by Myles Nelson » Mon May 02, 2011 2:33 am
It was obviously sad to see Rip go. As huge of a contract he was on, he was still a great guy, a fantastic leader, and upstanding kind of guy, and someone we will sorely miss. However, business is business, and he had to go. Prince seemed to be the most affected, as he now realizes he is really the only guy left from the good times.
Coach Jordan juggles the lineups a bit and presents me with this:
PG Rodney Stuckey
SG Paul George (until Ben Gordon gets back from injury I assume)
SF Tayshaun Prince
PF Taj Gibson
C Nazr Mohammed
I told him fine, so long as Ed Davis plays more than useless Jason Maxiell.
Our first game post trade was against the Phoenix Suns, who are the worst team in the NBA. This is good, maybe it will give us a practice game to kind of gel together, as Taj is learning on the fly and George is getting used to an increased role. We win an overtime thriller, 123-121, thanks to Tayshaun's buzzer beating 15 footer to win it. George has a great game, scoring 18 points on 50% shooting, showing he is more than capable of starting in this league. Gibson is passive on offense, scoring only 6 points, but pulls down 8 boards in an acceptable debut.
Our lackluster performance the next night shows up as a 98-108 loss to Cleveland. Tayshaun has another good game, doing his damned best to fill Rip's shoes, as he scores 23 points on 60% shooting. Ed DAvis had his first start at center and got 14 points with 9 rebounds.
We host the Celtics a couple nights later and lose 83-82, when the second of Paul George's free throws rolls out. Stuckey almost gets a quadruple double with a line of 23-9-7-10. That's 23 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 10 turnovers. Ouch. No wonder we lost.
We get creamed by the struggling Bucks, 121-81, in a home blowout that just really irked me. I knew we'd be bad, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. Prince is again our lone star. I can't wait till George and Davis are ready.
Rodney Stuckey finally showed the makings of a true point guard in our 97-94 road win over the Hawks. His 7 assists and only 1 turnover are promising, as was Ed Davis's 11 point, 10 rebound game. Unfortunately, Stuckey broke his ankle and is out for a month. Looks like Jason Williams and newly signed Antonio Daniels will pick up the slack.
Our first game without Rodney Stuckey is a 30 point loss to the Raptors at home, 104-74. Antonio Daniels is the only player of note for our team, getting 17 points.
We travel to New York long enough to lose by 17, 105-88. Prince gets 18 and Jerebko gets 14, but that's about it.
New York then comes to use and beats us 122-94. Ben Gordon comes back and gets 16 points, but no one else does squat.
We lose to Charlotte 82-88, but Ed Davis breaks out for 19 points and Gordon is right behind him with 17.
We go into our game with the Jazz tied with them at 6-18, but they beat us 102-94 behind Deron Williams strong outing. That's the difference between us and them: they have a great player, we don't have any star power. None of our players do anything of note.
Portland gets their revenge, as we had beat them earlier 105-98. This time, at their house, they win 104-63. We shoot 27.5% from the floor. I can't say anything else, moving on to the next game before I punch something.
We lose to the Thunder at their house, 103-81, as Durant gets 35, Afflalo 20, and Westbrook racks up 15 assists. Taj Gibson was our main scorer, with 10 points.
The Hornets destroy us at home, 114-73, but Gibson gets 18 and Prince gets 12 points as some layers show flashes of potential here and there. Too bad we can never put it together.
We lose to the hapless Wizards at home (how hypocritical of me, we're even more hapless), 101-95. Wall scored 24 points and had 10 assists to show us why he was the #1 pick this year. Gibson gets 10 points and 13 rebounds, being our most steady producer.
Ed Davis and Taj Gibson score 10 points each, and Gordon scores 19, as we lose to the Heat 98-83. This loss puts us 6-24 on the season.
Marquee Games
Finally, on December 9th, the big NJ/NY rivalry begins. The Nets, led by LeBron and Bosh, have jumped out to an incredibly fast 17-1 record, while the Knicks have floundered a bit at 11-9. The Knicks boast a lineup that inclues Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire, and David Lee. New Jersey jumped out to an early lead, but New York, carried by Johnson in this game, just chipped away. Finally, New York went into the fourth quarter down by 3, and all quarter it was a tug of war, in a game that saw 18 lead changes. Xavier Henry of NYK nailed a three to tie it up at 107, but LeBron drove to the basket, found Bosh, who flushed it home to get the two point win, 109-107 in MSG. Bosh led all scorers with 31 points, LeBron had 27, and backup PG CJ Watson had 20. New York was led by Johnson's efficient 24 points, Amare's 18, and Henry's 12.
The Chicago Bulls hand the Nets their 2nd loss of the season with a 109-86 drubbing. Rose torches them for 33 points.