fuckyeanba:

Game 2: Oklahoma City at San Antonio

Voltron reached new heights tonight, and OKC coach, Scotty Brooks, was left with no other alternative than to use the Popovich intentional fouling technique on Tiago Splitter to slow down the machine. And oh, what a machine. The Spurs’ ability to pick and roll and then roll off the roll and set another pick, is so fluid and interchangeable, it felt like an assembly line for a Popovich basketball camp. The star instructors would obviously be Manu and Tony with Timmy grandfathered in and Boris Diaw as the crazy uncle that seems fat, but is deceptively fast and strong and brings a smile to everyone’s face when he eats Frito’s on the sidelines. But this magical Popovich basketball camp where every pass is crisp and everyone sets grown man screens, and the defensive rotations are fast, but not fast enough, isn’t real. It only feels that way when you watch the Spurs play.

Tony Parker was the maestro tonight; it’s a testament to Gregg Popovich and the Spurs organization that Parker, the team’s best player now, got so publicly reamed out in the 2nd quarter. Popovich reams out guys all the time, but he makes sure to let the profanity fly for Duncan and Parker the most—if only to show the team no one is above his wrath—and force the role players to think if he talks like that to our stars, what will he scream at me? If Mike Woodson did that to Carmelo Anthony, Woodson would be fired before he got back to the bench.

Back to Parker. He seemed perfect from the field tonight (he finished with 34 points on a Dirkian 16/21 shooting with 8 assists and only 2 turnovers). Parker was lights out with wing jumpers whenever Russ was silly enough to go underneath the screen. If Russ went over, Parker was by him and in the lane creating havoc that way. He was basically un-guardable because Westbrook never backed down and Tony just kept bringing it and bringing it and still Westbrook didn’t stop fighting through all those screens. The level of competition between them tonight was glorious.  

I’m not a fan of the practice, but Parker’s play might be a situation where switching every screen has to happen. The Thunder can go small and hope Duncan doesn’t kill them on the low block. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and inviting Tim Duncan to beat you is pretty desperate. That’s how good Parker was. 

Just as desperate was Scott Brooks’ decision—down 17 with 2 and a half to play in the 3rd—to start intentionally fouling Tiago Splitter every time the Spurs got the ball. It was right out of the Popovich handbook, and it worked (nearly everything in the Popovich handbook works; that’s why it’s in the Popovich handbook). The Thunder broke the offensive flow the Spurs had built up out of the break, and kept the game to a manageable 16 points by the end of the quarter (they had been down by 22 at one point).

At the start of the 4th, the Thunder began to take advantage of the suddenly cold Spurs, as their smaller line-up was disrupting the passing lanes and getting buckets on the other end. Even though the small Thunder line-up with Westbrook at 1, Sefolosha 2, with Harden at 3, Durant at the 4 and Ibaka at the 5, got out-rebounded, they chipped away at the Spurs lead and cut it to single digits with 9 and a half minutes remaining.

Then Tony Parker hit another 15 foot jumper and the lead was 11. That’s the story of the night. Parker—and later Manu—hitting big buckets to stop the Thunder’s attempts at a comeback. The Thunder never backed down. They got the lead down to 6 and down to 7 with 4:30 to play, but then Manu got to the line and Parker hit another jumper and when Durant or Westbrook responded, then Manu hit a 3 and the Spurs just kept coming and coming inexorably until the clock was down inside 2 minutes—then they came again.

After a Durant lay-in again cut the Spurs’ lead to 7, Manu got another look at a 3 and drained the 25 footer to push the Thunder’s deficit up to 10 again with only 90 seconds remaining. Westbrook answered with a lay-up and after another gorgeous display of ball movement—and movement off the ball—Parker answered with a lay-in of his own to push the Spurs lead to 10 with 33 seconds remaining. Game over.

Here’s what happened for the Thunder. Their big 3: Durant, Westbrook and Harden combined to score 88 points (31 for Durant, 30 for Harden and 27 for Westbrook), but they still lost by 9. They need help. Everyone always talks about the Heat needing help from players other than their duo, but this Spurs offense is so hyper-efficient and tenacious, never allowing the defense a moment’s rest because they go 10 deep, the big three of OKC aren’t enough—even when every one of them is hitting shots like tonight.

