NBA

New Champ Garnett Is Finally Worthy of Eating Wheaties

Filed under: NBA

Funny story: When Garnett was previously on the Wheaties box, General Mills toyed with the idea of temporarily altering the slogan to 'Wheaties: Breakfast of Frustrated First Round Losers.' The 11-time all-star and former perpetually disappointed Timberwolves forward finally earned his first championship ring last night after the Celtics destroyed the Lakers. Interestingly, finals MVP Paul Pierce got stiffed on the cereal box honor.

Now fortified with Photoshop drop-shadow!

Posted by Ben Palosaari at June 18, 2008 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

 

Lakers Fans safe at Mayslack’s Bar.

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As Kobe and Pau return home to Hollywood tonight to defend their turf, Lakers fans are on edge. This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out.They’re down 2-0, with KG and Paul Pierce ready to pounce. A loss tonight would force them to accept the inevitable defeat and then sidetrack themselves with hideous distractions, like Euro Cup 2008.

Continue reading "Lakers Fans safe at Mayslack’s Bar."

Posted by Bradley Campbell at June 10, 2008 12:12 PM | Comments (1)

 

Bill Simmons doesn't think you should root for the Lakers

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I know, I know, he's a Celtics fan, so that's not news. But in his latest "Myths and Truths about the Celtics-Lakers rivalry" piece, there's an element of local relevance:

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at June 3, 2008 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

 

Watch out or Kobe might instill his DNA in you

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Why are the Lakers facing Kevin Garnett's Celtics in the NBA Finals? Kobe Bryant found a way to fill his teammates with Kobe DNA. This unfortunate turn of phrase was used multiple times during Kobe's interview with Stephen A. Smith Sunday night, and even made the front page of ESPN.com:

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at June 1, 2008 5:21 PM | Comments (1)

 

Shocker in Gloomtown

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I must admit that I have slightly mixed feelings about the Timberwolves 117-107 victory over the Suns on Wednesday night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the Wolves; they’ve officially got their first winning streak of the year and in the last week they’ve gone 2-1 against three playoff teams (and really, they should’ve won that third one). Things are really looking up and Randy Foye isn’t even scrimmaging yet. But—and I realize that this is a rather embarrassing thing to say about sports for a grown man who, you know, reads books and stuff—I have a deep and emotional investment in the Phoenix Suns. Just to warn you, this next bit is something of a digression. If you don’t really care what I lose sleep over (totally understandable), you can just skip this next section and go straight to the part where I actually, like, talk about the game.

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Posted by Benjamin Polk at January 25, 2008 2:41 AM | Comments (2)

 

A Team Worse Than Death

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I was just a little disappointed to see that, due to the fact that his body is disintegrating, Shaquille O’Neal wouldn’t be in the active roster for the Heat on Tuesday. This feeling came as a surprise to me since I’ve deeply hated the guy ever since he put on that next 60 pounds of muscle, joined the Lakers and stopped running or dribbling. I realize that he was (and is) a freakish athletic phenomenon—and also that he weirdly seems to have a good sense of humor—but his brutalist playing style was as awesome and terrifying and inevitable as an East Berlin housing project. The kind of thing that was designed solely to crush spirits. He was effective (horribly, horribly effective), but his play was joyless and oppressive (also boring) and, as far as I’m concerned, it just wasn’t basketball (and if you disagree with me, you are a Laker fan). Nonetheless, I guess I was looking forward to seeing the aging Diesel—probably a combination of perverse fascination and a very guilty pleasure in his accelerating decline.

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Posted by Benjamin Polk at January 9, 2008 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Let's Do This Again Sometime

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Mikey Hates It

I have a distinct memory of, in a pickup game at my rural college, getting viciously schooled by a skinny, quiet 12-year-old local kid who probably (and quite rightly) knew he would find easy pickings among us hungover, pizza-fed undergrads. With his gangly frame and summer camp good looks, the Pacers’ Mikey Dunleavy has always reminded me of that kid, with a touch of the pampered east coast Brahmin thrown in for good measure (and taller, and better at basketball). So I felt personally vindicated when Sebastian Telfair shook Dunleavy with one of the filthiest crossovers I’ve ever seen. Bassie set him up with two between-the-leg dribbles followed by a little hesitation/shake with his head and right shoulder. When Telfair then explosively crossed ball over to his left, Dunleavy performed an amazing little partially reclined, one-legged wobble and could only catch a glimpse over his shoulder as Telfair finished at the rim with a pretty left-handed scoop.

