Tuesday, June 26, 2007

2007 NBA Wrap

Congrats to the Cleveland Cavaliers for making it to the NBA Finals for the first time in team history. I was, and still am, a huge critic of the Cavs, but they did shut me up by beating the Pistons and winning the Eastern Conference this year. LeBron’s Game Five performance against Detroit will not soon be forgotten. I must admit, that was truly special. Unfortunately for the Cavs, LeBron mailed it in from that point on.

This year in the East there were four legit teams that had a chance to win the conference. The Pistons, Cavs, Heat, and my Chicago Bulls. When the postseason started it was fairly obvious one of those four teams were going to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The Bulls promptly swept the Heat but then had to battle with Detroit. The Pistons dispatched of Chicago in six games as Cleveland awaited. Cleveland narrowly lost the first two games, but then rebounded to take the next four and the series with it.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won one legit series this postseason. That is the exact same as the Bulls and the Pistons. The Cavs benefited from being the #2 seed in the East and only having to face one of the three “good” teams on their path to the Finals. However, you can’t take that away from them, they went out and beat the teams that were in front of them. Do not get that confused with Cleveland being a great team by any means. They have one player and a bunch of junk floating around him.

The NBA, more so than any other professional league, is all about match-ups. In the NFL a team can ride a great defense to the Super Bowl (note the Ravens and Bears). In the MLB a team can ride a great duo of pitchers to the World Series (note the Diamondbacks and the Marlins). However, with the NBA, what you have is what you got. There is no where to hide. In the NBA you cannot substitute a great defensive line-up in because they won’t be able to score any points. Therefore, when the playoffs come around, the winner is often decided by who had the better series of match-ups. Let’s take a look at this year.

The Golden State Warriors were the 8th best team in the Western Conference, barely squeaked into the playoffs, and had to face THE best team in the NBA (record wise) in the very first round. Six games later, Golden State had just upset the Dallas Mavericks. Their victory marked the very first time an eight seed managed to beat a one seed in a best of seven game series. How did this happen? One word, two syllables, match-ups.

In four games during the regular season, Golden State actually won three against Dallas. Golden State loved to use their speed and quick guards to score a lot of points. This fit perfectly with what Dallas likes to do. The Mavs also like to run up and down the court, with defense sometimes taking a backseat. The question now is, who shot better? If both teams are running up and down shooting a ton of three-pointers and getting fast break lay-ups, then the team who shoots a better percentage is going to win. It’s that simple. Golden State matched up great with Dallas because they had matching systems and styles.

Common sense would tell you that since Golden State just beat the best team in the NBA that they should be able to beat everybody else as well. Not so fast my friends. While the Warriors had a great backcourt, they had absolutely no frontcourt. Enter Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz. While the Warriors were still able to score against Utah, they could not stop Boozer. This is why the team shooting lay-ups all series long will ALWAYS beat the team shooting three-pointers. Now that is using common sense.

Back to the Cavs. After beating Detroit they promptly were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals. This should come as no surprise, for not only were the Spurs the far better team, but the Cavs matched up horribly with the Spurs. Cleveland depends solely on LeBron James. If James does not have a good game, chances are the Cavs are not going to win. The Spurs have the best defensive player in the league, hands down, in Bruce Bowen. Now, while Bowen did not completely shut LeBron down, he did make him less effective. Without LeBron having fan-tastic games, the Cavs had no shot, and four games later, were all done.

This is why even though the Cavs beat the Pistons, Detroit would have matched up a lot better with the Spurs. Detroit does not solely rely on one person, but rather have a plethora of options they could go to when they need a bucket. The Spurs would have beaten Detroit, make no doubt, but it would have gone 6 games. For the same reason as Detroit, the Chicago Bulls would have matched up better against the Spurs than the Cavs. The Spurs would have won that series in 5 or 6 games as well.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were able to beat Detroit because the Pistons had no answer for LeBron. He could do whatever he wanted to. Take LeBron away and what do you have, a lottery team.

Here are some random thoughts.

- Robert “Big Shot” Horry won his 7th NBA title this season. This gave him more than Michael and Scottie. While you could argue that Horry did not make a ‘big shot’ this postseason, he did dish one out and was a huge reason the Spurs won it all. If it had not been for his ‘shot’ on Steve Nash in the closing seconds of Game 4, the Suns would have won that series. It’s hard to hate on Horry, all he does is win. First with the Rockets, then with the Lakers, and now with the Spurs. The only players who have more than Horry are all Boston Celtics during the Bill Russell era.

- Congrats to Dirk Nowitzki for winning the NBA MVP this season. While everyone was fast to jump on Dirk for disappearing in the playoffs, they should remember that the playoffs have nothing to do with the MVP. It is solely based on the regular season. Don’t bring down Dirk’s moment just because the league decides to name the winner after an entire postseason round has been completed. The league needs to get their act together and announce the winner before any postseason games have been played.

Staying with things that are wrong with the MVP, Steve Nash was the best player in the league this year, make no question about it. He put up better numbers than his previous two MVP award winning seasons and was the sole reason the Suns won as many games as they did. However, since Nash was a reigning two-time winner, he was not eligible to win it this year. There is an unspoken rule in the NBA that does not allow you to win the award three times in a row. This is the same reason Michael Jordan never won the MVP three consecutive times. Charles Barkley in 1993 and Karl Malone in 1997 both denied Jordan a third straight MVP. So again, congrats to Dirk for being the 2nd best player in the league this year. It was all it took.

- Kobe Bryant is not going anywhere. The Los Angeles Lakers are not going to trade him. The only way Bryant gets traded is if he doesn’t show up for training camp and makes it known that he won’t play during the regular season.

- Kevin Garnett is going somewhere. It might even be with Kobe to the Lakers. Garnett is still a dominant player in the league and will immediately drastically improve whatever team he lands on. Hopefully the Bulls, but it’s more than likely going to be Phoenix.

- The Portland Trail Blazers are going to be a force to reckon with next season. Take a look at this potential starting line-up. Jarrett Jack, Brandon Roy, Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden. Watch out. If everyone stays healthy, that is a scary team.

- My Chicago Bulls need to do something. They have just about maxed out talent wise. If they stay put this year, and make no moves, they will not be that much better next season. Ben Gordon can not get any better, he just can’t. Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas have some upside, but there comes a time when you stop having potential and you start becoming an underachiever. Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant both would make Chicago the frontrunner in the East next season, but neither will suit up for the Bulls anytime soon.

Rather, look for Zach Randolph or Jermaine O’Neal to possibly join Chicago in the near future. The Bulls could package a deal that sends Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, Andres Nocioni, and their 9th pick in exchange for either Randolph or O’Neal. It is a much more realistic possibility than KG or Kobe.

Well folks, that is all I have for now. Look for my thoughts on the Tribe, my recent academic changes, and an NFL preview in the near future.

Until next time, read it, role it, hole it.

We’ve only just begun.