Month: June 2014

Overreaction Wednesday [originally posted 12/11/13 on sportsblog.com]

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Before last night’s game, I couldn’t tell you a single player on the Florida Gators roster besides Patric Young.

But oh did I learn. I learned today.

Florida is a legit squad. I can’t wait to see them play Kentucky this year.

Time to talk KU fans off the ledge last night. Expectations here in Lawrence are way too high for where the team is.

This is still a very young team that hasn’t quite found its identity yet. They haven’t made their bones off being a stellar defensive team like that 2011-2012 Final Four team. There aren’t established vets who know their roles and can help coach on the floor like last year’s squad. This is a very young team that is still learning how to play together. The majority of the non-conference games will comprise mostly of seeing where all the pieces fit. There was a lot to take away from last night’s game so let’s get into it:

In the words of Chief Keef; here’s some S&%t I don’t LIKE:

Turnovers. 16 of them in the first half. This put the Jayhawks in an 18 point hole going into the locker room. I knew they still had a big run in them, but I knew this was going to take some effort to knock back down into a 2 possession ball game.

Awful possessions (did I mention that KU turned the ball over 16 times in the first half? Yea thought so.) People at the bar watched in disbelief as the Jayhawks had bad possession after bad possession.

There was very little passing, and too many 1 on 5 attacks to the rim. That will not work against a Billy Donovan squad. The Gators have a very solid backcourt in Scottie Wilbekin and Michael Frazier II. Besides Patric Young, they have very little front court length. Florida countered this advantage by going small and just bum rushing Kansas out the gate, forcing the inexperienced guards to get the ball out of their hands quickly.

KU looked out of sync the whole night, and was not able to get the ball consistently into the paint to their bigs, Perry Ellis or Joel Embiid. Ellis only had 3 shot attempts and Embiid 6. Meanwhile KU settled for way too many jump shots and didn’t work enough to break the zone defense by making the extra passes (or cuts for that matter–lots of standing around). There was way too much hero ball going on, dudes trying to hit 8 point shots and beat 3 dudes on the dribble during transition.

The Gators shot lights out for sure. But when they did miss, there were too many times a rebounder for KU didn’t squeeze the ball hard enough, knocked the ball out of their own teammates hands or just not get to a 50-50 ball. Florida would retain possession and sure enough would score. This happened time and time again, last night.

There was a horrible no call at the end of the game after Wiggins put on his best Danny Granger impersonation and willed the Jayhawks to within 6 ( including hitting a deep 3 from well beyond NBA range). They stole the ball, and Wiggins appeared to be fouled on his way up for a dunk, and the refs somehow missed the foul. That wasn’t the reason the Jayhawks lost, but it was certainly a momentum killer, and viewers were robbed of what could have been a fantastic finish. Who knows what happens if the Jayhawks cut the lead to 4.

Going against a senior laden team on the road, it was very obvious that the Jayhawks are just too young right now. It is going to be a learning curve and a process, and frankly Kansas fans will need to learn patience. If you were to look into Bill Self’s smirking face, you would see his confidence in the process. Billy Donovan himself said that out of any team in the country, the Jayhawks has the highest ceiling. In the this one-and-done age, there just isn’t enough patience to watch a team develop for 3 years and take baby steps. Expectations are SKY HIGH right now, and people just need to realize that it may not even be until halfway into conference play before this team figures it out.

Passing seems to be an issue with the team only getting 11 assists for the second game in a row. Tharpe just isn’t ready to lead the team yet it seems, starting the game out with the second unit (Bill Self lit into him after one particularly dreadful run).

Frank Mason is a quick guard and can get to the rim anytime he wants, but he hasn’t been very good at setting up other players.

I was joking last night that they miss Julian Wright. Or a player like him. Wright was awesome at busting up zones by finding a hole in the middle and hitting a mid-range jumper, making an incredible pass to a cutting big, or taking two dribbles and dunking the basketball.

We don’t really have a zone buster right now. Wiggins could develop into that, and Mason can drive and kick, but there isn’t enough passing, or movement without the ball.

Maybe Self needs to go small ball when teams bust out that 2-3 zone. Go with Ellis or Embiid at Center, Wiggins at Power Forward, Selden at the Small Forward, with Greene and Mason in the backcourt. That could possibly stretch the defense and make them honest. This Jayhawks team is forcing too many 3 pointers, and ignoring the bigs. I said at the beginning that this team will only go as far as Tharpe and Ellis can take them. I don’t think there is an accident that in the games where they have not produced, that Kansas has lost. Ellis needs more touches, he should never shoot the ball 3 times in one half, let alone a whole game.

Florida is legit though. They have four seniors in the starting lineup. They can hit the 3 poointer. Patric Young is a man beast. We joked at the bar that he looked like a Mandingo fighter from “Django Unchained”. I could see him playing John Henry in a Broadway musical, until Tyler Perry discovers him and makes him a movie star (That is if basketball doesn’t work out for him).

No need to Worry Jayhawks fans. Saturday is pretty much a home game against New Mexico. Everything is going to be alright. Wiggins just needs help, and guys just need to learn their roles so they can do their individual jobs correctly. The team will be fine come March. I think this is the coming out party we have been expecting from Wiggins, now he just needs everyone else to step up. I’m certain that if they play the Gators again at a neutral site, the story line will have a different ending.

