Prodigal son returns
Lakers at Rockets has to be the game of the day (on a day with many interesting games too) due to the off season free agent 'swap' of Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest and the fantastic series between these clubs in last years playoffs after Yao Ming went down for the count.
Will Ariza continue to score for the Rockets to a level he never achieved when wearing gold and purple? Will Ron Artest play a team game or try to make todays matchup all about him? Will the Rockets unorthodox lineup (and Aaron Brooks) give the Lakers problems yet again?
Will Ron Artest play nice or go psycho?
The Lakers should win easily, but then they should have won easily in last years playoffs too. I really have no idea what will happen, and that's why I'll be watching.
Morrison Underrated?
Having watched a few Laker preseason games last week, I've come to a disturbing conclusion...
Adam Morrison may in fact be underrated.
He has been ridiculed mercilessly for being a Jack Haley-type on the sidelines since arriving in Los Angeles last year. The only thing wrong with that accusation is that Haley always looked hyperactive albeit out of place, whereas Morrison has looked borderline retarded on most occasions.
In the games I have watched this week, Morrison's spacing, passing and overall awareness is seemingly far greater than a lot of his fellow Lakers. Even Phil Jackson was quoted as saying that he'd noticed that Morrison had been "the Lakers best shooter during pre-season".
Now I know pre-season can never be given too much credit, we've all seen plenty of false heroes in October. But I can't help but think Morrison may just have something to offer this season for the Lake Show. Along with the emergence of Shannon Brown, the Lakers could end up being hailed as geniuses for the Radmanovic deal last year.
It's still in the balance of course, but hey, so is the Ron Artest deal.
Bring on the season-openers already!!!
Welcome back!
Well it's about time...
Safe to say we've been away for a while and a lot has happened in the NBA. (More posts to follow, this is just a taste)
Firstly, Ron Artest is a Laker... Ariza is a Rocket... AI might be a Grizzly... 'Sheed is a Celtic... Shaq is a Cavalier... RJ is a Spur... VC is a Magician... Turk is a Raptor... Andre Miller is a Blazer... The Matrix is a Maverick... and finally Emeka Okafor is a Hornet. The competition this season will be electrifying with the likes of San Antonio, Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and the Clippers all looking to make a run at the trophy.
Sorry Clippers fans, that was cruel. But if you think the franchise has turned around just because you drafted Mr Potato Head Griffin, then it's going to continue to be a sad state of affairs for you. I personally think you can look at some teams and just KNOW that nothing is going to be won for the next 10years... except maybe the lottery. I put the following teams in that category:
Los Angeles Clippers
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks
Charlotte Bobcats
Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards
Sacramento Kings
Orlando Magic
Minnesota Timberwolves
Phoenix Suns
That's my list, and I'm sticking to it. Call me in 10 years and I guarantee there will not be an NBA Champion among these franchises.
Bring on the new season!!
Green and gold final?
I'll happily admit that it's much too early to realistically handicap next years finals participants, although gut feeling suggests that the Lakers and the Celtics are doing good things to get themselves to the final two.
The Lakers signing of Ron Artest, while in my opinion a stupid and unnecessary risk, has raised their ceiling. That's a scary idea.
The Boston signing of Rasheed Wallace is brilliant. Just the shot in the arm this franchise needed, so long as Doc Rivers is prepared to use both Wallace and Garnett more sparingly to keep both fresh for the playoffs. Ideally they will both allow Perkins to take rests when his problematic shoulder is re-injured at some point as is inevitable. All that is outstanding is to resign Ray Allen, which I hope is done shortly.
I have to admit to not being a huge fan of the Cleveland signing of Shaq. Sure, it means they can defend Dwight Howard better, and he did slay them this year, but if Garnett had been healthy Cleveland wouldn't have faced the Orlando Magic anyway so changing the face of your team in response to the number two threat is rather foolish. Cleveland can still win, but now they'll win in spite of Shaq not because of him.
Seven’s the key number here…
Just so the heading makes sense, yes, I agree both series' look like going seven. I'm probably the last to jump on this train but hey, I'm on, I have a ticket and I'll enjoy the show.
As for Kobe, ok, so the three's appear to have been bad judgement. If he makes them however, we are all in awe and the Black Mamba has again struck. You know he thinks every one is going in, so hard to comprehend what's going through Kobe's mind at times. If you remove the three's from the equation and he has a respectable 8 for 16 game, .500 from the field and a healthy 12 for 13 from the charity stripe. So apart from the three's, I see a relatively competent offensive performance from Kobe and employees 16 and 17 respectively.
