khandor’s sports blog

Last night’s game between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors served as an interesting benchmark for the on-going development of these two teams.

Toronto Raptors 92
HOUSTON ROCKETS 116

Complete Game Summary 

At the moment:

Toronto is 31-28/.525, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, and 5th in the Eastern Conference; while, Houston is 30-29/.508, 3rd in the Southwest Division, and 9th in the Western Conference.

Both teams played last night’s game without several key players in their respective line-ups, due to a variety of physical ailments/injuries:

Toronto
1. Chris Bosh/PF-C, leg injury [day-to-day] 
2. Jose Calderon/PG, arm injury [day-to-day]
3. Hedo Turkoglu/SF, leg injury [incurred last night]

Houston
1. Yao Ming/C, foot injury [expected to return next season]
2. Kyle Lowry/PG, leg injury [day-to-day]
3. Trevor Ariza/SF, hip injury [day-to-day]

Examining the complete rosters for each team:

is an interesting exercise when considering:

i. Chris Bosh/PF-C becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer;

ii. Chris Bosh is originally from Dallas, Texas;

iii. The relative “NBA talent” base on these two rosters;

iv. The “playoff prospects” for these two teams:

A. This season, and
B. Beyond the current season. 

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… Corey Brewer was able to receive a relatively unfettered inbounds, take 2 dribbles, and then make a running half-court 3PT-shot to send last night’s Rockets/T-wolves game into its first overtime. 

Despite the Rocket’s diminuitive Point Guard dropping a career high 43 points, in this 3OT affair …

Minnesota Timberwolves 114
HOUSTON ROCKETS 120

What this corner would really like to know are the specific answers to the following two questions:

Q1. What were Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza thinking, when they chose not to hard-deny an easy inbounds pass to Corey Brewer?

Q2. What was Rick Adelman [i.e. Houston's future Hall Of Fame head coach] thinking, when he chose to sit Luis Scola [6-9] down on the bench and, instead, have Chuck Hayes [6-6] defend Kevin Love [6-9], as the inbounds passer from the T-wolves baseline, after a made free throw?

Thankfully for the Rockets they were able to persevere and, at least, on this occasion, pull-out a hard-fought victory over an increasingly stubborn band of Minnesotans.

On the whole, however, it’s still-sometimes-questionable decision-making like this - from the Rockets’ PG, OG and head coach - which will almost inevitably end-up costing Houston the 8th and final playoff position in the Western Conference this season with the Thunder, Jazz, Hornets and Grizzlies breathing hard down their collective neck.

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PS. In this specific end-of-game scenario there is no acceptable excuse possible for the Rockets not to have had their tallest available player defend against Kevin Love and not have their 2 guards [i.e. Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza] hard deny any inbounds pass to a player in the T-wolves’ back-court. 

According to different on-line reports published yesterday …

Trevor Ariza is now actively looking for greener pastures in which to ply his trade next season.

According to yours truly THAT specific move would be a colossal mistake in judgment … should he land anywhere but in Cleveland, as the principal side-kick to King James.

At present, Mr. Ariza is in the perfect situation for himself … playing and developing his skills at the side of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, et al., under the expert leadership of the ZenMaster.

Should he choose to give THAT up … in wanton pursuit of greed “more money” … and touch-down with a different team, other than the Cavaliers … there’s a more than fair chance he will play the remainder of his career without winning another NBA Title. 

That said …

If you look at this list of current Free Agents [courtesy of the excellent blog nbaroundtable, operated by Dave]:

2009 NBA Free Agent List - Part Two

… and you’ve actually taken the time to read some or all of what’s been written on various web sites under the name of “khandor” … you should be able to identify those few names which the Lakers SHOULD actively pursue, as a cost-effective replacement for a highly serviceable Wing player like T-Ariza … who seems to be lacking a certain measure of humility and intelligence, at this most interesting stage of his still young career in the NBA … given the financial crunch that Los Angeles finds itself in at the present time.

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Q1. Can you guess those few names correctly?

A1. Methinks, at least, some of you have the ability to do just THAT.

