Is it too early to judge this Cavaliers team? Quick notes on tonight's game

   

    

 As the Cleveland Cavaliers look to regroup for a showdown with the New Orleans Pelicans after their loss to the OKC Thunder, questions continue to surface about this team. Lebron James, who has been under a microscope as only he could, missed a marquee game because of a sore knee. This will certainly just fuel the fire of the critics who say he's slowing down. James is even being ridiculuosly tallied on his dunks this year and how he's dunking at a much lower rate. The notion that James is slowing down is absurd, he is still putting up great numbers, leading this team in just about every important team category. While his scoring is relatively down, we noted that scoring is down across the league in general. Kobe Bryant leads the league in scoring at 25.5 PPG, a few years ago that would have been good enough for maybe 4th or 5th in scoring so we can give James a pass on that.
    As you watch the Cavs progress through this early stage of the season however, there are certainly concerns. The Cavaliers are not a good defensive team. James is far and away their best defender,  their other two marquee players (Love and Irving) are average defenders at best. Watching the game tonight, with James out and Kevin Durant still on a minute restriction, the attention turned to the point guard battle between Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving. However, from the onset you can tell the difference between the two players, Westbrook started defending Irving and was on him much of the night, while Irving began the game defending Andrew Roberson (who?????).  To say that the Cavs can get out of the East is a fair argument. The East is a weak conference, not taking anything away from the Toronto Raptors, but if the Raptors are first in standings, then you can certainly see Cleveland steamrolling their way to the finals on pure offensive firepower.
   The cavaliers also need to figure out what to do about Dion Waiters. Waiters' game simply does not revolve around standing in a corner and jacking up jumpers, and he certainly is not making any attempts to try to hide his believe that his game is more than that. The Cavs got outscored by 17 with Waiters on the floor today.
   On another note, even with James out, Kevin Love still did not get many touches, attempting just 13 shots, he finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Clearly Irving has made a point that after James, he will certainly be the one taking the most shots on the team. He finished with 21 shot attempts for 20 points and 6 assists. Again, maybe it is still a bit early for this team to judge on what the final product is. Meanwhile we can continue to microscope the fact that Lebron isn't dunking as much as he used to.

NBA season opening night, what can we expect?

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Opening night in the NBA is finally here. It's been a very interesting offseason with a lot of changes across the NBA, from Lebron James returning to Cleveland, to the return of Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant, there will be a lot of excitement over the next few days. Tonight's three games will feature a lot of story lines to keep an eye on.
The San Antonio Spurs open up their tittle defense against the only team to really give them a scare in last year's playoffs in the Dallas Mavericks. The Spurs will once again lead the league in wins while holding their core players to less than 35 minutes a game. Not much to be said about the defending champions, they will steamroll through the regular season with little excitement for anybody but the most passionate pure basketball fan.
 The Mavericks took the Spurs to 7 games in last year's first round but return a very different team. On paper, this seems like a much better team from a year ago, they upgraded at the Center and Small Forward position in Parsons and Chandlers as well as bring in Jameer Nelson from Orlando. However, we are skeptical on if its really going to make a difference in the ultra competitive Western Conference. The Mavericks are hoping Chandler can return to his Defensive Player of the year playing after a subpar 2013-2014 injury plagued season. After playing only 31 games and averaging 8.7 PPG and 9.6 RPG he looks to bounce back in a major way. The Mavericks only need him to be that shot blocking presence that anchors the defense, anything he does on the offensive end is a bonus but we don't believe it will happen.
Chandler has never played a full season and the highlight of his career so far has been his contributions in that 2011 title team, and his defensive player of the award that was overshadowed by a horrendous performance in the second round agains the Pacer's Roy Hibbert a year ago. We are skeptical as if his addition to the team will really translate into meaningful jump in the standings.
At point Guard, the Mavericks certainly upgraded over Calderon, while Calderon is a steady floor general that will make good decisions and take good shots, he is not the offensive threat that Nelson is. In addition to that, the ball will spend most of the time in Ellis' and Nowitzki's hands, so Nelson will be the beneficiary of a lot open jump shots something he was good at in Orlando in the Howard Turkoglu days. Finally, the most intriguing story about the Mavericks is all about Parsons, he spent all summer talking about how he felt he was ready to be that third star in Houston, and now he will get the chance to back that talk up.
On the other hand, the game we are most intrigued about is the one with the least TV advertisement, the Orlando Magic vs the New Orleans Pelicans. Why? one name: Anthony Davis, after a wonderful summer with team USA it is clear that Davis is truly the NBA's next superstar, he is a stat stuffer who doesn't need touches (although he should be getting plenty of touches). His continued development makes the most sense, and he should benefit from a full season with Jrue Holiday running the point. Should they put it all together, we see the Pelicans as the dark house to maybe sneak in as the #8 seed in the Western Conference, Davis will be an All-Star and a first team All NBA player by season's end.
The final game of the night will be all about the return of Kobe Bryant, and what a better way to start the season than to go against what many consider the best shooting guard in the league right now in James Harden? Houston should easily win this game, but a lot of people will keep their eyes out on them after they missed out on Chris Bosh and let Parsons walk.

