Shooting Stars

by Wendell Maxey of HOOPSWORLD

It is simply known around Portland as “The Shot”.

It came at the hands of Brandon Roy in early November against the Houston Rockets in overtime and on national television. With the Rockets leading 99-98, Roy hit the game-winning three-pointer from 30 feet out with 0.08 left on the clock.

Clutch.

That clip has been shown at every Blazers home game as part of player introductions ever since. Probably will for some time now. But that’s just one way to get the job done.

Four months later, Roy scored a driving finger-roll layup with 0.1 second remaining in the game, giving Portland a 109-108 victory over the New York Knicks on a Sunday evening.

“Brandon’s good at attacking the basket,” said head coach Nate McMillan when asked about Roy’s knack for late game heroics.

“To win and win big, you have to attack the paint.”

McMillan actually has the best of all worlds when he needs a big shot – even a last shot in some cases.

He can go in a number of directions. Obviously, Roy has proven effective in such situations as the two-time All-Star is nothing but a natural in the clutch. Travis Outlaw – once dubbed “Mr. Fourth Quarter” for his ability to get going late in games - easily has history on his side in similar situations (see last second game-winners at Memphis and Atlanta last season).

Yet somewhere in the shadow of Roy and Outlaw’s big bucket bravado, sits LaMarcus Aldridge. His “last shot” is essentially waiting to be released at any moment. Last season in Milwaukee, Aldridge went off for 29 points including the game-winner.  Now it’s safe to assume Aldridge will also emerge as another go-to-guy when a game needs to be decided, perhaps even Wednesday night against Denver or an upcoming playoff game.

“Your key guys like that - that provide a lot of scoring for you - they have to learn how to do that,” McMillan added.

Through the course of the season, Aldridge’s production has come early in games as he’s embraced the moniker “Mr. First Quarter”. And while the ball typically ends up in Roy’s hands if a basket is needed late in shot clocks or in must win situations, Aldridge calmly picks his spots.

“It gets tough to find the schemes. You just try to figure it out,” Aldridge said.

For Roy though, he finds constant comfort in knowing L.A. can get the job done if and when the Blazers need that last shot.

“He (Aldridge) comes up huge. We just have different rhythms. Sometimes I look to attack because they want to take LaMarcus out right away,” Roy explained.

“It’s just about guys being ready to help carry the team.”

Roy has been there. So has Outlaw. The last shot is in them. It’s only fitting now that LaMarcus Aldridge joins the party.

It’s worth a shot.

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By Jonah Kuehne of HoopsWorld.com

With the game clock winding down and one final shot left, you always want your most clutch player to have the ball leave their fingertips. The L.A. Lakers feed the ball to Kobe Bryant, the Miami HEAT get the ball to Dwyane Wade, and so on. The Utah Jazz, on the other hand, use a different approach on who should take the last shot.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Andrei Kirilenko told HoopsWorld. “I think we have a pretty expanded team. Anybody on this team has the possibility of making the shot. I think our best chance is when we stick together and play as a team; we’ve already proved it many, many times that when we stay together in one way or another, we play the best game.”

“We have a lot of guys on this team who are pretty good in clutch situations,” added Ronnie Brewer. “D-Will, in some games, has taken the last shot, Mehmet and Booze have taken the last shot. Sometimes Paul [Millsap] is in there; when we need a big shot, we’ll put Paul in so he can take the ball to the basket and even Kyle Korver. So we have a lot of guys on this team that can make the big plays in big times. I think anybody on this team is capable of doing it so I’m confident in all of these guys to take the last shot.”

Obviously, the Jazz are pretty confident in their teammates, but they all can’t have their hand on the ball, so who is the leader of the pack of multiple options?

“Deron [Williams] is obviously our first option,” said Korver. “But we have other guys that can get it done and if not, we have guys spotting each other on the side of the rim.”

That seems to be the common trend around the Jazz locker room. Even though Deron is meant to be the set-up guy, the Jazz would rather see the ball fly out of his hands.

