Prediction: Luol Deng is going to be a star if not a superstar.
Pat Riley says the Bulls are on the verge of greatness. Aren’t they there already? They’ve got the kind of balance in their starting five that the Pistons had 4 years ago.
The Heat caught lightning in a bottle last year. I don’t think they’ll be doing the same with this team again. They should be in for some major reconstruction in the off-season.
Playoff series which I mostly fast-forwarded through: Pistons/Magic, Nuggets/Spurs, Raptors/Nets, Jazz/Rockets, Cavaliers/Wizards
I find myself feeling deeply satisfied watching Don Nelson’s Warriors thrash Mark Cuban’s whiny Mavericks.
The Heat lost to the Bulls because they couldn’t stop their offense despite apparently good defensive effort by most of the players. So where does the blame lie? The coach, of course.
Prediction: Shaq will win no more championships.
The Bulls’ acquisition of Ben Wallace will likely be the key to their next championship.
Prediction: Smush Parker’s days as a Laker are numbered.
Leandro Barbosa has an uncanny knack for making layups regardless of the angle. He really makes a non-dunk layup beautiful.
Make no mistake, the bottom half of the Eastern Conference bracket means little or nothing. The winner of the Detroit/Chicago series will win the East and play in the Finals.
Boris Diaw needs to add the three point shot to his game. If he does that, he’ll be a complete offensive threat at any position. He’s got a long way to defensively, though.
Diaw’s got great footwork in the lane but when you watch him, he’s so long that it seems like he’s moving in slow motion.
Add Jon Barry to the list of my favorite broadcasters. I liked his game when he played, too.
Reggie Miller, however, joins Magic Johnson in the great-players-who-suck-at-broadcasting category.
Did Pat Riley mortgage Dwayne Wade’s future to get Shaquille O’Neal on the Heat? Wade will be in his prime in a few years and O’Neal will be gone. Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, on the other hand, will still be young players.
If I were working for Suns management, I’d have Horace Grant call Shawn Marion to tell him the perils of moving out of the shadow of the two best and most popular players on a team. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Best fans in the playoffs so far? There can be no doubt – Golden State.
Watching this Warriors team play feels like watching Don Nelson’s Warriors teams of years past: 2 or 3 stars and 6 guys you never heard of playing way above their heads. Will Don Nelson always be the underdog?
Dirk Nowitzki as MVP of the NBA? If that happens, it will be a joke. In all likelihood, the Mavs won’t even be playing when it’s announced.
Although coming back from being down 3-1 seems unlikely, the Mavericks/Warriors series is ripe for it to happen. The Warriors are on the edge all of the time.
What a contrast between the demeanor of Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis in Game 2 vs. Game 4. Davis was all smiles the entire game.
Mavericks at Warriors, Game 4 may go down as one of the most exciting playoff games ever played. The 8 seed was down for most of each quarter but then rallied to tie at the end of the quarter and then surged at precisely the right time to end the game.
The swarming Warriors defense rattled even the unflappable Jerry Stackhouse at crucial moments of the game.
My dream series for the Western Conference Finals: Warriors vs. Suns.
How do you think Shaq feels when the double-team comes and the open man is Antoine Walker? Is he thinking he should repost and wait for the ball to come back? Hahahaha!!
Walker obviously didn’t watch any of the Phoenix games where the announcers kept repeating that missed three pointers ignite the fast break.
Everybody talks about the excellent Mavs defense being the reason that the Heat can’t score. I’m not so sure. The Heat aren’t capitalizing on their mismatches especially Shaq vs. Diop/Dampiere. Those guys should have 5 fouls each at the end of the game, not 5 fouls total.
The Heat pull within 13 with 5 minutes remaining in the game. Shouldn’t Riley put Wade and Shaq back into the game?
Don Nelson did an incredible job building this team. Everybody thought he was crazy when he dismantled the “3 J’s” team of the 90s and replaced them with the likes of Nowitzki and Shawn Bradley. I found myself questioning Nelson’s sanity as late as 2003 when he acquired both Antawn Jameson and Antoine Walker, effectively creating a logjam (or Antoine jam?) at power forward. Here’s a few highlights:
1998: Traded the draft rights to Robert Traylor and Pat Garrity for the draft rights for Dirk Nowitzki.
