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The theme of the 2nd round has been the disparity of home/road win ratios, in the end at press time with the lucky San Antonio Spurs dispatching the very very tough New Orlean Hornets in game 7, the total tally from round 2 in the league was 22-3 with only the Los Angeles Lakers eliminating the Utah Jazz on the road in game 6, the Detroit Pistons stealing game 5 in Orlando against the Magic, and of course the aforementioned Spurs amongst a (quite honestly) subdued laid back nervous crowd in New Orleans.  Maybe the copious amounts of bandwagon fans were awestruck by the sparkling presence of famous A-list celebrities like Drew Brees, Sean Payton, and Lil Bow Wow.  =)

*(By the way if you didn’t know, that’s Sean Payton, head coach of the New Orleans Saints in the picture to your left; and if you watched game 7 tonight, that was Chris Paul NOT Carlton Banks.)

Which brings up an interesting point, in terms of easy press to get your face on TV (if you were a celebrity looking for any excuse for a limelight), Eva Longoria has a bona fide monopoly in this respect.

a) She is already a leading lady for a prime time TV show airing on the same network that broadcasts the NBA Finals.

b) She is the ONLY remotely recognizable celebrity to grace the Spur’s crowd due to many factors which includes San Antonio being too small a city to attract more bandwagon Hollywood wannabes, whereas Houston but more often Dallas being a hot spot of thespian/lesbian/sports stars/rock star gatherings.

c) With the Spurs consistent showing deep into the playoffs year after year, her TV exposure is exponentially greater than one hit wonder-cinderellas like Golden State, New Orleans (at least this season, they will be back next year), and honestly Boston despite their fans claiming to be lifelong when the FleetCenter was desolate in last year’s lottery season and seasons before with all the Bostonians busy yucking it up for the Red Sox and Patriots.  (The key here is that bandwagonning is not inherently bad, as it could lead to real loyalty to said team, its the posers who claim to be lifelong, then jump ship when the rats flee same said ship that tends to give bandwagon fans a bad name.)

Back to the subject at hand, a common reason for the disparity in home teams dominating in their own arena as opposed to road teams ultimately struggling to get a win (compared to 13-10 last year in the 2nd round), I really think it has to do with how even the teams and match-ups were.  In spite of Boston crapping the proverbial bed against the Atlanta Hawks in round 1, the Celtics were a good match-up against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to both teams being great defensive teams.  As much press the Cavs get for lack of scoring punch behind LeBron James, they are and always recently have been a very underrated defensive team that really has given James a punchers chance each year in the playoffs.  The Cavaliers are always a great rebounding team and that allows James numerous chances at the basket.  The Celtics were a great regular season team, and still can be a great playoff team if they can pound Detroit out of commission, but ultimately their coach is killing them.  Yanking your rotation around randomly, plugging in jump shooters late in the game when they are 1-6 so far expecting them to shoot cold with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter when they have sat the entire 2nd half, are some examples.  In the playoffs it is usually kosher to tighten your rotation to 7-8 guys in order to ensure your best players are always out there and to ensure continuity with guys, lineups who have been through thick and thin together and ensure the chemistry is there.  Far be it for me, one of many armchair QBs to question an NBA coach’s decision, but Doc River’s incessant insistence to play with his lineup like a desperate run at the NBA Fantasy Basketball title was very silly (will still be in the coming round), and he was ultimately bailed out by 2 superstars, Jesus Shuttlesworth who all of a sudden plays like a 60 year old Jake Shuttlesworth, and the Cavalier’s 3 point shooters who couldn’t buy a shot when LeBron James was TRIPLED teamed leaving them open.

The Magic also matched up well with the Pistons and even though Chauncey Billups was injured in game 3, several of their games were close with untimely mistakes by a young Orlando team representing their inexperience vs. an experienced club like Detroit.  Not to mention a solid performance by the backup PG of the Pistons took a lot of pressure off of the team and Billups who got some rest to heal up before throwing down with Boston.

The Lakers fresh off sweeping the Nuggets ran into a determined Jazz team and though each stared at each other at 2-2, the Lakers were able to take their home game 5, and then win a squeaker in game 6 on the road.  The difference was in my opinion simple in that Carlos Boozer never got untracked in the series, and gritty veterans like Derek Fisher and MVP Kobe Bryant keeping the Lakers competitive in every game.