[Hint: Who are the long, relatively athletic Wing players on that list that can defend multiple positions, rebound, run the floor, make occasional jump shots, pass and cut within the Triangle Offense and, perhaps most importantly, also assume a deferential role with the Lakers to the personalities of Black Mamba, et al., at a salary level which would allow LA to keep the rest of their team intact for the coming campaign, in pursuit of back-to-back championships? It really shouldn't be that difficult to figure out.]

PS. The irony involved in a situation like THAT … i.e. for Raptors fans … would simply be outrageous.

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Answers [spelled in reverse]: semaJ, notelgniS; oiramaJ, nooM; tnarG, lliH; yeoJ, maharG; and, yendoR, yenraC.

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Recent Update

* PLEASE NOTE: On the other hand, should T-Ariza actually end up with an outfit like the Portland Trail Blazers, in place of, let’s say, Hedo Turkoglu … that would mean that both he and Kevin Pritchard are, in fact, as smart as this corner of the net had previously given them credit for being.

KD smacks one over the fence today …

Does Portland know that Hedo Turkoglu is 30?
31, by the time the playoffs start next season.

Portland? By the time the playoffs start in 2010?

Brandon Roy, 25. LaMarcus Aldridge, 24. Rudy Fernandez, 25. Greg Oden, 22. Travis Outlaw, 25.

And when those players are in their primes? 2014 or so? Hedo’s going to be well past his, at age 35. And this was a guy who was made to already look old and slow up against Trevor Ariza in this year’s Finals.

So why, exactly, is Portland throwing its free agent booty at Hedo?

What am I missing here? The team was, statistically, the best offensive team in the NBA last year. Possession to possession, nobody scored more. Defense is this team’s weakness, so they’re spending all sorts of dough on a defensive liability?

The team, for years, has been one of the better closing squads in the NBA. They don’t make a lot of comebacks, not with Nate McMillan’s snail-slow pace, but with Travis Outlaw and Brandon Roy in the fold, they do just about lead the league in game-cinchers in the last 90 seconds. Statheads can talk about Carmelo Anthony, TV talking heads can talk up Kobe Bryant, but no team is better in the clutch than the Portland Trail Blazers.

And they’re trying to add a guy who made his hay as a late-game finisher? Read that again. His value is inflated because of his late-game heroics. The team would be overpaying for something it already has in spades.

What is wrong with this picture?

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Agreed, 100%.

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Related:

Unhappy Fernandez has Europe Suitors

NBA Double Jeopardy, for $2000: Three small ominous words Blazers fans should NOT want to hear right now 

There’s a tonne of information on-line right now but this one, courtesy of John Schuhmman, is as sound and concise as any:

Position-by-position: Top 5 free agents
As we’ve seen in the NBA Draft over the years, the best strategy is usually to take the best player available. You never know how draft picks will turn out, so selecting the guy closest to a sure thing, even if you’ve already got a similar player on your roster, is often the prudent way to go.

In free agency, though, teams pretty much know what kind of player they’re getting. Teams have seen what these guys can do and are able to better evaluate what they’re capable of and what they can bring to their team.

So the next few weeks will be about finding the right fit, both on the court and on the payroll.

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By position, the following players are under-rated [#, indicates where they should be ranked] in this year’s Free Agent class, according to yours truly:

POINT GUARDS
* Ramon Sessions [#1]
* Jarret jack [#2]
* CJ Watson [#6]

OFF GUARDS
* Anthony Parker [#1]

SMALL FORWARDS
* None

POWER FORWARDS
* Antonio McDyess [#3]
* Brandon Bass [#7]
* James Singleton [#9]

CENTERS
* Johan Petro [#4]

Please take a good long look at this piece of impressionistic writing about The Game Of NBA Hoops, this year’s runner-up and the newly crowned Champs:

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Behind the Box Score, where we have a champion
I don’t know if anyone expects as much out of this version of the Los Angeles Lakers as I do. I saw 70-win potential in them, heading into this season. Didn’t think it would happen, not with all those variables, but I know that offense and I’ve seen what that defense can do. I know stats and I know where these players were headed. If they got it right, and stayed healthy … 70 wins.

Problem is, they didn’t stay healthy. And some of the career arcs seemed to spin off course.