“D-Will,” Carlos Boozer said quickly. “I think D-Will has proven to hit big shots throughout the course of the season. He wants the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He has the ball in his hands the entire game actually, so I’d say D-Will.”

Deron plays for a franchise that has seen point guard great John Stockton set up shots time after time, but with a big-bodied guy like Deron, it’s not always pass first and shoot later anymore. Matt Harpring, a long-time veteran gives his perspective on the differences of Deron and his former teammates, Stockton and Tim Hardaway.

“Deron is definitely emerging as a great player in this league,” said Harpring. “And he’ll continue to grow. The more experience he gets, the better he’ll get at the game-ending shots, so he’s definitely coming into his own.

“He’s kind of unique in that he has kind of a big body for a point guard,” continued Harpring. “I’ve played with smaller guys. I’ve played with guys like Tim Hardaway who is tall and lanky. He’s [Williams] a little bit different than Stockton was. Stockton was lighter and smaller and Deron has a bigger body. He makes himself a tough match-up.”

Head Coach Jerry Sloan, who has seen quite a bit more point guards in his time, takes some pressure off of Deron as ‘the guy’ and goes back to the ‘whoever’s open’ attitude.

“Point guards don’t always have to take the big shot,” said Sloan. “They pass it to the guy that’s open. John Stockton was here for 19 years and the idea was to run the offense, get the ball to the guy that’s open, if no one’s open you take the shot. That’s what execution is about, not just trying to break one individual down all the time. I think that’s what always gave us a chance to win a lot of games. I don’t care who takes the shot, just as long as they make it. I look pretty smart then.(smiling)”

Seems simple enough, but who does Deron think can shoot the clutch shot?

“All of my teammates. I think all of them can make the clutch shot to win the basketball game.”

If the opposing defense is to ever put pressure on Deron at the end of the game, an entire team of options to make the last shot is nice to have.

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by Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld

It was one of those shots kids dream of making when they’re playing basketball in their driveways.

Two seconds left… Catch the ball at three-quarters court… Launch… Buzzer… Swish! The crowd goes wild.

That was exactly what Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard treated his fans to just before half time of their recent win over the Phoenix Suns. It was gut-check time for the Mavs, who allowed the Suns to hang around the playoff picture for far too long.

Their offensive explosion in the first half of the game eclipsed any hope the Suns might have had of making some kind of miracle comeback. Josh’s three, which Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle called “magical,” gave the Mavs 81 points at the half.

“I told our guys before the game that there’s no other team in this league that’s gone through the highs that we’ve gone through, the lows, the winning streaks, the losing streaks, the great wins, the tough losses… All that stuff really prepares you to play a game like (Phoenix),” said Carlisle. “When you’ve got great energy going into it and the crown is in a frenzy, I don’t know how to explain it, but things like that happen. Magical things can happen. We’re looking to ride the wave here. We’ve got a chance to build some momentum, we’ve got a chance to get healthier, and we feel like we’re becoming a more dangerous team every day.”

“That’s the kind of night you have sometimes,” said Dirk Nowitzki of Howard’s big shot. “We’ve been on both ends before, where it feels like nothing goes in and the other team has it rolling and shots go in that usually don’t. I think if you’ve been in this league for a while you’ve been on both sides.”

The focus of the game, which Dallas won 141-116 was largely on Jason Kidd. His 20 assists moved him past Magic Johnson on the all-time assist list. But after the game everyone was talking about how important Josh is to the team. His 24 points in 28 minutes were every bit as key as Kidd’s assists.

“Josh is big for us, we’ve said it all season long,” says Nowitzki. “His ability to pass and shoot, slash and be active, his ability to crate his own shot on offense takes a lot of pressure off of me and Jet. We all know what he can do on the boards and defensively if he’s engaged in the game. He can be one of the best defenders out there because he’s long and he’s active. Hopefully his ankle responds the right way, but with him we have to take it one game at a time right now. We definitely need him out there. We saw it Friday when we lost to Memphis, if he would have played we wouldn’t have lost the game.”

Kidd points out that while Josh’s scoring is nice, his defense is really the key for Dallas.

