The Spurs snatch game one

San Antonio, Texas – LeBron James was the talk of the sports world preceding the start of the NBA Finals. But it was the efficient play of Tim Duncan, the San Antonio Spurs three-time Finals MVP, who reign supreme in game one of the finals. Scoring 24 points on 58 percent shooting, Duncan grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked five shots as he led the Spurs to 85-76 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tony Parker, the Spurs guard, scored 27 points and dished out seven assist.

As efficient as the Spurs were on offense, it was their defense that may have been the difference in the game. James, coming off a phenomenal series against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, found the Spurs defense stifling. Their defensive rotation and pick-and-roll coverage was well executed.

“San Antonio was terrific, especially on defense,” explained Cleveland’s coach, Mike Brown. “They didn’t allow us to get into the paint and when we did, there were three bodies in there.”

Offensively the Spurs ball movement was excellent. They dished out 18 assists. Parker, a bit tentative in the first quarter, became aggressive in the second quarter and continued his assertive play throughout the came. Nine of Parkers’ 12 baskets were lay-ups. The Spurs also grabbed 11 more rebounds (43-32) than the upstart Cavs.

As tough as the game came for the Cavs on both ends of the court, it was their horrific third quarter, being outscored 24-14, that may have truly been their demise. The Cavs trailed by five points at the half (40-35), but outscored the Spurs by six points in the fourth quarter. The Spurs 10 point difference in the third quarter proved to be the difference in the game.

James finished with 14 points, shooting 4 of 16. He missed is first eight field goals, converting his first shot in the third quarter with 7:15 minutes remaining. James also committed six turnovers.

“I have to play better in order for my team to win,” James explains in the post-game interview.

Daniel Gibson continued his phenomenal playoff play, leading the Cavs in scoring with 16 points on (7 of 9) shooting.

Game two takes place Sunday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The Cavs were better!

Chauncey Billups still believes the Detroit Pistons are the best team in the Eastern Conference. This despite three monstrous slam dunks by LeBron James in the closing moments of regulation play in the fifth game of the Eastern Conference Finals; three consecutive slams dunks are extremely rare in a regular season game. Chauncey still believes his team is better than the Cleveland Cavaliers despite James converting the game winning lay-up, with 2.2 seconds remaining, in the second overtime of that game. And Chauncey believes his team is better even after getting beat by 16-points in the sixth game of the finals.

“I feel like we’re the better team. And even after this defeat [game six] I still feel the same way,” Billups tells Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press. “Did we play better than that team for the last six games? No, we did not . . . but nobody can tell me that team is better than ours.”

Chauncey, sometimes there’s a taste of truth in a fantasy.

If the Pistons had played like the well oil machine they have come to be identified with, Chauncey’s ascertain would have been on point; there’s no way the Cavs would have beat the Pistons had they played like the Pistons of their Championship season; and they were capable of that. But if grandma had a scrotum she would be grandpa.

The rule of thumb in basketball is the team who wins in a seven game series is the better team. Someone should share that with Chauncey.

While Chauncey believes Detroit is the better team, how interesting is it that last year about this same time Coach Flip Saunders made a similar acertain after being eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Final. “We didn’t play how we play,” Saunders said.

Poised, proven, playoff teams are suppose to play how they play; see the San Antonio Spurs.

The Pistons, over the last four seasons, have strutted their swagger. They’ve built a reputation for grinding out big games, and players like Billups and Rasheed Wallace have hit big shots in the closing moments of games to stick the proverbial dagger in the heart of their opponents.

But for all their swagger this current Pistons’ team is just a .500 team in championship games. They’ve been to two NBA Championships, winning one; and they’ve been to four Eastern Conference Finals, winning just two.

Sure they've been more successful than most teams, but remember they walk with a air of arrogance that says, ‘We Are Champs.’ In reality they are living on a memory.

Last season during the Eastern Conference semi-finals, Wallace predicted the series against the Cavs wouldn’t go beyond five games; the series went seven. Their swag wasn’t quite as phenomenal as they thought. Cleveland played tough and the Pistons, while they won’t admit it, were thankful they survived. Then the defending Eastern Conference Champs followed their performance against the Cavs by losing in six games to Miami. There was some truth to Saunders claim that his players did not play Pistons basketball.

