Dec. 13, 2007

hmmm..

Tonight's WAB award is a hard one...

Samuel Dalembert almost had a Triple Double (or chips and triple dip ala Gil-Zero) with 18pts, 11 reb, and 9 BLOCKS! WOW. Who woulda thought our boy Sam could be such a beast.

Christmas came early for James in the world of Fantasy Basketball cuz Shawn Marion had 26pts, 15 reb, 5 blk, 2 stl, and only 1 TO?!

So who gets the WAB award of the night?
I gotta give it to Sam.
I mean, it's not every night a guy almost gets a triple double with blocks. That's amazing. Shawn Marion's numbers are actually somewhat typical, I have to admit he had a good night. But that's all it really was. It wasn't a BEASTLY night like Sam's.

Surprise of the night?

Our own Hump of course!
16 pts, 12 reb, 2 blks, on 1 TO.
He simply out hustled the whole Mavs team.
I can only hope he continues like this for us.

Nightly Notables
Good to hear TJ is okay. He says he'll give it 1 week before deciding when he'll come back. He said if it is really THAT serious, he'll choose to not play cuz there more things to life than basketball.
Michael Redd and Baron Davis almost had Triple Doubles (Both of whom are on my fantasy team)
The Magic lost again?! What is up with that?!
Boston improves to 18-2. Pretty good...I guess.



...swish

TJ Update

The latest word on TJ is that he is "doing better" whatever that means. He will be released from hospital and has been cleared to fly back to T.O. Hopefully this means that he hasn't suffered anything too serious.

On a related note, Al Horford and a few other members of the Hawks organization went to see TJ in the hospital last night. Apparently, Horford waited a long time for TJ to finish being tested so that he could have a word with him, definitely not a dirty player.

Penny Hardaway is about to get waived to make room for former Raptor, Luke Jackson.

This is why you don't come back from retirement when you're at that point in your career. Why not go out with a bang? Too many great careers end with a whimper.

Send in the new era

add-on to mok's post,

TJ was born with spinal stenosis (Spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves via wikipedia)

WAB (What-a-Beast) Award of the night goes to...

Larry Hughes. 13-17 FG, 5-8 from 3pt, 5-5 FT, 4 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 Blk, 3TO, 36 pts

Of course, we don't expect Larry Hughes to play like this all season. Or ever again.
He may have used up all of this "talent" in this one game, cause Larry Hughes is like that. Way to go Larry, now you're going to suck for the rest of the season. Oh wait, that's going to happen regardless.

I wanted to give it to Bonner, but 13-17 plus five 3's...sorry Matt.

Surprise of the Night? (still gotta acknowledge the Ex-Rap though)

Matt Bonner. 25 pts, 17 reb.
I would've never guessed it. but too bad after Duncan comes back, the Red Rocket will be watching more of the game clock rather than the shot clock.

Other Notables?
Raps went up 2, but only to end up back down 2 by the end of the game against Atlanta.
Grizz have lost 5 in a row.
Nets have been playing like crap, and let the Clippers beat them for the first time in 10 years.
Chicago blew out Seattle by 27...could this be a turnaround? nah....
Tony Parker played with 2 sore ankles. WAB.
Utah lost to Portland...Blazers have won 4 in a row. Portland?! Really?!
Kuldip spelled neck as "kneck" when I was talking to him on msn about TJ Ford.

New Season, New Start

So I know I started this blog off well last year, and then suddenly I deserted it. I was thinking about starting it again at the beginning of this season and decided I wasn't interested/didn't have enough time.

Recently, after reading many sports blogs and other newspaper and magazine blogs, I've been inspired to bring this back and with it, my love for NBA basketball and writing. So this blog is now officially back like the Magic in Orlando, or like Grant Hill's career - both of which coincidentally happened as the two parted ways.

-----

For any of you who watched tonights game, or the news you probably know that TJ Ford went down with what looked like a fairly serious injury. Still no official word about the nature of his injury, but he went down hard and didn't move, before being taken off in a stretcher. With TJ's history of injury surrounding his neck and spine, hopefully it is nothing too serious and his reaction and the stretcher was more of a precaution than anything else. Although I'm a notorious TJ basher (re: Huge Calderon fan), he's still a big part of our team, and lets hope everything is okay.