**** I got a chance to watch the Golden State game tonight against the Mavericks and was not disappointed one bit. Golden State was down by as many as 17 and Steph Curry had 17 going into the 4th quarter. He ended the game with 33, including the game winner with 1.2 seconds left. That means he had a 16 point 4th quarter, and some nice assists along the way (Dramond Green played clutch down the stretch). Between them, The Jayhawks, the Spurs, the Pacers, the Trailblazers, and the Thunder, I may not leave the house much until next June. It’s a terrifying and exciting thought. I’m battling a full blown case of hoops fever right now.

There a couple other teams I find myself peeping on the box scores and soon I may catch myself watching more of are the Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns, and the Sacramento Kings.

I like the combination of Monta-ball and Rick Carlisle’s basketball genius (Carlisle is 2nd best coach in the NBA in my opinion behind Gregg Popovich). I even like watching Dirk all of a sudden. Two of the better games I have watched this season (and the past week) involved them. Both games coming down to last second shots.

I fell asleep watching the Suns-Lakers game last night, but I was impressed with their team. I’d heard they were better this year and to quote Lily Von Shtupp from Blazing Saddles, “It’s twue. It’s twue!”

The Suns are balling. I love the uptempo game they play with Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe. I like the Morris twins now more than I did when they were in college. They look like they both shed some pounds, and I like that they both were hitting jumpers. I won’t be opposed to watching them in the future.

I’m curious about how well Rudy Gay will fit on this Kings team. Maybe B-MacLemore will pick up some pointers from Rudy, and maybe MacLemore will force Rudy to play more inside. I’m not sure how the lineup of Isiah Thomas, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, Derrick Williams, and Boogie Cousins will play out. I will say that it’d be a fun lineup to trot out on NBA2K14. This may be worth checking into. I feel very fortunate as an NBA fan right now. This draft class for 2014 will make an already exciting league that much more intriguing. I can’t wait. Some good games this weekend. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Blazers-Rockets game tomorrow. Lakers-Thunder play Friday night. Saturday is UNC-Kentucky, and of course I get to see the Jayhawks in person out in Kansas City.

Somewhere in between that time I have to get my grad school application turned in to KU. Basketball never stops–even while I nap. Which I’m going to need tomorrow if I want to stay up and watch the Trailblazers game.

Basketball Never Stops………….. It only Rotates [originally posted 12/21/13 on sportsblog.com]

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Not much going on here at home front.

Some miscommunication cost me a chance to see the Jayhawks live in person last Saturday. They were some good seats too. I was so depressed that I slept through tip off and sludged my way through the second half.

Jayhawks won. My boy Embiid cemented his status as my favorite current Jayhawk on the roster. I was so ecstatic about his up and under baseline move that I didn’t realize he was on his way to getting 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 blocks. If I’m the right team in next year’s lottery, and I got my shooting guard spot locked up, (say like Orlando) I’m taking Embiid if Parker is already taken.

The rest of the game was pretty ho hum. They did what they were supposed to do, and I honestly was so distracted about not being there (and needing to finish my grad school application) that it wasn’t very enjoyable. So enough about that. I’ll have more to say about the team after Georgetown ( I couldn’t tell name a single player on this year’s roster. I had to look up where Otto Porter got drafted). This week has been all about the NBA. After spending a great deal of time watching the games last week, this week has been kind of quiet.

A few quick hitters before I settle down tonight to watch Spurs-Warriors play:

I love watching the Lakers telecast. The pregame is awesome with former teammates “Big Game” James Worthy and Byron Scott. I think it’s really cool that the Lakers franchise still find ways to stay linked to past players. Plus it sometimes makes for cool moments like these.

Found out right before the start of the Lakers-Thunder game that Kobe would guarding Westbrook. I had a feeling that Russ would be licking his chops. [I just found out like 30 seconds ago that Kobe is out for 6 weeks with a fractured knee. It may be time for him to start taking PED’s] Russ played pretty good with 19 and 12 assists, but KD went HAM with 31 points, 8 boards, 5 dimes, and 4 steals. Lakers as a team were over matched from the start. And now things won’t get too much better with Kobe out for another 6 weeks.

So maybe they should shelve him for the year? Lottery pick this year and they get some top flight talent. I ain’t gonna lie. If two years from now, the Lakers have Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, I’ll be tuning in big time to watch them play. Which I gotta say, I’m not disliking Kobe as much as I used to. You can tell he was happy to be just playing again. He was smiling more in the game against Phoenix than I seen him grin all season last year. I also gotta admit that he’s a pretty amazing distributor when he wants to be. I saw him make some sick dishes the other night, he had 13 assists for the night, and he didn’t even play in the 4th quarter. This period of Kobe reminds me of when I started digging Barry Bonds for his candid quotes and “don’t give a s#$%” attitude.

The Thunder have a better team than I gave them credit for. Their bench is much better this time around. It looks like Reggie Jackson took the experience from last year and learned from his increase in playoff minutes. Jeremy Lamb is much better than I expected him to be. I still haven’t seen much from Perry Jones III to have an informed opinion, but Steven Adams is a legit big to bring off the bench. If they had another center besides Kendrick Perkins, I’d feel comfortable about penciling them in for the Finals. It’s still crazy to me that they “couldn’t afford” Harden but are paying Perkins. It’s true that Harden’s defense is suspect, but he’s a better team defender than people give him credit for. I think Houston’s defense is so bad that it makes him look worse than when he was on OKC (better team defense than Houston). Plus Harden has to be the guy on offense. It is asking a lot of him. Then again, they are paying him a lot of money.

