Well, Brent Barry was blatantly fouled last night at the end of their close game with the Lakers. Of course the foul wasn't called and the Spurs lost by 2 points. Peep the footage
The NBA isn't stupid, a Celtics/Lakers finals would have phenomenal ratings and boost the league's popularity heading into next year. After a thrilling playoffs, it would be the best case scenario for David Stern and Co. Now, I'm not going to accuse them of fixing the game, the Spurs definitely had their fair share of opportunities to win that game. However, the fact that a call that obvious wasn't made is going to have people speculating, especially with Tim Donaghy lingering.
I think its more indicative of a new trend in basketball in the past 4-5 years. This trend is to not call fouls during the waning seconds of a game, unless the player involved is a star. Even with a star involved, its not a guarantee that a foul will be called. I guess the logic behind that is let the players decide the game on the court.
I say that there really is no good reason to not call fouls down the stretch. Just because there's only 10 seconds left shouldn't give anyone licence to hack. I guess me and the league will agree to disagree.
Showing posts with label NBA Playoffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA Playoffs. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Worst NBA Coach?
Who is the worst coach in the NBA? This is a debate that many people engage in with their friends all of the time. Bill Simmons often writes about how horrible Doc Rivers is as a coach. Coaches are probably criticized more than they are praised, and like referees and GM's, everyone thinks they can do a better job than the coach.
Have no fear my friends, I like doing this stuff too. Without further Ado, here is Sportsology's coach countdown (excluding the vacant jobs in Phoenix and Chicago).
Hall of Famers
1. Greg Popovich, San Antonio - He is a master at making adjustments. He's somehow kept the same group of guys together and interested in playing with each other. He also seems to find the best mix of guys to put with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
2. Phil Jackson, LA Lakers - I've always been somewhat critical of Jackson because of his tendency to only coach talent. However, there aren't many guys in the history of the game that can get more out of talent than Jackson.
Good Coaches (Right Now)
3. Byron Scott, NO Hornets - He went toe-to-toe with Pop and almost won. Besides not playing Julian Wright enough against the Spurs, Scott seems to push all the right buttons. He's also loosened up the reigns and lets Chris Paul play, something many coaches below him wouldn't.
4. Flip Saunders, Pistons - Say what you want about Flip, but he hasn't prevented Detroit from making it to the conference finals each year. It would be tough for anybody to keep this moody group of guys playing their hardest every night.
5. Jerry Sloan, Jazz - Apparently he's a pain to play for, but he doesn't get enough credit. Kudos to Sloan for letting his boys run with Deron Williams, and being smart enough to shift the focus to D. Will and Boozer from Kirilenko.
6. Maurice Cheeks, 76ers - He's definitely a winner. He made the playoffs, and pushed the Pistons, with this roster.
7. Nate McMillan, Trailblazers - He had Portland playing better than anyone else during the middle of the season. Lookout for them to make a run next year.
8. Larry Brown, Bobcats - He comes, he wins, he leaves (except for in NY). Just having him on the bench pushes Charlotte's expectations to at least a playoff experience.
9. Mike D’Antoni, Knicks - You have to wonder how he will run and gun with Zack Randolph and Eddy Curry. He also doesn't play the bench/rookies enough.
10. Rick Adelman, Rockets - Nice change of pace in Houston from the Jeff Van Gundy years. Kudos for using Carl Landry and letting him develop.
Decent Coaches (Right Now)
11. Stan Van Gundy, Magic - He will always be remembered for getting strong-armed for his job by Pat Riley.
12. Eddie Jordan, Washington - I'd love to see what he can do with a decent roster. Besides the big three, he has trash in Washington.
13. Rick Carlisle, Mavericks - It will be interesting to see how Dallas deals with Carlisle if they couldn't tolerate Avery Johnson.
14. George Karl, Nuggets - You just get the feeling Denver should be doing more than what they do every year.
Average, (or Below Average) With a Name
15. Scott Skiles, Bucks - Another pain to play for, without the clout to keep players listening longer than a few seasons.
16. Lawrence Frank, Nets - The jury may be out on him until he leaves New Jersey and wins somewhere else.
17. Don Nelson, Golden State - He doesn't do much coaching, which is better than what nearly half of the coaches in the league do.
