The Gully State Warriors and a Sunday of fun
But not in the East, where its sweeps week
I love these Golden State Warriors. It just seemed like too preposterous of a limb to stand out on to even think about a 67 win team going down in flames against them.
Basketball-wise, they are sort of like the Illinois team with Deron Williams and Dee Brown that lost in the Final to North Carolina. They just keep shooting three after three after three. Last night they took so many bad ones, and it looked like the game was over. Somehow they had the heart to not cave, and win the game. But that’s just the basketball part. This is a team that is exactly what the NBA needs. You always hear about how people are turned off by the criminals on parole and all of the preening and posturing that is disgracing the game that James A. Naismith brought to the masses down from Mount Sinai. Well, the Warriors have a key player who started this season as the Pre-Pacman Jones poster child for athletes gone wild. Stephen Jackson shot his gun in the air after he was hit by a car, now he’s locking up Dirk Nowitzki. Monta Ellis is the shoot-first 140 pound undersized PG that is supposedly destroying the NBA game (by the way, Monta and Al Harrington combined for ONE point last night, and G.S. still won). Baron Davis is supposed to be this primadonna who jacks up threes and doesn’t care about his teammates. J-Rich is a dunker and occasional shooter. It goes on and on, how these guys are everything that makes older fans hate the NBA.
I LOVE THEM. LOVE!!! ROMANCE!
I hold off using the word “gully” until it’s absolutely necessary. That is what this team is. You simply cannot be the bad guys when you have 25 fewer wins than the Finals destined juggernaut you are facing. The Warriors with all of their flaws, have been the most entertaining team in the playoffs. Meanwhile the Mavs, who were a study in basketball efficiency and cold-hearted execution, showing all the traits of the villain team in a cheesy sports movie, are ready to crumble and complete the meltdown.
Dirk. Dirk, Dirk, Dirk. Do you realize that a player named MVP of a season has never gone out in the first round of that year? I looked it up going back to 1980 when the NBA was invented. Get it together man! Don’t go out like this.
Baron Davis made a play at the end of the third where he stole an inbounds pass by out-jumping Jason Terry, took it coast to coast fighting off Terry, then he finished it with a dunk to tie the game and take the crowd to new levels of bananasness. That was a basketball play you can make only if you are a freakishly gifted athlete. You might remember Player of the D.A.Y., which in the early going was the sole possession of one Baron Davis. The Warriors were having a nice turnaround season, but then the annual Baron injuries set them back. It looked like the Clippers were going to steal their playoff birthright. The blessing in disguise of the season was the injury to Chris Paul, which kept the Hornets out of playoff contention just long enough for Golden State to make it in. Many of us were begging for them to play Dallas, not expecting them to win, but just for the heightened drama of Nellie vs. his ex-team.
The Warriors are really too good to be true. Dallas can still win the series, but it won’t be easy, and they will be worn down for the rest of the playoffs. Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Terry seemed like they wanted to win that game. Don’t know about the rest of them.
Moving on.
The Heat did not defend their crown so well. After game 2, I alluded to the old “Heart of a Champion” speech. No dice. I remember back when Rudy T popularized the phrase, it was the corniest thing ever. As they tried to defend their back-to-back clutch city titles, the Rockets fell behind 3 games to none to the Sonics in the second round. In game 4, they were losing in the fourth quarter, but made one of their trademark rallies to tie it and send it to OT. Eventually Gary Payton won the game for Seattle and the sweep was completed. But it was the last stand for those Rockets and the heart thing stuck with me.
But that did not happen with the Heat. Stan Van Jeremy built them up with their initial playoff run that got Lamar Odom and Caron Butler’s value to the point where they could be traded for Shaq. They got to the conference Finals, won the Finals, and now they couldn’t overcome Dwyane Wade’s injury. The future is not that bright. Who knows what they will look like? Oh well, not our problem today. At least they got their ring.
The East is sweepsville, USA. Three of the series were swept if you count Cleveland over Washington tonight, and you should.
Me and Jake were out at the Nets-Raptors game last night, and Vincent will have his coverage of the game. I picked Jake up on Canal St. in Manhattan, right in front of one of Omar’s 10,000 bootleg CD spots, and we got there a little bit late thanks to the natural disaster that is the Holland Tunnel.
