Playoffs - Crazy Endings and Space Jam 2

Round 2:

After a first round filled with a large amount of absolute blowouts it’s nice to see we have transitioned into close games filled with absolute chaos. But does anyone in the NBA know how to do a sideline inbounds play? I know the NBA playoffs is a literal pressure cooker, but it shouldn’t be that tough to get the ball inbounds. It’s borderline ridiculous…If I wanted to turn on my TV and watch players incapable of escaping pressure I’d re-watch the NCAA tourney.

As a Spurs fan I feel obligated to say a few words about the game 2 end of game situation. I thought the Spurs were done about 3 times in this game and I’m surprised they came back to tie it multiple times in the 2^nd half. 

First and foremost the last 15 seconds of the game were not was prohibited San Antonio from capturing a 2-0 series lead. Here’s why they lost:

• The team was unable to match the ferocity and speed of the Thunder from the outset.
• Russell Westbrook rammed the ball down their throat for the entirety of the first quarter.
• The Thunder’s defensive intensity and ability to cover simple Pick n Roll’s was drastically improved and the Spurs seemed unable to adjust for much of the first half.
• Serge Ibaka completely spooked the Spurs roster resulting in a large amount of missed layups.
• Kawhi never truly got going, and Pop was too cautious when he picked up 2 fouls in the first half

After the game, I was more frustrated with the overall performance of the team than with the missed calls from the refs. A foul should have been called on Dion Waiters elbow Ginobili and another should have been awarded to the Spurs for the scrum underneath the basket. But you can’t ask for a better situation for the Spurs to score then a 3 on 1 fast break.

The problem is the people running that break were suboptimal. Danny Green is the worst Spur (Boban excluded) to get the ball in a scramble situation. He can’t dribble, gets easily flustered and is completely unable to pass on the move. He led Mills too far on the initial pass, which kept him from being able to score a quick layup before Steven Adams arrived. This terrible pass forced Mills under the basket which created a train reaction of quick, hurried decisions that led to Mills airballed three. The missed call on Ginobili wasn’t the catalyst for the loss and wasn’t the worst part of that insane sequence. The Spurs had a great opportunity to steal a game and flat out didn’t execute in a scramble situation.

Space Jam 2:

Word is leaking that Space Jam 2 might actually be in the works, starring none other than LeBron James. The original is a movie that most people my age either love or hate. Personally, I love this movie, but I’m willing to admit that this probably has more to do with nostalgia than cinematic quality. The majority of the dialogue is awful, the basketball scenes are terrible, but I’m a sucker for basically any basketball themed movie from the 90’s. Plus it has a dope soundtrack. This isn’t a movie I ever sit down and intentionally watch, but Lord knows if it’s on TV I’ll give it a couple of minutes.

The most interesting part of the announced sequel is the title character. LeBron has been compared to MJ ever since he’s entered the league, a comparison in which he consistently comes up short. Starring in a sequel that Jordan originally headlined certainly won’t decrease this banter. However, my main concern with this movie is the chemistry between LeBron and his Looney Tune teammates. LeBron has repeatedly used passive aggressive tactics to try and motivate his teammates. The question is, how will Bugs Bunny respond to being left out of #squadpick Instagram posts with LeBron, Daffy, and Porky Pig? Will his Looney Tunes teammates be okay with LeBron going to Moron Mountain to train with the Monstars on his week off? These questions must be answered….

Playoffs - Injuries & GOT

A few thoughts:

• Injuries Suck
• Game of Thrones

Injuries Suck:

I'll keep this portion short, because I don't think this is that complicated. Steph Curry's out for a minimum of two weeks. At best guess this ends up costing him a few games in the western conference semi's (prolly against the Clippers). If Curry were to miss the first 4 games of that series I do not think that Golden State has enough to win. Beating a Rockets team on the brink of self combustion and beating the Clippers are two completely different animals. I understand that Blake Griffin still isn't at full strength, but I think the Clips would rightly be favored in that presumed matchup. 

Last year many people pointed to the luck that Golden St encountered on the way to winning the championship: avoiding the Spurs / Clippers, injuries to the Cavaliers, absence of injury to their team. Likewise, many wondered if this injury luck would continue this year. It hasn't, and that sucks. This injury potentially gives my favorite basketball team a better chance to win the NBA Championship. And if the Spurs were to do so it wouldn't come with an asterisk. Luck is necessary for any team to win the championship. The Spurs has benefited and suffered from injuries in multiple playoff runs. It's part of the difficulty of winning it all. 

Game of Thrones:

Valar morghulis! 

A Few thoughts / questions

Age is more than just a number - Was it necessary to see that old lady completely nude? Could we have got the gist, with just her face aging? I just don't think getting a full frontal from a senior citizen adds to anyone's enjoyment of the show. Shout out to this photoshop work though....

