ballershorts.com
Archive for Playoffs
April 17, 2010 at 11:12 am · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Playoffs
Eastern Conference
Cavaliers vs Bulls: Cavs in 4. Not much to be said.
Magic vs Bobcats: Magic in 5. Charlotte is very tough at home, so I don’t think they’ll be swept. But they really have no answer for Dwight.
Hawks vs Bucks: Hawks in 5. This would have been interesting had Andrew Bogut not gotten injured. Milwaukee was very hot for a stretch in the second half of the season. But now they just don’t have enough offensive balance or options, and they won’t be able to hang with Atlanta on the boards.
Celtics vs Heat: Heat in 7. I know that Miami has very little going on outside of Dwyane Wade, but Boston is in a bad place right now. My gut tells me the Heat will somehow pull out a closely fought series.
Western Conference
Lakers vs Thunder: Lakers in 6. Oklahoma City, and Kevin Durant in particular, creates matchup problems for LA. But the Lakers just have too much.
Mavericks vs Spurs: Mavericks in 7. This is going to be one hell of a series. San Antonio is still trying to work Tony Parker back into the rotation, though, and I think they haven’t exactly figured out how much he can give them.
Suns vs Trail Blazers: Suns in 4. Without Roy, expect Portland to be blown out by a scorching Phoenix squad.
Nuggets vs Jazz: Nuggets in 7. What has happened to Denver? Was Kenyon Martin really that important to them? But Carlos Boozer is just day-to-day, which would bode poorly for Utah’s chances.
June 14, 2009 at 8:07 am · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Lakers, Playoffs
- I’m a little worried because last night I dreamt that the Lakers lost the Finals. The rest of the dream is a little fuzzy. I know that my dad was working in the TV crew and that we were not playing the Magic, but otherwise the details are evading me. So what does it mean? Freud argues that dreams represent the unfulfilled wishes of one’s id. But I don’t ascribe to the Oedipus Complex, so I won’t buy this either. Jung claims that Freud is too simplistic, that dreams reflect a much more complex and rich projection of the subconscious, and that you need to be really in tune with all the archetypes of your interior and exterior personality to attempt comprehension. Or something like that. Hmm. That sounds pretty intelligent. Almost too intelligent. So I would like to briefly posit a simple dream-theory which, if nothing else, will help ease my mind as to why I envisioned a Lakers loss. It’s kind of an anti-Freudian notion. Dreams might be representations of things you hope not to happen in real life. You may often repress thought about those anti-desires, which must therefore escape somehow. Your body/mind can might also be using dreams to prepare for dealing with these anti-desires if they actually occur. Now I’ve got myself thinking too deeply, for I think that my recurring flying dreams (which I love) represent wishes. But maybe, just maybe, my subconscious knows that an ability to fly would in fact be harmful for me or for the world, and I just shallowly believe I want to fly. Who knows. Maybe I’ll go back to school, study psychology, and write world-renowned books that no one understands.
- A word about experience. After Orlando’s Game 4 loss, Stan Van Gundy repeatedly denied experience being a factor. To paraphrase: “They’ve all played hundreds of basketball games in their lives, many of them important, and it’s just a basketball game.” Then the studio analysts opined that SVG was completely wrong and experience is a key component in the finals. Well, I dispute their claims and would like to opine right back. I just don’t know how the well-paid pundits could overlook certain crystal clear evidence supporting SVG. Firstly, why did the Lakers lose Game 3? Possibly because Kobe Bryant, the most experienced, supposedly unfazable closer, missed 5 of 10 free throws. Furthermore, who was making the loudest case for experience? One Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who I seem to remember carrying his team as just a rookie and winning the Finals MVP. You want more? In the critical close-out game against Cleveland, which I contend is a pretty pressure packed moment, Dwight Howard shot 12 of 16 from the line. In one playoff win against Boston, he shot 5-12. Superman is a very inconsistent, borderline horrible, foul shooter. He has missed pairs of free throws many times in his life. Of course, though, it fits the narrative much better if we blame inexperience. I could go on, but I think you get the point.
- The difference between winning and losing is very small.
