RikSmits

Moderators, if you deem this inappropriate, please delete and I will appologize. As you may know, Sacramento's cheap owners, the Maloofs, have been trying to relocate the Kings. Now, they have found some buyers from Seattle. This may not interest you much. You have an awesome owner in Gilbert (yes, I loved the comic sans letter). Or it may, because you know what happened to the Browns. Either way, I hope you'll click on the link, read the article and the reactions and see how fans from a small marlet city fight to keep their team. And perhaps you'll consider to spread the word or make a small donation.

The city of Seattle, King County and investor Chris Hansen have reached an agreement in the effort to build an arena that could bring professional basketball back to the Puget Sound. King County? Is that foreshadowing or just coincidence? I wish Seattle all the luck in the world to get a new team there, as long as it isn't the Kings.

Amick's article at SI. "Over the past year, [the Maloofs] have been very engaged in Sacramento, which has been great for us," Johnson said. "They've never missed a loan payment. There's all this talk about their ability to deliver financially but they've never not delivered on their loan payment, so I have the utmost confidence in our meeting tomorrow that we can make some significant [progress].

A nice column by John Wertheim to remember Tisdale, including a clip where Michael Jordan discusses Tisdale.

Evan Dunlap is a true class act. Great writeup.

"Petrie, according to the sources, made the decision to remove Cousins from the plane and will decide on Sunday how to proceed. It was a decision that was not popular with at least one member of the team, as one of the sources said veteran swingman Francisco Garcia argued vehemently for Cousins to remain on the plane before relenting when he was told his fight was futile." So I guess it's too early to say DMC has been suspended for 3 games.

Just to put Tyreke's struggles with his injury in perspective.

An article by Jason Jones of the Bee, prior to the Denver game. "It's a big part of my game," Casspi said. "I kind of faded back from the beginning of the season. I did it in the preseason – I was focused on it and then kind of faded back." Omri continued the trend last night, leading the team with 6 boards (tied with DMC).

Nice breakdown of how the final 5:30 minutes played out in the win over Phoenix, from the opponent's perspective.

With all the negativity, something a bit more cheerful. Surprised that DMC made the ballot.

"I'm still just trying to learn," Thompson said. "I can shoot, and I have some lateral quickness, so I can guard some threes. It's obviously tough." "It's really a way of looking at something that can give our team a different look and give him more of a chance to be effective," said Paul Westphal. "Because he's really a good player, and I want him on the floor. It's a good problem to have because it means we have a lot of guys contributing at (forward and center)."

Some interesting stuff here, especially about JT and the lack of a mentor for DMC. Apparently, Dalembert isn't the answer in that regard.

I don't know who Zach Lowe is, but he sees more pick & roll skills from Tyreke that I do, including an improved mid-range jumper. I hope I'll be proven wrong, but this list seems a bit iffy.

Someone got schooled here. Funny.

Omri played well the first quarter, active on defense, and after a dunk on a fast-break got going offensively, with another dunk and a 3. He finished the 1st quarter with 9 points and 2 rebounds. He sat at the start of the 2nd quarter. When he came in he blocked a shot (didn't get the stat) and took an athletic defensive rebound. On offense, he moved very well without the ball, and made some nice passes, playing well within the team's system without forcing stuff. In the third quarter, Omri started with an offensive foul. He took a good spot-up 3 but missed, and later also a ball in traffic. He picked up a nice assist after slashing to the hoop and dumping it to Eliyahu. Omri hit his next 3. Then he had a dunk. At the end of the quarter he drew a foul and hit one of two free throws. Final quarter, tight game. Casspi opened with forcing a turnover by the Montenegro team. He missed a tough hookshot after establishing good position with his back to basket. A bit afterwards, he went to the bench and Israel lost control of the game. He was quickly inserted again, and drew a foul on a fast-break. He scored on another fast break. Too little, too late. Nevertheless, Israel secured a place at the European Championship next year. Highlights here. For the whole qualification tournament (8 games), Casspi averaged 16.9 points, with 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in little over 29 minutes. His stats are here.

I didn't see much of the first half, but Omri was 2 /8 from the field, and apparently tried too hard to force things. In the third quarter, he scored a dunk on a fast break. Not much going for him afterwards on offense. On defense, he was active, but not always effective. Omri sat out the fourth quarter, as Israel ran away for the win: 85-71. Casspi finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals in 21:30 minutes. Lior Eliyahu led Israel with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Highlights here.

