- Talk about Pau Gasol finding a way to silence his critics. After 40 minutes of play where Bickel and I were constantly calling him a disaster, with 4 minutes left, KG stole the ball from him, went down to the other end and dunked. Somehow, Pau came back from that and dominated the final 3 minutes of play on both sides of the ball. If Pau finds a way to not be afraid of KG or other intimidating 4s, the Lakes have a chance this year
- When will we start talking about the Magic? Or are they just playing over their heads? Sometimes, you think. The Magic can't win. For pete's sake they play Bogans, Nelson, and Pietrus crucial big minutes! But, when you watch them, you realize that Nelson is a hell of a shooter, Pietrus can attack every so often, and Bogans is super awkward - but not super terrible. I do think they need to run the offense more through Rashard Lewis than they do. He really can score from the post. But, Van Gundy is a great coach, and Howard is only getting better.
- The Suns keep losing heartbreaking games to the Spurs. It's getting really tough to watch. Shaq does look great on offense somehow this season. Duncan soundly answered the Amare-Duncan debate by dominating both ends of the floor - particularly in crunch time defending Amare.
- Look for the newest trend in the NBA to be the "Kobe Tap." Twice on Christmas day Kobe jumped for a loose ball and knocked it forward up the court for a teammate to rundown and score. It's a super looking play and seems effective. I expect this to be as prevalent as running backs jumping over defenders this season in the NFL.
- KG is the most intense dude around. There was a moment of real terror in the air during a press conference before the game. KG was asked about the significance of the game. He quietly said some flattering things about the Lakers. Then he said, "But it's not like we circled this game on our calendar." He followed by making eye contact with the reporter and, serious as cancer, he says "We circle every game on our calendar." KG is the only top player who legitimately has no off switch. For that reason, he's a Christmas gift for every NBA fan.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas Thoughts
A few thoughts from Christmas:
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3 comments:
I'm driving back down the coast right now and wanted to say a few things...
1) A programing note - I've got a couple columns that I'm going to put up in the next day or two... One of them is a Kobe-related column after hearing more talking heads mention the Lakers' record in games where Kobe shoots 20 or more times.
2) I mentioned this to Anthony on Christmas day, but at what point does it become mental for the Suns against the Spurs? I mean, there was the Donaghy series and now the game on Christmas... I mean, at some point don't the Suns start wondering if they can beat the Spurs? This also applies to the Hawks and Celtics and to a lesser extent, it's why the Lakers-Celtics game meant more to the Lakers and their fans. But back to the Suns-Spurs, how does Richardson leave Mason open there? That had to be some sort of directive from Terry Porter, right? He had to have said, whatever happens, don't let Tony Parker beat us... Right? Grant Hill, who may or may not still drink Sprite, was playing fantastic defense, there was no way Parker scores there barring a miracle shot and Richardson leaves the third best (I believe)three point shooter in the league wide open! I know it's Roger Mason and not Robert Horry circa 1999-2005, but come on. And this is not me trying to make JRich look bad in light of the trade. I've already gone on the record saying that the trade has worked out great so far for Phoenix and will most likely continue to look great (even if jared dudley doesn't get off the Suns' bench).
3) Gasol wasn't just miserable for the first 40 minutes, he was the WORST Laker for the first 40 minutes. I'm not sure he had a single positive play. But wow, he really turned it on. That was unbelievable.
4) I fully admit to being a biased Laker fan, but were the refs that bad in the game? It seemed that the refs were really letting both teams play and yet Bill Simmons was crying in his mailbag the other day about the refs. Did he watch the finals? Did he expect the Celtics to get every single call again? Did he just completely forget that one of the Celtics biggest shots (Pierce's 3 that either tied the game in the 4th or gave the Celtics a 2 point lead) came on the heels of Rondo falling down after grabbing a rebound and rolling on the floor (a textbook travel) before passing it out to Tony Allen? I know I'm biased, but never once in the game did I think "wow, the refs really screwed the Celtics there" I mean, jeez Bill Simmons... Have the Celtics or Red Sox or Patriots ever lost in a game where they weren't completely jobbed? How about just admitting the Lakers outplayed the Celtics and deserved to win the game? No, it doesn't make the Lakers favorites to win the finals or mean they should supplant the Celtics as #1 in Stein's power rankings (although that loss to Golden State will move the Celtics down in mine next week), but come on, lose with class. For once. (Yes, the pot is probably calling the kettle black here, but whatever).
I think that's all I got for now. Still have another 4 hours to go before reaching LA...
Bickel. This is like your third negative comment on Roger Mason this year. Yes, he is not a dynamic player. But I'm taking him on a open three pointer almost before I'm taking anyone in the world. He shoots 50%! Over 90 from the free throw line! He has huge holes in his game for sure. But, good lord, the guy can hit open shots like Steve Kerr!
I was not intending to denigrate Roger Mason, I was merely stating that he doesn't have a history of making big shots like Rob Horry. I even mentioned he has the third highest percentage 3-pt percentage in the NBA and I couldn't believe that Richardson would leave him open. I thought I was complimenting Mason by saying Richardson shouldn't have left him open...
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