Dukegotgame

Great win tonight. We fought hard. The refs def. were not on our side until the JJ push off at the end that went our way. JJ played a hell of a game tonight.

Quote: Woody did a great job of getting Z out of there when he realized he wasn't doing a damn thing. I would have loved to have seen someone come in and replace an awful Marvin tonight but who could he go to? We don't have a quality backup to Marvin when Childress is already playing big minutes so he didn't have much of a choice. Think about it this way, had Law played tonight it might have cost us the win. I'm not saying that it definitely would have, but it might have and if it did would it have been worth it to get him a few meaningless minutes at the expense of a win? As I have said many times I am not a huge TLue fan but people here complain daily about needing someone else to take the big shots at the end of the game other than Joe and TLue has done just that. If he keeps taking those shots and misses them more often than not then he needs to be taken out but as long as he keeps hitting them why on Earth would we not want him taking them? LOL... yeah he only figured out ZaZa wasn't doing anything 5 minutes too late. I also loved his brilliant tactic of benching players ONE foul before they are in foul trouble. We win in spite of Woodson.

Quote: Thank you Trace! It was just as Rath said last night, the closer had to come in during the 5th inning. Really he had to come in during the 1st inning after our starter gave up 2 grand slams though LOL. Lue had ice water in his veins last night with the shots he hit in the 2nd quarter and I highly doubt we would have won last night had it not been for him. I think Lue played well offensively last night, I just wish Acie was put in the second half when Miller was putting on a clinic.

Quote: Seems to me like a case of the http://youtube.com/watch?v=zZ1VvGvBzT0 Well considering this has gone on all season, I doubt it. I gave JJ the benefit of the doubt until the past 2-3 weeks because of what he has done in the past, but then it kept up and he got progressively worse.Off the top of my head, I cannot think of more than 5 games this year that JJ has played up to par for the past two seasons.

Quote: He has played since the iddle of the third quarter! Where has Acie been after a 9 assist night? IS WOODY REALLY THIS DUMB? I'd say Woody is just as dumb as you, which is really saying something. LOL @ "Some tell me WTF Lue is doing in the game!" Sorry we do not speak fluent gibberish.

Quote: Funny how there are no posts about his play, after the 2nd half. Damn bandwagon fans. LOL I was one of the first posters on this site so I hope your not referring to me. I'm sure your happy that JJ finally did not suck for a whole game considering your content with just making the playoffs even if we are not where we should be as a team. He had a decent 2nd half but nothing special. I really could give a rats ass if JJ is hurt, so is everyone else in the middle of the season. But you do not see constant excuses for them.

Sick pass by Josh...

Woody is a moron. We have Andre Miller light us up at PG and we have Lue in. Law is by far our best defensive PG and he has played like 4 minutes all game.

Seeing him make another one of his pathetic plays, or failing to make just a simple, routine play is starting to disgust me. Anyone else starting to not like JJ?

Quote: Joe Johnson has been absolutely abysmal tonight When was the last time he wasn't?

looks like woody drew up the old JJ airball again lmao what a joke

Quote: Many people don't realize how hard it is to come into a game completely cold and be expected to make shots. Add to that a player that hasn't received playing time in ages. Remember how well Salim did with consistent minutes at the end of last year? He was given time and wasn't on a short leash, so he wasn't under pressure and he shot well. I feel this is Acie's problem as well. That is because a large amount of people here never played basketball. And if you seriously believe Salim just has average handles your on crack. The man has some sick handles. Yes he gets out of control at times but that does not mean he has bad handles. Thats another issue that he has improved. All the people hating on him for being a chucker.. well when you dont play for months, and finally get in, what do you expect?

I would also say that Salim has always had great handles, he would just get out of control and wild at times. From watching him just the little we have got to this year, it looks like he has improved on that a good deal. Salim is never going to be a lock down defender, but he has improved there as well to the point he is no longer someone that can just have it taken to him all night. Now I am no Salim fan, I have no bias towards him, I just think he has skills and its crazy to not use him if only for 10-20 minutes a game.