The East is the Heat's to lose, and no team can change that

The East is the big 3's playground

The Miami Heat are the defending world champion and the back to back Eastern Conference champions. Once the month of May comes in it should be "back to back to back" Eastern Conference championships. They are first in the Conference right now, and will head into the All Star break with three All-Stars and Their whole coaching staff along the ride for the All Star game. The scary thing is, the Heat haven't even played their best basketball yet. Lebron James is playing his usual MVP dominating self, Wade is finally rounding up into his old elite self after being scrutinized for starting out slow despite coming off knee surgery, and Bosh continues to be the least talked about star in the league. When You think about potential threats to the Heat this year from the Eastern Conference, three teams come to mind: the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers, and the Chicago Bulls. However, the reality is none of these teams will be able to beat the Heat in a 7 game series (barring injury to any of Miami's big 3 of course).

Melo will look to take the Knicks past Miami this year

Lets begin with the New York Knicks, who are having their best season in over 10 years and led by Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks have two victories against the Heat this year and one happened to be without Anthony. Don't think too highly of these two victories though, in the first year of the Big 3 era in Miami, the Heat went a combined 1-7 against the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls in the regular season and proceeded to beating both the Bulls and the Celtics in 5 games each once the playoffs arrived. The Heat dismantled the Knicks in 5 games in the first round of last year's playoffs and that one loss was a product of a monster night by Carmelo Anthony. How can you expect a Knick team that will depend heavily on scoring from Anthony, JR Smith and Amar'e Stoudemire to handle the fire power of the Heat? The Heat know they can get stops down the stretch, but can you say the same about the Knicks? Who really only have 2 elite defenders in Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert (who happens to be coming off major ACL surgery). The Knicks are also very dependent on the three point shot, something that will not hold up in the playoffs where the game slows down and defenses key in more. Then theres' the Amar'e Stoudemire problem, Stoudemire is clearly the second best player on this team, and if you cant find a way to have both your superstars on the floor, how do you expect to beat the defending champion four times? Amar'e was putting up monster numbers before Anthony arrived, but it seems that its impossible for Anthony to have a second star alongside himself who can score 20 plus points a game. Speaking of Anthony, what makes anybody think that Carmelo Anthony can lead a team to a championship? Carmelo Anthony has been in the playoffs every year of his  career, and he's only been out of the first round ONCE, in 10 years. That one year he got out happened to be the year that Chauncey Billups arrived to Denver and who came in with a streak of multiple years of making it to the Conference finals. Carmelo Anthony is not the elite defenders, that Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are, and quite frankly he has done nothing to merit the trust of being able to beat the defending champion let alone make it to the NBA finals. How about they win a playoff series first before we deem them good enough to dethrone the Heat.
Then there's the Indiana Pacers, who many credit (me included) as the main reason the Heat won last year's NBA title. Indiana could not beat the Heat with Chris Bosh out and Shane Battier guarding power forwards and Centers for 6 straight games and with a Healthy Danny Granger. The Pacers are a great defensive team, but they lack a true star even with Granger, and while Paul George is having a marvelous season, he cannot carry the Pacers in a 7 game series.  You know where the points are going to come from the Heat, but where are the Pacers going to get enough fire power to match the defending champions?
The Chicago Bulls are having a great season, but all hopes are on Derrick Rose coming back and being the old Derrick Rose, and thats not realistic. Even with a healthy Rose, two seasons ago the Bulls could not match up with the Heat. That wont change, the Bulls should be good enough to win one playoff series, but thats about it. Remember Derrick Rose scored primarily on his explosive assaults on the rim, something he wont have back for a while, maybe until next year.
So in the end, the east is the Heat's to lose, and no team in the East will change that. The Heat have defeated each of these teams in the playoffs, and there should be no reason why it wont happen again.

