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And we're rolling... - 05.23.2007
So Portland wins the lottery, and Seattle comes in second. That should end any specualtion about the fix being in on this thing. Considering that the top two picks are being projected as perennial All-Stars who may go on to become icons of the game, you would think that if the league was rigging it then Boston would get at least one of the two picks, preferably the first so they could take Oden. The last thing that made sense is to ensure that the best big man prospect in 10 years ends up in the Western Conference and not the East, where he's more neeeded.
Celtic fans have got to be on suicide watch right now. They did all they could to tank their way to a lottery win and they end up getting the fifth pick for all their troubles. Yikes. They can still get a very good player, because this draft is pretty loaded, but not the immediate franchise changer that Oden or Kevin Durant cold possibly be. |
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And we're rolling... - 05.16.2007
The Utah-Golden State series is over now, and the Dallas Mavericks shold be kicking themselves for not following the blueprint that the Jazz follwed to beat the Warriors. It was pretty simple, actually. The Jazz used their obvious adavantage - size - to their advantage instead fo trying to run up and down the floor and play small ball. Now don't get it twisted, the Jazz didn't play some grind it out, eat up the shot clock before you shoot monstrosity of an offense. They scored 100 points or more in every game of the series, but they did it methodically and efficiently. They went down in the post every possession and crushed the Warriors on the boards when shots didn't fall. In game five they had four guys with double digit rebounds; Dallas couuld have easily come close to that kind of effort if they'd tried.
With Dirk, Dampier, Diop, and even Josh Howard crashing the boards they could have come close to the rebounding numbers Utah put up, and they could punished the Warriros in the post on offense. But as we all know, Dallas doesn't roll that way. The stupidest quote had to be from Dirk that they would have done better if they had a low post scorer. Gee Dirk, isn't that what the high scoring power forward is supposed to be doing? I understand that isn't his forte, and that asking him to get 25 points in the block against Tim Duncan may be asking for too much, but come on. He can't go in the paint when he's being guarded by 6-foot-8 Stephen Jackson (or 6-foot-7 James Posey last year or 6-foot-9 Tracy McGrady two years ago)? As long as that continues, Dallas will be ringless. |
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And we're rolling... - 05.03.2007
So Dirk finally played like an MVP.....for all of three minutes in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Dallas, they were the final three minnutes in the fourth quarter. Up to that point he'd taken all of two shots in the second half, which is pathetic for an MVP candidate. Dallas also lucked out that Baron Davis got run on a phantom foul at about the same time Dirk decided to play. Now we got game six in Oakland, which is a must win for both teams; if Dallas pulls this out I find it hard to think that they won't win game seven at home. Either way, Dirk is no MVP. |
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And we're rolling... - 04.27.2007
OK, maybe I shouldn't have called for the broom so quickly. The Lakers are still alive after Kobe's virtuoso performance last night. It's obvious that if they have any shot of winning, it's gotta with Kobe dropping 40-plus. The rest of those guys are too timid or just plain suck.
Stick a fork in the Magic; they're done. How Detroit handles game 4 will be an indicator of just how seriously we should take them. If they drop the hammer and close it down, they're legit, but if they mail it in and lose, then I wouldn't bet on them getting to the Finals.
