The live blog of Denver and San Antonio will kick off as soon as the Cavs/Wiz game ends. The Cavs are, predictably, in a dog fight with the most severely undermanned team in the post season. So we will get to the Game of the Night as soon as Cleveland finds a way to dispatch of a team who doesn't have its two All-Stars.
Sadly, the game is on ESPN. The drop off from TNT to ESPN is so steep; it is almost like you are watching two different sports. TNT needs to step its game up next year and acquire every single game.
At the very least, that 40 games in 40 nights thing is a little misleading. If you are going to say that, I want at least one game every night. Noah didn't get to take weekends off, did he?
Anyways, live blogging will commence after the jump (nope, still not old) as soon as The LeBrons wrap up Game 3. See you then.
Thoughts? Predictions? Proclamations?
I think the Nuggets will win, I predict a breakout playoff game for JR Smith and I proclaim the winner of this series in the NBA Finals. Word.
Alright, let's get things crackin'. Cleveland goes up 3-0 on Washington (what absolute professionals; they just handled their business, didn't they?) due to Washington falling over a lot and Sasha Pavlovic making up for fouling a three point shooter and a shot clock violation on simultaneous possessions by drilling a dagger three from the corner to push it to two possessions. I'll take it, I guess.
First play I see is Melo draining a 3. Good start, good start. 11-8, Nugs. And Nene with a jumper forces SA to burn a TO.
Cripes, I go from Doug Collins - calm, understated, rational, logical - to Bill Walton - hyper, over the top, irrational, illogical, insane. This is like jumping straight from the whirlpool into the regular pool. I was just not ready for it; I may have a heart attack.
As far as I can tell, it is just Mark Whatshisname and Walton. Who's bright idea was this? Where the hell is Jon Barry? Mark can't keep Walton in check! He is going to be running wild with irrational comments and observations. What do you think Mark thought when he saw his assignment? "Uh, guys? It says here it is just me and Bill...that can't be right! Guys? Guys?!?!"
Melo goes up top and flushes an alley oop. Man, he really went up and got that. Every time Melo gets up, it catches me off guard. He's got some sneaky hops.
Ah, Parker with back to back baskets. Son of a bitch. The Nugs just can't keep him out of the paint. This is going to be a problem.
Iverson finally gets on the board with a nice little pull up. Why doesn't he do his cross over anymore? It is either just a hesitation move or a slower version of it. Baron Davis needs to give it back.
JR with a nice finish at the rim. I don't mean to say I told you so, but...I freakin' told you so. SA has Bruce Bowen guarding JR, so he may want to watch his ankles on any jump shots...you know, because JR is the dirtiest, slimiest prick in the NBA and all.
George Karl picks up a T for standing outside the coaches box. Good God, fellas, I think Melos jersey is slightly untucked in the back, might wanna ring him up, too.
Freakin Parker scores again. This is going to be a problem.
JR! Hell of an athletic finish off an alley oop. Some recurring themes are developing: Parker being a problem and JR Smith finishing at the rim. SA hits back to back shot clock expiring 3s to make it 25-22, Nugs at the half.
Mark takes us to the break with this gem: "Its turning into a Melo man march!" This commercial break can't be long enough.
I can't believe Jacque Vaughn is getting time for the potential World Champs. I remember being at the game where they lost to UTEP in the first round of the NCAA tourney in Dayton. I think that was Vaughn's team...
JR is attacking the rim like he's mad at it. What a great, random call by me. *Pats self on back.
Kleiza finds Nene under the rim...I'd like to nominate Kleiza as the worst player left in the playoffs. I'm willing to listen to arguments, though. I just don't see what he brings to the table. He runs around jacking bad shots, never, ever making them and not guarding anybody. What's the point, really?
Iverson misses a short fadeaway. As he's running down court, you can hear him scream, "He hit me in ma face!"C'mon AI, you couldn't have thrown the F word in there for me? That's too much to ask?
Mark Jones takes us to commercial. I have no idea what the score is.
Timmay misses back to back shots...he hasn't done a damn thing so far, at least from what I've seen - he may have scored 8 straight to open the game and I wouldn't know.
Iverson.....and one! And AI gets to the line for the first time in over 5 quarters. I'm surprised he made it, thought he might have forgotten what to do there.
And Parker scores in the paint again. I can't even blame Steve Blake because he isn't in...the Nuggets have no answer for him. He gets in there at will. Thank God SA doesn't seem interested in doing that every time down the court, because I really don't think it would be much of a problem.