The Nets fans were surprisingly frisky for their reputation. A full house in Jersey on a Sunday night? unexpected. Drunk and unruly fans getting sloppy in the parking lot? That IS Jersey. Jake and I had a good time, though the place was so packed we couldn’t even get into the media parking lot. We had to leave my car with the animal civilians, and that led to an awkward moment after the game with some belligerent Raptors fans that were throwing cones around and doing weird things to their convertible.
Since the game was so out of hand, I’ll tell you something that you needed to see in person to feel. Bruce Willis was there with his girlfriend. On a scale of 1 to 10, she was a 128,000. Die Hard indeed.
Finally, Lakers-Suns. My favorite thing about the Suns is the quick inbounds pass. It’s got to be the most frustrating thing in the world for an NBA player on the other side. For example, Kobe Bryant has just done a double spin move, blown by three defenders and thrown a miracle off the glass. It’s human nature to want to celebrate that, or at the very least backpedal on defense, maybe wink at a nice young lady in the crowd, and wait for the camera to pick you out so the announcers can praise you. By the time that happens, the ball is already behind you and the Suns have made three passes. You really have to be alert every second of the game. The only way to beat Phoenix is to slow the game down with free throws. That or your PG has to have such an insane game against Nash that he can’t compensate for his lack of D with dominant quarterbacking of the offense. He had 20 assists through three quarters. That’s not possible, yet it happened. Amare had 19 boards through 3, also something that should never happen.
Alright, the much more thorough recaps are on their way in. The Playoffs are much more fun to watch than the regular season.
68 Responses to “The Gully State Warriors and a Sunday of fun”
Apr.30 at 8:45 am
Danny W UK says:
1st baby. Go B Diddy
Apr.30 at 8:51 am
Danny W UK says:
It was a damn fine night for Basketball fans throughout the world.
Apr.30 at 9:07 am
deestarbuckz says:
*bottles clicking in the background*
Warriors… come out and play!
Nice to see “Too Easy” going so so hard in the playoffs.
Apr.30 at 9:09 am
deestarbuckz says:
GO CAVS… Please end the series so we can get to the next round and possibly play in a gear past third!
Apr.30 at 9:20 am
Keith says:
That’ll be the Steve Nash being the real MVP then….
Apr.30 at 10:00 am
Ryan Jones says:
Sam,
I enjoy your daily columns.
Ryan
Apr.30 at 10:00 am
dez says:
This all plays beautifully into my theory of Dirk being a massive bitch. Excellent
Apr.30 at 10:11 am
Keith says:
Dez, your comment amused me. Thank you.
Dirk, your game amuses me. Thank you.
Apr.30 at 10:19 am
Decs says:
I can’t help rooting for the Warriors, curse this obsession with the underdog! And Dirk has pretty much crap all over any chance of the MVP. Shame, I’m not really feeling Nash winning it 3 times…
Apr.30 at 10:19 am
Decs says:
and Bulls for ‘07 Champions. I Believe.
Apr.30 at 10:21 am
Ovr40phenom says:
Dirk suck’s! along with the rest of the euro’s. This should be a lesson to David Stern…stop polluting the league with these 7ft wonders. THEY SUCK!
Apr.30 at 10:22 am
seppo says:
Dirk is a serious headcase who was never that good to begin with. He might have averaged 24 points this season. The only problem is that he scored most of his points on awkward non-basketball moves. Don Nelson has figured out how to stop him and other teams will do exactly the same next season. Mark Cuban should try to trade or buy ot Dirk´s contract. Not only the Mavs´ fans but also his teammates have began to despise him.
Apr.30 at 10:27 am
1hush D says:
Dez, How about we use the word “weak” and apply it to the playoffs only for Dirk. This fits the pattern without a doubt. Clutch in the regular season and usually in the part of the playoffs that precede his meltdown. The meltdown came early this year.
…………………….I love Kenny’s pictures last night showing the Mavs swinging the ball around the perimeter and never getting into the paint. Also, it was great to see the clutch shots at the end by Davis and Barnes. The Warriors needed those shots more than the many, many shots they missed. Good column Sam. Walk like a Warrior!
