After a hot start from three that had Gabrielle Union talking smack, the Bulls have become the worst three-point shooting team in the Association, both in terms of makes per game and percentage. That the Bulls—with some backcourt combo of Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams—don’t shoot well isn’t surprising. But somebody on this team needs to figure out how to hit from outside before Fred Hoiberg really does end up the mayor of Ames, Iowa.
With their preferred starting lineup of Thomas, Avery Bradley, Crowder, Horford and Amir Johnson, the Celtics are 13-4 this season. The Celtics have seemingly shifted to another gear since Thomas returned from a four-game absence due to a groin injury in mid-December. Boston's only loss in the past seven games came when Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook outdueled Thomas in the fourth quarter of a thriller at TD Garden last week.
Wholesale New York Giants Jerseys,Charlotte is a feisty bunch, but the Hornets’ three highest-paid players—Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams—are really struggling offensively. The burden on Kemba Walker is just too high here. Batum and Williams particularly need to step up, as MKG has always been a defense-first guy. If that doesn’t happen, it may be time to start looking elsewhere.
After Thomas torched his Grizzlies for a career-high 44 points a week earlier, Memphis coach David Fizdale was asked before Tuesday's game about the best way to defend him.
Wholesale Pittsburgh Steelers JerseysThe Raptors, particularly coupled with the DeMar DeRozan Sports Illustrated Revenge Tour, have been tons of fun to watch this season. Did you know Toronto actually has the best offense in the NBA? What I’d like to see the Raps do at least once in 2017 is beat Cleveland. The Cavs have won the first three matchups between the two teams, all of which were tight games. Toronto faces Cleveland only once more this season, and that April game could be important for seeding purposes. At the end of the day, a regular season win against Cleveland won’t magically change Toronto’s chances in a playoff series against the Cavs, but maybe it would give the rest of us some sort of hope for a truly, honest-to-god competitive East Finals.
In fact, it looked very similar to the Cavs loss:
Pittsburgh Steelers JerseysWhen the Celtics visited Cleveland on Nov. 3, they were without Al Horford (concussion) and Jae Crowder (ankle). Boston trotted out a starting lineup that included Tyler Zeller and rookie Jaylen Brown, two players who combined for a total of 16 total minutes in Boston's two victories this week. The absences diminished any early-season hype around that first meeting, and Cleveland controlled the game more than the 128-122 final score might suggest.
"I dont know. You got any suggestions?" he asked reporters with a laugh. "Tackle him."