Here’s me on the Basketball Jones
2010-05-14J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas did an audio-only “overdose” podcast today, and I was on it talking Cavaliers. Here’s the link. I think I managed to stay relatively coherent, although I should’ve talked about LeBron’s struggles in the series when I had a chance. Anyways, enjoy.
Here will a be “is SVG a better coach than Mike Brown” game over the next week. It seems clear Matt Barnes is hurt. He is going to struggle and struggle mightily to stick to Ray Allen. Kind of like Anthony Parker (Although he wasn’t hurt). Let us see if SVG sees this and increases Reddicks minutes (much like Mike Brown could/should have done with Moon) or if he goes MIke Brown and just puts his head down and changes nothing. My money is on SVG making the right decision and playing Reddick more.
This might be a sign that the NBA should go to a shorter regular season.
Anyone noticed the tough time Hollinger is having coming to the realization that the regular season means nothing anymore. he keeps going back and basing his picks on numbers like point differential in the last 30 games. Basically, because the magic have been so dominant for two months and Hollingers numbers put them so highly, he couldn’t see any possible way the Celtics win this series. Hollinger is going to have a really tough in the coming years if this trend continues as he bases everything on the data he collects in the regular season. Match-ups. It’s all match-ups. And… Read more »
I would love to see Rondo vs. Fisher in the finals. That would be fun.
To me, PHX is the only team capable of beating Boston with all their stars playing like this. You have to go fast to beat them. However, I can’t see anyway in the world PHX can beat L.A. I said a while ago I liked LA in 7 over the Celts for my finals picks….but I’m changing that. Boston in 7 over L.A. Here is the question…who is gonna point their fingers at Dwight HOward if things continue? Are we going to say he also doesn’t have enough talent???OR shall we see he isn’t as good as we thought he… Read more »
Before the playoffs, no way in hell I saw this coming. However, like Rich, after watching Boston this last series, I told friends who said Orlando would roll that they were dead wrong. As Rich points out, KG is back and playing amazing, and Perkins is one of the few defenders capable of guarding Howard without help (which neutralizes the huge spacing advantage the Orlando offense counts on).
I can say I saw what happened today coming. Before the playoffs, no. I didn’t think KG still was alive. However, this is a really good KG, and when you look at the matchups u’ll see the same thing in this series that you saw against Cleveland. Boston starters are better than 4 out of 5 Magic starters at their positions. You taking Pierce or Carter? Barnes or Allen? Rondo or Nelson? Lewis or KG? Boston has the better starting 5. Now, I picked them to win this series, but I never, ever though they could do this before the… Read more »
Give Boston credit, they are a tested outfit that plays ridiculously good defense.
Well, at least its not just cleveland that got tripped up by boston. Im still waiting for the first sports writer to pretend they saw this coming.
So, if the things going on in Orlando don’t make you feel a little better I don’t know what will. However, the regular season now means NOTHING. Forget it, there is no point to it. YOu can literally dog it throuhg 82 games and then do this so long as you have the talent.
Dear Labron,
Do you like being the Star of Cleveland?
Do you like all the attention?
Do you like being considered an MVP?
Do you like being considered the best player in the NBA?
Would you like to put a stop to the ‘choker’ label?
Would like to learn some new dance moves?
If so, this is for you.
I’m wondering how much of a factor Andy’s back spasms had on his minutes/quality of play.
Well Z wasn’t playing. I mean that is like me mentioning Michael Finley for the Celtics..who cares if the guy doesn’t play. Z is done anyway. Obviously, an upgrade needs to be made at the 2 position, I can agree wit hthat. But Hickson, hopefully, really develops this off-season and he starts making that front-line a lot younger. And age is far less important than mileage. Both Garnett and Pierce have played a ton of playoff miuntes. Jamison and Parker, not so much. @Colin, again, something MIke Brown should take the blame for. There is just no doubt after game… Read more »
I think the Celtics prove that you can’t just list players’ ages and conclude that much about how “old” the team is going to play. Players are going to have different trajectories. Ray Allen doesn’t look like he has lost much. I don’t think there is much sign that Jamison’s skills are declining either, though people might debate how much those skills were ever worth. Shaq, obviously, is not much like the Shaq of old, though I still think he has value if used appropriately. And I don’t think of Shaq and Parker as the core of the team —… Read more »
@Rich
I agree to some degree with your second point, but on the other hand Ferry did some really shitty drafting except for Hickson, which is not Lebrons fault
@Rich regarding Cavs age vs. Boston
a)Garnett, Pierce and Allen are 33, 32 and 34, Jamison, Parker and Shaq are 33, 34, 38 = 2 years older on average
b) next year they will be 3 years older on average than Boston is this year when everyone thought they were too old.
