Got permission for this one cause certain people will email me and say I unfairing my wife too much on this blog, especially after I posted this one last year. I'm still am absolutely certain she is trying to bump me off though but that is another story.
Anyway was watching the NBA playoffs the other night and the wife joined me for a few minutes. Conversation swayed towards the NBA and the relative beauty or lack of, of most of its stars.
So I asked my wife her thoughts on one particular player who will remain nameless for now and her response was
"Naa he too pretty. I dont like pretty men like he."
So now I'm sitting there laughing my head off cause I'm thinking well either one of two things. If I good looking then the wife dont like me and if she like me then I musse real ugly.
Its a no win situation. :-)
Showing posts with label playoffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label playoffs. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Thursday, June 28, 2007
King James Version
Ok, so this one is a bit late but it's been lurking in my head for weeks if that counts for anything.
The NBA playoffs are over, congrats to the San Antonio Spurs, and the NBA draft and silly season aka the off-season, where the trade rumors multiply almost exponentially on a daily basis, is upon us.
They say it was one of the most boring finals and that may be true not just because the Cleveland Cavs team was one of the weakest finalists in years but also because the vastly superior Spurs played down to their level and actually kept the series scores closer than they should have ever been. It could easily have been 4 straight complete blowouts if the Spurs had stayed focused instead of lapsing and allowing games 3 and 4 being as close as they were. The Spurs would play great in spurts, then realize they weren't playing against the Phoenix Suns or another elite team and start to coast on cruise control giving the Cavs a brief glimmer of hope and some viewers the belief that maybe the Cavs actually had a chance or were actually close to being an elite team.
I say not. As mentioned above the Cavs were one of the weakest teams I've ever seen in a finals. To be honest though Iverson's 76ers, finalists back in 2002 were probably as bad. Built around the same premise with a lone superstar and a complete bunch of scrubs they yet still managed to not get swept that series against theLakers of Shaq and Kobe. The complete single mindedness and resolute determination of Iverson managed to get them a lone win.
Well Lebron really ain't no Iverson ...yet in terms of willing a team to a win despite the game 5 heroics vs Detroit so his squad got swept.
Frankly, I blame this whole Cavs in the finals debacle all on the Chicago Bulls. If they had won that game against New Jersey on the last day of the season, the Cavs would have had a harder road to the finals playing Miami in the first round and possibly Detroit in the second and if they ever got that far Chicago in the conference finals. Plus my Raptors would have ended up playing the Wizards instead of New Jersey and might have actually made the second round. Damn you Chicago!. They (the Cavs ) would have never made it past all three of those teams. As it stands though they ended up having easy early round opponents in an injury depleted Washington and a so so New Jersey squad and then managed to get past a completely self destructing Detroit. Oh well Que Sera Que Sera!
What bugged me the most about the NBA finals though was not the standard of play on display but the premature coronation of Lebron James as the new King. I'll be honest I'm not his biggest fan so maybe I'm being a bit harsh and he was amazing in game 5 against the Pistons so maybe I should cut him some slack but.....
From the time the Cavs made the finals the talk was all about Lebron and his ascendancy. Yes I realize that the NBA needs or thinks they need that one uber-star, or superstar of superstars, for marketing purposes and its been devoid of one since Jordan took flight into the sunset over Washington a few years ago but why oh why must they keep trying to push force ripe superstars on us?
Lebron is good, possibly great even, but get over it people he is not Michael Jordan and he wasn't going to win against the Spurs. His willpower and mind state aren't there yet. He won against the Pistons or rather the Pistons lost mainly because the Pistons fell apart rather than any real supremacy of the Cavs squad. In the finals Tim Duncan and his crew of focused professionals were not about to let themselves fall apart and be upset like the Pistons were meaning the Lebrons just didn't stand a chance.
It was so annoying listening to the commentators push Lebron as the best thing since sliced bread when in truth they should have been telling us about how much help he really needs and how devoid of a second option his squad is, leaving everything on his broad but somewhat incapable shoulders (at least in the finals).
The commentators failed in this aspect hoping that he could somehow pull off the impossible against the Spurs. And when I say he I don't mean his team I literally mean he, Lebron, one man vs the Spurs because when you look at his teammates there wasn't much to write home about amongst the group. Marshall, Snow, Hughes, Ilguyskas, Gooden, Varejao etc are all bits and pieces players. Even the few who may have at earlier points in their career stepped up on other teams are now shells of themselves or perhaps overawed to be in Lebron's presence. In essence they sucked!
It was left to rookie Daniel Gibson to inject some life into the supporting cast and he really isn't that good.
But if the story is told truthfully and one really looks at the history of the NBA finals one gets a different story to what the numerous commentators were pushing. No matter what the hype NBA finals have never really been about one man.
