Saturday, May 19, 2007
NBA Playoffs, Round 2 wrap
It was bad for the NBA that the compelling story of Round 2 was the suspensions and league rulings, rather than the action on the court, what if, not what was. But the worst may yet be to come, the Eastern Conference playoff’s have been, and a deeply indifferent “Meh.,” at best.
The bruising slugfest beeween the Nets and Cavs in Round 2 was dullsville. Are the Cavs world beaters? Has LeBron been unstoppably awesome? No and no. Dominique was way more compelling and never even made the Finals. The late ‘80’s Cavs, of Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Ron Harper would have cleaned these Cavs clocks. (A squad that despite numerous 50 win seasons never made the Finals, either.) What of the Nets, with ostensibly three superstars? Jason Kidd fills up a stat sheet, but he is a step slow defensively, and they don’t have the post help defense, the shot blocker, to compensate. Kidd hustles, but is reaching the point in his career that Gary Payton did when he bolted first for LA, then Miami. You know the, “Get me somewhere, anywhere, that I can win big, contribute to winning it all, while I still have at least a little something in my legs,” vibe.
In Richard Jefferson, the Nets have, now possibly, the most valuable of the three. He is an ace role player. Good offense, good defense, athletic. Not so, so good, he can’t be guarded, Jefferson needs to be a number two offensive option, but not on a team, with all show, no dough, shooter and black hole extraordinaire, Vince Carter. Despite his bizarre double digit assist performance in Game 5, which was almost like the one half of basketball last season where Kobe passed every time, refused to shoot. Don’t these guys get it? We’re not that studid, passing every single time to pout and mope that it is not working your way is a transparent 3rd grader move. Your selfish behind didn’t suddenly turn into a sharer in one half. We know this is your babyish way of saying, you're mad with the way things are going, and also, look, coach, fans, media, it’s not my fault, I also pass.
In reality, Vince is a ball hog, who settles for guarded fall away jumpers waaaaay too often. He and Kidd are not quick enough to play the kind of run and gun offense that Jefferson would thrive in. Jefferson would be great on the Suns. The Nets have peaked and Rod Thorn needs to blow the thing up while the pieces still have some value.
Speaking of all show and no dough, where is Mr. Big Shot and the rest of the Pistons? Meaning we know, here at the Clarion, 'Sheed is “other worldly” in the most literal sense, since Dennis Rodman and before that, Bill Murray in Caddyshack, but he has the stones. 'Sheed does not shy away from the ball at the big moment. The Pistons have, except for Webber, have all won previously. How did 3-0 counting their money, getting ready for Bron-Bron and the Cavs, become 3-2 with the Baby Bulls, who look good, but are clearly a year away? The Pistons can’t stand prosperity. Do they really misss Larry Brown that badly? Are they concerned that the Cavs took them to seven games last year? Or that Coach Flip Saunders has never won squat?
On a different and certainly not parallel track, how bad are the Knicks comparatively? What is Eddie Curry? Something like the fourth best player on a Nets’ squad that won't even make the Conference final, a team that the Clarion just advocated blowing up. How bad are the Francis and Starbury contracts? ($15 million plus each) How much of a jinx are the Knicks on decent coaches? Not just Larry, whom the Pistons are, as yet, not the same without, but also Don Nelson. Who this year was great in Golden State, but with Knicks despite a .576 career winning percentage was gone after 59 games. What about Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, in one year he went from Isiah calling him to the perfect hire to going 40-41 and being gone. A guy who was career 177 games over .500 for his career. Did not Pat Riley win the championship with every other team he coached? And Pitno, well Pitno's not a NBA coach, he shouldn't count, even if he some day wins a the state of Kentucky another NCAA title at Lousiville.
Summary, the East ain’t great and the Knicks aren’t close to as good as the best of the East. As far as this columnist knows they don’t have a Ruthian or even a Billy Goat curse, the City is behind them. Must be Jim Dolan’s karma.
Out West it is hard to know what to make of the Jazz. It seems they are the kind of team that would be world beaters at the Olympics. It is not that it could happen, because they are a mini U.N. with guys from all over the globe, but rather because their style of play and notion of team ball would be perfect for the international game, the wide lane, the pace. In the NBA, they very easily could have lost to Houston in Round 1, they got a perfect match-up in small, undisciplined, Golden State in Round 2, and seem a staggeringly unlikely bet to put up much resistance against the Spurs in the Conference Final. The Jazz are playing great, which means they might win two games.
The NBA better hope the Eastern Conference suddenly becomes compelling.
