Sports Perspectives » Basketball

Mullin’N Musin’ Over The Mavs

exposrip — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:58:23 +0000

The Dallas Mavericks have steamrolled through their last stretch of games. They’ve beaten the Celtics, Heat and Spurs over this time. So, can this team legitimately compete for a title?

While their execution has been brilliant of late, this team still isn’t equipped to win four straight playoff series. First, the weak points of their hot streak: the last month (November 27th to December 27th) of games featured only five road games. Secondly, stretches of this run have featured multiple games against below .500 teams (Minnesota, Sacramento, New Jersey). The month also threw only two back-to-backs at Dallas.

The Mavericks have only performed a wee bit better than expected during the easiest part of their schedule. As more road games and back-to-backs pile up, the likelihood of them maintaining their pace is slim. Every team, no matter how good they can be, inevitably has let down games. The latter end of a back-to-back, a few hard games in a row and traveling can make a team look awful. Despite the Mavs strong play to date, let down games will happen, guaranteed. The best teams go on their three or four game losing streaks. Even NBA players are human.

Back to the playoffs, the season that actually matters.

Dallas has solid depth, but one place they are weak is skilled centers. This is largely the lost luxury for teams on the cusp of being elite (the teams that have skilled centers are the Lakers, Magic and Celtics). Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood get the minutes at center and while they’re solid, long defenders, they mostly pick up scraps offensively.

While Dirk can post up and fade away for a jumper, the Mavs have no traditional post presence.

This is why I can’t give the Mavs the seal of approval. When the jumpers aren’t falling and drives aren’t effective due to strong D, what will the Mavs do? They don’t really have an answer, they don’t have a player who can post and toast

(Clyde Fraizer voice).

Adding to the big man woes is poor Brendan Haywood, who has looked atrocious on the free throw line this season. He’s shooting about 28% and his form looks dopey. In the playoffs, couldn’t a hack-a-Haywood be a great strategy? YES! Even though he plays only 18 minutes a game, teams could force him off the floor, or capitalize on his awful performance at the strike. This would limit the Mavs depth and/or scoring.

Also, let’s not forget injuries, which are causing the Mavs trouble right now. Injuries to Dirk and Caron Butler are hurting during a more difficult part of their season. If injuries pile up like the have for Boston recently, their team could lose their edge. Stars aren’t usually replaced. Hopefully Dallas is at full health when it matters most.

Dallas has earned some praise for their recent performance. They’ve shown strong play on both ends, played a team game and beat some decent competition over the last month. Winning in November and December means nothing if you’re not “the,” winner in June, though.

Can Joel Anthony Become An Offensive Player?

exposrip — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 02:14:59 +0000

By Alex Curtis-Slep

The Miami Heat have disappointed the “pundits” so far this season with a 13-8 record. Lots and lots is being written about them, and frankly I’m a little over it. I feel like they’ve done decently to this point. I want to talk about one Heat player in particular. Joel Anthony is a guy who’s continually worked hard and done his job. His defense is his game, but why is his offense non-existent?

Anthony rarely, if ever, turns his head toward the rim. He only takes shots out of necessity, and largely wants to get out of the way. Yeah, he’s not a scoring juggernaut, but have the Heat ever attempted to raise his confidence, let alone work with him on his offense?

The Heat need to inject confidence into this kid. If they made his mindset on offense positive, he could make a stronger impact. If stars like LeBron, Wade and Bosh truly want to lessen their comrades weaknesses, they should verbally give them confidence. After motivating them, they should give them looks they have a high likelihood of finishing.

In Anthony’s case, the Heat need to set him up to dunk. Look for him as much as possible. Anthony would make more free throws if the Heat players told him they believed in him. Joel doesn’t believe in his offense, neither do his teammates. A mind’s waining confidence can rid you of almost all of your skill. That’s part of Anthony’s problem.

Also, does the Heat staff work with Anthony on his offense? I mean, look at Dwight Howard. Superman solely had athleticism on his side when he first entered the league. No definitive offense moves and counter moves. Granted, Howard is more talented that Anthony, but that doesn’t mean Anthony can’t put as much effort into his offensive development.

Hours in the “lab” filled with work on low post moves and footwork wouldn’t only make Anthony better, but it would bring him confidence. When Dwight Howard worked with Hakeem Olajuwon this summer, his confidence was evident in the pre-season. He had an idea of what he was doing down low and of how to respond to the defense.

Some readers may think I’m crazy to theorize on how Joel Anthony could become a scoring threat. They’d say, “this guy’s a role player, and only a defensive one at that!” If you’re the Miami Heat though, building a dynasty requires this type of attention to detail.

