khandor’s sports blog

Is there really still a question about this, in the minds of some hoops aficionados?

LeBron James, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 League MVP

vs

Kobe Bryant, 2007-2008 League MVP [4-time NBA Champion]

… because there shouldn’t be.

PS. It’s not even close … between #1A and #1, except, of course, for stat heads and those without a highly sophisticated level of understanding of what’s truly most important in the NBA game [i.e. Winning vs Losing]. Wuff, Wuff, Wuff!

For the most part, KD got it right …

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Endorsing J.J. Redick

Redick hasn’t been a world-beater in these playoffs. If anything, this has been the worst I’ve seen him play since last season, and I’m sure the per-minute noticin’ Magic fans would agree with that sentiment. He’s produced more turnovers than assists, he’s missed quite a few good looks from both beyond the arc and within it, and he’s broken his fair share of plays.

But he can play. He’s not some per-minute wonder, built up on offensive rebounds and tip-dunks over bench types while averaging 6.7 fouls per 36 minutes. He’s a legitimate contributor that plays more efficiently the more he’s allowed to run the floor and lose the fear of falling short. Because Stan Van Gundy is in this guy’s head, and J.J.’s the only player on this team that works this into a bad thing. SVG helps, for everyone but Redick.

So there I go, extolling his virtues. The most likely scenario? He signs for a bit too much this summer, and I look like a moron for pushing it. More shots go in and out. More contributions get lost, on a Tuesday night, when nobody’s watching.

Maybe there is some sort of karmic, Duke-derived element working. Maybe he does deserve all these spin-outs. Maybe I’m just a bit off, just like the rotation on Redick’s shots.

Well, I’m going down with you, J.J., even if the shots don’t go down. We’re four years apart, but I can’t think of a single NBA player that my interests likely line up further away from, but I’m hanging in there with you, despite the history. Despite those Photoshopped red beer pong cups. Despite that thing on your chin.

J.J. Redick can play. He deserves my action, and yours, and Orlando’s. I’m done now. A shower awaits.

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… from the perspective of this corner.

If, however, Orlando would have actually played JJ Redick less minutes in this series to-date …

i.e. by exclusively matching-up:

ROTATION PLAYERS at the PG, OG, and SF positions
i. Vince Carter vs Ray Allen
ii. Mickael Pietrus vs Paul Pierce
iii. Jameer Nelson vs Rajon Rondo
iv. Matt Barnes vs Tony Allen

RESERVE PLAYER at the OG position
v. JJ Redick vs Michael Finley

NON-ROTATION PLAYERS at the G or SF positions
vi. Jason Williams vs Nate Robinson
vii. Anthony Johnson vs Marquis Daniels

then they never would have fallen into an 0-3 hole, to begin with.

JJ Redick is a nice enough player player … especially, as a Back-up off the bench against a player like Michael Finley; or, as a starting PG for a team running the Triangle Offense … but, the truth of the matter is that in this series he has GIVEN UP just as much as he’s GAINED for the Magic, overall, when you measure his “offensive contributions” against his “defensive and rebounding” short-comings.

If/when Orlando eventually wins this series it will not have been because of what JJ Redick has done … despite the fact he has played pretty well, given his specific skill set and the what you may have been lead to believe by Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and an assortment of different stat heads across the internet.

The Magic’s key [i.e. important] performers, thus far, have been:

[in order]

i. Stan Van Gundy [who was woeful in Games 1, 2 and 3]
ii. Jameer Nelson
iii. Dwight Howard
iv. Brandon Bass
v. JJ Redick
vi. Matt Barnes
vii. Rashard Lewis
viii. Vince Carter
ix. Mickael Pietrus
x. Jason Williams
xi. Marcin Gortat [who was bad in Games 1, 2, 3 and 4]
xii. Ryan Anderson [who has been woefully under-utilised, thus far]
xiii. Anthony Johnson [who has been a DNP-CD each game]

If SVG would have used his personnel properly, since Game 1 of this series, it would be Orlando with a 3-2 lead at this point with the Celtics being the team on the brink of elimination in this evening’s Game 6.

The wagering line for today’s Game 6 in the playoff series between the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic has now been published:

BOSTON -3.5/-104

with the wrong team listed as the betting favourite.

Hopefully you will enjoy this evening’s game.

Just another regular Game 5, on another ho-hum night in the NBA Playoffs?

