The Fundamental
It was previously discussed in the Sweet Spot how Miami has been recently undervalued from an offensive standpoint. It appears this is the case again tonight, especially when paired with Artest's physical/psychological issues.
Sacramento likes to give their fans a show and with Miami scoring, they'll be anxious to put up points themselves. Look for an outrageous number of FTs to be shot in this game as it shapes up to be a close contest. There's definitely good potential for OT.
The Technical
Setup = HLH
Raw Total = 194
Injury Index = +1
Trend Index = +3
Projection = 198
Not even OT could seal the deal for the OVER tonight. The game was played in Sacramento but Miami controlled the tempo and who can blame them since it earned them the win as significant dogs. The Kings really have no excuses for the way they played, though. It would have been a simple win for them if they had just given more effort. Owned was correct in that they didn't seem to be playing for the win tonight.
Magic Johnson noted after the game that it is disturbing they would play this slower style of basketball considering they have no post presence. This is a valid point, especially considering they had early season success by scoring more than anybody thought they would. Just like the Nets earlier tonight, an open, fast game is much more suited to their lineup and would please their biggest star, Ron Artest. Cash in on a bigtime bounce back after a couple days of rest when the accomodating Hawks come to town on Sunday.
Sleepy time is over with, it's time to wake up early and do some Big Game Hunting.
Don't usually like to dwell on games in the past after I've gone over and looked for the error of my ways on the specified game, but this one was excruciating to watch. Didn't catch the post game show as I had to run some errands, so no idea what Magic and the rest of them said, but to me at least, in the 1st half, the most effective play was Bibby splitting the screen and penetrating to the rim and dishing off to an open player, who would brick the open J every time, but these were wide open looks that these guys usually make, yet Musselman seemed to abandon this for 1 on 1 sets with Artest and Salmons early in the 2H. And, it was lovely when he screamed to his guys, "attack the rim now, there's no shot blocker in there" when Zo left in the 1Q. Ironically, I think it that gameplan was just as effective, if not more, when Zo was in there as it allowed for Miller to get a ton of clean, open looks.
I remain amazed at how many guys in professional sports get hired to coach/manage, and get second and third chances at it, simply because they look the part or have some entree into the fraternity.
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