The Milwaukee Bucks won the second half by 15 points, propelling them to a 105-99 victory over the Houston Rockets. But, as always, there was much more to this game than meets the eye.

The Bucks went on a 12-0 run to start the game, and a 20-0 run that ran from the late moments of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. Over a 6 minute 18 second span, the Bucks outscored the Rockets 32-0. For the other 41 minutes 42 seconds, Houston won this game by a score of 99-73.

The two teams relied primarily on three point shooting, with Milwaukee connecting on 14/29 and Houston making 8/31. The 60 combined attempts were the most of any game in the NBA yesterday, with the T-wolves and Mavs  a distant second at 43 attempts. Houston’s 31 attempts were more than were taken in three individual games. Their eight made treys were the most for any team who came out on the wrong end of the score.

Seven players in this game hoisted at least five three point attmepts.

Eight players attempted at least 10 field goals.

The run and gun contest saw 184 field goal attempts and 204 total points. The Nuggets and Kings combined for 215 points, but took 15 fewer shots.

Samuel Dalembart and Ersan Ilyasova gathered 32% of the games rebounds (18 and 19 respectively) but only managed 9.8% of the games total points. The rebounding machines only attempted 8.6% of the games shots, despite having the ball close to the rim very often.

The teams combined for only 32 fouls, fewer than any other game on Wednesday’s slate.

The Bucks are now 7-10 and tied for third place in the Central Division. The Rockets are now 10-8, but in fourth place in the Southwest.

Only two games on todays schedule, make sure to check back for one of those games box score breakdown

11 1/2 more years

By Paul Gotham

Time to grab a couple of rebounds and go for the quick basket.

Missing the point

In response to the gun situation with the Washington Wizards, the New Jersey Nets announced a ban on gambling on its team plane. Leave it to the Nets who struggled to win for the first two months of the season.

The gambling is not the problem!  Guns! Guns are the problems. We do not need gambling banned on team planes. We need some counseling for players who think that guns can serve as a joke. While you are at it, can you look into the assertion that 75 percent of the players in the Association carry a piece.

Bosh a Rocket?

With the NBA trade deadline approaching, the Houston Rockets are looking to add some inside punch, and Toronto’s Chris Bosh is on the radar.  ESPN’s Marc Stein reported the possibility exists. Bosh in the lineup with Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Trevor Ariza and Sahne Battier would make the Rockets a sleeper in the West.

DiPietro Returns

More than one year after injuring his knee, New York Islander goalie, Rick Dipietro returned to the lineup. DiPietro made 24 saves as the Isles fell to the Dallas Stars, 4-3.

DiPietro still has 11 1/2 years remaining on his record 15-year contract. A 15 year contract? What were they thinking?

Coaching Tilt-A-Whirl

The college football coaching situation is moving so quickly in can’t be considered a gentle carousel. Brian Kelly for Charlie Weis.  Tommy Tubberville might have reached the end of his road at Texas Tech. Rick Leach is out. Mark Mangino is gone. Turner Gill is in and Jayhawk fans are not happy.   Jim Leavitt is looking for work. And Urban Meyer has made Brett Favre his career consultant.  Oh yeah, and Bobby Bowden is no longer a Seminole but not by choice. Geez…anyone else’s head spinning?

No need to adjust your set

Don’t worry.  You are not seeing things. The NHL standings are correct. Yes, the Chicago Black Hawks lead the league in points.

Got any rebounds and putbacks of your own? Post them here.

By Paul Gotham

Reckoning Season

Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady face personal crossroads this upcoming season. Both entered the league with much fanfare. Golden State chose Carter with the fifth choice of the ’98 draft. Toronto picked T-Mac ninth in the ’97 draft.

Since draft night Carter has played on teams that have won three playoff series. As of now, Carter does not know the NBA playoffs beyond the second round.

McGrady is still waiting to celebrate the winning of a playoff series.

Carter joins an Orlando Magic team that fell one game shy of the NBA title.

