NBA Playoffs Halftime
The halfway point of the NBA’s “Second Season” has been reached and well, there have been several stories that have drawn the big headlines.
The playoffs got off to a big bang when the upstart Golden State Warriors upset the number one seeded Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks had the best record after an impressive 67 victories and the MVP in Dirk Nowitzki. But the Mavericks weren’t prepared for the pace and ferocity of the Warriors play. They got knocked down in Game 1 and never got their balance back as Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and Stephen Jackson ran rampant.
But despite all the talent that Golden State had their lack of composure eventually got the best of them. They had ejections and suspensions in their first round series and they continued that into the second round series with the Jazz. They are probably just as good as Utah but didn’t have the mental strength to defeat them.
The second round was marred by the Game 4 Phoenix victory over San Antonio. After Steve Nash was checked into the scorers table at the end of the game by Robert Horry, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw took exception and left the bench area. They earned one game suspensions for leaving the court (Horry a two game suspension for the foul) and the Suns dropped the next two games to lose the series.
First of all, it’s sad that the premier series of the playoffs was virtually lost because of this accident. What was supposed to be, and was turning out to be, an epic clash quickly turned into controversy and all was lost as the debate was on whether it was right to suspend Stoudemire and Diaw. You have to think that David Stern really wanted to take exception to the rule to keep the two players in the series. But he felt he had to be consistent and he felt he had to maintain his league’s image in the wake of several on-court brawls in the past three seasons. In the end, he ended up damaging his league with his decision to stick by the rule because his fans were denied seeing a great series with two of its best players. They may never forgive him. The bigger issue is that after the Knicks incident in the 1990’s why this rule wasn’t made a case-by-case issue. They had plenty of time to fix this problem.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference, undramatic and lackluster baskeball continues its normal service. The Bulls did make some waves with their first round sweep of the Miami Heat. That was the first time that a defending champion was swept in the first round since Pat Riley was in grade school.
The Bulls where then eliminated in the second round by the Pistons in typical Detroit style. The Bulls are getting better and better but they are still a little young and raw and don’t quite have the grace and culture to compete with the elite yet.
Lebron James has led his Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals. He may be in a weak conference but he is making solid progress. Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden and the rest of his help are better than everyone thinks but he still needs that excellent side-kick. When he finds one, he’ll win championships and MVP’s.
Eight victories in the books and eight more victories to go for the NBA Champion. See you in June.
The playoffs got off to a big bang when the upstart Golden State Warriors upset the number one seeded Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks had the best record after an impressive 67 victories and the MVP in Dirk Nowitzki. But the Mavericks weren’t prepared for the pace and ferocity of the Warriors play. They got knocked down in Game 1 and never got their balance back as Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and Stephen Jackson ran rampant.
But despite all the talent that Golden State had their lack of composure eventually got the best of them. They had ejections and suspensions in their first round series and they continued that into the second round series with the Jazz. They are probably just as good as Utah but didn’t have the mental strength to defeat them.
The second round was marred by the Game 4 Phoenix victory over San Antonio. After Steve Nash was checked into the scorers table at the end of the game by Robert Horry, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw took exception and left the bench area. They earned one game suspensions for leaving the court (Horry a two game suspension for the foul) and the Suns dropped the next two games to lose the series.
First of all, it’s sad that the premier series of the playoffs was virtually lost because of this accident. What was supposed to be, and was turning out to be, an epic clash quickly turned into controversy and all was lost as the debate was on whether it was right to suspend Stoudemire and Diaw. You have to think that David Stern really wanted to take exception to the rule to keep the two players in the series. But he felt he had to be consistent and he felt he had to maintain his league’s image in the wake of several on-court brawls in the past three seasons. In the end, he ended up damaging his league with his decision to stick by the rule because his fans were denied seeing a great series with two of its best players. They may never forgive him. The bigger issue is that after the Knicks incident in the 1990’s why this rule wasn’t made a case-by-case issue. They had plenty of time to fix this problem.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference, undramatic and lackluster baskeball continues its normal service. The Bulls did make some waves with their first round sweep of the Miami Heat. That was the first time that a defending champion was swept in the first round since Pat Riley was in grade school.
The Bulls where then eliminated in the second round by the Pistons in typical Detroit style. The Bulls are getting better and better but they are still a little young and raw and don’t quite have the grace and culture to compete with the elite yet.
Lebron James has led his Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals. He may be in a weak conference but he is making solid progress. Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden and the rest of his help are better than everyone thinks but he still needs that excellent side-kick. When he finds one, he’ll win championships and MVP’s.
Eight victories in the books and eight more victories to go for the NBA Champion. See you in June.
posted by William Allison @ 10:44 AM
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