Ric Bucher has always liked nothing more than breaking down guards, whether it be on a
playground or on paper. Here he does it for ESPN.com. We call it "On Guards" for obvious reasons. Look for this feature each Monday. Better yet, be on guard for it.
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| Atkins |
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| Hardaway |
This week's feature guards: Miami's Tim Hardaway vs. Detroit's Chucky Atkins
This week's matchup is a lesson that the number of points a player scores
isn't nearly as important as when and how he scores them. It's also a lesson
that no matter how much talent a team has, if it doesn't have a point guard
who can execute the team's offense at crunchtime, it is always going to be
susceptible to comebacks and collapses. The boxscore from last week's
Heat-Pistons game would suggest Miami pulled out an overtime victory despite
Atkins torching Hardaway for a career-high 36 points. Never has the adage,
"Don't believe everything you read," been more appropriate.
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RIC'S GUARD RANKINGS
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THE WEEK'S TOP 10
1. Baron Davis - Doing it all as Hornets stretch winning streak to seven
2. Terrell Brandon - 18 points and 15 dimes in pivotal win over Sonics
3. Kobe Bryant - Shooting 55 percent since his return
4. Gary Payton - Career-high 44 points in pivotal loss to T-Wolves
5. Vince Carter - All right, he's a 2 and MoPete is the 3 - this week
6. Allen Iverson - Amazing success with those step-back Js, but the flopping
is becoming tiresome
7. Jason Kidd - Back to being Ason (no J) but 19 dimes without Shawn Marion
is impressive
8. Stephon Marbury - Rewarded for still playing hard and keeping cool with
Pacers' W
9. Steve Francis - Keeping post-season hopes alive with three-game stretch of
23 points, 7 boards and 6.6 assists
10. Steve Nash -- Still has Mavs rolling toward a postseason berth
(Note: the weekly ranking is based on performances each week, not
overall)
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On the rise: Tim Hardaway
(15.1 ppg, 6.2 apg, 1.1 stls, .393 FG, .785 FT, .369 3s)
The once-vaunted killer crossover gets dusted off only when Sherman Douglas
or some other octogenarian takes the floor. He can't straighten out his right
leg. He comes off down screens like a yacht swinging into a harbor and he has
to use every trick just to create enough room to launch a three-pointer. So
how can he possibly be on the up-tick, especially compared to an up-and-comer
like Atkins? Beats me - but this week he was. Before showing another
youngster, Andre Miller, how it's done with 18 points and 8 assists (with 1
turnover) in a Sunday night win over the Cavs, Hardaway assured Atkins'
career-high scoring night would be a painful memory. After going 2 for 10
through three quarters, outscored 21-7 by the Chuckster and posting nearly as
many turnovers (3) as assists (4), Hardaway got clinical. It's not merely
that he nailed four of his last seven shots or notched three more assists
while turning it over only once; it's that he made sure the Heat's offense
clicked on every possession and managed the shot and game clocks to near
perfection, allowing Miami to recover from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit.
On the slide: Chucky Atkins
(11.7 ppg, 3.9 apg, .8 stls, .405 FG, .622 FT, .366 3s)
Speed kills, but sometimes the person done in is behind the wheel. Atkins
simply couldn't miss for most of the night, firing far too quickly off the
dribble and off screens to be bothered by Hardaway. But Atkins wasted the
wide margin his hot hand created by continuing to fire from far range and go
1-on-1 rather than force the Pistons to execute their offense down the
stretch. Atkins, to his credit, accepted blame for the collapse and
specifically mentioned an ill-advised alley-oop lob to Jerry Stackhouse that
resulted in a Eddie Jones' trey that trimmed Detroit's lead to four with 89
seconds left. (Who got the ball to Jones for that big bomb? See above.) But
there were bigger mistakes down the stretch than that -- like not swinging the
ball to a wide-open and, this particular night, hot Billy Owens. Or taking a
rushed driving jumper instead of running the side pick-and-roll coach George
Irvine wanted. Or failing to get something better than a deep, off-balance
three-pointer after the Heat took its first lead of the game with two minutes
left in overtime.
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| Strickland |
This week's guard to watch: New Blazer Rod Strickland
He suddenly has something to play
for again and always has been beloved by the Rose Garden faithful. The
Blazers are deep enough to keep his minutes in check and provide plenty of
targets for his dimes. One word of caution: the Blazers' weakness is
perimeter shooting, which allows opponents to collapse on Rasheed Wallace and
Arvydas Sabonis, and Rod won't help them there. Should be interesting to see
how much coach Mike Dunleavy posts Strickland and puts 'Sheed and Sabonis,
who both have much better range, on the perimeter.
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ALSO SEE
On Guards (Marbury, K. Anderson), Feb. 28
On Guards (Terry, Hughes), Feb. 19
On Guards (S. Smith, R. Harper), Feb. 6
On Guards (Brandon and R. Strickland), Jan 29
On Guards (Hunter and E. Strickland), Jan .22
On Guards (Francis and Eisley), Jan. 16
On Guards (McKie and N. Anderson), Jan. 7
On Guards (Rose and McGrady), Dec. 28
On Guards (Bibby and Jackson), Dec. 18
On Guards (Stockton, Blaylock), Nov. 27
On Guards (Nash, A.Miller), Nov. 20
On Guards (Anderson, Billups), Nov. 13
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