As for the Spurs against the Hornets, the fact that this series also went 7 games should already dictate that both teams were insanely evenly matched, but my theory can be disputed with the fact that 6 out of the 7 games were blowouts in averages of 19 per.  My only counter is as even (talent-level) both teams were, their one extreme contrast may have been their common thread to explaining the score disparity.  The old Spurs were already weary from the Phoenix series, and simply could not match the energy of the young Hornets in their house.  Reverse that and you have the inexperienced young Hornets not being able to rise to the occasion on the road against the old Spurs who yearned for the comforts of home.  Game 7 threw those rules out the window due to San Antonio determined to quiet the critics of their faux-dynasty without a single repeat, the Spurs given 3 days rest b/w games 6 and 7 which helped their older legs more than the Hornet’s healing their wounded.  However the same theme prevailed with the 3rd quarter being the decisive fatality in determining the winner.  Tonight, if not for the Spur’s outburst in the 3rd period, they would have had no chance in withstanding the Hornet’s furious comeback in the 4th.

Indeed 7 is the loneliest number because the beauty of basketball and baseball entails that playoff games cannot be decided by one game but instead a series.  In a best of 7, the 7th game represents the final showdown, the all-in last grasp gamble, where BOTH teams face elimination not just one.  So in truth one game be it unfairly or not was the focus and under the microscope in spite of what happened the first 6 games.

P.S.  Robert Horry isn’t a dirty player, it’s the freaking playoffs! He’s not David West’s nursing home provider, and if he set a soft screen (mindful to be careful with West’s bad back) the way I did in intramural games back at Texas Tech in my college days, then my friend Sean woulda given him a good yelling on the court like he always did me.  :(

Keeping everything in one sentence or less.

Less is more for today’s entry because it is almost midnight and if I’m this drained watching the San Antonio Spurs taking on the New Orleans Hornets, imagine how tired the players must be.

Be that as it may, we are going to move right along and discuss (more like me drawling on and on while everyone else reads) the intensity that is the 2nd round so far.

Far cry from last year’s drumming/sweep/beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Pistons, the Orlando Magic rebounded back strong in taking game three from the Pistons.

Pistons PG down, Chauncey Billup’s injury early in game 3 serves as more of a possible impact/catalyst for the rest of the series rather than that game itself as the Magic’s backs-against-the-wall-mentality-early-energy and-domination may have already predetermined the win.

Win is all Kobe Bryant’s known his whole career in the NBA, and last night he finally received the highest individual honor for a professional player in a given season garnering his first MVP award and proceeding to dispose of the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles meanwhile is tearing through the playoffs reminiscent of past dominant campaigns when Derek Fisher was running along side Bryant with Phil Jackson on the sidelines and Shaquille O’Neal commanding the paint (OK maybe just 2 out of 3).

Paint me skeptical but the Boston Celtic’s manhandling of LeBron James just shows that as special as James is as an individual player (without help), he will not get many championship rings without a true sidekick and more reliable jumpshots.

Jumpshots, dunks, teardrops, hooks, threes, and layups, whatever you decide to take from Bryant he can kill you another way; whereas with James (at this point in his career), if you take away the lane his midrange game will not maim you.

You can bet  your weird uncle’s spandex collection that Boston may leave this series in 5 or even 4 games if James does not get more help.

Help me pick out a good antacid because the series between the Hornets and the Spurs (who finally won one tonight) is giving me that churning feeling in my stomach and depressurizing my lower airlock (maybe it’s the sushi I ate at the local dollar store) .

Airlock, I don’t know how to start a sentence relevant to the NBA with that word, so I am resetting with some random word such as Manuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Manu Ginobili along with Tony Parker stemmed the tide that was the wave of Hornets badasses to roll through the Western Conference.

Conference newcomers Chris Paul and David West have impressed early on with their superb play, true shots that cannot miss, and their overall attitude have shocked the defending champions.

Champions of last season they are (when did I start typing like Yoda), the Spurs still have a long ways to go and even though the odds are stacked against them and even though they probably will still lose (expended too much energy playing the Suns and even more against the Hornets), San Antonio will not quit.

Quit yelling at me Stephen A. Smith (ESPN “analyst”), my television’s volume is only at 5, and you’re still waking the neighbors.

After a somewhat surprising 1st round, (Boston Celtics going toe-to-toe and 7 games against the sub .500 Atlanta Hawks, the Phoenix Suns bowing out in only 5 games, the Detroit Pistons getting a wake-up call from the upstart Philadelphia Sixers, and Dallas Mavericks once again victimized by the new kids on the block) we are now seeing title pursuers flex their muscles and make that push towards their perspective Conference Finals.