One would think the Pistons would have learned their lessons.

Champions should walk with a swagger. But more importantly, they should play with a swagger. The Pistons claim to be a great fourth quarter team, and the Cavs have been a notoriously bad third quarter team throughout the playoffs. If Chauncey’s Pistons were as good as he thinks they are then the second half of each game should have been all Detroit. But talk is cheap.

Playing with swag means you dominate the greater percentage of the series; not turn on and off when you feel like it.

Maybe the Pistons are the better team, but they weren’t for those six games. Even “Mr. Big Shot” admitted that the Cavs outplayed them – not in four games, but in six.

The playoffs have a way of exposing all a team's faults.

“Agent 0” named NBA Player of the Week

Around the metropolitan D.C. area Washington Wizards’ guard Gilbert Arenas is known as “Agent 0.” To the players in the League, “Agent 0” is known as an explosive offensive talent. But to the NBA, “Agent 0” is now known as the NBA’s best for the week of Dec. 4.

On Dec. 11, Arenas was named Eastern Conference “Player of the Week” for games played from Dec. 4 through Dec. 10. Arenas averaged a League-high 37.3 points per game converting on 51.5 percent of his field goal attempts. “Agent 0” also connected on 18 three-point attempts, and handed out 5.5 assist per game.

During the week, Arenas lead the Wizards to a 3-1 record. His 38-point, eight assist effort help snap the Dallas Mavericks’ 12-game winning streak. On Dec. 6 he followed that outing with a 38-point effort against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, and 32-points against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philly, on Dec. 8. The two road victories were the Wizards first of the season. Arenas completed the week on Saturday Dec. 9, by dropping 41-points in a loss to the Houston Rockets at the Verizon Center. The 41 scored against the Rockets was Arenas’ fourth 40-plus game of the year, making him only the fourth player, joining Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant, in the last 20-years to score 40 or more points four times in their first 20 games of a season.

Too much Yao Ming

The Washington Wizards lost Brendan Haywood for the game in the second quarter to a deep left thigh bruise. With 11:05 remaining in the fourth quarter the Wizards also lost Etan Thomas to a left ankle injury. Despite the lost of their big men the Wizards still played big, but fell short and were defeated 114-109 by the Houston Rockets.

“It was a tough loss for us,” said Coach Eddie Jordan of Saturday’s loss, “but there were some positives. The effort was there.”

Led by Gilbert Arenas, who scored 41-points, the Wizards (9-11) matched Yao Ming’s huge effort down the stretch despite losing their two centers. But last month’s Western Conference “Player of the Month” proved too big and accurate for the Wizards. After Thomas’ fourth quarter departure Ming with his 17-points to that point, showed why he is the League’s most dominant “big man.” Guarded by rookie James Lang and veteran Calvin Booth, Ming scored 21-points, shooting six for six from the field and nine for 10 from the free-throw line. From both side of the box Ming was equally dominating, shooting turnaround jumpers amidst tough Wizards opposition. Jordan, who played with Kareem Abdul Jabbar, one of the League’s most dominating big men ever, said of Ming, that the League has never seen a big man as dominating on both sides of the box as Ming.
“He killed us in that fourth quarter,” said Arenas who changed his sneakers in the second quarter after shooting 0-of-6 in the first quarter. “What hurt us down the stretch is they were in the penalty with nine minutes [left]. From there they were just shooting free throws the whole time. We fought and we kept at it. The big kid hit big shots.”

The Wizards were down by seven points (88-81) with 8:52 remaining in the game when Arenas, who heated up after his slow start, hitting 13-of-24 shots, made back-to-back 3-point shots to reduce Houston’s lead to one. After Ming converted one of his six fourth quarter shots, the Wizards’ guard Antonio Daniels made a free throw as a result of a technical foul called on ex-Wizards Juwan Howard, arguing a foul against Antawn Jamison charged to him. Jamsion, who finished with 27-points, made three free-throws and gave the Wizards a one point lead.

Houston (14-6) rebuilt their lead to eight points, but the Wizards, trying to reach .500, continued to fight for their 10th victory. Arenas driving layup with 1:05 left reduced Houston’s lead to four, but Ming, on an assist from Luther Head scored on a layup.