“We can talk about Josh and his offense, but I think he’s getting his hands on balls, being effective, and getting rebounds on the defensive end, which we need. Offensively he’s a talent and can score with the best of them. But defensively he’s huge for us. We just need him to get healthy, get better, and push forward for these last few games so we can have him out there on the floor.”

“The lift that he gives us just by being on the court is something that’s hard to quantify,” adds Carlisle. “You can add up the points, you can count up the charges he takes, but he brings a bounce to our team and he juices up our fans. He makes our whole situation significantly better.”

The Mavericks are going to need Josh to inspire as much bounce as he can tonight. They might even need another magical shot. Tonight is the Mavericks’ big chance to get out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ sights as they begin to look at playoff match-ups. A win tonight moves them into a tie with the Jazz for the seventh seed in the West.

Nothing would be more magical than avoiding L.A. in the first round.

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by Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld.com

At first it seemed like the Phoenix Suns acquired the high-flying and explosive Jason Richardson a year too late. Under Terry Porter, Richardson looked like another player who would be better off in Mike D’Antoni’s system. They ended up being two months early, though, as they made the decision in mid-February to fire Porter and revert back to D’Antoni’s style of play under Alvin Gentry. Richardson’s numbers are up as a result of playing in a scheme that fully utilizes his strengths.

“This is more my style of basketball,” stated Richardson. “It’s up and down and run and gun. That’s when I’m at my best, when I’m in the open court for me to do what I do.”

Steve Kerr’s first big move as the GM of the Suns was bringing in Shaquille O’Neal from the Miami HEAT in exchange for Shawn Marion. The Suns remained a running team with D’Antoni at the helm, but after some disagreements with management he decided to move on with his career elsewhere. He was replaced by Terry Porter because they felt their personnel fit best in a half court system. Although O’Neal benefitted the most from the switch he’s been perfectly content with the decision to speed things back up.

“Yeah, he likes it,” revealed Richardson. “This team has the best of both worlds. We’re an up and down team but when we need baskets or we need to be a half-court team we can definitely throw the ball into him so he can get his shots up. He also gets everyone else involved.”

O’Neal has always been a willing passer and at the ripe age of 37 he still commands a double-team on the block. Even with Amar’e Stoudemire out, Shaq has no shortage of offensive firepower around him, which has led to the Suns leading the league in scoring once again. It’s because of their numerous offensive threats that there’s no one person they depend on with the game on the line.

“It really doesn’t matter,” said Richardson when asked about who the go-to guy was in the clutch. “Whoever has the hot hand that night. We’ve got so many scorers. You’re always going to see three of them. You got Shaq, when Amar’e was healthy with us, Steve (Nash), Matt (Barnes), and Grant (Hill). We just got so many scorers it’s pretty much who has the hot hand that night is gonna get the ball. We’ve got the type of team where nobody is selfish and we share the ball with each other.”

The game of H-O-R-S-E became an event during All-Star Weekend this year, but it’s been a longstanding tradition before and after practice for decades now. The Suns would have to be one of the top teams to watch because they have so many guys who can really shoot the ball.

“I don’t know (who holds the crown in H-O-R-S-E),” admitted Richardson. “Every other day it could be anybody. I’m definitely up there, Steve’s definitely up there. We got a lot of shooters on this team, a lot of great shooters.”

When the Suns are in a structured environment on the court they’re doing their best to become a team that can rely on their defense. If there’s one lesson this season has taught them, it’s that you cannot just outscore people every single night.

“Of course we want to outscore people, we’re not going to take away what we do best,” explained Richardson. “But at the same time when the game is on the line and things come down to it we have to learn how to get stops. We’re learning that right now and hopefully it carries on to the rest of the season and even into next year.”

The Suns will need it to carry over into next year because their season has realistically come to an end this year. They’re four games out with just five remaining and would need to win out in order to make it, while the Dallas Mavericks would have to lose out. The Suns struggled to find an identity this year but they finally have their players having fun again. Come next year, if they can stay healthy and together, they should see a much different result . . .and likely a return to the playoffs.

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