They'd rather throw it into a doubled-team Duncan all the time, who isn't handling them all that well...cept for that time where he finds an open Mike Finley for 3. Spurs up 1, 34-33. Duncan throws it into the back court trying to beat a double team. Pop should try live-blogging the game, he might notice these things.
Walton: "Camby is a more statistical defender than Duncan." In fact, Duncan doesn't even get stats for his offense either. Here is his line for the series:
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Thanks, Bill.
Bruce Bowen: "I hope we can tally up all my runner up defensive player of the year awards." While we are at it, let's tally up all the ankles you've sprained by sliding your foot on purpose under a jump shooters foot, you dirty prick.
Mark Jones: "Something up about playing in this altitude really turns Manu on." Thanks, Mark. No, really, I needed reminded of that commercial where Parker and Ginobili are having phone sex with each other but they don't know it. "Man-ew?" "To-neeee?"
Melo drills a corner J, he has 14. Denver within 1. Make that down 3, The Dirty Prick scores in the lane. This game is really disjointed; no flow. SA has to be loving it. Duncan gets away with a charge, SA up 5. Denver has no home court advantage. It is oddly quiet. It just sounds like there is a strong breeze in the arena. Denver fans better wake the hell up.
Walton says Bowen is an "analytical" defender. Camby is a "statistical" defender. Blake is a "non-existant" defender. I may have added that last one.
Finley misses a drive and kick three; Duncan misses 97 putbacks in a row to end the half. Here come's the obligatory awkward Jim Gray interview. Lucky Tony Parker. That is one thing ESPN rivals TNT with: cover-your-face sideline interviewers. Craig Sager wins Emmies, though, so I guess he has been awarded for his awkwardness. Tough break, Jim Gray.
Close game at the half - 2, 3 points. No flow. Low scoring. No energy in the building. Why the hell is this game so flat? First 5 minutes will set the tone for the rest of the game. Here's my prediction: whoever wins the first 5 minutes wins the game. Jot it down. I am going to pound some coffee; hopefully, Denver and SA are, too.
Iverson is getting aggressive - he drills a 3 from the top of the key to bring Denver within one, then comes right back down for one of his patented high arcers off the glass, only Elson jumps to like the top of the freakin backboard and pins the hell out of it starting a SA fastbreak where Parker, of course, gets into the paint only to have Camby come out of nowhere for the pin - he got a stat for it, too - which triggered a Denver fast break, leading to a Nene blown lay up in traffic.
In other words: FINALLY. Things are starting to pick up, hopefully it only escalates from here. Denver seems to me to be the prototypical second half team. Thank God.
Hey, where the hell is JR? Haven't seen him yet this half.
Has Bruce Bowen ever committed a foul? Ever? He is hands down the dirtiest player in the NBA, and yet he is baffled every time he gets rung up. He just picked up a foul on Iverson, switched over to Melo, and Melo got one on him. We got the see the perplexed Bowen face after each one. Watch your ankles on those Js, fellas. Bowen won't stand for this much longer. Nugs still down 2.
The Nuggets are very, very bad at defensive rotations. They give up waaaay too many open Js.
"The poor man's Iverson" (?!?!) knocks down a three to cut SA's lead to one, but Duncan answers over Nene.
Melo throws Bowen to the ground as Camby knocks down a pull up. Things are about to get heated between those two. Blake finds Nene with a sweet dime in transition, but the Big Fundamental draws No. 3 on Nene. He just bores you to death, doesn't he? He makes both to give the Spurs a 1 point lead.
Iverson just shook the shit out of Manu. Manu got matched up on him in transition and you could see Manu's terror from the couch. AI will be at the line for 2 when we come back.
Uh oh. AI is getting it going. Nice little baseline J. Mark May lets us know he as 5% body fat. So basically he is all bone, notoriously hates weightlifting, gets the hell beat out of him on a regular basis, and is still one of the most durable athletes of the generation. Might not see another one like him for quite some time.
Oh, what the hell: Denver comes up with a steal, and somehow AI and JR lay heaped in a pile while Finley sticks another three. I am shaking my head in disbelief. SA has somehow opened up a 8 point lead...but JR Smith in transition with a chance at a three point play! I may have gotten everything else wrong, but I nailed this JR pick. Feels good, feels real good. JR cuts the lead to 5. 30 seconds left in the third.
Horry hits a wide open three because Denver is terrible, awful, horrendous at rotating and a Nene two at the buzzer is waived off. Denver up 8 heading into the third. Where the hell is that Denver run at? They better come up with one soon...
