Ron Mexico is a sick dude. Thats all I can say. He has been indicted by the feds for dog fighting. The details are gruesome. Vick and the gang are accused of killing these dogs in real brutal ways after they lost some of the fight. It's really sickening and Vick is in a lot of trouble. He is facing a lot of wrath from the general public. I have always thought America loved dogs more than people! He probably could get away if he killed some people, but killing a dog is going to make him real unpopular among the dog loving American people. Typically, if are you good at what you do athletically and you are rich, you can get away with anything as Kobe and former NBA center Jayson Williams have shown us. But this could be a tough sell even for the talented Mr.Vick. I don't even like dogs and I feel like he is a completely soul-less person for what he is accused of doing.
I used to love Vick when he came out of Va-Tech. I looked at him as the quarterback of the next century - a prototype for the future much like Dan Marino was in the early eighties for the previous generation of QBs. I have been disappointed not just by his off-field issues, but even his on-field play. I had already lost all my love for him over the years as he was not getting any better on the field and was constantly getting worse off of it. But all of that just pales in comparison to this dog-fighting deal. The Feds seems to have done their homework and people are saying they got the goods on him and it'll be difficult for him to get out of this. I still would say he probably gets out unscathed. I am not a legal expert and I don't understand the difference between a federal court and the local court at Eagle county Colorado. But Vick is a 100 million dollar man and I can't see him doing hard time in our judicial system. Call me a cynic, but you know cynicism and realism are cousins. I think I am just being realistic when I say he'll probably be out though he should do time for this crime.
The one ridiculous thing I have been hearing on this topic has been some people trying to explain this as part of a sub-culture, referring to the inner-city black life style. Thats just unacceptable to me. I am very sensitive to racial issues in our society and I love black people as much as anybody else. But don't tell me we have to start defining criminal behavior along cultural lines! It's one thing to say my culture eats more chicken while yours eats more beef or we talk and walk a certain way, but we can't have different criminal laws and different definitions of decency and civility for different cultures. As somebody said on the radio, what if the KKK comes out and asks us to accept lynching because thats part of KKK's culture? Thats just stupid. It seems like it's becoming more and more common the last few years for some black people to explain away some of the stupid behavior of black athletes as part of the black culture. Thats an insult to the black culture more than anything. Thats why hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society of the United States in calling for strong stands against animal cruelty. "Today, we sound a clarion call to all people: Stand up for what is right, and speak out against what is wrong. Dogfighting is unacceptable. Hurting animals for human pleasure or gain is despicable. Cruelty is just plain wrong," the letter said. I am glad the Reverend did this because he tends to play the race card once too often. I have always had a lot of respect for Russell Simmons though.
The bottom-line - another racially divisive issue, thanks to Ron Mexico. It's amazing how everything in America, especially American sports is somehow related to race.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Summer League Notes
The NBA summer league is done. Here are some interesting news and notes that caught my eye. The funniest note might have been Greg Oden fouling out of his first summer league game. The only problem - they allow 10 fouls in the summer league! We knew he is prone to foul trouble, but this is too much. He also had 9 fouls in his next game, but luckily avoided the one that would have fouled him out again. He did have some impressive blocks and looked pretty athletic. Oden then had to sit out the other games due to a tonsils surgery. This also erased a potential Oden-Durant match-up. Speaking of Durant, he had a tough shooting summer league, but finished strong with some huge games towards the end. He scored 28 in one of them.
Some people are saying the upcoming NBA season will be one of the most anticipated because of these 2 rookies among other things. I hope it's true, but really doubt it. First of all, these 2 guys are real young and are going to real young teams that seem committed to putting the "re" in rebuilding. They don't even want a talented veteran like Steve Francis and the Blazers decided to pay him 30 mill to buy his contract out. How far has the "Franchise" fallen. People are now paying him 30 mill to just go away? Unbelievable! Anyways, I don't want to digress too much, back to the 2 guys. The curiosity will be there for the first few games, but they are not going to win many games. This is the problem with the NBA. It always looks a lot more exciting in the summer. It feels like there are a lot of exciting stories, new players, great new teams, budding rivalries, young superstars whose games are improving every year like Wade, LeBron etc. And then when the season starts, nobody cares and a NASCAR rain delay on TV outdraws a Kobe-LeBron match-up. I sure hope NBA gets it's mojo back, but I'll buy the hype when I see it. I am tired of waiting for it the last 3 years.
Back to the Summer league. The Suns had a decent one. I would have liked a little more from Alando Tucker, but he was OK. DJ Strawberry was good and he might have even earned himself a spot on the roster. Of course, I doubt if he'll actually get on the floor when it matters in the regular season. The guy the Suns wanted but the Warriors took - Marco Belinelli, was the story of the summer league. He scored 37 points in one of the games and he looked pretty good against some inferior competition. He can shoot, dribble a bit and pass. He is fairly athletic too. Seems like a poor man's Ginobli and Nellie might have stolen one here. Speaking of Nellie, he is now holding the Warriors hostage and asking for 6 mill an year. Apparently he wants to convert all his incentives to raise his 3 mill a year pay to almost 6 mill. I love Nellie. But he has always been a mercenary when it comes to money and he is not going to change now. The Warriors had a great playoff run and they can't afford to break this guy off. Apparently the Warriors owner Chris Cohan is on the IRS radar for 160 million or something in tax evasion. Boy, tough times for this guy. You know Boom Dizzle is coming in next for an extension. He has already endorsed Nellie's request. Of course he did :-)
In other summer league news, Javaris Crittenton of the Lakers had a good run after enduring all the criticisms on draft day. Other guys with a good summer were Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and Al Thornton of the Clippers. The guy who struggled a lot was Yi Jianlian of Milwaukee. Apparently he wants out and wants to go to Sacramento. Not sure if they want him, but there are some rumors about a Yi for Ron Artest trade while Ron just came out and said he wants to retire a Sacramento King. I would do this trade if I were the Kings. I think that team needs to rebuild much like the Sonics and the Blazers. The rumors of a Bibby trade to Cleveland are back and I sure hope the Cavs do it. It'll help them a lot. In other news, MJ signed Gerald Wallace and I think thats a great move for that franchise. Somebody on the wing has to erase his mistake of drafting Adam Morrison :-) Between J-Rich and Wallace, they got a shot at hiding Morrison.
Some people are saying the upcoming NBA season will be one of the most anticipated because of these 2 rookies among other things. I hope it's true, but really doubt it. First of all, these 2 guys are real young and are going to real young teams that seem committed to putting the "re" in rebuilding. They don't even want a talented veteran like Steve Francis and the Blazers decided to pay him 30 mill to buy his contract out. How far has the "Franchise" fallen. People are now paying him 30 mill to just go away? Unbelievable! Anyways, I don't want to digress too much, back to the 2 guys. The curiosity will be there for the first few games, but they are not going to win many games. This is the problem with the NBA. It always looks a lot more exciting in the summer. It feels like there are a lot of exciting stories, new players, great new teams, budding rivalries, young superstars whose games are improving every year like Wade, LeBron etc. And then when the season starts, nobody cares and a NASCAR rain delay on TV outdraws a Kobe-LeBron match-up. I sure hope NBA gets it's mojo back, but I'll buy the hype when I see it. I am tired of waiting for it the last 3 years.
Back to the Summer league. The Suns had a decent one. I would have liked a little more from Alando Tucker, but he was OK. DJ Strawberry was good and he might have even earned himself a spot on the roster. Of course, I doubt if he'll actually get on the floor when it matters in the regular season. The guy the Suns wanted but the Warriors took - Marco Belinelli, was the story of the summer league. He scored 37 points in one of the games and he looked pretty good against some inferior competition. He can shoot, dribble a bit and pass. He is fairly athletic too. Seems like a poor man's Ginobli and Nellie might have stolen one here. Speaking of Nellie, he is now holding the Warriors hostage and asking for 6 mill an year. Apparently he wants to convert all his incentives to raise his 3 mill a year pay to almost 6 mill. I love Nellie. But he has always been a mercenary when it comes to money and he is not going to change now. The Warriors had a great playoff run and they can't afford to break this guy off. Apparently the Warriors owner Chris Cohan is on the IRS radar for 160 million or something in tax evasion. Boy, tough times for this guy. You know Boom Dizzle is coming in next for an extension. He has already endorsed Nellie's request. Of course he did :-)
In other summer league news, Javaris Crittenton of the Lakers had a good run after enduring all the criticisms on draft day. Other guys with a good summer were Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and Al Thornton of the Clippers. The guy who struggled a lot was Yi Jianlian of Milwaukee. Apparently he wants out and wants to go to Sacramento. Not sure if they want him, but there are some rumors about a Yi for Ron Artest trade while Ron just came out and said he wants to retire a Sacramento King. I would do this trade if I were the Kings. I think that team needs to rebuild much like the Sonics and the Blazers. The rumors of a Bibby trade to Cleveland are back and I sure hope the Cavs do it. It'll help them a lot. In other news, MJ signed Gerald Wallace and I think thats a great move for that franchise. Somebody on the wing has to erase his mistake of drafting Adam Morrison :-) Between J-Rich and Wallace, they got a shot at hiding Morrison.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Ichiro and A-Rod.
Coming off the All-Star break, usually you hear a lot of trade talks as we near the trade deadline. But this season, there has also been a lot more contract talk than usual. It started with the news that Seattle was trying to lock-up Ichiro for around 100 million over 5 years. Ichiro is 33 going on 34 and his game is based on speed. A lot of his hits are not really hits. He just outruns the ball to first base. His age is one of the things that makes this contract a little weird. However, he is a very disciplined athlete who takes care of his body in unique ways and if anybody can play 3 or 4 years younger than their age in their late 30's, it's him. The deal is for 90 mill with other incentives on top of it.
The other part of this that has shocked people is that traditionally in baseball, money equals power and Ichiro is not a power hitter. Among all the stars making his money or more, he has the lowest home-run and RBI numbers. Ichiro is a lead-off hitter, a very good one at that, but still he is just a table setter. Johnny Damon, who is the same age as Ichiro, signed a 52 million for 4 years contract 2 years back. That was considered too high back then and Boston actually let him walk to their dreaded rival Yankees because they thought it's way too much for a leadoff hitter. So this Ichiro deal is a head-scratcher for many people. In fact Marlins president David Samson ripped this deal calling it "the end of the world as we know it".
With all that said, I don't see what all the noise is about. Ichiro is a special player who is a little more than your standard leadoff hitter. That lineup in Seattle has been all about him the last few years. He is one of the most exciting players in baseball and the Seattle fans love him. He is an awesome fielder and on some days, he literally can hit any pitch, anywhere, anytime. This guy is unique and is a franchise player. Not many leadoff hitters get paid like a cleanup guy, but then again, not many leadoff dudes are franchise players like Ichiro is. Ichiro represents the new era of baseball to all Seattle fans because he followed A-Rod, Griffey and Big Unit and immediately led them to 120 wins or so. Plus, you got to look at the business impact. This guy put the Seattle Mariners in the Japanese market and this deal makes sure Seattle will be the favorite team in Japan for years. That might translate in to millions of dollars. Somebody was suggesting that if he just changes his jersey number, it might translate to millions because a whole bunch of fans in multiple countries will buy his jersey.
So if you take all this in to account, this deal is not half bad. I mean, it is bad, but not by baseball standards! For Samson to say this will kill MLB is crazy. Did he just wake up after a 10 year slumber or something? Zito was signed to 126 million over 7 years and he is a number 2 starter at best who works once in 5 days. Mike Hampton was offered 121 mill for 8 years 7 years back. Granted, baseball has toned its act way down after that ridiculous winter when A-Rod got 252 mill for ten years and Manny got 160 for 8 and on and on. But crazy salaries are back in baseball again the last couple of years in case Samson had not noticed. You are telling me 18 million to Ichiro now in 2007 is all that shocking? No way. It may not even break the list of top 5 worst contracts in baseball.
To prove my point, Scott Boras is saying A-Rod will be the first 30 million dollar a year player in baseball. Looks like he is looking for a 32 mill a year extension for Pay-rod and I am sure he will get it. This is where baseball is going and people seem to think A-Rod deserves it because his numbers are so awesome. It's like he got one bad contract and the league has to back it up with another bad one that'll include a moderate pay raise. Lets at least hope a dumb team like Texas doesn't chase him. This A-Rod play is just for the big boys, may be just one big boy - the Yankees. Actually the entire MLB is about 2 teams - Yankees and Redsox. At least ESPN had made it that way. The damn Yankees are 10 games behind first place and the news everyday is about them and A-Rod's contract. Now they are saying the Redsox might try to get him. They have a whole bunch of expiring contracts and they may be able to pay him 32 mill or whatever.
Sometimes I wonder why the rest of us in the country are even watching baseball. The entire league is a 2 team race, 3 if you add the Mets, may be 5 if you add the Mariners and the Angels - teams that have shown a willingness to spend big the last few years. The rest of the teams are mostly farm systems for the big teams. They need to be incredibly lucky and smart with their personnel moves to even compete for a couple of years before the big market teams come and steal their talent away. The other teams sure can compete, but it's not a level playing field by any stretch of the imagination. I hate the stupid experts when they point to Oakland and Minnesota and this years Brewers and say "see, everybody can win in MLB if they run their team the right way". But some teams can win even if they don't run their team the right way because they can buy their way out of their mistakes. Of course the Brewers are winning this year, but if you notice, their winning roster was built entirely differently from how the Redsox or the Mets or the Yankees usually build theirs. Milwaukee can never run their team the way Yankees do and the Yankees never have to run their team the way Milwaukee does. Thats the point. It doesn't matter what their records are this season. That only shows the Brewers have done a great job this season and the Yankees have done a horrible job. It doesn't mean the MLB system is fair or that it even works.
The other part of this that has shocked people is that traditionally in baseball, money equals power and Ichiro is not a power hitter. Among all the stars making his money or more, he has the lowest home-run and RBI numbers. Ichiro is a lead-off hitter, a very good one at that, but still he is just a table setter. Johnny Damon, who is the same age as Ichiro, signed a 52 million for 4 years contract 2 years back. That was considered too high back then and Boston actually let him walk to their dreaded rival Yankees because they thought it's way too much for a leadoff hitter. So this Ichiro deal is a head-scratcher for many people. In fact Marlins president David Samson ripped this deal calling it "the end of the world as we know it".
With all that said, I don't see what all the noise is about. Ichiro is a special player who is a little more than your standard leadoff hitter. That lineup in Seattle has been all about him the last few years. He is one of the most exciting players in baseball and the Seattle fans love him. He is an awesome fielder and on some days, he literally can hit any pitch, anywhere, anytime. This guy is unique and is a franchise player. Not many leadoff hitters get paid like a cleanup guy, but then again, not many leadoff dudes are franchise players like Ichiro is. Ichiro represents the new era of baseball to all Seattle fans because he followed A-Rod, Griffey and Big Unit and immediately led them to 120 wins or so. Plus, you got to look at the business impact. This guy put the Seattle Mariners in the Japanese market and this deal makes sure Seattle will be the favorite team in Japan for years. That might translate in to millions of dollars. Somebody was suggesting that if he just changes his jersey number, it might translate to millions because a whole bunch of fans in multiple countries will buy his jersey.
So if you take all this in to account, this deal is not half bad. I mean, it is bad, but not by baseball standards! For Samson to say this will kill MLB is crazy. Did he just wake up after a 10 year slumber or something? Zito was signed to 126 million over 7 years and he is a number 2 starter at best who works once in 5 days. Mike Hampton was offered 121 mill for 8 years 7 years back. Granted, baseball has toned its act way down after that ridiculous winter when A-Rod got 252 mill for ten years and Manny got 160 for 8 and on and on. But crazy salaries are back in baseball again the last couple of years in case Samson had not noticed. You are telling me 18 million to Ichiro now in 2007 is all that shocking? No way. It may not even break the list of top 5 worst contracts in baseball.
To prove my point, Scott Boras is saying A-Rod will be the first 30 million dollar a year player in baseball. Looks like he is looking for a 32 mill a year extension for Pay-rod and I am sure he will get it. This is where baseball is going and people seem to think A-Rod deserves it because his numbers are so awesome. It's like he got one bad contract and the league has to back it up with another bad one that'll include a moderate pay raise. Lets at least hope a dumb team like Texas doesn't chase him. This A-Rod play is just for the big boys, may be just one big boy - the Yankees. Actually the entire MLB is about 2 teams - Yankees and Redsox. At least ESPN had made it that way. The damn Yankees are 10 games behind first place and the news everyday is about them and A-Rod's contract. Now they are saying the Redsox might try to get him. They have a whole bunch of expiring contracts and they may be able to pay him 32 mill or whatever.
Sometimes I wonder why the rest of us in the country are even watching baseball. The entire league is a 2 team race, 3 if you add the Mets, may be 5 if you add the Mariners and the Angels - teams that have shown a willingness to spend big the last few years. The rest of the teams are mostly farm systems for the big teams. They need to be incredibly lucky and smart with their personnel moves to even compete for a couple of years before the big market teams come and steal their talent away. The other teams sure can compete, but it's not a level playing field by any stretch of the imagination. I hate the stupid experts when they point to Oakland and Minnesota and this years Brewers and say "see, everybody can win in MLB if they run their team the right way". But some teams can win even if they don't run their team the right way because they can buy their way out of their mistakes. Of course the Brewers are winning this year, but if you notice, their winning roster was built entirely differently from how the Redsox or the Mets or the Yankees usually build theirs. Milwaukee can never run their team the way Yankees do and the Yankees never have to run their team the way Milwaukee does. Thats the point. It doesn't matter what their records are this season. That only shows the Brewers have done a great job this season and the Yankees have done a horrible job. It doesn't mean the MLB system is fair or that it even works.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Back after the break.