Images from Bleacherreport.com

The Heat got their rings, and then continued where they left off

Image from the Miamiherald.com

Lebron James finally got his ring, while Dwyane Wade got his second and the rest of the Heat raised their championship banner. Opening night was a spectacle down in Miami, from Ray Allen in a Heat jersey to Rondo Clotheslining Wade to Lebron getting cramps. Yet one thing was certain, this Miami Heat team is clearly the best team in basketball and they looked in mid season form in the first of 82 games.
The first defensive play of the game for the Heat was indicative of it. With crisp rotations, the possession started with a Bosh block of a Bass jumpshot, followed 10 seconds later by a Wade block, and which culminated with a Shane Battier 3 at the other end. The Celtics will definitely be the team challenging them for the eastern conference but it will be tough to stop Miami from going to a third straight finals. Their two superstars destroyed the Celtics, Lebron James looked like the best player in basketball, picking his spots and attacking when he had to, he had a double double by halftime and it seems like Spoelstra will continue to use this "no position lineup". Then there's Dwyane Wade, there were concerns amid his offseason surgery on his knee ( He played during last year's title run with the knee injury) and how he would look. Well he looked like his usual self, attacking the basket, posting up smaller defenders and wrecking havoc on the defensive end, he finished with 29 points and don't be surprised if he leads the team in scoring this year.

The other big story is the Heat's bench, Ray Allen had 19 points and was giving Boston nightmares. He will clearly be a six man of the year contender and looks much more healthy than last year. Rashard Lewis had 10 points on 4 out of 5 shooting as well, looking in great shape. You can argue that the Heat's bench could have several members in a starting lineup for some of the other teams.
The Celtics on the other hand have some things to work out. While Rondo looks great, and Pierce looks like he's going to have a big season, the Celtics defense allowed the Heat 120 points and simply allowed the Heat to do whatever they wanted. Jason Terry was profoundly outplayed by Allen, and Jeff Green was held to 6 points. The bright side for the Celtics was Leandro Barbosa, who scored 16 points on 6-8 shooting. The Celtics will get better of course, they are still waiting for the return of Avery Bradley and the new pieces to get used to the system, but even then beating the Heat seems like a long shot.
-Kyrie Irving had 29 points in his first game of his sophomore year, and Varejao had 23 Rebounds 9 points and 9 assists as the Cavs defeated the Wizards
-Dwyane Wade passed the 15,000 points milestone early in yesterday's game

Lebron James and Kevin Durant working out again, but does it matter?

