Andrew “Fuzzy” Levane passed away last Sunday. Obviously, I’m a bit slow on putting something together acknowledging his contribution to professional basketball, but the Internet has ably taken care of that.
A personable and gregarious figure, Levane was head coach of the Knicks during the 1958-59 season, leading them to a 40-32 record, a second-place finish in the N.B.A.’s Eastern Division and a playoff appearance, though he resigned under pressure early in the 1959 season after the team lost 19 of its first 27 games.
His biggest contribution to the franchise was probably his hiring of a scout, a longtime friend named Red Holzman, who would later coach the Knicks to their only league championships, in 1970 and 1973.
As you’ll see reading through the rest of that article, Holzman and Levane were practically inseparable. One would salvage the other’s career only to return the favor a couple of years later. The native New Yorkers most famously led the Knicks to their 1970 and 1973 titles, but for children of the 1990s like myself the most lasting Levane impact was his discovery of Anthony Mason.
All I can add is that Levane’s passing leaves us with one fewer voice to recall the sights, sounds and action of the early days of professional basketball. He got his start playing for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League in shortly after his Coast Guard duty in World War II ended. The NBL, around since the mid-1930s, was the premier professional league and would later merge with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the NBA.
Established in 1944, the Royals were the brainchild of Lester Harrison, a local Jewish businessman. Seeking to attract interest in the Royals amongst the local Jewish population, Harrison had signed Levane assuming he was Jewish because of his last name. Much to Harrison’s surprise, the 6’2″ forward was actually Italian. Nonetheless, Levane tipped Harrison off on a possible Jewish guard to fill the role mistakenly given to himself. That guard of course would be Red Holzman.
Despite the initial, comical mix-up, Levane adored his time with the Royals and pro ball in general:
We were millionaires! I was making five grand a year! Before that I didn’t know that you could get paid for what we were doing. I got married in 1945 and bought a house in Rochester and we stayed there until 1949.
The times were grand in Rochester as Levane played on a team stacked from top to bottom with Hall of Fame and All-NBL talent: Bob Davies, Bobby Wanzer, Holzman, Arnie Risen, and Al Cervi chief amongst them. A different game usually brought a different leading scorer for the plucky club that played their games in an arena the size of a pillbox. They took home the NBL crown in 1946 and lost in the NBL Finals in 1947 and 1948.
Perhaps it was Levane’s experience with this egalitarian Royals team that later influenced how the early 1970s Knicks, so famous for their effortless passing and camaraderie, came about. What is certain is that Fuzzy Levane was one of the true ambassadors of the game and it’s a shame, as inevitable as it is, that he’s now gone.
Tony Allen defending Chris Paul is one of those beautiful things that make the NBA worthwhile. Allen is such a vastly different player from Paul, and yet when Paul dribbles down the court and Allen stares back, the clashing synergy between the two threatens to melt the court like magma. The two begin their dance, and the first step is a light screen. Paul’s searching circle is next, the ball low and high all at once as he dribbles and Allen defends, frenzied and chasing. Always, Allen is near, and Paul’s circling becomes difficult. The rhythm is gone, but the frantic pace remains. Eventually, Paul escapes the circle, but Allen still waits, the dance over but the resolution still building.
The Game
Somehow, Caron Butler is starting this game. Butler broke his left hand a few days ago, and now he’s starting in a playoff game. He misses both of his two shots in the quarter, but again, he’s playing with an unhealed broken hand, which can make shooting a basketball considerably more difficult. The rest of the first quarter goes better for the Clippers, and Chris Paul records nine points and six assists in the first 14 minutes. He knows what he’s doing.
The Grizzlies are meandering to open the second quarter, but the Clippers’ categorical discord rears its ugly head in the form of Reggie Evans’ missed free throws and Eric Bledsoe turnovers. It’s a close game once again, and we all feel like fools for ever believing that the Clippers were about to run away with this one. Specifically, I do. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul soon check back into the game midway through the second quarter, and the two teams are essentially back at square one. While Reggie Evans is at the free throw line, I notice Marc Gasol point to his hand and presumably ask Caron Butler how in the world he’s playing with one that’s broken. The camera moves before the audience gets to see Butler answer, which is tragic. His answer might have revolutionized modern medicine.
The Narrative
Reggie Evans might be the most bizarre player in the NBA. He’s not a good defender and he can’t score, but somehow he decides Clippers’ games regularly. The stars dominate the proceedings and the scoring goes back and forth, but quietly Evans makes his mark. He’s a rebounder first and foremost, and he excels in that limited role, creating new offensive possessions as if doing so is an art form. It’s his niche, and a relatively small one at that, but it’s just enough to make an impact, and neatly symbolic of the 2011-2012 Clippers.
The Game
Blake Griffin and Zach Randolph scuffle late in the second quarter, and both players are separated. What follows is a Blake Griffin alley-oop from Chris Paul, a beautifully responsive moment that is somewhat ruined by Blake Griffin’s incredulous questioning as to why a foul wasn’t called on the nearby Zach Randolph. It’s been a physical game filled with the stylistic variances between a Marreese Speights fade away jumper and a line drive Blake Griffin hook shot, but now it starts to settle down. The atmosphere is loud, but O.J. Mayo’s beard feels somehow louder.
Cut to 2.3 seconds remaining in the half. The Grizzlies are inbounding (well, Marreese Speights is), and things go horribly awry or fantastically shocking, depending on which team you prefer. Speights tries to find a streaking O.J. Mayo along the right sideline, but Blake Griffin steals the pass. What happens next is paralyzing, and just brief enough to count. Griffin takes a few quick dribbles, avoids a standing, possibly shocked Speights, and dunks the ball as the first half expires. It isn’t Speights’ finest moment, but it’s a nice way to end the half.
The Narrative
Quincy Pondexter has been the best player for the Grizzlies thus far. I apologize for the brevity of this section.
The Game
It’s the Grizzlies’ turn to initiate a run as the second half begins, and they’re soon surging towards their own lead. The Clippers’ offense is quickly losing its luster, and their continuous failures to finish and find easy opportunities don’t end until Randy Foye and Nick Young have their say late in the third quarter. A three by Foye and then one by Young regurgitate life back into the shotmaking Clippers’ offense, and the newfound deficit that the Clippers have quickly accumulated is wittled down to three. The Staples Center crowd takes a loud collective breath.