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Posted by Benjamin Polk at December 22, 2007 2:41 PM | Comments (4)

 

NBA Finals Preview: Dallas Uber Alles

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Shaquille O'Neal is one of my favorite players of all time. The guy is incredibly media-savvy--his interviews have made me laugh out loud more than any other athlete. On the court, he is Wilt Chamberlain plus championship hardware, the most unstoppable force in the game for a decade. Plus, I've got a soft spot for him because he made me look smart for loudly defending him back in the day when everyone wanted to rip him for never winning the big one and concentrating more on movies and rap than he did on hoops (absurd of course, but so it goes).

But as much as the heart goes to Shaq, my head says this is the year the Dallas Mavericks grab the trophy, in anywhere from five to seven games--we'll split the difference at six, but it really could go up or down from there, depending on a bevy of factors. Here's my take on the climax to the most consistently exciting NBA playoffs since they expanded the format.

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Posted by Britt Robson at June 7, 2006 11:44 PM | Comments (7)

 

Western Conference Finals Preview: The Suns Set in the West

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First of all, this is a matchup of the two best coaches in the postseason thus far. I happened to see Mike D'Antoni interviewed the day after the controversial last-second loss to the Lakers (Nash fouled then stripped as he tried to call a timeout) sent Phoenix down 3-1 and the guy just exuded calm confidence. Right then I knew that Phoenix had a decent chance to get to the second round. The other thing you have to admire about D'Antoni is that he plays unlike anybody in the league and goes out and gets parts to fit his system. Boris Diaw was obviously the main coup this year, but the acquisitions of Raja Bell and Tim Thomas weren't too shabby either. Granted that's the GM (now toiling in Toronto) but D'Antoni was obviously consulted and made it work. And flipping Barbosa over to the two-guard was a bold and savvy stroke that is all D'Antoni. This is a team that has won the divisional title and reached the Conference Finals two years in a row playing without a center, in constant transition. They're just a hell of a lot of fun. And the brains behind it all on the sidelines fades into the woodwork as much as he can.

As for Avery Johnson, well, I am now munching on my vote for Flip Saunders as coach of the year after AJ's insertion of Devon Harris at the point totally flummoxed the Spurs and literally changed the equation of how the entire second round series would be played.

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Posted by Britt Robson at May 24, 2006 4:39 PM | Comments (8)

 

Three-Pointer: Heat-Pistons Opener

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1. No substitute for watching
Right after I posted my series pick of Pistons in 6, three respondents quickly chimed in to rebut me. The difference? They'd obviously been watching a lot more of the Pistons-Cavs series than I did. (For the record, I didn't see any of the games end-to-end, and missed two of the three Cavs wins entirely.) I did watch most of Game 7, particularly in the second half when that famed Pistons D came back into vogue, and figured they'd merely been coasting in their losses. And I'd seen enough of the Heat in the first two rounds to discern what I thought would be their weaknesses versus Detroit (and may still be).

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Posted by Britt Robson at May 24, 2006 10:15 AM | Comments (3)

 

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

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The team with all the depth has had all the rest, while the squad who only goes seven deep was pushed to seven games in the previous round. With Shaq, Mourning, Haslem and even veteran banger Michael Doleac, the Miami Heat have the beef to bully the Detroit Pistons underneath. And with a surfeit of graybeard vets who probably just have this last legitimate shot at a ring--Shaq, Mourning, Payton, 'Toine Walker, and coach Pat Riley--there is motivation aplenty for Miami to will themselves to the NBA Finals.

Detroit in 6.

The top three reasons I like the Pistons.
1) Miami doesn't have a good answer for Chauncey Billups.

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Posted by Britt Robson at May 23, 2006 3:42 PM | Comments (8)

 

Open thread: NBA Second Round

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Okay folks, sorry I don't have time for analysis right now, but I do want to open this thread for anyone who wants to talk about the second-round of the series. Hopefully I'll elaborate later, but here are my picks:

Miami over New Jersey in 6.
Detroit over Cleveland in 5.
Clippers over Phoenix in 6.
San Antonio over Dallas in 6. (No way to prove it, but this was my pick even before the Spurs triumphed this afternoon. For that matter, barring injuries or as of now unforeseen circumstances, I think San Antonio will again beat the Pistons and repeat as champs. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.)