There is a great Jonathan Abrams article on Oklahoma City native (and former Jayhawk) Xavier Henry. I’m a big fan of Abrams (in my opinion, he and Andrew Sharp are the best writers on the Grantland staff) I was hoping to see him bring the boom in front of his hometown folks but the game got busted open so early that the story line fizzled pretty quickly. He did have some decent plays though. The article answers a few questions that I had about why he had trouble early on. I didn’t realize he was only 22. It seems like it was forever ago when he signed on with KU.

The Indy-Miami game was another (pardon the pun) “heated” contest. It certainly had that level of playoff intensity.I usually try to avoid any game involving Eastern Conference teams (more on this in a second), but this has been worth the stop down both times I’ve watched them play this year. I was just remarking to my housemate how much it bothers me to dislike someone who used to rep the crimson and blue when Lebron almost got in Mario Chalmers grill during a (here it comes again) “heated’ time-out.

Udonis Haslaam held Lebron back, but it initially looked like Mario was about to get socked. Earlier in the game I decided that I was no longer on the fence about Chalmers after his “extra” during a hard foul on my boy “Born Ready” Lance Stephenson. I think Mario is a punk and there is evidence to prove it. The main reason I dislike Heat players are Dwayne Wade and Mario. They both play dirty and try to behave as if they are not. It would be one thing if they owned it–but they don’t. It’s the same reason why I disliked Stockton and Malone years ago. That’s not Jayhawk basketball Mario. Why don’t you and Elijah Johnson take that mess overseas somewhere, will ya?

I may have to get League Pass before it’s all said and done. I purposely avoided the Cleveland-Portland game because hey–it’s the Cavaliers– and missed one of the best games of the year (according to Lebron). I felt way more remorse about missing the dueling point guards , than missing Lillard’s game winner against Detroit (I watched it up until OT because the Warriors were playing the Suns–seemed anti-climatic once it was certain that they were playing an extra 5 minutes) on Sunday. I been streaming the games on certain illegal websites for free, but the problem with that is that you can’t go back and watch replays of the games you missed. League Pass is at least good for that. I don’t have enough free time to watch Eastern Conference basketball in the hopes that I’ll catch lightening in a bottle. Perhaps when I’m finally getting paid to cover bad hoops–but even then it’ll be begrudgingly.

UCLA vs. Duke tonight as well. I’m hearing some hype coming out of the PAC-12. I’m gonna have to ch-ch-ch- check it out. Check back in with me next week. Hopefully this holiday break I can restart the running “Lovable Losers” series.

Peace.

Not a Fluke

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Man I tried to told ya’ll.

The Heat have the best player, but the Spurs have the best team from top to bottom.
If the Heat didn’t have Lebron, they would be the Raptors, a good but not great team with mediocre subs. Ray allen has played well considering his age, and Wade got off to a good start in the series. But really, besides Lebron (who is still getting his numbers and deserves none of the blame for the way this is going) there is no one to be afraid of on this team. This might as well be 2007 when Lebron played with Cleveland.

IF you want to know why the last two games have been such a shift in dynamics, then look no further than Kawhi Leonard’s stats in games 3 and 4. Leonard had 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks last night. In game 3 he shot 10-13 with 29 points (3-6 from downtown).

I also like to point out my man Boris “Le Grand Croissant” Diaw, who racked up 9 assists in game 4. He is a tough match up, because he can handle the rock, can back you down, and he is an exquisite passer. The Spurs are in another gear with him in the game.

The Heat did manage to get more bench production from their group, but its almost too little too late. Game 5 in San Antonio will be closer than you think, but that arena is going to be rocking. After what happened to the Spurs last year, you know they are out for blood. You could tell the players were mad that they even lost game 2. This should have been a sweep.

OFF Season Noise

How about that Derik Fisher signing? 25 million for 5 years to a first year coach. Wow. I think if there were any situation that could be more perfect to fall into for a first year coaching gig this is it. Forget the fact that this is better than any contract the “Fish” got as a player. He gets to have Phil as a coaching mentor, and boss. The on the job training he will get will be tremendous. It will be a tough couple of years. The Knicks have a few bad contracts on the books still and no draft picks for a while. But who knows who will sign with them after 2016. I’ll be keeping tabs on that situation.

Someone told me that an old Mizzou coach just moved to Salt Lake City.

As much as I bag on Cleveland, Mark Jackson would be a great hire for a franchise that has shown that it has no plan whatsoever. Then again, why would a coach want to work for a franchise like that?

Carmelo the “ballstopper” to the Heat? Yeah good luck with that. Call me when they sign some decent bench players on the cheap. So much for the Greg Oden and Michael Beasley contributions. Honestly I’m tired of watching basketball this year. I want to spend the next months playing it instead of streaming it on my computer. Put them away Spurs. I don’t need any distractions. It’ll be tough enough to find a way to watch the World Cup.

All That Extra

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I don’t care if the game was competitive and close throughout. That shit was ugly. The officiating was terrible and the flow of the game was a bit klunky. I didn’t like all the flopping (both teams are accused of being the worst), or the miscellaneous elbows thrown at certain player’s midsections(someone needs to get a fine for that). I fear that this series will devolve into a bunch of scrums and ref-baiting as both teams get to know each other even more intimately.

It was insane for anyone not to think Lebron wasn’t coming back with a monster (and highly efficient) game. It was a thing of beauty. The deep 3 pointer in Kawhi Leonard’s face was the end of a pretty filthy run by him. Rashard Lewis chipped in 14 points, Dwyane Wade had 14, and Chris Bosh had 18 points as well. Ray Allen led the bench players with 9 points (Chris Anderson had the other 3 point for the Heat subs).

