The Finals

              So does history repeat itself? Or does Dirk get some hardware?

            Here we stand. The beginning of the end. The showdown. After weeks of intense struggles, superhuman efforts, trials, tribulations, and all out meltdowns, the last two teams deemed worthy of the title contention by the regular season have been separated from the chaff by the grinder that is the NBA playoffs; so the result is a familiar one.

            From the West, the Dallas Mavericks emerge, leaving behind them the twisted wreckage caused by Dirk Nowitzky going nuclear all over the conference.  The German player, trusty bench full of veterans in tow, has led a blitzkrieg that left the Trailblazers, boy did I get that one wrong; two-time defending champion Lakers, and the presumptive heirs to the conference, the Thunder in tears. The Mavs have exorcised all their playoff demons; so save one.

      Enter the Miami Heat. In an offseason that will be remembered a long time from now, slick devil Pat Riley brought Dwayne Wade help in the form of Lebron James and Chris Bosh. And while the regular season was no picnic, they have hit their stride in the playoffs; slaying a scrappy Philadelphia team; then crushing the Celtics, the team witch started the “Big Three” arms race, finally showing the top-seeded, MVP-led Bulls the door.

            Each team has been absolutely brilliant the postseason on both ends of the floor. Each team has bled ice water in close games. Each team has players that nearly impossible to stop. But as one character in a certain movie said, there can only be one.

Dallas Mavericks

Offense

·  This offense is all about two things really: beautiful ball movement leading to spot up three opportunities, and Dirk. Jason Kidd brings the ball up the court, passes to Dirk, then Kidd returns to the top of the key as Dirk waits to see if he’s double teamed. If so, either pass to the open man, or pass to Kidd, who will sling shot the ball straight to the open man, or take the shot if he is the open man. There is no one in the league who can effectively cover Dirk one-on-one, not when he possesses the most automatic fade-away jumper of this decade while being seven foot. If fouled, he’s a 90% free-throw shooter. So most teams try to double, leaving an open man. And on the Mavs, that open man is almost always a deadly three-point shooter.

Defense

     The defense is strongly help based, and fueled by the combination of Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Tyson Chandler, who anchors the squad on this end. As seen against Durant, if Shawn Marion and Kidd are doubling you, you’re toast. Cough it up already. Chandler’s length and athleticism allow him to play goalie quite effectively, and off the bench comes other savvy defenders like Peja Stojakovich, Deshawn Stevenson, and Brendan Haywood. Hard fouls are plentiful.

X-Factors

            These playoffs have cemented JJ Barea as one of my favorite role players ever. The poor guy seems to get elbowed in the face more than any player I’ve ever seen. But he doesn’t mind, since he usually draws an offensive foul because of it. And his great handle and speed have allowed him to get to the basket and finish lay-ups even against the massive frontlines of OKC and LA. If he contributes to the reliable three-point game and Dirk’s ridiculous performances, this is a difficult team to out gun.

Miami Heat

Offense

            Here’s a riddle: How do you guard the two most devastating slashers in the NBA when paired with a top five power-forward with an automatic jump shot? The answer: You don’t. The Miami Heat has lived this season off of a pick-and-roll game that leaves opponents in ruin. James’ improved mid-range and post games have made him a legitimate threat from anywhere on the court, and Wade can still slither around defenders like you wouldn’t believe. Bosh has his trusty jumper, and is not at all afraid to take an opponent off the dribble or dunk off a back door cut he. And if they get out in transition, may God have mercy on your soul.           

Defense

            Also a largely help based defense, with the added benefit that James, Wade, Bosh, and a recently returned Udonis Haslem are all exceedingly athletic and versatile. Opponents have struggled against this defense all season long; with most all drives meeting a wall of defenders, and passes out to the perimeter being closed out on quickly enough to prevent quality looks. If Haslem is sitting, it means that Joel Anthony is in, and he is just as bad, if not worse. Shots will be blocked, and penetration will be stopped.           

