Utah vs. Portland

Portland game notes
It was good to see the Jazz rally from a fourth quarter deficit to win the game, even without Deron Williams. Four games down and Brevin Knight is already stealing minutes from Ronnie Price. The second unit will run much better than last year. The Knight trade was one of those bottom of the transaction wire type deals that most people don't notice. Championship teams have role players who know their role. Fans are enamored with Price's athleticism but a good back up PG is someone who plays within himself. Price hasn't been playing badly but he often tries to do too much. You get the feeling that he doesn't know how to slow himself down just yet. Price has a place in the NBA but it isn't for more than 15 minutes a game or his weaknesses get exposed. Knight ran the team well when they needed a run to come back in the game. The offense was well balanced tonight and Memo had his first good shooting game.
AK turned the ball over but at least he was active. You can tell because he went to the line a lot. He is most effective when he is around the basket and draws fouls. So far his numbers for the first four games are very similar to his averages from 3 years ago when he was playing well so the sixth man role has been working out well but I wonder if his touches are going to go down when Williams comes back and more of the offense runs through him.
Williams will make the teams offense run much more efficiently. Their shooting percentages have been lower than usual and they have been playing at a slower pace than last year and number wise have been giving up less points but I'm not sure that means better defense.

The Iverson/Billups deal
I'm not sure what motivated the deal other than the fact that both teams needed to shake things up. It was a lateral move for both clubs but if I were to pick a winner, It would be Denver. Denver has a nice lineup except that they were playing Anthony Carter starter's minutes at the point when he really isn't a starter. Billups is a solid point guard. He does most things well without being spectacular at anything. On a good team he is your third best player like he was on Detroit. His problem is that he signed a big long term deal and he is not as young as it seems. He developed so late in his career that he has only been a star in the league for five years but he is already turning 32 this year and point guards have a habit of slowing down at this age unless you are John Stockton.
Denver is a talented team that doesn't fit well together. It is a classic situation where the whole is worth less than the sum of its parts. Iverson was just another expensive piece that didn't fit well and it is smart to start selling parts because this team is not going anywhere but the bottom of the playoff race. The team seems directionless. In the summer they give away Camby for free and now they get a veteran point guard that has already seen his best years. Why not trade Iverson for youngsters, picks and expiring contracts to build for the future? If you trying to make a run with this team, why not keep Camby?
Detroit now has three guys that like to shoot first in Iverson, Stuckey and Hamilton. Hamilton can score but almost gives you nothing else. Stuckey can score but I doubt he can come in to be the primary point guard. Iverson is a pretty good passer but he hasn't succeeded at the PG spot in the past and he isn't going to now. Detroit is at the same place that the Suns, Dallas and Spurs are, teams that have had their window close and now are good veteran teams that will win fifty games and look good losing in the second round of the playoffs. Dumars gets credit for being a good GM but if he had picked Bosh, Wade or Melo instead of Darko, this team could have been repeat champs. He was given a slam dunk and he missed it and the one miss probably cost the Pistons one or maybe more championships. Sometimes you look back at the draft and your team was picking 20th and you end up with a dud and wished that they got the second round steal that everyone missed. The problem with that is that you didn't have much of chance to get an impact player with the 20th pick, but missing out on a superstar with the 2d pick sets your team back 10 years. One is buying a lottery ticket and then losing, the other is winning the lottery and then losing the ticket.

NBA notes
San Antonio almost went to 0-4 but needed a heroic effort from Parker to get a win against the Twovles. Duncan and Parker took 62 shots between the two of them and scored 85 points but still needed double OT to win. SA is not this bad but the rest of the team looks like they are ready to retire. Matt Bonner getting major minutes is a bad sign. When they get Ginobili back they are still a 50 win team but you still need role players to win in the playoffs.

Boston looked good winning in Houston the other night. Yao has problems with guys that body him. He loses his balance quickly and Perkins did a great job of pushing him the whole night. Boston with its defense can win with KG only averaging 15 points a game.

It is early but Durant has not looked good. I thought he would start the season shooting better and rebounding better like he finished last year but he is not doing much on a bad team. I wonder if there is just too much pressure for him to produce as he is the star on a young team in a new city.

Go Hawks! When was the last time that the Hawks were 3-0? They just beat New Orleans on the road and have wins against two potential playoff teams, Orlando and Philadelphia. They will definitely have a long losing streak mid season but perhaps if they have enough of a cushion it wont hurt kill their playoff chances.