Crank

Nice game JJ although this is the first time hes led us in scoring and weve won the game in three weeks .

Its hard to compare what Maggette does to what Crawford and Joe does . Maggette's entire game is based around getting to the line and often times he is basically playing PF in Nelsons small ball attack . He doesnt shoot the three ball at all he puts his head down and just drives and his numbers are inflated because of the pace the warriors play and the fact that they are scoring over a 107 a night . Maggette did the same thing for the Clipps it looks excellent on the stat sheet but those ft attempts do not impact his team in a positive way sort of like the way Kevin Martins ft attempts really dont for Sac . Crawford drove at will against the Magic and drew Dwight over to help but our spacing was horrible and no one but Zaza ever actually rotated into position to receive a pass or hit the offensive glass .Our starting frontline is more concerned about getting there shots blocked or getting dunked on than challenging Howard in the paint. What Diesel said about marvin could be applied to our entire frontline when they see Howard . They self check and Dwight just laughs because its nothing better than knowing you can leave your man and even if he gets the ball he will fumble it away or miss easy layups or shoot it before you come over . Until our front line decides they have had enough or Howard and goes at him for 48 minutes nothing will change .

They dont have to throw any looks at him . The frontline just has to not play like lil school girls. They have your number when you throw your best shot at them and they take it and still win . Al and co are not even showing up at all. Until our frontline decides that it has had enough of the magic and Dwight and decides to challenge Dwight for 48 minutes on the glass we will not beat this team.

Miller is better than Bibs but he would be wasted here just as any penetrating pg would with ISO JOE being ran. They brought him off the bench in Portland because Roy needs the ball in his hands he lit it up tonight because Roy is out ....he had 2 assists . Penetrating pgs dominate the ball and no one is prying it from Joes hands so now you have a guy with no jumpshot spotting up . This team would have to learn how to play all over again and get rid of Joe for a guy like Miller to be effective here . The closest we come is screen and roll with Crawford and even that can only be done for spurts . But what does tonights statline of 52 pts and 2 assists for a pg tell us about how he is the best facilitator for the team ? If tonights stats doesnt tell the story then why did you say they show how he is a facilitator ? Im just saying ..... :)

So Miller scoring 52 proves he wouldve been the facilitator this team needs ? hahahaha

What stops him from crashing the board ? A 6'8 240 LB 240 LB forward could make major contributions for this team if he applied himself to the glass on both ends.Marvin had 2 boards tonight while Gerald wallace is 6'7 220 lbs and is grabbing double digit boards . Dont tell me anyone believes that lewis or VC is boxing him out .... I dont need for Marvin to score 20 ppg to justify him being in the lineup. But right now his main focus should be to fill that stat sheet every game and play defense... tonight he was just out there he scored a couple of baskets and was just ....there .

Crawford is playing the same way he has always played . The difference is there are no distractions and the players around him are also playing at a high level . I dont think he has ever played for a team that didnt have front office turmoil and whose best players had problems with the coach. last year for NY Crawford and zach randolph was were playing great and NY was above .500 for the first time in years . They traded them both and Randolph is an all star and Crawford was in consideration. During that time Crawford was shooting 43% field 45% 3 averaging 19 ppg 4 apg on 15 fga per game . LOL I dont think hes ever been on a team who at this point in the season hadnt fallen apart due to off the court issues .

If the Bulls trade Hinrich for an expiring at the deadline they will go hard after JJ next summer especially the way Noah has played and could actually go after JJ and a power forward like Amare or Boozer as well. Noah FA PF - Boozer or Amare Deng FA SG - JJ ? Rose with the way things are looking there wont be enough money .The teams with cap space NJ NY Mia Chi Min OKC Clips You have lebron ,Wade,Bosh,Amare,JJ,Lee,Boozer if you eliminate teams like the Clips and Min then you have 4-5 teams going after 6-8 players Several teams will head straight for lebron while i think a team like the Bulls will run hard after JJ and Boozer.

JJ should stay but I dont believe he will. I think someone will offer him a 5 yr 100 million dollar deal and he will take it because we wont offer the 6 yr 120+ million dollar deal he will be looking for from us .

LOL thats a great quote but it really is weird reading the various sites at just how shocked people are at Crawfords success . Hes been putting in work for almost 10 years has scored 20 ppg for an entire season and 50 pts for 3 different teams and when he torches there team they act as though this guy came out of nowhere . There is a great video on the Hawks website with Ahmad Rashad interviewing Crawford and he opens with a quote from Chauncey Billups . It seems the players respect jamals game but the fans seem to always overlook him but its getting very hard to do that now .

Congrats to Al and JJ but dont fret Josh and jamal just take it it out on every team you face until the end of the year . Id tape that all star list to my locker and considering we get the Orl and Bos coming up and then the Bulls on espn .Id let my play let it be known that I was not happy being left off the team .

Bibbys play is only magnified by Marvins up and down play . Yes he is too old to play at the pace we need but he really hurts us most when Marvin and Co. dont show up .

I dont think we need a backup pg I think we need a 3rd perimeter player that can actually consistently produce to compliment jamal on the second unit. Derrick Rose and Rondo do what they do against everyone and so does Parker Stuckey,Bynum, and Robinson are scorers who when given enough shots will produce What stands out to me about all these games is the failure of our starting 5 to match the intensity of the opposing teams starting 5 . We come out lackluster let several streaky players on the opposing teams get confidence and then have to deal with them the entire game . This has happened about 8 times now this year and the best way to counter that is to come out focused and ready to play against these consistently.

