NBA: When no calls happen

TrueHoop:

Laker Derek Fisher left his feet, and landed hard into Spur Brent Barry. The Spurs were down two and time was running out. That's a foul in my pickup game. That's a foul in high school. That's a foul in college.

Deadspin:

But, in the end, the guiltiest parties may have been Joey Crawford, Joe Forte and Mark Wunderlich...the three wise(guy) monkeys who apparently could see no evil, hear no evil, and certainly couldn't call any evil.

Forum blue and gold

...barry draws all kinds of contact from fisher (brain lock) but the officials don’t bail barry out. If they call that foul barry would be at the line for three throws with his team down two. I’ll gladly admit that that was a foul and Barry should have been
shooting three free throws

FanHouse:

Do you really think that Fisher's crowding of Barry and incidental contact before Barry chucked the ball at the rim 30 feet from the basket would have warranted a whistle? No way

NBA Basketball and other unrealtedness

Sure it might have been a foul, and Duncan might’ve travelled so let’s just say the NBA officiating is what it is

Update:

NBA Office:

The league office on Wednesday reviewed the final play of the San Antonio Spurs' 93-91 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals and acknowledged that a two-shot foul should have been called on Derek Fisher for impeding Brent Barry.

Chris Broussard, ESPN:

So there's not a fiber in my being that believes there was an ulterior motive at work when the referees held their whistles when Derek Fisher landed on -- and clearly fouled -- Brent Barry on the final play of the Lakers' 93-91 Game 4 victory over San Antonio.

NBA Playoffs Day 38. West Conference Finals Game 4

Bill Simmons once wrote "neve post while you are angry" I had to containg myselft last night 'cause that game was even difficult to swallow than game 1. After Sasha Vujacic 4 point play to end the third quater -that gave LA a 7 point cushion - I knew San Antonio still had a chance. They were right there without Manu making a single field goal. They were in striking distance despite being outhustled to the offensive rebound. In the other hand I was surprised LA had that lead while getting almost nill from Odom and Fisher. Kobe had 0 free throws. Neither LA o San Antonio had made enough to "deserve" a lead.

And then the fourth quater began. The Spurs went on their now characteristic offensive droughts. LA wasn't shooting the lights out neither but they were making just the necessary plays. Manu continued to struggle. Duncan looked tired all the way. Robert Horry and Udoka were still in the court while being scoreless and not offering suficient defensive resisten. I was getting angry because despite all that the game was right there. The Spurs needed just a explosion for Ginobili or a Robert Horry three to gain momentum and finish the game. Nothing of that happened. Kobe got his break and entered the game as fresh as 29 year old could be. Odom came to life and every Laker started to make the right play. Offensive rebounds, block shots, deflections, you name it. The Lakers where finally deserving to win the game

And then the final 60 seconds began. The Lakers got a brand new shinny offensive rebound and two free throws from Odom to make it a 7 poing game. A Manu's three and a Odom's goaltending - which was somehow fuzzy - on a Parker layup made it 2 point game with 28 seconds remaining. After the Lakers run the clock Fisher was forced to his left into a tough fadding away jumper that kissed the rim, hit Horry's knee and went out of bounds. The refs called that the ball never touched the rim so LA had 2 seconds on the 24 to make a shot. Kobe
verly airballed it. Duncan got the rebound.

And then the final play began. Their had two options: Manu and Barry. You got to trust your stars but Popovich went to the hot hand. Barry got the ball somewhere between half court and the the three point line, Fisher rushed and jump over Barry. Bumped him. Barry missed it. No call. Game over. As Duncan said

"You're not going to get that call. They're not going to make that call."

Why I was angry:

• They should have been up 2-1. Not down 2-1.

• Manu is clearly hurt. But he left his agresiveness somewhere in game 3

• Popovich never gave rest to Duncan. He had a chance around 8 minutes to play. Duncan really look exhausted.

• For more than 6 and a half minutes the Spurs scored 4 points ( a runner by Barry and a jumper by Manu)

• The Spurs made 9 total field goals in the fourth quater.Three of those where Barry's ( 8 points in that quater ).
  

• The Lakers only had 6 field goals - with 4 free throws by Odom - that pissed me off even more.
  

