After two excellent months here on blogger, my blog has been picked up by a new and excellent sports website. Check me and my writing out at Most Valuable Network.
Phoenix Suns Blog: Born and Raised
General NBA News: Life Below the Rim
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We haven’t had the potential for a smile this awkward since the San Diego Chargers drafted Eli Manning number one overall in 2004. Roughly a week after getting shut down by the like of Golden State’s Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Dirk Nowitzki will be receiving the league MVP award at a press conference in Dallas sometime early this week. That means that, for the first time since Moses Malone in 1982, the association’s MVP will have failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. The Dirty German barely beat out long time friend, ex-teammate, and two-time winner Steve Nash for the award.
For those who were skeptical if Nowitzki deserved to win it before his post-season meltdown, now is the time to remind your friends and family that you were in fact right. For Dirk, David Stern, and the league, it's time to make some tough decisions.
First, Dirk. Since no one is taking my dream situation of Nowitzki and Nash playing a game of HORSE to decide the honor too seriously, here is another opinion - refuse it. He really has to. If Dirk is looking for a way to get his team back on track, there is no better way then putting their success in front of his own. He needs to say that he didn’t live up to his billing as MVP and that next year he’s going to work twice as hard to not only win the award again, but to finally break through and bring the city of Dallas an NBA championship. This would excite the fans and his teammates as well as hopefully help them recover from some of the psychological damage that this year’s playoffs might have caused. If he wants to keep this team together, it is simply the best option.
As far as Stern and the league are concerned, Dirk’s vote for MVP started out as a dream come true. Here was a white European player – two of the association’s most sought after demographics – who also leads his team, has a complete game, never gets into trouble, and is good representation of a player with tremendous passion for the game. Then Dirk disappears in game one of his series with the Golden State and everyone realizes “Whoa, the Warriors might actually win this thing.” A week later that nightmare became a reality. Now Stern is left wondering whether or not the sportswriter’s votes are cast a bit too early and whether the post-season should play some role in that decision.
It's hard to say whether or not we should wait on the MVP vote until after a round or two of the playoffs simply because, as much as we don't like it, the MVP is a regular season award; for the playoffs we have the Finals MVP. Still, would we be saying the same thing if the Lakers had knocked out Steve Nash and the Suns last year - a good possibility after going up 3-1 in the first round? Thankfully Nash pulled off nothing short of an MVP performance and saved face for himself, his team, and the NBA. After two straight years, Stern needs to come up with some answers to solve the potential of this problem happening again. The people don’t just want to know that the man being put in the pantheon with Jordan, Wilt, Bird, and Magic isn’t a round one washout, they demand it.
Dirk has a lot of time to prove himself since he’s only 28. Still he may have squandered his best chance to etch his name in the record books by winning the championship this year. Now he has to go back to the drawing and get his team back on track. After all, he is the MVP, and another season starts soon.
It has to be pretty shocking for the Phoenix Suns to realize that, while they employ the two-time reigning MVP in Steve Nash as well as former winners of Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, and this year’s Sixth Man winner, the most important player for their second round series against the Spurs is a 34 year old journeyman who averages a little under five points a game. That's right, Kurt Thomas. Big Dirty.
Thomas’ presence in the middle of a free flowing Suns system is exactly what Phoenix has been looking for over the last three seasons of early playoff exits. This year, it’s exactly what they’ll need if they want to finally finish off their archrivals from San Antonio. Lord knows they'll need all the help they can get.
Dirty's D doesn’t so much limit Tim Duncan’s ability to score as it does his ability to pass. Duncan is going to score; no one can really stop that. If Thomas can contain him in one-on-one situations and force him to take tough shots without fouling, then the rest of the Spurs offense becomes ineffective. The Suns aren’t forced to double team Duncan and leave one of the Spurs sharp shooters open on the perimeter. That makes the passing lanes shrink dramatically. Now, rather than switching over, a player like Shawn Marion can stay put on his defensive assignment of Tony Parker, who effectively kills the Suns in an open floor setting. This also frees up Amare’ Stoudemire and allows him focus on his offense rather then having to guard Duncan down low.