X-Factors

            Another of my favorites, “Super” Mario Chalmers, who has spent the entire season doing brilliant things, only to follow them with not-so-brilliant things. He can drive, his three balls are getting more reliable, but he also will make head-scratching decisions and turn the ball over at crucial junctures. It will also be interesting to see if the past couple of games were just a fluke, or if Miller really is recovering his shooting touch.

 Dallas’ Path To Victory

Offense

            Basically continue to run the offense they have been, with maybe some more driving sprinkled in. One of the benefits of Dirk Being a shooting power-forward is that he can take a frontline defender away from the basket one-hundred percent of the time, and Dallas should look to take advantage with Terry and Barea whenever possible. Making the extra pass will also be critical against such a quick defense. Dallas should look to keep the head of the defender swiveling.

Defense

            The best strategy to employ against Miami is to double at the first sign of a pick and roll, cut off any and all penetration, and try your damndest to make them shoot jump shots. Now recently the jumper has been falling more and more, but I can guarantee you don’t want to give Wade or James any clear lanes. Keep your hands active and try to force turnovers, something Miami is susceptible to at times. If James goes into point-forward mode, play him at a medium distance, daring him to pass. If the rest of the defense can keep up with their men, James can become overconfident with his passing, attempting to thread needles that just aren’t there. If you can discourage them enough, Miami may just fall into the trap of trying to go iso, abandoning the offense, and then you have a chance.

Miami’s Path to Victory

Offense

            Miami’s best tactic on offense, as mentioned above, is simply remembering to run one. When they employ the pick-and-rolls, back-door cuts, and off-ball screens that have been drawn for them, they are very difficult to stop, but too often at the first sign of trouble, they start going into isolation mode, shooting up contested jumpers, and continuing until Spoelstra calls time-out to get them back on track. With the aging roster of the Mavs, off-ball movement becomes doubly important, as these are not players that you can afford to give even a half step to.

Defense

            The quandary is this: how do stop a man so hot he is drawing comparisons to Larry Legend himself? What do you do about a seven-footer with the silky fade-away? The only answer I can think about is doing nothing. Dirk is unstoppable. So slap Haslem or Anthony on him, and tell everyone else to forget about him. Too many teams have thrown double and triple-teams at the Big German, only to see him pass out and then get burned by the Mavs’ crack team of three point specialists. So the main concern shouldn’t be to stop Dirk, it should be to stop perimeter guys. If Dirk scores 50, so be it. Just make sure the rest of the team doesn’t chip in another 40. Hard to do, but if Chalmers, Wade, and James can make the Mavs chase all over the court at the other end, the rest of the team may just tire enough to slow down the older guys on offense.

            So this is it. Will Pat Riley’s three-headed monster ascend to the greatness they so arrogantly promised before a game was ever played? Or will Dirk take advantage of what may be his last chance to get the ring he so obviously deserves? One of these teams will get to go home a champion, raising a banner in their rafters, displaying the Larry O’Brien trophy in a downtown parade. The other team? They will simply go home.

            Prediction: Heat in six.

           

Nuggets' Amazing Effort Brings Series 3-1: Why, Westbrook, Why?

 Angry methed-out cat is here to symbolize the Nugget's play.

"I'd like to formally apologize for screwing this pooch harder than a Bangkok masseuse."

            Anyone remember the debate from the beginning of the season of who was better, Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook? It’s a solid enough debate, really. They are two of the best in the business going to the hole. They both only recently added defense and perimeter shooting to their games. They are, very nearly at least, the same player. They are cut from similar cloth, made up of the same DNA. The only thing left to debate really is basketball IQ. We have no idea what Derrick Rose would do if he was playing alongside the league’s reigning two time scoring champion. But tonight, we did see exactly what Westbrook looks like.

            And it definitely isn’t pretty.

            But for a moment let us look at why it turned into a clutch situation in the first place. I present for your inspection the Denver nuggets, their pride on the line, knowing that one more game ends the season in which they lost Carmelo Anthony and somehow got better. Make no mistake; straight from the tip they looked like a team that knew that they had nothing to lose, that knew this was the last opportunity to leave everything on the floor and show a great mountain crowd that the loss of ‘Melo is not the death of Denver basketball.