Since Jordan has retired the teams that have won titles have won on the strength mainly of good all around teams anchored by a good if not great big man not anchored by solo swingman acts. The Spurs have Duncan and all stars in Ginobli and Parker, the three-peating Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, the Pistons had a starting 5 of potential all-stars including the two Wallaces up front even Wade although he was the superstar on the Miami Heat squad last year still had a decent enough Shaq and to a lesser extent Mourning to ease things for him a bit. The swingmen and guards may get all the glory and were integral parts but it wasn't a one man against a team thing. they all had competant big men teammates.
Then lets go back to the 90s, where as far as titles go the Pistons won one, Bulls won 6, Houston won 2 and Spurs one. Lets ignore the Spurs, Houston and Pistons wins since for the most part these teams fit the mould of the teams with good big men that have been winning in this decade and focus on Jordan's Bulls.
Jordans Bulls won 6 titles in the 90s broken up into two three-peats. There is no denying that Jordan was definitely a singular talent in his heyday but .......
The myth though is that on Jordan's strength alone his teams won their titles. Absolute hogwash! The Bulls knew the strength of having a team and especially of having excellent big men. Think about it. For the first three titles (91-93) pre-first retirement Jordan had a great swingman in perennial allstar Scottie Pippen, a decent point guard in BJ Armstrong and a premier rebounder and all defensive team power forward in Horace Grant along with decent role players like John Paxson, Stacey King and Bill Cartwright.
For his second batch of three championships (96-98) Jordan didn't exactly ride as solo as they would wish you to believe either. He had Pippen again, and a bit past his prime but still decent Ron Harper at point guard and one of the greatest rebounders of all time in Dennis Rodman, (ignore the off-court antics) at Power Forward. Then he had Tony Kukok, Steve Kerr, Bison Dele and other decent players.
Jordan was hardly playing one man against five here folks. Thats not to take anything away from his will and determination which were second to none in that era but lets just realize that its a myth to think that he was the only star on the court in a Bulls uniform when they won their titles. Bulls management was smart enough to surround him with, get this novel concept, a team something one hopes the Cavs management will clue into.
So I just wrote all that to say no matter how good Lebron is he will never win or rather it will be extremely difficult for him to win without a decent team supporting him and its wrong to accelerate his ascendacy and fill the airwaves with so much hyperbole when you know he and his squad still have quite a ways to go. Jordan for all his greatness could not have won with this asembled Cavs team. If you dont believe me look up the Jordan rules and see how hard it was for Jordan acting as one man army to get past the then dominant Detroit Pistons of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The myth that is Jordan will have you believing that he could accomplish the impossible and to some intent it almost appears thus, but the truth is as great as he was in order to win his championships he needed help. Help which management graciously provided.
The NBA playoffs are over, congrats to the San Antonio Spurs, and the NBA draft and silly season aka the off-season, where the trade rumors multiply almost exponentially on a daily basis, is upon us.
They say it was one of the most boring finals and that may be true not just because the Cleveland Cavs team was one of the weakest finalists in years but also because the vastly superior Spurs played down to their level and actually kept the series scores closer than they should have ever been. It could easily have been 4 straight complete blowouts if the Spurs had stayed focused instead of lapsing and allowing games 3 and 4 being as close as they were. The Spurs would play great in spurts, then realize they weren't playing against the Phoenix Suns or another elite team and start to coast on cruise control giving the Cavs a brief glimmer of hope and some viewers the belief that maybe the Cavs actually had a chance or were actually close to being an elite team.
I say not. As mentioned above the Cavs were one of the weakest teams I've ever seen in a finals. To be honest though Iverson's 76ers, finalists back in 2002 were probably as bad. Built around the same premise with a lone superstar and a complete bunch of scrubs they yet still managed to not get swept that series against theLakers of Shaq and Kobe. The complete single mindedness and resolute determination of Iverson managed to get them a lone win.
Well Lebron really ain't no Iverson ...yet in terms of willing a team to a win despite the game 5 heroics vs Detroit so his squad got swept.
Frankly, I blame this whole Cavs in the finals debacle all on the Chicago Bulls. If they had won that game against New Jersey on the last day of the season, the Cavs would have had a harder road to the finals playing Miami in the first round and possibly Detroit in the second and if they ever got that far Chicago in the conference finals. Plus my Raptors would have ended up playing the Wizards instead of New Jersey and might have actually made the second round. Damn you Chicago!. They (the Cavs ) would have never made it past all three of those teams. As it stands though they ended up having easy early round opponents in an injury depleted Washington and a so so New Jersey squad and then managed to get past a completely self destructing Detroit. Oh well Que Sera Que Sera!