Apr.30 at 10:28 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
Ryan, I already have a girlfriend but thanks! I keed I keed. Thank you.
Dirk really needs a 50 point statement game or something.
Apr.30 at 10:31 am
2G40 says:
Nelly must know some dark secrete about Nowitzki that he’s not telling us. May be that, EURO’S REALLY DO SUCK…at CRUNCH time. Why else would Dirk flop in the most important game of the series? Mark Cuban must be pulling his hair out right about now. If GS pulls this off, he’ll be wondering for the rest of his life whether hiring Avery Johnson was the right decision.
Apr.30 at 10:32 am
DubsGonDoIt says:
Sam, why is Ben refusing to write recaps for the Mavs/Warriors games?
Apr.30 at 10:35 am
dez says:
‘At the end of the day, you’re remembered for what you did at the end. … Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he’s the reason they lost the championship, because he wasn’t the leader that he’s supposed to be in the closing moments. That’s because of great defense by us, but also he wasn’t assertive enough as a leader’s supposed to be.’
-DWade.
Apply generously to playoffs each year for maximum effect.
Apr.30 at 10:36 am
2G40 says:
This should be a lesson to David Stern, stop polluting the league with these 7ft wonders. ENOUGH David…ENOUGH!
Apr.30 at 10:49 am
1hush D says:
I forgot that between the cheers of “Cuban Sucks” and “Barkley Sucks” at game 3 the other night, we were chanting “Euro-trash” for Dirk. My buddy doubled what I drank at the game so he gets credit for that and the ET cheer. We like to keep it positive like that.
……….I really enjoyed Too Easy Davis’ explanation last night of how the midgets could do it. They ARE big midgits and they have been playing the big boys all season so they are ready for it. JT and Stack looked fierce, Dirk look like…..well, Euro-trash.
Apr.30 at 10:50 am
Bryant Reeves says:
Is it just me, or are the refs ignoring 74.3% of the normal (regular season) ticky-tack fouls in the GS-Dal games? Dirk is getting pushed around like an undersized 140 pound pg. I LOVE IT!
Apr.30 at 10:58 am
1hush D says:
I am really thankful that the Krispy Kreme HQ is in SF. Barkley, you look like an idiot. A puffy and hubristic idiot.
Apr.30 at 11:00 am
dez says:
Watching Barkley sitting there in his ‘painted on’ dallas jersey was cracking me up.
Also cracking me up, the way Kenny would keep looking at him and start laughing.
Apr.30 at 11:01 am
Kadavour says:
i LOVE how EVERYONE is jumping off the Dirk for MVP bandwagon in light of the fact that he crumbles under physical defense, can’t create his own shot or play a lick of defense. Them Oakland boys got this series on LOCK. Dirk “softer than wet flowers”
Apr.30 at 11:03 am
Jake Appleman says:
Even though I have no experience in the field, I felt it necessary to mentally prepare to throw down with the drunk Raptor fans. Even if only for a few seconds. We must have spent half the game looking at Bruce Willis’s girl. And Sam, I stayed up for the entire Dallas-GS game, squirming the entire way through the second half. I’m running on fumes today, in more ways than one.
Apr.30 at 11:04 am
1hush D says:
You know, SLAM’s platform for this environment is critical for BBall lovers. The NBA should be flying SLAM staff back and forth to the games for coverage. Has that pitch been made? Do you need help selling it? I have not gone to ESPN in weeks and only go to NBA.com for the series schedule. I could sell you the shirt off David Stern’s back or his blood-soaked underwear…nevermind, that is a separate metaphor. Let’s get it done for 2008. Meanwhile 2G40, give us what you got! Did you make a game yet?
Apr.30 at 11:06 am
Nguni says:
The foul calls are not like they are in the regular season, and I love that. I can’t stand the ticky-tack fouls. They letting them play Ball. That’s great. Dirk, if you are an MVP, please play like one! Baron is on of the best PGs in the league, if only his body wasn’t so fragile. JT and Stack are the only mavs that seemed to want it yday. Howard not driving to the basket, only settling to pass all the time in the 2nd half. The mavs are really about to go home. If only they were tough-minded, they could pull this out, but I see them losing this series. So much for the wonderful jaggernaut of the regular season.