While it's Thomas’ defense that helps keep the Spurs’ scoring in the 80s and 90s, the offense he provides is an equally surprising benefit of his game. Where most players enjoy the “oohs” and “ahhs” that dunks and deep threes bring, Thomas is content with sitting at the elbow and making fifteen footers all day. By perfecting the lost art of the midrange game, he has opened up the floor for Steve Nash’s passing by making himself a threat and forcing people to camp out on him rather then defending the three-point line or double teaming Stoudemire.
Finally, his ability to create mismatches by setting picks might be one of Thomas’ most effective tools. Last night he continually kept Duncan on his heels by putting up screens and forcing him to switch over on to Nash. Duncan may be one of the league’s best defenders, but he is no match for Nash’s speed. Last night might have been the first time in a long while that Tim Duncan had a “deer in the headlights” look on defense. That look is something the Suns hope they can recreate come Saturday.
Credit Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni for using his third different lineup of the postseason, even with all his players healthy. Many people might think that it is a bad move to make changes this late in the season, but D'Antoni has confidence in both his players and his ability to coach them. He isn’t making these changes because he is scared, rather because he wants to give his team every opportunity to win. By putting Thomas in the starting lineup and saving Jones, Barbosa, and Diaw for the second wave, he has created a strong team eight players deep that has a good chance to challenge the Spurs for the best team in the West.
I want to thank everyone last night who was involved in proving me right. The media, David Stern, the NBA, Tim Duncan, everyone. It feels really good to finally get the recognition I deserve. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out what I wrote a couple weeks ago concerning the suspension of Joey Crawford.
"I won’t pretend to know what exactly happened, but I will say this – if that was Rasheed Wallace and not Tim Duncan, this is a non-story. For that reason alone, the suspension was unacceptable."
"I wasn't trying to show nobody up... It didn't make no sense to me. If I wanted to blow up, I could've blew up then. Why blow up when there's 8 seconds left when the game is over? It doesn't make no sense. Do I have 'moron' written on my forehead when I walk out on the court or something? I don't. ... I'm smarter than a lot of people think. I'm going to continue to play basketball and do what I do." - Stephen Jackson
I never got to see Pete Maravich play basketball. Sure I've seen the highlights, read the books, and heard the stories, but I never got to sit in an arena and see the man who created showtime basketball play it in it's purest form. Its one of the things I regret most, but I guess that's what happens when you're born two years after a hero stops playing. Still, the Maravich legacy is one of the strongest in basketball. True, he never had the stats or the playoff pedigree to warrant such attention, but it was his affect on the game and how it has been played that made him one of the 50 greatest players in history. Without him we don't have guys like Magic Johnson and Steve Nash to look up to now.
That's why legacies are a funny thing, because its not always the stats, but instead the imprint a player makes that defines him.
If anyone is facing this reality now, its 36 year old Robert Horry, the geriatric power forward for the San Antonio Spurs who often gets confused for Will Smith. His career numbers of 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds aren't even good enough to get him into an all star game much less the hall of fame, but ask any Kings fan, any Pistons fan, any Magic fan, and most recently any Nuggets fan who they'd least like to have the ball when their team is up in the waning moments of a game and the response should unanimously be, "Robert #$%&ing Horry". ESPN could cut together an hour long special of stomach punches he's delivered to hopeful fans with big shots.
Still, big shots alone don't get you a place in history, instead it's been Horry's consistency that has set him apart from everyone else. Consider this: In his fifteen year career, Horry has never missed the playoffs. He's played in the second most career playoff games, has the second most career playoff threes, and holds the record for most career NBA Finals three pointers, passing Jordan in 2005. Most impressively, he has six championship rings with three different teams. A seventh ring this year would give him the most by any player never to wear a Celtics uniform. All this from a guy who never suited up for an all star game and hasn't averaged double figures in 10 years. Meanwhile he's helped solidify the legacies of Olajuwon, Shaq, Kobe, and Duncan.
Where does that put him in history? Who knows. He probably won't make it into the hall of fame and I have a hunch my kids won't be asking me about Horry as much as they'll be asking me what it was like to see Jordan, Bird, or Magic play in their primes. Still when it comes down to making big shots in clutch situations, there's never been anyone bigger than "Big Shot Rob."
