What a diametrically opposed pair of games, but at least featured 4 teams that I am actively interested in as NBA Finals underdog possibilities.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards
Ok, so the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards both play sluggish half court games that depend more on the development of a play then West Coast hotdog run and gun styles of game. Yeah it sounds pretty boring and guess what, it is. I passed out somewhere in the middle of the 3rd quarter and woke back up towards the end of the 4th.
This was Caron Butler’s first game back from injury, who finished with 19 points and 6 boards. He had a decent, even though not that efficient game, and was the main focus of commentary, of course.
Here are some internal notes:
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LeBron James, the King of Basketball and apparently the world, is really easy to fuck with. Either he had an off night, or Wizard’s guard DeShawn Stevenson is an underrated defensive presence, or the incessant shit-talking from Stevenson got under The King’s skin. LBJ went 9-22 and 1-7 from the 3-Pt line. He didn’t even have that kind of game that he would pull off last year, where he would happily sit and shoot 3 pointers and midrange jumpers the whole game like Tracy McGrady in his old Orlando days. Early in the game King James missed two easy layups mainly because Stevenson was pushing LBJ’s starting point for layups back a foot or so, messing up Bron-Bron’s layup rhythm. Good job by him. (Is it weird that it’s possible to use 5 different nicknames for LeBron James within the same paragraph?)
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Antawn Jamison plays a beautiful game of basketball. In the first quarter he took
three shots that stood out for their high basketball IQ. Also he works the post wonderfully. The first shot was on the right side of the basket, posting up, and doing a turn around towards the baseline scoop-hook-shot basket. The second shot was a beautifully executed up and under, and the last was a simple hook shot over his defender. Three extremely different, extremely difficult types of shots, but all pulled off beautifully in the post. Unfortunately, Jamison disappeared from the post as the game went on, I presume to make space for Andray Blatche and Darius Songaila, both of which kind of suck. -
Cleveland plays like they have a stick up their ass while the Wizards play like they’re having fun. This could all just be due to the fact that I read Gilbert Arenas‘ blog and know that the team has personality. Even a little moment during the fourth quarter when Jamison was fouled and while going to the line he was slapping hands and laughing with teammates during a tight game. It showed such a difference in energies of the two teams. Then again, a lot of people have said Michael Jordan was a crappy and over intensive teammate to play with also.
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Why do commentators insist on kissing Wally Szczerbiak’s ass? That guy totally sucks ever since he started wracking up injuries to his ankles and knees while playing in Boston during the ‘06 season. I would even be willing to argue that he’s a step down from the notorious and hated Larry Hughes, who Cleveland lost to the Chicago Bulls in their massive trade at the deadline. Look at his raw statistics, with the Seattle Supersonics earlier this year, he was shooting 46% from the field and 42% from from 3-point land,
ranking him around the late 30’s in the league from the 3-point line. Coming over to Cleveland he’s now shooting 32% from the field (32%!) and 37% in 3 pointers. Not to mention he can’t handle the ball like Hughes did, and he is terrible at penetrating the basket (first involuntary sports-sexual reference of the blog!). If anything, the real addition was acquiring Delonte West who, in my opinion, is a quality point guard along the lines of Steve Blake or Jarrett Jack. Not to mention, is a definite upgrade at the point then Larry Hughes. But, of course, since his name isn’t established in the league he’s not talked about as much as Szczerbiak. -
In the pre-game show, Magic Johnson, who was sitting in as a guest commentator, was asked why he thought the Wiz were doing so well in the absence of Caron and Arenas. Magic’s answer reminded me of the sort of thing that I would have said when I was 10 years old and asked to explain a book that I’d only read the first 10 pages of. “Oh, well Antawn Jamison is playing really well. Also, they’re doing a lot of things right and playing with a bunch of intensity. But mainly because Antawn Jamison is playing so well.” Or, what I would have said when I was 10, “Oh, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a great book because it is about a boy who uses a Hatchet to survive. It’s because of him and his Hatchet that he survives in a difficult situation. And that is why Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a good book.” I love this stuff.