18. Jim O’Brien, Pacers - His teams consistently underachieve, but the Pacers will be no good until they get rid of Jermaine O'Neal's contract and attitude.
19. Mike Dunleavy, LA Clippers - Teams also consistently underachieve.
20. P.J. Carlesimo, ???? Sonics - Coaching deficiencies will be overlooked by Spreewell incident.
No Name, Possibly Below Average, Possibly Better Than Average
21. Mike Woodson, Hawks - He has the talent, finally. Lets see him do something with it.
22. Reggie Theus, Kings - The Kings are pretty talented on the low. Watch out for them if they can stay healthy.
23. Randy Whittman, T'Wolves - Can't say I saw a T'Wolves game this year, so I really have no clue how good (or bad) he is.
24. Mark Ivaroni, Grizzlies - I've always wished him the best since he bestowed some basketball knowledge on me during a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Phoneix during the late 90s. I was riding alone, on my way to California to visit my dad, when they huge guy sits next to me. He could barely fit in the seats, but was very personable. He told me he was an assistant coach for the Cavs headed to a camp in Phoenix. He also told me that Shawn Kemp was wayyyyyyyy overweight, foreshadowing his demise. Good guy, good luck.
25. Eric Spoelstra, Heat - I have no clue who he is, but he has to be better than these guys.
Horrible
26. Sam Mitchell, Toronto - Watch a Raptors game and tell me what you think. Pay close attention to how well Jose Calderon plays and how well he meshes with his teammates versus T.J. Ford (a personal favorite). Try to come up with a good reason why Jose is riding the bench.
27. Mike Brown, Cavaliers - His signature play for LeBron: LBJ gets the ball at the top of the key and starts dribbling. The other four players stand around and watch for 10-15 seconds. Finally, the center will come attempt to set a pick, at which point LeBron will either shoot, pass or dribble some more then shoot. He's bad at calling plays and bad at rotations.
28. Doc Rivers, Celtics - After watching the first few games of the Pistons series, I have one question: Where the hell did Tony Allen come from? Remember when Doc put Tony Allen in to check Billups at the end of one of their regular season games, but Allen was basically in street clothes. He promptly came in the game and fouled Chauncey, game over. I can go on and on about Doc, but that's Bill Simmons' job.
Have no fear my friends, I like doing this stuff too. Without further Ado, here is Sportsology's coach countdown (excluding the vacant jobs in Phoenix and Chicago).
Hall of Famers
1. Greg Popovich, San Antonio - He is a master at making adjustments. He's somehow kept the same group of guys together and interested in playing with each other. He also seems to find the best mix of guys to put with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
2. Phil Jackson, LA Lakers - I've always been somewhat critical of Jackson because of his tendency to only coach talent. However, there aren't many guys in the history of the game that can get more out of talent than Jackson.
Good Coaches (Right Now)
3. Byron Scott, NO Hornets - He went toe-to-toe with Pop and almost won. Besides not playing Julian Wright enough against the Spurs, Scott seems to push all the right buttons. He's also loosened up the reigns and lets Chris Paul play, something many coaches below him wouldn't.
4. Flip Saunders, Pistons - Say what you want about Flip, but he hasn't prevented Detroit from making it to the conference finals each year. It would be tough for anybody to keep this moody group of guys playing their hardest every night.
5. Jerry Sloan, Jazz - Apparently he's a pain to play for, but he doesn't get enough credit. Kudos to Sloan for letting his boys run with Deron Williams, and being smart enough to shift the focus to D. Will and Boozer from Kirilenko.
6. Maurice Cheeks, 76ers - He's definitely a winner. He made the playoffs, and pushed the Pistons, with this roster.
7. Nate McMillan, Trailblazers - He had Portland playing better than anyone else during the middle of the season. Lookout for them to make a run next year.
8. Larry Brown, Bobcats - He comes, he wins, he leaves (except for in NY). Just having him on the bench pushes Charlotte's expectations to at least a playoff experience.
9. Mike D’Antoni, Knicks - You have to wonder how he will run and gun with Zack Randolph and Eddy Curry. He also doesn't play the bench/rookies enough.