Sometimes a name can say it all.
The Shots: (From NBA.com)
* June 11, 1995 | NBA Finals Game 3 | Orlando Magic at Houston Rockets
With the score tied at 103 and the shot clock winding down, Hakeem Olajuwon kicks out the ball to Robert Horry, who launches a three over Orlando's Horace Grant, propelling the Rockets to a 106-103 victory and a 3-0 series lead on the way to a sweep and back-to-back NBA titles.
* May 6, 1997 | Western Conference Semifinals Game 2 | Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz
Horry drains all seven of his three-point shots, which is still a playoffs record for most attempts without a miss. Unfortunately, the Lakers lost the game 103-101, and were defeated in the series 4-1.
* June 10, 2001 | NBA Finals Game 3 | Los Angeles Lakers at Philadelphia 76ers
With the series tied at 1-1, the Sixers were within one point with under a minute to play. Brian Shaw found Horry in the corner and he drilled the three with 47.1 seconds left to give the Lakers a four-point lead.
* April 28, 2002 | Western Conference First Round Game 3 | Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers
Down by two with 10.2 seconds left, Kobe Bryant drives on Ruben Patterson and kicks the ball to a waiting Horry. Scottie Pippen tries to help out, but Horry's three finishes a first round sweep of the Blazers.
* May 26, 2002 | Western Conference Finals Game 4 | Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers
Up by two points with two seconds remaining, Vlade Divac knocked the ball away as far away from the hoop as he could. Unfortunately for the Kings, Robert Horry was there waiting behind the three-point line. Horry caught and shot in one fluid motion. The three-pointer was pure. Instead of going to Sacramento down 3-1, the Lakers tied the series at 2-2. L.A. would go on to win the series and their third consecutive NBA title.
* June 19, 2005 | NBA Finals Game 5 | San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons
Horry capped a unbelievable Finals performance with a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds left in overtime to give the San Antonio Spurs an 96-95 victory and a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6.
* April 30, 2007 | Western Conference First Round Game 4 | San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets
Up one point with about 35 seconds left, Tony Parker drove on Allen Iverson and kicked the ball to a waiting Horry. Marcus Camby tried to block the shot, but Horry nailed a clutch three pointer from the right corner and put the San Antonio Spurs up 3 games to 1.
For six months I've been hearing the same jawing from the same eight guys on ESPN. Heat. Wade. Shaq. Rings. They keep telling us that the Miami Heat are going to be there in June. Sure Shaq sat out 42 games, Dwyane Wade is playing hurt, four key guys are over the age of 35 and Pat Riley stopped caring in mid-November. So? They won a championship last year. That makes them a championship caliber team, doesn't it? Dwyane Wade is back from injury, that means they have a good chance at repeating,
doesn't it? No it doesn't.
Last year the Miami Heat were a group of old guys hoping to climb on Shaq's back and make their last ditch effort to win a ring. It worked, they won. After the game, the only thing more shocking than guys like Payton and Mourning actually thinking that they could do it again was all the media who jumped on that bandwagon with them. Even when they were 10th or 11th in the E.C., people kept saying, "They'll be there in June, watch out for the Heat". What are you talking about? It got even worse when they actually ended up winning their extremely weak division and experts gave Miami great odds at winning another Conference Championship.
Enter the Chicago Bulls, a team that's been sailing under the radar almost the entire season. Throughout the season they've been criticized for spending too much on Ben Wallace, for being too young, for losing close games, and for failing to hold on to the two seed on the last day of the season. Don't sleep on the Bulls though. They're extremely athletic and one of the best defensive teams in the league, not to mention a strong home team. Most importantly, they're a team packed with championship experience. Struggling teams take note: draft good players from championship teams. Chicago's top eight players are made up of five Final Four participants, an Olympic champion, an NBA champion, and a strong veteran leader in PJ Brown.
[Sidenote] Listen, I know drafting good players with championship experience and putting them on a team together seems easy enough, but nobody does it. This is why guys like Hasheem Thabeet and Spencer Hawes are going to get taken 10 spots too early in the draft this year. Guaranteed.
