Checked this one at the ACC to the tune of a crowd of 15,830, a number ridiculously high considering the game means as much as Maceo Baston’s late cameo. I suppose it’s the Lebron Factor plus last season’s success. What you might not know if you saw this on TV was that other than timeouts, Mitchell never once got up off the bench to instruct any of the players. Mike Brown on the other hand was pacing the sidelines like he was coaching Game 4 of the Finals. Didn’t matter though, good scoring games by Kapono and Delfino wrapped this one up for the good guys.
Cleveland never looked to exploit their inside advantage and settled far too easily for Larry Hughes and Lebron taking 19 footers (NBA finals anyone?). In response, the Raps grabbed the boards and let TJ/Jose find the people that needed to be found, on this night Kapono and Delfino, the latter slashing like a pro and looking very dangerous. Anthony Parker had a five minute spell where he had a three point play and two threes which made me feel a lot better about the entire preseason. He’s been bent out of shape of late and he appeared to get off the mark in the second half. There’s no doubt that when he curls around Nesterovic/Bosh screens and catches the ball at the top of the key, he opens up many options.
Let’s keep this short and mention Andrea Bargnani and his love affair with the outside jumper. I know when they start going in it’s easy to look past all the wrong things about a 7-footer shooting 19 footers but when they don’t, you realize what a waste of talent he might be. I haven’t seen any real improvement in the preseason from him in terms of post presence or meaningful rebounds. Man of The Match goes to Darrick Martin for nailing a three pointer. I’d say it’s 50-50 between Luke Jackson and Juan Dixon at this point, Dixon might have a hair’s breadth edge in that battle only because he’s a veteran.
ACC crowed in my section (102) seemed pretty lame, only me and one other guy even knew who Baston and Moon were. There were these two young kids who kept yelling “You suck Marshall!” which I didn’t quite understand because Donnie M never seemed like that bad of a guy so I asked them. Turns out he’d snubbed them in a shopping mall a few years ago. There’s a way to make a life long enemy. Let’s get to the juicy part of this post which really means waving about a picture of Mop Girl, aka Jade Wilmott, yes I know it’s sad but it’s also an addiction:
If you liked that pic you’re likely to like this one too. Check out all the pics here, need to get a new camera soon. I’m thinking an SLR.
You ever notice how desperate people are to get their hands on a free T-Shirt? It’s like water being handed out in the middle of a desert. Plus, they got to stop calling the T-Shirt giveaway “60 Seconds of Madness” because it’s more like 20 seconds and there’s hardly 10 shirts. I’m not one to talk, I filled out a credit card application just to get my hands on one. Truly pathetic. Finally, have your heard of the 4 Corners? They’re the supposedly hip DJs at the ACC who are hired to keep those of us with the attention span of a fly in check during halftime. Both their music and act is pretty brutal, what also doesn’t make sense is the scratching they do doesn’t seem to affect the record that’s being played. Weird.
Took this video too where Darrick Martin simply can’t resist launching a three with time running out. It’s in his bloody nature.
| [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OenHHsVfsUo] |
In short, Raps looked good but Cleveland was awful. Thanks for the hit. Grab the feed.
