Tuesday Recap

CAVS/WIZARDS:

- Washington's defense on Lebron was the key to this victory, they sagged off him and cut off driving lanes pretty well when he attempted to get to the rim, this was the best team defense from the Wizards I've seen--also Jordan's decision to put Jeffries on Lebron was a great move: Jeffries' length and great ability to move his feet for a guy his size is a nice asset

- All in all, Eddie Jordan was the MVP of the game--his entire defensive gameplan, combined with throwing Jeffries and Butler on Lebron, plus calling plays for Butler really made a difference--the Wiz held the Cavs to 36.1 % from the field

- Drew Gooden was the only bright spot for the Cavs, he really attacked the glass with a passion

- Although, Arenas scored 30 points and kept his TOs down, he shot 41.6 % from the floor and kept proving my point of having the worst shot selection in the league--by my count he had at least 8-10 ill-advised shots, not to mention 2 horrible shot attempts late in the game--what was he thinking on that 3pt attempt with about a minute remaining when they had the lead??? Like I've said before, I'm not quite enamoured about his basketball IQ

- I think Washington needs to keep this same gameplan on Lebron and the Cavs, especially if Mike Brown is not going to play Damon Jones, Pavlovic or Marshall very much---Brown needs to consider getting more plays for Big Z


SPURS/KINGS:

- The Kings really surprised me with their effort and execution--I really thought the Spurs were going to roll over Sacto (especially without Artest), but the Kings did an unexpectedly good job defensively-- I thought they did a pretty solid job containing Parker and sagging off him

- Bonzi came out of the gate super aggressive, attacking the basket at will until he fouled out -- I thought this was one the worst defensive efforts in the painted area by the Spurs that I can remember--the Spurs gave up 56 points in the paint, the Kings also outrebounded them by 13

- Shareef definitely aided Bonzi in this demolition of the Spurs' interior defense--he was putting on an absolute clinic in the post, he took it right at Duncan and I was surprised when he was getting his shot over the top of Duncan--everytime he was making his moves in the post I thought there was no way he could clear his shot cleanly over Timmy but he kept proving me wrong

- This leads me to my observation that Duncan is not right, I know this is not any big secret but he just has not looked good the last 2 games--defensively he's not moving as well and not finishing shots like usual--I go to the play with about 1:30 remaining in regulation, the post-up on left block did not have enough on it and you can see his leg give out a little, maybe I am reading too much into it but this definitely will be a problem in the next round

- Let me just say, that the play for Barry's game-tying three was one of the best set plays I've ever seen--a lot of things need to happen just right for it to work, probably the biggest thing is Bibby being able to be picked off--when I saw the play happen in real-time I thought it was just a broken play but when I saw the replay and saw Duncan pick off Bibby, I agreed I saw one of the best set plays I've seen

- Bibby deserves blame for that play, no doubt--he needs to stick to Barry no matter what, he needs to see him always and even should be feeling Barry with his arm for the whole play--If Duncan gets a shoudler-to-shoulder pick for Barry then you could give Bibby the benefit of the doubt but Bibby had too much separation from Barry before the pick

- 3 point shooting was the only reason the Spurs won this game, they did not play typical Spurs' defense and they got beat up on the glass, the only reason they stayed close with Sacto in the first half was because of 8 for 11 shooting from long-distance--the Spurs hit 12 threes for the entire game on 46 %

- I think the Kings needs to keep pounding the paint with Wells, Artest and now Rahim with Duncan looking gimpy--they also can consider playing Duncan straight up and concentrate more on guarding the 3 pt. line, something that's killed them the last two games


NETS/PACERS:

- I did not to get to see as much of this game as I wanted to cause of the overlap, but what I gleaned from the little I saw was that Indiana got in foul trouble again and this definitely hamstrung their defensive efforts

- Carter seemed to get the message and attacked the basket with more urgency--he was 8 for 8 in the paint but still probably took too many threes--1 for 6 from downtown

- O'Neal got into foul trouble again and the Pacers could not overcome this predicament this time, combined with Jackson's foul trouble and Peja sitting out, you can really understand the Pacers 35.4 % from the field on only 75 points