Lebron James is the reigning Finals MVP, and it came at the expense of Kevin Durant, which many now consider to be his #1 rival and second to James for the title of best in the world. They spent some time last offseason working together, and after a summer of being Olympic teammates, they are once again working out together in preparation for the upcoming season. Now, a lot is being put into this in regards to Kevin Durant.
Should Kevin Durant be working out with his #1 rival and the player who dominated him in the biggest stage of professional basketball? Opinions vary on this subject, such as that of Skip Bayless. Bayless, who goes on a ridiculous and disrespecting rant about how Durant is being "Owned" by James, is of those who say that Durant should not be working out with James. Then again, who listens to a man who says Tim Tebow is more box office than Kobe Bryant?
In our minds, when you look at it from a competitive standpoint, Kevin Durant should not be working out with James. It gives the view that perhaps Durant has already forgotten the pain of losing in the NBA finals against the Heat. You never saw Magic working out with Bird during their historic rivalry years. But looking at it from  a point of trying to get better, Lebron James is clearly the best player in the world, and one of the hardest workers in the league, so who better to workout with?
Some will argue that there are other hard workers (such  as Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and the list goes on) that Durant could work out with. But, what are the chances of Durant and James meeting again in the NBA finals next june anyway? Yes, they are favorite in their respective conference. But, the Thunder now have to deal with the Lakers and their revamped roster, while the Heat have to stay healthy after a summer that saw their two supestars Wade and Lebron, go through a tiring playoff run. This playoff run consisted of having to carry the load of the entire team between them two after Bosh went down, and while Lebron did not go through any lingering injuries, Wade needed surgery. While Lebron continued his taxing season by playing in the Olympics.
All in all, can any of you remember the last time two teams made it back to back in the NBA finals? We can, The Bulls and Jazz in 97 and 98. That was 15 years ago. Regardless of this, Kevin Durant is a competitor, as is James. If they meet in the finals again next june, Durant will be thinking about that ring that James took from him, while James will be thinking that Durant its in his way of being considered one of the greatest of all time ( which take multiple rings). If anything, they will go harder at each other out of pure respect for the talent and hard work and dedication they put into trying to be the best.

Cleveland Cavaliers 2012-2013 prediction

IF there is one thing for certain about the Cleveland Cavaliers, is that Kyrie Irving will be a star in this league. The Cleveland Cavaliers finished last season with a 21-45 record but with plenty of reason to be optimistic about their future. Let's look at their current roster:
G Kelenna Azubuike, F Omri Casspi, C-F Michael Eric, G Daniel Gibson, F Luke Harangody, G Kyrie Irving, F Jon Leuer, G-F C.J. Miles, G Jeremy Pargo, C Samardo Samuels, G Donald Sloan, C Tristan Thompson, C Anderson Varejao, G Dion Waiters, F Luke Walton, F-C Tyler Zeller
The Cavaliers have done a nice job building pieces since the departure of Lebron James, and this season will be our favorite team to watch. They are very well coached in Byron Scott and have the young pieces to keep growing. For their record last year, they got Dion Waiters in the top 5, and later on Tyler Zeller. The Cavs are high on Waiters, who will provide the necessary fire power in the backcourt for Irving.
In addition, they will have a healthy Varejao this season, to go along with young players such as Thompson and Zeller. However, it ultimately comes down to Kyrie Irving, the reigning rookie of the year will suffer from no sophomore slump we believe, and we expect him to have another marvelous season. In an era where point guards are expected to be more of a scoring threat than a passing one, Kyrie flourish last year in getting in the paint at will, converting difficult layups and finding open teammates when necessary.
The Cavaliers will not make the playoffs for another few years, and truthfully as of right now, we see no clear robin to Kyrie's batman. Their roster still has lots of gaping holes. Besides Varejao, they do not have a capable defender on the team, and a lack of a post presence does not help them either. We do not necessarily believe that Zeller's offensive repertoire in college will translate to the pros. They are young, and thus Scott must suffer through the growing pains and learning lessons that will come with time.
We expect the Cavs to win 30-35 games just on the brilliance of Kyrie Irving, but do not believe that they will make it an the eastern conference that looks a lot stronger this year than in recent years. The Cavs are well coached, and have a potential superstar at the point guard position, they will be very fun to watch this year at the very least.

