Monday, March 9, 2009

Monday Night Basketball

Three games on tonight - Hornets/Hawks, Heat/Bulls and Pistons/Magic.

Ten minutes of NOH/ATL yields multiple Chris Paul highlights. He's the most exciting player to watch in the NBA. I realize I'm putting him ahead of LeBron who is a (but not "the")

Shaq "

Sunday, March 8, 2009

D-League Fandom

"What movie would you compare being a fan of the D-League to?" - asks loyal reader Matt. Well, Matt, being a fan of the D-League is too

D-League Fandom

My buddy asked me what movie I'd compare to being a fan of the D-League to.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

My Two Cents on the NCAA vs. NBA: Godfather I or II?

A lot of great points have been made on this particular debate on the overall quality of each organization, but particularly in regards to defense. Gen and John made the best arguments for the NCAA having better or at the very least, more inspiring defenses because of hustling average white boys backed by a strong team mentality that covers up their mistakes. They had me going but Gen’s fell apart when he claimed allegiance to the Spurs and disparaged Steve Blake’s reputation and John can love zone defenses all he wants, it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to find it entertaining. John’s argument may also be a little too idealistic, these average guys who hustle on defense may take pride in their schools and put it all out on the floor but it’s because they know they’re never going to play basketball after college and after that, they have to work at real jobs and put in effort to get laid like the rest of us. Wouldn’t you give it all for one more game of glory? Those guys and their superiors would and are getting torched off the ball in the NBA because for even the rare individual defensive hustler (Artest, Kobe, Battier, Bowen) the quality of talent is just that good.

My whole opinion on the argument boils down to one question: which do you like better, The Godfather Part I or II? Both films are absolute classics without any question but which do you prefer: Part I which lovingly introduces you to a criminal, yet dignified, family that has to protect itself from its enemies or Part II which shows the darker side of the Corleones and the reprehensible yet necessary actions they make to get or remain in power? What in the hell does this have to do with basketball you may ask? If Godfather I is the NCAA, it’s the reason you fell in love with movies (or basketball), if Godfather II is the NBA, it’s not as awe-inspiring as the original but in the end, it’s still the far superior product despite all the times it makes you cringe. As in Godfather Part I or in the NCAA, the Corleones and inspirational, team-oriented defenses can do no wrong in the viewer’s eyes. They’re the underdog, you root for them to take on all comers and win. As in Godfather Part II or the NBA, things aren’t so pretty, Michael has to kill Fredo even though he’s not a threat/teams have to flop and whine about calls to gain an advantage, young Vito goes to Sicily to avenge his family even though the guy’s half-dead/overpaid players that are ghosts on D still play because of their offense.

In the end, though, those gray areas and the overall better quality in the NBA (and Part II) are what makes it better. When the great individual and team defenses step up in the NBA, it’s against the best competition while also dealing with the competitive disadvantage of incompetent refereeing. Last night, I watched the Cavs down 11 in the 4th go on an 18-2 run by trapping D-Wade at mid-court and forcing him to give up the ball to his lesser players, forcing turnovers and getting transition baskets. What the Cavs did to the Heat, they had done to them last week when Artest and Battier shut Lebron down. Also last night, the Hornets beat the Sixers by daring them to shot three’s (which they can’t do) and clogging the lanes on the drive, when the Sixers tried trapping Paul, they had Posey bring it up and have Paul create off screens and then feeding West. These were either in-game adjustments or were quickly fixed with a single timeout. This Saturday, there wasn’t one good game of college ball on because every team decided to play uncoordinated offenses, have unforced turnovers and fumble for rebounds. Some would say those games were defensive battles, I say they were simply sloppy but I’ll be quick to point out when those actually occur in college because they are a thing of beauty, just far too rare. So, in case you’re wondering, I like Part II more. It shows you the real side of the Corleones, dark, murderous and corrupt, but the film itself is cinematic genius a tiny notch above Part I, like the NBA is over the NCAA, that all depends on how you look at it. The sane folk probably checked out of this inane argument two minutes ago.

Update on my fantasy team

I'm playing fantasy basketball for the first time in my life and it's going pretty well. After not setting a lineup for the first four weeks, I've ridden D-Wade, Brandon Roy, Devin Harris, Tony Parker, Yao, Josh Smith with contributions from Kendrick Perkins, Barbosa and Posey back into the 6th and final playoff spot. Now I know you could care less about my fantasy team but I'm telling you anyway.

Garcia dribbles around, pulls up for a three which misses back iron, gets his own rebound and sets up Jason Thompson under the hoop for 2 free throws. Good.

Doesn't help on defense and his teammate McCants commits a foul. Questionable decision but what do I know.

Garcia drives left off a screen by Jason Thompson who dishes to Spencer Hawes for a dunk. +1 hockey assist for Garcia.

Garcia spots up quickly (he has a kind of split-legged pull-up jumpshot) and nails a long two. Not to be picky because he might actually be really good at this but c'mon, get your feet behind the line.

Garcia blocks from behind and starts a break that ends in Bobby Jackson tossing an alley-oop to Spencer Hawes. (Bobby Jackson follows it up on the next play by saving a long pass through his legs to Spencer Hawes for the dunk, which earns a ("If you don't like that, you don't like Kings basketball!")

Francisco lets Troy Murphy dunk over him. Luckily, that doesn't matter in fantasy. Next possession he helps well on defense and then denies his man well on the inbounds. Finally, he stumbles around a Jeff Foster screen and Marquis Daniels hits a long two. In my opinion, it's more the move by Daniels and less Garcia's bad defense which caused the play.