I dont have a problem with Joe shooting its just seems that the shot he takes are just incredibly more difficult than he has to take at the time in the game . My nephew wondered why he didnt go for his double-double(7 assists) instead of trying to be the leading scorer .

When playing 30 mpg I think so . The minutes play a huge part in the difference in numbers as i said earlier we know Crawford when given the minutes can shoot poorly and put up a nice statline for a sub .500 team . Crawford has 5 blocks thats 3 more than JJ but I dont consider him as having played better than JJ this season and dont ever consider blocks really when grading guards. I dont think I even really believe that he should make the team but I just find it interesting how quickly people are to dismiss it not based on what he is doing this year but based on past reputation . Its no different than when I was checking the career numbers and I noticed Crawford is on his way to a 7th consecutive season of 100 made 3 pt fg and i wouldve thought with him probably going to breaking Millers record that he wouldve got a shot at the three point shoot out .

Hes doing what the coaches asked and he shouldnt be penalized for doing that . This is what bothers me about this stuff we know Crawford can put up 20 and 5 and 3 in 40 mpg on low percentages on a below .500 just like some of the other guys up for all star . So it shouldnt be a question of what he can do numbers wise but his impact on and contribution to a winning team . I think Al deserves to be the 2nd all star and Crawford would be my 3rd choice .

We are 7th in the league in APG as a team . The past 3 games we had 29 ,27 ,25 we move the ball just fine most of the time but we must do a better job executing when our shots are not falling.

Mo Williams out 4-6 weeks for the Cavs . http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4845554 We need to be thinking #1 in the east all the way and this is where we need to pick up the intensity heading into the all star break,.

Nate had a great 5-6 minute stretch after being benched forever but we lost that game because we fell apart down the stretch . LOL Im not worried about Nate Im more worried about us staying focused no matter who the opponent for an entire game . When was the last time we played a 48minute game ?

I just think JJ is a bit slow and knows what he wants to say but maybe doesnt know how . The play did get run there is a first ,second ,third and 4th option usually . If he was the first jamal was probably the second or third option so just like any other play that is ran if you cant hit the first option then move onto the others . If anything the problem is JJ is just used to getting the ball no matter what . You think Kobe or lebron says the play didnt get ran right if Fisher or Mo Williams ends up open for a shot ? this is more a BBall IQ thing imo.

I agree that Bibby is not going to hold up at the pace whe started the season but his minutes are down to very good levels but to make it even more effective we need Marvin to step up moreso than Teague . Crawford has been most effective at pg . The numbers are skewed because we play a 3 guard lineup a ton and so he gets listed at SG although he is playing point guard especially in the 4th . I disagree you dont have to play to learn your first year and with him being so young its best for him to sit and learn and to get minutes when he can . There is no rush and right now the growing pains with teaching Teague how to play our style of play would hurt the team more than help it right now . This year its more important to get the top 6 playing well and get a good grasp of how far they can go as there are important decisions that have to be made . There is no reason to insert teague into that right now . Allow him to get a feel for the nba game the travel etc and then this offseason when we decide on what we will do with Joe and Woody we can go from there.

what ? The best time to take those threes are off of an offensive rebound . Crawford was left all lone in the corner and you want him taking that shot everytime . That was maybe the biggest shot of the game and one he normally makes but he just couldnt get it down . the same with JJ's shot we had some GREAT looks in the 4th the shots just didnt fall. We had 27 assists as well but everyone is saying we were selfish and thats just not the case . We had 14 more shot attempts than the Thunder again the shots we normally make didnt fall and Im not talking about threes but short twos . Kristic going off and getting his season average in the first quarter is a problem . We need to come out and play better at the start of games on both ends . How many games has it been now that the starters make there first 2-3 shots but display absolutely no energy on either end of the court.This was a HUGE opportunity as the Celts and Magic both loss to try and maneuver into that second seed before the all star break. When was the last time we were able to take a game or more lead in the division and yet the starters again came out as if they were in the last game of a 8 game road trip playing for nothing.

Ive been saying this for a while now . The top 5 guards in the east this season has been Wade,JJ,Rondo,Rose,Crawford . Great game and I cant wait for the playoffs. I think espn/tnt is gonna eat up the Crawfords first playoff series storyline and if he continues his outstanding bench play look out. Casual fan: That rookie jamal Crawford is pretty good Die hard : Crawfords been in the league 10 years Casual : No way !!!!... where has he been all this time ? die hard : In basketball purgatory casual : In New York and Golden State ? gotta love this quote as well if thats true thats pretty bad @zz lol

All I gotta say is wow and never has someones own words carried more truth ROFLMAO This quote and that shot is like a commercial waiting to be made "If I miss my first 10 shots, that doesn't faze me. In the fourth quarter, I make my shots."-JC

Summer league for a combo guard making the transition to a nba pg is very important .The preseason games he was fine but he wasnt really in a situation similar to now though now was he ? He has played in 33 of the 38 games which is great for a rookie . So even if he plays poorly he should never come out ? Its amazing how many want him to get his token minutes and the complaining thats going on even though the season is not even halfway over yet doesnt make any sense . Teague has not shown that he is ready to play consistently on the road in the nba and its not surprising hes a rookie. So if the coach uses half the season get him acclimated to travel and routines then Im all for it. I fully expect his minutes to go up after the all star break but I also know that hes playing behind another guard who is playing as well as any guard in the league this year and that makes it awfully tough to divide minutes when you are trying to attack certain matchups .