That Just Happened! : Weekend Wrap-Up

Eastern Conference

Florida was hit by Hurricane Legitimate East Teams this weekend, with the Pistons and Bulls finishing off sweeps of the Magic and Heat. The Cavs put the Wizards on the ropes, beating them despite 38 points from Antawn Jamison. Sorry Wizards fans, that's about as good as it's going to get. If you've been watching the Playoffs at all, none of this should be too surprising. From the gate it looked as if all these teams were going to walk away with these series, and getting them done with quickly bodes well for some good match-ups next round.

Meanwhile, I haven't seen momentum swings like the Nets-Raptors series since I dated a schizophrenic in college (attn Psych majors: a clinic for college cheerleaders is a million dollar idea). On Sunday, the Nets gave the Raptors the business, 102-81. Now are they going to stick with the Nets we saw on Sunday and wrap this one up, or are they going to go flat again when they get back to Toronto. If my experience in college holds true they'll probably ignore me until I start talking to another girl, then try to stick their hand down my pants in the middle of a party.

Western Conference

The Nuggets' defense continues to fall apart after a promising start to the series and now that San Antonio seems to have woken up on the defensive end, the Nuggets' look completely out of sync. Things look to be heading in the same direction with the Houston Rockets. In this match-up of big time defenses who guessed that Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams were going to be out pacing McGrady and Yao. If Houston's defense can regain composure they can pull this series together. On the other hand, if the Nuggets don't get a monster game out of Iverson and Anthony in game 4, the Spurs will close them out quick.

With the Suns getting right back on track and out-pacing the Lakers, the only big story out of the West came late on Sunday night.

Being from the New York area, I can only dream (and I mean that literally, there's no chance) of what it would be like to be in the shoes of a Golden State Warriors fan. Just in case you've been watching with the volume down, go over to 100% Injury Rate or Golden State of Mind to understand the absolute insanity going on in the Bay Area right now. It's completely contagious too; I was yelling on the couch, the announcers were screaming to be heard, and everyone on the Warriors was screaming because... well, because a lot of those guys are pretty crazy. With Golden State looking like the only basketball Cinderella story this year (college or pros), I'm just going to put on some quiet shoes and see if I can tiptoe my way onto the bandwagon without anyone noticing I'm late. I mean there's gotta be some way for me to get on, what with the blog name and all.

Western Conference First Round Preview

#2 Phoenix Suns vs. #7 Los Angeles Lakers

We can officially add the multiple Kobe Bryant debates to the ever-increasing list of annoying sports arguments that won't ever go away. Is he better than Jordan? Can he ever be a true team player instead of pure scoring machine? It's like he's NBA version of Michael Vick. The media can't help but debate this guy and his antics, although Vick's antics did give us this gem...



In ESPN the magazine this week, it was the very first question asked in the Stu Scott mailbag, "Stu- What do you think about this 'Kobe being better than Jordan' debate?" Which begs the two following questions: a) Why the hell was I reading this? and b) Who the hell cares what Stu Scott thinks about anything except booty calls to former NFL cheerleaders.?

OK, time to actually PREVIEW this series:

Remember last year when Kobe showed up on the TNT studio show to break down the Suns, amongst other things? The guy actually did a great job. He put Magic and Reggie to shame, in my opinion. And he made Kiki Vandeweghe, Allan Houston and Jamal Mashburn look like a trio of 12 year old girls yapping about the NBA. Then again, that's not all that difficult.

But Kobe's major point was: to beat the Suns, you need to break their collective will defensively. Simply scoring on them does nothing. In fact, sometimes they'd almost RATHER you score just so they can get the ball back quicker. And the best way to achieve this, in Kobe's opinion, was to get HIS guys more involved in the offense, that is, the more a guy scores, the more likely he is to be flying around on defense wreaking havoc.

That being said, the Lakers have no chance. NONE. They're simply bringing a knife to a gun fight, they don't have the horses, I could keep going with these loser cliches but you get the idea.

The Lakers could really use an upgrade at the point guard position. I find myself watching Laker games saying, "Holy shit, Smush Parker really sucks." And I don't think I'm alone on that one. They could really use any guy who kills it out there. Any guy who plays solid, tough D, and can guard the other team's best guard. A guy who's going to hustle for every loose ball and be happy playing a Scottie Pippen-type role to Kobe's Jordan (stay with me, I do have a point). Basically someone like Caron Butler. Imagine if the Wiz would ever bite on a Kwame Brown for Caron Butler trade. Get Mitch Kupchak on the phone. He should get on that. Or maybe he never should've made that exact trade in the first place.

Above everything else, the Suns have to win this in four, five at the absolute most. They totally fucked themselves last year by sleepwalking through the first two games and letting that thing go seven. And after ANOTHER seven gamer against the Clippers, no wonder they were gassed by the time they saw Dallas. The Suns are gonna need every once of energy they have to take down the Spurs and Dallas back to back. They can't be bothered with another dogfight in round 1.

Pick: lock-it-up, Suns in 4. - Absentee post by Team Der

Western Conference First Round Preview

#1 Dallas Mavericks vs. #8 Golden State Warriors

If you're all done ghost-riding your whips now, it's time for a reality check: Golden State will not win this series. Listen Yay Area, no one loves Don Nelson more than me (no homo, Tim Hardaway) and that's exactly why I don't think the Warriors stand a chance. Don Nelson instituted the offensive system that Dallas is using to the tune of 100ppg this year. He basically took the original Golden State three-guard system and replaced one guard (probably you, Sarunas Marciulionis) with a seven-foot tall German who can shoot like a guard; a really, really good guard.

I'm speaking of course of MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki. Why is he an MVP candidate? His team had the best record in the league, put together some historic winning streaks, and basically dominated all but a few teams in the league. Dirk himself had slight drop-offs in the major statistical categories (24.6, 8.9, & 3.4) but had his best year shooting the ball(.502 & .416 from 3). The increase in shooting percentage could probably be attributed to an even further maturation in his game helping him realize how to use the fact that he's a nightmare defensive match-up to get easier shots.



I know the Golden State coaching staff fell asleep when i said "defensive match-up" (someone kick the back of Keith Smart's chair). The fact is Nelson did a great job in honing this team into a shockingly efficient offensive machine, scoring 106.5 ppg. They're a blast to watch, and the one or two games this series that they take it to the Mavs will be some of the most fun basketball of the first round. But Don Nelson is also a nice, old guy. He was happy when the Warriors clinched and has probably been giving the team hard candies and taking them for ice cream at Friendly's since Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Avery Johnson has been the thorn in his entire team's ass, shouting at them in that goddamn voice of his about playing defense. Johnson kept the Mavericks motivated all season until they had the top spot locked up, and I don't see him losing this team now.

Pick: Since Tim Hardaway can't perform the UTEP 2-Step within 500 yards of an NBA game, Mavs in 5.