What bugged me the most about the NBA finals though was not the standard of play on display but the premature coronation of Lebron James as the new King. I'll be honest I'm not his biggest fan so maybe I'm being a bit harsh and he was amazing in game 5 against the Pistons so maybe I should cut him some slack but.....From the time the Cavs made the finals the talk was all about Lebron and his ascendancy. Yes I realize that the NBA needs or thinks they need that one uber-star, or superstar of superstars, for marketing purposes and its been devoid of one since Jordan took flight into the sunset over Washington a few years ago but why oh why must they keep trying to push force ripe superstars on us?
Lebron is good, possibly great even, but get over it people he is not Michael Jordan and he wasn't going to win against the Spurs. His willpower and mind state aren't there yet. He won against the Pistons or rather the Pistons lost mainly because the Pistons fell apart rather than any real supremacy of the Cavs squad. In the finals Tim Duncan and his crew of focused professionals were not about to let themselves fall apart and be upset like the Pistons were meaning the Lebrons just didn't stand a chance.
It was so annoying listening to the commentators push Lebron as the best thing since sliced bread when in truth they should have been telling us about how much help he really needs and how devoid of a second option his squad is, leaving everything on his broad but somewhat incapable shoulders (at least in the finals).
The commentators failed in this aspect hoping that he could somehow pull off the impossible against the Spurs. And when I say he I don't mean his team I literally mean he, Lebron, one man vs the Spurs because when you look at his teammates there wasn't much to write home about amongst the group. Marshall, Snow, Hughes, Ilguyskas, Gooden, Varejao etc are all bits and pieces players. Even the few who may have at earlier points in their career stepped up on other teams are now shells of themselves or perhaps overawed to be in Lebron's presence. In essence they sucked!
It was left to rookie Daniel Gibson to inject some life into the supporting cast and he really isn't that good.
But if the story is told truthfully and one really looks at the history of the NBA finals one gets a different story to what the numerous commentators were pushing. No matter what the hype NBA finals have never really been about one man.Since Jordan has retired the teams that have won titles have won on the strength mainly of good all around teams anchored by a good if not great big man not anchored by solo swingman acts. The Spurs have Duncan and all stars in Ginobli and Parker, the three-peating Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, the Pistons had a starting 5 of potential all-stars including the two Wallaces up front even Wade although he was the superstar on the Miami Heat squad last year still had a decent enough Shaq and to a lesser extent Mourning to ease things for him a bit. The swingmen and guards may get all the glory and were integral parts but it wasn't a one man against a team thing. they all had competant big men teammates.
Then lets go back to the 90s, where as far as titles go the Pistons won one, Bulls won 6, Houston won 2 and Spurs one. Lets ignore the Spurs, Houston and Pistons wins since for the most part these teams fit the mould of the teams with good big men that have been winning in this decade and focus on Jordan's Bulls.
Jordans Bulls won 6 titles in the 90s broken up into two three-peats. There is no denying that Jordan was definitely a singular talent in his heyday but .......
The myth though is that on Jordan's strength alone his teams won their titles. Absolute hogwash! The Bulls knew the strength of having a team and especially of having excellent big men. Think about it. For the first three titles (91-93) pre-first retirement Jordan had a great swingman in perennial allstar Scottie Pippen, a decent point guard in BJ Armstrong and a premier rebounder and all defensive team power forward in Horace Grant along with decent role players like John Paxson, Stacey King and Bill Cartwright.
For his second batch of three championships (96-98) Jordan didn't exactly ride as solo as they would wish you to believe either. He had Pippen again, and a bit past his prime but still decent Ron Harper at point guard and one of the greatest rebounders of all time in Dennis Rodman, (ignore the off-court antics) at Power Forward. Then he had Tony Kukok, Steve Kerr, Bison Dele and other decent players.
Jordan was hardly playing one man against five here folks. Thats not to take anything away from his will and determination which were second to none in that era but lets just realize that its a myth to think that he was the only star on the court in a Bulls uniform when they won their titles. Bulls management was smart enough to surround him with, get this novel concept, a team something one hopes the Cavs management will clue into.
So I just wrote all that to say no matter how good Lebron is he will never win or rather it will be extremely difficult for him to win without a decent team supporting him and its wrong to accelerate his ascendacy and fill the airwaves with so much hyperbole when you know he and his squad still have quite a ways to go. Jordan for all his greatness could not have won with this asembled Cavs team. If you dont believe me look up the Jordan rules and see how hard it was for Jordan acting as one man army to get past the then dominant Detroit Pistons of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The myth that is Jordan will have you believing that he could accomplish the impossible and to some intent it almost appears thus, but the truth is as great as he was in order to win his championships he needed help. Help which management graciously provided.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Respond React
So on the sporting front one of the bigger stories this week was Robert Horry's hard foul of Steve Nash in game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Semi-finals Spurs vs Suns game.