            And the focus showed. They had steel in their eyes while Oklahoma seemed to have butterflies in their stomach. Ball movement and active defense were the name of the game early, with Kenyon Martin hitting a couple of mid-range spot up jumpers off of guard penetration, and excellent one-on-one and help defense forcing turnovers, two in the form of travel calls. The Thunder looked very flustered, and Denver would wind up taking the quarter 20-26.

            Before the half, we would see the Thunder start to heat up, starting with good bench production from back-up point guard Eric Maynor and beard enthusiast James Harden. Denver would start to slip a little bit, and when KD and Westbrook returned to the floor with 7:00 remaining, they would immediately fuel a run that would leave the score tied 45-all at the half. The telecast would also note a bit of yelling between Westbrook and Durant. We never hear exactly what this is about, but it most likely was due to some turnover trouble. Westbrook would have a bad pass and an offensive foul in the quarter.

            The third quarter is where we really see the Nuggets ratchet up the energy to methed-out squirrel levels, and this would continue until about midway through the fourth. The rebounding and fouls in their favor illustrate this. It would also see Denver’s resident crazy person JR Smith and resident rooster Danilo Gallinari up their games, and they would combine to score twelve points in the quarter, and help the Nuggets lead by two going into the last phase of the game.

            The fourth quarter was all about running and pushing the tempo as much as humanly possible, and watching I was almost surprised that Ty Lawson, Chris Andersen, or JR didn’t play hard enough for their heart to explode on court. At one point, they would get two offensive rebounds (missing three shots, but still), then force a turnover on one end to set up JR Smith for a three ball on the other end. The lead would be pushed all the way up to 9 before OKC would finally call a time out to try to take the wind out of their jump-shot hitting sails. Westbrook starts to look overzealous into his attempts, though between his hitting a good part of these shots and KD forcing the issue at the basket to get to the line, they manage to pull within two with around four remaining.

            Now I am going to stop recap for a moment and just make a list of things Westbrook does wrong during the stretch run:

1.     Plows over Ty Lawson, drawing an offensive foul.

2.     Goes to the hoop, looking to draw the foul, and when he doesn’t, walks for a moment shaking his head, while Ty Lawson is already up court getting ready to cut baseline and dish to Danilo for three. (Perkins would also be guilty of something similar on the next play.)

3.     Rather than moving the ball with about 30 seconds left, chooses to go iso and shoot a contested 3 that everyone in the arena knew was coming.

4.     At 7 remaining, fires up a terrible air-ball 3.

5.     Fails to even look for KD at all during 3 and 4 on this list.

            Now I am not placing all of this loss on Westbrook. He draws a beautiful and-one basket during his stretch, and assists Durant cross-court for three. His is a phenomenal player who does amazing things on the court. If the Thunder make it to the Conference Finals or beyond, Westbrook will be huge reason for that. But he also took thirty shots. As a point guard, on a team featuring Kevin Durant, this is unacceptable.

            But I don’t feel he is the only one at fault, which brings us to our-

            Key Moment:

            An important thing to note is that on what would become Westbrook’s air-ball, Thunder coach Scott Brooks had a timeout, and decided instead to let his young, play-off inexperienced team try to find a three pointer in transition instead. If he draws up a play for Durant instead, maybe a Ray Allen-style stagger screen, then maybe the Thunder hit it and tie, and find a way to pull it out, and I don’t have to spend all night writing an article ripping the decisions of a team and player I actually quite enjoy.

            What it Means for Denver:

            Just as Ty Lawson said, they need to get ready to give the Thunder hell in the next one. Like I said about the Heat game, 3-0 is an NBA death sentence, but if I had to pick one of the teams facing it to do it, it would be the Nuggets.

            What it Means for Oklahoma City:

            This is still their series, in all reality. They should be able to take care of business at home, and then turn their focus towards the Grizzlies, who are looking to make my prediction of the Spurs look stupid. If Westbrook can realize that he is not co-owner of the team with Durant, then this group could possibly find themselves in the Finals.

