Someone asked a while back, "what would be considered a break-out game for Darko?". I don't think this was it, because I think he needs to be 20-20, but what do the others think? He was well on the way to 20-20 last night but after a while, the guards took over and the passes in to Darko stopped.
He was 5-6 in the first quarter, and 5-7 at halftime and didn't get another shot until LATE in the 3rd quarter, before finishing 6-11. Those guards just refuse to play team ball. He worked his butt off last night and he wasn't getting rewarded with a whole lotta touches. I thought last night was pretty impressive, his 5 blocks definately made the Bulls think twice about driving in the paint. He and Howard were OWNING THE PAINT. I just can't believe that with the way those two play in the paint that the guards won't give up the ball more. Even when Darko misses some shots in the paint, Howard is there to clean em up. It's a great duo.
Here is what I noticed last night. I think it was because I was seeing it live and had a better perspective on what was happening away from the ball. Darko was having success blocking shots away from the basket and altering shots far away from the basket mainly because he had Dwight Howard manning the paint when he was venturing out. There were multiple times when the Bulls would swing the ball to an open shooter (Hinrich, Deng, etc) and Darko would just go flying out there. Most of the time, it was altering their shots noticably. If Howard wasn't back there in the paint, I'm pretty sure they would have taken advantage by driving. That is why the duo could really work out well. It's the way to utilize Darko's unusual speed and height combo. As a testement to their shutdown ability, I'm pretty sure that the Bulls did not have a single dunk in the game. I don't know how often that happens in the NBA, but I don't think I've seen that in quite a while. Do these keep dunking stats anywhere? Edit: found it. NBA Basketball Dunk-O-Meter - CBS SportsLine.com
Congrats to our Darko Expert, Jammertime! He's got a shiny new badge on his profile to indicate his status as a member of the Darko Elite. Thanks to TaShawn for promoting and sponsoring this competition.
I'd like to thank all the little people, like Spud Webb, Earl Boykins and Nate Robinson for making this all possible... Thanks to Roscoe for my nice new badge, I'll wear it proudly. Thanks to all the other participants that didn't win, paving the way for me to. A special thanks to TaShawn for organizing this for us and for my winning clippings of Darko's mustache hair. And finally, thanks to my mom for having me. I wouldn't be where I am today without her.
For lack of a better place to post this... Orlando Sentinel - Repeat after me: It's either Carter or Darko -- not both by This is my favorite line...
So, there are speculations that George Karl is going to bench Melo soon because of his selfish play and bad attitude. The all-star and league leader in scoring? I still have a hard time believing that this pick would have worked out for us with LB as the coach. Larry would have given Melo a series of "life lessons" with about 2 minutes of garbage time once a week. And after that snitch video came out, he would have been permanantly in LB's doghouse. Carmelo Anthony Featured In Drug Video - Sports "He is also seen on the DVD talking about his Olympic bronze medal and saying that he threw it in a lake. The man he stands next to later goes on to tell how he would take care of snitches by 'putting a hole in their head.'" Wasn't that the Olympic Team that LB coached? I'm really not sure which players from the '03 draft would have worked out for us. LeBron- was impossible for us to get, so it don't matter. Wade- behind Billups, Hamilton, Mike James, and Lindsey Hunter, probably would have been unhappy and underused. Melo- would have had a HUGE falling out. Bosh- good attitude, would have probably sat quietly behind all the vets like Darko, but would have broken through in year 2.
I have to believe that Dumars would have stepped in and put pressure on Brown to play Wade and Bosh more. I think those two would have embraced fighting for playing time. Darko didn't and Melo wouldn't have.
i call bs. dumars had a strictly hands off policy with his coaches. lb being a hall of famer would have definitely made dumars not step in and put pressure. lb was playing for championships so he had more rope than flip. i think the only reason he put pressure on flip was because of flips history of losing in playoffs. where was the pressure to play memo and tay??
