导出博客文章Its time for our weekly look around the NBA.10 things I like and dont like1. The
genius of Marc GasolThis freaking guy. During another improbable Grizz comeback
against Portland last week, Gasol caught the ball at least 5 feet behind the
3-point arc while trailing a possession and realized no one was guarding him. He
looked around, shrugged -- literally, the dude shrugged in the middle of a game
-- and just jacked a 30-footer. Cash money.Memphis is 7-2 since Mike Conley
busted his back. That is insane. The Grizzlies?larded up on sad sacks like
Philly, Orlando, and the Lakers, and we all kind of assumed the bottom would
fall out against better competition. Then they rallied against Portland, and
spanked the yappy Warriors. (Seriously: Golden State mean-mugged its way through
a road win against an injury-riddled Utah team subsisting on Joe Ingles
3-pointers. Maybe just take the W and chill?)This is the best story of the first
25 games, and it would not be happening without Gasol. During Conleys absence,
Memphis has blitzed teams by almost 15 points per 100 possessions with Gasol on
the floor -- and wilted into a D-League outfit when he sits, per NBA.com. His
calculating, careful game holds up well in crunch time, and the Grizzlies, for
what feels like the seventh straight season, are squeezing out wins in almost
every close game.It has been fascinating to watch a natural sharer get a little
bit selfish because his ravaged team needs it. Gasol is shouldering the heaviest
scoring burden of his career, setting up shop on the left block and waiting to
see if opponents double him. If they dont, hell bulldoze into the lane for a
short hook. Sit on that move, and hell turn over his right shoulder, fade away
along the baseline, and draw rain with perhaps the most telegenic post move in
the league (at least while Dirk Nowitzkis one-footed special is on ice).Gasol is
venturing a little out of his comfort zone as a shoot-first alpha dog, and hes
thriving. He remains a brilliant passer; hes on pace for one of the highest
assist rates ever from a big man. Gasol should be in the conversation for a No.
4 or No. 5 spot on MVP ballots.Players know. Talk to rivals about Gasol, and
theyll tell you hes even better than you realize.2. Patrick Beverley, secondary
playmakerThe scorching Rockets are 13-2 since Beverley returned from injury, and
their in-your-jersey irritant is playing perhaps the best all-around ball of his
career. Beverley is averaging 5.6 dimes per 36 minutes, his best mark in years,
and that number vaults all the way up to 8.7 -- top-flight point guard territory
- when hes on the floor without James Harden, per NBA.com.The Beverley-Eric
Gordon backcourt has stabilized bench units that flailed without Harden during
the first three weeks of the season. The turnaround is severe enough to give you
whiplash. Since Beverleys return, Houston has outscored opponents by 14 points
per 100 possessions with Harden on the bench -- a huge margin. (Please do not be
dumb and turn that number, or this snippet, into some indictment of Harden. He
is probably the front-runner for MVP.)Beverley is running a keen pick-and-roll,
and hes not reverting to stand-still wallflower mode when he shares the floor
with Harden. A lot of Mike DAntonis favorite trigger sequences feature Beverley
in an active role, and when Harden swings him the ball, Beverley zips right into
a drive-and-kick that keeps the machine chugging:Hes also shooting 40 percent
from deep, and annoying the hell out of opposing point guards.3. Fake
streaksImagine my surprise during Sundays Warriors-Wolves game -- one day after
Memphis grit-and-grinded all over Golden State -- to hear via the (awesome)
Minnesota broadcast crew that the Warriors hadnt lost two straight games since
April of 2015.Hmm. I swear I remember the Warriors suffering some sort of
meme-inspiring losing streak last season. Maybe in June? Against the same team
over and over, due to some scheduling quirk?Placing a statistical divide between
the playoffs and regular-season makes sense in some instances -- especially with
team-level stats. The postseason is a different game, with better competition,
so there is some apples-to-oranges in comparing team stats -- like offensive
efficiency -- across the two.But for streaks and simple counting stats, do we
really need to build a wall? The Warriors suffered two losing streaks in the
playoffs. To erase them in discussing a potential regular-season streak seems
labored. Does LeBron have 27,382 career points -- his regular-season total? Or
is it 32,954 -- his total points, including playoffs?It should be the latter.