At one point in the 4th, after a missed free throw, Tim Duncan sprinted over to the corner to beat Ibaka to the ball; he recovered the ball, but was off-balance and before falling out of bounds he threw it off Ibaka’s foot; Spurs ball. It was the ultimate hustle play by a superstar with 4 rings and countless claims to the best power forward of all time. Duncan only shot 2 for 11 tonight, but that play was a microcosm for these Spurs.

These Spurs hit a lot of shots, but they’re almost always good shots with no defender nearby because they pay attention to the details and compete. They’re so damn unselfish and they take pride in their ability to do everything well.  The little stuff—the screening and ball cutting—is so drilled into their make-up by Sergeant Popovich, it’s become second nature, and when the leader of your team is busting his ass for an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, that’s the example you need from your leaders even when they’re struggling offensively. 

If you’re a fan of basketball—at any level really—you should watch this Spurs team. They might be the best pure team of all time. But it’s the playoffs, and they’ve only played the first two games at home. Game 3 will go a long way towards evaluating both the Thunder and Spurs. For the latter, it might mean the difference between speaking of a great team and an all-time team. This squad has now won 20 in a row and 31 of their last 33; they’re flirting with all-time.

For the former, we’ll see if the Thunder are ready for prime-time. The Thunder’s whole season is on the line in a must-win game 3 (remember no team has ever come back down 3-0). For the Spurs, if they’re to be included among the talk of the greatest teams of all time (and I think they are), they’ll have to finish off this talented Thunder team first.

God, I love the NBA.

Final: SAN ANTONIO SPURS 120 - Oklahoma City Thunder 111

The Spurs lead 2-0

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fuckyeanba:

Game 1: Boston at Miami

A Miami Heat victory, like last night’s win in the opening of the Eastern Conference Finals, has an anti-climactic nature to it: you’re bored or angtsy the Heat are dominating and you can’t shake the feeling the game you’re “witnessing” has been pre-ordained by marketing executives. There’s no passion to it and the synthetic quality is hard to shake. That’s not to say the Heat don’t play with passion, but their dominance has been supposedly foretold since the summer of 2010, so you’re left wondering what Nike VP envisioned this Heat duo.

There were some strange occurrences in the game that should give the Celtics hope, not the least of which was Danny Crawford’s seemingly personal vendetta against them. He assessed 4 technicals, and most of them were questionable. Doc got one for arguing a call (that’s it!), same for Ray Allen after he reacted to a call he didn’t agree with. As Jeff Van Gundy (the best color guy in the game right now, and the perfect foil to Mike Breen’s straight man) said, “players should be allowed to react that way.” Even Garnett, a diplomatic worker of the referees his whole career, got T’d up for barely arguing a call. The referees helped the Heat, which made the foregone conclusion that much more predetermined. It also seemed personal—lets hope Stern rectifies it.

The Celtics didn’t go down easily; although, they started the game like they were playing Philly still. They only managed 11 points in the first quarter before scoring 35 in the 2nd to tie the score at half. They tied the score again at 50 with 8 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, but Shane Battier’s 3 started a 9-2 run that saw the Heat take a lead they never relinquished. Paul Pierce’s 3 with 4:35 left in the 3rd cut the score to 62-58, but they never got closer than that, and Miami took an 11 point lead into the 4th. Boston never cut it to single digits in the 4th.

It wasn’t just the way Miami ran over Boston, or the way Mike Miller, Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers combined for 27 points, but how simple the Celtics made it for them to do so. They couldn’t corral a rebound to save their lives, which isn’t just a figure of speech because if they lose the rebounding battle as badly as last night, 48-33, they’ll be starting their summer early and it might spell the end of this group, altogether. Plus, there were 3 quarters where the Celtics scored under 20 points. You cannot do that against the Heat. The Celtics made it easy when they were supposed to make it hard.

