Friday, February 27, 2009

Kentucky vs. Florida

Kentucky:
PG: Rajon Rondo
SG: Keith Bogans
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: Chuck Hayes
C: Nazr Mohammed

Bench: Jamaal Magloire, Randolph Morris, Antoine Walker

Florida:
PG: Jason Williams
SG: Mike Miller
SF: Corey Brewer
PF: David Lee
C: Al Horford

Bench: Matt Bonner, Udonis Haslem, Joakim Noah, Mareese Speights

Well, two SEC foes. Kentucky hasn't had a great program lately, and Florida has done a lot of catching up. Both of these teams should have solid additions in the future when Nick Calathes, Jodie Meeks, and Patrick Patterson all join the League. For now, it looks like Florida has the upper hand. Florida has really cranked out solid post players in the past five or so years. What team wouldn't want Lee, Horford, Noah, and Speights? Even Bonner is proving to be decent. Could the Rondo-Prince connection be deadly? Will we get to see Antoine Walker shimmy?

You decide! Or if you don't, I will!

Previous Winner:
Thanks for the info guys...sigh. It is pretty clear that Duke was going to win this game. Even with the new class of Kansas guys, they still weren't enough. Deng proves that Paul Pierce is not the best player in the world, driving all over him for 22 points. Duhon dishes out 13 assists, 7 to J.J. Redick who hits 9 3-Pointers. Kirk Hinrich attempts to counter with his Hinrich maneuver, but only hits 2-9 from beyond the arc. The most impressive Jayhawk was Julian Wright, who fared well against the lax defense of Mike Dunleavy. In the end, the Blue Devils win by 8, and Brand, Boozer, Maggette, and Grant Hill all escape without majorly hurting themselves

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Uh-Oh


In case you haven't been watching TNT, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. The guys at the Dream Shake were right. The Rockets are a better team without Tracy McGrady. Tonight they faced off against an "Elite" Eastern Conference team, the Cavaliers. LeBron took 21 shots, and hit 7 of them. The Cavs were held to 34% shooting. Without T-Mac, opposing teams now have to start the game off playing against two of the best man-to-man defenders in the League in Ron Ron and Shane Battier.


Granted, tonight they were really hot shooting the ball, but you cannot not take much away from a 93-74 against the team with the best record in the East (well not anymore.) I think they don't really miss T-Mac that much, and trading Rafer Alston was brilliant. Aaron Brooks is showing that he can start. He had an off night, going 1-7, but he knew when to stop shooting, and to get the ball to the post.


If the Rockets stay in their current position, 4th, they would face the Blazers in the first round. Yes, the Blazers are exciting and all, but I don't know how many points they could put up against a defense this smothering. Also, I really don't think Oden could hang with Yao down low. They have an excellent shot at getting out of the first round this year. Of course, if this hypothetical situation were to happen, they would next have to play the Lakers. If Andrew Bynum isn't back by this time, the Rockets can beat the Lakers in a 7 game series


Kansas vs. Duke

Kansas:
PG: Kirk Hinrich
SG: Paul Pierce
SF: Julian Wright
PF: Drew Gooden
C: Nick Collison

Bench: Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush, Darnell Jackson, Raef LaFrentz

Duke:
PG: Chris Duhon
SG: Luol Deng
SF: Grant Hill
PF: Elton Brand
C: Carlos Boozer

Bench: Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Corey Maggette, Josh McRoberts, J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams

This appears to be one of the best first round matchups squaring off two powerhouses. Kansas appears to be better at the guard positions, but continuously sent pretty good wing players to the NBA. Will Paul Pierce take over? Would J.J. Redick find his stroke if he put on the Duke uni one more time? Can Raef LaFrentz contribute anything besides cap relief?

You Decide! Or if you don't, I will!

Previous Winner: Texas rolls over the Tide. T.J. Ford and D.J. Augustin drive through Alabama's soft interior repeatedly and dish to Durant, who rains 3's. Mo Williams gets a few fast breaks and throws the alley-oop pass, but realizes LeBron is still in Cleveland, and that Robert Horry is slow and old. Antonio McDyess puts up 30 points against the non-existent defense of one Chris Mihm

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Texas vs. Alabama

Texas:
PG: T.J. Ford
SG: Daniel Gibson
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Chris Mihm

Bench: D.J. Augustin, Maurice Evans, Royal Ivey

Alabama:
PG: Mo Williams
SG: Gerald Wallace
SF: Robert Horry
PF: Richard Hendrix
C: Antonio McDyess

Bench: Jermareo Davidson


Alabama just slipped into the tourament, the last team to avoid getting their bubble burst. Now they face a game Longhorns squad. Mo Williams may not have LeBron, but he does have G-Force himself, Gerald Wallace. Will Mihm be able to stop McDyess in the post? How many points will Durant score? Will Big Shot Bob come through again?