JR just rakes Manu from behind and gets hit with a flagrant foul. Walton is rambling on and on about how it isn't right that Manu gets hit so hard from the Nuggets...it is the freakin' playoffs. I wonder how Bill feels about the Pistons beating the hell out of Jordan all those years or a million other examples of hard playoff fouls. The NBA is turning into a bunch of soccer moms with the way they assess techs and flagrants and intentionals. Maybe after the season, all the players can get Participation Ceritificates, too. And ice cream!
Mark May: "It is not unusual for Denver to struggle at home." I am thinking that their ghost-like fan base may have something to do with that.
Denver is cold as ice, down 10, little over 9 to go. They need to get something going now. I can't begin to tell you how appalled I am with this fan base. I think we are going to need "Cheer Now" signs for Game 4.
Hey, did you know Tony Parker was getting married? Me either! Nice girl? Awwe, good for them!
Walton mentions another little known tidbit: Najera is the only Hispanic playing in the NBA. Yes, but a truly glorious day will be when we don't have to acknowledge such milestones.
For some unknown reason, Tony Parker is not playing. Finley buries another fucking three. What the hell, Denver. Melo follows his own miss with a tip dunk and the crownd yawns its approval. You guys know your paid admission allows you to cheer, right?
Now Nene with a tip! Nugs within 7. I think they are going to put Parker and Manu back in. Just when I thought there was a chance...
Poor Man's AI hits a toe-on-the-line 2 to cut the lead to 5. Get behind the line, Poor Man's AI! With a chance to cut the lead to 3, Duncan draws a charge on a driving Melo, even though Duncan bailed on it like a total skirt. Hey, Tony Parker just scored in the paint. Stunner, really.
Parker in the paint again. I have nothing to say. I am speechless. I am without speech.
Iverson drives, SA has like three guys there. Tony Parker drives and like three guys watch him shoot five footers. And I'm glad Tim Duncan was worried about the refs screwing with him, because he is getting away with all kinds of shit they'd ring Nene up for in a heart beat.
Holy shit. Sit down. Are you ready for this? The Nuggets just forced a shot clock violation. Melo wastes it with a forced 1 on 1 shot.
Wow. What a bail out on Manu. That was unreal. No one touched him. He jumped in the air, passed, no one touched him, and they put him at the line for 2. No wonder JR jacked him, getting calls like that. Nugs down 7.
Duncan just blindsided Nene, no call. Really, the Nugs have a legit gripe about the refs.
Wild sequence lead to a Nene lay up. This is the kind of atmosphere where you just want to jack someone. Atmosphere crazy, refs doing a lousy job controlling the game, playing against some one annoying as hell. Better make sure JR doesn't get in.
Iverson goes baseline and finds Nene who is just furious with the rim. Lead to 5.
You aren't going to believe this, but Tony Parker just scored in the paint. I know, I know, they do what you least expect.
Lead to 7. 1:04. Camby at the line to cut it to 5. Need both to make this finish remotely exciting. The Defensive Player of the Year rattles home both, lead to 5. Full court pressure from the Nugs.
And Robert Horry hits a ridiculous one dribble, fade away, why-the-fuck-not? jumper with 2 on the shot clock. Ha. That's all I got.
JR Smith dunks with 40 seconds to cut it to 5, Denver elects not to foul - Walton, along with the rest of non-comatose America, is "dazed and confused." (Did you know Wooden used to let Walton get high in his dorm and hotel room after games? Yep, read "Breaks of the Game." Its all in there. Of course, that was the one UCLA team that didn't win it all, so the lesson here is, drugs ruin everything. Unless you play football; then you can be a top 10 pick.)
Bowen misses a three; Denver gets a quick put back and then Denver takes forever to foul again. 4.5 left. Lead is three, but Manu - the hated Manu - is at the line. He makes the first, makes the second. Blake airballs a meaningless layups. Spurs win by 5.
What a flat, luckluster and disappointing performance from the Nugs. Their fans were pretty worthless, too. The entire city of Denver should be embarrassed with itself.
If they don't do better than that in Game 4, this series is a wrap.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Live Blog: Denver vs. San Antonio Spurs - Round 1, Game 3
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Second Season, Day 5
I'll be honest with you: I wasn't paying the closest attention to the playoffs tonight. The game I really wanted to see was relegated to NBATV and as a result I forgot to turn on the Nugs game right away. Then I made the decision to watch LOST instead of the first half of Dallas/Golden St. And hey, that's a decision I can live with. So the Day 5 recap will be a little light with the hard hitting analysis you have come to expect. Frankly, I'm stunned I am doing this two days in a row, so at least it's something.
