Showing posts with label NBA Playoffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA Playoffs. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Things We Know About the NBA
They were never going to suspend Draymond Green for kicking Stephen Adams (himself, a renowned cheap shot artist) right in his Oklahoma City Thunder, for the simple reason that stars don't get suspended because people want to see stars. You can make all the noise you want about the NBA not wanting a suspension to decide the series, etc. etc. but the simple matter is that a guy on Green's level won't get suspended for anything short of attempted murder. A guy on LeBron's level probably wouldn't get suspended even then. And if Kevin Love tried it, he'd probably hurt himself in the process.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Your NBA Playoff Narratives
There are two possible outcomes of the NBA playoffs:
1-The Cleveland Cavaliers win the championship.
2-The Cleveland Cavaliers do not with the championship.
1-The Cleveland Cavaliers win the championship.
2-The Cleveland Cavaliers do not with the championship.
Sunday, June 02, 2013
Why I Am Rooting For The Heat
I am rooting for the Miami Heat out of sheer, enlightened self-interest.
It is not because I am a fan of LeBron James, though I remain puzzled as to why an athlete who took less money in exchange for a better chance of winning remains vilified by the press. It's not because I have any love for The House That Pat Riley Built, or for the colorful bro-hood of burgeoning psychopath Chris Andersen, or the South Beach Home For Wayward Duke Alumni (c/o Shane Battier).
It is not because I am a fan of LeBron James, though I remain puzzled as to why an athlete who took less money in exchange for a better chance of winning remains vilified by the press. It's not because I have any love for The House That Pat Riley Built, or for the colorful bro-hood of burgeoning psychopath Chris Andersen, or the South Beach Home For Wayward Duke Alumni (c/o Shane Battier).
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Bear Season
Did anyone really doubt?
I mean, the Memphis Grizzlies were a great story, and it was fashionable to talk about them as a dark horse coming out of the Western Conference for a while, in the same way it was fashionable to talk about how you couldn't wait to go see Oz The Great And Powerful until it actually showed up in theaters and you suddenly realized you had much better things to do with your life. Yes, they beat a Clippers team that was hobbled by injuries and crippled by internal dissension over the fate of its underskilled coach. Yes, they also beat a Thunder team that was - stop me if you've heard this - crippled by injuries. And they had some nifty inside-outside play, and Kid Gasol has finally grown up, and any Sixers fan who roots against a team coached by Lionel Hollins should have their fan card revoked.
But.
The fact is, they don't get past a Thunder team at full strength. They probably don't get past an all-cylinders Clippers team. I mean, kudos to Griz GM Chris Wallace for putting together a very good team, but the fact of the matter is that the NBA playoffs are an endless deathmarch where there are too many opportunities for one injury to wreck a team's entire season. (See also: Westbrook, Russell; If you ever wondered why any given series can last longer than the siege of Stalingrad, it's so the inevitable casualties of the four-round grind have the month or so before the playoffs end to get themselves back into playing shape.) Both of Memphis' prior opponents fell victim to attrition as much as they did Zach Randolph and Mike Conley.
But.
The Spurs don't lose series to teams like the Griz. They lose series when they're outmanned and outgunned, when the talent difference is just too much for execution and coaching to overcome. When the playing field is reasonably level, they're a machine. Duncan and Parker and Ginobili have been through the grind too many times together under coach Greg Popovich, are just too automatic and practiced to beat themselves. And so as much fun as the Grizzlies were, deep down, we all knew this was the end of the line for them.
But, hey. It was fun while it lasted.
I mean, the Memphis Grizzlies were a great story, and it was fashionable to talk about them as a dark horse coming out of the Western Conference for a while, in the same way it was fashionable to talk about how you couldn't wait to go see Oz The Great And Powerful until it actually showed up in theaters and you suddenly realized you had much better things to do with your life. Yes, they beat a Clippers team that was hobbled by injuries and crippled by internal dissension over the fate of its underskilled coach. Yes, they also beat a Thunder team that was - stop me if you've heard this - crippled by injuries. And they had some nifty inside-outside play, and Kid Gasol has finally grown up, and any Sixers fan who roots against a team coached by Lionel Hollins should have their fan card revoked.
