Cary Amundson- USA Today Sports
It was another rare week for the Warriors by not winning all of their respective games. Golden State found themselves down by 11 against Utah at half-time last Friday. A dramatic comeback wasn’t meant to be, as they lost 110-100 to the lowly Jazz. They were pummeled on the glass by a 55 to 41 rebound margin. It was a shocking performance, where Gordan Hayward, Enes Kanter, and Rudy Gobert all had ten rebounds or more. Andrew Bogut was limited to just four points and four rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Bogut may have came back too soon from dealing with flu-like symptoms before Tuesday’s loss against Chicago. This was another game that Golden State gave up far too many second-chance opportunities. Opposing teams may have found the only hole within this Warriors team.
A rare two-game losing streak was quickly snapped against Phoenix on Saturday. They out-scored the Suns by a total of 18 points in the second half. Bogut had four points, seven rebounds, and three steals in 22 minutes of action. Steve Kerr seems to be monitoring his minutes more closely. It has been quite some time, since Bogut has played 30 minutes. This was a comfortable win by the Warriors led by a 25-point effort from Stephen Curry. The productive performance from Curry included a highlight-reel ally-oop pass to Bogut that you can see below. It has become a weekly ritual for both players to connect on a perfectly timed ally-oop. Phoenix only shot 36 percent from the field in what was one of the major factors towards Golden State’s convincing win.
http://youtu.be/7Wc4UkKQ9QI
Bogut uses his left hand to complete the dunk
After getting off to a slow start, the Warriors took care of business against a struggling Sacramento Kings team on Tuesday night with an impressive 121-96 win at the Sleep Train Arena in California’s capital. Bogut couldn’t do much to slow down DeMarcus Cousins and finished the game with six points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 19 minutes of work.
Bogut throwing it down against Sacramento
With the all-star break coming up, a hectic week of games will ensue. It starts at home against the Dallas Mavericks on national television tonight. Golden State has earned their spot to play in a prime-time slot weekly from their entertaining play and successful season so far. A three-game road trip to the east coast occurs afterwards. It starts on Friday against the Eastern conference leading Atlanta Hawks. That game isn’t on national television for some bizarre reason, but it remains as an excellent match up between both respective number one seeds. They play the Knicks shortly afterwards on the following night. Bogut will more than likely miss that game, due to usually being allowed rest through back-to-back games. The week ends at Philadelphia on Monday to play the lowly 76ers. It’s an interesting complex for the Warriors in facing a few of the best teams early in the week. That leads to a transition towards playing a few of the worst teams to end the week.
Anthony Gruppuso-USA Today Sports
The bizarre rookie season for Bojan Bogdanovic continues on a free-falling Nets team. Brooklyn has lost 13 out of their last 15 games in what has been a disastrous 2015 so far. The odd moves by Lionel Hollins continued by inserting Alan Anderson as the new starting shooting guard. It becomes the second time that Bogdanovic has been benched this season. This didn’t include any public explanation either. Bojan only played 13 minutes and scored six points in a 112-103 loss to the red-hot Atlanta Hawks. Brooklyn was soundly defeated by a much more talented team that had a significant advantage on the glass and getting to the free throw line.
The Nets nearly completed an emphatic comeback against their division rivals in the Toronto Raptors last Friday. After being down by seventeen in the middle of the third quarter, Jarrett Jack led a furious comeback to stretch the game into overtime. Bogdanovic actually played 40 minutes to prove that he isn’t quite back in the doghouse. His stat line included a solid eleven points and eight rebounds. Bojan did miss a crucial three-pointer that would given Brooklyn a one-point lead with 21 seconds left. Those are the good looks that have to be made to instill confidence within the coaching staff. That missed shot was a huge missed opportunity to win at home, which they haven’t done since December 29th against Sacramento.
Brooklyn’s long losing streak at home ended in dramatic fashion on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers. They were fortunate to be competitive against the Clippers, who shot terribly from the free-throw line. It’s hard to recall the last time that an overall team shot 8 for 25 from the free-throw line. Somehow the Clippers managed to pull that off, while the Nets connected on 12 three-pointers. Bogdanovic connected on three of those three-pointers in an eleven point effort from 18 minutes of action. It was another productive performance off the bench, although the return of Deron Williams had kept him from playing in crunch time. Jarrett Jack’s jumper with a few seconds left propelled them to a 102-100 upset victory. Nobody saw this coming, as a win over one of the better teams in the Western conference may spark some much-needed confidence.
Brooklyn has a frantic schedule for this upcoming week. It starts with an away game tonight against Toronto. That leads to a four-game stretch through five days. This stretch starts at home on Friday against the Knicks in a cross-town rivalry matchup. A three-game road trip starts against Washington on the following night. The week ends on back-to-back games starting with playing against Milwaukee on Monday. That follows with Lionel Hollins homecoming in Memphis on Tuesday. It’ll be interesting to see how the Memphis crowd reacts to him. At 19-28, a week like this can help turn the season around. In the mediocre Eastern conference, Brooklyn remains just one-and-half games out of the eighth seed.