And Dirk can forget being my choice for MVP. I'll explain in the column. |
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And we're rolling... - 04.25.2007
OK, I think we can go ahead and start shoveling dirt on the Lakers. They got smoked last night and just totally discombobulated. I only watched the first few minutes of the game, and it was still close when I went to bed, but I woke up this mouring to a box score that read Phoenix 126, Lakers 98. Yikes. Then I saw that the Lakers give significant minutes (15 to 20 or more) to ten guys, which is a bad sign in a playoff game. Usually, the coach shortens his rotation to seven or eight guys because you have to win these games and you can't be bothered with making sure every guy on the roster gets some run. The scrub who got overpaid in free agency or the still clueless youngsters get chained to the bench. The Lakers playing ten guys means that Phil jackson was desparately trying to find someone who make something happen other than Kobe or Lamar Odom. And the second game ni a row, it didn't happen. Well, at least of my sweep predictions is holding up. |
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And we're rolling... - 04.24.2007
From the looks of things, Miami is in real trouble. Of course, that's what we thought almost a year ago when Dallas had them on the canvas during the NBA Finals. They roared back from that deficit to win four straight and the title, but can they do it again in the first round? Chicago won by 20 tonight after pulling game 1 out in the closing minutes. The parallels are definitely there between this series and the Finals last year. So will they bounce back or are they finished this time around? They still have a chance; Chicago scores most of its points on jumpers and as we all know, if you live by the jumper you will eventually die by it. If the Heat can play better defense and force bad shots, they can turn it around. |
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And we're rolling... - 04.24.2007
Orlando is done. They might play better at home, but Detroit has already shown it's capable of weathering storms on the road. These guys won't be intimidated by any of that. Grant Hill and Hedo Turkoglu are really the only battle tested guys on the Magic; Jameer Nelson has been shooting horribly from the field while Dwight Howard has been reduced to a rebounder and little else. He had six turnovers in game one, and three last night. He also shot three for nine from field, which follows his three for eleven free throw shootig performance in game one. Clearly, Howard isn't quite the 'great player' that Mike Greenburg referred to him as on the radio last week. He has a lot of shoring up to do in his game if he's going to become a true All-Star and not just by default. And how's this for Darko: 14 points/4 rebounds in 27 minutes for game one, ten points/ six rebounds in 28 minutes for game two.
It looks like he may have found his calling as a big man off the bench; of course, that probably won't stop some nitwit GM from giving him stater's money in free agency this summer.
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And we're rolling... - 11.15.2006
Dallas won their third game in a row, and thhey've almost offset their 0-4 start. Josh Howard injiry notwithstanding, I think they suffered from Finals hangover. But they bounced back huge l ast night in beating Chicago, who is looking like something's really wrong now. The Bulls are 3-4, putting a lot of worry into all the people who predicted big things from them (like me). After their opening might massacre of the Heat, the Bulls are 2-4.
It looks like the Ben Wallace decline hasn't been abated; he's averaging 10 rebounds a game, down from last season, and was killed last night by Erick Dampier for crying out loud. Dampier gave him 14 points and 13 rebounds while Wallace chimed in with a tepid 6 points and 8 boards in 35 minutes. Rookie Tyrus Thomas is getting little to no run yet, and their offensive core of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng has been pretty inconsistent. They still lack a go-to guy who can strap it up every night and carry the team in crunch time, whereas their main division rival Cleveland happens to have a guy named Lebron who can do that for them. |
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And we're rolling... - 07.04.2006
So they finally went out and got a point guard. It sure took them long enough, but the Hawks have managed to shut me up by acquiring Speedy Claxton in the free agent market. Claxton is a legit point guard who should be able to do a good job getting the ball to all the swingmen the Hawks have (Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Marvin Williams) and to rookie power forward Shelden Williams. While this doesn't make the Hawks aninstant playoff team, it will help them win some more games. They still have one of the youngest teams in the league (Claxton is only 28), so they're still going to thave to improve from within if they're going to move up in the standings more than a spot or two.
