Saturday, April 21, 2007
NBA Playoffs; the East, part I
There are a bunch of intriguing Round One, NBA playoffs, match-ups, after an extremely lackluster regular season. The first one this Saturday is the New Jersey Nets versus the Toronto Raptors. This series is intriguing for several reasons. One is the suprising rise of the Raptors. Nobody expected them to make the playoffs, but they won the East, grabbed the three seed, and have home court. Another story line is the return of Vince Carter to Toronto, where he sold out, quit on his teammates and whined his way out of town. Then there is the play of nasty number one draft pick Andre Bargini. An Italian gritty enough to have played with Laimbeer and the Bad Boys or Karl Malone, John Stockton and the rest of Jerry Sloan’s gang of elbowers and knee-ers. All that, plus the talented Chris Bosh’s first playoff game, plus the human triple double, but still championship-less, Jason Kidd.
The Clarion has no love for either of these franchises. We have had running friendly wagers against the Nets since about 1985. We have also had a long standing dislike of the Colangelo family, which increased substantially when they shadily bought a World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. Of all years this was the World Series the Yankees should have won, after the miracle comebacks to take a 3-2 lead. It was not supposed to be the Diamondbacks with hired guns Schilling and Johnson. They were so deep in the hole, fiscally, that MLB’s central office had to loan them $70 million in the middle of the season. This after the Colangelo’s had overpaid for these free agents that their franchise's revenue stream couldn’t justify. This after they worked over the local authorities to get their original stadium deal. All arranged by the father, Baseball has prostituted the World Series and the pimps have come out. (see the Marlins ) The Colangelo son, Bryan, has moved on to manage the Raptors. The Clarion has carried the grudge forward. However, we have to admit Bryan has done a stupendous job of player personnel acquisition, as Knicks fans, we can only envy his work.
Anyhow, so, Raptors-Nets, we’re intrigued, but have no rooting interest. This is the series where Game One is most important. The inexperienced Raptors get behind 1-0 or worse 2-0 in this series against the battle tested Nets, and they’re done. If the Nets lose who will have failed in the clutch? Which of their stars? Will infighting, finger pointing and blame assigning start?
As Game One has unfolded the Raptors were within three points with two minutes to go in the second quarter, but they let the Nets run off a big spurt to end the half. Why is it that young teams always have such trouble closing a quarter or a half? They haven’t threatened in the third quarter. Vince Carter is being booed every touch, and shooting lousy. It hasn’t hurt the Nets. Kidd and Jefferson are carrying them, and the Raptors look nervous.
Bulls-Heat
The next game is the Bulls-Heat, a rematch of a first round series that went six games last year. The Bulls said they wanted the defending champion Heat again. Well that is nice bravado, but a dumb idea. How hurt is Dwayne Wade? ?Quien sabe? But when you have Shaq, too, it doesn’t matter. Miami’s Eddie Jones is an underrated defensive stopper. The Bulls are gritty, especially Ben Gordon. But do they have enough scoring? Can Ben Wallace shut down Shaq? The Clarion says the answer to both those questions is no. The Bulls have home court, so Heat might need six or seven games, but they will get it done.
The Clarion has no love for either of these franchises. We have had running friendly wagers against the Nets since about 1985. We have also had a long standing dislike of the Colangelo family, which increased substantially when they shadily bought a World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. Of all years this was the World Series the Yankees should have won, after the miracle comebacks to take a 3-2 lead. It was not supposed to be the Diamondbacks with hired guns Schilling and Johnson. They were so deep in the hole, fiscally, that MLB’s central office had to loan them $70 million in the middle of the season. This after the Colangelo’s had overpaid for these free agents that their franchise's revenue stream couldn’t justify. This after they worked over the local authorities to get their original stadium deal. All arranged by the father, Baseball has prostituted the World Series and the pimps have come out. (see the Marlins ) The Colangelo son, Bryan, has moved on to manage the Raptors. The Clarion has carried the grudge forward. However, we have to admit Bryan has done a stupendous job of player personnel acquisition, as Knicks fans, we can only envy his work.
Anyhow, so, Raptors-Nets, we’re intrigued, but have no rooting interest. This is the series where Game One is most important. The inexperienced Raptors get behind 1-0 or worse 2-0 in this series against the battle tested Nets, and they’re done. If the Nets lose who will have failed in the clutch? Which of their stars? Will infighting, finger pointing and blame assigning start?
As Game One has unfolded the Raptors were within three points with two minutes to go in the second quarter, but they let the Nets run off a big spurt to end the half. Why is it that young teams always have such trouble closing a quarter or a half? They haven’t threatened in the third quarter. Vince Carter is being booed every touch, and shooting lousy. It hasn’t hurt the Nets. Kidd and Jefferson are carrying them, and the Raptors look nervous.
Bulls-Heat
The next game is the Bulls-Heat, a rematch of a first round series that went six games last year. The Bulls said they wanted the defending champion Heat again. Well that is nice bravado, but a dumb idea. How hurt is Dwayne Wade? ?Quien sabe? But when you have Shaq, too, it doesn’t matter. Miami’s Eddie Jones is an underrated defensive stopper. The Bulls are gritty, especially Ben Gordon. But do they have enough scoring? Can Ben Wallace shut down Shaq? The Clarion says the answer to both those questions is no. The Bulls have home court, so Heat might need six or seven games, but they will get it done.
Labels: NBA, Predictions, sports
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