1. Deshawn Stevenson is the gift that keeps on giving. He may be the only guy in the league whose trading could cause me to shout for joy....when he was traded for Gordan Giricek. Seriously, thanks alot DeShawn, way to think it through buddy. If you haven't been following this story, DeShawn has harbored a personal grudge against LeBron James for some unknown reason (this has to involve something off the court, I will get investigators on this), and has decided to call the King out as overrated. He then repeated his taunt right before the playoffs. After LeBron has knocked his team out of the playoffs the last two years. LeBron then compared himself to Jay Z and DeShawn to a rapper named Soulja Boy (with the apparent point being that DeShawn is a loser and the King is the King). Now the rappers are involved and it is a whole, big fun mess.
So I had already made my prediction of the Wizards winning the series before DeShawn started opening his stupid yapper. Nice going buddy. I'd like to remind you once and for all...you are DeShawn Stevenson. You suck. You make lots of stupid decisions. Somebody should put a muzzle on you. You called out one of the 3 best players in the league, who has, at times in his career, played uninspired basketball. Your team arguably had a talent advantage coming into this game, seeing as half the Cavs should be playing for the Idaho Stampede in the CBA. Yet you go and AWAKE THE SLEEPING BEAR. This may rank up there with the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor as a "what the hell were you thinking" awaking the bear moment. How did DeShawn expect this to end well. Especially when he sucks. If it was someone like Kobe calling out LeBron, he could go back it up by pouring in 50 and shaking his finger at Wally Szerbiak or whichever other poor shmuck is trying to guard him. But DeShawn Freaking Stevenson? Needless to say I want a do-over on this one.
2. I still think the Pistons will win, but I do think they have been exposed in this series. Philly is an athletic team, and have run circles around the Pistons at times. In my preview blog, I stated that the Pistons are one of the only teams out there that could put 5 guys out there that can shoot. This is also their problem, they really have no one that can bang. Rasheed could do it, but to often he is content to sit on the perimeter. I think this may be why the Jazz do so well against them. They don't have the inside presence to make us pay for the human matador (Boozer).
3. Atlanta also appears to be talking a whole lot of smack to the Celtics, and even pulled out a game there. I expect Boston to win tonight and win the series 4-1, but the Hawks have showed some moxie. Did you see Horford (who I love) get into Pierce's face and taunt him after breaking his ankles? Not sure that was the smartest move, but then again, Pierce is no LeBron. If Horford had done that to KG, he might have found his guts splattered all over the court. KG is insane.
4. Orlando/Toronto has been every bit as boring as I imagined. Except I am trying to figure out the ceiling for Dwight Howard. He is a monster. I have never seen a set of shoulders like that on a 21 year old 7 footer. He would scare me except he is a big time Pollyanna. The David Robinson comparisons may be right. Great player, might be too nice and lack a killer instinct enough to transcend the sport. Maybe they should send him to live with Garnett for a month.
Speaking of Robinson, I recently saw a message board thread in which people compared Robinson to Karl Malone, with the majority of the people in the thread choosing Robinson as the better player. This baffled me, and tells me how few people actually watch the games or remember anything about these guys. We remember their careers in bits. Truth is Malone destroyed Robinson throughout his career. Robinson was his personal whipping boy. He elbowed him in to submission and destroyed him in the playoffs with regularity. People forget that the Jazz owned the Spurs in the 90s, much in the same way that the Spurs have owned the Jazz during the Duncan era. I know I am a biased Jazz fan, but I would take Malone any day of the week and twice on Sunday. People get skewed vision because Robinson won two titles at the end of his career while riding the XXXL coattails of Tim Duncan.
5. The Jazz Series. I don't really want to write about it because I don't want to jinx it. Here are some points.
- I think I underestimated how good a defensive team Houston is. They give you fits out there. Battier would be the most annoying player on the planet if Manu Ginobili didn't live and breathe. But, I would take him on my team any day. He is absolutely relentless, and hits that open three every time.
- The problem with Houston is that they have McGrady, and like 8 very good role players. The thing is, I'm not sure they are better with Yao, especially against the Jazz. Yao is a defensive liability, and Boozer goes around him while Okur pulls him out to the perimeter where he is not comfortable. Also, Landry is just a beast, and Houston really took off after they started playing him. Landry has been killing the Jazz on the offensive glass. Another player I really like.
- McGrady annoys me. No doubting his talent, and I'm sure he is a great guy. But I don't think he has it when it counts. That is the difference between him and guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe, who want to eat your young. McGrady doesn't lack the confidence.
- He is also a moron. He said that the Jazz' defense isn't working on him, when he is shooting under 40% for the series and coming off a 9-25 night. Either the defense is pretty effective, or you are just a crappy shooter, I will take a little bit of both. His shot selection is awful, but I guess that's what he has to do to help them win. Plus, I don't think it was smart for him to diss Deron (saying that he doesn't even know how to pronounce his name) after Deron had just massacred the Rockets in the 4th quarter, including a poster dunk over Battier. Deron Williams is about to have 3 more career playoff victories in his 3 years than you have had in your entire, insignificant 11 year career T-Mac.
- I think we should be playing Brewer more, especially in the 4th. I know Jerry likes his rotations, and I know Korver is always a threat out there, but Korver has not been shooting particularly well. And, Brewer is one of those guys that always seems to be getting open, is improving on defense, and is always in the passing lanes. I thought they missed his scrappiness in the 4th quarter in the last two games.
- Deron is taking a beating out there, and I hope he gets out of this series unscathed. The good news is (and there is not much good news playing the Lakers) he will be playing Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic in the next round, unless the Zen Master decides to put Kobe on him.
- The Jazz had better get their outside shooting figured out quick. How do you go 0-14 from 3 at home? Boozer also better get things figured out. We are never going to beat the Lakes if he keeps having 3-13 nights. I think Boozer has run out of gas a little bit, as he hasn't been playing well for a while now.
More to come, but I will have to post the rest later.
1 comment:
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