- I was drinking last night and forgot to do a preview. - We're down 50-44 at the half. - Sweet Lew is resting his knee I presume. - Evans has 9/11 and Jerome has 11 points at the half. - Stro Swift is killing us. - A win clinches a playoff berth.
I didn't see any of the game, except the last few seconds when Damien stole the pass. Looking at the stats and watching the post game highlights it looks like the young guys really stepped up (well they're saying it explicitly on FSN ): Luke, Nick, Damien. JJ woke up for a career high 22. Flip gets the start but I think it's pretty clear he can't play on the same court with Ray Allen. I don't know if it's mental and he just can't play his game when Ray's on the court but he just never looked comfortable tonight Big win, I think. The Grizz have some big athletic front court guys and shooters/scorers like Mike Miller and Bonzi Wells. Would not have been good going into SA on a 2 game skid. Even without Timmy it's going to be a tough game.
Luke seemed to really step it up in the last period, coming up with some really big buckets. A good thing too, as Williams and Watson seemed to be having their own way in the first half. It is hard to believe we've won six or seven, and that the loss was by a single point, as it does seem like it's been a rough stretch. Injuries, friction between players and coach and players and players etc, but we're still somehow winning.
Listened to the first half on the radio on the way to the airport. 1 1/2 hour delay let me catch the second half from the airport bar. Wow. Thank you JJ and Damien for coming through when needed. Flip man, what the heck happened????!!!! 4 point in a START?! oooh, Sheik is going to be cranky.
go ahead and add this to your proof of Flips greatness Shiek....another win with over 23 minutes....couldnt have done it without him.
Big win for the Supes. I'm glad to see that we finally officially clinched a playoff berth. Even though we all knew that we were getting in, I'm glad to see that X next to our name in the standings. In a few weeks I'm expecting that X to turn into a Y for Northwest division champions. I haven't had a chance to see the game yet but from the box score it looks as if we finally dumped the ball consistently down to JJ. Jerome James can score on any post guy that is smaller than him. Against bigger players he isn't worth a damn but considering there are only three guys in the league that are bigger than him (Shaq, Yao, and Z) I consider him one of the better centers in the league. If only he could rebound. As for Flip, it looks like he didn't bring it. That gives Nate more of a reason to keep him benched when everyone gets healthy. Knowing that he is a competitor I'm expecting a big effort out of him tonight. This is the first time all season that he got the start and didn't score in double figures (and only the second time in his career). Everyone has a bad night fam. Let's just hope it isn't two in a row.
I just get the feeling that Sugar Ray will give Flip a dirty look or icy stare whenever Flip tries to play his game (actually it was pretty blatant in the GS game a few weeks back), Nate even said that Flip defers to Ray when they're playing together. Not to say that Flips shot selection and decision making are always the best, but it's pretty hard to play under those conditions, although being a pro maybe they're immune to that Luckily after the game Ray was back to his 'all for one, one for all' mantra to the media <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Allen finished with 22 points on 8-for-20 shooting, but he was hampered by foul trouble in the first half and harassed into a game-high four turnovers. "I'm glad it wasn't just me leading the way because we're going to need those guys. All of them," he said. "It only gets harder from here on out." </div>
Translation: "Everybody else needs to make every shot they take but I don't have to because I'm the franchise player."
We might need them tonight too, Raymond. Down 13 after one period, gave up 31 without Duncan. Not sure what's happened to d00d's preview (again).