Can we be Done w/ Dorne? - There is nothing that has been more disappointing then the entire Dorne/Sand Snakes story line. In the book it was interesting and entertaining. For the sake of time the show runners have seemingly decided to cut out large portions. This has made the entire Dorne experience seem disjointed and rushed. I hope this is heading somewhere that makes the past 11 episodes worth it. 

What is Dead May Never Die - How is Jon Snow coming back? When is he coming back?  What will he be when he comes back? Will have some type of special powers when he comes back? When he comes back is he still a member of the Night's Watch? 

Playoffs - Coaching and it's Importance

Apologies...I rushed to get this out before tonights game, excuse any typo's ya boy's not perfect.....Enjoy

In this post:

Breaking news....Coaching mismatch: Donavan vs Jim Carrey…I mean Rick Carlisle

Let’s start by stating the obvious, Rick Carlisle is a fantastic coach. This fact is generally accepted across the league. His teams routinely outperform their talent level in both the regular and post season. 

For example, look at the performance of his 2014 Mavericks a completely out-talented team that pushed the eventual champions to 7 games. One could chalk that performance up as an aberration, or attribute the Spurs difficulty to playing down to the competition. The latter might partly be true, but Carlisle influence on that series shouldn’t be understated. I’ll spare you the gory details…..But, to shut down the Spurs “beautiful game” (built on precise ball and player movement) he employed a switching strategies that had the Spurs tripping over themselves for 7 games. His coaching opponent in that series wasn’t some “green” interim coach. One could argue that he out-coached possibly the greatest coach ever for multiple games.

More recently the performance of the Mavericks in this most recent regular season might be an even greater indication of his coaching prowess. He helped drag an old broken down roster of cast-offs to a 7 seed. Seriously….look at this roster:

Dirk is a hall of fame player, but he can hardly move and my legs hurt just trying to watch him run up and down the court. Parsons their “max” player is out with a knee injury. Matthews other “max” player was coming back from Achilles injury and simply has not returned to his pre-injury form. That about sums up their non-rookie and cast off players.

The rest of their rotation is as follows:

JaVale McGee – just google this dude….summaries of his exploits are impossible in this space

Raymond Felton – was fat and out of shape & ran out of New York and Portland

Devin Harris – past his prime guard, who averaged about 7 pts a game

Dwight Powell – 2nd year player, best talent = dunking when close to rim

Justin Anderson – promising rookie

JJ Barea – a shrimp of a PG who was cut from the Twolves last year, did marry a Miss Universe contestant though…

Charlie Villanueva – ran out of Detroit after massively underperforming his contract

Jeremy Evans – dunk over a portrait of himself once

Zaza Pachulia – good defender, incredible agitator, better as a soundbite

Deron Williams – oft injured and over the hill rumored coach killer, bought out of New Jersey

Salah Mejri – rookie, main skill - energy & height

David Lee – bought out of Boston

Due to injuries Carlisle completely revamped the way the team played 2/3 of the way through the season by drastically slowing the pace and all but eliminating turnovers. Under the tutelage of Carlisle, Dirk and Barea dragged the rest of this scrap heap to 7th seed in West, and a date with OKC Thunder.

Now let’s take a moment to consider the Thunder. A roster comparison shouldn’t take long. They have 2 top 10 players (Durant and Westbrook) that are more talented than the entire Mavericks roster, combined. Both of these guys are legitimate MVP candidates on a yearly basis, but before we further we can agree, both of these players are not perfect. 

Westbrook is the Tasmanian devil incarnate on the basketball court. He’s 100% effort 100% of the time. Part of what makes him so attractive is you can tell how much he freaking cares about winning.  However, this hyperactivity bleeds into suboptimal shots (pull up 3 pointers) and lack of ball movement because he has so much confidence in his supreme athleticism.

Durant is a 7 foot small forward with an improved handle, and almost unlimited range. He too has improved as a passer from when he first entered the league. I think his greatest weakness is that he settles for difficult shots and struggles when capable physical defenders body him up. Too many possession end with a long pull up 2.

Both of these guys aren’t perfect, but no one is (Steph Curry excluded). The issue is other teams have systems that highlight their player’s strength and bend the defense to create efficient and open looks.  This is where the Thunder fall short. They have 2 top 10 players, but what they don’t have is a coach anywhere close to Carlisle’s level.  For years their old coach (Scotty Brooks) was roasted for his lack of an offensive system and inability to competently stagger Westbrook and Durant’s minutes. He was fired at the end of the last season and replaced with Billy Donovan. 