• As the game ended and the final play took place I yelled "WHAT?". Once my head cooled off I made peace just becuase that foul was not going to be called. Not against the Lakers. Not Joey Crawford. Not to Brent Barry.
  

At the end of day I was pissed off not because the final play or even any of those things I just wrote. I am angry because the Spurs are a better team but right now at this point the Lakers just had an extra step, an extra bounce and that cost the Spurs two games, a 1-3 hole and their season as the defending champions.

NBA Playoffs Day 37

Welcome Back, Mr Big Shot. Again Billups didn't played that good but he put the nail in the coufin and now the Pistons are back on track. Just remember that I called a game 5 victory for the Pistons..just remember it.

Since game 2 of the Western Conference Finals every game is a "critical" game for the Spurs. They need both games at San Antonio to make this a competitive series after blowing away game 1. They need as much as Manu as the can get. If the Spurs eventually can win this series they would have comeback twice from a 0- 2 hole. I know that obvious right now but what If this guys pull it of. This Spurs. I mean everybody is burrying this guys and handing them a cane in the first chance they have. How many experts had the Spurs in the Finals. How many experts have the Spurs in Conference Finals. That's why I love this 2008 Spurs. They just keep coming at you
(I know, I know that myself give up on them in the New Orleans Hornets but I read too much Hollinger. My mind is weak. Sorry).

Pd: If you add those two paragraphs together you'll realized that I'm also rooting for a Pistons - Spurs Finals.

NBA Playoffs Weekend 6

Celtics - Pistons

It is so cool to finally see KG playing and being a factor in a playoff game that I' ve renewed my seasong long desire of witnessing KG holding the Larry O'Brien trophy. I still believe the Pistons are going to take this series just 'cause the have a thicker skin. Unless you are John Hollinger you have to give some importance to experience. About the only thing that could derrail the Pistons - besides a KG going all MJ on them - is that little issue with Chauncey's hamstring, Stuckey did a marvellous job running the offense against the Magic but this Celtics team - with this Celtics' KG - is a different beast. Now, do you prefer Billups' leadership although he ain't 100% healthy or Stuckeys' energy and risk a turnover here and there that could cost them another home game. I'd ride Billups as long as I could, if he's hurting my team I'll pull him off. But you don't leave a guy like Billups off the game if he can't play. This is the Conference Finals, there's no tomorrow.

Spurs- Lakers

Let me get this straight. If Manu plays as he can play, the Spurs win. If Manu shoots 3/13 they lost. This is nothing new we already have know the effect that Manu's bad games have on Spurs' offense. They just can't generate enough offense without him. Plain and simple. The need him to be at least at threat -which he hasn't been the first two games - for the Spurs to have a "fluid" offense. That game 1 is REALLY REALLY going to hurt, the blew a golden oportunitie and they should have been up 2 -1 right now. This Lakers ain't the Hornets. They need tons and tons of Manu

Western Finals: Lakers vs Spurs

1. Lakers (57-25) vs 3. Spurs (56-26)
Regular Season Series: TIE 2-2
Point Differencial: LAL +0.2

It have to suck for the Spurs that the Lakers have rebuild so quickly and they have to face them again now in this stage of the Duncan era.

It have to suck for the Lakers that know that they have rebuilt Tim Duncan and the Spurs are still the champions and still around.

The Lakers and the Spurs come from very differente backgrounds to reach this stage. We all know what happened with Kobe this summer and it's a such a surprise to see the Lakers click the way they did after that. Bynum went down and then they stole Gasol. That's a pretty amazing change of panarama in a gap of 6 months. In the other street the defending champions are still standing. After facing two very demanding series (If you don't think the Phoenix series was demanding just because it took only 5 games you don't understand it. Stop reading right now. Get out of my blog) (Just kidding. We love you here. ) and a western playoff race that give no time to rest the starters in the final games. And they are still here.

Two defensive teams. Two teams featuring top notch perimeter scorers, post players and shooters. Behind all that what is going to give this team the victory is defense. San Antonio needs to stop LA's ball movement by closing in all the shooters - pretty much like they did against the Hornets after game 3 - and give Kobe as many dosis of Bowen and Udoka as possible. The Lakers need to stop the Spurs' pick and roll -like they did against Utah in their wins - and make Duncan work his butt off defending Gasol and Odom and wear him down with Turiaf. I think I've coming a lover of what people call boring stuff because I looking forward to this series just to see defense by played and witness the Jackson - Popovich mind games.

Basketball Gods' Prediction: SAS 4-2

Overview: Hornets vs Spurs

Everything I was expecting from the Spurs - Suns series I got it from this series. By a mile the best series so far this year. Despite of the Spurs improbable victory in game 7 at New Orleans the lasting image for which we are going to remember this series is the arrival of Chris Paul to the mainstream media. I know he already was a MVP candidate a the average NBA fan kinda know he was pretty good. For now on Chris Paul is a household name and next season tons of kids are going to follow him and trying be like him at that, ladies and gentleman, is one of the best it could happen to us. (Pretty corny, right?)

The Hornets pushed the champs to the max. David West and Tyson Chandler played spectacular the game they did win. The same tren was followed by San Antonio' big three. The onyl thing that separated this teams was game 7. Experience. Poise. The good ol' know-how-to was the defining qualities that game this series to San Antonio (Memo to John Hollinger: Dude, this things matter. Just 'cause it can't be measured by some formula it doesn't mean they don't affect the course of a series)

The Spurs continue to be "a hated" team. People call them floppers, dirty team, boring, lucky. As long as they keep winning more people are going to hate them. Maybe that's a requirement to be champions. Get to be hated in at least 5 cities.

Whose fault is it? Probably the low point of the Hornets were their bench. A little production for the likes of Bonzi and Pargo and they'd be facing the Lakers in a couple of hours.

Eastern Finals: Celtics vs Pistons

1. Celtics (66-16) vs 2. Pistons (59-23)
Regular Season Series: DET 2-1
Point Differencial: BOS +5.7

Here we are. The matchup everybody was expecting. I can't say everybody was waiting for this one unless you enjoy defensive basketball. We are going to see games under 80 points per team. Easily. If you are a fan of fast, athletic, run and gun basketball you might wanna look away I get back around november when the Warriors are playing again. Let's get back to the subject here.

The Celtics comes from two hard series that they weren't supposed to be that hard. Boston has shown holes offensevely and defensevely. Those are all fixable whith their due work but their lack of focus and possible desire through out streches of games ( specially on the road) is what might doom them at the end of this series. Which is ironic given that KG plays of them and they are allegably the hungriest team of the league.

Are this guys overrated? Ray Allen is a joke (12.7 ppg). Garnett haven't dominated anything when given the chance and their bench, not including Posey, is looking thinner by the minute. Cassell looks like 50 and Doc Rivers is about to get seriously outcoached. The talent ain't that strong if you take a good look at this team. Everybody outside Pierce ow us something


Is funny in this series performs the biggest dissapointment and the biggest surprise for me in this playoffs. I have come to enjoy Deeetroiiit Baaasketball. This guys are focus and determined to get back to the Finals .This is about their legacy as they need to prove that they were not a one hit wonder. Everybody is on the same page, their bench is doing a lot of harm and their big guys just shut down Howard.

Questions for you here. It would be harder to stop KG? How long it would take Pistons' D to read right throught Boston's offensive sets? Are we going to heard the laughing and clapping of Sheed when they take a 3 - 2 in Boston?

Basketball Gods' Prediction: DET 4-2. Just for the sake of watching KG in the Finals I'm hoping I'm wrong.

Overview: Celtics vs Cavs

Yeah I know I never wrote my seldom read prediction but for whatever ti worths I thought Boston was going to take it ni 5 games. See, at that point I still had some faith on KG and the rest of the guys in green. I wrongly imagined that they were going to get serious and deny any chance of momentum to Lebron. I thought KG was going to take over that series going head to head with the King. Nothing of that happened and the Cavs forced a game 7 where they were a couple of Paul Pierce contested jump shots of getting a rematch against Detroit.

Boston have issues and everybody knows it and they have got lucky so far. So far.

Believe me that the young Lebron learned something this May. His abilities and physical gifts can take him so far and he and his team have reached that point. That point to be clear is: "Contenders in the best basketball league of the world". Which is pretty amazing if you think about it. He knows this is when and where you need a Pippen, a Mchale, a Dumars to get you pass that point. Another thing I'm sure Lebron just learned: Big Ben ain't Scottie Pippen.

Whose fault is it? If Boston had lost this one, I already had picked the guilty guy: Doc Rivers. As Cleveland lost I don't know who to pick. Let's take on the entire Cavaliers organization.

Overview: Pistons vs Magic

After a very doubtful first round survival agains the Sixers the Pistons are now rolling. I have two points of concern here regarding the Pistons:

1. They got outplayed the first three games by a younger less experience team
2. Chauncey Billups have been regular at best. For his own standards that's it.

Slowly but surely all those concerns are now history. Orlando was a team with the same youth going on for them but with a lot more of firepower and a inside monster that just went Wilt Chamberlain against Chris Bosh and the Raptors. All that just went puff against the Pistons' D and so far in these playoffs they are the only team that have shut down a quality oponent. I've said it before, I'll say it again. The Pistons are the team to beat. Orlando got a pride win but this series was clear from the get go. They never had a chance not with Howard being underSupermanesque.

Whose fault is it? You could argue that Jameer Nelson that a chance of taking control of the series when Chauncey went down. For those who knows Stuckey they were never worried about that whole situation.

Overview: Lakers vs Jazz

Finally the Lakers met some resistance. They needed a tought matchup after the sunny days against the Nuggets. They couldn't get to the conference finals whithout sweeting it a little bit. Kobe continues his great postseason number wise (33.3 ppg, 6.4 apg, 6.8 rpg) and leadership wise. Odom is now pretty much excelling in his role in the triangle (finally! I know is a hard offensive scheme, but come on.. three years??) and Gasol had a decent series. The Jazz in the order hand got as far as Deron Williams could get them (21.6 ppg, 10.0 apg, 50% from three) without Boozer 'cause I know that guy being outplayed by Odom wasn't Boozer. We can't say that Boozer can't play in the offseason, that he crumbles under pressure or that he just don't want to show up when his teams needs him the most ( It will be so demoralizing for this franchise that Boozer follows Malone's trail so closely...). No, we can't say anything like that because Boozer played great last year, he was the reason why Utah got to the conference finals. I don't know what happened here.

At the end of the day the more experience, hungrier team won. The better team won


Whose fault is it? Wanna guess? Boozer. Next time, kid. Please show up.

NBA Playoffs Days 23 to 29

Shit load of things went down in a week.

#1: The Magic is gone.

#2: Boston came as close as they have been this postseason to win a road game but I think the referees went the other way. I'm going to be as clear as possible here. This is the first game of this playoffs that I have seen the refs truly affecting the outcome of the game. As the Lakers and the Celtics have put together the best records in their respective conference there has been a lot of talk about the league fixing an publicist dream finals matchup between them. I didn't quite believe it just because Lebron was in the Celtics so I they wanted and real money generating finals they could have a Lebron - Kobe matchup. But that's just me.

Does the league want to squeeze a last game out of Lebron before sendind the Celtics to the finals? Or they want to squeeze a final game out of the Celtics before shipping Lebron to face Kobe? I guess we'll have the answer to that this afternoon.

#3: The Spurs face the third game 7 of the Duncan era. It just one game, anything could happen. This game could be the biggest of this playoffs because it could mean the end of the Spurs era. More of this coming up. Stay tuned.

Tied 2-2

Right now we have three series tied 2-2 with each team collapsing on the road like little girlies. Every time everybody says that the momentum has change and the "pressure is on them". The momentum thing is right in all this cases just because some team just won 2 straight games, in the case of the Spurs by double digits -after getting beatten by double digits themselves - but I've never understand the pressure is on them thing and here's why (I'll be so Hollywood if I started singing and dancing in a manly and virtuosos way after saying that) :

In Spurs-Hornets series after Paul lead the Hornets to an easy 2-0 lead the pressure was on the Spurs. After the Spurs won easily their 2 home games the pressure is now back to the Hornets just 'cause the Hornets apparently can only beat San Antonio at home. But isn't San Antonio a little bit pressured to win this game and go home to rap it up. They don't want a game 7 in New Orleans. The need this game more than the Pauleners


Same history with the Lakers and Jazz. LA dominated at home and then struggled to execute in the strech run at Utah. Now what? Whose pressure? LA? They know the can win easily there and they have played 82 games to have this home court advantage and also know they could win at Utah. What about the DWillers? They pretty much squeeze two wins at their home floor but trust me on this one they don't believe they are unbeatable at home they need a win at LA if they are going to get back at the Western Finals and should be easier to win a game 5 than a game 7, right? A game 6 win is no way a given for this guys.



