Suns and the Grizz played the second game of their round 1 playoff series. This was very different from game 1 except for the result. Memphis pretty much did everything it wanted to (except win at the end). They slowed the game down by making it more physical. The Suns were never allowed to play at their pace. It was interesting to see how coach Fratello actually encouraged his players to foul the Suns. This stops the game, slows down the pace and disrupts the Suns flow. Interesting strategy, considering the fact that teams usually should be in trouble if they commit too many fouls. But in this case, they wanted to foul more going in. The strategy worked all right for them, though I think the whole thing is a compliment to how good the Suns are in running their free-flowing offense. There was virtually no fouls in the first quarter of game 1 and the Grizzlies felt that such a free-flowing game helped the Suns jump to a big lead.
So the Grizzlies made sure the game was slowed down. They also did a great job of involving Pau Gasol. Pau was great. He scored a bunch and also got Amare in foul trouble. I wanted the Suns to have Marion guard Gasol. Marion is their best defender and he can handle Gasol considering the fact that Marion usually draws tougher assignments. Mike D'Antoni put Marion on him late in the second quarter and Gasol had some trouble immediately. At the least, this protects Amare from foul trouble. Gasol was going to get his anyways, but Marion at least bothered him a little more than Amare. Also J-Will got off. I mean he was hitting everything. This guy is a great shooter. I never understood why coaches don't let him play and shoot like that. The only guy who could stop him on this day was coach Czar, and he did it as I had expected:. He played him only 30 mins and Earl Watson didn't do much backing him up.
The game never picked up pace in the second half. Pau was still going off, Amare had trouble with him. But Amare was awesome on offense where Memphis kept fouling him and putting him on the line. Again, the Suns had to put Marion on Pau late in the game and I thought he did a decent job. Down the stretch, the game was real close and Nash missed a couple of threes. The crowd was ready to explode on those shots, but it didn't happen. But ultimately the Suns pulled it out. As in game 1, I was really impressed with the timely plays made by Q. Q was great and he came up with the pivotal play of the game. Gasol was on the low post and he backed his way up to the basket on Marion when Q jumped up from the weak side and swatted his shot. This was a huge stop and the Suns went on to win 108-103. At the end of the day, the Suns played a tough game at playoff pace, they hit only 5 threes as opposed to 15 in game 1 and still scored 108 and won the game. So they really could not be stopped despite all the things Memphis did.
Another interesting story of the game for me as a Suns fan was, how both coach John Thompson during the game and Charles and Kenny in the studio felt that this was some kind of a scare for the Suns and how they should have blown out the Grizzlies and sent them a message. According to them, this Suns win was more of a "success" for the Grizzlies than the Suns. I thought this was a bunch of baloney. The bottom-line is that all these experts are doubters of the Suns. They don't think their style, their tempo, their personnel or anything they do makes them a real contender. And sub-consciously they try to rationalize whatever happens with the Suns from that standpoint. So in my opinion, there was nothing the Suns could have done today that would have impressed the experts beyond a certain point. They could have won by 50 points or won on a buzzer beater by Nash, they still wouldn't think the Suns are in the same class as the Pistons, Spurs or the Heat. They may be right with that opinion. I am not arguing with that assessment or the conventional wisdom about defense winning championships and all that. What I have a problem with is that, this particular game showed nothing except that the Suns can win a playoff style game even if it's close in the 4-th quarter. I think it's all positive. The expert's opinion on how this game was some kind of a bad news for the Suns is wrong and it's based on their assumption that this is all going to end bad for the Suns. Like I said, they have made up their minds and are working backwards from their assumptions and are looking for reasons to explain why and how the Suns are in trouble. That's all I am saying. It's pretty ridiculous to expect playoff games to be blowouts even if it's a 1-8 match up. It seems to be happening a lot this season with the Heat, Pistons etc. But that's Eastern Conference where the bad teams are real bad. Even then, I would say this is an exception and not the rule. Typically some playoffs series are blow-outs but individual games are almost always pretty close. I think the Suns-Memphis series fall in this category. Nothing more, nothing less.
MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (108)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
S BATTIER F 28 4-9 0-0 1 4 5 1 3 0 1 9
P GASOL F 39 13-26 2-6 9 7 16 5 5 1 2 28
L WRIGHT C 25 6-9 0-0 3 2 5 3 3 0 1 12
J WILLIAMS G 29 9-15 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 21
M MILLER G 19 1-5 0-0 0 3 3 0 4 0 1 3
D JONES 29 3-8 2-2 0 4 4 1 4 0 0 8
B CARDINAL 33 4-12 5-7 1 5 6 1 4 3 0 13
E WATSON 18 0-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 3 1 0 0
J POSEY 20 3-6 2-4 1 4 5 1 2 0 0 9
B WELLS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S SWIFT DNP - COACH'S DECISION
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-94 11-19 15 30 45 17 28 7 7 103
(.457) (.579) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 8 (6 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 35 5-9 3-4 2 3 5 0 3 0 2 15
S MARION F 39 10-18 1-2 4 9 13 2 4 1 1 22
A STOUDEMIRE C 41 8-16 18-22 2 8 10 1 4 1 2 34
S NASH G 41 5-16 2-2 1 1 2 15 3 1 4 12
J JOHNSON G 45 7-14 4-6 4 4 8 0 0 1 0 20
J JACKSON 16 0-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 7 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
S HUNTER 16 1-2 3-4 0 6 6 0 3 0 1 5
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 36-78 31-40 13 36 49 19 17 4 10 108
(.462) (.775) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 10 (12 PTS)
MEMPHIS 31 23 23 26 - 103
PHOENIX 29 31 22 26 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER, P GASOL. PHOENIX - S MARION 4,
Q RICHARDSON, J JOHNSON, S HUNTER, A STOUDEMIRE.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 6-18 (.333), S BATTIER 1-4, J WILLIAMS 3-
5, M MILLER 1-3, D JONES 0-1, B CARDINAL 0-2, E WATSON 0-1, J POSEY 1-
2. PHOENIX 5-17 (.294), Q RICHARDSON 2-5, S MARION 1-3, S NASH 0-4,
J JOHNSON 2-4, J JACKSON 0-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: PHOENIX 1 (A STOUDEMIRE, 6:55 4TH).
OFFICIALS: BLANE REICHELT, EDDIE F. RUSH, JOE DEROSA.
A - 18,422. T - 2:34.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Suns playoff BLOG
Suns win game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies pretty easily. I was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the Suns attack. Nothing has changed since the regular season. The Suns made 15 threes. Nash and Amare had average games, but the Suns still didn't miss a beat. Marion and Q played very well. I was really impressed with Q's game. I thought he made great plays at both ends of the floor and stepped up his game for the playoffs. The most scary moment was when Marion was fouled hard by Shane Battier and Marion lay on the floor holding his wrist. My heart stopped for a moment ! Marion might be the most under-rated player on the Suns roster and they are not going anywhere in these playoffs without him. In fact, Suns might be the one team in the playoffs that can't afford an injury to anybody on their roster given their lack of depth. But luckily for the Suns nation, Marion got up and continued to play.
