duncan228
02-25-2010, 06:35 PM
Suns Get Tough; Cavs Likely Getting More Help (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-sunsgettoughcavslike&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews
After a very busy trade deadline, the NBA enters the home stretch, and we’ve got some lessons learned from the past week:
1. The Suns have toughened up. On Wednesday night, Suns center Amare Stoudemire found himself in an odd position—he was watching the Mavericks-Lakers game and was pulling for the Lakers. "It’s almost against my religion to root for Dallas or the Lakers, but right now I am pulling for the Lakers tonight. Hopefully they can beat Dallas and that puts us in a better position to move up in the playoffs."
The Mavs won, but the fact that the Suns are scoreboard-watching these days is symbolic of the turnaround the team has made over the last month. Since dropping a home game to Charlotte on Jan. 26, the Suns have gone 10-2, weathering the near-trade of Stoudemire and putting themselves back in position to earn a first-round homecourt advantage in the playoffs.
The big difference is something of a surprise—defense. Over the last 12 games, Phoenix has allowed 99.3 points per game, which might seem like a lot, but they had been allowing 107.9 points over the first 47 games. And it could be argued that the Stoudemire drama has actually helped the team.
"I think we are a little tougher," SG Jason Richardson told Sporting News. "As a team, when you go through outside things, you get more resilient."
2. More help likely on the way for the Cavs. The Wizards didn’t let center Zydrunas Ilgauskas off too easy when it came time to negotiate a buyout, getting Ilgauskas to fork over $1.5 million in the deal. But Ilgauskas is now a free agent, and he will have to make a decision on his future shortly.
Both Atlanta and Denver have made pitches to Ilgauskas and his agent, Herb Rudoy, but Ilguaskas remains likely to re-sign with Cleveland, where he is most comfortable and has the best chance to win a championship. By NBA rule, he would have to wait 30 days before re-joining the Cavs, but he would be eligible for the playoffs. The Cavs sure looked like they missed Ilgauskas—they lost their first three games without him.
3. Howard power. Turns out, center Dwight Howard is a pretty good player. His line against the Rockets on Wednesday was not only impressive, it was practically historic. Howard finished the game with 30 points and 16 rebounds, while going 11-for-11 from the field. According to the Magic, that makes Howard the first player since center Wilt Chamberlain in 1969 to record 30 or more points and 15 or more rebounds without missing a field goal attempt. It was Howard’s 19th consecutive double-double. And don’t look now, but Howard has even been making free throws—he’s shooting 68.5 percent from the line over his last 10 games.
"I think his game has matured," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He’s had stretches where he’s played well, but he’s changed the way he plays now."
4. McGrady has a future. The Knicks’ acquisition of Tracy McGrady was a big one for the franchise because it cleared out so much cap space for the upcoming summer. But beyond that, it may help boost the team’s chances at actually signing free agents, if McGrady continues to play well and shows he can be a productive role player for the next few years. McGrady banged his knee on Monday and has been dealing with soreness since, but he otherwise has shown no ill effects since returning from microfracture surgery.
"I would say he is 75 percent of where he was a couple of years ago," one East scout said. "That’s probably what you’re looking at with him for the near future. He’s not going to lead the league in scoring, he’s not going to have the same stop-and-start explosiveness. But he can use this to show off his passing, he can be a very good passer when he focuses on that and that is probably what will make him useful now."
5. It’s Dray’s day. One of the offshoots of the dismantling of the Wizards has been the rise of 23-year-old forward Andray Blatche, who has averaged 24.5 points over his last five games, shooting 58.0 percent. Blatche has been very slow to develop over his five years in the NBA, but coach Flip Saunders believes Blatche can be a go-to player in the post, and that he is just scratching the surface of his potential.
"Andray is going through the learning process right now," Saunders said. "I talked to Andray and told him that he has to learn how to make the easy play out, hit our guys and trust his teammates to make plays. It’s the first time in five years that he has had someone trying to trap him with the ball. When you have never gone through that it can be a shock to start with, but he’ll continue to get better as he does it."