(Note: I'm intentionally not mentioning the Lakers' bench performance tonight. It speaks for itself and you don't always need to be hand fed ammunition!)
The facts are clear and history will show a simply horrible performance by the Lakers. The 20 point loss or thereabouts looks horrible but history doesn't generally remember individual game margins, just Championship series' results.
Now Ryan, to say professional NBA athletes don't try on the offensive boards because they don't get as many shots as another guy is ridiculous! I fail to see where you come from with that. This is not a social pickup game on a Sunday afternoon. These guys are paid millions of dollars to do a job. Any job in life has the same situations.
You've got Phil the Chairman of the Board, Kobe the CEO, Pau the Managing Director and Sasha Vujacic and DJ MBenga the odd-couple janitors. There's certain things that get done by certain people, that's life.
The real problem to me, and I must agree with Michael Wilbon here, is that apart from Kobe, the Lakers appear to have litle to no killer instinct. You could buzz cut Pau's hair "Jackass" style and he wouldn't want to fight you. I rate Aziza's toughness and even Fisher for an old veteran, but Fisher's biggest play this series has been a shoving match with KMart on a jumpall. Can someone tell me why Fisher was the only one T'd on that play?? Anyway... No matter how tough you are or pretend to be... there has to be backup of good play.
Example: JR Smith is an immature, disruptive turd of a player and one I wouldn't want on my team, much like Sasha Vujacic in a lot of ways. We've seen Sasha piss every Laker player, coach and fan off with some brainless plays during these Playoffs. Smith's technical at the end of the 3rd quarter in Game 3 could be seen as the same sort of crime except for one thing... he made the damn shot!!
I was listening to Bill Simmons' "BS Report" last night and heard him talking about a scenario involving a Ron Artest for Lamar Odom deal. I know we're in the middle of a great Playoffs but regardless of where the Lakers finish this run, I am salivating at the thought of Ron wearing a purple and gold #73 next season. Toughness issue? Fixed.
Ok... focus Paul.. get back to the point.
Denver is faced with undoubtably their biggest game in franchise history on Wednesday night. If the Nuggets can take that game... Whoa! It could be lights out for LA and a long off season of which only seven or eight of the current Lakers return to fight another day. Maybe a reality show could take shape..?
I'm picturing something very similar to Dave Chappelle's parody of Diddy's "Making the Band". Sasha would have to fetch Kobe a sugar cookie from Venice Beach or Kobe would shut down the studio. And just for the record, the five greatest big men of all-time would probably be; Bynum... Bynum... Bynum, Bynum, Bynum.
For the record I'm genuinely excited regarding the coming NBA Finals, as long as the Orlando Magic have no part of it.
Tomorrow is huge for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A beautiful reprive…
It seems that I cannot really say anymore on this until the 2-0 lead has eventuated.. So I will agree to disagree for now. However, when the 2-0 DOES become a reality, I will be in full flight. You're on notice.
I decided to find something else to keep me occupied while I waited for the Lakers to happen. So what did I do? I took a peek into my 75+ VCR tape stash to find something fun to write about. After inserting the first of the un-labelled tapes, I was disappointed to see that I'd recorded the movie "The Wash". Dr Dre is a genius and all, but my God that was an average film.
My eyes then spotted an old Video Store copy of "Big Momma's House" starring Martin Lawrence. The anti-dubbing slot had been covered with adhesive tape. What would I have been so desperate to tape that I would declare myself so open to a video store fine? Well, it was a Minnesota @ Cleveland game from what looked like about 2004. I saw KG hit a turn around jump shot over LeBron, smiled to myself and mentally noted the fun it will be to watch that at a later date.
Finally, I decided that three is a charm and inserted my final choice. I press PLAY and am wonderfully excited to find the 1998 ECF Game 7 between Indiana and Chicago. "I don't guarantee anything, not even to my wife... but we're going to win this game" says MJ...
Ah MJ.. good to have you back. Where's the keys to my Delorian? *sigh*
With the starting lineups being displayed, I quickly had super terrific double joy as I realised that this was the series where Scottie Pippen tore Mark Jackson a new church seat and that I could just yell "Momma there goes that MAN!" on every play. Some things, (not many) are better than Basketball. This is one of those things.