The USA wins Gold medal behind Durant's 30

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It was a tough game throughout, Spain gave it all, but ultimately Kvin Durant, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and some clutch plays by Chris Paul were too much. The USA defeats Spain 107-100 in what could possibly be coach Krzyzewski's last Olympics.
The first half was played at the tempo that Spain wanted it, they did not turn the ball over and were led by Navarro's 19 points who had a dismal tournament until the gold medal game. Of course USA wanted to get out and run, but you cant get out and run if you don't create turnovers. Durant had 17 points in the first half, and Lebron 8 points and 6 rebounds. The third quarter was dominated by Pau Gasol who scored 15 points in the third quarter and kept the game close. During the fourth quarter, Lebron sat with 4 fouls, and Spain went to a box and 1 defense on Durant, but after being up 6, Lebron came back into the game and scored a quick 5 points, that was followed by a Chris Paul layup and that all but sealed the gold medal for the US.
Durant finished with 30 points and the most points by an Olympic player in one olympics. Gasol was clearly the best player on the floor today, finished with 24 points 8 rebounds and 7 assist and another silver medal. Navarro finished with 21 points, Marc Gasol with 17 points but he had 4 fouls in the first half and that was definitely a factor as he sat on the bench for the whole third quarter. Lebron James now caps his amazing year with a gold medal, leaves the Olympics second all time in scoring and if he chooses to come back 4 years from now, will become first on that list. Kobe Bryant leaves international play with a gold medal, and reiterated that he will not be back 4 years from now.
On a side note, Russia defeated Argentina in the Bronze medal game with a controversial ending, Alexei Shved scored 25 points, and Russia won a medal for the first time in Olympic basketball. Argentina's players left the court in disgust after they felt the ref's didn't call a late foul.

As we head into the elimination round, what role will each USA player play?

Image from bleacherreport.com

As elimination round begins, let's take a look at what each player has to do for team USA to take gold in London.
Chris Paul
Paul lead the USA in minutes played in the preliminary round, he will be the starting point guard, he must be a bulldog on the defensive end, stifling opposing backcourt players to create turnovers and transition offense for his team, we all know that the US wants to get out on the open court, and Paul must be the first catalyst of that. Defense leading to offense, dont expect much scoring from him, he knows this team doesnt need him to score, he will focus more on getting Kevin Durant open looks and finding his wing players on the fast break.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe is the starting SG, at this point we don't know understand why, he has been extremely inefficient with his shot selection, and sometimes tries to force the issue on a team where frankly he does not need to (shot 4-17 going into the Australia game). In addition, his defense (which was his calling card in beijing) hasn't been all that good. Perhaps he's biding his time for when it matters most, but Kobe needs to choose his spots on offense and focus on being that bulldog he was in international play on defense.
Kevin Durant
Durant needs to do what he has been doing, shooting the ball. He's the USA's leading scorer and nothing more is expected of him but to shoot the basketball.
Lebron James
The US's swift army knife, Lebron must continue to do whatever is necessary for this team. For the most part he has not looked to score unless needed and is more interested in being a facilitator and thats what he must continue to do. His presence is more needed on the defensive end though, where he is asked to guard bigger low post players every game, aside from Chandler and Love who else with playing time can guard bigger players with consistent success?
Tyson Chandler
The Team's only true big man, stay out of foul trouble Chandler
Deron Williams
Williams must do the same as Chris Paul and try to limit his turnovers, he has been a turnover machine in these olympics, which does not help the US much.
Russell Westbrook
Westbrook has been the team's best perimeter defender, tormenting opposing ball handlers and providing energy for his team with his highlight dunks, he needs to do the same on defense and NOT take crazy shots 2 seconds into the shot clock
Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo has clearly been a monster scoring the ball, nothing more is expected of him as he battles Durant for USA leading scorer,
Andre Iguodala
The mini swift army knife, he needs to continue to be a lockdown defensive threat whether its guarding 6-10 bigs, or 6-3 guards, on offense anything he provides will be a boost.
Kevin Love
After Carmelo, Love is the most important player off the bench, the only other big on the team with legitimate playing time, he has to establish himself in the low post and NOT shooting threes, and HAS to rebound, he knows he will be depended on heavily when Chandler gets in foul trouble, and must be a presence inside.
James Harden
make threes? Harden does not play a lot, when he does the game has usually been decided
Anthony Davis
Must remember to put his jersey on before walking out on the floor