Chris Paul has lost a little of his first half magic, and Rudy Gay’s finally found his. A couple of jumpers later, the Grizzlies lead is back to seven. This is the Grizzlies’ third quarter, but this game still belongs to both teams.
The Narrative
We have never seen Nick Young play NBA basketball in May before, and that’s regrettable. Something just seems different in Young’s confident corner three-pointers and smiling strolls back down the court when they appear in playoff games. Young is now 13-21 from the field in the postseason, and 70% from three. This could simply be a Nick Young phase, but I’d prefer to think it’s something more, something that only Nick Young could truly explain (probably on his Twitter account). When he makes the shots he so willingly takes, the Clippers are definably better, and a cascade of noises and energy from the rest of the team and the arena follows suit. Team dynamism often reveals itself in the form of fulfilled niches, and such seems to be the case with Young and the Clippers’ offense.
The Game
And so the fourth quarter begins with the Grizzlies firmly in control. Chris Paul checks out with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers down by three. These are the moments when this Clippers’ team often shines or fades, with no sense of predictability between either outcome. The Clippers manage to stay close in that awkward three-minute interval, and Chris Paul and Blake Griffin check back into the game. The game’s final six-minute exhale begins as Zach Randolph’s free throw clangs off the rim. What follows is a series of weird sequences including O.J. Mayo tripping, Chris Paul diving, Blake Griffin fumbling, and general dissension in regards to action verbs. Yes, things are becoming more interesting.
The Narrative
I am confused by everything about this game, but it is wonderful.
The Game
The final three minutes are a whir of confusion and remembrance, remembrance of who fourth quarters belong to for the Clippers. They belong to Chris Paul, and these occasions are his zenith. There are nine other players on the court, and then there is Paul. He isn’t providing an especially offensively brilliant performance by his standards as the Clippers edge out to a slight lead in the closing minutes, but he’s better than everyone else on the court, scoring or assisting on nearly every Clippers’ basket and ensuring a lead. But while we’re used to seeing and noticing Paul dominate in fourth quarters on the offensive end, his pestering defense is often forgotten. This year’s NBA steals’ leader quickly adds a couple more to his total, and the Clippers’ lead grows to four.
The final seconds are a frenzy, mirroring nearly every other minute of the game that has preceded them. The Grizzlies manage to bridge the gap behind an unlikely Rudy Gay three and missed free throws from Eric Bledsoe, and they are given a chance to return the Clippers’ Game 1 favor. Every dribble Mike Conley takes as he moves down the court with the clock ticking down from eight seconds feels like a precursor to an instant, sudden dissipation of Clippers’ goodwill. This is where the Grizzlies are meant to even the scales, and yet they do not. Rudy Gay’s double-clutched jumper barely misses, and the Clippers win. Basketball is not always a fair game, but the tilt of basketball enjoyment finally reaches its full apex.
The Narrative
The best series are the ones we can’t fully understand or take apart and analyze until they’ve already ended. They embroil themselves in their own closeness, and are soon entangled between the input of desperation and success. It’s difficult to understand what is still in motion, impacting against itself in a cacophony of competition. The Clippers are not the Grizzlies, and the Grizzlies are not the Clippers, but for a stretch of five to seven games, they’ll be locked together in a combined struggle of basketball and will.
The Clippers and Grizzlies play again on Monday, and I can’t wait. The motivations and efforts of Chris Paul and Tony Allen will tell you more than I ever could, as the two circle and weave towards an indeterminable exit.
Watch a game from the nosebleeds. It’s important. I sat near the top of the Staples Center for Game 3 of the Memphis Grizzlies/Los Angeles Clippers first round series. It’s interesting being that high up. The music blares during pregame warm-ups, but not every position within the arena feels the same tremble. The bass of each thumping rap track is deeper up here. It’s dark—much darker than the illuminated levels below, which more vividly show the arena’s sea of red.
I didn’t understand how high up I was until I looked straight and realized that the beams and rafters were at eye level; the same beams featured in ESPN’s new playoff promotional ads with players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Durant. From up there, the separation between athlete and fan is stretched and elongated to its absolute limits. The peering down at sharp angles creates the illusion of there being a world below and a world above, tethered together only by the constraints of the venue. We shout loudly and squint out of necessity. We are not the championed, but we are the champions.
Still, sitting with such an aerial perspective isn’t without its benefits. An example is watching Chris Paul’s ability to control the court from a macro level. I’ve seen Paul play from near-courtside seats. I’ve seen the majesty of his ball control, of his technically perfect ball-handling ability. The methods to which he is able to elude and create space from his defender are illustrated to perfection from that close up. But that’s at a micro level. Being able to see the intricacies of his handle means gawking solely at his presence, seeing the space he’s created after the fact. From the nosebleeds, Paul is no bigger than a chess piece. Rather than having the eyes focus on his hands and footwork, fans key in on the routes— the emerging and retracting pillars that Paul deftly uses as shields and decoys to create space, lines of vision, and blind spots in an opposing defense.
Admiring individual excellence is still possible from such heights, but that wasn’t the main draw. For me, as a detached, wayfaring fan with no particular team allegiance, I was most interested by the requisite extra-large shirts given to every attending fan. It’s a very simple symbol of unification and community. All housed within our own personal extra-large gown, we are sharing a collective experience understood only by those who were there. For 48 minutes, I was able to take on a sort of drag posing as a Clippers fan, embracing a sense of community and investment that I’d never truly known.
The most heartwarming example of community could be seen in the fourth quarter where Reggie Evans, once again, made all the difference. Our “Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!” chants started in the second quarter, steeped in irony, shouted with a subsequent wink and nudge. But over the course of the game—and more specifically, over the course of his six rebounds in the fourth quarter—the chants grew. Each time a little louder, with nods of approval acknowledging his energy that had resuscitated the team. By the end of the night, the “Reggie!” chants were as vociferous as any. It was a smooth gradient of intent over the course of the game from irony to earnestness. We probably could have gone without the “MVP” chants during his 2-for-6 performance from the free throw line in the second quarter, but some things just make more sense at the time.
After the game, my friends and I freeway-hopped our way to Guisados, one of the best taco shops in L.A. In the car, my friend asked me, “Don’t you love how the Clippers community just embraced Reggie Evans like that?”