c) at least Bostons old guys were all considered top players just 2 years ago, none of Clevelands old guys were
d) Rasheed Wallace isn’t any more useless than Z
e) you don’t win championships based on a young bench
I just got done watching the third quarter of game 1, and I’m so confused. Its not that Mo was making every shot he took, but the defense in that quarter was amazing. Guys scrambling, rotating, closing out…. where did that all go?
(It should be mentioned that Shaq was not in the game. I really think he was part of the reason this thing went south so quickly.)
And maybe that has been LeBron’s problem the whole time. Instead of trying to win right now at all times, he never allowed this franchise to try and build from the bottom up. They’ve always been trying to make the big trade and get talent in right away, instead of developing some talent. I think part of that blame should go on LeBron, simply because the team was always trying to make him happy so he stayed…and now here they are with older players and no cap space bcause they weere never allowed to build a supporting cast from the… Read more »
Ok, you contradict yourself, dwarf. If Boston isn’t to old, and clearly they aren’t, then how is this the only shot the Cavs had? 3 of the 5 starters for both teams are old and have played a lot of minutes, but the first guys off of the Cavs bench are not old and have a lot of years left, compared to Rasheed Wallace for Boston. Point is, if this Boston team isn’t to old even though we all thought it was, then next Cavs team won’t be to old either.
the Cavs were a bit overrated this year. Calling them the favorites before the playoffs was bit silly considering how insanely stacked the Lakers and Magic are (and Boston still is, although those geezers were a bit of a surprise at their age). The worst part is that this Cavs team just has no future. There is really not much reason for Lebron to stay. 3 of the Cavs starters are mid-to-late 30s, and those were the new aquisitions in Lebrons contract season -nice move Ferry. Everybody went on about how old and over the hill Boston is but the… Read more »
I don’t think the team has regressed. No one would say they would rather have the 2007 or 2008 team than this one. I think if Lebron were signed for another 2 years, I think we would be much more optimistic about the chances of winning it with a healthy Lebron and a NEW COACH, more time to develop chemistry, etc. I don’t think the Boston series exposed the team as having no talent, I think it was exposed as having not a clue what to do against a good defense when Lebron wasn’t able to have his usual impact.… Read more »
Rich,
I think when Windhorst says the team has regressed, he is speaking in terms of how LeBron will be evaluating his career and his future. While what you are saying is true, and that Mike Brown has held the team back, facts are facts: LeBron still hasn’t won an NBA Finals game and hasn’t been there since 2007.
If they fire Mike Brown, you can kiss goodbye the 17 Seconds Or More Era in Cleveland.
One thing that I’ve been reading today is that bothers me is Windhorst more than once mentions how the this team has “regressed” over the years. He starts with the ’07 finals and how they have went backwards. I get the point, but that is simplifying way to much. Everyone needs to realize that the ’07 Eastern Conference could very well go down as the worst conference i nthe history of the NBA. It was that bad. The Cavs literally had one single team to beat, and the rest were garbage. Making it to the finals that year was no… Read more »
Well, these are thinsg that happen when you sacrifice defense for offensive players. However, when your head coach can’t seem to figureo ut how to coach offense, all that seems to happen is the team defense slips while the team offense remains un-changed. Give Mike Brown Chris Bosh and he’ll turn him into a 15 ppg scorer who stlil can’t play defense.
@Rich
Except, this time there was no defense to even keep the games close.
I thought this was appropriate with what John said about Mike Brown in his podcast.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/4865/don-t-fire-mike-brown
That article is after the game 7 loss against Boston 2 years ago. Same, exact problems with Mike Brown and this offense still exist, even though the talent has been upgraded almost everywhere.
Great stuff, John.