Here’s some footage of Amar’e and Carmelo killing the Jazz (they combined for 65 points in 3 quarters). The relationship reminds me a lot of the Durant/Westbrook dynamic as one does not need to dominate the ball in order to score 25+ consistently. Amar’e is probably done as a 25 ppg guy, but as long as his 17 footer falls he should be a great fit in this offense. And before any of you point to the paint’s being clear, the great floor spacer that is Jared Jeffries is on court for a lot of this.

Is the West just that much better?

Pretty much, yes.

As you know, Melo has a history of playing through injury or rushing back, letting symptoms linger. Certainly there is a case to be made that Melo is injury prone, and I do think it’s a major negative in terms of his value (I actually think it’s often explained some of the major slumps he’s had throughout his career. I’ve chronicled that here before.)

But I would rather have Melo play 60-65 games at close to full capacity as opposed to 70-75 games where he’s never healthy.

For Amar’e, I think he needs to play 10-15 minutes pretty because I think part of his hesitation is the fear of re-injuring it. If he can scrimmage he can play a few minutes here and there to get -re-assimilated, slowly build his confidence.

Obviously if you let Melo play you’re going to play him 36+, so it’s a different situation.

Brian Cronin:
Houston helped the cause by kicking Atlanta’s ass tonight.

Is the West just that much better?