Tim Duncan, the Big Fundamental, goes to work on New Jersey

How do they do it?

They do it with defense.

The San Antonio Spurs have the best record in the Western Conference. They just extended their longest winning streak of the season with a 10th win in a row against the Vince Carter New Jersey Nets. They are one game better than the Kobe Lakers.

San Antonio 81 – New Jersey 70

That’s right, 70 stinking points.

“Think about this. They won the game shooting 33 percent,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “That just shows you how good they are. Those guys are the gold standard. They make you grind it out.” source

Tim Duncan

As usual, it was Tim Duncan leading the way.

Tim Duncan had 29 points and 12 rebounds for his 37th double-double of the season, and the Spurs overcame their offensive struggles to beat the New Jersey Nets 81-70 on Tuesday night for their 10th straight victory.

Manu Ginobili added 12 points.

New Jersey

No more Jason Kidd in New Jersey, so now it is Vince Carter leading the way with 19 points. New point guard Devin Harris had 13 points.

One had to realize that before it was all said and done that San Antonio would be back in the saddle leading the way in the Western Conference.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Spurs be in the NBA Finals once again?

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Shaq vies for another ring

The story will be written from here on out. The Shaq trade has implications for both conferences. The fallout can be seen everywhere. Can it be coincidence that the yesterday’s trade news for Pau Gasol to Kobe’s Lakers lost to the Hawks? You may have to read that twice. Shaq brings his presence and salary cap to Phoenix and new GM Steve Kerr. If Shaq is a bust then Kerr will again be a brilliant TV announcer. Kerr had a valid concern. The center-less Suns would never get out of the West.

The Suns have the best record in the West (34-14) but have not played up to their own expectations. Their interior defense is among the NBA’s worst. Kerr apparently felt that without a large presence inside, Phoenix could not combat the big men, such as Andrew Bynum and Tim Duncan, in the playoffs. source

If Shaq wants another ring, then Steve Nash can finish his career with a smile on his face.

Miami Heat

Meanwhile in Miami, the Heat can instantly rebuild. The Matrix is a free agent, but he definitely wanted out of Phoenix.

Marion, weary of being third fiddle to Nash and Stoudemire, asked to be traded before the season began. He didn’t get his wish and, although he refused to talk publicly about it, remained unhappy with his role. source

Miami will have bundles of money and Riley will feature Shawn Marion with Dwyane Wade.

“This whole thing right now, from a standpoint of how I look at it, we have Dwyane and Shawn and it reminds me a little of the beginning of Jordan and Pippen. The numbers are the same for Marion – he doesn’t need the ball, he does so many things from that standpoint that he’ll mesh very well with Dwyane. source

Miami will also have a couple of other contracts expiring, the cap relief from losing Shaq’s contract, and possibly the number one pick in the draft. Can you say instant rebuild? This trade looks like a winner all around, but then the end of the story has not yet been told! NBA Basketball Fan Question What do you make of the Shaq trade? As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome. More blogs about basketball.

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Rasheed Wallace calls for low post offense

In the pre Super Bowl marquee NBA matchup, the Detroit Pistons showed why defense wins championships.

Holding the powerful offense of the Dallas Mavericks to 29 points in the second half, the Detroit Pistons easily won the afternoon game.

Detroit had lost in Dallas in January in a typical Maverick racehorse affair. They were determined not to play that way this time.

A special focus was put on stopping the high scoring Dirk Nowitzki and it paid off with Dirk missing shot after shot in the second half.

The Mavericks, who were without starting point guard Devin Harris and sixth man Jerry Stackhouse, also shot a season-low 30.3% and made a season-low 23 shots.

The key was a relentless defense that involved more switching than usual on pick-and-rolls and a physical an aggressive approach to handling reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki. source

Coach Flip Saunders, who is better known for offense, has always been a strong believer in defense.

“When we are playing our best, that’s how we play,” said Pistons coach Flip Saunders, who called Sunday’s defense the best he has seen on Nowitzki in his time with the Pistons. “We play physical, we get after it, we make teams react to what we do, and we don’t stay back. We become more proactive.”

Rasheed Wallace speaks

The center for the Detroit Pistons, Rasheed Wallace, had a ready quote before the game.

“We’ve just got to put their (butt) in a hole on the other end, put their (butt) right down there on them chop blocks (the post),” Wallace said. “They don’t have no real big men, actually. The only real big man I’d say is Damp (Eric Dampier) because he fits that classic big man mold. … But they’ve got a lot of slashers on their team. It’s a team full of slashers. I’m not saying they’re not good, but, hey, in order to hold their slashing down, put their (butt) on the chop blocks.” source

Come playoff time, if the Pistons should meet the Mavericks in the NBA Championship series, look for the Pistons defense to win over the long haul. Offense seems to win during the regular season, but defense prevails in the playoffs.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can Dallas win a title with offense?

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LeBron James knows he must improve for Cleveland to win

It is not often that LeBron James is humbled.

It is even less often that the King is shown to be at a deficit with his hoop skills.

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised a lot of teams last year, but unless LeBron and the team improve, they will fall behind the Pistons, Celtics, and probably the Magic.

And right now LeBron is behind Kobe in his ability to finish a game.

