Early Round Two

According to Doc Rivers, Brian Scalabrine and Stephon Marbury were the Celtics two best players in game 1 of their series with the Magic. Stephon Marbury hasn't been the best player in a game for 2 or 3 years and Scalabrine just popped his player of the game cherry in game 1. The Celtics are the defending champs, and yet when the time comes to protect homecourt advantage in a series that is going to be based a lot on where the games are played, their two best players were Brian Scalabrine and Stephon Marbury. (Easily the two ugliest Celtics as well, Starbury with the tatoo on his head and Scalabrine...well there is more than one thing wrong with the red headed wonder) Rajon Rondo had seven turnovers and is getting the best looks on offense out of everyone in green and white. What I don't understand is that if a player gets paid to do nothing but play basketball year around, how in the world can that player not hit a wide open 18 footer. The Magic are collapsing the key and begging Rondo to keep firing up bricks so Dwight Howard can go ahead and grab 20 boards a game for the rest of the series. What Rondo did so well against the Bulls (who didn't have a shot blocker like Howard in the key) was attack the space they were giving him so he met the defender with a head of steam and could get to the basket easier. Even if Rondo charges the hoop and throws something up off the glass and Howard tries to block it, it will give Perkins and Davis a chance to rebound without having Howard standing flat footed against them.

Technically it is my fault that Ray Allen got outscored by J.J. Redick. I talked Allen up big time in my previous post, and I have been known to rag on former Duke players; especially Redick. Those two things combined let Redick outscore Allen and suddenly have his own statline put on the screen about how he has scored 27 points in the previous 2 games. The reason I am looking forward to game 2 is because I think we will see a completely different Celtic team out there than in game 1. Allen won't be missing shots, Rondo won't be turning the ball over, and Pierce will come back from the dead. Actually the last one isn't true, there has to be a rule that if you have played in 8 playoff games and people are still wondering when you are going to put an entire game together, I'd say fatigue has set in. Think about it, Pierce has been playing with the Celtics on his back since KG went down in March. He willed them to the 2nd spot in the east, and (with the help of Allen) willed them past the Bulls; the guy is exhausted. (His beard is even tired and refused to grow in thicker than a 12 year old boy's) This isn't like when he used to put the terrible Celtics of the past on his back and lead them to 20 win seasons, this is the playoffs and he is wearing down. He is in a physical battle with Hedo Turkoglu. Paul Pierce, in a physical battle with Hedo Turkoglu and losing. He is too tired to match up with the Turkish sensation! If the Celtics survive, which I feel they will despite looking like garbage in the first game (the Magic don't have the killer instinct); how will Pierce match up with Lebron who looks like he will have another easy series where he gets to the hoop whenever he likes?

The Rockets somehow lulled the Lakers and their fans asleep to sneak game 1 away from LA. Rick Adelman got second this season in the Coach of the Year balloting. After game 1 I want to take the award away from Mike Brown and give it to Adelman. His game plan worked to perfection to shut down the Lakers. It doesn't hurt the Lakers couldn't make anything from the outside, but I was shocked at how effectively Shane Battier and Ron Artest worked together to keep Kobe quiet. Granted he had his 32 points, but he also took 31 shots. That's the vintage Kobe that Phil Jackson does not like to see out there. When the Lakers are at their best Kobe is taking between 18-24 shots and making about 50% of them. Then he can use his teammates to open himself up for easy baskets where he doesn't have to get beaten up to score. The Rockets went ahead and let any other Laker and their mother go ahead and try to beat them and forced Kobe to take bad shots and make tough plays. Their only hope is to wear down the Black Mamba and try to get him to go 2006 Kobe on them and just try to make Sportscenter every night despite his teammates standing around watching and the Lakers losing. I don't see the Rockets pulling out a win in this series, but if the Lakers continue to shoot like that they might surprise me. For as big of a game as Trevor Ariza talks, the Rockets sure weren't worried about him taking some big shots down the stretch wide open. In fact, they were almost asking him to do it. For the Lakers to win this series, they are going to have to wake up and realize they are in the NBA playoffs and the teams in the Western Conference aren't just parade bystanders on their way to their match up with the Cavs. I'm a lot more excited about this series than I was before it started. The Rockets need to keep being perfect and the Lakers need to keep being not and I could be eating my words from my previous blog.