When Hedo Turkoglu opted for Toronto and its Turkish community, Magic GM, Otis Smith, acted quickly and acquired Carter. On the surface, Carter seems like an upgrade.  The ’99 Rookie-of-the Year is physically imposing. Orlando’s half-court set thrives on 4-Out around Dwight Howard leaving plenty of open floor. Carter should be able to capitalize and use his ability to go off the dribble.

But Carter will need to play a role supporting role with the Magic – something he has never seemed comfortable with in the past. Turkoglu’s biggest contribution to the Magic might have been his ability to let the game come to him. Rarely, did Turkoglu force a shot. Carter, on the other hand, might be responsible for single handedly exposing the limitations of the Iso set.

Making Carter’s plight more challenging is the overall improvement of the Eastern Conference. Add to that the loss of Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee (traded for Carter) and Orlando could find themselves exiting early in the 2010 playoffs.

Can Carter pick up the slack?

McGrady watched as his Houston Rockets eliminated Portland in the first round and lost in seven games to the eventual champion, Los Angeles Lakers. Many stuck a fork in the Rockets. McGrady spent most of the season sidelined with a knee injury. Then the Rockets shuffled Alston to Orlando leaving second-year man Aaron Brooks to run the point guard position. Rather than collapsing, the Rockets had a revival.

With the return of McGrady to lineup, will Houston improve? Or will the Rockets regress to a previous state of playoff incompetence?

Beasley Checks Into Re-Hab

ESPN is reporting that Miami Heat first round pick, Michael Beasley checked himself into a rehab center in Houston. Details are unclear, but it appears the rookie is suffering from chemical dependence.

This is not meant as a cut on Beasley, but how many of us saw this coming? Beasley lacked maturity at Kansas State. He argued with teammates and coaches. Sure, he is an impressive physical specimen with incredible athletic abilities. When will NBA teams figure out that it takes more than athleticism to be a professional?

Beasley was Miami’s second leading scorer. Perhaps, the best statement about Beasley might be that from Dwyane Wade. While Wade hasn’t come right out and directly criticized Beasley, the Heat’s leading scorer is making waves about his future. Wade has lobbied for the Heat to bring in more talent. Is that because Wade knows Beasley is four years away from consistently contributing?

Beasley, as many young players, needed an opportunity to grow without the pressures of playing professional. Instead he gets thrust into a spot where he lacks the coping mechanisms to succeed.

Here’s hoping Beasley gets the help needed to work through his problems. Here’s hoping NBA execs let kids make their mistakes in an environment that has the potential to nuture.

Got some Splinters to share? Post ‘em here.

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

by Rey

I recently attended a high school state all-star basketball game. There were two guards from a state championship team that I looked forward to seeing play. Behind me, a discussion began about one of the players, a point guard that will attend Yale.

“Why is he going to Yale? He ain’t going pro if he’s going to the Ivy League. Must not have had a lot of offers. They don’t even have athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.”

I quickly turned to the player’s bio in the program and confirmed his college of choice. It said, amongst his impressive accolades as a high school player, that he will attend Yale University and “wants to pursue a career in law and own his own law practice.” No better place to prepare oneself for the law field.

But a professional basketball career? I thought the comment was somewhat ignorant because surely there are a couple of Ivy League players in the NBA today. In actuality, it’s been quite some time since an Ivy League player made an NBA roster, let alone get drafted.

I thought of perhaps the greatest backcourt in Ivy League history, the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney. NBA fans remember Matt Maloney more than Allen because of his performances with the Houston Rockets in the late-1990s where he started all 82 games his rookie year.

While Maloney went the undrafted, Jerome Allen is the last Ivy League player to be drafted into the NBA. The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Allen with the forty-ninth overall pick in 1995. He later played for the Pacers and Nuggets.

In fact, there have only been two players from the Ivy League selected the last two decades. Dartmouth’s Walter Palmer preceded Allen in the 1990 draft. Quite the decline from the 1980s that saw thirteen Ivy League players selected.

Allen’s selection into the NBA probably came as no surprise to basketball purists. He and Maloney’s career at Penn became one of, if not the most, dominant in Ivy League history.

