The NBA Thread

[Greggulator]

Congrats to all the Phiadelphianites for their boys getting this far.  I'm rooting for you.

But man, I don't think you could pay me to watch a 68-62 NBA game.

This series is probably the worst best series of all-time. Any Game 7 with some drama is compelling. But the basketball has been BRUTAL.

[Mr. Spacely]

It seems like the Celtics have been involved in quite a number "Best-Worst" series. Hell, even I'll admit the 2010 Finals against my Lakers was pretty rough-going. I don't recall any particularly great basketball being played in even one of those seven games.

[Greggulator]

Boston-Chicago Round 1 that year was absurdly great basketball. Arguably the best seven games any two teams have ever played against each other. Crap, I know what I'm doing... highlights of the Noah dunk coming up!

[JON IN PHL]

Greggulator, don't forget highlights of Rondo breaking the face of - I think it was Hinrich? - on a Chicago clear path breakaway. Still one of the dirtiest plays I have seen live. Pretty sure he didnt even get hit with a flagrant. Can't help but love Rondo though.

[Mr. Spacely]

Boston-Chicago was '09, right? Or '08? Without consulting Wikipedia, I'm positive Boston played Miami in R1 in '10.

[Greggulator]

The OKC Thunder are a very good basketball team. They may, in fact, be an excellent basketball team. But they have absolutely no chance against the San Antonio Spurs who are playing as well as any team has in the past two decades. The Spurs had a stretch in the second half last night that was as good as basketball can be played -- perfect spacing, amazing passing, etc. A lot of folks on Twitter were ripping Scott Brooks for the Thunder's inability to stop the Spurs. I think there were only a handful of teams ever who could stop the Spurs last night.

(There were also a bunch of goofs ripping on Russ Westbrook for some reason, too. Give me a break.)

20 wins in a row and counting. A Hall of Fame Coach with a truly lethal, deep and diverse roster. A borderline (and now probably likely) HOF point guard in Tony Parker playing at his peak. A rested Manu still making the most creative shots in the game. The best PF of all time playing verywell. This is a special run we're seeing.

[buffcoat]

Matthew Yglesias agrees, and takes the point much, much further:

The NBA’s most successful franchise reveals that America is a nation of hypocrites.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/05/san_antonio_spurs_2012_the_nba_s_most_successful_franchise_reveals_that_america_is_a_nation_of_hypocrites_.html

[gravy boat]

Agree. Watched last night and thought the Thunder played very well but it was not even close.  I thought Brooks coached well -- particularly by going to Hack a Splitter to disrupt the Spurs offensive run, which worked.  The Spurs are playing very good defense on Durant, too. I do think the Thunder will take at least of 1of the next 2--the Spurs' 3-point shooting has to drop off (I think).  The people talking about the Spurs running the table again are a little ahead of themselves.

I am rooting for the Thunder and have not watched the Spurs much all year--but the Spurs are a lot different than I thought.  Lots of passing and creative offensive.  Fun team to watch. 

[gravy boat]

Matthew Yglesias agrees, and takes the point much, much further:

The NBA’s most successful franchise reveals that America is a nation of hypocrites.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/05/san_antonio_spurs_2012_the_nba_s_most_successful_franchise_reveals_that_america_is_a_nation_of_hypocrites_.html

I think what Yglesias is missing is that a lot of people turned off the Spurs years ago when they had largely the same leaders (Pop, Duncan and Parker)  and they were a boring team to watch. They also had plenty of bad, uncompetitive behavior that many fans don't really warm up to (Exhibit #1: Robert Hobby hip-checking Steve Nash into the scoring table during the playoffs; Exhibits 2--102-- at least 100 instances of Bowen undercutting shooters).

[Greggulator]

I never bought into Spurs hate. I didn't love them as much as I loved The Kings of Fun or 7 Seconds or Less but I never hated them. This was largely for two reasons. 1) While the team definitely was jerky (Bowen, etc.) and a bit plodding, Manu's one of the most exciting players of his generation. A left-handed whirling dirvish playing basketball at the most ridiculous angles. 2) The early 00s Lakers bored me to tears. While Kobe was pretty spectacular, just feeding the ball to Shaq was soooooooo awful.

The Spurs last year were playing some awesome basketball. But then they ran into a Memphis team that peaked at the right time that was the worst possible matchup. But now it's just off-the-charts. The sweep of Utah wasn't shocking, since the Jazz were the biggest overachievers this year. But sweeping the Clippers, even with a banged up CP3, is really impressive.

Sweeping the rest of the playoffs is going to be absurdly hard. But I wouldn't doubt it.

[Tom Scharpling]

The Spurs will most likely win the championship. They're great.

But they are not interesting to me at all. Never have been and never will be. I find them boring. That's my opinion. They were responsible for one of the all-time worst Finals series against the Nets (2002?) and to me they are the bad/boring penny that will not go away.

And sweeping the Clippers - a team that had never been to the second round with their #1 player (who I also think is overrated) banged up is not even remotely impressive.

Tom.

[Gilly]

Right, the Clips series didn't impress me at all, I said talk to me when they beat a good team. But, I give in, this team is the real deal as much as it pains me to say it because I'm not a fan of watching Duncan mechanically put up his numbers, not a fan of watching Manu flop up and down the court and the Spurs will always be sour to me because of Bowen. That said, I'm rooting for them until they lose a game, because it would be pretty amazing to watch a team sweep the playoffs. That accomplishment would put them in the conversation of greatest team ever, and no matter who the team, seeing history in the making is a sports fan's dream.

[buffcoat]

Teams overly focused on sweeping can end up losing series.  I don't see it happening with Popovich, but if they're up 1-0 in the Finals he needs to make them extra focused on Game 2 as opposed to a 4-game sweep.

[JON IN PHL]

Rondo!
One of the best individual performances I've ever seen.
Dude played all 53 minutes at full speed.
Refs blew it with the no call on the foul to his face. That swung the game.

[Mr. Spacely]

And sweeping the Clippers - a team that had never been to the second round with their #1 player (who I also think is overrated) banged up is not even remotely impressive.

Tom.

Tom not liking Chris Paul is my favorite of his NBA Opinions. I don't know why. I just love it.  In fact, I'll add something: If Chris Paul's such a great guy and amazing competitor, why did he slither his way out of New Orleans?

(P.S. Derek Fisher did the same thing this year with Houston. I hate - HATE - this "great guy, amazing competitor" player narrative ESPN spins)