Sunny Side Up

Very nice team win. I really liked the rotations in the second half. Pierce was the closer tonight. Nice game after a couple of sloppy loses.

What was with Rayray racking up 45minutes?!?!

Isn’t the magic number still 6 for top overall seed, considering New Orleans has 21 losses (same as Detroit) and own the tie-breaker against us right now? Magic number in the East is 5.

Hopefully that changes Friday : )

Very nice game by BBD. He played very aggressive down low and even though he missed a couple, he also kept with it and made some nice plays.

Pierce and KG were money tonight. For that matter, so was Ray. That is the Big 3 at their finest.

House controlled the offense well and although he didn’t have a huge stat line, he was shooting solid and got the ball in the right hands at the right time. Nice Play House.

Rondo was abusing Nash! If you had never watched either one of them play before I doubt you’d take Nash. Well done going to the basket and playing D.

I hope Doc wasn’t teasing me with Sam getting a DNP in the second half. 1-4 and a turnover. Put a fork in him…

Great win guys. You knew they wanted this. We didn’t need it like Phoenix did, which is even more enjoyable to spank them…

wow, amazing what happens when you let your best players play… instead of blowing leads, you increase them. don’t take the foot off of the gas until the top seed is locked up. even then,…. “if they’re keeping score…”

i tip my hat to ejplaya, #1, at least for tonite. his whole eddie over sam theory was proven correct big time in this game. the defense was bad in quarter 2, but superb in half 2. pp was the man at the endb but an excellent team effort all the way.

Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe! Powe Powe!

And I do mean Master Powe :D

For a long time the fun of watching basketball for me (and I think a lot of you) has been the jazz essence of good team oriented offense, the strategy and matchups vs the on the fly decision making, the passing, the willingness and ability to take the shot and make it, it is a pretty thing.

The amazing thing to me about this team is that the defense is so good that I am enjoying that same feeling on that end of the floor, the big showing on the pick and roll, oh no their big is open, our other big covering for him, gaurding two guys, the small pick n roll defender getting his man back, the other smalls cheating to the strong side, all happening while our big flys back down to his man, and despite even great ball movement like phoenix shows, the whole team working together to challenge and stop the ball from getting to the rim and keeping track of shooters. Its a pretty thing to watch.

Nice to see Doc rebound with his second half rotation. Maybe he is capable of making “in-game” adjustments to win a game. But jury is still out, as this was only one game.

great win. Only complaint is RayRay playing 45 minutes, including playing through all of the last 3-5 minutes of garbage time. Half the point of getting Sam is so House can slide into the 2spot.

I also can’t figure out why Powe played 12 first half minutes and 1 second half minute. He’s one of our 2 best bench guys. Play him ~20 a game.

I absolutely love when Pierce goes to work against guys who have no chance. Giricek? Hill? Please.

jackson_34 said:
  What was with Rayray racking up 45minutes?!?!

I think we make too big a deal about Ray’s minutes. He’s probably in the best shape of any player. Last nite was a championship debut. Doc went with the guys who he thought could win us a game 7. As to Ray’s minutes last nite, ask Perk. He said the best player in last nite’s game was Ray because of his defense. The guys he guarded didn’t score. We win on defense. We were going to the end last nite and not going to lose that lead. That’s why Ray played the minutes. We are expecting Ray to do for us what he did for Seattle. I expect him to score every time he takes a shot. We say Ray isn’t shooting well because he’s playing too many minutes. Well, this isn’t Seattle, and Ray is assuming a different role. As Perk said, Ray was the guy last nite because of his DEFENSE. He also hit a couple of beautiful three’s. This guy has the most beautiful shot when he comes off a pick without the ball and takes a shot right off a pass.

scndtony said:
  Nice to see Doc rebound with his second half rotation. Maybe he is capable of making “in-game” adjustments to win a game. But jury is still out, as this was only one game.

Doc has had the same basic rotation since the start of the season. He’s been trying to develop a 2nd unit that can maintain the status quo as a minimum. That unit has been inconsistent. Lately he’s been trying to get Brown and Cassell into the mix to see their potential for the playoffs. It hasn’t worked that well. Last nite, in the second half, he mixed bench guys with starters, not using 2 distinct units and I think this is the answer to what he’s been trying to find out. Doc started out the season with about 4 or 5 players left over from last year and we have a 56-15 record. I’m a member of the “jury” and I’ve thought that Doc has done a great job all year, starting with the press conference when the KG deal was made. I guess we’ve seated different juries. As to “in game” adjustments, there weren’t any. If you heard or read about Doc’s statements about half time last nite you heard that no adjustments were made. They played the way they always do, but executed better and with more energy. The stayed aggressive at both ends, despite the lead, until the final buzzer sounded. When they had a play that worked or a player that was hot they went to it until it failed. Doc didn’t make that call, the players did, but that’s the way Doc taught them to play. When the players play within the system defined by Doc and Coach Thibideau for 48 minutes they usually win. When they try to sit on a lead (not preached by Doc) they often lose.

Sorry for being long-winded today, just excited about last nite. Did you all notice Shaq almost “crawl” to the bench when he was taken out for good? Perk and BBD, mostly, and maybe a bit of Powe wore him down. They attacked him and beat on him. If this was a finals preview we learned a few things.