In regards to Horford....was it really necessary to spike his head? It was quite obvious that he could never have blocked the shot given his body position relative to TJ's, why even try to swipe at it that hard? Why not grab his arm or something if you're going to foul? It wasn't necessarily a dirty play, I don't think he was trying to hurt him, but it was just a stupid play.

Other Notes on Today's Game....

Kris Humphries dunks on Josh Smith? Now that was "S, W & N" Josh Smith got HUMPED!

Jamario Moon needs to stop wussing out and really attack the basket. The Raptors have been desperate for a guy who's explosive and can get to the rim and both draw fouls and finish. Finally, we find this diamond in the rough who's got huge potential to fulfill all our needs for a wing player. We've seen flashes of his ability to get to the basket, but why doesn't he do it more? No more of this playing with the ball in the air, swooping and cradling, trying to lay it in soft. Just take it in, and dunk it in someone's face. Or get fouled trying. Otherwise, he's going to get benched sooner or later.

Jose Calderon deserves a "W.A.B." aka What a Beast, for leaving the game with a dislocated ring finger, going back to the training room, getting it popped back in, and taped up and coming right back into the game. There is no limit to his toughness and heart. To top it all off, right when he checked back in, he hits his first shot, grabs a board and then drops a dime, right away. Now thats an Ocho Special.

Other NBA notes...

Steve Nash, 7 straight games with 14+ assists. The Suns need to win a title for this guy. And by the way, Canada, Steve Nash owes us nothing, so everyone stop asking him if he's going to play for Canada in 08, or why he isn't. He deserves a break with everything he does on and off the court.

LeBron returns, the Cavs win. Think those two are related?

Portland beats Utah on their homecourt. Look out next year if Oden is healthy.

Matt Bonner, the Red Rocket, just had the game of his life for the Spurs. Happy for him.

EDIT - James Chiu, my long-time friend, roommate and huge NBA/Raptors fan will be joining The Dish going forward. Welcome James

The Surprise of the Season

As the end of October approached, excitement was beginning to build in millions of people all over the globe, such as myself. Why you might ask? Was it because we were on the heels of Hallowe'en and I finally had an excuse to dress up as A.C. Slater? No. Well...maybe. But what I'm really referring to is the start of the 2006-2007 NBA season.

This season was supposed to be all about the Western conference powerhouses. Who was going to dominate the league this year? The Suns? The Spurs? Dallas has to be hungry after last year's defeat in the playoffs, they'll come back with a vengence and kill it won't they? What about The Heat? The defending champs haven't changed much at all so they'll come back eager and able to defend their title wont they? And don't discount Chicago and Big Ben as well as Cleveland with LeBron looking to get better and better. Let's not forget those guys in Detroit...they're pretty good too.

Going into this season, I, along with many other basketball fans was anticipating these teams to excel, just as they did last year and really it was just a competition to see who could be the greatest of the great.

Fast forward one month: This 2006-2007 season hasn't exactly started the way anyone thought it would. First, let's talk about the Utah Jazz. Coming off a season where they were a very average 41-41, who would've thought the Jazz would be the hottest team in the league this November 2006? The Jazz have started off red hot and as of today are 7-1. Are you kidding me?! Impressively leading both their conference and the L. These 7 wins haven't been complete push-overs either. We're talking about wins against the Pistons, Suns, and most recently, a convincing blowout of the Clippers.

So whats the deal? Not only has the Jazz really stepped it up on defense this year, limited their opponents to 97.6 ppg while also vastly improving their offense with a very respectable 105.6 ppg. The Jazz has a great front court combo of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur (both of which are on my Yahoo! Fantasy Team). Okur is one of those great European bigmen who can bang 'em down low but at the same time shoot the long ball. His numbers have been great this year average 17.5 pts and 8.8 boards a game. On top of this he's shooting 49% from the field, 82% from the line and a superb 42% from beyond the arc. How's that for efficiency? Now let's look at Carlos Boozer. For any of you who are playing in a fantasy league with a salary cap, Boozer is already looking like your MVP. When you look at the numbers Boozer is putting up, and you compare him to other bigs in the L making similiar or even higher wages, you can see that the Jazz are definately getting their money's worth. Look at players like Nene (10 million), Kenyon Martin (11.8 million + he's already done for the season), Jermaine O'neal (18 million) and Shaq (20 million). Their numbers this year aren't even close to what Boozer is putting up, and he's doing it while making 11.5 a year. I know that isn't chump change, but that also isn't anywhere near some of these max contract players.

