Thought I would take a minute and pass on some stream of consciousness thoughts about the first weekend of the NBA playoffs. It was a great hoops weekend for me in that I actually got to watch quite a bit of hoops. Thanks to my lovely wife for putting up with that. If you haven't done so already, scroll down and check out my playoff predictions. I'm already looking pretty dumb. Good times.
Detroit v. Orlando – Orlando’s just not ready. Detroit should absolutely sweep. No news there, but it was even more obvious than I expected. Detroit showed little to know weaknesses, though I still think they will against better teams, and Orlando just doesn’t have a legit number 1 or number 2 option on offense. Howard is a beast, but he is not a go to scorer. Great rebounder, decent defender and very limited offensively. And he’s a disaster when Detroit slows the game down. Bigger mystery though is what happened to Jameer Nelson this year? This was to be his year. He came on strong at the end of last year and then stunk up the joint this year. I ask now because Orlando could really use some scoring from him right now. I know Detroit didn’t blow them out, but that’s not their style. In just about every game, the Pistons get up by about 10 and hold that lead for the entire game and then either push it to 15 or see if get cut to 5 in the final minute depending on the quality of the opponent or how hard they are playing. That might lead to a couple losses against Cleveland or Chicago, but not Orlando. I hereby declare this the most boring series and I will likely not watch more than 5 minutes combined the rest of the way.
Cleveland v. Washington – I said Cleveland in 5 and that’s looking like I was being a bit generous to the Wiz. Bron looked fiery and it was a huge deal that Hughes stepped up. Still, the Cavs take games off. If they do sweep Washington, it will be a bigger statement about this team than people realize. This was the only game I didn’t see any part of this weekend and I will only watch this one if completely convenient and that’s just for LBJ.
Toronto v. NJ – Fun, fun hoops to watch. Love the Raps style. Love Bosh. Still love watching Kidd and VC on offense. Gotta say, first game played out like I thought the whole series would. NJ’s big 3 and experience are just too much…this year. Sucks for the Raps that they get stuck on NBA TV tomorrow night. Less for me, since I get NBA TV, but a lot of people don’t. If you haven’t seen them, got to a sports bar and check ‘em out at least for a game. They are better than you think. …just not good enough.
Miami v. Chicago – I may get to have an I told you so moment here. Miami should be worried. I meant to do my list of players I thought would break out this year in the playoffs mostly so I could talk about Deng, but didn’t get to it and now it seems pretty obvious. Still, I wasn’t surprised at the game at all. Here’s the deal. Miami is in serious trouble. D Wade has to be 30+ a night D Wade for them to win and he is a shadow of the player he was last year. He still has the speed, vision, handle, to be a great playmaker, but doesn’t have enough finishers for him to be limited to that role. I think this one is over.
Mavs v. GS – I’m shocked. Stunned. I could not believe what I was watching. Would the real Dallas Mavericks please stand up? Please stand up. Please stand up. What was that? Avery apparently missed the memo that goes out to everyone related to sports explaining how things work when you have the better team. When you have two teams and one team can only win if they play their style and they are the lesser team, the better team forces the lesser team to play its way and proves its dominance and also beats the pants off the lesser team. I mean, we all know this right? The Suns didn’t slow it down against LA. The Spurs didn’t try to outrun Denver (of course they also didn’t try to defend Denver, but that’s another story). So, why, why, why did the Mavs try to play Nellie ball? The Warriors can only play running all their gunners at once playing at a break neck pace. They don’t care about turnovers or giving up layups, they just want to run and shoot and shoot some more. Their players are stat hogs that need the ball in their hands and don’t have anything like the skill or patience needed to win in a walk it up/half court game.
I predicted the Mavs would cruise because I saw the Warriors play against a depleted Blazers team and they still couldn’t stop the likes of Martel Webster or Travis Outlaw. They make absolutely no attempt to defend the rim. None. Beat your man, get a layup. It is that easy. I figured a good veteran team like the Mavs would be able to take advantage of the haphazard play of the Warriors, slow them down, take advantage of their size and impose their will on the young undisciplined, inexperienced 8th seed.