So now the Bulls are matched up with a team in Miami that could best be described as a talented but overrated team going through a bout with apathy. You can't count on that to win in a league where teams and players want rings this badly.
If none of this makes sense to you, then the best reason to put your money on Chicago is simple. Revenge. The Bulls and Heat have been locked in a 10 year rivalry that hit its peak last year when Chicago thought they were man handled and whistled out of a very competitive first round match up. Now, a better team, Chicago has something to prove. Not just to the Heat, but to the Pistons, the Cavs, and the NBA. These ain't Jordan's Bulls anymore, but if you watch carefully, they might just show you something.
The Heat? Not so much.
Sports writers are funny people. Two weeks ago, when the playoff picture was becoming a little clearer and they were all forced to make their post season predictions for the long run into the finals, most looked ready to hand the trophy over to the Mavs and call it a day. Now two weeks later, the stories are different. Sunday’s surprising upset sent them searching for their laptops to write what they thought was the story of the day.
“Can the Mavs recover? Do they even have a chance at beating the Warriors?”
What? How do you say that about the defending Western Conference Champions who are better this year than last? They have the MVP favorite in Dirk Nowitzki, the coach of the year in Avery Johnson, a very convincing Scottie Pippen look alike in Josh Howard, and one of the best supporting casts in basketball. The Warriors on the other hand look vaguely like a playground basketball team picking last. They have a number of good players and a lot of raw talent, but nothing outside of Stephen Jackson pulling a gun while driving the lane is going to scare your standard playoff team.
On Sunday I wanted to shout out “Yes, of course they can. Why would anyone be afraid of the Warriors?” On Monday though, I became a sportswriter.
Don’t get me wrong; I would be dumbfounded if the Mavs ended up losing but just like you can’t count them out of the series, your sure can’t count on them to win. Now more then ever, sports refuses to be black and white - the truth lies on a gray scale in between. You have to logically look at the stats, the teams, the history and the psychology if you want to pick your winner. As always, I do my best.
For the Mavericks it comes down to a few key factors. First, the Golden State Warriors are a team in the purest sense of the word. No stars, different guys making stand out plays every night, ball players. They score at will and pass as well as any team other than Phoenix. The Warriors force your defensive game to change every night because you can’t watch tape on a team that plays their style of jungle ball. They can drive if they want or they can kick and shoot. It makes it very difficult to guard their talent, size, and athleticism both inside and out.
It also doesn’t help that Warriors coach Don Nelson was the Mavericks coach and Avery Johnson’s mentor for years. He knows the team better than his own and Johnson as well as anyone. Why do you think Dirk was so ineffective on Sunday? Because Nelson taught him everything he knows. He has the weaknesses and strengths stored and can exploit them at will. Once again, this forces Dallas to change game plans, refocus the offense, and try something new. Not what you want to be doing in the 83rd game of the season.
Lastly, the Mavericks have no one to put on Baron Davis. On Sunday they switched the line up to start Devean George for a size advantage. Not only is this a defensive liability in itself since George runs like Dick Bavetta, but that limits the offense by leaving Devin Harris on the bench. No matter how they move the line up around, they’ll have holes in their defense and obvious mismatches all over the court. They’re once again forced to change an aspect of their championship game plan. You just shouldn’t have to do that when you’re the best team in the league.
I know, I know, “So why is Golden State an eight seed?” Not counting the fact that they were saddled with Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy, the Warriors are young and careless team and when they get down they get discouraged. They may play some of the most exciting basketball in the NBA, but when all is said and done, their immaturity is their biggest weakness. Much like Phoenix, their defense is their offense and that allows teams to get back into games quickly when the shooters go cold.
If you give them a solid big man and two years together playing like a team, you’ll be looking at a team that could and will terrify any of the West’s big three. For now though, you’re looking at a team that has a shot to do something special.
The NBA Playoffs... Thank God they're long...
I love the NBA. I do. I love it so much that I’ve spent the last six months trying to convince everyone I know that they should love it too. In some cases it has worked and I count that as a victory. Still, there are stories that while peaking the interest and imagination of anyone willing to listen have really dragged down the NBA this season. I’ve decided to take out the trash, nail off all the topics that are on the minds of ESPN and the like and help us all move on to the playoffs quickly before anyone notices in retrospective how bad this season really was. Here goes.
