The Dugout – Bad Breaks and Big Streaks
Down Goes Dalton
Sometimes it only takes that one injury for an entire season’s work to disappear into smoke at the whim of some cruel fate. Ask Dallas Cowboys fans this year. Or Oklahoma City Thunder fans the last three years. Maybe, possible, perhaps ask Cincinnati Bengals fans in a few weeks.
It’s pretty fascinating because Andy Dalton, who could miss the rest of the regular season with a fractured thumb – possibly the playoffs too, though it’s not as bad as first feared – has long been the lightning rod for blame on this team. He’s never won a playoff game, steering them there three years in a row only to crumble under the big lights. And yet this has been his best ever season. This has been the year he made a sustained MVP run (which has crumbled under the lights too, but only because of how good Cam Newton has been). This should be the year that he finally takes this team into the contending level, and now there’s a chance he’s not even going to be there.
Can they win the Super Bowl with A.J. McCarron? Nah, probably not. He showed in relief against the Steelers that he’s got a decent enough arm but some of the decision making was poor and that’s about right for a quarterback with a grand total of zero NFL starts. You know what the fewest number of career starts for a Super Bowl winning QB is? Six, by Jeff Hostetler for the Giants in 1990. He went on to win, though Vince Ferragamo’s seven starts didn’t help him for the Rams against the Steelers in 1979. Colin Kaepernick was next with nine in 2013. McCarron has room left for three starts.
Really tough break for the Bengals. Dalton’s been great and the sight of him on the touchline with a cast during a game that he started wasn’t great. Though neither was this interception, to be fair:
Maybe he’s the same old Dalton… or maybe he’s ready to take the next step. Hopefully he still get the chance.
The next step. You know, like Cam Newton has done. 13-0 now, those Panthers have a 17 game winning streak going on and Steph Curry was right with his prediction, but more on that later.
Meanwhile for every peak there’s usually a valley and vice versa. Which is where the Kansas City Chiefs come in. 1-5 after their first six games, now 8-5 after 13. They were supposed to be done without Jamaal Charles. They were supposed to be finished. And now look at them:
Did the Golden State Warriors Lose a Game this Week?
Why yes. Yes they did.
Which means that the streak ends at 28. Enough to surpass the Miami Heat’s 2012-13 streak of 27 straight wins but not enough to overhaul the all-time record, set in 1971-72 by the LA Lakers. They won 33 in a row. Coincidentally, it was the Milwaukee Bucks that broke that streak too.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple double and the Warriors shot poorly. It was about time that they had a down game and it was only fair enough that it came on the end of a brutal seven game road stretch the day after going to double overtime against the Celtics. Michael Carter-Williams also had a blinder of a game, playing some great defence and scoring late when needed. He’s sorta reinventing himself off the bench this season.
The Cubbies Are Coming!
The Chicago Cubs were one of the stories of the 2015 MLB season and based on what they’re doing this offseason they’ll be right up there in 2016 too.
It was a long and arduous rebuilding process but now it’s finally paying off. I guess when you’re as traditionally hopeless as the Cubs, that’s a risk that the fans can pretty comfortably endure. A long-term collecting of assets has given them one of the finest farm systems in the game and now that those talents are coming into their own in the Majors, the Wrigley faithful are finally getting what they’ve always been too afraid to dream of: A contending baseball team.
They fell short in the NL Championship as the Mets rolled them with their unhittable rotation, blitzing them in four games. But since then the Cubs have gone and added Jason Heyward in free agency on an eight-year, $184 million contract – probably the best hitter on the market. Add him to a line-up that features Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant and you’ve got a young hitting core that can spawn a dynasty when combined with Jake Arrieta and the fast-improving pitching staff. The Cubs have also added that crucial element to their clubhouse of ‘veteran leadership’ in bringing in Ben Zobrist and John Lackey, both World Series champs (BZ a current champ with the Royals in 2015). It remains to be seen whether they can improve on their 97 wins and get themselves into their first World Series since 1945 and maybe win their first title since 1908. For a franchise as defined by futility as this one has become, the future is suddenly pretty bright. GM Theo Epstein and co. seem to be making all the right moves.