In last year’s Championship, the San Antonio Spurs took LeBron and basically punished him.

So the Spurs took LeBron out behind the woodshed?

Well, not exactly, but something like that.

The San Antonio Spurs prevented LeBron James from dominating in last year’s NBA Championship series.

The Spurs, given more than enough time to game plan, took advantage of his shortcomings during the Finals. Bruce Bowen chased him wherever he went, and when James did penetrate, he usually found a four-man wall waiting for him.

The Spurs’ goal: If James wanted to drive, he was going to have to plow through a crowd of them to do so. Instead, they dared James to fire pick-and-roll jumpers, and he didn’t make nearly enough, shooting just 32 percent in the four-game sweep. source

The King was not going to side idly by and let this public humiliation escape away without rectifying some soft spots in his game.

So, LeBron James went to work this past summer.

So James brought Cleveland’s shooting coach, Chris Jent, with him nearly everywhere he went last summer. Jent was in Las Vegas working with James as he trained with Team USA. He accompanied him to Los Angeles for the ESPYs. To New England for a working vacation.

The results aren’t hard to see. Just ask the Memphis Grizzlies, whom James hung 51 points on Tuesday. He’s leading the league in scoring, averaging 29.8 points per game while shooting a career-best 48.7 percent. James’ three-point percentage has dropped slightly, but his midrange game has never been better.

Now that the King has improved, LeBron would like to see the team improve. One area of definite improvement would be more talent.

“They have to get LeBron more help,” one scout said recently.

The GM, Danny Ferry, has twice tried to get Mike Bibby, asked about Andre Miller of the Sixers, tried to put together a package for Jason Kidd of the Nets. So far no luck.

Geez, LeBron takes the team all the way to the finals without talent. How scary would the Cav’s be with talent?

One thing is for sure, LeBron will be working on his game in the meantime to get better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Is LeBron the best player in the NBA?

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It was fitting that the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all had great games as Boston won again.

Kevin had 20 points and 11 boards.

Paul had 18 points and Ray had 16 points.

With this victory the Celtics matched the 1959-60 Champion Celtics for best start in franchise history.

Final Score Boston 86 – New Jersey 77.

The New Jersey nets just seemed to wear down in the fourth quarter as the Celtics got a lot of help from their bench throughout the game.

“We got down on the road and our starters needed some rest,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “The bench was able to dig it out and get us the win. They were huge for us. Every game, we try to get our big guys rest because its a long season and were trying to give the bench more confidence.” source

The Celtics bench is often criticized, but will have to perform well if the Celtics have any chance of winning the NBA Championship, so Coach Doc Rivers was very pleased.

Maybe it was a battle of benches, because the starters for New Jersey did fine. Although, the team missed a ton of free throws going 9 of 24.

Richard Jefferson led the Nets with 17 points, Vince Carter had 16 and Josh Boone added 14 and a career-high 16 rebounds. Jason Kidd just missed another triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.

NBA Basketball Jason Kidd factoid - The assist by Kidd on Carter’s jumper with 8:07 remaining in the third was the 9,062 of his career, moving him past Isiah Thomas into fifth place on the all-time list.

So where do the Celtics go from here? Great defense, good coaching, solid bench play, almost unbeatable home and away…

It all comes back to the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

Kevin Garnett, especially, is on track for an MVP season and the winning certainly will attract the votes.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you vote for Kevin to be MVP?

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Kevin dreaming of the NBA Championship!

Kevin Garnett toiled with the Timberwolves for a very long time. Since 1995, Kevin had worked and worked to bring a NBA Championship to the city of Minnesota.

Unfortunately the Timberwolves, managed by former University of Minnesota and Boston Celtic star Kevin McHale, could not surround Kevin with enough talent to get the job done.

Kevin McHale had drafted Kevin Garnett right out of high school and from 1995 to 2007 Garnett averaged over 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Finally, with Garnett facing free agency and Minnesota knowing he was going to leave and play where he had the best chance of winning a championship, they made a deal with the Celtics.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have acquired 10-time All-Star and 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota’s conditional first round draft pick previously obtained in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade. Minnesota also receives cash considerations in the deal. source

Now Kevin finds himself matched up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The three of them are elder statesman in the NBA, hungry to feel that championship feeling.

Usually you should check to see if a team has 2 star players, one primary star and one secondary star. This is the usual formula for the NBA. Of course, exceptions abound.

The Celtics will be able to bring 3 stars to the party.

The first preseason game was played in Europe. So how did our 3 stars perform?

Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 16 rebounds in his Celtics debut, and Boston ruined Andrea Bargnani’s homecoming with an 89-85 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

Paul Pierce added 21 points for Boston, while Ray Allenhad an off night with only 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.The start of the NBA Europe Live tour marked the Celtics’ first game since Garnett and Allen joined the team, creating a “Big 3″ with Boston veteran Pierce. source

The question remains, will the 3 stars hungry for a title be able to get the job done or will age and selfishness prevent them from accomplishing their goal?

Kevin is known as an unselfish player and that may help, but beyond that so much is unknown.

They will need to develop some chemistry to win the really big games.

So what is going to happen?

Who can tell, it is a long journey to the title.

With Kevin Garnett the journey has just begun.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Kevin get his title?

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