Finally the Varejao situation is taken care of! I was pulling for him to play for the Bobcats for a couple reasons. First, because I could go see him play the Suns next year. (I can't go see them in Cleveland, because my Cavs loving cousin probably wouldn't like it if I rooted against his team.) Also, the Bobcats organization is in favor of players playing for their national teams. The Cavs are kind of on the fence about that (unless your name happens to be LeBron).
I'm mostly just happy that he's back to playing again. I enjoy his energy, his enthusiasm, his hair, and having another Brazilian team member to cheer for. Not that I cheer for the Cavs too often, but still.
I'm really dismayed and angry about Stern's statement regarding the settlement between Madison Square Garden and Anucha Browne Sanders. It sends a very clear message about how he regards women. As a friend has said, "he'll fine players for not wearing ties, but not Thomas for flagrantly harassing a high level female executive?"
MSG and Thomas created a very clear hostile working environment for women. Stern can take a definitive position supporting the many women who work for the NBA, not to mention female basketball fans. But he refuses. This from a man who has been an important supporter of the WNBA. It makes me very angry. I'm going to be trying to find contact information for him and/or Stu Jackson, and writing a letter. There's not much else that I can do.
On a not quite happier note, I wanted to touch on some things from Monday night's game against Miami.
Number one, since when does Shaq hit all his freethrows? It was only 4, but still. If he had missed them, it would have gone into overtime. I'm mostly kidding, but it really did take me by surprise.
Second, how cool is it that the Suns hit five threes in the last 1:47? It was like they just weren't going to give up. "You guys can keep making twos," they seemed to say, "but if we keep making threes, eventually we can catch up." It was pretty awesome. Even more awesome? That three of those threes were from Hill. Hill! Who everyone keeps saying should lay off the long range shots. I guess he just had a hot hand. Unlike some people I could name. *cough*Diaw and Barbosa*cough*
Next up, tonight versus the Jazz we finally get another televised game!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Because of some issues with the feed, I haven't posted here in forever. I think the issues have been resolved, and so now I just have to deal with the inertia of not writing for months.
The season has (clearly) started, and the Suns are doing great. This two game slide notwithstanding. (Although, can I just say, WTF is up with losing to the Timberwolves? I guess in an 82 game season the Suns can spare a loss, but still.)
On Friday I got to see them play live against the Wizards (in DC). It was very fun, I had terrific seats and they won 122-107. Plus Nash set a Verizon Center record with his 19 assists. I was sitting among a lot of fellow Suns fans, which caused my friend to remark that our section sucked.
Strawberry got big cheers from the crowd (even the Wizards fans) when he got to play in the fourth quarter, which wasn't too surprising but it made me smile. In a world where Grant Hill can get booed by Orlando fans, anything is possible.
(As an aside, those Magic fans really didn't have much cause to boo. Hill points out that his health was fine last season when he played 65 regular-season games. "I sat out a lot of games last year because the team wanted me to sit, not because I necessarily wanted to sit." From here.)
Also worth mentioning, this article is a good recap of the game, especially notable for the assist discussion and the sidebar about Barbosa's flagrant foul.
The season has (clearly) started, and the Suns are doing great. This two game slide notwithstanding. (Although, can I just say, WTF is up with losing to the Timberwolves? I guess in an 82 game season the Suns can spare a loss, but still.)
On Friday I got to see them play live against the Wizards (in DC). It was very fun, I had terrific seats and they won 122-107. Plus Nash set a Verizon Center record with his 19 assists. I was sitting among a lot of fellow Suns fans, which caused my friend to remark that our section sucked.
Strawberry got big cheers from the crowd (even the Wizards fans) when he got to play in the fourth quarter, which wasn't too surprising but it made me smile. In a world where Grant Hill can get booed by Orlando fans, anything is possible.
(As an aside, those Magic fans really didn't have much cause to boo. Hill points out that his health was fine last season when he played 65 regular-season games. "I sat out a lot of games last year because the team wanted me to sit, not because I necessarily wanted to sit." From here.)
Also worth mentioning, this article is a good recap of the game, especially notable for the assist discussion and the sidebar about Barbosa's flagrant foul.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Seattle officials filed a lawsuit Monday to keep the SuperSonics from leaving town, saying the team's profitability in much-maligned KeyArena "has less to do with KeyArena than perhaps the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick-and-roll."
As an aside, I love love love funny lawyers. Mostly this is interesting in light of this article about what future the Storm face.
I don't have much to say about this at all (though I wonder what will happen as a result of Durant's possible popularity), mostly I just wanted to link to both of those articles in the same place, and to note funny lawyerese.
As an aside, I love love love funny lawyers. Mostly this is interesting in light of this article about what future the Storm face.
I don't have much to say about this at all (though I wonder what will happen as a result of Durant's possible popularity), mostly I just wanted to link to both of those articles in the same place, and to note funny lawyerese.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Actual commentary (with many parentheticals)
This Finals have been talked about a lot in terms of contrasting styles. It's the Bad Girls of Detroit vs. the Running-and-Gunning Mercury. During the Eastern Conference Finals, some of the announcers were saying things about how the style of play wasn't very pretty or entertaining. The Phoenix team was obviously set up as the contrasting style.
In this season (34 games) and the first two rounds of the playoffs (4 games), Phoenix had 16 games in which they put up more than 95 points. Of those 16, 9 games were over 100 points (including 2 losses). All of that does not include a double overtime win against Connecticut (111-109) on July 6th. It's important, especially for NBA fans, to remember that these scores (save for the Connecticut game) were in the context of a 40 minute game. It seems that Paul Westhead has finally found a team that can play Paul Ball and play it well. He's only been looking since 1980, when his Lakers won the Championship.
The three main scoring threats for Phoenix are Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, and Penny Taylor. It's proven difficult for opponents to guard them, and in fact the trio has been averaging 66.6 points in the playoffs (54.2 in the regular season). As Kara Lawson said in one of her half time commentaries, teams need to have three great defenders to shut down the Mercury entirely. Most teams do not have three defenders of the caliber necessary to do it. Hell, most teams don't even have two players that can defend at that level. (It's interesting to note that even in game one's eight point loss to Detroit, these three combined for 69 points. That's even with Taurasi's meager 10 points in 22 minutes, and Pondexter's clear irritation with Deanna Nolan's tight defense.)
(As a side note, Penny Taylor was the MVP for the Australia team that won Gold at last year's FIBA World Championships. This is especially a big deal considering she was on the same team as the 2007 WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson and Indiana's Tully Bevilaqua. Also considering that, for the most part, the rest of the world hasn't nearly caught up with USA's women and that they were far more favorites to win Gold than even the Team USA men. This not only illustrates what an amazing player she is, it also gives her one of the more entertaining cheering sections in Jackson and Bevilaqua.)
Basically, much like today's Suns or the Golden State Warriors (or any team that Paul Westhead has coached in the past), the Mercury have their best chance at a win if they can keep running. Slow half court play is like poison to them.
(Here's an article about how wacky Westhead is. Some years ago I knew my team had a real struggle, so I went to National Geographic and got a two-minute clip of salmon jumping upstream, indeed!)
Theoretically the Shock's biggest threats are Nolan, Katie Smith, and Cheryl Ford. This is only theoretical because Smith has been in a slump the entire season, and Ford was out for 19 of 34 regular season games, and the first game of the Finals with a knee injury.
These problems are balanced out by a few factors. One, when it's needed Deanna Nolan can put her team on her back and carry them through rough patches until other people find their hot hand (witness her 20 points in 14-minutes in the first half of game three of the Eastern Conference Finals).
Two, a slump for Katie Smith is a good season for most players. She has more career points than any other professional female basketball player, and this season was only a disappointment from that perspective. She still averaged double digits in the regular season, and her assists are up.
Three, Cheryl Ford has been amazing when she has played, and when she hasn't the other big players like Kara Braxton and Katie Feenstra have really stepped up their play and filled in the hole admirably.
Detroit's biggest liability is that sometimes they don't play up to their potential. Bill Laimbeer has a habit of benching some of his stars (Swin Cash and Kara Braxton) because they start playing lazily, but it's an attitude that can extend to the entire team. It seems odd saying that about a team that had the best record in the league this year, but they sometimes visibly lag. They aren't quite as quick to come back up the court, especially on defense, and you can see that their drive to win isn't there. If they can avoid that, their chances are very good in this series.
