The Moment
Those plays that tell The Commish it’s “game over.”
This is the second year in-a-row that I’ve been back home for an extended amount of time during the playoffs. That means I get to catch games with my Pops, which I hadn’t been able to do for close to 10 years. And I’ve noticed some things that weren’t apparent when I was a tyke, staying up late to watch L.A.-Boston with him or when I was a teen rooting against him and the Bulls, no matter what team was playing. I mean, we all have our little game-viewing idiosyncrasies, right? Maybe you switch the channel during free throws or turn off the color when Craig Sager appears. Pops has this frustrating habit that seems like an Old Man tic that he can’t control. Randomly, often at head-scratching junctures, he’ll pronounce that particular game “over.” It could be, say, the middle of the 2nd quarter of a Cavs-Nuggets game, Kenyon Martin might throw down a ferocious dunk to put Denver up 12 and Pops will dramatically throw up his hands and say, “That’s it! It’s over! Cleveland ain’t comin’ back, them boys look atrocious.” A team goes up 8 with 10 minutes left and he’s getting off the couch to go download jazz albums for the rest of the night.
The problem with Pops is not that he does this at all, it’s that he does this so early. But, we all do this at some point, right? There’s usually a point in a game — often later in the second half — when it’s like, “Yeah, Detroit ain’t losin’ tonight” or, “The Suns are done.” And we really see this during the playoffs when the drama increases, the stakes are higher and a pseudo form of destiny appears in each game, especially elimination games. We still have three Round 1 series — compelling ones, too — that need settling and I guarantee you that at some point in the 3rd or 4th quarters, you’ll find yourself saying, “The Wiz got this” or “I think it’s over for Houston” and it’s usually after a subtle play, one that just gives you a feeling. I call these plays The Moments. Sometimes you’re right, other times you’re wrong, but at these Moments you basically assume an outcome based on what’s transpired. I love The Moments — they’re so microcosmic and telling. It’s like when you first heard “Ether” and Nas came on with a “F&%$ Jay-Z,” you sensed that the battle might be a blowout, but when Nas sonned Jigga, admonishing him for his women-hate speech, tying it to Jay’s low self-esteem/insecurities and then hit him with the disciplinary maxim, “Life is harsh. Hug me, don’t reject me”…I mean, that was The Moment, that game was over over. That’s when you knew, right? Well I sensed The Moment in each of the sealed Round 1 series, The Moments when I assumed one team was moving on and the other was about to be Gone Fishin’…here they are — The Moments…
…actually, before we start, let me admit that I couldn’t have cared less about the Orlando-Toronto series and watched, maybe, a cumulative 30 minutes of game action for the whole series. They should have aired that series on Spike or BET…anyways…The Moments…
The Lakers-Nuggets Moment — J.R. Smith Takes And Misses A 1,386-Foot Three-Pointer.
You probably read that and asked, “Well, which one are you talking about?” Touche. I happen to be talking about the unconscionable heave he threw up with 1:55 left in the 4th quarter and the Nuggets down 100-96. When he threw that tragic shot at the hoop I knew that the Nuggets didn’t have the brains to pull out a tough vic. My brother Rek calls them the McNuggets, which may initially seem cheesy, but gave me one of the best laughs of the Spring, because it’s such an appropriate moniker. After all, the squad plays childish and trivial and, ultimately, they only masquerade as a real basketball team, much like McDonald’s masquerades the gray meat in McNuggets as real chicken. Unless you live in Denver, the Nuggets are a team only fit for childish fans and literal teens — dumb kids root for them because they dig ‘Melo and AI. For grown men and real basketball fans, the McNuggets are nauseating. That J.R. Smith Jack summed it all up. Minutes earlier, he threw up a 28-foot trey that made me and my lil’ bro Adam gasp and hold our heads. It happened to go in, but it was one of the most inexplicable shots taken in similar circumstances. It did, however, bring Denver to within two. Right after that, J.R. stole the ball and converted an And-1 to put Denver up one. But it was one of those sequences that made you think, “Either Karl or one of the vets has to reign this dude in before he goes from unhinged to batshizz crazy.” Well, Denver called a T.O. after L.A. went on a mini-spurt to go back up by four. I was hoping someone was gonna collar the young dude up and say, “Yo man, we need good shots. Watch those halfcourt treys your taking.” But then after the Lakers next possession he throws up that 1,386-foot three-pointer and I said what my Pops had already said way back in the first quarter: “It’s over.” That was The Moment. I just felt that there was no way for a squad that allowed that brand of basketball to be played that late in an elimination game could beat L.A.
The Hornets-Mavs Moment — Stackhouse Misses A “Critical” Trey.