On the Memphis side, I thought Mike Miller was hitiing every shot he took and I was surprised the Czar didn't play him more. Other than that, they did their best, but on this day, that was not enough to upset the top-seeded Suns. Here's the box score from game 1
MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (114)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
S BATTIER F 36 4-9 0-1 4 5 9 1 3 0 0 8
P GASOL F 26 8-19 0-1 4 3 7 2 1 0 2 16
L WRIGHT C 20 2-7 1-2 1 6 7 3 1 0 0 5
J WILLIAMS G 31 7-13 1-1 0 4 4 5 2 2 2 17
M MILLER G 32 7-10 0-0 0 3 3 4 1 0 1 19
J POSEY 27 3-7 3-3 0 4 4 0 5 0 3 11
S SWIFT 16 3-6 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 6
B WELLS 16 2-5 4-4 0 2 2 3 0 2 0 8
E WATSON 17 3-7 0-0 0 4 4 4 1 1 1 6
B CARDINAL 19 2-5 3-3 1 2 3 0 3 0 1 7
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D JONES DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 41-88 12-15 11 35 46 23 17 5 11 103
(.466) (.800) TEAM REBS: 4 TOTAL TO: 13 (13 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
Q RICHARDSON F 34 7-20 4-4 2 3 5 3 2 2 0 22
S MARION F 43 11-19 1-2 5 8 13 1 4 1 4 26
A STOUDEMIRE C 30 3-9 3-4 2 8 10 2 5 1 1 9
S NASH G 36 3-11 4-4 0 5 5 13 0 0 3 11
J JOHNSON G 43 6-13 1-2 0 7 7 6 3 1 0 16
J JACKSON 19 3-7 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 8
S HUNTER 20 7-11 2-2 4 1 5 1 0 0 1 16
L BARBOSA 12 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 3
W MCCARTY 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-93 15-18 14 34 48 28 17 5 9 114
(.452) (.833) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 9 (6 PTS)
MEMPHIS 28 22 28 25 - 103
PHOENIX 39 20 28 27 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER 2, P GASOL 2, B WELLS, M MILLER.
PHOENIX - S HUNTER 2, Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 9-21 (.429), J WILLIAMS 2-5, M MILLER 5-
7, J POSEY 2-4, E WATSON 0-3, B CARDINAL 0-2. PHOENIX 15-32 (.469),
Q RICHARDSON 4-11, S MARION 3-5, S NASH 1-3, J JOHNSON 3-5, J JACKSON 2-
5, L BARBOSA 1-2, W MCCARTY 1-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: MEMPHIS 1 (S BATTIER, 8:29 3RD).
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BOB DELANEY, SEAN CORBIN.
A - 18,422. T - 2:24.
On the Memphis side, I thought Mike Miller was hitiing every shot he took and I was surprised the Czar didn't play him more. Other than that, they did their best, but on this day, that was not enough to upset the top-seeded Suns. Here's the box score from game 1
MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (114)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
S BATTIER F 36 4-9 0-1 4 5 9 1 3 0 0 8
P GASOL F 26 8-19 0-1 4 3 7 2 1 0 2 16
L WRIGHT C 20 2-7 1-2 1 6 7 3 1 0 0 5
J WILLIAMS G 31 7-13 1-1 0 4 4 5 2 2 2 17
M MILLER G 32 7-10 0-0 0 3 3 4 1 0 1 19
J POSEY 27 3-7 3-3 0 4 4 0 5 0 3 11
S SWIFT 16 3-6 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 6
B WELLS 16 2-5 4-4 0 2 2 3 0 2 0 8
E WATSON 17 3-7 0-0 0 4 4 4 1 1 1 6
B CARDINAL 19 2-5 3-3 1 2 3 0 3 0 1 7
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D JONES DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 41-88 12-15 11 35 46 23 17 5 11 103
(.466) (.800) TEAM REBS: 4 TOTAL TO: 13 (13 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
Q RICHARDSON F 34 7-20 4-4 2 3 5 3 2 2 0 22
S MARION F 43 11-19 1-2 5 8 13 1 4 1 4 26
A STOUDEMIRE C 30 3-9 3-4 2 8 10 2 5 1 1 9
S NASH G 36 3-11 4-4 0 5 5 13 0 0 3 11
J JOHNSON G 43 6-13 1-2 0 7 7 6 3 1 0 16
J JACKSON 19 3-7 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 8
S HUNTER 20 7-11 2-2 4 1 5 1 0 0 1 16
L BARBOSA 12 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 3
W MCCARTY 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-93 15-18 14 34 48 28 17 5 9 114
(.452) (.833) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 9 (6 PTS)
MEMPHIS 28 22 28 25 - 103
PHOENIX 39 20 28 27 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER 2, P GASOL 2, B WELLS, M MILLER.
PHOENIX - S HUNTER 2, Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 9-21 (.429), J WILLIAMS 2-5, M MILLER 5-
7, J POSEY 2-4, E WATSON 0-3, B CARDINAL 0-2. PHOENIX 15-32 (.469),
Q RICHARDSON 4-11, S MARION 3-5, S NASH 1-3, J JOHNSON 3-5, J JACKSON 2-
5, L BARBOSA 1-2, W MCCARTY 1-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: MEMPHIS 1 (S BATTIER, 8:29 3RD).
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BOB DELANEY, SEAN CORBIN.
A - 18,422. T - 2:24.
Suns 2005 season
I am totally excited for the 2004-2005 NBA playoffs. My Phoenix Suns have the best record in the league and are rolling into the playoffs at full strength. I still can't believe they went 62-20 in the regular season. Though at one point in the season I was hoping they'll win 70+ games :-). ESPN's Marc Stein sold me on that idea. Of course soon thereafter Steve Nash got injured and missed a few games and the Suns lost all those games including the last game before and the first game after his injury "break". Stevie Wonder was great this season and I hope the league doesn't rob him of his MVP trophy. But that break established him as a legitimate MVP candidate. Nobody (including myself) really understood his true impact until he missed a few games. During that time, the Suns looked totally lost. Their scoring average per game dropped to ridiculous depths and they kept setting the record for season-low points almost every game. Leandro Barbosa is cool and all, but he's no Nash and I was shocked when he went an entire game without an assist. This after Nash has routinely dished out 12 or 14 dimes every game. It was shocking to see the contrast and it felt like a year and half though I am sure Nash didn't miss more than a week and a half.
He got back and everybody knew the first game back was going to be tough since it was at home against Timmy and the Spurs on national TV. Nash and the Suns were back to their usual self in that game, but they clearly ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. The Spurs tied it up and won in overtime behind a ridiculous performance by Manu Ginobli. He took over the game with Timmy just watching and Tony Parker actually in the bench. Even though the Suns lost, from my perspective, they were back playing Suns basketball and Nash was back in form. The rest of the season was mostly good. Nash and the boys kept rollin' though some doubters were throwing all sorts of theories. We heard it all from, "oh their bench is not good enough" to, "Nash will breakdown towards the end of the season" to, "the whole team can't keep up this pace" to, "the rest of the league will figure it out and adjust in the second half". None of this happened. The rest of the league probably figured it all out in week 1, but they just do not have a way to stop it! When you have talented athletes flying at full speed like that with the ball in the hands of a decision maker likeStevie Wonder, there's nothing that can be done to effectively stop them.