Potential cannot be left on the table. While you could generalize this idea for all teams and players, the Heat’s goals require an unmatched amount of comprehensiveness here. Each player must be the best he can be.

Looking at Anthony once more, I just wish the guy would attempt to be less one dimensional. If he could be somewhat serviceable on offense, that’d be refreshing. And help make the already stagnant Miami offense less of an eye sore.

Lebron James Continues His Legacy Of Weirdness

exposrip — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:00:11 +0000

By Beaker

Lebron James is making it hard for us to not call him a loser.

He’s also making it very easy for people to lash out with his comments.

Too many minutes? He’s complaining about playing too many mintues? Is he joking? Judging by his demeanour as he made a mess of himself, I fear he may not be. Did Pat Riley disappear leaving James the GM, CEO and owner of the Heat? All that was missing was for him to talk about the unemployment figures. Good grief.

Somebody should grab James by the collar and show him the real world. Look out there. America is facing a struggling economy. Millions are without work and he’s complaining about playing 44 minutes while earning millions? A GAME! A game that allows these guys to slam a ball threw a hoop and act like they’ve saved a life.

If the imbalances in our society would moderate a little and reward real men in real jobs, some of that money he makes would be shifted to a teacher, a doctor or nurse. Go do a double shift dealing with cancer patients. Better yet, take Kevin Garnett with you.

But it doesn’t and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to count to 10 before making a mockery of your blessings.

You just can’t pull shit like that. Already James acted like a jerk with the way he left Cleveland – to which he then cynically tried to make amends for with a commercial. This only adds to his increasingly negative image.

No one asked or told James to go to Miami and try and superficially build a power house team. Now that the Big Three are playing like the Three Stooges, he’s reaching for excuses by to throwing his coach under the bus.

Real classy. Real impressive.

Can a commercial about how his dad worked in the mines and how he knows what it’s like to be “poor” be far off?

Lebron James: Look hard in the mirror.

And then…

Grow up.

As they say in the streets, “keepin’ it real, bro.”

If I’m Cleveland I’m not missing the dude. He’s no champion.

Sometimes I fucking hate sports and everyone in it.

Editor’s note: Please note this piece has been slightly edited from its original. Thank you.

Dwight Howard Spells MVP?

exposrip — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:27:33 +0000

By Alex Curtis-Slep

The preseason has begun with a bang. Most everybody’s in good shape and I’m as eager for this season as a five year old is for Christmas. In watching the early games and listening to the predictions, the MVP race is, in my opinion, down to two. I’m usually not into early MVP chatter, but Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard look poised to challenge for the award.

Dwight Howard’s name hasn’t been mentioned in early predictions; however, he looks amazing early on. He’s as buff as ever, has a more serious look on the floor and has added to his offensive repertoire (check out some of his work). His post game is the reason he could win the MVP. When he’s not fouled down low, he can score almost every time. Jump hooks, drop steps and thunderous dunks are a cinch for Superman.

What plagues Howard is free throw shooting. He’s improved his offense, but he has not improved his free throws. He now has a Tim Duncan-esque bank jumper, although the range on the shot is limited. His form is the same and it’s sad to think that that could lose him the award (and many games).

Now, Kevin Durant. What do I need to say about this guy? His middle name is consistency, he works hard all the time and his team is awesome. Right now, he sure looks like the MVP. He should lead the league in scoring and continue to progress defensively. Also, unlike Dwight, his jump shot is sweet and silky smooth. The only weakness you could say he has is lack of experience deep in the NBA playoffs.

Consequently, Durant is not a sure thing. Yet. Howard made my jaw drop with his new skills in preseason and if he can continue, he will be right there. I’m looking forward to seeing which one executes the best on both ends. Howard is a better defender, but Durant is a true scorer.

A competition they will have, that’s for sure!

Canada Crashes Out At FIBA

exposrip — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:42:29 +0000

A 0-5 record, including a loss to Lebanon, at the FIBA leaves Canadian basketball in utter tatters. How can a country with an NBA team make such a poor account of itself on the international stage?

I’m not much interested in blaming the players. They do their best – as we saw against a stronger opponent in France. In fact, I think we’re beyond blame at this point. Rather, like we do with the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), we must put pressure on the powers that be to get this thing right moving forward. If they don’t, they must be held accountable. Pure and simple.

For too long this country has wallowed in mediocrity in sports much of the world cares about. Those being basketball and soccer. And to a lesser extent, baseball. It’s fine to be mad about hockey, but are Canadians that parochial to care only about one sport to the detriment of others?

