is coming to this game with two days of rest. The Mavericks have been a tough matchup for Oklahoma City no matter what. The Thunder won 9 of their last 10 games against Dallas, including last year's playoffs, but the 5 games played at Oklahoma City were decided by a total combined of just 14 points! This season, the Thunder's defense has been showing a fatal flaw in defending transition plays, where they are #24 in the league with 1.17 PPP allowed, and Dallas's transition offense has been great this season, where they are #5 in the league with 1.19 PPP! So, no wonder that Dallas is 2-0 ATS this season against Oklahoma City.
Game Preview Article: Sacramento Kings @ Utah Jazz
Sacramento is in the middle of a road trip and they are coming from a humiliating loss at NY against the Knicks, where they were on a back to back spot and facing a team that had lost to them in Sacramento: the blowout loss was inevitable and my play on the Knicks -11,5 was one of the easiest for me of the whole season so far! Sacramento kept showing no offensive flow as they ended the game with 14 assists and 19 turnovers! This trend has been problematic for them! The most impressive factor was that DeMarcus Cousins ended the game with 10-14 FG and 5-5 FT, but the Kings still lost the game by 39 points! It seems like the Kings have lost their focus since the rumors about the change of their franchise to Seattle and on tonight's final game of their 6-games road trip, how will they be focused for tonight, especially with 4 days off to rest after tonight's game?
Recap Blazers vs Jazz: Portland is coming from a double-header against Utah and the key for the Blazers's win in the second game was using the same tactics they used during the second half of the first game: double-teaming Utah's big players whenever they touched the ball. With this tactics, Portland gave the Jazz a lot of space on the outside and they used that to shoot 8-19 3pts, mostly thanks to Randy Foye, who shoot 6-12 3pts on his own. However, this resulted in Utah's frontcourt being limited and so, the Blazers ended up winning the game. Portland 's offense looked a bit lost in the second half, with just 53 points scored with six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, but then Damian Lillard exploded against Utah's slow footed guards. The poor individual defense from Jamaal Tinsley, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson was also exposed by Portland, especially by Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge that had big games thanks to that, while the Blazers really took advantage of that to have good numbers on pick and rolls and post up plays.
Game Preview Article: Portland Trailblazers @ Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota isn't shorthanded anymore and coach Adelman had 12 available players on the team's last game against New Orleans. The Wolves had finally four healthy guards in Ricky Rubio, Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea and Alexey Shved! These four players gave the team a great ball movement, as they combined 7+4+6+8 assists, so Minnesota had plenty of good looks. They took advantage of New Orleans's horrible spot and they were much more aggressive than usual to start the game, especially Ricky Rubio. He was attacking the basket much more than since his return from surgery and he also put a lot of pressure on the Hornets's ball handlers, causing the Hornets to commit 23 turnovers that resulted in 29 points off turnovers from Minnesota. It was the best game of the season for Minnesota in both ends of the floor, even though they were facing a really favorable matchup for them and their opponent was on a terrible spot.
Recap Blazers vs Jazz: Portland is coming from a double-header against Utah and the key for the Blazers's win in the second game was using the same tactics they used during the second half of the first game: double-teaming Utah's big players whenever they touched the ball. With this tactics, Portland gave the Jazz a lot of space on the outside and they used that to shoot 8-19 3pts, mostly thanks to Randy Foye, who shoot 6-12 3pts on his own. However, this resulted in Utah's frontcourt being limited and so, the Blazers ended up winning the game. Portland 's offense looked a bit lost in the second half, with just 53 points scored with six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, but then Damian Lillard exploded against Utah's slow footed guards. The poor individual defense from Jamaal Tinsley, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson was also exposed by Portland, especially by Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge that had big games thanks to that, while the Blazers really took advantage of that to have good numbers on pick and rolls and post up plays.
