Darko expert licensing exam

With 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal, Darko finished with 16 DP tonight.

That gave him 42 DP for the 2-game set, just a tad short of my prediction of 46 DP.

I AM THE DARKO MASTER!

So when can I expect my lock of Darko hair?

So in the words of Ricky Bobby, 2nd place is just the first loser.

Good job to all the participants.

Right on Roscoe. You can lock it up at this point if you want. It has out-lived its useful life.

Congrats Jammertime. That was some prudent forecasting.

PM me an address to send the prize.



I am now officially done with the Darko watching.

Maybe I'll run the Blalock expert licensing exam next year if we get rid of him.

Peace out.

Darko tonight: 16 R's and 14 points

44 DP for the Serbian Slugger. The Knicks beat the Heat. The battle for the EC playoff spot #8 could be a wild one.

Didn't see the game, but from the stat line, Darko completely outplayed Ben Wallace. 14 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks, and he shot a great percentage. Nice game, Darko!

plus 5 blocks.

I think he got fired up playing against Big Ben. LOL

I just got back from the Bulls game.

Both teams played hard.

Not exactly true. Stat lines don't beat watching the game. The whole story of this game was Ben Wallace and the whole Chicago team focusing on Howard, both in keeping him off the boards, and keeping him from scoring. Although Howard put up big numbers, Ben helped guard him into 11 turnovers. You throw in the turns, and Howard really did not have a good scoring night if you count percentage of times scoring per posession. (vs. per shot which does not take into account the 11 turns. The typical posession where Howard tried to score on Wallace resulted in a turnover.)

So really, Ben had a very good game, as did Darko, as did Howard despite all the turns. But the return of Trevor Ariza was also important. Not his very first game back, but hey, a guy needs a game or so to get back on his feet. Ariza was the energy player, the guy to all the loose balls. With Ariza back, we can expect that draft pick to get worse by the game.

Thanks for the recap, Lee. Ben and the Bulls have looked pretty good on the paint defense. I also noticed the 11 (eleven!) turnovers from Howard.

It's nice to know that it's possible to appreciate the game of both players, and not have to pick sides.

Another factor was the absence of Nocioni. The Bulls were getting killed on the offensive glass, and I don't think Noc would have allowed that. Ben needed some help in there.

There were a couple of things that I couldn't believe at the end of the game. The Bulls decided to go small with Hinrich/Duhon/Gordon/Deng/ and Ben at the start of the 4th, so amazingly, Brian Hill matched them with a small line-up of his own. What is he thinking? He's getting a career game from his C/PF who is not in foul trouble, and puts in 3 of the most turnover prone guards to try to stop the hot shooting combo of Deng and Gordon.

Then, Hill finally goes big again with 4 minutes to go in a tie game.

At this stage, the mismatch both ways is Deng vs. Milicic. Yet, both teams misplayed it. Instead of driving on Milicic or trying to get fouled, Deng decides to try to shoot right over him from 15 feet twice in a row, badly missing on the first and air-balling the second. On the other end, the Magic completely ignore the size differential and choose to attack Ben Wallace to no avail. Once by forcing it to Howard and another time by driving at Ben with an undersized guard.

The Magic eventually pulled away with a series of stupid fouls by the Bulls, one nice alley-oop to Howard, and a jumper by Jameer.

The ending was a little anti-climactic with all of the free throws. The crowd was hating it.

I thought Ben had a tough time with Howard all game. He couldn't push him out of inside position... as Lee said they were double & triple teaming Howard... Darko often had an easy stroll for the rebound... not to dismiss his solid game.

I would say that this was the first game that the twin tower plan was successful.

Combined, they had:
35 points
32 rebounds
3 assists
7 blocks

While the Bulls as a team had 31 rebounds. And that is a team with one of the best rebounders of the last decade.

It is hard to believe, but Dwight Howard had 11 turnovers, yet he led the Magic in the +/- category. I'm not sure who else in the NBA could cough it up that many times and still be the most positive force on the floor.

Now that Darko has received actual playing time, the days of 40 minute projections are over.

Using his gross numbers for the season, here is how he would rank on the Pistons' team this year:

Min- 5th
pts- 5th
Reb- 2nd
Ast- 6th
Stl- 5th
Blk- 1st
FTA- 3rd
TO- 3rd
PF- 4th

Without Webber, those numbers would clearly be good enough to be the starting center for the beast of the East.

I'm willing to forgive Flip Saunders for all of this if he finds a way to work Dale Davis, Nazr, and JMax into the rotation as the Playoffs approach. I just think that we need a little bit more rebounding and intimidation in the middle against the good teams.

Webber is great, but he won't be enough against the Spurs or Mavs.

I really like that he considers Davis, Nazr, and JMax "situational" players, because that means that at least he recognizes their strengths. The next step is actually rotating them consistently and effectively.

We can be the Lernaean Hydra.

Dyess has 1 more offensive rebound, 2 more steals, and 10 more personal fouls than Darko this year if that makes you feel any better. Those are probably not going to last though.