The Audacity Of Hope - Game 4 Review

I am speechless. Perplexed. Sad. Angry.

The second half took a combined thousands of years off of Laker fans and hundreds of hairs off of my head. I have no way to rationalize this loss. It is simply painful even to analyze.

Phil Jackson was out coached. He would have been even if the Lakers eeked out a victory. This entire year, the Lakers have been prone to what happened today, that is, letting teams back in, rather than putting the game away. Today, it cost us. It’s hard not to place some of the blame on Phil Jackson. The entire second half, the Lakers had poor spacing and/or lack of ball movement. The Lakers DO have a potent offense. However, it is not maximally effective, unless, there is a decent amount of off the ball cuts, or on the ball cuts. (a.k.a. penetration inside) One particular play stood out to me. The Lakers had all Odom at the top of the key, Farmar at the left wing extended and Sasha at the left sideline. All three were behind the 3 point line. This, while objectionable in itself as 3 players were space so poorly, was compounded by the ball being in the hands of Kobe who was at the right wing behind the three point line. No one cut. The Lakers did get lucky and got fouled, but Ronnie missed both. This will be a lasting example of the inability of the Laker offense to follow the basic tenets when struggling.

[I would like to note that I also angry at two specific plays. One on the late possession where Paul Pierce pulled a Manu and got the call from the official WHOSE VIEW WAS OBSTRUCTED. Honestly, perhaps a challenge system would not be so bad if refereeing is going to be so inconsistent and egregious. A second play that maddened me was the uncontested left handed lay up by Ray Allen. Where was the rotation? Where was Pau? Or Fisher? Simply disheartening to see such a remarkably bad breakdown so late in a game]

[Also, on a lesser note and more cheerful Jeff Van Gundy called Mike Breen, "Marv"]

This brings me to my last, and titular point. Regardless of the situation, we must hope. Hope is a basic human desire. Hope gives us strength. It gives strength to everyone that possesses it, from the immigrant that hopes for a better life to a fan who hopes for a better series. We must not lose strength nor belief until the very end if we are true. It is indeed possible for us to win 3 straight, although not very plausible. We must be as we want our team to be. The Lakers need to have heart and play with desperation and passion such that we may, at the least, avoid seeing the Celtics celebrate on our home floor after winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. It seems a bit inane to hope at this point, but hope we must, for how depressing would the world be without hope.

Piercing Through Misrepresentations

I do not get surprised often, but I am very surprised at this moment. I am surprised that a mainstream media member, the accomplished Bill Plaschke would do what Buzz Bissinger expects bloggers to do. Plaschke was quite explicit in his criticism of Pierce. I for one am quite pleasantly surprised with this take. There is no hesitation in this column, no fear that it would be mistaken for a fan blog. Normally, I would at least partially those that cry a lack of journalistic etiquette in Plaschkes’s tone in column, but I will not today. Why? Because I agree with Plaschke. Paul Pierce is no Willis Reed. Please, for the love of Gotham, stop that comparison. I may not have been alive for that game, but I have seen it, and as with anyone else that has seen it could tell you, it was nothing similar to what Paul Pierce “suffered.” It was all too theatrical, highlighted by the wheelchair. The sight was so ridiculous that it has even managed to take the spotlight off of other major story lines. I shall end this section of this post with a quick personal story. A part of knee (which I believe to be my tibia) sticks out notably and gives me pain. Even with that, I’ve gotten bumped quite hard and/or awkwardly on my knee many times without so much as missing a minute of action. Are you to tell me that a professional athlete, that came back from multiple stab wounds to play all 82 games the following season has a lower pain threshold than a hobbled blogger? This could simply be me, but something sure did look fishy.

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

It is time for the Leastern conference finals and here are some of my [pointless?] thoughts on this series.

Matchup to watch: Rasheed Wallace vs Kevin Garnett. We all know 'Sheed is an awesome dude, and a proven playoff player, whereas, even Bill Simmons is resigned that KG simply is not all that clutch. This will also mark the first time that KG will have to consistently play defense in this year's playoffs. However this matchup goes could very well decide the outcome of the series.

Matchup to watch #2: Chauncey Billups vs Rajon Rondo. As good as Rodney Stuckey has been, Mr. Bigshot needs to be healthy and clutch again for Detroit to win one or two games on the road. As for Rondo, I have, from the very start of the playoffs, believed that Rajon Rondo's play will dictate how far the Celtics go. He has a skilled mid range game, and is arguably one of the best offensive rebounding point guards.

X - Factor of the series : Ray Allen. Allen had a beautiful game. A quick release on one of the best 3 point strokes in the NBA, coupled with an ability to drive either way. I do not expect him to miraculously recover all his skills, but if he does regain his touch, Boston may just be the dominant team seen in the regular season.

Doc Rivers Watch: Hopefully, he has learned a thing or two from the Cleveland series such that he will actually have a decent substitution pattern. Note to Doc : Corpses do not make the greatest basketball players.

My Inner Fan prediction: Pistons in 6. However, I have about as faith in this prediction as I have of comprehending the superstring theory or everything in my Philosophy of Agency class.

A Tale of Two Coaching Matchups

Even though the Couch Potato gave only 6/10 bags for this weekend's action, today's NBA action, composed of two Game 6s, look fairly promising.

When one look at these games, even superficially, one difference between the two games stands out.

Coaching.

One game features two HOF coaches, one the longest tenured and consistently good, and the other possesses 9 rings. This contrasts sharply with the other game, which features two coaches, whose luck has been significantly better than their coaching.