Kevin Martin doesn't get a pump-fake-jump-into-the-defender move which makes me very happy. I like Kevin Martin and I think he's a very good player but he's a flopper and that is annoying.

Garcia dislocates a finger on his shooting hand and goes
Troy Murphy drives and throws down a sick reverse dunk which the Kings announcer describes as "surprisingly athletic".
Angela Tsai tells us that Garcia has dislocated his right ring finger and his return is questionable. Awesome.

Garcia to the hole, a little out of control but he gets fouled and knocks down two at the line.

Garcia missed a jumpshot

Non- displaced fracture… late injury report

DVR malfunction – skip ahead to 6 minutes in the 4th Kings down 13.

Garcia forces a long two and misses.

McCants (he plays for the Kings, in case you were wondering) makes big plays at both ends of the floor to cut the Pacers lead to 10 but Travis Diener and Jarrett Jack knock down shots prompting garbage time.
Got some randomness for all of you dedicated readers. Thanks to Matt for the contributions.

You can all breathe easy now, Johan Petro has an official website.

Rod Benson is on Twitter (and apparently no longer on Dakota) and he's just dropped Boom Tho Girl 2 on the world. It's good but I'm kind of partial to the original, myself.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Nets vs. Hornets Re-Cap 3/1/09

Guest post by Drew.

Getting to the Izod Center is such a trifle to get to, it’s no wonder the Nets can’t sell the place out or get their home crowd riled enough to get a home record better than 13-15. By the time you deal with the traffic, get anally raped for parking (12 bucks!) and walk there, you’re ready for a stiff drink and a nap. So what’s worse than the trek from the Giants Stadium parking lot in the freezing cold? Getting a call from A&E telling you he overslept and he’s on the way to his bus and still has to get the tickets from his office. I should’ve expected that from the bastard but I digress, it’s his birthday and the tickets aren’t costing me anything. His being late allowed this story to happen:
I’m standing near the will call station and two middle-aged ladies walk by wearing #12 Hornets jerseys. I’m wearing my Standard shirt/jersey and some people are even wearing old school LJ-Charlotte jerseys (Is it cool to wear the jerseys of a departed franchise? I suppose but I don’t think I’ll see any Durant-Sonics jerseys in OKC anytime soon) but really two people both wearing Hilton Armstrong’s jersey? You either have to be his best friend or a direct relative to wear the jersey of a player who’s currently losing minutes to Sean Marks. Eventually, a young man with two kids shows up also wearing Armstrong’s number. I ask if they’re friends with Hilton and the man tells me the one woman is his mother. I say Hilton’s having a good year coming off the bench and I hope they enjoy the game before saying goodbye. Two hours later, I’ll feel bad for Hilton’s Mom because he didn’t touch the floor all game (DNP-Coach’s decision I discover later) .
Now for the actual game. We missed the first quarter but judging by the score, didn’t really miss much. I’ve watched a good amount of both the Nets (cus they’re local) and the Hornets (cus I stalk Chris Paul) and if there’s any one problem with either team, it’s that they never seem to have a definitive game plan. The Hornets are overly reliant on Paul and if things don’t go smoothly or he gets in foul trouble, things hit the breaks and Byron Scott says his big men have been suffering from “fat lady syndrome”. The Nets revolve around VC and Devin Harris, who’s stepped it up a lot this year, but if they aren’t hitting their shots, the rest of the team fails to step up because they’re young.
So the game tended to vary between a bunch of high notes and plenty of low ones. The Hornets dominated, by 13 at one point on a healthy diet of Chandler alley-oops and moving the ball through Stojakovic, West and Butler for the bulk of their offense. But the Hornets floundered and the Nets came back through the 3-point shooting of Jarvis Hayes and VC while Harris made it a point to take on Paul throughout the game, which he did for 26 pts., 14 assts. In the pre-season, Harris claimed that he was in the top 8 of point guards in the league, with Paul clearly at the top, after breaking out this season, he said he’s now in the top 5. I asked A&E if that’s true, who are the other three? I say it’s Williams, Nash and Billups. Despite his love for Nash, A&E says Nash definitely isn’t in the top 5 anymore although he’s still bringing the noise and the funk and Billups neither, but look at the Nuggets and Pistons’ records and tell me he isn’t. We agree Calderon and Rose will probably replace both of them in a year or two, then got distracted by the game and never got back around to it. What about Tony Parker you might say? Well that’s because I don’t respect the French douche, that’s why. In other news, Antonio Daniels is improving as CP’s backup and Sean Marks is my favorite goofy white boy in the NBA right now. He hustles constantly, gets dirty down low, he’s from New Zealand and he’s 34 so he looks like he should be playing in an old man league on Wednesdays in a high-school gym. We haven’t seen a guy like this since Chris Dudley.
Anyway, each team did a great job of trying to not win the game. The Nets employed a lousy zone defense in the fourth which the Hornets missed a lot of open jumpers in but thanks to West crashing the boards and The Standard managing the game well, they overcame their deficit to win the game. The Nets are still a great team to watch and will be even better once their young guys get more comfortable or in Sean Williams’ case, stop being stupid. Lopez, Yi, CDR (hopefully Ryan Anderson) and are all amazing building blocks to put around Harris, it’s all about getting value out of trading VC this summer (just one of many that are sure to move this summer, including AI and Richard Jefferson). The Hornets, meanwhile, pulled out a squeaker but are still in a tight race for the playoffs. If only they’d give Hilton some more minutes!