web analytics
<
Tag Archive - JR Smith

NBA Playoffs Nuggets-Jazz Game 3 Recap: Fashion Shows, Cat Fights and Just Doing You Lose Out To A Full Ensemble Cast

April 24, 2010 in by with 10 Comments

One of the drawbacks of making blogging your living is that you do a lot of writing at the end of most nights.

For some people that’s not a bad thing at all. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing for me. At least it wasn’t until my fiancé discovered the Real Housewives of (Fill In The Blank) television series on Bravo. Now, once a week I finish my night of watching basketball games only to turn the remote over to my lady as she takes her turn with the TiVo. The thing that turns on almost immediately is The Real Housewives of New York or The Real Housewives of Orange County or The Real Housewives of Odessa or whatever the hell the latest one is.

From watching this TV programming gem while I commence my nightly writing, I’ve found that I understand teams like the Denver Nuggets a lot better than I ever would have. While basketball is about skill and athleticism and a basic understanding of how the game is and should be played there is also a very human element to the NBA that has to be recognized. We’ve seen it in many forms. We’ve seen Maurice Cheeks sidle up to a young lady who has forgotten the words to our national anthem and help walk her through the rest of the song. We’ve also watched Stephen Jackson go chasing after Ron Artest into the Pistons’ stands to not stop him from committing a crime but to make sure he commits it correctly.

The personalities and the human aspect of life matter just as much in basketball as they do in the crappy television world of housewives in front of a camera filming “reality.” When you put five egotistical, power-hungry, driven women in front of a camera and ask them to ham it up a bit for their audience, you’re going to come across some problems. They’re going to get catty and start to come apart at the seams, much like their botched plastic surgery. They can’t help themselves and once it gets to that point of complete unraveling, there is no way for them to recover and get back to the decency or somewhat respectful nature that got them to this point in their “careers.”

This same pattern of psyche was one of the main reasons I didn’t trust the Denver Nuggets to take care of business four times in a seven-game series against a Utah Jazz team that I’ve tried not to fall in love with. The Denver Nuggets have a bunch of strong personalities.

Carmelo Anthony is the star of the show who will have the crap promoted out of him during the duration of this show. Chauncey Billups is the older person that could just as easily justify the same attention for himself that Melo is getting if he were just a bit sexier. JR Smith is the crazy one that is so unpredictable that you almost have to sit on the edge of your seat when he’s on the court or at a fashion show. Kenyon Martin is the old, hard persona that could be the nicest person in the world or the most conniving with he feels he’s been crossed. And Chris Andersen is just the kooky, free spirit who will wow you with the accessories (mustache, hair, tattoos) as much as with his ability to completely ruin any given show.

When things are going extremely well, it’s a hype machine that sells advertising and makes you crave the after show in which the brilliance and step-by-step entertainment of the show is explained with everybody sitting around, enjoying a cocktail or two. But when things fall apart, you can almost tell that nothing is going to fix the tailspin that has begun.

When the Jazz took control of Game Two and escaped from Denver with a three-point victory, the Nuggets appeared to be shell-shocked. Not only were they the Denver Nuggets but they were also facing a Jazz team that was without two of their core players. And yet, they couldn’t hold serve at home and now had to go into a hostile environment without the advantage of a 2-0 series lead.

The first quarter of Game Three between these two teams was complete smoke and mirrors. The Jazz played horribly enough to be down 15 points after the first 12 minutes while the Nuggets used free throws and a ton of rebounds to counter a horrible shooting quarter by everybody not named Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. By the time the Jazz got settled in, the Nuggets were in no position to survive on lucky bounces and poor execution.

The Jazz went old school with their offense by running a ton of set plays and executing them to near perfection. The Nuggets on the other hand tried to play one-on-one despite the fact that there were 10 guys on the floor. The Jazz ran an offense while the Nuggets players isolated themselves on an island.