The MLB All-Star game is done now. It was a good one with the AL winning it again, this time 5-4. It was a well-played game. The MLB All-Star game is not all that it's cracked up to be, but it's definitely the best All-Star game out there in all of sports. It works because baseball is fundamentally a one-on-one showdown between the pitcher and the hitter and it's not a contact sport either. So the individuals don't want to look bad and they put a decent effort even in an All-Star game. The only things that dilutes it are that the runners don't crash in to the catcher and the the managers rotate everybody in and out. In fact this game featured A-Rod going home gingerly and getting tagged out.
The game started with a beautiful tribute to Willie Mays. It was pretty special, but I guess it didn't have the same juice as the Ted Williams show in Boston in the 1999 all-star game. There are a few reasons for that. First, this was not the original since it felt a lot like that Ted Williams show. Secondly, Teddy Ballgame was wheeled on a golf-cart and Mays is still pretty mobile and can move around. So this was not quite as dramatic as the other event. Thirdly, Teddy came out of virtual oblivion for that event while Mays is pretty visible. Giants trot him out for everything. Especially with Bonds chasing big records, it seems like they make sure Mays is there in person for his 600-th home run, 660, 700, 715 everything. Giants fan have been seeing him in the ball-park at least a couple of times a year the last few years. So it was nice, but not quite all they way up there.
Bonds got a huge ovation, though he went 0-2. The game got real interesting in the 9-Th as NL made a late rally before K-Rod shut the door on them. The big news was Tony LaRussa not playing Albert Pujols in the 9-Th with a chance to tie or win the game. Tony said after the game that he saved Albert for extra innings because he is versatile and can play multiple positions and they were running out of position players. What? Why didn't you play him earlier in the 9-Th or even earlier in the game? I don't get it. Tony also said Albert was injured a little bit, but Pujols seemed upset he didn't get to play. Now they are saying he was actually in the locker room getting treatment and Albert is also saying things are all fine now between him and Tony. I don't know where all this goes because this is the biggest news in St. Louis right now, but to me Tony screwed up. Just put Pujols in for an at-bat and be done with it.
The game started with a beautiful tribute to Willie Mays. It was pretty special, but I guess it didn't have the same juice as the Ted Williams show in Boston in the 1999 all-star game. There are a few reasons for that. First, this was not the original since it felt a lot like that Ted Williams show. Secondly, Teddy Ballgame was wheeled on a golf-cart and Mays is still pretty mobile and can move around. So this was not quite as dramatic as the other event. Thirdly, Teddy came out of virtual oblivion for that event while Mays is pretty visible. Giants trot him out for everything. Especially with Bonds chasing big records, it seems like they make sure Mays is there in person for his 600-th home run, 660, 700, 715 everything. Giants fan have been seeing him in the ball-park at least a couple of times a year the last few years. So it was nice, but not quite all they way up there.
Bonds got a huge ovation, though he went 0-2. The game got real interesting in the 9-Th as NL made a late rally before K-Rod shut the door on them. The big news was Tony LaRussa not playing Albert Pujols in the 9-Th with a chance to tie or win the game. Tony said after the game that he saved Albert for extra innings because he is versatile and can play multiple positions and they were running out of position players. What? Why didn't you play him earlier in the 9-Th or even earlier in the game? I don't get it. Tony also said Albert was injured a little bit, but Pujols seemed upset he didn't get to play. Now they are saying he was actually in the locker room getting treatment and Albert is also saying things are all fine now between him and Tony. I don't know where all this goes because this is the biggest news in St. Louis right now, but to me Tony screwed up. Just put Pujols in for an at-bat and be done with it.
Monday, July 09, 2007
MLB All-Star break news and notes
MLB all-star break is here and the lineups for the 78-Th mid summer classic looks pretty good. The story of the first half to me are the Milwaukee Brewers. They are leading the NL central by a healthy 4.5 games with the World champs Cards a good 9.5 games behind. They are 49-39 and are just half a game behind the Padres for the best record in the NL. Their first baseman Prince Fielder is fast becoming one of the best young sluggers in the league. He is a legit MVP candidate of the first half with 29 home-runs, 70 RBIs. Lets see how they finish with the Cubs hot on their heels.
There was a lot of chatter about Barry Bonds missing the home run derby. I think it is one of the biggest waste of time. The event itself is played and tired - may be the only event thats even more played than the NBA's dunk contest. At least the dunk contest is surrounded by a couple of other events like the 3-point shooting contest and the whole setup with Barkley and the TNT crew and their discussions and ranking of the dunks make it marginally interesting. But what's even worse than talking about the home run derby is all this discussion about Bonds missing it. Who cares? It's his call and to be fair to him or any other guy who wanted to miss it, it can't be easy swinging like a wind-mill at 40/50 pitches. I think it takes a whole lot out of these guys, especially a 43 year old guy like Barry. I understand it's still 100 times easier than working for a living, but if you think from their perspective, it's a lot of effort and strain on their body and for what? Giants owner Peter McGowan's criticism of Bonds for missing the derby got a lot of national attention too. Whatever.
As for the derby itself, Vlad Guerrero won it with 17 total homers. His monster shot that went 503 feet was a beauty. I can't believe how violent this guy's swing is. That can't be good for his back. He had a huge entourage cheering for him, which looked a little amusing. I like the starters for the all-star game. Being an A's fan in AL and the D'Backs in the NL, I would have liked a Dan Haren - Brandon Webb match-up, but I will take a Dan Haren (10-3, 2.30 ERA) - Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) face-off. Those are some sick ERAs. Peavy is all the way back after a miserable, injury plagued year. The AL lineup is just ridiculous. This is their 1 through 6. Suzuki, Jeter, David Ortiz, A-Rod, Vlad and Magglio Ordonez. Talk about a murderer's row.
MLB All-Star break news and notes
MLB all-star break is here and the lineups for the 78-Th mid summer classic looks pretty good. The story of the first half to me are the Milwaukee Brewers. They are leading the NL central by a healthy 4.5 games with the World champs Cards a good 9.5 games behind. They are 49-39 and are just half a game behind the Padres for the best record in the NL. Their first baseman Prince Fielder is fast becoming one of the best young sluggers in the league. He is a legit MVP candidate of the first half with 29 home-runs, 70 RBIs. Lets see how they finish with the Cubs hot on their heels.
There was a lot of chatter about Barry Bonds missing the home run derby. I think it is one of the biggest waste of time. The event itself is played and tired - may be the only event thats even more played than the NBA's dunk contest. At least the dunk contest is surrounded by a couple of other events like the 3-point shooting contest and the whole setup with Barkley and the TNT crew and their discussions and ranking of the dunks make it marginally interesting. But what's even worse than talking about the home run derby is all this discussion about Bonds missing it. Who cares? It's his call and to be fair to him or any other guy who wanted to miss it, it can't be easy swinging like a wind-mill at 40/50 pitches. I think it takes a whole lot out of these guys, especially a 43 year old guy like Barry. I understand it's still 100 times easier than working for a living, but if you think from their perspective, it's a lot of effort and strain on their body and for what? Giants owner Peter McGowan's criticism of Bonds for missing the derby got a lot of national attention too. Whatever.
As for the derby itself, Vlad Guerrero won it with 17 total homers. His monster shot that went 503 feet was a beauty. I can't believe how violent this guy's swing is. That can't be good for his back. He had a huge entourage cheering for him, which looked a little amusing. I like the starters for the all-star game. Being an A's fan in AL and the D'Backs in the NL, I would have liked a Dan Haren - Brandon Webb match-up, but I will take a Dan Haren (10-3, 2.30 ERA) - Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) face-off. Those are some sick ERAs. Peavy is all the way back after a miserable, injury plagued year. The AL lineup is just ridiculous. This is their 1 through 6. Suzuki, Jeter, David Ortiz, A-Rod, Vlad and Magglio Ordonez. Talk about a murderer's row.
There was a lot of chatter about Barry Bonds missing the home run derby. I think it is one of the biggest waste of time. The event itself is played and tired - may be the only event thats even more played than the NBA's dunk contest. At least the dunk contest is surrounded by a couple of other events like the 3-point shooting contest and the whole setup with Barkley and the TNT crew and their discussions and ranking of the dunks make it marginally interesting. But what's even worse than talking about the home run derby is all this discussion about Bonds missing it. Who cares? It's his call and to be fair to him or any other guy who wanted to miss it, it can't be easy swinging like a wind-mill at 40/50 pitches. I think it takes a whole lot out of these guys, especially a 43 year old guy like Barry. I understand it's still 100 times easier than working for a living, but if you think from their perspective, it's a lot of effort and strain on their body and for what? Giants owner Peter McGowan's criticism of Bonds for missing the derby got a lot of national attention too. Whatever.
As for the derby itself, Vlad Guerrero won it with 17 total homers. His monster shot that went 503 feet was a beauty. I can't believe how violent this guy's swing is. That can't be good for his back. He had a huge entourage cheering for him, which looked a little amusing. I like the starters for the all-star game. Being an A's fan in AL and the D'Backs in the NL, I would have liked a Dan Haren - Brandon Webb match-up, but I will take a Dan Haren (10-3, 2.30 ERA) - Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) face-off. Those are some sick ERAs. Peavy is all the way back after a miserable, injury plagued year. The AL lineup is just ridiculous. This is their 1 through 6. Suzuki, Jeter, David Ortiz, A-Rod, Vlad and Magglio Ordonez. Talk about a murderer's row.
MLB All-Star break news and notes
MLB all-star break is here and the lineups for the 78-Th mid summer classic looks pretty good. The story of the first half to me are the Milwaukee Brewers. They are leading the NL central by a healthy 4.5 games with the World champs Cards a good 9.5 games behind. They are 49-39 and are just half a game behind the Padres for the best record in the NL. Their first baseman Prince Fielder is fast becoming one of the best young sluggers in the league. He is a legit MVP candidate of the first half with 29 home-runs, 70 RBIs. Lets see how they finish with the Cubs hot on their heels.
There was a lot of chatter about Barry Bonds missing the home run derby. I think it is one of the biggest waste of time. The event itself is played and tired - may be the only event thats even more played than the NBA's dunk contest. At least the dunk contest is surrounded by a couple of other events like the 3-point shooting contest and the whole setup with Barkley and the TNT crew and their discussions and ranking of the dunks make it marginally interesting. But what's even worse than talking about the home run derby is all this discussion about Bonds missing it. Who cares? It's his call and to be fair to him or any other guy who wanted to miss it, it can't be easy swinging like a wind-mill at 40/50 pitches. I think it takes a whole lot out of these guys, especially a 43 year old guy like Barry. I understand it's still 100 times easier than working for a living, but if you think from their perspective, it's a lot of effort and strain on their body and for what? Giants owner Peter McGowan's criticism of Bonds for missing the derby got a lot of national attention too. Whatever.
As for the derby itself, Vlad Guerrero won it with 17 total homers. His monster shot that went 503 feet was a beauty. I can't believe how violent this guy's swing is. That can't be good for his back. He had a huge entourage cheering for him, which looked a little amusing. I like the starters for the all-star game. Being an A's fan in AL and the D'Backs in the NL, I would have liked a Dan Haren - Brandon Webb match-up, but I will take a Dan Haren (10-3, 2.30 ERA) - Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) face-off. Those are some sick ERAs. Peavy is all the way back after a miserable, injury plagued year. The AL lineup is just ridiculous. This is their 1 through 6. Suzuki, Jeter, David Ortiz, A-Rod, Vlad and Magglio Ordonez. Talk about a murderer's row.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Will the Suns get to the "Hill-top"?
Grant Hill agreed to sign with the Phoenix Suns today. I am very happy about this for the Suns. I know he is 34 years old, injury prone and he is not the answer to the Spurs, but I like it for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it's about time something went right for the Suns this off-season. It's been one bad news after the other in the valley of the Sun ever since the Commish chose to stand behind a stupid rule instead of his common sense and suspend Amare and Diaw. Here's the complete list.
1) Atlanta defies odds and gets the third pick to deny the Suns a top pick in this draft that was top-3 protected.
2) Suns are rumored in all kinds of KG trades, but they are not even close to getting him.
3) Suns tried to trade into the top 10 this draft, but Charlotte pulls out in the last minute in favor of a better offer they got from Golden State.
4) Golden State also picks Marco Benelli who the Suns wanted to pick at 24.
So finally they get a man they want, and thats saying something. I personally like Grant Hill a lot, but who doesn't? He brings a lot of class, leadership and work ethic to the table. The Suns don't need a whole lot of all this with guys like Nash on the roster, but you can never have enough character guys on your team. But all these intangibles apart, I like this signing for basketball reasons too. Grant Hill may not be a great fit for the run and gun at this age, but the guy can still ball. He is coming off a healthy year for the first time in many years and he can do one thing the Suns desperately need. Another guy who can create his own shot. This was the greatest blow to the Suns when Joe Johnson left. They don't have that creator on the wing and their offense is completely dependent on Nash, Amare and the run and gun. Good defensive teams like our friends down there in San Antonio know how to take the top 2 or 3 things away from you and thats exactly why the Suns keep losing to the Spurs. They turn off your fast-breaks and also bolt down Nash. Suns are done right there.
Yeah, Diaw can do his thing if he has a small guy on him and LB can drive to the hoop on anybody, but Grant Hill definitely gives another dependable dimension to the offense. Also, he is a pass-first team player who will fit perfectly here. The Suns are hoping he can run the team when Nash is on the bench. He sure can settle things down for the sometimes out of control Barbosa. To me this would be a bonus. I would take Hill just for what he can do in the half-court with Nash and Amare around. We don't have to hold our breath every time Raja Bell or James Jones put the ball on the floor. I feel like Hill can do some damage for 5 to 10 possessions a game and I'll take that for 1.83 mill a year.
I know some Suns fans are upset that this is just another signing of a over-the-hill (no pun intended), injury prone super-star, but seriously, what are you going to get for less than 2 mill these days? Remember 2 years back we were all chasing Finley and he signed with the Spurs? I am happy that Hill at least didn't go to another contender and ended up here with the Suns. How shitty would we be feeling today if he chose the Spurs over the Suns? Also some fans seem to think this is just another Jalen Rose signing. Thats one fear I do share. I would totally agree with the criticism of Mike D'Antoni that he doesn't know how to use his bench. . I still don't think Jalen Rose is that bad or useless. I blame Mike D'Antoni for not even giving him a shot. It's kind of scary how similar Jalen's and Hill's numbers are at this point in their career, including their body types (6'8" and 225 pounds)! I sure hope their Suns career don't end up the same way. With all that said, I still think D'Antoni would give a much fairer shot to Grant Hill just because of who he is and how much crap Mike has taken for not using his bench last season. Plus, i think Hill's decision making on the court will impress Mike a lot more.
Of course all of this is contingent upon Grant Hill staying healthy, which is a BIG question mark. One of the web sites even joked with this headline - "Grant Hill signs with the Phoenix Suns for 2 years of injuries". It would put a tear in your eye if you look at what the Orlando Magic got from this guy for 7 years and 93 million dollars. And thats just if you are a normal NBA fan. I can't even begin to think how bad you'll feel if you are die-hard Magic fan. These are the number of games he played over his 7 years there.
2000-2001 - 4 games
2001-2002 - 14 games
2002-2003 - 29 games
2003-2004 - 0 games
2004-2005 - 67 games
2005-2006 - 21 games
2006-2007 - 65 games
This is so ugly that Hill actually seriously considered playing for the Magic for cheap just to make up for the 93 mill he inadvertently stole from them. Hill is so much class and he worked so hard to rehab from all those injuries that even Magic fans don't bad mouth this guy. Hopefully those days are behind him for good.
1) Atlanta defies odds and gets the third pick to deny the Suns a top pick in this draft that was top-3 protected.
2) Suns are rumored in all kinds of KG trades, but they are not even close to getting him.
3) Suns tried to trade into the top 10 this draft, but Charlotte pulls out in the last minute in favor of a better offer they got from Golden State.
4) Golden State also picks Marco Benelli who the Suns wanted to pick at 24.
So finally they get a man they want, and thats saying something. I personally like Grant Hill a lot, but who doesn't? He brings a lot of class, leadership and work ethic to the table. The Suns don't need a whole lot of all this with guys like Nash on the roster, but you can never have enough character guys on your team. But all these intangibles apart, I like this signing for basketball reasons too. Grant Hill may not be a great fit for the run and gun at this age, but the guy can still ball. He is coming off a healthy year for the first time in many years and he can do one thing the Suns desperately need. Another guy who can create his own shot. This was the greatest blow to the Suns when Joe Johnson left. They don't have that creator on the wing and their offense is completely dependent on Nash, Amare and the run and gun. Good defensive teams like our friends down there in San Antonio know how to take the top 2 or 3 things away from you and thats exactly why the Suns keep losing to the Spurs. They turn off your fast-breaks and also bolt down Nash. Suns are done right there.
Yeah, Diaw can do his thing if he has a small guy on him and LB can drive to the hoop on anybody, but Grant Hill definitely gives another dependable dimension to the offense. Also, he is a pass-first team player who will fit perfectly here. The Suns are hoping he can run the team when Nash is on the bench. He sure can settle things down for the sometimes out of control Barbosa. To me this would be a bonus. I would take Hill just for what he can do in the half-court with Nash and Amare around. We don't have to hold our breath every time Raja Bell or James Jones put the ball on the floor. I feel like Hill can do some damage for 5 to 10 possessions a game and I'll take that for 1.83 mill a year.
I know some Suns fans are upset that this is just another signing of a over-the-hill (no pun intended), injury prone super-star, but seriously, what are you going to get for less than 2 mill these days? Remember 2 years back we were all chasing Finley and he signed with the Spurs? I am happy that Hill at least didn't go to another contender and ended up here with the Suns. How shitty would we be feeling today if he chose the Spurs over the Suns? Also some fans seem to think this is just another Jalen Rose signing. Thats one fear I do share. I would totally agree with the criticism of Mike D'Antoni that he doesn't know how to use his bench. . I still don't think Jalen Rose is that bad or useless. I blame Mike D'Antoni for not even giving him a shot. It's kind of scary how similar Jalen's and Hill's numbers are at this point in their career, including their body types (6'8" and 225 pounds)! I sure hope their Suns career don't end up the same way. With all that said, I still think D'Antoni would give a much fairer shot to Grant Hill just because of who he is and how much crap Mike has taken for not using his bench last season. Plus, i think Hill's decision making on the court will impress Mike a lot more.