I do.
It was a great showing of support for a hardworking player, and Reggie Evans himself is a great reflector of what makes nosebleed fans special. There is no glamour. There are no perks. The men and women tossing free T-shirts don’t have detachable rocket-propelled arms. We aren’t getting those shirts (though this poor kid standing in a few rows in front of me really thought he had a chance). We exist and thrive in the shadow below (or in our case, above) the bright lights. And as our collective shouts funnel downward, it becomes clear that we’re as integral to the experience as anything else.
I’ll apologize for all of the we’s. I don’t use it often, and I normally don’t have a reason to. But the unique energy of team allegiance; it’s infectious. I’m glad I was able to share it with fellow nosebleeders. It appears that distance made my heart grow fonder, if only for a day.
Indiana beat Orlando 101-99 in overtime in a game that should absolutely not have been as close as the score appears. A few random thoughts and notes from the game today:
If you have watched ESPN at any point in the past 15 years or so, chances are good that you have come across the Tom Emanski Instructional Videos, a set of baseball videos detailing the fundamentals of the game which famously led to back-to-back-to-back AAU national championships. Watching Tyler Hansbrough’s baseline, fadeaway, one-handed, throw-this-at-the-rim-and-hope-I-get-lucky shot is pretty much the bizarro basketball version of the Emanski videos.
I made this point in the Daily Dime Live chat, but it bears mentioning here. I have come to the conclusion that Danny Granger is the Desperate Housewives of NBA players. Both started out promising early in their history, both looked like they could turn into a monster show/player, both never really reached its full potential and tailed off a bit, yet they still put up solid ratings/stats. Granger finished with 21 points in Game Four, but needed 20 shots to do it.
JJ Redick looked like he was about to get into a fight with Hansbrough early in the fourth quarter which would have given us one of the most hilarious fights in the history of the NBA. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed that the refs did not allow this to happen. For a game that was largely uneventful and borderline unwatchable up until that point, it would have been nice to see something that spiced it up a bit. We’ll see if any of it carries over into Game 5.
Indiana’s possession with just under 3:00 left in the game was a thing of beauty. All five players on the floor touched the ball, and it resulted in an easy layup by Danny Granger to give the Pacers an eight point lead which theoretically should have put the game away. Assuming that Indiana and Miami advance, and it would take a miracle at this point for this not to happen, this is how the Pacers are going to have to play on offense. Expecting simple pick and rolls to work against the Heat is not going to work; crisp ball movement which gets the defense out of position is going to be key in the second round for Indiana.
Speaking of Miami, Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star nailed it:
If the Pacers are going to do anything in the next round, they're gonna have to get a lot tougher with a lead. Could see it coming.
The inability to hold a lead cost them Game One when they blew a late seven point lead. Today, they saw a 17 point lead evaporate in just under eight minutes in the fourth quarter. The Heat proved last year against Boston and Chicago that they have both the ability to come back with a vengeance down late and step on the throats of teams when they have them down. If the Pacers want to have any chance of making this a competitive series, they must learn to play better with a lead.
Each team’s end of regulation possessions were beyond abysmal.
Pacers: Give the ball to Roy Hibbert beyond the three point line. Have no one come help him for a full seven seconds. Have ball knocked out of David West’s hands. Have George Hill recover the ball and attempt a three-pointer less than a foot in front of the “M” in “MAGIC” on Orlando’s half-court logo with five seconds left. Draw nothing but backboard on shot. Commit shot clock violation.
Magic: ALL JAMEER NELSON ISO EVERYTHING. Nelson was 3-13 prior to the last possession. Why, or how, he didn’t manage to get the ball to another player on the floor to attempt the game winner…I don’t really have a second part of this sentence.
Big Baby was an absolute monster today inside. Glen Davis has done a terrific job of holding his own despite giving up five inches to Roy Hibbert. Davis finished 10-18 from the field with nine of those buckets coming in the paint as you can see in the shot performance chart below. Unfortunately for Orlando, his attempt from just to the left of the key as time expired failed to go down and extend the game to a second overtime.
Glen Davis Game Four Shot Performance
Roy Hibbert’s lack of shots continues to be mind boggling. For the second time in three games, Hibbert attempted fewer than eight shots from the field. He finished today’s game 5-7 while scoring 14 points. After a solid 3-5 first half performance, I assumed that they would continue to feed him especially since Paul George and George Hill were a combined 1-6 from the floor. Nope. Hibbert only attempted two shots in the second half, and did not even attempt a single free throw.
With four games of The Series That No One Cares About in the books, both teams will shift back to Indiana for Game Five on Tuesday. The Pacers would be best served by taking care of business at home which would prevent a trip back to the Magic Kingdom. However, the Magic proved today that they are not going to go quietly; Davis and Jason Richardson alone made this a closer game than it had any right to be, honestly. In a series largely devoid of drama, there is only one bit of intrigue left: will Tuesday be Stan Van Gundy’s final game as Orlando’s coach? I’ll be back Tuesday night to break it down.
Mike Conley did not have the best shooting night in the Grizzlies’ game against the Clippers yesterday, going just 4-for-11 from the field. However, one of those four makes caught my attention. Conley was able to take advantage of an overly committed Clips pick-and-roll defense and beat them for a mid-range jumper.
The Grizzlies start out the play in their “horns” set, with Conley handling the ball at the top of the key, Zach Randolph on the right elbow, Marc Gasol on the left elbow, Rudy Gay in the left corner and Tony Allen in the right corner. The initial action has Randolph setting a ball screen for Conley moving right, toward Conley’s off hand.
The Clippers choose to defend this initial pick-and-roll action by having Conley’s defender, Chris Paul, go under the screen while Blake Griffin, Randolph’s defender, does a soft show (Take note of where Griffin is on the court right now, he’s above the right elbow extended. This will be important in a minute) to discourage Conley from immediately taking the driving lane made available by Paul’s going under the screen.
But Conley doesn’t plan on taking that driving lane, because he’s about to get a second pick from Gasol coming from the other side, back toward Conley’s strong hand.