Other permissible comment topics: The Phoenix comeback (otherwise known as the Kwame-Smush el foldo); the little white guy winning his second straight undeserved MVP; rethinking coach of the year and MVP by including playoffs in the context; and the extracurricular activities on the court (from Reggie Evans's nut grab to Raja Bell's clothesline to Udonis Haslem's mouthpiece toss).

Posted by Britt Robson at May 7, 2006 6:07 PM | Comments (15)

 

NBA Playoff Thread: Lakers Win Fabulous Overtime Tilt

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The best game of the playoffs thus far occurred in what has been the most consistently competitive first-round series, with the Lakers pulling out a thrilling overtime win over Phoenix to go up 3-1. Down by 8 in the 4th quarter, the Lakers pulled it out on a Smush Parker steal from Steve Nash after the inbounds, followed by a gorgeous teardrop layup from Kobe Bryant going baseline (no bank). In overtime, the Suns were up 3 with very little time remaining. Kobe banked in a layup and then, after the Suns brought it up, Nash was trapped and probably fouled while appearing to try and call a timeout. But Bennett Salvatore (the Dukakis lookalike) whistled a jump ball! On the inevitable Lakers tap (it was Nash and Luke Walton on the jump), Kobe had the rock on a do-or-die jumper and you know what happens when that happens--Swish! Lakers win.

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Posted by Britt Robson at April 30, 2006 5:42 PM | Comments (9)

 

NBA Playoff Three-Pointer and Open Thread

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Note: For those of you who clamored for a playoff blog, here you go. Don't know how often I can chime in, but I'll keep opening an occasional new thread if there is sufficient interest.

1. Devil in the details
The great thing about predictions is that they can be spun by whatever level lens you want to focus on. For example, on a macro level, I picked the Spurs over the Kings and the Nets over the Pacers, leading some to think I'm right on the former and wrong on the latter. But anybody who bothered to parse the details would see that I totally blew it when I claimed that San Antonio would take Sac lightly and wouldn't be geared up in full playoff mode; and that my guessing was more accurate when I called the Nets vastly overrated.

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Posted by Britt Robson at April 25, 2006 1:17 PM | Comments (14)

 

Regular Season Awards and Playoff Picks

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Let's get the easiest calls out of the way first. The Pistons will require no more than five games to dispatch the Bucks and Chris Paul is the NBA Rookie of the Year.

The second-easiest pair? Dallas over Memphis in no more than six games (and I'd wager five) and Flip Saunders as Coach of the Year, an obvious choice despite the reputation-enhancing jobs turned in by Avery Johnson in Dallas, Mike D'Antoni in Phoenix, and Scott Skiles in Chicago.

Medium-hard picks?

Well, everyone claims the combo of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant is going to give the Phoenix Suns fits, but I think the only way that happens is if Lamar Odom gets really engaged--the way he used to in Miami--playing the nonstop uptempo style that will define this series, and pairs with Kobe to simply overwhelm the Suns. And I don't think either Kobe or Odom care enough about the other to let that occur. Phoenix in 5, with Kobe averaging nearly 40 points and six assists per game.

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Posted by Britt Robson at April 22, 2006 2:31 PM | Comments (2)

 

March Madness: High School Edition

Filed under: Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep

Last week, Kevin Garnett "scolded" (Star Tribune) some of his teammates for laughing after another loss.

It was difficult to not think about Garnett and the moribund style of basketball the NBA plays while watching two terrific high school basketball games Wednesday night. The gym in Maple Grove was packed with parents and students, all of whom had a stake in the outcome: win or go home. Gophers coach Dan Monson sat on the bleachers in the corner, eating popcorn and salivating over the raw and tough city kids before him (salivating, that is, if he's got an iota of coaching acumen left in him).

Greg Boone was there, too. Boone played for Minneapolis Central in the glory days of Minneapolis basketball, and is now an avid youth-sports organizer. He once told me that people often tell him that the '75-'76 Central team featuring Boone, William Henry, Greg Maddox, Duane Nelson, and Andre Griffin was the greatest high school basketball team they've ever seen. They once beat Edison, 100-25.