There are a lot of roster changes going on this offseason, one where the picing were supposedly pretty slim. Expect a lot of upheaval this coming season. |
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And we're rolling... - 07.03.2006
In a move that completely alters the Eastern Conference, Ben WWallace skipped out of Detroit to join the Chicago Bulls. Upset at the 'insulting' 4 year, $49.6 million offer from Detroit, Ben accepted a four year from the Bulls that reportedly tops $60 million. Wow. The Pistons are dead now, and the Bulls have just shot all the way up to a favorite to win the East. They have an abundance of talent, some of which will undoubtedly be shipped out to make room. Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Wallace, Tyson Chandler, Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha...that's eight guys right there without counting Viktor Khryapa, Mike Sweetney, and Chris Duhon. There are rumors about them possibly making a deal with the Hornets, exchanging Chandler for PJ Brown. Gordon's name came up in a lot of trade rumors as well. Whatever else happens, the Bulls are poised to make big moves and the Pistons are for all intents and purposes done. Finished. Kaput. It sure doesn't take much. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.16.2006
And this is what happens when you rely on jumper everyone. Dallas shot horribly and got blown out. They scored a horrible on any level seven points in the fourth quarter!! Now I only saw the first quarter before falling asleep, but it summed up everything for me pretty nicely. The Mavericks were shooting, and missing, jumpers, unable to do anything against the 2-3 zone that the Heat was using. (So much for the idea that zone can't work in the pros) And they kept shooting jumpers. Jason Terry had a clear path to the basket and instead of going for a lyup, shot a jumper. Which missed, of course. During one posession they missed three jumpers, got the offensive rebound each time, and proceeded to miss a fourth jumper. And when they did try to go inside Alonzo sent it back to them with authority. At that point I was figuring this could be an ugly one, and it was.
Words cannot describe what Wade has done these last two games. If he does this two more times, he's officially the best player in the league in my book. You can't argue with results. I know all the high school apologists out there better get ready for a barrage of "that's why they need to stay in school" blasts from the stay in school crowd, because they may be coming soon if the the Heat win it all. By the way, does anyone care tonight how Shaq was from the foul line? Of course not.
OK, maybe those people claiming the Heat would win knew something after all. Then again, no they didn't, because they were all pointing to Shaq as the reason the Heat would win. Don't forget that, because they're counting on you forgetting it right about now. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.14.2006
Wade was awesome, but Dallas really blew it down the stretch. They were settling for jumpers, and Erick Dampier wasn't on the floor which made no sense at all. They were killing the Heat when the point guards were penetrating and dishing to him under the basket; why didn't they keep that up?
Shaq had a better game, which helped. They handled the double teaming a lot better, and made it a useless tactic late in the game. Walker didn't shoot that well, but he did score some baskets driving to the hole. He should keep that up, because no one could stop him when he went that way. The Heat dominated in almost every ket stat: field goal percentage, rebounds, free throw attempts and makes.
So the question is whether or not they shot their wad here. After all, despite an all time great performance from Wade and crucial plays from almost everyone who got on the floor, they still only won by 2 points and were helped by their opponents down the stretch. Game 4 will let us know for sure. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.13.2006
There's a rumor going around that the Indiana Pacers may be looking to trade Jermaine O'Neal for the number one pick, which they would use on Adam Morrison from Gonzaga. Let me go on record and say that if this is true, and they do it, then anyone involved in making that decision should be fired immediately. O'Neal may not be the take charge type of player that you'd prefer out of your highest paid guy, but he puts up a 20/10 on a regular basis and is one of the better players in the league. You don't trade for a question mark.
And to make matter worse, this would overload the Pacers at on position - small forward, unless they don't plan on re-signing Peja Stojakovic - and wipe them out at the power forward spot. They would have Morrison and Danny Granger at the three, and nothing at the four. Even if Morrison is as good as adveritsed, and according to the scouts he's killing guys at the draft camps and workouts, you're still downgrading your team tremendoulsy.
The Raptors would have an overload at the four spot if they pulled this off. Of course they could put Bosh at center and play Charlie Villaneuva at the three, which could alleviate the issue altogether. So I'd do it if I were them. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.13.2006
If Miami wants to get back in this series, then they must do the following:
Shaq must assert himself, and his teammates must play along
No more passing the ball aas soon as the double team comes. Shaq needs to get into his move as soon as he gthe ball, and his teammates must space themselves out more so that the double team can't come as quickly. They're at home, so guys like Diop and Dampier are likely to get more fouls called. Don't worry about the Hack-a-Shaq; I've said over and over that as a tactic it does not work. Yes, he misses his foul shots but he has never lost a series because he missed his foul shots. But he simply cannot get off a sorry number of shot attempts like he has the first two games.