First, take a look at Griffin, he’s dropped down about two feet from his spot above the elbow extended to the point where he is now even with the elbow. Randolph’s roll into the middle of the lane drew Griffin back about two steps. Now, as Gasol comes to set a pick on Paul, who has just gotten back to Conley after going under the initial screen from Randolph, Griffin calls out the screen and motions to DeAndre Jordan to pick up Conley as he comes around – to do the same soft show that Griffin did on the initial action, giving Paul time to recover back to Conley again.
Initially, it appears as though Conley will take Gasol’s pick and keep going to his left. This is exactly what the Clippers expect to happen. After all, Conley is left-handed, and the Clippers no doubt know from their scouting reports that Conley only dribbles away from the pick 12.8% of the time he runs the pick-and-roll (via mySynergySports by way of Clipperblog’s Nick Flynt). So Jordan executes his soft show as Paul again tries to go under the screen, only this time, Paul tries to get a jump on Conley by going under a little bit too early. Conley senses this and crosses back over to his right, away from Gasol’s screen. When dribbling away from a pick, Conley pulls up for a jumper 26% of the time, drives all the way to the hoop 50% of the time and takes a runner or floater 24%.
Once Conley crosses over, Gasol turns his screen around and blocks Paul’s route from getting back to his man. Griffin, having been drawn a half step further into the lane by Randolph’s roll on the initial screening action, is too far away from Conley to seriously be a threat to block his shot (he’s still too busy calling out switches by the time Conley releases). This leaves Conley with a wide open 20-footer, which he nails. Conley sensed the way the way the defense was playing him and went against his tendencies to get himself an open look at the basket on a very nicely designed set play. The whole thing takes about 5 seconds.
There’s a part of my personality I’m not proud of. As someone who’s destroyed dozens of video game controllers, who once whipped a $90 universal remote at the wall instead of my younger brother’s face, whose reaction to a long-distance break-up was to violently and absolutely dismember a defenseless phone base with the receiver, I have empathy for Amar’e Stoudemire and his altercation with a certain now-infamous fire extinguisher in an American Airlines Arena tunnel. I’m not looking to excuse what he did—I won’t excuse my own actions either—but I think I can see where he was coming from: When a situation gets out of control, it’s sometimes easier to deal with the consequences of petty destruction than with what’s at the heart of the problem.
Stoudemire has not been playing well against the Heat. And even before that, there were questions about how Anthony, Stoudemire, and Chandler could all co-exist on the Knicks. With Anthony stepping his game up the last few weeks of the season—specifically when playing the four and with Amare out with a back injury—it was looking increasingly like Stoudemire was going to be the odd man out, relegated to the bench when he was supposed to be the first big piece of the new look Knicks two seasons ago. And all this in a season when he lost his brother Hazel in a car accident.
None of those things are a good reason to punch a fire extinguisher (which, semantics about “slapping with a closed fist” aside, is more or less what Stoudemire did) because there is in fact no “good” reason to punch a fire extinguisher. In his press conference, Stoudemire didn’t even try to give one, but what he said is telling. “I just walked by,” said Stoudemire, “wanted to make some noise (emph. mine), swung my arm, hit the fire extinguisher door and didn’t even realize i was cut at all until Josh Harrellson told me I was cut.
“Some players kick over ice coolers,” he continued. “Some players tip over tables. Some players even hit a chair. My thing was to hit the wall, I caught the fire extinguisher and I sliced my hand.” As it went with Metta World Peace’s elbow-drop on James Harden, a large chunk of the discussion around the incident centered around the intentionality of the act and, again, it seems the notion of intention has come up short. Stoudemire didn’t intentionally injure himself, but he intentionally swung his arm with the intention of making noise—as he said—and he didn’t do it not wanting to hurt himself. Rather, concern for his health was simply not at the top of his priority at that moment, but what was?
I would argue it wasn’t as simple as a desire to “make some noise.” When a situation is beyond our control, or even when our emotional reaction to a situation is out of control, it makes us feel better to break things, and not because destruction is inherently satisfying. In the wake of the incident, Stoudemire was criticized for being thoughtless, for not considering the consequences of his actions, but I suspect tangible consequences were just what he was after.
It can’t be easy to have your team go down 0-2 in the playoffs and know not only that it’s at least partly your fault, but that it’s not even a matter of just you playing better. There are systemic problems with the Knicks that have made them look like a half-dozen different teams this year. And each of those teams have had some success and some failure but they haven’t been able to put all those teams—the pick and roll Lin-led team of February, the Carmelo hero-ball team of the last month, the various other hybrids and Frankensteins that have taken the court based on injuries—on the floor at the same time. Does Stoudemire need to assert himself more? Does he need to step back, take on a different role? His game going to the hoop is limited by Chandler down low and his midrange pick and pop game is limited by Anthony outside of the paint. Faced with all these thorny, somewhat abstract questions of how best to play the game, it’s just possible that breaking something was the only way to get to fix something.
When I sent that poor, innocent phone to meet its maker, I was angry, yes, but I wasn’t out of control. It’s not as if the break-up came out of nowhere; it was, rather, something whose reality I couldn’t grasp. The things I was going to have to deal with—big decisions about where my life was going, where I was going to live, what the last five and a half years had meant, what was going to happen right then and the next day and the next—were too intangible. Smashing that hard plastic into jagged splinters meant that the next day, when I woke up impossibly hungover, I told my roommate, “Hey, sorry: I’ll get you a new phone.” And I had to go to Circuit City and buy a new crappy wall-mounted phone and hang it up in the kitchen.
I suspect when Amar’e Stoudemire swung his fist—whether at the wall or the fire extinguisher—it wasn’t because he had too much to deal with, but rather too little. Athletes work in an intensely physical world, asked to leave it all on the floor, to play with visceral intensity and then react with Zen-like calm to adversity outside of the hardwood. Stoudemire’s playing time, his role on the team, his fractured belief in being the first step towards a new Knick dynasty, all the injuries and whether they were slowly sapping his ability to play from him: you can’t touch these things, can’t break them. But you can put your fist through a pane of glass and then you can deal with that.