While the Celtics fresh off their game 7 beat down (from an odds standpoint, it should have never gone to 7 but I digress…) of the Hawks are waiting to play the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Pistons have already rolled to a 2-0 lead over the Orlando Magic in the 2nd round.  As of press time, the Magic are reeling from a close winnable game that saw a controversial end-of-3rd-quarter last second shot that was counted when it should not have been due to malfunctioning equipment.  Nevertheless, Orlando went on a 7 for 11 fury of threes to get themselves back into the game after being down by as much as 12 at halftime.  In the end, the Magic could not make needed shots, and the Pistons iced the game from the line.  This year’s Orlando Magic team are certainly stronger from top to bottom so look for them to win in the safe confines of their home court to avoid a 2nd straight year of being swept by  Detroit.  The Pistons can be had as evidenced by the Sixer’s determination and tough play to push the series to 6 games in the previous round.  As long as all the attention is on super stud Dwight Howard, he will need a bit of help from his swingmen, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. 

In the West, it’s business as usual for Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers cruising and sweeping their way past the Denver Nuggets and carrying that momentum without missing a step in beating the Utah Jazz 109-98.  In anticipation of his impending MVP award, Bryant lit up the Jazz for 38 points 6 boards and 7 dimes.  Certainly he is deserving of this prestigious award for many reasons from outstanding numbers to making his team better to being ultimately indispensable for his franchise in leading them to the top seed in a tough tough conference.  In a close race this year for the MVP essentially between Bryant and Chris Paul (LeBron James was a close, yet far third despite ridiculous numbers may be attributed to his team’s seeding in a substantially weaker Eastern Conference, record-wise) came down to Bryant pushing his team to a higher seed and quite honestly a bit of a “life-time achievement” award for a Hall-of-Fame career.  Someone like Kobe Bryant has been the best if not top 3 player in the last decade or so, yet by playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal, MVP awards are not easy to come by.  If anything the year Black Mamba led the Lakers to playoffs with players such as Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, and Brian Grant (don’t forget Chris Mihm!) averaging a career high 35.4 per lifting a mediocre Los Angeles team playing over its head seems more deserving.  Then again, that would not be the year he got his teammates more involved (only 4.5 apg compared to 5.4 this year) or lifting a team to the top of the standings and deep in the playoffs.  Of course its only the regular season MVP so any feats in the playoffs are essentially ignored.  Whatever the case my argument is though both years are deserving for Bryant and while I am leaning towards the 05-06 season a better showcase of how important Kobe Bryant is to his team, this year is indicative of his continued excellence throughout said career and the last great chance to pay homage to this one of the great players of this generation before the young guns (Chris Paul, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams to name a few) fully take the reigns.

Now for the San Antonio Spurs (it’s that time in the blog where all of you can avert your eyes but if you do you may regret it ;) ), as of press time, they are getting KILLED by the New Orleans Hornets in game 2, already down 1 game.  In constant reminder that they are getting older, and less athletic on the wing and in true loyal fan form I always reserve excitement until they hoist that trophy up in mid-June.  So always I am expecting the worse, and I expected the Spurs to leave New Orleans 1-1.  I was wrong.  Possibly looking at 0-2 (again at press time San Antonio is down by double digits with 4 minutes to go, with Paul and Peja Stojakovic-on-fire-throwing-into-a-huge-ocean-of-a-basket.  Should the defending champs be worried? Sure.  Should they panic? No.  Should they listen to what I have to say since I am a “guru” of the roundball sports?  Sure if you’re crazy or dumb enough.  Try this first.  QUIT shooting threes! The Spurs have now attempted at least 50 threes in only two games against the Hornets! Of course it’s easier said than done with defenses sagging in into the paint not allowing Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker to slash to the basket, and Tim Duncan constantly double teamed.  It’s baiting at it’s best, and it’s working.

It is worth mentioning that I pointed out that the series with the Suns was misleading (winning 5-1), because it was emotionally as certainly as physically draining on this old geriatric team who are obviously running on fumes against a much younger, energetic-nothing-to-lose-cocky Hornets team.  They closed out the series last Tuesday yet only had 3 days to rest and after a game 1 blowout, had only one more day to rest before game 2.  A return to the Alamo City may cure what ails these Spurs, but right now (even before the series started) the New Orleans Hornets are the better team.  Younger, more offensively aggressive, more active on the glass, and most importantly more hustle will propel this team even deeper into the playoffs when they were only a 18 team win last year (I think).  Sure a few teams have come back from an 0-2 deficit, but San Antonio better make leaps of adjustments to allow Parker and Ginobili some room to slice into the paint and settle for less 3s when it’s not been their M.O. since the inception of the franchise.

