NBA Notes Feb. 23, 2008

MIAMI HEAT
There has to be a big change in mentality going from a winning team to a losing one. Perhaps that’s where Marion can help this team the most is just reversing that mentality. Wade knows what it’s like to win an NBA championship, but in the past two seasons his mentality has been more one of trying to get back to the pre-injury Wade. Just who is the leader of this Heat team. It should be Wade simply because of his superstar status, but maybe Shaq was actually the leader of this team and with him hardly playing this year, it disrupted the leadership structure. As good as Wade was two seasons ago, he still needed Shaq to win the title. Maybe Shawn Marion will become that leader, but its hard to look at him as long as he has the option to leave the team after the season. This team, actually, might be leaderless out on the floor -- at least Haslem is due to come back Saturday. After all, he is the captain.

DALLAS MAVERICKS
Sefko’s story in Dallas was basically a gamer on how the Mavericks were able to manhandle the lowly Grizzlies. Well, at least the Mavericks know they’ve averted disaster, because if they would have lost that game to a team that has purged its roster and is basically packing it in for the season, a negative wave would have flushed through Dallas. As it stands now the win over the Grizzlies last night and the game with Minnesota tonight should actually be more like glorified practices as the Mavericks mark time until they can test themselves against worthy foes. Dallas plays Chicago Monday and San Antonio Thursday. I would normally say the San Antonio game would be the test, but without Parker in there, I don’t think you can judge the Spurs. They play the Lakers in a Sunday afternoon game March 2. They have four games between now and then and that will-be a day the Mavericks truly find out what their trade for Kidd meant.

DETROIT PISTONS
Detroit needed a couple of games to get over the All-Star break hangover. The bench grabbed the headlines in this game, especially the play of Amir Johnson. That’s a good sign since Detroit released Brezec and basically said that they had the confidence in Johnson to be that fourth option as a big man in the playoffs. Last night’s performance might be a sign that he’s ready, but he did it against the second unit of the Bucks. The Pistons found their winning stride again , but the need to get a solid road win against a quality opponent. They’re in Phoenix Sunday.


NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
The Hornets got little production from an undermanned bench in their 20-point loss to the Houston Rockets last night. Peterson and Stojakovic had off games while Yao and McGrady flourished. Right now I would just chalk this up to New Orleans being in transition and it was their first loss in five games. But the Hornets are going to need a win over the Spurs tonight -- a Parker-less Spurs team -- to make sure the rumblings don’t start about the team losing focus after the all-star break. That is only because the Rockets and Spurs have both been to the playoffs before and have the experience of making a playoff run. As good as New Orleans has been throughout this season, this is still uncharted waters for them. The Rockets -- and especially McGrady -- are desperate for a playoff series win. New Orleans will have to learn to match the intensity of a team like that. Peja’s been there before -- although he’s best know for throwing up an airball against the Lakers in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals in 2002, but Paul, West and to a lesser extent Peterson haven’t really been through it.

NEW YORK KNICKS
Crawford had 43 points in a win over the Raptors last night and that’s what I think has been Isaiah’s biggest flaw in his talent evaluation process. He was scoring point guard and its like he’s looking for a version of himself. But the thing is it’s tough to build a team with a scoring point guard if you’re not willing to reign him in. The Pistons won in the 80s with team play. Isaiah was the best option offensively, but his talent ability to make those around him better was still his dominant feature. How can he have guys that need the ball to be effective at every position? Someone has to move the basketball. Curry truly is worthless. You would think he’d be happy that the Knick gave him a chance to play again despite his heart condition, but obviously he’s not with it. He’s collecting a check and protecting his future. Randolph appears the at least have a little more fire.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Let the turbulent ride begin. The Warriors struggled at home last night and dropped a game to the Hawks 117-110. Atlanta had lost 12 of its last 13 games and isn’t considered a threat even in the Eastern Conference. Two things here. One is that without Biedrins its safe to say the Warriors are now the favorite to be the odd team out when the playoffs start. They also need Stephen Jackson back. Maybe it will be different when he returns. But in the report today one of the most notable things is that rookie forward Brendan Wright made a positive contribution. Coach Don Nelson detests having to play and rely on rookies. Well, he probably needs to spend more time developing the rookie players just in case you need them. The NBA season is a one. Why not try to get something out of you’re rookies just in case you need them in big games. The Warriors are 55 games into the season and the return of their starting center is questionable during a hotly contested playoff race and Nelson acted like he was surprised to see what Wright offered last night. This late into the season, is that responsible coaching? By the way Rusty Simmons’ story made no mention of backup center and key free agent acquisition Chris Webber.