The NBA at large held its breath, hoping this change signaled the opportunity for Durant and Westbrook to work under a coach who could truly maximize their other worldly talent. The results would suggest otherwise. Donovan eventually figured out how to stagger Durant and Westbrook’s minutes (not exactly rocket science) but the lack of offensive continuity continued.

The Thunder destroyed the Mavs in game 1 so reacting to their game 2 loss is neither intelligent nor necessary. It would be illogical to believe that the Mavs can win this series. Carlisle is an incredible coach, but he’s not Jesus, so he isn’t turning water into wine and he’s not going to be able to coach the Mavs to 3 more victories. That is unless Durant continues to miss around 30 shots a game. However, this doesn’t mean that the coaching disparity between Carlisle and Donovan isn’t incredibly apparent. Carlisle’s squad stole a game on the road by depending on Ray Felton down the stretch. He should receive coach of the decade honors for this alone.

The type of issues mentioned above can be masked during a long regular season, but are magnified in the playoffs when teams potentially play each other 7 times in 2 weeks. Furthermore, Durant and Westbrook’s incredible 1 on 1 ability often is enough to beat 95% of teams in the NBA. The playoffs, with better teams and coaches (usually), is a different story.  When the opposing team can put all of their resources on identifying and neutralizing the opponent’s every tendency, the ability to adjust is paramount. This is when coaching ability is truly demonstrated. The Thunder can’t install a brand new offense during the playoffs, but it isn’t hard to make small adjustments.

• Better lineup decisions in crunch time
• Having players screen each other away from the ball
• Backside cuts
• Getting the ball up the floor and into the offense quicker.

I’ll be interested to see if Donovan has the ability to adjust going forward. This might not be necessary in this series. Fat Felton and the immortal Dirk can only take the Mavs so far. The Thunder might render crunch time irrelevant by simply overwhelming an inferior talent. But in the next series against Pop and the Spurs the Thunder’s “my turn, your turn” 1-on-1 offense simply will not be sustainable in close games. Talent usually trumps coaching, hence OKC's ability to maintain success with limited coaches. However, the truly elite teams, the ones that win and not simply aspire for championships usually require excellent coaches. Even Golden St. didn't reach their new found heights without first upgrading their coaching staff.

Long story short, Carlisle is a better coach, in a league driven by star players it's interesting to see how big of a difference coaches make come playoff time.

Playoffs – Opening Round Weekend

A few thoughts:

• Blowouts Galore
• Starting 5 worst teammates

Blowouts Galore

Remember in 2014 with the opening round was incredible? When seemingly every series went to 7 and provided us highlight after highlight? Remember Lillard dropping the Rockets? Or Vince Carter turning back the clock?

This opening weekend seems to suggest those type of highlights will be few and far between in round 1. The average margin of victory was over 20 points a game – not a great sign for competitive basketball going forward.

This type of aberration does not require wholesale changes to the current seeding structure. I expect the one eastern blowout (Heat vs. Hornets) to be much closer moving forward. The west however, is a completely different animal. The west is so top heavy that more blowouts are on the horizon.

Silver lining…. It is setting things up for an excellent second round

Starting 5 Worst Teammates

Playoff basketball is great because you get to see the best basketball players from the best league go toe to toe in high leverage situations. This type of environment gives fans the opportunity to see the best at their best.  Watching these games this weekend is a reminder that these guys are better at basketball on their worst day then I am at anything else on my best day. But just cause these dudes are talented doesn’t mean they’d be fun to play with.

While I was watching the Rockets this past weekend, I wondered, which NBA players (Playoff teams only) would I least like to play with? The initial answer is the entire Rockets roster. This squad is a master class in terrible body language, ball hogging and selfishness. So in order to challenge myself I’ll only allow one Rockets player. Because copy and pasting their bush league squad into my lineup would be too easy

Remember this doesn’t mean these guys aren’t talented it just means they suck at being a teammate

Without further ado….

PG – Reggie Jackson (Pistons) – This guy pounds the ball forever. No one wants to play with a guy who dribbles and dribbles and dribbles and goes absolutely nowhere. He runs a heavy PnR offense, so part of this is by design, but he takes it too the extreme.

SG – Dion Waiters (Thunder) – If this guy was half as talented as he thinks he was he’d be in the running for MVP. Nothing is ever his fault and he specializes at taking inopportune and inefficient shots. He is the MVP of calling for the ball every possession like he has a 5 foot white dude guarding him

SF – Lance Stephenson (Grizzlies) – Might go off for 20 points. Might blow into someone’s ear, might throw a tantrum in the middle of a possession. With the direction this series is headed, and the Grizz are down 3-0 I wouldn’t be surprised if he just walked off the court mid game… anything is possible.