Horry for his part received a 2 game suspension for the hit while Sun's players Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw received automatic one game suspensions for leaving the Sun's bench during the incident.
Now I actually happen to like Robert 'Big Shot Bob' Horry. Been a fan since he was in Houston winning championships in the early 90s. In fact I like him so much that I even supported him when he was a Laker and anyone who knows me well knows I've been hating on the Lakers since back in the Kareem and Magic days. But having said that it was a cheap foul on his part. He got caught up in the game and it was unnecessary. I'm a still support him after he comes back from the suspension though.
Anyway the aftermath of the incident highlights what for a long time has been in my opinion one of the dumbest rules anywhere. I mentioned it in passing early last year in another post regarding another silly NBA rule but this one is worse. Its the rule which caused Amare and Boris Diaw to be suspended for a game just for getting up from the bench. It states something like if there is an incident and you're not on the court you cant leave the bench or step so much as one foot on the court or you get an automatic suspension. Its been pretty much enforced rigorously by the league since its inception (which may or may not have been following the Heat, Knicks incident back in the 90s when Van Gundy was hanging on to Alonzo Morning's leg for dear life during an altercation).
This rule is just plain stupid and neglects to take into account any sort of normal human behavior. The NBA wants its players to play with passion but just as quickly turn off that joie de vivre when they step off the court.
Instinct says that if you see your fellow player pushed or shoved to the floor on court at the very least your first move will be to stand up and take a step towards the incident. This doesn't mean you're going out there to bust heads or escalate the issue it just means you're human and your concern for another individual, that you know, has made you want to go help them. We wouldn't be human without that instinct.
So for the league to have no tolerance and enforce this rule with such an iron fist tells me that they don't really think of their players as human beings. They are just product.
The NBA has tonnes of rules regarding players, their behaviour and appearance etc. Some I agree with, others I think are too strict since we are dealing with grown men here not children but this one is the worse.
Mr Stern I know you don't want to have melees on your hand like what occurred in Detroit in 2005 but at the same time you need to acknowledge that just getting up off the bench and moving towards an incident in a highly charged basketball game should not be a punishable offense or at the very least you need to be subjective and not follow this rule to the letter of the law in every single case.
This ruling in this specific game could have some serious ramifications for the outcome of the series as you left Phoenix short handed last night and they lost. It just wasn't fair.
That said I'm still backing King Tim and the Spurs over the Sun.
Horry for his part received a 2 game suspension for the hit while Sun's players Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw received automatic one game suspensions for leaving the Sun's bench during the incident.
Now I actually happen to like Robert 'Big Shot Bob' Horry. Been a fan since he was in Houston winning championships in the early 90s. In fact I like him so much that I even supported him when he was a Laker and anyone who knows me well knows I've been hating on the Lakers since back in the Kareem and Magic days. But having said that it was a cheap foul on his part. He got caught up in the game and it was unnecessary. I'm a still support him after he comes back from the suspension though.
Anyway the aftermath of the incident highlights what for a long time has been in my opinion one of the dumbest rules anywhere. I mentioned it in passing early last year in another post regarding another silly NBA rule but this one is worse. Its the rule which caused Amare and Boris Diaw to be suspended for a game just for getting up from the bench. It states something like if there is an incident and you're not on the court you cant leave the bench or step so much as one foot on the court or you get an automatic suspension. Its been pretty much enforced rigorously by the league since its inception (which may or may not have been following the Heat, Knicks incident back in the 90s when Van Gundy was hanging on to Alonzo Morning's leg for dear life during an altercation).
This rule is just plain stupid and neglects to take into account any sort of normal human behavior. The NBA wants its players to play with passion but just as quickly turn off that joie de vivre when they step off the court.
Instinct says that if you see your fellow player pushed or shoved to the floor on court at the very least your first move will be to stand up and take a step towards the incident. This doesn't mean you're going out there to bust heads or escalate the issue it just means you're human and your concern for another individual, that you know, has made you want to go help them. We wouldn't be human without that instinct.
So for the league to have no tolerance and enforce this rule with such an iron fist tells me that they don't really think of their players as human beings. They are just product.
The NBA has tonnes of rules regarding players, their behaviour and appearance etc. Some I agree with, others I think are too strict since we are dealing with grown men here not children but this one is the worse.
Mr Stern I know you don't want to have melees on your hand like what occurred in Detroit in 2005 but at the same time you need to acknowledge that just getting up off the bench and moving towards an incident in a highly charged basketball game should not be a punishable offense or at the very least you need to be subjective and not follow this rule to the letter of the law in every single case.