This affinity for isolation was one of the things that worried me coming into this series. The Nuggets have the players that can absolutely destroy their opponents one-on-one. Chauncey Billups is able to veteranize most opponents into scoring opportunities for himself. JR Smith is able to go dumb with hot shooting and oozing bravado. Nene can devour opposing centers with a single move towards the basket. And Carmelo Anthony doesn’t have Fans From Utah cheering him on because he’s so good at making the extra pass. He makes the money by throwing an array of offensive ninja stars at his opponents once he faces up.

But throw a little controversy and a bunch of Utah rebounds, free throws and scoring runs at this Denver team and they don’t seem to know how to come back as a team. They’re my individuals with no conceptual understanding of a team comeback. I don’t think it’s a selfish thing either. It’s just not something that Adrian Dantley can tie together with these guys.

The Jazz completely dominated the second half both basketball-wise and with mental toughness. They had four separate runs of 8-0, 8-0, 7-0 and 9-0 over a period of 15 minutes and 22 seconds of game clock. They outrebounded the Nuggets 24-15 while holding them to under 40% from the field. The Jazz utilized every weapon and play in their arsenal to take a 2-1 series lead while the Nuggets just sat around waiting for someone else to step up and carry the show.

In the crucial third quarter, the Denver Nuggets had one assist in the entire 12 minutes of play. Everyone tried to be the individual star of the show and didn’t realize they were part of an ensemble that was the reason for the entire show. It was this Real Housewives mentality that kept them from competing in this game.

This Denver team has been missing something all season long. For a while, I thought it was just another big man to bang with the big title contenders. But it looks to be much deeper than that. They’re missing a glue guy. Maybe that glue guy is actually George Karl or maybe it was Linas Kleiza. Whomever it was, you’ve now comprised a team of a bunch of characters and personalities that seem more worried about book deals, product sponsorships and spin-off programming when you really need a group of people who should be worried about being picked up for another season.

NBA Playoffs: Denver Nuggets Offense Asphyxiates The Jazz Will To Score

April 18, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

It was suffocating.

Normally, this is how you would describe how great teams play in the playoffs. In 2008, the Celtics defense was suffocating. In 2004, the Pistons defense was suffocating. In 2003, 2005, and 2007 the Spurs defense was often suffocating. It’s just what great teams do when they’re marching their way through the playoffs. But that’s not how this Nuggets team put away a banged up Jazz team in the first game of this series.

The Nuggets offense was absolutely suffocating in the fourth quarter. There was no way the Jazz were going to be able to escape it. So often, you wonder what the hell a team can do to stop an elite offense when it’s clicking. But in this game, I kept wondering if the Jazz were going to be able to get away from the bombardment of three-pointers and scores inside.

This series isn’t going to be won on defense because there’s just simply not enough of it to go around. The defense in this series can’t compete with the offensive firepower. To worry how the Jazz are going to stop the perimeter onslaught of the Nuggets just doesn’t make a lot of sense. The real thing to figure out is how you can keep scoring. Against another team, you worry about defending the other team’s offensive sets. In this series, the Nuggets and Jazz just want to keep scoring and try to end up with the final run of the game.

The Jazz looked to be uncomfortable with the way the game was headed but completely unable to do anything about it. Deron Williams gave it a valiant effort. He finished with great numbers and had 20 points and nine assists in the second half alone. But he’s got to have a better option to guard Carmelo and JR Smith other than Kyle Korver. He can’t have Wesley Matthews on the court for 38 minutes and finish with only six points.

When the game is going that way, it sucks the air right out of the Jazz’s lungs. It overwhelms you completely.

It’s just suffocating offense. You can only be consumed by it.

Playoff Paroxi-Notes

- Let’s talk about that fourth quarter for a minute. The Nuggets put up 38 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. No big deal. They were on the verge of dropping game one and home court advantage and they responded by scoring 38 points. That means something. It means they’re good offensively and have guys that will stick daggers in your like Danny Trejo in Desperado. Carmelo Anthony was throwing daggers. JR Smith was throwing sabres. And Chauncey Billups even performed a little acupuncture with his three to push the lead from 11 to 14.

Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith combined for 30 of the Nuggets 38 points. But it wasn’t some beautiful display of offense that made you think that these guys were just in a rhythm. It was forceful and exuberant scoring. It was the equivalent of slapping a wild predator in the jungle and then staring it right in the face. It was mean-mugging with your offense. Carmelo scored on jumpers and layups. JR Smith scored by holding a H-O-R-S-E competition.

My theory on how to stop JR Smith for the rest of the series is to completely ignore him. He wants attention. He wants it badly and he knows how to get it. He feeds off the frustration defenders show from him hitting these insanely quick threes. But what if you ignore him the entire game? Don’t even look at him when he’s shooting. Don’t pay attention to him when he has the ball. Only look at him through your peripherals. Wouldn’t that get him to stop peacocking on the court?

- When I previewed this series, I talked about how health was going to play into the outcome of this series. Melo rolled his ankle but was still able to play and play well. Mehmet Okur took a bad step and went down with an Achilles injury. He didn’t come back into the game. After the MRI, I suspect we won’t see him the rest of this post-season. Andrei Kirilenko is apparently going to miss two weeks and he was the only chance of containing Carmelo. And see what Carmelo did without AK to whisper long prose Russian poetry in his ear to distract him on his jumper?

- Are we sure that Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap get things done? I know they had nice stats. They combined for 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and six blocks. But what exactly did they do in this game? They plodded along and made sure to fill out the box score. But they didn’t stop the Nuggets from scoring inside (52 points in the paint). They didn’t provide any crunch time scoring when the Jazz desperately needed to keep up (combined seven points on six shots in the fourth). And looking ahead, if they don’t have Kirilenko or Okur the rest of this series, how can they possibly hang with the big men of Denver? Can they even hang with Chris Andersen? I just don’t see them doing anything.

- So where do the Jazz go with their frontcourt from here? You can’t play Kostas Koufos at all. He’s not good. Put him against Nene, look away for a second and then look back and you’ll see Nene eating a gyro. Can you really trust Kyrylo Fesenko to do anything? I feel like Kenyon Martin will steal his lunch money and force him to act as an ottoman whenever he feels like lounging. So you have to roll with Boozer and Millsap while praying that Fesenko can match Chris Andersen when he comes into the game.

The one thing you can do is have Fesenko unleash one big dunk. He can be good for that when the other team is least expecting it. But it’s wasted in a road game. It has to be at home. In this series, if the Jazz go back to Utah down 0-2, will it be too late?

NBA Playoffs Preview: 5) Utah Jazz Vs. 4) Denver Nuggets (The Trailer Looks Great)

April 16, 2010 in by with 4 Comments

Let me preface this by saying I’m a sucker for a good trailer.

If you want me to get excited about an upcoming movie release and you want my money to support said movie then you’re probably going to need to have produced a gripping trailer when you’re advertising this cinematic event.

It doesn’t even really need to be THAT good of a movie when it comes out. All you need to do is get me in the mood to see it and I’ll have a hard time finding ultimate failure in a movie. The last time I can remember being psyched by a quality trailer and just horrified by the finished product of a movie was with Righteous Kill. That was just an atrocious movie. The script was bad. The acting was bad. In fact, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were so bad in the movie that I walked away thinking, “You know – 50 Cent is NOT that bad of an actor.”

The trailer doesn’t even have to be that gripping now that I think about it. It just needs a nice buildup before you unleash a certain song in the trailer that I’ve subconsciously wanted to listen to. With Righteous Kill, they brought me in with Please To Meet You by The Stones. With Brooklyn’s Finest, they brought me in with Run This Town by Jay-Z and Rihanna.