Wade must shoot better
He started off hot in game one, before settling down to 44 percent for the game. In game two, he shot 32 percent, which is awful. He's got to do better in game three. Being at home helps here; he'll get more calls when he drives to the basket, and won't get called for fouls as quickly. But even if it means shooting less, he's got to hit better because he almost singlehandedly killed their offense Sunday night.
Score more points
Forget trying to slow the game down; they don't have the quick perimeter defenders that you need to do that. They have to get to at least the 90 point mark if they want to win, which means they will have to get at least 50 to 60 from Shaq and Wade, and the other guys must produce. Aside from Antoine Walker's 20 points and Alonzo Mourning's 11 off the bench, no one else did anything of any consequence offensively.
Take advantage of turnovers
Dallas turned the ball over a lot on Sunday, but the Heat did not capitalize on it. That's the only way they can counterract Dallas' running game; scorig some points off the Mavs missteps may cause Avery Johnson to put the brakes on the fastbreak, which would play directly into the Heat's hands.
That's four things they need to to get a W tonight. The question is, can they do them? I don't know. Tonight is where we find out if the Heat are capable of playing with Dallas for 48 minutes, or are just plain overmatched. If they play well and show the ability to disrupt Dallas at both ends of the floor and win, then they got a shot at turning it around. But if they get a fluke win tonight (like if everyone shoots the lights out or every Mavericks is ice cold), and especially if they lose, they're done. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.12.2006
So what went down in game 2? Here's my take:
Shaq wasn't assertive enough.
Now is not the time for "Basketball, the Naismith Way". Shaq's guys were no help, so he should have just gone for it himself. Yeah he would have gotten fouled and put on the line, where he was horrible, but he could have gotten Dampier and Diop into early foul trouble and forced the Mavs to put wither Dirk or Van Horn on him as early as the second quarter. The doble teams would have had to stop, and it could have gone entirely different.
Dirk did it right
Fadeawy Dirk was put back in the closet where he belongs. Dirk went to thole, drew fouls, and all was good.
To be honest, that's mostly it came down to. OK, there was a little more. Dwyane Wade was awful, Josh Howard and Jason Terry were good again, and Stackhouse was huge.
If the Mavs win game three you can get out the broom. |
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And we're rolling... - 06.09.2006
What happened in Game 1
OK, so what happened last night? A lot of things, of course. After the first quarter, I was thinking that the Mavericks were frozen with the first time Finals jitters, and would be losing game 1 as a result. It was that ugly. The Heat put up 31 points and shot 70 percent. Wade, Shaq, Jason Williams, and even Antoine Walker were shooting the lights out. The Mavericks on the other hand were looking pretty inept, with the exception of Jason Terry. My Mavs in six prediction was looking shaky, and I was starting to consider just how I was going to come up with an excuse for the Mavericks first game defeat. Fortunately for me, the game has three other quarters and the Heat decided not to play in two of them.
The game took a complete 180 in the second quarter; the Mavericks got their defense together and turned an eight point deficit into a two point halftime lead. Then in the fourth quarter the Mavs got their fast break game going and crushed the Heat in the fourth quarter, 20 to 12. Terry was unstoppable all night long, and carried the load offensively while Dirk and Josh Howard were struggling with their shot. He finished with a game-high 32 points and was clearly the player of the game. Had he not done what he did, they’d have gotten run off the floor.