This ruling in this specific game could have some serious ramifications for the outcome of the series as you left Phoenix short handed last night and they lost. It just wasn't fair.
That said I'm still backing King Tim and the Spurs over the Sun.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Coming of age
Chris Bosh and the Raptors came of age tonight with the game 2 win over New Jersey. They really had to grind out this game. Welcome to real playoff basketball guys.
I get the feeling Sam Mitchell's been reading my blog cause the team seemed to address most of the concerns I addressed in my last post. Mo Pete got some playing time instead of Joey Graham, TJ played at the death and we took better care of the ball and stayed within striking range all game.
Oh and big up to Sam Mitchell for winning NBA coach of the year. Last year the guy was voted the coach most players didn't want to play for in an unscientific poll done by Sports Illustrated so what a difference a year makes. Mind you I still think he has a ways to go to match up to the elite coaches in the league but his team did win20 more games than last year.
So Game 3 on Friday. What's the advice? Well Sam in case you're reading here goes.
- Keep on doing what you're doing but lets get Bosh to take it inside more.
- Lets get back to Raptors basketball with more passing.
- Don't give up on Graham just yet. His confidence seems to go in streaks. If he can get going again he's definitely an asset.
- Bargnani is a bit out of it bring him along slowly. Tell him he needs to up his intensity too.
I get the feeling Sam Mitchell's been reading my blog cause the team seemed to address most of the concerns I addressed in my last post. Mo Pete got some playing time instead of Joey Graham, TJ played at the death and we took better care of the ball and stayed within striking range all game.
Oh and big up to Sam Mitchell for winning NBA coach of the year. Last year the guy was voted the coach most players didn't want to play for in an unscientific poll done by Sports Illustrated so what a difference a year makes. Mind you I still think he has a ways to go to match up to the elite coaches in the league but his team did win20 more games than last year.
So Game 3 on Friday. What's the advice? Well Sam in case you're reading here goes.
- Keep on doing what you're doing but lets get Bosh to take it inside more.
- Lets get back to Raptors basketball with more passing.
- Don't give up on Graham just yet. His confidence seems to go in streaks. If he can get going again he's definitely an asset.
- Bargnani is a bit out of it bring him along slowly. Tell him he needs to up his intensity too.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Raptors Nets game 1
As a follow up to the last post I'll give you my thoughts on game 1.
The Raptors lost and deserved to lose. They just didn't play well enough. They do have the talent to compete I believe but they just messed up on this one.
Where did they go wrong? Let us count the ways:
- No one could stop Richard Jefferson. So much was focused on stopping Vince and Jason Kidd that somehow Jefferson was able to get easy baskets early in the game on his way to a 28 point night.
- Chris Bosh got early fouls and we lost him for much of the first half. Also Bosh settled for jumpers for much of the game. Bosh needs to go inside a lot more. Lets face it he still had 22 points but if he was going inside getting to the foul line more he would have had a greater impact on the game.
- The Raptors shot free throws atrociously. OK maybe not atrociously but 7 missed free throws in a game that you lose by 5 has got to hurt.
- Sam Mitchell as I sort of suspected didn't have a good coaching game. Biggest mistake of the night, in my opinion, was leaving TJ Ford on the bench in the dying minutes of the game. Yes I know that Calderone was playing quite well at the time but at the death without question TJ has to be the man on the floor. TJ had already imposed his will on the game and kept us in it almost sinlge handedly in the first half so sitting him at the death was a big mistake.
- Joey Graham was a bit overawed in his first playoff game. Don't get me wrong Graham is possibly my favorite Raptor right now but given that he has just started getting constant minutes when Bargnani and Garbajosa went down about 10 games back it was a bit too much to ask for him to be consistent today. First quarter he seemed to play pretty well but then in the second half he started making mistakes and I think he dwelt on them a bit and they started to escalate. How deep is Mo Pete in Mitchell's doghouse that he only got 7 minutes the entire game? I think at some point Graham should have been benched fora few minutes and Mo played a bit more. I expect Joey to improve as the series goes on but today his minutes needed to be cut down.
- Turnovers hurt us. 14 turnovers is not typical of the Raptors. They are usually good at taking care of the ball. Again could be playoff jitters.
- The Nets bench outplayed ours. The Toronto bench has been one of its strengths this season but with Garbajosa out through injury and Bargnani still rusty after being out some time our bench didn't contribute the way it usually does. Humpries brought his energy and was probably the biggest positive for me in this game but besides him our bench wasn't up to par. On the other hand the Nets bench played quite well.
