I thought it had a chance to be one of the best NBA playoffs ever—it’s definitely living up to, and exceeding expectations. The average margin of victory of all game ones was 6.1; not even I expected that. New Orleans blasted the defending champs, an eight seed stunned a one seed, and nearly every game this weekend came down to the wire. We had Ray Allen game winners, Kevin Durant shooting fire balls, point guard clinics, and the most unexpected heroes imaginable. And Zombies! Yes, I’m talking about you Jermaine O’Neal…
Chris Paul delivered in only the way Chris Paul can…
I wrote the following about Derrick Rose yesterday: “Rose approaches every spinning off-balance layup, every lefty-banker, every step-back jumper like he’s solving a Rubik’s Cube. Scoring is a math problem, and Derrick Rose happens to be Albert Einstein.” Chris Paul sees the court like a chess board. Every piece needs to be at its proper spot and every piece needs to interact in just the right way. One false move and it’s over. The Hornets second best player on the court Sunday was Aaron Gray, yet New Orleans still outclassed the Lakers because Chris Paul ran the Hornets squad of cast-offs and over-achievers like only Chris Paul can. He doesn’t make many mistakes, his dribble is always under control, and no movement is wasted. His performance was literally perfect. And when the Lakers looked like they just might storm back and rip it away from New Orleans? Chris Paul shed the mask of a point guard, and donned the costume of a savior—scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Chris Paul, it’s good to have you back.
Looking back, it’s incredible that Memphis actually won…
Not just because they were underdogs (I was actually high on the Grizzlies), but they won without even playing their game. Memphis likes to create a ton of turnovers and pound the offensive glass…neither of which the Grizzlies managed against the Spurs. The Grizz managed only five offensive boards and two steals while San Antonio turned the ball over ten times—a pretty average number.
Despite that, Memphis did a fantastic job of taking away San Antonio’s strengths. The Spurs, the best three-point shooting team in the league, averaged 21.1 attempts per game during the regular season (seventh in the league) and hit them at a league-best 40 percent. The Spurs managed only six makes Sunday, on 15 attempts. The Grizzlies did a fantastic job of running the Spurs off of the three-point line and forcing them to drive into the lane, where both Memphis bigs had a pair of blocks. The loss of Manu Ginobili obviously hurt (one of the best drive and dish 2-guards in the game) but Memphis had an excellent game plan they executed to perfection.
Doesn’t that just sound weird to say?
About the Zach Randolph signing: If you didn’t already know, Randolph was rewarded with a four-year, $71 million contract extension, announced yesterday. He’s played great the past two years; a contract extension was certainly deserved. Players who can consistently put up a 20-10 are very rare commodities—if you’ve got one, you have to keep him. But this IS Zach Randolph we’re talking about. He’s been playing for a big-money contract the past couple years, and now that he’s got one, does he revert back to insane, selfish, uncaring Zach Randolph? I have a feeling Memphis should have given Randolph a max one year deal every season. But how fair is that? Randolph deserves financial security just like the rest of us…
Is Doc Rivers a master of death magic?
Jermaine O’Neal is ALIVVVVEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! He set hard picks, crashed the offensive glass, blocked shots, hit jumpers, and played his ass off. How long until his knee explodes?
As only Kevin Garnett can say it: ANYTHING'SSSSSSSS POSSIBLEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Denver is still confused…
We could see it last night; down the stretch of a close game, the Denver Nuggets still haven’t figured out what to do. Here’s one thing I don’t understand, why was the ball in Raymond Felton’s hands rather than Ty Lawson’s? Lawson is the better play-maker—what am I missing?
But without Carmelo, who do the Nuggets run plays for in the final two minutes of a close game? Gallinari, Chandler, J.R. Smith? Do you ride the hot hand? Right now Denver seems to be riding the hot hand, which for my money, seems to be the most logical solution. Eventually though, Danilo Gallinari has to develop into that role…
Has Mike D’Antoni been fired yet?
The Knicks got boned by some questionable officiating last night, including a terrible offensive foul on Carmelo Anthony with twenty seconds to go and a missed trip by Kevin Garnett right before Ray Allen’s game winner. But D’Antoni was simply destroyed by Doc Rivers when it came to execution down the stretch. Rivers alley-oop play for Garnett out of a timeout with 35 seconds left was simply incredible. Even more incredible was that Boston ran the same play several weeks ago against Dallas but failed because Rajon Rondo flubbed the pass. Not this time. D’Antoni, in the last two minutes of the game, failed to get the ball to Amare Stoudemire, who made Garnett his bitch through a majority of the fourth quarter. Garnett dug in during the last couple of minutes and did a great job denying Amare the ball, but it’s on D’Antoni to come up with something to get his most productive player the basketball.
Carmelo Anthony was equally horrible, settling for long threes, stopping the ball, and all around ruining New York’s offense. And his desire to be the hero and check Paul Pierce one-on-one on Boston’s last possession played right into their hands by helping Ray Allen get wide open.
This is going to be the best two months EVER.
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