14 in the final term, including the go ahead freethrow as the Cavs beat the Lakers 96-95, his second game-winner since being traded. Good to see him doing well, ditto Reggie in Denver.
Yeah, it's good to see him take the ball to the hoop after constantly screaming at the television screen for him to do it for the last two years. Ugh.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, it's good to see him take the ball to the hoop after constantly screaming at the television screen for him to do it for the last two years. Ugh.</div> Haha, 10 points in the last quarter from lay-ups alone.
Flip had it easy in the fourth with all the attention paid to LBJ and Z. He got to the basket (and laid it in instead of slamming it off the back of the rim) and got some open jumpers. He even stole the ball and was rebounding. He sparked them into winning the game. Though he seems to fit in well with the system there, Hughes' defense will negate Flip's value. Hughes can consistently score 20ppg and plays superior defense to Flip. Flip walks to another team next season. Reggie will do well anywhere they give him minutes. He was all over the boards in the NOK game on Saturday, just like he always is. With all the injuries they REGULARLY suffer to their front court (those guys need to eat their vitamins and minerals) Reggie is a perfect fit. I imagine Karl loves his effort and his man defense...though he still doesn't rotate...Camby, Martin, Elson and Nene are all fast and big enough to pair well with Reggie though.
Even Vlade is doing pretty well. 2 mediocre games (NOK, SAS), 2 bad games (MIN, HOU) and the rest right around his type of play last year. He even set a career high defensive rebounds (13) against Utah on March 3rd.
So it seems like everyone benefitted from the trades. I dont know about Vitaly...he gets a couple of minutes every now and then. But yeah....I find myself rooting for the Cavs at times....
I have seen a number of games and to be honest I am very disappointed in Flip's play since he has been traded. He played exceptionally well in the fourth quarter yesterday, to the point where I had flashbacks of his play in 2003-2004--especially in crunch time, but as Cas said he still hoists up jumpers as opposed to going to the rim and he is actually deferring to LeBron so much that I've begun to call him Ronald "Company Man" Murray. Too often he just sits in the corner and waits for LeBron to get stuck in the air and pass him the ball. No way in the world that he should only be averaging 13 points a game when he is getting damn near 40 minutes. That was his entire argument as a Sonic was that if given the minutes he would be an All-Star caliber player. As it stands right now he will be quickly relegated to the same minutes he got in Seattle once Hughes returns from injury. To his credit though he is playing the best defense of his career though. I don't necessarily think that Flip and Reggie are in situations to best maximize their potential but Vlad seems to have been placed somewhere where he can have a considerable impact on a nightly basis. Personally I'd love to see Flip go to a team like Orlando and Reggie end up playing for a team like Utah--since they are roster filled with low percentage shooters.
