The “46 minutes is just not enough” edition.
Banks – still recovering from the doubt shown him by Arsenalist, so he asked Coach to take it easy on him.
Bargnani – may have relied on his 3-ball a bit too much and evidently he flashed the international sign for “don’t give me the ball” during the late stages of the game since it appeared his teammates wanted nothing to do with him. Wasn’t for Andrea’s lack of trying.
Belinelli – back after a bit of a layoff, he certainly reverted back to his “shoot at all costs” theory, which I’m fine with….when they are under control. In what was the most horrendous closeout of the season by this team, Marco had 2 ugly, and I mean Roseanne Barr ugly, possessions in the final few minutes. They were like he was shooting after spinning out of a revolving door. Hideous.
Bosh – he had a great second quarter. The rest of the game he was either cowering from Shaq, putting up jumpers that had as much chance of success as we would have at guessing Christina Hendrick’s breast size, or simply what appeared to be a massive disinterest in willing this team to victory in the pivotal final minutes. He needed to drive, pick up some fouls, and help win this game from the stripe.
Calderon – quite frankly just not a good night for Jose. I’m still at a loss as to why he was on the floor at the end of the game instead of Jack. No pep in his step, some ill-advised passes (especially that 3/4 court one intended for Bosh), and just not the same man we saw in the last 2 games.
DeRozan – guess Devlin’s 2nd favourite stat of how when DeRozan scores 10 or more points this team is on the way to a victory didn’t live up to the hype tonight. DeRozan was on fire early hitting his first 4 shots, then he went all Golden Girls and shrivelled up from the field the rest of the way.
Evans – this guy would be a great fit in Cleveland.
Jack – the better of the two headed monster tonight. Unless he was injured or Jay was saving him for the Jennings Fiesta tomorrow, there is no way he should have been nailed to the bench to end the game. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I cannot imagine those final 3 minutes being any worse with Jack and Calderon on the floor together.
Johnson – beauty of a block. Otherwise, back to normal: attempted no shots, missed badly on both of his free throw attempts and committed 2 fouls in 13 minutes. I think he needs a shock collar and Alvin Williams needs to control the button.
Nesterovic – he got to play! Momma, momma, Rasho’s on zee tee vee!!! Can’t you just imagine the phone calls to his agent (who probably works out of the back of a deli shop and uses a rotary phone) where Rasho complains that he is only used against overweight competition? It’s clearly a suppression of the White Vanilla Sundae’s talents.
O’Bryant – a healthy scratch. Q: What does Patrick apply to his buttocks upon waking up every morning?
Turkoglu- Wow. If someone gave him a kayak paddle, stood him about a foot in front of David Beckham and told him to hit Beckham in his sixpack with said paddle, Hedo would probably swing, miss, and then hit himself on the back of the head on the follow-through. I’ll say this, he is consistent across categories: in 24min he had 3pts, 3 asts, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers. He also earned about $3 of his contract tonight.
Weems – pulled a muscle earlier in the day. Oddly enough, he exerted more energy in doing so than Hedo did in 24min of game action.
Wright – nice to see him have a second nice game in a row. Not gonna lie, I still feel my ribcage compress a bit every time he shoots, but he hasn’t reached that bowel grumbling sound level that Marco gives me. Pulled down 5 boards, did a very respectable job, and could make some choke on their grades by the end of the week.
Driving The Bus: Andrea Bargnani
Under The Bus: Hedo Turkoglu
Game Theme:
