April 19, 2007

• <It’s SHOWTIME>

  Didn’t write about NBA for quite a while (Indeed I didn’t write anything serious for quite a while). Anyway, officially the NBA now enters the Playoff, so, it’s time to Payoff -  I just feel obligated to write something about NBA.

  This year is unique (as were the past years).  I believe (READ : I have no solid evidence) that this is the only year when the top 5 pick in a particular year can join the Playoff together.  Which year? Of course the most talented draft in recent NBA history, 2003 – L. James, D. Milicic (he does so well in Magic compared with days in the bench of Pistons), C. Anthony, C. Bosh and D. Wade. This was and is a crazy year. If you scroll down the list in (http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/tracker/histround?year=2003) you can see even more amazing names – B. Diaw, J. Howard and K. Kolver. Anyway, four of the top 5 will continue to dominate NBA in the coming 5 years.

  Most Valuable Player. I will definitely vote for S. Nash… there is simply NO, repeat NO, player in the NBA history could or can single-handly lift the level of the players around him so significantly. Last year, the Most Improved Player was B. Diaw (he really sucks this year though), this year most likely to be L. Barbosa, who is 120% sure to be the Best 6th Men. He is so quick that I think he should quit NBA and join Lau Cheung for 110 hurdles in the coming Olympic. It is true that Marion is great, A. Stud is talented and others in Phoenix are good (esp. Kurt Thomas’s low post defense is really impressive).  But it is Nash that pull them together. In terms of contribution to Team Success, Nash is undoubtedly the best point guard ever in NBA. If there is a dictionary on NBA, the picture next to Point Guard is no longer Magic Johnson/ Issiah Thomas or anyone else not named Steven Nash.

  But realistically, Kobe Bryant will probably get the MVP – scoring champ, 10 games over 50 points (including 4 games in a roll), bring K.Brown to Playoff, huge elbowS in killing foreign players…. he just simply deserves it. Dirk should have good chances, but he is surrounded by too good cast – J. Terry, J. Howard, J. Stackhouse. This tends to reduces the significances of Dirk’s role in the Mavs, though he is still the most important guy in Mavs.

  This year is very competitive (READ : No team is outstanding), making it really difficult to guest the conference champion, leaving alone the NBA champion. But it is pretty sure that Wizards (no C. Butler, no Agent Zero), Magic (Playoff green D. Howard facing veterans Pistons) can play no more than 5 games more. Nuggets… well… should be thrown out by Spurs in 4 or 5 games – because not only Crawford will not be there (and hence Duncan wouldn’t be tossed for no reason), Parker/ Gino is a true defensive problem for AI. G. Karl simply can’t beat Popovich (yea typo, but I can’t type his name correctly anyway).

  Other than these 3 series, all other are 5-5 ball. And here could be another thing making this year unique – last year’s conference champions could be home in series 2. Bulls vs Heat. Ben Wallace is a disastrous given his payroll (I lover T. Chandler more). But T. Thomas (I bet him the Rookie of the Year) should make up his offensive slack. If they can kill Wade (serious, I mean kill him) or sacrifice Wallace in return for Wade’s left shoulder… But I bet the Bulls can contain Shaq and partly Wade. Unless Walker can put in 10 3s (not attempt but field goals), Bulls should kick Heat out in 6 games. Or heat wins in 7.

  And Golden state vs Dallas. Just feel so sad that Nash isn’t in Dallas (and the Suns isn’t facing GS). Else we will have the most entertaining playoff series EVER in human history with FG 70%, 3FG 75% and final scores like 190 vs 195 for each game. GS is too quick for Dallas and they have too many guns (Richardson, my best-friend beloved Davis, S. Jackson, R. Ellis, A. Harrington). And D Nelson can simply forget about defense.. indeed none of the above 5 guys know how to defend… If GS can steal one from Dallas in the first two, they could probably win the series. No kidding. No one else in the world knows Dirk more than D. Nelson does. So we shall see M Cuban in frustration (again) very soon. Anything more than 5 games will belong to Dallas.

  This leaves us Sun vs Lakers, Rockets vs Jazz (I hate Jerry Sloan very much by the way. I hate him so much that I once doubted he is the father of J. Stockton AND K. Malone) and Net vs Raptors series. Sun could probably send Kobe home in 6 games (depends on whether Kobe can get 100 for each game). Rockets… um… see AK47 can shut down T Mac and uphold his first round curse. Yao really has to step up to get 35 points per game. Don’t be blocked by D. Williams or anyone shorter than 6-5… But Boozer and Okun (this tall man can shoot from the MidCourt. Think about a 7 foot Reggie Miller) are not stupid. We are not stupid… Net vs Raptors. Not easy for the then Air Canada to play in Toronto. and if R. Jefferson can’t slam, he is just a crap. I love Bosh (the ratio among his body, legs, hands and head is peculiar and he looks too like a monster). But Kidd+Jefferson+Carter is too high a wall for him alone to get over. So we have to bear with M. Moore for another series. If MorPet can make 7 3s from the corner every night, Raptors win.

  • 9:32 am
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