So, after coaching pretty dang good in last year’s playoffs, Avery Johnson lost his mind. He changed his lineup to go small even though he is coaching the winningest team in the league. Then the Mavs pushed the ball even harder and at times much more recklessly than the Warriors. Guys were pulling up for jumpers in the 2 on 4 fast break for crying out loud. Not surprisingly, Devin Harris had a great game playing in this style since it fits his game perfectly. The other Mavs?...ummm…not so much. Why no Dirk on the low block? Ever? Why keep the pace so fast when you know that is the only way your opponent can survive? Why play 4 guards at a time when your opponent does that with bigger, better guards? It was almost like Avery wanted to show his old mentor, “see, anything you can do I can do faster and uglier with more unforced errors.” I’m bewildered. If the next game doesn’t see the Mavs slow down the game and try to play bigger, they could lose this series. Astonishing. If they lose, they should take back Avery’s coach of the year award and prohibit this year’s MVP from going to Dirk.
Phoenix v. LA – LA played them tough when Kobe couldn’t miss in the first half. And then, (stop me if you’ve heard this one), when Kobe inevitably cooled some, no one else was in the flow. Luke Walton and Odom seemed to have some pretty good matchups. To bad they can’t get the ball out number 24’s hands. You watch Wade and LBJ and especially T-Mac (this year) and even Iverson a little, and they are setting up their teammates. They start the game as the playmaker to get everyone else involved. Occasionally when they are feeling it, they go on a run in the first quarter, but it’s usually because they are hitting an insanely high percentage or the offense is stagnant, rather than them putting up tons of shots. Not Kobe though. He didn’t get his first assist against run and gun, play no D Phoenix until 6 minutes to go in the 3rd. For a guy who touches the ball on every possession and has the skills he has, he should be ashamed of himself.
That said, Phoenix might want to consider at least one play where they try to throw it into the post. Amare looked lost with his back to the basket. Is Diaw, really the only guy who can catch and score in the post? That could be a very bad sign in the series to come.
SA v. Denver – SA looks old. Manu especially just doesn’t seem to have it any more and Bowen and Finley look completely done. That leaves the Spurs razor thin and much too dependent on Parker and Duncan. I think this game is a bit of a fluke since SA missed so many shots they will normally make, but still. That was the kind of game they used to come back and steal in the final minutes. Give Denver credit. AI and Melo played well and played well together and for most of the game Nene outplayed the best power forward in the game. Next game is an absolute must win for the Spurs. Look for Duncan to get 30+.
Houston v. Utah – this is going to be a good series. Houston looked like the better team and I do think they will win, but these teams look fairly evenly matched and if Utah can get some offense from someone other than Boozer, they will make this a long series.
Some Blazer notes:
--Portland won the coin flip with the Wolves for draft position. In this draft with some very good players in the top 6-7, that could be a huge coin flip.
--Staying with Portland, word is they are making Rashard Lewis their number 1 offseason priority. There is even talk of Pritchard and Nate showing up in Seattle at Midnight the day FA season opens. With ‘shard seeking max dollars (he is just not a max guy, I’m sorry), they would have to trade Zach. A swap seems unlikely so a third team would have to get involved. I hope they know what they are doing. I like Lewis alright and Nate loves him which I take very seriously, but that means Aldridge has to be and stay healthy and take a step forward or this team takes a step back next year. Still, replace Zach with Lewis, count on Aldridge stepping up, get a versatile stopper in the draft like Brewer and things could be looking good next year.
--Of course, if they think they can get Lewis, do the Blazers still draft a 3? If thy get a higher spot than they have, they may want to hope for a Horford or Wright. If they think Zach is gone, does that make Noah an even greater possibility. Nooooooooooo.
--Word out of Blazers HQ is also that Martel may have played his last game in a Blazer uni. I’m not surprised. Nate has been begging him to assert himself all year and given him lots of chances. It hasn’t happened. He’s also a bit of a loner and doesn’t seem to fit in on what is becoming a pretty close knit team. I say, trade him now while there is enough unknown for his stock to be high. He has a bunch of talent, but he may not be ready to show it, at least not in Portland.
--Telfair just got picked up on gun charges. Shocker. We made a promise to take a thug 10 picks too high at least and then made him the reason we didn’t go after Chris Paul. Brilliant!!!