True, when the Heat supporting cast is hitting their (usually wide-open) shots, there aren’t many teams that can stay with them, but Boston was particularly inept at staying with them offensively. Part of the reason for that was LeBron switching to guard Rondo mid-way through. He blocked Rondo’s penetration and once that happens the Celtics are at the mercy of their high screen and roll game that brings Garnett away from the basket and limits their their rebounds. Ray Allen’s injuries don’t help matters.

The Heat stats were the usual: engorged like a video game. LeBron had 32 points (13/24 shooting), 13 rebounds and 3 blocks; Wade had 22  (on 8/13 shooting) with 7 assists; Battier had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. The star tandem had little-to-no resistance getting into the lane. Garnett has to use so much energy on both sides of the court (he was the only option blocking the rim once ‘Bron and Wade got past the perimeter D), I’m not sure he can stay with them all game. You could see him wearing down towards the end as LeBron and Wade had their way in gaining that lead in the 3rd.

For the Celtics, Garnett had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Rondo poured in 16 points to go with 9 rebounds and 7 assists, but everyone shot poorly and their usual defense only stood out on a handful of plays. Rondo had 5 turnovers in that awful opening quarter. The Heat train rolled right over them. 

That’s the problem; the Heat train shouldn’t roll right over the Celtics, but should skid to a halt or possibly get derailed. The Celtics owe it to the legion of Heat-haters out there to make this a legitimate series and continue to be the Eastern Conference quagmire for LeBron. It might be the Heat’s destiny to win the title this year, or get to the Finals again and lose, but if this aged Celtics team has taught us anything over the last 4 years, it’s that we should never count them out. They seemed out of it last night, but this series is just getting started.

If the Celtics don’t figure out a way to get back into it—not just with wins but simply competing and challenging the Heat stars, there are going to be a lot more smiles from the Heat and frowns from the rest of the basketball-watching populace.

Final: MIAMI HEAT 93 - Boston Celtics 79

The Heat lead the series 1-0.

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fuckyeanba:

Game 1: Oklahoma City at San Antonio

With all the hype before this game, I thought we would be in for a disappointment. Expectations were too high to meet. San Antonio would come out and crush the Thunder and any hopes the Thunder might make the “Finals” push and save the Internet from the numbing consistency of the Spurs. They are too methodical and a foregone conclusion. Like the Voltron I’ve alluded to in their march past Utah and the Clippers to the Conference Finals.

After an opening quarter push by the Spurs, including the announcement by Manu Ginboili that he was back and ready to place his jangly game on display again,

the Thunder settled in and took the lead into half 47-46. Their offense wasn’t getting their usual output from Harden (more on his match-up with Manu later) and Russ was struggling to find his range. Durant was playing conservatively. That meant Derek Fisher, Thabo Sefolosha and Nick Collison had to step up. And they did! They started 8 for 9 and helped the Thunder go into the half with the lead. The Thunder’s active defense (and a little bit of jitters from the SA youngsters) forced the Spurs into 14 first-half turnovers, something every Spur mentioned after the game.

The Thunder’s slight lead would build to 9 by the end of the 3rd quarter, but it was a boondoggle (and I’m still not sure if maybe it was an intentional one by Popovich to send a message to his team; such is the ubiquity of Popovich’s manipulations). Down 9 to start the 4th, Popovich and his team had a little chat.

He told them they needed to “play nasty.” He explained what that meant in his post-game presser, but it basically boils down to: play fast and confident. Don’t hestitate, just shoot, pass and defend with confidence. He started the incredible tirade with “This isn’t easy, or else everyone else would do it.”  Pop prolly hated that he was mic’d up, but it was fascinating watching how much respect he commanded in that huddle. Simply the best basketball coach on earth (sorry Phil). 

After a James Harden jumper to start the 4th, the Spurs went on a 18-3 run over the next 7 minutes and led 82-76 before the Thunder scored again. It was typical Spurs offensive execution at it’s finest, with the right man ending up with the ball and the rotations just a bit too late as Duncan, Gary Neal (who also took a few big charges) and Manu got easy lay-ups. The Thunder went cold from the field, couldn’t get to the line or weren’t aggresive, and the Spurs took advantage. Sometimes it’s that easy.