Quote: Quote: Terrible shots? How were they terrible? They were good looks that rimmed out. Do you expect the man to come in the game and knock down all his shots when he has not played in months? Players need time to get warm and shooting is effected the most by that. This is the NBA Duke. Salim is a professional. He's supposed to be a shooter. A damn good shooter at that. If a shooter can't make shots in this league, he won't be in the league long. Everytime Salim gets a chance to come in a game to provide an offensive spark, he fails to do it. I'm a big of a Salim fan than anybody. But like with Shelden, I can't defend him anymore. Salim plays ball every day. He probably takes a ton of shots each day as well. I know there is a difference between practice speed and game speed, but a pure shooter like Salim should be able to make shots whether he plays 25 minutes a night, or 5 minutes a night. Sunday against Boston, a seldom used player like Brian Cook steps into a game in the 3rd qtr. It's his first action of the game. Cook is a soft as hell 6 - 9 forward, but he's strictly an outside shooter. He steps in the game, and scores 11 straight points in a 2 - 3 minute span for the Magic, including three 3's. At that time, he blew the game open for the Magic. Of course, Cook can't play like that all the time. But as a shooter, that's what his team looks for him to do. I don't mind one bit for Salim to come into a game firing shots . . or chucking. That's what he's supposed to do. But he has a limited amount of minutes AND shots a night, to impact a game. We can't wait for him to go 1 - 5 FG, before he hits 5 in a row. We can do that with a starter, but not a role player. And he's not going to get 10 shots in a game, unless he plays 25 - 30 minutes, or if he starts out red hot. There are no more excuses for Salim. His niche in the NBA is that of a shooter. If he can't hit at least 2 of his first 4 or 5 shots, he can't be on the floor . . . period. Quote: Anyone who has half a brain cell can see we need scoring and perimeter shooting and Salim provides that. The last time he provided that, was during March, when he was playing 25 - 30 minutes a game. He was great during that stretch. But we all know what his problem is. He's not big enough to play the 2, and he doesn't have the skills of a 1. If he could defend and handle the ball while being pressured, we could get away with him in the starting lineup alongside JJ, with JJ being the playmaker in the halfcourt offense . . ala Daniel Gibson and LeBron. Unfortunately, those aren't Salim's strengths. Quote: Right now we hardly have anyone who can create their own shot. Salim can at will. And who are we kidding? What other guards have been playing so well that Salim can't even play once a month? None of them. Salim can create his shot. But he tends to rush all of his shots, which results in him missing 70% of them. We can't play him, if he's going to miss 70% of his shots. Lue plays befoe Salim, because Lue can come right into a game and make shots. He'll give the points right back, but he can make shots. If Salim could make shots, he'd instantly make Lue obsolete. I understand what your saying, but there is a huge difference between not playing for months and getting anywhere from 10-20 minutes a night. Let's not try to argue that Salim is not a good shooter because of this season because I think we both can agree he has one of the best strokes on the team.

Quote: He's improved his effort on defense? What's that entail? Putting his hands up? So you mean to tell me you do not know what putting effort into defense entails? Maybe time for you to find a new hobby... or stop being a sarcastic prick But I'm sure since you have 1000 posts in about a year you must be an expert right?

Quote: Grant it. I turned off the game with three minutes left in the third... but I do remember the first three possessions that Salim was in resulted in two terrible Salim shots... Terrible shots? How were they terrible? They were good looks that rimmed out. Do you expect the man to come in the game and knock down all his shots when he has not played in months? Players need time to get warm and shooting is effected the most by that. Anyone who has half a brain cell can see we need scoring and perimeter shooting and Salim provides that. Right now we hardly have anyone who can create their own shot. Salim can at will. And who are we kidding? What other guards have been playing so well that Salim can't even play once a month?

LOL anyone who judges a player on missing shots when he has not gotten action in a few months and had spot minutes tonight is a moron who has obviously never played any basketball. Not even worth addressing.

Terrible post. He played well, So what he missed a few shots? All his shots looked good and none were forced. He is one of the only players on our team who can create any shot they want at any time. He has improved his effort on defense which was his biggest weakness. He is the type of player who would blow up elsewhere.

I am sick of hearing people say that passing on Roy was logical because we have nowhere to play him. That is bullshit. Besides the ever popular notion of playing Roy at 1 and JJ at 2, did it ever occur to people that we could very easily slide JJ to 3 and play Roy at 2? Not to mention he could backup 1/2/3. That makes either Chill or Marvin expendable to acquire a legit PG or big. I am Duke fan and even I can see how idiotic picking Shelden was. I know hindsight is always 20/20 which is I why I do not question many of our GM's draft picks, HOWEVER this is different story since BK was too lazy to even work out other players and promised Shelden the spot.

look marvin was not the right pick, but he is turning into a very nice player. we have much bigger issues than him. mainly, drafting shelden over roy, mike woodson, and our lack of big men behind horford.

Quote: Thank you, no way that you can blame this loss on Woody. Roy beat JJ like a drum at the end, then Roy gets a BS shooting foul call and JJ has back to back awful possessions but you have to go to him since he is the high paid star of the team who has made many of those with us. This was a painful loss tonight but it's not on Woody. JJ played a huge part but leaving in ZaZa for so long was inexcusable. The game never would have gotten to that point if it was not for that. ZaZa may as well stay down of the offensive end of the floor instead of getting back on defense when he is in. At least then he may get lucky and get a cherry picking bucket.. unless he fumbles the ball off his on feet and falls over.

LOL at Brandon Roy being all up in JJ's [censored] making him fumbled the ball and turn it over basically two times in a row... then take JJ at will on offense... then JJ shoots an airball LOL Oh and this is not an over reaction, this is a long time coming and it is time some of you people take off your rosy colored glasses.

lo JJ is so over rated. some people on here ride his nuts because once a blue moon he puts up 30. I guess they miss every other game where he decides not to show up... or pull an AI and jack up shoot after shoot with the same result... clank. JJ is not a bad player, but I find it funny that a lot of the same people who praise JJ on here, hate on Josh and Marvin every day of the week.

getting schooled by a second year player. star my ass.. he is not even the best player on this team. ps. fire woodson. great move leaving in zaza for 10 straight and watching the lead dwindle every minute.

Quote: This guy has won 75 % of our games the last 2 seasons. He was the chief reason we didn't win about 10 games all of last year, and he is slumping a bit this year. He is the only player on our team who can score 27 on any given night. I have been harsh on Smoove, but he is coming along nicely, and Marvin had his 3 or so good games in December and is garbage right now. Joe + Smoove + Gasol = Death to the Eastern Conference. Trade Marvin! lol... and I can't even remember all of the games where if Joe would have decided to show up we would have won instead of lost... luckily we won tonight even though Joe decided to take the night off.