Embarassing

10:35 PM // by Jack Ady // // 0 comments
The San Antonio Spurs are an embarrassment to basketball.

Reason 1) Tony Parker. Tony Parker falls down on every play. For instance, three plays in the fourth quarter of their ludicrous win Tuesday night, Parker falls with no contact and gets calls. That's embarrassing to the game. His wife, Eva Longoria told a magazine that she initially worried about Parker as he would lie on the floor several plays a game. Fortunately he consoled his wife, telling her that he's not really hurt; he does that to get the call next time, too.

Reason 2) Manu Ginobili. Ginobili falls down on every play. By far the least liked player in the league, Manu flops to such a great extent that every fan in every city knows it's coming. However, officials continue to give him undeserved calls. I've often said that he can't be blamed since the officials are such lemmings for him, but the guy knows he's flopping-- it's embarrassing to basketball. Also, Manu Ginobili complains as much as any player on any team at any time-- despite getting more undeserved calls than Dwyane Wade in the Finals.

Reason 3) Bruce Bowen. Bruce Bowen is not talented. He is frequently praised as being an elite defender, but if you know anything about anything, you know that he has kicked Steve Nash, Steve Francis, Wally Sczerbiak, Ray Allen, Amare Stoudemire and others in games. He has been suspended and been in fights. A Google search or youtube search fields only articles about cheap shots, kicking, nut-shots and being a dirty player.

The reason is because Bowen is a dirty player. Obnoxious announcers will counter with the fact that Bowen is a nice guy. While it's still probably not true, that has nothing to do with the fact that he is a dirty cheap-shot basketball player. He's an embarrassment to the sport.

Reason 4) Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan has never fouled a player in the NBA. He has never missed a shot without being fouled. He has never travelled, stepped out of bounds or been in the key more than three seconds. When accused, he bulges his eyes and runs up the floor like a sad charlie brown robot. Is Duncan a super talent? No doubt. But he doesn't love basketball. Basketball is a chore for Duncan, which is why he doesn't play with any flair or expression. His only expression is distaste for a call, which of course only gets a reaction because it halts him from finishing his goal.

Reason 5) Greg Poppovich. Poppovich is the epitome of awful in the NBA. The fact that he repeatedly employed the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, removing the beautiful to watch Phoenix Suns from their offense, defines his kind of basketball. He doesn't have the intellect or talent to match teams like Phoenix, New Orleans or LA. No, he uses deceit, dishonesty and fouls-- something that should be a penalty-- to manipulate the game so that the better team does not win.

And that is what happened. The better team did not win in the Phoenix series. Game one, despite people blaming it on late game mis-cues, was really determined by Donaghy like-officiating.

This game tonight just had so many bad calls I don't know where to start. It had the Hack-a-Shaq trash, it had a total mis-call at the end that gave the ball to the Spurs and took away an opportunity for an exciting finish. The Spurs are an embarrassment to basketball.

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Ultimate Upset

8:44 AM // by Jack Ady // // 0 comments
In all reality, it probably can't happen. On all 83 occasions when a team loses the first three games of a playoff series, that team has never come back and won four straight.

Still, NBA faithful will remember the 2003 series between Dallas and Portland, in which Dallas watched their 3-0 lead go to game seven before they closed the deal. Barely.

But can it even be done? Will it ever be done? To find out, we go to ESPN.com expert John Hollinger:

"All 83 times that a team has taken a 3-0 lead in an NBA best-of-seven playoff series, it has gone on to win the series.

But somebody is going to be the first to buck the trend. It happened for the first time in baseball with the Red Sox a few years ago, and inevitably it will happen in basketball, too.
And when would it happen? Most likely with a team that's basically as good as its opponent.
That's a rarity in most of the series that started 3-0 -- but not in the Suns-Spurs series. The two teams finished only a game apart in the regular season, the Suns finished ahead in my power rankings, the scoring margin after four games is only five points, and the series would be even if not for the aforementioned Phoenix blunder at the end of Game 1.

I don't want to make too much out of this -- even if you presume the teams are dead-even and give the home team a three-point advantage each night, the fact that the Spurs have two home games in the final three and need to prevail only once adds up to a 94 percent chance they'll win the series. Most likely, San Antonio will be in the conference semifinals.

But this is one of the rare cases in which the team down 3-0 does still have a genuine chance of winning the series.

And if it happened, that would provide the ultimate surprise of this first round."

