It's time to begin the interminable NBA postseason, which is almost like a season in itself. But while the Pistons and my beloved hometown Spurs seem destined for a finals rematch (my beloved hometown Mavericks shouldn't be counted out either), almost every first-round matchup looks to be entertaining.
For instance, Kirk and the Bulls managed to avoid the certain doom of an 8th seed and will play the Heat instead of Detroit. No one is picking this upset, but Kirk has gotten the better of Dwyane Wade (pictured) before--remember the '03 Final Four--and the Bulls play with a lot more discipline and cohesion than Miami.
The Suns have the firepower to overcome the Lakers, but it should be a very entertaining series anyway; Kobe may break some scoring records against Phoenix's soft defense.
The Clippers/Nuggets series looks like a total toss-up. The same goes for Cleveland and my beloved hometown Washington Wizards. Cleveland has more talent but they've never been to the playoffs before, whereas the Wiz actually won a series last year.
Even though Pierce, Lafrentz, Collison and Ostertag (RIP) are done for the year, there is still plenty of KU representation in the playoffs. Aside from Hinrich, we have Drew Gooden (Cleveland), Jacque Vaughn (New Jersey), Scot Pollard (Indiana), Billy Thomas (Washington), and Wayne Simien (Miami).
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ReplyDelete(this time without the typos)
ReplyDeleteJust want to comment before your weekend starts, 'baron.'
I have, alas, little to say about the NBA playoffs--I confess, I'm one of those fans who doesn't really watch until the playoffs get going. One nice benefit of that approach: the long post-season seems fine, since it's usually as much season as I see. . . .
The Chicago-Miami series has most of my attention, and I think it should be an entertaining one. Seems especially fun as it was the Bulls' 24-point drubbing of Miami in Miami that secured Chicago's playoff spot.
I predict the Bulls in seven (there, someone picked the upset).
Great photo of Wade, DGL.
I didn't watch much during the regular season, either. I just followed it in the sports pages.
ReplyDeleteThe Bulls acquitted themselves well on Saturday, but they sort of choked down the stretch, Kirk included, while Wade came through in the end. But Kirk did make life very difficult for Dwyane (not a typo, just a bizarre spelling) throughout.
I can't see the Bulls pulling this one out unless Shaq or Dwyayayne (sp?) goes down with an injury, but I could see it going seven.
Rootin for da Clips.
ReplyDelete(hey I own 2 t-shirts)
BTW, fixed the #$%@ sidebar.
Good work on the sidebar, SJ.
ReplyDeleteAnother narrow loss for da Bulls on Monday night. This time, Kirk's numbers exceeded Wade's (29 pts and 7 assists to Dwyane's 21 and 7). Still, Kirk also had 6 turnovers and once again looked confused in the endgame.
I'm enjoying this series a great deal, but I don't think the Bulls are going to take more than one game.
And the Clippers! Who knew?
You're right, DGL, Kirk made some odd mistakes down the stretch, like that behind-the-back pass to Chandler, which ended up in a cameraman's lap; in his defense, though, he did nearly match the Heat's 20 points in the 4th with his 17 points in that period. . . .
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it warrants a post of its own, as it's kind of a non-story at this stage, but here's a link to Friday's unflattering story about KU's violations (including 'loss of institutional control'); most involve the football team, and most predate the current coaches and AD Perkins, though there is that Darnell Jackson business.
Also, this story about Sheron Collins is encouraging; and how about Langford in that NBADL championship game? 39 points, 12 of 20 from the field--maybe that's the game we hope the scouts saw. The Flyers ended up losing, but it sounds like our guys are playing well.
I was considering doing separate posts on all those stories you mentioned, YHD, but none really seemed to merit such attention.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the "loss of institutional control" story was considered important enough for CNNSI's college hoops homepage. See their version, from the AP, here. Fittingly, the URL ends with the sequence: "kansas.trouble/index.html"
None of it is earth-shattering, but it is a further indication of the department's decline in respectability ever since Bob Frederick was pushed out in favor of Al Bohl. Bohl was a disaster, and so far Lew Perkins hasn't exactly been a bulwark of the community either.
deron, I bought those Clips shirts mostly because of my hatred for the Lakers.
ReplyDeleteIt's a logical progression...
So are you wearing any Phoenix merchandise this week?
ReplyDeleteLaker-hating, and Duke-hating, are proud traditions that I also have long observed.
Incidentally, I'd like to apologize for giving contradictory predictions in this thread--first that the Bulls-Heat series could go seven, then that it couldn't go more than five. If you just average out those two predictions, the real number is: Heat in six.