Pre-Game Jazz

I'm posting this early mainly for tonight's game between CHI @ NYK.  Excellent chance for the Knicks to add a loss to CHI bringing them up to 9 losses and just one away from our 10.  We have to make up these games somewhere.  This isn't the most efficient way but it's all helpful.  Watch if you can or just look for the final score and do the math.  

Another thing I'm thinking about is the double teaming of Tatum.  Remember I have no formal education in basketball.  Never played anything but street ball.  And I don't know how to watch a game and pick apart each possession.  Tatum and the rest of the team seem to make this look a lot harder than it appears to the novice like myself.

Now maybe teams that are on defense know what to expect because the math says if you have two guys guarding another player, some dude is wide open.  Teams can shade and make it look like their remaining three are "guarding" our four, but it would seem to reason that if our player that has no one on him would simply move around the court once he senses the double team or just head for the basket and get wide open, good things should happen.  Tatum still thinks he can dribble out of double teams, but we've seen time and again that ship doesn't sail 9 out of 10 times.  It may be the rest of our team is to blame because every time I see a double team on Tatum, our 4 remaining are standing still watching.  

Can someone address how the double teams should be something we see maybe 3-4 times at the beginning of the season and never see again because all we get when we're double teamed is layups and And 1's?  That is, teams give up on them as a strategy because they are flat out giving up bunnies?  It appears the rest of the NBA is content with doubling up Tatum because of the 9 out of 10 turnovers or side outs that result from Tatum dribbling into these all the time.  

Anyway, just a side bar.  5-game West Coast run coming up including the Jazz and Lakers.  Portland right there at 11-11.  So this will not be an easy stretch.  I'm going to put it out there that we need to 4-1 BAM on this run or it's a total bust and we'll hop back on the Mediocre Bus to Boston.  I can't see it working out for us better any other way.  

The fireworks will start early against the Jazz solidly in 3rd in the WC @ 14-7.  Can't have a bad start on the road against a contender.  It will be over before it starts.  Are we ready to show that the BKN game was a fluke or more of the same?  Let's find out!

Go Celtics!!

db

Just noticed the spread for tonight's game.  Jazz (-.  That's a blowout in Vegas.  Not good.  Maybe they can cover but that's about it.  Put me down for 0-1. Sorry, that's Jazz-8.  

db