You Decide! Or if you don't, I will!

Introducing the 2009 NBA Alumni Tournament

Here is something I've been working on for a while. This is the 2009 NBA Alumni Tournament. With March Madness drawing near, it got me thinking, which college has the most impressive group of current NBA players? So I decided to create this. Each day I will write post one game, and through your comments, I will pick a winner. Without bias, I selected these 16 teams, as they all have very impressive NBA alumni. The matchups were then drawn at totally random. The only team that just missed out was Wake Forest. They only have 4 players, but 3 of them are Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, and Josh Howard. So anyways, let it begin
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

2-23 Recap


First off, you have to see this. Devin Harris is the man. Somewhere, Mark Cuban is crying. Just seeing the crowd go nuts is awesome. And I don't even like the Nets. Devin Harris gets player of the night obviously for that

Runner up however was pretty good. I don't know what got into him, but Krypto-Nate Robinson scored 41 points on 18 shots last night. The Knicks fed off this and got a 123-119 win over the Pacers, despite the best efforts of saboteur Al Harrington. He should never take 10 3-pointers in one game. He should not take 10 3-pointers in one week, or even one season.

Boston rolled again last night, beating up on the Nuggets. The Nuggets do not seem like a 3 seed in the West. I don't see them winning a playoff round.


Monday, February 23, 2009

Old Trade News

This is just my post from Motown Ballin. It wasn't really centered around the Pistons, so I figured I would post it here:

I did not know this but a Pistons trade went down on Monday. Nothing big but still, I don't know I haven't heard about this. Alex Acker was sent back to California, the L.A. Clippers, for a 2011 second round pick and a conditional 2013 second round pick. Maybe he will get a chance to play over there

On Tuesday, I announced that Tyson Chandler would be traded to OKC for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. No Dice! Apparently, Chandler has a messed up toe. Now, this is gonna create a really awkward situation for everyone involved.

Boston traded Sam I Am Cassell to the Kings for a 2015 second round draft pick. Yes, 2015, the same year Sam Cassell will turn 60.

The biggest trade so far went down last night. The Bulls dealt Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Michael Ruffin, and Cedric Simmons to the Kings for John Salmons and B-Rad Miller. The Kings immediately released Sam Cassell and then pulled off a steal in acquiring Ike Diogu from the Blazers for Michael Ruffin. This trade doesn't really seem like it will help the Bulls all that much. Miller doesn't play much defense, so I don't see him making much of an impact. The Kings get three nice players out of this deal in Gooden, a good rebounder, Nocioni, a tough defender, and Diogu, a decent post player. Plus, they can now let Spencer Hawes develop

Chris Mihm got shipped to the Grizz for a draft pick. Apparently the Lakers were protecting their superstar player, D.J. Mbenga

Sources from ESPN are saying that the Kings will send Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown to the Timberwolves for Calvin Booth and Rashad McCants. Sources from Motown Ballin are saying whoopdee freakin doo.

Yahoo has a small blurb that says an Eastern Conference official is saying that the Bulls have dealt Larry Hughes to the Knicks for Jerome James and Tim Thomas. I believe that Hughes still has some game left. I like this trade for the Knicks. Jerome James is a walking example of buyer's remorse.

Chris Wilcox has been traded after all. He will be headed to the Knicks in exchange for Malik Rose. Wilcox and Lee should be fun to watch

The best news I've heard all frickin day, at least for a Rockets fan like myself. The Rockets have traded Rafer "Skip to my Lou" Alston to the Magic. The Magic will send a first round pick to the Grizz, and the Rockets will receive Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook. I don't really like Cook or Lowry that much, but Rafer getting exiled is just awesome. Plus, now Aaron Brooks gets his shot.

Welcome to Nick and Roll

Hello, my name is Nick, as you may have already figured out. I had a blog on blogger, Motown Ballin, or motownballin.blogspot.com. However, I kind of got tired of blogging about team, especially a team that isn't even my favorite. So this is my new blog, which will be about the NBA in general, and I may discuss NCAA basketball every once in a while too. So the Pistons, are not my favorite team, that distinction goes to the Houston Rockets. Hope you enjoy my new blog.