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Posted by Jim Walsh at March 15, 2006 10:53 AM | Comments (13)

 

Oklahoma City mayor offers to host New Orleans Hornets

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Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has offered the New Orleans Hornets a temporary home at the Ford Center for their upcoming NBA season. Hornets general manager Allan Bristow said no decision had been made on where the team would play. As with the NFL's Saints, LSU could be an option, with the Pete Maravich Assembly Center seating 14,000. Read the entire Associated Press story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 2, 2005 2:42 PM | Comments (0)

 

One of my favorite jerks

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Unlike most people, who consider Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to be an asshole, I've always liked the guy and regarded him as something of a kindred spirit (which doesn't necessarily mean he isn't an asshole). One of the few people who got out fabulously rich before the dot.com boom was revealed to be as much of a fever dream as Haight-Ashbury's Summer of Love, Cuban bought himself a basketball team, opened his wallet to upgrade his perennially woeful squad with quality players, and then treated them to the best perks his money could buy. Watching him sit behind the bench, baiting the refs, trying not to be a jock-sniffing doofus but occasionally losing control and doling out high-fives and back-slaps to his team, he was obviously first and foremost a stone hoops fan.

Anyway, when Cuban bought the Mavs back in the late 90s, one of the few players on the roster that was worth a damn was Michael Finley. The other day, Cuban made a smart business decision and cut Finley. For those who think Mark Cuban has no class, check out his account of how and why he dumped the fading star and longest-tenured Mav.

Posted by Britt Robson at August 17, 2005 10:44 PM | Comments (1)

 

Can Flip flip the script?

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Regular readers of my Hang Time column know I've generally been an admirer of former Wolves coach Flip Saunders, easily the best bench jockey in the history of that franchise (against woeful competition) and someone who was unfairly scapegoated last season. Even so, I don't think Saunders taking over as the new coach of the Detroit Pistons yesterday will be a beneficial fit for either side.

A story in yesterday's Detroit Free Press was pegged on Flip's fabled adaptability, something he always emphasized with pride. But the most compelling evidence of that trait is a decade old, a remnant from his old days in the minor league CBA, when he'd constantly be losing his best players to the NBA and have to adjust on the fly. By contrast, amid nine years of revolving personnel in Minnesota, Saunders had a consistent, signature style. And it's not one that will wear well in Motown.

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Posted by Britt Robson at July 22, 2005 5:01 PM | Comments (0)

 

The Only NBA Draft Preview To Read

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For those of you unfamiliar with The Sports Guy, espn.com's columnist is not only one of the most astute sports commentators in any medium, he's funny as hell. In honor of tonight's NBA draft, The Sports Guy (real name, Bill Simmons) has compiled his Top 60 moments from the past eight NBA drafts. Perhaps only Summers would be anal enough to keep a diary of the past eight drafts AND to lace it with so many hilarious insights. It helps if you know all the trivial figures he spools out, but even neophytes can find a laugh or two here. It is the perfect antidote to all the blather folks who tune in tonight will hear about players who, aside from a handful of sure things, represent one of the weirdest billion-dollar crapshoots in all of pro sports.

Posted by Britt Robson at June 28, 2005 4:34 PM | Comments (1)

 

NBA Finals Preview

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The most competitive championship matchup in over a decade will go the seven-game distance.

I was wrong about ?Sheed. I thought Miami's Udonis Haslem would frustrate his offense in the paint, box him out of precious rebounds, and compel him to launch the ill-advised outside jumpers he's prone to jacking up anyway. It was a crucial match-up, and the primary reason I called the Heat to win the Eastern Conference Finals. But Rasheed Wallace, the hot-tempered dude with the super-cool tats and the quarter-sized splotch of white hair near the top of his otherwise ebony noggin, proved me wrong about everything but the match-up being crucial.

When the Detroit Pistons acquired ?Sheed for four players and a number-one draft pick in February 2004, he was the missing link that transformed the team into NBA Champions. Infamous for his tantrums, he began channeling his intensity into teamwork, tailoring his versatile skills to fit coach Larry Brown's unselfish, defensive-oriented system. And while he is still prone to popping off, drawing technical fouls and occasionally guaranteeing wins in comments to the media, he's obviously part of the fierce inner circle of personalities at the core of the Pistons, much loved and thriving because of it. This year, Detroit is 8-0 in the playoffs when ?Sheed scores 20 points or better.

It happened in three of the four wins required to beat the Heat, all of them absolutely vital to the momentum and outcome of the series. In Game One, ?Sheed's 20 points led the Pistons in scoring and enabled them to temporarily steal homecourt advantage. In Game Four, he racked up another 20, in just 22 minutes, to help even the series instead of forcing Detroit to go back to Miami down three games to one. And, after Haslem made me look smart by dominating his matchup with ?Sheed in Games Five and Six, Wallace was arguably the MVP of the deciding Game Seven, providing a game-turning tip-in and two clutch free throws in crunch time en route to another 20-point outing.

