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| Arroyo MVP; CC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 13 2007, 07:47 AM (2,430 Views) | |
| Nogaro | Sep 4 2007, 12:45 PM Post #46 |
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Ok GUYS..... I'm BBAAAAAAAACCCKKK!!!!!!! Not surprised to see Falcon, Zuppafly and the usual suspects hate on Arroyo.... Does not matter what everyone says.........At the end of the day you ALL have to admit that he is a SOLID point guard. Bronze Medal and all! Not to mention a 30 pts, 10 asts, 2 stls game against Brazil. Hey, a least he is a much better PG than Dooling...That is if anyone dares to call Dooling a PG....Thank you very much Hill2Howard!!! ;o) and he is a better PG than Jamer also (BTW, bless his heart and my condolences to him and his family). ANYHOOOO..... I'm glad to be back to mess with y'all and to support the best PG this team has! That one was specially for you Zuppafly! Buuuaaahahahahahah ;o) BTW, READ 'EM AND WEEP!! Team USA, Dwight Howard put on gold-medal performance Posted on Sep 2, 2007 10:17:46 PM Discuss This: Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Linking Blogs | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it By Deanna Gugel The United States jumped on Argentina for up to a 30-point lead in the first half and went on to a 118-81 victory in the gold-medal game of the FIBA Americas Championships in Las Vegas. The Americans finished the competition without backing off, remaining undefeated in FIBA play and keeping captain Jason Kidd undefeated in international play -- sending a signal to the rest of the world that they are determined to try to recapture the gold medal in Beijing in 2008. It's a shame for Magic fans that one of the ESPN networks did not broadcast this game so more of them could have seen it. The gold-medal game was center Dwight Howard's best of the tournament as he finished with 20 points and was very active. In the first quarter, especially, he got a hand on every loose ball near the basketball, and he finished the first half with double-digit scoring. It's tough to tell whether Howard was more aggressive offensively or his teammates were making a concerted effort to set him up, but Howard brought out all the tools offensively. He took passes from Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James for monster jams, converted a windmill dunk after catching a baseball-style pass from underneath Argentina's basket, tipped in a missed shot with his left hand for a dunk, caught a behind-the-back pass from Bryant for another dunk and grabbed a softly lofted pass just over his head as he was running toward the basket for a layup. Howard's dunks always bring the crowd to its feet, but the layup he scored moving toward the basket was nice to see, too. During the NBA season, it would benefit the Magic if he could get more opportunities for those shots instead of getting his attempts with his back to the basket so often. Howard was a perfect 7-for-7 on field goals, 6-for-8 on free throws, blocked 4 shots and grabbed 5 rebounds. He did, however, also have three turnovers. The past two games, Howard has been especially good from the free-throw line. It bears mentioning, though, that the basketball they are using in the FIBA competition is a composite ball, more like the ball that the NBA started last season with and later replaced because most of the NBA players didn't like it. Howard actually liked that composite ball, though, and had his free-throw percentage up to nearly 70 percent before the league changed back to the old leather basketball. You've got to wonder if switching the types of basketballs he is practicing and playing with so much in the past year hasn't contributed to his struggles at the free-throw line -- or at the very least hindered his ability to improve his percentage -- in the NBA season. James was the top scorer for the United States with 31 points, and he also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a blocked shot. Anthony had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Bryant spent the game dishing the ball to his teammates, finishing with 8 assists and 5 points, and Kidd had 6 rebounds and 4 assists. It was a little surprising that one of the Americans did not win the tournament MVP. That trophy went to Argentina's Luis Scola. But Scola was very steady and aggressive throughout the tournament and helped a team that was without most of its top players capture the silver -- its only two losses coming against the United States. One refreshing aspect of this tournament was seeing how happy Argentina was with its performance without some of its top players. They celebrated on the medal stand, dancing and smiling instead of appearing dejected after getting beat soundly in the gold-medal game. They know that they played well enough to ensure their team a spot in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and will get to defend their gold medal with a fully stocked roster if all their players enter the next offseason healthy, and that was the most important thing for them at this tournament. Anyway, I'm not sure who voted for the award, but it would have been difficult to choose just one American player. Anthony probably was the most consistent, but Team USA had huge performances from Bryant and James most games, too. Perhaps they split the votes. The Houston Rockets had to be thrilled with Scola's performance after obtaining him in a trade with the San Antonio Spurs this summer. His aggressive personality will be a nice complement to the game of Yao Ming and the laid-back personality of Tracy McGrady. If he can stay out of foul trouble, Scola could be an X-factor to help the Rockets finally get out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Magic