NBA Game of the Night – November 9, 2012

I don’t know if I will be able to keep a daily posting schedule for games that I watch but I’m planning on catching up from time to time by watching condensed games. I did watch a full game tonight. I’m trying to see different teams each night so tonight I picked the Dallas Mavericks visiting the New York Knicks:

What I Was Looking Forward To:

• Going to Madison Square Garden for a Knicks game is on my sports bucket list and I love watching games at the Garden.
• Has the light gone off for Carmelo Anthony on defence?
• I want to see how Dallas is playing pretty well without Dirk, in particular the Collison and Mayo backcourt.

What Happened:

• Elton Brand! Vince Carter! Rasheed Wallace! Jason Kidd! It’s the 2002 All Star Game on MSG!
• It was an ugly start to the game and the game was pretty chippy with a lot of chirping especially between Vince Carter, Tyson Chandler and Melo.
• It was a vintage Vince Carter game in that he had a strong second quarter and then had to leave the game for a while with a limp.
• We had some SHEED time! Even in the first quarter. If he works on interior defence, setting picks and crashing the boards he is a solid backup big. When he starts hoisting three pointers he becomes a liability.
• Raymond Felton and Melo got to the rim but had trouble finishing.
• The Knicks defence did a good job on collapsing in the lane and the Mavericks had problems finding open men either on penetrations or from the post.
• Jae Crowder is the early favourite from steal of the draft. He had a pretty solid mid-range game and he will be a solid rotation player.
• Dorrell Wright had a huge dunk over Sheed in the third quarter.
• Dallas kept it close until the 4th when their offence fell apart.
• J.R. Smith was the best player on the floor tonight. He shot the ball well and was really active on defence.
• Steve Novak had a very tough game and didn’t contribute much.
• The Knicks won 104-94. The Mavericks really missed Dirk in the 4th when they couldn’t get anyone going on offence. I think they have a legit shot at the 7th or 8th seed in the West when he comes back.
• I don’t know if the Knicks are for real or not. They are playing hard and Melo seems to be getting it a bit. Of course the real test will be what Mike Woodson does when Amare comes back. I think he should come off the bench so he can play inside outside with Smith on the second unit.

I did watch a couple of condensed games on the online NBA TV package for the nights I missed posting. I watched Denver beat Houston which featured the insane ¾ court alley oop from Andre Miller to the Manimal, Kenneth Fareid. I love Houston’s backcourt and how both Lin and Harden can penetrate and dish. I also watched the Clippers beat the Blazers on Thursday night. Damien Lillard had a couple of good moments but not a strong game overall but that happens when you are a rookie matched up with Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe for the night. The Blazers had no answers for Jamal Crawford who played like a former Sixth Man of the Year award winner. The one player I was impressed by was DeAndre Jordan. He showed a bit of polish in the post and I wonder if the light bulb has gone off and he will take the next step and become an All Star caliber frontcourt player with Blake Griffin.

Jeff Lingard

A Chartered Accountant living in Peterborough, Ontario, Jeff writes for a variety of websites about different sports but has focused on his favourite league, the NBA, here at Sportstok.ca. Jeff cheers for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Browns and Indians and the Florida Panthers

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