Of course all of this is contingent upon Grant Hill staying healthy, which is a BIG question mark. One of the web sites even joked with this headline - "Grant Hill signs with the Phoenix Suns for 2 years of injuries". It would put a tear in your eye if you look at what the Orlando Magic got from this guy for 7 years and 93 million dollars. And thats just if you are a normal NBA fan. I can't even begin to think how bad you'll feel if you are die-hard Magic fan. These are the number of games he played over his 7 years there.
2000-2001 - 4 games
2001-2002 - 14 games
2002-2003 - 29 games
2003-2004 - 0 games
2004-2005 - 67 games
2005-2006 - 21 games
2006-2007 - 65 games
This is so ugly that Hill actually seriously considered playing for the Magic for cheap just to make up for the 93 mill he inadvertently stole from them. Hill is so much class and he worked so hard to rehab from all those injuries that even Magic fans don't bad mouth this guy. Hopefully those days are behind him for good.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Bonds is an All-Star
Barry Bonds finally got in to the All-Star game as a starter. He made up more than 100 K votes on the last few days to leap-frog his competition. The Giants PR machine put all its efforts in to making Bonds an All-Star. Poor Bengie Molina! No similar campaign for him. Bonds was not having a great season and it seemed like the fans were doing the right thing by keeping him out. But how can you keep Bonds out of the All Star game in his hometown San Francisco, that too this season when he is chasing Hank Aaron's home run record? So it seemed like he had to be let in on account of his "lifetime achievement". But you look at his numbers now, it ain't half bad. You sure can make an argument that he is a deserving All-Star. He is batting .304 with 16 homers, 40 RBIs with an OBP of .516 with 84 walks. Thats impressive. It's amazing how much he controls the Giants lineup. Without him, they are just garbage. With him, they are still garbage, but the guys batting in-front of him and behind him see a lot more hittable pitches and they are the biggest beneficiaries. Bonds is a one-man lineup.
Speaking of the Giants, I might have seen the best young pitcher this Sunday. Young pitchers are sometimes like super-models on a fashion-show runway. They keep coming one after the other and they all look terrific for a while, but they all disappear sooner than later. You lose some pitchers to injuries and the others just get figured out by the big league hitters. Few do survive like Johan Santana and Jake Peavy, but there are countless hyped up young studs who are just nowhere after a few years. But this kid Tim Lincecum looked unstoppable yesterday against the D'Backs. He just flat out dominated with filthy stuff. All his pitches were working and the DBacks hitters appeared clueless as to what was coming their way. He had 12 strikeouts in 7 innings and looked like a future superstar. You are also amazed just looking at this guy because he looks like a middle-school kid waiting for his mom to pick him up from school! The Giants rotation is looking good right now with Lincecum and Matt Cain, both just 23 years old. Noah Lowry is not too old either. But everything else is broken with the Giants. I am not really complaining as a Diamondbacks fan (and as an A's fans in the AL).
Speaking of the Giants, I might have seen the best young pitcher this Sunday. Young pitchers are sometimes like super-models on a fashion-show runway. They keep coming one after the other and they all look terrific for a while, but they all disappear sooner than later. You lose some pitchers to injuries and the others just get figured out by the big league hitters. Few do survive like Johan Santana and Jake Peavy, but there are countless hyped up young studs who are just nowhere after a few years. But this kid Tim Lincecum looked unstoppable yesterday against the D'Backs. He just flat out dominated with filthy stuff. All his pitches were working and the DBacks hitters appeared clueless as to what was coming their way. He had 12 strikeouts in 7 innings and looked like a future superstar. You are also amazed just looking at this guy because he looks like a middle-school kid waiting for his mom to pick him up from school! The Giants rotation is looking good right now with Lincecum and Matt Cain, both just 23 years old. Noah Lowry is not too old either. But everything else is broken with the Giants. I am not really complaining as a Diamondbacks fan (and as an A's fans in the AL).
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Draft Winners and Losers
The draft came and went without any of the major rumored trades going down. Kobe, KG, Marion and Jermaine O'Neal stayed put. Lakers, Suns, T-Wolves, Atlanta and the Pacers were not involved in any major trades. But there were trades and deals done that involved other teams, players and stars. Boston, which couldn't get Marion, KG or O'Neal made a desperate move. They drafted Jeff Green at 5 and traded him away for Ray Allen. I did not know Danny Ainge was this desperate to save his job, Doc Rivers' job and to convince Paul Pierce to stay. They got a big name alright, but what's the point? They got another scorer at the guard position to duplicate Paul Pierce's only skill and neither of them can play defense or make team-mates better or do anything other than score. He also gave up Delonte West, the one guy who can set up his team-mates. Luckily, Ainge didn't trade Al Jefferson. Thats about the only good news for the Celtics fan. In the horrible East, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce probably will score enough to get to the playoffs, but where is the vision and what's the long-term strategy here? Where is Ainge going with this?
Jeff Green is an awesome talent and the Sonics got 2 of the top 5 picks. Durant and Green should be a great tandem for the future. Position wise, the Sonics could have actually used Ray Allen at guard to play along Durant and let Rashard Lewis go, but I guess they saved some money and got younger by trading Ray Allen. They might still let Lewis walk as well and thus start a complete rebuild.
The other big trade was Portland sending Zach Randolph, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau to the Knicks for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. Great trade for the Blazers and not a bad one for the Knicks either. Blazers get rid of their last Jail-blazer in Zach and open up the paint for Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. They get younger and save money. Channing Frye will fit well in that front-line as well. Francis is just a short-term move and there's even talk that the Blazers will buyout his contract instead of letting him get anywhere near Oden, Roy and that young core. How low Stevie Franchise has fallen! For the Knicks, Randolph is a talented big body who definitely upgrades the talent level. My only question is, Eddie Curry had a good season last year and is there enough space in that paint for both these guys? How will they play together? The chemistry could be a problem. But Zach does rebound and defend better than Curry. Knicks at least move hundreds of millions of dollars in bad salaries from their back-court to the front-court.
The other surprising trade of the day was the Warriors sending J-Rich to the Bobcats for the 8-Th pick Brandan Wright. This is a real tough one for the Warriors. I like Brandan Wright a lot, but J-Rich is a very good player. One of the few guys in the league who has gotten better every year in his first 6 years in the NBA. A hard-working professional who does not fit the NBA image of punk athletes. On the court, he is also probably the Warriors best 3-point shooter and his athleticism fits Nellie's style pretty well. But the Warriors dumped salary and got a athletic big guy and that can't be all that bad. I think J-Rich will also help Charlotte, especially if they re-sign Gerald Wallace. Poor J-Rich! After years of suffering through losing with the W's, he now goes to another perennial loser in the Bobcats just when the Warriors seem to be turning it around.
As for my Suns, not an eventful draft day. Seems like the Warriors got the top 10 pick that the Suns were hoping to trade for. So they stayed put. I love Alando Tucker and even the guy they drafted at 24. But they traded Rudy Fernandez to Portland for cash. This is the second straight year the Suns have traded a foreign PG to Portland for cash. They also got D.J.Strawberry in the second round. Alando will help, if D'Antoni lets him play that is, but not enough to achieve the Suns ultimate goal of surpassing the Spurs.
All in all, here are the big winners and losers this draft day.
Winners - Portland, Seattle, New York
Losers - Boston, LA Lakers, Philadelphia
Round 1
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1 Portland Greg Oden C
2 Seattle Kevin Durant F
3 Atlanta Al Horford F
4 Memphis Mike Conley Jr. G
5 Boston Jeff Green F
6 Milwaukee Yi Jianlian PF
7 Minnesota Corey Brewer F
8 Charlotte Brandan Wright F
9 Chicago Joakim Noah F
10 Sacramento Spencer Hawes C
11 Atlanta Acie Law G
12 Philadelphia Thaddeus Young F
13 New Orl/OKC Julian Wright F
14 LA Clippers Al Thornton F
15 Detroit Rodney Stuckey G
16 Washington Nick Young F
17 New Jersey Sean Williams F
18 Golden State Marco Belinelli SG
19 LA Lakers Javaris Crittenton G
20 Miami Jason Smith F
21 Philadelphia Daequan Cook G
22 Charlotte Jared Dudley F
23 New York Wilson Chandler F
24 Phoenix Rudy Fernandez G
25 Utah Morris Almond F
26 Houston Aaron Brooks G
27 Detroit Arron Afflalo G
28 San Antonio Tiago Splitter C
29 Phoenix Alando Tucker SF
30 Philadelphia Petteri Koponen PG
Round 2
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Pk Team Player Position
1 Seattle Carl Landry F
2 Boston Gabe Pruitt G
3 San Antonio Marcus Williams G
4 Dallas Nick Fazekas F
5 Seattle Glen Davis F
6 Golden State Jermareo Davidson F
7 Portland Josh McRoberts F
8 Philadelphia Kyrylo Fesenko C
9 Miami Stanko Barac C
10 LA Lakers Sun Yue G
11 Minnesota Chris Richard F
12 Portland Derrick Byars G
13 New Orl/OKC Adam Haluska G
14 Orlando Reyshawn Terry F
15 LA Clippers Jared Jordan G
16 Golden State Stephane Lasme F
17 Washington Dominic McGuire G
18 LA Lakers Marc Gasol C
19 Chicago Aaron Gray C
20 Dallas Renaldas Seibutis G
21 Chicago JamesOn Curry G
22 Portland Taurean Green G
23 Portland Demetris Nichols F
24 Houston Brad Newley G
25 Utah Herbert Hill F
26 Milwaukee Ramon Sessions G
27 Detroit Sammy Mejia G
28 San Antonio Giorgos Printezis F
29 Phoenix D.J. Strawberry G
30 Dallas Milovan Rakovic PF
Jeff Green is an awesome talent and the Sonics got 2 of the top 5 picks. Durant and Green should be a great tandem for the future. Position wise, the Sonics could have actually used Ray Allen at guard to play along Durant and let Rashard Lewis go, but I guess they saved some money and got younger by trading Ray Allen. They might still let Lewis walk as well and thus start a complete rebuild.
The other big trade was Portland sending Zach Randolph, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau to the Knicks for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. Great trade for the Blazers and not a bad one for the Knicks either. Blazers get rid of their last Jail-blazer in Zach and open up the paint for Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. They get younger and save money. Channing Frye will fit well in that front-line as well. Francis is just a short-term move and there's even talk that the Blazers will buyout his contract instead of letting him get anywhere near Oden, Roy and that young core. How low Stevie Franchise has fallen! For the Knicks, Randolph is a talented big body who definitely upgrades the talent level. My only question is, Eddie Curry had a good season last year and is there enough space in that paint for both these guys? How will they play together? The chemistry could be a problem. But Zach does rebound and defend better than Curry. Knicks at least move hundreds of millions of dollars in bad salaries from their back-court to the front-court.
The other surprising trade of the day was the Warriors sending J-Rich to the Bobcats for the 8-Th pick Brandan Wright. This is a real tough one for the Warriors. I like Brandan Wright a lot, but J-Rich is a very good player. One of the few guys in the league who has gotten better every year in his first 6 years in the NBA. A hard-working professional who does not fit the NBA image of punk athletes. On the court, he is also probably the Warriors best 3-point shooter and his athleticism fits Nellie's style pretty well. But the Warriors dumped salary and got a athletic big guy and that can't be all that bad. I think J-Rich will also help Charlotte, especially if they re-sign Gerald Wallace. Poor J-Rich! After years of suffering through losing with the W's, he now goes to another perennial loser in the Bobcats just when the Warriors seem to be turning it around.
As for my Suns, not an eventful draft day. Seems like the Warriors got the top 10 pick that the Suns were hoping to trade for. So they stayed put. I love Alando Tucker and even the guy they drafted at 24. But they traded Rudy Fernandez to Portland for cash. This is the second straight year the Suns have traded a foreign PG to Portland for cash. They also got D.J.Strawberry in the second round. Alando will help, if D'Antoni lets him play that is, but not enough to achieve the Suns ultimate goal of surpassing the Spurs.
All in all, here are the big winners and losers this draft day.
Winners - Portland, Seattle, New York
Losers - Boston, LA Lakers, Philadelphia
Round 1
--------
1 Portland Greg Oden C
2 Seattle Kevin Durant F
3 Atlanta Al Horford F
4 Memphis Mike Conley Jr. G
5 Boston Jeff Green F
6 Milwaukee Yi Jianlian PF
7 Minnesota Corey Brewer F
8 Charlotte Brandan Wright F
9 Chicago Joakim Noah F
10 Sacramento Spencer Hawes C
11 Atlanta Acie Law G
12 Philadelphia Thaddeus Young F
13 New Orl/OKC Julian Wright F
14 LA Clippers Al Thornton F
15 Detroit Rodney Stuckey G
16 Washington Nick Young F
17 New Jersey Sean Williams F
18 Golden State Marco Belinelli SG
19 LA Lakers Javaris Crittenton G
20 Miami Jason Smith F
21 Philadelphia Daequan Cook G
22 Charlotte Jared Dudley F
23 New York Wilson Chandler F
24 Phoenix Rudy Fernandez G
25 Utah Morris Almond F
26 Houston Aaron Brooks G
27 Detroit Arron Afflalo G
28 San Antonio Tiago Splitter C
29 Phoenix Alando Tucker SF
30 Philadelphia Petteri Koponen PG
Round 2
-------
Pk Team Player Position
1 Seattle Carl Landry F
2 Boston Gabe Pruitt G
3 San Antonio Marcus Williams G
4 Dallas Nick Fazekas F
5 Seattle Glen Davis F
6 Golden State Jermareo Davidson F
7 Portland Josh McRoberts F
8 Philadelphia Kyrylo Fesenko C
9 Miami Stanko Barac C
10 LA Lakers Sun Yue G
11 Minnesota Chris Richard F
12 Portland Derrick Byars G
13 New Orl/OKC Adam Haluska G
14 Orlando Reyshawn Terry F
15 LA Clippers Jared Jordan G
16 Golden State Stephane Lasme F
17 Washington Dominic McGuire G
18 LA Lakers Marc Gasol C
19 Chicago Aaron Gray C
20 Dallas Renaldas Seibutis G
21 Chicago JamesOn Curry G
22 Portland Taurean Green G
23 Portland Demetris Nichols F
24 Houston Brad Newley G
25 Utah Herbert Hill F
26 Milwaukee Ramon Sessions G
27 Detroit Sammy Mejia G
28 San Antonio Giorgos Printezis F
29 Phoenix D.J. Strawberry G
30 Dallas Milovan Rakovic PF
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
40 year-old starters
40 was the new 20 in the major leagues today as a record 7 pitchers in their 40's were listed as starters. I thought this was kinda cool. I like Maddux, and he won. I hate Clemens, and he lost. Here's how all the oldies did today (6/27/2007).
The New York Yankees' Roger Clemens (44) - Lost 0-4 to Baltimore.
Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer (44) - No decision as Phily lost 6-9 to Cincinnati.
Detroit's Kenny Rogers (42) - Game postponed.
San Diego's Greg Maddux (41) - Won 4-2 against San Francisco.
New York Mets' Tom Glavine (41) - Won 2-0 against St. Louis.
Houston's Woody Williams (40) - No decision as Houston lost 3-6 to Milwaukee.
Atlanta's John Smoltz (40) - Won 13-0 against Washington.
The New York Yankees' Roger Clemens (44) - Lost 0-4 to Baltimore.
Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer (44) - No decision as Phily lost 6-9 to Cincinnati.
Detroit's Kenny Rogers (42) - Game postponed.
San Diego's Greg Maddux (41) - Won 4-2 against San Francisco.
New York Mets' Tom Glavine (41) - Won 2-0 against St. Louis.
Houston's Woody Williams (40) - No decision as Houston lost 3-6 to Milwaukee.
Atlanta's John Smoltz (40) - Won 13-0 against Washington.
STAT to ATL - WHAT??
KG is still in Minnesota but it feels like he has already been traded to the Celtics, Suns, Lakers and now back to the Suns. The KG rumors came around full circle today as the Suns are now back in it. But apparently it's a three way and it involves the Atlanta Hawks. And now they say the Suns are going to send Amare to the ATL! Thats a shocker. Why Amare and more importantly why Atlanta? Suns were saying they'll trade Marion and never STAT. I guess this trade helps the Suns in that Amare goes off to the East, but apparently the T-Wolves don't want STAT either. Really surprising because Amare is the closest to 100 cents they are going to get for the dollar bill called KG. Of course Suns fans will argue STAT is 110 cents for the dollar. As far as I can tell, more Suns fans hate losing STAT for KG and only a few like the trade. May be Minnesota is thinking his knee is still somewhat shaky or may be they are just trying to go for a clean slate and start a complete rebuild. Not a bad idea sometimes. Thats exactly what Denver did before they drafted Melo. They were bad for a while and they tried different things, but finally they blew the whole thing up, took a step or 2 back and rebuilt from scratch. May be thats what the T-Wolves plan to do. Whatever it is, apparently the trade will send both the 3-Rd and 11-Th pick from ATL to Minnesota and ATL gets STAT. That would be some team in Atlanta if that happens. Th Suns can kiss their (ATL's) pick next year good bye!