So far, let's be honest; the postseason has not lived up to the hype. This regular season was one of the best of all time, but still every Western playoff series began without a split. This is the ultimate possibility to save these playoffs. To the Suns there can be no more hated rival than the Spurs, and to overthrow their supreme villains, who just happen to be the reigning champs who body-checked them out of the finals last year-- could there be any greater victory?

It's not a great chance, but anyone who loves basketball should be praying to Michael Jordan right now to see that the Suns win the next three.
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Amen

4:25 PM // by Jack Ady // // 0 comments
Everyone's favorite Sports Guy, Bill Simmons is giving out awards for the first week of the playoffs. One of them....
"The Dirty Pool Award for "Scummiest And Most Indefensible In-Game Move"

Name me one good/fun/useful thing that comes from hack-a-Shaq. You can't. It's not entertaining, it ruins the flow of the game, it's dirty pool, and it sucks to watch. How have they not fixed this loophole? Really, it's OK to bear-hug someone as they're running up the court? Why can't we give officials the leeway to say, "Look, you did that intentionally, even if we can't technically prove it, and we are penalizing you for it"?

I just hate it. I hate it. I really, really hate it. If I were coaching the Suns, I would be fouling Bowen and Duncan every time and turning it into an "Eff-You" free-throw contest so David Stern had to break away from exchanging late-night e-mails with Clay Bennett to act like a commissioner for 10 minutes and fix this unforgivable tainting of a fantastic series that could have been headed for the Pantheon if not for such a garbage turn of events. That's not basketball. I can't stop shaking my head."

I think he illustrated my point perfectly, and pretty much I just want to add an "Amen!" to what was already written.

You'll probably hear people use words like "strategy, savvy or crafty veteran." Don't listen to that garbage. Common sense let's us know that cheating is taking place; regardless of whether or not a rule is set in stone yet.

Which, for anyone who has watched this series, knows that taking advantage of the game in a deceptive non-competitive way has Spurs written all over it.

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Playoff Pushing

1:12 PM // by Jack Ady // // 0 comments
After such a beautiful regular season, one in which the overall NBA talent level reached what some are calling an all time high, the playoffs have been less than astounding.

There have been a few close games, but outside of the Philly/Detroit series, we are still waiting for a second upset. This was the year when an upset out West shouldn't be an upset due to the fact that the 8th seed still has 50 wins. So what's up with...

Lakers vs. Nuggets

Of course, the Lakers got bad news this week. Andrew Bynum does not look like he's going to be playing again this season. For those of you who didn't see him earlier this year, his gaudy numbers still don't do justice to the presence he was for LA. Meanwhile, Pau Gasol looks like a monster, while Kobe's poor shooting is negated by the fact that his team is terrific this year.

For Denver, the frustration for the team is being carried over to fans. Similar to Portland teams from about five years ago, this Nuggets team has arguably the most talent of any NBA team, but their inability to play defense or run an offense has many people questioning George Karl's employment.

The Nuggets might be able to steal a game in there, but it's looking like Lakers in 5.

Jazz vs Rockets

This series is over. The Jazz are clearly better and have a 99.99% chance of completing the sweep in Salt Lake City. Jazz in 4.

Spurs vs. Suns

Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express News wrote, "Officially, the Spurs will fly to Phoenix on Thursday, and they might even lose a game while they're there. But this series is over, as sure as disco and Bear Stearns are over, and for the Suns to deny it would make them look as silly as they would if they wore hotpants on Wall Street."

Unfortunately, this is retarded. if Mike Finger knew what he was talking about he would a) know that in the Tim Duncan era, the Spurs have lost 3 series' that they began 2-0, and he would b) write for a less stupid newspaper.

I think for anyone to write off a title contender who lost two games by single digits on the road is clearly illustrating how poorly their little mind is working. The Suns have more than a sporting chance in this series, and I guarantee that the Suns faithful in Phoenix have something to say about ridiculous comments like this. Like how ridiculous they are. Suns in 7.

Hornets vs Mavericks

I really think the Mavericks got the unlucky draw here. Jason Kidd is normally a good defender, but Chris Paul is basically having his way with Kidd, and the Mavericks are paying big time for it. Hornets in 5.

Eastern Conference

Every round other than Detroit/Philly will go to the home court team quickly. So the Sixers have given us a reason to pay attention to the East, and here is the real reason why. After the Pistons lost, Billups and Hamilton both on their own said, "No big deal, we've been here before, we know what to do... BLAH!"