With the Wizards down by four points with less than 45-seconds remaining Arenas penetrated into the paint, but was met by a few Houston defenders. Unable to get off a shot Arenas made a difficult pass to Booth standing beyond the arc. With no options but to shoot, Booth fired up and converted a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, which brought 20,173 fans to their feet.

“I don’t really shoot threes per se,” said Booth about his unexpected field goal. “But I do consider myself more of a jump shooter than a post-up guy; so I looked around and nobody was open; so I was like I mine as well take it – give it a shot.”

With 11-seconds remaining Ming quieted the excited Verizon Center fans, chanting “De-fense, De-fense,” when he hit his final turnaround jumpers. Arenas tried to answer with a 3-point attempt, but missed.

“We had a chance to tie the game. I thought Gil had a terrific look in the corner,” Jordan said of Arenas’ last field goal attempt. He’s [Ming] got it going this year. To be in a game when you have Yao Ming going really well, even against double teams and different schemes – it’s a credit to our guys that we got a chance to tie the game.”

The injuries suffered by Thomas and Haywood, who collectively combined for four points and seven rebounds, occurred trying to defend the 7-foot-6-inch Ming. Thomas rolled his ankle on Ming’s size 18, and Haywood was kneed by the 310 pound Ming. Both players are listed day-to-day.

Houston’s Tracy McGrady, who finished with 28-points, exited the game in the fourth quarter because of back spasms.

The NBA’s best for November

The League’s centers were definitely the ‘Big Men on Campus’ for November. Centers Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets were named the Eastern and Western Conference “Players of the Month.”

Howard, considered the engine fueling the best team in the Eastern Conference, averaged 17.1 points per game and led the League in rebounds with 13.6. Facing his childhood idol Kevin Garnett in a Nov. 11th game, Howard grabbed 21 rebounds to accompany his 21-points, and led the Magic pass the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-98. On Nov. 20 against the Memphis Grizzlies Howard posted his second double-double of 20 or more points and rebounds; he scored 24 and pulled 23 boards in a loss to the Grizzlies. On Nov. 27 Howard, four rebounds shy of his third 20 plus double-double, scored 21-points and snatched 16 rebounds.

Ming, with 11 consecutive games of 20-points or more, tallied 36-points against the Rockets’ Texas neighbors, the Dallas Mavericks; 35 and 17 rebounds against the New York Knicks, 34 with 14 rebounds against a Shaq-less Miami Heat, and 33 points and 16 rebounds with four assists against the Detroit Pistons.


Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay were named “T-Mobile Rookies of the Month.” Morrison ranked first among rookies [Eastern and Western Conference rookies] in scoring averaging 15.3 points per game and minutes played averaging 36.1. Chosen third in the 2006 NBA draft by the Charlotte Bobcats, the kid known for his stache,’ ranked second in 3-point shooting among rookies converting .375 percent. Entering the NBA as a prolific scorer, Morrison scored 20-points are more in six games. Against the San Antonio Spurs Morrison scored 27 while being guarded by Bruce Bowen, one of the League’s premiere defensive players. Morrison dropped 12-of-23 shots; (2-of-3) from the arc. Morrison scorched the Miami Heat with 27.

Gay leads the Western Conference rookies in scoring averaging 8.7 points per game. He earned his career high with 23 points in an 89-84 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Gay also ranks first [Western Conference] in minutes played per game with 24.9 and third in rebounding (4.7) and tied for third in steals with .93.

Brian Hill, coach of the first place Orlando Magic and Jerry Sloan, coach of the first place Utah Jazz were named the Eastern and Western Conference “Coaches of the Month.”

Hill has guided the Magic to a 12-4 start, their best since 1998-99, to lead the Eastern Conference. Sloan, likewise, has led his Jazz to a 13-4 mark to lead the Western Conference.

The Wizards gallop over the Mavericks

After setting a franchise record last Saturday for consecutive road losses to begin a season with eight, the Washington Wizards returned home on Dec. 4 and defeated last year’s Western Conference champs the Dallas Mavericks.

The Wizards, winners of seven of nine home games, mounted a huge effort to defeat the league’s hottest team who had won 12 straight games before their 106-97 defeat.
“We stayed organized offensively for the most part,” said Coach Eddie Jordan. “We got stops. We held them – the Dallas Mavericks under 40 percent [shooting] and we . . . got out and ran; we got some easy baskets.”