Mike D'Antoni just made sure they ran all the time. Not surprising, considering the fact that he ran last season with much inferior talent even when he had 50+ losses. This season he made sure they ran off of turnovers, off blocked shots, off defensive rebounds and off of made baskets! The last thing is something this league has not seen in a long time. They just ran and ran and when the opponent got tired, they ran some more. Nash plays the most controlled, organized, skillful NBA ball, but all at street-ball pace. This unique talent is a treat to watch and he is the MVP of this regular season without a doubt.
The experts are looking at what Shaq has done in Miami and what has happened to the Lakers and are comparing it to the Dallas Mavericks without Nash. Their argument is that, while the addition of Shaq and Nash has completely transformed their respective teams, their subtraction from their old teams has had very different results. The Lakers are struggling without Shaq, but the Mavs are doing just fine without Nash. I think this argument is deeply flawed to say the least. So now we are not only comparing apples to oranges but apples to eggplants and the blue sky! The Mavericks are a loaded team. They have always had 7 or 8 guys who can score 20 or more points. That's Don Nelson's style and Mark Cuban has opened his checkbook to pay all those players. So removing one important piece from it didn't destroy the whole thing. Actually I have to agree that even I was a little surprised that they were doing this well without Nash, but not shocked. Mavs also made more trades with some of their 7 guys who can score 20+ and ended up with a team where 9 guys can now do the same! Nash was a free agent and he moved to Phoenix. This probably gave Cuban even more financial flexibility to acquire some contracts like Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse.
The Lakers are completely different. They had a team that was completely built around Shaq and Kobe. They had nothing else. Shaq was taking up a huge percentage of their salary cap and he forced a trade. They had to take up some garbage like Brian Grant in return just to make sure they got some talent in return and also make the deal work from a cap perspective. They lost Payton and Malone on top of that and they lost Phil Jackson's coaching. The Mavs had thesame coaching staff and system in place. This was clearly a rebuilding year for the Lakers and they entered the season with Shaq-sized question marks. Granted, they did have Rudy T and a superstar in Kobe, but Rudy T quit midway through the season, Kobe was injured and things turned real bad real fast after a decent start in LA. Don Nelson quit too, but that was an "upgrade" in his own words since he felt the team played better under Avery Johnson. Simply put, the Mavs improved their team in every way they can, except in losing Nash. The Lakers on the other hand lost Shaq, and compounded that with a lot of other negative events. So this comparison is absurd and the experts should just shut up and hand over the MVP trophy to Steve Nash.
The bottom-line is that Steve Nash led the Suns to 62-20. They had nothing to play for on the last day of the season and they rested Nash and Marion for most of the game. Otherwise, they would have won a Suns franchise record 63 games. That's amazing for a team that went 27-55 last year! In fact, I could argue that Shaq just improved a team that was already in the second round of the playoffs last year, but lets not go there. Suns lost so few games, I am going to list them all here. It's time to focus on the playoffs now.
Houston (twice)
San Antonio (twice)
Sacramento (twice - early and the last game of the season)
Memphis (twice)
Golden State (twice - whats up with that)
Dallas
Cleveland (OT - huge comback for the Cavs early in the season)
Minnesota (at home early in the season)
Detroit
Washington
Indiana
Boston (at home - OT)
Utah
Seattle
Miami
He got back and everybody knew the first game back was going to be tough since it was at home against Timmy and the Spurs on national TV. Nash and the Suns were back to their usual self in that game, but they clearly ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. The Spurs tied it up and won in overtime behind a ridiculous performance by Manu Ginobli. He took over the game with Timmy just watching and Tony Parker actually in the bench. Even though the Suns lost, from my perspective, they were back playing Suns basketball and Nash was back in form. The rest of the season was mostly good. Nash and the boys kept rollin' though some doubters were throwing all sorts of theories. We heard it all from, "oh their bench is not good enough" to, "Nash will breakdown towards the end of the season" to, "the whole team can't keep up this pace" to, "the rest of the league will figure it out and adjust in the second half". None of this happened. The rest of the league probably figured it all out in week 1, but they just do not have a way to stop it! When you have talented athletes flying at full speed like that with the ball in the hands of a decision maker likeStevie Wonder, there's nothing that can be done to effectively stop them.
Mike D'Antoni just made sure they ran all the time. Not surprising, considering the fact that he ran last season with much inferior talent even when he had 50+ losses. This season he made sure they ran off of turnovers, off blocked shots, off defensive rebounds and off of made baskets! The last thing is something this league has not seen in a long time. They just ran and ran and when the opponent got tired, they ran some more. Nash plays the most controlled, organized, skillful NBA ball, but all at street-ball pace. This unique talent is a treat to watch and he is the MVP of this regular season without a doubt.
The experts are looking at what Shaq has done in Miami and what has happened to the Lakers and are comparing it to the Dallas Mavericks without Nash. Their argument is that, while the addition of Shaq and Nash has completely transformed their respective teams, their subtraction from their old teams has had very different results. The Lakers are struggling without Shaq, but the Mavs are doing just fine without Nash. I think this argument is deeply flawed to say the least. So now we are not only comparing apples to oranges but apples to eggplants and the blue sky! The Mavericks are a loaded team. They have always had 7 or 8 guys who can score 20 or more points. That's Don Nelson's style and Mark Cuban has opened his checkbook to pay all those players. So removing one important piece from it didn't destroy the whole thing. Actually I have to agree that even I was a little surprised that they were doing this well without Nash, but not shocked. Mavs also made more trades with some of their 7 guys who can score 20+ and ended up with a team where 9 guys can now do the same! Nash was a free agent and he moved to Phoenix. This probably gave Cuban even more financial flexibility to acquire some contracts like Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse.
The Lakers are completely different. They had a team that was completely built around Shaq and Kobe. They had nothing else. Shaq was taking up a huge percentage of their salary cap and he forced a trade. They had to take up some garbage like Brian Grant in return just to make sure they got some talent in return and also make the deal work from a cap perspective. They lost Payton and Malone on top of that and they lost Phil Jackson's coaching. The Mavs had thesame coaching staff and system in place. This was clearly a rebuilding year for the Lakers and they entered the season with Shaq-sized question marks. Granted, they did have Rudy T and a superstar in Kobe, but Rudy T quit midway through the season, Kobe was injured and things turned real bad real fast after a decent start in LA. Don Nelson quit too, but that was an "upgrade" in his own words since he felt the team played better under Avery Johnson. Simply put, the Mavs improved their team in every way they can, except in losing Nash. The Lakers on the other hand lost Shaq, and compounded that with a lot of other negative events. So this comparison is absurd and the experts should just shut up and hand over the MVP trophy to Steve Nash.
The bottom-line is that Steve Nash led the Suns to 62-20. They had nothing to play for on the last day of the season and they rested Nash and Marion for most of the game. Otherwise, they would have won a Suns franchise record 63 games. That's amazing for a team that went 27-55 last year! In fact, I could argue that Shaq just improved a team that was already in the second round of the playoffs last year, but lets not go there. Suns lost so few games, I am going to list them all here. It's time to focus on the playoffs now.