Sixers Outlast Miami 82-86: Winning One for Philly

 Everytime Mike Bibby misses a shot,

a puppy dies. He killed a whole litter today.

This is what a good draft pick looks like.

            In a not-so-strange microcosm of their season, the Miami Heat failed to close out the sweep on the Philadelphia 76ers, and the series will be going back to South Beach at least one more time.

            In watching the first quarter one could not help but see that Philadelphia was a team determined to not go quietly into the night. They came out with fierce defensive intensity, loading up on James or Wade anytime they came off of their usually dangerous pick and roll, hitting them hard and fast with multiple defenders. On offense, they hit their open shots and moved the ball around well and when the quarter would come to a close, Philly’s “Big 3” of Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, and Jrue Holiday would outscore their Miami counter parts 20-13. One of Miami’s biggest Achilles’ heels has been lack of consistent production outside of the Big Three, and that was on full display in the first, with no one else getting a basket until Super Mario Chalmers finally hit a three on Miami’s final possession of the half. Mike Bibby missed several open shots (Bibby would actually shoot blanks the entire afternoon) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas would score nothing as well, despite a number of tip-in attempts.

            The second quarter would open with further trouble for the Heat, their rebounding nearly nonexistent after being huge in the first two games, and no one attempting to score other than James. Then about a quarter through the quarter, James Jones would step out of bounds; some jawing between teams would ensue, resulting in the dreaded double-technical foul on Thaddeus Young and Jones. The emotion would trigger one of the massively dangerous Heat runs that the team has become known for, with the team forcing 5 turnovers for 8 points letting James and Wade get out in transition and murder the Sixers with their highlight drives, including a sick alley-oop from Wade to James. They would end the half up two.

            The third quarter was most likely painful for any Heat fan to watch, leaving me write things in my notebook like “Bibby is awful” and “Why is Bibby still in?” He would spend nearly seven minutes in to start the quarter. Bibby is on that team to hit spot-up shots. He doesn’t play defense well, and can’t create a play. He wasn’t hitting spot-up jumpers, so why was he in? Philadelphia continued to scrap mightily, but still only managed to break even and remain down only two, thanks to good ball movement leading to open looks.

            The fourth quarter would see a giant of a defensive effort by Miami, including 5 block from the big three, but it would all be for naught, as Philly would ultimately pull out the win on a critical end of game sequence that saw Evan Turner hit a running jumper, then save a ball from going out of bounds, followed by consecutive threes from Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams, a beautiful block by Elton Brand, and then the rookie Turner drawing a foul and nailing both shots to go up four to seal the game.

            The world was waiting for Miami to drop one to a lesser team, and it got its wish today. This is not some new development for the Heat, as they have spent a good part of the season drifting between dreadful and dominant. It is a problem many elite teams face, including the Lakers. The thing is, the Lakers have the personnel to be consistently dominant. The Heat’s bench is terrible. So instead of being the first to the second round, the boys from south Florida got to see the Celtics sweep the Knicks. So the Heat will have to see if they can close it out next game, and head into the Conference Semi-Finals with less rest than Mean Green.

            Key Moment:

            Brand cam through huge in this one with his clutch block on James with only 3.8 seconds remaining, preventing a possibly tying shot, and with Young grabbing the ball, winds up forcing a Miami foul that would give Evan Turner (who had an excellent performance) the opportunity to ice the game on his free throws.

            What it Means for Miami:

            Without overreacting to the loss (dropping a game does not erase a team’s elite status), it does typify all of the problems that Miami has. No bench production (16 points to Philly’s 36), lack of rebounding if Bosh doesn’t come ready to play, and issues closing games. These are all things Boston does on a fairly consistent basis. Their match-up in the next round is coming off of two strong games to sweep what is a better team. Miami still has a strong chance, but they are a vulnerable team, no doubt.