The bruising slugfest beeween the Nets and Cavs in Round 2 was dullsville. Are the Cavs world beaters? Has LeBron been unstoppably awesome? No and no. Dominique was way more compelling and never even made the Finals. The late ‘80’s Cavs, of Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Ron Harper would have cleaned these Cavs clocks. (A squad that despite numerous 50 win seasons never made the Finals, either.) What of the Nets, with ostensibly three superstars? Jason Kidd fills up a stat sheet, but he is a step slow defensively, and they don’t have the post help defense, the shot blocker, to compensate. Kidd hustles, but is reaching the point in his career that Gary Payton did when he bolted first for LA, then Miami. You know the, “Get me somewhere, anywhere, that I can win big, contribute to winning it all, while I still have at least a little something in my legs,” vibe.
In Richard Jefferson, the Nets have, now possibly, the most valuable of the three. He is an ace role player. Good offense, good defense, athletic. Not so, so good, he can’t be guarded, Jefferson needs to be a number two offensive option, but not on a team, with all show, no dough, shooter and black hole extraordinaire, Vince Carter. Despite his bizarre double digit assist performance in Game 5, which was almost like the one half of basketball last season where Kobe passed every time, refused to shoot. Don’t these guys get it? We’re not that studid, passing every single time to pout and mope that it is not working your way is a transparent 3rd grader move. Your selfish behind didn’t suddenly turn into a sharer in one half. We know this is your babyish way of saying, you're mad with the way things are going, and also, look, coach, fans, media, it’s not my fault, I also pass.
In reality, Vince is a ball hog, who settles for guarded fall away jumpers waaaaay too often. He and Kidd are not quick enough to play the kind of run and gun offense that Jefferson would thrive in. Jefferson would be great on the Suns. The Nets have peaked and Rod Thorn needs to blow the thing up while the pieces still have some value.
Speaking of all show and no dough, where is Mr. Big Shot and the rest of the Pistons? Meaning we know, here at the Clarion, 'Sheed is “other worldly” in the most literal sense, since Dennis Rodman and before that, Bill Murray in Caddyshack, but he has the stones. 'Sheed does not shy away from the ball at the big moment. The Pistons have, except for Webber, have all won previously. How did 3-0 counting their money, getting ready for Bron-Bron and the Cavs, become 3-2 with the Baby Bulls, who look good, but are clearly a year away? The Pistons can’t stand prosperity. Do they really misss Larry Brown that badly? Are they concerned that the Cavs took them to seven games last year? Or that Coach Flip Saunders has never won squat?
On a different and certainly not parallel track, how bad are the Knicks comparatively? What is Eddie Curry? Something like the fourth best player on a Nets’ squad that won't even make the Conference final, a team that the Clarion just advocated blowing up. How bad are the Francis and Starbury contracts? ($15 million plus each) How much of a jinx are the Knicks on decent coaches? Not just Larry, whom the Pistons are, as yet, not the same without, but also Don Nelson. Who this year was great in Golden State, but with Knicks despite a .576 career winning percentage was gone after 59 games. What about Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, in one year he went from Isiah calling him to the perfect hire to going 40-41 and being gone. A guy who was career 177 games over .500 for his career. Did not Pat Riley win the championship with every other team he coached? And Pitno, well Pitno's not a NBA coach, he shouldn't count, even if he some day wins a the state of Kentucky another NCAA title at Lousiville.
Summary, the East ain’t great and the Knicks aren’t close to as good as the best of the East. As far as this columnist knows they don’t have a Ruthian or even a Billy Goat curse, the City is behind them. Must be Jim Dolan’s karma.
Out West it is hard to know what to make of the Jazz. It seems they are the kind of team that would be world beaters at the Olympics. It is not that it could happen, because they are a mini U.N. with guys from all over the globe, but rather because their style of play and notion of team ball would be perfect for the international game, the wide lane, the pace. In the NBA, they very easily could have lost to Houston in Round 1, they got a perfect match-up in small, undisciplined, Golden State in Round 2, and seem a staggeringly unlikely bet to put up much resistance against the Spurs in the Conference Final. The Jazz are playing great, which means they might win two games.
The NBA better hope the Eastern Conference suddenly becomes compelling.
Labels: NBA, sports, The Knicks
Comments:
The Western Conference Final has such an inevitable feel about it. I was talking with a fellow sports nut buddy of mine this evening, and even though Game 1 was over neither of us brought it up. It didn't need to be said. Outcome was known. No excitement. No surprise. No juice. No reason to even bring it up.
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