More NBA thoughts going coming out of the weekend.



Statement win for the Celtics Friday night, soundly beating Orlando by 10 in Orlando. The Magic have a very nice, young roster and an excellent coach, but they are one solid rebounding big man away from being able to beat teams like the Cavaliers and the Celtics in a 7 game series. It gets very difficult on the defensive end to compete when you start two small forwards and no power forward. As good as Dwight Howard is, he needs help inside against the bigger front lines. Orlando will win at least 60 games by beating up on lesser teams. But they will not advance far in the playoffs against the bigger tougher teams.



The coaching massacre continued on Friday with the Grizzlies firing Marc Iavaroni. Out of all the firings we've seen this year, this one made the most sense. With very young talent like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo, the Grizzlies needed a better teacher. And although Iavaroni had a stretch this year where he seemed to be almost getting something out of these guys, ultimately it all collapsed. The Grizzlies actually followed through well also, reportedly offerring the job to former Dallas coach Avery Johnson. Johnson turned them down, but its nice to see an organization make a run at a guy with a proven track record as oppossed to a team like the Wizards who fires a true pro like Eddie Jordan for a life long pencil pusher like Ed Tapscott, whose claim to fame was passing on Ron Artest for Frederic Weis, but I digress. The Grizzlies ended up hiring Lionel Hollins who has been an interim coach for them 2 separate times. He may not be the long term answer, but at least they're out there looking for one.



So I see where the Detroit Pistons have decided to bring Richard Hamilton off the bench in favor of starting Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey in the back court. Gutsy move by rookie head coach Michael Curry. And from this angle, I believe it to be the right decision. Firstly, Hamilton will most definitely still average in excess of 30 minutes a game. He will provide to the Pistons what San Antonio Spur fans have come to mknow as the "Ginobili effect." Manu Ginobili is a big time player in the NBA and a prolific winner. Spurs coach Greg popovich brings him off the bench and derives a big advantage in late first quarter/early second quarter action of games. Philosophically, its simple. Ginobili is better than anyone else's 1st or 2nd guy off the bench and inevitably ends up with a matchup that can be exploited. A coach can only get away with this with decent starters. This year's version of the Spurs has Tony Parker and Roger Mason. And the Pistons have Iverson and Stuckey. Hamilton is going to thrive in this arrangement and this will make the Pistons a much tougher out come May for Cleveland or Boston than Orlando could ever be.



Don't look now, but Larry "Next Town" Brown is starting to weave his magic in Charlotte. Six weeks ago it looked like they were throwing in the towel on their season by trading their best individual player in Jason Richardson. The two players they brought in, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, are generally perceived as role players whose productivity was tied to Mike D'Antoni's system and Steve Nash's generosity. But they have come into Charlotte and fit in very well with a group of raw young players. This combined wuth the improved play of point guard Raymond Felton and the emergence of Emeka Okafor as a real solid inside player, and Next Town Brown has the Bobcats playing over .500 basketball since the Richardson trade. If Brown can turn this team into a winner, this will be a very nice notch on the belt of Larry's coaching career. I give the wandering one a lot of credit for not allowing his coaching career to end on the blemish that was his ill fated tenure as coach of the New York Knicks. The lesson is, everyone who gets attached to Isiah Thomas comes out of it dirtier than they came in. Just ask his daughter....

A few weeks ago, I predicted in this space an epic Western conference final with the Spurs and the Lakers. If there is one team out West that can definitely blow that up, it is certainly the Houston Rockets. They are the most well rounded team in the NBA. They are also the only team in the entire league with two perimeter defensive stoppers, in Shane Battier and Ron Artest. They play well in the half court and catch match up with big teams. They are athletic and deep enough to run with the fast teams. Their coach, Rick Adelman, has a lot of experience bringing teams deep in the playoffs. He was always blocked from a title by Jordan's Bulls and Shaq and Kobe's Lakers. If he can get this Rockets team to think more like an ensemble cast (more shots for everyone, and less for Tracy McGrady), he has the team that no one wants to play including the big bad Lakers.

Back with more later in the week.

Y'all be cool giddyap.