Thursday 4/26
Orlando v Detroit (Pistons up 3-0) – It’s broom time in the Magic Kingdom. I’ll give you one stat before moving on. Detroit has made as many 3-pointers (21-46, 45.7%) as Orlando has attempted (8-21, 38.1%). It’s tough to win with a disparity like that. If the Pistons can win Saturday afternoon it will be their first sweep since 1990 when the dispatched Indiana in three games.
Utah v Houston (Rockets up 2-1) – I know for the casual fan this series has to be brutal to watch, and for that I apologize. Yet for the hardcore among us this is a very interesting series to watch unfold. Mainly because of the coaching match up, but it goes deeper than x’s & o’s. These two clubs approach the game in practically identical ways and it’s making for some interesting ball in my opinion.
In Game 3 it was like the teams switched energy. The Jazz made all the big plays when they counted, just like Houston did in the first two games. Utah’s bench came to play with Gordan Giricek putting up 10 points & 3 rebounds to go along with rookie Paul Millsap’s 9 points & 4 rebounds. On the other hand the Rockets subs contributed 0 points & 6 rebounds TOTAL. To make matter worse for Houston they only had FOUR players score the entire night (a post season first).
My boy Andrei Kirilenko has taken a lot of heat this post season, and rightfully so. (He *did* show flashes of his old energy & presence in Game 3 though, even if the numbers might not show it.) But I’m wondering how Memo Okur is getting a free pass when he has clearly stunk up the joint? Okur is averaging 5.7 points while shooting 6-35 from the field (17.1%) and 2-15 from three (13.3%). Compare that to his season averages of 17.6 ppg, 46.2% and 38.4%. Keep in mind that he was the second leading scorer on the Jazz too. (Full disclosure: Memo has upped his blocks from .48 to 2.7 bpg and his steals from .45 to 2.3 spg, so he *is* playing solid defense on Yao Ming.) I’m just saying that compared to AK’s drop from 8.3 to 1.3 ppg Okur’s fall off is much more egregious.
Lakers v Phoenix (Suns up 2-1) – Do you believe in miracles?!?! I sure do, well at least in this case anyway. Los Angeles battled back from being down 11-0 to start the game and 31-17 at the end of the 1st quarter to manage an improbable victory. The Lakers did it by getting big contributions from multiple guys and…gulp…actually playing like a team for a change. Lamar Odom was huge with 18 points and 16 rebounds, and of course Kobe Bryant was masterful as always (45 points, 15-26 FG, 13-13 FT, 6 assists & rebounds), but it was the performance of Kwame Brown that really tilted the scale in favor of LA. (Yes I’m being serious.) The much maligned Brown tallied 19 points (playoff high) on 8-14 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds (4 offensive) and 2 blocks. But it was his intestinal fortitude after spraining his good (right) ankle that was most impressive. I’ve typed it many times, but the Lakers *need* Kwame’s interior defense to have any chance.
Credit must also be dolled out heavily to LA coach Phil Jackson. Other than motivation and team building, the Zen Master’s best coaching quality is game-to-game adjustments in the playoffs. And he made some very big ones for Game 3. The most important was switching all pick & rolls accompanied by intermittent trapping of Steve Nash off said pick & rolls. This clearly threw Phoenix off their game and disrupted Nash’s rhythm. Phil’s next stroke of brilliance was dusting off Shammond Williams & Smush Parker for defensive purposes. The S & S boys did a very fine job containing the difficult duo of Nash & Leandro Barbosa.
As excited as I am about this win, I’m also realistic. The Lakers are done if they lose Game 4. So it’s up to Suns coach Mike D’Antoni to adjust now, which I’m pretty certain isn’t his strong suit. Remember too, as I’ve typed before, that Phoenix was just 11-6 over the final month of the season, and both D’Antoni & Nash hinted at chemistry issues as the reason why. If this series heads back to US Airways Center tied up you can be sure that the Suns will be feeling the majority of the pressure.
Utah v Houston (Rockets up 2-1) – I know for the casual fan this series has to be brutal to watch, and for that I apologize. Yet for the hardcore among us this is a very interesting series to watch unfold. Mainly because of the coaching match up, but it goes deeper than x’s & o’s. These two clubs approach the game in practically identical ways and it’s making for some interesting ball in my opinion.
In Game 3 it was like the teams switched energy. The Jazz made all the big plays when they counted, just like Houston did in the first two games. Utah’s bench came to play with Gordan Giricek putting up 10 points & 3 rebounds to go along with rookie Paul Millsap’s 9 points & 4 rebounds. On the other hand the Rockets subs contributed 0 points & 6 rebounds TOTAL. To make matter worse for Houston they only had FOUR players score the entire night (a post season first).
My boy Andrei Kirilenko has taken a lot of heat this post season, and rightfully so. (He *did* show flashes of his old energy & presence in Game 3 though, even if the numbers might not show it.) But I’m wondering how Memo Okur is getting a free pass when he has clearly stunk up the joint? Okur is averaging 5.7 points while shooting 6-35 from the field (17.1%) and 2-15 from three (13.3%). Compare that to his season averages of 17.6 ppg, 46.2% and 38.4%. Keep in mind that he was the second leading scorer on the Jazz too. (Full disclosure: Memo has upped his blocks from .48 to 2.7 bpg and his steals from .45 to 2.3 spg, so he *is* playing solid defense on Yao Ming.) I’m just saying that compared to AK’s drop from 8.3 to 1.3 ppg Okur’s fall off is much more egregious.
Lakers v Phoenix (Suns up 2-1) – Do you believe in miracles?!?! I sure do, well at least in this case anyway. Los Angeles battled back from being down 11-0 to start the game and 31-17 at the end of the 1st quarter to manage an improbable victory. The Lakers did it by getting big contributions from multiple guys and…gulp…actually playing like a team for a change. Lamar Odom was huge with 18 points and 16 rebounds, and of course Kobe Bryant was masterful as always (45 points, 15-26 FG, 13-13 FT, 6 assists & rebounds), but it was the performance of Kwame Brown that really tilted the scale in favor of LA. (Yes I’m being serious.) The much maligned Brown tallied 19 points (playoff high) on 8-14 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds (4 offensive) and 2 blocks. But it was his intestinal fortitude after spraining his good (right) ankle that was most impressive. I’ve typed it many times, but the Lakers *need* Kwame’s interior defense to have any chance.
Credit must also be dolled out heavily to LA coach Phil Jackson. Other than motivation and team building, the Zen Master’s best coaching quality is game-to-game adjustments in the playoffs. And he made some very big ones for Game 3. The most important was switching all pick & rolls accompanied by intermittent trapping of Steve Nash off said pick & rolls. This clearly threw Phoenix off their game and disrupted Nash’s rhythm. Phil’s next stroke of brilliance was dusting off Shammond Williams & Smush Parker for defensive purposes. The S & S boys did a very fine job containing the difficult duo of Nash & Leandro Barbosa.
As excited as I am about this win, I’m also realistic. The Lakers are done if they lose Game 4. So it’s up to Suns coach Mike D’Antoni to adjust now, which I’m pretty certain isn’t his strong suit. Remember too, as I’ve typed before, that Phoenix was just 11-6 over the final month of the season, and both D’Antoni & Nash hinted at chemistry issues as the reason why. If this series heads back to US Airways Center tied up you can be sure that the Suns will be feeling the majority of the pressure.
posted by D$ at 6:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home