Tag: 2010-11 NBA season (Page 11 of 52)

Heat blow 24-point lead in loss to the Magic

March 4, 2011 / John Paulsen

The woes continue for the Miami Heat, who are having a tough time putting good teams away. The Magic came back from a 24-point deficit in the third quarter to upend the Heat in Miami, 99-96.

Down by 24 points in the third quarter, the Magic went on an unbelievable 40-9 run over the next 15 minutes and stunned the Heat 99-96, the second-largest comeback in Orlando franchise history and matching the second-biggest in the NBA this season.
Jason Richardson scored 24 points for Orlando, 11 of them to kick start the epic burst that turned a 73-49 deficit into an 89-82 lead.

It’s unbelievable that a team with three players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would allow a run like that to occur. Not only are they three of the best offensive players in the league, the Heat are pretty damn good defensively as well.

Forget about the 22-7 run to close the third quarter. The Heat had time to digest that during the break between quarters and went into the fourth quarter with an 80-71 lead. A Chris Bosh jumper pushed the lead to 11.

Then the Magic went on an 18-0 run to take an 89-82 lead with 5:16 to play. Erik Spoelstra did his part, taking two timeouts (after Orlando’s 8-0 run and then again after the Magic rattled off another eight points), but it did no good. Miami’s three stars went 0-for-5 from the field during that run, and Wade even missed two free throws and turned the ball over once.

Miami is susceptible to runs like this because they lack an inside scorer. Bosh is more of a face up power forward and is far more comfortable shooting 18-footers than he is trying to score on the post, and we all know that LeBron rarely (if ever) ventures down to to the block. When those jumpers aren’t falling, it’s so valuable to have a player or two who can get you a bucket or a pair of free throws with his post up game. That player should be LeBron, but he has never developed a post game, and at this rate — I doubt he ever will.

It’s mind-boggling that LeBron and Wade combined to go 21-for-34 from the field for 57 points. That means the supporting cast shot just 14-of-41 (34%) for 39 points.

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2010-11 NBA season Chris Bosh Dwyane Wade LeBron James Miami Heat Orlando Magic

Donald Sterling’s Black History Month ad raises eyebrows

March 3, 2011 / John Paulsen

This ad ran recently in the L.A. Times. Take a good look.

On the surface, Clippers owner Donald Sterling was trying to do something nice. He wanted to admit 1,000 “underprivileged children” free to the Clippers/Rockets game on March 2 in honor of Black History Month.

Only Black History Month is in February. Why is he celebrating it in March? And why is he associating “underprivileged kids” with Black History Month in the first place? Is he implying that all “underprivileged kids” are black? And how did the Staples Center employees know if a kid was “underprivileged” or not when he/she showed up for the game? By the color of his skin?

If this were any other owner, people would have a chuckle and write it off as poor planning by the team’s public relations department, but Sterling has a long history of racial missteps, from discrimination lawsuits in his real estate ventures to comments he allegedly made in the Clipper locker room.

The guy just can’t get out of his own way.

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2010-11 NBA season Blake Griffin Donald Sterling Los Angeles Clippers

Oklahoma City locks up Kendrick Perkins

March 2, 2011 / John Paulsen

ESPN has the details, via Ric Bucher.

Perkins will receive almost $36 million fully guaranteed over the course of the four-year contract, his agent, Bob Myers, told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher.
As part of the deadline deal that sent Perkins to Oklahoma City, the Thunder trimmed a tiny bit of cap space (a little more than $1 million), which gave them just enough additional wiggle room to help hammer out a contract extension. With Boston over the salary cap, the team couldn’t offer more than $22 million over four years, while Oklahoma City was able to use that sliver of cap space to offer Perkins as much as $13 million more on a four-year deal.

So the Thunder signed Perkins for $9 million a season, which is about the going rate for a starting center. Perkins is widely regarded as one of the best defensive centers in the league, and on-court/off-court numbers at 82games support that. OKC obviously believes he will be good addition to their core of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. One knock on the Thunder is that they aren’t tough enough, and the seasoned Perkins will definitely help in that area.

I highlighted the bit about Boston because it’s a little misleading the way it’s written. It’s not that the Celtics couldn’t offer Perkins a bigger deal, they could, they just elected not to. With a soft cap, a NBA team can re-sign its own players for whatever the two sides can agree on. The Celtics made a financial decision to trade Perkins away because they knew they weren’t going to pay him when his deal was up after the season.

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2010-11 NBA season Boston Celtics Kendrick Perkins Oklahoma City Thunder

Murphy to Celtics; Bibby to Heat

March 1, 2011 / John Paulsen

The top two teams in the East just got a little better.

Marc Stein tweeted that Murphy told him personally that he’s going to Boston.

Murphy helps take some of the sting out of the loss of Kendrick Perkins in the Jeff Green trade. Murphy can rebound and shoot the three, so he’ll help space the court for the Celtics and give Doc Rivers another capable crunch time option with a little more length than Glen Davis.

I’m surprised Murphy didn’t pick the Heat, who seemingly have more available minutes at center, though maybe he wanted to get back to his Irish roots. The C’s are also in line to talk to Corey Brewer after his surprising buyout by the Knicks. He’s considered an elite wing defender and his on/off stats at 82games back that up.

Meanwhile, Mike Bibby is reportedly heading to the Heat. He’s well past his prime, but he’s still an upgrade over Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo. I’m not sure why Miami hasn’t played with a Wade/Miller backcourt much this season, though Miller has been pretty bad as he’s been working his way back from injury.

Bibby gives the Heat an experienced player who won’t be afraid of the moment. He’s a good shooter who should be able to take advantage of open shots created by LeBron and Wade’s penetration. Good signing by Pat Riley.

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2010-11 NBA season Boston Celtics Corey Brewer Miami Heat Mike Bibby Troy Murphy

Dim-witted Nets fan pulls a Bartman

February 28, 2011 / John Paulsen

During Monday night’s Suns/Nets game, there was an incident when Steve Nash went to save a ball that was going out of bounds. As he attempted to make the save, a fan sitting courtside (wearing sunglasses, no less) reached out and hit the ball away. Here’s a snapshot of the play.

After the refs discussed the play, the ball was awarded to Suns, even though Corey Hart was seen celebrating his shady move. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)