Apr.30 at 11:08 am
Nguni says:
and I was rooting for them. hate to see San Antonio win, but those boys play ball. They believe in themselves. Dunno about these mavs. look a lil’ shook by the warriors. Is this gon’ be the greatest upset of ALL TIME!!??!!
Apr.30 at 11:08 am
Kadavour says:
Dirk still has more airballs than made 3s in this series. all this MVP talk is a big JOKE. the votes are already in, so i can’t WAIT until next season when Greg Anthony, the PTI crew, “He hate me” and the Cold Pizza crew, Cowlishaw, some of the panelists from Around the Horn and other enlightened “analysts” from the ESPN world and beyond swallow their words. B Diddy for Mayor of Oakland.
Apr.30 at 11:13 am
1hush D says:
I meant to ask Dubsgonna…make a game yet?
Apr.30 at 11:16 am
Mike D says:
Has anyone else noticed that Dirk cannot catch and shoot.Seriously,in order to get that shot of,he HAS to drop step to weak-ass fadeaway.Nellie knows this and has his defender playing him for the drop step.Whats with the national media calling this an unexpected development?I fully expected the warriors to make this a series.Dirk is finally exposed.
Apr.30 at 11:42 am
seppo says:
I just hope David Stern keeps his hands out of the series and lets the Warriors advance to the next round. If it wasn´t for politics, a mediocre player like Nowitzki would have never been in a position to average 24 points or even be considered an MVP candidate.
Apr.30 at 11:50 am
ALX8725 says:
glad that SLAM finally managed to get somewhat of a recap up on the Warriors/Mavs, been waiting for it since game 1!
Apr.30 at 11:52 am
StephenJacksonLovesOakland says:
Baron isn’t going to allow his team to cave to the Mavs. Unlike the MVP “candidate” on the other team, the Warriors have a bonafide scrappy leader who is HUNGRY and is playing his heart out. It was an unbelievable feeling getting juiced for both Friday and Sunday night’s games knowing that the Warriors were going to WIN.
Apr.30 at 11:53 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
Jake told me he’s never seen Die Hard. That blew my mind. What are they teaching our youth these days?
Maybe Dirk should go watch Die Hard for inspiration. He’s playing like the bug European guy in the movie that gets strangled with a chain. He needs to go out guns blazing like John McClaine.
Apr.30 at 12:09 pm
2G40 says:
I’ve been saying for month’s now that euro’s suck! These guy’s can shoot, no doubt but that’s all they can do. It’s been proven that they can’t play against tuff man to man “D”, and they hate to get physical on defense. Why….because most if not all of pro leagues in europe play zone, which allows players to develope the outside game but hurt’s every other aspect. It also hurts the players on defense. Contrast this with the nba game, which is a physical man to man grind that wears player’s down over time…particularly in the playoff’s. Like or not the playoff’s are about taking it to the rack. It’s about “D” and Dirk has shown that he doesn’t like to do either.
Apr.30 at 12:15 pm
Chris says:
How badly do you think the Mavs wish the clippers had made the playoffs? The Mavs would be in the second round right now.
Apr.30 at 12:19 pm
Max Airington says:
If David Stern wants to emmulate the NFL, he’s certainly got his Peyton Manning now. Circa ‘05 at least.
Apr.30 at 12:23 pm
JZ says:
B DIDDY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!
Apr.30 at 12:35 pm
DubsGonDoIt says:
2G40, careful about stereotyping all Euro players in that way. I think Dirk is being exposed, but you have to remember that Nellie knows that man inside&out. Plus, at the end of the game, Dirk was giving me a heart attack making 3s. I don’t think Euros suck .. don’t forget the Dubs rely on the physical play of Pietrus & Biedrins.
Apr.30 at 12:56 pm
2G40 says:
Yes it’s true the dubs do rely on the physical play of P&B. But outside of Dirk, who has proven that his game is limited to shooting 3’s, what other player from europe has game. This whole effort by Stern to transform the nba into this international style of play is b.s! and it’s not working. If anything Stern is ruining the game by allowing these guy’s to get drafted so easily. Anybody that’s been watching basketball knows that twenty years ago Dirk wouldn’t even be in the league because all he does is shoot. But due to the rules change, and the offense friendly officiating, Dirk’s allowed to make a living.
