Monday, February 22, 2010

JO's time has arrived

16.9 points, 10 Rebounds, 2 blocks in 31.7 minutes - these are Jermaine O'Neal's averages over the last seven games. It seems his production is on the upswing and it could not come at a better time.

Jermaine feels like he can continue to contribute now that he is finally healthy and has been lobbying to get more opportunities to establish an inside-outside game. I actually give Coach Spoelstra credit for limiting Jermaine's minutes - he averages 28.8 per game for the season - and keeping him fresh and healthy for the second half of the season + playoffs.

57 games into the season he is shooting a team leading and career best 54% from the field. The time has come to get his confidence going by featuring him in the offense the way Shaq and Alonzo were. We may yet have a 20-10-2 center down the stretch run of the season if given 35+ minutes. As a matter of fact, JO has gotten 35 minutes or more in 4 of the last 7 games and is averaging 20-12-2.

It is a small sample size, but we already gave up on one "washed up" O'Neal only to watch him make another All-Star game and help Cleveland become the NBA's top team, let's find out what we have in this O'Neal before we give up on him too.


4 comments:

  1. GO JO!!! This blog entry needed at least one post. x factor.

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  2. hmm. Missed this one, but I agree. JO is our X-Factor. Whether we're a 1 & done team, or can pull off a major upset is up to him.

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  3. 95% sure we are a 1 and done team... I hope we can get to the second round, but we need JO, Beasley, Wade and the role players all playing well at the same time and it just seems so unlikely.

    They are looking good right now... this team can get hot.

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  4. I like feeding JO, its almost always a high percentage play. Feed the Big Man!

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