Manu Ginobili outscored the entire Miami bench by himself. Boris Diaw and Patty Mills were decent (though Mills took too many stop and pop jumpers for my taste), but the guy the Spurs need to play better is Kawhi Leonard. He doesn’t necessarily need to score, but he does have to take care of the ball for the Spurs to win this thing. He had a lot of bad possessions where he took bad shots or dribbled the ball too much. The Spurs can’t afford to have him foul out either.

I wonder what adjustments that Gregg Popovich will have for game 3. Will he have Kawhi guard Wade in the first half and then switch Kawhi onto Lebron in the 4th quarter? Will the Spurs decide to let Lebron score as much as he wants and focus on shutting down everyone else? Will Aron Baynes’ number get called on to throw some ‘bows of his own?

The 2-2-1-1-1 format of the Finals is something worth watching as well. If San Antonio steals a game in Miami, the series becomes a best of 3 with the Spurs having home court advantage. For all the talk about the Spurs missing free throws and that they could be up 2-0 in the series, people are forgetting that the Spurs haven’t played all that well. Miami (their starters at least) has outplayed the Spurs in the majority of both games and could easily be down 2-0. The fact that they could almost be up should frighten Heat fans. San Antonio hasn’t played their best game yet. If they can get a complete 48 minutes of focus out of the whole team, it will be a wrap. Let’s see what happens down in South Beach.

If You Can’t Take The Heat…….

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It’s 3:30 AM and I can’t sleep. I’m still buzzing from that game tonight. I hadn’t seen a game like that since watching those old Celtics-Lakers videos from the 80’s. There were 7 Hall of Famers playing in tonight’s game, and one future Hall of Fame coach. The stakes are high, and the level of play in that first half was unreal.

I watched the first half at this bar down the street from my buddy’s house and they showed it with the sound off. I didn’t realize the arena was a sauna until late in the third half, after I went to a bar that actually let us listen to it (which almost explains why the 3rd quarter was so sloppy–23 turnovers for the Spurs–wtf?).

The superstars produced. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili played huge, scoring 56 points between them (Ginoboli at one point was outscoring the entire Heat bench by himself). Tiago Splitter had a great game on the glass and finishing at the rim when he had good looks.

Jesus Shuttlesworth killed it–especially with that dunk on Danny Green (did anyone else see that elbow Allen threw at Marco Belinelli?). Lebron played very efficiently until his menstrual leg cramps put him out of commission during clutch time. Dwayne Wade looked damn good out there, doing some ballet type shit out there on the court.

Some people will blame the cramps on the Heat losing game 1 (the same people who forget that Tony Parker played the whole Finals last year injured with a hamstring injury that kept him from being at his best), but this will come down to role players.

Boris Diaw had 10 rebounds and 6 assists, Manu Ginobili had 16 points and 11 assists, and Danny Green went ham for a crucial stretch (two 3 pointers and a breakaway dunk for the lead) after missing his first five shots.

Mario Chalmers sat on the bench most of the game because he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble, and besides Ray Allen, no one on the Heat bench scored more than 2 points. The Spurs finished the game with a 31-9 run.

Now its only game 1, and there is no reason to get TOO excited. Chalmers will play better sometime during this series when the Heat need him the most, and the Spurs can’t count on Lebron’s “moon cycle” to continue through Sunday and beyond. There are a lot of encouraging things for Spurs fans to take from this.

Kawhi Leonard had a mostly quiet night and will certainly play better by the next game. I’m sure that the Spurs will cut down their number of (unforced) turnovers as well. D-Wade isn’t going to consistently shoot as well from the outside as he did tonight either. Many of the shots he took outside of the paint were shots you can live with if you are the Spurs.

There were parts of Game 1 that were scintillating and there were parts that were head scratching, but overall that was a good ass game. I expect an even better, less sloppy game come Sunday. There was a lot of good ball movement and great passes. That a sect is just going to get better. I know it is only game 1, but had the Heat stolen tonight’s game, the series would have taken on a completely different tone. Dust out the old VCR, and hit record button. This series is going to be one people will talk about for decades.

Lovable Losers: 2002 Sacramento Kings

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Recently the 2002 Western Conference Finals was commemorated with an oral history by the people closest to the action.
A lot has happened in 12 years and there was so much I’d forgotten or just plain missed during that epic series. I wanted so badly for the Kings to dethrone the champs that I’d forgotten how lousy the officiating was for both teams throughout that series. I’d forgotten how poorly the Kings had played besides Bobby Jackson (why didn’t Rick Adelman give my boy more burn during crunch time?) and Mike Bibby (who was absolutely clutch). Let’s not waste anymore time, here is a long overdue, installment of “Lovable Losers”–an homage to the 2001-2002 Sacramento Kings.

Head Coach: Rick Adelman

Record 61-21

Starters: C Vlade Divac, PF Chris Webber, SF Peja Stojakavic, SG Doug Christie, PG Mike Bibby

Key Bench Players: C Scot Pollard, SF Hedo Turkoglu, PG Bobby Jackson

Were it not for Lebron James ascent into basketball royalty, the Eastern Conference would still be a doormat. Besides the Heat, there isn’t a team in the east what could beat any of the top Western Conference teams twice in a 7 game series. After Michael Jordan retired, the Eastern Conference became a doormat and once the Lakers grabbed the mantle away from the Bulls, the NBA Finals was about as entertaining as a community pick up game. The New Jersey Nets were atrocious and everyone knew that whoever won the West would take the title. The kings won 61 games that year, had home court advantage and looked primed and ready to finally give the Lakers a run for their money.

