Monday Gameday Observations (2/20/12)

After an exhausting 20 hours of flying the last 2 days, it’s nice to be back on US soil after being out of the country for 3 weeks.  Time for some President’s day hoops.

– Josh Smith, who I believe was a major all-star snub, has been in fine form as of late.  His matchup with Boozer should be an interesting one.

– By the way, the 30-5-5 club has been updated, with Smith making his debut on the list.  Clearly this will help him get over not making the all-star team.

– Ronnie Brewer is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

– Doris Burke may not be a very good commentator, but you can’t knock her enthusiasm and love for the game.

– I still cringe every time I see Josh Smith take a jumper.  Speaking of poor shooting, has anyone noticed that Chandler Parsons is shooting 35% from the FT line?  That’s turrible.

– Mike James has played well in the minutes he received.  I don’t know why the Bulls insist on holding on to John Lucas instead.

– Certain teams develop a system that’s so well defined and successful that they continue to win even when their stars are out injured.  Examples are Sloan’s Jazz, Popovich’s Spurs, etc.  The Bulls are starting to develop that kind of system as evidenced by the way they’ve been winning games without Rose.

– Along with the vast majority of basketball fans, I too will be watching Linsanity in action against Deron Williams and the Nets.  Having only missed the game against the Mavericks, I still can’t get enough of this story.

– I’d love to see a 3 point shootout between Kyle Korver, Steve Novak, Jason Kapono, Anthony Morrow, Brandon Rush and Ray Allen.

– Carmelo Anthony looks like he’s going out of his way to move the ball around early on.  Looks like the selfish comments floating around have got to him.

– Most people that saw Marshon Brooks in college could see  that he had all the tools to be an elite scorer at the next level and it’s showing already in his rookie season.  Why he wasn’t touted as a higher pick before the NBA draft baffles me.  Sometimes it feels like even NBA personnel let the so called draft “experts” like Jonathon Givony influence their perception of a player’s actual potential.

– Landry Fields just Kardashianed Kris Humphries.  That was a nasty dunk.

– Watching Deron Williams today reminds of the 50 point game he had for Besiktas earlier this year.  He’s nearly impossible to defend when he’s shooting like this.

– If the Nets become a playoff team in the next few years, this Nets-Knicks rivalry could be really fun to watch.

– Jeremy Lin looks extremely tired right now.  Coming off a back to back after playing 46 minutes tends to do that to you.

– Amar’e just gave Shelden Williams his monthly facial.  What in the world were the Hawks thinking taking Shelden with a top 5 pick?  Even in college, he did nothing to suggest he’d be a good NBA player.  Acie Law, Marvin Williams, and Shelden Williams were all recent lottery picks from the Hawks front office.  Yikes.

– Even though it’s not necessarily his fault, Melo is going to take a lot of heat for this loss.

– Gotta love a lineup with Yi at the small forward and Brian Cardinal at shooting guard.  The Mavs and Dirk officially have their mojo back.  The Celtics have some serious soul searching to do after losing 6 of their last 7 and fall under the .500 mark.

– Julyan Stone, a 6’7″ pure point guard, has an intriguing skill set.  Except for scoring, he does everything pretty well.  He’s been smothering Ricky Rubio down the stretch of this game.

– Watching Kenneth Faried and Kevin Love battle for rebounds is something else.

– Why does it seem like nearly ever Timberwolves game comes down to the last 2-3 minutes?  You can’t say these guys lack tight game experience, that’s for sure.

– Awful execution in overtime leads to another close loss for the T-Wolves.  Big ups to Al “Buckets” Harrington for scoring 31 off the bench.

– And that wraps up another night of NBA action for me.  Until tomorrow…HoopsGrind signing out.