Team USA destroys Argentina 126-97, but they shouldn't take much from this win

image from the sportsdesignblog.com

As the pre elimination round ends, Olympic basketball has some interesting stories developing. Team USA and Russia have clinched the top  seeds in their respective groups. USA will face Australia in the quarterfinals and we expect no surprise there, USA will roll through Australia. Now, Brazil defeated Spain today in a very odd game. The winner would fall into USA's group and would have to face them to get to the Gold medal game whereas the loser would fall in Russia's bracket and therefore not have to see the US until the gold medal game. Tanking the game was obviously one of the story lines coming into the game. However, both teams competed and had their marquee players out on the floor at the end of the game. Brazil edged out in large part to Leandro Barbosa who had a monster second half and finished with 23 points (Barbosa is still a free agent by the way, and should be helping his stock with his performance in the Olympics). That means that Spain falls out of USA's radar and into Russia's, Spain will face a France team led by Tony Parker in the quarterfinals.  Spain, who was viewed as the US's biggest threat has now lost twice after holding big leads.
They were up 20 to 2 against Russia and lost, and led most of the game against Brazil until Brazil's bench came in the fourth quarter and just swung the momentum into Brazil's favor. Some will suggest that perhaps Spain Tanked, but it didn't seem like it, with Both Gasol brothers out at the end of the game.  So now, is Spain still the biggest threat to USA? sure they have the Gasol brothers and Ibaka, but they are counting heavily on Juan Carlos Navarro who right now isn't looking like himself because of a foot injury. Then there's the US bracket side, and a possible rematch in the semi finals with today's opponent Argentina. USA destroyed Argentina in the second half, with the final score being 126 to 97. They scored an incredible 42 points in the third quarter. Kevin Durant was playing back in rucker park New York, as he shot 8-10 from the three point line and finished with 28 points. The game got chippy, and there will be no love lost should they meet in the semi finals.
Argentina will play against Brazil in the quarterfinals, and that game will be a goody. Both teams have NBA talent aplenty, and Brazil's coach happens to be the same coach who was with Argentina in their 2004 Gold medal run in Athens. Argentina is savvy and have Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola, who have proven they can play against the USA and score at will (not to mention Delfino and Nocioni). Brazil will be led by Huertas, the best pg outside of the NBA (he makes too much money in Europe and therefore has no reason to come to the NBA), Barbosa, Splitter, Varejao, and NENE. Whatever the outcome, one notion is certain, the USA will face a tough challenge in the Semis. Don't look so much into today's game against Argentina, team USA wont score 42 points in the third quarter again like they did today and Argentina clearly rested their main guy because ultimately outside of competitive drive and egos, today's game meant nothing.
As for the prospect of playing Brazil again, remember that in the exhibition game, Brazil was up 10 before Huertas came out the game. Once Huertas came out the game, the US turned Brazil's young backup pg over and over with pressure from Paul and Westbrook. Should they play again, Huertas wont be out the game much, and that wont happen as often.
All in all, the #USA are still the favorites, but as the first half of today's game showed you, they are beatable, it's in the air and the other team's know it. The question is, should the USA falter at some point, can the other team take advantage of it?
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Carmelo Anthony reminds everybody he's a big part of this team