Not really much to take away from this, except that the Wizards are in the running for my Underdog Team To Root For in the Playoffs. The Wiz won this game mainly because LeBron and The Cavs (except for Sasha Pavlovic) played like ass and also because the Wiz have a continuity not very many teams have right now due to all the trades made at the deadline this year. Young players like Brendan Haywood (33 min, 14 pts, 7 reb), Nick Young (18 min, 10 pts, 2 reb), and
last year’s addition Darius Songaila (18 min, 15 pts on 7-8 shooting) are making significant contributions. Also, if Arena’s blog is truthful and not just a bunch of selfhype, then it seems like the more proven guys on the team have established a mentality of mentoring the young guys and have a personal relationship with them.
Think Glory Road when the black players take some of the white players to that party after beating Iowa with “their style” of play aka streetball. After that they went into a R&B induced montage of winning.
On a side note, Arenas was interviewed during half-time by Craig Sager (and his phenomenol bright blue blazer, that Areans gave a “pop” to) and said that he was supposed to make a big triumphant return last night, but the Doctor’s nixed it at the last minute. He did say that he would be coming back probably during a West Coast swing that the Wiz are going to be taking, which is great news for the Wizards who are in the exact opposite situation as last year (when both Arenas and Butler were injured late in the year and missed the playoffs causing a first round sweep by the Cavs).
Phoenix Suns vs Golden State Warriors
Reckless.
There really is no other way to describe this game. Golden State runs the floor and launches shots with total abandon. I caught some of their playoff series last year versus the Dallas Mavericks, but the impression on me wasn’t as great as it was this time.
Nonetheless GS lost the game, mainly because they couldn’t handle Amare Stoudemire, who 
finished with 36 points and 11 rebounds.
Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson kept commenting on how Shaq wasn’t meant to play this kind of game. It may be true, but it wasn’t because of a lack of ability to get up and down the court, but more because he kept smacking smaller guys in the face with his flying elbows of doom. Sure he picked up 5 fouls in only 14 minutes, but they didn’t come from desperate lacks of ability at defending the smaller Golden State players, or sloppily running up the court committing fouls.
I noticed this the past year when Shaq was still playing for the Miami Heat, but Shaq can not handle playing against smaller centers on the offensive end. On the defensive side he is a lane clogger, which is exactly what the Suns wanted out of him.
Golden State lost for the same reason why small ball always loses, because it’s reckless and lives a lot of luck.
I love Steve Nash’s ability to stop and pop a 3-pointer at almost any point of the game. It is killer, but almost anyone on Golden State has that same ability.
The difference is inside game. I’ve never been liked a team that relied on the 3-point line. This is what always drove me crazy about late 90’s basketball: isolation and 3-point shots. I wonder what it would be like if a running team like Golden State pushed the ball closer to the basket. I have no idea why, but I’ve always thought a team would be much better off getting closer to the basket for shots. Not even necessarily for their big men playing in the post, but even for guards coming off screens and dropping an 15′ to 18′ jump shot. Golden State shoots 46% from the field and 35% from the 3-point line, while the Sun’s by contrast, lead the league in FG percentage at 49% and are number 3 from the 3-point line at 38%.
(Ed. 3/17 - Note: doing some basic number crunching, if you take 3-pointers out from total FG’s, the Suns shoot 53% from the field, while Golden State shoots 51%, compared to Toronto which leads the league in 3 Point percentage at 40.4%, shoots only 48% FG when you take out 3-pointers. I’m sure this is easily attributed to Fast Break points, but how much more effective would those be if they pushed for the 2 instead of the 3?)
Anyway, I like both these teams (especially Baron Davis‘ beard), and think they both can cause a lot of trouble for anyone they face in the West. Like how Cleveland or the Chicago Bulls might offer a massive road-bump for any team in the East, I’ll be interested to see what GS or the Suns can do to any higher ranked team in the West.
4 and a half weeks to go to the playoffs.
Posted in NBA, Sports | Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Pheonix Suns, Washington Wizards