The biggest misconception about Detriot is that they are a slow team. They do have a lot of traits that are generally grouped with sluggishness, much like the old Bad Boys of Detroit in the late 80s and early 90s they're physical, gritty, and great at grind-it-out defensively minded games. However, they really don't shy away from running, and indeed in Deanna "Tweety" Nolan have one of (if not the) fastest players in the league, with or with or without the ball.
They should not be fooled into thinking they can run with the Mercury for the whole series though. Not only is Phoenix hoping that they'll do exactly that, but if Ford decides to play in any of the upcoming games, they will have a major player (who wasn't too fast to begin with) sporting an injured knee.
However this series shakes up, it'll be interesting (and fun) to watch.
In this season (34 games) and the first two rounds of the playoffs (4 games), Phoenix had 16 games in which they put up more than 95 points. Of those 16, 9 games were over 100 points (including 2 losses). All of that does not include a double overtime win against Connecticut (111-109) on July 6th. It's important, especially for NBA fans, to remember that these scores (save for the Connecticut game) were in the context of a 40 minute game. It seems that Paul Westhead has finally found a team that can play Paul Ball and play it well. He's only been looking since 1980, when his Lakers won the Championship.
The three main scoring threats for Phoenix are Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, and Penny Taylor. It's proven difficult for opponents to guard them, and in fact the trio has been averaging 66.6 points in the playoffs (54.2 in the regular season). As Kara Lawson said in one of her half time commentaries, teams need to have three great defenders to shut down the Mercury entirely. Most teams do not have three defenders of the caliber necessary to do it. Hell, most teams don't even have two players that can defend at that level. (It's interesting to note that even in game one's eight point loss to Detroit, these three combined for 69 points. That's even with Taurasi's meager 10 points in 22 minutes, and Pondexter's clear irritation with Deanna Nolan's tight defense.)
(As a side note, Penny Taylor was the MVP for the Australia team that won Gold at last year's FIBA World Championships. This is especially a big deal considering she was on the same team as the 2007 WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson and Indiana's Tully Bevilaqua. Also considering that, for the most part, the rest of the world hasn't nearly caught up with USA's women and that they were far more favorites to win Gold than even the Team USA men. This not only illustrates what an amazing player she is, it also gives her one of the more entertaining cheering sections in Jackson and Bevilaqua.)
Basically, much like today's Suns or the Golden State Warriors (or any team that Paul Westhead has coached in the past), the Mercury have their best chance at a win if they can keep running. Slow half court play is like poison to them.
(Here's an article about how wacky Westhead is. Some years ago I knew my team had a real struggle, so I went to National Geographic and got a two-minute clip of salmon jumping upstream, indeed!)
Theoretically the Shock's biggest threats are Nolan, Katie Smith, and Cheryl Ford. This is only theoretical because Smith has been in a slump the entire season, and Ford was out for 19 of 34 regular season games, and the first game of the Finals with a knee injury.
These problems are balanced out by a few factors. One, when it's needed Deanna Nolan can put her team on her back and carry them through rough patches until other people find their hot hand (witness her 20 points in 14-minutes in the first half of game three of the Eastern Conference Finals).
Two, a slump for Katie Smith is a good season for most players. She has more career points than any other professional female basketball player, and this season was only a disappointment from that perspective. She still averaged double digits in the regular season, and her assists are up.
Three, Cheryl Ford has been amazing when she has played, and when she hasn't the other big players like Kara Braxton and Katie Feenstra have really stepped up their play and filled in the hole admirably.
Detroit's biggest liability is that sometimes they don't play up to their potential. Bill Laimbeer has a habit of benching some of his stars (Swin Cash and Kara Braxton) because they start playing lazily, but it's an attitude that can extend to the entire team. It seems odd saying that about a team that had the best record in the league this year, but they sometimes visibly lag. They aren't quite as quick to come back up the court, especially on defense, and you can see that their drive to win isn't there. If they can avoid that, their chances are very good in this series.
The biggest misconception about Detriot is that they are a slow team. They do have a lot of traits that are generally grouped with sluggishness, much like the old Bad Boys of Detroit in the late 80s and early 90s they're physical, gritty, and great at grind-it-out defensively minded games. However, they really don't shy away from running, and indeed in Deanna "Tweety" Nolan have one of (if not the) fastest players in the league, with or with or without the ball.
They should not be fooled into thinking they can run with the Mercury for the whole series though. Not only is Phoenix hoping that they'll do exactly that, but if Ford decides to play in any of the upcoming games, they will have a major player (who wasn't too fast to begin with) sporting an injured knee.
However this series shakes up, it'll be interesting (and fun) to watch.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Mystics and Donaghy
Well, I missed my last Mystics game of the year. That's the only bad news of this part of the season right now. Detroit and Phoenix (and their fantastic Westhead offense) are at the top of their respective conferences, and all signs are pointing to DC making the final playoff spot in the East.
The Mystics have been really impressing me this year. I believe that I was among those who said that they'd never reach the playoffs. And yet, here they are at the brink. It's especially amazing considering the WNBA's very short season. Of course, the smallness of the league helps. I just wish that (if they make it) they wouldn't have to play the Shock in the first round. But that's a pretty much impossible wish.
I was getting frustrated with the lack of Tim Donaghy news that had been coming out lately. A coworker and I were making up stories as to what happened. "Maybe the mob had him killed!" "Maybe Stern is keeping it quiet so we can forget about it and pay more attention to the problems in baseball and football," etc. A couple days ago, I found this article confirming that he is alive, and has a decidedly (if justifiably) grumpy wife.
But then! I found this article last night. It seems that he's probably going to turn himself in today. Which is good.
I just have major problems with how the league (and to a lesser extent, the media) has been dealing with this down time. Obviously there have been many closed meetings at NBA HQ about this whole ordeal. If Stern is serious about his proposed transparency, then he should be letting us know general information about how the league is dealing with this. Nothing specific, but just bare bones. To help us, as fans, know that they're serious about this never happening again--and more to the point to reassure us. This is (obviously) a very big deal, and the silence has been deafening for more than three weeks.
On the 24th of July, in his press conference about this scandal, Stern said, "And we will continue to both not only keep you advised, but I think it's my obligation as commissioner to retain the best outside experts in these matters and consultants to advise the NBA on what we can do better to assure our fans that our games are being decided on their merits. I think that's the obligation that every sports league has." It is my feeling that he has not met that obligation as of right now.
The Mystics have been really impressing me this year. I believe that I was among those who said that they'd never reach the playoffs. And yet, here they are at the brink. It's especially amazing considering the WNBA's very short season. Of course, the smallness of the league helps. I just wish that (if they make it) they wouldn't have to play the Shock in the first round. But that's a pretty much impossible wish.
I was getting frustrated with the lack of Tim Donaghy news that had been coming out lately. A coworker and I were making up stories as to what happened. "Maybe the mob had him killed!" "Maybe Stern is keeping it quiet so we can forget about it and pay more attention to the problems in baseball and football," etc. A couple days ago, I found this article confirming that he is alive, and has a decidedly (if justifiably) grumpy wife.
But then! I found this article last night. It seems that he's probably going to turn himself in today. Which is good.
I just have major problems with how the league (and to a lesser extent, the media) has been dealing with this down time. Obviously there have been many closed meetings at NBA HQ about this whole ordeal. If Stern is serious about his proposed transparency, then he should be letting us know general information about how the league is dealing with this. Nothing specific, but just bare bones. To help us, as fans, know that they're serious about this never happening again--and more to the point to reassure us. This is (obviously) a very big deal, and the silence has been deafening for more than three weeks.
On the 24th of July, in his press conference about this scandal, Stern said, "And we will continue to both not only keep you advised, but I think it's my obligation as commissioner to retain the best outside experts in these matters and consultants to advise the NBA on what we can do better to assure our fans that our games are being decided on their merits. I think that's the obligation that every sports league has." It is my feeling that he has not met that obligation as of right now.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Know when to walk away and know when to run
I've been planning a post about Yi Jianlian, but now I'm not even really thinking about it. (Mostly I think this isn't an issue about him or even about the Bucks, but instead about the idiotic Chinese Basketball Association and Yi's management. They're trying to get more money and attention for their player at this point. Yay power plays. The end.)
I was also going to talk about the Mystics, but too bad if you wanted to read about that for now. I swear that I'll be trying to actually address them this summer, but for right now I'm a little distracted.