            What it Means for Philadelphia:

            This was a moral victory and little more. This win is nothing more than a treat for the great Philly fans before a prompt first round exit. This may sound harsh, but in reality, no one wins an NBA playoff series after being down 3-0. They literally lose 100% of the time. This may salvage some pride, but even Sixers’ coach Doug Collins has said that the Heat are a better team, something he said mainly because it is true. Make no doubt, though, that there is talent on this team, and I will be watching Evan Turner’s development carefully.

Grizzlies Take Series Lead 2-1: Z-BO OMG!!!!

           Randolph would smile after the game when told he was getting a happy meal.

            Memphis picked up their first-ever home playoff win today in front of a raucous crowd at the Fed-Ex Forum, outlasting an early Spurs run to pick up the W 91-88. The game itself was dirty, physical, and towards the end, even a bit fluky as we saw the veteran San Antonio squad out rebound the larger frontline on the Grizzlies, while the more experienced squad surrendered more turnovers. If that’s not fluky enough, how about Zach “Z-BO” Randolph (yes, that Zach Randolph) hitting a 3 with 41.9 seconds left on the clock to make it a two possession game? That do anything for you?

            The game started with tough interior defense being played by both teams, showing to a tee what a “grind it out” series this has been. Grizz point guard Mike Conley was aggressive early, and was rewarded with two quick fouls on his Spurs counterpart Tony Parker, sending him to the bench. Parker would be out played by Conley for most of the night, and would turn the ball over six times, more than double his season average. The Grizz spent the first quarter again going towards their ever-present game plan of “throw it down low to Marc Gasol or Z-BO and use their hugeness to bully the other team into submission” with it working quite well for pretty much the entire game. Memphis would take the lead about 5 minutes into this one, and would never trail again.

            The second quarter would start with the San Antonio offense looking completely out-of –sync, missing a ton of open jumpers, especially their three pointers (2-11), and when you are the best three-shooting team in the league, this is a huge issues. They were forced to rely on the amazing drives of Parker and Ginobili, which just did not come often enough. Memphis took advantage, working Conley off of pick-and-rolls and pounding away inside while working hard for good looks, including a downright sexy no look pass from Randolph to Tony Allen with 6:25 remaining. The Spurs’ defense would stiffen as the half was closing, securing multiple blocks, but when the buzzer sounded, they had still only closed what was a sixteen-point lead to ten.

            Watching the third quarter must have been quite frustrating for Spurs fans, with the veteran squad seeming to turn the ball over every time they came up the court. One particular stretch with about 8:30 remaining saw three consecutive TO’s by the team, once by Parker and twice by Ginobili. To their credit, they did manage to do a much better job of containing Gasol and Randolph, and did make a run to close the quarter down five, but the turnovers are inexcusable by such a great team.

            The fourth were where the Spurs started to finally hit a groove, and things started to get interesting. George Hill hit a critical three to bring the game within range. Ginobili soon after started to pick his game up, tying the game on an and-one field goal to tie at 8:05 remaining, and the Spurs suddenly looked like they just might be interested in trying to win this game. Manu would draw several critical fouls, including the two that would eventually send Tony Allen and his lock-down defense to the bench, and eventually out of the game. The Grizzlies would stay just a step ahead, dangling the lead in front of the Spurs like a bully holding the small kid’s lunch money just beyond his reach.

            And then, with Popovich’s squad down only 2 points with 41.9 seconds left on the clock, the impossible happened.

            Z-Bo hit a three. A dagger three, to be precise. Sure he’s not just a horrible three point shooter for his position. But that is not in the slightest the play that Lionel Hollins or anyone ever in the history of people or history would have wanted, not even Z-Bo himself, who only did it because the shot clock was winding down, and no one was open. The Grizz would go on to win the game, take a 2-1 lead in the series, and leave the Spurs scratching their heads.

            Some days, the basketball gods bless your comeback attempts. Others, they laugh heartily, and send the improbable to crush your hopes. And if there is one thing tonight’s conclusion was, it was improbable.

            Key Moment:

            With about 1:50 remaining in the game, Tim Duncan goes up for a rebound, like he has done literally thousands of times in his storied career. Only this time, instead of securing it, it goes out of bounds. This was only one of the Spurs’ numerous turnovers, but this one, with the small amount of time, while in the middle of a comeback attempt, it was possibly devastating, especially in a game decided by only three points.