Under Allen’s guidance, Penn achieved an astonishing 51-5 record in Ivy League play and an overall record of 85-24. Allen achieved multiple player of the year awards for both the Big 5 and Ivy League. Behind Allen and Maloney, Penn saw its return to the national poll in more than a decade. Penn’s highest spot in the AP Poll was 21st in 1995; they also reached 24th the previous season.

Allen and the Quakers advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 1994 by defeating sixth seeded Nebraska 90-80. They lost their second round game, but it was the first time in fourteen years that Penn advanced past the first round.

Allen and Maloney almost did it again in their final season. Unfortunately Antonio McDyess’ 39 points helped Alabama defeat the Quakers 91-85 in overtime in the first round of the 1995 tournament despite 53 combined points from dynamic Penn backcourt.

With an illustrious collegiate basketball career sans an athletic scholarship, Allen’s induction into the NBA might have appeared to be a return to the 1980s for league often dubbed the “Ancient Eight.”

Yet here we sit in 2009 without a single player from the Ivy League earning an NBA paycheck. It is one of six conferences that did not have a player in the NBA during the 2008-2009 season.

Fran Dunphy, former Penn coach and current Temple University coach, said that tougher non-conference schedules for Ivy League teams have seen an influx of professional scouts at games. But that was said in 2005 and since then a couple of worthy prospects have come through the league and failed to reach the NBA.

One such prospect, Ugonna Onyekwe, played for Dunphy while at Penn. He finished his career as a two-time Ivy League player of the year and remains the school’s second leading scorer with 1,732 points. Before he arrived on the Philadelphia campus, some speculated that the London native would possibly be the first Ivy League player ever to leave school early to enter the NBA draft.

Onyekwe, however, did end up playing four years at Penn and made one final push for his NBA future in the 2003 NCAA tournament. Though his Quakers were eliminated in the first round by Oklahoma State, the 6’8″ forward scored 30 points and earned the praises of legendary coach Eddie Sutton. Sutton said that Onyekwe was “probably as good as any player we have in our conference and we have some good ones in the Big 12.”

NBA scouts had seen Onyekwe play and often confirmed that his talent, though physically undersized, exuded that of an NBA player.

It was not to be. He went undrafted and sought a professional basketball career in Europe. As of last season, Onyekwe still earns a living playing basketball in Israel.

The most recent NBA prospect to come through the Ivy League was—surprise—another Penn Quaker.

Ibrahim Jaaber played for Penn between 2004 and 2007. He, like his Quaker predecessors Allen and Onyekwe, won the Ivy League player of the year twice and even became the first Big 5 player of the year from Penn since 1979.

The 6’2″ guard went undrafted but played for the Detroit Pistons in the 2007 Summer League. Unfortunately, an NBA contract never resulted in his short time with the Pistons summer league team, but a European one did.

Jaaber still plays professionally in Europe and also plays for the Bulgarian national team.

Finish reading this article – Part II

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Another week and so many great performances – it is difficult to decide upon just one.  The Houston Rockets grab my POTW.  The Rockets were given up for dead.  And why not?  They had Tracy McGrady, Dikembe Mutombo, and Yao Ming all sitting on the becnh in the street clothes.  Fans would have easily understood if the Rockets bowed to the mighty Lakers.  Instead of giving up,  Aaron Brooks dropped a career-high 34, and Shane Battier added five trifectas to help Houston down Los Angeles 99-87.  Looking forward to game five.

Who gets your POTW?

thehoopdoctors.com

Much has been said concerning the flagrant fouls in the Lakers-Rockets series. The fouls have been viewed, reviewed, and the jurisdiction has gone beyond just the call on the court in every game. Therein lies the problem.

The flagrant foul calls in the NBA perhaps are too subjective on-the-court calls because flagrant foul 1 and flagrant foul 2 are separated by a single adjective yet carry different consequences.

According the NBA rule book, a flagrant foul 1 is defined as follows:

“If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is interpreted to be unnecessary, a flagrant foul–penalty (1) will be assessed” (Section IV paragraph a).