I was dead wrong here — in a way. And that’s what happens, sometimes — honestly, often — your Moment Intuition does you wrong. When Stack missed this trey with 6:33 left in the 4th, I thought the game was over. The Hornets were on a 13-4 run to open the quarter, up 84-67 and Stack missed the trey, after Terry missed a trey on the previous possession, which was after a timeout that followed a Pargo layup that succeeded David West blocking Dirk’s turnaround. Dallas just didn’t have it, I thought. Lil’ Chris had gotten going, West was clicking, Pargo was heating up and Dallas couldn’t buy a bucket. Those threes they knock down, ones they needed to knock down, were going in-n-out. But my Moment Radar didn’t foresee that late fourth quarter flurry. And that’s why Stack’s miss really wasn’t a Moment. The way the Mavs charged back nullified Stack’s miss and made it as irrelevant as the jumper he missed early in the 2nd quarter. Like I said, sometimes, when you identify The Moment, you’re prescient, other times your like my Pops, prematurely designating Moments when the game is far from over.
The Spurs-Suns Moment — The Botched Nash-to-Amare.
Over the past four years, Nash and Amare have connected on some of the most dumbfounding assists that I’ve seen in my lifetime. The degree of difficulty on some of their connections was beyond belief, at times, because they always seemed to be in such heavy traffic. Nash would squeeze the ball through a non-existent hole, Amare would scoop it up and convert a “how’d he do that?!” lay-up or dunk or banker. Forget Stockton-to-Malone. Nash-to-Amare was a much more profound hookup. Stockton-to-Malone produced efficient, consistent, methodical plays; Nash-to-Amare dropped our slacked-jaws into our laps on a regular basis. So, when Nash drove baseline, sucked in some Spurs defenders and then shoveled a pass that Amare fumbled, Phoenix was done. The Suns were clawing for life and looked to a tandem that was so often transcendent and they botched a play that, in years past, would have ended in an And-1. That was The Moment. Not to mention that, on the previous Suns possession, Nash got ripped by Rob Horry…Horry!!! Sure enough, after the botched Nash-to-Amare, Parker gets fouled, hit one of two, then Diaw throws and errant pass followed by a mid-range Parker jumper to put the Spurs up 88-85, giving San Antonio just enough room for error.
The Pistons-Sixers Moment — Billups Cans A “Go Home” Trey.
I loved this play, because it gave me hope that the Pistons had, once and for all, regained that Detroit Mojo. The Pistons were sonning Philly all game. The Sixers crowd was silent, there were even a few boos after Iguodala missed a free throw early in the 3rd quarter. By the middle of the 3rd quarter it was clear that Philly had to make a run or their season was over. They needed to ignite the crowd, make Detroit work, get a tech, do something…just get it poppin’. Well, Iguodala sort of sprang to life, as did Miller and — even though Detroit was still scoring fairly regularly — after Miller’s layup made it 61-43, there was a slight sense that, if Philly could get a stop and keep building mo’, they had a chance to make it a game. But the ensuing possession was Vintage Pistons Ball. Every player touched the rock, they zipped it around with purpose totally dizzying the Philly rotation and then, as the shot-clock perilously clicked down to zero, Hamilton swung a pass to Chauncey, who knocked down a baseline trey as the horn went off. Pistons 64, Sixer 43. It was demoralizing. In fact, as Billups jogged up the court, Mo Cheeks simply rubbed his temple and sat down on the bench. That was The Moment. Billups pulled the curtain.
Vincent Thomas is a SLAMonline columnist and SLAM Magazine contributor. He can be reached at vincethomas79@gmail.com.
35 Responses to “The Moment”
May.2 at 4:27 pm
WhaHuh says:
I’ve always thought the ether was kinda overrated. Nash looked weak this whole series.
May.2 at 4:35 pm
The Second Coming says:
my moment was reading this article.
May.2 at 4:35 pm
Khalid Salaam says:
Vince the “1,386 footer” line about JR Smith actually made me laugh out loud. No bs. (I nominate your “clown-ballin” line from one of your earlier rants about the nuggets as phrase of the year). i don’t even know how they can change the team if they don’t move people. Apparently Karl’s coming back. AI is opting out since he owed 22 mil and Melo is still young enough where he can turn it around. i say trade kenyon and jr smith. thats their only hope. if not i think this team will become beyond destructive
May.2 at 5:19 pm
Allenp says:
I prefer “I showed you your first tech on tour with Large Professor, then I hear your rhymes about your tech on the dresser.” Yeah, that encapsulated things for me.
May.2 at 5:32 pm
Ken says:
This feature is begging for youtube links.