So now Detroit and ?Sheed are back in the NBA Finals, encountering the San Antonio Spurs in what should be the most competitive championship series in more than a decade. Unlike the previous round, where I felt fairly confident about San Antonio and Miami, I wouldn't be surprised to see either team emerge victorious, and think the series will go the entire seven games. Here are some of the key elements I'll be watching.

Perhaps the biggest variable is how much and how effectively each club resorts to crossover defensive assignments. The offenses of both teams are ignited by their shooting guards, while the perimeter stoppers for both teams are their small forwards. How much the Pistons' Tayshaun Prince is assigned to guard Manu Ginobili, and how often the Spurs' Bruce Bowen is put on Rip Hamilton will dictate how both teams attack the basket.

Both Ginobili and Hamilton are energizer bunnies who never stop running, and it would be fascinating to watch them engage in an endurance test by strictly guarding each other. That won't happen for a variety of reasons. Ginobili is better than Hamilton at penetrating to the hoop off the dribble, plays bigger than Hamilton (although at 6-7, Hamilton is an inch taller), loves to draw contact, and is a momentum generator who, as much as possible, needs to be nipped in the bud. The Pistons' best response is guarding him with Prince, who is a supple 6-9 with a huge wingspan, and is a maestro at deterring penetration without drawing the foul.

At the other end, Hamilton utilizes screens along the baseline and the elbows of the foul line for spot-up, mid-range jumpers that are the most reliable staple of the Pistons offense. Bowen is a highly physical?many say dirty?defender who impedes motion as much as possible and fights through and weaves around picks with grit and guile. But given how many picks are set for Rip, and how quickly he can catch and shoot, I don't think Bowen is as much of a defensive upgrade over Ginobili as Prince is over Hamilton in this series. Furthermore, with Bowen (whose primary offensive weapon is an three-pointer from the weak side) in the game, Hamilton can essentially conserve his energy by guarding him when Detroit is on defense. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Spurs leave Ginobili on Hamilton more than vice versa, and utilize Robert Horry and Brent Barry to expose mismatches with Hamilton. For the same reason, I suspect Lindsay Hunter will be used against Ginobili in the same way that he was called upon to deter Miami's Dwyane Wade in the conference finals.

The bottom line: Bowen will be less of a factor than most people anticipate. Horry and Barry will burn Detroit enough to pry Prince off of Ginobelli more often than the Pistons prefer. Hamilton will score plenty no matter who is guarding him. But because San Antonio is so much quicker than Miami on interior defense and in response to the pick and roll, Hamilton won't come close to averaging seven assists per game, as he did in the last series.

Meanwhile, it is also likely that defensive-oriented starting centers Ben Wallace and Nazr Mohammed will often be called upon to guard their opponents' more offensively gifted power forwards, Tim Duncan and Rasheed Wallace. One might imagine that Ben Wallace, the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year this season, guarding the superstar Duncan would be a marquee match-up. But this is precisely where I think San Antonio has an marked advantage, provided Duncan dishes to his teammates as effectively as Shaq did in the previous series.

It's odd to me that Duncan has this squeaky-clean reputation, when he's one of the biggest whiners in the league with the officials, and can occasionally be a bit of a ball-hog, especially since he's surrounded by Ginobeili, point guard Tony Parker, and deadly long-range shooters like Horry and Barry. If Ben Wallace switches on Duncan, it will be interesting to see how often the "Big Fundamental" engineers the best possible shot, either for himself or his teammates. Most often, he should move the ball around, because after getting steamrolled by Shaq for seven games, Ben Wallace is going to regard Duncan's butt-pushing low-post manuvers as a vacation. (As always, the caveat to any analysis or predictions about low-post matchups is what the refs are calling for fouls. Ben and Rasheed Wallace have to remember that more contact is allowed on both sides when Shaq is playing, and bodying Duncan in the same manner is likely to draw a whistle.)

Meanwhile, if ?Sheed is hitting his outside shot, the Spurs could be in big trouble. San Antonio would love to save Duncan's energy by having him guard the offensively indifferent (if marginally improved) scorer Ben Wallace, leaving Mohammed to contend with Rasheed. But if ?Sheed is nailing that three-pointer, especially trailing the fast break as the Spurs scramble to defend down low, Mohammed can't hang with him. Consequently, Duncan either chases him or becomes the de facto center because Horry has been assigned the task. It is entirely possible that the Pistons will continue to be unbeaten in playoff games where ?Sheed gets 20 or better this year.