Yes, this gives LeBron an advantage in career counting stats over scoring studs
who didnt venture as deep in the playoffs as often. But isnt that the point of
keeping track? Lets reward the guys who did the most under the brightest
lights.4. The aimlessness of Denver ... maybe over?The Nuggets looked like a
team that could win 38 or 39 games -- stacked with enough depth to weather
Emmanuel Mudiays growing pains. They are 10-16, and appeared before Thursdays
rotation shakeup to be on the verge of chaos.Mudiays growing pains have been
painful. The Jusuf Nurkic-Nikola Jokic partnership predictably sputtered, but
the resolution should not have been bringing Jokic off the bench and struggling
to find him 25 minutes. That amounted to overthinking it. Jokic might be your
best player; play him a lot!Mike Malone mercifully pivoted Thursday night,
starting Jokic in a smallish look with Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari on
the front line -- a trio that has been wildly successful in 100-plus minutes so
far this season. Maybe this will spark a turnaround. The franchise needs it,
now.Gallinari is having a down season one year after Denver passed up chance
after chance to flip him for a healthy return. Kenneth Faried, trade bait for
years now, was out of the rotation before reassuming his (suboptimal) role
Thursday as an undersized center. Darrell Arthur started for a while. Hes good,
but not that good. Sometimes Juancho Hernangomez plays. Sometimes he
doesnt.There is just a haze about the Nuggets. Its unclear what they are trying
to be stylistically, or how they might arrive there. In fairness, its hard to be
much of anything relying on a 20-year-old point guard shooting 35 percent with
an alarming turnover rate. Lets hope the lineup change -- or the trade deadline
-- brings some clarity.5. Benches stifling themselves when a teammate gets
posterizedThese are the best moments -- when our mask of learned politeness
falls away to reveal our base and cruel nature. Did you see the Brooklyn bench
when Larry Nance Jr. ended Brook Lopez right in front of them on Wednesday
night? The sitting Nets knew it was not appropriate to celebrate the violence
Nance had just laid upon their broken teammate. For a brief, glorious
half-second, they just couldnt help it.They all gasped. Some leaned back in
their chairs, either in astonishment or perhaps out of some primal instinct to
run away from the carnage. Others perched forward and bent their knees, as if
they were about to rise in acknowledgement. And then, bam: They remembered. They
had to be civilized. They resumed their normal seated positions and stifled
grins. A few even briefly held on to each other, to keep balanced. Im pretty
sure Trevor Booker grabbed Randy Foye, so that Foye would not stand
up.Seriously: Whenever someone gets dunked on hard, watch the reaction of the
victims bench. It is often the best part.6. McBuckets, going leftyDoug McDermott
clearly spent time working on his left hand, and getting comfortable shooting
with it has unlocked a new level of craftiness in tight spaces along the
baseline:Hes not afraid to launch lefty floaters off the dribble if the defense
overplays his right hand.With McDermott back from a concussion, Chicago can
surround Dwyane Wade on hybrid bench units with one cinder-block screener --
Cristiano Felicio -- and three shooters in McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, and Isaiah
Canaan. (The last two might be more aptly described as theoretical shooters, but
just go with it.)Chicago has also closed some games without a traditional point
guard, and all three of McDermott, Wade, and Jimmy Butler on the floor alongside
two big men. Thats worth exploring more, even when all Chicagos point guards are
available.7. Dwane Casey, throwing caution to the windToronto is setting records
on offense, and Casey has been a little more adventurous this season rolling out
lineups geared toward that end. He started Patrick Patterson at power forward
over Pascal Siakam in the second half of Torontos win Wednesday over the Sixers,
daring Philly to have Joel Embiid (slotted alongside Jahlil Okafor) chase
Patterson around the perimeter. He didnt seem to care if Embiid pancaked
Patterson on the other end.Hes downsized a bit more in the last week-plus to
find time for Norman Powell, who deserves more minutes than Toronto has for him.