Chur Steve
- at MEM (W 125-88): 14 MINS, 4 PTS (1/5 FG, 2/4 FG), 5 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO, 2 PF
- vs ATL (W 107-94): 31 MINS, 11 PTS (5/7 FG, 1/3 FT), 7 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 PF
- ay UTA (W 94-90): 24 MINS, 4 PTS (2/4 FG), 4 REB, 3 PF
- vs UTA (W 104-98 in OT): 32 MINS, 9 PTS (3/6 FG 3/3 FT), 7 REB, 2 BLK, 1 TO, 3 PF
The Warriors loss means that the NBA’s longest current winning streak now belongs to the… Oklahoma City Thunder! They’ve won five on the trot and at 16-8 have the third best record in the league.
A Marc Stein OKC nugget: They've allowed just 94.3 PPG on 42 percent shooting in the past 10 games, compared to 105.2 PPG on 44.1 percent shooting in the first 14 games.
That’s a significant improvement on defence, for sure. How much of that we can put down to their defensive starter in the Big Kiwi is probably hard to say without really crunching deep within the numbers, but at a whim it’s probably more an increase in Serge Ibaka’s play. Serge has been down on his usual standards this season but just recently has begun to play like the defensive superstar that he is, good scoring nights against the Grizz and Hawks certainly helped him too. Though there have been signs of improvement from Steve on the defensive end too, which we’ll get to.
Memphis fans hate Steven Adams. Ever since Z-Bo got suspended for trying to whack him, they’ve held a grudge. But Adams tends to play pretty well against the Grizzlies and he loves the grind with Z-Bo. He did some great stuff on him in this game and avoided foul trouble as he did – crucial since it was foul trouble that limited him in the first half. He only shot 1 of 5 but three of those misses were on the back of offensive boards, so pretty much house money. He did fine. But he only played 14 minutes. Despite Steve’s initial third quarter quality, the Thunder had already instigated different plan: They went small. Death ball. It started in the second and they just slaughtered. Kevin Durant matching up with Zach Randolph. The big Memphis lads just couldn’t run with the smaller, dynamic Thunder and OKC ran away with it. KD had 32 points.
The logic was then that they’d go small often against the Hawks too, who are a team with stretch players in several positions that can run with the most dynamic of them. But they didn’t, really. Steven Adams played 31 minutes, for example.
He got torched by the Hawks last time out, getting dragged away from the basket by the likes of Paul Millsap and Al Horford and their range of shooting, but here he was able to cope with that far better. 14 minutes in an OKC loss in which Horford shot 8 of 15 compared to 31 mins in a win where Horford shot 3 of 14. He’s made a few sharp defensive plays on guards after the switch recently as well and when you get a few nice ones under your belt and feel like you’re making a contribution, that tends to inspire plenty of confidence.
The thing you notice most of all with Steve is the same reason why, no matter what the penny analysts might say, he’s not losing his starting position any time soon. That would be his ability to set a pick, unparalleled on this roster. And when you have guys in Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant whose main idea of offensive strategy is: ‘Just get me my shot’, the space created in behind and around the kind of shield provided by a seven foot tall kiwi lad is indispensable.
Durant had a triple double (25p/12r/10z), Westbrook scored well (23 pts) and so did Serge Ibaka with 23 also. Adams scored the first 6 points of the game for the Thunder too. It was closer than it looks, but the Thunder pulled away late to make it easy.
And then a double header against the Jazz. One on the road, one at home, and the Thunder won both of them. For Steve’s sake, it helped plenty that Rudy Gobert was out, though that did also mean a limit in his minutes as a rim-protecting, defensive centre wasn’t always necessary. Not that they didn’t play big, just that Enes Kanter (having played just 11 mins against the Hawks and up against his old team here) was a better matchup. He and Adams split time pretty much down the middle. The Thunder led by a comfortable margin for most of the night but fell asleep in the fourth to let the Jazz back into it (second night of a back to back for OKC, to be fair). But that was when a previously somnolent KD woke up, scoring the final 11 points for his boys to guide them home with the win.
And then a few days later they did it all again in OKC. A stinker of a game initially that they trailed 44-31 at HT, with Adams inexplicably having taken more FG attempts that Durant. The only reason it was even that close was because Westbrook finished the half doing this:
That must have given them some momentum because they came straight outta the gates with a 25-7 run, inspired almost entirely by KD & Russ, to fly into the lead. It was a lead that they would cede thanks to their bench defence but when Adams and Serge came back into it, OKC were able to establish themselves again. It went to overtime after Durant tied it up late, Adams having dunked to bring them within two, and they bossed from there. Thunder outscoring the Jazz 8-2 in OT. Ibaka’s six blocks were a highlight but he wouldn’t have been able to do it without Adams beside him. They kept the Jazz to 5 of 15 shooting from the paint in 4Q & OT. Durant responded to the lowest scoring half of his career (2pts) to finish with 31.