Denver is still looking great. I'm almost getting to the point where I am enjoying watching them play. (I said almost) I like how George Karl just leans on the scorer's table nearly the entire game popping hard candy and cough drops like Brett Favre and his pain killers. He just lets his team play and tries to stay out of their way as much as possible. Even when J.R. Smith shoots an ill-advised 28 footer he just shakes his head and chuckles to himself. With a team that is as talented as Denver, that is what a coach needs to do. In the Western Conference defense isn't preached like it is with the Eastern powerhouses of Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando. The key is just getting up and down the floor and scoring a lot of points; and Karl is the perfect coach for a team that is built to do just that.

I have to give Carmelo Anthony some credit too. At the beginning of the fourth quarter in game 2 of the Dallas-Denver series it was a tied game and I said outloud that Melo disappoints me because he doesn't take over the 4th quarter of games like D-Wade, Kobe, and Lebron. Then Melo comes out and scores 15 4th quarter points, and had a couple of assists that were key to the Nuggets' huge run to bust the game open. When Anthony decides he is going to be the best player on the court there are few that can stop him. I hope he is maturing and getting more hungry as the playoffs go on and we will continue to see the production out of him.

As for Dallas, I am a little concerned because Dirk is trying to do everything on his own. Maybe the series will get more interesting once the series gets back to Dallas, but if Denver keeps playing like this they can't be touched. The Mavs have tried going big and Nene and Martin are too quick for their bigs. They try going small and Birdman Anderson tears them up on the inside. What I have noticed is that the Nuggets just want it more right now. Take Birdman for instance, he isn't the most talented player on the floor by any stretch of the imagination and yet he makes his living making plays off of just outhustling the Mavs. I think that Mark Cuban needs to go have another talk with his team and threaten to give them away again. It worked the first time and it won't take much of a spark to get the crown behind them in Dallas and get them back into this series.

Finally, the Cavs-Hawks series is going to be everything we hoped. The 27 point blowout in the first game was the first time I have ever told someone that a 99-72 game wasn't as close as the score indicated. It looked like the Hawks had no answer for Lebron and Company. The only disappointing thing about Lebron's 34 point night was his lack of assists. I am the ultimate advocate for thinking that America is going to keep raising the bar for Lebron until he can't meet it anymore. I feel it is unfair to the choosen one, but I even felt myself raising the bar in game 1 a bit. Lebron was dominating the game by getting to the hoop and shutting down everyone on the defensive end (he had 4 steals). But I caught myself saying, that he wasn't going to get a triple-double unless he passes more. What level has Lebron reached if fans are now expecting a triple-double every time he steps foot on the floor? I think fans need to enjoy what Lebron has been doing and I wouldn't be surprised to see a triple-double before this series is over. I want to see more out of Joe Johnson this series, but he's not getting any looks at the hoop with Cleveland's swarming double teams flying at him everytime he touches the ball. The only thing I am sure of after the first few games of round 2 is that the Cavs will still most likely sweep the Hawks, the rest of the series are up in the air a little more.

SHOUT OUT OF THE DAY: Rick Ankiel. The St. Louis Cardinals' outfielder smashed head first into the wall after making a running/diving catch against the Phillies on May 4. If you haven't seen it, Youtube it. The fact that he ran down the ball at all was an amazing feat. Then he caught it and lost his balance and barrelled into the base of the wall at full speed. He didn't even get the chance to get his hands up. Baseball is one of the few sports where you only play half the time, but get more chances to put your body on the line for your team. That is exactly what Ankiel did. He escaped without any broken bones or any serious injury. He should consider himself lucky, and the Cards should consider themselves lucky to have that caliber of player and person on their team.