In truth, the Western Conference is producing more and more blowouts led by the Lakers and Hornets that put a stigma on the conference’s stake as close, competitive, tougher and better than its counterpart.  Depending on what happens tomorrow between the Celtics and the Cavaliers, that stigma may still sting true.

This “short” piece is an unwarranted, unimportant yet itchy soapbox oration over something that’s gone, over and will be forgotten.  It pertains to a column written by a writer I enjoy reading frequently and though I draw inspiration from him, he is certainly not infallible and though his opinion may not matter more than mine, it certainly draws more weight as it is his job and he has years of credibility, an established fan base and ultimately the unlimited resources and advertising power of ESPN.com.  As far as sports columnists go, the apex of such a career cannot be sweeter than a gig at The Worldwide in this age of blogging, 24.7 sports coverage, and endless opinions as well as banter abound.

However it is a tough job also as anything you say will be dissected, twisted and thrown back in you face.  Even if it’s just opinion, one is bound to be set up for criticism from every corner.  It comes with the territory and sometimes its just too easy and to tempting to pass up a chance to examine another’s essay.  Of course in comparison to the Sports Guy, the reaction from my piece will be minimal in conjunction to ESPN.com’s most popular column (curiously also the only one that doesn’t allow a comments section… hmmm).

As much as he is biased for the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns the same way my man-love for the San Antonio Spurs are sometimes border-lined crazed, I just had to dissect his latest column.  One blurb stood out:

• Maybe the Suns didn’t win a championship, but we’ll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs, who taught everyone over the years that the regular season doesn’t matter, transformed the NBA playoffs into a flopathon, revived the vile and fan-unfriendly Hack-A-Shaq strategy and did everything short of sending Bruce Bowen out on the court with a chainsaw and a taser. If the Spurs were the Team of the Decade, no wonder ratings dwindled until the league’s big comeback this season. The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team, a shrewdly assembled roster of well-coached guys who played beautifully together, didn’t care about credit and revolved around the best power forward who ever played. Instead, we’ll remember them as the team that turned the NBA playoffs into the World Cup. Congratulations, fellas.
• (Important note: I don’t hate the Spurs nearly that much; I’m trying to work up a proper level amount of hatred for them for the inevitable Celtics-Spurs Finals that’s going to happen unless Doc Rivers screws it up … which is exceedingly possible. The Spurs are a difficult team to dislike but you can do it if you try hard enough. I’ve made some huge strides in the past week. Just indulge me. Thanks.)

That last excerpt provides an “exit strategy” for Mr. Simmons for when fanatics such as myself ream him figuratively for his exaggerated view of the Spurs in that he can claim it’s all in jest in reference to a bigger subject concerning a team that never made it to the Finals in half a decade of excellence in the regular season and maybe early playoff rounds.

First of all: The Suns won’t be remembered if they didn’t win a championship, much less even make it to one Finals.  In the scope and span of a century, no one hardly remembers the team that actually won the title of a certain year much less the 4th place team in that given year.  That’s why dynasties are quick to be declared yet easy to remember, when we clump titles together we are prone to remembering that team more aptly than one-timers.  (Example: Everyone remembers the Cowboy’s Dynasties of the 90s, and the Patriot’s of the 00s, as well as the Lakers’ three-peat from 00-02, but does anyone at first thought remember the Redskins winning the title in 1991? In twenty years, will anyone remember the Detroit Pistons winning a title in 2004, sandwiched between two Spurs’ titles?)  So point is if its even remotely easy to forget one and done title winners, how could anyone remember a team that didn’t even come in 2nd in that given year?

As for fondly: take it from someone who’s wasted a great deal of time roaming around sports message boards reading other drivel, the Suns are not that popular or beloved.  IF anything as unpopular as the Spurs are (and they are), the Sun’s (and some of their fans) constant need to whine and blame the refs, the league office, Robert Horry, and Robert Horry’s great aunt comes as a staple of their short offensive minded era.  I’ll admit it was (could still be) very exciting to watch the Suns play at breakneck speed, to make crisp passes, to involve everyone on the floor, and score in loads and loads complemented by touch passes, bounce passes, alley oops, and no-look-behind-the-back-who-needs-a-shot-clock-passes that leaves any fan wanting more.  So doesn’t it stand to say that since the Sun’s concerted effort to stray from that formula this year in picking up Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal makes it their fault and their fault alone for killing this wet dream of offensive-minded basketball?  So while teams like the Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, and the Denver Nuggets have in some way or another adopted this philosophy from Phoenix’s pioneering ways, none of them have come close to a title, but only the Suns (the founder) have seemed to have left this exalted path.