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It wasnt pretty, (at least the final score wasn't) but one thing was clear, everybody seemed to have forgotten how great Carmelo Anthony is. After a disappointing NBA season, Melo rejoined this olympic squad for his third and what will possibly be his last time. He was now in the shadows of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and yes even Kevin Durant who is arguably the best player on this team after Lebron James. To top it off, Melo also lost his olympic starting spot to Durant, something he's held since 2006.
Yet, in one game Carmelo Anthony showed us why he is (and not Durant) considered the best PURE scorer in the world. Anthony shot an incredible 13 for 16 from the field and 10 for 12 from the three point line on his way to a record shattering 37 points. The US rolled through Nigeria 156 to 73, unlike the previous games of the day which featured a thriller between Spain and Great Britan, and Brazil and Russia, both games came down to the wire. Oh, did we mention that Carmelo only played 14 minutes? Yes 37 points ON JUST 14 minutes!!
The beauty of Melo's game is that he can do it every way possible. He's deadly on 1 on 1 coverage, blowing by slower bigger defenders and posting up smaller ones. He can shoot the three ( did you not just read that he shattered the scoring record?  And we also forgot the record for made three's and attempted) whether spotting up or creating off the dribble. He can handle the ball as well, all in all Melo is a bully. It is an insult to his game and sacrifice over the years in international play when we forget about him on this team.
As far as his record breaking, there will be critics of course. People will say that the US played against a greatly inferior team in Nigeria. No disrespect against the Nigerians of course, but not many people can go 10 for 12 from the three point line shooting by themselves, let alone on the biggest stage of the world against professional basketball players. Anthony, could have easily scored over 40 had coach Krzyzewski decided to play him in the fourth quarter. Would Melo had come back in the game if asked? Of course he would he knew he was making history, but when asked he will downplay his record,  and say that all that mattered was the win. But just because Melo will downplay his big day, it does not mean we should downplay the importance of Carmelo Anthony on this national team.
Other news of the day
-The Russians defeated Brazil on a last second 3 to win a thriller
-France defeated Lithuania behind 27 from an out of shape Parker
-Spain defeated Great Britan but just barely escaped with a one point win
-Celtics coach Doc Rivers says he's open to coaching the US team next
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Top PF going into 2012-2013, #6 Chris Bosh

We continue our countdown of the top power forwards heading into the 2012-2013 NBA season with Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat at number 6. Now, Chris Bosh is a very tough player to evaluate. Bosh is coming off a bitter sweet season, he was hurt for a crucial and key run of the Heat's playoff run, but managed to return in time and was definitely a factor in the conference finals game 7, and the NBA finals. Whether as much a factor as he would have liked? probably not, but it would be unfair to expect more coming off an injury and straight into the middle of conference finals against the Boston Celtics. Ultimately it culminated with a championship though.
Chris Bosh in our minds is one of the most underrated star players in the league. He sacrificed his numbers for a shot at winning and it has worked out well so far. Lets look at his numbers, for the 2011 2012 regular season:  18.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, on 48% FG. Now, obviously Bosh does not get the touches he used to get back in toronto when you have to superstar players in James and Wade. But outside of about 5 to 6 players, could any BIG(not power forward, but big players in general) produce and complement these two players the way Bosh does?
Bosh provides a tough matchup for defenses for a variety of reasons, he's a true 6-11 long and more athletic than people think. Bosh has a great post up game, and can finish around the rim with both hands. He has range up to the three point line and a GREAT pump fake on the perimeter. This play is more than meets the eye for those who are more than the average fan. Bosh is a great pick and roll player, in that play bosh popped out instead of rolling to the rim, Diaw has to recover faster than what he's accustomed to because of bosh's feathery jumpshot. Then you see Bosh's underrated athletic ability as he finishes with force. His jumpshot makes him a threat from virtually anywhere on the floor, he gets it off quickly and has a high release. Take this play, Bosh essentially pulls a guard move with the jab step and jumpshot (notice the pump fake).
Against bigger stronger defenders bosh uses his speed and craftiness to go around them and against smaller defenders he simply uses his length and size to his advantage. Now, Bosh should be higher on this list, but his injury slowed him down, along with several other parts of his game. Bosh seemed to have left his rebounding back in toronto. This is unacceptable, The Heat since the formation of their big 3 have been known for their lack of interior size. They NEED bosh to rebound, 7.9 RPG is nowhere near what bosh should be rebounding. His last season in toronto he averaged 10.8 RPG, and thats what he should be doing for the Heat. He also needs to be more of a shot blocker, he's a career 1.1 BPG and last season average a insignificant 0.8 BPG (Ironically Dwyane Wade is the team's primary shot blocker at 6-4). If Bosh rebounds at the rate he's capable of rebounding and becomes a bigger force on the defensive end, then watch out. We expect him to be higher on this list next season (barring injury), but how high? thats up to him
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