10. Rick Adelman, Rockets - Nice change of pace in Houston from the Jeff Van Gundy years. Kudos for using Carl Landry and letting him develop.
Decent Coaches (Right Now)
11. Stan Van Gundy, Magic - He will always be remembered for getting strong-armed for his job by Pat Riley.
12. Eddie Jordan, Washington - I'd love to see what he can do with a decent roster. Besides the big three, he has trash in Washington.
13. Rick Carlisle, Mavericks - It will be interesting to see how Dallas deals with Carlisle if they couldn't tolerate Avery Johnson.
14. George Karl, Nuggets - You just get the feeling Denver should be doing more than what they do every year.
Average, (or Below Average) With a Name
15. Scott Skiles, Bucks - Another pain to play for, without the clout to keep players listening longer than a few seasons.
16. Lawrence Frank, Nets - The jury may be out on him until he leaves New Jersey and wins somewhere else.
17. Don Nelson, Golden State - He doesn't do much coaching, which is better than what nearly half of the coaches in the league do.
18. Jim O’Brien, Pacers - His teams consistently underachieve, but the Pacers will be no good until they get rid of Jermaine O'Neal's contract and attitude.
19. Mike Dunleavy, LA Clippers - Teams also consistently underachieve.
20. P.J. Carlesimo, ???? Sonics - Coaching deficiencies will be overlooked by Spreewell incident.
No Name, Possibly Below Average, Possibly Better Than Average
21. Mike Woodson, Hawks - He has the talent, finally. Lets see him do something with it.
22. Reggie Theus, Kings - The Kings are pretty talented on the low. Watch out for them if they can stay healthy.
23. Randy Whittman, T'Wolves - Can't say I saw a T'Wolves game this year, so I really have no clue how good (or bad) he is.
24. Mark Ivaroni, Grizzlies - I've always wished him the best since he bestowed some basketball knowledge on me during a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Phoneix during the late 90s. I was riding alone, on my way to California to visit my dad, when they huge guy sits next to me. He could barely fit in the seats, but was very personable. He told me he was an assistant coach for the Cavs headed to a camp in Phoenix. He also told me that Shawn Kemp was wayyyyyyyy overweight, foreshadowing his demise. Good guy, good luck.
25. Eric Spoelstra, Heat - I have no clue who he is, but he has to be better than these guys.
Horrible
26. Sam Mitchell, Toronto - Watch a Raptors game and tell me what you think. Pay close attention to how well Jose Calderon plays and how well he meshes with his teammates versus T.J. Ford (a personal favorite). Try to come up with a good reason why Jose is riding the bench.
27. Mike Brown, Cavaliers - His signature play for LeBron: LBJ gets the ball at the top of the key and starts dribbling. The other four players stand around and watch for 10-15 seconds. Finally, the center will come attempt to set a pick, at which point LeBron will either shoot, pass or dribble some more then shoot. He's bad at calling plays and bad at rotations.
28. Doc Rivers, Celtics - After watching the first few games of the Pistons series, I have one question: Where the hell did Tony Allen come from? Remember when Doc put Tony Allen in to check Billups at the end of one of their regular season games, but Allen was basically in street clothes. He promptly came in the game and fouled Chauncey, game over. I can go on and on about Doc, but that's Bill Simmons' job.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Quick Hits 4/22
As my college career winds down, I’ve been grinding like crazy. That said, I pretty much missed all the basketball this weekend. I haven’t watched a single inning of baseball, and I probably won’t do another mock draft before this weekend.
In the City of Philadelphia, this weekend is Penn Relays weekend. My chapter, the Delta Eta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, is holding all sorts of events. Between that and our NUPE Week for the rest of the week, I’m not sure how much time I’m going to have to devote to sports.
Of course this is devastating to a guy like me; I’m definitely going through some sort of withdrawal. That said, lets get on with the show.
NFL
I’m normally a Chad Johnson supporter. However, I think that he should ride it out in Cincinnati. I hate to see guys try to jump ship when it’s sinking. When they were on the rise, he was Mr. Bengal. Now he wants to play for a better team. You can call it Jermaine O’Neal syndrome. Like Chad, O’Neal got his paper from Indy and was the face of the franchise when they were good. Now they suck and he wants out.