• but we’ll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs

This is simple: There are three types of fans in my opinion:

1. Your hardcore fans who root for the sport as a whole, though they might have a favorite team, they plainly appreciate said sport in general and may even dabble in gambling as well as fantasy sports to further coke them up on said sport.
2. Then there’s your super fans, fans who root for their team, and their team only.  They don’t bother to watch other teams unless there is nothing else to watch, or they feel the need to “scout” the competition, or they want to validate their manhood by not switching to Grey’s Anatomy during commercials.
3. Finally there is the biggest demographic of all, and the one in which the suits at various corporations across America target ruthlessly: the casual fan.  These fans like the specified sport, hold allegiance to no specific team unless its through fair weather means of a storied franchise such as the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, or the Los Angeles Lakers to name a few.  These type of fans make up the largest number and ultimately drive the engine that is TV ratings for certain sporting events.

Guess who matters most when it comes down to events such as the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals? Not the hardcore, who watch anything sports-related as it is.  It is of course the casual fans, and to a lesser extent the super fans who will watch only if their team is playing.

So when it’s the San Antonio Spurs (a grossly small market team compared to other TV powerhouses) in the Finals year in and year out, it’s no wonder that the NBA and ABC/ESPN are depressed.  The only draw they get are the few hardcore fans, and the super fans of San Antonio and it’s absentee supporters.  That leaves a multitude of other super fans of other franchises (like the Lakers, Celtics, or Knicks) not interested in a “boring” Finals match-up, in the dark, and of course the ever important casual fans who would not be interested in “bandwagonning” onto a team that wears black and white.  Some argue this bland uniform color is a far cry from the pink/yellow/who-knows-what technicolor paint that was the fiesta theme of the Spur’s team color back in the day.  However it was unique and I kind of liked the flair that it displayed.  If uniform color is important and directly related to a team’s popularity, then San Antonio is as popular to basketball as NASCAR is popular to inner-city communities.

My argument on this matter of the stigma that the Spurs are boring in the way they play is substantiated by several things: If worrying about defense before offense is boring, then it must be really really exciting to exit early in the playoffs year after year and leaving your fan base utterly frustrated.  Every championship team from the NFL to MLB to the NBA has some sort of above average defense.  Thankless, often forgotten and in the shadow of their offensive counterpart, defense always wins championships.  The cliche lives on!  Ask any NFL Super Bowl champ, has any team won the big one without a stout D? Has any World Series champion lack quality starting pitchers and ice-veined closers?  Why should it be different for the NBA?

Though a certain team can be great offensively, anything from bad luck, the laws of probability, and even a good defense can derail a well-tuned scoring machine.  However defense will always keep you in a game, gives you a puncher’s chance in the end to land the winning hit.  Any team with a respectable defense that plays to its potential will keep it from being blown out on a regular basis.  An offensive team, however can go cold, and without a decent D to back them up, will get blown out on occasion more than a defensive team.

To take this a bit further, in essence aside from their small market handicap and a “superstar” who refuses to grab the limelight (who is instead overshadowed by a fan/PG’s wife/actress of a prime time soap), how are the Spurs boring in fundamental terms?  They dunk the ball, they shoot the three, they run the fast-break as well as anyone whenever they set their mind to it.  If dunking, and shooting threes are aesthetic elements in basketball considered to be exciting, then how do the Spurs get labelled as boring?  It’s not like they are all sitting on the court Indian-style, and using the Force or some sort of psychic energy to shoot the basketball through the hoop.  Now that would be boring.

• The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team

Yes that is correct: because San Antonio is the only team that mugs, plays physical, rolls their eyes at refs, draws technicals, flop, and bend the rules right?  I mean all 29 other teams in the NBA are boy scouts and yes-men when it comes to arguing calls with referees right?  It’s not unfair to label them as such, just premeditated bias.  That may be a bit extreme, but remember I am driveling here.

Again Bill Simmons is entitled to his opinion and such as it is, will get more press for it in spite of many who will agree with him and others who may not see eye-to-eye with him.  Just because the national media automatically condemns an unprofitable small market team boring, does not mean someone like Simmons who claims to be a basketball purest should jump on popular opinion (shoved down our throats by the media).  The beauty of opinion.  All in all just like defending the mole-butted-hairy-ear-cousin you took to the dance (you, not me!), my arguments will fall on deaf ears, but nonetheless it’s interesting and compelling to defend one’s point and draw some sort of fodder to insert an extra blog entry into the month of May. :)