The Heat have a lot of scapegoats for the outcome of last night’s game. Antoine Walker was horrible after the first quarter; he shot poorly and had six turnovers. Shaq went 1 for 9 at the foul line, and Wade had five turnovers. Jason Williams went into the witness protection program after the first quarter, and the bench chipped in a whopping 2 points. Ouch. This was really a squandered opportunity for Miami; they wasted a game where Dirk went 4 for 14 from the floor and was finished with 16 points, and Josh Howard went 3 for 13. The chances that those two guys are going to play that badly for the rest of the series are pretty slim; when they both do it in one game you have to take advantage of it.
So how can the Heat win game two? For one, they have to get Shaq more shots. He only had 11 attempts all night, which is a travesty. They have to get him more looks than that if they expect to win. He should never finish with fewer shot attempts than Walker, ever. Walker had 19 shots which is about 9 too many for him, but that’s what happens when Shaq doesn’t get enough shots. Second, Riley cannot get scared and put Shaq on the bench like he did when Shaq picked up his second foul in the fourth quarter. There was no reason to get him out of there. Based on the way he was playing at the defensive end, and as badly as the Mavericks were playing on offense, he wasn’t in any real danger of getting another foul before the half. His absence was a big factor behind the Mavericks run to close out the half.
As for the Mavericks, the question is whether they’ve figured the Heat out or if game 1 was a stand alone affair. The key is their offense; they’ve got to continue attacking and finishing. Dirk has to get back to putting the ball on the floor and going to the basket like he’d been doing up until last night. Fadeaway Dirk reappeared last night, and he’d better not return or else the Heat will get back into it real quick. If the Mavs force the tempo offensively, this thing will be over real quick.
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And we're rolling... - 06.06.2006
Miami
They got in the league in 1988 as an expansion team, and stunk it up for a few years like expansion teams tend to do. Thye did score a few very good draft picks like Steve Smith, Rony Seikaly, and Glen Rice, who formed the nucleus of thier first playoff team. That trio along with Brian Shaw and Grant Long and some others made a few brief playoff appearances but nothing all that noteworthy.
Their fortunes began to change whenthey brought in Pat Riey as coach and GM. He built the team around Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, and Jamal Mashburn. This group got the conference finals once but for them most part was making early exits from the postseason.
After a few bad years, the Heat came back up around new star Dwyane Wade, Lamar Odom, and Eddie Jones. They cracked the postseason and got to the second round, and thenit was time for another revamping. Shaquille O'Neal and Udonis Haslem were brought in, then Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, and Gary Payton. Mourning returned to back up O'Neal, and thee's your finals team.
Dallas
They hit the league as an expansion outfit in the early 80s, and proceeded to commit a colossal draft blunder by taking Mark Aguirre with the first pick instead of Isaiah Thomas. They were able to over come this over the years, putting together a formidable playoff team around Aguirre, Derek Harper, Rolondo Blackman, Sam Perkins, and Roy Tarpley. They got all the way to a game seven in the Western Conference Finals against Magic's Lakers, but things soon fell apart. Perkins left, Tarpley had drug problems, and the fron office made some terrible draft picks like Doug Smith and Randy White. Soon the Mavs were flirting with the worst record in league history.
Hope looked to be on the horizon when the trio of Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn, and Jim Jackson were assembled but personal beefs broke that up before they were able to deliver on anything. For a few years they were back at the bottom of the barrell. Then a new day dawned with the purchase of the team by Mark Cuban and the hiring of Don Nelson as coach and GM.
Cuban and Nelson changed everything about the way the Mavs did business, on and off the court, and the results were good. Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Michael Finley were all acquired in trades and formed the nucleus of a perennial playoff team. The Mavs weren't able to get over the hump from playoff team to real contender until this year, though. Nash and Finley evenntually moved on, but in their place Josh Howard and Jason Terry have worked alongside Dirk to get the team where it is now.