That’s a little backwards to me. However, Cincy is dumb for turning down two 1st round picks for Chad. They need all the help they can get. Although I think he should stay, if I was Cincy I’d milk whoever wanted him for as many picks as possible.
On another note, I’m glad Miami seems to be leaning towards taking Jake Long. He is a sure thing. I’m not really sold on Chris Long, who was expected to end up in Miami at some point. I think a lot of his hype comes from the name, but I’ve been wrong about things like that before.
MLB
I really have no idea what’s going on. Baseball just isn’t really an interest of mine right now. I was really turned off by all that Mitchell Report stuff during the offseason. It overshadowed everything that the baseball offseason is usually about; trades, free agents, teams/players to watch, etc. Maybe I’ll start watching it in May.
NBA
I’m really excited about the NBA playoffs. This year’s playoffs have the potential to be one of the best playoffs in recent memory. That said, don’t be surprised if the top four seeds in each conference advance to the second round.
In the East, Boston, Detroit, Orlando, and Cleveland are clearly superior to the teams they’re facing. I know Detroit lost to Philly the other day, but they’ll probably get it together and win four in a row.
Washington would normally be a challenge to Cleveland, but I’m not sold on the health of Arenas, Butler, and even Jamison and this point. Too bad, as this might be the last time these two teams face each other with LeBron and Gilbert as the lead acts.
In the West, the Lakers, Hornets and Jazz have pretty easy matchups. The Suns and Spurs will probably go down to the wire. When Phoenix made the Shaq trade, I was very critical to the point where I didn’t even know if they would make the playoffs. If they don’t get past the Spurs, a team they made this trade for, Steve Kerr will start taking some heat again.
Regardless, I plan on watching every game as soon as I get that kind of free time, which will likely be next week.
In the City of Philadelphia, this weekend is Penn Relays weekend. My chapter, the Delta Eta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, is holding all sorts of events. Between that and our NUPE Week for the rest of the week, I’m not sure how much time I’m going to have to devote to sports.
Of course this is devastating to a guy like me; I’m definitely going through some sort of withdrawal. That said, lets get on with the show.
NFL
I’m normally a Chad Johnson supporter. However, I think that he should ride it out in Cincinnati. I hate to see guys try to jump ship when it’s sinking. When they were on the rise, he was Mr. Bengal. Now he wants to play for a better team. You can call it Jermaine O’Neal syndrome. Like Chad, O’Neal got his paper from Indy and was the face of the franchise when they were good. Now they suck and he wants out.
That’s a little backwards to me. However, Cincy is dumb for turning down two 1st round picks for Chad. They need all the help they can get. Although I think he should stay, if I was Cincy I’d milk whoever wanted him for as many picks as possible.
On another note, I’m glad Miami seems to be leaning towards taking Jake Long. He is a sure thing. I’m not really sold on Chris Long, who was expected to end up in Miami at some point. I think a lot of his hype comes from the name, but I’ve been wrong about things like that before.
MLB
I really have no idea what’s going on. Baseball just isn’t really an interest of mine right now. I was really turned off by all that Mitchell Report stuff during the offseason. It overshadowed everything that the baseball offseason is usually about; trades, free agents, teams/players to watch, etc. Maybe I’ll start watching it in May.
NBA
I’m really excited about the NBA playoffs. This year’s playoffs have the potential to be one of the best playoffs in recent memory. That said, don’t be surprised if the top four seeds in each conference advance to the second round.
In the East, Boston, Detroit, Orlando, and Cleveland are clearly superior to the teams they’re facing. I know Detroit lost to Philly the other day, but they’ll probably get it together and win four in a row.
Washington would normally be a challenge to Cleveland, but I’m not sold on the health of Arenas, Butler, and even Jamison and this point. Too bad, as this might be the last time these two teams face each other with LeBron and Gilbert as the lead acts.
In the West, the Lakers, Hornets and Jazz have pretty easy matchups. The Suns and Spurs will probably go down to the wire. When Phoenix made the Shaq trade, I was very critical to the point where I didn’t even know if they would make the playoffs. If they don’t get past the Spurs, a team they made this trade for, Steve Kerr will start taking some heat again.
Regardless, I plan on watching every game as soon as I get that kind of free time, which will likely be next week.
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