Which much of the media may have ignored just how significant this is, this match up between Doc Rivers and Mike Brown will go down, for me, as the match up of two of the worst coaches in NBA playoff history. Bill Simmons (good luck on your situation with ESPN) has done a great job of sharing the skills of Doc Brown. Although, I have to admit, I was stumped to see Doc Brown following the conventional wisdom and leaving Rajon Rondo out there after he started playing well. However, this one game does not mask multiple silly substitution patterns utilized by Doc. Mr. PER, John Hollinger, gives light to one of the more dumbfounding grievances is his latest work for ESPN, the question as to why the corpse of P. J. Brown is getting more burn than the productive Leon Powe.

As for Doc Brown, it is simply frustrating for me. Just as Boston hired a good defensive assistant coach in Tom Thibedeau, the Cavaliers should look at hiring a good offensive assistant/associate coach for the Cavs to show that their run last year was not just a fluke, and to entice LeBron to stay rather than bolt Madison Square Garden or The Bronx. Look, it is NOT a good idea to get LeBron the ball 30 feet from the basket on the wing, especially when the spacing is so poor such that 3 defenders can collapse on LeBron without fear of a major penalty.

Just thinking about those two wasting the talent they had been given is frustrating.

Just watch the games for the difference. There is so much more ball movement and off the ball cuts in the Jazz-Lakers series. There is quite a bit of beautiful basketball there, with the exception of some unnecessary fouls and turnovers. The beauty of the game comes from the coaches. Perhaps Doc and Mike should be watching the game following their own for some ideas.

Quick Thoughts 5/12-5/13

-Congrats to Kobe on getting his 8th All NBA Defensive team nod. Other first teamers include Timmy!, KG, Marcus Camby, as well as Bruce Bowen. A notable exception from the first team is Shane Battier, who for whatever reason was I left off of some ballots.

-An open request to Mike Brown. Please, do not start each set with LeBron on the elbow extended or dribbling the ball up. Thank you.

-Any playoff matchup have a more underwhelming coaching matchup than Celtics - Cavs? I thought not.

-I would name my kid Kobe.

Magical Land of New England....... For Now

You have to give it up to New England. When has there ever been a city where EVERY single sports team has been so good? Never might cover that answer. Everything seems set up for perhaps the best year for a single city in the history of history. The Celtics are 24-3, the pats are undefeated, and both are challenging for the best single season ever had in terms of victories and other stats by any team. O, before we forget those Red Sox happen to be the World Series Champs. What could go wrong?



The first sign came with Boston College. BC was undefeated poised to be in the BCS championship game, even if they lost one of their final five games. They possessed an extremely good QB, perhaps the best seen in Boston College sports since some guy named Doug Flutie. But alas, BC fell, and fell hard. 2-3 hard. A record thats is unacceptable in any conference, even the SEC or PAC-10, let alone in the Big East. Now they are playing in a bowl, but a meganingless bowl, played even before the New Year has passed.



Now let us look at the remaining teams, with the patriots up first since their season is closer to finishing. True, their 15-0 season has been historic, and they have areally good shot at being the first team in the history of the NFL to go 16-0. Granted they have a all-world Q in Tom Brady and a WR core that is probably the best ever assembeled. But there is indeed a blueprinted, revealed by Jimmie Johnson, that shows potential. The Ravens, the same team that gave the Dolphins their first win, came eve so close to defeating the Patriots. How did tehy do it? Pressure on Tom Brady and iwth a solid running game. the Jags and the Colts both possess the ability to duplicate that style and thus have the potential to defeat the pats. They are both physical in the front [Especially now with the lack of the more finesse but al-world DE Dwight Freeney] and quick and physical in the Secondary. They have the ability to shut down the run and to keep up with Randy Moss and the rest of the wide reievers. Yes, the Colts did defeat to the Patriots, but who wouldnt with Ryan Morehead as their second WR. Even if Marvin Harrison is not fully healed and fully himself, the development to Anthony Gonzalez should be more than enough to supply Peyton Manning with a solid target on top of the Pro Bowler Reggie Wayne. As for the Jags, they possess a QB that makes LESS mistakes than Brady, and the best running tandem in the NFL. With the older front seven of the pats, their running game night indeed end up being the Kryptonite to the Pats. So dont make plans for the Super Bowl parade yet New England. I doubt that would be wise.



Next, let us examine the Boston Celtics. They have the best trio in the NBA today with one of the most versatile playes in KG, one of the better scorers in Paul Pierce as well as perhaps the best pure shooter in Ray Allen. They have a great offense yet also possess an incedibly good defense and have an amazing muti digit point differential. But they have yet to beat a healthy San Antonio Spurs or their own nemesis in the weakly east (Where Atlanta is in the fourth Seed), The Detroit Pistons. I doubt that unless the Pistons collapse again, as they did to LeBron last year, taht Boston would even make it to play for the NBA Championship let alone win it. Now assuming that they make it such point, there existsno guarentee that they can defeat the team coming out of the west. San Antonio looks like a better version of Detroit, with more shooters and possesses the defensive prowess to slow the Big 3 and make Paul Pierce go into the Simmons defined Hero Complex thus causing all kinds of problems for Boston. Another team, that can defeat the Celts in the rejuvinated Lakers, especially with the gargantuan improvement with Andrew Bynum. Sunday marks a big mathc between these two long time rivals and may be a guage for how things may transpire.



But for now, I wouldnt buy copious amounts of Champagne if I were one of the Boston teams.