Derrick Rose: evidently quite good at basketball.
As real Obama freaks, The Sport Count team have been in Chicago all week. But we figured it was worth a trip out to Cleveland to see the The President’s Own Team in action. Here are some brief notes from the game:
Look at this photo while blasting Coolio. It works.
- Turns out cornrows are back, if they ever left at all. Both Delonte West and Thabo Sefolosha have them; both look like extras from Dangerous Minds. Then there’s Drew Gooden’s Pirates Of The Caribbean effort. He’s calling it ‘The Johnny’ for reasons I’m too physically disgusted to discuss.
- In other follicular news, Mike Brown clearly worked on a tight little goatee in the off-season. It’s my second favourite off-season beard change, just after — who else? — Big Poppa Popovich.
- Derrick Rose can get to the hoop. Quickly. It’s preternatural, all instinct, like the five defenders he’s just beaten aren’t there. And he doesn’t need tricks to do it either; no killer crossover, or pre-drive pump fake, nor Tony Parker-esque circus shots. Like Monta Ellis and Chris Paul, he just sees the ring, attaches the ball to an invisible string, and takes a couple of easy steps forward. Rose ends the night with 20 points and seven assists.
- It remains difficult to believe that Anderson Varejao is good at basketball; he looks too ridiculous, like a 1970s soccer star, or a flip flop-sporting exchange student visiting Southern California. Or Pablo Escobar’s second-best bodyguard. n some ways, I guess he isn’t particularly good at basketball. His shot-taking instincts remain fairly comical, and his passing game is non-existent at best, grotesque at worst. But the energy and intensity is palpable, and the Cavaliers look much stronger with him out there.
Ben Wallace: only scores points by accident.
- It’s been written, said or sung so very many times before, but if Ben Wallace wasn’t on such a brutally fat contract, would he seriously be getting more than 10 minutes a game? Yes, okay, he can still put on the occasional rebounding clinic — he grabs 14 boards tonight, including a memorable series in which Busted Ben rises above every single Bull to bring down two consecutive offensive boards.
But it kills your team when you give a big man 28 minutes and he rewards you with zero points on 0-2 shooting. In fact, he’s averaging 2.0 points for the season. In other words, the Cavaliers are playing four-on-five on offense (and three-on-five when Wally Szczerbiak isn’t firing). Unacceptable. It has to end.
- In the second quarter, we see Ben Gordon fire a pinpoint pass straight to no one. Just one of many manifestations of a Bulls team that remains confused and disorganised. (Gordon, however, was one of the bright spots for Chicago tonight, putting up 31 points on 11-19. Cue fantasy owners figuring Ben is back in form, only to be rewarded by 6 points at 16% in his next game).
- Have the Bulls given up on Joakim Noah? He’s played just 23 minutes total in the past three games, and his efforts haven’t exactly made the case for more — he’s had four points and four caroms in that time. Ugly. You figure he could still be sold high, considering his length, and rawness (general managers love rawness — it means they can talk about ‘development’ a lot), and his fairly recent glory days in Florida. Time to hit the phones, John Paxson. Try the Bobcats. They’re in need of power forward who isn’t 18% pie, and Michael Jordan is easily fleeced.
- After his sub-par last season, and a terrible one point (on 0-8 shooting) effort against the Magic two nights ago, Luol Deng (18 points, seven boards) seems to have semi-remembered how basketball works. Key facts he has been reminded of: put the ball in the hoop, pass to players dressed in the same colour as you, don’t just stand there when a loose ball is nearby.
- LeBron James has developed a low-post game. Jesus christ. He’s still getting better!
- End score: 107-93. It briefly seemed like the Bulls might make a game of it… and then LeBron came in, sank a lay-up (plus one), tipped in a miss, and hit a jumper. He finished with 41.
‘That’s me,’ Bron Bron told the media. ‘When it’s time for me to go out and close a game, that’s what I’m capable of doing.’ He’s a self-aware guy.
Posted By: Anton
Totally unrelated, but if you’d like to see the best jersey in the world, as seen at the Nuggets-Warriors game, click on.
