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NBA Game of the Night – November 9, 2012
By Jeff Lingard
Updated: 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.