Because of Donaghy. There's not a lot that hasn't already been written about by people who are much smarter and some of them even y'know--get paid to write this stuff. But I wanted to link to some articles and blogs here.
First, Kevin Hench explains how I'm feeling as a Suns fan with amazing clarity. This paragraph, in particular, really resonated with me: If Donaghy is convicted of fixing any games over the last two seasons — during which the FBI was monitoring his games — how will Stern, who must have precious little credibility in Phoenix, ever convince Suns fans that they weren't the victims of a fix? I mean, besides the one he himself sanctioned after Game 4. (And if it turns out Donaghy did conspire to fix Game 3, how happy will Suns fans be with the FBI for allowing their team to be an unwitting victim in a two-year-old sting operation?)
I was not someone who was calling fix. I said that if Duncan and Bowen walked on that court following the Elson and Jones incident, they should have been suspended too. That's actually a call that I haven't seen talked about in the context of the Donaghy story, but plenty about Game 3 is.
This blog has a couple insights about Game 3, but is mostly interesting for the really depressing yet amazing youtube video that Brett Edwards centered his post around. It's a breakdown of some of the most notable terrible calls made in Game 3 (interestingly some were not made by Donaghy).
Fox Sports compiled some very interesting stats on Donaghy. Unless this turns out to be a widespread problem (and if that's the case I really hope Bavetta isn't involved), I am not someone who thinks that the NBA should have necessarily known what was going on. However, these stats are still really interesting to me.
Most of the players who have talked about this have been very careful about their words. Chris Sheridan asked Team USA about it, and the most riled up they got was LeBron James who said as a competitor, as hard as I play, it is disappointing, definitely.
Marc Stein at espn.com had a blog about more players' reactions (including Raja Bell and Steve Nash). They were asked about the whole situation (and were, again, toeing the party line) at The Steve Nash Foundation Charity Classic, which involved Barbosa. (Meaning that he seems to be recovering from his elbow surgery nicely. This is my considered opinion as a not-quite-doctor at all, but I'm being stupidly optimistic. I need to be in the face of all of this Donaghy crap.)
On a different note, as I was reading things about this whole mess, I read something else of note. At the bottom of his article about Team USA's reaction Chris Sheridan writes, I was able to glean one small piece of information regarding the trade the Phoenix Suns made with Seattle earlier Friday, sending Kurt Thomas and two future No. 1 picks to the Sonics in exchange for the second-round pick the Sonics acquired last week from Orlando in the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade deal.
Turns out neither of the No. 1 picks the Suns surrendered has any lottery protection, which could make the 2010 draft pick especially valuable if the Suns' fortunes take a precipitous fall by then. The scuttlebutt around the league was that Phoenix GM Steve Kerr made the deal as the precursor to another deal, which he will make using the $8.092 million trade exception he acquired from the Sonics.
At that I literally shook my computer screen at disbelief. No lottery protection? That seems stupid. They had better have something pretty cool up their sleeves on this. I mean, yay dealing with some of the luxury tax, but seriously this seems like a really skewed trade. And not in our favor.
I bet Paul Coro is enjoying his vacation.
I was also going to talk about the Mystics, but too bad if you wanted to read about that for now. I swear that I'll be trying to actually address them this summer, but for right now I'm a little distracted.
Because of Donaghy. There's not a lot that hasn't already been written about by people who are much smarter and some of them even y'know--get paid to write this stuff. But I wanted to link to some articles and blogs here.
First, Kevin Hench explains how I'm feeling as a Suns fan with amazing clarity. This paragraph, in particular, really resonated with me: If Donaghy is convicted of fixing any games over the last two seasons — during which the FBI was monitoring his games — how will Stern, who must have precious little credibility in Phoenix, ever convince Suns fans that they weren't the victims of a fix? I mean, besides the one he himself sanctioned after Game 4. (And if it turns out Donaghy did conspire to fix Game 3, how happy will Suns fans be with the FBI for allowing their team to be an unwitting victim in a two-year-old sting operation?)
I was not someone who was calling fix. I said that if Duncan and Bowen walked on that court following the Elson and Jones incident, they should have been suspended too. That's actually a call that I haven't seen talked about in the context of the Donaghy story, but plenty about Game 3 is.
This blog has a couple insights about Game 3, but is mostly interesting for the really depressing yet amazing youtube video that Brett Edwards centered his post around. It's a breakdown of some of the most notable terrible calls made in Game 3 (interestingly some were not made by Donaghy).
Fox Sports compiled some very interesting stats on Donaghy. Unless this turns out to be a widespread problem (and if that's the case I really hope Bavetta isn't involved), I am not someone who thinks that the NBA should have necessarily known what was going on. However, these stats are still really interesting to me.
Most of the players who have talked about this have been very careful about their words. Chris Sheridan asked Team USA about it, and the most riled up they got was LeBron James who said as a competitor, as hard as I play, it is disappointing, definitely.
Marc Stein at espn.com had a blog about more players' reactions (including Raja Bell and Steve Nash). They were asked about the whole situation (and were, again, toeing the party line) at The Steve Nash Foundation Charity Classic, which involved Barbosa. (Meaning that he seems to be recovering from his elbow surgery nicely. This is my considered opinion as a not-quite-doctor at all, but I'm being stupidly optimistic. I need to be in the face of all of this Donaghy crap.)
On a different note, as I was reading things about this whole mess, I read something else of note. At the bottom of his article about Team USA's reaction Chris Sheridan writes, I was able to glean one small piece of information regarding the trade the Phoenix Suns made with Seattle earlier Friday, sending Kurt Thomas and two future No. 1 picks to the Sonics in exchange for the second-round pick the Sonics acquired last week from Orlando in the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade deal.
Turns out neither of the No. 1 picks the Suns surrendered has any lottery protection, which could make the 2010 draft pick especially valuable if the Suns' fortunes take a precipitous fall by then. The scuttlebutt around the league was that Phoenix GM Steve Kerr made the deal as the precursor to another deal, which he will make using the $8.092 million trade exception he acquired from the Sonics.
At that I literally shook my computer screen at disbelief. No lottery protection? That seems stupid. They had better have something pretty cool up their sleeves on this. I mean, yay dealing with some of the luxury tax, but seriously this seems like a really skewed trade. And not in our favor.
I bet Paul Coro is enjoying his vacation.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
I just realized that Ray Allen is going to Boston, where there is no WNBA team for his daughter and him to support! And here I was all excited for him to be on a team with Allan Ray. Basically for no other reason than the symmetric silliness.
But I guess that he has more than enough money to go down to Connecticut (or anywhere else he wants to go) for a game. So that's something.
In international basketball news, I'm going to go to an entire day's games of the FIBA Americas! I get to see Brazil, USA, Argentina, Canada, Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It was affordable too.
Brazil has almost all of the major players accounted for. Nene has decided to stop being an ass about Team Brazil, and should be playing this summer. Tiago Splitter isn't yet playing for Popovich (who has a reputation for convincing his players not to play for their national teams), so he'll be there. Anderson Varejao is his usual excited self, and seems to be completely committed to the team.
Barbosa is a different story. He seems committed to the team, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to act on that commitment this summer. I was angry about how he was playing in the Spurs series, but as it turns out he was injured and in need of surgery. So I guess I owe him an apology.
The recuperation might interfere with the tournament, and also he has problems with insurance. I love the fact that he's made this a public issue in the press. Now granted, that article came out almost three weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything new on this subject. (Although FIBA is terrible at all things internet-related and it's not like the American press cares about international teams, so anything is possible.)
This all means that if insurance gets dealt with and he recuperates well, I could be seeing Leandrinho in August. Which, y'know, is all that really matters. Right?
(Also interesting, at least as a footnote, is his work with the college basketball system in Brazil. This is in huge contrast with Nene, who basically said, "fix it yourself.")
But I guess that he has more than enough money to go down to Connecticut (or anywhere else he wants to go) for a game. So that's something.
In international basketball news, I'm going to go to an entire day's games of the FIBA Americas! I get to see Brazil, USA, Argentina, Canada, Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It was affordable too.
Brazil has almost all of the major players accounted for. Nene has decided to stop being an ass about Team Brazil, and should be playing this summer. Tiago Splitter isn't yet playing for Popovich (who has a reputation for convincing his players not to play for their national teams), so he'll be there. Anderson Varejao is his usual excited self, and seems to be completely committed to the team.