After completely shoring up Los Angeles’ awful point guard defense from two years ago in 2007-08, Derek Fisher(notes) fell off the face of the earth defensively, like an NFL running back that somehow went from 1300 to 500 yards in a year’s time.

Jordan Farmar(notes), out of nowhere, fell off. Andrew Bynum(notes) tore a significant ligament in his knee, and Kobe Bryant(notes) lost a little bit of patience. A lot of patience. Especially in the first three rounds of this year’s postseason.

But with all of that logged against them? 65 wins, in 82 tries. 81 in 105 attempts, overall. Third in offense, sixth in defense. Those are championship stats, and as much as I’m telling myself to remember this team at its best, I’ll probably remember this team for not being able to take that extra step. Coming close, but falling short due to injury, slumps, and an impatient tone in May.

And I should stop, because that’s being ridiculous. Could it have gone better? Could it have gone smarter?

Yes, and yes. And guess what? They’re not robots. And, from November until mid-June, they walked all over this league.

The playoffs, I’m sorry, but that was a tough, tough run. Laugh at the Utah Jazz all you want, but that team can play. And some of the best offensive stretches (small things, good four or five minute runs, but “stretches” nevertheless) I’ve ever seen in my life came from these Lakers against a Jazz team some picked to win the West before the season started.

The Rockets? Chortle if you must at the absence of Tracy McGrady(notes) and (eventually) Yao Ming(notes), but that was an impossibly-tough defensive team that had advantages in all the right slots (Aaron Brooks taking on Fisher’s defense, most profoundly), and were about as stern as second round warnings come.

The Denver Nuggets? Mock if you will, but that was a championship caliber team that had quite a few pundits wondering aloud about who, exactly, would win a Denver/Orlando Finals pairing. They weren’t wrong in that line of thinking, because the Nuggets were good enough to get there.

And the Lakers were good enough to top them all.

And they were great enough to down the Orlando Magic in five games.

Three may have been close. Two may have been won in overtime, but they beat a great, great team four out of five times in June. That is so, so impressive.

These are the things we have to remember. These are the things we need to appreciate, now. Not just for this week, as something to chew on before the Draft hits and free agency takes over.

But for all time. These Lakers were a powerhouse.

These Lakers are a powerhouse.

Understand what the Lakers did to Orlando, with their offense. Please.

Teams double-team offensive firebrands like Kobe Bryant all season long. But nobody seems to get away with doubling Kobe, not just because of Kobe’s brilliance, but because of Los Angeles’ offense. And when the Magic, the best defensive team in the NBA did it, Los Angeles seemed to have a 6-on-3 advantage due to that offense, with its unmatched spacing. Not just your typical 4-on-3. The Magic were helpless once that ball started moving.

115, 104, 121, 103 and 110 points per 100 possessions for the Lakers in the series. That’s against the NBA’s best defense, a defense that gave up only 101.9 points per 100 points on average during the regular season. If the Lakers are the unstoppable force, and the Magic were the unmovable object, well, the force wouldn’t stop. And the object got to moving.

That’s the stuff I have to remind myself of. The Laker defense, however, will be hard to forget. Splayed out in front of me from Games 1 through 5, is the biggest thing I’ll take from this series.

Now, Orlando isn’t exactly the 2005 Phoenix Suns. They can fill it up as they did during Game 3, but they were still 11^th in offense during the regular season. So it’s not the greatest accomplishment if you shut them down.

But watching that Laker defense in person? Observing that all-out effort? The length? The timing? The game plan (Phil Jackson’s assistants are just the gold standard)? The results?

Seeing the way Trevor Ariza(notes) absolutely manhandled Hedo Turkoglu? It wasn’t just that he was playing him physically; he was beating him to the spot, every time down court. By the end of Game 4, Hedo wanted absolutely nothing to do with playing against this guy, any more. Ariza just swallowed him up.

Speaking of which, Pau Gasol(notes)?

You might be sick of me going on about it, but the way this man was able to move his feet, I swear, it was downright Rodman-ian at times. I don’t toss that out there lightly. He had help, especially from slap-happy Laker guards and Lamar Odom(notes) on the baseline, but Pau deserves so, so much credit that I regret to assume he’ll never get for his work in this series. Just swallowed Dwight Howard up.