Jumping out to a first quarter eight point lead the Wizards (7-10) played good defensively, shot and distributed the ball well. “We shared the basketball,” Jordan said. The Wizards converted 15-of-21 field goals for 71 percent and held the Mavericks (12-5) to 39 percent. The Wiz outrebounded the Mavericks – 12 to 6 – and dished out more assist, collecting 10 to the Mavericks’ six.

“That was a result of our approach, our attitude, our willingness to share the basketball and play with each other,” explained Jordan.

Maintaining their efficiency through the second quarter by continuing to play up-tempo basketball, the Wizards extended their lead to 18 finishing the first-half 59-41.
“We like to play up and down,” said Wizards’ guard Gilbert Arenas, who lead the team 38-points and eight assist, about their early lead.

Although the Wizards did cool down in the third quarter, shooting just 37 percent, they were able to briefly extend their lead to 31-points before the Mavericks made their run. With 6:24 left in the quarter Jarvis Hayes hit a three-point shot to cap a Wizards 17-4 run, putting the Wizards up by 31.

Entering into the fourth quarter the Wizards held a 21-point lead, but with 2:31 seconds remaining Mavericks’ guard Jason Terry, averaging 14.8 points per game this season, but held to just one point for the game, hit a huge three-point shot to reduce the Mavericks’ deficit to 10. Throughout the arena the hint of apprehension among the fans could be felt. However Arenas answered Terry’s basket, hitting a 22-foot jumper. But with 1:07 remaining Dallas’ All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who finished 27-points and nine rebounds, hit another three to reduce the Wizards’ lead to seven. Arenas tried to answer with another jumper, but missed. Antawn Jamison, who scored 20-points, grabbed the rebound, one of his game high 12, and converted a tough basket under the boards to extend the lead back to nine. Nowitzki and Arenas traded a couple of made free-throws to end the game.

Not disappointed about losing the lead, Arenas said, “We knew they were in striking distance. With a team like that that scores 39 [they scored only 31] in a period – you knew they were ready for a run. We were expecting it. We just had to hold on and be strong.”

Each Wizards starters scored in double figures. Centers Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood combined for 21 of the teams 53 rebounds.

Franchise futility


On Dec. 2, 1986 the Baltimore Bullets defeated the Boston Celtics at Boston Garden to avoid starting the season with eight consecutive road losses. Twenty-years later, to the day, the Washington Wizards unable to win their eighth road game set a franchise record held by those Bullets and the 1961-62 Chicago Packers, for consecutive road losses to start season by losing to the Chicago Bulls 112-94.

Throughout the first quarter the Wizards (6-10) fought to secure that elusive road victory. Down by seven the Wizards launched an 8-0 run to pull ahead of the Bulls 21-19. But the Bulls mounted their own 10 to 2 run to finish the quarter with a 29-23 lead.

Missing their first six shots of the second quarter the Wizards quickly found their six-point deficit stretched to double digits. The Wiz finished the second quarter shooting 5-of-21. The Bulls (7-9) playing rather bullish shot 60 percent from the field, converting on 12-of-20 shots. They outscored the Wiz 33-19 for the quarter to take a 62-44 half-time lead.

Andres Nocioni converted 5-of-6 shots in the second quarter, and shot 100 percent from the arc hitting three ‘3s. Nocioni finished the half scoring 20-points, and the game with 24. Ben Gordon with 28-points for the game, made 4-of-5 shots and converted 2-of-3 threes in the second quarter.

The Bulls stampede continued through the third quarter. In attempt to find some energy Coach Eddie Jordan emptied the bench by inserting James Lang, Andray Blatche, Donnell Taylor, Jarvis Hayes and Antonio Daniels; Roger Mason replaced Hayes at the close of the quarter. Although the seldom used bench players (Lang, Blatche, Taylor and Mason) did inject some much needed energy, the Bulls eventually built a 30-point lead before handing the Wizards their 10th defeat of the season.

Lang, playing in only his second game of his career, scored the first points of his career, finishing with seven. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists.

Caron Butler led the Wizards in scoring with 21-points on 8-of-15 shooting and in rebounding, grabbing 10. Etan Thomas was the only Wizards player who did not score.