Barbosa is a different story. He seems committed to the team, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to act on that commitment this summer. I was angry about how he was playing in the Spurs series, but as it turns out he was injured and in need of surgery. So I guess I owe him an apology.
The recuperation might interfere with the tournament, and also he has problems with insurance. I love the fact that he's made this a public issue in the press. Now granted, that article came out almost three weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything new on this subject. (Although FIBA is terrible at all things internet-related and it's not like the American press cares about international teams, so anything is possible.)
This all means that if insurance gets dealt with and he recuperates well, I could be seeing Leandrinho in August. Which, y'know, is all that really matters. Right?
(Also interesting, at least as a footnote, is his work with the college basketball system in Brazil. This is in huge contrast with Nene, who basically said, "fix it yourself.")
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Shot heard 'round the world
I know it's been awhile since I've posted. It's not for lack of things to talk about (oddly, since it's officially the off season now), but just basically because I'm lazy. I have made a list of things to write about, but first I wanted to mention something that's not on the list.
It was recently the 31st anniversary of the Greatest Game in the history of the NBA. I was a basketball fan for the 30th anniversary, but I didn't know about it then.
It was game 5 in the finals between the Celtics (of course, weren't they all back then?) and the Suns. The Celtics won in a triple overtime forced by one of the awesomest sequences that I've ever heard about.
According to Harvey Frommer (from the above link), with one second left on the clock and Boston up by one the Suns' Paul Westphal asked for, and received, a timeout he knew his team was not entitled to. It was good strategy, though. The Celtics were given a technical foul, whereupon Jo Jo White hit the free throw. The Celtic lead was moved up to two points, but the technical foul enabled the Suns to make the inbounds pass from midcourt.
Forward Gar Heard caught the pass to the right of the free-throw line, turned and hit a 20-foot jumper right at the buzzer. The noisy Garden faithful was stunned into silence for the moment. And they went into a third and final overtime.
Not only is this an amazing turn of events (that I wish I could see), but it all happened on my birthday. Which, yeah, was two weeks ago. I intended to post about it on the day itself, but you know what they say about the road to Hell.
Next time I post it will either be about the Mystics and their season of doom or about Leandro and his chances of being at the FIBA Americas tournament in Vegas. There are other things too (7 Seconds or Less, trade rumors, Kobe, etc.), but the likelihood is that one of those will be next.
It was recently the 31st anniversary of the Greatest Game in the history of the NBA. I was a basketball fan for the 30th anniversary, but I didn't know about it then.
It was game 5 in the finals between the Celtics (of course, weren't they all back then?) and the Suns. The Celtics won in a triple overtime forced by one of the awesomest sequences that I've ever heard about.
According to Harvey Frommer (from the above link), with one second left on the clock and Boston up by one the Suns' Paul Westphal asked for, and received, a timeout he knew his team was not entitled to. It was good strategy, though. The Celtics were given a technical foul, whereupon Jo Jo White hit the free throw. The Celtic lead was moved up to two points, but the technical foul enabled the Suns to make the inbounds pass from midcourt.
Forward Gar Heard caught the pass to the right of the free-throw line, turned and hit a 20-foot jumper right at the buzzer. The noisy Garden faithful was stunned into silence for the moment. And they went into a third and final overtime.
Not only is this an amazing turn of events (that I wish I could see), but it all happened on my birthday. Which, yeah, was two weeks ago. I intended to post about it on the day itself, but you know what they say about the road to Hell.
Next time I post it will either be about the Mystics and their season of doom or about Leandro and his chances of being at the FIBA Americas tournament in Vegas. There are other things too (7 Seconds or Less, trade rumors, Kobe, etc.), but the likelihood is that one of those will be next.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Say what you will, but that dog can shoot!
I turned on the television tonight for background noise as I got ready for work and Animal Planet was showing Air Bud. Now I understand that this movie is hardly of the highest quality, but how is it that I had never seen it before? Last year after the Suns had dropped out of the playoffs, I went on a basketball movie watching binge.
I saw so many basketball movies in about a month and a half, that I'm surprised my eyes didn't fall out. The Air Up There, Hoop Dreams, White Men Can't Jump, Glory Road, He Got Game, Coach Carter, Hoosiers, the list just goes on and on. But for some reason, I never saw Air Bud. (Or Space Jam, which needs to be rectified ASAP. But that's a different story.)
This movie is incredible. But even more incredible is how far you have to suspend your disbelief. Never mind that the coach for this middle school boys basketball team is a former Knicks player. (Because that's what I'd do after retiring from the NBA too. Yeah, right.) Never mind that the reason that Bud gets to join the team is because there "ain't no rule that says a dog can't play basketball!" Never mind that Buddy returns to his family just in time for the big game after being deserted (one imagines) miles and miles away from his home. Never mind that the bad guy is an evil clown who we are lead to believe beats Buddy with a newspaper and wants to sell him out to a beer company.
No, the plot point that I got stuck on is that the coach made Buddy a registered member of their team at some point prior to the big game. At some point, he was like, "what the hell, I'll add the dog to the roster. It can't hurt anything, and it'll be damned funny." Only, y'know, cleaner. It is a Disney movie after all.
I fully expected there to be a major plot point in which the other coach challenges Buddy's playing because he's not only a dog, but also not on the roster. And you can't substitute a player like that in the middle of a game. But no, there's a throw away line in which the coach says something to the effect of, "he's a registered player, he trains and travels with us."
Whatever.
All in all, though--a fairly entertaining movie if ridiculous. Plus, ever since seeing the Fisher King, I've really enjoyed Michael Jeter.
I saw so many basketball movies in about a month and a half, that I'm surprised my eyes didn't fall out. The Air Up There, Hoop Dreams, White Men Can't Jump, Glory Road, He Got Game, Coach Carter, Hoosiers, the list just goes on and on. But for some reason, I never saw Air Bud. (Or Space Jam, which needs to be rectified ASAP. But that's a different story.)
This movie is incredible. But even more incredible is how far you have to suspend your disbelief. Never mind that the coach for this middle school boys basketball team is a former Knicks player. (Because that's what I'd do after retiring from the NBA too. Yeah, right.) Never mind that the reason that Bud gets to join the team is because there "ain't no rule that says a dog can't play basketball!" Never mind that Buddy returns to his family just in time for the big game after being deserted (one imagines) miles and miles away from his home. Never mind that the bad guy is an evil clown who we are lead to believe beats Buddy with a newspaper and wants to sell him out to a beer company.
No, the plot point that I got stuck on is that the coach made Buddy a registered member of their team at some point prior to the big game. At some point, he was like, "what the hell, I'll add the dog to the roster. It can't hurt anything, and it'll be damned funny." Only, y'know, cleaner. It is a Disney movie after all.
I fully expected there to be a major plot point in which the other coach challenges Buddy's playing because he's not only a dog, but also not on the roster. And you can't substitute a player like that in the middle of a game. But no, there's a throw away line in which the coach says something to the effect of, "he's a registered player, he trains and travels with us."
Whatever.
All in all, though--a fairly entertaining movie if ridiculous. Plus, ever since seeing the Fisher King, I've really enjoyed Michael Jeter.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Well that's that.
I'm probably not going to pay too much attention to the rest of the playoffs.
That being said, the WNBA season started last night. So there's still more basketball that I care about! Yay! I got to go to the Mystics opening game and was pleasantly amazed by it.
Alana Beard is currently out for a sore shoulder that she suffered while playing for Team USA this spring. Without her, they still managed to keep pace with the Connecticut Sun (boo hiss) until the end. In order to try to take the lead, the Mystics tried a very foul heavy strategy. It failed, as the Sun sunk (almost?) all their free throws.
I just really adore the WNBA. I love watching it, it's a high level of quality, and it's just so exciting. Being there live is amazing. I loved the NBA games that I went to, but (especially as an away fan) being there was full of negativity. Going to Mystics games is just so positive.
It's so family friendly, and actually just so friendly period. I wish there were more people in attendance, or at least that they sat us all on the first floor so that there was the illusion of a bigger crowd. But even though they don't, it's just such a charged atmosphere. Last night, fourth quarter was so exciting. The crowd got involved, and I just was very happy.
It was the perfect antidote to Friday night's misery.
