Pacers

Loosely Connected Observations From The First Week of the Season

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A few thoughts from the first week of NBA ball:

  • Looks like palming and traveling has gone the way of defensive 3 seconds.Maybe this is a way to amp up scoring–kind of like how NFL started making rules that only benefit offensive players.
  • Lakers-Rockets on opening night was fun. It reminded me of watching a Drew league game, or an All Star Game where everyone but James Harden had missed the bus, and they had  to suit up all the players who were in town just for the weekend festivities. I actually like this post Kobe era for the Lakers. Its pretty refreshing to see watch a Lakers game and not feel hate.
  • Watched the Kings-Spurs game from the other night. Ben Mclemore may have found his calling in the league as a scorer off the bench. It’s easy to forget that he is just a baby, but he has a lot of time to still hit his peak as a basketball player. I hope he finds a good team someday. Until then, Ben has to learn how to protect his cookies.
  • Speaking of the Spurs. I wasn’t very hype on them coming into the season, but they look really good. They have a nice balance of veteran leadership (a combined 14 championship rings on this roster) and some good young cats. I like what little I’ve seen of Latvian forward, Davis Bertrans, who has impressed me with his 3 point range. I’ve often talked shit about David Lee’s one on one defense, but he is actually a decent help defender. Also, I think he has a chip on his shoulder. After sitting the past 2 seasons, dude looks hungry. Kudos on the pickup Mr. Buford. Last but not least….Kawhi “frigging” Leonard!!!!!!! I cannot believe this is the same kid who found himself in a moment too big during the 2013 NBA Finals. He is ridiculously good right now.
  • Lakers-Pacers definitely was the Good Ass Game of the Week last week with their overtime affair (Those Pacers cheerleaders tho!!!! MPPPPHHHHHH), but one of my favorite moments last week was watching Damien Lillard and old Joe Jhnson go basket for basket in the 4th quarter of the Blazers vs. Jazz. Maybe we will get lucky and they face off in the first round of the playoffs. Although I gotta say, I’m not sold on Quinn Snyder as an NBA coach. He just seems too uptight. Maybe the Salt Lake City cuisine has him constipated.
  • Speaking of Lillard, Dame says he wants to win the MVP. I have mixed feelings on him publicly making this statement. On one hand, him winning MVP would obviously correlate with the Blazers having a great regular season. On the other hand, it sounds like Lillard worrying about something he cannot control. MVP is a subjective award. Saying at the beginning of the season that you want to win MVP is like a musician publicly saying that he wants the album he is working on to win a Grammy. Perhaps it is better to just do the best you can and let the product speak for itself.

 

We have some good ass games this week. If you have a way to watch them without accessing League Pass then you are already ahead of the game. I can’t believe that a mulit-billion dollar industry can’t find a way to hire people to fix their digital media site. It is befuddling and infuriating.

Demand for NBA is at an all time high. With so much interest in this year’s season, Adam Silver couldn’t have picked a worse time to drop the ball on that front. I hope they work this out soon, otherwise it will be a perpetually sour season for this hoops fan. I may abandon sportswatching altogether and just focus on being a normal human being. Or maybe I’ll just become a full fledged soccer guy. Chew on that reality for a minute.

 

Peace,

BM

 

profile pic b mick  Bobby Mickey is the alter ego of writer and poet Edward Austin Robertson. When he isn’t involved in some basketball related activity, actively looking for parties to deejay or venues to perform comedy, he can be found recording podcasts with Craig Stein at FullsassStudios. Follow him on twitter @clickpicka79. For booking inquiries, send contact info to thisagoodassgame@gmail.com. 

Final Four

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We’ve got our Final Four and for all my bitching about seeding and who had the easiest path, it still played out how most people predicted; Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio and Indiana vs. Miami.

It didn’t look like the Pacers would make it this far early on, with Roy Hibbert (the disappearing 7’2 black man) having the worst playoffs of all time for an All-Star (I’m 5’11 and I can get 2-3 rebounds on accident–how he goes an entire game without getting one is beyond me). But he recovered and so did the Pacers and now they finally have home court against Miami. No excuses, this what the Pacers and now they have it. This scenario reminds me too much of ’93 Knicks vs. Bulls. Knicks had home court and didn’t make a lick of difference to Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the game at that time. The Pacers have home court, but the Heat have Lebron James, the greatest player in the game now, as a wise man once said, “That shit don’t mean fuck” to Lebron.

Heat in Six

Before we get in to the Spurs-Thunder, let’s just wish a Bon Voyage to the Los Angeles Clippers. They had a great season and dealt with some ill timed distractions, but fuck those guys. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the game but on that John Stockton “sneaky dirty” tip. He whines, he complains, he fouls, and gets pissy when calls don’t go his way. Fuck him. Fuck J.J. Redick (still) and fuck Blake Griffin. Those dudes are a bunch of floppers and they get what they deserve for signing contracts with the infamous Donald Sterling. Only dudes on that team I respect are Jamal Crawford (so smooth with it) and Matt Barnes (keeps it grimey). I’m glad they got eliminated in the second round. As my homey Adrian (a lifelong Lakers fan) says, “Fuck Clippers for Life!”

The Thunder should have eliminated them in 5 games, they blew game 4 and now have to face the Spurs without Serge Ibaka because he injured his calf in the extra game they played. I would have predicted Spurs in 7 had they had a healthy Ibaka “blocka flame”, but now without him I say Spurs in six.

Scott Brooks as a coach is like the kid who comes over to play video games and he picks the best team and just shoots with the same players over and over again. He may beat you, but not because he’s a better gamer, but only because he is running with a better squad. Put Scott Brooks on the Orlando Magic, and there is no discernible difference in the win-loss records. I’m not saying Scott Brooks is a bad coach. I just don’t think he is an elite coach and he has been getting out-coached all playoffs. He also just happens to have the two best players in the Western Conference on his team. He’s a good coach though, a good personnel guy, but his in game strategy is sorely lacking.

Personally, I’m rooting for a Spurs-Heat rematch. I think the Spurs have the best chance of beating the Heat of the last teams remaining. They have the best coach, and Tony Parker is the best point guard left playing. The Spurs also have the best role players. They are better than next last year’s team based on that alone. A healthy Spurs would have smashed the Heat in six games last year (Parker was hobbled that whole series after game 1). I want the Heat to earn it if this is going to be the three-peat year. The hardest path for them would be through San-Antonio. I think this is what Spurs fans want as well, they’ll take their chances running it back against a Heat team that hasn’t gotten better (besides Lebron) but only got older.

Eastern Conference Finals begins in about an hour and a half. Bring it!

Lastly, Big shout outs to Mark Jackson, for handling his ouster from Golden State with grace. I don’t like the way it was all handled, and Mark Jackson deserved better. I hope he chills on them checks he gonna be getting til the perfect situation opens up for him. He’s a good coach who will someday be a great coach. Its obvious now that his firing had nothing to do with basketball. All that being said, I think Kerr is the perfect replacement for Coach Jackson. Kerr is really intelligent person who will certainly be a “player’s coach.”
I think his style will be a breath of fresh air for that camp. Of course, coaching is not why they lost in the first round. Their roster wasn’t nearly as good as last year’s and yet they managed to win more games this year than they did last year (this year’s conference was arguably tougher). A coach still needs players, and if Golden State trots out the same lineup next year they will NOT make the playoffs next year. The Lacob clan need to look in the mirror and decide how serious they are about becoming an elite franchise.

Have a good weekend and let’s pray for no more series turning injuries the rest of the way……. well unless they happen to the Heat.