Last week’s Report Card was filled with grades for amazing individual performances, this week’s has a handful of grades for team performances. There are a lot of streaking teams that are picking up momentum going into the last few weeks of the regular season and getting good marks for it:
With their win over the Knicks, the Bobcats now have six straight wins, a franchise record.
A – Larry Brown’s Magic in Charlotte - When Larry Brown was hired as the Charlotte Bobcats head coach last summer, there was a lot of speculation on how Brown would fair. Brown had been known for his ability to take mediocre teams and make them great. He had done it in New Jersey, Indiana, Philadelphia, and Detroit, but it’s what happened in New York that left people wondering. Brown’s last coaching stint with the New York Knicks started nice for him, a multi-million dollar contract, but ended very badly. Brown was fired and Isiah Thomas was his predecessor, it was that bad. What Brown has been able to do with the Bobcats has turned some heads and changed some minds, maybe Brown hasn’t lost his luster. After essentially retooling the whole team (they have made three trades and played 23 players this year) the Bobcats have won six straight, a franchise record. They might not make the Playoffs this year, but they have promise in their future.
B – Jazz Keep on Winning - The Utah Jazz have played six games all year with their entire starting lineup healthy, the result has been six wins. What’s even better is that those six wins have come during a current 11-game winning streak, their longest winning streak since the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone. In that time, the Jazz have moved from the #9 spot in the Western Conference Playoff race to #4. The only thing standing in the way of the Jazz and continuing this streak is a brutal road trip. It’s not necessarily brutal because of the competition, but just because they stink on the road. Jazz are to road games as men are to watching musicals with their wives…I hope my wife doesn’t read this. Last year the Jazz were the only team to make the Playoffs with a losing road record, and unless fortunes change they will probably do it again. The Jazz are currently sitting at 12-17 on the road, but as this season has manifested, it is one of ups and downs. The Jazz were very down with a few missing tools earlier, now they are back and things have never looked more up.
C – Hornets’ Good Fortune - Let’s take a walk down memory lane. Remember about a month ago when the New Orleans Hornets were trying to dump an injured Tyson Chandler and his big contract so they traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder only to have him sent back because he failed his physical? Yeah, that must have been embarrassing, but the Hornets are benefiting from their “misfortune” now with Chandler back. The Hornets are putting together a little streak of their own, seven wins in a row, and all since Chandler returned to the lineup. The Thunder’s team doctor was the goat a month ago that failed Chandler on his physical, now the man is considered as the grand marshal for Mardi Gras next year. Well, that is if the Hornets keep winning, and if Chandler’s contract magically loses a zero on the end of it this off-season. Chances are at least one of the two will not happen and that someone other than the Thunder’s team doctor will be throwing out beads next year in New Orleans.
D – Shaq and Van Gundy’s Spat - It all started when a 325 pound man over seven feet tall did something that no man that size should do, he flopped. Shaquille O’Neal has been an anti-flop advocate since he entered the league, probably because the thought of someone knocking him over is laughable, therefore making it impossible for him to flop. However, Tuesday night in Orlando, Dwight Howard did a spin move and Shaq fell to the ground with style. After the game, Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy called out to Shaq and told him to play like a man. After those comments, we knew the verbal bashing gloves were on, Van Gundy struck first with a jab. Shaq came back swinging saying that Van Gundy’s coaching career is a “flop,” and so continued their spat all week. If Shaq had any sense left in his 37 year old mind, he would simply own up to flopping or just ignore Van Gundy. Flopping demolishes the integrity of the game, and so does fighting like kids at the monkey bars during recess.
F – Carmelo’s Attitude – If there is one player who has done little to earn star treatment, it’s Carmelo Anthony. This past week Anthony was handed a one-game suspension for refusing to come out of a game. Suspension is something Anthony is familiar with, he’s been suspended for fighting, a suspected DUI, suspected drug possession, and for refusing to GO back into a game. No doubt Anthony has a lot of talent, but he “does not work well with others,” and can be more of a distraction than a help.
Tags: NBA