Oklahoma City didn’t just roll over. Durant kept attacking and got to the line 3 times within a minute and a half to keep the lead close at 84-88 with 3:10 to play. Then Stephen Jackson—who had been a physical affront to Durant’s comfort spots all quarter—hit a huge 3 to put the Spurs up 7. His friend Timmy gave him a playful tap on the back of his head, but the seething and hyped up Jackson was primarily concerned his headband had been messed with. Then he went ahead and looked for Durant to hassle again. 

The Spurs hit their free throws in the final three minutes (both teams went over the limit with around 5 minutes to play) and even though Westbrook hit a 3 and Harden hit 2 3’s in the last 3 seconds (to make the score closer than it actually was at the end), they got the first win of the series at home.

Here’s where things get weird. The Spurs didn’t play that well. Timmy never got going in the post (Perk did a good job on him when he wasn’t on the sidelines in foul trouble). Parker was only intermittently effective and Russ hounded him pretty good in the first half. Plus, in the first half the Spurs were losing the ball every other possession and the Thunder’s defense looked like one big arm coiled and ready to punce on anybody foolish enough to skip a perimeter teammate. The Spurs turned the ball over 14 times in the first half, but were only down 1.

That, more than anything I else I saw in the opening game of the Western Conference Finals, is why the Spurs should continue to be the favorites in this series. Lets see how a more mature Thunder team comes back on Tuesday before rushing to judgement.

But, it’s hard not to just give the Spurs the series when they’ve won 19 in a row and 30 of their last 32.

Yeah.

Nasty.

Final: SAN ANTONIO SPURS 101 - Oklahoma City Thunder 98

The Spurs lead the series 1-0

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fuckyeanba:

Game 6: Miami at Indiana

They came, they saw, they conquered. The mighty Miami team peopling were praising even as they limped into the postseason, continued their transformation from earlier in the Indiana series. They’ve loudly dispatched the Knicks after blowing an elimination game in MSG, then faltered in the next round against this Indiana team without a real star. They lost 2 of their first 3 and Chris Bosh. People were cheerfully over-reacting and claiming this was the end of the Heat. 

The amount of glee and unrestrained schadenfreude towards this Heat team is unparalleled since possibly the Bad Boys started knocking off the Celtics and Lakers teams that dominated the first half the 80’s. Except, there was something commendable about the blue collar Chuck Daly-helmed collection of badasses, and everyone implicitly agrees the Heat are just a collection of stars too scarred to star on their own, and now they’re might not even be good enough combining their forces (like an under-performing Captain Planet!).  

During the first 3 games of this Indiana series, Dwyane Wade played so poorly and acted like such a poor sport, I was forced to ask y’all* whether he was a douche. The overwhelming consensus was, yes! Now Dwyane Wade had turned into a douche, and when combined with LeBron and his oft-repeated and much-maligned Decision, a patina of douche had formed over the entire Heat team. The Heat will always be the villains, but now they weren’t even very good villains, getting out-played by Indiana at home.

This continued into the first half in game 4, where LeBron played well, but with Wade—the newest douche on the douchy Heat—still struggling. When the second half of game 4 rolled around everything clicked, and Dwyane Wade started acting like the 2006 NBA Finals MVP again; LeBron kept playing like the league’s MVP, and now here we are with them again running away with a series win. Wade just turned in a 40-point game (after LeBron’s in game 4), and they’ve escaped the “S-O-F-T” Pacers.

The Pacers did keep it close. After Miami rattled off a 9-0 run to close the 3rd and take a 10-point lead into the 4th, David West and his “grown man” post play got the score to 83-78, but could get no closer. The Pacers went away from what worked for them when they took a series lead: getting the ball inside to Hibbert and West who could take advantage of a Heat front-court down Haslem and Bosh. Even if West and Hibbert didn’t score, it would open it up for their over-matched guards and wing players that couldn’t stay with the ‘Bron & Wade show. The Pacers’ sloppy 22 turnovers didn’t help matters because once you’re turning it over, the Heat trains starts running, and like most trains, it’s hard to slow down.