- The Raptors dug themselves into a hole or many holes throughout the game. In the playoffs where every possession counts 10 point leads are usually hard to overcome. It may work in the regular season where you can put together big runs but against a veteran team like New Jersey the best bet is to stay close and not continually have to be pulling oneself out of a hole.
- We need to play tighter defense and get more rebounding. Probably the main reason we wont go far this playoff season. Both Phoenix and Dallas learned about the necessity of defense in past seasons so maybe we'll learn this year.
The Raptors lost and deserved to lose. They just didn't play well enough. They do have the talent to compete I believe but they just messed up on this one.
Where did they go wrong? Let us count the ways:
- No one could stop Richard Jefferson. So much was focused on stopping Vince and Jason Kidd that somehow Jefferson was able to get easy baskets early in the game on his way to a 28 point night.
- Chris Bosh got early fouls and we lost him for much of the first half. Also Bosh settled for jumpers for much of the game. Bosh needs to go inside a lot more. Lets face it he still had 22 points but if he was going inside getting to the foul line more he would have had a greater impact on the game.
- The Raptors shot free throws atrociously. OK maybe not atrociously but 7 missed free throws in a game that you lose by 5 has got to hurt.
- Sam Mitchell as I sort of suspected didn't have a good coaching game. Biggest mistake of the night, in my opinion, was leaving TJ Ford on the bench in the dying minutes of the game. Yes I know that Calderone was playing quite well at the time but at the death without question TJ has to be the man on the floor. TJ had already imposed his will on the game and kept us in it almost sinlge handedly in the first half so sitting him at the death was a big mistake.
- Joey Graham was a bit overawed in his first playoff game. Don't get me wrong Graham is possibly my favorite Raptor right now but given that he has just started getting constant minutes when Bargnani and Garbajosa went down about 10 games back it was a bit too much to ask for him to be consistent today. First quarter he seemed to play pretty well but then in the second half he started making mistakes and I think he dwelt on them a bit and they started to escalate. How deep is Mo Pete in Mitchell's doghouse that he only got 7 minutes the entire game? I think at some point Graham should have been benched fora few minutes and Mo played a bit more. I expect Joey to improve as the series goes on but today his minutes needed to be cut down.
- Turnovers hurt us. 14 turnovers is not typical of the Raptors. They are usually good at taking care of the ball. Again could be playoff jitters.
- The Nets bench outplayed ours. The Toronto bench has been one of its strengths this season but with Garbajosa out through injury and Bargnani still rusty after being out some time our bench didn't contribute the way it usually does. Humpries brought his energy and was probably the biggest positive for me in this game but besides him our bench wasn't up to par. On the other hand the Nets bench played quite well.
- The Raptors dug themselves into a hole or many holes throughout the game. In the playoffs where every possession counts 10 point leads are usually hard to overcome. It may work in the regular season where you can put together big runs but against a veteran team like New Jersey the best bet is to stay close and not continually have to be pulling oneself out of a hole.
- We need to play tighter defense and get more rebounding. Probably the main reason we wont go far this playoff season. Both Phoenix and Dallas learned about the necessity of defense in past seasons so maybe we'll learn this year.
Vinsanity
I needed to get my thoughts down on paper for this one.
In a few hours the Toronto Raptors play the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. First playoff run for the Raptors since 2002 I believe, and joy of joy we have home court advantage this round.
Should be an interesting match up as the Raptors can claim the better all around team but new Jersey can claim a heap more playoff experience. I've been thought that playoff experience counts for quite a bit in this game so although I'm a Raptors fan I'm a bit pessimistic about their chances of getting out of the first round.
Would have been more optimistic if they had ended up playing Washington. Even before Agent Zero and Caron Butler went down I fancied our chances against those guys but alas it wasn't meant to be as the Wizards (always resisting the urge to call them the Bullets) slipped down the stretch to drop from third spot all the way to 7th.
That meant as third seed we got New Jersey. Its being hyped up as the match up of Vince Carter vs Toronto. Now lets be honest I'm not a big Vince Carter fan. I respect the skill when he's actually focused but in the pantheon of NBA stars who have pissed off Toronto and Raptors fans Vince reigns supreme. And by the way in case you're wondering who else is part of that group it includes Tracy Mcgrady, Damon Stoudamire, Alonzo Mourning, Antonio Davis and Kenny Anderson, and in case you forgot Kenny Anderson refused to report here from Portland after being traded for Damon somewhere back in 97 or 98.
However I think way too much is being made of Vince's return to play us here where it all started for him as 'Air Canada'.
The cover of one of our local newspapers yesterday actually featured him portrayed as a big baby.