And with The Departed two songs drew me in – Gimme Shelter by the Stones and Shipping Up To Boston by Dropkick Murphys. Perhaps the two-song whammy is the reason I could never find that much fault with this movie. When I go back and watch it, it’s not terribly good. The accents are… interesting. The acting by Jack Nicholson is like watching Vince Carter in his final days of being a Toronto Raptor. And some of the dialogue is just perplexing. However, I still enjoy it thoroughly because of the music involved and my self-brainwashing going into the movie.

This is kind of how I feel about this Nuggets-Jazz series. I’m sold on the soundtrack. The dulcet tones of Chauncey Billups and Deron Williams trying to Bobby Fisher each other are enough. But you’ve also got the beautiful dance number of Carmelo Anthony’s offensive game playing over the inconsistency of his past playoff performances. I can get swept away in the cacophonous beats of JR Smith, Kenyon Martin, and Carlos Boozer all trying to endear their way of existing to us.

I mean this is just a murderer’s row of personalities, subplots and issues that will be playing on a consistent loop throughout the entire series. Regardless of how it plays out, I know that I’m sold on it. There could be four, five, six or seven atrocious games and I’ll be locked in based on the most superficial aspects of this series.

When you look at these two teams, they’re almost identical. They’re both very good offensive teams. They shoot the ball well. They get to the free throw line. They’re pretty decent defensively while challenging shots and forcing misses at almost the same rate of efficiency.

In fact, I don’t know that you could have a more evenly matched first round opponent in this year’s playoffs. So what does it come down to?

Simplicity.

What is the simplest way for each team to win games?

Here’s what we know about the Utah Jazz. They score the hell out of the ball and do so by getting a nice balance of inside-out scoring. They’re one of the top teams in the league in terms of scoring around the basket (63.5%, Fifth in the NBA) with the highest percentage (63.7%) of baskets around the basket coming from assists. They also shoot the ball very well from the outside. They knock down jumpers from 16-23 feet very well (40.7%, Sixth in the NBA) with the highest assist rate for these shots (77.2%, seven percent more than second place) to go with the seventh highest effective field goal percentage from three (54.6%).

(Thank you HoopData for the stats)

All of this is obviously because of Deron Williams. They can get into the heart of the defense whenever they need to. A lot of this has to do with dribble penetration that leads to players cutting towards the basket for easy scores. Deron Williams draws in the interior defense like a magnet. If the defense is able to create a wall and account for the cutters, they often will leave the perimeter shooters locked, loaded and without the safety on.

And this is the double-edged sword of how you defend the Jazz, especially when Deron Williams is on the court. You have to give in somewhere. If you’re allowing points inside, you’re probably also allowing free throw attempts and three-point plays due to late rotations and dumb fouls inside. But if you pack in the paint, you’re leaving deadly and timely outside shooters in the area that counts for the most points. So what do you do?

You have to form a pocket on defense. They’re least efficient from the middle of the floor. Put them in the 10 to 15-foot range and you’ve got your best chance of stopping them. There are no Rip Hamiltons on this team and Jeff Hornacek certainly isn’t walking through that door. You need to pack in the middle then swarm the perimeter in a furious effort of defensive rotations. The trick is keeping those interior guys in place and flanking the passing options. Make them run enough clock and the Jazz perimeter guys will have to pull up off the dribble for “bad” mid-range jumpers. It’s actually one of the simplest ways to try to bait a team into taking bad shots but it does take smart and disciplined defense.

With Denver, it’s sort of the same thing. They finish well inside and they shoot well from three. You want to force them into the mid-range area and pray that Carmelo Anthony isn’t the one taking those shots. They need to have a very simple game plan on offense. Pick-and-roll the Jazz to death with Chauncey Billups and make the Utah big men play on the perimeter. If they struggle to show on the screen, Chauncey can pull the jumper or drive into the paint. If the defense collapses, he can have Arron Afflalo and JR Smith in the corners, ready to knock in three-pointers from their hot spots.