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And we're rolling... - 06.01.2006
So just how did the Pistons pull off the win last night to stay alive after three dreadful performances in the first four games? A few things:
They played from ahead most of the game. Miami led 5-3 in the first quarter, but once Detroit went up 7-5 they never trailed again. Detroit didn't have to play catch up, which has plagued them in just about every game they've lost in the second round and conference finals. They didn't win any games against the Cavs in which they had to come from behind late and they haven't done it in this series, either.
They took better shots. They've spent most of this series standing around shooting jumpers which weren't falling. Last night they went to the hole and moved the ball around a lot better.
They hit their foul shots. They went 23 for 26 from the foul line, while the Heat went 6 for 20. Ouch. What really helped was that Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince got the majority of the foul shots instead of Ben and Rasheed Wallace; Ben and Sheed only took 6 foul shots while Billups and Prince combined for 16 made free throws on 16 attempts. In fact outside of Ben and Sheed, noone of the Pistons missed any free throw attempts. This is a stark contrast from game 3, where Sheed and Ben went 4 for 13 while the rest of the team went 18 for 20.
They stayed out of foul trouble. Sheed has been picking up stupid fouls for the entire series until last night. His foul totals for the last three games were 6, 5, and 6. Last night he only had 3; in fact, no one had more than 3 fouls, whereas in game 4 they had five guys with at least four fouls and three with five or six. It's a lot easier to play tougher defense in the fourth quarter when you don't have to worry about fouling out. At the same time, they got Shaq and Wade in early foul trouble which limited their minutes and effectiveness. Shaq and Wade were limited to 29 and 27 minutes, respectively, due to foul trouble, which no doubt helped Detroit out on both ends of the floor.
They limited the Heat's supporting cast The key three players for the Heat other than Shaq and Wade were dreadful last night. Gary Payton, Jason Williams, and Antoine Walker combined for 16 points on 27 percent shooting, 12 fouls, and 4 turnovers. As these three go the Heat go; when they play well the Heat usually win but when they don't you get what you got last night, an ugly defeat.
Can they do this again tomorrow night? Maybe. Sheed has to continue what he did last night and stay on the floor, and they have to continue with the better ball movement and shot selection they displayed last night to do so. It's not impossible, but it won't be as easy to do on the road. |
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And we're rolling... - 05.19.2006
So the Pistons pulled out game 6 tonight, proving me wrong big time. They still didn't look up to par tonight, in my opinion. Sheed was better than he's been all series, as was Billups, but Ben Wallace is still looking like a player in decline. I'm going to talk about him in the column this week, and I'm gearing up for some hate mail.
I do think Detroit will win the series now, but I have to say that I more than lke miami's chances in the cnference finals. Let's not forget that these two teams went seven last year, and that the Pistons won largely because Shaq and Wade were injured. The issue will be whether or not Antoine Walker and jason Williams can keep up what they did in the last two games of the second round series. If they turn the ball over and have defensive lapses, which they are both prone to do, and the Pistons are able to nail the open shots they'll get as a result, then it could be over in a hurry, four or five games.
Now if the Cavs pull off the unthinkable and win game seven on the road, then we will have a heck of series in the conference finals. Lebron and Co. vs. Shaq and Wade? I'll be watching every game of that one for sure. |
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And we're rolling... - 05.19.2006
Why, why do the Suns-Clippers games have to be on so late? They don't start until 10:30, which means there is absolutely zero chance of me making it until the end. Heck, I stayed with the Spurs-Mavericks game 5 until the end, and I could barely stay awake the next day. The league has to fix this; people are missing out on some of the best basketball you'll see because of the start times for the games. And thanks to wrestling and Arena football, game 7 of this great series is going to be on Monday Night at 9 or 10 instead of Sunday afternoon. Ugh.....
I'm real upset about this Jason Terry suspension. Yes, the man threw a punch, but it's a bush league move for the Spurs to send the tape to the league after the fact so that Terry can get suspended for game 6, which the Spurs need to win. I know it sucks for Terry to get away with a punch, but this just looks like some crybaby stuff by the Spurs.
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