Well what happened? Why did they lose? The Kings had one of the most entertaining teams around. They played good enough defense. They were easily the best passing team in the NBA at that time with a legitimate point guard taking over the duties from Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. Chris Webber (a human highlight reel all by himself and Vlade Divac were two of the best passing big men around. Bobby Jackson was an electrifying spark plug that came off the bench (he won the sixth man award that year). Peja Stojakavic and Doug Christie were bombing 3 pointers from the wings and the corners. They also had one of the loudest arenas around (Think OKC’s Chesapeake Arena but with Cowbells). Watching the Kings play at home was about as good of a basketball watching experience as you could get back then. Just hearing the crowd go apeshit to Rock N “Roll part 2, after a back breaking 3 pointer, would get me and my brother hype. “Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!” I’m serious. I thought 2001 was the year. They had a better team than the Lakers from top to bottom, but a lot of things conspired to happen to keep that from happening (we’ll leave the refs out of it this and only discuss the things that were in the Kings’ control).

Coaching

Most players will tell you that Rick Adelman is a “player’s coach” and great to play under. He is a great offensive mind who has gotten multiple teams deep in the playoffs. However, no coach has cock-blocked Adelman’s path to the title more than the Zen Master, Phil Jackson. Jackson had Jordan when the Trailblazers ran into the ’92 Bulls, and ten years later he had Shaq AND Kobe Bryant. What the fuck you supposed to do with that? Outside of the Spurs and Kings, nobody could give the Lakers any run, and that was at Shaquille’s absolute peak as a player, and Kobe had barely scratched the surface of his potential. Phil was always a step ahead of Adelman, and Adelman’s failure to give Bobby Jackson any meaningful minutes (in game 7) when the rest of the players were nutting up, was a gigantic coaching error. Doug Christie was chucking up bricks, and Peja was shooting air-balls. I’m saying though.

Bench and role players

The Kings had no bench really. They only went 8 deep. Los Angeles had chess piece upon chess piece. Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw chipped in just enough to help out Shaq and Kobe. Scot Pollard was good for committing fouls on Shaq, and offensively he was good for rebounding, or passing.

I’m going to name off these names and you tell me if any of these guys scare you:

Mateen Cleaves
Lawrence Funderburke
Jabari Smith
(a young) Gerald Wallace
Brent Price
Chucky Brown

That is what Adelman had to work with. When it came down to crunch time, the starters were tired. Christie was asked to guard Kobe Bryant on defense and then was expected to create shots on offense. Hedo Turkoglu was still green. Vlade was banging with Shaq the entire game, and Chris Webber preferred to get his teammates involved rather than take over (Bill Walton would call out Webber time after time saying “Chris Webber needs to take over this game”). Webber made great passes, they were just to people who didn’t want the ball in crunch time.

Experience

The Lakers had been there. Let’s face it. Experience is a motherfucker. Think about the first time you fell in love. Shit was overwhelming wasn’t it? All these hormones and feelings that you had never felt before. Some people got it right the first time, and said and did the right things. Often times this is not the case. More often that not, the flubs and mistakes from that first serious relationship are the reasons why you make things work the next time around. The Kings had never made it this far, and the Lakers were two time defending champs. Being down 3-2 did not scare them in the least bit. I remember in one interview Kobe said that “was looking forward to the challenge.” That was when I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy (though I still thought the Kings would win). The Lakers never blinked while the Kings traded haymakers with them. Any other team would have folded like lawn chairs in an overtime game 7 on the road. Not the Lakers. They stayed focus, climbed on the back of the Big Diesel and pounded their way into the NBA Finals against the putrid New Jersey Nets.

So did the Kings choke? Was there a conspiracy in game 6 to give the game to Lakers? Was Rick Adelman just a basketball version of Buck Showalter (the classic good enough coach to get you there but not good enough to win)? Or were the Lakers just the better team? Maybe it was all of these things, maybe it was none, or maybe the results speak for themselves. The Lakers were good and the rest of the NBA was really bad. It’s hard to call a team that won 61 regular season games and the only team that gave Los Angeles any type of run, a loser.

Maybe they were losers,but they were a fun team to watch, and if they were losers, then what does that say about the rest of the NBA at that time? San Antonio was winning championships back then, but no one outside of south Texas would pay to watch them play. I lived in Texas back then (in Austin) and their style of play put me to sleep. I’d have rather watched those Kings play and lose, than tune in to the Malik Rose, Speedy Claxton, slow it down Spurs of 2002. It just wasn’t entertaining. Maybe we all lost when the Kings were knocked out of the playoffs back in 2002. You’ll never convince me otherwise.

Run That Shit Back

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The Spurs wanted this.

The Heat say they wanted this.

But most importantly, I wanted this to happen. Out of all the possible Finals match ups, this was the one I wanted to see the most.

The Spurs should have beaten the Heat last year–despite having an injured Tony Parker. This year, the Spurs’ bench is better, Kawhi Leonard is better, Manu Ginobili is not a shell of himself. The Heat meanwhile have gotten worse. Everyone outside of Lebron and Bosh is old as fuck. Erik Spoelstra is a good coach though, and if anyone can match wits with Greg Popovich, it is him (although let’s face it–pretty easy to trot out Lebron, Wade, and Bosh and get 50 wins in the putrid East). If the Spurs can play their game and pass like they did in the third quarter of game 6 against the Thunder, they won’t need 7 games to dispatch the Heat. But I’ll give Lebron the benefit of the doubt and say it takes 7 games for the Heat to be defeated.