In the aftermath of the Sydney Olympic games, Canadians voiced their displeasure following a rather paltry performance that saw our athletes rake in three gold medals; 14 in total. It was something I never saw in Canadians. They demanded to at least try and be the best. To aim to win medals is not a bad thing. It’s one thing to proudly participate but quite another to not be able to compete. It was wonderful to see the ‘Own the Podium’ program render some results at the Vancouver Winter games. The country won an unprecedented 14 gold medals to lead all nations and were third overall. Though they came short of the committee’s target of first.

Baby steps. It was a great result and the country took notice.

Canada has the talent and resources to be a power in several sports. Far from an expert I am, but there seems to be something drastically wrong somewhere. Is it the commitment? Funding? Development and scouting? Why is Canada dysfunctional in basketball and soccer despite the talent available?

I don’t have the answers to these. The CSA, a sport I watch rather closely, baffles me to no end. I just wanted to voice my displeasure and to lend my hope that one day Canada can be like Australia. They’re a power in tennis and swimming and the Olympic. They have competitive basketball and baseball teams, now produce world class cyclists and aren’t taken lightly in soccer anymore.

All with 21 million people. Canada has 33.

Time to wake up and push ourselves.

Who’s That In The Background?

exposrip — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:12:32 +0000

It's Wade's team

Hey look, it’s the three tenors! Wade, James and the other guy!”

I don’t know ’bout you guys but I find something “off” with this picture. Notice how it’s Dwayne Wade at the head of thr trio. Lebron James is taking a back seat.

I wonder if the all-time greats would have chosen this route. James could have been a real king in Cleveland. Instead, he’s choosing to be a Queen.

Not that I can’t be wrong. Maybe it’s not about a “legacy.” Who knows?

All I know is the superstars don’t like being second fiddle to anyone.

LEBRON WAVES WHITE FLAG

exposrip — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:18:49 +0000

I didn’t watch the farce that was Lebron James announcing where the fuck he was finally going to play on ESPIPI. Nor do I, judging by the uber-fluff question posed by Jim Gray asking if ‘Bron still bit his nails, regret it. Reruns of ‘Golden Girls’ was more appealing than a cynical, manufactured piece of crap destined to make one city happy and embarrass another. The only thing that keeps me from going unhinged is that the $4 million raised went to charity.

Barely,since, let’s face it, it wasn’t about the children.

Seriously. What the hell was that? How much more awkward and uncool can someone get in search of publicity? No sports fan with a healthy self-esteem would fault James for leaving Cleveland and signing with the Miami Heat – even for less cash; although I would love to know the details of the deal. No one leaves $30 million jacks on the table without some calculation on how to get some if not all of it back.

What James did is just biz-ness. Nothing pers-nol. He doesn’t owe anyone squat. Sports fans get that. I doubt the more reasonable (a relative term these days I know) among us ran to their room, kicked off their slippers and jumped on their Star Wars bed to cry inconsolably screaming “Why, why, why!”

Mom: It’s okay Gordie.

Gordie: But it hurts so much!

Mom: Why, honey?

Gordie: I’m…not sure…

Oh, the state of journalism as a whole! No one has the balls to step up and properly investigate anything or ask the hard questions anymore lest they won’t get invited to that exclusive posh political dinner or be on someone’s text message list.

We get all that.

But.

What’s harder to get is how he handled it that makes it all so ugly on the surface. Surface ugliness can give way to internal beauty as Quasimodo eternally showed us, right? Is there anything remotely good in this? It should be asked: What kind of person permits this to go on like it did and to top it off with a sketch that belonged on a SCTV scrapped tapes. I’m gonna give James the benefit of the doubt and just assume it was a misguided bad idea.

To hang out an entire city out to dry like that is unfortunate. ESPN is moronic for airing that crap (despite the ratings) and the NBA is without balls for letting one of its teams be lampooned like that. All from a guy who hasn’t won a title.

Lebron James was once thought to be the next Michael Jordan. With this decision, it’s hard to see how he can ever reach that level. Heck, he may not even knock off his contemporary Kobe Bryant who, in some circles of opinion, is making the Jordan comparison more and more legitimate.

James truly had a shot at becoming an iconic sports figure by bringing a title to a town starving for some love.

Instead, he opted for a glitzy option where being the “go to” guy may be an issue. Basketball, more than any sport, can have a game changed by the hands of one player. Most of the greats want the ball for a shot at immortality.

By going to Miami, he goes from King of Cleveland to Queen of Miami. He will always trail Duane Wade by one championship.