Houston (twice)
San Antonio (twice)
Sacramento (twice - early and the last game of the season)
Memphis (twice)
Golden State (twice - whats up with that)
Dallas
Cleveland (OT - huge comback for the Cavs early in the season)
Minnesota (at home early in the season)
Detroit
Washington
Indiana
Boston (at home - OT)
Utah
Seattle
Miami
In Billy we Trust
After all the off-season trades that Billy Beane orchestrated, it’s been an interesting season so for the Oakland Athletics. Very few experts (including myself :-)) had rightly predicted that Billy’s long-term plan was to replace the A’s big-3 pitching stars with a new big-3 that would be younger and cheaper. As Huddy, Zito and Mulder were growing up and becoming super-stars, it should have been obvious to even casual A’s fans that Billy can’t keep all of them. Given their payroll constraints, the A’s would have been lucky to retain even one let alone 2 of the 3. So when Tim Hudson was entering the last year of his contract, people were expecting Billy to trade him But I guess what surprised most was the trade of Mark Mulder just a few days later. Billy traded both of them for an assortment of assets. He got some big-league ready pitching, pitching prospects, hitting prospects and big-league ready hitters.
While I am a BIG fan of Huddy, and I was hoping and praying that Billy would keep him even if he lets the other two go, the fact is, the A’s pitching is doing just fine. It’s their horrendous hitting that’s killing them. This only proves Billy’s point that the A’s would have had to gut his roster to keep Huddy and Mulder even at their current salaries, not to talk about extending their contracts. Even with the “cheap” pitching, the lineup is pretty impotent and you take a salary or two away from this lineup, they might actually score in the negative!
With all that said, the story of this young season has been A’s pitching. Billy might very well be ahead of schedule as far as building the next big 3. Rich Harden is virtually untouchable and Joe Blanton is not bad either with his 1.75 ERA. Both these guys are home-grown successors to the big 3. Danny Haren, who was acquired in the Mulder trade, has been up and down, but has looked good overall and has lot of potential. The bullpen, which was a major headache last year, is vastly improved because of the trades. Overall, the A’s pitching is solid in-spite of Zito struggling just like last year. So Billy is essentially putting together a stellar pitching staff even without any help from Barry Zito. The only question we should be asking Billy about the trade is not “why did you trade Huddy and Mulder?”, but “why didn’t you trade Barry Zito?”! That’s saying something. To be fair to Zito, he has pitched better lately and yesterday he was working on a scoreless game when he got shelled in the 7-th inning. The pitching could be even better if they were not making every pitch under great pressure because the A’s lineup can’t put up even a single run. Joe Blanton does not even have a win yet!
The A’s lost the division last year by a game. They then traded away 2 of their best players while the rest of their division rivals, namely the Angels and the Mariners, got better. A’s did get a lot of young talent, but 22 and 23 year olds don’t win you the division in the big leagues. So it’s crazy to expect the A’s to win the division this season. But this is sports and anything can happen. But seriously, who would be shocked if they do stay in the race all season given Billy Beane’s track record. So far, their pitching has definitely been on the right track. It’s early and I know Harden’s 0.44 ERA and Blanton’s 1.75 ERA is going to go up, but still what’s happening here on Apr 26-th is pretty impressive. If the hitting turns around, they might actually stay in this race deep into September.
I know some people are waiting for an opportunity to criticize Billy. Even they have to accept that Billy knew exactly what he was doing with these trades. If you still feel the need to rap Billy, here’s the one complaint I have that I think is valid. That’s his decision to let Miguel Tejada go and sign Eric Chavez. Billy will tell you that they loved Tejada, that he was too expensive for them, that they had no shot at signing him and that Crosby was waiting in the wings while they had nobody to replace Chavvy. While there’s some truth to all of that, especially the fact that Crosby is real good and cheap, the reality is that the Oakland front-office was never as high on Tejada as they were on Chavez. They liked Chavvy’s upside much more. Now that we have seen both for a couple of years, even they have to accept that while Chavez is a nice player, he is no Tejada. Tejada is an absolute stud. He is a centerpiece guy in a lineup much like a Manny or a Bonds or a Pujols or a Chipper Jones. Chavez on the other hand seems to me like one of the guys who should be protecting a Tejada or a Manny or a Chipper Jones in the lineup. Kind of like a Andrew Jones or a Scott Rolen or a David Ortiz. Chavvy is a typical Pippen while Tejada is your Jordon of an everyday big-league lineup. Tejada would have been more expensive than Chavez even with any potential “home-town discounts”. But he might have been well worth it, given all the hitting troubles the A’s are going through the last couple of years.
I’ll always wonder if Billy could have signed Tejada if he wanted to. Remember, the A’s did not even try to offer him a deal. As for the trade of the big-2, I can’t wait for Billy to trade Zito away and load up on some young hitting. Are the Yankees listening?
While I am a BIG fan of Huddy, and I was hoping and praying that Billy would keep him even if he lets the other two go, the fact is, the A’s pitching is doing just fine. It’s their horrendous hitting that’s killing them. This only proves Billy’s point that the A’s would have had to gut his roster to keep Huddy and Mulder even at their current salaries, not to talk about extending their contracts. Even with the “cheap” pitching, the lineup is pretty impotent and you take a salary or two away from this lineup, they might actually score in the negative!
With all that said, the story of this young season has been A’s pitching. Billy might very well be ahead of schedule as far as building the next big 3. Rich Harden is virtually untouchable and Joe Blanton is not bad either with his 1.75 ERA. Both these guys are home-grown successors to the big 3. Danny Haren, who was acquired in the Mulder trade, has been up and down, but has looked good overall and has lot of potential. The bullpen, which was a major headache last year, is vastly improved because of the trades. Overall, the A’s pitching is solid in-spite of Zito struggling just like last year. So Billy is essentially putting together a stellar pitching staff even without any help from Barry Zito. The only question we should be asking Billy about the trade is not “why did you trade Huddy and Mulder?”, but “why didn’t you trade Barry Zito?”! That’s saying something. To be fair to Zito, he has pitched better lately and yesterday he was working on a scoreless game when he got shelled in the 7-th inning. The pitching could be even better if they were not making every pitch under great pressure because the A’s lineup can’t put up even a single run. Joe Blanton does not even have a win yet!
The A’s lost the division last year by a game. They then traded away 2 of their best players while the rest of their division rivals, namely the Angels and the Mariners, got better. A’s did get a lot of young talent, but 22 and 23 year olds don’t win you the division in the big leagues. So it’s crazy to expect the A’s to win the division this season. But this is sports and anything can happen. But seriously, who would be shocked if they do stay in the race all season given Billy Beane’s track record. So far, their pitching has definitely been on the right track. It’s early and I know Harden’s 0.44 ERA and Blanton’s 1.75 ERA is going to go up, but still what’s happening here on Apr 26-th is pretty impressive. If the hitting turns around, they might actually stay in this race deep into September.
I know some people are waiting for an opportunity to criticize Billy. Even they have to accept that Billy knew exactly what he was doing with these trades. If you still feel the need to rap Billy, here’s the one complaint I have that I think is valid. That’s his decision to let Miguel Tejada go and sign Eric Chavez. Billy will tell you that they loved Tejada, that he was too expensive for them, that they had no shot at signing him and that Crosby was waiting in the wings while they had nobody to replace Chavvy. While there’s some truth to all of that, especially the fact that Crosby is real good and cheap, the reality is that the Oakland front-office was never as high on Tejada as they were on Chavez. They liked Chavvy’s upside much more. Now that we have seen both for a couple of years, even they have to accept that while Chavez is a nice player, he is no Tejada. Tejada is an absolute stud. He is a centerpiece guy in a lineup much like a Manny or a Bonds or a Pujols or a Chipper Jones. Chavez on the other hand seems to me like one of the guys who should be protecting a Tejada or a Manny or a Chipper Jones in the lineup. Kind of like a Andrew Jones or a Scott Rolen or a David Ortiz. Chavvy is a typical Pippen while Tejada is your Jordon of an everyday big-league lineup. Tejada would have been more expensive than Chavez even with any potential “home-town discounts”. But he might have been well worth it, given all the hitting troubles the A’s are going through the last couple of years.