I'm probably not going to pay too much attention to the rest of the playoffs.
That being said, the WNBA season started last night. So there's still more basketball that I care about! Yay! I got to go to the Mystics opening game and was pleasantly amazed by it.
Alana Beard is currently out for a sore shoulder that she suffered while playing for Team USA this spring. Without her, they still managed to keep pace with the Connecticut Sun (boo hiss) until the end. In order to try to take the lead, the Mystics tried a very foul heavy strategy. It failed, as the Sun sunk (almost?) all their free throws.
I just really adore the WNBA. I love watching it, it's a high level of quality, and it's just so exciting. Being there live is amazing. I loved the NBA games that I went to, but (especially as an away fan) being there was full of negativity. Going to Mystics games is just so positive.
It's so family friendly, and actually just so friendly period. I wish there were more people in attendance, or at least that they sat us all on the first floor so that there was the illusion of a bigger crowd. But even though they don't, it's just such a charged atmosphere. Last night, fourth quarter was so exciting. The crowd got involved, and I just was very happy.
It was the perfect antidote to Friday night's misery.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Emotional fuckwits!
I just woke up early from a dream that had me posting reasons that I'm angry at Barbosa. About how he's been lost and unable to connect on anything. Which is all true. And I am angry, but I think I'd rather not post about that.
I want to post asking why in a game like last night's, we played without Jalen Rose or Marcus Banks. A shooter like Rose with fresh legs? A player who has purportedly good D like Banks? Get them out there when we still had a lead. Rest the guys who looked so sloppy in the fourth.
I was so giddy and elated in the first half. It was like the team that I fell in love with last year in the playoffs was back. No one plays basketball like they did last year, not even this year's team. Last year everyone counted them out and they got so far playing such amazing and beautiful ball. They had so much to prove. This game was shades of that, and I really was excited to see them come out and do it again.
And then midway through the third they started getting tired. They started losing that beautiful lead. In the fourth when it was all gone, I thought I'd cry.
I don't know if I'm on the conspiracy bandwagon, that this was fixed by the NBA, but I can tell you that I think that it was an unfair ruling that did benefit the team that perpetrated the flagrant. I know that if Duncan and Bowen walked on that court following the Elson and Jones incident, they should have been suspended too. There is some bias in that, even if it's not intended to be game-fixing bias. If rules are rules and we should suck that up as Suns fans, then rules should be rules for everyone.
The latest I've heard about that (and this hasn't been confirmed, just word of mouth) is that Stu Jackson (NBA exec vp of basketball operations) said that Stoudemire and Diaw got their suspensions as a result of leaving the bench to participate in the near brawl, but that Duncan seemed to get up out of concern for Elson, and therefore wasn't suspended.
Do I really need to address that asshattery? No I didn't think so. (It does briefly bear mentioning that that's been Diaw's story about why he left the bench from the get go. He was worried about Nash.)
Whatever. I feel robbed by fate, frustrated by the outcome, and angry at Barbosa.
Tomorrow's game had better be awesome.
I want to post asking why in a game like last night's, we played without Jalen Rose or Marcus Banks. A shooter like Rose with fresh legs? A player who has purportedly good D like Banks? Get them out there when we still had a lead. Rest the guys who looked so sloppy in the fourth.
I was so giddy and elated in the first half. It was like the team that I fell in love with last year in the playoffs was back. No one plays basketball like they did last year, not even this year's team. Last year everyone counted them out and they got so far playing such amazing and beautiful ball. They had so much to prove. This game was shades of that, and I really was excited to see them come out and do it again.
And then midway through the third they started getting tired. They started losing that beautiful lead. In the fourth when it was all gone, I thought I'd cry.
I don't know if I'm on the conspiracy bandwagon, that this was fixed by the NBA, but I can tell you that I think that it was an unfair ruling that did benefit the team that perpetrated the flagrant. I know that if Duncan and Bowen walked on that court following the Elson and Jones incident, they should have been suspended too. There is some bias in that, even if it's not intended to be game-fixing bias. If rules are rules and we should suck that up as Suns fans, then rules should be rules for everyone.
The latest I've heard about that (and this hasn't been confirmed, just word of mouth) is that Stu Jackson (NBA exec vp of basketball operations) said that Stoudemire and Diaw got their suspensions as a result of leaving the bench to participate in the near brawl, but that Duncan seemed to get up out of concern for Elson, and therefore wasn't suspended.
Do I really need to address that asshattery? No I didn't think so. (It does briefly bear mentioning that that's been Diaw's story about why he left the bench from the get go. He was worried about Nash.)
Whatever. I feel robbed by fate, frustrated by the outcome, and angry at Barbosa.
Tomorrow's game had better be awesome.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Bell's a dad!
Congrats to the Bells! They just welcomed their first child (a boy) into their family.
Everyone seems to be ok, because Raja is playing tonight in game 5.
Yay Raja and Cindy (and the little Bell)!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
I'm 6-10, I'm in the lane!
Dear LeBron,Your team just swept the first round of the playoffs against a very depleted team. The God pose might be a bit much. Just maybe.
Trying to be helpful,
Jean
I have been having a bit of trouble thinking of things to say about the playoffs lately. Mostly I just want to say that I so totally called the Warriors playing the Mavs hard and maybe even winning the best of seven. Everyone's acting so surprised about it, and I don't really know why. There are so many reasons that the Warriors can play so well against the Mavs.
The other thing that I want to say about the playoffs so far (that I have said and will say again long after I click the "publish" button) is "Eeep, Spurs!" Why can't Denver cooperate and just beat them for us? It's really scary.
I think it says a lot about the Lakers and how they're playing that I'm more worried about the second round than I am about the rest of the first. I just strongly feel that we'll win it even if the Lakers win tomorrow night (knock wood).
Oh, and I've decided that I'm not a Smush Parker fan. Not as though I was ever cheering for him, but he's pretty much sealed my opinion of him. Last Thursday, at the end of game three, he had that ridiculous dunk attempt. If you're up by six and there's a couple seconds left, you dribble it out. You *do not* run the fast break for an easy dunk. You just don't. It's rude and bad sportsmanship.
And then on Sunday he fouled Barbosa hard twice. Both times he basically grabbed him and took him into the stands. It was bizarre and unnecessary. And of course had me yelling at the TV. Because a) that's what I do, and b) I'm oddly protective of Barbosa.
One last thing about the Suns podcasts, and then I'm off to bed. It's mostly stuff (or maybe even all stuff) from the multimedia section on suns.com, but I love it! I've been having a ton of fun watching and listening to things that I never would have otherwise. Especially this.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Here come the Suns
The Suns play game two with the Lakers tonight. I'm very excited, although apparently we haven't won a game two in the last five series that we've played. That's ok, I have faith that today they'll pull through with relatively few headaches.
And then tomorrow it's a double header of games that I care about (even if mostly marginally). First up Denver will hopefully beat San Antonio's ass again. Although I don't know how likely that is with the full court press of doom and the ability to completely control the tempo of the game. The Spurs defense has been written about by much smarter people than me, but suffice it to say that San Antonio worries me more than any other team in the playoffs, even Dallas.
Speaking of, in the second game tomorrow night we get to see if Golden State can win two games in a row in Dallas.
TNT is running a short little ad that makes me very happy. In it they call the team "Leandro Barbosa and the Suns." I know it's because of his team high 26 points, but still to have a bench player be treated by the media like he's the star of the team? Very cool. Also indicative of the way this team works together.
And! Indicative of the fact that Barbosa just got the 6th Man of the Year award. I suddenly can't remember if I had previously capitalized that or not. But whatever, I'm just so very excited that he got it. As a result, there's all sorts of press on him right now. He seems to have appropriate perspective on it too. He still has his focus on the Championship where it belongs.
I've recently started getting Suns podcasts from suns.com, both video and audio. So far they're very good. I may talk about them more later, I may not--but right now it's way past my bedtime. Goodnight, and good luck to our heroes.
And then tomorrow it's a double header of games that I care about (even if mostly marginally). First up Denver will hopefully beat San Antonio's ass again. Although I don't know how likely that is with the full court press of doom and the ability to completely control the tempo of the game. The Spurs defense has been written about by much smarter people than me, but suffice it to say that San Antonio worries me more than any other team in the playoffs, even Dallas.
Speaking of, in the second game tomorrow night we get to see if Golden State can win two games in a row in Dallas.
