On the NBA: Nightly Nonsense- 1.31.11

I watch a borderline-insane amount on NBA basketball. Come read about what I think I saw…

Boston Celtics 109, Los Angeles Lakers 96

I’ve been trying to storyboard this one in my head. There should likely be more gray as I recall the Boston/LA relationship of the 80′s that I did not live through (but have read many second-hand accounts of/watched quite intensely on ESPN Classic), but Magic seemed to be ever the grinning kid, even if surrounded by the greatest collection of freak talent ever assembled; Magic’s presence seemed to perfectly counterbalance the intense rage that fueled Larry Bird’s game, one that I’ve compared to Kobe Bryant’s on several occasions. But now? With these two bands of jerks? As much as I love watching these two slug it out, there wasn’t much in the way of good guys in Staples center Sunday night. And why would there be?

For much of my basketball-viewing adolescence, he was the Kid, the big dork that sat around and played video games and ate sugary cereal when not doing every humanly possible thing he could to help Minnesota win, but Kevin Garnett’s resurgence as this guy, the defensive-warlord-cum-xenophobe-cum-hate-filled-old-man-cum-Bill-the-Butcher, stands out as one of this sports’ best sequels, and the blood, rabid monster that is now Garnett made his stamp upon this rivalry again yesterday by disallowing Pau Gasol from doing the same. The Lakers, a team on which the general length and hugeness of the defending back-to-back-champs usually discourages opposing teams from going inside very often, could not stop its endless leaks, allowing pretty sizable passing lanes that the C’s used as they pleased, curling and spotting up their way to an outrageous 60% clip from the field and 130 points per 100 possessions (now would be the time to pick up your eyeballs that just dislodged themselves). The C’s offense found none of the resistance from an almost completely healthy Laker team that was evident in the purple & gold last June, and the bullying can be seen on that embarrassing box score on which no Celtic shot a bad percentage but Shaquille O’Neal, who went 0-2 and collected five fouls in 13 minutes. Kobe Bryant also had himself a game, pouring in 41 on 29 shots, but that iso-heavy offense that the Lake Show featured Sunday will not fly against a team as unorthodox on defense as Boston, just as it didn’t in this 13-point-laugher.

Miami Heat 108, Oklahoma City Thunder 103

Holy Jesus, these two teams have to play each other until the end of eternity. Insanely fast and precise Durant catch-and-shoots, LeBron pulling up to fling daggers in transition, Mike Miller’s entrance that netted him six points in a matter of two plays, Wade’s Darth-Maul-esque two-sided sword game (32 points on 22 shots but nine turnovers), Westbrook power jams, Bosh and Durant having the L’s most unexpected beef (and after hearing what was said, the world’s weakest ****-talk), Bron’s eight assists in the first quarter… I watched parts of this lying down until I realized I would not stop popping up and decided to permanently ready myself for the parade of madness, the promise of which this game’s finale certainly delivered. My head was so awash in basketball-related excitement that my notes on this one mostly consist of half-sentences that turned into crazed exclamations, but I will definitely say this: when this game got bogged down or boring, when the running game stopped, OKC had trouble making offense happen while Miami had LeBron. At the moment, Miami’s almost perfectly matched with this team (both Wade and Bron did great jobs on Russ and Durant, respectively), so it used its offensive advantages and slowed this game down when needed, eventually pulling one that should have been finished earlier out on the road. Good late-game execution on the Heat’s part, a team that finally might be recognizing who its best player is. And, once again, I would like to watch these two squads play each other a gajillion times more.

Golden State Warriors 96, Utah Jazz 81

So I watched all nationally televised games? So I’m lazy? What of it? Um, sorry. Anyway, so Steph Curry’s quickly becoming one of my favorite little gunners, relentless and confident in both his ability to create and knock down shots. On a Warrior team that has never had trouble putting up offense, that may seem faint praise, but Curry brings consistency and effort, things that Stephen Jackson, Jason Richardson and even Baron Davis never could. Essentially, Steph could be the stud that this team has waited for since Run-TMC or the bust of Joe Smith, and Monta Ellis isn’t even trying to sandbag him at every turn! No, Ellis instead played facilitator or co-captain, while having a bad game in which he hit only one of nine shots, to Curry, whose 27 on 18 shots and seven assists made him the story of this win.

The story of this loss? What the hell has happened to the Utah Jazz? Yes, Utah has been without its best player and one of the league’s ten-best in Deron Williams, but the guys in purple aren’t even making an effort. Big Al Jefferson somehow has been more bulky and awkward than he was at the beginning of this year, finding himself in exactly the wrong spot on defensive possession after defensive possession. Paul Millsap hasn’t exactly been filling in the gaps either, scrounging together 12 points on 13 attempts (though his six boards and assists didn’t make him an entirely lost cause Sunday). I’m not sure how to turn it around in Utah, as the team has changed from a perennially solid defensive team to an outright bad one in 2010-11, but it’s not as if Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver had been holding this particular fort down over the last few years with their defensive tenacity. Utah’s headed for a pretty big fall if it doesn’t get its head right, get into its flex offense and stop going all wax museum on defense, and I’m not sure it’ll right the ship when William is back as this slide started well before he got off. Jerry Sloan has some work to do; I’ll leave the ornery old genius to it.

This entry was posted in On the NBA. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

  •  
  •  

  •  
  • All-time Keepers

    A collection of our best from over the years.
  •  
  • Archives

    • 2012 (398)
    • 2011 (428)
    • 2010 (461)
    • 2009 (49)
  • Categories

  •