The Nuggets will also need to get out in transition and try to knock down threes in these situations. The key will be finding JR Smith on the break and get him the ball in a position to rise and fire. JR Smith shot just 34% from three this season, which seems like a very manageable rate even when you factor in the quantity in which he shot them. But in transition, his percentage increased to 44% from three. Also, Carmelo Anthony is extremely efficient scoring on the break. His field goal percentage of 46% jumps up to 62% in transition. You can run with this team, especially when Ty Lawson is coming in for a change of pace, at a very efficient clip.

It sounds so simple for both teams. Get the ball into the areas you score with the highest efficiency. Push the tempo if you’re the Nuggets. Live off of dribble penetration and the chaos it creates if you’re the Jazz.

Don’t Forget To Pray For Health

This is where the series will ultimately be won – in the training room.

The Nuggets need Kenyon Martin to be healthy. When he’s healthy, he changes the game for opposing big men. Most players can’t handle the bulk and the versatility of the Boozer-Millsap combo inside. He’s always been able to neutralize what Carlos Boozer does offensively. He defends and challenges shots well while not letting Boozer live at the free throw line. While Millsap has been able to score at a highly efficient percentage of 63% in his career against K-Mart, Martin has still been able to match him point for point and rebound for rebound.

Kenyon Martin is a neutralizer inside defensively and that’s exactly what the Nuggets need to contain the power forward combination the Jazz throw at opponents.

In a similar way, this is what the Jazz need from Andrei Kirilenko. He’s the perfect defender for Carmelo Anthony. He’s long enough to bother jumpers. He’s agile enough to absorb the contact and still be able to recover when Carmelo makes his moves inside. He makes Melo work for his points and doesn’t really allow him to go crazy. Carmelo still gets his numbers but it’s rare that he goes NOVA against the Russian. In 19 career matchups, Carmelo Anthony has only scored 30 or more points five times against Kirilenko.

If Andrei Kirilenko can play then the Jazz have the man that can contain Anthony and that wins a huge battle for them. You’re then allowed to put Deron Williams up against Chauncey Billups one-on-one and when that happens I like Deron’s chances of being the better player. Then all you have to ask for is Wesley Matthews to be a pest for JR Smith and try to prevent him from getting in a rhythm from deep.

But again, this is all IF Kenyon and Kirilenko can be healthy.

Series Prediction
This may be the most fun series we see throughout the entire first round. Both teams like to push it like Salt ‘N’ Pepa. Both teams like to ramp up the offense. And both teams can play good enough defense to make the other team earn their points. There is no real throwaway aspect in this series. It’s just going to be seven very competitive games between two teams that are always hard to fully buy into. And the prize at the other end of the first round is a second round showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Normally in these evenly matched 4-5 series I take the home team. I assume the house will be protected regardless and that the series will be seven straight wins by the home team. And when the team with home court advantage has the best player in the series (Carmelo Anthony) that seems to be even more of a no-brainer. However, I don’t trust the health situation of Kenyon Martin and I certainly don’t trust the depth of the big man rotation Denver employs. After Nene (who should dominate Mehemt Okur in every way) the Nuggets are relying on Chris Andersen and Johan Petro. Those are components of a great movie about a cross-country trip but they don’t exactly make me think, “Those are two guys who can contain the Boozer-Millsap hybrid.”

Then we get to the ultimate X-factor for me in this series – Deron Williams. We’ve seen some special things from Deron Williams over the past two years as he makes his case for best point guard in the NBA. This is his chance to truly prove he’s a cut above the rest. By getting the better of Chauncey Billups in a series in which he’s scheduled to play more road games than home he can truly shine and show the nearly perfect weapon he is. I tend to gravitate towards the best point guard of the series when two teams are this even.

With that I’ve got to take the Jazz to go the distance in this series. They’re least likely to knock off the Lakers in round two but that’s not their concern right now. Their concern is keeping their offensive attack simple and to execute it properly.

Regardless of how the series plays out, the trailer is pretty kick-ass.

Jazz Win in Seven