Hes even gone super-small, with Patterson at center, a bit more readily after
getting gun-shy going that route against Cleveland. (Well see if this persists
when Lucas Nogueira gets back.)The group of Kyle Lowry-DeMar DeRozan-DeMarre
Carroll-Patterson-Jonas Valanciunas has already logged 84 minutes after Casey
used it just 16 minutes total last season, per NBA.com. Injuries to Carroll and
Valanciunas short-circuited that lineup last season, but Casey seemed reluctant
to bust it out even when all five guys were available.Hes letting it ride this
season, and it is destroying people. The Raptors have outscored opponents by
almost 30 points per 100 possessions in those minutes, and theyre killing it on
both ends of the floor. Watch out.8. C.J. Miles, handsyDuring the Aborted Pacers
Small-Ball Experiment of 2015, Miles spent a lot of time jostling with power
forwards so that Paul George could smother elite wing scorers. Some bigs
overwhelmed Miles on the block; there is only so much a guy can do when hes
giving up 50 pounds.But Miles is a fighter with quick hands, and he developed a
knack for stabbing underneath a big fellas arm to poke the ball away between
dribbles:The Pacers have been going small more often over the last two weeks in
trying to find a rotation that works longer than one half. Their defense has
also looked a lot cleaner with Monta Ellis injured. Nate McMillan faces some
interesting decisions in getting the Pacers back on course.(PS: What Anthony
Davis did to the Pacers in the 4th quarter last night was obscene. It was
cruel.)(PPS: Quinn Buckner, the Pacers analyst, was absolutely right that Davis
was traveling almost every time he caught the ball and hopped/skipped/jumped
into a drive. This is getting embarrassing for the NBA, and I hope the most
outspoken coaches keep throttling the league about it.)9. The grunt work of Cody
ZellerMeet Cody Zeller: perfectly acceptable starting center and fifth option on
a good team. On some nights, you barely notice him; Zeller doesnt get to do much
with the ball, and Charlottes notion of turning him into a jump-shooter died
when Zeller shifted from power forward to rim-rolling center last season.But the
guy has his fingerprints all over most Charlotte baskets. Hes a nasty
screen-setter, and he loves that part of the job. Hes fast covering short
distances, which means he can set one screen for Kemba Walker, scurry back
around, and set one or two more in the span of just a few seconds.He runs the
floor like a madman, torture for opposing plodders who just want to take one
damn possession off to catch their breath. Hes hyperactive, and he never stops.
Its not fun to play against him.Hes also learned the kinds of shots hell get in
Charlottes offense, and worked to master them -- including an in-between
floater, a tricky shot for big men:Zeller is never going to be a star, or close
to it. Hes a so-so rebounder for his position, and he doesnt deter anyone from
attacking the rim. But he works his butt off, and hes almost always in the right
position on both ends. He is the kind of worker bee who just helps you win
games.10. Kawhi Leonard, emerging from the pileMaybe my favorite part of every
Spurs game: when a rebound drops within equidistant reach of everyone in a crowd
that includes Leonard, or when hes part of a scrum of dudes piling up on the
floor in pursuit of a loose ball. There is absolutely no suspense about what
will happen next, and the predictability is glorious.Leonard is going to get the
ball. It will look effortless. Everyone else will be jumping with all their
might, wriggling around on the ground, grimacing and yelling. Leonard just
sticks a giant mitt into the fray, gets the ball, and leaves the scene. Its like
when Heathcliff the cat got into a brawl, everything turned into a screaming
cloud of dust, and Heathcliff would just walk out of the cloud unscathed as
everyone continued fighting.
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LORETTO, Pa. -- Zack Drayer completed two touchdown passes and St. Francis (Pa)
ran away from Bryant 38-3 on Saturday.Drayer finished 19 of 31 for 197 yards.
His 24-yard touchdown pass to Kamron Lewis in the third quarter extended the St.
Francis lead to 21-3. Lewis had 10 receptions for 129 yards.The Red Flash (4-3,
2-0 Northeast) piled it on in the fourth. An eight-play, 87-yard drive to start
the frame culminated in a 4-yard scoring toss to Marcus Alston. Lance Geesey
added a 33-yard field goal and on the next possession,, Jalen Wells took an
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