SportingNews
After a very busy trade deadline, the NBA enters the home stretch, and we’ve got some lessons learned from the past week:
1. The Suns have toughened up. On Wednesday night, Suns center Amare Stoudemire found himself in an odd position—he was watching the Mavericks-Lakers game and was pulling for the Lakers. "It’s almost against my religion to root for Dallas or the Lakers, but right now I am pulling for the Lakers tonight. Hopefully they can beat Dallas and that puts us in a better position to move up in the playoffs."
The Mavs won, but the fact that the Suns are scoreboard-watching these days is symbolic of the turnaround the team has made over the last month. Since dropping a home game to Charlotte on Jan. 26, the Suns have gone 10-2, weathering the near-trade of Stoudemire and putting themselves back in position to earn a first-round homecourt advantage in the playoffs.
The big difference is something of a surprise—defense. Over the last 12 games, Phoenix has allowed 99.3 points per game, which might seem like a lot, but they had been allowing 107.9 points over the first 47 games. And it could be argued that the Stoudemire drama has actually helped the team.
"I think we are a little tougher," SG Jason Richardson told Sporting News. "As a team, when you go through outside things, you get more resilient."
2. More help likely on the way for the Cavs. The Wizards didn’t let center Zydrunas Ilgauskas off too easy when it came time to negotiate a buyout, getting Ilgauskas to fork over $1.5 million in the deal. But Ilgauskas is now a free agent, and he will have to make a decision on his future shortly.
Both Atlanta and Denver have made pitches to Ilgauskas and his agent, Herb Rudoy, but Ilguaskas remains likely to re-sign with Cleveland, where he is most comfortable and has the best chance to win a championship. By NBA rule, he would have to wait 30 days before re-joining the Cavs, but he would be eligible for the playoffs. The Cavs sure looked like they missed Ilgauskas—they lost their first three games without him.
3. Howard power. Turns out, center Dwight Howard is a pretty good player. His line against the Rockets on Wednesday was not only impressive, it was practically historic. Howard finished the game with 30 points and 16 rebounds, while going 11-for-11 from the field. According to the Magic, that makes Howard the first player since center Wilt Chamberlain in 1969 to record 30 or more points and 15 or more rebounds without missing a field goal attempt. It was Howard’s 19th consecutive double-double. And don’t look now, but Howard has even been making free throws—he’s shooting 68.5 percent from the line over his last 10 games.
"I think his game has matured," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He’s had stretches where he’s played well, but he’s changed the way he plays now."
4. McGrady has a future. The Knicks’ acquisition of Tracy McGrady was a big one for the franchise because it cleared out so much cap space for the upcoming summer. But beyond that, it may help boost the team’s chances at actually signing free agents, if McGrady continues to play well and shows he can be a productive role player for the next few years. McGrady banged his knee on Monday and has been dealing with soreness since, but he otherwise has shown no ill effects since returning from microfracture surgery.
"I would say he is 75 percent of where he was a couple of years ago," one East scout said. "That’s probably what you’re looking at with him for the near future. He’s not going to lead the league in scoring, he’s not going to have the same stop-and-start explosiveness. But he can use this to show off his passing, he can be a very good passer when he focuses on that and that is probably what will make him useful now."
5. It’s Dray’s day. One of the offshoots of the dismantling of the Wizards has been the rise of 23-year-old forward Andray Blatche, who has averaged 24.5 points over his last five games, shooting 58.0 percent. Blatche has been very slow to develop over his five years in the NBA, but coach Flip Saunders believes Blatche can be a go-to player in the post, and that he is just scratching the surface of his potential.
"Andray is going through the learning process right now," Saunders said. "I talked to Andray and told him that he has to learn how to make the easy play out, hit our guys and trust his teammates to make plays. It’s the first time in five years that he has had someone trying to trap him with the ball. When you have never gone through that it can be a shock to start with, but he’ll continue to get better as he does it."