Let’s address the free throw disparity in this series first (and it may take me a few bullets to get through it), because if I see one more Knicks fan complain about it on Twitter I’m going to light myself on fire. In two games so far, the Heat have attempted 60 free throws and the Knicks have taken just 30. In the most predictable Internet thing that has ever happened, this aforementioned disparity has set off a virtual firestorm of Twitter complaints asserting that the fix is in, the league and the refs are favoring the Heat and want the Knicks to lose. Sorry, fellow Knicks fans, but I can’t get on board this one with you. Simply put, the Heat have just been far more aggressive throughout the course of the series. They’re earning their way to the free throw line by consistently attacking the basket and drawing contact while the Knicks have been content to sit outside and fire mid-range jumpers. That’s not a recipe for success and it’s not a recipe for drawing foul calls either.
As an aside, blaming the refs for a loss in a game where the final differential was 33 points (and I swear I saw people doing this) is just not a good look. It’s actually pretty ludicrous. Game 1 was not on the refs. Period. I don’t care how many questionable calls there were. When you turn the ball over 24 times – and 12 in one quarter – that’s not the refs’ fault. When you shoot 35.7% from the field, that’s not the refs’ fault. When you can’t figure out how to attack something as simple as the Heat fronting Carmelo Anthony to deny entry passes to the post, that’s not the refs’ fault (more on this later). You want to point out a couple of bad calls here and there, fine, but let’s not pretend that it would have changed the outcome of a game in which the Knicks were so thoroughly outclassed they barely tied the record for least amount of points in a playoff game.
Similarly, had the Knicks drawn as many foul calls in Game 2 as the Heat, it wouldn’t have made up for the fact that the lost the turnover battle again, let the Heat get loose for nine 3-pointers and gave up 50 points in the paint. Miami averaged 42.5 points in the paint this season, per NBA.com, and a rate of 50 per game would have ranked 2nd in the NBA over the course of the season. The Knicks were excellent defending the paint this season, yielding just 38.9 points in the paint per game, the 8th best mark in the NBA. But they’re allowing LeBron to get anywhere he wants on the court – not that they really have anyone who can deny him his space – and Dwyane Wade is getting open on cuts, run outs, dribble drives, basically however he wants. And because Tyson Chandler is stuck guarding Chris Bosh due to Amar’e Stoudemire’s defensive ineptitude, there’s no one in the middle of the lane to challenge and alter shots, and guys are over-compensating to try not to give up easy layups and they’re fouling. It’s a bad recipe for defense and it has absolutely nothing to do with the refs.
Speaking of defense… a lot of hay was made about how much the Knicks improved on that side of the court under Mike Woodson, but not too many people noticed that the defense really tailed off down the home stretch. Over the last 10 games of the season, New York allowed teams to score at a rate of 103.4 points per 100 possessions, or about the rate of Denver’s 19th-ranked defense for the full season. Throw in a flu-ridden Tyson Chandler, the loss of Iman Shumpert’s hounding 1-on-1 defense on the perimeter, Baron Davis’ back injury necessitating more minutes from Mike Bibby and the return of Amar’e Stoudemire from injury and there you have your reasons for Miami’s insane 117.0 offensive efficiency through the first two playoff games.
More Woodson. As well as he got the Knicks to play after the resignation of Mike D’Antoni, I’m not sold he’s the right guy to coach the team next season and beyond. This series has exposed how mismatched he is in terms of managing the rotation and making tactical adjustments on the fly. The most glaring example of this is his stubborn insistence on playing Carmelo and Amar’e together for heavy minutes. In the 976 minutes the two played together this season, the Knicks were outscored by 3.6 points per 100 possessions. They each struggled to gain their footing offensively when on the court together because they like to operate from the same areas of the floor and the team’s defense suffered because they are both sub-par defenders. Naturally, Woodson has played the two together for 71 of the 96 minutes in the first two games. New York has been outscored by 23.6 points per 100 possessions in those 71 minutes.
The Knicks’ most effective stretch of the season on offense came in the month that Amar’e missed recently when Carmelo was moved to power forward. There were numerous calls in the days leading up to Stoudemire’s return for the Knicks to use him off the bench as the centerpiece of a second unit that included J.R. Smith, a credible pick-and-roll partner, and Steve Novak, possibly the best floor-spacer in the league. This seemed to be an ideal route to get Stoudemire more, and more quality touches as well as a way to not disrupt the team’s new-found offensive flow with Anthony at power forward. But Woodson was adamant that it was up to him to make Melo-STAT work, and he hasn’t. At all. (Note within the note: At the time people were saying this, I was one of the people pointing out that sending him to the bench may not yield the best results either. He’s never come off the bench before and you never know how he would respond. However, we do know that playing him with Carmelo does not work. There’s a season and a half worth of evidence that lineups featuring both of them are mostly unsuccessful. They obviously have to share the court at some point, but whenever there is an opportunity to get one of them out there without the other to better enable them to find a rhythm on offense, it should be taken. This is especially true for Stoudemire, who often becomes an afterthought in Woodson’s isolation-heavy style of offense. Amar’e was relegated to a third or fourth option for extended stretches in the first two games.
Another thing bringing Stoudemire off the bench for this series would have changed: Chandler would no longer have to guard Bosh (which draws him too far out of the lane to credibly cut off drives by LeBron and Wade) and he would be freer to roam the paint and contest shots at the rim. Of course, this would have left Landry Fields to get repeatedly punished by LeBron, but it’s not like Bron’s not going to punish whoever guards him anyway. And when Amar’e did share the court with Carmelo and Chandler, you could have had him guard Battier, James Jones or Mike Miller rather than one of Miami’s big men (who Chandler would now guard). Asking Stoudemire to simply stand in the corner and not let his man take a wide open shot while also freeing up Chandler to roam the paint sounds like a win.
Moving Anthony out of his new power forward position also robbed him of a potential mismatch with Bosh guarding him on the other end and has instead forced him to deal with LeBron James and Shane Battier. The Knicks were so flummoxed by Miami’s strategy of fronting Melo in the post in Game 1 that they literally gave the game away in the second quarter because they couldn’t make an entry pass. It didn’t help that Woodson refused to diagram anything other than, “Melo, stand there with your hand in the air and call for the ball until they pass it to you,” as a way to get him open. No cross screens, no pin-downs, no cuts, no making him the ball-handler or screener in pick-and-roll situations, nothing. Woodson basically decided, “Let’s just keep trying the same thing over and over and hopefully it will work,” which is pretty much the dictionary definition of insanity. The result was the same nearly every time in the second quarter of Game 1: a turnover (they had 12 in the quarter) followed by a Heat fast break basket.