Kobe’s help defense was excellent. After years of me banging on about how I don’t believe he’s earned those all-NBA Defensive Team selections (I still don’t, because for the good of the Lakers, he takes defensive possessions off. Lots of them), this was continued proof (proof that I didn’t need, mind you) that Bryant is amongst the game’s best defensively when he has the ability to be.

And after a year spent working with Tim Grover, Bryant had that needed stamina. I talked with Grover after Game 5, and he wasted no time telling me that he thought the media reaction to Kobe’s supposed weary-legged ways was “hogwash,” mainly because Grover and Bryant had developed a system of stamina-building and rest that even went down to ways of conserving energy while others shoot free throws.

“Every second counts,” he told me. And while we were talking about little breaks in the action meant to refuel and reinvigorate, he may as well have been talking about Bryant’s overall approach to the game he’s obsessed with.

Kobe’s mannerisms may annoy the piss out of you. He might come off as transparent, or cloying, or obvious in his approach. It shouldn’t matter. The guy works hard. He obsesses over the game more than anyone in this league. And there’s a reason why, even if he isn’t as dominant a force as Jordan and Bird and Magic were, he still seems to put together just as many highlights as they did.

Not because he’s a publicity hound, desperate to make the cable recaps. Far from it. It’s because he knows the game well enough to work in this Laker offense and make the phenomenal look, well, phenomenal. Because he’s developed all the moves.

This isn’t to say he still isn’t worth shouting at. He does things in and out of that offense that leave stomping my feet with frustration, and I could give a rip who wins or loses. I’m not going to tell you that he’s earned the right to freelance as much as he does in that offense, because nobody should freelance in that offense, that much. Michael Jordan certainly didn’t, even when he wanted us to believe that he did.

What I can tell you is that the man deserves our respect. This paragraph used to be several paragraphs. It included several reasons why he deserves our respect. It could have grown into dozens of reasons why. I’m not going to bore you with them. I’m just going to demand that you appreciate a guy like Kobe Bryant, while he’s around.

This was more of a team victory than the coverage surrounding it will suggest. Bryant has a team that suits his talents, and I’m not trying to be obscure or contrarian when I suggest that Gasol’s defense was certainly on par with Kobe’s offense in this series, and that Bryant’s defense was about even with Gasol’s offense, making them both MVP candidates.

But if anyone deserves to be pushed forward, singularly, when four or five others deserve the spotlight as well, it’s Kobe. Because of that unending obsession, the one we all want our favorite players on our favorite teams to have.

And if Kobe’s your favorite player, on your favorite team? Congratulations. Because I don’t think this team is done, yet.

Bryant may be in his 30s, but there is absolutely no reason why he can’t have the security and the willingness to fade into the background a bit, as was the case with the man who drafted him, Jerry West. You know he’s smart enough to pull it off.

The 1971-72 Lakers set a then-NBA record for wins in a season with 69, and though West and Wilt Chamberlain were that team’s most enduring superstars, Jerry was second on the team in scoring, and Chamberlain was fourth. There’s no reason Kobe can’t take a step back, work as a facilitator, and remain his team’s most dangerous offensive contributor even if he does rack up the points or (and this is important) the assists. That’s up to Kobe, ever mindful of his place in history, to be secure enough to assume that we’d understand.

It’s also up to us to understand. To see why scaring people on the weak side offensively can be just as potent as nailing a 17-footer in Courtney Lee’s face. Hell, if we were good enough to appreciate Jackie Robinson scaring the wits out of the pitcher as he moved up and down the third base line, why can’t we admire the same from basketball players?

That’s in the future, we hope. For now, I guess I have to come back, and throw another bon mot Los Angeles’ way as the season ends. It wouldn’t be the first time.

I remember wrapping up a season-ending BtB for the last game of the 1999-00 season, giddy with potential, looking forward to a possible Laker dynasty even after a wearying season such as the one we just worked through. “See you next year,” I wrote. It’s what I ended the post with.

Of course, the site I wrote for didn’t make it ‘til the next season. And the site I wrote for after that didn’t make it to the Finals the next year. And the site I wrote for after that wasn’t really interested in detailing the game action. And on it went, for years.

