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It has been awhile since I've graced the Orble blog world.
The NBA Finals have come and gone and with luck of pure idiocy, my favorite NBA teams will land just the right player in the upcoming Draft.
Besides the two powerhouse puppies, Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, there aren't tons of sure bets in this draft, unless you consider O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love real gems.
Javale McGee. Who's he? DeAndre Jordan? He's not related to MJ. J.J. Hickson? Huh?
These three are all basically picked to go in the top 20. Can't say I've watched any one of these dudes closely. DeAndre Jordan...now I've watched him play but didn't have any idea a 7'0 who averaged under 8ppg would enter the draft. So I didn't intently keep track of him. Some upside to this kid, hell yes. But bust worthy, good chance.
Team needs...
Minnesota- They need good players period. O.J. Mayo would look good next to Al Jefferson. Minny doesn't need to clog up the paint with a Love or a Lopez. Neither of those two will produce half of what Mayo will.
Seattle- Would be wise, real wise, to go with a scoring guard with the 4th pick.
Enter Jerryd Bayless.
Bayless, Green, Durant... now we're talking.
Memphis- Where do I start? If there's no pay, then nevermind.
New York- Brook Lopez wouldn't be the worst pick on earth, but Joe Alexander could be a fit. Hard worker, flashy, high ceiling.
Clippers- Westbrook? Love? It doesn't matter; neither will be starter material in the league.
I'll stop there for now.
Some players who aren't as highly touted, yet will become very good players and dare I say will be better than a handful of the top 10...
Brandon Rush, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Donte Green, Jason Thompson, D.J. White.
For more college hoop analysis, head on over to collegefastbreak.com.
Until next time Orble
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It's been awhile since I have shared my thoughts about the playoffs on here with you.
But this Finals matchup has me all giddy, and even though I'm still bummed out over the Piston's putrid 4th quarter performance in Game 6 against Boston, I believe that all is well now knowing that Flip Saunders will no longer be the head coach of the Pistons.
Hey, I have to put the blame on somebody, right?
Well, Joe Dumars must have thought so too because he just fired Flip today!
The NBA game is essentially about matchups. In college b-ball and high school hoops, matchups aren't quite as important considering the popularity of zone defenses, but in the NBA most games are won and lost by the matchups teams use and do not use.
First off, nobody can check Kobe-- nobody can be a Kobe stopper or anything like that-- unless your Ruben Patterson.
I see James Posey getting a lot of chances to guard Kobe during this series. Posey could give Kobe fits because of the length Podey has, but overall Boston has to focus on defending Kobe as a team. Good help D will force Kobe to pass out.
I'm not quite certain who Kendrick Perkins will guard when the Lakers have their starters on the court. Perkins surely does not have the quickness to guard Pau regularly, nor does he have the quickness to guard Odom or Radmanovic. So when Pau has his way with Perkins early on, then Rivers will likely put Posey or Powe into the game to match LA's smaller and quicker lineup.
Now maybe I'm giving Pau too much credit, but I think he will have no problem scoring on Perkins. But if Garnett checks Pau, well, then we're talking about a much different matchup.
Garnett is a solid defensive player and an even better offensive player (when he decides to post up and drive to the bucket). So I will be interested to see who LA puts on Garnett most of the time. I can see Turiaf getting come oppotunities, maybe Odom too, but I'm not sure anybody can contain him, unless of course Garnett is settling for jumpers all game long.
Fisher v. Rondo should be a fun battle. Fisher is strong and witty while Rondo is weaker and not as seasoned with his decision making. I wouldn't be surprised if Fisher guarded Ray Allen either, specifically because Ray isn't as quick as he once was. But expect to see Kobe on him too. Vujacic also.
Radmanovic will likely have to check Pierce from time to time especially of Kobe is matched up with Ray. Unless Radmanovic is really playing well on offense, I don't see him seeing a whole lot of court time because he doesn't play good enough defense to consistently guard Pierce or Allen.
But that leads me to my next point of discussion...
Bench play.
LA has a remarkably better bench than Boston, and just about everybody else in the league too.
Vujacic and Farmar allow Kobe and Fisher to take extended rests during the 2nd and 4th quarters. Vujacic has been shooting the ball pretty well lately. Boston does not have that ingredient to bring off the bench. Eddie House is a streaky shooter, but hasn't seen a lot of playing time in these playoffs. Cassell is old and his jumper looks flat most of the time.
Boston usually plays Powe or Davis in spot situations. Both can score a little downlow, but neither bring the energy to the game that Walton and Turiaf regularly provide.
Basically it looks like the media's love affiar with Boston will continue, however, I don't see Boston winning this series, even with the homecourt advantage they hold.
LA in 6 over Boston
For college basketball opinion and chatter, head on over to collegefastbreak.com
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The Pistons imposed their will on the Celtics in Game 2 and look where it got them.
A satisfying win it was.
But it’s just 1 of 4 needed.
Remember the Celtics, they won 66 games in the regular season.
They have 3 perennial All-Stars on their team not to mention some wily vets like Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown.
The problem is…
Sam Cassell hasn’t played much recently, Rondo is turning the ball over and committing lame fouls, Perkins is contributing basically nothing on offense and guys like Posey, Davis/Powe and House aren’t hitting open shots.
But the Celtics do have a reason to be upbeat.