Which brings us to the point guard matchup, which, as every analyst has already pointed out, pits the physicality of Chauncey Billups against the quickness of Tony Parker. I'd argue that a bigger distinction between the two is crunch-time confidence. Billups earned the Finals MVP award last year and has embraced the "Mr. Big Shot" moniker that has subsequently been affixed to him. The four free throws he made to ice the Miami series in Game Seven didn't even graze the iron. Parker is much more skitterish, mentally as well as physically. Like most of his teammates, he's not reliable at the free throw line, and perhaps even less so with the game in the balance. On the other hand, if he's allowed to get into a rhythm and his confidence soars, he'll generate a passel of fouls throughout the Pistons lineup and torment Detroit with his ingenuity and ability to finish in the paint.

Bottom line: San Antonio's chances of winning will rise and fall with Duncan's assist total and Parker's point total, although Rasheed's point total will be an even larger factor on the outcome. Billups will abuse Parker's defense more with pull-up jumpers than post-ups in the low block.

Finally, I don't think San Antonio can win this series without pulling off a nip-and-tuck victory somewhere along the way. As mentally tough as the Spurs have been this year, Detroit has the swagger and galvanizing sense of personal security that accrues to a tempered champion. They will not fold, they will have to be vanquished. And at some point that means the Spurs will have to hit their free throws or make their stops or convert their sliver of a chance at the precise moment when failure to do so spells defeat.

That's how close I think this series will be. And, on the strength of Duncan's good judgment, Ginobeili's kamikaze acrobatics, a pinch of Robert Horry, and a naked hunch, I'll call the Spurs in 7.

Posted by Britt Robson at June 9, 2005 6:01 PM

 

Shaq offers to pay for Mikan's funeral

Filed under: NBA

Miami Heat star Shaquille O'Neal has offered to pay the expenses for George Mikan's funeral. "Without No. 99, there is no me," said O'Neal. Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five titles in a six-year span, while O'Neal carried the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000-2002. Mikan's son Terry stated it was up to his mother whether to accept Shaq's offer and mentioned that the elder Mikan and O'Neal had been close friends.

Read the complete AP story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 3, 2005 2:10 PM

 

Minneapolis Laker legend George Mikan dead at 80

Filed under: NBA

AP is reporting Minneapolis Laker George Mikan died Wednesday night, having suffered from diabetes and kidney failure. George Mikan's Lakers won five of the first six NBA titles after the league was formed in 1948. He averaged 23.1 points per game in seven seasons with Minneapolis before retiring because of injuries in 1956. Mikan was the league's MVP in its inaugural 1948-49 season, when he averaged 28.3 points in leading the Lakers to the NBA title.

Read the rest of the story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 2, 2005 1:12 PM

 

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Filed under: NBA

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Trying to distill a playoff series preview down to two or three key elements is generally a foolhardy endeavor, especially for a matchup as compelling as the Pistons versus the Heat. Injuries, adjustments, and officiating (in that order) are three wild cards that can turn an initially prescient analysis logy and anachronistic. That said, I think that the longer Detroit is forced to utilize Antonio McDyess in close games, the less chance the Pistons have of besting Miami.

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Posted by Britt Robson at May 23, 2005 5:35 PM

 

Spurs-Suns preview, fashionably late

Filed under: NBA

My apologies for the Hangtime hiatus. With the Wolves shoved to the curb, the absolute need for a Monday post has diminished; plus there?s a new roundelay of stadium-oriented chicanery to follow. I procrastinated on my second-round choices in the NBA playoffs, then rationalized it by assuming everyone knew that all the higher seeds would be triumphant. While that turned out to be the case, I was surprised by the rough patches Detroit and San Antonio endured (versus the gutsy Pacers and the Allen-propelled Sonics, respectively), and by the relative ease of the Heat?s sweep over the Wizards even Shaq as a spectator for most of the series. The only matchup that went according to form was Phoenix-Dallas, which I figured to be an entertaining six-game affair.

Read the entire preview here.

Posted by Britt Robson at May 22, 2005 3:55 PM

 

NBA first-round playoff picks

Filed under: NBA

The first weekend of the NBA playoffs is more than half over and I still haven't put my virtual money or my mouth on the line as to who will advance past the first round. Thus, without getting into too many details (the round will be over if I start spouting; although I'll try to chime in here a few times later in the week), here is the thumbnail version of the way I see it shaking out, with cavaets included where current events have already overtaken my original "wisdom."