Anyways, onto his numbers. Boozer is averaging 21.1 pts, 12.7 rbs and 3.6 assists per game. Numbers that are all up from last year. On top of this, he's 55% from the floor and 75% from the line. Now you can see why I picked these two guys for my fantasy team. Let's also not forget about sophmore Deron Williams who has really come into his own this year starting at the point for the Jazz. He's averaging a solid 16.9 pts and 8.5 assists per game while chipping in a couple rebounds and steals to boot. He's also shooting above 50% from the floor and 85% from the line. Coach Jerry Sloan really can't ask much more from this 22 year old Illinois product.

What has been most surprising is that the Jazz have done this all without their lanky star Andrei Kirilenko, who seems to be thinking about next year's offseason already. Kirilenko, usually known as a huge stats-sheet-stuffer has really struggled this year with all his averages down. His averages of 8.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 3.0 apg are all down 7, 2 and 1 respectively from last season. Additionally he has been shooting 43% from the field and 64% from the line. With AK47 looking less deadly than a Super-Soaker, the Jazz's success is that much more suprising. If they are winning without him, I wonder what they could be doing if or when he picks up his game. Whether or not that happens, look for the Jazz to be making a lot of noise in an already noisey Western Conference.

Some other surprises this year include:

• The Suns - Amare has shown some flashes of his former self but is he ever going to be the same? Or the greater question: Will the Suns find a way to incorporate him into their game again? They've worked so hard and learned to win without him that they've forgotten how to win with him. Boris Diaw has dropped back down to mediocrity and the departure of Tim Thomas coupled with some questionable off-season acquisitions leave the Suns struggling in the early season. Look for them to bounce back from this one way or another.
• The Mavs - Still hung up over last year? Time to suck it up. The Mavs started the season flat losing their first 4 games. Terrible both offensively and defensively, the Mavs dropped games to the likes of the Hornets, Rockets and Bucks. I thought these guys would come out of the gates flying, determined to make amends for last year. The injury to Josh Howard hasn't helped their cause either. Things seem to be turning around in the Lone Star State however, following their 4 losses, they won 3 straight before a blowout to the Spurs. As long as they stay healthy, Dallas will come back and play strong this year. Look for Dirk to again show why he could be a legitimate MVP candidate.
• The Heat - You win the championship and suddenly you're on living the NBA dream. Well it is time to snap back to reality for the Heat who as the defending champs, are embarassing themselves in the early going. They are 2-5 in their first 7 games and have been awful on both ends of the floor. With Jason Williams out and Shaq only playing 4 of 7 games while averaging an un-Shaqlike 14 ppg and 7.5 rpg while shooting under 50% the Heat have lost to the Magic, the Grizz, the Hawks and many other teams they should beat.
• Kobe Bryant - I know the guy just came back from surgery, but come on Kobe! Kobe is averaging 21.2 ppg this year, down from 35.4 last year. He is also taking 14 less field goal attempts a game. He is however averaging 5 apg (up from 4.5) and shooting 52% from the field (up from 45). Although it seems like Kobe is spreading the ball around better, taking better shots, less shots and generally being more efficient, those 14 extra ppg he put up last year are still greatly missed. Fortunately for the Lakers, Lamar Odom, coming off an emotional off-season, has stepped it up averaging 19.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg and 5.8 apg. Look for Kobe to start picking it up as he gets deeper into the season.
• Ben Gordon - I thought that the Bulls, who added Ben Wallace in the off-season, would definately be a serious threat in the East this year. One of the keys to their success is the play of Ben Gordon, which I assumed would be even better than an already impressive 2005-2006 campaign. All Little Ben (named due to the arrival of Ben "Big Ben" Wallace) has shown this season is inconsistency. There are some times where Gordon shows why he was such a great weapon for the Bulls last year - especially when he would come off the bench and drop 20 in the 4th - and there are other times where he is show plain awful. How vital is Gordon to the Bull's success? In 1 of the 3 Bulls victories Gordon had 37 points and in their tough loss to the Rockets tonight (by 1 point) he also had 37 points, both times shooting 50% or higher. Ben Gordon's offense keeps this defensively minded team in games. Besides these two stellar nights? There is nothing to talk about. Gordon is averaging 16 ppg on 40% shooting (just before tonight's performance this was something like 13 ppg 37% shooting) and if he doesn't find his game soon, the Bulls will be in trouble.

