Back To .500

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

...Bud's not far from returning either. That's when we'll really know what we've got as a whole.


Hopefully Flip's making calls. Still want a Gary Neal here.

[worldK]

lol@ aj price playing for a contract in mop-duty.

I like guys who take garbage time duty seriously and still play hard. Not every one can play minutes in the league so you take whatever minutes you can get in whatever situation and make the most of it.

[quincy33 [enjin:7934959]]

lol@ aj price playing for a contract in mop-duty.

I like guys who take garbage time duty seriously and still play hard. Not every one can play minutes in the league so you take whatever minutes you can get in whatever situation and make the most of it.

yeah good for him hopefully another team will sign him and put him on their d-league squad.

[Leado01]

Every win is as big a heartbreak as every loss.

[Lipoli390]

Cam -- Gary Neal would be a great addition!! Love to see that happen. David Kahn told me last spring that Gary Neal was someone they were going to target for acquisition over the summer. Alas, Mr. Kahn departed before he could act on it. But no time like the present.

This was obviously a huge win tonight. Of course, the key for this team will be sustaining this kind of effort and efficiency for a period of weeks and hopefully stringing together 4 or wins in a row.

Nice to have Turiaf back. He gave us 9 boards and 2 blocks in 23 minutes. That's what we need from him on our second unit. Cunningham was hitting tonight. He is a big key to the success or failure of our second unit. When he's hitting his mid-range jumper, he becomes a second scorer to complement JJ on our second unit. But when he's not hitting him jumper, we're left with only on scorer in that second unit.

I know that Price scored his 9 points in 6 minutes of what is generally viewed as "garbage" time. But I want to see him get more PT. I'd give him all or a big chunk of Shved's minutes. Price and Barea would be a dynamic scoring and ball-handling duo and could generate some much needed offense off the bench.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Luol Deng is now a Cav. That helps our Chicago game a ton. Turns that into a no-doubter.

Also, I hope this trade sparks several other trades. Gary Neal and/or Andre Miller would be good fits here. Getting either one, paired with Bud's return and we might have something in the pot. Cook up a run for a mid-seed.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Very nice to read about a big win at breakfast. I was worried about this one. A loss to Philly would have brought the forum bridge jumpers out in force, but the fact is they were red hot. Four straight wins against Western teams on the road, including Portland, and three of them by 7+ points. That's a hot team, and we handled them easily. Now we get Phoenix without Bledsoe...no excuse to lose that one.

I don't know if I can rely on the ES:PN box score....has to be wrong because it has Corey 3-3 on threes...but if it's correct, there's not much to not like. Lots of positives, and the only negatives were JJ's 5 turnovers and poor shooting by Rubio and Shved. And all three of them made solid contributions in other ways. What I take form the boxscore:

1) I've been saying all along that Turiaf's return would be much more important than Bud's, and his 9 rebounds and 2 blocks helped a lot. not to mention allowing Pek to play only 23 minutes. Ronny's injury will not be tough to come back from considering the limited nature of his game, but Bud's will be difficult I think.

2) It's overstating the obvious to say that when the bench performs, we win. We will win every time if the bench goes 47-33. They had 25 rebounds also (half the team's total), and had twice as many offensive rebounds as Philly's entire team....see Turiaf, Ronny above.

3) I generally like how the team protects the ball, but also forces the other team into turnovers. Tonight we only had 8 non-Puerto Rican turnovers, while forcing Philly into 22.

4) Again, we win the fouls and free throw battle. I like that we only had 14 fouls to their 22, but I also like that Turiaf had 3. The fact that their centers only had one free throw tells me he provided the interior help defense we don't get with our high scoring big men.

5) Obviously can't count on shooting 62% on threes, but it's awfully nice to see. Shooting is like hitting in baseball...it's contagious.

That's what I see in the box...what did I miss? Looking forward to getting back to civilization on Friday to see some live buckets again.

[Loose Goose [enjin:8265301]]

Price and Barea would be a dynamic scoring and ball-handling duo and could generate some much needed offense off the bench.

DYNAMIC? A.J. Price and Dynamic hmmmm....not seeing it. It would be a worse version of Luke Rid and JJ #NotDynamic

[AbeVigodaLive]

Corey Brewer had a great first half.

And an embarrassing 2nd half. He missed a wide open dunk. Then, off another Love feed, a wide-open layup. But, those are easy to forget in 30 point wins. (that's the 2nd dunk Brewer has missed now on those long run-outs)