Eastern Conference

Heat over Nets in 4.

The Nets have quite possibly the worst collection low post players in the league. The Heat have Shaq. And I still don't like Vince Carter.

Pistons over Sixers in 5.

Philly gets a game only as a means of respecting AI, the second-most valuable player in the NBA this year behind Shaq. A sweep wouldn't surprise me.

Pacers over Celts in 6.

Until yesterday's blowout, I had Indiana winning this in 5. Guess I'm still living in the past, where 'Toine Walker was a rally killer instead of franchise rescuer, and Paul Pierce always has to take--and miss--the last shot. Seriously, although they enjoy a serious edge at point guard (Payton over Anthony Johnson), and better depth, I don't see the Celts overcoming deficiencies in the paint (even with Jermaine O'Neal's bum shoulder) or on the sidelines (Carlisle may be the league's best coach).

Bulls over Wizards in 7.

 Yes, I do think Chicago will sorely miss Eddy Curry in the middle. But Scott Skiles has had them playing great team D all year--check their opponents field goal percentage--and the Wizards are too predictibly reliant on their big three (Arenas, Hughes, and Jamison) for offense. Key matchups: Hughes vs. Hinrich in the backcourt early, Hughes or Arenas vs. Gordon in the backcourt late. (I think the game one is on as I write this, but I don't know the score.)

Western Conference 

Suns over Grizzlies in 5.

All this talk about whether or not uptempo teams can thrive in the postseason will have to wait until the supreme uptempo team--Phoenix--is tested. The dysfunctional Grizzlies are dangerous only so long as they feel like they have nothing to lose. That should be worth a game, two at the most.

Spurs over Nuggets in 6.

This is the series I most anticipate, and the one I am least confident in calling. Variables abound, from the health status of Duncan and Camby (which is huge), to the fascinating matchup between greased lightning Tony Parker and seam-seeker Andre Miller, to inevitable fireworks between the arrogant 'Melo Anthony and the bruising Bruce Bowen. And don't forget K mart, who can be as chippy as the next guy. The more emotional it gets, the more it favors the Spurs, who have a superstar ice man in Duncan and a maniac disciplinarian in Popovich to keep them in line.

Sonics over the Kings in 5.

I had this series going six until I saw how useless the Kings were on the glass for long stretches of the game last night. Plus I want karma to squash the Kings for the two terrible trades they made this year (even if the C-Webb sacrifice was long-term shrewd, knowing the guy was going to blow out what's left of his bad wheel sooner rather than later). Sac has no matchup for Richard Lewis, Peja is a huge choker, Bobby Jackson and Brad Miller aren't close to full strength, and Ray Allen, the best player on either team, is playing for a max contract and max respect around the league. Only an unconscious series from Mike Bibby (who spit the bit last night) or a team choke from a Sonics squad that still doesn't believe it's very good will extend this series beyond 5.

Mavs over Houston in 7.

I had Dallas winning in six before T-Mac trumped Dirk in Dallas yesterday. There are certainly reasons to pick Houston, beginning with McGrady's magnificence and Jeff Van Gundy's court smarts. And Wolves fans still sympathetic to Kevin McHale might note that Houston went out and got four solid-to-very-good backcourt people to lend ballast to the T-Mac/Yao dynamic: Mike James, David Wesley, Bobby Sura, and Jon Barry. It is hard to pick a team in the post season that contains Keith Van Horn, long one of the league's most overrated players. But the Rockets counter with Yao Ming, who is more overrated than Van Horn. Yeah, I know, if the guy could only rest in the off-season he might live up to the hype. But until that happens, we'll see blunderbuss showings in the spring from the big galoot, and Dikembe Mutumbo isn't going to bail him every game as effectively as he did yesterday. Finally, somebody please take that microphone away from Mark Jackson, who is as banal and slow as an announcer as he was durign his last five years at the point.

Posted by Britt Robson at April 24, 2005 6:12 PM

 

How to Get Kicked Out of Target Center

Filed under: NBA

Heckling During the Malik Sealy Memorial Is a Good Start

To: David Stern
From: Paul Kaiser, Jim Walsh, Pat Widell
Re: Is it easier to throw a man out of an arena or throw a ball through a hoop?