I was also quickly reminded of how many ridiculous fouls Luc Longley had called on him towards the end of his Bulls career. The NBA was lucky Luc didn't have a Ron Artest-like devil on his left shoulder or Auburn Hills in 2004 would've looked like Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone's "pleasure town". The big Aussie just stood there with his arms straight up and was somehow at fault! It happened against Shawn Kemp in the '96 Finals too. Kemp had about 12-15 free throws in that series that were completely unwarranted. Oh, the memories...
Quarter time: Pacers lead 27-19. I now open a beer, (knowing the Bulls win) and decide to take a new look at this game... I want to see in this Bulls team, where I want the improvement in the 2009 Lakers to come from. So now, the new mission begins...
Firstly, I'm not comparing Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant. Let's just get that out the way from the start. I never have and never will. Different players, different time, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda... But, one thing is certain, the architecture of the teams is the same. So there will be similarities and I should be able to solve the Lakers Playoff woes in the next two hours. By the way, that beer was my first and only.
Kukoc wanders around the court like the robot guy from the Chappelle Show. I cannot put into words how lost he looks in all aspects of the game so far other than when he shoots the ball. Even Scottie high fives "at" him when they.. Err.. rejoice. Toni even has the audacity to complain for fouls on nearly every shot attempt inside the arc. You just don't command any respect from the referees when you argue on EVERY call. Here's my first point;
Pau and Odom especially need to "man up" and play tougher. No more whining on every inside play. No more yelling on EVERY shot attempt from inside the paint. This must stop immediately unless they dunk on someone with the foul.
Steve Kerr hits a big three and then plays hard on defense to secure a steal for the Bulls. It's physical defense and doesn't allow any easy post entry passes. In the space of 3 minutes, Kerr has not only secured two contested defensive boards, but he has hit one open three and importantly been open for two others. After approximately six minutes of game time under his belt, Kerr has now got eight points on 2 for 2 from the arc. Second point;
This is where the Vujacic's, the Brown's and most importantly the Fisher's can flourish. We always say defense creates offense but this is just poetry in motion. Momentum is arguably the most important weapon in a team's arsenal, and especially for the Lakers at Staples Center. If the currently anemic Laker guards commit themselves to tough physical defense and hustle, everyone who's ever followed this sport will know what comes next. Open looks, big shots and crowd frenzies/silences depending on the location of the game.
Interesting point: Travis Best is just killing the Bulls off the dribble. Phil hasn't made a change and Kerr is now hoping for help defense like freshman nerd in a school cafeteria.
Half time: Bulls lead 48-45. Why the turnaround? Hustle. I've just seen offensive put-backs, offensive tips, kicked ball violations and no complaining to the refs. Jordan waits until the half-time buzzer sounds to give referee Hugh Evans a spray but he makes his heated point and moves on. Good leadership.
The third quarter is just a great advertisment for hustle, strong rebounding and just great screening and shooting. Kukoc has nailed 14 points in the third and has complained for a foul on all but two made shots. Reggie Miller and Rik Smits have more chemistry on baseline screens than Arnold Jackson and Mr Drummond. Just a great quarter of Basketball. Jordan has picked up 4 defensive boards in this quarter including two contested against Dale Davis. Wow.
Miller and Smits had great chemistry. A car would've come in handy to run down Michael Jordan though.
Three quarter time: Bulls lead 69-65
The real players stand up in the 4th. It's as simple as that. The Pacers start out strong and Michael is cooking an 0 for 8 field goal stew. The drought is ended with a driving dunk on Rik Smits. I guess the world does beat the tune of just one drum. Mike's drum. Mike has shot 9 of 24 from the field and 8 for 11 from the line for his 26 points. These are the same Kobe numbers that people ridicule Bryant for. Funny how that happens, although it's the intangibles that sets Mike apart here. The rebounding, the intensity, the drive and dish, the unwavering demonstration of excellence. Kerr takes a charge on Travis Best. Is Phil Jackson a motivational genius here? Or just lucky?
The game is won in the final two minutes, and whose fingerprints are all over the win? Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and some guys named rebounding, defensive pressure and aggresive drives to the basket. The Bulls finish with 22 offensive rebounds to Indiana's 7. It all comes down to hustle, determination and the belief that beating your opponent isn't necessarily about scoring more than your opposition.. it's about stopping your opponent from scoring more than you.
Memo to the Lakers, watch this game. It is exactly what you have to do to win the 2009 NBA Championship. And not for one game... but for 8 of them.
There's the challenge... I love the Playoffs.