PF– LeBron James (Cavaliers) – He’s the second best player in basketball and a probably a top 10 player ever. He also sends out cryptic social media messages like he’s a 15-year-old girl. I know he makes the right pass, and is unselfish on the court. This doesn’t mean he’s a great teammate. Great teammates aren’t as passive aggressive as my Mom and they don’t call out dudes on twitter/instagram

C – Dwight Howard (Rockets) – Listen I know he’s actually played decently this year and I understand he plays with a black hole (albeit a talented one). Howard’s one of those teammates that gives up at the first sign of trouble. Him and his teammates are so ready to pack it in it’s ridiculous. Shout out to Dwight for carrying the torch for the Rockets on this list.

6^th Man– Charlie Villanueva (Mavericks) – Bro why you trying to ruin Westbrook’s flow…let my dude dance man. Nothing worse than a scrub player doing stupid stuff to try and get under a star players skin. Nobody wants to be on a team with folks like this

NBA Playoffs

What if I blogged about the NBA for the playoffs? Would you care? Would you read?.... Guess what I don’t care if you care. I’m gonna do it.

There will be no rhyme or reason to these posts and I’m going to do my best to avoid filling them with obscure analytical data. My goal is to keep it as old school as possible. However, unlike Charles Barkley I won’t be allergic to advanced stats.

Today’s post:

• Ode to Kob(e)
• Why Steph = Kobe
• Playoff Predictions

Ode to Kob(e)

First things first,

Sad to see this dude go, he was the best and the league will not be as fun without him. I’ve spent many playoff games watching him completely destroy my hopes and dreams and yet I loved him for it. Loved his competitiveness, tenacity and unmatched ability to be a complete jerk. I’ve always had a soft spot for people who would tell you how good they were and then exceed that on the court. I’d take that over subtweets and fake humility every day (what’s up LBJ??).

If I could run one pickup game with any NBA player in history (Cherokee Parks excluded) it would be Kobe. Watching him ruthlessly destroy some random financial analysts and salesman at a 24 Hr Fitness lunch time run would be the best….fingers crossed.

My favorite Kobe play of all time is his game winning shotagainst the Suns. It wasn’t his most important or most difficult. It was however Kobe at his finest, pull up jumper right in Raja Bell’s grill with the game on the line. Peak.

Why Steph = Kobe (at least for me)

Offer this idea up to any borderline intelligent NBA fan and their first reaction would be confusion, because in no way shape or form are Kobe and Curry the same. Let’s list some characteristics:

Steph:

Best 3 point shooter ever

Mild mannered

Appears humble

Doesn’t look like an NBA player

Widely accepted

Will do whatever to help team exceed

Kobe:

Great midrange shooter

Excellent athlete

Arrogant

Looks and carries himself like an NBA player

Loves being a villain

Will do whatever to succeed personally, because that will help team win

What makes them the same, is the way their teams make you feel.

Between 2000 and 2002 Kobe, Shaq and the rest of the Lakers absolutely destroyed the rest of the NBA. As a Spurs fan I had the pleasure of watching that team just destroy my squad in the playoffs. Some of those series weren’t even close. Maybe the Spurs would get a game or two, but it never actually felt like the Spurs had a shot. You just knew the ending, it was inevitable, the Spurs were not going to be able to beat the Lakers 4 out of 7 times.

The present iteration of the Warriors make me feel the exact same way. Now I’m not claiming the Spurs won’t be able to beat the Warriors (because I have my fingers crossed and have been performing intercession daily on their behalf) but I do not like our chances. This is a feeling many Spurs fans would echo. It seems that without some sort of injury, the Warriors will roll. Even, my 85 year old grandmother recognizes the Spurs chances. She offered to “hit Steph Curry like they did that one figure skater years ago."

 

A Tonya Harding / Nancy Kerrigan scandal excluded my Spurs will be facing an uphill battle. So although they are more opposite than similar Kobe and Steph (and their teams) make opposing fans feel helpless.

Predictions:

Cavs in (5) over Pistons – Bunch of close games, Detroit gets one at home….LBJ is too much though

Toronto in (6) over Pacers – Paul George can’t do this by himself, Toronto overcomes game 1 loss

Charlotte in (7) over Heat – Math problem…. 3’s are worth more than 2’s. Charlotte much better than Heat behind the line

Atlanta in (6) over Celtics – Atlanta’s D is the difference. IT can’t do enough

Warriors in (5) over Rockets – Warriors feel bad for all of Harden and Howard’s teammates and gift wrap them a game

Spurs in (4) over Grizzlies – Grizz D League squad will keep it under a double digit victory once.

Thunder in (6) over Mavs – Carlisle > Donovan

Clippers in (6) over Blazers – Lillard vs Paul, is a wash, and Clips have to work for it but young Blazers don’t have the horses.