Waited to check in on these threads until I had a chance to watch the game.
Wow! That was 180 degrees from the debacle against Philly!
Smart was brilliant tonight. Way better than the first game because in this game he really seemed to engage the whole team (In Game 1, I thought he mostly seemed to be running on ahead of the team and playing by himself). This was, to me, much more of a 'leadership' game for Smart. I really loved what I saw from him - better than anything we got to see all season, standing around waiting for someone to pass him the ball. Instead, he was _leading_ this squad in every way. If this is the Marcus Smart who shows up in Waltham, and then on the Garden parquet, he is going to be awesome to watch.
Rozier is becoming exactly who I think Danny and Brad wanted him to be. Explosive. Smooth. So fast. Definitely is going to be an NBA player. That's the first level check you want any draft pick to exceed and I think any concern that Danny got a bust out of the #16 pick should be in the rear view mirror. As Isaiah said in the interview during the game, Rozier has elite NBA speed - and that's going to be why he's going to succeed. His shooting stroke also looked very smooth.
Hunter: Well, I knew it was coming at some point. He was bound to shake off the rust & the jitters and just shoot. And man, can he get it up in the air. Anybody else have a little Ray Allen goosebumps on that 4th three point bomb, the way he got the pass and just exploded up with the shot, from what? 6 feet outside the arc? Nothing but net. I think he is going to be fine now that his shot is falling. The rest of his game has actually been pretty solid all along. He really knows where to be on the court and he plays a lot longer than I expected. Could use a tighter handle.
Mickey is the only other guy who I thought looked like a future NBA player. I thought he looked a lot more confident in the paint tonight. Had a good overall hustle game and obviously rebounded better without having to fight with a 260 lb behemoth for a change. I can't get over how long his arms are. He needs to put on some muscle, but he looks like he will be a pretty good NBA player. His build and the way he plays taller than he is reminds me of (younger) Joel Anthony, but with a nicer shooting touch.
I did think Holmes, Buckner & ONeal all played well, but clearly a notch down from the guys up above.
I hope we can get to see Marcus Thornton for more minutes in one of the next few games. It's impossible to assess him right now, on less than two minutes of play.