In Game 2 Woodson made some adjustments. He used those cross screens and pin-downs to free Melo to catch the ball on the wing for isolations and he had Melo act as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll a few times. Still, it was mostly isolation, and that’s a losing strategy against the Heat, the 1st ranked isolation defense in the NBA according to mySynergySports. Anthony, obviously, is an incredibly talented offensive player who thrives in isolation. Getting him opportunities to use isolation plays should be a big part of the offense. But there has to be something else, some way to draw attention away from him and save his legs, and right now there isn’t. Even if Melo does have stretches where he looks nearly unguardable, it isn’t sustainable. In the first quarter of Game 2, he scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting. In the rest of the game, he scored 15 points on 5-15 shooting. He simply can’t break down LeBron off the dribble all game long and not get tired. It happened in the last regular season game against the Heat too. He lost his legs and started settling for jumpers instead of attacking the basket. He’s being asked to do way too much and it’s not going to work. This is why it’s paramount to get Stoudemire time with the second unit so he can be the primary screen-and-roll man, why it’s important to run Steve Novak off screens (and especially when the Heat play two of Haslem, Turiaf and Anthony at the same time; it’s practically an invitation for Woodson to put Novak in the game but so far he has refused), why every once in a while you have to give Landry Fields those side pick-and-rolls he likes and why high pick-and-rolls with Chandler as the screener need to become a big part of the offense again.
Woodson’s refusal to even slightly deviate from his offense in the first two games of the series conjures memories of Mike D’Antoni. The only difference here is that Carmelo likes this offense because it’s all about him, so he’s not actively trying to get Woodson fired.
As I was writing this, Twitter broke the news of Amar’e Stoudemire punching either a fire extinguisher or the glass that encases a fire extinguisher and sustaining a laceration to his hand. He may or may not have had stitches. As nice as it is to hear that Amar’e is finally attacking the glass (rim shot), I’m utterly disappointed in him. Amar’e is a co-captain, he’s supposed to be a leader and an example for the other players on the team and he’s punching fire extinguishers in the locker room and putting his season in jeopardy. In this crazy Knicks season – which I am totally going to try to write a book about and never finish – I’m not sure why I’m surprised that something like this happened, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless.
Before we end this, it must be said: bringing Jeremy Lin back for this series would be a monumentally terrible idea. No matter how much buzz it would generate, how many extra tickets or jerseys it would sell or how big a ratings spike it would provide, it would be a huge mistake. It was bad enough losing Lin and now Shumpert with knee injuries, but the only way it could get worse is to bring Lin back and have him get hurt again. That’s a definite possibility, especially since his initial prognosis in early April called for him to miss at least 6 weeks and now he’s contemplating coming back in just under 4 weeks. He could also just flat out struggle against the Heat’s defense like he did in their February meeting and that wouldn’t be good either. Sure, Lin gives the Knicks a better shot at stealing a game or two in the series, but if that’s realistically the ceiling (which it is), it just isn’t worth it. Bringing him back down 2-0 or 3-0 just for the sake of snapping the franchise’s now-record-tying 12-game postseason losing streak and trying to prolong the inevitable at the risk of his health and his future is a step too far. Go to war with the team on the court and let Lin heal.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
For both the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic, the first two games of their first round series have been the best of times and the worst of times. In Game 1, Indiana saw a late seven point lead evaporate as the Magic closed the game with a furious 11-0 run to steal an 81-77 victory. Game 2 however, was a different story. From the opening tip, Indiana did exactly what they needed to do and punched Orlando square in the mouth taking an early 22-12 lead. Though Orlando took two point lead into halftime, the Pacers blew the game open in the third outscoring the Magic 30-13 in the quarter. The Pacers avoided a second consecutive late game collapse and cruised to a 93-78 victory. So what were the biggest differences between Games 1 and 2 for the Pacers?
1. The Georges
Paul George and George Hill both rebounded from disappointing efforts in Game 1 with strong, needed Game 2 performances. Let’s begin with Paul George.
George was having an extremely difficult time buying a bucket in Game 1 as he finished 4-11 from the floor including 0-4 from beyond the arc. Tonight, he was a tidy 7-10 from the field. However, it wasn’t so much that he was shooting better as it was that he was getting to the rim and converting shots from close range. Of the seven field goals he made, six of them came in the restricted area. It’s concerning that George is shooting 2-10 from outside the paint thus far in the series, but if he can consistently get to the rim and continue to convert, it is going to make things much easier for the Pacers.
George Hill followed a similar path to that of George in the first two games. In Game 1, he converted only two of seven shots from the field. Tonight, for the second game in a row, he finished 1-3 from three point range, but like George, got into the paint much more effectively by going 4-5 in the key. By getting into the paint, and knowing that Dwight Howard will not be controlling it for the duration of the series, the Pacers increase the likelihood for fouls on Orlando’s already thin front line which should prove to be beneficial moving forward.
2. Limiting Rebounds
Not only was this a tale of two games for the Pacers, it was really a tale of two halves. The Magic seemingly were getting their hands on every offensive rebound in the first half tonight, finishing the first 24 minutes of the game with 12 offensive boards. In the second half, they were limited to just one offensive rebound, and 13 rebounds overall for the entire half. Meanwhile, the Pacers flipped the script by pulling down 11 offensive rebounds of their own in the final half of the game. Although the Magic ultimately finished with a slight edge in second chance points (25-24), only two of those points were scored after halftime which allowed Indiana to pull away.
3. Fast Breaks
The common perception is that playoff games are played at a slower pace than regular season games. Defenses clamp down, teams tend to play more conservative, and it is rare to see a team frequently get out on the break. While watching tonight, it seemed like the Pacers were getting a lot of easy baskets off of turnovers and in transition; luckily, my eyes were not deceiving me as the statistics back it up. Indiana finished the game with a stunning 22-2 fast break advantage tonight, a far cry from Game 1 where both teams only managed five points each. By getting out and converting easy baskets, the Pacers simultaneously energized the home crowd (providing an emotional lift) and extended their lead to the point that there would be no comeback tonight.