James basically waved a white flag and said he doesn’t necessarily want that. Even if they agree to set their egos aside (Bosh abstains) and share the big shot duties, there’s only so many touches available. Who will be Miami’s ‘Jimmy’ from Hoosiers, huh? Huh?

In fact, I’m not so sure Wade, James and Chris Bosh – despite the crazy talent – are a shoe in for a title. For starters, defense remains an issue as well as a thin bench.

And what is it with all this ridiculous colluding and campaigning crap anyway?

Sports is and always will have a cynical side. Anyone who ignores this is a hopeless romantic who’ll likely marry a person who takes advantage of them. “Honey, I just need 4 grand for this business…you see…it’s complicated…but don’t worry about it…we’ll buy a boat….I promise, k?”

And with the lousy free-agent drama James just subjected fans too, he may as well go join that dude on those infomercials selling the Slap-Chop.

I hear Brett Favre is mulling over a TV special announcing something.

A GREAT DEFENSIVE BATTLE; LAKERS WIN NBA TITLE, CELTICS RUN OUT OF GAS

exposrip — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:37:12 +0000

By Alex Curtis-Slep

Tough defense. Nothing easy. Enough banging down low to make Tila Tequila jealous. This was the culmination of what was a tremendous series and season. I went in a Lakers fan, but, in all the finals series I’ve watched in my young life, I’ve never had more respect for the opponent of my team than the Celtics. Going into game seven undermanned and seemingly outmatched down low, Rasheed Wallace and the whole team didn’t give up. Some shots just didn’t fall for them. They were still right there and that’s why they’ve earned a hat tip.

One other thing about last nights game: best defense-centric game I’ve seen. Typically these grind it out games where offense is porous lose the love and fire I have for that game. Not this one. I can’t tell you how much I jumped around in my house, both in frustration and appreciation. When it all ended, I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. I was up the entire game and I felt that it was more than worth it.

Nearly surpassing the game were the sights of the celebrations. The embracings of Sasha and Kobe, and others were quite funny, especially when they were in slow-motion. Ron Artest had hilarious moments to say the least, as I posted earlier. All of his emotions made me realize just how much he wanted it and how appreciative I was of where he’s come. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a special time for his career.

Again, I want to give it up to the Celtics. They played hard and aren’t winners on paper, but they’re winners in my book. Going out with honor and without sacrifice is as much a personal win for them as it is a true disappointment that they didn’t win. Doc Rivers, you did all you could. If this is the end of the line for him, he can rest assured knowing he put it all on the line for this team. Same goes for Rasheed. Great careers that would be a shame to see end.

LIBERTARIAN TAKE ON GILBERT ARENAS

exposrip — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:36:55 +0000

By Alex

Here’s a different perspective on the Gilbert Arenas saga you ain’t gonna get in the static media.

What he did was immature if not irresponsible and his subsequent aloofness (probably serving as a defense mechanism) only added to his troubles, but does the punishment handed down by L’il Napoleon really fit the crime?

HYPING WHERE LEBRON WILL GO

exposrip — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:22:56 +0000

By Alex

I’ve never really been a fan of CNN. Sure, they inform, but, they over do coverage on the biggest stories and fail to broaden their news reports. Now, they are truly disappointing me. Why? Because, LeBron “The Constant Distraction” James is being interviewed on Larry King Live this Friday. The idea is not bad to me. The timing, on the other hand, couldn’t be worse.

CNN’s PR people obviously don’t know what starts on Thursday night. I’ll let them in on it: the NBA FINALS, the climax of the season, the two best teams fighting it out, doesn’t feature LeBron, kick off the night before. I know what the true intent of this interview is. While CNN will also discuss LeBron’s “success” as an athlete (though he’s really won nothing without a ring), the July free agency madness will be what everyone wants to hear about.

I don’t blame the people for wanting to hear where LeBron’s mind is on his free agency. I would love to know where LeBron is going too. But when the best basketball is being played, I want to hear nothing of it. LeBron’s status shouldn’t be discussed until the finals are over.

The media these days has come to prove that this won’t really happen. If I had it my way, the LeBron coverage would not happen until after the champion is crowned. Instead we hear many false rumors about free agent summits and that LeBron favors Cleveland. Blah, blah, blah!

My respect for CNN is at an all time low. I feel like true basketball fans who love every part of the game are being cheated here. The top focus ought to be on the two best teams battling for basketball superiority, not seemingly daily deviation to where a 25 year old (and his friends) will be playing next season.

When you look into a phrase dictionary next, look for a picture of LeBron next to “pointless hype”.