Ugly game, but that's a very quality win. I don't really consider Boston elite anymore, but they had four days off before this game, we were on the end of a back-to-back, and Kidd didn't play. Very quality win.
Jason Terry is playing some insanely good basketball. Not a terribly efficient night for him, but he's playing some good defense and just seems to be bringing so much energy and confidence to the floor.
West is kind of the same as Terry. Really didn't shoot the ball well at all, but he's just everywhere on the floor and playing his butt off. He made a few poor decisions down the stretch, but it's hard to get the ball to Dirk when Garnett is basically possessing his body with no foul calls. Dirk sought out West on the floor after the buzzer and gave him a huge smile and hug. I thought that was interesting.
Shawn Marion had a really nice game, and if I have a gripe on how Stotts handled the reigns during the second half, it was that he failed to get Marion back into the game soon enough during the stretch run. Speaking of Marion, it's about time to put to rest this notion that he scores all of his points off junk. He's now our official third option on offense and we run plenty of plays designed to get him post up and flashes to the paint.
Dirk had a somewhat invisible game (for him, mind you). He still looks like he fighting to get back into shape, and it can't be easy to drag Kevin Garnett around on your back all night. But what a studly play at the end.
I thought Haywood and Ian turned in a hell of a game. Very active on the boards, and contributed well offensively. I really feel like Ian's coming out party is being under-reported locally.
Vince Carter was terrible. About the only talking point I have on him is that I'm horrified that he got 28 minutes tonight....and the reason I'm horrified is what it potentially says about Lamar Odom. This is me officially stating that I am concerned about Odom and his fit and potential on this team. I'm very much someone that preaches patience in these situations, but for Lamar to only pull 15 minutes of action on a night when we're short handed at the wings and Vince is playing that poorly...that could be significant. Don't want to dwell on it too much, but it's officially on my radar.
But overall, really nice win, even though it was crazy ugly.
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