- This may seem counter-intuitive, but I think the Magic help the Lakers out when they double Kobe. Hear me out. We know that Kobe trusts his teammates, but he so intensely focused on winning that he appears to occasionally forget that fact. As the most dangerous offensive weapon in the league, he truly believes that he can and should score in almost any situation, especially whenever he is single covered. Because he hits such ridiculously hard shots, he sometimes forces up questionable attempts rather than moving the ball within the offense. When Orlando doubles, traps, or helps, then Kobe is impelled to give up the rock. This allows his teammates to stay involved and it reminds Kobe that they are available options.
- I think the Lakers close it out today.
June 9, 2009 at 12:28 pm · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Playoffs
I generally think I’m lucky. I haven’t had any cavities, my dog neither barks nor bites, and my mother’s father had a full head of hair on the day he passed away. Even more profound, I often find my reality to be an elegant confluence of art and life. As an aspiring effete snob, these recognitions provide me invaluable opportunities to reflect glowingly on my education and perspicacity.
But seriously, in this instance there is an eerily apt conundrum facing the characters in the book I am reading (Catch-22) and the Orlando Magic, spelled out pretty clearly by Joseph Heller and Jeff Van Gundy. The responses to this quandary should greatly influence the fates of both.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Catch-22, it’s about a group of World War II fighter pilots who are looking for a way to avoid combat. Here is the paragraph from Chapter 5: “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.” Tricky situation, no? I’m only 70 pages deep, so I’m not yet sure if or how they will resolve this dilemma.
Orlando is facing a somewhat similar predicament. Since Lamar Odom is playing significantly better than Andrew Bynum and being the series’ pivotal x-factor, the Magic would be crazy to desire more PT for LO. To keep Odom off the court, the Magic have to stop getting Bynum in foul trouble, which means Dwight Howard has to stop attacking the basket. If he stops attacking the basket, though, then the Magic become eminently one-dimensional and guardable.
So what should the Magic do? You hear basketball announcers constantly using the term pick-your-poison when discussing dangerous offensive players such as Kobe or LeBron, and this is also a no-win state of affairs. Do they sacrifice offensive versatility/efficiency in order to save themselves defensive issues? I am a die-hard Laker fan and I hate to give pointers to the enemy, but I also take pride in my journalistic objectivity. Therefore, I will disclose a hint to Stan Van Gundy. Why are there no cross-screens in the post? They would either force Gasol to switch onto Howard or allow Dwight deep post position. That way Dwight could be aggressive without fear of sending Bynum to the pine. There are obviously other things the Magic needed to do well to get back in this series, like stop turning the ball over and receive better guard play. Still, it all might be too little too late.
May 20, 2009 at 3:37 pm · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Lakers, Playoffs
I disagree with many pundits regarding things being said about the Western Conference Semis. In fact, I think the Lakers will win this in 5 or 6 games. Here are my thoughts:
- I’ve read a lot of stuff lately saying that the Nuggets are more talented than the Lakers. I just don’t understand how any intelligent basketball observer can come to that conclusion. Both teams have two top-tier talents: Kobe and Pau on Los Angeles, Carmelo and Chauncey on Denver. After that, the Nuggets can really only boast one other really gifted offensive player, JR Smith. Nene and Kenyon Martin can finish around the rim, but I dare you to find me something they can do on their own. Furthermore, Dahntay Jones, Anthony Carter, and Chris Andersen are three of the worst offensive players to get consistent burn on a playoff team. On the other hand, the Lamar Odom is one of the most versatile guys in the league, Andrew Bynum has the size and skills to be a beast down low, Derek Fisher is a proven knock-down shooter in crunch time, Sasha Vujacic can heat up in a hurry, Jordan Farmar can score the ball in a variety of ways, and Trevor Ariza can finish and is becoming a more reliable shooter. I know most of those guys are either inconsisten, unconfident, or slumping at the moment, but let’s not confuse mercurial with untalented. If the Lakers were to really play, like they did at the beginning of the season, they would blow the Nuggets out. Now I know that’s unlikely to happen, but let’s not suddenly believe that Los Angeles is zapped of offensive potency.
- The Lakers are sh0wing something that every championship team needs, and it is going mostly unrecognized. What am I talking about? Grit. Yes, they have struggled. Yes, they haven’t played the way we all expected. They’re not shooting well and they’re having severe defensive lapses. But they’ve won the first two rounds and they pulled out Game 1 against the Nuggets. Why not give them credit for grit. Last year, Boston struggled in the opening rounds. They ended up winning the championship. I’m happy that the finesse team is having to grind a bit.