Taking things to the East the Lebrons and the Big Three are also tied tow games apiece. Following common knowledge the pressure should be in the Celtics side. They have now lost two straight games and all but they have proven being unbeatable at home, just ask the Hawks, they don't need road wins to be the new champs. I have expressed by concerns about the Celtics almost on weekly basis for the last four weeks and I don't think they can defeat Detroit or whoever comes out of the West in a 7 game series playing like that on the road but they are facing Cleveland know, here it might male the trick. The Lebrons NEED this games more than Utah or San Antonio , this is a must win. They could use those two chances to take out the Celts if they win game 5 because a winning game 7 in Boston is almost an mission impossible, just ask the Hawks.



True be told. It's game 5. The pressure is on everybody.

NBA Playoffs Weekend 4

It's good to be at home, right?

My worries about the Celts are getting stronger and stronger after each passing road game. I can't believe how much a team can change their defensive intensity just because the crowd is not behind them. I know all the Western teams are in the same bagon but not quite. I'll get to that in a second, be patient. The game was ugly for the Celts and let me tell you something if they are thinking they can give Lebron confidence and some dagger back after winning 2 straight games and/or pulling for a game 7, then you are wrong. Lebron will eat you alive now that he knows he can. Don't say I didn't warn you.

You know Utah wasn't that dominant at home as you might expected from a 37-4 home team. But Deron Williams and the rest of the "Jazzers" showed something that I didn't think they had (Is possible they got it in this series) and that's poise and patient. They are different things if you look at them in a different way. The point is that Utah didn't freaked and actually controlled the final plays of the last two games. Yes, the leave Derek Fisher to bring the Lakers back but OT the court was theirs. The fact that Kobe was looking like Larry Bird helped the cause but give as much credit as possible to the Jazz.

Look , the Champs are alive. This was the game that give me some hope. It wasn't because of the 20 point differencial but because Duncan finally woke up and the Hornets looked defeated. I'm rooting for the Spurs just because, don't get me wrong I love to see Paul play and I want to see Paul play as much as I can but I'm biassed here. Sorry.


The Magic blew it. They had them but they let them go. Howard blew it. And now I'm here to pronounce, in behalf of the Basketball Gods, that the Pistons are the team to be beat... in the East.

NBA Playoffs Day 20

Finally the Spurs won a game. This was a weird game . The Spurs forgot the idea of stopping Chris Paul and focus on defending the three point line. The didn't close the lane for Paul instead they close the passing lines to West and Chandler. MoPete and Peja had awful games, West still had a good game and Chandler wasn't much of a factor and still the Hornets were only down by 5 entering the fourth quater. This approach worked for a game but I'm wondering if this is the right scheme to defeat the Hornets. Letting Paul have a field day. I don't know. I hope Pop does.

The one thing for me was the offense. Both Parker and Manu never stop attacking the defense and Parker stop being so hesitant when running the offense. Finley and Bowen had a nice shooting touch for three. I'm also a Spurs fan but I see this Hornets taking it on 6


Man, what's the deal with this Celtics? They are shutting down Lebron but they couldn't shut down Joe Johnson or Al Hortford. Is Lebron going for 50 in Cleveland? The image of Atlanta overplaying the Celtics still haunts me in my sleep.

NBA Playoffs Day 17, 18 and 19

Yeah I Know, I've falle a little behind but that doesn't mean I have something to say...


Everybody is talking about that Billups 3 at the end of the third quater in the Pistons - Magic game 2. Whatever is legal or not there was only a 2 point game after it and the Magic actually held the lead at some point of the fourth quater. Simly put the Pistons were the better closer.

