One game, some things, VIII.65
So a few different images stood out for me last night at the ACC.
The first: Andrea Bargnani going hard to the offensive glass. I think he had three of them. He completed at least a couple of baskets on put-backs. He posted up Maurice Evans the instant he saw the mismatch. He played with some power and purpose. I happened to be sitting beside Jack Armstrong during the broadcast and he said something to the effect of: “It’s not that he can’t do it. It’s that he doesn’t do it enough.”
Couldn’t agree more. Obviously when a good portion of your offence calls for you centre to be lifted – i.e. play above the three-point line – the opportunities to play that kind of basketball are going to be limited to an extent. But when you see him make plays like that it makes you wonder. Doing that kind of stuff on occasion is kind of an indictment, I think, of him, in the sense that it suggests that he’s simply indifferent to making the kind of plays that NBA centres have to make – at least in-between three-pointers – and an indictment of the Raptors approach, which allows him to define himself by his jump shot so much. That was perhaps the major disappointment for me when Bosh was hurt. You wonder sometimes if it’s deferring to Bosh that hurts Bargnani. Watching him play like he did last night proves that it doesn’t; it’s just him.
The second: Never let it be said that Chris Bosh isn’t attuned to public relations. This doesn’t mean he’s good at it. If you ask me he’s just a bit off-key sometimes. Have you ever seen First Ink, his DVD? You don’t put out a DVD about your first tattoo if you’re not image conscious. But watching it? It wasn’t horrible, it had some moments; but it was just kind of – off somehow, but maybe I’m just not in tune with the idea that you give yourself the Hollywood treatment in advance of someone actually, you know, wanting to do it for you. It’s like giving yourself a nickname; much better to have someone give it to you. But that’s me.
Anyway, 10,000 points is a significant milestone, and sets Bosh, if healthy, to get to 20,000-plus, which is approaching Hall-of-Fame territory. So yeah, I did think it kind of weird when they announced the 10,000th point and the crowd gave him a standing ovation and Bosh greeted them with ….crickets. Nothing. Not a perfunctory raise of the hand, not a lifted head and embarrassed nod. Now, I realize he was in the midst of kind of a crappy game for him, but it was hard not to look at that and be surprised by the indifference.
The third: I was having a chat yesterday with someone and floated the point that Al Horford is the anti-Chris Bosh. He’s numbers are decent, but hardly inspirational. His offensive game is useful, but devoid of flash. However, he became an all-star for the first time earlier this season and the Hawks have only got better since he joined them and in his third year in the league he’s their unquestioned leader. When crazy Josh Smith decked Calderon for now apparent reason and then appeared ready to fight when Calderon bounced up, Horford made a beeline for the scene, saved Smith for doing something really stupid and then did something I’ve never seen Bosh do and, frankly, you just don’t see in pro basketball: He grabbed his teammates around the necks, pulled them all close and seemed to tell them to chill out and focus on the task at hand. Impressive.
The fourth: Another thought as I was watching the Calderon-Smith thing go down: Reggie Evans was on the floor. Evans was nowhere near the phony drama that followed. To me that was an opportunity lost. I’m not a big one for goon tactics, but Reggie’s not there for his ball-handling, right? Smith was red-hot. Evans gets in his face and it’s better than 50-50 he can draw a punch, get Smith out of the game and maybe even suspended. You can’t coach things like that, but don’t tell me that wouldn’t have been a big play to make, and Evans didn’t even think about it.