Brian Spurlock- USA Today Sports
It was a quiet week for Damjan Rudez and the Indiana Pacers, due to the lack of games. The Indiana Pacers only had two games last week that were both at home. It started off nicely with a comfortable 103-82 win over the New York Knicks last Thursday. Rudez scored five points on two of four shooting in 19 minutes of action. It was a fairly quiet game, as he mostly stayed on the perimeter. There aren’t moments, where he is in the paint to score or chasing down a loose ball. The excellent “Eight Points, Nine Seconds” website posted an interesting article of Rudez. It consisted of his staggering low rebounding numbers, despite being six foot ten.
Rudez continues to play solid minutes, which wasn’t the case last month. Damjan played 22 minutes and scored six points in a 99-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings. It was another typical game for him in connecting on a few three-pointers. The growing pains on defense and being a role player continues to plague his growth. At this point, his role seems to be finding space to get open and hitting outside open shots. It’s odd to see a tall player like him continue to be not active on the glass.
After being off for most of the week, Indiana’s schedule fills up this week. The four-game home stand continues tonight against Detroit. They face another division rival on Friday in the Cleveland Cavaliers. A road trip to Charlotte to take on the injury-riddled Hornets on Sunday lightens up the schedule. The long week ends by facing the NBA champions at home in the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. At 17-32, you have to wonder how much longer can Indiana stay relevant. They have lost nine out of their last eleven games.
Issac Baldizon-AP
Besides receiving garbage time minutes against the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, it was another week of Justin Hamilton riding the bench in Miami. Hassan Whiteside continues to develop into becoming a rising star. Hamilton will have to play the waiting game for a Heat team that continues to hold onto that seventh seed at 21-27.
Twitter: @Allen_Strk
I like the kid and I think he will be a good one. But, points are points statement is not true. A lot easier scoring garbage time points when there is no pressure and the game is over.
He has been hot from 3s recently, which is good to see because he is not known for his shooting.
@ ziva
points are points. doens’t matter if it was a blowout, it was against real madrid. 5 of 9 from 3. cointiues to show his stroke from 3
Hose were all garbage points. His team got smoked.
I like His game, but let’s not go all nuts because he scored a bunch of points in a blowout. Even Uwe Blab managed to do that.
Geez, speaking of Hezonja. Another great game from him. 22 points in 28 minutes.
A good example of a Croatian player making the bad decision to go to the NCAA is Mislav Brzoja.
Remember him?
Two years ago, he and Dario Saric were the leading scorers of our U19 team in the 2013 Junior World Cup of Basketball.
He decided to not sign the professional contracts offered to him at the time, and enrolled at Villanova. He ended up not fitting into their coach’s system, and ended up riding the pine hardcore. He played only like 41 minutes on the season, and score two points total. Katastrofa!
Now he transferred to a college called Evansville, and plays there. Zero NBA prospects now. Still has a decent shot at pro contract in Europe, but probably for significantly less than what was offered to him two years ago.
Choosing to go professional at age 16, and make millions by the time you’re eligible for the draft is a no brainer.
Whatever Hezonja MAY have lost in draft positioning, is more than made up for in the fact that he’s been collecting a cheque for the past four years.
Never mind the fact that you could get injured, or that you end up being exposed if you were never that good (it’s hard to gauge how good a 15 year old can be professionally). Heck, even time value of money is a factor. Lots of reasons to avoid the NCAA.
That 8 for 8 three-pointer game got his name in the papers and more than made up for any lost draft positioning. Hezonja is a lotto pick. The last thing that will influence his positioning now, is the pre-draft camp.
@ Ziva
they don’t want to go to classes and stay eligible…
…but in the long run, you get a lot more exposure for the NBA playing at a Kentucky/Duke/Kansas than playing for a Cibona or even Barca. Plus, you come to the states, learn english, get a degree in something and then if your kosarka career goes in the shitter, at least you have something to fall back on???
l guess you can go back to Europe and play for a decent team there and still get paid a few euros.
@ Ziva
LMAO!
You tend to be level headed around baksetball commentary.
In general you:
Hate Hrvati .
Homer for Peder Pep.
All good though as you are Hrvat and wish you the best.
ZDS
You’ve been many things, don’t bullshit, but I love all the brothers here!
I don’t make positive or negative comments…….I provide neutral commentary. I’ve never been a homer or a hater.
was talking about the on that said still not bad.
Havn’t been on this site for a while, is that a positive comment from Ziva, bravo majstore!
@ armada
yea its a money thhing. if you evert earned any money playing sports, it rules you ineligible
kentucky had recruited hezonja. hezonja claimed recently if he went to kentucky he’d be the numbrer one pick in the draft
Money is the issue. And some of them turn pro so early in Europe and wouldn’t be eligible to play in the NCAA. Plus, some have no interest in actually going to classes and staying eligible.
why isn’t that a bigger thing though? Euro players coming to the US for college? money I assume?
aside from getting into the US mix of things, these dudes could get degrees from good universities/colleges that way if there kosarka career sputters out, they at least can go back to Europe and make some money? or maybe even stay in the US and make better money?
I think of Hezonja would have gone to the US for college he would be a top 5 pick in the draft. Right now he is top 10. Still not bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUcrZ4y_Ccg&sns=em
Just in case you close out you will get banged on!
Could Hezonja win the 3 pt shoot out and dunk contest ?
He could become a marketing beast.
Euro basket Repesa has to integrate Hezonja into the mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uowz0HBafrk&sns=em
Mario Hezonja 8/8 from 3!
Thank you Allen.
You are good writer.