Playoff Blog

Thoughts from a Wizard


Dirk Nowitzki gets better with time

I never thought I would ever say anything positive about this David Haselhoff groupie, but his play has left me no choice. Over the years people have been fair to call him soft. The 07 playoffs against the Warriors was not his best, as he struggled against an eight seed as that season's MVP of the league. People won't let him forget that a team that he led was up 13 with eight minutes left in a game that would have put his team up 3-0 in the finals-and lost the game...and series eventually. We think about the Mavs teams of the early 2000's with Ulysses S.Nash as the starting point guard spot, and that a team with those two great weapons never did anything in the playoffs.
I wont make excuses for the poor play in some of those situations for Dirk, but we can put those moments in context. In 07 I'm not sure how many teams if any would have beaten that Warriors team in the first round the way they played. I thought the series had a lot more to do with Golden State winning than it did with the Mavs losing. The Warriors played out of their minds confident basketball, and the electricity of their home crowd made the OKC crowds of this years playoffs seem like a Nets home game in January. People will forget that the Warriors would actually have won that series in 5 games had Dirk not been nothing short of spectacular at the end of that game to save the Mavs. The Miami series was certainly another case for Dirk's "soft" label. However, most would agree that no series since the 2002 Lakers Kings series has been as poorly officiated. Unfortunately it was atrocious in favor of the Heat. Two games were so blatantly officiated in the Heat's favor, that I truly considered not watching game six of those finals-what was the point? As for the rest of Dirks playoff failures, I maintain that he's never had any help.
Name the best interior player he's played with. Go ahead. This may sound crazy (and also a blatant blond haired/mustached pairing) but give Dirk Larry Bird's roster, and vice versa and we may be looking at something that would change the way that we list the all-time greats. The name of the game in basketball is protecting the rim, rebounding, and getting easy buckets in the half court. Larry Legend happened to play with perhaps the all time best front court, while Dirk has played with Shawn Bradley, Eric Dampier, DeSagna Diop, Tyson Chandler, Chris Washburn, Bartolo Colon, and John Candy. Having an outstanding supporting cast gives you the opportunity to be one of the all time greats, and showcase your skills when everyone is watching in June, instead of only diehards in April. That's why Kobe is suddenly a top seven player ever with his cast, and Chris Paul may never crack the top 50, and Dirk may never crack the top ten.
The last few years Dirk has taken the criticism that he's soft, and actually developed into a pretty tough player. Aside from being without debate the most skilled big ever, he now is tough and a clutch performer. Last night when the Blazers had it rolling at home, and some scrub from the Blazers bench gave him a cheap shot, he responded by taking the game over, and leading his team to a road series clinching win in a hostile environment (including finishing the game 8/8 at the line in the final minute). Old Dirk would have let that psyche him out and folded. I've got to give him props for continuing to lead an old mediocre team to success. I've got to give him credit as his teams get consistently screwed by the officials because the rest of the league hates Mark Cuban (seriously-look up the numbers and tell me how Joey Crawford is still consistently assigned to Mavericks games-it's absurd), and he takes it in stride and never complains. For once I want to give Dirk some love, because he's earned it.

Terrible End of Game Coaching

I want to start this rant by saying that I think Lionel Hollins has done an outstanding job coaching the Grizzlies. Now I will bash him, and all coaches who think like him.

For all you coaches out there who are up three at the end of a game and don't foul-you are a disgrace to your job. I've just had enough. There's no reason that the Grizzlies shouldn't be preparing for a game one against the Thunder, instead of a game six against the Spurs. What a pathetic cop out to blame the players for not guarding the three point line well enough. They probably could have been a bit further out, but Gary Neal hit a double teamed fading three from thirty feet that the defenders forced him into. These are N-B-A players though, they all can hit tough shots that are defended well. You can't leave it to chance that a pro will make a great play, and just try and play tight defense at the end of a game.
I can name a lot of big games in the last few years where teams down three with a couple seconds left have tied the game on a three. How about somebody out there name a game, playoff or regular season where the opposing team tied it up down three when they've been fouled? The odds are so low that every part of that equation will go right that you almost never see it?
So what is the argument coaches make against fouling up three? Rubbish.
It's that you never want to go from a situation where you take the situation from worse case scenario tie-to worse case scenario that you lose. This may be the most insane argument I've heard in my life. Let's walk through what it would take for that to happen. The team down three would be fouled with somewhere in the ball park of 2-6 seconds left. That player would first have to make the first free throw-no guarantee at all. The next step is having the shooter miss the second free throw purposely and perfectly. No easy task, how many times have we seen the shooter by mistake make the second free throw, or throw it off the back board without hitting rim, both of which end the situation. We will assume that the shooter misses. The ball has to get a lucky bounce AND one of the three big men you've put in the game to get the rebound has to ta the rebound. That miracle tap on the miracle perfect miss would then have to go to the maybe two people on the floor who can shoot threes (remember you've put all your big in to get the rebound). That person must then catch the ball, be behind the line, and take what will more than likely be a rushed contested three as time is running down and your momentum takes you away from the basket (because you've had to sprint to the three point line with time running down) and make the shot. There's a reason you probably can't come up with a single game that this has ever happened-because it's nearly impossible to do. Using the logic that it's possible to lose is like not eating your lunch today because a plane could crash into you while you're eating. Yea it could happen, but it never will.
If the Grizzlies go on to lose this series,theycan point to this idiotic end of game strategy that their coach, along with others use. I bet Pop would have fouled.

Quick hits

-I bet Stan Van gets unfairly fired in the off-season. The truth is that Dwight doesn't take the game serious, and his supporting cast are all hasbeens as it turns out. To let that Hawks team beat you in a seven game series is pathetic, and the Magic will use poor Stan as a scapegoat.
-The Bulls will struggle with the Hawks and the series will go six or seven, but the Bulls will ultimately prevail, as Boozer has to do something eventually-right?
-Despite Dirk's great play, the Lakeshow will steamroll the Mavs like one of my steamy poop logs cutting through the water
-Russell Westbrook needs to stop whining because a point guard never should take 30 shots in a game unless he's totally unconscious. If he grows up they will handle Memphis or San Antonio in six.
-Grizzlies will survive their late game blunder, and drum the Spurs tonight.


Until next time kiddies