NBA Outsourcing – Week 6
Photo from Moyan_Brenn via Flickr
First off, an apology. I was mostly detached from the world of basketball this week, and the only game I actually caught live was Hapoel Jerusalem vs. Maccabi Ashdod. However, we won’t tip off with that one, because it’s impossible to go anywhere Israeli basketball without mentioning that Sylven Landesberg is hotter than anti-NBA litigation.
After scoring a combined 61 points in the past two weeks, Landesberg one-upped himself in Maccabi Haifa’s 104-94 win over Barak Netanya. The game was supposed to be notable for being the Haifa debut of former NBAer Qyntel Woods, but the forward who struggled to find any sort of rhythm, finishing with 2 points on 1-5 shooting (though his one made shot was a banked mid-ranger while being fouled after a beautifully executed spin move) and 5 boards in 18 rather passive minutes.
Instead, it was all Sylven, as the swingman went off for 35 and threw in 8 boards for good measure. Landesberg scored everywhere and in every way – behind the arc (3 for 5), getting to the line (perfect on 10 attempts), and just generally wreaking havoc. Landesberg continues to display major scoring abilities with every passing week, and if this continues, the Israeli national team won’t be the only one who will be very hot after his services.
Landesberg was hardly the only player to score big, though, as the entire game featured very little defense, with the two teams shooting a combined 53% from the field, to go with 70 (!) combined free throw attempts. It was the sort of high-octane business that leads to turbulent scores, and indeed, after an even first half, Netanya ran to a quick double digit lead early in the 3rd behind the hot scoring of Christian Burns (28 on 15 shots, 11 for 11 from the line), Adrian Banks (22 on 12 shots), and Miami product Brian Asbury (21 on 10 shots).
However, behind the trio of Landesberg, Carlos Powell (23 on 7-15 shooting, as well as 5 boards and 5 assists, albeit 6 turnovers) and Sean Williams (who was as Sean Williamsy as always with 16 points on 6-6 shooting, 10 boards, 4 blocks, and – of course – 5 fouls) raced to a dominant 34-19 fourth. Netanya, 4 games into league play, are still winless.
Hapoel Jerusalem hosted Craig Brackins and Maccabi Ashdod on Saturday night, and overcame yet another anemic first half to bang out an 84-73 win. Brackins struggled with his shot, going 5 for 13 from the field for a needed-if-inefficient 15 points, but was flanked by even more inefficiency from Ramel Bradley (21 points, but 5-15 from the field) the insane athleticism of Alex Tyus. I’ve already mentioned that I don’t believe Tyus has much basketball skill beyond jumping, but he jumped like crazy Saturday night, dominating the boards and the air around them all night long. Tyus finished with 16 points and a matching 16 rebounds, with his only forays after the paint manifesting in 2 clanged jumpers. Seriously – 8 made shots, none of them more than 2 feet away.
Hapoel, on the other hand, witnessed the unexpected revival of Luke Jackson. The Oregon product has struggled with a combination of a bad fitting team (it’s hard to be an off-ball shooting threat for a team that is allergic to running plays) and general apathy, but he got open shots and converted, scoring 18 points on 9 shots (5-7 from three). The awkwardly effective small forwards didn’t end there, though, as Dan Grunfeld regained his touch with a solid all-around performance of 14 points, 6 rebounds, and the sort of floor-spacing, defensive positioning, and general smartitude that doesn’t come up in the box score.
D.J. Strawberry had 15 of his own, making 3 of 6 threes, which really makes me wonder how his jumper was so bad that it literally kicked him out of the NBA (though he struggled elsewhere, going 2-6 for 2 point shots and only 2-4 from the line to bring him to a disappointing 67% for the season), and Yuval Naimi did his “bad-first-half-inefficiently-effective-second-half-offense” routine with 11.
Hapoel then started off their Eurocup campaign on the wrong foot, losing 80-71 to Ukranian squad B.C. Donetsk. This game wasn’t broadcasted anywhere, so I couldn’t watch it and this made me very sad. Strawberry was once again the main offensive option, going for 22 on 15 shots, and Naimi added 17 on 13 shots, but apparently, nobody else was much help at all. Randomness alert: Donetsk got 9 points and 7 boards from Darnell Jackson. Hilarious.
Please note that Jarvis Varnado was disturbingly absent from both of these game summaries – though I feel like he’s a very good fit with Brian Randle in the frontcourt, both of them displaying great passing skills down low and elite shot-blocking ability, he totaled only 25 minutes in both games combined. Box scores don’t really tell the story with players of Varnado’s ilk, and I feel like the team’s defense is clearly much better with him, but as long as he continues to get the ball in the post and be expected to create, coach Oded Katash will continue to have an artificial reason to be displeased with him. This, too, makes me sad.
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Jordan Farmar had their bye week in the Israeli league, but they hardly looked rested in a 69-59 win against Belgacom Spirou which was quite disgusting. Farmar struggled after 2 straight elite weeks, making only 2 of 7 shots and registering 5 turnovers. The affair was so horrible that Lior Eliyahu (15) and David Blu (12) were the only two Maccabi players to score in double figures. But the bigger Maccabi news comes from Omri Casspi, who, after months of rumors, finally agreed to re-join his home club if the entire NBA season is canceled. Casspi won’t join the team now, but if (when? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US OWNERS) David Stern bangs his gavel one final time, Omri will return home around January. From the Belgian side, it seems Jiri Welsch is terrible no matter where he goes, scoring a whopping 5 points in 30 minutes and still being near-invisible levels pale.
Elsewhere, Bnei HaSharon continues to sink, losing 76-74 to Maccabi HaBik’a. LaceDarius Dunn was typically brilliant, scoring 29 on 15 shots, and Tweety Carter was once again helpful with 21, but with nothing else going on, small forward/everybody’s best friend Danilo Pinnock (19, 8 and 7) sealed the game with a last second floater in the lane. Rashaun Freeman added 19 of his own, on a dominant 9 of 11 shooting. Finally, red-hot Ironi Ashkelon beat Hapoel Holon 91-87, in yet another game that I wish I had actually watched. Stupid lack of league pass for things that aren’t the NBA. Come back, NBA. Come back.
Oster-Tags: Craig Brackins, Jordan Farmar, NBA Outsourcing, sylvenlandesbergisthefreakingbomb
