Thoughts on the NBA Playoffs Round 1

• The Bulls Celtics series was not the greatest series ever. It was one of the most compelling to watch, but let's be clear, these were two middle-of-the-pack teams who matched up well against each other. If you duplicated the same exact events that happened in this series, but changed the names on the front of the jerseys to Memphis and Minnesota, would everybody really be falling over themselves to call this the greatest series ever? Come on. People get a grip. Stop worshiping the god of Now. It was great to watch, but please, have some perspective.
  
  
• I was impressed with the shot making abilities of both Big Baby Davis and of Tyrus Thomas. My theory is it helped both of them that they played together in college. I can imagine that familiarity made them both comfortable offensively when they saw their former teammate guarding them and took away some of the fear factor associated with playing basketball on the big stage. I thought both of them played with a lot more confidence than what I would have expected otherwise.
  
  
• When Ray Allen was going off for 51 all I could think about was his pregame shooting routine. A lot of the shots that he took in Game 6 were reminiscent of the types of movements he practices before the game. That's the only way I can see him being so comfortable shooting so quickly and getting himself the slight space he needs to get off his jumper.
  
  
• I think one of the secrets to successful offense is spacing the floor (DUH!). However, I don't see many teams making use of the baseline corner to accomplish this, though I've heard the Spurs incorporate this concept (think: the Bruce Bowen corner 3) and D'Antoni uses it in his system as well. The situation where I think this spot is not used to the extent it should be is in fast break situations. On the break, guys running the wing tend to make a 45 degree cut toward the basket once they get to the three point line. I'm an advocate of running to the corner instead of cutting toward the basket in this situation, especially when there is a defender already waiting in the lane. Running to the corner creates the greatest distance for defensive players getting back in transistion to cover and it keeps the lane open for the ball handler in the middle of the floor to make a 1-on-1 move to get by the defender in the paint. If the lane is clogged, passing out to the shooter in the corner presents a good look for a 3 and it puts the defense in a scramble situation, even if they are able to close out on the shooter in the corner. 
  
  
• Stan Van Gundy has been the focus of a lot of rhetoric, ridicule, and other media attention this season. Van Gundy called Shaq out for flooping, Shaq in return called him the "Master of Panic" (a comment reiterated by a backup center on the Magic), Van Gundy went after the Knicks for their treatment of Ewing, and Dwight Howard has mocked his Van Gundy's overstressed demeanor pretty much all season long. It's obvious this guy has something stuck in his behind and for a while I was like, dude needs to "just shut up!". But, upon further review, I'm backing off the guy. I thought back to how Pat Riley knifed him in the back and took the Heat to the championship in '06 and it all made sense to me. He has to have been really scarred by getting kicked to the curb like that, so I can see why now he's so panicky and overly confrontational. He knows he's going to get fired again within the next 3 years (NBA coaches have VERY short tenures, ask Avery Johnson about it), so I can see him being very insecure about his job and wanting to get off anything that's on his chest before he gets the ax. For that, I'm going to lay off him.
  
  
• Maverick fans, please do not get excited about them beating the Spurs. No Ginobili + a hurt Duncan = a team that's average at best. It was a good matchup for Dallas. Denver is not. Denver is going to spank that tail.
  
  
• My Pistons were unwatchable in their series with the Cavs. I knew we weren't going to do anything this year, even before we traded Chauncey. However, it was still tough to watch us get rolled like that. It reminded me of 1991 when the Bulls steamrolled us to end the era of Bad Boys Part 1. It made me sick then, and it makes me sick now.
  
  
• Though I did get caught up in the drama of the Bulls Celtics series, please understand nothing matters in this playoffs until  the Cavs meet the Lakers in the Finals. I know the NBA was glad to be able to milk a subplot (drama filled Bulls/Celtics series) out of what is a pretty pedestrian lineup of playoff series, pre-Finals. The sizzle and steak will be there when it's LeBron versus Kobe. Anything else is mozzeralla sticks. Even if the mozzeralla sticks have a good marina dipping sauce, it ain't steak. Kobe versus Lebron is filet mignon.
  

Thoughts on the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Competition

Here are a few thoughts I had as I reflect on one of the greatest dunk competitions EVER!!!!

• Only somebody over 6-9 with long arms and at least a 35 inch vertical could even attempt Dwight Howard's behind the backboard dunk. Nate Robinson (5'8") could elevate high enough, but his arms would be too short to reach around the backboard to do so. Nate maybe could do it if he was dunking on a goal that had only a small section of the backboard hanging below the rim.
  
• Gerald Green is a victim of the Steve Francis/Tracy McGrady syndrome (having a great, normally contest winning dunking performance, but being unfortunately in a contest with a pantheon dunk competition performance a la Vince Carter).
  
• Gerald Green blowing out the candle has to be in the top 10 of dunk competition of dunks. Not only did he demonstrate creativity, but also the skill to jump high enough (its difficult to blow out a candle that is higher than your head), AND the ability in mid air to change his brain from focusing on catching the ball off the bounce while jumping, to blowing out the candle, to dunking a basketball with TWO hands - ALL without knocking the candle down or hitting is head/mouth on the rim. Impressive.
  
• TNT had bad live camera angles on both the Green candle dunk and the Howard tip-it-off-the-glass-off-the-bounce-with-one-hand-and-dunk-it-with-the-other-hand dunk. I could here Green expel air from the rim being miked, but it was only when I heard Kenny Smith's jumping around about how he blew out the candle, did I get the full effect of what happened. Also, on the Howard dunk, on the live feed I was not quite sure why Kenny Smith was talking about his leaving the building and all because of what he had just seen. It wasn't until after I saw the reply that I began flopping on my bed like a fish because I couldn't believe Howard did that dunk. I think the judges should have the benefit of replay before they give their scores because the difficulty and unrealness (yes, I'm making up a word) of some dunks can't really be appreciated until they are seen in slow motion or from different angles. For example, a guy jumping from the free throw line looks impressive initially until you get an idea of where he took off from. If he took off from in front of the free throw line, it should not be considered as high of a score as if he took off from behind the free throw line. Or take Vince Carter's arm in the rim dunk -immediately after he did the dunk the crowd was quiet, but they showed the replay and the place went nuts.
  
• Why is Dikembe Mutombo always somebody the camera focuses on for post-dunk reaction shots? Here he is in 2000 (see 3:01), 2001 (see 1:06), 2002 (see 0:13), 2003 (briefly see 1:04), 2008 before the Superman dunk (see 0:02) and after (see 1:13).