Links: NBA Friday
Plus the official Hawks/Celtics preview.
Fri-Day! Yes! And the Playoffs start tomorrow!! I can’t tell you how great it is to be able to sit and watch basketball for about 12 hours straight, and then be able to tell Wifey it’s for “work.” Because it totally is. Or something.
Also, a warning: Throughout the Playoffs, even over the weekends, I’m going to try and write quick, short posts each night once the games end to give everyone on the night shift a place to talk about the various series. So be sure to check back on SLAMonline starting Saturday night.
Lots to talk about and link to today…
• I got a call yesterday afternoon from My Guy telling me that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was totally and officially out as coach of the Knickerbockers.
Now, you may recall the post I wrote a few weeks ago about how there were some weird things going on in Knicks-land, things even stranger than usual. At the time, My Guy was certain that Isiah had lost his gig coaching the Knicks. I wrote then that I thought we were wrong.
Well, now it looks like we were right.
From what I’m hearing, that morning the Knicks had their shortened shootaround, the Knicks called in Isiah and told him he could leave then or at the end of the season. He chose the end of the season. Which explains why everyone in the world now says Isiah’s going to be let go maybe as soon as today. It also explains why I was hearing that even the players thought something strange was up the last few games.
I’m as tired of the Isiah rumor mill as everyone else. So until Isiah finally and officially does get shown the door, I’m not going to talk about it anymore. But it does look like the end is near. Finally.
• If Mark Jackson ends up coaching the Knicks, wouldn’t it be awesome if he made Stephon gain like 50 pounds this summer and then Steph came back next season only shooting teardrops and backing guys down over and over?
• Be sure to pick up the newest DVD from NBA Entertainment, it’s NBA Dance Teams Gone Wild! (Hosted by Jim Huber.)
• Oh, Sam says I’m supposed to write a Hawks/Celtics preview. How about this: The Celtics are going to win the series.
OK, moving on…
No, I’ll take this seriously. I think the Hawks could make this an entertaining series, but I don’t think they’ll be able to pull a Golden St. on the Celts. The reason Dallas lost last year was because they could never close out Golden State, and that’s the same problem that has plagued Atlanta in close games all season — whenever they get a lead, they let it slip away.
Boston doesn’t have that problem. They have a nice mix of veterans and young guys, and they know how to win games. When I say that, I don’t mean they know how to outscore teams (duh), but that they know how to close teams out. I also think Boston is going to be a good Playoff team, because they’re good in the halfcourt on offense, but even better defensively, maybe even the best team in the NBA at halfcourt defense. And the Playoffs, like it or not, is all about halfcourt basketball. (Also, Boston gets EVERY CALL. Go ahead and get used to it now. I’m predicting at least 4 or 5 of those fouls called after the shot already misses per game.)
When the Hawks were great this season — not good, great — was when they were running and gunning, pushing tempo, making things happen. Unfortunately, they were only to play like that for about one quarter each week. I think if the Hawks are able to get it going, they can cause some problems for Boston.
And there are some startling similarities to Golden State/Dallas. The Hawks are young and unproven and play best when they appear to be out of control. And Boston is led by a veteran power forward MVP candidate who’s never won big, coached by a former NBA point guard, heavy with expectations.
But can the Hawks beat Boston? Not so fast. I think Atlanta wins at least one game, but they won’t win the series.
Anyway, none of this matters because Mike Woodson says the Hawks are going to win the title this year.
(Woody shaved his head, by the way.)
• And for whatever it’s worth, I’m also picking Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Antonio, New Orleans and Utah. Just saying…
• And finally, since it’s Friday, it’s time for NBA Friday, our weekly visit from the official illustrator of The Links, Joel Kimmel. We ended up not having a drawing last week because Joel was busy drawing actual work stuff. But this week he’s back with a vengeance.
“I didn’t want to go two weeks in a row without drawing someone,” Joel says, “so I did this sketch of Dirk last night. I’ve been doing a lot of painting lately, so I thought it would be fun to do something loose and sketchy. I used ballpoint pen, pencil and ink for this one and didn’t have much of a concept other than to show Dirk looking like he wants revenge for last year’s playoff debacle.”
“Next week’s team is the Denver Nuggets. If things are a bit less crazy next week I’m going to try to do another Dallas illustration combined with a Nuggets piece in some way.”
Sounds great, Joel. Love the Dirk drawing — I’m going to have nightmares about those eyes.
And remember, if you guys have any suggestions for Joel’s Nuggets drawing, drop it in the comments below. Personally, I’d like to see a drawing of a lot of tattoos without any actual players. Kind of like the Denver defense.
Anyway, that’s it. Have fun this weekend. NBA Action, it’s faaaaaan-tastic!
36 Responses to “Links: NBA Friday”
Apr.18 at 2:02 pm
TADOne says:
That Dirk drawing is creepy.
Apr.18 at 2:12 pm
albie1kenobi says:
“I can’t tell you how great it is to be able to sit and watch basketball for about 12 hours straight, and then be able to tell Wifey it’s for ‘work.’” ~ i’m so damn jealous, Lang, my girl ain’t gonna take that bait.
and why are the cheerleader pictures kind of foggy? stupid camera.