- There are more adjustments for the Lakers to make than the Nuggets. At the beginning of the game, Kobe wanted to make a statement. I think that next game they will try to establish the bigs. Whether Kenyon Martin is guarding Gasol or Bynum, there will be a huge size advantage that needs to be exploited. Defensively, the Lakers can try so many more options. Kobe could stay on Anthony while Ariza moves to Billups. Or Kobe could guard Jones and play a lot of help D. Already having a size advantage, I would love to see the Lakers go really big. At least to try. I’m talking Bynum, Gasol, and Odom on the court at the same time. Odom could either guard Carmelo or one of the non-scorers. They would definitely have matchup advantages somewhere in the post and dominate even more on the boards. I know Phil won’t do it but I would love to see it.
May 9, 2009 at 3:47 pm · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Lakers, Playoffs
A lot of people have been worried about the Lakers in the last couple weeks. They have seemed “vulnerable” according to many pundits, myself included just over a week ago. However, after studying box scores and finally watching a full game last night, I think there are a couple of reasons why the Lakers and their fans need not be too concerned. Some of them are very obvious and being overlooked, while others are a little conspicuous.
They’re not turning the ball over: They’ve only coughed up the rock 30 times so far against Houston. (For those of you bad at math, that’s only 10 a games. The low per game this season was San Antonio at 11.7) Shotmaking comes and goes, but there are some fundamental things you can do consistently to avoid beating yourself. The more shots you get at the basket and fewer easy buckets you relinquish, the better chance you have to win. It’s one of most basic things that coaches preach, and yet players remain careless with the ball and risky with their passes.
They’re capitalizing on Houston’s turnovers: In a tough dogfight, anything that you can get easy is an important bonus. Los Angeles has scored more than 18 points off Houston’s TOs in each game. Witness Jordan Farmar’s hustle play that led to Trevor Ariza’s wide open dunk. If you work hard on the defensive end, you don’t have to worry as much about execution and shotmaking. It seems like the Lakers have realized that they’re a little out of sync in their halfcourt, so they have helped themselves out. The story of many people’s lives is wasted opportunities. The Lakers aren’t gonna let that happen.
Expectations were too high: Yes, this does appear to be a strange reason why the lakers shouldn’t be worried. But hear me out. Firstly, Los Angeles always has higher expectations than almost any other team in professional sports. Secondly, before the season everyone was pegging them as the favorites to win the title. Thirdly, they started the season super hot and looked unbeatable. Then they started to get beat a little and people got concerned. This is the NBA playoffs, folks! Teams lose games. Even great teams lose games against worse teams. Michael Jordan’s 1995-1996 Bulls – the team that won 72 games – dropped three games in the playoffs. It’s supposed to happen, and yet it causes all sorts of hullabaloo when it actually does. As the Spanish say, tranquilo, it’s gonna be ok.
Despite all the “problems,” they’re still winning by double digits: The Lakers are missing shots, blowing leads, getting nothing from Bynum, getting little from the rest of bench, etc… and yet every one of their wins has been by double digits. Winning consistently by more than 10 is something done by very good teams, despite what you might say about the quality of Los Angeles’ play.
The matchups get better: What do these current Lakers struggle with? Quick point guards and big men that demand double teams. The Rockets have both. (Aaron Brooks was the key to the win in Game one and perhaps the reason why Houston lost Games 2 and 3.) The Nuggets, Mavs, and Cavs have neither. Please don’t mistake “good” with “quick” and “demands double teams. Celtics are done. In fact, Orlando is the only team that actually worries me a bit, because the Lakers probably need to double Dwight without a healthy Bynum, and Turkoglu and Lewis usually knock down threes better than Artest and Wafer. But otherwise, the matchups are pretty good for the Lakeshow going forward, and they also won’t face defenders as capable as slowing Bryant.
I’m not a betting man (anymore) but I would definitely put money down on LA.
May 2, 2009 at 3:15 am · by bteitelbaum · Filed under Playoffs, Uncategorized
Sportswriters have recently been asking a lot of questions about these NBA playoffs, such as here, here, and here. These have been good questions, pressing questions, usually followed by detailed and informative answers. To loosely paraphrase my wise Uncle Stanley, though, it may be more important to ask a good question than to receive a good answer. And there are a lot of questions yet unasked. Here are the things I keep wondering as I follow these alternately riveting and soporific playoffs.
