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Let’s See How Far They’ve Come

April 18, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

I want to believe that the Magic are one of the best teams in the league.  Dwight Howard just has that effect on people.  He makes me feel like I am young again, home again, fun again.  But Orlando couldn’t have limped into the postseason in a less convincing matter, dropping some strange games to some awful teams.  Why would one of the league’s elite teams, with an all-world player at the sport’s most important position, struggle against the bottom feeders?  Probably because they’re decidedly mortal.  But of course, this is the first round, and that’s something we won’t have to worry about until later.

That’s because while the Magic are mortal, the Sixers are best described as limited.  Elton Brand was supposed to revolutionize the offense, and provide Philly with something to go to in the half-court.  That didn’t quite pan out, and now here we are: essentially the same Sixers team as last year is playing another clearly superior opponent.  The Magic won’t be stalled by the Sixers simply because the young dogs have learned no new tricks.  Andre Iguodala is still doing too much, either by design of the scheme or his ego.  Does he have what it takes to be a working class hero?  Simply, no.  Iggy isn’t good enough to be that type of player, and his very style of play isn’t quite the type to offensively dominate for a series.  Not against an average defense, and certainly not against the Magic’s…magical defense.  Sorry.

Orlando has some injury problems, and that’s not even saying the half of it.  But it’s not enough.  Dwight Howard would need a spear sticking out of his leg for the Magic to fall.  That’s how little faith I have in a poorly executed offense to overcome a masterful defense.  Playing for the Mag has turned Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis into not just competent, but successful defenders.  Rafer is rarely appreciated for his work on that end, and Courtney Lee is a defensive stud among young players.  Whip that all up with a healthy scoop of Dwight, and you’re presented with the shackles and chains that will bind the Sixers for the next week or so.  There’s a key, somewhere out there, but I’m pretty sure Marcin Gortat swallowed it and has no intention of surrendering.

It’ll be interesting to see what the Sixers have in ‘em, but I’m not expecting all that much.  And, oddly enough, even a few wins over the recovering Magic won’t mean much in my mind.  I don’t know what I need to see from Philly in order to be impressed, but I’ll know it when I see it.  It may or may not involve Andre Miller dunking and Andre Iguodala solving the energy crisis.

The Magic still need to show a lot of growth before they’re ready for the Finals.  Whether or not they can make it through LeBron James is kind of a big deal.  And while this series won’t answer all questions for the Magic’s summer dreams, it should give a pretty decent indicator of where their heads are, and how much better this team is than Orlando squads past.

Magic in 6.

The Magic and the Sixers tip off Sunday at 5:30 EST on TNT.

I’ll Get the Mop

April 18, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

It’s not that the Jazz can’t win games against the Lakers.

Okay, who’re we kidding; it’s exactly that.  The Lakers outclass the Jazz in almost ev-er-y sin-gle way, and though Utah may have been considered a “tough out” as recently as a month ago, things change.  And boy did they.

This one’s going to be a bloodbath.

I don’t think there’s any dispute that L.A. is the better team here.  Even the Jazziest of Jazzers would have to concede that point.  The only point of contention would be just how long it would take for the Lakers to win, and in just how dominant of a fashion they do so.  I’m here to clear any doubt.  The Lakers will be flossing their teeth with what remains of the Jazz by the time this series is through.  There will be no poetry.  There will be no beauty.  Just domination by the hands of a triangle, and a lifeless corpse paralyzed by the bite of a mamba.

It’s tragic for Deron Williams, who I fully expect to be spectacular.  But it’s a team sport, they say, and however he might flex his point guard muscles against the likes of Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown, and Trevor Ariza, Carlos Boozer, Memo Okur, and the rest of the Utah cast simply don’t have the talent level, the defensive dedication, or the level of execution to take down a juggernaut like the Lakers.

Let’s get one thing straight: it takes a perfect storm to beat the Lakers this year.  Your team needs to be playing some damn good basketball, the Lakers need to fall off a bit, and the match-ups need to be favorable.  Utah can count just one match-up in their favor, and doesn’t have any kind of momentum going into the playoffs after stumbling down to the 8th seed.  At full strength, with a world of confidence, we might talk about this as if it were a series.  But considering just how bad the Jazz have been (explain away their shortcomings at your own peril) to finish the season, I can’t grant them much of a chance, if any.  You need a Jazz explosion and a Lakers implosion to generate some genuine competition here, and I just don’t see it.