As for the Suns, I definitely think it makes them better for the next 2 years. I would do it just to give KG, Nash and Marion a shot at a championship the next 2 years. KG is better defensively and on the boards than STAT and will fit well with this offense and on this team. But 2 problems that make it a bad trade. STAT is essentially KG in a younger body. In fact, he will eventually be better than KG offensively, if not already. So the Suns are mortgaging their future for KG. Secondly, KG makes ridiculous money and with his and Marion's salary next year, they might have to gut the team again next year for money reasons. If the Suns were trying to cut payroll this year, how do they plan to pay these guys next year when all their salaries go up?
But it's definitely a tantalizing deal for the Suns and they can go for it all the next year or two.
As for the Suns, I definitely think it makes them better for the next 2 years. I would do it just to give KG, Nash and Marion a shot at a championship the next 2 years. KG is better defensively and on the boards than STAT and will fit well with this offense and on this team. But 2 problems that make it a bad trade. STAT is essentially KG in a younger body. In fact, he will eventually be better than KG offensively, if not already. So the Suns are mortgaging their future for KG. Secondly, KG makes ridiculous money and with his and Marion's salary next year, they might have to gut the team again next year for money reasons. If the Suns were trying to cut payroll this year, how do they plan to pay these guys next year when all their salaries go up?
But it's definitely a tantalizing deal for the Suns and they can go for it all the next year or two.
Draft time.
This should be one of the most interesting NBA draft season in years. It's almost single-handedly compensating for the horrible NBA finals. This draft is fun for 3 reasons. One, it features 2 franchise players right at the top in Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Two, there are way too many super-stars who are in the trading block or who want out of their team. High draft picks are always rumored to be part of these high profile trades involving names like KG, Marion, Jermaine O'Neal, Kobe or even Paul Pierce. Thirdly, this is one of the most talented draft class in recent times because it's really 2 drafts rolled in to one. The Commish implemented the age rule last year. So a lot of high school stars like Oden and Durant who would have been drafted last year are now in this draft along with the guys who would have come out this year anyways. So the talent level is very high in this draft. There are those top 2 picks and after that, there are 8 guys who are all at similar talent levels and can all have tremendous impact on their teams. I can't wait for the draft and see who goes where.
As for the story-lines, the following items are very interesting.
1) As a Suns fan, I like the fact that they are trying to get into top 10. It's sad the ping pong balls conspired against them and they didn't get Atlanta's pick this year, but they still are hoping to get a top 10 pick for some package that might even involve Atlanta's pick next year. I like this move because next year's draft is going to be weak and Atlanta is scaring me a little bit. They have a whole lot of young talent and I wouldn't be surprised if they finally come through next season and end up with a worthless pick in the teens. Of course, the other teams know this too and will they take that pick away from the Suns?
2) Of course any KG rumor is big. It started with some Suns rumors, but now the focus seems to be on the Lakers. That should be a scary sight for the Suns to imagine Kobe with KG in LA. That doesn't guarantee anything, but the Lakers will be formidable with that combo to say the least. By the way, how did we go from Kobe moving out to KG moving in?
3) Who goes first, Oden or Durant? Very important question except that I have always been convinced about the answer. As great as Durant is, and he is awesome, Oden is number 1. I liked Durant so much that I picked Texas to go deep in the NCAA tournament just because of him, which ended up destroying my bracket. But still you win NBA championships with talented big men unless you have a player called Michael Jordan. So Portland can't pass up on Greg Oden. He is way too big, way too athletic and way too good defensively to pass up in favor of a wing, even if that wing player is a freakishly talented 6'9" Durant. The easiest job here belongs to the Seattle GM. He just has to pick whoever Portland doesn't.
4) I am fascinated by the talent Florida is pumping in to this draft. They have 3 guys in the projected top 10 with Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah. The Gators will probably have 2 other guys drafted in the second round, may be even 3 if Lee Humphrey gets drafted. Thats amazing. The guy who probably lost a lot of dough is Noah. He could have made a lot more if he declared last year when he was better and the draft was weaker. He would have been a top 5 if not top 3 last year. Now he is projected to go to Chicago at 9.
5) What does Boston do with the 5-Th pick? Looks like Danny Ainge is not really interested in keeping this pick. He is trying all kinds of trades to bring a talented veteran in and convince Paul Pierce that he and the guy coming in can win big. He can get a great talent in this draft at 5, but neither him, nor Pierce nor the fans seem to have any kind of patience for re-building. Also, nobody wants to go to Boston anymore as KG, Marion and J-O'Neal have all said "no" to Boston.
6) Atlanta has 2 picks - 3 and 11 and I am very curious to see what they do. There is a lot of vested interest here as the state of the Atlanta Hawks in 07/08 will have a direct bearing on the state of the Suns may be over the next decade or so. I am very interested in their 11-Th pick. Apparently they might get Luke Ridnour from Seattle for that pick. That could help the Hawks a lot because Luke is a decent point guard and he should help that young nucleus real well especially with Joe Johnson sharing the play making duties. In terms of immediate impact, that trade is bigger than them drafting Al Horford at 3, though Al will be a stud eventually.
7) Speaking of Atlanta, there's also a rumor that Nelly is dangling Monta Ellis and something else for Atlanta's 3-Rd pick so he can pick that Chinese guy Yi Jianlian. Typical Nelly! Trying to chase these "versatile" 7 footers who can shoot threes from the perimeter. He is willing to trade a conventional talent like Monta Ellis who was considered untouchable just a few months ago. This might actually explain why Nelly doesn't win championships! Of course, Atlanta would probably not even give up their 11-Th pick for Monta. Monta is an awesome talent, but not a great point.
As for the story-lines, the following items are very interesting.
1) As a Suns fan, I like the fact that they are trying to get into top 10. It's sad the ping pong balls conspired against them and they didn't get Atlanta's pick this year, but they still are hoping to get a top 10 pick for some package that might even involve Atlanta's pick next year. I like this move because next year's draft is going to be weak and Atlanta is scaring me a little bit. They have a whole lot of young talent and I wouldn't be surprised if they finally come through next season and end up with a worthless pick in the teens. Of course, the other teams know this too and will they take that pick away from the Suns?
2) Of course any KG rumor is big. It started with some Suns rumors, but now the focus seems to be on the Lakers. That should be a scary sight for the Suns to imagine Kobe with KG in LA. That doesn't guarantee anything, but the Lakers will be formidable with that combo to say the least. By the way, how did we go from Kobe moving out to KG moving in?
3) Who goes first, Oden or Durant? Very important question except that I have always been convinced about the answer. As great as Durant is, and he is awesome, Oden is number 1. I liked Durant so much that I picked Texas to go deep in the NCAA tournament just because of him, which ended up destroying my bracket. But still you win NBA championships with talented big men unless you have a player called Michael Jordan. So Portland can't pass up on Greg Oden. He is way too big, way too athletic and way too good defensively to pass up in favor of a wing, even if that wing player is a freakishly talented 6'9" Durant. The easiest job here belongs to the Seattle GM. He just has to pick whoever Portland doesn't.
4) I am fascinated by the talent Florida is pumping in to this draft. They have 3 guys in the projected top 10 with Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah. The Gators will probably have 2 other guys drafted in the second round, may be even 3 if Lee Humphrey gets drafted. Thats amazing. The guy who probably lost a lot of dough is Noah. He could have made a lot more if he declared last year when he was better and the draft was weaker. He would have been a top 5 if not top 3 last year. Now he is projected to go to Chicago at 9.
5) What does Boston do with the 5-Th pick? Looks like Danny Ainge is not really interested in keeping this pick. He is trying all kinds of trades to bring a talented veteran in and convince Paul Pierce that he and the guy coming in can win big. He can get a great talent in this draft at 5, but neither him, nor Pierce nor the fans seem to have any kind of patience for re-building. Also, nobody wants to go to Boston anymore as KG, Marion and J-O'Neal have all said "no" to Boston.
6) Atlanta has 2 picks - 3 and 11 and I am very curious to see what they do. There is a lot of vested interest here as the state of the Atlanta Hawks in 07/08 will have a direct bearing on the state of the Suns may be over the next decade or so. I am very interested in their 11-Th pick. Apparently they might get Luke Ridnour from Seattle for that pick. That could help the Hawks a lot because Luke is a decent point guard and he should help that young nucleus real well especially with Joe Johnson sharing the play making duties. In terms of immediate impact, that trade is bigger than them drafting Al Horford at 3, though Al will be a stud eventually.
7) Speaking of Atlanta, there's also a rumor that Nelly is dangling Monta Ellis and something else for Atlanta's 3-Rd pick so he can pick that Chinese guy Yi Jianlian. Typical Nelly! Trying to chase these "versatile" 7 footers who can shoot threes from the perimeter. He is willing to trade a conventional talent like Monta Ellis who was considered untouchable just a few months ago. This might actually explain why Nelly doesn't win championships! Of course, Atlanta would probably not even give up their 11-Th pick for Monta. Monta is an awesome talent, but not a great point.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Marion on the move - why?
For a team thats this close to a championship and not particularly that old, the Phoenix Suns are surprisingly at the corss-roads. It's mostly due to their intention to reduce payroll. They are staring at a significant luxury tax and trading Shawn Marion seems to be the solution as far as the payroll goes. The problem is, that sets them back big-time. I am not sure if the Suns and some of their fans realize it. Marion is a very versatile player who does a lot of things on both ends of the floor and is generally under-rated as a star. His biggest problem is that he can't create his own shot and hence is not a superstar, but he still does a tonne of crap for this team that goes unappreciated sometimes. He will be tough to lose for any team, but he is especially critical for this Suns team for two reasons. People understand how important Nash is to the fast-break offense, but Marion might be the second most important guy for the run and gun. Secondly, he compensates for a lot of their defensive deficiencies and the Suns sure have a lot of them!
I am not going to tell Robert Sarver how to spend his hundreds of millions and how to run his business. The Suns and Sarver are free to run their business any way they want and they can cut cost and even build for the future. But lets be sure about one thing. Lets not kid ourselves that any of these rumored Marion trades will make the Suns better next year. Excluding the trades involving hall-of-famers Garnett or Kobe, the other rumored Marion trades will all set the Suns back. You are not getting better with Theo Ratliff, Delonte West and the fifth pick. You are not getting better with Antawn Jamison. You lose Marion now, you drop behind the Spurs and the Mavs in the West. I read they are even considering a Diaw-Amare front-line. No offense to Diaw - I actually love him as much as the next guy, but he can't even carry Marion's jock in this offense or defense. So this is purely a business decision and let the front-office not kid itself and us the fans by trying to explain it any other way.
The exception of course is if you can get a Garnett or Kobe and you are giving up Marion. Then obviously you are upgrading and that'll work. What I am saying is, in this case, you can tell who's getting the better end of the trade just based on how the trade is called. If Marion is traded for Garnett, it'll be called the "Garnett trade" and not a Marion trade. The Suns get better with those trades, but the trades like the rumored one with the Celtics will be called a "Marion trade" and those will not work for the Suns in the short term. Thats the biggest problem for the Suns. They need to think short-term for 2 reasons. One, they are real real close to the Spurs. Secondly, Nash is 33 and cannot play at this break-neck speed for more than a year or 2, may be 3. So this salary issue is really coming up at the wrong time for the Suns. You could potentially end up with a better player than Marion with the Celtics 5-Th pick, but where will Nash be when that kid hits his peak potential?
GM Steve Kerr has to handle all this. And what complicates matters even more is stars like Kobe and Garnett are on the block and they both say they want to play for the Sun. Not surprising because the Suns are a true contender, they play a fun style and they have Steve Nash. I don't think the Lakers will trade Kobe in-conference and definitely not in-division to the Suns, but Garnett can still happen. Apparently the Suns want to trade Marion and some other pieces for him but the Wolves want Amare. I don't think they should trade Amare for KG. He is essentially the same player, but 7 years younger. But I would give it a close look though. KG is at his peak and pairing him with Nash and Marion will give the Suns a great shot the next 2 years. He is way better than Amare defensively and has no ego. He will fit perfectly in this team since he is athletic enough to play this style. Losing Amare will be bad for the future, but the question is, does this trade get you closer to a ring in 08 or 09? I am tempted to say "yes".
Of course pairing KG with Amare would just be beyond awesome. I still think the Suns can make it happen. May be make it takes a three-way with Boston and moving Marion there since the Wolves don't want him. But will Sarver be willing to spend more if we get KG (or Kobe) and get a real shot at a championship? I think he should because if you make it to the finals and win a championship, your revenue jumps up too. Also if you get a player like Kobe, you make a lot of merchandise money too with his jersey etc. So Sarver should totally roll the dice if they have a shot at KG or Kobe. Interesting times for Kerr. He needs to cut salary, lose Marion and get better all at the same time while a couple of hall-of-famers are saying they would like to play for the Suns. He needs to manage all of this very tactfully. Otherwise the Fans will rip him and Sarver to shreds in about 8 months time. This is a true trial by fire for the rookie GM.
I am not going to tell Robert Sarver how to spend his hundreds of millions and how to run his business. The Suns and Sarver are free to run their business any way they want and they can cut cost and even build for the future. But lets be sure about one thing. Lets not kid ourselves that any of these rumored Marion trades will make the Suns better next year. Excluding the trades involving hall-of-famers Garnett or Kobe, the other rumored Marion trades will all set the Suns back. You are not getting better with Theo Ratliff, Delonte West and the fifth pick. You are not getting better with Antawn Jamison. You lose Marion now, you drop behind the Spurs and the Mavs in the West. I read they are even considering a Diaw-Amare front-line. No offense to Diaw - I actually love him as much as the next guy, but he can't even carry Marion's jock in this offense or defense. So this is purely a business decision and let the front-office not kid itself and us the fans by trying to explain it any other way.
The exception of course is if you can get a Garnett or Kobe and you are giving up Marion. Then obviously you are upgrading and that'll work. What I am saying is, in this case, you can tell who's getting the better end of the trade just based on how the trade is called. If Marion is traded for Garnett, it'll be called the "Garnett trade" and not a Marion trade. The Suns get better with those trades, but the trades like the rumored one with the Celtics will be called a "Marion trade" and those will not work for the Suns in the short term. Thats the biggest problem for the Suns. They need to think short-term for 2 reasons. One, they are real real close to the Spurs. Secondly, Nash is 33 and cannot play at this break-neck speed for more than a year or 2, may be 3. So this salary issue is really coming up at the wrong time for the Suns. You could potentially end up with a better player than Marion with the Celtics 5-Th pick, but where will Nash be when that kid hits his peak potential?
GM Steve Kerr has to handle all this. And what complicates matters even more is stars like Kobe and Garnett are on the block and they both say they want to play for the Sun. Not surprising because the Suns are a true contender, they play a fun style and they have Steve Nash. I don't think the Lakers will trade Kobe in-conference and definitely not in-division to the Suns, but Garnett can still happen. Apparently the Suns want to trade Marion and some other pieces for him but the Wolves want Amare. I don't think they should trade Amare for KG. He is essentially the same player, but 7 years younger. But I would give it a close look though. KG is at his peak and pairing him with Nash and Marion will give the Suns a great shot the next 2 years. He is way better than Amare defensively and has no ego. He will fit perfectly in this team since he is athletic enough to play this style. Losing Amare will be bad for the future, but the question is, does this trade get you closer to a ring in 08 or 09? I am tempted to say "yes".
Of course pairing KG with Amare would just be beyond awesome. I still think the Suns can make it happen. May be make it takes a three-way with Boston and moving Marion there since the Wolves don't want him. But will Sarver be willing to spend more if we get KG (or Kobe) and get a real shot at a championship? I think he should because if you make it to the finals and win a championship, your revenue jumps up too. Also if you get a player like Kobe, you make a lot of merchandise money too with his jersey etc. So Sarver should totally roll the dice if they have a shot at KG or Kobe. Interesting times for Kerr. He needs to cut salary, lose Marion and get better all at the same time while a couple of hall-of-famers are saying they would like to play for the Suns. He needs to manage all of this very tactfully. Otherwise the Fans will rip him and Sarver to shreds in about 8 months time. This is a true trial by fire for the rookie GM.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Kobe, Sammy and Pacman
NBA is over, but the fun is just starting. Like Bill Simmons wrote on ESPN.com, this might be the only league where the off-season is lot more fun than the finals. This is especially true this off-season with all the Kobe talk. Looks like he took a week off to keep the finals in focus, and is now back on the horse. Apparently he met Dr.Buss in Spain and reiterated his demand to be traded. He is still maintaining that position on his website. Looks like the Lakers are still in a state of denial and they are saying they wont trade Kobe. But Kobe is walking around talking to random people outside malls and restaurants and blasting Mitch Kup-cake and teammates like Bynum. An amateur video is going to be available for 2 bucks on the internet with this rant. What's wrong with this kid? Kobe is just nuts and is quickly burning through all the goodwill he built over the last 2 years. It looks like when all is said and done, Chicago is going to luck out and end with number 24.
Now that the NBA playoffs are over, we can all turn our attention to baseball. If you are in to college baseball, the CWS is going on right now with a liberal dose of "PINGGGG" sounds from the aluminum bats. But I am all about the pro leagues. Sammy hit his 600-Th home run yesterday and it's amazing how insignificant this moment was. It was nowhere near the event Bonds 600-Th home run was a few years back. Thats how bad the league is affected by the whole steroid controversy. People always say baseball is not affected too much by the steroid controversy and they point to increasing revenues and attendance as proof of this, but moments like this look and feel totally different these days. 600 home runs used to mean a lot of publicity, jersey sales and huge fan interest. Not anymore and definitely not with a "tainted" dude like Sammy. Of course the big one is coming up with Bonds 756, and the apathy surrounding it is even worse. The commish doesn't even know if he should be part of that event. Thats how tainted these events have become these days. There has also been some talk about whether or not Sammy belongs in the Hall of Fame. I would say no with all the steroid and corks hanging over his head.
In the NFL, pacman jones is still the story of the off-season. This dude is still committed to "making it rain" across America as a few more of his strip club trips came to light. It's funny that this guy went to a club the day before he met the Commish. Sometimes you wonder what goes through the minds of these guys.
