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Posts Tagged ‘Team USA’

ANOTHER BUZZER-BEATER???

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

I played with LeBron in the Olympics and I’ve seen him do some crazy things, but that was the sickest of them all. I mean, that was a tough, tough shot. Turk played great defense, did all he could do really, and LeBron just made a heck of a shot.

He’s the MVP of the league, and that’s what he does best – make plays nobody thinks he can make.

What’s up with us losing all of these buzzer-beaters??? I mean, dang, Philly got us twice in the first round, Big Baby hit that crazy jumper from the wing against Boston and now this from LeBron??? I guess when you think about it, we won a couple of games at the end with Turk in Philly and Rashard here in Game 1. I thought Turk had done it for us again, running the clock down to one and hitting hit shot, but that was a tough way to lose.

Now, you have to watch that shot over and over again on the TV and there’s no getting away from it. But we’ve got to bounce back from this, and I know we will because we’ve done that all season.

We were almost up 2-0 on their home court, which would have been huge, but we just have to realize it’s all tied up now.

We’re going home and we know what we have to do to beat this team. I think Cleveland knows we ain’t no joke and we ain’t going away anytime soon. They know we’re going to keep scrapping and fighting and clawing, and we expect the same thing from them.

Now, we gotta take care of business back in Orlando. Everybody thought I was going to be all frustrated about not getting many shots Friday night, but I’m more upset about how bad we’re starting games. We’re giving up threes and dunks and we’re not running on offense. That just can’t keep happening, especially when we get home.

My man, Bron Bron, hurt us with that shot, but ya’ll know we’ll be back from that. We always bounce back whether it’s in the middle of games or after tough losses.

We’ll be at home now, and we’ll be there to win these next two games. We still think we have the talent and the team to win this series, and one loss – make that one shot – hasn’t changed our minds about that.

I’m out, ya’ll. Bring it for Game 3 cause we need ya’ll.

– D

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GETTING READY FOR THE PLAYOFFS

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Some people who I have talked to are worried that we are struggling down the stretch and I’m the first to admit that we are in a little slump right now.

But I really think as soon as we get our legs back under us, get healthy and start up the playoffs that we will be ready to go again.

It was great to hear that Turk’s ankle injury isn’t too serious. At first, we were worried that he d have to be out a while and that would hurt us come playoff time. But he’s fine and he’ll be back playing maybe Wednesday against Charlotte and if not by then he’ll certainly be back in the lineup for the playoffs.

And the same goes for Rashard. He just has tendonitis in his knees and needed a few days to get himself right again. With fresh legs, I’m sure he’ll be back to hitting shots for us in the playoffs.

Trust me, I know all too well that knee tendonitis is no joke. I had to miss two games earlier this season because tendonitis was bothering me in my knee. It probably built up because I played with Team USA all summer.

I think it did me some good to sit out Monday night in Milwaukee and observe. I’ve been kind of frustrated lately and it was good to sit back and observe and see some things from the bench. It’s been a long season and we need to be fresh and ready to come once the playoffs begin this weekend.

As for who we’re going to play in the playoffs, we know that it will be either Philly or Chicago. Detroit is no longer an option because they are going to be the No. 8 seed.

I think there are some things we can exploit against either one of those teams in the playoffs if we were to meet them. Looking at the stat sheet, I played better this season against Chicago than I did Philadelphia. But the Bulls are a lot different team now that they have Brad Miller, who I became friends with a few years back from my time on Team USA.

Anyway, I’m ready for the postseason to begin. We think we can do something special this season and we need the fans to be there to help us.

PEACE, OUT. — DWIGHT

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I BEAT WILT CHAMBERLAIN???

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

My phone has been blowing up with text messages since I broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record by becoming the youngest NBA player ever to get 5,000 rebounds. Everybody has been calling me “Mr. 5000,’’ and that’s pretty cool.

At first, I didn’t know it was Wilt Chamberlain’s record and when I heard about it, my reaction was, “WOW!!!’’

After I broke the record all I could think about was how I wished I would have had a chance to meet Wilt Chamberlain. I can’t imagine how it would have felt to meet a dominant player like him.

When they told me it was Wilt Chamberlain’s record, it just sunk in to me what a great accomplishment that was. That’s Wilt Chamberlain!!!!

With God’s will I can stay healthy and try to get 6,000 now.

My boy, Chris Bosh, is in town tonight, but there are no friendships out there on the court. Chris, Carlos Boozer and myself hung out together every day in China when we were there for the Olympics. Those guys helped me every day after practice when we’d work on our post moves.

We’re pushing to get 60 wins and hold on to that No. 2 seed. We’ve been starting off way too slow lately, giving teams the hope that they have a chance. We have to stop that right away. We want to go into the postseason solid defensively, keeping our turnovers down and pushing really hard.

Wish us luck tonight. We’re going to need it because C-Bosh always plays great against us. We have to keep him off the free throw line, cause he never misses from there.

Peace. — DWIGHT

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READY FOR CLEVELAND AND LEBRON

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

I’ve played against LeBron James enough and with him this summer on the Olympic team to know that when he comes down the lane you’ve got to be ready to go up and make a play or you will get embarrassed. And I don’t like getting embarrassed.

I’m almost 7-foot tall, so I’m not taking a charge in the lane. Seven-footers are in the game to block shots and that’s what I’m going to try to do. Even with LeBron, who weighs almost as much as I do, I’ve got to keep him away from the basket.

When the L-Train is coming down the lane you try to make him change tracks before he gets up too much steam. The main thing with LeBron is you have to meet him early in the lane and make him take tough shots. I have to contest his shot when he gets in the lane and make sure not give him anything easy.

But this game is about more than just me vs. LeBron. We need to win this game if we are going to accomplish our goals. Just inside the door in our locker room our team goals are written on the board. We want to win our division, lock up homecourt advantage, win 60 games and get the East’s top seed. If we can do all of those things, then we will have the best shot of reaching our main goal and that’s to win a championship.

Cleveland is four games ahead of us going into this game, so if we’re going to catch them, we need to win tonight. We’ve played really well against them in the past, and we’ve got to keep it up.

Cleveland is really good at home, losing there just one time all season. We’ll be really up for this game, and because they are so good at home, that’s even more reason for us to try and get the top seed and homecourt for the playoffs.

Check back tomorrow with my thoughts on the game and other stuff.

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