Spurs in 7 or less

Congratulations to the Thunder for having another phenomenal year (and Russell Westbrook for coming back from three knee surgeries in one year–what a post season that guy had–ferocious!!) .As long as they Westbrook and Durant, they will always be able to compete, and get butts in the seats of that arena. Sure Clay Bennett could pony up the money to sign key free agents to fortify the bench and give Russ and KD some help (Besides Reggie jackson, there is no one other than Durant and Westbrook who can create their own shot), but that would mean taking money out of his oil funds to do so. I’m not saying they need to fire Scott Brooks, but he does need an offensive assistant to help create plays other than “Isolation with Westbrook, Isolation with Durant.”

There is a lot of things going on outside of the basketball court that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m not comfortable with the arena wide pre-game prayer. I’m not comfortable with the way the team was acquired, and I’m not comfortable with what is currently going on with the ownership group in general.

There is a lot of economy in Oklahoma City based on this group. Brick town was based around the basketball arena, and the company itself built a giant glass high rise (umm tornadoes??) right in the middle of downtown. Things change so quickly (just ask Donald Sterling), who is to say, the Chesapeake Energy group doesn’t get multiple lawsuits, multiple fines, found guilty of fraud and they end up selling the team to an investor who moves the franchise yet again? What if the company goes belly up? What would happen to all those buildings and establishments then with no team in town and no oil money to fund city projects? What happens to the city then? Just some things to think about. Nothing lasts forever, especially not title runs.

Which leads to this thought, if the Spurs do somehow manage to beat the Heat, this will be one of the best title runs of all time. The Spurs have gone through an underrated Dallas squad that took them to 7 games. They beat a pretty good Blazers team. handled this Thunder team with 2 of the NBA’s top five players on their team.Now they have to go through Lebron. Four more wins will cement the Spurs legacy and shut Phil Jackson up.

As many reasons as there are to root against the Heat, there are twice as many reasons to root for the Spurs to take this series. Game on. Thursday can’t get here fast enough.

Lovable Losers Part Two: ’99-00 Portland Trailblazers

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[Originally posted on sportsblog.com 12/29/13]

This will probably be one of the more painful posts I will ever have to write. Not just because this was one of my favorite NBA rosters of all time, but also because it signaled the beginning of a Lakers dynasty that (arguably) should have never been. Had Portland won that series, Jalen Rose, Reggie Miller, and Rick Smits may have won themselves championship rings. Rip City might have had a different decade than the one that elicited this video essay from Bill Simmons. We would be talking about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a whole new light. Maybe even the 2002 Kings would have managed to not get jobbed out of a chance to compete for the NBA title. As it stands, the Lakers beat the Blazers in the ’99-00 playoffs and this play will remain in NBA folklore forever. Today we will examine one of my favorite all time teams not win a dog gone thing: the ’99-00 Trailblazers.

Head Coach: Mike Dunleavy

Team Record: 59-23

Starters:

C Arvydas Sabonis, PF Rasheed Wallace, SF Scottie Pippen SG Steve Smith, PG Damon Stoudamire

Key Bench Players: PG Greg Anthony, SG Stacey Augmon PF Jermaine O’Neal, PF Brian Grant

SF Detlef Schrempf , SF Bonzi Wells

Besides Scottie Pippen, no one on the team had won an NBA championship. Scottie was supposed to be the player they needed to get them over the hump. I was never crazy about Scottie as a player (I hated the Bulls) but I had to admit the dude was good, and he definitely had championship experience playing with Jordan.

Rasheed was already one of my favorite players of all time. I had watched him as much as I could during his Carolina days and I loved his game. Rasheed could post up anyone on the block (something I always wished he’d done more of–he seemed to fall in love with shooting the 3 pointer). He could also get hot and make teams pay with his long range shooting (I remember him yelling at the Mavericks one time to “get someone on him” after he was taxing them with 3 pointers). Best of all, ‘Sheed refused to break under the iron fisted rule of David Stern. He managed to become one of the best quotable athletes of my generation (Warren Sapp is one of the other guys who comes to mind too)

Greg Anthony was one of may favorite guys too—I had first started watching hoops during his UNLV days and rooted for him when he played on the Knicks. I can’t say enough about Sabonis. I loved how he passed, I loved his shot, I loved that he was old and rickety, but still had enough old man game in him to make an impact. The whole time he played in the NBA, I wondered just how good he’d have been had he came into the league when he was young and healthy.

The rest of the guys I was whatever about. My little brother loved Bonzi for some strange reason (I think it was the head band). Mighty Mouse (Stoudamire) was an okay player, Augmon, Steve Smith, and Schrempf were good enough. I had never been too crazy about them as players, but I had owned their basketball cards at one time or another when I collected. Brian Grant seemed like a cool dude (this would be confirmed years later when I would run into him at PDX airport one summer).

There is something about game 7 of the Western Conference Finals that still haunts me to this day. I watched the game with my little brother and we laughed, oohed and awed in glee at the way the game was going. The Lakers were making mistakes and the Blazers were capitalizing on it. Los Angeles couldn’t figure out an answer to the Blazers’ offense the whole series.