Now that the NBA playoffs are over, we can all turn our attention to baseball. If you are in to college baseball, the CWS is going on right now with a liberal dose of "PINGGGG" sounds from the aluminum bats. But I am all about the pro leagues. Sammy hit his 600-Th home run yesterday and it's amazing how insignificant this moment was. It was nowhere near the event Bonds 600-Th home run was a few years back. Thats how bad the league is affected by the whole steroid controversy. People always say baseball is not affected too much by the steroid controversy and they point to increasing revenues and attendance as proof of this, but moments like this look and feel totally different these days. 600 home runs used to mean a lot of publicity, jersey sales and huge fan interest. Not anymore and definitely not with a "tainted" dude like Sammy. Of course the big one is coming up with Bonds 756, and the apathy surrounding it is even worse. The commish doesn't even know if he should be part of that event. Thats how tainted these events have become these days. There has also been some talk about whether or not Sammy belongs in the Hall of Fame. I would say no with all the steroid and corks hanging over his head.
In the NFL, pacman jones is still the story of the off-season. This dude is still committed to "making it rain" across America as a few more of his strip club trips came to light. It's funny that this guy went to a club the day before he met the Commish. Sometimes you wonder what goes through the minds of these guys.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Brooms in da house! - NBA playoff notes - 06/14/2007
The Spurs thankfully put this dog to rest as they swept the Cavs and ended one of the most boring NBA finals ever that recorded some of the worst TV ratings. The Cavs seemed to fight and give it a good effort in game 4, but they are just not in the same class as the Spurs. No Timmy, no problem for the Spurs as the finals MVP Tony Parker led the charge again. He scored 24 on 10/14 shots and Ginobli had 27 on 8/19. Timmy had an off-night shooting just 4/15 for 12 points and 15 boards. Cavs were led by LeBron's 24, but he had a tough shooting night hitting just 10/30. Trial by fire for LeBron as he had to face a tough Spurs team in his first finals and just couldn't do much.
This defeat might be the best thing to happen for the King because all his limitations got exposed. He usually skates through the regular season with his raw athleticism, but when you get to this level, only the best of the best survive. Also the microscope is on you as everybody is watching. They are not going to just catch a glimpse or two of your dunks on Sportscenter and say you are the best. Experts like Bill Walton and Tim Legler pointed out how his game is still growing and pretty limited. He is not a great jump shooter, he doesn't really have a dependable mid-range shot and his post-up game is not yet there. All areas of improvement for him if he takes the criticisms positively. I think this will wake up the King and motivate him. He can't just blame his teammates for all this, his game has to improve too. But the Cavs better work on their team as well because the King needs some help. They can use a new coach too if you ask me, but it'll be hard to change Mike Brown after a finals trip.
As for the Spurs, they are now a dynasty having won 4 rings out of 9 years. These playoffs were great for them just looking at the development of Tony Parker. This guy took another step in his growth and is now becoming an unstoppable force. His jumper is becoming very reliable and is even starting to hit 3's. The league better watch out for this stud. With Ginobli and Duncan already at their peak and Tony joining them there, the Spurs should be good for another ring or 3. They'll try and win it back to back as thats one thing they have not done yet. That'll cement them as a dynasty and I am sure Pop has already started using that as the motivation for next season.
San Antonio @ Cleveland - 83-82
This defeat might be the best thing to happen for the King because all his limitations got exposed. He usually skates through the regular season with his raw athleticism, but when you get to this level, only the best of the best survive. Also the microscope is on you as everybody is watching. They are not going to just catch a glimpse or two of your dunks on Sportscenter and say you are the best. Experts like Bill Walton and Tim Legler pointed out how his game is still growing and pretty limited. He is not a great jump shooter, he doesn't really have a dependable mid-range shot and his post-up game is not yet there. All areas of improvement for him if he takes the criticisms positively. I think this will wake up the King and motivate him. He can't just blame his teammates for all this, his game has to improve too. But the Cavs better work on their team as well because the King needs some help. They can use a new coach too if you ask me, but it'll be hard to change Mike Brown after a finals trip.
As for the Spurs, they are now a dynasty having won 4 rings out of 9 years. These playoffs were great for them just looking at the development of Tony Parker. This guy took another step in his growth and is now becoming an unstoppable force. His jumper is becoming very reliable and is even starting to hit 3's. The league better watch out for this stud. With Ginobli and Duncan already at their peak and Tony joining them there, the Spurs should be good for another ring or 3. They'll try and win it back to back as thats one thing they have not done yet. That'll cement them as a dynasty and I am sure Pop has already started using that as the motivation for next season.
San Antonio @ Cleveland - 83-82
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Close, but still ugly - NBA playoff notes - 06/12/2007
There was a pivotal sequence towards the end of game 3 that was symptomatic of Cleveland's problems. The game was on the line, time was running out and the Cavs were down by 2 or 3. LeBron drove the lane, but Timmy closed it down. So LeBron had to dish it out to Varejao who was open since he was Timmy's guy. If you freeze that moment, you'll see the problem with the Cavs. What can Varejao do with the ball? Nothing really. He can give it back to LeBron and the King can start all over again. The point is, the other guys are worthless in this series. The Cavs got nothing, definitely not enough for the Spurs. I like Z and Snow and Gibson and even Varejao in their own ways, but this is not a finals cast by any stretch of the imagination. As if to prove the point, Varejao didn't kick the ball back to LeBron. Instead he put the ball on the floor, drove, spun and threw up a wild shot. Ball game over. Series and championship for the Spurs. Whenever Vaejao puts the ball on the floor, it's an adventure, but this one came at a horrible time for the Cavs.
This game was close, but was uglier than the first two since nobody could shoot the basketball. King himself had an OK game with 25-8-7. He cut his turnovers down from 6 to 5! They finally shut down Larry Hughes and started Daniel Gibson only to see him shoot 1/10. Pavlovic shot 5/15 and the Cavs just didn't get the job done. The Spurs were not as good as they were at home either. Timmy had just 13, Tony had 17 and both didn't shoot that well. Ginobli was totally off shooting 0/7 for 3 points. The Spurs were saved by their three point shooting as they shot 10/19 from 3 with Bowen and Barry shooting 4/5 and 3/4 respectively. The Spurs just can hurt you in so many ways and one thing or the other always works out for them plus their defense is always there to save their life.
So the ugly finals continue, but not for long I suppose. The Spurs should wrap it up in a game or 2. I don't think the Cavs or their fans are really upset by any of this. They are just happy to be there. They think they are way ahead of schedule and I agree. But here's the problem. If they don't make solid additions to this team, they can very easily lose in any round of the playoffs next year. Remember, they got the easier half of the bracket and the King just stepped up big time against the Pistons to get them here. Their path to the Eastern finals will look a lot different next year. You watch the Cavs ugly offense and you wonder how great a fit Mike Bibby would have been for this team. It would have been a genius move if only it had went down as planned. His shooting and ball handling would have just changed so many things for the King and this team. May be thats the kind of off-season move they make to keep this growth on track.
San Antonio @ Cleveland- 75-72
Finals schedule for 06/14/2007
San Antonio @ Cleveland - It's all academic now. Will the Cavs win one? Will King dominate at least one game?
This game was close, but was uglier than the first two since nobody could shoot the basketball. King himself had an OK game with 25-8-7. He cut his turnovers down from 6 to 5! They finally shut down Larry Hughes and started Daniel Gibson only to see him shoot 1/10. Pavlovic shot 5/15 and the Cavs just didn't get the job done. The Spurs were not as good as they were at home either. Timmy had just 13, Tony had 17 and both didn't shoot that well. Ginobli was totally off shooting 0/7 for 3 points. The Spurs were saved by their three point shooting as they shot 10/19 from 3 with Bowen and Barry shooting 4/5 and 3/4 respectively. The Spurs just can hurt you in so many ways and one thing or the other always works out for them plus their defense is always there to save their life.
So the ugly finals continue, but not for long I suppose. The Spurs should wrap it up in a game or 2. I don't think the Cavs or their fans are really upset by any of this. They are just happy to be there. They think they are way ahead of schedule and I agree. But here's the problem. If they don't make solid additions to this team, they can very easily lose in any round of the playoffs next year. Remember, they got the easier half of the bracket and the King just stepped up big time against the Pistons to get them here. Their path to the Eastern finals will look a lot different next year. You watch the Cavs ugly offense and you wonder how great a fit Mike Bibby would have been for this team. It would have been a genius move if only it had went down as planned. His shooting and ball handling would have just changed so many things for the King and this team. May be thats the kind of off-season move they make to keep this growth on track.
San Antonio @ Cleveland- 75-72
Finals schedule for 06/14/2007
San Antonio @ Cleveland - It's all academic now. Will the Cavs win one? Will King dominate at least one game?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Over matched - NBA playoff notes - 06/10/2007
The Finals got even uglier in game 2 as the Spurs showed once again that the Cavs don't belong on the same court as them. They started well, but more importantly, the King got in early foul trouble. The game was over right there. The Cavs are barely competitive with LeBron on the floor and without him, this might as well be a finals between the Grizzlies and the spurs. The spurs opened a 11 point lead after one and extended it to 25 at half time. Thats pretty bad. It was a 27 point game entering the 4-Th.
As always, the Spurs let up a little bit in the fourth and the Cavs made it close with a furious rally in garbage time. This game actually got tighter than game 1 as the Cavs cut it to 8 with plenty of time to go. But the refs let Tony Parker travel and hit a ridiculous shot off the glass at a crucial moment to kill the rally. Tony also hit another big shot and Manu put the game away with a 4-point play. Pop was later self-critical and said his defensive calls and substitution patterns were responsible for the game getting real tight in the 4-Th. The big 3 were spectacular again. The Cavs still have no answer for them. Timmy had 23-9-8 on 9/16 shooting. He surely is the groundhog day. Manu had 25 and Tony scored 30 hitting 13/20 shots. He is enjoying this finals more than anybody else.
For the Cavs, King had a decent game and a good 4-Th quarter. He had a 25-7-6 night on 9/21 shooting. But he also had 6 turnovers. He needs to stop turning the ball over for the Cavs to do good. Daniel Gibson had another strong game as he scored 15 on 6/12 shooting. Larry Hughes scored 0 points and still appeared on the Sportscenter highlight reel thanks to Tony Parker's pass to Duncan right through his legs. He is hurt and he needs to sit on the bench. A lot of the talk was about the 4-Th quarter and what it meant moving forward. Some people say it's good for the Cavs since they played well, but some people actually say the Spurs will feel good about holding the Cavs off despite the late run.
Cleveland @ San Antonio - 92-103
Finals schedule for 06/12/2007
San Antonio @ Cleveland - Must-win for the Cavs. Tickets are being scalped for 15000 dollars and the Cavs better make it a worthy investment.
As always, the Spurs let up a little bit in the fourth and the Cavs made it close with a furious rally in garbage time. This game actually got tighter than game 1 as the Cavs cut it to 8 with plenty of time to go. But the refs let Tony Parker travel and hit a ridiculous shot off the glass at a crucial moment to kill the rally. Tony also hit another big shot and Manu put the game away with a 4-point play. Pop was later self-critical and said his defensive calls and substitution patterns were responsible for the game getting real tight in the 4-Th. The big 3 were spectacular again. The Cavs still have no answer for them. Timmy had 23-9-8 on 9/16 shooting. He surely is the groundhog day. Manu had 25 and Tony scored 30 hitting 13/20 shots. He is enjoying this finals more than anybody else.
For the Cavs, King had a decent game and a good 4-Th quarter. He had a 25-7-6 night on 9/21 shooting. But he also had 6 turnovers. He needs to stop turning the ball over for the Cavs to do good. Daniel Gibson had another strong game as he scored 15 on 6/12 shooting. Larry Hughes scored 0 points and still appeared on the Sportscenter highlight reel thanks to Tony Parker's pass to Duncan right through his legs. He is hurt and he needs to sit on the bench. A lot of the talk was about the 4-Th quarter and what it meant moving forward. Some people say it's good for the Cavs since they played well, but some people actually say the Spurs will feel good about holding the Cavs off despite the late run.
Cleveland @ San Antonio - 92-103
Finals schedule for 06/12/2007
San Antonio @ Cleveland - Must-win for the Cavs. Tickets are being scalped for 15000 dollars and the Cavs better make it a worthy investment.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
UHHHGGGLY! - NBA playoff notes - 06/07/2007
The San Antonio Spurs are really everything thats good about sports. They play hard. They are a bunch of guys who play as a team. They seem to genuinely like each other. They are very well coached and are very fundamentally sound. And they have one of the unique super-stars in all of Sports in Tim Duncan who is so unassuming, unselfish and just a class-act. With all that said, the Spurs are single-handedly killing the NBA! They are just boring and they make the game boring for everybody. This was proven again as game 1 of the Finals got the lowest ratings ever inspite of featuring The King with a 6.3 overnight. Sunday could get even ugly for the NBA as the game goes against Soprano's final episode - not the season finale, but the series finale.
I figured out what the problem is with the Spurs when it comes to NBA entertainment. They are just too good defensively. Of course, thats why they win, but thats what makes their games un-watchable except for the die-hard fans. If you want to see King James play and dominate, but the Spurs lock him up, fans lose. Good defense works for the fans in the NFL and the MLB, but it just doesn't look that great in the NBA. It's just as effective in the NBA when it comes to winning, but it's not great TV. I agree with Greg Anthony that the Spurs are actually exciting offensively. They don't have the charisma and Duncan's low-post domination is boring, but Parker is pretty quick and fun to watch on offense. And Ginobli is probably one of the best things going in the NBA. Still it's their defense that makes them boring. They just absolutely stifle the opposition, especially one-trick ponies like the Cavs who have nothing except James. Only really good offenses like the Suns or the Mavs can operate against these guys and thats why those games are fun to watch. NBA should call Pop to request him to take it easy on James to make this series interesting. The funny thing is, the Spurs are actually good enough offensively to outscore teams if they ever choose to slack off a little bit on defense! They consistently show that against the Suns.
So this game was all about the Spurs defense. King james didn't get his first field goal until well into the third quarter. He ended with 14 on 4/16 shooting with 6 turnovers. Bruce Bowen and Ginobli bodied him in the perimeter and Duncan and the bigs were waiting for him in the paint. Bowen also forced him to go one side or the other and made sure he went exactly where they wanted him to go in the paint - straight in to the waiting help defenders. The Cavs got nothing out of the role players either and they just scored 49 points in 3 quarters. Thats ugly anyway you look at it. They did score a bunch in garbage time in the fourth and made the final score and their total points look respectable. But this game was over in the third and was a blowout. The Spurs were paced by Duncan's 24-13 and 5 blocks. This guy is having a tremendous playoffs. Tony Parker did whatever he wanted in this game. He had 27-4-7 on 12/23 shooting. Ginobli scored 16 to help out. He also defended James at times and took charges as always. As I predicted earlier, the Cavs have nobody to defend the Spurs big 3.
Now King James has to come back and do something, anything in game 2 to make this series interesting. I don't expect the role players to turn it around on the road though Daniel Gibson had a good game shooting 7/9 for 16 points. The Cavs coaching staff need to fix their unimaginative offense overnight and get the King going. He is big enough to post Bowen up, but the problem is. he is a good 2 years away from acquiring an effective post-up game. They have to figure something out. ESPN's Tim Legler says there is no way the King gets to the rim against the Spurs and the only way he can even hope to win is if he takes more jump-shots. Interesting thought, but he may be right. The Cavs might have to live and die with LeBron's jumpers. After all, they did live well with it in the Detroit's series.
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - 76-85
Finals schedule for 06/10/2007
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - King James has to come strong. The supporting cast may play better when they get back home to Cleveland, but this might be King James's game all the way.
I figured out what the problem is with the Spurs when it comes to NBA entertainment. They are just too good defensively. Of course, thats why they win, but thats what makes their games un-watchable except for the die-hard fans. If you want to see King James play and dominate, but the Spurs lock him up, fans lose. Good defense works for the fans in the NFL and the MLB, but it just doesn't look that great in the NBA. It's just as effective in the NBA when it comes to winning, but it's not great TV. I agree with Greg Anthony that the Spurs are actually exciting offensively. They don't have the charisma and Duncan's low-post domination is boring, but Parker is pretty quick and fun to watch on offense. And Ginobli is probably one of the best things going in the NBA. Still it's their defense that makes them boring. They just absolutely stifle the opposition, especially one-trick ponies like the Cavs who have nothing except James. Only really good offenses like the Suns or the Mavs can operate against these guys and thats why those games are fun to watch. NBA should call Pop to request him to take it easy on James to make this series interesting. The funny thing is, the Spurs are actually good enough offensively to outscore teams if they ever choose to slack off a little bit on defense! They consistently show that against the Suns.
So this game was all about the Spurs defense. King james didn't get his first field goal until well into the third quarter. He ended with 14 on 4/16 shooting with 6 turnovers. Bruce Bowen and Ginobli bodied him in the perimeter and Duncan and the bigs were waiting for him in the paint. Bowen also forced him to go one side or the other and made sure he went exactly where they wanted him to go in the paint - straight in to the waiting help defenders. The Cavs got nothing out of the role players either and they just scored 49 points in 3 quarters. Thats ugly anyway you look at it. They did score a bunch in garbage time in the fourth and made the final score and their total points look respectable. But this game was over in the third and was a blowout. The Spurs were paced by Duncan's 24-13 and 5 blocks. This guy is having a tremendous playoffs. Tony Parker did whatever he wanted in this game. He had 27-4-7 on 12/23 shooting. Ginobli scored 16 to help out. He also defended James at times and took charges as always. As I predicted earlier, the Cavs have nobody to defend the Spurs big 3.
