- Houston Rockets guard Kevin Martin is Craig Biggio. Like the “king of hit batsmen,” Martin doesn’t just patiently draw walks – he forces his way on base by subtly putting his body in harm’s way. Kevin made 12 free throws tonight en route to a 32 point explosion. He hit jumpers from every angle but what impressed me the most is a surprisingly deft ability to create for himself off the dribble. Now to clarify, he can’t do much in the way of creating for others, but given some of the scouting reports I had previously read, his handle has impressed. Most notable has been a spin move where Martin takes one dribble to his left and then spins back to his right for the jumpshot. It’s intriguing because most players use this dribble spin to set up a drive to the basket. I really can’t recall an instance of seeing it featured for the purpose of setting up a fadeaway jumper.
- If you still haven’t quite grasped the significance of Kevin Martin’s ability to draw fouls, I hope you were awake at the 6:56 mark of the 2nd quarter. Martin threw his body into Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams, forcing the latter to the bench with foul trouble. Granted, we went on to get blown out, but were we at full strength, or under normal circumstances, forcing out a guy who had already scored 23 points up to that point would have considerable ramifications upon the rest of the game.
- Shane Battier was not available tonight which meant Chase Budinger was starting at the ‘3’ spot. Brooks-Martin-Budinger is the perimter trio I want to see starting for this team for the next four or five years. All three players can drive, pass, shoot, and slash, making for an extremely potent combination. Martin and Brooks might already be the most dangerous offensive backcourt in basketball, though I am likely overlooking some superior duo in my haste.
- The Jazz announcers mentioned that Aaron Brooks is “6 feet…maybe.” I’ve never understood why it is that when discussing a player listed at 6 feet, NBA commentators/analysts/writers always feel obligated to imply that the listing is generous. This happened all the time with Iverson too. There is almost some belief that everyone is either 5’11 or under or 6’1 and over; that the height ‘6’0’ doesn’t actually exist. I realize the intent is for rhetorical effect – to glorify a player’s abilities by hyperbolizing a hindrance (ie: lack of size), but must we always give way to cliché?…
- As I have said before, I am very impressed by Jermaine Taylor’s continued development, particularly because he looked absolutely awful in the preseason. He had some nifty dribble moves tonight and appears to have worked on his left hand. I do get the sense from watching him that this is a guy who can be a regular rotation player somewhere down the line.
- As I tweeted during the game, the difficult part about no longer having Brian Cook on the team is that it has become difficult to discern when the outcome has been decided. Jordan Hill seems to have taken on the role of designated human ‘blowout’ cigar, a state of affairs which if still in effect at this point next year will be a great indicator that something has gone very, very wrong.
