If you’re looking for a safe pick for a champion, go with Brazil. There doesn’t seem to be one in the NBA Finals (smarter people than I, such as Kevin Pelton writing for 82games/Sports Illustrated, agree). My initial gut reaction to a Dallas v. Miami series was that Dallas would crush them, maybe intentionally dropping […]
NBA Playoffs
Playoff Thoughts
To be honest, I had hoped to have the second part of the season review up today, focusing on Kobe and the other guards, but the post is just not fit for human consumption yet. Look for it on Monday. Instead, here are some thoughts after a late night perusing of the postseason stats. • […]
Things I don’t get
Who are these people coming out of the woodwork to complain that Kobe didn’t single-handedly beat the Suns in game seven? The suggestions that he “gave up†border on idiocy. Remember the Laker wins in the series? How did those happen? Kobe shared the ball, Kwame and Odom posted up well, Smush and Walton were […]
Open Thread — Game 7
When this series started, we said Kwame Brown and Smush Parker would be the keys — could the Lakers pound the ball inside and slow Steve Nash? For three games the answer was yes, and if the Lakers are going to win game seven it won’t be because Kobe scored 63, but because Smush and […]
Lakers/Suns Thoughts
Just a short collection of thoughts as we work our way toward game seven. My mood remains pretty sour about that loss. • Early in this series we were all praising Phil Jackson for the job he did. Well, credit Mike D’Antoni, who made a few tweaks to what the Suns were doing that worked, […]
Open Thread — game six
Just what does the suspension of Raja Bell mean for game six? When Bell has been on the floor in this series, the Suns have had a team defensive rating of 104.7 (points per 100 possessions). When Leandro Barbosa (his replacement as a starter) is on the court, it is 113.2. That’s a massive 8.5 […]
Open Thread — game 5
First off, congratulations to the Clippers, who won their first playoff series since Rick Monday saved an American flag. I really have been rooting for this, a Laker/Clipper match up in the next round will be the biggest basketball happening in this city in a long time. Hell, Bill Simmons is excited and he’s not […]
One question
Laker fans, when was the last time you were this excited about the team? For me, 2001, the second title. While they made it to the finals in 2004, in the later years of the Shaq/Kobe era, I started to fear opening the paper to read about the soap opera, I grew weary of the […]
Open Thread – game 4
Rather than me providing more comments on game three, look for a comment this morning from Gatinho, who was in Staples Center Friday night. Today may not be a classic must win but it can define this series – win and we can almost start printing “hallway series†tickets. The last two wins certainly have […]
Open Thread – game 3
The playoffs are about adjustments. In the regular season, the daily grind and travel makes altering your basic strategy from night-to-night difficult, the changes you do make tend to be minor tweaks. That gives a team like Phoenix, with it’s very different style than everyone else, and advantage. Then, add to it that three of […]