TZ Note: Many thanks to RikSmits for recapping Israel's games. There are two more this week. Omri opened sluggishly, not contesting his man on a three, and then turning the ball over on an inbounds pass. On offense, he established deep position with his back to the basket and made a strong move, drawing the shooting foul. His first field goal was also from a move with his back to the basket. He scored two more from the line, and then went to the bench near the end of the first quarter, with 5 points and two rebounds. Omri returned to the game with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. Israel turned a deficit into a 20 point lead without him. He scored a dunk off an behind the back pass. And another dunk on a fastbreak to end the half with 9 points. Omri opened the third with a turnover, then got a nice defensive rebound in traffic. He was quiet, until he drew a shooting foul on an agressive move to the hoop. 4th quarter, garbage time in a rout. Casspi with 12 points, 4 rebs, 1 assist and 3 TO's. Link to highlights here. Check out two nice assist by Casspi near the end. He only got credited with one.

Omri tried to look for his teammates at the opening of the game. He went high for a couple of rebounds in traffic. He scored 5 points, on a 3-pointer and a putback. In the second quarter, he opened with a great spin move on the baseline, getting the basket and-one. A few moments later, he got the ball inside, back to the basket, and also got the and-one. The Italian team tightened their defense on Omri after that, and he didn't do much after that, except drawing some fouls. Israel started the second half on their back feet. Casspi did draw some fouls and made a tough shot off the glass, and grabbed some more rebounds, but was not a big factor. Omri started the 4th quarter well, with good defense and an assist. Then he fumbled a ball under the basket, took an ill-advised step-back 3. Later he drew a foul going aggressive to the hoop, making both free throws. With less than a minute to go in a tight game, he drew another foul under the basket and made both from the line. In the end, they lost by five (81-76) Omri was a mixed bag on defense, working hard, but also losing focus and/or making the wrong decisions at moments. Of course, getting double figures on the boards isn't bad. I forgot to mention that JT came to Israel and attended the game. Highlights here.

He also had 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. Casspi came out scorching, scoring 15 points in the first quarter, along with two blocked shots. He tried to force things in the second quarter, and quickly got benched. The third quarter Casspi was hot again, hitting two treys. He also drew 3 fouls on Pekovic (TWolves), two in the final quarter, on strong moves to the hoop. Twice he got the 3 point play. I think the Wolves got a nice player in Pekovic. The guy is strong, with a wide frame, but he has surprising speed. He often was the second man down the court on fast breaks. He's automatic from the FT line. And here are highlights. Aykis Note: Here is a wonderful recap by Noam Schiller over at Cowbell Kingdom as well.

Israel lost to Finland 84-83 in a bad and sloppy game. Omri played almost 35 minutes, he scored 17 points, shooting .33 2p% with .60 3P% and .80 FT%). He also had 5 rebounds, 1 assist (against 4 turnovers) and 1 steal. I think he should have been credited with at least one more rebound and assist. Also, he got called for two questionable offensive fouls. he also managed to purposely tip some rebounds to his teammates. He did that at least twice. Omri wasn't terribly impressive, and played mostly within the team concept. He had an important 3-pointer halfway the final quarter, but it wasn't enough. He did have some good moments defensively, but also got overpowered a few times in the low block, losing some rebounds in the process. It is obvious he is more comfortable as a SF than as a PF. And here are some highlights of the game.

Israel beat Latvia 110-88 with Casspi leading the team with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Omri scored 50% from 2p, 33% from 3, added 4 assist (against 1 TO), a steal and two blocked shots. Most of the time, he really looked for his points close to the basket, moving very well away from the ball. Omri opened the game with a nice hookshot, and hit both his 3 pointers in the final quarter. On defense, he was good on the boards and active in the paint, deflecting some passes and shots. This is the box score. I'll add a link to highlights when I find them. UPDATE: Link to short highlights

Antony Tolliver mocks LBJ (and himself?) with a Decision-video spoof to anounce his decision to pick the Wolves over the Warriors. Gutsy and funny. Best quote: "Um, I think I made my decision this morning while using the bathroom,'' Tolliver deadpans. "It just came to me.''

Yotam Halperin led a balanced attack to offset 20 points by both Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli. Omri Casspi scored nine points, with four rebounds and two steals before fouling out. TZ Note: Israel is attempting to qualify for EuroBasket 2011. Success at EuroBasket could qualify Israel for the 2012 London Olympics, though the Olympic field is dreadfully small. UPDATE: here is a link which shows a recap of the game.

We are in the semifinals. Go Orange!