Get a Grip

Real quick...

So I can't tell you how many times I've heard this in the last two days: "The Suns are in trouble, game 2 is a must win for them". Heard the same thing about the Mavs. 

Settle down talking heads - it's a 7-game series, not a 5 game series. The home team is "supposed" to win their games so let's not pretend that the visiting team absolutely HAS to steal home court. To all the "experts" out there thinking the Suns are done, let's check back in a week when it's very conceivable the series will be tied 2-2. 

On the flip side, I think the Rockets are done - they'll be out in 4 games. The difference is Houston had home court advantage and lost BOTH home games. That absolutely can't happen. 

Other quick hit thoughts:

• Although the same above logic can be applied to the Mavericks, I think they have more concerns. They have absolutely nothing to counter Chris Paul who is playing like he's got 10 years of playoff experience - unbelievable. If the MVP voting included first round of playoffs he may be a shoe-in.
• Should the Mavs get ousted in this first round, and it appears likely, Avery Johnson will be fired pretty quick. I like the guy a lot and he's got some good experience in his first head coaching gig, but he clearly can't get this team over the hump - ever since being up      2-0 against the Heat in the finals and losing 4 straight they haven't been the same team. They are truly soft. 
• I bet you Shaq is reminding his teammates about the time in 2002 when the Lakers won their 3rd championship - they were down to the Spurs 0-2 before coming back to win in 6. 
• Is it me or does it seem that Tracy McGrady has become so accustomed to the "can't win in the playoffs" label that he almost expects it? He carries that label around with him and becomes a different player in the playoffs. Weird because he's an uber-talented player. 
• Dwight Howard is putting up ridiculous numbers: 20 and 20 in 2 straight games. We'll see what happens when he crosses the border. 
• And so much for the Wiz/Cavs series being as good as advertised (by me) - memo to folks who don't pay much attention to the lowly eastern conference (like me), Lebron is real good. He's literally beating the Wizards all by himself. 
• Half way through the first round of games and already one of the better playoffs I can remember in a few years. 

Lakers game 2 tonight (too damn late). Enjoy. 

Playoff Weekend Observations

Pretty darn good start to NBA playoffs this past weekend, especially on Saturday. I'll tell you this - I'll have the DVR set if I'm not able to see a Suns/Spurs game live, don't want to miss any of those games.

Here are my thoughts from the weekend:

• Caught most of the Cavs/Wiz game as I was working around the house on Saturday - that may be the second best series we've got going right now. Great game - too much Lebron, but I still say Washington takes this series in the end.
  
• There's so much to say about the Spurs/Suns game I don't even know where to begin. Phoenix had to be kicking themselves on Sunday as they watched film of that game - so many chances to win it down the stretch and they couldn't capitalize. One key play that, for me, was the biggest bone-head play by the Suns - I believe it was towards the end of regulation (under 2 minutes), Suns had a four point lead. They do inside/outside game with Nash and Stoudemire...and they turn it over on a shot clock violation. Listen Nash, 2-time MVPs don't let that happen with a chance to steal home court from the defending champs in the playoffs. Unacceptable play and one I couldn't help go back to over and over in my head as the Suns continued to blow chances to win.
  
• The silver lining for the Suns is that it took everything and then some from the Spurs to get this win - Tim Duncan ain't going to hit that 3 too many times. The home team is supposed to win and Phoenix pushed them to the edge with Shaq being non existent due to foul trouble and his 350 pound load.
  
• Heard an interesting idea on Fox radio on Sunday morning - when games go into overtime in the NBA, players should get an extra foul. Teams get extra time outs so why not apply the same logic? I think I like it. Unfortunately for the Suns, they could get Stoudemire 10 fouls and he's still foul out of half his games. He has to stay in games for them to have a chance.
  