Why I ask why must we continue to give this cat fuel to actually show up for a game? Why must we continue to hype this Vince vs Toronto feud? Yea Vince let us down when he phoned in his performances during his last years here as he attempted to orchestrate his own trade and yes Vince has always been seen around these parts as a whiny superstar, lacking in heart and unable to embrace his leadership role with the Raptors club but stop giving the man fuel to come back and prove something to us.
Yes I know its hard to forget and forgive but I'm not asking that. I'm just saying, the booing at the ACC and the media articles are just not needed now. Just keep your disdain on the low. He knows you don't like him just ignore him and see how he plays. Hyping him up for this match up can only prove detrimental to our cause as the cat can heat up and drop 40 on us in an effort to silence the criticisms.
Oh well! With regards to the actual match up as it stands I think ignoring playoff experience we stack up pretty well against the Nets. We definitely have the deeper bench and our front court is stronger but I cant count out the influence the trio of Carter, Kidd and Jefferson will have on the game. The key is going to be to contain those guys.
Also should be noted that Jersey played some of its better games down the stretch while the Raptors kind of faded as they tried to adjust to quite a few injuries. That being said guys like Kris Humphries and Joey Graham really stepped up their game in the absence of Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani.
It should also be interesting to see what coach Sam Mitchell has up his sleeve. Adjustments become quite important after game 1 and I'm still wondering what Sam can pull out to keep the guys in a position to win this series.
Game one will be important. My keys to winning this series are
Not going to stick my neck out on a Raptors win but I'll be in front of my tv supporting them. That means no interruptions hint hint. Go Raptors!
On another note, oh happy day, the dark lord Sauron is dead! A new but not necessarily immediately better day is dawning.
In a few hours the Toronto Raptors play the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. First playoff run for the Raptors since 2002 I believe, and joy of joy we have home court advantage this round.
Should be an interesting match up as the Raptors can claim the better all around team but new Jersey can claim a heap more playoff experience. I've been thought that playoff experience counts for quite a bit in this game so although I'm a Raptors fan I'm a bit pessimistic about their chances of getting out of the first round.
Would have been more optimistic if they had ended up playing Washington. Even before Agent Zero and Caron Butler went down I fancied our chances against those guys but alas it wasn't meant to be as the Wizards (always resisting the urge to call them the Bullets) slipped down the stretch to drop from third spot all the way to 7th.
That meant as third seed we got New Jersey. Its being hyped up as the match up of Vince Carter vs Toronto. Now lets be honest I'm not a big Vince Carter fan. I respect the skill when he's actually focused but in the pantheon of NBA stars who have pissed off Toronto and Raptors fans Vince reigns supreme. And by the way in case you're wondering who else is part of that group it includes Tracy Mcgrady, Damon Stoudamire, Alonzo Mourning, Antonio Davis and Kenny Anderson, and in case you forgot Kenny Anderson refused to report here from Portland after being traded for Damon somewhere back in 97 or 98.
However I think way too much is being made of Vince's return to play us here where it all started for him as 'Air Canada'.
The cover of one of our local newspapers yesterday actually featured him portrayed as a big baby.Why I ask why must we continue to give this cat fuel to actually show up for a game? Why must we continue to hype this Vince vs Toronto feud? Yea Vince let us down when he phoned in his performances during his last years here as he attempted to orchestrate his own trade and yes Vince has always been seen around these parts as a whiny superstar, lacking in heart and unable to embrace his leadership role with the Raptors club but stop giving the man fuel to come back and prove something to us.
Yes I know its hard to forget and forgive but I'm not asking that. I'm just saying, the booing at the ACC and the media articles are just not needed now. Just keep your disdain on the low. He knows you don't like him just ignore him and see how he plays. Hyping him up for this match up can only prove detrimental to our cause as the cat can heat up and drop 40 on us in an effort to silence the criticisms.
Oh well! With regards to the actual match up as it stands I think ignoring playoff experience we stack up pretty well against the Nets. We definitely have the deeper bench and our front court is stronger but I cant count out the influence the trio of Carter, Kidd and Jefferson will have on the game. The key is going to be to contain those guys.
Also should be noted that Jersey played some of its better games down the stretch while the Raptors kind of faded as they tried to adjust to quite a few injuries. That being said guys like Kris Humphries and Joey Graham really stepped up their game in the absence of Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani.
It should also be interesting to see what coach Sam Mitchell has up his sleeve. Adjustments become quite important after game 1 and I'm still wondering what Sam can pull out to keep the guys in a position to win this series.
Game one will be important. My keys to winning this series are
- Adjusting to playoff basketball
- Containing the New Jersey trio
- Rebounding
- Coaching adjustments
- The return of Bargnani
- The play of Kris Humphries
Not going to stick my neck out on a Raptors win but I'll be in front of my tv supporting them. That means no interruptions hint hint. Go Raptors!