Ok, that’s all for now.
PS., don’t go to sleep on the SF Giants this year. Their pitching is great and as the weather gets better and the bats heat up, they could make a hard run at mediocre.
Detroit v. Orlando – Orlando’s just not ready. Detroit should absolutely sweep. No news there, but it was even more obvious than I expected. Detroit showed little to know weaknesses, though I still think they will against better teams, and Orlando just doesn’t have a legit number 1 or number 2 option on offense. Howard is a beast, but he is not a go to scorer. Great rebounder, decent defender and very limited offensively. And he’s a disaster when Detroit slows the game down. Bigger mystery though is what happened to Jameer Nelson this year? This was to be his year. He came on strong at the end of last year and then stunk up the joint this year. I ask now because Orlando could really use some scoring from him right now. I know Detroit didn’t blow them out, but that’s not their style. In just about every game, the Pistons get up by about 10 and hold that lead for the entire game and then either push it to 15 or see if get cut to 5 in the final minute depending on the quality of the opponent or how hard they are playing. That might lead to a couple losses against Cleveland or Chicago, but not Orlando. I hereby declare this the most boring series and I will likely not watch more than 5 minutes combined the rest of the way.
Cleveland v. Washington – I said Cleveland in 5 and that’s looking like I was being a bit generous to the Wiz. Bron looked fiery and it was a huge deal that Hughes stepped up. Still, the Cavs take games off. If they do sweep Washington, it will be a bigger statement about this team than people realize. This was the only game I didn’t see any part of this weekend and I will only watch this one if completely convenient and that’s just for LBJ.
Toronto v. NJ – Fun, fun hoops to watch. Love the Raps style. Love Bosh. Still love watching Kidd and VC on offense. Gotta say, first game played out like I thought the whole series would. NJ’s big 3 and experience are just too much…this year. Sucks for the Raps that they get stuck on NBA TV tomorrow night. Less for me, since I get NBA TV, but a lot of people don’t. If you haven’t seen them, got to a sports bar and check ‘em out at least for a game. They are better than you think. …just not good enough.
Miami v. Chicago – I may get to have an I told you so moment here. Miami should be worried. I meant to do my list of players I thought would break out this year in the playoffs mostly so I could talk about Deng, but didn’t get to it and now it seems pretty obvious. Still, I wasn’t surprised at the game at all. Here’s the deal. Miami is in serious trouble. D Wade has to be 30+ a night D Wade for them to win and he is a shadow of the player he was last year. He still has the speed, vision, handle, to be a great playmaker, but doesn’t have enough finishers for him to be limited to that role. I think this one is over.
Mavs v. GS – I’m shocked. Stunned. I could not believe what I was watching. Would the real Dallas Mavericks please stand up? Please stand up. Please stand up. What was that? Avery apparently missed the memo that goes out to everyone related to sports explaining how things work when you have the better team. When you have two teams and one team can only win if they play their style and they are the lesser team, the better team forces the lesser team to play its way and proves its dominance and also beats the pants off the lesser team. I mean, we all know this right? The Suns didn’t slow it down against LA. The Spurs didn’t try to outrun Denver (of course they also didn’t try to defend Denver, but that’s another story). So, why, why, why did the Mavs try to play Nellie ball? The Warriors can only play running all their gunners at once playing at a break neck pace. They don’t care about turnovers or giving up layups, they just want to run and shoot and shoot some more. Their players are stat hogs that need the ball in their hands and don’t have anything like the skill or patience needed to win in a walk it up/half court game.
I predicted the Mavs would cruise because I saw the Warriors play against a depleted Blazers team and they still couldn’t stop the likes of Martel Webster or Travis Outlaw. They make absolutely no attempt to defend the rim. None. Beat your man, get a layup. It is that easy. I figured a good veteran team like the Mavs would be able to take advantage of the haphazard play of the Warriors, slow them down, take advantage of their size and impose their will on the young undisciplined, inexperienced 8th seed.