            What it Means for Memphis:

            It means that with the game one win, they effectively have home court advantage and are well on their way to not only their first play off game wins, but season wins. Their crowd was in full effect tonight, and as long as they stay focused and ready for the crafty play of this veteran opponent, they may well face the Thunder in the next round, who took a 3-0 lead on the Nuggets tonight.

            What it Means for San Antonio:

            With Antonio McDyess leaving the court in the fourth and his Game 4 status up in the air, the Spurs must do their best to get this loss out of their heads. Ginobili and Parker have to step up their game and limit the turnovers, and the entire team needs to take extra shooting practice and get the three ball back as a weapon next game. Because Tim Duncan isn’t getting any younger, and this could well be the last season he has anything left in the tank for a real title run.

           

             

Three Words: Brandon Mufuggin Roy

So I have decided to scrap the daily wrap-ups to focus on writing better recaps, and to try to retake some small portion of the sleep that I have lost. That being said, I felt like it had to be mentioned that Brandon Roy was awesome tonight, and should be lauded for his efforts. There is an excellent piece over at Portland Roundball Society that explains the effort better than I can, but a performance like this has to be written about.

Following this game, you realize very quickly that injuries are a part of it. Players get banged up throughout a grueling 82 game season. When the athletes are as big and strong as these are, playing as hard as they do, it is inevitable. Usually players return in time, and eventually return to their old selves. Guys like Andrew Bynum have literally made a career out of coming back from constant injuries to do big things.

Other times, it is different. Players like Grant Hill, Yao Ming, and Greg Oden have all took hard falls that have sidetracked their careers for years. Grant Hill found his way back, but is far from the successor to Jordan's throne that many thought he could be at the time. Oden and Yao hope to be as lucky one day.

Roy's injuries to both his knees, requiring micro-fracture surgery, were supposed to sound the death-knell for his career. Basketball, much like any athletic endeavor, requires you to have lightning-quick mobility and the ability to side-step, jump, and run with confidence. After all of the damage to Roy's knees, many though he was done for forever.

Hopefully today's performance will change that. Brandon was a flash of his old self tonight, nailing jumpers with ease, diving into the lane with reckless abandon. Skills like the ones he displayed tonight are the reason that he was once thought of as the third best shooting guard in the business, behind only Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade.

Sport is a funny thing. These teams bring entertainment and water-cooler discussion sure enough, but sometimes they bring more than that. The narrative often tells a tale of the pursuit of greatness, of winning, of being the best. Sometimes it tells a story of loss, crushing defeat, and amazing talent and grace and beauty, taken from the world before it should have been. We've all experienced loss in one form or another in our lives. We all know that all too often, you can't get back what you once had.

But sometimes, when the stars align, and everything is just right, you can capture the lightning of old in a bottle, if only for a night. Sometimes, for those willing to fight, you can redeem yourself for the failures that were beyond your control. And sometimes that one luminous moment is all you need to see the path back to greatness.

No one can know for sure what the future hold for Brandon Roy. Right now, it doesn't matter. All I know is that as I watched this game, witnessing this player comeback from the dead, from nearly breaking down on the sidelines days before to being the hero tonight, I couldn't help but smile.

So thank you, Brandon Roy, for proving to us once more that the old sports cliche is true.

It ain't over, 'till its over.



Photo courtesy Rick Bowmer, AP

Stupid People, Greedy People, and Sports Fans

          

              With the NFL already locking out, and the NBA very possibly looking to follow suit, one is forced to wonder exactly how two multi-billion dollar industries could possibly prefer a work stoppage to continuing putting on the show that regularly lines the pockets of the owners as well as the players. The two situations are as different as sports themselves, and with it being the hot button issue that is right now, I thought it would be a good time to try to explain both of these issues, and show why the current systems for both leagues need little changing.