TNT is running a short little ad that makes me very happy. In it they call the team "Leandro Barbosa and the Suns." I know it's because of his team high 26 points, but still to have a bench player be treated by the media like he's the star of the team? Very cool. Also indicative of the way this team works together.
And! Indicative of the fact that Barbosa just got the 6th Man of the Year award. I suddenly can't remember if I had previously capitalized that or not. But whatever, I'm just so very excited that he got it. As a result, there's all sorts of press on him right now. He seems to have appropriate perspective on it too. He still has his focus on the Championship where it belongs.
I've recently started getting Suns podcasts from suns.com, both video and audio. So far they're very good. I may talk about them more later, I may not--but right now it's way past my bedtime. Goodnight, and good luck to our heroes.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Look at that, a power I didn't even know I had!
Last night's games could not have gone any better for me.
Golden State buried Portland guaranteeing that they make the playoffs. The Lakers beat Sacramento, meaning that Golden State gets to face off with Dallas in the first round. (Note this date, I was rooting for the Lakers.) And then the Clippers lost to the Hornets, which just reinforces the other two outcomes and gives the Hornets a nice win at the end of the season.
I'm not too worried about taking the Lakers in a best out of seven. I'm even going to go out on a limb and say that with the way things sit this year, I think it won't even get as far as seven games like it did last year.
The thing that really excites me though, to get back to the games last night, is Golden State versus Dallas. The Warriors have gone 3-0 against the "unbeatable" Mavericks this season. I'm hoping this means that they can translate that kind of play to post-season wins, and eliminate Dirk et al in the first round. If it doesn't mean that, then at the very least I think they will wear the Mavs out, and maybe even take it to seven.
I cannot wait until Sunday. (Yes, I know that the playoffs start on Saturday. But that's not so much true if you're a Suns fan.)
Golden State buried Portland guaranteeing that they make the playoffs. The Lakers beat Sacramento, meaning that Golden State gets to face off with Dallas in the first round. (Note this date, I was rooting for the Lakers.) And then the Clippers lost to the Hornets, which just reinforces the other two outcomes and gives the Hornets a nice win at the end of the season.
I'm not too worried about taking the Lakers in a best out of seven. I'm even going to go out on a limb and say that with the way things sit this year, I think it won't even get as far as seven games like it did last year.
The thing that really excites me though, to get back to the games last night, is Golden State versus Dallas. The Warriors have gone 3-0 against the "unbeatable" Mavericks this season. I'm hoping this means that they can translate that kind of play to post-season wins, and eliminate Dirk et al in the first round. If it doesn't mean that, then at the very least I think they will wear the Mavs out, and maybe even take it to seven.
I cannot wait until Sunday. (Yes, I know that the playoffs start on Saturday. But that's not so much true if you're a Suns fan.)
Sunday, April 15, 2007
One, yeah, it's the magic number
So now the magic number is one. Well unless the Spurs lose to the Mavs today. In which case the magic number is two. As in the number two seed clinched.
The game last night against Utah was so much fun. I love seeing them just take over a game. I also love when Barbosa is the top scorer off the bench.
I'm also amazed with Nash's 18:0 assist to turnover ratio. There's a math geek imaginary number joke to be made there, but I don't feel like thinking of it. The night before versus the Lakers it was 14:1. That's what I like to see.
It's what sets the Suns apart from the rest of the West. Everyone else gives something important to the team, but there is no other player like Nash in the NBA. There are other amazing 6th men (well hello, Manu), other versatile big guys (how are you, Dirk?), other 3 point sharpshooters (sorry, I didn't see you there, Jason), other guys who are even better at defense (use your words, Ron), but there is no other player like Nash at point. No one who is that deadly a shot, but has that kind of court vision and generosity.
I am in no way trying to say that the other guys are disposable, they very much are not. But they aren't on a different plane with their individual skill levels like Nash is.
One final note, and then today's edition of "How Many Games Does He Play?" In the game on Friday versus the Lakers, there was a brilliant camera shot in the fourth quarter that started with Raja grinning from ear to ear and then shifted focus to the foreground where Kobe was scowling. It was something I wish I had on tape. I don't know what I would do with it, but that was how beautiful it was--I just want to watch it again.
So, how many games does he play?
The game last night against Utah was so much fun. I love seeing them just take over a game. I also love when Barbosa is the top scorer off the bench.
I'm also amazed with Nash's 18:0 assist to turnover ratio. There's a math geek imaginary number joke to be made there, but I don't feel like thinking of it. The night before versus the Lakers it was 14:1. That's what I like to see.
It's what sets the Suns apart from the rest of the West. Everyone else gives something important to the team, but there is no other player like Nash in the NBA. There are other amazing 6th men (well hello, Manu), other versatile big guys (how are you, Dirk?), other 3 point sharpshooters (sorry, I didn't see you there, Jason), other guys who are even better at defense (use your words, Ron), but there is no other player like Nash at point. No one who is that deadly a shot, but has that kind of court vision and generosity.
I am in no way trying to say that the other guys are disposable, they very much are not. But they aren't on a different plane with their individual skill levels like Nash is.
One final note, and then today's edition of "How Many Games Does He Play?" In the game on Friday versus the Lakers, there was a brilliant camera shot in the fourth quarter that started with Raja grinning from ear to ear and then shifted focus to the foreground where Kobe was scowling. It was something I wish I had on tape. I don't know what I would do with it, but that was how beautiful it was--I just want to watch it again.
So, how many games does he play?
Friday, April 6, 2007
A few articles and some talk of the Suns v Spurs
First of all, I'm linking to a few Barbosa articles that made my day yesterday (regardless of the outcome of the Spurs game).
This article is about the "race" for 6th Man of the Year. Mostly it's a nothing article, but the head to head stats at the end are kinda interesting. I didn't see anything too surprising or notable in them though. Just kinda interesting.
This one is also about the 6th Man of the Year award, but it has nice little details about Barbosa's path in the NBA as well as a kind of discussion about the difference between a bench player and a 6th man.
Basically, Suns coach Mike D'Antoni does not consider either Barbosa or Ginobili "bench players." A true sixth man, D'Antoni said, is just as valuable as any starter.
I had been arguing that for awhile, well at least to my former roommate and to my sister, but this article says it much better. I'm not sure anyone really would argue differently, but I get tired of there being such emphasis on being a starter.
This is basically Paul Coro saying, "I think Barbosa is great, you should love him too!" I do, Paul. Thanks. (There's not a lot more that can be said about that one, but it's still worth a read, IMHO.)
I also found a blog entry tonight about Raja Bell being a vegetarian from the time he was two and Boris Diaw being difficult.
Speaking of Bell and the Spurs game on Thursday, it struck me as odd that he was the highest rebounder (with 13) in the entire game. He's not a big guy like Duncan and Stat, and he's much more of a perimeter player than those guys. No other Suns player was even in double digits. I have no answer as to why or what it means, but it was weird.
Nash also didn't do as well as usual with his assists (7, which isn't shabby in general), and he had a bunch of turnovers (well, 6). I think it's because of the amazing Spurs defense. I mean, they kept us to 38% shooting. Obviously, if the team can't make the shots, then the passes for the shots don't count as assists.
I wish Amare had caught that beautiful would-be pass between Duncan's legs, though.
Sometimes when I look at box scores I get irritated with announcers. They kept saying things like, "and another Phoenix turnover..." Which lead me to think that the Suns must be doing really poorly in that regard compared to the Spurs. But no, it was about the same for both teams.
This article is about the "race" for 6th Man of the Year. Mostly it's a nothing article, but the head to head stats at the end are kinda interesting. I didn't see anything too surprising or notable in them though. Just kinda interesting.
This one is also about the 6th Man of the Year award, but it has nice little details about Barbosa's path in the NBA as well as a kind of discussion about the difference between a bench player and a 6th man.
Basically, Suns coach Mike D'Antoni does not consider either Barbosa or Ginobili "bench players." A true sixth man, D'Antoni said, is just as valuable as any starter.
I had been arguing that for awhile, well at least to my former roommate and to my sister, but this article says it much better. I'm not sure anyone really would argue differently, but I get tired of there being such emphasis on being a starter.
This is basically Paul Coro saying, "I think Barbosa is great, you should love him too!" I do, Paul. Thanks. (There's not a lot more that can be said about that one, but it's still worth a read, IMHO.)