A flagrant foul 2 is defined as:

“If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is interpreted to be unnecessary and excessive, a flagrant foul–penalty (2) will be assessed” (Section IV paragraph b).

A flagrant foul is first and foremost “unnecessary.” The difference, however, between a flagrant foul 1 and a flagrant foul 2 is whether or not it is “excessive.” The problem is, what is defined as excessive?

The personal fouls help better define this. A personal foul is anything that impedes the progress of the offensive player with the following exceptions; “Flagrant, elbow and punching fouls” (Section 1 paragraph e). Even the lexicon for loose ball fouls denotes a flagrant foul if punching or elbows are involved.

Based on the description under the personal fouls section of the NBA rules, can it then be said that any elbow thrown, whether connected or not, is a flagrant foul 2? Does that define excessive? Because what is at stake is being able to continue play with a flagrant foul 1 or being ejected (and most of the time suspended) with a flagrant foul 2.

Friday night in game 3 of the Lakers-Rockets series, Ron Artest was assessed a flagrant foul 2 late in the game for his hard foul on Pau Gasol. Taking a close look at the play, it appeared as though Artest did two things right.

First, he took a proper angle to challenge the play. Secondly, he went after the ball and actually made a play on it. In the process, he body checked (which is in the definition of a personal foul) Gasol in the air and sent him hard to the floor.

See the Ron Artest foul here

Excessive? Certainly harder fouls have been committed and Gasol did hit the floor hard, but one would expect that to happen when a 6’7″ 265 pound player is making a play on the ball near the basket.

Unnecessary? What was Artest to do? Wait until Gasol was closer and heighten the chances of an and-one play? Not make an attempt to stop Gasol from scoring? As mentioned, he had a very good angle to challenge such a shot.

Now going back to game 2, where Kobe Bryant was brought into question for his actions on a box-out involving him and Artest. This particular foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1 after the game.

Off a shot attempt, Bryant has inside position on Artest. He pivots so as to seal Artest from the rebound, thus establishing inside position deep under the basket. As the ball hits the rim, without pivoting, Bryant’s elbow rears back and hits Artest above the neck.

See the Kobe Bryant foul here

This foul was certainly unnecessary. Bryant did everything right in establishing a box-out, then, by swinging his elbow, looked for an advantage when he realized his position was too far under the basket for the rebound. No play for the ball, but simply a strategy to clear space that is not established by the player.

According the rule book, Bryant used his elbow. Therefore, his was upgraded to a flagrant foul. The NBA did well in correcting this error; however, throwing an elbow that is above the opponent’s neck should be excessive and flagrant 2.

If a player uses a pivot foot with elbows flared, there is no swinging. Bryant, in this case, swung his elbow back. Since this is not defined under the flagrant foul description, it is left too subjective and thus ineffective within the fast-paced action of an NBA game.

The two changes that probably should be made in the semantics of fouls, first for personal fouls:

1) They need to establish that a successful play on the ball from a frontal angle of the offensive player is never flagrant

Any player who genuinely goes after the ball may body check the offensive player, but if a play on the ball is the intended motion, then it will not be harmful, just aggressive.

And for flagrant fouls:

2) They need to include any swinging of the arms once in an established position, including during the use of the pivot foot, is prohibited.

A flagrant 1 is an aggressive play on the ball from any angle other than the front. A flagrant 2 is then an aggressive play that involves swinging the arms in a manner that could harm the opponent.

Based on this wording, then Bryant should have received a flagrant 2 foul and been ejected from game 2. Since the correction was made after the game, he should have been suspended for game 3.

Conversely, Ron Artest should have been called for a personal foul on Gasol and nothing more.

This might not make it as specific as it needs to be, but it at least would be away from using words like “unnecessary” and “excessive” to separate minor and serious infractions on the game rules.

Then, maybe, every hard foul with two players facing each other will not draw the ire of fans and teammates. From now on, the NBA should be proactive and not so reactive when it comes to aggressive play.