It’s that season where the charitable are busier than ever and Stevie and his Thunder are no different, making appearances all over the community. This may have been the coolest:
Also, not sure what to make of this:
A Literally Sobering Fact
The Philadelphia 76ers are so bad that there are tickets to their home games cheaper than the cost of a beer in the arena.
What Are You Even THINK… YES!!!
The Force of Hype
(@MazzESPN)
Old Enemies Embracing
Old Enemies Not Quite Embracing
Keeping It Real
Sounds About Right
Get On Up
That’s a 64 year old man, Pete Carroll, celebrating the Seahawks’ big win over the Ravens by climbing on the lockers.
Like The Wind
NFL Week 14 Power Rankings:
- Carolina Panthers (Last week = 1)
- Arizona Cardinals (5)
- New England Patriots (3)
- Seattle Seahawks (7)
- Kansas City Chiefs (6)
- Denver Broncos (2)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (8)
- Cincinnati Bengals (4)
- New York Jets (NA)
- Green Bay Packers (10)
Quote of the Week:
"I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man."
That from Bill Kennedy as part of a statement released by Woj (NBA’s numero uno inside man) on Yahoo, in which the 18 year NBA refereeing vet first publically disclosed his sexuality this week. The announcement comes in the wake of Rajon Rondo being fined and suspended for a game for an incident two weeks back where he directed some pretty disgusting words towards Kennedy.
Rondo had been tech’d up in a Kings loss to the Celtics in Mexico City on December 4, then getting a second technical called on him moments later having seemingly said something to Kennedy. That meant an automatic ejection, and off went Rondo on a bit of a rampage, screaming at the ref and needing to be held back by teammates. He’s alleged to have used the terms: "You're a mother------- f*ggot. … You're a f------ f*ggot, Billy." – as confirmed by several others in the ref reports afterwards. Pretty disgusting, really. Here’s the incident:
A little sneaky bit of context to this, Doc Rivers apparently used that same word to Kennedy at some point in the past (pre-2010) which led to what some have perceived as rough calls by Kennedy against Rivers’ Celtics team back when Rondo would have been on that Celtics team. Kennedy has denied this incident, however.
As for Kennedy’s sexuality, it was something of an open secret in NBA circles but good on him for making this public at this time for the spotlight it shines on certain things that don’t always get dealt with in the right ways.
Runner-Up Quote of the Week:
“Why would I be surprised? You see it all the time. It’s unfortunate, it’s disgusting, because Billy is a great guy, and has been a class act on and off the court.”
Gregg Popovich responds to the Rondo thing with a healthy dose of realism. Meanwhile Rondo offered what could loosely be termed as an apology on twitter:
More of an excuse, really. Though to his credit he offered a more sincere apology the following day.
Good Week:
Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks) – Have you been watching him this last month? This may be the best football he’s ever played. 292 yards and 5 TDs in the demolition of the Ravens means he’s now gone four straight games with at least 3 passing TDs, 70% completion and 0 interceptions in each of them. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a feat never before achieved in the NFL.
Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs) – Kawhi is incredible and nobody is noticing. The Spurs are on track for 65 wins and nobody is noticing. We’re talking about a dude who was already the best defender in the game and now he’s shooting 48.9% from threes and scorning 20.8 points per game. This last week he’s led his team to a 22 point win over the Lakers, a 25 point win over the Hawks and a 37 point win over the Jazz.
Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) – MVP KD is back. He’s scoring 27.3 a game in his last four, all wins, including a triple double and shooting splits of 60/47/96. Don’t worry about his health. This guy is getting it done.
Bad Week:
San Francisco 49ers – Here’s a stat for ya: The Niners (in their 14 point loss to a 2-win team in Cleveland) lost more yardage on sacks (44) than they gained from their top rusher (Shaun Draughn with 43).
Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) – There are two ways to look at this. 1) He’s busted and will never be the same player again. 2) He’s slowly working his way back after three years of injury troubles. Either way, it’s not pretty right now and Rose has gone 10 straight games without scoring 20 points – a career drought for him. It’s difficult to watch.
Player of the Week:
Khalil Mack (Oakland Raiders) – Well damn. Down 12-0 to the Broncos at half time, Mack played one of the best second halves you could possibly imagine. Five sacks, with the Raiders rallying to win 15-12. He single-handedly got them into it with his brutalising of Brock Osweiler. Incredible stuff.