A quick programming note: I'd like to live blog each team at least once before they get bounced from the Second Season. That depends heavily on NBATV and my will power, both wildly inconsistent entities. As best I can tell, Thursday's games are Pistons/Magic, Rockets/Jazz and Suns/Lakers. Rockets/Jazz gets bounced to no man's land, so tomorrow's choices are Pistons/Magic or Suns/Lakers.
Tell ya what: we'll leave it up to a vote. Odds are, this vote ends 1-0, but still. So whatever game you want live-blogged tomorrow, vote right below, and that's the game you get. Just remember: if you screw me and vote for the Pistons, you're gonna have to read about it. Its kinda like cheating on a test: in the long run, you are only cheating yourself.
Cavs go up 2-0 on the Wizards. Good, Cavs, good. You still get the feeling that Cleveland really doesn't care yet, though. They had a 15 point lead at one point, but the Wizards were still in it with under a minute to go. I guess they are taking care of business, but it's isn't very convincing, is it? If The Light Switches (they genuinely believe they can turn it on whenever they so choose, I think) win the next two games and wrap things up in Washington, no matter how close, I'll feel a little better - a little - but a blow out would ease my mind a little bit.
LeBron has played solidly in the first two games, but hasn't dominated. On the bright side, Larry Hughes owned Game 1 and Drew Gooden and Drew Gooden's Hair Patch on the Back of His Head owned Game 2. If Z drops 30 in Game 3 I can live with this trend; if not, LeBron needs to dominate a game.
Nuggets late game rally falls just short; series heads to Denver tied 1-1. Man, Denver almost had it. Maybe if they would have made one of the 13 lay ups the blew in the first half, it would have been a different game, but who knows. I don't think Denver could ask for much more than a win and a nail-biter in San Antonio. Their confidence should be brimming heading back to Denver.
If I was Denver, the match up I would be the most scared of is Steve Blake guarding Tony Parker. Parker lived in the paint last night; there was nothing Blake could do to stop him. I don't know how they remedy that short of switching defenders because no strategy is going to stop it - Blake just can't keep Mr. Longoria out of the paint. Hopefully Tony forgets he can do this or has a crappy night shooting.
How much of a beast is Nene? Two to three times a game he dunks balls that I am stunned he dunks - and he just hammers them through the rim. Dudes are just ducking to get out of the way. Iverson found him a couple of times and I was expecting a little floater - "he's just a tad too far away to dunk this" - and then he nearly pops the ball as he positively destroys the rim.
Along those same lines, Old Man Bob Horry has dunk-tipped two or three balls with surprising power and grace. I didn't even know he ventured inside the three point line anymore. Impressive.
If they can get two - and that's a tall order, but not completely unrealistic - then this series is over. A split pretty much wraps it up for San Antonio. This will end up being the best series of the first round because...
Dallas has figured out Golden St. Well, that was fun while it lasted, but this series is over. Oakland should be sufficiently fired up for its first playoff game in 47 years, but Dallas is just too good. Seems to me like two things happened:
1) Avery decided that the strategy that won him the most games in the league would probably work against the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.
2) Dallas took it personal. They looked particularly fired up, especially Jason Terry. Dirk is their best player, but I would guess that JET is their emotional leader. He'll sleep in a Golden St. uni all week and have them ready to take care of business in the next three games.
You know what this means, though? At least three more games of Don Nelson's "we don't have a chance in hell of winning" comments where everyone knows he's lying and it is actually starting to become disrespectful to the Mavs. If I played for the Mavs, that would piss me off more than anything, because the implication is, Yea, I'm saying we can't win, but everyone here knows I'm lying. I'm secretly outsmarting the best team in the NBA. Just watch the shit I'm gonna come up with next...
Hopefully we only have to hear that bullshit for three more games.
You know what was shocking, though? Stephen Jackson got tossed. Frankly, I was stunned. Didn't see it coming. And when he wouldn't leave the court? Totally out of character.
How 'bout Reggie Miller defending him? Deep down, Stephen Jackson is a good guy...he is just a little tempermental, like I was. Really, Reggie? I don't recall you charging into the stands during a game, or firing off five "warning shots" (I was more excited that "warning shots" was introduced into my vocabulary than "making it rain." I love that term.) outside a club, or your team taking on two terrible, terrible contracts just to get rid of you. You are the face of the problem player for the NBA?
I'm sure Reggie has talked with him and knows him a little bit, but I think he may be getting hoodwinked. He has it backwards, I think: on the surface, Stephen is a good guy; deep down, he's certifiably insane. That track record speaks for itself.