The two superstars played like superstars for the 2nd (and a half) straight game: they combined to score 69 points (Bron 28 on 13/24 shooting, Wade 41 on a Dirkian 17/25); they grabbed 16 rebounds (6 for ‘Bron, 10 for Wade), dished for 10 assists (7 for ‘Bron and 3 for Wade) and collected 5 steals (3 for ‘Bron, 2 for Wade). Together, they were an unambiguously dominant duo. Sure Chalmers had 15 and Mike Miller 12 (before he started tossing airballs again), but these two just won on their own both in the boxscore and within the game itself. Even with Indiana sticking with them in the hopes of stealing the game in the end, the never stopped coming.

They both attacked relentlessly, with Wade splitting the double team and knocking down a cornucopia of various bank shots

Or he’d simply going all the way to the rim, take the contact and getting the ball up on the rim for a 3-point play; it was a clinic on how to split the top of the key double team.

Wade was special tonight, and when his mid-range game is flowing like it was in the first half, there’s only 1 or 2 guys that can match that level of excellence (and one of them is his teammate). George Hill would play perfect defense on Wade: pushing him away from the basket and forcing him to pick up his dribble and take a contested 2 outside the paint, only to have Wade hit an off-balance step-back fadeaway that for anybody else would be an airball and a mouthful from the coach, but for him only hit the twine. Special players have special games and this was Wades.

The craziest thing is LeBron had 28 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals and it felt like just an OK game. Wade and ‘Bron two are scary good when they decide to be. Lets hope for the sake of competition, they don’t decide to be all the time, or perhaps they can’t.

Bron and Wade have played big minutes in this postseason (James played 45 minutes, and Wade and his drained knee 39 tonight) and with the loss of Bosh early, they’ve been playing even more minutes and expending even more energy scoring all the points Bosh’s abdominal muscle stole from them. With all this effort needed to knock out a frisky Indiana team, a team that’s not really a title-contender, will they have enough left over for the Conference Finals?

How are they gonna fare against Boston or Philly?

Final: Miami Heat 105 - INDIANA PACERS 93

The Heat win the series 4-2

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*I’m back talking about Indiana so I can use that contraction* 

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fuckyeanba:

Game 6: Boston at Philadelphia

There have been moments in this Boston-Philly series where it’s understandable if people aren’t watching. There’s not much hope for either fan base that their teams have what it takes to win a championship. Boston because they’re struggling to put down the Sixers and the Sixers because they’re an 8 seed without a star. Both teams are also limited in their capacity to drop buckets. It’s been hard to watch for a public that wants 100 points and 3 highlight worthy dunks of Westbrookian or Jamesian proportions. That’s not what these guys do. 

Sure Iguodala can sky on occassion,

and he’s still got arms from Over the Top, but he’s not a consistent scorer, hell, Iguodala’s not even the best scorer on his team. That would be Lou Williams, the name on the back of the jersey the Prodigal Son was rocking on his return to Wells Fargo Arena.

The appearance of the Answer, and his presentation of the game ball showed viewers just how important to the Philly basketball identity he continues to be. He was there guy, and you couldn’t pick a better guy to be your guy. The warrior attributes aren’t as ridiculous as they sometimes are with other athletes, but Iverson cherished his ALPHA status with a mediocre cast and played his ass off every night. 

Maybe the lore of Iverson rubbed off on this Sixers team, but in the second half, they showed their mettle and held off the Celtics. It’s a Celtics team that desperately wants a few days off to rest achy legs and sore backs. Apparently, eliminating teams isn’t as easy as Andrew Bynum claims.

Evan Turner, all googly-eyed in front of Iverson before the game, decided to bring a little pizazz to the proceedings when he spun on Ray Allen and swooped to the other side of the basket with a gorgeous reverse. 

Iverson was proud of you Evan, he told me so.