May.2 at 5:32 pm
mylespapi says:
Vincent, please tell me you are working on writing a book. Dude, tell me that Yahoo or SI have been blowing up your pager trying to get your genius over to their side. Honestly, I think I may have a man crush on your writing, brotha. I’d read your book on antique buttons because I know it would be off the hook.
Good job.
BTW, the moment in the Mavs series was when DWest tapped Dirk’s face. It was over after that.
May.2 at 5:50 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
“The Nuggets are a team only fit for childish fans and literal teens — dumb kids root for them because they dig ‘Melo and AI. For grown men and real basketball fans, the McNuggets are nauseating.” Well, that just sums it up perfectly.
May.2 at 5:53 pm
Tariq says:
Um…Nas’s Ether was really good, just like the rest of Stillmatic, but really? Nas won that battle? I didn’t get that memo.
May.2 at 5:54 pm
Captain America says:
Vincent for NBA commissioner
May.2 at 6:02 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
Also, funny stuff on the “it’s over” moment. I can’t remember the exact moments anymore, but the moment I knew the McNuggets were going to get swept was somewhere between an Odom layup and an ill-advised 1-on-4 by AI in the 4th qt of Game 1. Also, in my mind “the moment” for the Suns (game and series) was once they allowed the Spurs within one basket in the 4th qt of Game 1. They were never going to win after that. Seems like I’m a bit like your pops, I guess…
May.2 at 6:05 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
And yes, Nas won that battle. (Then again, I would say that, since I always thought Jigga was an a**hole.)
May.2 at 6:14 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
O F*ck No! I know u aint just call me a childish fan! F*ck u!
May.2 at 6:17 pm
Tariq says:
Slobodan: I don’t think there was a clear-cut victor in that one. Both landed some pretty good punches, so you could make an argument for either one. But it wasn’t like LL Cool J/ Kool Moe Dee or Eminem/Ja Rule where there was an undisputed winner.
May.2 at 6:17 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
I’m sure Bubba was being ironic. (Since, of course, nothing signals maturity quite like peppering your message with profanities.)
May.2 at 6:23 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
Tariq: I know, they both did a good job. But Nas was a bit more subtle, and he managed to position himself as the big brother as well as revealing some rather embarrassing things about Jay not everyone knew. (And still, I’m handing it to Nas because of the aforementioned reason…)
May.2 at 6:43 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
Isnt a**hole a profanity?
May.2 at 6:49 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
+ Jay-Z = always has been, still is, and always will be better than Nas. (But i still respect Mr. Jones)
May.2 at 8:14 pm
derrick douglas-dozier says:
the problem with nas (and interestingly enough, iverson) is that he hasn’t changed much since he entered the game. you can keep rhyming all gutter and gully but you can’t convince me that you’re still in the streets when you’re pulling down millions upon millions of dollars. sure, nasir says some prescient, intelligent things but at least jay rhymes about his “here and now” (i.e. money, label ownership, women, etc), whereas nas’ mindstate hasn’t changed much (if at all). also, there wasn’t a better moment in the nas/jay-z battle than when jay (on MTV unplugged) rocked “the takeover” over the oochie wally beat. now, that’s genius.
May.2 at 9:57 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
“Illmatic” is approximately 3,562,009 times better than anything Jay-Z has ever done and will ever do.
May.2 at 10:04 pm
tealish says:
The thousand-footer by JR was dead-on. When Denver took a 1-point lead late in the fourth, I had a feeling they had a chance to at least force game 5. It wasn’t just because they had their first lead all game, but because they were just playing good ball. Good passing, easy buckets, and dare I say FORMIDABLE DEFENSE. And then even after the mini Laker-run made it a 4-pt adv. for LA, I still believed the Nuggets could pull it out.
But then the 1000-footer happened, and I gave up.
May.2 at 10:19 pm
Rubens Borges says:
wow! was waiting for someone to say “the moment was when the suns traded for shaq”, guess i was wrong. nowadays even global warming is shaq’s fault…
May.2 at 10:53 pm
derrick douglas-dozier says:
““Illmatic” is approximately 3,562,009 times better than anything Jay-Z has ever done and will ever do.” at one point in my teens i was OBSESSED with that record, but in my opinion there is no way that album is better than “Reasonable Doubt”. equal? sure, i’ll go along with that. but better? no way. not a chance. anyways, if the hawks somehow pull off the upset, for me the “moment” in the whole series will be the Powe on the ground, JJ step back three sequence. that was just sexy.
May.3 at 12:03 am
Jason says:
Vince is the ultimate Nuggets hater..real talk, I bet you they make him lose sleep at night. The Nuggets aren’t my team (go Spurs!), but you take the hate overboard. Its really not that serious. Ya’ll better be careful SLAM, ya’ll know a player like Iverson has been a big part of your bread and butter over the years. How many magazine covers has dude held down? Exactly. AI probably hates that team right now as much as ya’ll do. LOL!
