NBA: National Basketball Association

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 1) Contrary to revisionist history, Iverson did not "fail" in Denver: he ranked seventh in scoring and eighth in assists in 2006-07 and third in scoring and ninth in assists in 2007-08. The Nuggets made the playoffs both years, including a 50 win season in 2007-08 that was the best regular season performance by that franchise since 1987-88. In 2007, the Nuggets lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion Spurs, winning one more playoff game against San Antonio than LeBron James' Eastern Conference champions did in the NBA Finals. In 2008, the Nuggets were swept in the first round by the eventual Western Conference champion Lakers; Iverson led the Nuggets in scoring and assists during that series, while Carmelo Anthon...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) The 3-13 New York Knicks own the third worst record in the NBA; they have no apparent plan to become successful any time soon, only a dream--call it a delusion--that LeBron James is going to leave a championship contending team in Cleveland to become the captain of the Gotham Titanic. More than a generation ago, Micheal Ray Richardson famously lamented that the Knicks' "ship be sinking," adding that "the sky's the limit" after being asked how far the ship could plummet--but the current edition of the Knicks is even worse than Richardson's team was: the Knicks rank 29th (out of 30 teams) in points allowed (107.9), 29th in rebounding differential (-6.6) 28th in point differential (-6.5) and 28th in defensive field goal percentage (.488). The K...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 31 points but he shot just 9-23 from the field and did not score for a 12 minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters as the Lakers took control with a 23-5 run; during that crucial time, ESPN's Mark Jackson said, "The question for (Denver Coach) George Karl is, 'Where is Carmelo Anthony?' You need a guy offensively to stop the bleeding." Chauncey Billups had a quiet 12 points and five assists while Kenyon Martin added 12 points but shot just 6-15 from the field as the Lakers invited him to keep shooting his patented no-arc jump shots and awkward runners. J.R. Smith, apparently believing that his salary is linked to three point field goal attempts per minute, shot 1-10 from three point range; this is...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Though this apparently has not received nearly as much coverage as his original comment did, Lakers legend Jerry West has backed off of his statement that James has passed Bryant as the best player in the NBA; West told interviewer Jim Rome, "I said something that I wish I wouldn't have said, to be honest with you, because it was in no way demeaning to Kobe Bryant. I love his passion. I want him to win a championship without Shaquille O'Neal because I think it would vindicate him in some respect. If I had to watch a player play, there's about four players I would pay to see play on a regular basis, and Kobe Bryant certainly would be at the top of that list. Late in the game, who are you going to take to make a shot, who are you going to take in the last quarter o...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) In my series preview I wrote, "This series will be an interesting litmus test for the theory that Houston can use 'advanced basketball statistics' to come up with an effective game plan to slow down Bryant; the evidence from this season emphatically suggests that this is not the case: the Lakers won all four games as Bryant averaged 28.3 ppg while shooting .530 from the field and .533 from three point range." While Bryant did not match his exceptional regular season production versus Houston, during this series he still averaged 27.4 ppg on .453 field goal shooting and .344 three point shooting. Bryant averaged just 1.6 turnovers per game in the series despite being guarded by All-Defensive Team members Artest and Shane Battier and despite bein...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The Cleveland Cavaliers used a powerful three pronged offensive attack led by LeBron James plus stifling defense to race to a 29 point lead versus the sputtering Detroit Pistons en route to a 94-82 victory, placing Detroit in a 2-0 hole. James finished with game-high totals in points (29) and rebounds (13), adding six assists while committing only two turnovers. He thrilled the crowd with two sensational third quarter dunks: a two handed monster jam off of a slick bounce pass from Mo Williams at the 5:19 mark to put the Cavs up 61-44 and a two handed windmill fastbreak dunk that made the score 68-46 Cleveland with 3:27 left. Williams established playoff career-highs in points (21) and assists (seven), while Delonte West had 20 points and fo...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Phoenix opened the game with an 11-0 run, led most of the way, perfectly executed an out of bounds play late in the game to score the go ahead layup--and still found a way to lose to their nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs. This time the dagger came in the form of a Roger Mason three pointer at the buzzer, delivering a 91-90 win for the Spurs. Tony Parker scored a game-high 27 points and tied Steve Nash for game-high honors with eight assists. Tim Duncan added 25 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Shaquille O'Neal powered his way to 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. O'Neal looked better than he has in quite some time; he opened the game with a spin move leading to a powerful dunk...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The "go figure" stat of the night is that two of the Pacers' seven wins have come against last year's NBA Finalists; the Pacers won their home opener 95-79 against the Boston Celtics. The Lakers swept the season series against the Pacers 2-0 last year and own a 51-19 advantage in the all-time series but they have not had much success at Conseco Fieldhouse, falling to 3-7 in that building. You may recall that two seasons ago the Lakers blew a nine point third quarter lead at Indiana in a 95-84 loss that Coach Jackson, tongue planted firmly in cheek, called "sad," saying, "They just got 'sad' tonight--'s-a-d,' you know what that is, right? It's sunlight deprivation--when you get out here, it's all gray and the California boys get depressed and t...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(noreply@blogger.com) As for Miami, the Heat are obviously immensely better than they were last year. Wade has regained his explosiveness and he once again drives relentlessly to the basket. Miami's primary offensive option is Wade dribbling around until he decides to either shoot or pass; in one late game sequence, Wade was the last Heat player to cross midcourt on offense and the other four Heat players simply stood around like little kids waiting for permission to cross the street: they did not even consider the possibility of trying to run an offensive set or create an open shot by dribble penetration. Rookie point guard Mario Chalmers has played actively on defense and he is averaging more than five apg but Wade is clearly running the show.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) The Celtics finished with the best record in the NBA (66-16), while the Lakers had the best record in perhaps the most competitive Western Conference race ever (57-25). The top two seeds have generally not both made it to the Finals in recent seasons but the Celtics and Lakers each vanquished tough foes to advance to the championship round, where Boston earned the right to hoist a 17th championship banner, denying Phil Jackson his 10th coaching title and Bryant his fourth ring as a player and in the process completing the one blank space on the Hall of Fame resumes of Garnett, Allen and 2008 Finals MVP Paul Pierce.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Of course, no Cleveland-Washington playoff game this year would be complete without the obligatory incident featuring extracurricular contact and jawing by Wizards' players, with both the contact and the jawing generally directed at James. This time, Darius Songaila made a backhand slap to James' face after Songaila had already fouled him on a driving move. James simply rubbed his jaw and moved away but players from both teams congregated around each other and started woofing and posturing. For no apparent reason, Stevenson slapped down Anderson Varejao's arm. After the officials sorted everything out, Songaila, Stevenson and Varejao received technical fouls.   [read the full post]