On another note, oh happy day, the dark lord Sauron is dead! A new but not necessarily immediately better day is dawning.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Raptors win Raptors win
Raptors win!
Who would have thought that after a 2-8 start to the season the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA's Atlantic division? Way to go Raptors! Congratulations! Big up! Respect!
What can I say! I doubted that the Raptors would be any good this season. Yea they made moves in the off-season but I thought way too many moves. I mean how does a team with 9 new players, including a bunch who had never played NBA ball, coming in win? Guys have to become comfortable with their roles, they have to learn to trust each other, they have to bond as a team so I figured any improvement this year would just be a step towards actually competing next year.
I thought yea that Bargnani draft pick is a definite bust and why trade Charlie Villenueva for TJ Ford. Well what do you know Coangelo's moves seemed to have worked well for us this year. Actually only bad move he has made so far seems to be picking up Fred Jones in the off-season and he managed to trade him away for Juan Dixon who has fit in quite nicely with the team in the second half.
So yea we did compete this year. Who would have thought?
Ok well yea the Atlantic division is bar none the worse division in professional basketball and there were a couple of nights where we actually led the division while still having a record that was under .500. But still look at us now 44 wins and 33 loses (including tonight's victory over the Bulls), 10 games over 500, a guaranteed playoff spot and right now the fourth best record in the Leastern ummm Eastern conference.
Pretty nice turn around for a team that only won 27 games last season.
Still I cant say I'm an ultra fan like Chuck and Leo who bring the play by play or like a few of my friends are. I like the team, even though I'll admit that they've screwed up my love of the NBA since I seem to watch very few non-Raptor games these days.
I wont pretend like I think they have more than a passing shot of making it past round one of the playoffs either unless they somehow end up playing a hobbling Washington Wizards team cause I just see too many deficiencies despite their record and improvement this year. I still say they are still too green for the playoffs and their lack of a consistent inside game and rebounding will hurt when the rough and tumble playoffs start. But who knows, I've been wrong before maybe they'll surprise me again.
All I can say now though is they've done the city proud even if when they won the division they were still only the second biggest sports story here, the biggest being the Maple Leafs having to play the Habs to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive. Got to love this city its definitely a hockey town. But hockey town or not got to give props to the Raps. Good looking out guys. Bosh, Ford,Parker, Graham and the boys thanks for making us proud of Toronto basketball once more.
Who would have thought that after a 2-8 start to the season the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA's Atlantic division? Way to go Raptors! Congratulations! Big up! Respect!
What can I say! I doubted that the Raptors would be any good this season. Yea they made moves in the off-season but I thought way too many moves. I mean how does a team with 9 new players, including a bunch who had never played NBA ball, coming in win? Guys have to become comfortable with their roles, they have to learn to trust each other, they have to bond as a team so I figured any improvement this year would just be a step towards actually competing next year.
I thought yea that Bargnani draft pick is a definite bust and why trade Charlie Villenueva for TJ Ford. Well what do you know Coangelo's moves seemed to have worked well for us this year. Actually only bad move he has made so far seems to be picking up Fred Jones in the off-season and he managed to trade him away for Juan Dixon who has fit in quite nicely with the team in the second half.
So yea we did compete this year. Who would have thought?
Ok well yea the Atlantic division is bar none the worse division in professional basketball and there were a couple of nights where we actually led the division while still having a record that was under .500. But still look at us now 44 wins and 33 loses (including tonight's victory over the Bulls), 10 games over 500, a guaranteed playoff spot and right now the fourth best record in the Leastern ummm Eastern conference.Pretty nice turn around for a team that only won 27 games last season.
Still I cant say I'm an ultra fan like Chuck and Leo who bring the play by play or like a few of my friends are. I like the team, even though I'll admit that they've screwed up my love of the NBA since I seem to watch very few non-Raptor games these days.
I wont pretend like I think they have more than a passing shot of making it past round one of the playoffs either unless they somehow end up playing a hobbling Washington Wizards team cause I just see too many deficiencies despite their record and improvement this year. I still say they are still too green for the playoffs and their lack of a consistent inside game and rebounding will hurt when the rough and tumble playoffs start. But who knows, I've been wrong before maybe they'll surprise me again.
All I can say now though is they've done the city proud even if when they won the division they were still only the second biggest sports story here, the biggest being the Maple Leafs having to play the Habs to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive. Got to love this city its definitely a hockey town. But hockey town or not got to give props to the Raps. Good looking out guys. Bosh, Ford,Parker, Graham and the boys thanks for making us proud of Toronto basketball once more.
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