Apr.30 at 12:59 pm
seppo says:
2G40 is making some good points. Tony Parker is the only Euro that comes to my mind who´s got mad game, plays hard and is a winner. And he is an African-European.
Apr.30 at 1:01 pm
DubsGonDoIt says:
2G40, I too am not a great fan of the International, but I think it’s a lil short sighted to just see their game as shooting 3s & not bringing value to the league. I think people like Gasol, Biedrins, Diaw & Nachbar (as of late) are exclusions to the euro = soft thought. I think Dirk is a GREAT HOF player and 20 years ago would have been a freakishly dominate player.
Apr.30 at 1:08 pm
whooo! says:
2G40, international isn’t limited to europe. ppl call manu a flopper, but that due was killin it in 2004, and you know it. he caught a flagrant 1 from jr smith last game, n drove the lane the very next play. you don’t win an olympic gold medal (mvp) and then an nba ring (ppl debated he was mvp) w/out being a baller. flopping doesn’t get you there. nocioni? another argentinean who plays all out every single game. don’t hate on interational ballers cuz of dirk being soft. sideshow vareajo and nene are bangers too, and yao is the best center in the league (7′5 really, really helps). international players have really helped the nba, so it’s not right to take away from their contributions like that.
Apr.30 at 1:13 pm
seppo says:
Dirk a HOF player? Good joke. What has he contributed to the game?Some say he revolutionized the forward position. If he did, he changed it for the worse. He is a stiff, slow-footed forward who can´t put the ball on the floor. He´s also a bad teammate who hindered the development of Steve Nash while he was with the Mavs.
Apr.30 at 1:21 pm
deestarbuckz says:
Max, your last post on your blog was right on time… love the graphic/picture off top!
Apr.30 at 1:30 pm
DubsGonDoIt says:
seppo, yes Dirk is a HOF player. Right that down and check in about 15 years down the road. What has he contributed to the game? Is that a serious question. Up until the Dubs have reigned game all over him, the man has been leading the Mavs to 1 67 win season (6th best of all time!). Last year the man led Dallas to the verge of winning a chip (before chocking big time). Every year that man is a force & that is why he will be a HOF. I don’t know how you can say he hindered the development of Steve Nash??? LOL Okay, well if so, it seems like he has recovered from it. BS
Apr.30 at 1:31 pm
DubsGonDoIt says:
Oh yea & GO WARRIORS!!
Apr.30 at 2:28 pm
hater says:
Wow how quick are ppl off the Dirk Bandwagon for MVP. MVP is decided for the regular season, not playoffs. A player avg 24 grabbing close 10 boards, shoots threes at high %, and fills the stat sheet plus being on a 60 plus win team is the regular season mvp. If it’s playoffs the Baron would get my vote
Apr.30 at 2:49 pm
allenp says:
Dude who said Dirk hindered Nash is hilarious. That’s crazy talk. Nash just has better finishers now. The talent level on the current Suns is way ahead of those old Maverick teams. But Dirk is soft.
Apr.30 at 3:07 pm
Max Airington says:
Thanks deestarbuckz. I stole that pic from inside Dirk’s locker…
Apr.30 at 3:25 pm
Nadav Mor says:
ready for entourage spoilers
Apr.30 at 4:04 pm
albie1kenobi says:
i went to the game last night, and needless to say it was amazing. dallas controlled the game for about 3 and a half quarters but warriors managed to hang in there. i kept yelling warriors to quicken up and drive to the basket. monta and harrington, as Sam pointed out, had a combined 1 point contribution. Al seemed lost and Monta is lethal in full court but is not quite useful in half court. dallas packed the lane most of the time so warriors revert to drive and kick for outside shots, which were not as efficient as their drive and drop off game plan on friday.
dallas made adjustment and no one could stop josh howard early on (close to 20 points in the first half) and stackhouse kept them in front (two bad foul calls rewarded him with trips to the line, which got him going).
i noticed the score when dallas got up 86-90, and i thought, if mavs reached 100 first, GSW was gonna lose. so what happened? warriors pumped up their energy on the defensive side, forced turnovers, and pulled off the win. there were plenty of big shots by dirk at the end, but it was way too late. thanks for coming dirk. you should have gone to the low post and just nail turnaround jumpers over and over again. but you didn’t, that’s why you team lost. we should call dirk the invisible.