Final Thoughts
This is the result that a lot of people, myself included, expected to see in this series. The Pacers have proven that they can compete with anyone in the league, and the Magic entered the playoffs in absolute shambles. It’s not clear whether Indiana underestimated Orlando in Game 1, were not prepared for the bright playoff lights, or simply collapsed, but Game 2 was a totally different story. For Orlando, you have to be encouraged that you managed a split on the road and have this series heading back to Florida this week. For the Pacers, you have to take solace in the fact that Danny Granger really has not gotten going in this series (11-34 FG thus far) and you still pulled out a win. And since each team has tasted victory, both feel like they are capable of winning this series. Or, as Charles Dickens would say, they both have Great Expectations.
The excitement of the start of the playoffs was dampened considerably yesterday by Derrick Rose’s devastating ACL tear. The crushing loss of the reigning MVP from one of the two teams in the east with a legitimate shot at winning a title hung like a black cloud over the rest of the day’s games, and probably won’t quite disappear from the backs of our minds for the rest of the postseason and beyond. But Sunday’s opening contest between the Jazz and the Spurs played host to something as wonderfully life-affirming as the Rose injury was soul-crushing: Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili found the fountain of youth.
The aging Duncan and injury-plagued Ginobili, both of whom sat out the final stretch of regular season to preserve their legs, lent credence to the theory that maybe, just maybe, the teams best suited for this hectic, 66-game lockout schedule are the oldest ones, the ones with the veteran know-how. How many times did we see Duncan do this in the regular season?
Ginobili’s two slams were equally awesome, throwback affairs.
Through two days, the postseason has been at times depressing (the injuries to Rose and Iman Shumpert) and thrilling (the Clippers’ insane comeback, Kevin Durant’s game-winner), and full of smaller, simpler pleasures that may go forgotten as the playoffs unfold. Pleasures like the knowledge that two of the most reliable aging superstars in the game can still look 10 years younger when they want to.
So… Well… See the thing is. I have no idea how that just happened. I’m glad I was just taking notes as we went because I would no idea how to sum up what just happened. The Grizzlies were cruising to a victory, they should have won that game, but they didn’t and now they find themselves down 0-1 after dropping a game at home. What. A. Game. Here are some thoughts, reactions, and just random outbursts I had throughout the game:
Pre-Game:
In the midst of all this Rondo craziness, I’m made aware of the fact that Chris Webber is going to be calling this game. Tony Allen? Chris Paul? Blake Griffin? Grit and Grind? Chris Webber? On TNT? OH MY GOD THIS CANNOT GET ANY BETTER!
Also looks like Zach Randolph will be in the starting lineup, interesting move given he’d been coming off the bench for most of the season.
1st Quarter:
Grizzlies are running their offense through their two post players, and getting very good results. Gasol is passing beautifully out of the high post, and seemingly scoring at will. Randolph has faced up on Griffin twice sinking the first jumper and missing the second. On the other side of the ball Memphis is doing a great job defending the side pick and roll. Considering that’s essentially the only play the Clippers run, if Memphis can continue to limit it’s effectiveness LA is in some serious trouble.
Also, Memphis is booing Blake Griffin whenever he touches the ball, apparently they hate fun in Memphis. Nothing but grit and grind.
The Clippers look incredibly lost right now. Four turnovers so far, the pick and roll isn’t giving it’s usual returns, and Blake Griffin just picked up his 2nd foul. This would be a great time for the Point God to show himself.
Can’t say enough about the ball movement from the Grizzlies this quarter. This shooting isn’t sustainable, but if the Grizzlies keep getting good looks every time down the floor, they shouldn’t have an issue taking this game, and ultimately the series. Predictably, Memphis has had a lot of success cutting after entering the ball into Gasol in the post. To me at least, this team is at it’s best when it’s running through Marc, he’s capable of controlling the offense in a way unlike any other big in the league(including Pau), sort of like a point center maybe? Also worth noting that OJAM checked in, hit a ridiculous three, and has been aggressive in attacking the rim so far. He could be huge for the Grizzlies in this series if he shoots well and stays committed to getting to the basket.
Paul finally finds an easy basket out of the pick and roll with a lob to DAJ, but follows it the next series with an offensive foul. Really hard to imagine a scenario in which the quarter went any worse for the Clips.
Grizzlies completely dominate that quarter, mostly due to their ability to neutralize Paul in the PnR and their offensive brilliance, especially Gasol, who finished the quarter 5-6 from the field for 10 points while also netting 4 assists. Worth noting that the Memphis crowd was absolutely fantastic that quarter, you could see the Grizzlies feeding off the energy after every made basket and defensive stop. Really, really fun stuff.
2nd Quarter:
Speights and Jordan getting chippy. You feel like Memphis is totally controlling the tone of this game, lots of Grit and Grind, also a lot of “WE WILL NEVER MISS ANOTHER SHOT EVER” which always helps. The Clippers so far are sticking to their team motto of “No help defense city”, or whatever it is I can never remember.
Worth nothing that the Grizzlies are 4-4 from behind the arc. Also worth noting that the Clippers are getting hammered. Like seriously killed. As in they are losing by a very large amount of points. Really, this is probably verym very embarrassing for them.
Eric Bledsoe made such a nice spin move I actually mistook him for Chris Paul for a moment. No seriously, that happened. Meanwhile, the Clippers have cut the lead to 13 and some of the energy from the initial flurry seems to be subsiding. This will be a very key stretch of the game, Grizzlies have to keep their foot on the pedal, so to speak.
OJAM is playing out of his gourde as he drills another three coming off a quick screen. OJ looks really good coming off the down pick to shoot, and while I didn’t love that shot, it went in. Also the word gourde is fun.
It’s just not a Grizzlies game without a hilarious Tony Allen fastbreak sequence. Difficult to describe this one other than to say that it ended with Allen barreling into the lane and essentially throwing the ball straight in the air and somehow drawing the blocking foul. All about the grit and grind.
Griffin is seriously struggling in this game. Can’t find any rhythm offensively, either in the post up, or in pick and roll situations, and defensively he looks lost in his rotations and help defense. This is where Griffin’s lack of offensive refinement really hurts him, without the free form points off of pure athleticism and against a good defense, he’s going to struggle to assert himself. Unfortunately, The Clippers can’t afford to have Griffin be a non-factor when he’s on the floor, they don’t have enough other scoring options.