Apr.18 at 2:14 pm
DP says:
not joking or anything. Lord knows I’m not but he looks like a white Jesus.
Apr.18 at 2:17 pm
k.o. says:
wicked bad pic Joel, one of the best yet as far as accuracy to the subject, well done! how sad is it that i’m excited for weekend updates on SLAMonline…let the playoffs begin!!!
Apr.18 at 2:17 pm
Bigi says:
Isaac Mendez?
Apr.18 at 2:19 pm
albie1kenobi says:
as for the atl/bos analysis, G state had mavs’ number for the last 2-3 years, even before Nellie arrived and when mavs were kicking the league’s ass. warriors just happened to be the mavs killer.
the hawks aren’t the celtics killer. boston took all 3 games this year easy.
Apr.18 at 2:29 pm
RM # 0 says:
I thought it was Pau Gasol
Apr.18 at 2:35 pm
bike says:
I just saw the same image as the pic of Dirk in the taco I just ate.
Apr.18 at 2:39 pm
Ryan Jones says:
James Blunt. Stare at that drawing for five seconds and you won’t be able to get that f*cking “Beautiful” song out of your head all weekend.
Apr.18 at 2:44 pm
Pascal says:
That’s some creepy drawing of a Dirk on crack!! Nice stuff, but not realistic at all!!
Miss the target on this one
Apr.18 at 2:48 pm
Eboy says:
That dude in Joel’s picture tried cleaning my windshield at lunchtime.
Apr.18 at 3:18 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Giberne!
Apr.18 at 3:57 pm
Diesel says:
That looks like Owen Wilson after an all nighter
Apr.18 at 4:29 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Is that the real Pascal?
Apr.18 at 5:10 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Yeah, I went and checked the email.
Apr.18 at 5:21 pm
Pascal says:
Sorry guys!
Apr.18 at 5:22 pm
albie1kenobi says:
thanks, jones. now i have that fcuking song stuck in my head too. i hate you.
Apr.18 at 5:41 pm
Justin Adler says:
That looks like a Dirk/J Kidd hybrid. Regardless it’s pretty freaky. Still much better than I could ever draw.
Apr.18 at 5:50 pm
Pascal says:
I see what’s going on! After last year flop regarding the Dirk cover before the playoffs, you are trying to jinx the poor guy, right?
Apr.18 at 5:51 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
DENVER NUGGETS!
Apr.18 at 8:21 pm
Bro D. says:
Al Pacino from Serpico? Just kidding, nice work.
Apr.18 at 8:24 pm
Memeth Kokur says:
James Blunt with a revenge
Apr.18 at 8:42 pm
RV says:
has anyone mentioned Josh smith guaranteed a an upset of the celtics?
Apr.18 at 9:27 pm
Bro D. says:
I know some football/soccer fans come on here, any clue where I can find some Liverpool streaming? Too lazy to look myself, thanks.
Apr.18 at 9:31 pm
Tanny says:
Looks a lot like Pau Gasol.
Apr.18 at 9:32 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Pascal!!!
Apr.19 at 2:24 am
Klayton says:
ok i know this is irrelevant to this passage, but where the hell are the answers to the crossword in this months issue!? Some of those questions are driving me crazy, i gotta know!!
Apr.19 at 2:44 am
Hursty says:
its steve nash’s friend. dude… what crossword?
Apr.19 at 8:03 am
Blinguo says:
That Dirk sketch closes this version of the links with a reminder that KG took his team to the best regular season record like Dirk, (one of the biggest turn arounds ever correct?) with teammate help in Ray Allen as to Dirk’s Jason Terry and Paul Pierce comparable to Josh Howard (although a bit of different players there) but won’t win MVP like Dirk did last year. (Boston with better team defense than Dallas though, yes?) Now just don’t flame out in the 1st round like Dirk either KG! Family issue timing is also similar but more of the opposite spectrum in an upper not a downer.
Apr.19 at 2:47 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Next week, Klayton. Sam and I wrote that crosowrd puzzle, so don’t be surprised if the some of the words might not be in a dictionary.
Apr.19 at 7:00 pm
John D says:
The Hawks are not gonna win a game.
Apr.19 at 7:13 pm
niQ says:
iverson
Apr.19 at 8:14 pm
Mark says:
Very accurate artist’s rendering of a young, hippy version of Hubie Brown.
Apr.20 at 10:51 am
Ken says:
Looks like JKidd with hair.
Apr.20 at 6:01 pm
Kevin says:
i think its the best drawing/illustration i’ve seen from Joel yet… awesome work, wow.
Apr.25 at 2:02 am
SLAM ONLINE | » Links: Playoffs Diary Day Six says:
[…] OK, we’re almost a week in. After two games, it all looked pretty simple and explainable. In fact, I realized yesterday morning that it looked as thought I was going to correctly predict all 8 of the first round winners. And I still think I’m going to nail all eight. But everything took a turn for the interesting tonight. […]