NBA Week in Review, January 21, 2012

Miami Heat Confidence Meter:  8.3 (Giddy)

• The Miami Heat came back home this week and demolished the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers to make all forget about their failings on the west coast.  In doing so, they discovered their three point shooting, and half court defense.  In the San Antonio game, the Heat had what seemed like a west coast hangover, where their rotations were terrible, they failed to box out simple misses, and their offense looked out of sync.  Then it happened.  With 6:53 to go in the 3rd quarter and the Heat down 68-61, James Jones is fouled taking a three, made all three Free Throws to make it a 4 point game, and the avalanche of threes that followed was that of legend.  6 in total in the quarter to open a insurmountable lead, that the Spurs never threatened.  Then the Heat, rather easily defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in what was billed as a Lebron versus Kobe showdown game.  In what were consecutive masterful performances, Lebron James made easy work this time from the outset of an opponent that always gets the needle moving.  It is no secret that Kobe Bryant “cares” rather deeply about any game that features Lebron James or Dwyane Wade.  He seems to press a little more, yet the result don’t seem to follow.  Simple fact is that the Heat’s defensive system and personnel is a bad matchup for the Lakers.  Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum you say, should have their way with the Heat?  Well, not when the Heat makes it their mission to pack the paint and disrespect the Lakers three point shooting, which is the worst in the NBA.  Then you have Kobe Bryant to guard, and the Heat has a plethora of talent on the wings to matchup, including notorious Kobe “stoppers”, Lebron James and Shane Battier (don’t forget Dwyane Wade).  What this week showed, was a return to normalcy.  The Heat just succumbed to the usual malaise that afflicts them on the west coast on the “circus” trip.  The real important stretch is now, when they are engaged in a 8 of 9 home stand.  Something to reflect on:  In his first 13 games this season, Lebron  James has a higher Player Efficiency Rating (PER) than any other, ever in NBA history in his first 13 games of a season.  This is legendary stuff that we are witnessing from the King.

• The Atlanta Hawks have been fairly consistent this year, and facing the prospect of being without their most consistent performer Al Horford for weeks to come, they have settled into playing pretty good half court defense.  They had a rough assignment on Friday night with the Philadelphia 76ers, on the road, and as usual, the Hawks fell short.  Atlanta makes it a habit to lose every game that can be a turning point, or “statement”.  Jeff Teague turned a lot of heads last year and was a common pick for many as a breakout performer this year.  His performances have been uneven to say the least.  His turnovers as of late are a concern, and the Hawks traditionally have never been crisp as an offense, so Teague has conformed to the Hawk Way.  If there is a team primed for a steep drop in win percentage, it is the Atlanta Hawks.

•  Chicago Bulls fans are sweating bullets with this mysterious Turf Toe injury that Derrick Rose has.  Traditionally, a turf toe injury lingers and only gets better with plenty of rest and eventually, surgery.  It has been common in the NFL, for that injury to end careers.  The Bulls have not elaborated on it much, so all we can speculate on is that if it is a true turf toe injury, it is one that will not go away during this season, and will regularly rear it’s head.  The Bulls however in his absence, have found their footing after a MLK Day annihilation at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies.  CJ Watson has found his scoring touch as of late, and Carlos Boozer has contributed as well.  What I have found interesting is how Joakim Noah can get off to such a terrible start and yet the Chicago defense is as consistent an aspect of any team in the league.

•  What was billed as a marquee matchup between the best two centers in basketball turned into a predictable dud.  While Dwight Howard was fresh to dominate, Andrew Bynum was on a second of a back after playing tough minutes versus the Miami Heat the night prior.  Obviously, the NBA did not take into account a lot of these made for TV matchups when making it’s schedule.  The Orlando Magic continue to play well, but continue to be a boom or bust team solely relying on the three.  Nothing has changed.  It will be interesting to see if this team success, forces Orlando General Manager Otis Smith to ride out the trade deadline and take his chances by calling Howards bluff and force him to take a severe paycut to leave.

•  Kyrie Irving will be a star.  He plays with speed, and can drive hard with either hand and finish.  Sometimes, there are players that all of a sudden look better in the pros than they ever did in college.  In the NFL it is a common occurrence with young players such as Cam Newton.  This is the case with Kyrie Irving.  He seems like a much more explosive player now.  Playing with freedom can do that for athletically gifted players such as this.  The rookie of the year battle has been joined, and I think we have a 2 horse race in Irving and Timberwolves playmaker Ricky Rubio.

•  The Utah Jazz had a great opportunity to make a little noise with a victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, but they fell victim to some poor officiating.  It is no secret why the Jazz are a competent and certain playoff contender.  The Jazz front line of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap is as good as it gets in the NBA.  You sprinkle a little Derrick Favors in, and you have the beginnings of a pretty impressive roster.  The Jazz guard play so far has underwhelmed, and they lack consistent shooting that will surely keep them from being a serious threat to the upper echelon in the western conference.  But for a team that dressed down and began a rebuild, they are well on their way back.  Tyrone Corbin is a serious contender for Coach of the Year, if the Jazz can maintain their current win percentage.

•  The Memphis Grizzlies are riding a 5 game win streak with some soft landings ahead.  Rudy Gay has elevated his play since Zach Randolph left with injury, and the Grizz are getting stellar play from point guard Mike Conley.  Lionel Hollins gets the Grizz to play with consistent effort every night and Hollins deserves recognition as one of the very best coaches in the NBA.  While a team such as the Hawks look to trend down, the Memphis Grizzlies are on the improve, with a star power forward coming back in a month or so.

•  It was a particularly rough week for TNT.  First you had Steve Kerr during the Lakers/Heat broadcast, remark that the Heat lacked “depth” and had figured out their “late game troubles”.  There really needs to be a central clearing house for the media to get their Heat of the Day cliches.  We all know how deep this Heat team is, and how there are no “late game troubles” to figure out.  I really wish that these analysts would give some credit to their viewers and not assume that they are all idiots.   But the sad reality is that most analysts do not watch enough games to be well versed on every team.  It is becoming more and more apparent with every broadcast.  The misinformation is staggering.  On the Inside the NBA set, Shaquille Oneal should have some interesting things to say in the coming week seeing as Dwight Howard fired back with some comments in retaliation to Shaq’s constant barbs.  It is safe to say that Shaq’s musings of Andrew Bynum being better than Dwight Howard have completely blown up in his face.  Oddly enough, Shaq was very good in studio this week, while Charles Barkley did his regular dumb analysis of the Miami Heat during the postgame of the Heat/Lakers matchup (why bother with yet another rehash).  His comments are not only uninformed, but completely wrong, he is perceiving a lack of aggression on behalf of Lebron James when Dwyane Wade is on the floor, that simply does not exist.  The ESPN studio show is so bad, that it really doesn’t deserve any mention.