The Grizzlies end the half with a pretty big exclamation. First Cunningham puts back a Gasol miss with a vicious slam that ignites the crowd and sends Dante into a JR Smith worthy post dunk celebration pose. Rudy Gay follows on the next possession with a nice jumper and then, while attempting to dribble the clock out for the last shot, Chris Paul gets whistled for an offensive foul. This leaves Memphis enough time for Conley to deliver a beautiful pass out of the pick and roll right to Gasol for the dunk. What an incredible way to end the half for Memphis, the had let the door creak open, only to emphatically shut it right back in the Clippers face. Memphis has come out swinging, and hit the Clippers right in the mouth, it’s up to LA to duck, dodge, adjust, and counter punch in the second half.
2nd Half:
Note from the first half: Memphis held Paul to 3 points on 0-4 shooting. Raise your hand if you saw that coming? (Don’t you dare raise your hand, liar).
Right to Griffin one-on-one versus Z-Bo to start the half, and he gets nothing on an awkward drive to the rim. Gotta agree with Webber, sending Blake on these iso missions seems ill fated. Better off finding ways to get him the ball in space, and/or while in motion.
Mike Conley takes a soccer dive to give Griffin his 3rd foul. Seriously just spectacular form on that dive, UEFA champions league worthy. Then to add insult to injury Conley starts drilling threes left and right extends the lead to 21 points.
Important point that I think is worth considering. Many are hoping or expecting Chris Paul to shred Memphis much like he surgically dissected the Lakers last year. While certainly Paul is more than capable of taking over games I think it’s also important to recognize the difference in opponent. The Lakers were not well equipped to defend Paul in pick and roll situations. They didn’t really have anyone to hound him on the perimeter and their bigs were generally lost trying to corral him on the pick and roll. In contrast, Memphis has a number of very capable perimeter defenders, and is disciplined in their pick and roll defense. So yes, given the opportunity Paul will engage “Point God” mode, but Memphis might not ever give him the chance.
While Memphis has not been terrific on offense during the season, I’m actually not that surprised the Grizzlies have had such an easy time scoring the basketball (generally due to the Clippers well known defensive woes). What I am surprised by, is the Clippers inability to get anything going on the offensive end. Paul has generally struggled against the Grizzlies pick and roll defense and Griffin has been borderline awful (3-10 from the field midway through the 3rd). The Grizzlies aren’t going to shoot this well every night, but if their defenses continues to befuddle and stymie the Clippers offensive attack it won’t really matter.
And Mike Conley has made 4 threes this quarter. Analysis: ALL GRIT AND GRIND BABY
At this point the Grizzlies are out there like Roy Jones Jr.: Dancing around toying with the opponent, equal parts domination and entertainment. This is a lot of fun to watch, unless you’re a Clippers fan.
I’m going to note for the 600th time that Marc Gasol is brilliant. He really is one of the best, if not the very best post passer we have in NBA. It’s so fun to watch him catch it in the high post and hit Tony Allen on a cut, or Rudy Gay on a lob. I think what I’m trying to say is I’m in love with Marc Gasol.
Really interesting that Conley and the Grizzlies have legitimately bothered and frustrated Paul. He’s committed uncharacteristic offensive fouls, turnovers, and travels. I honestly never thought I’d see Paul flustered like this. It feels funny.
Clippers put together a nice run to cut the lead to 12 at one points with about 4 minute left and are lurking. Would be really tough if Memphis found a way to give away this game after playing so well all night. Give credit to Bledsoe, and Young for providing a spark off the bench. Also, not surprisingly, Paul refuses to quit, despite being frustrated all came he’s taking advantage of Memphis’ lapse in intensity and picking apart the defense.
Mayo delievers the pass of the game on an over the shoulder touch pass, only to have Speights blow the lay up. I guess everything can’t go perfectly for Memphis.
Behind Nick Young nailing three 3-pointers in a minute, the Clippers have cut the lead down to 3 points with just under 2 minutes left to play. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHY ARE THE GRIZZLIES TURNING IT OVER EVERY TIME? IS NICK YOUNG ACTUALLY GOD? SO MUCH BUCKETS… AHHH
This would be an absolutely HUGE win if the Clips somehow manage to steal this one.
“At this point there’s not much left to say. The Grizzlies completely and totally dominated this game. If you’re the Clippers your defense has to be better, but really you have to be more concerned with your offense. You have to find ways to make the pick and roll work, you have to counter the aggressiveness and grit of the Clippers, and you cannot turn the ball over. You have to believe the Clippers will play better, you have to believe Paul will come out on an absolute mission to destroy them next game. As of now though, the Grizzlies have to feel like they are the better team, they have to feel like at their best they can control this series; that’s no small fact. The Grizzlies came out with a bang, it will be interesting to see how the rest of this series takes shape moving forward” -I wrote this above during the beginning of the fourth quarter and now, behind two Griffin made free throws, the Grizzlies are only up 1…
Chris Webber is spot on, Reggie Evans defense and rebounding, and general toughness have been huge during this incredible comeback. On multiple occasions he’s pushed Gasol and Randolph off their spot and forced them into turnovers or uncomfortable shots. Evans deserves a lot of credit if the Clippers somehow steal this one.
And just like that Evans hits a lay up to put the Clips up one… WOW
Gay hits a turnaround over Paul after getting the mismatch on a switch. That’s one of ways he will be so valuable to Memphis in the playoffs, now they have another go to scorer late in games.
Allen fouls Paul who hits both free throws to take the lead by one. Memphis completely bungles the last possession, wasting way too much time as Gay forces up a shot with the clock close to expiring. That’s inexcusable. Down one you have to get a shot up with enough time at least to rebound and have a second chance, and in reality you should leave enough time to foul, force free throws and get another shot at tying the game. Jesus. Cannot believe Memphis found a way to give that game away. Credit the Clippers who did not quit on the game. Also another great performance from Paul who despite struggling most of the game directed the offense brilliantly late in the game. But mostly just WOW. That was an absolutely incredible comeback. This could kill Memphis, this is the kind of loss that breaks your spirit. Series can be won on comebacks like this. Yes the Grizzlies are tough, but this could be a back breaker.
Quick Post Game Note: Charles opens up Inside the NBA with “That’s why I could never coach, right there.” Yup. Lionel Hollins has to be going crazy right now.
Charles again: “I didn’t like Memphis strategy, they started playing not to lose”.