and their fans also had to be happy with the outstanding finish of point guard Carlos Arroyo. The co-captain for Puerto Rico's team, Arroyo helped lead his team to a 111-107 victory against Brazil in its bronze-medal game. Arroyo had 30 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals and shot 56.2 percent in 39 minutes. Since the quarterfinal round of the FIBA Americas tournament began, Arroyo has looked like a totally different player -- much more confident. Perhaps a fresh start with new Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy will help his confidence carry over into the NBA season. It seems like some NBA team would be able to use the scoring ability of Arroyo's fellow co-captain, Larry Ayuso, too. Ayuso can be streaky, but he had 39 points Sunday and shot 8-for-12 from 3-point range. That's probably it from the international competitions this year for me. If I'm able to get some news reports out of the European championships, I'll try to let you know how Hedo Turkoglu, Darko Milicic and any other players with Magic ties are doing in that competition. The opening of Magic training camp is less than a month away, hoops heads, so you don't have much longer to wait. |
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| TheFalcon | Sep 4 2007, 03:21 PM Post #47 |
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Air Gortat
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WOOHOO! Arroyo rules the world! He is the greatest point guard ever! |
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| Nogaro | Sep 4 2007, 03:26 PM Post #48 |
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Starter
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<Bows and Thanks TheFalcon.....> TheFalcon...... WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE! Bwwwwwuuuaaahahahahahahah!
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| MAGICMANEVAN | Sep 4 2007, 05:00 PM Post #49 |
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#1 Magic Fan
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He was definitley being sarcastic.
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| zuppafly | Sep 4 2007, 09:00 PM Post #50 |
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Drafting Marbury + Foyle = Championship. \o/
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"That one was specially for you Zuppafly! " Hein? Read the last post on the page before this one. I'm a Magic fan, not any player's fan. I like to see our guys do good and I hope Arroyo can keep his level up starting the season. If you can't understand that people criticise Arroyo for his poor last season and not because the world is against Carlos, then you do have a problem. |
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| zuppafly | Sep 4 2007, 09:02 PM Post #51 |
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Drafting Marbury + Foyle = Championship. \o/
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There, I changed my custom title under the avatar to fit Nogaro's point of view
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| Nogaro | Sep 5 2007, 08:13 AM Post #52 |
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He was??!?!?!? Really?? You think? Naaaaaaahhhhhhh........ J/K LOL!
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| Nogaro | Sep 8 2007, 12:08 PM Post #53 |
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I CAN understand when someone criticizes Arroyo for playing bad!! I do so myself...actually I was pretty upset with his play during the Tuto Marchand Tournament (held in PR just before the Vegas Tournament). What I've never been able to understand is why did Jameer get a free pass last year or why is Arroyo compared to Dooling as a PG. Listen, I love Dooling...I really do...but Dooling CAN'T run the offense, period. His inability to run the offense doesn't compensate his defensive skills. It's good to have him on the court but he can't be used as a starting PG...EVER! On the other hand Arroyo can and ultimately, that is more important to a team. I also do not understand the lack of tolerance for Arroyo's game (in comparison to other players). Mainly, Jameer...who really sucked last year. At times he did some inconceivable last minute snafus. Still, he is not mentioned as having a terrible season. Hell, he is going to be our starting PG once again! God help us! That's all folks.... Oh and another thing. I am a Magic's Fan....because of Arroyo. Is that wrong?!? |
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| Pitbullz EP | Sep 8 2007, 01:30 PM Post #54 |
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Magic in 5
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^ In some people's eyes. Thats why arroyo gets criticized so much. That's why it's so funny when people talk about him as if he's been a cancer his whole career. |
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| Magic333 | Sep 8 2007, 03:19 PM Post #55 |
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McGrady and Howard... What could have been
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I never said I hate Puerto Rican fans for loving him. I said I don't like arroyo and thats it. There is another ball player on that other team who could shoot the ball lights out. That guy to me looks better than arroyo. The problem I hate arroyo so much is because he shoots the ball way too much. He acts like Jameer Nelson. When the case is, he can't even shoot like him. He refuses to pass that ball. He is a good passer. I've seen him pass the ball, and it's good. But he dosen't choose to do it. He rather shoot. I don't know if he tries to be like McGrady or Kobe. On fast breaks. he stops on a dime and takes a jumpshot. And I don't remember once when he has made one of those jumpshots. And some of those times, we were down by one in those important situations. Basically killing the momentum the Magic had. Jameer gets a free pass I think because he has come up in big situations. He has been clutch, and has made big shots. arroyo hasn't done any of that for the Magic. Except for that one game against washington. |
