Now, Im not going to throw away the Suns' fabulous win over the Spurs, but at the same time let's be real here.  A single game during a tough streak of games hardly will make or break their season.  Let's look at where things still stand before getting too excited.

First off the Suns are still in 6th place in the Western Conference, so the win neither moved them up or down the standings.  Secondly it was a home game, and thirdly the Spurs were playing very lackluster, which surprised the heck out of me.

Yes, the Suns played probably one of their best overall games on offense and defense but they need to be able to string these kinds of games together.  It starts one quarter at a time, then one half, then full games, then multiple games.  Each step means more effort, more focus, and more concentration.  The Suns have to demonstrate their willingness to make these commitments before anyone can say the game with the Spurs was anything other than a concentrated effort by a team desperately determined to keep from sinking further in the playoff standings.

One other thing to keep in mind regarding the Suns' recent record - the pre-all star break Suns played probably the softest schedule in the league except for perhaps maybe the Celtics, who also had a lot of games against the weaker echelon of teams in both conferences.  Now they have the heart of their schedule along with a huge trade and retooling job to do, and to me it's those two factors that contribute more to their recent record than anything else.

All that said, it was a highly entertaining game, well played and executed on both sides of the ball by the Suns, and D'Antoni coached a FANTASTIC game!  When Greg Popovitch compliments your coaching in his post game comments you know you did pretty damn good with your in game adjustments.

Just don't make it out to be more than it really was, one game, and they got another one coming right up.  So too do the Spurs.  In the end, that's all it means, one win, one loss, play the next team.

Well, one thing is for certain, this has DEFINITELY not been dull since the All Star break!

We had huge trades, shakeups all over the league, and then there's that silly little problem of a probable 50 win team not making the playoffs in one conference while more than likely a team with a losing or .500 record will make the playoffs in another conference.  So who's got the real mojo now, and who's lost it?  Let's look at the teams who made the most and biggest moves and analyze their probable playoff projections as things stand now.  I rank each team based on my own impressions, feel free to comment:

1. San Antonio Spurs - Im not the biggest fan of the Spurs, but Im also a straight shooter.  The Spurs gave up the least next to the Lakers to get a player that can help them in the playoffs (Kurt Thomas), and then they get back one of the players in a month (Brent Barry).  Say what you like about this, but it's SMART.  Ever since the all-star break the Spurs have been playing at an amazing pace, but even more amazing is that it's not a playoff pace yet.  Popovich has them in end-of-season form a little earlier than usual, because he knows full well that more than any other year in recent memory home court will REALLY matter in the playoffs, and the less travelling you have to do the better this off-season.  The Spurs are going to be a very tough team to beat this year, because they seem bound and determined to prove once and for all they are NOT a soft champion, and to beat an NBA this competetive would solidify their claims to historical greatness.  For once, I am on their side, I would like to see it happen, they are the Patriots without the cocky swagger, and I can live with that.

2. Los Angeles Lakers - When did "Showtime" come back to L.A.?  The Lakers gave up a bunch of scrubs, got a solid (if underutilized before now) Pau Gasol, and suddenly POOF they are playing like it's the 80's again!  The biggest difference maker to me is that Kobe has stopped trying to be the "man" for 48 minutes and instead focuses this into the final 8 minutes of the game, and that spurt of focused intensity is proving devastating for nearly every team out there.  The rest of the game he is the playmaker and the leader everyone clamored for him to be all along.  I can live with this Kobe Bryant, and I can root for this team thats playing an extremely solid style of ball that is eerily similar to the all out triangle offenses of the Bulls' haydays.  There's still a part of me that wonders if all the pre season "trade me" stuff was just a smoke screen to make the team gel together, if so, I have no complaints, it's proven to have worked perfectly.  The Lakers have gone from a first round exit waiting to happen to being the team NO ONE wants to face in round one.

3. Cleveland Cavaliers - Ok, so you rip apart the team that got to the NBA finals last season, trade off most of them, bring in a whole bunch of underachievers from other teams, and the one thing that hasn't changed is that LeBron really has no help, but they are still winning.  Either the Cavs' management are the biggest bunch of #### savants the NBA has ever seen or we are missing something here, and I think what we are missing is just how amazing a player LeBron really is.  Ok, so in the cluch he can be made mortal, but for the other 43 minutes of the game he is simply unstoppable.  Now if only his team could do for him what the Lakers are doing for Kobe, and allow LeBron to focus that intensity into the final 8 minutes of the game only, and the Celtis and Pistons would be deeply concerned.  Until that can happen, the burden of carrying so many big men on his broad shoulders will keep making King James the best NBA player to not win a title of this generation.

4. Boston Celtics - The no longer thought of but hardly forgotten trades of the pre season that led to their resurgence cannot be overlooked, nor should they be.  The Celtics are proving to the regular season at least that they will be the class of the NBA come playoff time.  The real problem will be injuries and having the target on their backs, because EVERYONE will be gunning these guys as we get closer and closer to the playoffs, and they are already showing signs of slowing down.  The biggest mistake Doc Rivers would ever make would be to rest his stars and sit on their record in order to give them time to get healthy.  These guys will have to be ready to play through pain to win the title this year, so he better get them ready for it now.  I love what the Celtics have done for the NBA this year, but I just see too many cracks showing right now to even say they will come out of the east let alone win it all.  And the upcoming addition of Sam Cassell is NOT going to help, Sam I Am is just too old and too self centered to really make a big #### on this kind of a stage, but he will at least give them some extra scoring in key moments (poor man's Robert Horry in a way).   In the end, I am afraid it will be close but no cigar this year for the Celtics.

5. Dallas Mavericks - I think after 2 years I have finally spotted the Mavs major weakness, and it's Avery Johnson.  I know he has turned the Mavs from a scoring first team into a decent (but still overrated) defensive team, but in the end, he is gun shy.  Avery has a game plan and sticks to it almost to the bitter end.  The addition of Jason Kidd will ONLY help if he is allowed to play his style of ball, not Avery Johnson's.  Let Kidd be the leader you traded half the team for and you might have a chance, sort of like what D'Antoni does with Steve Nash, who is the on court coach and D'Antoni is the time out/off court coach.  Avery may be one of the nicest and most respected men in the league, but in the end he is not flexible enough to take this team to the next level, and this is showing in his team over the past 2 years, and the recent overtime loss to the Lakers is a solid example, as they had no fire in their eyes, no anger, no WILL to win that game, while the Lakers just went out in OT and burned them.  Don't even get me started on the Spurs game with Kidd on the bench at crunch time, that's almost a whole blog in itself!   No fire = no title, and the Mavs have no fire at all right now.  They'll barely make the 2nd round at this rate.

6. Phoenix Suns - Ah how the mighty have fallen.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not signing off on the Shaq trade, nor do I think it was a horrible deal overall.  I just think the expectations are a bit too high for this early in the trade to say the Suns are done.  Do I think they can win it all, sure I do, but Im a Suns homer, albeit an objective one.  The flaws are right there for all to see, the Suns are HORRIBLE on defense, and their offense is spluttering like bacon in a too greasy pan on Sunday morning.  How much of that is the lack of Marion or the addition of Shaq is an open debate, but in the end each is only one man, so each has to bear the burden of their own.  The Suns can make this work, and the one thing I can point to is what I said at the announcement of the trade, having a happy locker room in a league with margins this small is amazingly powerful.  As long as the Suns are not giving up on themselves or the season I don't see where we can either.  Will they set the world on fire with defense, no, but they will make it entertaining as hell along the way at least!  Next year I think will be their year.

As for the others who made moves, they can't even register on the radar right now.  Marion must be wondering what time warp he entered going from the #1 ranked team in the tough West to the worst team in the NBA, and Seattle must be drooling at the thought of all the cap room and draft picks they will have (Too bad Seattle FANS will never see them).

Team to watch out for:  Hornets, plain and simple.  I said before they play the toughest schedule of the 2nd half and they are still in there and slugging it out with the big boys.

Team to stay away from:  Jazz - no one wants to see them on their schedule right now, especially if you are a Western Conference team, they are the spoiler team of the West if you are on the playoff bubble.

Mid-season Whiner award  Isiah Thomas.  I remember once Charles Barkley saying that Jerry Reinsdorf had to have pictures of the Bulls owner fornicating with farm animals in order to keep his job, but I find myself wondering what skeleton Thomas has on the Knicks ownership to keep HIS job.  Has there EVER been a worse coach, for a more high profile team, that has NOT been shown the door after even ONE season of ineptitude this bad, let alone MULTIPLE years?  Bring in Jerry Colangelo, Snoopy, John Wooden, Buck Rogers, ANYONE for god's sake, but get rid of Isiah!  And now he doesn't want to talk about Marbury anymore..ok..let's just go back to that other little topic that kept your name in the papers during the pre-season...you remember Isiah, that little legal trouble you so smarmily smiled through?  If ever there was a "Teflon Don" in the NBA it would have to be Isiah Thomas.

Im out - Thanks for reading!!

Dal

For the first time in several years, I can honestly say I look forward to watching regular season NBA games. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the NBA, but in recent years the regular season product has been decidedly "hum drum", with only the Suns providing some real excitement to what is an otherwise boring grind of 82 games.  Now we have something to look forward to!

Let's just throw out out the "what team traded for this or that player" for the time being, the trade deadline's passed, and now it's time for everyone to make their stretch runs, and for once even some of the teams in the East are going to be worth watching!  (Besides Detroit I mean). 

Look at it this way - Several teams revamped their rosters completely (Cleveland, Dallas), some made modest but powerful moves (Houston, New Orleans), some built for the future (OH good lord the Sonics!!), while others decided the time is now!  (Lakers, Suns).  And then, in the midst of it all, there is the sleeper trade of them all, where the quiet, steady Spurs gain a highly underrated force in Kurt Thomas.  I would challenge you to find another mid season trade deadline where so many teams made so many moves for so many different reasons.  Amazing!

Now, despite what all the pundits out there will say, that the Western Conference playoffs will be insane while the East will be relatively quick and easy, I will concede that could be the case.  But I think that once the first round is over, the Eastern Conference playoffs will be just as intense as the West will be, because the top four teams in the East (Boston, Destroit, Cleveland and Orlando) are very well matched up against one another.  Remember last year where the East was mostly sweep after sweep (or lose just 1 game in the series) - We didnt get a good series until the Cavs/Pistons in the East finals.  I don't see that happening this year.

As for the West, good god.  This is...WOW...This is going to be one of the best off seasons ever, and what's ####y to me is that through all the hubub of trades and changes, as much as I absolutely HATE to admit this, I would not be surprised to see the Spurs come out of the West.  In the playoffs chemistry is just as important as defense to winning a championship, and NO ONE except the Pistons can compare with the Spurs when it comes to Chemistry. 

I am a Suns' Homer, of course, never denied it, but I always try to call a #### a #### (so to speak), and to all the Spurs Homers out there, my hat's off to you, the Spurs' management steered a very unsteady course with all the trades, stuck to their guns, and in the end picked up a potent (if limited) big man in Kurt Thomas who will give them even more of a defensive presence and another mid range shooter with a solid touch.  Great pickup by the Spurs and much as in the Gasol trade, you didn't have to give up much of anything to get him.

The team I feel got hosed the worst in this bout of trades was Cleveland.  Poor LeBron, the man just can't get the help he really needs.  They blew up the team mid season and got older, slower, and less athletic, and didn't shore up ANY of their weaknesses (on either side of the ball), which means King James will win the MVP award but probably be bounced in the 2nd round when Ben Wallace decides to resume his late season nap. 

Next most hosed is the Mavs, who would have won this award if the Cavs deal hadn't come down at the last minue.  Kidd's good, but not that good, and he's never been that good with a skilled big man (Kidd's good at passing IN to the basket, Dirk plays more away from it), and in the end, I feel this just hastened the end of the Mavs run near the top of the elite teams by about 2 years.  Their window just closed and they have little to build on towards the future, having traded away their best young players and several key draft picks.  It's a shame, I like the Mavs.

The unqualified winner of the Trade game was the Sonics, who basically called a Mulligan on this season, will play it out for experience, and solidified their future through at least 2010.  The only pity in all of this is that because of the pissing match between the owners and the city of Seattle that the real winners of this trade bonanza will be whatever city the Sonics move to.  That is the true shame, because the fans in Seattle deserve MUCH better than what they are getting from both their city managers and the ownership of the Sonics.

You talk about the Suns, the Lakers, and every other team who did or did not make moves (major or minor) during this mid season, and in the end it all boiled down to this.  The bigget winner of all?

US!!!!!!!!!!!  We FINALLY came out ahead here!  WOOHOO!!!

*kicks back to enjoy*

Im out - Thanks for reading - Dal

I'll give credit where it's due, the NBA puts on the best "all star" show beyond a doubt, the Pro Bowl, MLB and NHL all star games pale in comparison, and this Saturday I think we got a real treat.

First off, the Shooting Stars competition.  I'll admit to having a geekout moment when I saw David Robinson, who is one of my top 5 favorite players since I've been watching the NBA (29 years).  I was also happy to see EJ (Eddie Johnson), and BJ Armstrong, the shooting stars is a cool competition, actually, one I've begun to look forward to each year, and this year was a good one, and I found the commentary HILARIOUS!  Reggie's comment about Duncan and Robinson setting back shooters by 100 years by winning made me totally crack up, and Duncan's comment about how they expected their WNBA partner to be the one to carry the team shocked me, as Duncan actually said something humorous! :)  Good start to the night

Next, the Skills Challenge.  One thing I have noticed about this one over the last couple years, the younger guys are actually starting to show some skills.  This year was better quality than in other years, with the exception of Kidd and Wade's shooting woes.  This is one competition I think should be more geared to the "coming out" players, but I have no problem with them having established stars competing to increase it's visibility.  Williams was SUPERB, and Utah, you got one hell of a point guard there!

Three point Shootout had me laughing out loud with the commentary, I really enjoy Kenny, Charles and Reggie when the lights are on and there is no pressure to call a game.  I love seeing Dirk shoot, but I think he's a one round wonder in this competition, he tends to fade in the finals usually, and I think it's because he's so tall, his length hurts him having to shoot that many shots for multiple rounds so quickly.  Nonetheless, good opening round (Nash should have said thank but no thanks, sorry Steve), and the finals was good, Kopono is a highly underrated shooter, and it was good to see him repeat.

Now the crown jewel, the Slam Dunk contest.  I was SO glad they got rid of the gimmicks and let the players be creative again.  This was a throwback to the dunk contests I used to enjoy back in the 80's and early 90's, and I had a total geekout moment with the Dwight Howard "Superman" dunk, that was a moderately normal dunk (with an astonishing leap), coupled by wonderful presentation, that's what the dunk contest is all about, doing the dunks and getting the crowd into it.  The "Birthday Cake" dunk suffered from the same problem Howard had last year with his "sticker" dunk, the judges couldn't see what he did so they scored it badly.  The finals were just as good as the first round, and I found myself feeling thoroughly entertained by the dunk contest, with a worthy winner in Dwight Howard, I just hope he comes back next year to defend the title!

Only criticism on the dunk contest were the judges.  Dawkins should NEVER be a dunk judge, he's too wrapped up in his own legend to be objective, and Dr. J, much as I love the guy, gets a bit too wrapped up in his voice sometimes.  'Nique and Magic looked the most enthusiastic to be judging the event, and Karl Malone had a look that said "I gave up a hunting trip for this?"  He just looked completely bored and disgusted, which I thought was more than a bit inappropriate considering.

I have to agree with Kenny's comment regarding the Dwight Howard show - "When Kobe Bryant is up on his feet over a dunk, you KNOW you did a good one!", and this year's contest had Kobe and other stellar dunkers on their feet several times. 

GREAT SHOW NBA - Thank you!  Now let's just hope the All Star game is this entertaining!

Hey, you all know I am not a Spurs lover, but I have HUGE respect for them,and they did what I thought they would do, they just did it a lot quicker, thats all LOL :)

No, congratulations to the Spurs on a fabulous game plan, it was VERY obvious what Pop wanted to do, he knew there was NOTHING the Cavs had to stop Tony Parker, so he made him the man of the series.  With Duncan able to be played one on one against Z, and any number of their players able to at least match up with Ginobili, it was very obvious that Parker was the one head of the 3 headed monster the Cavs had nothing for, and it worked like a charm.

They had a wonderful gameplan, and the Cavs played right in to it...I could almost hear Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith screaming SPEED UP THE TEMPO and keep San Antonio off balance on offense!  Sometimes I was even wondering if Mike Brown was just gonna sit there and play Pop's assistant coach and help him win a game LOL..

Popovich coached a masterful series, Mike Brown on the other hand was an embarassment as a Finals coach.  It's not the reason the Cavs lost, but it is certainly a factor.

The Spurs overall took them apart from tip off of game 1 thru the end of game 4..it was truly a beautiful thing if you are a Spurs fan, and the equivalent of a major league team going up against a group of little leaguers if you are not (Sorry Cavs fan, but let's be blunt here).

In the end, as I have said all along, for diehards and homies, this was a wonderful example of team basketball, for everyone else, it was an embarassingly lopsided series that was never even a contest.  This might just set the record for lowest rated NBA Finals series in history...for a team as talented as the Spurs are (Hey, I said I respect em, remember), it's truly a shame that no one wants to watch them unless they actually have some competition!

I think this is probably my third or fourth blog mentioning this particular topic (at least), and with the recent batches of posters weighing in on the topic, I'll throw in another of my 2 cents on the topic (what the hell, right?) Let's take a peek at some of the more popular "boring" theories and then I'll throw mine in at the end.

1.  The Spurs have too many "foreign" players to be marketable to an American audience.  I would dispute this for several reasons, the two biggest being Vlade Divac and Yao Ming, both of whom are proven ratings winners in this country.  Non-American players have been drawing ratings for years in this country, long before Tony Parker and Ginobili showed up.  The difference is that their predecessors and contemporaries are in some colorful and relateable to the average man, and they played on teams that had demonstrable passion every time a strong, solid play was made on either side of the ball.  Yao is a HUGE ratings draw in this country (nationally televised Rockets games without Tracy McGrady are only an average of 8% lower than games with him in, even if you double that and more it shows Yao as a national ratings draw).  When Vlade played with Magic as Kareem's replacement, and later on those powerful Kings teams, he was a passionate (sometimes too much) player who invited the fans to cheer him or boo him, just don't ignore him.  The point of this being that MOST fans, diehard down to casual, like to see players show some passion when they play the game, and generally do not care where that player was born.

2. How can they be boring when all they do is win ? I have two examples to prove how boring winning by domination can be - That being the Yankees and the former Soviet Hockey dominance.  For DECADES all these two teams did was win, and win thru total dominance of the opposition.  There were no "sporting" contests, there was one slaughter after another.  When the Yankees have had teams that have been able to dominate, after a short period of time, the ratings drop like a stone.  When the Soviets played, WORLDWIDE the ratings were totally in the sewer in every country, even in Russia!  Winning is fun, it's what we are all taught to do from birth on, but when you win every time, with little to no competition, why watch, you already know what's going to happen.  This is the problem the Spurs face.

3. How sad it is that the public wants to see thugs instead of real players.  This is a WAY too easy copout argument folks, and those who are making it probably know it.  Look at the ratings for those teams, and their home attendance, they are some of the worst figures you will find in the entire NBA (Trailblazers anyone?).  The ratings and attendance figures CLEARLY show the public wants to see real players, but they also want something else.

Ok, those are the top 3 arguments that I have seen in recent times.  Which leads to my reason(s) regarding the Spurs being boring...

1. No one likes to watch an assembly line.  Look, everyone loves to drive their car, but they have no desire to see it built - why?  Because by the time you see your car come down the assembly line to be built, you have already seen 20-30 other cars built the same way, and there is no mystery anymore.  This is the way the Spurs play, in an assembly line fashion.  Does this sound familiar?  Parker to Duncan, Duncan to Parker, Parker to Duncan, Duncan off the glass or toss to Ginobili or Finley for a long range shot, run down to the other end, put Bowen on the top player, Parker on the next top player, and Duncan in the middle or on the wing, get the steal, rinse, repeat.  It's the same thing nearly every possession unless the opposition can somehow speed up the game enough to keep the Spurs from setting up.  When you know what's going to happen 90% of the time, why watch?  Law & Order is a great show because SOMEtimes the outcome is not what the viewer wants, sometimes it is, you never know until the end.  If they won every case the show would not have lasted 17 months let alone 17 years.

2.  Their style appeals only to the diehard fans and the hometown fans.  Let's face it, it's a consumer's world, not ours.  We can bleed and sweat "pure" basketball all we want but we are the MINORITY, the NBA relies on our money every game, every day of their existence, but they MAKE money off the casual fans, and the Spurs just don't offer anything to them but the same ol, same ol "humdrum" basketball.  All you have to do is channel surf past a Spurs game and even the casual fan can tell in less than 2 possessions what's going on and what's GOING to go on for the rest of the game.  Once you have that, why watch.

3.  The Spurs don't have FUN when they win.  I will again throw in a reference to the Soviet domination of Hockey.  In a documentary HBO did about the Miracle on Ice, one of the Soviet players, when commentating about the celebration that happened when the US won that particular game, said the following:  "We had won for so long we forgot how to be HAPPY when we won, we took it for granted."  That's how the Spurs appear to even some of the diehard fans, imagine how they look to the casual fans?  They don't SHOW that they are enjoying their craft, it's just like you or I going to our 40 hour a week job and plodding thru it to get to the next day.  There are few if any times in the first games of this series that the Spurs showed ANY emotion on the court while they were dominating.  They just went out, won, took their showers, did their interviews, and went home - NEXT!.  Sports are popular because they give us a reason to let loose with our emotions, yell, cheer, shout, swear, you name it, but it ONLY happens when a team is giving us a reason to let loose with all that emotion.  The Spurs don't give most people a reason to let loose, they are like that tight-lipped librarian who keeps telling you to SHOOSH all the time, they act more concerned with the business of basketball and less with the EMOTION of basketball, and as a result most people get turned off by it.

There are more reasons of course, but those are my top 3.  Look, I respect the Spurs, even if I don't like them all that much.  They are, at their core, a machine that does nothing but win, win, win, and then win some more.  But as much respect as the Spurs have out there, (even the casual fans will generally admit they respect what the Spurs accomplish), they just do not give anyone but diehards and homies any reason to get behind them.  They never act the underdog, never seem to SERIOUSLY look challenged (even last year when they were losing to Dallas they looked like they secretly knew it was in the bag), and no matter who the opponent is, they give the SAME answers to questions. 

Sports are supposed to be spontaneous, not scripted - we have the WWE for that.  The Spurs are almost guaranteed to win their 4th title in 9 years, and ALL FOUR of those finals are going to end up in the bottom 5-8 average NBA Finals ratings since the Magic/Bird era.  Coincidence?

Anyways, there are my 2 cents (and probably some more) - Im out.

Please bear in mind in this blog that I am a Western Conference guy with a healthy respect for the east.  Therefore I am rooting on the Spurs (Tho I am not a fan) in this year's NBA Finals.  All that being said, I would, were I a Spurs fan, nonetheless have a few areas for concern going in to Thursday's NBA Finals.

First off, the Spurs themselves.  Look at their playoffs so far this year - they have only barely been pushed to this point.  Denver was barely a blip on their radar, the prospective "finals" matchup with the Suns ended up controversially in their favor and ended up being easier than anticipated, and the Jazz registered even less of a blip on their radar than Denver did.  Other than having to come back from a deep deficit in game 4 against my Suns, the Spurs have not had any sort of a real challenge to this point in the playoffs.

I know, I know, this is a playoff tested team that has won 3 titles already in 8 years, they have all the pedigrees, all the playoff tests and experience, the works.  That's precisely WHY I would be worried.

Now let's look at the Cavs real quick.  Here is a team that flew beneath everyone's radar with the exception of a couple NBA analysts.  In the playoffs they were relatively unremarkable in their opening round, did a thorough job of thrashing New Jersey, and then were pushed, and pushed HARD, by another playoff tested, veteran team that also won a title, the Pistons. 

There is something that happens in all sports from time to time, the best team loses.  This is most prevalent in baseball, and there are innumerable instances of teams that on paper are a total mismatch against the other, only to wind up winning in the end (anyone remember the Pirates/Yankee's from the late '50s, or even this year, who would have guessed on paper the Warriors would eject the Mavs?)

No matter how hard a team might try to convince itself that they take the opposition seriously, there creeps in a bit of ego, a bit of over-confidence, that can remove just the very finest edge off of a team's killer instinct.  In all other ways the team is firing on all cylinders, but they just cannot put the other, inferior, team away. 

Do I think the Spurs are vulnerable to this?  Yes, I do.  They show ALL the signs of this possibility, having a relative walk over the powerful Western Conference, and a team that on paper has NO business being on the court with them for the NBAs biggest team prize saddling up to take them on.  The circumstances are too good for this to at least not be a consideration.

Do I think this will happen, not really.  But Popovich is not infallible, no coach is, and all the Cavs have to do is hang around, hang around, hang around, avoid any blowouts or morale-defeating games, and they could strongly challenge the Spurs for a close game here n there, and put a tiny sliver of doubt on the missing edge of their killer instinct, and from there crack the Spurs wide open.

The Spurs SHOULD win this, and probably WILL win this series, but that's why they play the games, because as long as you have another game, another play, and time on the clock, you are still in the game, and the Cavs have been pushed this playoff year to remember that in ways the Spurs have not.  Despite their experience, sometimes success can be your own worst enemy.

The Cav's, NBA champions?  Improbable, but still possible.  Watch for it...it could happen.

I must admit I find it almost humorous the number of people who were rooting for the Pistons that are now going to root for the Spurs in the NBA finals simply because the Pistons did not win or they do not respect/like the Cavs.

Personally I am big NON fan of the San Antonio Spurs, I am long on record for that, but they beat my Suns and the Jazz, no bones about it, and since Im a Western Conference kinda guy, Im rooting for the Spurs, since they were the best team this year in the West (they are the ones who came out after all)

To play sour grapes and root for a team in the opposing conference simply because they are NOT the team that won your conference is hilarious in my opinion.  So if the Pistons would have won you would have supported the east, but because they didnt you will root for the west.  Talk about fickle :)

As for the Cavs getting demolished in 4 games, ain't gonna happen folks, it just won't.  If the Spurs could not sweep the JAZZ, who are a far weaker team than the Cavs, then this series will go at least 6, tho I think it will go 7 (read my other blog as to my reasons)

Do I WANT to root for the Spurs?  Not really, they are not my cup of tea, so to speak.  But they won the conference, my favorite team is in the same conference and they beat my team, so I'm not gonna switch alliances simply because the team I was rooting for did not win the conference. 

I will not be sorry if the Cavs win, but I do want the Spurs to pull it off and win their 4th title.

Don't play sour grapes, be happy your conference is well represented, and back them appropriately :) 

I'm out!

First off, my congratulations to the Cavaliers on winning the Eastern Conference and advancing to their first NBA Finals appearance!  They played with poise, confidence, and with respect for themselves, their team, their city, and their competition.  As for the Pistons, I have but two things to say:  (1) Congratulations on a good playoff run, and (2) Get rid of Rasheed Wallace if you are going to make any changes to your personnel.  He would not have made a difference tonight, but he is a HUGE distraction with his inability to control himself when things do not go his way.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, let's look ahead to the Finals.

Analyze this series any way you want, but it still comes down to the same thing at the end of the day -

The Cavs have to decide which head(s) of the 3 headed monster to have beat them.  If I were the Cavs I would let Duncan be that head in the first 2 games and shut down Parker and Ginobili if I could.  The Cavs have the best basket/post defense of any team the Spurs have seen this year, let Duncan bring his offense right in to the heart of your defense and trust in it.  See how it goes for a game or two and then re-evaluate.  On offense, you have to let LeBron determine, like he did in this series, if he is going to be a scorer or facilitator, and have the supporting cast be ready to step in to the appropriate role. 

The Spurs have to decide whether to collapse their defense on LeBron, play zone, or play man to man and rely on Bowen to stop LeBron.  Frankly, the way LeBron has been playing the last 2 weeks I would not count on Bowen being able to stop him for 4 entire games, maybe 1 or 2, but that's about it, he's just too strong for Bowen to contain.  The zone defense mixed with scattered trapping seems to bother the Cavs more than any other defense, as it was how both the Nets and Pistons really won their games against the Cavs.  Offensively, attack from the inside at first, but establish your outside game, make the Cavs defenders have to be honest, and you will open up the basket for Duncan and all your post players. 

As I said in a previous blog, no matter who the Spurs faced, I felt this would be a 7 game series.  Yes, the Cavs are on a fresh stage, but the pressure is really all on the Spurs, they are EXPECTED to win this series easily, so if the Cavs can stretch this series out in any way, the Spurs will have so many questions coming in as to why they haven't beaten the Cavs yet that they could get a bit rattled, especially their younger players.

I would NOT be surprised to see the Cavs win this thing, in fact I think it would be a very cool thing if that were what indeed happens.  Realistically however, the Spurs ability to "bore you to death with competence" will wear down the Cavs youthful exuberance, and eventually win them the series.

Spurs in 7, but hey, we sure got a finals matchup the will invite the casual NBA fan to give a look-see and a cheer!

Good luck to both teams!  I'm out

Look very carefully at this year's playoffs, and you will find very little to get excited about, and for most NBA fans of teams other than San Antonio and Detroit, a LOT to dread. 

First the Mavs are knocked out, then the Heat, both in the first round, eliminating at one stroke both the most exciting and the most popular two teams in the playoffs to the general NBA public.  Then the Eastern Conference playoffs turn in to a stroll in the park for both the Pistons and the Cavs as they steamroll their competition, while in the West everything changed from focuses on the court to focuses on the NBA front office with suspensions, lack of suspensions, and ratings that have dropped right in to the toilet (check em out for yourself, the ratings for Spurs/Jazz were the bottom 5 lowest Western Conference Finals ratings in the past 20 or 25 years).

Also remember that the Spurs/Pistons finals matchup of a few years ago were THE lowest rated finals since before the Magic/Bird era, and you have a LOT of NBA fans that are not diehards or fans of the teams remaining changing the channel at the prospect of a rematch.

Then came the Cavs, who are giving games that are defensive struggles a face and a heart, and games that are offensive struggles a charm and a thrill that comes with a team not expected to be doing this well to be exceeding expectations, if not of the critics, but at least that of the general public.

So I submit to you, all those who are saying LeBron's game the other night is no big deal, etc., what ELSE do we have to cheer for?

I'm a diehard fan so Im watching anyways, but we are the exception, not the rule.  To have a player go up against a team known as a defensive juggernaut and basically score every basket from mid 4th quarter on thru TWO overtimes, against single, double and sometimes triple coverage, is to the non-diehard NBA fan a reason to turn the game back on, maybe there is something worth cheering about after all.

Maybe right now the reaction is a little overstated, and those who are saying the McDyess ejection was the reason LeBron went on such a tear, but I strongly disagree, because McDyess is NOT the defender that Prince, Sheed, Hamilton and Billups are, and none of them could slow him down or get the ball out of his hands.  McDyess is a good SPOT defender, and good in crowds, but he is not a solid one on one defender.  LeBron was making shots over anyone the Pistons sent at him, and that just adds to this particular incident's appeal, it's something that the general NBA fan has not had in a long time. 

In 5 years tho, this performance will still be remembered as one of the great playoff game performances, watch for it.

And that is definitely something worth cheering for.

Thanks for reading - Im out!

Just some various things that are flittering around in my head today I thought I would share:

 - Was it just me or was (once again) Stephen A Smith on ESPN being just a plain old fashioned JERK when it came to the discussions about the Kobe Bryant situation?  Especially when it came to the question of whether or not Kobe was right in taking this to media first rather than the Laker's front office.  I can respect that everyone has an opinion, but why does this guy have to take EVERY differing opinion from his own as a personal affront and try to win the "arguement" by simply yelling?  He is probably good for ratings in some ways, but personally?  I see him starting to respond to something I reach for the remote.

 - Congratulations to the Spurs on making the NBA Finals once again.  Do I like the team?  Nah, I never made any secret about that.  But I always give the devil their dues, and there's no question that the Spurs right now are playing some very strong, very passionate team ball.  So congratulations and good luck in the finals, Spurs, I think you have a VERY good chance of winning the title this year.

 - Is it just me or is Jeff Van Gundy proving to be the ONLY ESPN commentator with any passion on the game play-by-play ?  I find myself watching the games just to hear this man respond to the VERY obvious fawning made by his other two commentators.  While they try to justify nearly every call, he calls a #### a #### and says hey, that was a bad call, or that was a good call, and STANDS by his opinion!  WOW, a commentator with class on ESPN, what is the world coming to!

 - Read my blog on the Kobe Bryant situation for the details, but the bottom line is still this, neither the Lakers NOR Kobe want a trade to happen, this is just another example of the Kobe First Rules, and for a trade to happen would be one of the biggest shockers in recent NBA history.  But both parties have no one to blame for this situation but themselves, the Lakers for hitching their wagons to Kobe, and Kobe for basically causing a potential dynasty to be dismantled due to petulence and petty infighting over who has the biggest star or the biggest paycheck.  Such a pity, the Lakers could still be winning titles if they could have found a way for everyone to live together.

 - So if this guy ( I forgot his name) that's gonna be drafted number one this summer, is going to bring possibly a title to the north west ?  I dunno, the Trailblazers and Sonics seem to me to be more than just one star player away from a title run.  First off the Blazers have to be able to let go of their passle of lawyers they have to have on staff to keep up with all the court cases, it's getting in the way of the salary cap *grin*, and second the Sonics have to just set a case of C4 under the team, blow it up, and start over with Ray Allen as the aging veteran, and go from there.  Just adding one star player right out of the draft is not going to make THAT much difference folks.  They might make the playoffs next year, but that's about it, be honest.

 - My congratulations to both the Pistons and the Cavs for giving us at least ONE competetive series in the conference finals.  Frankly for all it's bad play, this has still been one of the more competetive series in the entire playoffs!  The bad plays to a degree are at least caused by the other teams more often than not, instead of just plain ineptness by supposed professionals.  Frankly I thnk either team could beat the Spurs in the finals, but only if Detroit cleans up it's game, and the Cavs do NOT wake up to the fact that they are just one step away from the Finals.

 - Speaking of the Pistons, WHEN is someone gonna finally step up to Rasheed Wallace and say "Sheed, two words - GROW UP!".  Good lord this man is a 5 year old in a hulking body, and nothing has really changed since the days when he choked out his own bloody coach!  He whines and cries and whines and cries and then tries to cover up for it by making semi-spectacular plays, all the while making the refs tired of his rhetoric and in my own opinion, more willing to overlook a foul or two simply because they wanna #### Sheed off!  Just look at his 'Shirt throwing" after game 4 the other night as just the latest example in a career full of incidents.  Talented player?  Yes.  Gifted player?  Not really.  Whining detriment to his team?  ABSOLUTELY!

 - Last but not least, a couple predictions:  (1)  There will be a 7 game NBA finals, regardless of who the Spurs face.  (2) Just prior to draft day, there will be one, maybe two BLOCKbuster trades, involving at least one of more of the following teams:  Nets, Lakers, Bulls, Suns, Blazers, Rockets, Hawks.  (3) Someone will find Vince Carter's old pair of Air Jordans and return them to him, allowing him to once again be Half-Man, Half-Amazin!

Ok, Im out!

First off, I hope you all have a good Memorial Day weekend.  I started mine off by going to see Pirates of the Carribean and Spider-Man 3.  If you are a HUGE fan of the first film in each franchise, then I recommend you stay away from these.  If you are a fan of the entire franchise, then you will enjoy them (I STRONGLY urge you to re-watch Pirates 2 before going to see 3, unless you have #2 memorized, #3 might leave you in the dust a bit)

Pirates had amazing special effects, but not quite as amazing a story, while Spider-Man, when he was kicking butt, the movie was good, otherwise he was mopey, dopey and the movie slogged thru the frames, and there was not quite enough butt-kicking in comparison to the mopey-dopey's.  Good action tho, in both films, I will say that.

Now, on to some other quickie topics:  (This Blog is a bit long in the tooth, fair warning, I won't be posting again til next week)

Cleveland Fans - I urge you not to give up hope until or unless your team goes down 3-0.  With them coming home now for 2 games, I think the Cavs will find new energy in their game, and unless the Pistons bring their A+ game, this series can very easily end up being tied and eventually go the entire 7 games.  If the Pistons win game 3 however, it's over, you're not going to beat the Pistons 4 straight, they are just too good.

Piston Fans - Enjoy this while it lasts, altho I think the Pistons are extremely lucky to be up 2-0, one or two baskets going in the other way and this would be an 0-2 series.  Neither team has played well, tho the Pistons have had just enough individual star performances to hold on and win 2 games, for which I toss a salute to the Pistons, who would be a very worthy representative for the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

Jazz Fans - The hardest thing that Jerry Sloan will have to admit to is that his team's only real chance over a 48 minute game is to run, run, and then start running some more.  The Jazz are younger, quicker, and best of all cocky enough to not really have it sink in that they are basically playing for a shot at the NBA title now.  Sloan's teams however, have rarely been willing to be totally driven by their offense, while also playing solid half court defense.   You can say that the Jazz have played them even for a half in each of the first 2 games, but I still see a "deer in the headlights" look about them, and unless they start running hard, fouling hard, and playing hard for 50 minutes a night, the Spurs are gonna sweep this series.  I remain hopeful tho.

Spurs Fans - Ok, ok, you're up 2-0 against a team that, admittedly, you should be up 2-0 against.  The Jazz have no answer for Duncan (who does), and the way they keep leaving the Spurs outside shooters wide open is almost criminal.  Yes, the Spurs are playing their exact same game, with no changes at all from the norm.  But if the Spurs come out of the West (I think this is very likely), They will face their first real test, when they have to handle the Pistons, whom I think will eventually come out of the East.  While the Pistons have no real answer for Duncan, neither do the Spurs have an answer for Rasheed Wallace, if Wallace can control his temper.  As for the here and now, if the Jazz get their normal 2nd wind going home, be ready for a barn-burner o####ame 3 and 4....

Some non-basketball related notes:

Who REALLY cares if Bonds breaks Aaron's home run record ?   I will applaud him for doing it when it happens (reservedly because of the possible steroid issues), but until then, it's not that big a deal really.  (Now let someone get even CLOSE to DiMaggio's hitting streak record and Ill sit up and take notice)

At the rate the NFL is suspending players this off-season, we're going to need a 2nd NFL draft just so all the teams can put out a full roster of players come opening day.  And whatever happened to NFL teams policing their own players?  I guess when a corporate mentality is running a team, the pecadillo's of the players is just not that important anymore.

Did anyone watch that Jermaine Taylor/Cory Spinks fight the other night on HBO ?  Good lord what a joke that was, especially Spinks running around like he won the thing.  I do find it interesting tho that the same things Spinks did that LOST him this fight were almost the very same things that won Mayweather his fight with DeLahoya.  The undercard fight with Pavlik however, now THAT was a good brawl!

Lastly, and this is just my own damned opinion - ANY player who tests positive for any banned substance or drug should be gone for 1 year, first offense, and banned for life on the 2nd.   I just find it amazing how much we coddle drug abuse in the major sports instead of taking a firm hand and saying you are free to do what you want, but there is a price for that freedom.   Hell most jobs in the real world, you got ONE shot, and if you fail, you are fired.  Why is there such a double standard regarding drugs between a Sports employee, and a Real World employee ?  It just makes no sense to me.

Ok, Im out - have a good holiday, see you all next week!

Well, with 3 games down between the two respective conference finals, and game 4 (game 2 in the east) about to tip off, I have to admit, I am getting a chuckle out of the HUGE disparity between the two conferences.

Spurs are simply destroying the Jazz, who are playing with a "deer in the headlights" look on their faces and letting the Spurs simply get away with anything they want with little to no opposition unless faced with a double digit defecit.

Game 1 in the east, while hardly a masterpiece of the hardcourt, was at least competetive right up to the final whistle, and I expect that tonight will be the same thing.

If I were Jerry Sloan, I would strongly suggest  to my players that they lay some hard "playoff fouls" (to paraphrase Robert Horry and Greg Popovich) on the Spurs, they need to get some respect for the Jazz, and right now, that simply does not exist.   When game 3 is going, the first time a Spurs players makes a drive for a layup or dunk, I would hammer that player down hard, send the message to the Spurs "NOT IN OUR HOUSE"

Not that I think it will make a HUGE difference, but it might enable to Jazz to at least make this series competetive, even maybe win a game or two. 

As for the east, well, at least there is one series that is competetive.  The Cavs do not hold the Pistons in awe like the Jazz do the Spurs, having taken this same Pistons team to 7 games last year.  If the Cavs can keep making their open shots, keep the Pistons defense honest, then LeBron can have a strong series, but they have to keep Detroit on the run, play much more up-tempo, and prevent the Pistons half-court defense from setting up and shutting them down.  Basically they gotta try to run em outta the gym to win this series.

Either way, so far, no real surprises in the conference finals to this point...more's the pity.

Watching the Suns/Spurs game 6, yes the Suns are down bigtime, but I have a question.  According to the NBA rules, to get an offensive foul, the defending player must be (A) In front of the oncoming player, (B) Have his feet set and not be in motion, and (C) be outside the restricted area.

On a replay of an offensive foul called on Raja Bell against Brent Barry on a 1 on 3 breakaway, Barry was in front of Bell, and was outside the restricted area, but was IN MOTION!  His feet were tangled up amongst each other and he was still moving.

What got me was the agreement between the commentators on "THAT was a genuine offensive foul".  hua ??

It was a great play by Barry, no question, but imo a bad call by the officials.  What amazed me was the commentator's agreement that this was a good call...

What am I missing here?

I have been reviewing the NBA Rulebook this evening, and I must admit, it makes for somewhat interesting reading.

Many folks have made mention of the fact that Tim Duncan is not being suspended for being out on the court during the 2nd quarter of game 4.  Let's see what the actual wording is according to the NBA Rulebook (I got this right off of NBA.com, just do a search for RULES if you want to read it yourself)

RULE NUMBER 12: FOULS & PENALTIES - Section VI, subsection c.

During an altercation, all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench.  Violators will be suspended, without pay, for a minimum of one game and fined up to $35,000. The suspensions will commence prior to the start of their next game. A team must have a minimum of eight players dressed and ready to play in every game. If five or more players leave the bench, the players will serve their suspensions alphabetically, according to the first letters of their last name. If seven bench players are suspended (assuming no participants are included), four of them would be suspended for the first game following the altercation. The remaining three would be suspended for the second game following the altercation.

The really odd thing is that nowhere in the rulebook, that I can find, is the word Altercation clearly defined.  According to Webster's online dictionary, the word means a noisy heated angry dispute; also : noisy controversy

According to Stu Jackson, the reason Tim Duncan was not suspended was that there was no altercation for him to be responding to.  Looking at the video replay of the incident, there are arguments both for and against this logic.  Clearly, when Tim Duncan saw his player crash to the floor, he immediately leapt to his feet from his seat and ran out on the to floor, passing inside the 3pt line.  However, the 2 players in question were by that time already running down the floor to the other end, jaw-jacking at each other over what had happened.  I personally feel that an altercation does not have to be in a fixed position on the floor to be a noisy, heated, angry dispute, but obviously Stu Jackson does not agree.

Duncan's actions, while definitely in a grey area, should have technically landed under SECTION V:  Conduct - Subsection C: in which it states a technical foul is called for having a team of less or more than 5 players when the ball is alive.  (There is actually a list of infractions for this particular rule, I am paraphrasing and including only the part in question, tho it is copied word for word.)

So the reason there is no suspension of Duncan all comes down to Stu Jackson's definition of the word Altercation.  In the NBA's opinion, there was no altercation for Duncan to be responding to, hence his leaving the bench did not violate the letter of the law. 

I wonder, however, if the NBA will be telling their ref's to keep a sharper eye on how many people are actually ON the court, as technically, at the point in time in question, the Spurs had 7 members of their team on the playing court at the same time.

I would like to add, yes, I am a Suns fan, but I try to be an open-minded one, and rather than rely on someone else's interpretations, I prefer to read it for myself and see what something actually says.  Do I think Duncan should have been suspended?  After reading the actual rule and viewing the videotape - I would have to say no in all objectivity.  If Duncan had moved at all down the court to follow the jaw-jacking players, then yes.  It's hard to be a part of an altercation when it's moved across the halfcourt line away from you, even if you left the bench to do it.