I’ll always wonder if Billy could have signed Tejada if he wanted to. Remember, the A’s did not even try to offer him a deal. As for the trade of the big-2, I can’t wait for Billy to trade Zito away and load up on some young hitting. Are the Yankees listening?
Saturday, April 23, 2005
2004-2005 NBA Season
This has been the best NBA season for me in a while. A lof of that has to do with the fact that I am a huge Phoenix Suns fan and the Suns ended up with the best record in the league. But apart from that, the league as a whole had a great year. I think there were several reasons for it and I'll try to explain them here.
1) A whole bunch of teams led by the Suns resorted to playing an up-tempo style which is definitely fun to watch. A lot of these teams were successful as well and people got to watch their games on national TV and follow their fortunes. Apart from the Suns, the Seattle Seahawks, Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets and even the Golden State Warriors towards the end of the season played this style. This, in addition to the usual suspects like the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings, though the Kings have slowed down a little bit. Even the plodding Rockets coached by the defensive minded Van Gundy had to start running a little bit to start winning. I think this trend is good for the game.
2) Another reason for the great season was the ascent of some new teams in the NBA. The Suns and the Sonics come to mind immediately. Both of them missed the playoffs last year but they won their respective divisions pretty easily. These 2 teams did much better than just make the playoffs and this was a very interesting story in the early part of the season. But this really started last season. The good thing about Carmello and Lebron was not just they improved their respective teams dramatically, but they did it in 2 cities that were perennial door-mats in the NBA, Cleveland and Denver. Add Washington and Chciago to this list and the face of the NBA might be changing. It might have been fun to have Garnett and Kobe in the playoffs, but the new teams have kept this season pretty intriguing.
3) Of course breaking up Kobe and Shaq gave us 2 stories to follow. Though the Lakers story didn't end too well, it was fun watching these 2 teams in 2 opposite coasts. New teams, new situations and new results for both of them. Wouldn't it be awesome if Shaq goes all the way and wins it all? That would be an amazing story. That'll establish him as some kind of a NBA God and make it all the more tougher for Kobe to resurrect his career.
4) Another reason that this NBA season really featured a better brand of basketball is a theory I am proposing here. The level of play had dropped over the last 5 years primarily because of the influx of the high school kids and college under-classmen. Everybody knows this. But I think that was not the only problem. The problem was also that this was a new thing for the NBA and they couldn't handle this "transition" well. Coaches were forced to play these kids heavy minutes like they were Michael Jordan or Tim Duncan and the expectations of the fans were not adjusted to their skill level either. What has happened now is that the NBA has gotten used to having these kids come in early. NBA has kind of reached a "steady-state". Now these kids could be "hid" in the back of the bench even if they are a top pick like Darko Milicic. Fans understand this new setup better. The teams can use "veterans" who are just 24 or 25 years old, but who came out early 3 or 4 years back and keep their fan base interested without exposing them too much to the 20 year old kid who can't dribble, pass or shoot. A good example is somebody like Jason Rcihardson. His game is still getting better and is improving. But he has already been in the league 4 or 5 years and his game is at least watchable. He is still young and Warriors can still sell hope to their fans through him. So they are not forced to play the 19 year old Andris Biedrins all that much. 5 years back, the Warriors had no option but to play a J-Rich in his rookie season. Back then the teams, especially bad teams, had old, boring players or 20 year old kids coming in. Now there is a nice pipeline established of players of all skill level based on what stage of development they are in. This is what I mean by a "steady state". Any system subjected to a big change will take a while to reach a "steady state of equilibrium". I think finally the NBA has reached a steady state this year with respect to under-skilled players coming in early. Players like Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Al Harrington and even Darius Miles have finally started playing NBA level basketball on a semi-consistent basis and this improved the NBA game all around. I still hope the Commissioner implements the age limit, but even without it, I think the NBA has learnt how to live with it much better than 5 years back.
All these reasons and my Suns have made this 2005 season a great one.
1) A whole bunch of teams led by the Suns resorted to playing an up-tempo style which is definitely fun to watch. A lot of these teams were successful as well and people got to watch their games on national TV and follow their fortunes. Apart from the Suns, the Seattle Seahawks, Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets and even the Golden State Warriors towards the end of the season played this style. This, in addition to the usual suspects like the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings, though the Kings have slowed down a little bit. Even the plodding Rockets coached by the defensive minded Van Gundy had to start running a little bit to start winning. I think this trend is good for the game.
2) Another reason for the great season was the ascent of some new teams in the NBA. The Suns and the Sonics come to mind immediately. Both of them missed the playoffs last year but they won their respective divisions pretty easily. These 2 teams did much better than just make the playoffs and this was a very interesting story in the early part of the season. But this really started last season. The good thing about Carmello and Lebron was not just they improved their respective teams dramatically, but they did it in 2 cities that were perennial door-mats in the NBA, Cleveland and Denver. Add Washington and Chciago to this list and the face of the NBA might be changing. It might have been fun to have Garnett and Kobe in the playoffs, but the new teams have kept this season pretty intriguing.
3) Of course breaking up Kobe and Shaq gave us 2 stories to follow. Though the Lakers story didn't end too well, it was fun watching these 2 teams in 2 opposite coasts. New teams, new situations and new results for both of them. Wouldn't it be awesome if Shaq goes all the way and wins it all? That would be an amazing story. That'll establish him as some kind of a NBA God and make it all the more tougher for Kobe to resurrect his career.
4) Another reason that this NBA season really featured a better brand of basketball is a theory I am proposing here. The level of play had dropped over the last 5 years primarily because of the influx of the high school kids and college under-classmen. Everybody knows this. But I think that was not the only problem. The problem was also that this was a new thing for the NBA and they couldn't handle this "transition" well. Coaches were forced to play these kids heavy minutes like they were Michael Jordan or Tim Duncan and the expectations of the fans were not adjusted to their skill level either. What has happened now is that the NBA has gotten used to having these kids come in early. NBA has kind of reached a "steady-state". Now these kids could be "hid" in the back of the bench even if they are a top pick like Darko Milicic. Fans understand this new setup better. The teams can use "veterans" who are just 24 or 25 years old, but who came out early 3 or 4 years back and keep their fan base interested without exposing them too much to the 20 year old kid who can't dribble, pass or shoot. A good example is somebody like Jason Rcihardson. His game is still getting better and is improving. But he has already been in the league 4 or 5 years and his game is at least watchable. He is still young and Warriors can still sell hope to their fans through him. So they are not forced to play the 19 year old Andris Biedrins all that much. 5 years back, the Warriors had no option but to play a J-Rich in his rookie season. Back then the teams, especially bad teams, had old, boring players or 20 year old kids coming in. Now there is a nice pipeline established of players of all skill level based on what stage of development they are in. This is what I mean by a "steady state". Any system subjected to a big change will take a while to reach a "steady state of equilibrium". I think finally the NBA has reached a steady state this year with respect to under-skilled players coming in early. Players like Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Al Harrington and even Darius Miles have finally started playing NBA level basketball on a semi-consistent basis and this improved the NBA game all around. I still hope the Commissioner implements the age limit, but even without it, I think the NBA has learnt how to live with it much better than 5 years back.