Now King James has to come back and do something, anything in game 2 to make this series interesting. I don't expect the role players to turn it around on the road though Daniel Gibson had a good game shooting 7/9 for 16 points. The Cavs coaching staff need to fix their unimaginative offense overnight and get the King going. He is big enough to post Bowen up, but the problem is. he is a good 2 years away from acquiring an effective post-up game. They have to figure something out. ESPN's Tim Legler says there is no way the King gets to the rim against the Spurs and the only way he can even hope to win is if he takes more jump-shots. Interesting thought, but he may be right. The Cavs might have to live and die with LeBron's jumpers. After all, they did live well with it in the Detroit's series.
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - 76-85
Finals schedule for 06/10/2007
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - King James has to come strong. The supporting cast may play better when they get back home to Cleveland, but this might be King James's game all the way.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Boobie-Trap - NBA playoff notes - 06/02/2007
Daniel Gibson has a stupid nick name - boobie, and today, the pistons got boobie-trapped. Pistons did to LeBron what they should have done all of game 5, trap him and get the ball out of his hands. They focussed on him so much that he had just 3 field goals all game. But the Cavs were very much in the game for 3 quarters because it was a home game and as expected the role players stepped up. Hughes hit some big 3's in the first quarter and guys just made shots. There was a huge break between the first and second quarter due to shot-clock difficulties and the Cavs were really concerned that the crowd was taken out of the game by this extended break. Pistons got back and tied the game up in the second. The game stayed close through three quarters.
Then Boobie took over. His performance in the fourth was almost as good as The King's in game 5. He went on a personal run and made a lot of 3's. The only difference was, it was not in end-of-game situations and it was all off of LeBron getting trapped and double-teamed. Gibson ended with 31 points in 5/5 3's. LeBron had a 20-14-8 game on just 3 field goals. He did drive to the hole several times and get to the line 19 times. For Detroit, Rip had a great game with 29 on 10/20 shots. The rest of the Pistons were not really there except for C-Webb's 13-6. There's some talk that Billups has actually cost himself a lot of money with his poor performance in this series. Sheed had a horrible 5/14 shooting night for 11 points and just 2 boards. He also lost it completely late in the fourth and got ejected on back-to-back technicals. The Pistons as a team unravelled in the fourth as the Cavs kept pulling away.
Great times for The King. I did not expect him to break-through the Pistons and get to the Finals this soon. Looks like he is on a faster track than MJ. I don't think he beats the Spurs, but he should get back to the Finals several times if the Cavs build the team right. As for the Pistons, it might be an end of an era. Flip Saunders might get fired. The poor guy never got any credit. All losses were his faults and all the credit for the wins were shared by the veteran players and their chemistry and Joe Dumars for putting them together. It was always Larry Brown's team and Flip never got any ownership of this team despite all his changes to the offense and defense, though some of his defensive strategies in this series were real bad. Now with the impending free agency of Billups, C-Webb and Dice, it may be time to change both the team and the coach. But I think Dumars will sign Billups and keep the starting 5 intact.
Now on to the Finals. NBA is probably happy that the King made it from the East and gave us all a reason to watch these finals. Nothing captures the attention of NBA fans like a transcendent star like LeBron. It would be interesting to see how much better the ratings are compared to the Pistons-Spurs series 2 years back. Of course, much will depend on how the King plays in the earlier games in the series. I can't see the Cavs beating the Spurs though. The Spurs are so professional and business-like, they could play these games in a suit if the NBA allows them! Also their talent is no joke either. I can't see any great defensive antidote in the Cavs roster for Timmy, Tony or Manu and thats scary. But nobody gave the Cavs a shot against the Pistons either. It's 1-VS-5 again and this time, The King has to go against even superior talent, plus a defensive stopper in Bruce Bowen. Spurs in 6.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 98-82
Finals schedule for 06/07/2007
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - The Spurs should win this series 4-2. They may be vulnerable in game 1 though.
Then Boobie took over. His performance in the fourth was almost as good as The King's in game 5. He went on a personal run and made a lot of 3's. The only difference was, it was not in end-of-game situations and it was all off of LeBron getting trapped and double-teamed. Gibson ended with 31 points in 5/5 3's. LeBron had a 20-14-8 game on just 3 field goals. He did drive to the hole several times and get to the line 19 times. For Detroit, Rip had a great game with 29 on 10/20 shots. The rest of the Pistons were not really there except for C-Webb's 13-6. There's some talk that Billups has actually cost himself a lot of money with his poor performance in this series. Sheed had a horrible 5/14 shooting night for 11 points and just 2 boards. He also lost it completely late in the fourth and got ejected on back-to-back technicals. The Pistons as a team unravelled in the fourth as the Cavs kept pulling away.
Great times for The King. I did not expect him to break-through the Pistons and get to the Finals this soon. Looks like he is on a faster track than MJ. I don't think he beats the Spurs, but he should get back to the Finals several times if the Cavs build the team right. As for the Pistons, it might be an end of an era. Flip Saunders might get fired. The poor guy never got any credit. All losses were his faults and all the credit for the wins were shared by the veteran players and their chemistry and Joe Dumars for putting them together. It was always Larry Brown's team and Flip never got any ownership of this team despite all his changes to the offense and defense, though some of his defensive strategies in this series were real bad. Now with the impending free agency of Billups, C-Webb and Dice, it may be time to change both the team and the coach. But I think Dumars will sign Billups and keep the starting 5 intact.
Now on to the Finals. NBA is probably happy that the King made it from the East and gave us all a reason to watch these finals. Nothing captures the attention of NBA fans like a transcendent star like LeBron. It would be interesting to see how much better the ratings are compared to the Pistons-Spurs series 2 years back. Of course, much will depend on how the King plays in the earlier games in the series. I can't see the Cavs beating the Spurs though. The Spurs are so professional and business-like, they could play these games in a suit if the NBA allows them! Also their talent is no joke either. I can't see any great defensive antidote in the Cavs roster for Timmy, Tony or Manu and thats scary. But nobody gave the Cavs a shot against the Pistons either. It's 1-VS-5 again and this time, The King has to go against even superior talent, plus a defensive stopper in Bruce Bowen. Spurs in 6.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 98-82
Finals schedule for 06/07/2007
Cleveland @ Sn Antonio - The Spurs should win this series 4-2. They may be vulnerable in game 1 though.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
The Coronation. - NBA playoff notes - 05/31/2007
LeBron is one of the biggest stars in the NBA, the second biggest name in the game after Kobe. He has been called a variety of nick-names ranging from "The chosen one" to "The King" and it has been that way since he was 15. I still remember his baby-face on the cover of SI when he was just a high-school junior. I routinely refer to him as the King in this blog. He is expected to carry this league much like MJ. So it feels wrong to say "he arrived today" because he pretty much arrived when he was 15! Still a lot of the hype and attention was for his future potential as much as for his current greatness. This game 5 showed us that the future may be here already and it will end up as one of the defining games of his career.
James had a 48-9-7 game on 18/33 shooting in a double OT game, but thats not even half the story. The story was, how thoroughly he dominated the second half of the 4-Th quarter and both overtimes. The guy scored 25 straight points to end the game and 29 of their last 30 points! Yes, you read that right. Thats the most ridiculous stat you might ever see. And this was against a great defensive team in Detroit, on the road, in the playoffs, in the Eastern Conference finals. I have seen a lot of basketball, but never seen anything like this. Stars go on big personal scoring runs. Even Leandro Barbosa had scored 12 straight or 15 straight in the second quarter in a couple of games. But never have I seen a single player score ALL the points at the end of a close game. I mean, you would expect the other team to trap and get the ball out of his hands at least after he had scored every single bucket in the last 5 minutes of the fourth and the entire first OT. The Pistons for some reason, didn't aggressively trap him or double him. The double teams were usually soft and it came after he was already committed to a move. And he did hit some ridiculous fade-aways over the trap a couple of times, but I am not sure why Detroit didn't trap him every single time and make him give the ball up.
The guys on TNT were pretty on point with their criticism of the Detroit D, but this night was about The King. He missed a few FTs in regulation in what could be his only weakness, but he more than made of for it with spectacular drives and dunks at the end of the 4-Th. Again, not sure how the Pistons of all teams could let him dunk like that. Poor defense against a great talent. Once the game went to OT, it was more of the same. It didn't matter if he was taking tough fade-aways or driving to the cup, he just scored routinely. There was a stretch in OT when the other guys got a few shots and Sasha Pavlovic actually tried to help him out with some aggressive scoring attempts, but they all came up empty every-time. The Cavs had nothing else working, literally nothing, but the Pistons still couldn't stop the King. He was literally playing 1-on-5 on offense and still dominated. And these were all high-pressure minutes and clutch shots, one after the other. His final lay-up to win the game was another gorgeous move that just completed his coronation.
This game will be remembered as the game he broke through, the game when he took that next step. Of course, the Cavs still have to win another game and this game will be ESPN classic material by the time Saturday rolls around. In fact, they blew the same 3-2 lead last year and they might need another spectacular effort from the King to avoid that this time. I was complaining about how these playoffs have suddenly gotten boring, but LeBron is one reason we have to watch every game. This is how stars change the course of teams and leagues. We are seeing it right in front of our eyes. This series still features a boring style and some bad coaching (what was Mike Brown doing burning all his timeouts at the end of the 4-Th ?), but still you can't take your eyes away as long as the King is on the floor.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 109-107 (2 OT)
Playoff schedule for 06/02/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit @ Cleveland - What will King James do now? The game is almost secondary to that question. Cavs better finish things here.
James had a 48-9-7 game on 18/33 shooting in a double OT game, but thats not even half the story. The story was, how thoroughly he dominated the second half of the 4-Th quarter and both overtimes. The guy scored 25 straight points to end the game and 29 of their last 30 points! Yes, you read that right. Thats the most ridiculous stat you might ever see. And this was against a great defensive team in Detroit, on the road, in the playoffs, in the Eastern Conference finals. I have seen a lot of basketball, but never seen anything like this. Stars go on big personal scoring runs. Even Leandro Barbosa had scored 12 straight or 15 straight in the second quarter in a couple of games. But never have I seen a single player score ALL the points at the end of a close game. I mean, you would expect the other team to trap and get the ball out of his hands at least after he had scored every single bucket in the last 5 minutes of the fourth and the entire first OT. The Pistons for some reason, didn't aggressively trap him or double him. The double teams were usually soft and it came after he was already committed to a move. And he did hit some ridiculous fade-aways over the trap a couple of times, but I am not sure why Detroit didn't trap him every single time and make him give the ball up.
The guys on TNT were pretty on point with their criticism of the Detroit D, but this night was about The King. He missed a few FTs in regulation in what could be his only weakness, but he more than made of for it with spectacular drives and dunks at the end of the 4-Th. Again, not sure how the Pistons of all teams could let him dunk like that. Poor defense against a great talent. Once the game went to OT, it was more of the same. It didn't matter if he was taking tough fade-aways or driving to the cup, he just scored routinely. There was a stretch in OT when the other guys got a few shots and Sasha Pavlovic actually tried to help him out with some aggressive scoring attempts, but they all came up empty every-time. The Cavs had nothing else working, literally nothing, but the Pistons still couldn't stop the King. He was literally playing 1-on-5 on offense and still dominated. And these were all high-pressure minutes and clutch shots, one after the other. His final lay-up to win the game was another gorgeous move that just completed his coronation.
This game will be remembered as the game he broke through, the game when he took that next step. Of course, the Cavs still have to win another game and this game will be ESPN classic material by the time Saturday rolls around. In fact, they blew the same 3-2 lead last year and they might need another spectacular effort from the King to avoid that this time. I was complaining about how these playoffs have suddenly gotten boring, but LeBron is one reason we have to watch every game. This is how stars change the course of teams and leagues. We are seeing it right in front of our eyes. This series still features a boring style and some bad coaching (what was Mike Brown doing burning all his timeouts at the end of the 4-Th ?), but still you can't take your eyes away as long as the King is on the floor.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 109-107 (2 OT)
Playoff schedule for 06/02/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit @ Cleveland - What will King James do now? The game is almost secondary to that question. Cavs better finish things here.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
What's up with Kobe?
I don't think there's anybody with a more self-destructive streak than Kobe Bean Bryant. I hate to call it self-destructive because he has done a great job of destroying the Lakers first. But it is self-destructive because he was once the golden-boy of the NBA. Then he got involved in that Colorado rape business and threw all of that away. Then he got Shaq traded, Phil fired and Malone kicked out. Thats an entire career of controversy and this guy managed to squeeze it all in in 2 years. Lately, he seemed to be working on re-constructing his entire image from scratch. He let Phil back in. He also treated him well. His media image has changed drastically and over the last year, his demeanor seemed to have evolved in to that of a nice young man. He also seemed to turn to religion a little bit. Of course, all of this could have been the handiwork of his handlers who also astutely had him change jersey numbers form 8 to 24 to erase the old "rape-days" from people's memory. He seemed to be more popular than ever this past season and was the biggest name in the NBA, well on his way to becoming the biggest name may be in all of Sports.
Now comes this off-season and things are back to square one with this dude. Soon after the playoff elimination at Phoenix, he did say the Lakers need to get better and get better NOW. That was fine and even harmless though it got a a lot of press. Then over the course of a few days over the memorial day weekend, things seem to have exploded out of control. First, we heard the same assertion that he wanted the Lakers to get better and he said he wants Jerry West back running the show. Also released as part of that discussion was how he would like to be traded if they didn't get West back. The next day, he came out and denied he asked for a trade. By this time, many columns have been written on this whole saga and some "Laker insider" had said it was Kobe's fault that the Lakers sucked in the first place because he got rid of Shaq. Kobe then went back to that tired old issue again on his website, this time exposing some private conversations he had with Jerry Buss and Kobe claims Buss said he was not going to re-sign an old, decaying Shaq regardless of what Kobe thinks. I am sure this is true, but may be Buss just said that to Kobe and made that decision because he knew that'll make Kobe happy?
So the very next day, today, Kobe comes out kicking and screaming and openly asking for a trade. Apparently, a couple of things upset him. One, he is upset the "Laker insider" blamed him for losing Shaq. He says he knows him and wants his fired. Secondly, he says Jerry Buss lied to him when he told him they'll do whatever it takes to win. He is upset that Buss told Phil during the same time that they can't renew his contract because they are "rebuilding". Kobe is saying Buss told 2 different things to him and Phil and he lied to someone. Then he came back 3 hours later on another radio show and is now saying he doesn't want to be traded and is backing off a little bit. Apparently he spoke to Phil today and Phil said lets figure all this out together.
What in the World is happening with this guy? He went from trade-to-notrade-to-trade-to-notrade again. I thought he was much smarter than this. All this drama in 3 days. Kobe is basically way off-base on all this. First off, shut-up and keep it all in-house. Don't talk to some radio show every 3 hours and think aloud in front of the whole world. Think first, make up your mind and then speak to the press. Secondly, don't say the Lakers are not committed to winning. May be they are trying their best, but they are just not good at it. I don't think Jerry Buss is trying to save money and keep the payroll down or anything like that, it's just that their moves have not worked out. Thats not a lie, thats just incompetence. And guess what, every year there are 29 incompetent teams and just one competent team in this league. Thats just the way sports work. Also, even if Buss did say to Phil that they were re-building, it might have just been a nice way of saying "we don't want you back". He may not have meant it. On top of all that, it is true they were re-building with Kobe because they just traded Shaq away. They were not going to win the championship the year after they traded Shaq. Kobe knew that it was some sort of rebuilding. What exactly is he complaining about?
Bottom-line, Kobe is clueless and is over-reacting. The only thing funnier than this is these damn talking heads like Screamin' A Smith defending him because Kobe gives them the interview and these fools want to be in his good books. Disgusting! In the midst of all this, Jerry Buss gets arrested for DUI with a 23 year old hottie in his car. What a life this guy is enjoying? Also, Shaq got in on the discussion about his trade and he now says he believes Kobe 100% and it was all Jerry Buss's fault. Whatever.
Now comes this off-season and things are back to square one with this dude. Soon after the playoff elimination at Phoenix, he did say the Lakers need to get better and get better NOW. That was fine and even harmless though it got a a lot of press. Then over the course of a few days over the memorial day weekend, things seem to have exploded out of control. First, we heard the same assertion that he wanted the Lakers to get better and he said he wants Jerry West back running the show. Also released as part of that discussion was how he would like to be traded if they didn't get West back. The next day, he came out and denied he asked for a trade. By this time, many columns have been written on this whole saga and some "Laker insider" had said it was Kobe's fault that the Lakers sucked in the first place because he got rid of Shaq. Kobe then went back to that tired old issue again on his website, this time exposing some private conversations he had with Jerry Buss and Kobe claims Buss said he was not going to re-sign an old, decaying Shaq regardless of what Kobe thinks. I am sure this is true, but may be Buss just said that to Kobe and made that decision because he knew that'll make Kobe happy?
So the very next day, today, Kobe comes out kicking and screaming and openly asking for a trade. Apparently, a couple of things upset him. One, he is upset the "Laker insider" blamed him for losing Shaq. He says he knows him and wants his fired. Secondly, he says Jerry Buss lied to him when he told him they'll do whatever it takes to win. He is upset that Buss told Phil during the same time that they can't renew his contract because they are "rebuilding". Kobe is saying Buss told 2 different things to him and Phil and he lied to someone. Then he came back 3 hours later on another radio show and is now saying he doesn't want to be traded and is backing off a little bit. Apparently he spoke to Phil today and Phil said lets figure all this out together.
What in the World is happening with this guy? He went from trade-to-notrade-to-trade-to-notrade again. I thought he was much smarter than this. All this drama in 3 days. Kobe is basically way off-base on all this. First off, shut-up and keep it all in-house. Don't talk to some radio show every 3 hours and think aloud in front of the whole world. Think first, make up your mind and then speak to the press. Secondly, don't say the Lakers are not committed to winning. May be they are trying their best, but they are just not good at it. I don't think Jerry Buss is trying to save money and keep the payroll down or anything like that, it's just that their moves have not worked out. Thats not a lie, thats just incompetence. And guess what, every year there are 29 incompetent teams and just one competent team in this league. Thats just the way sports work. Also, even if Buss did say to Phil that they were re-building, it might have just been a nice way of saying "we don't want you back". He may not have meant it. On top of all that, it is true they were re-building with Kobe because they just traded Shaq away. They were not going to win the championship the year after they traded Shaq. Kobe knew that it was some sort of rebuilding. What exactly is he complaining about?