Why is no one talking about the absence of Eddie House? As much coverage as this series has been receiving, I would have thought that someone would mention the fact that Eddie has not been a spark in even one of the games thus far. People have been delving into the implications of the Celtics’ short bench, their lack of frontcourt depth due to the Garnett and Powe injuries, and Stephon Marbury’s ineffectiveness/fear to shoot, but there has not been one word concerning the former Arizona State gunner. I know he’s not a huge name and rarely a key player, but throughout the season he has randomly erupted for big games that have actually propelled the Celtics to victories. In fact, he’s exactly the bench production that the Celtics need and should expect. This series, he is shooting 9-30 (30%) and 5-18 (28%) from behind the arc, from a guy who hit 151 threes this season on 44% shooting! You’re telling me this isn’t somewhat of a big deal? Of course he’s streaky: his last 6 regular season games he had point totals of 7, 15, 4, 7, 1, 20. But those two high-scoring games (for a reserve) both came in close Celtics’ wins. In the playoffs he hasn’t gone for more than 8. There have been 7 overtimes in 6 games. Don’t you think that a couple of made Eddie House jumpers could already have Boston in Round 2?
How could the Heat-Hawks series possibly have this many blowouts? Not one game decided by single digits? Blowouts on the road? If one team consistently thrashes another, then ok – see Cleveland vs Detroit and Denver vs New Orleans. But both teams taking turns doing it? The obvious answer is inconsistency: you have to be inconsistent to win by 30 one night and then lose to the same team by 20 the next. But what is causing this inconsistency? Is it youth? You can’t make that claim for Atlanta after last year’s series with Boston, and though much of the Heat is doing this for the first time, how can Dwyane Wade let his team keep losing like that? Is it coaching? Maybe, but do the coaching performances differ that much from game to game? Teams may make slight adjustments, but those don’t usually lead to blowouts. And players shouldn’t need a coach to get hyped for the playoffs. As I mentioned earlier, it hasn’t just been a case of home court advantage. I just don’t know, and I’m left thinking that these teams aren’t very good.
Could the Lakers have made me any more nervous? LA won in 5, with each victory coming in double digits, yet they have seemingly raised more questions than they have solved. First and foremost, of course, is what happened to Andrew Bynum? Yes, I know he’s still coming back from his injury, but he looked pretty darn good the last couple games of the regular season. And I also understand that Utah might have caused some defensive matchup problems for Bynum, but couldn’t the Lakers have made some use of his huge size advantage on the offensive end? Sasha Vujacic looked like he was finding his shot the last week of the regular season, but it’s decided to play hide and seek again. (Sasha went 6-29 in Round 1.) Where can we track it down this time? Who knows, but it might be somewhere with Jordan Farmar’s playing time and my friend Randall’s patented lefty jump hook. Now that Luke Walton’s injured, the bench mob is starting to look more like the bench slob. Furthermore, though Pau Gasol was solid, he didn’t dominate like I expected, not even one game. I guess I’m holding out hope that Kobe and the resurgent Lamar Odom can lead the purple-and-gold to the promised land.
Is Marcin Gortat better than Dwight Howard? Just kidding. But seriously, this guy can ball. Orlando should find a way to get him more minutes. I’m thinking there may be a way to do that, especially with the injury to Courtney Lee. How about going big, with Turkoglu at the 2, Lewis at the 3, and Gortat at the 4? Turk and Rashard have played those positions before, and that would cause matchup problems all over the court. We just saw that Lewis still has a post game, and perhaps a size difference will motivate him to go to it more often. It would also be very hard to score on the Magic in the paint, and the rebounding advantage would be enormous.
Should the Spurs trade Tim Duncan? I know that would be blasphemy in San Antonio, but I think it is a valid question. Everyone is asking what the Spurs need to do in the offseason, but I haven’t many people propose this idea. Timmy is clearly on the decline, but he has enough left in the tank to fetch a very nice package from a team looking to get over the hump. What do we think about Duncan for Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Tyrus Thomas? I don’t know if the Bulls would even do that, but isn’t it an interesting proposition? Duncan for LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez, and Travis Outlaw? Just ideas. Ultimately, I still believe in loyalty and I think San Antonio does too, but it doesn’t mean the question shouldn’t be asked.
Ponder these questions, formulate opinions, and I would love to hear your answers.