NBA LABOR ISSUES

            In the case of the NBA, the owners feel like the current bargaining agreement, which was ratified in 2005, should be changed because the league is apparently losing money. You may have noticed that I used the word “apparently” there. NBA Commissioner David Stern has said this on a number of occasions, but nobody really gets to look at the actual financial statements, although Forbes did report that 17 of the league’s teams did go into the red last season, and that all told, 22 teams will lose cash this season Stern’s solution is for the teams to go to a hard cap, lessen the maximum money and length of contracts. For obvious reasons, the players are resistant to this.

            This isn’t the first time that the NBA has locked out, by far. For all of Stern’s time as commissioner, the NBA has developed the nasty habit of locking out every five years or so, even if it isn’t very long, usually under the pretense that players need shorter contracts, and less money. But here’s a question: What if the problem isn’t the rules of doing business, but the people doing it?

            NBA GM’s have signed a ton of ridiculous contracts over the recent years, almost without exception. Travis Outlaw has a was signed to a 7 million a year for five years contact after a year that he played 11 games. Gilbert Arenas has an absolutely ridiculous contract (6 year, 110 mil at signing), and to be fair, he had a great year before he signed it. Afterwards however, he pooped in a teammate’s shoe, brought guns into a locker room, and was suspended for an entire season, came back and played awful basketball, and then the Magic traded to get him. Darko Milicic (yes, that Darko Milicic) has a 20 million contract, thanks to Minnesota GM David Kahn.

            Under the current labor agreement, player salaries account for about 57% of overhead for an NBA team. If that is how much you are going to pay for your players, you better not overpay them. Fans love winning basketball, and terrible GMs will kill your profit quicker than anything. You will have trouble selling out an 82 game season or getting national TV exposure if your team is terrible. This is not rocket science. Now I may come across as harsh here, and I’m sorry, but I’m the type of guy that believes that if you are dumb enough to jump in the deep end of the pool knowing you can’t swim, then what ever happens is solely your fault.

NFL LABOR ISSUES

            The NFL Lockout is an entirely different deal. The revenues for this country’s most popular professional sports league have been increasing every year for pretty much as long as I have been alive. This isn’t a secret, and no one is disputing this. This year, the league claims that average value of an NFL team dropped from 1.04 billion to 1.02 billion. Players are saying that the league’s Direct TV and other broadcast deals should offset that.

            The current collective bargaining agreement was set to expire after the 2007 season. That never happened, since in March of 2006 the owners deciding to extend it through the 2012 season with an overwhelming 30-2 vote. So these are the rules that the owners wanted, and agreed to.

            The league then balked on the deal, using an opt-out clause that was included in the agreement to cause it to end this season. What do the owners want? Nothing much. They merely want to increase the regular season to 18 games, cutting the preseason down to two, and to reduce the players’ salaries while they do that. So basically, they only want more work for less pay.

            The timing of this is not an accident. Owner’s operating costs will go down in a lockout, mainly because they won’t be paying the players. They have also signed super lucrative TV deals that somehow still pay even if there are no games. Sounds like a great time to squeeze your workforce, huh?

            So basically what I’m getting to is this: When you are sitting around later this year, wondering why the only sport left for you to watch is hockey or the college games, there will be a reason for that. You see, some people in life are stupid. Worse than that, some people in life are greedy. The worst part of all? It seems that most of these people work in the front office of your favorite teams.

Photos courtesy of I Can Has Cheeze Burger and Celebrity Sentry.

           

           

Lakers Even Series 1-1: Regression to the Mean

                        "David's coming back next game, right? RIGHT?!?"

                    "I'm going to wear your face as a hat, Tony Brothers!"

  

           Ah, bitter normalcy. In a game that spent a lot of time looking closer than it actually was, the Lakers tied the series with an 87-78 victory. The question is how much would they have won by if Kobe and Pau didn’t play.

            It looked like the Hornets could have a chance at this through most of the first. Both teams sought to attack the paint early on. Carl Landry and Andrew Bynum had a nice little scoring battle early on. Bynum’s success was no doubt aided by the fact Okafor has decided it would be fun to see if the Hornets could win with him sitting on the bench for the majority of the first half, picking up two fouls within 2 minutes. Trevor Ariza tried hard to show that Lakers made a mistake trading him, playing pesky defense, and answering a Ron Artest 3 with his own 2-pointer. It looked like the Hornets would end the quarter up by a few with around three left to play, and that maybe, just maybe, they could actually do this.