Bottom-line, Kobe is clueless and is over-reacting. The only thing funnier than this is these damn talking heads like Screamin' A Smith defending him because Kobe gives them the interview and these fools want to be in his good books. Disgusting! In the midst of all this, Jerry Buss gets arrested for DUI with a 23 year old hottie in his car. What a life this guy is enjoying? Also, Shaq got in on the discussion about his trade and he now says he believes Kobe 100% and it was all Jerry Buss's fault. Whatever.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Spurs wrap it up - NBA playoff notes - 05/30/2007
This game was over before it even started. If you spent a lot of money and bought tickets for this game, I sure hope you were there on time because it was over midway through the first quarter. The Spurs ended the quarter 34-15 and the Jazz were done. Spurs did it behind Tony and Timmy as Parker came back after a bad game. Timmy was his usual self and neither of them and Manu had to play in the fourth quarter. Timmy had a 21-7 game and Tony had 21-5-5. They just hit the Jazz in the mouth and the Jazz didn't recover. Nobody is better in closing out games than these Spurs. The blowout left the crowd so bored they had to do the stupid "wave". Even the Admiral David Robinson joined in.
The Spurs have won it all in 99, 03 and 05. They have been dominating the odd years (except for 01) and 07 looks no different. They just sit and wait for the Cavs or Pistons now. As for the Jazz, great season and they hope to build on that. Deron and Boozer have established themselves as a special pair, though they just had a 11 and 9 point night respectively tonight. The other guys got some good experience and hopefully they wouldn't disappear in future playoffs like they did in this series.
NBA is now struggling with these "boring" playoffs and the finals might get even worse. Not sure how to make these playoffs any more interesting, but the NBA definitely has an issue. I think the playoffs are way too long and they need to be speed it up. Keep it "tight" and may be you can hold people's attention.
San Antonio @ Utah - 109-84
Playoff schedule for 05/31/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Series goes back to Detroit with a bunch of questions for the Pistons.
The Spurs have won it all in 99, 03 and 05. They have been dominating the odd years (except for 01) and 07 looks no different. They just sit and wait for the Cavs or Pistons now. As for the Jazz, great season and they hope to build on that. Deron and Boozer have established themselves as a special pair, though they just had a 11 and 9 point night respectively tonight. The other guys got some good experience and hopefully they wouldn't disappear in future playoffs like they did in this series.
NBA is now struggling with these "boring" playoffs and the finals might get even worse. Not sure how to make these playoffs any more interesting, but the NBA definitely has an issue. I think the playoffs are way too long and they need to be speed it up. Keep it "tight" and may be you can hold people's attention.
San Antonio @ Utah - 109-84
Playoff schedule for 05/31/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Series goes back to Detroit with a bunch of questions for the Pistons.
Cavs tie it up! - NBA playoff notes - 05/29/2007
The King and his men showed up big again today as they won another close one against the Pistons. The Pistons have now lost 2 games and won 2 close ones and they don't seem like the runaway favorites in this series that everyone thought they would be. Once again, I hate to admit it, but defense wins games and one of the reasons the Cavs are able to play them this close is because Coach Mike Brown also plays an ugly, defensive style. I kind of hate Brown's offense, but he does have his guys play defense and rebound well and thats how they stay close to the Pistons all night. And then, they have LeBron to carry them home. He did it again in the fourth quarter today as he went 4-of-6 from the field, 5-of-5 from the line and added four rebounds and three assists.
The Cavs got a great game from Daniel Gibson for the second straight game and he had 21 points on just 7 shots as he went to the line 12 times. This kid is very talented and they need to use him more than Larry Hughes, who actually played in this game despite the foot injury. LeBron's 25-7-11 night was capped by 2 clutch free throws at the end when Rip tried to throw him off with some trash talking and LeBron pushed him away. Gooden had a solid 19-8 game and a key steal at the end on a Billups drive. Billups had a few bad plays late in this game. He had that turnover and with around a minute to go and trailing by 3, he took a ill-advised, off-balance 3 on a fast break coming off a Rasheed Wallace block. It was a one-possession game with enough time on the clock and not sure what Billups was thinking. A basket there would have made things real interesting. Billups did have a good game after a few bad ones with 23-9-2 and Rip had a 19-8-2 game. Tay's 15 and McDyess's 12 were not enough to win this one. Now they have to go home with a lot of doubts.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 87-91
Playoff schedule for 05/30/2007
San Antonio @ Utah - Could be fishing time for Utah, especially if Deron is not 100%.
The Cavs got a great game from Daniel Gibson for the second straight game and he had 21 points on just 7 shots as he went to the line 12 times. This kid is very talented and they need to use him more than Larry Hughes, who actually played in this game despite the foot injury. LeBron's 25-7-11 night was capped by 2 clutch free throws at the end when Rip tried to throw him off with some trash talking and LeBron pushed him away. Gooden had a solid 19-8 game and a key steal at the end on a Billups drive. Billups had a few bad plays late in this game. He had that turnover and with around a minute to go and trailing by 3, he took a ill-advised, off-balance 3 on a fast break coming off a Rasheed Wallace block. It was a one-possession game with enough time on the clock and not sure what Billups was thinking. A basket there would have made things real interesting. Billups did have a good game after a few bad ones with 23-9-2 and Rip had a 19-8-2 game. Tay's 15 and McDyess's 12 were not enough to win this one. Now they have to go home with a lot of doubts.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 87-91
Playoff schedule for 05/30/2007
San Antonio @ Utah - Could be fishing time for Utah, especially if Deron is not 100%.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Manu is the man! - NBA playoff notes - 05/28/2007
Manu Ginobli scored 15 in the fourth with 11 of those coming from the line to guide the Spurs home. I have been saying for a long time now that Manu is the X-factor for this team. They are nothing without Timmy and Tony is nice, but Manu holds the key to a championship. If he is on top of his game, they are championship caliber. Otherwise, they are just another contender like Utah or Detroit. Today, Manu played like 2 years ago after having a so-so season last year and early this tear due to injuries. He is a treat to watch. The guy is fearless! I have never seen anybody play with such gay abandon. He just wills his way to the paint with that herky-jerky motion using long strides and uses his left hand to finish some unconventional drives. He is not afraid of getting hit. Of course, he is notorious for flopping and the Jazz fans and players got all worked up in this game about some calls involving Manu.
Manu is incredibly poised and smart. He single-handedly got Fisher ejected with 2 technicals. Manu has that Euro/foreign demeanor where he never gets upset or feels compelled to fight someone to show he is a tough guy like most American ballers. He just gets hit, flops, picks himself up and knocks the throws down. But the Euro/soccer culture is also getting blamed more and more by some writers for increased flopping in the NBA with Manu being a prominent culprit. In any case, he took this game over and put his stamp all over it in the 4-Th. The Spurs needed that too as Tony Parker had his first bad game of the series, may be this entire playoffs, as he had a 17-3-2 night on 6/19 shooting. Timmy was good, but not great with 19-9 and 5 blocks. So Manu's 22-6 was the difference.
For the Jazz, they just unravelled in the fourth, though the game was over by the time all the Manu theatrics and T's came down. Deron Williams had lost 8 pounds to sickness over the past 2 days and he clearly looked gassed in the fourth. The guy was awesome again as he had a 27-3-10 night. Once again, Boozer was the only other contributor with 18-9 and the rest of the Jazz are giving them nothing. AK-47 had a decent game with a 9-8-1-1-4, but they need scoring from Okur, Fish and the bench and thats just not there with the Spurs defense. Boozer had an awesome block on Timmy way above the rim in the third quarter, but a close game got away in the fourth. The Jazz will find it difficult to bring this series back to Utah. San Antonio knows what to do in close-out games.
San Antonio @ Utah - 91-79
Playoff schedule for 05/29/2007
Detroit @ Cleveland - The Cavs can definitely win this one. They now look like they belong in this series.
Manu is incredibly poised and smart. He single-handedly got Fisher ejected with 2 technicals. Manu has that Euro/foreign demeanor where he never gets upset or feels compelled to fight someone to show he is a tough guy like most American ballers. He just gets hit, flops, picks himself up and knocks the throws down. But the Euro/soccer culture is also getting blamed more and more by some writers for increased flopping in the NBA with Manu being a prominent culprit. In any case, he took this game over and put his stamp all over it in the 4-Th. The Spurs needed that too as Tony Parker had his first bad game of the series, may be this entire playoffs, as he had a 17-3-2 night on 6/19 shooting. Timmy was good, but not great with 19-9 and 5 blocks. So Manu's 22-6 was the difference.
For the Jazz, they just unravelled in the fourth, though the game was over by the time all the Manu theatrics and T's came down. Deron Williams had lost 8 pounds to sickness over the past 2 days and he clearly looked gassed in the fourth. The guy was awesome again as he had a 27-3-10 night. Once again, Boozer was the only other contributor with 18-9 and the rest of the Jazz are giving them nothing. AK-47 had a decent game with a 9-8-1-1-4, but they need scoring from Okur, Fish and the bench and thats just not there with the Spurs defense. Boozer had an awesome block on Timmy way above the rim in the third quarter, but a close game got away in the fourth. The Jazz will find it difficult to bring this series back to Utah. San Antonio knows what to do in close-out games.
San Antonio @ Utah - 91-79
Playoff schedule for 05/29/2007
Detroit @ Cleveland - The Cavs can definitely win this one. They now look like they belong in this series.
Monday, May 28, 2007
King's court - NBA playoff notes - 05/27/2007
Going in to Cleveland, I knew this was LeBron's game, win or lose. He was due for a big game and this had to be the one. Detroit is too good defensively to give him too many great games, but he was going to have one for sure. Boy, did he do it all today! he had a 32-9-9 game as he led the Cavs in all 3 categories. He also shot an efficient 12/21. His dunk on Rasheed Wallace in the fourth was sick! That was a defining moment for the Cavs in this game as it got everybody fired up. James also hit a couple of step-back 3's with high degree of difficulty. It's amazing to see all of his talents and it's funny how he feels more comfortable with his jumper if he's fading away or stepping back rather than just shooting them straight up. And when those jumpers are falling, forget it. He is impossible to guard.
Tayshaun did a good job on him again, but the Cavs supporting cast shot very well. Strong games from Gooden (12-6), Z-man (16-7), Pavlovic (13-3-5) and Daniel Gibson (9). LeBron found these guys for good shots all night and managed the game very well. The Pistons still were in it late and Billups once again showed us why he is called Mr. Big shot as he struggled all night, but made some tough shots at the end. He helped the Pistons score 6 straight to cut the lead from 8 to 2. LeBron had to come back and hit a game-winning jumper to ice this one. Pistons got good work out of C-Webb(15-7-3) and Sheed (16-5), but it was not enough. Tayshaun got untracked on the offensive end today after 2 horrible games with 13 points and C-Webb, who has been missing lately in the playoffs after a strong regular season, was also involved today. The Pistons have to build on that and get better play out of their guards to take control of this series. Cleveland will be ready for the next one.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 88-82
Playoff schedule for 05/28/2007
San Antonio @ Detroit - Big game in this series. If Utah wins, they might actually wrest the momentum from the spurs.
Tayshaun did a good job on him again, but the Cavs supporting cast shot very well. Strong games from Gooden (12-6), Z-man (16-7), Pavlovic (13-3-5) and Daniel Gibson (9). LeBron found these guys for good shots all night and managed the game very well. The Pistons still were in it late and Billups once again showed us why he is called Mr. Big shot as he struggled all night, but made some tough shots at the end. He helped the Pistons score 6 straight to cut the lead from 8 to 2. LeBron had to come back and hit a game-winning jumper to ice this one. Pistons got good work out of C-Webb(15-7-3) and Sheed (16-5), but it was not enough. Tayshaun got untracked on the offensive end today after 2 horrible games with 13 points and C-Webb, who has been missing lately in the playoffs after a strong regular season, was also involved today. The Pistons have to build on that and get better play out of their guards to take control of this series. Cleveland will be ready for the next one.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 88-82
Playoff schedule for 05/28/2007
San Antonio @ Detroit - Big game in this series. If Utah wins, they might actually wrest the momentum from the spurs.
Stockton and Malone, Version 2.0 - NBA playoff notes - 05/26/2007
Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer showed once again why they are very worthy heirs to the legacy of Stockton and Malone. These guys are no joke as they are impressing the nation in these playoffs, that too against a tough Spurs team. This was Boozer's second great game of the series and Deron has actually been terrific in all 3. Boozer had 27-12 on 12/19 shooting in this one and Deron had 31 with 8 dimes and 5 steals and shot 10/19 with some dazzling moves in the second half. They got some help from the bench and Fisher, though AK-47 and Okur did not make a single shot from the floor. Harping and Millsap had 8 each and Giricek and Fisher had 11 each to help the big 2.
The Jazz started slow and the Spurs jumped to a 23-15 lead after one, much to the concern of the home crowd. But the key was Jazz avoiding a disastrous second quarter the ones they had in both games at San Antonio. They won the second 28-24 in this one and went into the half trailing by just 4. Then they came out in the and played real well to take the lead for good. Things got real bad for the Spurs in the fourth and the game got out of hand for them real quick as Deron ran circles around them.
The main problem for the Spurs was Timmy's foul trouble. It's amazing how different the Spurs look when this guys not on the floor. The paint suddenly becomes a lot more accessible for the Jazz. Timmy played just 26 minutes today and scored just 16. Tony Parker was on fire as Eva Longoria looked especially hot court-side cheering his 25 points and 7 dimes. Bad game from Manu and that doesn't help when Timmy is not on the floor. The Spurs better win game 4 or they are looking at a 7-game cliff-hanger.
San Antonio @ Detroit - 83-109
Playoff schedule for 05/27/2007
Detroit @ Cleveland - Last year, Clveland won 3 straight after dropping the first 2 in Detroit. They'll try to do the same this year.
The Jazz started slow and the Spurs jumped to a 23-15 lead after one, much to the concern of the home crowd. But the key was Jazz avoiding a disastrous second quarter the ones they had in both games at San Antonio. They won the second 28-24 in this one and went into the half trailing by just 4. Then they came out in the and played real well to take the lead for good. Things got real bad for the Spurs in the fourth and the game got out of hand for them real quick as Deron ran circles around them.
The main problem for the Spurs was Timmy's foul trouble. It's amazing how different the Spurs look when this guys not on the floor. The paint suddenly becomes a lot more accessible for the Jazz. Timmy played just 26 minutes today and scored just 16. Tony Parker was on fire as Eva Longoria looked especially hot court-side cheering his 25 points and 7 dimes. Bad game from Manu and that doesn't help when Timmy is not on the floor. The Spurs better win game 4 or they are looking at a 7-game cliff-hanger.
San Antonio @ Detroit - 83-109
Playoff schedule for 05/27/2007
Detroit @ Cleveland - Last year, Clveland won 3 straight after dropping the first 2 in Detroit. They'll try to do the same this year.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Different game, same story, same result - NBA playoff notes - 05/24/2007
To shoot or not to shoot was the question again as LeBron was in the same situation as game 1 in this one and this time, he knew he had to shoot. He did just that, but came up short as Rip guarded him tight and might have even fouled his off-hand as LeBron took the shot with his right. I am sure that would have been a called foul in the first 3 quarters, but the refs swallowed the whistle with just a few seconds to go. Even the score was exactly the same as Detroit won 79-76 again. Once again they held The King to 19-6-7 on 7/19 shooting. Tayshaun played great D on him, though he was just 0/8 on offense, but thats a trade the Pistons will make every day if he can shut down LeBron.
It was typical grind-it-out, ugly Pistons game with only Sheed playing real well. I have always thought this guys is one of the best low-post players in the league and in this series, he is getting to show it a little bit. He hit the game-winner for the Pistons in this game as he finished with 16-11-3-2-2 on 7/10 shots. For all the negative press he used to get earlier in his career, this guy is one of the most unselfish players in the league. He can dominate games if he wants to and he did that in the 4-Th quarter.
For the Cavs, a whole bunch of players have to step up including LeBron to get back in to this series. They had a chance to win both games, but they can't do it unless Hughes, Gooden and Z play better and score more than the 4, 4 and 3 points they scored respectively in this game. Varejao and Pavlovic's had 14 each to help the Cavs stay in this one. They need more all around when this thing gets back to Cleveland.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 76-79
Playoff schedule for 05/26/2007
San Antonio @ Utah - Utah is hoping home, sweet home gets them in to this series.
It was typical grind-it-out, ugly Pistons game with only Sheed playing real well. I have always thought this guys is one of the best low-post players in the league and in this series, he is getting to show it a little bit. He hit the game-winner for the Pistons in this game as he finished with 16-11-3-2-2 on 7/10 shots. For all the negative press he used to get earlier in his career, this guy is one of the most unselfish players in the league. He can dominate games if he wants to and he did that in the 4-Th quarter.