Sabonis was setting up outside of the paint and daring Shaq to come and guard him. If Shaq ventured out to pick him up, Sabonis whipped a sick pass towards a cutter for an easy bucket (and for those of you who don’t know, Sabonis is one of the best passing big men the NBA has ever seen–check out this pass). If Shaq stayed in the paint, then Arvydas just hoisted up a 3 ball. Rasheed was popping it like he was known to do back then (he had 30 points in that game 7 while shooting only 2 3 pointers). There was even a stretch where Bonzi Wells seemed to be taking over the game (eliciting a “give it to Bonzi!” every time the Blazers brought the ball down).

To this day I can’t stand to watch replays of that game. My brother and I watched in uncomfortable silence as the Blazers all of a sudden stopped making baskets, and the Lakers started to digging into the (what appeared to be a comfortable) 15 point lead. By the time Kobe hit Shaq on the alley-oop, we were too stunned to speak. I spent the rest of the day trying to process the disappointment of not only the hated Lakers being back in the Finals, but my favorite cast of characters (since the ’93 Suns) losing their chance to face the Pacers. It reminded me of the feelings of bewilderment as I watched the Houston Oilers collapse against the Buffalo Bills in the 1992 playoffs.

So was it the Lakers defense or were the Blazers just standing around and settling on bad shots? I can’t tell you, and I don’t care to remember. But if you look at the box scores of that game you will see that Schrempf and Bonzi were the only two players to come off the bench and score (a combined total of 13 points). Robert Horry, Brian Shaw, and Derek Fisher combined for 25 points off the bench.

I can vividly recall the growing frustration with Portland’s inability to get buckets (there may have been a 8 minute scoreless stretch during the 4th quarter). They played great defense that game. If someone told me beforehand that Kobe would only get 25 points and Shaq would only get 18 points on 5 for 9 shooting, I would have penciled in a W for the Blazers. But it just wasn’t meant to be. No one could get any buckets in the paint (Sabonis and Pippen combined to score as many as Shaquille).

I’m sure some of the outcome has to do with the coaching match up of Phil Jackson vs. Mike Dunleavy. I’m sure by game 7 Phil had made the necessary adjustments to curb the Sabonis-O’Neal advantage that Portland had been exploiting over the course of the series. I’m also certain that Phil had made sure the Lakers stuck to their defensive assignments and forced Portland to be a jump shooting team.

Looking at things now as a 35 year old man, and not as an emotional 21 year Lakers hater, adds a little context to the situation. If I were to watch that tape now, it would probably be more of an examination of how brilliant of a coach Phil Jackson was, rather than revisiting one of the greatest collapses in sports history. The final score of the game was 89-84, Los Angeles, and the rest is history.

The Lakers became a dynasty and Portland well…. just watch the video essay by Simmons. I can’t necessarily say the Trailblazers were losers, they fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to get to that pivotal moment for both franchises. I can say that every Trailblazers fan I have come across since that night wears the same look of disappointment when that game 7 comes up in conversation. If you watched game 7 of the Western Conference Finals that year, its something that is impossible to forget.

Unfortunately Sabonis never got a ring, neither did Anthony,or anyone on that team other Rasheed (2004 Pistons). Only three players from that series are even active now, Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, and Jermaine O’Neal. Of the three, Derek Fisher is the only one not on the injured list (I’m not sure what this says about OKC that they are still relying on his production). O’Neal broke his hand playing for the Warriors, and Kobe of course broke his kneecap.

You know what? This post wasn’t quite as painful as I thought it would be. After careful examination, its much easier to give props to L.A. than to chastise Portland for choking. A few years ago, my buddy and I replayed this game on X-BOX, with me as Portland and he the Lakers. The game wasn’t even that close. He smashed me. Besides an occasional 3 pointer from Sabonis and Wallace, it was difficult getting buckets. I figured Greg Anthony and Schrempf would keep his team honest, but if the jumpers weren’t falling, I was in trouble. Every time I took the ball in the paint, my players would get blocked by Shaq or the ball would get stolen by one of his lengthy defenders. The frustration was building and soon I was cussing and yelling at the players on screen. His response was classic. ” Why you getting mad dude? There is a reason why they didn’t win anything. Pick a better team next time.”

Sometimes it’s not meant to be. Just ask Spurs fans.

A Hard 86 [Originally posted on sportsblog.com 12/25/13]

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The knock on my door at 9 AM surprised me because I went to bed with the notion that a visit to the Allen Fieldhouse would not be in order for Saturday’s game against Georgetown. I had imbibed a bit too much the night before at a happy hour that ran way longer than an hour. I fell asleep that night okay with just watching the game on the big screen.

Although the front of the jerseys said Georgetown, with Otto Porter gone, I was unable to identify any of the names on the back of the jerseys. They weren’t even ranked. But I knew that a John Thompson III coached team would compete, and I didn’t fight it when my buddy expressed his desire to still attempt to make it into the fieldhouse. As it turned out, we got really lucky and ran into a fair scalper who offered us the best deal I’ve ever gotten scalping Jayhawks tickets (floor seats for 90 bucks).

I’m hoping that I’ll be as fortunate come January 18th against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.I’m definitely looking for the same guy next time.

One of the cool things about KU games is that fans have such access to the players. There isn’t a bad seat inside the venue and before games fans line up alongside a taped area near the locker room corridor. Fans hang out there and then cheer the guys on as they run onto the court. It’s a pretty cool thing to see, unfortunately my brain wasn’t working properly (it rarely does before 1:30 pm but I was especially scrambled from the activities the night before) and instead of capturing them jogging out of the locker room I got footage of this .