Think, again!

Wow.

Everything you could hope to see in a fine piece of drama of epic proportions.

Prodigal Son of Queensbridge, N.Y. resets the Lakers’ Showtime World back on its proper axis, in a final act of, at-once, desperate and sublime basketball skill.

“I just went after it.” – Ron Artest

It doesn’t get any better than THAT.

Courtesy of “Coach Nick” …

… is that the once-All-Time-great-former-redhead-of-the-pacific-northwest is just about ready to get back in saddle:

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Walton is ‘back’ in the game with Kings

For those who keep track of Walton comebacks, this is probably his zillionth, and quite possibly, his most important.

Walton, who retired from broadcasting two years ago because of debilitating back pain, and who weeks ago revealed that he contemplated suicide at one point because of unrelenting discomfort, says he is “climbing back into the game of life.”

Fifteen months after undergoing innovative spinal surgery, he can stand again. He can sit again. He can sleep again. He can travel again. He always talked a great game, and so the next step, this next giant stride, transports him into the Kings’ broadcast booth on a limited basis.

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If you’re a fan of:

i. The playful nature of the English language, in general;

ii. Eclectic individuals, specifically;

iii. The Game of Basketball;

and, in particular,

iv. The Game of Life;

then, today is most definitely a time for you to cheer … for the return to good health of Mr. Bill.

Throw It Down, Big Fella! …

hopefully, for plenty of years to come. 

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PS. Kudos to the Kings for this making this happen!

… it may be too late for certain members of the basketball community to offer an apology to the Orlando Magic.

For the record:

PART A

This is what esteemed basketball writer Adrian Wojnarowski had to say about the state of the Boston Celtics vs Orlando Magic playoff series on Monday, May 25:

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Magic provide only a tease in East finals

Until they prove differently, these Magic are exactly a team that wanted to win one game and say it didn’t get swept. There’s still no explanation for that gutless Game 3 performance, for giving away Games 1 and 2 in Orlando.

“Yeah, you’ve got to play one game at a time, but you have to have a belief somewhere that you can win the series,” Van Gundy insisted. “Otherwise, there’s just not enough to sustain you and keep you in the game.”

That isn’t true, because the Celtics obliterated the Magic’s spirit with those victories in Orlando and everyone could see that on Saturday night in Boston. When it mattered most, the Magic backed down and quit. This wasn’t character on Monday night, just the Magic hanging around and stealing a game when the Celtics looked like they had the Los Angeles Lakers on their minds.

This wasn’t resolve out of the Magic, this was merely a stay of execution. Yes, someone asked Vince Carter where did that resolve come from, and the first word out of his mouth? “Within.”

Within what? Within the make-believe land where a $16 million-a-year player pretends he has the professional pride of his tiny point guard and monstrous center? There are no historic comebacks coming out of the Orlando Magic, no proving to the world why they never should have been counted out. The Magic had that chance in this series and it’s long gone now.

No validation in victory on Monday night, just indictment – just a shame that it took this long out of the Magic, that it never, ever should’ve come to this in the Eastern Conference finals.

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PART B

Now, today, 3 days and 2 hard-earned victories by the Magic later, this what Mr. Wojnarowski is saying:

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Bruised Celtics need a leg to stand in Game 6

The tone and trajectory of the series have changed dramatically because Boston is battered, beleaguered and no longer playing peerless ball. In a month when the Boston Bruins lost a 3-0 series lead to the Philadelphia Flyers, in a city that lived the ecstasy of the Red Sox’s forever comeback from 3-0 on the Yankees, there promises to be genuine tension in the Garden. “We made it look easy early on and now it is becoming a fight,” the Celtics’ Kevin Garnett(notes) said.

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Really?

The “tone” and “trajectory” of this series have now changed?

PART C

In sharp contrast to what Mr. Wojnarowski has written about this series to-date …

This is what’s been said in this space over the course of the last week:

What Stan Van Gundy needs to do in order to generate open shots for Rashard Lewis [Thu May 20]

What Doc Rivers has done to create individual match-up advantages vs Orlando [Thu May 20]

Specific reasons the Orlando Magic will win Game 5 and Game 6 [Tue May 25]

and

First time for everything … [Wed May 26]

If you are going to spend some of your time reading material on-line about what’s important in the NBA game it’s a good idea that you make your choices wisely.

============================

Item #1.