Turner ended the game with 12 and 9 and hopefully Iverson’s autograph. A reawakened Elton Brand poured in 13 points—including a nice steal on Pierce that he took the other way for a bucket—to go with 10 rebounds in 33 minutes. Jrue Holiday was probably the toast of this altruistic offense; he scored a team-high 20 points on 7 for 15 shooting plus 6 assists and 2 steals (Collins has implored Holiday to shoot more, so hopefully 15 shots was enough). Iguodala did an OK job on Pierce and also added 12 points, 6 boards a block and a steal to fill up the stat sheet. Sweet Lou off the bench, besides his envious status as the guy whose jersey Iverson was showing off, had 11 points and a couple jumpers mid-way through the 4th to help the Sixers stay course.

Garnett fought for the Celtics at the end, scoring 8 of his 20 in the 4th (he also had 11 boards), but his hot hand wasn’t enough. Pierce was the Celtics leading scorer with 24 to go with 10 rebounds. Rondo was an offensive rebounding machine with 6 early ones on the way to 9 total rebounds, 6 assists and 9 points, but he was a weak link late when Turner could dip off him into the lane and double Pierce. Rondo’s inability—or lack of confidence—to take and hit jumpers still continues to nag at Celtics fans even as his alien handle and large hand helps him find cutters, and gives those same fans paroxysms of joy. He’s someone you have to love warts and all. 

In the end the Sixers hit their free throws down the stretch, Ray Allen didn’t go off on a heroic comeback, and they secured the win to even the series.

The arena tossed confetti, flags waved and the Philly crowd thanked the team for living to fight another day and not end the remarkable season at home. No one wants the season to end at home unless they’re the champions. The resiliency of the Sixers in this series was pure Iverson.

Now all they gotta do is go into Boston Garden to win a game 7. No big deal. Maybe AI will stop by. 

Final: PHILADELPHIA 76ERS 82 - Boston Celtics 75

The Sixers and Celtics are tied 3-3

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fuckyeanba:

Game 5: Indiana at Miami

Only Marv Albert says it with the proper amount of smirking gravitas, but things continued to be “chippy” between the Pacers and Heat in this one. So much so that Udonis Haslem finally had enough and initiated a grown man foul on Psycho T, who will now just be referred to as T.  Michael Pittman made a WWF move on Lance Stephenson—who has been talking and making Reggie signs—that seemed jarring but was par for the course in the playoffs. In fact, the foul on Wade that prompted the retaliatory Haslem hit was just as hard and not as big a deal as everyone will make it seem Wednesday. 

A 9-2 run to end the second quarter put the Heat up by 9 and more (many more) would follow. The Heat finally started running up and down the court to break the Pacers’ back in the second half. Their stretch of dominance to close out the first half continued in the 3rd as the Heat added 10 more to their lead, and by the end it was the blow-out Heat fans probably expected when this series started.

Wade and LeBron were as magnificent as they had been in the second half of game 4. A series of steals and fast break points broke the game wide-open in the 3rd and merely got worse for the Pacers in the 4th.

Wade finished with 28 points on 10 for 17 shooting, 2 steals and a block. LeBron continued to assault the box score (and you can be sure his PER and other statistical fluff will get trotted out before the Celtics face the Heat). James would finish with 30 points on a Dirkian 12 for 17 shooting, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and a steal. 

On the opposite side of the court, the leading scorer for the Pacers was Paul George with 11. Granger went down in the first half when he tried to rope LeBron before he went in for a dunk, and sprained his ankle. The Pacers could have used Granger to spread the defense more and get the ball to West and Hibbert down low, but they couldn’t get through the Heat’s suddenly enlivened defense. Granger had 10 points before leaving with the sprain and West also had 10, but they were the only Pacers, besides George, to reach double figures.

Game 6 is on Thursday at 8 PM EST on ESPN. We’ll see how much swagger the Pacers can muster in Indiana to force a game 7 in Miami. Don’t worry Pacers fans, if you can force a game 7, it’s anybody’s ball game. You aren’t done yet, and neither are Heat.

Final: MIAMI HEAT 115 - Indiana Pacers 83

The Heat lead the series 3-2

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