All these reasons and my Suns have made this 2005 season a great one.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Jeff Kent and the Wild Card
Jeff Kent of the Astros came back to San Francisco this last week and made some interesting comments. First he asked KNBR to “enjoy the game” and not bitch and moan about the baseball all the time. Interesting comment, but nothing personal. Then he said the people in the Bay Area are so stupid for paying so much for real estate. Not sure why you would say something like that. Kent is a wannabe cowboy from Southern California. Why would anybody aspire to be a southern cowboy? There’s something wrong with you if that’s your goal in life. Not only does Kent not appreciate the sophistication of the Bay Area after living here for several years, he is actually talking down on it. A caller to KNBR later made a smart comment. He said we pay all this money for real estate to make sure our neighbor is not a red-neck ! That’s so true.
Living in SF can be an unique experience. Your neighbor might be a black guy married to a asian girl from Thailand. On the other side, you might have a White Buddhist Vegetarian family. Across the street you might have a lesbian couple living in peace. Down the street, there might be an Indian Yoga place. This is diversity at it’s best. Just by talking to your neighbors, you can know more about the World than probably going to high school in Shreveport, Louisiana! This is what you pay for. Of course if your are sophisticated enough to appreciate and like this kind of an experience. I have nothing against any part of this country. I truly love this country. Someday, I would like to live in every major city in this country. I know it’s a pipe dream, but it’s something I would like to do. I like White people, I like rednecks, I like everybody as long as they don’t hate others. But lets face it, it’s just a lot more fun to live in a diverse place like SF than to live with a bunch of white dudes in Houston. It just is.
Wild Card
-----------
Now, on to the wild card discussion in baseball. This year, there were a bunch of teams competing for the one wild card spot in both leagues, especially the NL. Immediately everybody started saying how great wild card was for baseball. How it keeps a whole bunch of teams and their fans involved longer in the season. They were taking shots at the “purists” who criticize the wild card. Yeah, it does keep a whole bunch of people involved and excited for a long time. This makes a lot of business sense too. More revenue to be made all around and that’s probably why MLB likes it. Packed houses in Houston, San Diego and Chicago don’t hurt. But what’s good for more number of fans doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for baseball as a whole. I think it’s easy and obvious to see the apparent advantages of the wild card. But it needs a little more imagination and intelligence to appreciate the argument against the wild card.
If you read Bob Costas’ book Fairball, he makes a couple of points against the wild card. One of which is how it cheapens the pennant chase. The other point is about scheduling which we will deal with later. Though we don’t have a true pennant chase with the three divisions, even the division races and the rivalries that go with it are cheapened by the wild card. People seem to think this year was a good argument for wild card. Actually it was a good argument against as well. Look at the NL West. The Giants and the Dodgers are separated by a game and a half, but the Giants fans are more concerned about the Cubs and the wild card where the difference is just ½ a game because they don’t think they have a real shot at the division. Even when they play each other and the Giants lose, it’s always like “what happened to the Cubs today?” And the Giants fan is not too upset if the Cubs also lost. Can you imagine the intensity and relevance of these games if there were no wild card? Wouldn’t we rather have an unadulterated race for the NL west title between the Giants and the Dodgers?
Same story with the Yanks and Red Sox. A couple of weeks back they were playing each other when the Red Sox were 3 or so games behind the Yanks. But they had pretty much clinched the wild card. In spite of all the usual hype that goes with this East Coast rivalry, I didn’t really care. What were they playing for? Absolutely nothing. Both were pretty much in the playoffs when the series started and the story was the same when it ended. If there were no wild card, this series would have meant so much more even though Red Sox would have had an uphill task.
Lets look at the flip side of this argument. Teams like Houston, Chicago, Florida and San Diego, who are trailing their division leaders by 5 to 15 games, are still involved in this wild card race. Obviously their fans are very excited and they have something to follow. A Cubs-Astros series might draw a lot of interest from their fans. But lets look at it from a neutral fan’s standpoint. What really is all this hype about? Both these teams are 15 games behind in their division! They are nowhere near St. Louis and they are basically fighting for second place. Why are we getting all excited? It reminds me of a line from the TV show Seinfeld where Jerry says the worst thing in Olympics is to win the Silver medal! It just means that among all the losers, you are the best. In other words, you are the biggest loser! The wild card is kind of the same. The Astros and Cubs are fighting to be the biggest loser behind the Cards - to the tune of 15 games. I would rather watch a “meaningless” series between two division winners St. Louis and Atlanta than Houston - Chicago. At least we know we are watching good teams with St. Louis and Atlanta.
The other problem is with the scheduling. MLB went for a balanced schedule for a few years, which clearly takes away from the division races. We would rather want the Giants-Dodgers, Yankees-Red Sox and Oakland-Anaheim to be played more often than the other non-divisional matchups. But the problem with the unbalanced schedule is that it’s not the way to determine the wild card. Now MLB is back to an unbalanced schedule, which is great, but that makes the wild card even more stupid. You are basically picking between the Cubs, Giants and the Marlins who are all playing different schedules. How do you decide who’s better? The unbalanced schedule is too important for divisional races, but it basically screws up the wild card.
So I think the wild card has it pros and cons, but definitely more cons than pros. Lets junk it.
Fantasy Notes
-----------------
I had a rough second week in the Homies league. Deuce McAlister got hurt in the first quarter and everything went downhill from there. I did win the other two leagues. I picked up Aaron Stecker in the homies league. Not sure how he fell to me, but he helped me win my first game in week 3. In the forward lateral league, I am losing a big star to a season long injury every week First Steve Smith, next Kellen Winslow Jr. and now Nate Webster, but I am still 3-0. I am 2-1 in the Yahoo league after a close defeat in week 3. I had some bye week issues. I should be back in week 4.
Living in SF can be an unique experience. Your neighbor might be a black guy married to a asian girl from Thailand. On the other side, you might have a White Buddhist Vegetarian family. Across the street you might have a lesbian couple living in peace. Down the street, there might be an Indian Yoga place. This is diversity at it’s best. Just by talking to your neighbors, you can know more about the World than probably going to high school in Shreveport, Louisiana! This is what you pay for. Of course if your are sophisticated enough to appreciate and like this kind of an experience. I have nothing against any part of this country. I truly love this country. Someday, I would like to live in every major city in this country. I know it’s a pipe dream, but it’s something I would like to do. I like White people, I like rednecks, I like everybody as long as they don’t hate others. But lets face it, it’s just a lot more fun to live in a diverse place like SF than to live with a bunch of white dudes in Houston. It just is.