The exact moment this series changed in Orlando’s favour … had nothing to do with Dwight Howard, the Magic’s best player, but … was when SVG finally made the decision to include/add Brandon Bass to his regular rotation against the specific group of players Doc Rivers was using for Boston.

Item #2.

As long as the Magic could manage to “stay alive”, each game longer this series actually goes, Doc Rivers’ strategic decision to use only 4 players [in total] at the Point Guard, Off Guard and Small Forward positions … which was specifically what provided the Celtics with their extra boost in TEAM COHESION and EXECUTION during the initial games of the series, relative to what Orlando was producing … becomes more problematic for the men from Beantown.

In fact, not only are the Celtics’ Big Men “battered and bruised” but so, too, are their main players in the back-court positions now beginning to run out of gas. 

Item #3.

If SVG was actually willing to implement EACH of the other suggestions made in this space, since this series first began, there’s a very good chance that the specific outcomes for Game 6 and 7 would see Orlando win both by sizable margins.

Item #4.

Orlando is a superior team to Boston, as long as [1] Kevin Garnett is not 100% healthy, and [2] SVG does not get out-coached by Doc Rivers … by using his personnel in the wrong way and failing to implement the most effective game-plan [i.e. offensively, defensively and in terms of rebounding] … which is precisely what happened in Games 1, 2 and 3 of this series. 

Item #5.

When 2 legitimate heavy-weights go at it, it is prudent to wait until the full 15 rounds …

i.e. Game 1/rounds 1-3; Game 2/rounds 4-6; Game 3/rounds 7-9; Game 4/rounds 10-11; Game 5/rounds 12-13; Game 6/round 14; and, Game 7/round 15

… have actually been completed, in order to determine the winner.

The NBA statistic of the day is this:

In the history of the league, teams trailing 0-3 in a Best-of-7 playoff round are a combined 0-93, in terms of being able to come all the way back to win the series.

However …

When appraising accurately the chances of the Orlando Magic pulling off this unique trick, in their series against the Boston Celtics … it’s important to ask the following question, as a corollary:

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Q1. How many of those preceding 93 teams have been:

i. The higher seed in their respective conference … and, therefore, also held the home court advantage;

ii. The #2 seed in their respective conference;

and,

iii. The highest remaining seed in their respective conference, following the elimination of the #1 seed in the previous round of the playoffs?

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Hmmm …

If the answer to this specific multi-part question is … in fact … NONE, then, the reality of the situation which the Magic face, in this instance, is that the combined W-L record of all teams in the exact same scenario as Orlando is 0-0.

Something for the stat hounds … and devoted Magic fans … to keep in mind as tonight’s Game 5 unfolds.

With their victory in last night’s Game 4:

Orlando Magic 96
BOSTON CELTICS 92, OT
Complete Game Summary

the Magic have now forced a Game 5, back in Orlando, on Wednesday night [May 26, 835 PM ET] … which is good news for all those who originally forecast this to be a long series.

Despite what some reputable NBA observers might have to say today about the poor way Orlando has performed to-date …

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Magic provide only a tease in East finals

Until they prove differently, these Magic are exactly a team that wanted to win one game and say it didn’t get swept. There’s still no explanation for that gutless Game 3 performance, for giving away Games 1 and 2 in Orlando.

“Yeah, you’ve got to play one game at a time, but you have to have a belief somewhere that you can win the series,” Van Gundy insisted. “Otherwise, there’s just not enough to sustain you and keep you in the game.”

That isn’t true, because the Celtics obliterated the Magic’s spirit with those victories in Orlando and everyone could see that on Saturday night in Boston. When it mattered most, the Magic backed down and quit. This wasn’t character on Monday night, just the Magic hanging around and stealing a game when the Celtics looked like they had the Los Angeles Lakers on their minds.

This wasn’t resolve out of the Magic, this was merely a stay of execution. Yes, someone asked Vince Carter where did that resolve come from, and the first word out of his mouth? “Within.”

Within what? Within the make-believe land where a $16 million-a-year player pretends he has the professional pride of his tiny point guard and monstrous center? There are no historic comebacks coming out of the Orlando Magic, no proving to the world why they never should have been counted out. The Magic had that chance in this series and it’s long gone now.

No validation in victory on Monday night, just indictment – just a shame that it took this long out of the Magic, that it never, ever should’ve come to this in the Eastern Conference finals.