At first glance Georgetown come off as very intimidating. They only have 3 players on the whole roster who are listed under 6’5. Seeing this I immediately knew that it was going to be a physical game. We were about to see the Jayhawks be tested by these tough looking east coast boys.

The Hoyas have the make up of an NIT bound team bound for sure, but they made Kansas earn every single bucket they got. There were not many transition points for the Jayhawks and the Hoyas used nearly every single foul they had. 3 players fouled out for the game and 2 other guys had 4 fouls. The Hoyas even snuck in a cheap shot on Perry Ellis and knocked him out of the game.

Eventually things got chippy enough to where Wiggins got into some smack talking with one of their players and immediately hit a 3 on the ensuing possession (something tells me Wiggins isn’t the kind of player you want to piss off). We all knew that the Jayhawks were talented, but this game would tell us if they were tough. That was a question I hadn’t thought to ask before this Georgetown game.

Kansas was up the whole first half but it always felt closer than an 8 point game. Besides Markel Starks (19 points) and D’Vauntes Smith Rivera (12), no one in the Hoyas lineup was a legitimate scoring threat (most of their first half points seemed to come on free throws). Toughness was the only thing that Georgetown had going for it. They stepped onto the court as if the Lawrence faithful were just another hostile Big East crowd, unfazed and ready to see if the Jayhawks could be punked.

I think this was the kind of game that Tarik Black thrives in. He was not phased at all by the amount of contact going on. The refs let a lot of pushing and physical stuff go on and Tarik seemed in his element, putting up some good numbers and making some noteworthy plays–including a sick block that led to a fast break and alley-oop on the other end of the court (5 for 5 17 points 6 rebs and 2 blks).

The Jayhawks put up 86 points on the Georgetown boys but there were not any easy baskets. As badly as Georgetown got beat, there was no reason for them to hang their heads. They played hard. KU just had a much better team.

Other notes from Saturday’s game:

Bill Self has some serious swagger. I was impressed with the way he and Coach Thompson eschewed the businesslike handshake in favor of the more familiar and less formal “brutha” embrace. I bet Bill goes to bed at night smirking before he falls asleep, then wakes up with that same smirk, thinking, “I’m Bill Self and I coach the Kansas Jayhawks.” It must be a pretty baller reality for old Bill.

Andrew Wiggins only had 12 points the other day. 10 of them came in the 2nd half. He only had 1 rebound for the whole game, but he did have 3 steals and 4 assists. Not a great line but its still a treat to get to watch him play in person. People say he’s too calm, but I’d rather have that than a hot head like J.R. Smith. I don’t buy the whole “we need to see more fire” theory so many people have. That steadiness is going to be important come tournament time. Do what you do Andrew.

I’m officially starting the “Feed Embiid” campaign. This guy is not only my favorite player on this year’s team. He’s one of my favorite big men of all time. By the time he leaves he’ll be mentioned in the same breath as Nick Collison and Julian Wright when it’s all said and done. He had 12 first half points and would have had more had it not been for Tarik Black going so hard in the paint in the 2nd half.

Speaking of big men, I wonder how differently things would be for Tim Duncan had he come up in this era? He was the last of the big men to stay all 4 years. Shane Battier did, but he was nowhere the prospect that TD was, despite winning Player of the Year. Would Duncan stay all four years in this era? Who knows? But seeing Embiid play makes me wonder how good he would be if he did stay in school an extra 3 years. Of course why not get the on the job training for millions of dollars if you are as good as he is. He will go into the league and immediately start. If you were a techie nerd and some firm offered to develop your software skills and pay you for it, you wouldn’t say ‘nah I’m good, being poor and having fun in college, going to classes and studying.” It does make you wonder though.

During a crucial stretch in the 2nd half we were told by an usher that we needed to sit down because we were obstructing people’s view. I wanted to say “tell them they need to be standing up” . I thought I was at a Jayhawks game, not at a dog show. I’ve been to NBA games where the fans didn’t sit for entire halves of play, and this usher is telling me to sit down? What is UP WITH THAT? I never thought I would encounter this at Allen Fieldhouse.

We spotted some former Jayhawks at the game Saturday, sitting behind the team bench. Travis Releford was there, sitting beside Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien. I randomly saw Tim Hardaway (yes that one) sitting in front of me and my buddy. What was he doing in Lawrence? Is he a scout now or something? I had seen him earlier and thought I was just being racist (Not all bald black guys look alike Mick.), but sure enough we realized it was him.
Not sure what to make of this photo here.

Collison and Hinrich are two of my favorite players, but the other side of me wonders if there is another message behind this “team photo”. I’m sure it’s harmless but it’s definitely one of those things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.
That loss to Colorado doesn’t look so bad now. Colorado put up a fight against Oklahoma State and only lost by a couple of buckets (5 points). They are currently ranked number 20 in the country.

UCLA vs. Duke was interesting the first half. Kyle Anderson looks like he will be fun to watch in the NBA as a 6’8 point guard. He almost had a triple double in the first half, but neither he nor the rest of the tea played particularly well during the 2nd half. Zach Lavine looked good too and Bryce Alford looks like Steve Novak 2.0 (for better or worse). Their defense is terrible though. I could see them winning it all in the NIT or getting knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It does make me want to watch them play Arizona on January 9th.

Happy holidays to all you readers and non-readers out there. It’s time for me to sit down and watch KD go HAM against the Knicks in MSG (As of me posting this he’s 6 for his first 7 shots. If this Clippers-Warriors matchup tonight is half as entertaining as I think it will be, then we are in for a treat.

Peace.