San Antonio got pounded again in game 2. Yeap the Spurs stink so far.

The first Celtics-Cavs game sucked. I didn't even saw it. Good Lord, Lebron 2 for 18. Those are Larry Hughes numbers

And yesterday...

Finally Orlando defeated Detroit but they needed an Billups' injury and a career game from Rashard Lewis. I've heard that the cause of Detroit' past playoffs dissapointments was Chauncey. That his numbers always come down this team of year. I love the guy Detroit play basketball but I don't like the Pistons' attitude. They normally come out with public statements that make them look way too cocky and just looking down to their opponent. Is it mind games? It it team policies? Whatever it is I think they need to show some respect to the game and the other team no matter how unexperience or crappy they are.

And then... Kobe got his MVP and Boozer stayed home. LAL 2 - 0.

NBA Playoffs Weekend 3

Boston got to the second round. Easily. I'm still questioning this team mental thoughness 'cause their road loasses where just lack of exectution they weren't victims of some conspiracy

The Spurs got beatten in the last couple of minutes by the Hornets. The Hornets' defense was "stingy" and the Spurs didn't help themselves by entering one of those "no offense time for us" type of groove they developed in the last month or so of the regular season. Not only they didn't contain Paul (his numbers may don't amaze you but he controlled that game) but they let West get 30 points and do whatever he wanted with the Spurs' defense. So, no defense and bad offense means 0-1 hole for the Spurs. Expect a better game for those guys today

The Pistons controlled Howard and the Magic shooters went 2 from 15. This is when Howard needs to prove that he really wants this. For me Howard and Lebron have the same problem: this game comes so easily for them, their bodies and abilities gives them so a clear advantage that most time they don't even need to try in order to have a big night and perhaps winning the game. Last year Lebron cruised for the entire first half and the Cavs still win 50 games.

Now Howard needs to get in another gear (like Lebron this year or last year conference finals) to defeat an highly superior team. Can he manhandle the Pistons like Lebron did last year? He has the potential but until he do it we'll leave it like that in "potential".


After building a 19 point lead the Lakers found themselves in a 4 point game with like 5 minutes to go. Utah never got closer because the didn't have Boozer (he fauled out somewhere around half way into the fourth quater) and the fould Kobe like 1 google times. I know Utah fouls a lot of people a lot of times (2468 times in the regular season. Numero uno in the league) but this Lakers team is a very good free throw shooting team (10th in the league) and having Boozer playing like a poor man's Antawn Jamison is not a good idea to give up so many points from the charity line.

Second Round: Lakers vs Jazz

1. Lakers (57-25) vs 4. Jazz (54-28)
Regular Season Series: LAL 3-1
Point Differencial: LAL +2.7

Two very different teams coming from tow different series. The Lakers coming from the only swept of the first round where they found very little resistent. They had to run but their half court execution gave them the series. In the other side, Utah is coming from a physical, tough 6 game series against T-Mac and the Rockets.Deron Williams was key for the Jazz in that series as he has been all season long.

The Lakers was the most impressive team in the first round, not only becuase of the swept but for their team defense, their ball movement, their bench play and the play of their two best players. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were brilliant all series long. They executed the triangle offense as crispy as I have seen since 2002. They made the extra pass and always found their spots where they could be effective at getting their offense going. The Lakers are going to need every bit of that execution to defeat a very ordened and disciplined Jazz team.


Utah plays a far more direct and effective offense (Only Okur shot less than 40% against Houston). They base the¡r offense on pick and rolls and screens to get their shooters open. Most of their players have the ability of creating their own shots so they can collapse the defense without breaking their offensive scheme. This is a very well coached team. They have a tought time getting rid of the Rockets because defensively they gave a lot of opportunities for easy shots. They need to improve that. They need to control both ends of the floor. It won't be easy against a team like the Lakers as they can generate offense from both outside and inside.