my friend was worried that the warriors were gonna lose the game (it’s tough being a life long warriors fan, i feel for him), but i told him the mavs were playing the game at their pace but we were right there with them. just gotta keep the faith. and it’s easy to keep the faith when your fearless leader nail a half court heave to tie the game at the half. baron was magnificent in this game. making big shots after big shots.
it’s almost crazy to think that almost all comments nowadays are about the warriors/mavs series. it’s like all of oakland just showed up after being quiet the whole season.
let’s go warriors! we’ll see you in oakland next round!
Apr.30 at 4:22 pm
Mike C says:
Did anybody else catch the Raptors game on the Canadian broadcast? They interviewed Bruce Willis courtside, and he was bombed. To close the chat, the interviewer said “Thanks Bruce, yippee-ki-yay.” To which Bruce replied, on live TV, “yippee-ki-yay motherf*cker”. For once, Chuck Swirsky was left speechless.
Apr.30 at 5:19 pm
Boing Dynasty says:
The Warriors make me less sad about the Raptors.
Apr.30 at 5:50 pm
Hersey says:
Sam, the German dude in Die Hard didn’t die from the chain he got lit up by Carl from Family Matters. People are killing Dirk. I’m a Suns fan and I’m loving the Mavericks struggles but come on. This is the same guy who forced OT in Game 7 against the Spurs with an and1 dunk. He’s hit a ton of clutch shots this year but people only remember the bricks against the Suns and last years Finals. As for Europeans not being clutch, I guess people haven’t watched Mehmet Okur or even Toni Kukoc play. After watching the Suns comeback last year, I think Dallas can still win but their lack of success against GSW makes it hard to say with conviction.
Apr.30 at 6:36 pm
albie1kenobi says:
Hersey, that’s what i was thinking too. i’m more upset for dirk not playing up to his name than him not being a winner. and as much as i want the Warrior Nation to be happy after all these years of misery, people seemed to forget that lakers were also up 3-1 last year against suns.
it’s sad for mavs that even though they are so dominant against the rest of the nba, but they had to draw the one team they can’t beat as their first round match up; on the flip side, perfect matchup for warriors. i’m very eager to see how dallas will respond next game. i’m sure all of you feel the same way, because if they don’t respond, it’d be their last game of the season.
the thought of both finalists from last year going out in the first round is simply stunning.
Apr.30 at 6:54 pm
Eoin says:
I’m not defending Dirk here, he’s not having a good series and as a Suns-bandwagon hopper I can say I’m happy the Mavs are losing.But seriously, this “Euros suck in the clutch” shit needs to stop.Now.Like Hersey said, anyone heard a little Toni Kukoc?What about Greece collectively outclutching the US in the Olympics?Fact is, 99.9% of Americans suck in the clutch too.In fact, 99.9% of PEOPLE suck in the clutch.Lets look at the American clutch playoff performances this season shall we?So Baron Davis and…and we’re done.I guess Robert Horry, but we appear to be talking about bona fide stars.I mean, look at the icon of clutchness that is Kobe last night?3 points in the fourth, right?Meanwhile, Boris “Who’s a cheese-eating surrender monkey now, huh?” Diaw sank one of the js to put the Lake show away for the night.Dirk not being clutch the last few games does not generalise to all European players, and Baron Davis being clutch the last few games does not generalise to all American players.Hey houw bout that John Starks, huh?He’s clutch, right?Idiots.
Apr.30 at 7:44 pm
sk says:
Baron Davis nickname isn’t b diddy it’s “Too Easy” got that at the Rucker when he made it look well “Too Easy”. Go GS can’t stand Dallas for all the crying they did last year and the shit talking from Dirk and Cuban earlier this year bout Miami.
Apr.30 at 9:11 pm
Michael says:
Theres a difference getting beat by a team thats better than you, than losing to the 8th sead in the first round a year after choking away the finals. Kobe’s proven that he’s clutch, maybe not all the time but he’s stepped up in the biggest moments. Dirk has yet to do that and it will dog him until he does.