• Watched the entire first half of the Mavs/Hornets game and thought, "this is pretty much what I expected - Dirk stepping up with his post-season experience". Went outside for yard work at halftime, came back in late in third quarter - what the hell happened??? I picked Dallas in this series in 6 games - I may be retracting that prediction. Jason Kidd is going to get abused throughout this series.
  
• If Houston has any chance at all in this series they have to win game 2. Have to. If not, they'll get swept.
  
• As unfair as it would be this year, T-Mac is going to continue to get criticism for not winning a playoff series - he's running with a stripped down team at this point.
  
• One more thought on the Suns: They are going to have to start helping out when Ginobli/Parker penetrate into the lane. How many times at the end of the game and in the final OTs did Parker or Ginobli take their man off the dribble and not one Sun defender sagged to help out? Memo to Mikey D - Nash can't guard Parker straight up - SEND HELP!!!
  
• Round 1 of Bosh vs. Howard goes to Dwight Howard (by the way, the teams participating in this series are the Raptors and Magic).
  
• Nice game 1 win by the Lakers. The best part about it was how Kobe struggled and Gasol stepped up. Tremendous game from Pao - he carried this team on Sunday.
  
• And when I say Kobe "struggled" what I meant was he had a terrible shooting day....he still scored 32 points, but only had 3 boards and 1 assist and shot 9 of 26 from the field. I also didn't like seeing Kobe jawing with Kenyon Martin so much - given his struggles from the field (pretty good Nugget defense on Kobe in first half), it seemed evident that they were getting in his head. Look, dude, you're Kobe Bryan and he's Kenyon Martin - that should really be it. I think he was forcing those shots to try and find his rhythm and they just weren't falling. I would have liked to see him just go to being a piece of the puzzle in more of those instances, but whatever, he still had an off night for his standards which makes me happy.
• The passing game by the Lakers was phenomenal - especially between Odom and Gasol down low - Denver had no clue how to defend that. Gasol had 36 points, but I bet you only 6 or 8 of those points came from jumpers outside of 8 feet. He was getting layups at will - and I believe he shot 100% from the charity stripe.
  
• As good as the Lakers looked (the whole team), 2 negatives I saw: 1) They go through these periods where all they do is shoot 3s. They've done this throughout the year on and off in games where they just abandon the offense and go for the big shots. This is great when you're shooting 50+% from long range, but that's not going to happen every night. No reason to get away from what works 85% of the time - inside game with Gasol. 2) They gave up A LOT of offensive rebounds, especially in the first half. Not sure what the stats were, but Denver had a lot of second-chance points and a ton of second-chance opportunities.
  
• And one more thing - they get outscored in the fourth quarter. They didn't let it get below 9 late as the Nuggets were making a run, but the lead did go from 19 to 9 in the fourth quarter. Gotta watch that..
• What in the world was Iverson so upset about when he got booted? It couldn't have been about the last play because he simply missed a wide-open jumper. Oh well, that's the Nuggets for you. He's the best player they got so I'll let him do that all night.
  
• Careful Flip Saunders - you blow this series and you're out of a job. Detroit needs to come out and crush Philly in game 2...or else.
  
• Why in the world was Boston/Atlanta the prime time game on Sunday night?
  

Non-NBA Observations...

• So I thought (and posted) that the draft was this past weekend and clearly that wasn't right. Players I'm most interested in watching: Glenn Dorsey, Matt Ryan, Limas Sweed, Darren McFadden and Brian Brohm. Speaking of Brohm, if there was ever a case study on why NOT to go back to school for your senior year, here it is. He would have been a top 5 pick last year. Now, he may very well drop to the second round....after improving his stats from his junior year, but playing on a .500 team.
  
• Still waiting DJ Augustin....still waiting.
  
• The South Park episode about the internet "drying up" was brilliantly funny. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if you can get through some of the "over the top" scenes, it's some of the best comedy writing today.
  
• If A-Rod is out for any extended period of time it's going to be bad news for the Yankees. The good news is there's like 140 more games left.
  
• My gosh, is this Pennsylvania primary ever going to happen?