-Duncan vs. Crawford-
Stern spent the entire off-season talking about how referees were going to be harsher and that whistles were going to come faster. The refs were not to tolerate a lack of respect by players for their position. Joey Crawford goes out and does exactly what he is told to do. What does Stern do? He throws Crawford under the bus and suspends him to protect one of the league’s most important players and then, like many issues he has faced over the last couple years, refuses to talk candidly about it and instead deals with it politically.
Listen, I’m a Suns fan, so you can question my motives all you want, I won’t be offended. The fact of the matter is that Crawford was trying to do his job, he thought Tim Duncan was undermining his authority and he dealt with it the only way he could by throwing him out. I won’t pretend to know what exactly happened, but I will say this – if that was Rasheed Wallace and not Tim Duncan, this is a non-story. For that reason alone, the suspension was unacceptable.
The main argument to warrant a suspension from Stern is that Crawford asked Duncan for a fight. No one is mentioning that it’s possible the "Do you want to fight me?" line was taken out of context. Crawford more likely meant, "Do you want to test my authority?" I don’t assume that a 56-year-old man wanted to fight a 6’11” 260 pound professional athlete, but he’s feisty, so I could be wrong.
So now we’re going into the playoffs with angry referees out to prove their authority and players who feel like they’ve gotten their right to whine and complain back. Oh, and we’ll also be missing one of the best refs in the game and someone who has had a part of every finals since 1986. Goody.
-Tanking Teams Reaching for Lottery Picks-
Houston tanking to win the first pick in 1984 might be the reason why the lottery was created, but the lottery has proven to solve nearly nothing. In probably the deepest draft since that same year every team is doing whatever it can to improve its draft status. Honestly, I would too. Kevin Durant could turn out to be one of the best pure scorers of his generation and Greg Oden has the ability to make the kind of difference right away that we’ve only seen in Shaq, Duncan, Olajuwon, Chamberlain, Russell and David Robinson. That’s a pretty good list to be on. So let’s stop crying foul for teams tanking. They’re not hurting anyone but themselves.
Honestly, I have more of a problem with teams mailing in games after locking up their spots and seeds in the NBA playoffs. Have the teams earned the right to rest their players? Of course they have. Should they? Of course they should. Is it bad for the game? YES. It's a disgrace to the integrity of the game. The Warriors and Clippers are still fighting it out for the eight spot in the West. The Clippers have to play two-time MVP Steve Nash and all the other starters on an elite Suns team. The Warriors have to play eight guys not named Dirk, Jason, or Josh. While this is smart, it’s not fair to the teams still competing or the fans that have spent good money to see a team like the Mavs come to town. Let’s vilify these guys instead.
-The Most Valuable Player Race-
I don’t know what more I can say on the subject. Instead, I’m just going to run a Bill Simmons quote and then fill in the gaps.
“Statistically, Nowitzki submitted superior seasons in 2005 and 2006, and his 2007 stats ranked behind Larry Bird's best nine seasons, Charles Barkley's best 10 seasons and Karl Malone's best 11 seasons. Nowitzki's shooting percentages were remarkable (50 percent on field goals, 90 percent on free throws, 42 percent on 3-pointers), but his relevant averages (24.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists) look like a peak season from Tom Chambers. He can't affect games unless he's scoring, doesn't make his teammates better and plays decent defense at best. If you're giving the MVP to someone because of his offense, he'd better be a killer offensive player. You can't say that about the 2007 Dirk Nowitzki.”
If you’re using the exact acronym then the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER is Steve Nash. Has to be. He’s worth over 50 points a night with his assists and points added up and his shooting percentages are actually better than Nowitzki’s above. He’s having the best season of his career and most importantly, he makes his teammates better. Nowitzki is awesome. He has been my number one pick in every Fantasy Draft I’ve been in and I’ve never regretted the decision. Still Simmons is right; he doesn’t make his teammates better. He also has a more complete supporting cast and his team has proven that they can win without him. The Suns don’t have the same luxury.