You see that Hardwood Paroxysm banner at the top, and you might assume that this is just another post to get Jazz fans’ blood pumping.  That I’m trying to get your goat, and all that.  Well, also consider this blog’s extensive history of Laker-hate, and what it must mean if I’m willing to sing their praises for a paragraph or two.  Bynum isn’t as destined for greatness as people think, but that doesn’t make the Lakers anything less than a juggernaut.  They have Kobe.  They have Pau.  They have PJax.  And now they have Bynum.  Damn right, they’re better than yours.

Lakers in 5.

The Lakers and the Jazz tip off on Sunday at 3:00 EST on ABC.

Getcha Popcorn Ready

April 18, 2009 in by with 2 Comments

I feel pretty ridiculous fleshing out every potential detail of the Mavs-Spurs series.  In fact, we should all feel pretty silly for trying to predict the outcome of this thing.  You can weigh advantages and disadvantages all day and all night, but this is the one series in the first round that ain’t over ’til it’s over, meaning the Mavs are decimated en route to a roster shake up, or the Spurs are dead, buried, and staked.  I simply refuse to believe that either team is finished until the final bell tolls, tolls again, and maybe even a third time.  These teams are just that evenly matched, and this series is really going to be that close.

So, Spurs in six, Mavs in six, Spurs in seven, Mavs in seven…what’s really the difference?  I’m expecting several overtimers and almost every game being decided by ten points tops.  The ball has to bounce one way or the other, but no man, woman, or blogger can rightfully say who will be left standing.

This is a series that, regardless of team affiliation, should be judged strictly on entertainment value.  Even if you find Duncan or Dirk boring on an individual basis, it’s hard to doom a slugfest between these two teams to the same fate.  So what if the offenses are meticulous?  So what if each team’s superstar analyzes each possession with the precision of BallerBot 3000?  There’s something organic in the mechanical and the robotic, even if each is more a visage of the past than the future.  Plus, robots can be completely exciting, awesome, and demanding of your attention.  This ain’t Rosie, folks.  These are Sentinels, T-1000s, Bicentennial Men, HALs, and those bots from Chopping Mall all rolled into one.  Stare into the face of Duncan and you stare into the face of annihilation; dare to challenge Dirk’s calculated primacy and risk death by numbers.  Two of the best at their respective craft, doing their thing, relatively undisturbed by the opposition.  It’s a beaut.

But it’s also ignoring Tony Parker, and nobody puts Tony in the corner.  He’s become infinitely more hateable than Duncan, and his role within the offense is at an all-time high.  To cringe at every blow-by, teardrop, and floater is to feed into exactly what many of us already know: Tony Parker is the real deal, and an elite NBA scorer.  Maybe he still relies on Duncan’s draw and shooters to space the floor, but I can count on one hand the number of players who can stop this guy, and that’s saying quite a bit.

To counter, the Mavs offer Jason Terry, Josh Howard, and Jason Kidd.  The three are everything that gives the Spurs’ defense fits, and they do it without the obvious domination of a Chris Paul.  Terry will run whoever is guarding him ragged, beating them up with Dampier screens and constant curls.  Josh Howard will surprise a lot of people with a playoff comeback, in which he isn’t so much X-factor as he is a force of nature.  Kidd will aim to prove what’s been ignored for a large part of the season: this guy is an elite point guard that can still have a huge impact on the offense.  He still sets things in motion in the half-court and on the break, and though he’s closer to the AARP than Devin Harris is, you shouldn’t neglect his impact on a game and his series based on his inability to drop 30.

This is a series that transcends predictions.  It’s just buckets of fun, and possibly the last hurrah for the recognizable forms of the only two teams to win 50 games every year this decade.  So please, fasten your safety belts, put up your tray tables, and lock your seats in the upright position – it’s about to go down, y’all.

The Mavs and Spurs tip off tonight at 8:00 EST on ESPN.

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