————————————————————

… the facts are that:

1. The primary reason Orlando is trailing in this series in the first place is because of the poor job of coaching which Stan Van Gundy [i.e. SVG] did in Games 1, 2 and 3, putting their players in a gigantic hole, relative to the stellar work done by his counterpart with Boston, Doc Rivers.

If in doubt of this, please see Exhibits A, B, C and D.

2. [In spite of this] Orlando has still managed to play “well enough” to only lose Game 1 by a mere 4 points [i.e. 2 possessions] and Game 2 by a mere 3 points … while getting decidedly underwhelming performances from several of their key players [i.e. including: i. Vince Carter's untimely 2 missed FTA's in the final minute of Game 2; ii. Minimal point production from Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus in Games 1, 2 and 3; Minimal point production from Dwight Howard in Games 1 and 3; iii. Poor defensive efforts from Matt Barnes and Marcin Gortat in Games 1, 2 and 3; iv. Minimal point production from Vince Carter in Game 3; and, v. Poor play, overall, by Jameer Nelson].

3. SVG has, at last, begun to unravel correctly the Rotation Riddle of this group of Celtics … which included his use of:

i. Both Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, in Game 3, for the first time in this series, albeit for inconsequential minutes during garbage time;

ii. Bass, again, in Game 4 … this time for significant minutes during non-garbage time … albeit in, both, “right” [i.e. vs Glen Davis] and “wrong” [i.e. vs anybody else] individual match-up situations;

and,

iii. Vince Carter [vs Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo] and Mickael Pietrus [vs Paul Pierce] together for the first segment of meaningful minutes in the series to-date.

4. If SVG continues to implement the series of specific adjustments suggested in this space last week – i.e. see Exhibits A, B, C and D [above] – then the Magic will continue to improve their play as this series progresses.

5. If SVG continues to implement specific “set play offensive system” adjustments … like what was advocated in this space last week:

i. Increased “#1-#5 Pick and Rolls with #4 stationed in the original Weak Side Corner”;

and, what was on display in yesterday’s Game 4:

ii. The introduction of “#1-#4 Pick and Pops with #5 Clean-up Flare Screens for #4″;

iii. The introduction of ”#1-#5 and #4 Staggered Picks and Roll/Pops”;

to create higher quality shot attempts for [a more aggressively "driving and dishing"] Nelson, Howard and Lewis … then the Magic’s scoring output per game will continue to increase as this series progresses.

6. Good-to-great basketball players the world over – and throughout the history of the game - are only as good, or bad … in the playoffs … as their coach is actually capable of putting them into the correct positions to succeed … both, individually and collectively … when matched-up against a high calibre opponent, just as good or better than they are [i.e. in terms of players and coaches]. 

7. This series is still a long way from being over.  :-)

If you have the time today to read but 1 story on-line …

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Pat Williams’ Quest To Understand The Winning Combination

Friedman: “You had told me that you were gathering some material together–some more basketball stories–so do you think that you might publish those stories in a different format since the Chicken Soup people will not use them?”The Winning Combination: 21 Keys to Coaching and Leadership Greatness. That book is coming out even as we speak and that is my latest writing project. My son Bobby has had a career in professional baseball. He spent five years as a coach in the Cincinnati Reds farm system. In January 2005, the Washington Nationals hired him to manage in their farm system. He was 27 years old at the time, the youngest manager in organized baseball. I remember Bobby calling me with the news. His voice was up about three octaves and he said, ‘Dad, what do I do now?’ I remember thinking, ‘I want to help my son.’ So, I then began to ask coaches and managers, ‘What are the four keys to being a good coach or a good manager?’ That process has now gone on for about five years and I have asked that question to about 1500 coaches–current, future, past, I’ve tracked down everybody I could get to. I noticed in this process that there were repeated themes that kept coming up, there were principles that were repeated more often than others. After all that (information) came in, I noticed that there were 21 themes that were really predominant. I thought to myself that this is far more than just a coaching book; this is far more than help for my son as a baseball manager. This is a leadership manual from the greatest coaching minds of all time. So, that is the meat of the book, David. There are 21 chapters built around these 21 themes and I’ve had a marvelous time putting it together and I think that it can impact leaders at every level from the White House on down. We’re excited that the book is ready.”

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then, David Friedman’s interview with the Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic is THE ONE yours truly would recommend.

Enjoy!