I also found a blog entry tonight about Raja Bell being a vegetarian from the time he was two and Boris Diaw being difficult.
Speaking of Bell and the Spurs game on Thursday, it struck me as odd that he was the highest rebounder (with 13) in the entire game. He's not a big guy like Duncan and Stat, and he's much more of a perimeter player than those guys. No other Suns player was even in double digits. I have no answer as to why or what it means, but it was weird.
Nash also didn't do as well as usual with his assists (7, which isn't shabby in general), and he had a bunch of turnovers (well, 6). I think it's because of the amazing Spurs defense. I mean, they kept us to 38% shooting. Obviously, if the team can't make the shots, then the passes for the shots don't count as assists.
I wish Amare had caught that beautiful would-be pass between Duncan's legs, though.
Sometimes when I look at box scores I get irritated with announcers. They kept saying things like, "and another Phoenix turnover..." Which lead me to think that the Suns must be doing really poorly in that regard compared to the Spurs. But no, it was about the same for both teams.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
One nocturnal son of a gun
Contrary to a post that I wrote last month, until this morning I hadn't yet tried my hand at shooting my basketball (or anyone else's basketball for that matter).
So yeah. I'm not very good, which was my prediction. I'm gonna keep going out there and trying, but I don't know what my chance of improvement is without help. I got 5 baskets in a half hour. I had a lot of fun though. And really in the end, that's what matters. That and exercise.
I'm just glad that the Suns have learned to shoot better than I have. Even Marion's ugly free throw shot goes in more than eighty percent of the time.
The Mavs game was beautiful on Sunday. I just literally have no complaints about it. It was replayed last night on ESPN and I got to watch it in all it's glory again.
Tonight v the Grizz at 8pm EST. It won't be on TV and I'll really only be able to pay attention to the first hour or so, but I'm not too worried about it. Even if it is an away game.
This week is going to be kind of tough, with the four away games in six days (including the Spurs and the Lakers). But I have faith. They're a good team, and everyone's healthy (knock wood). I mean, I've been disappointed by them before, and I know enough about their franchise history to understand that they have the power to generally disappoint, but I still have faith. They can win.
I'm a little worried about Atlanta losing so much. I really want their first round draft pick. Although without it, maybe they won't trade someone big to stay under the cap.
So yeah. I'm not very good, which was my prediction. I'm gonna keep going out there and trying, but I don't know what my chance of improvement is without help. I got 5 baskets in a half hour. I had a lot of fun though. And really in the end, that's what matters. That and exercise.
I'm just glad that the Suns have learned to shoot better than I have. Even Marion's ugly free throw shot goes in more than eighty percent of the time.
The Mavs game was beautiful on Sunday. I just literally have no complaints about it. It was replayed last night on ESPN and I got to watch it in all it's glory again.
Tonight v the Grizz at 8pm EST. It won't be on TV and I'll really only be able to pay attention to the first hour or so, but I'm not too worried about it. Even if it is an away game.
This week is going to be kind of tough, with the four away games in six days (including the Spurs and the Lakers). But I have faith. They're a good team, and everyone's healthy (knock wood). I mean, I've been disappointed by them before, and I know enough about their franchise history to understand that they have the power to generally disappoint, but I still have faith. They can win.
I'm a little worried about Atlanta losing so much. I really want their first round draft pick. Although without it, maybe they won't trade someone big to stay under the cap.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
A quick post while he's away
Here I am watching Flip Wilson and eating a bowl of Steve Nash Wheaties before bed.
I thought I'd pop in and post something before this afternoon's game of stress.
On my way home from work this morning I stopped at CVS for something that I needed and (as I always do) checked out Slam Magazine. It's far too busy and overwhelming in terms of layout, but it's the only magazine that they have there that's dedicated solely to basketball.
In this issue (with Allen Iverson on the cover, meh) there's a page article about Candace Parker (!), a poster of Steve Nash (!!), and a three page article about Leandro Barbosa with pictures (who am I kidding, there isn't enough space for the exclamation points I want to use here).
So it came home with me. After I comb through it completely, some of those pictures may make their way to my walls.
This afternoon, if I can manage it without dying from the game, I'm making a Suns cake. It's gonna have blueberries and orange frosting. I thought about making cupcakes like these, but I decided to do this instead.
Dirk's back from his ankle injury and I'm a terrible person, because his recovery this soon makes me not happy.
Ok, one last thing before I go to sleep:
Dear cbs.com,
I know that the final game is tomorrow. What I don't know is what time it is. If you don't help me out, I probably won't watch it. I know I haven't been watching at all so far, but I'm kind of excited about a game between Ohio State and Florida.
Love,
me.
Oh my goodness, I'm going to bed before ESPN gives me a coronary about the game today. I'm gonna be a mess during playoffs.
Is there a game that he doesn't play? Really is there?
I thought I'd pop in and post something before this afternoon's game of stress.
On my way home from work this morning I stopped at CVS for something that I needed and (as I always do) checked out Slam Magazine. It's far too busy and overwhelming in terms of layout, but it's the only magazine that they have there that's dedicated solely to basketball.
In this issue (with Allen Iverson on the cover, meh) there's a page article about Candace Parker (!), a poster of Steve Nash (!!), and a three page article about Leandro Barbosa with pictures (who am I kidding, there isn't enough space for the exclamation points I want to use here).
So it came home with me. After I comb through it completely, some of those pictures may make their way to my walls.
This afternoon, if I can manage it without dying from the game, I'm making a Suns cake. It's gonna have blueberries and orange frosting. I thought about making cupcakes like these, but I decided to do this instead.
Dirk's back from his ankle injury and I'm a terrible person, because his recovery this soon makes me not happy.
Ok, one last thing before I go to sleep:
Dear cbs.com,
I know that the final game is tomorrow. What I don't know is what time it is. If you don't help me out, I probably won't watch it. I know I haven't been watching at all so far, but I'm kind of excited about a game between Ohio State and Florida.
Love,
me.
Oh my goodness, I'm going to bed before ESPN gives me a coronary about the game today. I'm gonna be a mess during playoffs.
Is there a game that he doesn't play? Really is there?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Insert title here
I don't have a lot to say about this one. The Kings really wanted it, and we seemed to want it a little less. The two shoulda-been-threes (one from Bell and one from Barbosa) didn't help, but they didn't lose the game.
Barbosa was just amazing. 17 straight points! A franchise record. They seem to be coming in 17s this year, what with that and the 17 game win streak.
I know I'm way late in saying this, but why is Ron Artest still in the NBA? If I worked at a store and hit a customer, I'd be out of there. What he did is no different. It makes me a little angry to see him on the court.
On a lighter note, I'm thinking about throwing my money away on Suns themed M&Ms. (I'd go through here, although I may just get purple and orange ones over here. The price difference is like 40 dollars.)
There's a lot that I could say about Kobe's historic run of points. (Like "blah, blah, blah" *eyeroll*) I was going to link to an article from The Onion that was entitled Bryant Mourns the Passing of the Ball, but since I can't find it enjoy this very relevant article instead.
I also liked what John Denton had to say over here. Although I have a very different conclusion. Namely that watching one player dominate is not good or interesting basketball. That it might help to get to the playoffs (I mean, they were already getting there), but it won't win you games when it really matters.
Also, the idea of giving Kobe MVP now? Ludicrous. The MVP trophy should be given to someone who helps the rest of the team play their best. An MVP plays with a team, not in spite of a team. The power of Nash and, yes, even Nowitzki is that they know how to play in their teams' systems to the benefit of the entire organization. Plus giving an MVP trophy to someone who has recently been throwing elbows and getting suspended? Should not be done. That behavior should not be rewarded or swept under the carpet.
I think I'll leave you with a picture from suns.com in a new series I'm calling, "Is there a sport Nash doesn't play?"
Barbosa was just amazing. 17 straight points! A franchise record. They seem to be coming in 17s this year, what with that and the 17 game win streak.
I know I'm way late in saying this, but why is Ron Artest still in the NBA? If I worked at a store and hit a customer, I'd be out of there. What he did is no different. It makes me a little angry to see him on the court.
On a lighter note, I'm thinking about throwing my money away on Suns themed M&Ms. (I'd go through here, although I may just get purple and orange ones over here. The price difference is like 40 dollars.)
