Seattle at Denver
By TonyIt wasn’t exactly Bird vs. Magic, but last night the NBA season got underway for Denver and Seattle as former Hoyas Allen Iverson and Jeff Green went toe to toe, sort of. The game was in Denver, and Iverson’s Nuggets took an early lead. Iverson picked up a bunch of assists in the first quarter, and finished with 14. Then Iverson was subbed out, and on the other side Green was subbed in.
That was my favorite part of the game, since without Iverson on the floor it was easy to change my allegiance to the Sonics. Green soared for an offensive rebound and was fouled, and proceeded to miss the free throws. The first one missed by a mile - it just barely grazed the right side of the rim. You could tell he was a little nervous, as he tried to laugh that one off. Later, Green posted up and made a strong spin move for a short hook which he made and was fouled. Again, he missed from the stripe. Then he blocked one of Iverson’s shots which started a fast break that ended with a big dunk from Chris Wilcox, assisted by Kevin Durant.
Green looked both nervous and confident. He also looked like a good NBA defender. Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo had Green covering a lot of different players, including Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, and he did pretty well for the most part. He still needs to learn a little bit about the NBA subtleties (he was called for a defensive three-second technical), but all in all, Green did well for himself in his debut.
Iverson on the other hand is a longtime pro, and the experience of Denver prevailed. Iverson seems happy to score when possible and setup his teammates more often. That’s pretty much what he did when he arrived in Denver last year, but it’s good that A.I. is on the same page as his teammates from day one. Iverson isn’t as explosive as he used to be, but he’s still pretty slippery. He still gets to the basket, and he still will shoot a lot of free throws this year.
Rookies aren’t as effective as veterans, no big surprise. Green will continue to fit in to the league; Iverson will continue to try and conserve energy and win games. We’ve been watching Iverson be a superstar for 12 years, so it was nice to get a glimpse of the guy who could become the next Hoya NBA mainstay.
That’s how I saw it, what did everybody else think?
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November 1st, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I noticed a few things. First, there was a stretch at the start of the second half when Iverson couldn’t buy a bucket, I think he missed his first 5 shots or something like that. The referees didn’t help him out either though. Also, AI was a few steals away from a triple double. He ended the night with 7 steals, it reminded me of the good old days at Georgetown when he would steal the ball and actually be able to dunk it at the other end. As for Jeff, it’s his first game, he got I think 18 minutes, which is not bad. I think his playing time will go up, since he will match up well against some other opponents.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I thought that Iverson was clearly the player of the game, as when he was in the game, the Nuggets did well, and when he was not, they did poorly. Obviously a lot has to do with their lack of a point guard, but he clearly controlled the game when he was out on the court. I know he’s aging, but it still seems strange to me when a coach puts him on the bench. I remember when he played in Philadelphia, he would put in 40+ minutes and still get upset when he had to sit.
On the other end, I thought Green did pretty well. He clearly looked nervous (free throws), but he was very aware on defense, and I thought it was a testament to his abilities that PJ put him to cover Allen for a few sets and that he did so well at it.
Allen has always been a guy whose game shows pretty well on a box score; Jeff, not so much. Anyway, I decided to put some of their numbers below:
November 1st, 2007 at 2:30 pm
There’s a new NBA stat this year, +/-. It’s like in hockey, they measure the scoring when a player is in. If the team goes on a 10-2 run when a player comes in their +/- is +8. It applies for their entire time on the court over the course of the game.
I found another new stat: BA, not sure about that one. Any ideas?
November 1st, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Luca, I think BA means blocks against. Each time a player has a FG attempt blocked, the shooter earns a BA. If you add up a team’s blocked shots, it should always equal their opponents’ blocks against. Hope this helps.