The defense of Kobe Bryant on Deron Williams is going to be one of the most important bullet points of this series. Deron Williams can shred any defense with his size and court vision. He can dominate either in transition basketball or in half court sets. Kobe defense have to deny him the open shot and the Lakers team defense need to try deny him the pick and roll. Not an easy task. Kirilenko will defend Kobe. His main reason to live and breath fron now on is avoid to Kobe take control in the fourth quater. Utah has the firepower to sustain and 40 or 50 point explosion of Kobe - as long as Gasol and the other Lakers are held in check - but no team in this league can survive a 20 point fourth quater from Kobe

The production matchup of Boozer and Gasol is also key (they are not going to defend themselves directly) as both teams need inside production to free up their outside players. Defense must respect them both.

X Factor: Utah shooters. If they are hitting their shots Deron Williams can easily dominate the entire series. He would have too many option to generate offense.

Basketball Gods' Prediction: LAL 4-2

Overview: Cavs vs Wizards

What did I thought the Wizards were going to win the series? The main reason was Cleveland's big trade hadn't pay off and they had not have enough time to quite mesh. Another reason was that the Wizards' big three were almost healthy, with the exception of Arenas. And finally I felt a complete -almost complete- Wizards team was better than a meshing Cleveland team.

What went wrong? Well, I was right about some of the new cavs ( Wally World: 10.8 ppg, 35% 3FG. Ben Wallace 7.2 rpg. Joe Smith 19.5 mpg, 5.5 ppg) . Delonte West was the bright spot as he shoot 50% from downtown ( including the dagger in game 4) and did a great job running the offense.

The Wizards big three weren't quite there. Arenas was a non factor as he missed almost three games and Butler showed up for only the last three games. But the decisive issue factor with this series was that I it never crossed my mind that the Wizards' agenda was: 1) Foul Lebron, 2) Talk trash and 3) Foul Lebron. They arrived to this series ready to make a circus out of it instead of playing their possible best game.

I'm not ignoring Lebron's brilliance but we all were expecting that.


Whose fault is it? Stevenson, Haywood, Songalia. Everybody that tried to kill Lebron instead of playing him.

Second Round: Pistons vs Magic

2. Pistons (59-23) vs 3. Magic (52-30)
Regular Season Series: TIED 2-2
Point Differencial: DET +3.0


If the Pistons want to to prove their "we are better when our backs are against the wall" theory one more time in this series the new Superman and the rest of the Magic might push you through that wall. Once again the Pistons face a team that likes to run and not to fond to defense. Not exactly a recipe for playoffs success but they have a monster for a center who comes from having a monster series (22.6 ppg, 18.2 rpg) and he can easily dominate any matchup.

This Pistons encarnation is a lot more deep that last year's. They can now throw a more mature Maxiell and a fresh Ratliff -joining Rasheed Wallace and Antonio Mcdyess - at Howard direction. Their defense is not going to anything but sweet (If you defend somebody sweetly you have issues. Look at yourselft in the mirror). Take this to the bank: Howard is going to spend a ton of time in the free throw line. He didn't played well in the regular season facing this guys (17.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg) and in some of those games Ratliff wasn't even there.

The last couple of games Detroit showed some revitalization of their offense. Rip Hamilton and Prince found their groove on those games and Billups had his moments. All their numbers are very close - that's the Pistons way - but Billups really look like he was missing a step or two and he wasn't defending no Chris Paul, he was guarding 32 year old Andre Miller.

This teams matchup pretty well and Detriot's team defense, home court advantage and experience gives them them the upper hand as long as they are focus and show up to the games.

Orlando's offense doesn't go through Howard, he still not that polished. Lewis, Turkoglu and Nelson need to be effective and efficient. Nelson averaged 4 TO per game (and 4.8 apg) against a poor defensive team if he doesn't take better care of the ball the Pistons will eat him alive. Two of their 2 main shooters were money in the regular season but struggle in the first round. (Both Hedo and Lewis had made over 40% of their three point attemps. Against Toronto Hedo shot for 11% and Lewis for 25%). They need to wake up 'cause Howard is not going to have the same freedom he had against Bosh and Toronto "team defense".


X Factor: Somebody in the Hedo/Lewis combo won't be defended by Prince. He needs to exploit that matchup against either Mcdayess or Maxiell. That Magic needs to find his shooting touch and some fire on his belly if Orlando wants to continue

Basketball Gods' Prediction: DET 4-2.

