http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5388484

Mods...feel free to combine this with another thread if deemed appropriate.

Would have liked to lay this one right on top of Lee's Darko recap... but in all honesty I think Charlie was being a little rough on the Beaver.

Darko looked fairly active on defense... he was clearly bothering Boozer and Memo... A couple of times he rooted Memo off the block.
I agree with everything Rosen said about Darko's offensive attack (or lack of)...
We would wonder why his teammates wouldn't pass him the ball ... well the same thing is happening in Orlando... he's not moving off the ball at all... he gets in one spot and just raises his hand like it's owed to him... then you watch Howard putting the defender on his hip and riding him on his heels... he's in gr8 position to make a move and receive the ball.
The scoring wasn't that much of a concern as his effort was there on defense... he needs to create his own opportunities (move to the basket as the shot goes up or move without the ball).

Today's grade:
Offense D-
Deffense B

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With politicians the future lies ahead

Pretty much reiterates what I saw in Detroit over the last couple years. I was reading the article and I kept waiting for the DHOF club to jump in and explain away all his shortcomings.

wow that's a completely different account than we heard from lee on detnews. according to him, the orlando run in the 4th quarter was 100% darko (even though he contributed 0 points, 0 boards, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 0 assists, etc. during that time), and that orlando lost the game because darko subbed out (even though they actually caught up and tied the game without darko in there).

interesting to hear the story from both a biased and unbiased point of view. sounds like exactly what i saw from darko in detroit as well.

Which is precisely why you should avail yourself of as many information sources as possible. Reading any one recap only could lead to malformed opinions.

Charlie Rosen is tough on everyone he critiques, that's why we read him. To get his "edge" on things. I have to say I noticed dozens of times that DMC (and Memo) broke off screens much earlier than Ben, Dice or Sheed. The article confirmed that I was not imagining that.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

I like Rosen's comparison of Darko to Will Perdue and Stacy King. And of the possible reasons for Darko's lethargy, I'm leaning towards the kid just doesn't like to play basketball all that much.

Of course I haven't read the Leecap yet...that could change my mind on the whole deal.

Actually watching the game is also a good way to find out what happened.

It is sort of being tough on him to say he had a bad game when he was 1 for 3 shooting. It's different than being off and continuing to chuck it. 2 for 12 would be a back game.

Imagine how McDyess would look out there if nobody passed it to him... that was DM.

On defense, he had some tough assignments. Okur burned him twice and they took Darko out. Okur then proceeded to burn everyone else that guarded him all night. Darko's biggest defensive attribute is that they don't elect to challenge him very often because of his height/ shot blocking potential. Boozer and Kirilenko were pretty quiet when DM was on them.

He basically looks like a talented rookie who is feeling his way around and doesn't have the confidence to take control offensively.

In reading the Rosen article, I found myself remembering each of the things he talked about and will have to admit that I saw the same things. I was disappointed in that DMC did not make more of the opportunity when Mattie got the two early fouls and Darko was brought in early.

I think Rosen was a little hard on him because I felt he did bother quite a few things Utah was trying to do, including what was said here in earlier posts.

Where Rosen lost me is when he began attbributing all these thoughts DMC was supposedly having to fool himself and others. Rosen cannot possibly know Darko's thought processes in watching him in one game.

While I was watching the game, I thought Matt Goukas was much closer to the truth, and coming from a former player, I believed it. He was talking at some length about young players coming to the end of long, arduous road trips, 5 games in 7 nights in 5 different cities. He talked about the fatigue factor that sets in especially with young players. And I also remembered that this is the first road trip DMC has had with a team on which he played extended minutes in all those games. I can see that it would be "fatiguing" as Matt said.

I also think that when you look at the stats and the fan and team acceptance he has mustered in his short Orlando stint, it is much more than most fans believed it would be.

And he is still only 20.

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Things appear to be at their darkest . . . . . . . . . just before they go totally black!!

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

Isn't Rosens game description EXACTLY why Joe D said Darko needed to go.

I paraphrase, While in a championship hunt we don't have the luxury of allowing Darko the playing time needed to work through his mistakes.

That was the type of performance which turns Ws to Ls.

Maybe now Joe D will get some understanding.