Wild Card
-----------
Now, on to the wild card discussion in baseball. This year, there were a bunch of teams competing for the one wild card spot in both leagues, especially the NL. Immediately everybody started saying how great wild card was for baseball. How it keeps a whole bunch of teams and their fans involved longer in the season. They were taking shots at the “purists” who criticize the wild card. Yeah, it does keep a whole bunch of people involved and excited for a long time. This makes a lot of business sense too. More revenue to be made all around and that’s probably why MLB likes it. Packed houses in Houston, San Diego and Chicago don’t hurt. But what’s good for more number of fans doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for baseball as a whole. I think it’s easy and obvious to see the apparent advantages of the wild card. But it needs a little more imagination and intelligence to appreciate the argument against the wild card.
If you read Bob Costas’ book Fairball, he makes a couple of points against the wild card. One of which is how it cheapens the pennant chase. The other point is about scheduling which we will deal with later. Though we don’t have a true pennant chase with the three divisions, even the division races and the rivalries that go with it are cheapened by the wild card. People seem to think this year was a good argument for wild card. Actually it was a good argument against as well. Look at the NL West. The Giants and the Dodgers are separated by a game and a half, but the Giants fans are more concerned about the Cubs and the wild card where the difference is just ½ a game because they don’t think they have a real shot at the division. Even when they play each other and the Giants lose, it’s always like “what happened to the Cubs today?” And the Giants fan is not too upset if the Cubs also lost. Can you imagine the intensity and relevance of these games if there were no wild card? Wouldn’t we rather have an unadulterated race for the NL west title between the Giants and the Dodgers?
Same story with the Yanks and Red Sox. A couple of weeks back they were playing each other when the Red Sox were 3 or so games behind the Yanks. But they had pretty much clinched the wild card. In spite of all the usual hype that goes with this East Coast rivalry, I didn’t really care. What were they playing for? Absolutely nothing. Both were pretty much in the playoffs when the series started and the story was the same when it ended. If there were no wild card, this series would have meant so much more even though Red Sox would have had an uphill task.
Lets look at the flip side of this argument. Teams like Houston, Chicago, Florida and San Diego, who are trailing their division leaders by 5 to 15 games, are still involved in this wild card race. Obviously their fans are very excited and they have something to follow. A Cubs-Astros series might draw a lot of interest from their fans. But lets look at it from a neutral fan’s standpoint. What really is all this hype about? Both these teams are 15 games behind in their division! They are nowhere near St. Louis and they are basically fighting for second place. Why are we getting all excited? It reminds me of a line from the TV show Seinfeld where Jerry says the worst thing in Olympics is to win the Silver medal! It just means that among all the losers, you are the best. In other words, you are the biggest loser! The wild card is kind of the same. The Astros and Cubs are fighting to be the biggest loser behind the Cards - to the tune of 15 games. I would rather watch a “meaningless” series between two division winners St. Louis and Atlanta than Houston - Chicago. At least we know we are watching good teams with St. Louis and Atlanta.
The other problem is with the scheduling. MLB went for a balanced schedule for a few years, which clearly takes away from the division races. We would rather want the Giants-Dodgers, Yankees-Red Sox and Oakland-Anaheim to be played more often than the other non-divisional matchups. But the problem with the unbalanced schedule is that it’s not the way to determine the wild card. Now MLB is back to an unbalanced schedule, which is great, but that makes the wild card even more stupid. You are basically picking between the Cubs, Giants and the Marlins who are all playing different schedules. How do you decide who’s better? The unbalanced schedule is too important for divisional races, but it basically screws up the wild card.
So I think the wild card has it pros and cons, but definitely more cons than pros. Lets junk it.
Fantasy Notes
-----------------
I had a rough second week in the Homies league. Deuce McAlister got hurt in the first quarter and everything went downhill from there. I did win the other two leagues. I picked up Aaron Stecker in the homies league. Not sure how he fell to me, but he helped me win my first game in week 3. In the forward lateral league, I am losing a big star to a season long injury every week First Steve Smith, next Kellen Winslow Jr. and now Nate Webster, but I am still 3-0. I am 2-1 in the Yahoo league after a close defeat in week 3. I had some bye week issues. I should be back in week 4.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Oakland and the A’s
More on the Monday (Sept 14-th) night fight at the Oakland coliseum during the A’s game. The Texas Rangers bullpen attacked the fans and their pitcher Frank Francisco threw a chair into the stands. I was watching on TV and I saw the chair hit a woman. Apparently she was the wife of a heckler. The hecklers were making the usual comments at the fat guys like “you can use a salad” etc. And then one guy apparently said to Francisco that his family is waiting outside the Home Depot. This was apparently a racial reference about the Hispanics working at Home Depot. One caller to a talk show said that this is especially true in the East Bay where Hispanics show up in the morning and are looking for a job at the Home Depot. Whatever was said, it was obvious that the fans didn’t cross the line. Even on TV, I had no indication that the fans got onto the field or poured beer on the players. It was the players who tried to get into the stands. So I was actually a little upset with the Oakland PA announcer warning the fans that if they get on the field, A’s would forfeit the game. I was like, why are you saying this? The fans never got on the field to begin with.
This brings up an interesting point. The Oakland A’s fans seem to get a bad rap from the national media. I think most of it is because of the Raider fans. People around the country assume that the A’s fans are as rowdy as the Raiders fan and they are not. I heard such insinuations on the Jim Rome show and all other national shows. But there were quite a few Bay Area callers calling and defending the A’s fan saying they are pretty docile and nice. They made my point and I was happy about that. But for some reason they seem to have problems every now and then. Last year somebody threw a cell phone at Carl Everett and this year we have this and people probably think they are seeing a pattern here. . Me don’t think. Adding to this perception are comments from the Rangers claiming that they always have problems here. They are obviously trying to defend their indefensible acts and I don’t think it’s true.
This brings up an interesting point. The Oakland A’s fans seem to get a bad rap from the national media. I think most of it is because of the Raider fans. People around the country assume that the A’s fans are as rowdy as the Raiders fan and they are not. I heard such insinuations on the Jim Rome show and all other national shows. But there were quite a few Bay Area callers calling and defending the A’s fan saying they are pretty docile and nice. They made my point and I was happy about that. But for some reason they seem to have problems every now and then. Last year somebody threw a cell phone at Carl Everett and this year we have this and people probably think they are seeing a pattern here. . Me don’t think. Adding to this perception are comments from the Rangers claiming that they always have problems here. They are obviously trying to defend their indefensible acts and I don’t think it’s true.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Good Week 1
NFL week 1 was awesome as usual. The Raiders and the Niners lost which was not good news for the bay area fans. I thought both of them improved in the second half of their respective games. Their first halves were really as bad as the worst-case prediction for both teams. Gannon improved in the second half and had a couple of nice bombs to Doug Gabriel and Elvis Whitted. That should have warmed the heart of coach Norv Turned. Tyronne Wheatley couldn't do much against the Blitzburgh D. As for the Niners, Ken Dorsey replaced Tim Rattay and seemed to energize the offense. Rattay was good when he got back in later. I think Ken Dorsey is the QB of the future. It would be interesting to see him start in week 2 against N'aaleans.
The Sunday night game on ESPN was a great one between the Denver Broncos and the Chiefs. I am a Broncos fan these days because of my boy Jake Plummer ! He was at ASU when I went to ASU. He was his usual self on Sunday. Throwing a crazy, left-handed interception in the midst of some good passes and great scrambles. Jake giveth, Jake taketh away ! This game also featured my new favorite RB, Quentin Griffin. This guy is awesome ! He seems to have the best moves AB (after Barry Sanders). My other favorite RB priest Holmes was stellar as usual, but not enough. Overall the top RBs had top-notch performances. Priest Holmes, LT, Ahman Green, Shawn Alex, Clinton Portis, Curtis Martin, Marshall Faulk, Dominack Davis and Q all did very well. The only failures were Jamal Lewis and Deuce McAllister.