May.3 at 12:31 am
Hursty says:
Kobe just won the NBA MVP!!!!
May.3 at 2:38 am
sab says:
i still wear my Iverson Nuggets top, but I very much see where you’re coming from Vince, and completely agree. i wonder what the people in Denver make of what the Hawks are doing. Denver and Atlanta were both #8, but Denver finished only 7 games behind LA, whereas Atlanta finished TWENTY-NINE games behind Boston. yet Atlanta came out to play, and Denver just (stealing your phrase) clown-balled. i can’t believe they’re not getting rid of Karl.
May.3 at 3:21 am
what says:
Nas is better than JayZ. Outkast kicks the sh*t out of both of them. Open your minds Yankees.
May.3 at 3:22 am
what says:
Big props to Kobe for his well-deserved MVP. I would have given it to CP3 myself but Kobe deserved one at some point and he certainly had an MVP type season.
May.3 at 5:55 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
And speaking of which, have you heard the new Outkast? Incredibly, almost improbably hot.
May.3 at 6:24 am
Tariq says:
I wasn’t even talking about Jay and Nas in terms of general output (although I do agree with derrick: Reasonable Doubt is on equal footing with Illmatic). I was talking about that 2001 battle. Before “Takeover”, Mobb Deep were a respected rap duo. In its aftermath, Prodigy has become a gangsta blogger/punchline. That’s a career-ending diss track right there. To his credit, Nas absorbed that hit and came back with the equally awesome Ether. Now Ether and Takeover are both awesome tracks (I actually prefer Takeover, but that’s just me). So in my book, it was too close to call. You can make a case for either one. Like I said before, there was no emasculated Ja Rule figure in the Jay/Nas battle.
May.3 at 6:26 am
Tariq says:
And one thing I liked about that battle was that I got the impression that it was JUST a rap battle. I think Jay even referred to the fact that rap battles are more WWF than “street”. I hate it when rappers get ignorant. Which happens about 97.2% of the time.
May.3 at 6:29 am
Tariq says:
Also, if you want to talk about general output, I also think Jay-Z has had a superior body of work. Like he told Nas: “4 albums in ten years, ni**a? I can divide/ That’s one every, let’s say two/ Two of them sh*ts was doo/ One was ehhh/ The other was Illmatic/ That’s a one-hot-album-every-ten-year average”
May.3 at 6:30 am
Tariq says:
I should point out that I think It Was Written is underrated. Also, Stillmatic vastly improved Nas’s “hot album” average. Man, I’ve been talking about rap way too much.
May.3 at 3:19 pm
thasam says:
I think all of you are forgetting that Nas won that battle because “Super Ugly”, Jay-Z’s answer to “Ehter” was pretty weak and Jay’s mom thought that the condoms on the baby seat line was over the line. And to tie it in with the other hot subject on this post (the Nuggets clown balling) Carmen Bryan, the woman said to be the subject of that line wrote a tell all back in which talked about her affairs with Jay, Nas, and….Allen Iverson. And Tariq, you’re right about “It Was Written”, the only reason why it wasn’t considered so hot was because of the huge expectations following “Illmatic” and a lot of people dind’t like the Trackmasters input. And maybe “I Am” would have been a hot album as well, if it wasn’t so bootlegged prior to its release.
May.5 at 12:26 pm
Drew says:
As a Denver resident, at least you cut me some slack for being a fan. I thought the Moment for the Nuggets was when they didn’t take the 7th seed. They just don’t match up well with the Lakers. Don’t get me wrong, the Lakers are a better team, but Kobe forces Denver to make weird defensive adjustments, and without a healthy Nene, they don’t have anyone to stand up to Pau. During the year, they played New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Houston much better than they played LA. I think Karl has to go, but not because of defense. The big problem with the team is that he hasn’t established any half-court offense. The second major problem is the lack of a point guard. Other thoughts on earlier comments: Iverson isn’t opting out of his contract, no team will trade for KMart at his salary, and Jay-Z might be talking about his current life, but so what? Do I really care whether he will buy bling for a babe before she gives him some? Naz is right, Hip Hop is dead.
May.5 at 3:41 pm
Tyler Margison says:
Oh, I found The Moment for the Indiana Pacers. Not one specific game, but the franchise as a whole. It was May 19, 2005. Reggie Miller’s last game. All hope in our team was gone, especially with a line-up involving the commonly-injured Jermaine O’Neal. That was The Moment for the Pacers. Game ovah. The only thing we can do is pray that the Gods of Draft will bless us better than they did Portland for ‘07.