So, after coaching pretty dang good in last year’s playoffs, Avery Johnson lost his mind. He changed his lineup to go small even though he is coaching the winningest team in the league. Then the Mavs pushed the ball even harder and at times much more recklessly than the Warriors. Guys were pulling up for jumpers in the 2 on 4 fast break for crying out loud. Not surprisingly, Devin Harris had a great game playing in this style since it fits his game perfectly. The other Mavs?...ummm…not so much. Why no Dirk on the low block? Ever? Why keep the pace so fast when you know that is the only way your opponent can survive? Why play 4 guards at a time when your opponent does that with bigger, better guards? It was almost like Avery wanted to show his old mentor, “see, anything you can do I can do faster and uglier with more unforced errors.” I’m bewildered. If the next game doesn’t see the Mavs slow down the game and try to play bigger, they could lose this series. Astonishing. If they lose, they should take back Avery’s coach of the year award and prohibit this year’s MVP from going to Dirk.
Phoenix v. LA – LA played them tough when Kobe couldn’t miss in the first half. And then, (stop me if you’ve heard this one), when Kobe inevitably cooled some, no one else was in the flow. Luke Walton and Odom seemed to have some pretty good matchups. To bad they can’t get the ball out number 24’s hands. You watch Wade and LBJ and especially T-Mac (this year) and even Iverson a little, and they are setting up their teammates. They start the game as the playmaker to get everyone else involved. Occasionally when they are feeling it, they go on a run in the first quarter, but it’s usually because they are hitting an insanely high percentage or the offense is stagnant, rather than them putting up tons of shots. Not Kobe though. He didn’t get his first assist against run and gun, play no D Phoenix until 6 minutes to go in the 3rd. For a guy who touches the ball on every possession and has the skills he has, he should be ashamed of himself.
That said, Phoenix might want to consider at least one play where they try to throw it into the post. Amare looked lost with his back to the basket. Is Diaw, really the only guy who can catch and score in the post? That could be a very bad sign in the series to come.
SA v. Denver – SA looks old. Manu especially just doesn’t seem to have it any more and Bowen and Finley look completely done. That leaves the Spurs razor thin and much too dependent on Parker and Duncan. I think this game is a bit of a fluke since SA missed so many shots they will normally make, but still. That was the kind of game they used to come back and steal in the final minutes. Give Denver credit. AI and Melo played well and played well together and for most of the game Nene outplayed the best power forward in the game. Next game is an absolute must win for the Spurs. Look for Duncan to get 30+.
Houston v. Utah – this is going to be a good series. Houston looked like the better team and I do think they will win, but these teams look fairly evenly matched and if Utah can get some offense from someone other than Boozer, they will make this a long series.
Some Blazer notes:
--Portland won the coin flip with the Wolves for draft position. In this draft with some very good players in the top 6-7, that could be a huge coin flip.
--Staying with Portland, word is they are making Rashard Lewis their number 1 offseason priority. There is even talk of Pritchard and Nate showing up in Seattle at Midnight the day FA season opens. With ‘shard seeking max dollars (he is just not a max guy, I’m sorry), they would have to trade Zach. A swap seems unlikely so a third team would have to get involved. I hope they know what they are doing. I like Lewis alright and Nate loves him which I take very seriously, but that means Aldridge has to be and stay healthy and take a step forward or this team takes a step back next year. Still, replace Zach with Lewis, count on Aldridge stepping up, get a versatile stopper in the draft like Brewer and things could be looking good next year.
--Of course, if they think they can get Lewis, do the Blazers still draft a 3? If thy get a higher spot than they have, they may want to hope for a Horford or Wright. If they think Zach is gone, does that make Noah an even greater possibility. Nooooooooooo.
--Word out of Blazers HQ is also that Martel may have played his last game in a Blazer uni. I’m not surprised. Nate has been begging him to assert himself all year and given him lots of chances. It hasn’t happened. He’s also a bit of a loner and doesn’t seem to fit in on what is becoming a pretty close knit team. I say, trade him now while there is enough unknown for his stock to be high. He has a bunch of talent, but he may not be ready to show it, at least not in Portland.
--Telfair just got picked up on gun charges. Shocker. We made a promise to take a thug 10 picks too high at least and then made him the reason we didn’t go after Chris Paul. Brilliant!!!
Ok, that’s all for now.
PS., don’t go to sleep on the SF Giants this year. Their pitching is great and as the weather gets better and the bats heat up, they could make a hard run at mediocre.
Comments