1999: Acquired Steve Nash via trade
2000: Drafted Eduardo Najera
2003: Drafted Josh Howard
2003: Signed Marquis Daniels as a free agent
2003: Acquired Walker and Jameson in trades
2004: Drafted Devon Harris
2004: Traded Najera for Erick Dampier
2004: Traded Antawn Jameson for Jerry Stackhouse and the #5 draft pick (which ended up being Devon Harris).
2004: Traded Antoine Walker for Jason Terry after losing Steve Nash to free agency (effectively making lemonade out of lemons).
2005: Signed DeSagna Diop as a free agent.
Given Nash’ weak defense, it now appears that letting him go was the right move for the Mavs. Terry and Harris are a potent 1-2 combination at point guard and both play better defense than Nash.
If Haslem can’t play because of the shoulder injury on Tuesday, I think Riley should start Mourning at power forward. Of course, I also think he should take Walker out of the starting lineup in favor of Posey, but that won’t happen, either.
I’ve noticed coaches and players are looking at the instant replay on the arena big screen after controversial calls. Sadly, the broadcasters haven’t picked up on this and viewers have to wonder exactly what the crowd is upset about.
Boris Diaw missed a bunch of layups tonight. Why the heck doesn’t he dunk it when he gets that close to the rim?
Jason Terry is probably a ball-hog who has reluctantly embraced the game of a true point guard. He took numerous bad shots tonight including some that resulted in Phoenix fast breaks, exactly what Avery Johnson tells him not to do, I’m sure.
Dirk Nowitzki sure can shoot that fadeaway jumper when he’s got single coverage, but I’d like to see his shooting percentage when he’s double-teamed. I don’t think he hits it nearly as much then.
I think the reason that I enjoy watching Steve Nash play so much is the total joy that he brings to the game. Twice during the game tonight he rushed off the bench to greet the players coming off the court in a timeout – big smile on his face, high fives and words of encouragement. I love watching people who so clearly revel in their work.
James Jones has completely disappeared from the offense, but has continued to impact the game through rebounding and defense. He even passed up on a wide open three pointer tonight, even though that is supposedly his specialty. Still, he has a long body and has been very effective on the Dallas guards.
Avery Johnson gave up on the game with 6:40 left in the game and down by 20? Did he not realize he was playing the Suns who can give up 20 in 4 minutes?
When the clock is running down and you need a basket, which veteran do you go to? Devin Harris and Boris Diaw! Simply awesome because it’s an indicator that everyone on both teams is ready to take the big shot, even the guys who’ve only been in the league two or three years.
Best picture of the game: Leandro Barbosa giving Diaw a kiss on the cheek during the timeout after the winning shot.
Suns up by 1 point with 2/10 of a second left in the game and Tim Thomas steps to the line for two free throws. Obviously, he should miss the second free throw so the clock runs out on the rebound. But how do you get a good miss (i.e. one that hits the rim)? Practice missing the first so you can miss the second correctly.
Early on Boris Diaw successfully drove the lane several times, only to pass out to a three point shooter when he had his own wide-open shot from 2 feet away. D’Antoni must have said something to him because later he took the ball to the rack strong.
Dallas was unusually cold from the field especially Dirk and Keith Van Horn. It was surprising seeing Van Horn miss so many threes after making so many against the Spurs the other night.
I used to loathe Jerry Stackhouse because he was a dirty and selfish player. Evidently, he is now only a dirty player. I saw him pass up at least two open shots tonight that two years ago he would have put up without hesitation. And it was the right thing to do.
Even though I dislike him, I really respect his game. He is the epitomy of everything you want from the first guy off the bench: instant and reliable offense without giving up anything defensively. How surprising was it to see him missing down the stretch?
I don’t know which media outlet proclaimed that “it’s time to boo Steve Nash” but it showed a total lack of class. Michael Jordan never got booed going back to Chicago. Thankfully the Dallas fans didn’t really go for it.
Nash had 16, 27 and 5 while Nowitzki had 2, 25 and 19. Does it matter which categories when the numbers are that big?