That is why Detroit could seriously be out in the first round, and why they really aren't title contenders. Billups says the Pistons have the best five in basketball. The thing is that they don't. Their five has already proved it can't hang with Boston's big three or even with Cleveland's big one, so regardless of the outcome of this series, Detroit is out as a contender.

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NBA Update

The NBA is borderline out of control. For those of you not paying close attention, my condolences; the playoffs have been terrific so far. What's that you say? The playoffs haven't started? But they absolutely have.

In the NBA's tightest playoff race ever, the post-season seems to have begun around the beginning of March, showing just how superior the NBA is the far lesser college tournament.

There are other issues in the NBA right now though, despite how fun the race our West has been. For example, who isn't going to the playoffs out West?

The fight for the 7th and 8th seeds is a battle between Denver, Dallas and Golden State, with Dallas beating the Warriors in a huge game last night. The loser of this triotic battle will most likely make NBA history as the best team to miss the playoffs.

Of course Portland, who is missing their number overall pick this season, was up there for awhile and still done a great job of finishing the season strong in an uber- competitive titan conference. They actaully still have the right to be upset about missing the playoffs, too. The reason being is that in the Leastern, er, Eastern conference, the 8th seed Atlanta Hawks are five games below .500, and have a four game cushion over 9th place New Jersey Nets.

We need to change the playoff system. Not only because the best teams aren't playing, but because last year's NBA finals were played in the Western Conference Finals. LeBron and co had a terrific run last year, but in all reality stood no chance against either San Antonio or the Suns.

Just take the top 16 teams and pair them one through 16. That way, Boston plays Portland, Denver, Dallas and Golden State all get to the post-season, and Atlanta keeps it's playoff drought alive. Doesn't that sound better than Washington, Toronto, Philidelphia and Atlanta playing? Isn't the purpose of the playoffs to take a title shot? None of those teams are close to contention, while those three Western "bottom dwellers" could all potentially compete for the Eastern crown.

The race to this years MVP award is over and the right winner is clear to those who know what they're talking about. Kevin Garnett got a lot of praise early, and deservedly so; with the Celtics winning their 60th last night after winning only 24 last season. But he simply isn't playing that well himself; he could be defensive player of the year, but he is not this years MVP.

Early in the season it was flat out LeBron, who, contrary to popular belief is the best player in the league. The Cavs haven't won enough games for him to win, though. But his head to head games and numbers verus Kobe Bryant have shown one thing: he's more clutch, he's a better finisher, he's more rounded and more physical. He's the Best player in the game.

But this years MVP is Chris Paul. Do you realize that the Hornets are still number one in the Western Conference? The ridiculous, playoffs-started-40-days-ago Western Conference? And he's 6'0" and doesn't have half the talent on his team that the Lakers, Suns, Jazz or Nuggets have? Do you know that he leads the league in assists and has a super low turnover rate? Or that he leads the NBA in steals? Or that he is the third most effecient player in the league, trailing only LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire?

Do you know why you don't know these things? Because you have never seen this kid play. He has been on national TV two times and chances are you didn't tune in because you hadn't heard of him. And because no one knows him, not because he's not deserving, is precicely why he can't win the MVP award this year.

The MVP is decided by the media, beat writers, most of whom follow around a specific team and will only see him 2-4 times a year. Even when their in a hotel room, they don't have league pass at the Holiday Inn, so they see only nationally televised games, which means they've seen Kobe play approximately 704 times this season. And that's why Kobe is going to be the MVP.

People will justify it, saying "Kobe's a better winner." But he's not, since he hasn't won as many games this season as Paul.

"Kobe's a better closer." While in fact he's not. Not only does Kobe have the worst end game percentage of all time, a stat deliberatley ignored by everyone, but Chris Paul has given New Orleans the NBA's best ever streak of OT games in row won, which is around 13 OT games.

"Kobe deserved it last year." While that's not true either (didn't the Kobester tank a game 7?), it wouldn't matter, because this award is for the 07/08 regular season. Last year Nash was denied his third in a row despite having better numbers, the Suns having 63 wins and outplaying Nowitzki in head to head matchups. He didn't win because Michael Jordan didn't win three in a row, and a factor outside of the 06/07 season decided it's MVP.

It is an unfortunate reality that much like last year, the actualy MVP will not be getting the award, and once again for the wrong reasons.

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