Tag: playoffs

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Vital Statistics

Bike miles in 2021: 0

Aches & pains: sciatica, lower back, left wrist and shoulder, ankles/feet

Current reading: Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

Recent listening: The House Song by Beta Band, Come Together by The Beatles, Money by Pink Floyd, WTF Podcast (Jackson Browne), Very Bad Wizards, Making Sense with Sam Harris, Radiolab, This American Life

Recent viewing: Mythic Quest, Mosquito Coast, Hacks, Childrens Hospital, Real Time with Bill Maher, Jazz vs. Clippers, Bucks vs. Nets, Suns vs. Nuggets, Trying, Dirty John, Lucifer

Recent playing: Mini Motorways

Recent events: Rain, real-life happy hour, WWDC, dinner at a restaurant

Recently accomplished: added edging and river rock to the south side of the house, sharpened mower blades, cleaned grill, tree trimming, learned 4 different scales on bass

Imperative To Do: ride bike, store CD boxes, contact kitchen contractor for warranty items, clean gutters, visit J&J, fix gutter leaks

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2395
Van odometer: 151992
Weight lost (in pounds): 8
Aches & pains: left achilles tendon, sciatic
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman, My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Recent listening: Rage Against The Machine, This American Life, Bob Wills
Recent viewing: Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Warren Miller’s Ride, Suns vs. Spurs, South Park, The Office, Numbers, Cavaliers vs. Wizards
Recent playing: TypeRacer (top speed about 75 wpm)
Recently accomplished: Cat boxes, recycling, clean and lube bikes, adjusted Thomas’ “old” bike for Graham, weed & feed, 401k loan, mowed lawn, changed voter registration, weed & feed
Imperative To Do: Sell G4, get rid of junk (couch, vacuum cleaner, mower), buy trailer for van, activate new Tivo, develop comprehensive reward/punishment plan for homework, oil change for van

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Random Thoughts on the First Round of the Playoffs

  • 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.
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Playoff Notes

  • Shaq drew two or three 3-second calls in the first half as he waited for his teammates to deliver him the ball. I think it’s a great move and he should continue to stand his ground in there. They need to realize it’s their fault that he’s not getting the ball enough.
  • Five minutes left in the game and who is not on the floor? Antoine Walker! Result? Win for the Heat!
  • The Heat played great in the first half, but relied on only 3 or 4 guys to score. In the second half, they played worse but luckily for them Dallas made mistakes down the stretch. They’re going to need a better game in Game 4.
  • Things that Dwayne Wade needs to improve in his game to be a great player:
    • Free throw shooting must be 80% or above
    • Must have a credible three-point shot
    • Must add a low post one-on-one game
    • Must reduce the number of turnovers he has
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    Playoff Notes

  • 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.
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    Playoff Notes

    • Another thing I don’t like about Antoine Walker: he has no in-between game. He’s either hoisting up three pointers or he’s in the lane. Come to think of it, he doesn’t have a low post game, either.
    • In the tradition of the “Jordan stopper” and the “Kobe stopper”, I propose to call Lindsey Hunter the “Wade stopper.” May he be just as successful as Gerald Wilkins and Ruben Patterson.
    • The new generation of NBA superstars have at least one thing wrong with their game: they can’t shoot free throws reliably. Forget Shaq and the big men, I’m talking about Wade, LeBron, etc.