Apr.30 at 10:18 pm
2G40 says:
Hersey, how many points has Mehmit avgeraged over his career? And yes Toni K was clutch until MJ and Scottie left…Hell Steve Kerr, and John Paxon were clutch also. I’m not saying that International players can’t play, hell they beat the US team the last two runs…although it could be argued that are best players weren’t on the US club. What I’m saying is that when it comes to the nba style of play as watered down as it has become, the transition hasn’t been very good for the euro’s in comparison to US ballers.
Apr.30 at 10:28 pm
2G40 says:
seppo, I agree totally with your comments. When you talk about Revelutionizing a position you think of Wilt, Kareem, The Doctor, MJ, Olijawan, Oscar Robertson. The last person on my mind is Dirk as good as he is. Sorry guy’s, in todays world 24 and 10 ain’t revelutionary.
Apr.30 at 11:30 pm
2G40 says:
Eoin, First of all half the players you named aren’t even from europe. Secondly, “Clutch” would be MJ hitting the game winner against Utah and Clevland, or Robert Horey burrying three’s against SAC and Detroit. Larry Bird hitting a “J’s” against god knows who!…………. But heres a better example of a clutch performance. Laker, Celtic championship–Kareem goes down for the series and Magic steps up, plays point/center while dropping 40 on the celts…lakers go on to win the chip. All these are examples of clutch, and all these are examples of players stepping up when the series is on the the line…… Boris Diaw hitting a jumper against the lakers is not an example of clutch!
May.1 at 4:28 am
Mansfield Wrotto says:
I know it is a regular season award but if the Mavs go out man they gotta do a re-vote. They can’t have the MVP not get past the 1st round and playing like a little girl in the playoffs. What are they gonna do, present it to him in his living room on tv? Some have said the MVP award is tainted (I disagree) but this would be an embarassment. Can you actually give it to Dirk the way he is playing and whining after Nash goes Magic Johnson in LA and after Nash wins the head to heads down the stretch. Nash 3-peat seems like the right choice to me, or maybe Timmy (he should just get one big career MVP at the end)
May.1 at 5:04 am
Eoin says:
2G40, yes, all of those things are incredibly clutch-and Diaw’s j was just a little clutch.Not a lot, but a little.But what I want to say is-for every clutch American performance, there are hundreds more American who came up lame in the clutch, and this “Euros suck in the clutch” thing is just ridiculous.It’s nothing more than Xenophobicness.It’s basically like when people in the fifties would say black people couldn’t play well at the end of games-patently ridiculous.Like I said,all those clutch performances you mentioned don’t generalise to American players in general.Of course there have been more clutch American players-there have been more American players full stop.Similarly, Dirk not being clutch doesn’t generalise to European players.(All of the players I mentioned (Kukoc, Diaw, The Greek National Team) are from Europe.Starks was mentioned ironically-as in, he’s an American who came up lame in a huge playoff series.)
May.1 at 10:43 am
2G40 says:
You make some good points, but this isn’t an issue about race…but about skills. When people think of a clutch performances in what ever sport you like, they think of the best player stepping up when it matters. Reggie hitting back to back 3’s against the knicks. Venitari kicking one through the up-rights in a chip, or Reggie Jackson hitting three homers in one game. It’s knowing that when your allstar has the ball in his hands, something good is going to happen. MJ, Magic, Bird, Nash, all have this quality…Dirk does not.
May.1 at 10:46 am
2G40 says:
You make some good points, but this isn’t an issue about race…but about skills….it’s knowing that when your allstar has the ball in his hands, something good is going to happen. MJ, Magic, Bird, Miller, even Nash, all have this quality…Dirk does not.
May.1 at 1:10 pm
Chad Nothe says:
I thought the series was over when they lost game one honestly. They haven’t played the right players and there defense sucks. Plus live by the perimeter shot die by the perimeter shot. They refuse to attack the rim, and most importantly they will not play Greg Buckner on Stephen J or Baron Davis. The reason we have greg Buckner because the cat can play defense. Plus Nelly is just outcoaching Avery FLAT OUT…. An we all should be talking about the BULLS and after Bibby Retires my favorite player Monta Ellis
May.3 at 10:04 pm
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