Ps: I'd put them in five but I'm giving them a "night off

Second Round: Hornets vs Spurs

2. Hornets (56-26) vs 3.Spurs (55-27)
Regular Season Series: TIED 2-2
Point Differencial: NOH +7.0

The new pups against the old savyy dog. Despite the age and experience diference this are two teams relatively similar. Their are lead by their point guards, they have great power forwards and a deep bench. Naturally each of these matchups are going to be key in this series.

Even though considering the fact that Phoenix never put much defensive resistente, both Duncan and Parker were unstoppable against them and they look as hungry and they have look in years. They executed the pick and roll prefectly and Parker was hitting the jump shot becoming unguardable for the Suns. Finley, Oberto and Ginobili had their moments but they were pretty unregular. They need more from them. They need a lot more from Ginobili. Lots of experts predicted that San Antonio were going to win the last series thanks to the Ginobili factor but he was held in check (by his standards) and the Spurs still won the series but this is a thougher more solid team and Manu needs to prove right here right now that he can be as clutch and valueable (hint) as a Kobe or a Paul. The athleticism of New Orleans front court could put Duncan and Thomas in foul trouble so their bench needs to play good and play smart.


This Hornets are a treat to watch. Paul plays with a passion that is very rare to see in such a young player and they are highly efficent. They can drain the three like free throws (.389%, 3rd in the league) and their offensive rating is 5th in league. Their defensive numbers are good (7th in the league in defensive rating) because they control the tempo of the game and the although they can run, they prefer to run the pick and roll and find open shooters in half court schemes. They are young but they are not dumb.

Duncan vs West, Parker vs Paul, Bowen vs Peja. This are going to be matchups were are going to enjoy and you can almost expect good series from those guys. This is going to be a more defensive series than the previous one both teams had. In this one the bench players are going to be THE KEY (yeap capital letters) . Mainly Manu Ginobili. The Hornets doesn't have an answer for him, a few teams do (actually Raja Bell defends manu amanzinly and this year wasn't the exception) he needs to explode the matchup and go right to Tyson Chandler. At some point defense most collapse but before that he needs to make his jump shots which he wasn't doing it against Phoenix. The Hornets must rely on their team defense. That defensive discipline and Paul have take them this long and could easily take them farther.

X Factor: Manu.

Basketball Gods' prediction: SAS 4-2

Overview: Pistons vs Sixers

I'm still worried. It took them 6 games -3 straight wins - to eliminate a 40 -42 team that plays no defense and have no clear go to guy. Those 3 straight wins could be signs of "back in track" but Chauncy Billups had not been that steady hand we have seen in previous years.

Philly did their thing. They run, they weren't afraid of the Pistons (kudos to Andre Miller and Mo Cheeks for that) and they believed in themselves. Even that Andre Igoudala didn't have a good series the Sixers never roll and died (thanks to Mo Cheecks). The ugly part happened when the Pistons turned it on, specially Sheed. If those Pistons had played every game it would have been a 4 game series and that was the lesson of this series the Pistons have attentional issues or some basketball synonym. That could cost them later in their playoff run.

Whose fault is it? Igoudala could have had a better series (13.2 ppg, .333 FG%) but the rest of the Sixers pick up the slack for him. They are eliminated because the other team was better. At least for four games.

Overview: Hornets vs Mavs

I would have predicted New Orleans in 5 but I thought this year there was going to be some fire under this Mavs. I was wrong. Everybody not named Nowitzki showed the same intensity and desire shown last year agains the Warriors. Their defense was specially atrocious and Kidd seemed lost on offense. The didn't "gave the nightmares to somebody else" they just kept them for themselves.

The sucess of this Hornets ain't all due to Dallas' mishaps. Peja and Paul played a great series. West was a solid option all series long. Paul made sure the the tempo of each game was in their convenience and he pretty much dominated Kidd and any other Mav that dared to step in front of him. Their defense wasn't top notch by they didn't needed this series.

Whose fault is it? Avery Johnson. He never let Kidd to control the offense and never showed signs of having total control of this teams. The fire he deployed on his playing days never translate to his players and that was the only way this team had a chance to win this. Oh, and the blame algo goes to Josh Howard, you pothead!