And last year? Boy, I had fun. And I loved those Boston Celtics. But you never got a chance that they were in it for much more than 2008, and possibly 2009. Turns out, the former was right.

These Lakers? They look set to dominate. And that, to me, is never a bad thing when the basketball is good. And with these Lakers, the basketball is so, so good.

I don’t care that this franchise always seems to be in the Finals. I don’t care that we’ve seen these faces before. I don’t care if we know, by Christmas, who’s going to win it all.

I care about great basketball. And outside of my family and friends and the readers that dare pull me up every morning, it’s always been what I care about the most.

The Los Angeles Lakers are giving us great basketball. Time and time again, on both sides. And whatever happens from here on out, whatever form they take, whatever fork they choose, I’ll always appreciate what they gave me, us, this season.

See you next year. I mean it, this time.

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The fact is …

Nobody in the business today does THIS better than KD.

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PS. KD, the only quibble is a minor one … with the 1st sentence in this specific excerpt. IMO, there was [at least] one other person with an even higher level of expectation than you had for this version of the Lakers. i.e. This is a special team. Keep On Truck’n

What you see below, was first written in this space May 30, 2008:

This is a special team

The defending NBA champions were dethroned last night by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were tabbed by this corner on Dec 25/07 as the “Sleeper Pick” to win the title this season.

In turn, earlier this morning, the following is what yours truly wrote on another blog, 20 second time-out … which, btw, is highly recommended reading for those in search of insight into how the NBA game actually works …

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On December 25, 2007 I identified this year’s Lakers team as my “Sleeper Pick” to WIN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP THIS SEASON, when LA was still in arears of Phoenix in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and BEFORE they acquired Pau Gasol … THAT’S HOW GOOD I knew these Lakers were this season.

The only team in the West that could have beaten them this year was the Spurs, if San Antonio was completely healthy, which was clearly not the case given the injury to Manu Ginobili (their most dynamic scorer).

Whichever one of Boston or Detroit comes out of the Eastern Conference is going to have its hands full with this Lakers team in the NBA Finals as, right now, this squad is very, very good.

However, of even more interest to me (and, possibly, other astute NBA historians), at the moment, is where their team is going to go NEXT SEASON … when they fully re-integrate ANDREW BYNUM + TREVOR ARIZA into their line-up.

From my perspective, others would do well to carve in stone the forecast I made earlier this spring ['08] that says,

“The 2008-2009 LA LAKERS WILL WIN 70+ games enroute to capturing another of what will eventually be several more NBA championships … if their team remains relatively injury-free.”

What Phil Jackson & Co. have constructed in LA, right now, is a team that will one day go down in NBA history beside the Chicago Bulls (of Michael Jordan) and the old Boston Celtics (of Bill Russell) as arguably the greatest of all-time.

One of the differences between me and other NBA observers is that frequently I can tell you in advance what is going to happen, with a high degree of accuracy, before it does NOT just after-the-fact.

Enjoy the moment for what it is …

“Life is fast and things happen quickly.” - Derek Fisher

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May 19, 2008 … Charles Barkley actually had it right, but was just afraid to step that far out on a limb, in advance, vs Chris Webber & Co.

Fortunately, this corner has no such trepidation.

As was said earlier this week, in this space … it will take a special team to eliminate this group of San Antonio Spurs from the title hunt.

This Lakers’ squad is now that team.

Kudos to Air Force One, the Big Fundamental, TP, GINOBILI!, etc. … the better team won this Western Conference Final (watch ’til the end of the vid-clip).

Now … just as it was told to you, in advance, earlier this season, on Feb 9, 2008, what would eventually happen in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference …

And so It Begins, again … as Phil Jackson now heads toward what will eventually be his (legendary) 10th NBA Championship, as an NBA head coach.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

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381 days later …

Nuff said.