But.
The fact is, they don't get past a Thunder team at full strength. They probably don't get past an all-cylinders Clippers team. I mean, kudos to Griz GM Chris Wallace for putting together a very good team, but the fact of the matter is that the NBA playoffs are an endless deathmarch where there are too many opportunities for one injury to wreck a team's entire season. (See also: Westbrook, Russell; If you ever wondered why any given series can last longer than the siege of Stalingrad, it's so the inevitable casualties of the four-round grind have the month or so before the playoffs end to get themselves back into playing shape.) Both of Memphis' prior opponents fell victim to attrition as much as they did Zach Randolph and Mike Conley.
But.
The Spurs don't lose series to teams like the Griz. They lose series when they're outmanned and outgunned, when the talent difference is just too much for execution and coaching to overcome. When the playing field is reasonably level, they're a machine. Duncan and Parker and Ginobili have been through the grind too many times together under coach Greg Popovich, are just too automatic and practiced to beat themselves. And so as much fun as the Grizzlies were, deep down, we all knew this was the end of the line for them.
But, hey. It was fun while it lasted.
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Stellar System
Deadspin says the whole fixation on "the best player in the NBA" is pointless.
Deadspin is wrong. You need stars.
Right now, the Stanley Cup Finals are in full swing. The teams involved - Jersey and LA, in case you were wondering - represent the two biggest media markets in the country. There are story lines here, with LA chasing a Cup that even Wayne Gretzky couldn't give it, and Jersey trying to win another one for the ageless Marty Brodeur. It's exactly the sort of thing that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman - a man who apocryphally was once given a hockey puck as a present and spent an hour trying to open it - would want.
And yet, nobody's talking about it. The airwaves are full of LBJ choke this and Kevin Durant that and some Josh Hamilton, and maybe a little Drew Brees on the side. But no hockey, not unless you really look for it.
On the NBA side, everyone's a-flutter over the ascent of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and totally stoked to have them in the finals. This is despite the fact that OKC is the 30th largest city in America, the sort of market whose presence in a Finals tends to provoke hand-wringing and sad cries of "will no one think of the ratings?"
But they have stars. They have Kevin Durant, who is turning into the MJ to Greg Oden's Joe Barry Carroll. They have Russell Westbrook. They have James Harden, whose national profile skyrocketed after Metta World Peace used him for a speed bag on national TV. And this makes all the difference.
Deadspin is wrong. You need stars.
Right now, the Stanley Cup Finals are in full swing. The teams involved - Jersey and LA, in case you were wondering - represent the two biggest media markets in the country. There are story lines here, with LA chasing a Cup that even Wayne Gretzky couldn't give it, and Jersey trying to win another one for the ageless Marty Brodeur. It's exactly the sort of thing that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman - a man who apocryphally was once given a hockey puck as a present and spent an hour trying to open it - would want.
And yet, nobody's talking about it. The airwaves are full of LBJ choke this and Kevin Durant that and some Josh Hamilton, and maybe a little Drew Brees on the side. But no hockey, not unless you really look for it.
On the NBA side, everyone's a-flutter over the ascent of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and totally stoked to have them in the finals. This is despite the fact that OKC is the 30th largest city in America, the sort of market whose presence in a Finals tends to provoke hand-wringing and sad cries of "will no one think of the ratings?"
But they have stars. They have Kevin Durant, who is turning into the MJ to Greg Oden's Joe Barry Carroll. They have Russell Westbrook. They have James Harden, whose national profile skyrocketed after Metta World Peace used him for a speed bag on national TV. And this makes all the difference.
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