Fantasy Notes
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Deuce better fix things quickly. He is my RB in the Homies league. I lost the game here, but won handsomely in the other 2 leagues. Also Charles Rogers got injured in this league. I hope to get Ricky Proehl or Brandon Stockley to replace him. In one of my other leagues, I lost Steve Smith to injury and I was already thin at WR in :-( In the third Yahoo league I gave up on my sleeper pick Justin Gage and am jumping on the Doug Gabriel bandwagon. Lets see how it shakes out. I spent way too much time this weekend on FFL. It was fun, but not sure if it's going to get me results.
Baseball Note
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I play a fantasy baseball league on Yahoo as well. This is a public league and I am doing real bad. SO I have almost given up for this season. Today there was a serious fight at the A's-Rangers game at Oakland. A player ended up throwing a chair into the crowd. That hit a poor lady who should be suing his behind anytime now. Weird ...
The Sunday night game on ESPN was a great one between the Denver Broncos and the Chiefs. I am a Broncos fan these days because of my boy Jake Plummer ! He was at ASU when I went to ASU. He was his usual self on Sunday. Throwing a crazy, left-handed interception in the midst of some good passes and great scrambles. Jake giveth, Jake taketh away ! This game also featured my new favorite RB, Quentin Griffin. This guy is awesome ! He seems to have the best moves AB (after Barry Sanders). My other favorite RB priest Holmes was stellar as usual, but not enough. Overall the top RBs had top-notch performances. Priest Holmes, LT, Ahman Green, Shawn Alex, Clinton Portis, Curtis Martin, Marshall Faulk, Dominack Davis and Q all did very well. The only failures were Jamal Lewis and Deuce McAllister.
Fantasy Notes
---------------
Deuce better fix things quickly. He is my RB in the Homies league. I lost the game here, but won handsomely in the other 2 leagues. Also Charles Rogers got injured in this league. I hope to get Ricky Proehl or Brandon Stockley to replace him. In one of my other leagues, I lost Steve Smith to injury and I was already thin at WR in :-( In the third Yahoo league I gave up on my sleeper pick Justin Gage and am jumping on the Doug Gabriel bandwagon. Lets see how it shakes out. I spent way too much time this weekend on FFL. It was fun, but not sure if it's going to get me results.
Baseball Note
---------------
I play a fantasy baseball league on Yahoo as well. This is a public league and I am doing real bad. SO I have almost given up for this season. Today there was a serious fight at the A's-Rangers game at Oakland. A player ended up throwing a chair into the crowd. That hit a poor lady who should be suing his behind anytime now. Weird ...
Thursday, September 09, 2004
NFL 2004 !
The 2004 NFL season started today finally. One of the few days I actually got home early (before 6 PM here on the left coast). I was hoping to see a great game and the Patriots-Colts didn't disappoint one bit. This is what sets NFL apart from the the MLB and the NBA. It's playoff type intensity, effort and energy from game 1. And it's this way every year. It doesn't even have to be great teams kicking things off like we had today. Every NFL team thinks they are good anyways, especially in week 1 in this parity-era. Last year's Redskins-Jets season opener was just as intensely fought and neither team made it to the playoffs at the end. Coming back to today's game, this kid Tom Brady is really getting good. I have always thought he was kind of over-rated. He still probably is, but I have to grudgingly accept that he is good. He is accurate and always seems to make the right decision. Playing all those big games over the last few years has definitely helped Brady. He seems to have that intangible "it" that everybody talks about. Corey Dillon was probably under-used initially, but he got his touches eventually. Hopefully the Pats will use him more appropriately from the game 2.
I am not a big fan of the Pats or Tom Brady. So I was pulling for the Colts. I am big a fan of Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning. Just too much class there. Also Manning is probably the best QB in the league and how can you not like their high-octane offense ? Their defense is pathetic as always. But tonight, they let one get away. Fumbles and interceptions cost them. As always Bill Belichick came up with the great blitz call at the end which put Manning on his back and pushed Vanderjagt out of his comfort zone. I knew immediately he was going to miss the kick because he didn't kick with authority today. Even the extra points looked wobbly and shaky on TV. Edge looked great. I couldn't believe how easily they rushed up the gut against the Pats defense. I would be concerned if I were a Patriots fan. I can't see them winning the Super Bowl again with this run defense though this was against a good offense and a great rusher. I expect other teams to copy the Colts and try and rush against the Pats all year long. We have seen this time and time again where a great NFL team gets figured out in a couple of years and every team in the league start hitting them at the weak spot. Could this be happening to the Pats this year ? Me think so.
Fantasy Notes:
---------------
I am in 3 different fantasy leagues. I was impressed with the performance of Deion Branch, David Givens and Dallas Clark in the game. I could still get Dallas Clark in one of the leagues, but I already have Alge Crumpler (Atl - TE) and Jason Witten (Dal - TE) in my roster. So I couldn't pick him up :-( The other two Pats receivers are all taken in all the 3 leagues. So no tangible fantasy moves came out of tonite's game. I was going to put some money on the over (44.5 pts.) too. But I wanted to enjoy the game without any gambling angle. In fact, luckily I had no players from either team in any of my 3 fantasy teams. That was kind of surprising. So I could watch the whole game un-encumbered. But I did guess right on the "over" though. If only I had put some money ...
I am not a big fan of the Pats or Tom Brady. So I was pulling for the Colts. I am big a fan of Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning. Just too much class there. Also Manning is probably the best QB in the league and how can you not like their high-octane offense ? Their defense is pathetic as always. But tonight, they let one get away. Fumbles and interceptions cost them. As always Bill Belichick came up with the great blitz call at the end which put Manning on his back and pushed Vanderjagt out of his comfort zone. I knew immediately he was going to miss the kick because he didn't kick with authority today. Even the extra points looked wobbly and shaky on TV. Edge looked great. I couldn't believe how easily they rushed up the gut against the Pats defense. I would be concerned if I were a Patriots fan. I can't see them winning the Super Bowl again with this run defense though this was against a good offense and a great rusher. I expect other teams to copy the Colts and try and rush against the Pats all year long. We have seen this time and time again where a great NFL team gets figured out in a couple of years and every team in the league start hitting them at the weak spot. Could this be happening to the Pats this year ? Me think so.
Fantasy Notes:
---------------
I am in 3 different fantasy leagues. I was impressed with the performance of Deion Branch, David Givens and Dallas Clark in the game. I could still get Dallas Clark in one of the leagues, but I already have Alge Crumpler (Atl - TE) and Jason Witten (Dal - TE) in my roster. So I couldn't pick him up :-( The other two Pats receivers are all taken in all the 3 leagues. So no tangible fantasy moves came out of tonite's game. I was going to put some money on the over (44.5 pts.) too. But I wanted to enjoy the game without any gambling angle. In fact, luckily I had no players from either team in any of my 3 fantasy teams. That was kind of surprising. So I could watch the whole game un-encumbered. But I did guess right on the "over" though. If only I had put some money ...
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