            Lamar Odom was having none of that. Fresh off of being crowned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, he entered the game, and the last of L.A.’s offensive possessions went Kobe-to-Candy-Man ally, Lamar lay in, and then a nice 2-point jumper to end the quarter tied 23 all. Odom definitely deserved the award, thanks for asking.

            Things rapidly start going down hill for New Orleans from here. Aaron Gray, after a sensational Game 1, promptly travels to open the quarter and decides to punish himself by letting Matt Barnes shoot right over him for a score. At around 10 minutes, there is nice contest of who-can-turn-over-the-ball-more (Nawlins wins!), which is notable mainly because after this, The Hornet’s defense decides to go for a drink at one of the many fine night spots surrounding Staples Center, and would not be seen again until it returned, half drunk, towards the end of the third. Bynum has ten points before the half, and draws a third foul on Emeka. Reports say he will bring the chair from Cali back to Louisiana, since he already broke it in and everything. The half ends with a disturbing four-minute stretch in which Derek Fisher finishes a fast break, Kobe gets to the line, and Artest gets two blocks. Chris Paul hits the three as time expires, but the Lakers would never relinquish the lead again.

            After an Artest steal to open the game (Artest was awesome, 15 pts, 6 rebs, 2 blocks, 2 steals), Chris Paul does try to get something going by twisting his body in mid-air to draw three foul shots on Kobe. Number 24 would spend the rest of the game looking like he was going to punch someone. LA plays a phenomenal quarter here, Bynum still getting Okafor caught up in fouls and scoring out of the post, Lamar (16pts, 7 rebs) scoring on back-to-back possessions. With with 3:03 left to go, we hear Coach Monty implore his team to return to the game plan, and they do this,  even playing some nice defense for a couple of minutes,and then Willie Green turns the ball over twice in a row, Chris Paul tries to keep it respectable by nailing another three to end it, and Phil Jackson refers to the game as “mud wrestling at its finest.” This confuses the Hornets immensely and they never quite recover. Score one for the Zen Master.

            The fourth quarter is mainly notable because of how disinterested the Lakers look, and the Hornet’s attempt to look even more disinterested. They seriously jog back, and give up an easy transition basket, and Captain Jack has to yell at everyone. They respond by looking at him like “Dude, chill. It’s just the playoffs. No biggie.” The funny subplot of the quarter is Kobe missing shots, getting drug into fouling Chris Paul on another 3, getting T’d up, and then wishing he could kill people with his eyes. After Ariza slaps a ball off Kobe’s hip, sending it out of bounds, Bryant almost goes nuclear. Don’t be surprised if he debuts new Nike’s in Game 3 made entirely out of official Tony Brother’s skin.

            The Lakers handily win a game in which their two best players combine for 19 pts, 25 percent shooting, and 5 turnovers. If that isn’t a scary thought, I don’t know what is.

            Key Moment:

            The halftime show. The Kenny-Chuck balancing act will haunt my dreams forever. Oh you meant the game? The part where Chris Paul and Trevor Ariza play their heart out, and no one else cares.

            What it Means for New Orleans:

            The Hornet’s started to look like the team that should have been swept, mainly because they are the team that should have been swept. Kobe and Pau were awful, and with more focus and effort, Nawlins could have walked out 2-0. Instead, the got outplayed by the Lake Show’s B-team for most of the evening.

            What it Means for Los Angeles:

            I’ll let my buddy and Lakers’ Fan Chris Stockton take this one: “There’s not much motivation even with the Game 1 loss. I know this team more than anyone. They’re going to be on autopilot the whole series, even if it somehow goes 7, it’s so frustrating. But they just don’t care, they get bored, and they’ll go to the Big Easy, we’ll see if they show up.” This is the Lakers in a nutshell. The first round is a warm up.