Ray Allen seemingly found his shooting touch during Game 2. That could be enough to keep the Celtics within striking distance when they play Game’s 3 and 4 on the road in Detroit.
Keys for Game 3…
-Pistons must avoid a scoring drought of any significance in the first quarter. It happened in Game 2 but they were able to claw back in and take control in the 2nd quarter. The Celtics don't need any reason to become confident on the road.
- Rasheed needs to plop his rear in the post somewhere and at least attempt to post up Garnett from time to time. He can’t just wait until Brown comes in to start being aggressive. I’m aware that KG is a great defensive player, but come on, Rasheed is an All-Star for a reason. Use your length Rasheed and stop always settling for the 3 pointer!
- Keep rebounding Detroit. Rasheed and Dice need more help. Maxiell, Ratliff and Prince must help out more.
- Boston must get production out of their bench. If P.J. Brown is the leading scorer off your bench with 4 points, then somebody isn’t stepping up. Sam Cassell should get some minutes. See what he can do for a change.
- Doc Rivers must outcoach Flip Saunders. Seems like a simple key, but I’m not sure Doc Rivers has ever outcoached anybody.
Flip must not overuse Ratliff and Hunter. Both are solid options for playoff minutes, but only for short stretches. Stuckey and Maxiell are your bench studs, so lean on them more so.
If Detroit can get out to a big lead early, I look for Boston to start panicking and playing horribly like they did in Atlanta and Cleveland.
If any of you are college basketball junkies, meaning if you enjoy reading about off-season college basketball news, then collegefastbreak.com is for you.
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The game is being played at Detroit's pace. Both benches have contributed, but I expect both team's starters to play 20 plus minutes in the 2nd Half.
Prince needs to take more shots! He's shooting the ball well, milk it Tayshaun
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- Utah sure can get basically any shot they want, but holding on to the rock is a concern. Ronnie Price came in and provided nothing and Deron has made 3 turnovers to boot.
- Miles made a cameo and contributed 4 points, including a very impressive dunk
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Home teams are simply dominating the visiting teams so far in the 2nd round. Aside from LA v. Utah on Friday and NO v. SA on Thursday, all the games have been blowouts for the most part.
I figured that Okur and Boozer would step up enough for the Jazz to win 2 or 3 games. But the Jazz lack a versatile shooting guard. Korver can shoot, but can't play D. Brewer can finish inside but can't shoot. Eventually the Lakers’ versatility will overmatch the Jazz, not to mention Kobe and Pau's play
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The Pistons made me very satisfied last night. Just as the announcers had said, the game was over at the 9 minute mark in the first quarter. It’s truly amazing what some good old defense will do against a team they’re supposed to beat easily. Last night’s game was a complete joke. Anytime a team is up by 30 on the road in an elimination game, you know there must be quite a discrepancy in the talent of the two teams.
Wondering if the Game 4 halftime “speech” or “moment” could become a legendary event in Piston’s history just has me geeked to no end. Ever since that halftime in Game 4, the Piston’s have dominated, albeit against a sub .500 team, but domination is domination. If their inspired play continues, the Game 4 halftime could become epic stuff here in Detroit, but only if Detroit wins it all, definitely not out of the realm of possibility
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On Sunday night I finally had the time to watch an NBA playoff game. Watching the first half of the Piston Sixer game was nauseating and infuriating to say the least. I finally began to realize for myself what all of the sports radio characters had been saying all series. Philly is an athletic team with a nice blend of young and old players, hungry to take down the best team in the East for the last 5 years or so. And the Pistons just play around until things get difficult. The Pistons have come to enjoy flipping the play hard switch on and off at their leisure, much to the chagrin of the fans. I finally saw it in game 4 on Sunday, with the Piston’s backs against the wall, down ten at halftime in Philly, the Pistons played like the team the fans wish they would see more often come playoff time, especially against teams they’re clearly better than. But this is largely a veteran team, they can't afford to play more games than they have to. It could catch up to them.
Coming out in the 2nd half the Stones took an aggressive, no nonsense approach to the court. They made crisp passes, finished down low, drained deep 3’s, rebounded the heck out of the glass, and made Philly take bad shots late in the shot clock. Now the question remains, was it the players themselves who sparked the turn around, or was it a locker-room visit by Piston’s GM Joe Dumars. Us Piston fans sure know that Flip doesn’t deserve any credit for the inspired play they showed. Rip Hamilton was asked by the TNT sideline reporter after the game about whether or not Dumars paid a visit to the team at half. Rip’s response was “not at all…” Not exactly a sure bet answer eh? I’d bet my college tuition that a visit was made by Dumars. Why do you think Dumars was down so close to the Piston’s bench at the start of the 3rd quarter? I'm praying to every God possible, hoping the 2nd half performance is a sign of the play we're to see from the Stones the rest of this postseason
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I have to admit I did not watch a single second of any of the four NBA playoff games on Saturday. Instead I was being a good student and studying for finals looming in the upcoming week.
From what I've read and heard, the games were hard fought affairs, especially the Spurs and Suns clash. I navigated my way around YouTube and found a couple of videos of Timmy's big 3- pointer to send the game into a second overtime. Those Spurs are something huh? Experience, experience, experience. The shot sort of reminded me of Timmy's turn around J against LA in 2004. But then D-Fish ruined it. But eventually the Pistons beat LA in the finals
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