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Related:

NBA Playoffs - 2008 Finals Preview 

History in the making … 1 down

THIS OLD MAN

One - Point Guard, D-Fish
Two - Off Guard, Black Mamba
Three - Small Forward, Trevor Ariza
Four - Power Forward/Center, Pau Gasol
Five - Center, Andrew Bynum
Six - Back-up PG, Jordan Farmar
Seven - Back-up OG, Sasha Vujacic
Eight - Back-up SF, Luke Walton
Nine - Back-up PF, Lamar Odom
Ten - Back-up Center, DJ Mbenga

That is how the Lakers got to Heaven
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

Complete Info - Game Four [Jun 11, 2009]

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As was said here yesterday …

“Expect LA’s timing to be more in sync this time out … with this being their 4th day in the Eastern Zone … and for them to commit slightly fewer Turnovers [Game Three/13]. Whichever team wins the Rebounding Battle … especially on key possessions coming down the stretch in the 4th quarter … should emerge with the W. ”

Even playing through an OT, the Lakers commited just 7 Turnovers.

Entering the 4th quarter, with a sizable deficit on the boards, the Lakers rebounded well coming down the stretch, battled for and recovered several loose balls, and closed the gap to only -2 [39/41].

There is no substitute for:

1. Championship game experience.

2. Loyalty to those whom you trust, implicitly, at the moment of truth.

3. Being able to Protect & Rebound the ball.

4. Maintaining one’s Concentration & Belief through extreme adversity.

5. Being able to Minimize & Take Best/Full Advantage of Mis-match situations.

* There’s a reason why the Lakers elected to in-bound the ball in the back-court, down by 3 points, with only 10.8 secs remaining in regulation time.

* Derek Fisher [six-foot-something] might not have been able to shoot, and make, his crucial 3PT-shot [4.6 secs] over a taller PG than Jameer Nelson [who is five-foot-something].

“Life is fast, and things happen quickly.” - Derek Fisher [#1/PG]

Kudos … to [both, Big Chief Triangle and] the LA Lakers’ Little Big Man!

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PS. “Sometimes the Magic works; sometimes it doesn’t.” - Chief Dan George [Little Big Man]

FINAL SCORE: LAKERS 100, Magic 75 [Game One]
Complete Game Info

The Maestro Doin’ Work last night on The Boys from Disneyland.

Lakers lead the series, 1-0.

Los Angeles dominated the boards, 55-41.

Andrew Bynum & Pau Gasol were terrific, in addition to Black Mamba.

“Sometimes it gets late pretty early.” [in a series like this one]
- Jeff Van Gundy quoting from Yogi Berra

“He’s got THAT Look.”
- Mike Breen

“He’s got that GAME.”
- JVG

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Nothing more need be said. 

Current Odds To Win This Series
Orlando +245
LOS ANGELES -265

The first question which needs to be asked and then answered regarding this series is:

Q1. What 5-Man Unit will the Lakers use to begin Game One?

A1. Either, Option I, Option II or Option III [see below]:

Q2. Which Option actually presents the better set of individual match-ups for each team?

A2. That’s the $64,000 Question for this series.

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Orlando’s Perspective

Option I
Gives the Magic their best opportunity to succeed, emphasizing Turkoglu’s Size & Skill Advantage vs Ariza, plus Lewis’ Quickness Advantage vs Gasol.

Option II
Limits the Magic to Turkoglu’s Size & Skill Advantage vs Ariza.  

Option III
Chokes Off the Magic’s Offense, eliminating their Individual Advantages. 

Los Angeles’ perspective

Option I
Gives the Lakers a chance to attack Lewis in the Pinch-Post position vs Gasol; but, exposes Gasol on the perimeter vs Lewis’ superior quickness.

Option II
Allows Bynum to work vs the Magic’s back-ups; but, exposes Gasol to be attacked by Howard in Low Block Post-ups.

Option III
Exposes Gasol to attacks by Howard; BUT, also ensures that Kobe can GO TO WORK vs Lee, unfettered, while, Bynum gets to work vs the Magic’s back-ups.

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Despite the Lakers now being a prohibitive favourite to win this series, there is still some legitimate “value” to be had with a play on the Magic, at +245 … if Los Angeles decides to go at Orlando with its customary M.O. [Option I].

That said, however, there is nothing about this series which SPELLS the word U-P-S-E-T, given the Individual Match-ups listed above.

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Related:

Charley Rosen’s 2009 NBA Finals Preview