Game Preview Article: Charlotte Bobcats @ Miami Heat
Miami is definitely struggling on rebounds, as they even got outrebounded by an undersized Raptors's lineup yesterday. They grabbed just 44% of the rebounds and grabbed just 7 offensive rebounds, while Toronto grabbed 14. Unlike what happened against Indiana for example, Miami didn't get crush down low this time, as Toronto scored just 32 points in the paint and shot just 11-19 FG at the rim. Toronto doesn't have a dominant post up player, so Miami's task was easier than it generally is on their interior defense. The game was decided when Toronto saw Kyle Lowry and Amir Johnson committing their 4th foul at the start of the third quarter and had to be benched because oft hat. Miami showed a concerted effort to feed Chris Bosh down low and he scored ten of the Heat’s 12 points in the most critical span of the game during the fourth quarter, with Lebron James on the bench. It looks like Miami decided to stay at Toronto to watch the Superbowl after the game, so their spot for today's game against Charlotte isn't the best for them, as they will also be playing their third game in four days and they won't certainly be fully focused to face the lowly Bobcats tonight.
Charltote is actually coming from a nice game at Houston, where they were down by 15 points in the middle of the third quarter, but they managed to make a super comeback and they were even up by 5 points in the fourth quarter until Michael Kidd-Gilchrist suffered a serious injury and perhaps affected by that, the Rockets ended the game with a 14-2 run to win it by 109-95! The Bobcats were competitive due to a rare good 3pts shooting game with 8-19 and with their backcourt playing well, as Kemba Walker scored 24 points and Ramon Sessions 20 points. All the Bobcats's guards once again scored in double digits to lead their perimeter heavy offense, however that was "compensated" with their frontcourt that combined for just six points, in another poor offensive game for them.
Miami's bad spot may help Charlotte in here, but if that doesn't happen, Charlotte's defense will be in trouble. We are talking about the worst 3pts defense in the league by allowing 39.2% 3pts, while Miami's offense is #4 on 3pts shooting with 38.4%! If Miami decides to ignite their offensive turbo, Charlotte will get crushed today. The Bobcats will depend as usual from what Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions will be able to do on offense. If Miami starts doing some traps on Kemba and manage to stop him, Charlotte's offense will heavily struggle in here, not to mention the fact that the Bobcats can be turnover prone and they will result in easy transition points for Miami!
NOTE: Byron Mullens, who is expected to return from his sprained ankle today against the Heat, will only play 11-15 minutes in his first game back.
Game Preview Article: Detroit Pistons @ New York Knicks
Andre Drummond and Will Bynum has been developing a great chemistry by coming off the bench together with some deathly pick and rolls. When Bynum shoots, Drummond uses his insane athleticism to grab potential offensive rebound opportunities or we get some nice passes from Bynum, who have been resulting in alley hoops! On a game like yesterday's, where they matched up against the slow footed Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, these two players from Detroit basically got their team back into the game on their own, after being down by 18 points during the second half! Will Bynum had 9-18 FG and 10 assists in 29 minutes, while Andre Drummond had 4-10 FG and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes! Detroit didn't win the game at the end because Bynum ran out of gas down the stretch or we would have watched another late choke from the Lakers! Offensively, the LA team did whatever they wanted with the Pistons's defense thanks to the great passes from Nash to Gasol, but their defense showed once again how vulnerable they are against opposing guards that have nice dribble penetration skills.
Calderon could be cleared to play in Monday's road game vs. the Knicks -- if that's the case, Lawrence Frank will hold a shootaround simply to give Calderon some familiarity with the team's plays. The Pistons play four games next week.
After three straight games, where the Knicks's offense was subpar with 85, 89 and 80 points scored, the NY team's offense exploded once again on their last 3 games! Due to the slow pace of their games, that hasn't been very visible on the scoreboard, but in terms of efficiency, they have had 139.3, 111.8 and 133.4 offensive rates on their last 3 games! Raymond Felton's return has been the key for this nice run, especially thanks to the chemistry he has with the team's frontcourt. On the early season, he was showing great chemistry with Tyson Chandler and now, he is doing the same with Amare Stoudemire: big dunks off cuts, driving dunks off the dribble, baby hooks and transition sprints (10-10 FG against Sacramento!). We know that the Knicks are back when they attempted 34, 35 and 43 treys on their last 3 games! The good news for them is that they made 14, 13 and 19 of those shots, for a nice 41% 3pts mark!
NOTE: Jose Calderon has been cleared to play in tonight's game and he will be making his debut for the Pistons tonight. Lawrence Frank will hold a shootaround simply to give Calderon some familiarity with the team's plays, but he isn't expected to play major minutes tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment