i think that's how that line goes.  or maybe it's...."flattery is the sincerest form of imitation," or "sincerity is the most flattering form of imitation," or imitation is the most flattering form of sincerity."  maybe it's "flatulance is the stinkiest form of body odor."  whatever it is, it's running rampant in society.

in the nba, phoenix is the current standard for up-tempo offense and matador defense.  teams like toronto, who just happen to be under the control of brian colangelo, are looking to cash in using the same system.

don nelson has always been that type of head coach.  shoot fast and hope the opponent misses more shots than you do.  george karl subscribes to a similar theory, and almost managed to get the milwaukee bucks to the nba finals back in 2001.  unfortunately, philadelphia was just a little better and knocked the bucks out in 6 games.

the bucks have changed coaches twice since uncle george was cut loose.  with terry porter, they simply didnt have the weapons to run such an offense.  and porter isnt the type of person who would allow his players to slack off on defense either.

 to this day, i maintain that is a big reason porter was fired, and replaced by terry stotts, who just happened to learn much of what he knows from george karl.

 down in dallas, the mavs were a really good offensive unit when don nelson was the head coach.  when he decided to step away, he hand picked avery johnson as his replacement.  that might be the smartest thing ol' nellie ever did. 

 the "little general" has done nothing but pile up victories since he took over.  the difference between he and nellie is that avery preaches defense.  dallas may not be the best defensive team in the league, but they have improved.

 the phrase "defense wins championships" is popular among those who a)arent fans of the suns and other running teams, and b)those whose favorite team has a solid defense, but not an outstanding, light-up-the-scoreboard offensive assault.

 sure, defense wins championships, but only when a fair amount of offense accompanies it.  it works in reverse too.  a great offense will only win if there is enough defense to go along with it.   the indianapolis colts, for the most part, are a great example of the great offense/not so good defense not being quite good enough to win a championship...until this year.

 so, the questions are these:  does phoenix have enough defense to go along with their #1 offense?  how about toronto or washington in the east?

 do the lakers have enough consistent offense from guys not named kobe bryant to go along with their defense?  how about san antonio?  they should have enough offensive support, provided their geezer squad of role players isnt on life support by playoff time.

 detroit is the favorite to make the finals out of the eastern conference.  they still have pretty good defense, but will they have enough offense if they run into the mavs or suns in the finals?  chris webber looks like the key element on both ends of the floor.  his passing and mid-range shooting should suffice at the offensive end, but will his surgically repaired knee hold up enough to run up and down and defend the likes of amare stoudamire, tim duncan or possibly dirk nowitzki? 

 ....and that's only if detroit doesnt get surprised, and run out of the eastern conference by a streaking wizards, magic or raptors squad.

 if the nba wants to avoid a ratings slump in the finals, they might want to do what they can to keep the houston rockets from making it that far.  sure, san antonio is considered a boring club because of their defense and methodical offense at times, but they look like sprinters compared to jeff van gundy's snooze-a-thon squad.

 tracy mcgrady may be exciting to watch at times, and every chinese person with a tv will tune in to watch Yao.  but i dont think anyone is real interested in watching them force their opponents to use 23 seconds of shot clock on every possession. 

 college basketball fans and analysts pull their hair out watching wisconsin and other big ten teams regularly defend each other into submission.  watching houston play, to me, is like watching a couple big ten teams battle to a 47-44 finish.