New Ball, Same Old Shit

The new official ball of NBA robbed me of my money tonight. How you might ask? Did any of you see the Nets/Wizards game? The team I picked to win, Washington, was up 3 at the end of the game. Nets have the ball for the final play, and our best friend Wince Carter has the ball, he jacks up a 3, a 3 that should've hit back iron, flew into the sky and then boom the buzzer sounds, game end, Andrew is happy.

What happens instead? The ball hits the back iron and just dies. It goes limp faster than George Michael at the Playboy Mansion. Someone Wince's 3 point brick ends up flopping into the net to force OT and in the end the Nets win. What the hell man? This is just the icing on the cake for an absolutely horrible night in Andrew's world of sports betting.

Yao Ming: The Real Deal

So to kick off the opening of The Dish, naturally I'd want to start off talking about my man Yao Ming. Although Yao had limited games last year due to injury, when he came back at the end of the season, Yao was a monster.

If you don't know, Yao has played most of his career with a big toe so bad that most of us wouldn't even want to walk with it let alone play basketball. He played four seasons with the Shanghai Sharks and led Team China throughout all international tournaments despite his left big toe. It was already unhealthy to begin with, but the real problem occured in his last season with the Sharks. He hurt his toe but played through the pain. A mix of primitive Chinese sports medicine and Yao's selfless attitude resulted in Yao playing hard to lead the Sharks to a championship - insuring that team officials would allow him to move to the NBA.



Only last season was Yao's toe infection discovered when Danny Fortson stepped on his foot. The resulting surgery caused was what caused Yao to miss so many games in the middle of the Rockets campaign. It was so bad that now Yao's left foot is a size 17 while his right foot is a size 18. If you do the math, you will realize that last year was his 4th season in the L. That means 4 years dealing with this toe injury/infection without a single excuse or complaint. Now you can start to see why this 7' 6" chinaman is an icon to the Chinese community.

You may think: "Man, cutting his foot down a size must have really messed him up, does he walk with a limp now or something? Can't even run?" Yeah right.

Since coming back from his surgery and before unfortunately breaking his foot (he played for another 5 minutes after breaking his foot during the game) and ending his season, Yao turned into the player that everyone expected he could become. Down the stretch it was almost expected that Yao had a double double every game. He averaged 25 points & 11.5 rebounds since coming back from the operation. An all-star calibre performance every night.

"He averaged 25 points & 11.5 rebounds since coming back from the operation."

Fast forward to the present: Yao is back, with all toes healthy and no broken feet. He is injury free and ready to play. In his first 6 games of the season, Yao is averaging 26.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.33 blks and shooting 60% from the floor and 87% from the charity stripe. Tell me, what other big man in the NBA can put up those numbers with those percentages? The answer is nobody.

His most recent game, a W against the Knicks on Friday was sensational. He posted 35 pts, 17 boards, and 7 blocks on 15-21 shooting.

If Yao can stay healthy this season, he won't be the starting centre for the West All-Stars just because 1 billion Chinese people voted for him, it will be because he earned it. Look out because Yao is a beast this year. For all you fantasy players, snatch him up, you won't get a big man with better stats and percentages.

Welcome to The Dish

Welcome to The Dish

This is my new Blog devoted to Sports - predominantly the NBA - and Sports Lifestyle. This will be your source for news, opinion, fantasy talk and sports betting.

After trying to revive an old blog so that I could have a creative outlet and a chance to write, it hit me: I might as well write about something I am interested and passionate about, so here it is.

Look out for frequent updates and special articles in the days to come. In the meantime, you should check out ESPN.com if you don't already. If you can, you should really become an ESPN insider, it is an excellent place to read articles, news and to get real time scoreboards (to keep track of how all your bets are doing)

Also, I've started a little experiment with www.pinnaclesports.com - a great betting site. Here you can bet on just about anything - politics, the Oscars, sports, the weather, you name it. Also, the odds they give are fair and you can bet on single games (unlike Proline) Anyways, I threw in $60 last week, of which I only used $15 to bet. I throw a couple bucks on various games every night. After the first 3 nights I turned that 15 into 37 before having 2 consecutive losing nights. This brings that 37 down to about 25 and overall from the 60 im up to 70.42 - Keep track of my progress on the right menu bar.

This site will soon start looking more like a site, less like an ugly blog template - I promise.

In the mean time, stay tuned because this is just the tipoff and there is still at least 48 minutes to go.