Dear Mr. Stern

We just got kicked out of the Timberwolves-Spurs game. We're not that surprised it happened, just at how quickly it happened. We told people we were going to inspire Kevin McHale to suit up--at least then we might have had two players on the floor who cared.

Read the rest of Jim Walsh's letter to the NBA Commissioner here

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 21, 2005 3:37 PM

 

How to Get Kicked Out of Target Center

Filed under: NBA

Heckling During the Malik Sealy Memorial Is a Good Start

To: David Stern
From: Paul Kaiser, Jim Walsh, Pat Widell
Re: Is it easier to throw a man out of an arena or throw a ball through a hoop?

Dear Mr. Stern

We just got kicked out of the Timberwolves-Spurs game. We're not that surprised it happened, just at how quickly it happened. We told people we were going to inspire Kevin McHale to suit up--at least then we might have had two players on the floor who cared.

The way Malik Sealy cared. We tried to pay tribute to the late guard by yelling during the Malik tribute before the game, "He was a player," and "he cared," and "we loved him." People sitting nearby came up to us and told us to shut up and threatened us with fisticuffs.

If I need to explain why that is so disturbing, then your league is part of a bigger problem. You must sense it, deep down. We told people as we went into the game, including the woman at the box office, about our Draft McHale plan and everyone thought it was a good idea. Everyone laughed.

Once we started loudly voicing our opinion, people told us to relax. People told us to shut the &^&**%%%$#&# up. We just wanted to see McHale play, because he was tough and competitive back when the league was worth talking about. Heard a great quote the other day from 20th-century Protestant theologian Richard Niebuhr: "Most people are right about what they affirm and wrong about what they deny."

We started getting grief from fans, ushers, security, and, finally, Minneapolis's finest. We left without incident. We asked the officers, Why? They talked about rules and really had no good answer. We weren't belligerent. We were just preaching the truth. Anyway, we got the tickets for free, because one of us freelances for the Wolves fan publication Wolf Tracks, the staff of which and the dishwashing crew we saw at Champps before the game would have made a better team than the mutts in uniform.

As they were booting us and we were calmly expressing our bewilderment, it seemed like the cops actually wanted to listen, because we were making so much sense about everything. It was like their eyes were registering a pilot light, but the furnace wouldn't fire. One of our sons asked, "Are people going to think this is funny, or obnoxious?" Hard to tell, Bud.

Anyway, when we told them we were inaugural season ticket holders, they threatened to revoke our season tickets, which was funny because we cut our losses three years ago. We don't care like we used to, because they don't care. Nobody does. Nobody cares that the police kicked us out of an event in which we pay huge amounts of money to watch other people make even huger amounts of money play a game in the United States of America, land that we love, land where you apparently cannot express a profanity-free, semi-drunk opinion (like, "You've got no heart," and "Howard Dean cared")--opinions that our seating section used to thank us for a decade ago, when we were passionate regulars.

We're done. We hate even talking about how screwed up everything is, so we get together and go to a game, like we did when Bill Musselman was alive, and minimum wage lunch-bucketeers fought and clawed their way to a more respectable record than the legendary 2004-5 Minnesota Timberwolves, a team with exactly one heart.

So ban us. Hell, you'd be lucky to have the three of us behind your bench all next season. If you weren't playing hard, we'd let you know about it. If you played hard, we'd love you 'til the end of time. Minnesotans are funny like that.

And for the record: We'd like to think that McHale, Garnett--players who care--wouldn't have objected to us calling out the team's performance and blowing off a little steam about the mess this world is in, including the NBA, which issued us with three WARNING cards that read:

You are being issued a warning card that the comments, gestures, and/or behaviors that you have directed at players, coaches, game officials, and/or other spectators constitute excessive verbal abuse and are in violation of the NBA Fair Code of Conduct. This is the first and only warning that you will receive. If, after receiving this warning, you verbally abuse any player, coach, game official, or spectator, you will be immediately ejected from the arena without refund.

Oh, well. The night was fun. We had a couple of beers, went to the ball game, got a taste of what the Clash sang about in "Police on My Back," and Public Enemy rapped about on "Fight the Power," all within 20 minutes. We got home to our wives and kids early, and wrote a letter about the world our kids are growing up in, and the elephant-in-the-arena-fact that (to quote Leonard Cohen) "everybody knows."

Sorry we said anything.

Fantastically,

Paul Kaiser
Jim Walsh
Pat Widell

Minneapolis, Minnesota
United States of America

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 21, 2005 3:24 PM