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| Pitbullz EP | Sep 9 2007, 08:28 AM Post #56 |
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Magic in 5
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In your opinion he shoots alot.... He's always been a guy that looks to set up his teammates his entire career and now he's a terrible player b/c he has a bad season under a crappy system? He was in the dog house with Hill, He probablly was going to take what he could get not getting the PT for whatever reason. You would do the same thing. I know I would. Arroyo has helped this team win games, He has hit his stop and pop shot a few times and has hit people off with passes that changed the momentum of games. You choose to see when he messed up last year to make convince yourself. That's okay, go ahead if you want to pick and choose, but I can countt a bunch of times when guys on this very board were asking BHill whay Jameer was in the game or taking shots, especially in the playoffs. So if he is given a pass he doesn't derserve it. If your going to pick one thing a player does and choose to "hate" him then I hate Dwight so much b/c he can't make a free throw to save his life. We can't depend on him to win a game for us if he can't hit his free throws or develop a post game. But I wont do that b/c thats being hypocritical. Dwight does other things to help this team win and so does Carlos. Open your eyes. |
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| Nogaro | Sep 10 2007, 07:59 PM Post #57 |
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Errrrmmm.... What he said! |
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| Magic333 | Sep 18 2007, 07:21 PM Post #58 |
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McGrady and Howard... What could have been
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last 1 1/2 years he has been on the Magic he has been looking to shoot. I remember when he first came here. He just shot constitantly, but it went in. The only reason that kept him from fans complaining about him was because of his shooting so well. No one even noticed that he only average 3 assist. Hell, his whole career, Even the time he did start in Utah. He only averaged about 5 assist. That isn't what what I call a PG number. Considering he was starting. Arroyo has just put it on himself. when he left Utah, because he wasn't the pass first PG that Sloan was looking for. I'm not looking at the bad. I even said it in my earlier post. I even said he won acouple games for us. That washington game where he scored like 25 points. But lets be honest, after that 1 1/2 month he was just garbage right after. I can't remember 1 game where he made a real difference in the games we won after the 1 1/2 months. Also, I just don't remember any games where Arroyo's passing helped us win a game. Let alone him doing it at all. His shooting is obviously bad, and his passing he just refuses to do. Difference with Jameer Nelson is that his shooting threat just keeps everyone happy about him. Also the many clutch moments he had, with the many scoring performances. |
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| Pitbullz EP | Sep 19 2007, 07:32 AM Post #59 |
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Magic in 5
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I'm not arguing that he was inconsistant, or that that he was one of the best PG's in league in Utah. I'm saying that you are looking at 2 bad situations under Slaon and Hill. Would you consider Arenas, or Bibby, good PG's? The avg 5 and 4 respectivly. There are a bunch of better pg's than Carlos who avg between 6 and 4 apg. ALl im saying is that he's a good pg to have coming off your bench. |
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| Panam | Sep 19 2007, 03:16 PM Post #60 |
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Sixth Man
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Carlos had the same tratment from Sloan and nobody believed him!1Now Kirilenko after his show in Fiba Euro tournament gives us the inside story to how coach Sloan is.......as fat as Magic 333 opinion is concerned you can answer it in two words "BIASED AND WRONG" here's the quote from Kirilenko's mouth.................."In a week, I need to join the Utah Jazz again, but, quite frankly, I'm not really happy about that. The past season was bad for me and I was really disappointed. I've thought about it a lot and I came to a decision: I want to leave the Utah Jazz. The European championships that just ended became sort of a test for me and now I think I know what I want to do. "Coach Sloan is one of the reasons. It's not the only reason . . . Right now, I feel that I'm not growing as a player. I'm trying, but it doesn't work. I am not allowed. I do not get support from the coach and from the club. I'm convinced that Sloan's methods have a negative impact on me. "His main method to motivate players is to create a feeling of guilt. Our wages, our errors in games, and whatever we do beyond playing for the Jazz is also an excuse to criticize us. I want to play basketball. I want to be happy playing basketball, but I don't want to be a robot in part of Sloan's system. "Therefore, I don't really see any future in Utah Jazz for myself . . . I have only one request: Let me myself go in the direction I want to go." . |
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