For the Cavs, a whole bunch of players have to step up including LeBron to get back in to this series. They had a chance to win both games, but they can't do it unless Hughes, Gooden and Z play better and score more than the 4, 4 and 3 points they scored respectively in this game. Varejao and Pavlovic's had 14 each to help the Cavs stay in this one. They need more all around when this thing gets back to Cleveland.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 76-79
Playoff schedule for 05/26/2007
San Antonio @ Utah - Utah is hoping home, sweet home gets them in to this series.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Suns, Celts and Grizz lose, Blazers and Sonics win. And Spurs win too - NBA playoff notes - 05/22/2007
With Spurs dominating the boring Western conference finals, the big news of the day was the draft lottery. Shockingly, the Blazers and the Sonics won the first and second pick in the lottery with Atlanta ending up with the 3-Rd pick. The two teams with the worst record, Memphis and Boston ended with the fourth and fifth respectively. After all that talk about Boston and Memphis throwing games to win the lottery, they didn't even figure in the top 3. Neither of them have a shot at either Oden or Durant now. The lottery ended up completely upside down. May be the Commish fixed it to punish the Celtics and the Grizzlies for trying to lose games on purpose :-) Whatever it is, the Celtics are crushed. Exactly 10 years after they lost the lottery for a franchise changing big man in Tim Duncan, they lost again today for another potential franchise changing big man in Greg Oden. The Celtics fans are still talking about losing Duncan, and now they have something else to talk about for the next 10 years. The only positive is, at least this draft class is good and deep. They can hopefully get a player with the 5-Th pick. Tim Duncan's draft was pure garbage except for him and a couple other studs. Ironically, the Celtics actually drafted one of those studs in Chauncey Billups, but decided to let him go in their infinite wisdom.
Another team to suffer an unlucky break today was my Phoenix Suns. They had Atlanta's pick from the Joe Johnson-Borsi Diaw trade that was top 3 protected. You would think Boston or Memphis would at least get the third pick since they had the most ping-pong balls in the lottery and they didn't end up with the first or the second pick. But Atlanta ended up with the third pick. This means the Suns don't get it this year and they get Atlanta's pick (un-protected) next year. The problem is, Atlanta has a young, talented team and they'll add a Brandon Wright or a Mike Connelly to the mix and if they end up winning 35 or 40 games, the Suns end up with their 12-Th or 15-Th pick. That would absolutely suck for the Suns fans. In addition, the Hawks also have the 11-Th pick from the Al Harrington trade to Indiana. I hope the Hawks continue to screw things up and keep losing and give my Suns a high pick next year. But the Suns could have used that pick this year though. This is a deep draft and the Suns are over the luxury tax limit. They can probably use a cheap, high-impact rookie. Of course, without the 4-Th pick, may be their luxury hit comes down by a million or two. Now they just have to draft well with the 2 picks they got in the 20's.
Another story today was how both these top rookies will be in the North-West. The East coast guys are saying this affects NBA's popularity as the guys in the East would not even be able to watch these guys on TV. Also, the losers in this are the Eastern seaboard teams from the supposed basketball belt - Boston, New York and Phily. Boston ended up with 5, New York gave it's pick away to the Bulls in the Eddie Curry trade and Phily ended up with 12-Th. To these East coast apologists, I say, I don't really give a damn! Of course a more pertinent point is, the West now gets 2 more studs while the L-East continues to flounder. This is a bigger problem as the rich get richer in the West as if there was not enough talent there already.
As for the game today, the Spurs sold out for a change! How boring are you if you are in a one-sport town and you still can't sellout a game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in which you are the prohibitive favorite on a Sunday afternoon? Thats horrible! Even worse than the Atlanta Braves not selling out all those playoff games after making the playoffs for a million straight years. I think it's the same story with the Spurs as the fans are just spoiled and jaded after all these years of winning. Hopefully, they'll show up for the finals. Their team sure looks like they are going to get to the finals easily. They won again today behind a spectacular second quarter. This game was over by half-time just like the first game. Utah again played up-hill all second half and thats not the way you win against the Spurs. They are just too good to lose a 18 point lead in a half. Heck, you are lucky if they even let you score a total of 18 in a quarter! The big 3 for the Spurs were big again. Timmy had 26-14-4-2-5 on 10/15 shots. I think this guy should just get on the podium and pull a Ricky Bobby and say "I'm the best there is. Plain and simple". He would be right if he said it. Tony had 17 and a career-high 14 assists. Ginobli had 17-4-3 and made some nice plays.
Oberto killed the Jazz again with 14 points on 6/7 shooting. The other guys hit their 3's and made it look easy. The Spurs hit 13/26 3's. Thats 50% from 3 if you are not good at Math. Utah is just over-matched right now. Deron had another great game with 26-10. The only difference from game 1 was Boozer as he got untracked with a 33-15-3 night. Still they lost badly and that should be disconcerting to the Jazz. Fish, Okur and their entire bench was MIA again. What do they do now? The Jazz go back home and they are real good at home, but can they really beat this Spurs team in this series? I don't think so. May be they win one of those 2 games and this series ends in 5. Thats how it looks right now.
Playoff schedule for 05/23/2007
No games.
Playoff schedule for 05/24/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Probably another close game that the Pistons win at the end.
Another team to suffer an unlucky break today was my Phoenix Suns. They had Atlanta's pick from the Joe Johnson-Borsi Diaw trade that was top 3 protected. You would think Boston or Memphis would at least get the third pick since they had the most ping-pong balls in the lottery and they didn't end up with the first or the second pick. But Atlanta ended up with the third pick. This means the Suns don't get it this year and they get Atlanta's pick (un-protected) next year. The problem is, Atlanta has a young, talented team and they'll add a Brandon Wright or a Mike Connelly to the mix and if they end up winning 35 or 40 games, the Suns end up with their 12-Th or 15-Th pick. That would absolutely suck for the Suns fans. In addition, the Hawks also have the 11-Th pick from the Al Harrington trade to Indiana. I hope the Hawks continue to screw things up and keep losing and give my Suns a high pick next year. But the Suns could have used that pick this year though. This is a deep draft and the Suns are over the luxury tax limit. They can probably use a cheap, high-impact rookie. Of course, without the 4-Th pick, may be their luxury hit comes down by a million or two. Now they just have to draft well with the 2 picks they got in the 20's.
Another story today was how both these top rookies will be in the North-West. The East coast guys are saying this affects NBA's popularity as the guys in the East would not even be able to watch these guys on TV. Also, the losers in this are the Eastern seaboard teams from the supposed basketball belt - Boston, New York and Phily. Boston ended up with 5, New York gave it's pick away to the Bulls in the Eddie Curry trade and Phily ended up with 12-Th. To these East coast apologists, I say, I don't really give a damn! Of course a more pertinent point is, the West now gets 2 more studs while the L-East continues to flounder. This is a bigger problem as the rich get richer in the West as if there was not enough talent there already.
As for the game today, the Spurs sold out for a change! How boring are you if you are in a one-sport town and you still can't sellout a game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in which you are the prohibitive favorite on a Sunday afternoon? Thats horrible! Even worse than the Atlanta Braves not selling out all those playoff games after making the playoffs for a million straight years. I think it's the same story with the Spurs as the fans are just spoiled and jaded after all these years of winning. Hopefully, they'll show up for the finals. Their team sure looks like they are going to get to the finals easily. They won again today behind a spectacular second quarter. This game was over by half-time just like the first game. Utah again played up-hill all second half and thats not the way you win against the Spurs. They are just too good to lose a 18 point lead in a half. Heck, you are lucky if they even let you score a total of 18 in a quarter! The big 3 for the Spurs were big again. Timmy had 26-14-4-2-5 on 10/15 shots. I think this guy should just get on the podium and pull a Ricky Bobby and say "I'm the best there is. Plain and simple". He would be right if he said it. Tony had 17 and a career-high 14 assists. Ginobli had 17-4-3 and made some nice plays.
Oberto killed the Jazz again with 14 points on 6/7 shooting. The other guys hit their 3's and made it look easy. The Spurs hit 13/26 3's. Thats 50% from 3 if you are not good at Math. Utah is just over-matched right now. Deron had another great game with 26-10. The only difference from game 1 was Boozer as he got untracked with a 33-15-3 night. Still they lost badly and that should be disconcerting to the Jazz. Fish, Okur and their entire bench was MIA again. What do they do now? The Jazz go back home and they are real good at home, but can they really beat this Spurs team in this series? I don't think so. May be they win one of those 2 games and this series ends in 5. Thats how it looks right now.
Playoff schedule for 05/23/2007
No games.
Playoff schedule for 05/24/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Probably another close game that the Pistons win at the end.
Monday, May 21, 2007
King is just a Prince - NBA playoff notes - 05/21/2007
LeBron ran in to Tayshaun Price and the Pistons defense again today. Thats a tough match-up for him or any other scorer for that matter, and not surprisingly, he had a tough game scoring. He had just 10 points on 5/15 shooting though he had 10 boards and 9 dimes for a near triple double. But the story of this game was the final possession for the Cavs. They were trailing by 2 with 30+ seconds to go when the ball went to The King. He held it long enough and kicked it out to the Z-man who missed an open jumper. Luckily for the Cavs, they got the offensive board and they got one more possession with 12 seconds to go. Now the ball went to LeBron at the top of the key. He has been defended very aggressively and there was always a guy in the paint waiting for him all night. Typical Pistons D. But this last possessions, LeBron went away from the pick and drove hard to the left. He had kind of beaten Prince and surprisingly, the help was late to arrive. He had a fairly open lane to the basket and was just a step or two away. Inexplicably, LeBron kicked the ball out to an open 3 point shooter. Of course Donyell Marshall promptly missed the shot. Bad play by The King!
LeBron has been taking a lot of heat on the radio over that play. Talking heads are criticizing him for passing up the biggest shot of the game, may be his young career and how he seems to lack killer instincts etc. I hate these talking heads. They are the same ones who criticize NBA players for playing the wrong way and how they don't share the ball, how they have bad attitudes blah, blah, blah. And then when a star passes out of a double-team, they trash him for being a "choker", not having killer instincts etc. They are almost asking the stars to force a bad shot over double team and asking them not to trust their team-mates just during the last play of the game. This after killing somebody like Kobe for being selfish all season. I don't have a problem with the criticism of selfish players, but I don't agree with stars being asked to force shots. Basically, the media glorifies the star for "clutch play" or "trusting his teammates" if the team wins and they trash the same star for "selfishness" or "lacking killer instinct" if his team loses. Morons!
I look at it a different way. Always make good decisions and go with the right play. Don't force shots or passes in the first quarter of fourth. The game is as simple as that. LeBron said something very similar after the game. But here's why I criticize LeBron for this particular play. He made the wrong play. He drove to the hoop and almost had a layup. Just finish it. It looked like he just assumed there will be help in the paint and had already made up his mind to kick it out. Surprisingly, the Pistons D was not able to bring the help in time and the King had a great chance to finish and tie it up. To me this just showed that the King is still a young prince. Not a good read of the defense or the opportunity he had to score and he took the easy way out to find the open guy for a low percentage 3 point shot. May be the coach drew up a play for a 3 because you are supposed to go for the win on the road, but the coach would have never expected LeBron to get to the rim that easily either. Once that lane opened up, LeBron should have just attacked the rim regardless of what the coach drew up. He didn't and that was a sign of immaturity. Hopefully he learns something from this. And thats not that you have to jack up contested shots in the clutch.
Detroit did what they always do. They converted a 6 point half-time deficit to a 3 point win at the end. They defended LeBron hard and held the Cavs to 14 3-Rd quarter points. Doesn't seem like a big deal if you consider the Nets did that to the Cavs almost every game, but still thats how Detorit wins - with stifling defense. Sheed had 15-12 with 7 blocks. He was a monster today with those blocks. Tay shot just 1/11, but who cares if he can hold the King to 10 points. As always, Chauncey Billups hit big shots down the stretch to clinch the game. Rip scored 24. For the Cavs, Z had a great game with 22-13. They need better games from Sasha and Hughes if they want to win. Those 2 combined to go 8/27 today. The Cavs are a good rebounding team and I was surprised to see them do it today to the Pistons as they had 18 offensive boards and out-rebounded the Pistons 49-41.
Now it's re-group time for the Cavs and the King.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 76-79
Playoff schedule for 05/22/2007
Utah @ San Antonio - Utah has to step up and at least show the Spurs they belong. Otherwise, San Antonio will walk over them the rest of the series.
LeBron has been taking a lot of heat on the radio over that play. Talking heads are criticizing him for passing up the biggest shot of the game, may be his young career and how he seems to lack killer instincts etc. I hate these talking heads. They are the same ones who criticize NBA players for playing the wrong way and how they don't share the ball, how they have bad attitudes blah, blah, blah. And then when a star passes out of a double-team, they trash him for being a "choker", not having killer instincts etc. They are almost asking the stars to force a bad shot over double team and asking them not to trust their team-mates just during the last play of the game. This after killing somebody like Kobe for being selfish all season. I don't have a problem with the criticism of selfish players, but I don't agree with stars being asked to force shots. Basically, the media glorifies the star for "clutch play" or "trusting his teammates" if the team wins and they trash the same star for "selfishness" or "lacking killer instinct" if his team loses. Morons!
I look at it a different way. Always make good decisions and go with the right play. Don't force shots or passes in the first quarter of fourth. The game is as simple as that. LeBron said something very similar after the game. But here's why I criticize LeBron for this particular play. He made the wrong play. He drove to the hoop and almost had a layup. Just finish it. It looked like he just assumed there will be help in the paint and had already made up his mind to kick it out. Surprisingly, the Pistons D was not able to bring the help in time and the King had a great chance to finish and tie it up. To me this just showed that the King is still a young prince. Not a good read of the defense or the opportunity he had to score and he took the easy way out to find the open guy for a low percentage 3 point shot. May be the coach drew up a play for a 3 because you are supposed to go for the win on the road, but the coach would have never expected LeBron to get to the rim that easily either. Once that lane opened up, LeBron should have just attacked the rim regardless of what the coach drew up. He didn't and that was a sign of immaturity. Hopefully he learns something from this. And thats not that you have to jack up contested shots in the clutch.
Detroit did what they always do. They converted a 6 point half-time deficit to a 3 point win at the end. They defended LeBron hard and held the Cavs to 14 3-Rd quarter points. Doesn't seem like a big deal if you consider the Nets did that to the Cavs almost every game, but still thats how Detorit wins - with stifling defense. Sheed had 15-12 with 7 blocks. He was a monster today with those blocks. Tay shot just 1/11, but who cares if he can hold the King to 10 points. As always, Chauncey Billups hit big shots down the stretch to clinch the game. Rip scored 24. For the Cavs, Z had a great game with 22-13. They need better games from Sasha and Hughes if they want to win. Those 2 combined to go 8/27 today. The Cavs are a good rebounding team and I was surprised to see them do it today to the Pistons as they had 18 offensive boards and out-rebounded the Pistons 49-41.
Now it's re-group time for the Cavs and the King.
Cleveland @ Detroit - 76-79
Playoff schedule for 05/22/2007
Utah @ San Antonio - Utah has to step up and at least show the Spurs they belong. Otherwise, San Antonio will walk over them the rest of the series.
"Boring" win for the Spurs - NBA playoff notes - 05/20/2007
The Spurs today showed why this series is probably not going to be as much fun as their previous one against the Suns. I am sure there will be many close games in this series, but Spurs are just way better. They came out today just 39 hours after beating the Suns and quickly continued their great play. The Jazz started the game strong with a 7-0 lead, but once Pop took a timeout and settled the kids down, it was all Spurs the rest of the first half. The energy was supplied by Ginobili once he came in to the game. He was spectacular. It looked very much like the Ginobili from 2005 when they won the championship. This guy is key to the Spurs. He is so versatile and does so many things on the offensive end, he makes that offense indefensible. You know Timmy is going to be there and Tony will do his thing in the open court and if the defense is soft, but it's Ginobili who often wrecks havoc. He can shoot the jumper, get to the rim, set up his teammates, take and make ill-advised 3's. He just keeps the defense on it's toes.
Led by Manu, the Spurs made a run and took a 18 point lead at the half. The Spurs D was on point as always as they completely bottled up Carlos Boozer in the first half. Deron was the only guy who was having a decent game, as Fish, AK-47 and Okur were all MIA. Deron though was having his hands full trying to defend Tony. Tony was too quick for him and Tony played a great game today. The Spurs big 3 basically took control of this game and pretty much put it away by half-time.
The second half was not much different as the Jazz played a little better, but couldn't stop the Spurs big-3 and Oberto. Utah couldn't cut in to lead even in to the fourth quarter, but then Deron took over. He played a great quarter of ball to cut the 18 point lead to 7 a couple of times. In all, he had a 34-7-9 game and coach Sloan is hoping he can take his 4-Th quarter "game" in to the rest of the series. The Jazz at one point in the 4-Th scored 10 straight, but they just could not overcome the horrible 29% shooting in the first half. Too little too late against a Spurs team that was too good. The big 3 got it done today. 27-10-5 for Timmy, 23-4-10 on 9/14 shooting for Manu and 21-6 for Tony.
Utah @ San Antonio - 108-100
Playoff schedule for 05/21/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Cavs and the King have to play out of their mind to even have a chance in this series.
Led by Manu, the Spurs made a run and took a 18 point lead at the half. The Spurs D was on point as always as they completely bottled up Carlos Boozer in the first half. Deron was the only guy who was having a decent game, as Fish, AK-47 and Okur were all MIA. Deron though was having his hands full trying to defend Tony. Tony was too quick for him and Tony played a great game today. The Spurs big 3 basically took control of this game and pretty much put it away by half-time.
The second half was not much different as the Jazz played a little better, but couldn't stop the Spurs big-3 and Oberto. Utah couldn't cut in to lead even in to the fourth quarter, but then Deron took over. He played a great quarter of ball to cut the 18 point lead to 7 a couple of times. In all, he had a 34-7-9 game and coach Sloan is hoping he can take his 4-Th quarter "game" in to the rest of the series. The Jazz at one point in the 4-Th scored 10 straight, but they just could not overcome the horrible 29% shooting in the first half. Too little too late against a Spurs team that was too good. The big 3 got it done today. 27-10-5 for Timmy, 23-4-10 on 9/14 shooting for Manu and 21-6 for Tony.
Utah @ San Antonio - 108-100
Playoff schedule for 05/21/2007
Cleveland @ Detroit - Cavs and the King have to play out of their mind to even have a chance in this series.
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