CHICAGO BULLS
The Bulls got caught up in the Nuggets style of play, but won last night’s game 135-121. Joakim Noah at center would have been a good matchup for Marcus Camby in that game, but there’s no way he can be the answer at center, unless the Bulls’ plans are to adopt that running style. Although on second thought there is a dearth of back-you-down centers in the league, which is the type of player Noah would have trouble with. The “logjam” in the backcourt could be a potential source of discomfort all season as well. The Bulls will have to decide if they’re moving forward with Sefolosha or not. It’s clear they’re stocking up for the offseason. They could probably afford to trade two of three of those guys in the backcourt. In my opinion Gordon is expendable. He had 37 points last night, but I just don’t see how a team can win with a short shooting guard. In the league now you need two-guard that is at least 6-5 or he’s going to be a liability on most night. Wade at 6-4 is probably the smallest you want to go and he makes up for it with incredible athleticism. Gordon is a bench player only. The starting spot will come down to Sefolosha or Hughes. Hughes was playing out of position as a point in Cleveland, but ultimately having that responsibility makes him a valuable asset. As a two guard he’s going to have to prove once again that he’s capable of matching points with the other 2-guards in the league.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
If Bynum comes back and is really going to be considered the third option on the Lakers at that point, then they easily have the best fourth option in the league with Lamar Odom. His state line since Gasol showed up -- 14.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists -- is impressive. But right now the thing that hasn’t been talked about much lately is the bench. I’m not ready to crown the Lakers over the Spurs yet, but the starting five they’ve put together is impressive and will only get better as the team continues to jell. The Lakers should probably win their next five games before they go against Dallas on March 2, but the future matchup that intrigues me most is the one with New Orleans in March 14. They don’t play the Spurs until April 14th in the second to last game of the season. By then things could already be decided, but if they’re not, I would expect that to be a telling game going into the playoffs. By the way in those next five games the Lakers play Portland twice and bottom feeders in Seattle, Miami and the Clippers.

PHOENIX SUNS
After a 1-1 start the early reviews are in after the big trade for Shaq. It was a good one. The Suns showed they can win in the knockdown-drag-out style by beating the Celtics 85-77 last night at home in a defensive oriented game. If I had to pick two teams in the Western Conference finals it would be the Lakers and the Suns. Late into the fourth quarter Shaq had just two points, but 11 rebounds and dominated the middle defensively. Teams that don’t have a post player that can draw Shaq out of the paint are going to have trouble beating the Suns. His presence doubles they’re defensive effort. Now they have two shot blockers in there with Shaq and Stoudamire. O’Neal is also a great on the defensive boards. Making matters better for the Suns is that Stoudamire has been developing a perimeter game that is more suited for a power forward. He fits right in with Shaq underneath. It was a possession-by-possession game in the fourth quarter and that made Shaq’s presence key. This team can beat the Spurs. I see them having more trouble with Utah, who has a center that likes to camp outside the three-point line and a power forward that is quick and athletic like a small forward. Utah could take Shaq out of the game defensively.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
The Clippers are excited about their two-game winning streak. There’s really little explanation for the Jazz giving away that game. A 114-104 loss in which Utah missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts. The game had more to do with the Jazz not winning it than it did the Clippers doing something well. Corey Maggette scored over 20 points for the fourth straight game. They also won the game without Sam Cassell, which makes me wonder if they even want him around for the rest of the season because he clearly doesn’t want to be there and I would be surprised if he stays with them next season. The only way that happens is if one of the elite teams doesn’t work out a deal with him this summer. At this point Cassell won’t go to a good team, he’ll latch on to a team like the Lakers or Spurs and be content riding their coattails to the championship. I take pleasure out of that not working, like when Karl Malone went to the Lakers and they lost in the finals.

NEW JERSEY NETS
The story today by Dave D'Alessandro was that a deal was in the works to send Kidd to New Jersey for Jarrett Jack and that Kidd speaking out against playing with the Nets ruined the deal. Apparently it was news to Portland that Kidd wanted to play for a contender. He had been rumored in trades for the past two seasons at least. All summer the Lakers were talking about getting him. I thought it was understood that Kidd wanted to play for a team that would be competing for a championship immediately. With that said that would have been an intriguing fit in Portland. With Jason Kidd, they would have been a playoff team by next year. They were on pace to compete for that spot this year, but then everyone in the west took off and left Portland in the dust. The Nets are in dangerous territory now of becoming one of those aimless franchises. Carter wanted out of Toronto as soon as they Raptors fell back to earth and it shouldn’t be long before he’s making his demands public in New Jersey. The only problem is do team really think he can still play anymore or did Carter top out long ago. With the Nets barreling downward there’s no reason that Carter can’t at least get his number now and show people that he can still be a scorer if anything else.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
There was a hint of optimism following the all-star break. The 76ers came off the break with a 40-point win over a Knicks team plagued with chemistry issues. Also in the days following the all-star game, Maurice Cheeks received a contract extension in part for guiding a team with bee-bees instead of bullets into a position where they are contending for a playoff spot. The loss to the Magic last night was a wakeup call. No one’s claiming that the Magic are the “Beasts of the East” and its clear that there is a big difference between the names -- namely the Magic has weapons and the 76ers don’t. The observation of Andre Miller walking off the court is an interesting one in that point guard was a heavily sought after position.


CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
That was pretty impressive for the Cavs to win a game with only six regular players and two D-leaguers. LaBron James is the wild card of the Eastern Conference playoffs. He’s getting to be such a single-handed load that it will take a gargantuan effort from any team to beat them in a seven-game series. There’s no reason to think the Cavs can’t be back in the finals once they get the new pieces. Damon Jones was once a starter for the Miami Heat and one of the most accurate 3-point shooters in the league. He was buried in the Cavs rotation and with the new pieces that are coming in, will that mean more minutes for Jones? Who cares really? Also who cares about the last game. That wasn’t really the Cavs. We don’t know what the Cavs look like yet.