There's a lot that I could say about Kobe's historic run of points. (Like "blah, blah, blah" *eyeroll*) I was going to link to an article from The Onion that was entitled Bryant Mourns the Passing of the Ball, but since I can't find it enjoy this very relevant article instead.
I also liked what John Denton had to say over here. Although I have a very different conclusion. Namely that watching one player dominate is not good or interesting basketball. That it might help to get to the playoffs (I mean, they were already getting there), but it won't win you games when it really matters.
Also, the idea of giving Kobe MVP now? Ludicrous. The MVP trophy should be given to someone who helps the rest of the team play their best. An MVP plays with a team, not in spite of a team. The power of Nash and, yes, even Nowitzki is that they know how to play in their teams' systems to the benefit of the entire organization. Plus giving an MVP trophy to someone who has recently been throwing elbows and getting suspended? Should not be done. That behavior should not be rewarded or swept under the carpet.
I think I'll leave you with a picture from suns.com in a new series I'm calling, "Is there a sport Nash doesn't play?"
Thursday, March 22, 2007
I need to figure out pithy ways to name my posts
Well, even if the rest of the day sucked, we got another satisfying win tonight against the Kings to help wash the taste of last week out of our collective mouths.
Again D'Antoni went 10 deep on the bench again, albeit barely. Stat had an amazing game. 33 points and 21 rebounds? When the man puts his mind to it, he's unstoppable. Yeah, the Kings were missing Ron Artest, but I have little sympathy around that. Diaw's double double was also nice to see.
I'm very glad to find out that Leandro Barbosa is doing alright. I was watching the play-by-play and box score, so I didn't actually know that he was hurt, but I have a soft spot the size of Brazil for the guy and would have been worried had he needed to miss a game.
I'm curious about Marcus Banks. I honestly don't think that he has much of a role to play on the team. I feel like D'Antoni has all but given up on him (and I would not blame him if I were to actually hear that that's the case). But I've both read and been told about his prowess on defense. So, a. Why are we not using him more for that, and b. Why does he seem to collect so many fouls? Is he that much of a hustler? It seems as though someone who was good at D (like Shawn Marion) would be quick enough and savvy enough to rarely pick up fouls (unlike Banks' two in three and a half minutes). Or maybe that's just me.
I am so excited about the FIBA Americas Championship this summer. I'm going to one game, and I think I have them ranked in order of preference. From highest preference to lowest, I want to see Brazil v Virgin Islands, Brazil v Canada, Brazil v Venezuela, and Brazil v USA.
I really like Argentina, but otherwise couldn't care about Group A. I also like Team USA alright, but I don't think I really want to go to that game. For one thing I like Brazil more, and I don't think they have a big chance. For another, well, hubris. Also I don't think I'm likely to score tickets, and I don't want to go and be fussed at for liking the "wrong" team. I had enough of that rooting for Portugal in the World Cup.
I hope Raja Bell plays for the Virgin Islands, because that would make it very fun to watch.
Next up for the Suns, oddly, it's Sacramento again. This time it's in California and it's actually going to be on national TV. ABC Sunday at 330pm EST.
Again D'Antoni went 10 deep on the bench again, albeit barely. Stat had an amazing game. 33 points and 21 rebounds? When the man puts his mind to it, he's unstoppable. Yeah, the Kings were missing Ron Artest, but I have little sympathy around that. Diaw's double double was also nice to see.
I'm very glad to find out that Leandro Barbosa is doing alright. I was watching the play-by-play and box score, so I didn't actually know that he was hurt, but I have a soft spot the size of Brazil for the guy and would have been worried had he needed to miss a game.
I'm curious about Marcus Banks. I honestly don't think that he has much of a role to play on the team. I feel like D'Antoni has all but given up on him (and I would not blame him if I were to actually hear that that's the case). But I've both read and been told about his prowess on defense. So, a. Why are we not using him more for that, and b. Why does he seem to collect so many fouls? Is he that much of a hustler? It seems as though someone who was good at D (like Shawn Marion) would be quick enough and savvy enough to rarely pick up fouls (unlike Banks' two in three and a half minutes). Or maybe that's just me.
I am so excited about the FIBA Americas Championship this summer. I'm going to one game, and I think I have them ranked in order of preference. From highest preference to lowest, I want to see Brazil v Virgin Islands, Brazil v Canada, Brazil v Venezuela, and Brazil v USA.
I really like Argentina, but otherwise couldn't care about Group A. I also like Team USA alright, but I don't think I really want to go to that game. For one thing I like Brazil more, and I don't think they have a big chance. For another, well, hubris. Also I don't think I'm likely to score tickets, and I don't want to go and be fussed at for liking the "wrong" team. I had enough of that rooting for Portugal in the World Cup.
I hope Raja Bell plays for the Virgin Islands, because that would make it very fun to watch.
Next up for the Suns, oddly, it's Sacramento again. This time it's in California and it's actually going to be on national TV. ABC Sunday at 330pm EST.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
New purchase
I just bought a basketball. It's a WNBA regulation sized outdoor ball. Let's hear it for the Oatmeal and Orange! I'm about to go to bed, and when I wake up, I'll be calling the curling club and finding out about when I can try it, and then heading off to try my hand at free-throw shooting.
Or at getting frustrated and gaining more respect for Steve Nash and his 89.5% free-throws. Whatever.
As for last night's game versus Minnesota, it was nice to rack up an 18 point win against a not terrible team after the previous two atrocities. But more exciting than that is the fact that Diaw had a great game with his 9 assists. I like when he plays up to his potential (obviously). Also Bell hit 6 threes. It was like he was on fire. He's just such an incredible sharp shooter from downtown.
D'Antoni even played 10 deep. Both Burke and Rose got minutes, and the lead grew with Nash out. Just so many good things about last night. The cherry on top is that we clinched the division title.
Now if Cleveland would beat Dallas tonight, I'd be very grateful.
Or at getting frustrated and gaining more respect for Steve Nash and his 89.5% free-throws. Whatever.
As for last night's game versus Minnesota, it was nice to rack up an 18 point win against a not terrible team after the previous two atrocities. But more exciting than that is the fact that Diaw had a great game with his 9 assists. I like when he plays up to his potential (obviously). Also Bell hit 6 threes. It was like he was on fire. He's just such an incredible sharp shooter from downtown.
D'Antoni even played 10 deep. Both Burke and Rose got minutes, and the lead grew with Nash out. Just so many good things about last night. The cherry on top is that we clinched the division title.
Now if Cleveland would beat Dallas tonight, I'd be very grateful.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Well, hello there!
Man, starting a blog is intensely intimidating. Especially a sports blog for someone like me (I'm very new to sports). So I'm going to start with something simple.This picture is a good illustration of what drew me to care about this team. Yeah, their ball handling, speed, and talent are amazing (the end of this past week notwithstanding)--but what I love about them is how well they get along. How silly they are, and how much they just seem to have fun.
This picture (from suns.com) is just utter brilliance, from Alvin Gentry on the far left grinning from ear to ear as he watches them to Barbosa stealing food from Diaw's plate. I also love Pat Burke just being there. He's someone who rarely gets playing time, but he's eating with last year's Most Improved Player and this year's front runner (shut up, I can be biased) for 6th Man of the Year. The fact that they're having lunch in a restaurant that looks like I could afford to eat at is just the icing on the cake.
I feel like I should say something about myself to kind of set the tone for this blog. I'm obviously a Suns fan (even though I live pretty far from the Valley of the Sun). I just started paying attention to basketball last year during the first round of the playoffs. This team hooked me from the first jump ball, and I've been crazy about the game (and them in particular) ever since.
I pretty much got cable so I could follow them better without having to go to a bar every time there was a game on TV. I read everything I can about the sport in general and talk about it pretty incessantly. Even with all this being true, for some reason March Madness holds very little interest outside "Yay basketball!" to me. Probably because I'm not done paying attention to the regular NBA season yet. I feel like I'd care if it were September Madness.
The international game, on the other hand, is very exciting to me. I follow a couple teams predominantly (Brazil, France, Argentina, and when I'm feeling giving, Team USA), and may try to go to the Americas tournament.
I love the WNBA for so many reasons, I can't even begin to enumerate them here. Mostly I'm a fan of the Mystics, but that's due to location more than anything else. The only team I really dislike is the Connecticut Sun. But I'll go into that more in May-August.
For now, I think this bloated introduction entry is long enough. And...end.
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