Tag Archives: Phil Jackson

by | June 6, 2011 · 4:12 PM

A New Round of Coaches

The old-guard of NBA coaches is shifting.  And fast.

Much has been made of the Spurs’ first-round collapse, as well as the second-round failures of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, as a sign that the post-Jordan era has come to a close.  But this season will be the first since the

You can take it, I'm leaving. With the beer.

1987-88 season to end without Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, or Larry Brown as head coaches.  Brown and Sloan were hired in 1988′s offseason, and Jackson came to the Bulls the summer after.  Another longtime great left this season, when Rick Adelman left the Rockets after what can only be labeled a an awful break, dealing with the team’s difficulties with injuries over the past few years.

In addition, this season has also been the first without Don Nelson in 35 years, and since his firing, the front office for the Golden State Warriors have begun to eradicate all traces of Nellie Ball.

Trade this? FOR A 32-50 SEASON? I THINK NOT.

While Jackson’s surely done (at least for a while), I don’t think it would take much to get Brown or Nelson out of hiding, and I believe the right team could lure Sloan into reaching for a championship.  And if they’ve been called about vacant positions, it seems as though they aren’t biting.  Instead, the ranks of the Assistant coaching staffs are being plundered; Mavs assistant Dwane Casey is a desirable coach, and he’s high on the list for all the teams with coaching vacancies.  Before hiring Kevin McHale, the Rockets were considering him, and he’s a premier option for the Warriors, Detroit Pistons, and the  Toronto Raptors. Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer is another possibility for the Warriors, as is ABC analyst Mark Jackson (lacking coaching experience) and Lakers assistant Brian Shaw (after being shunned by his organization following Phil’s retirement).  There’s even been word of the Pistons bringing back Bad Boy hero Bill Laimbeer, now an assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who, as head coach, led the Detroit Shock to three WNBA titles from 2003-2008.

After Tom Thibodeau led the Chicago Bulls to the Eastern conference Finals this year, expect many more assistants and TV analysts to wind up in the head coaching ranks next season (if there is one).

Let’s all hope they’re better than this was.

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by | June 1, 2011 · 2:01 PM

Shaquille O’Neal is Retiring

Retirement calling

The Big Aristotle announced that he is planning to retire in a video he posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. Twitter, as we all know, is a better form of direct communication that actually informing the team that he plays for that he planned to retire. He has always been the most quotatious and possessed the most social media savvy. Shaquille O’Neal played 19 professional seasons after being a standout at LSU. He has career averages of 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game.

O’Neal asserted his dominance in the league early on in his time with the Orlando Magic taking the expansion franchise as far as the NBA Finals in 1995. It was not in Orlando where he would find his ultimate level of success.

O’Neal left the Magic in 1996 to join the Los Angeles Lakers where he would form, along with Kobe Bryant and head coach Phil Jackson, the first NBA dynasty of the 21st century winning three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002. During this time, O’Neal enjoyed the most fruitful statistical production of his career.

However, not all was well in Lala Land and the O’Neal left the Lakers. He would win just one more title throughout the remainder of his career and shortly after that would see dramatic dips in his performance, playing time, and relevancy as he bounced from one team to another. That is not what he will be remembered for though.

O’Neal will be remembered for his dominant play during much of his career. He will be remembered for the new backboards that the league had to begin using because he kept toppling them with his strength. He will be remembered for his numerous “Shaq-isms” and for his 15 All Star appearances.And he will be remembered for being a Miami Beach police officer and for dancing with the Jabbawockeez. And let us not forget, he will be remembered for his numerous movies (Blue Chips was awesome) and rap albums.

The accolades that O’Neal has received are numerous. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1992-93 season, he has three All Star Game MVP’s, three NBA Finals MVP’s, and the NBA MVP. To go along with the hardware, O’Neal was also selected to the All NBA First Team eight times during his career. Internationally, he was a member of the bad-boy Dream Team 2 which took home the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

He scored 28,596 points over his career which places him fifth overall in NBA history. His 13,099 rebounds are good for 12th all time. He is a shoo in for a first ballot Hall of Fame induction.

Now that he has retired the only question is “what’s next” for O’Neal. One can only hope that he will join TNT so that he and Charles Barkley can establish what would be one of the best duos that television has ever seen.

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by | May 5, 2011 · 9:11 AM

They Are Who No One Thought They Were

Take dat wid chu.

The city of Los Angeles is in shock and it is not because of a botched breast augmentation or one too many injections of Botox. No, it is because their team, the team they depend on so that they can be seen on national television, the Los Angeles Lakers are down 2-0 in a best of seven series with the Dallas Mavericks. Not only are they down 2-0 but the two games they lost were at the Staples Center. Right now the best thing the Staples Center has going for it is Youtube highlights of Blake Griffin, who just won rookie of the year.

This is the first time the two franchises have met in the playoffs since 1988 and the series has lived up to its billing, for one team at least. The Dallas Mavericks came back from a 16 point deficit in the first game of the series to win 96-94. This victory due to their extended bench which outscored the Lakers’ reserves 40-25. Phil Jackson was not overly thrilled about the developments in game one and went as far as emulating his star play in saying that he, and his team, was “worried.”

Kobe Bryant had said, after the Lakers game one loss, that he (I am paraphrasing here) was worried, and that the Maverick could beat the Lakers. Yes, Bryant is talking about the same Lakers that were a shoe-in to three-peat yet again. Bryant is also talking about the team with the most feared frontcourt outside of Dwight Howard. These are the Lakers, are they not? They are lords over the Western Conference (when the San Antonio Spurs are out of the equation), right? Who can possibly beat them?

The Dallas Mavericks.

Early on in game two, head coach Rick Carlisle set the tone. It wasn’t anything Marv Albert and Steve Kerr picked up on instantly, but it created an arena in which the Mavericks could operate on their terms.

Carlisle controlled the matchups. It was obvious to see from the start. When he went small and Dallas extended the lead, Phil Jackson was forced to adjust. Carlisle and Jackson have met before in the playoffs. Jackson got the best of him the first time they met. But, can one really say that when the team Jackson had before was a Bryant/Shaquille O’Neal team? No. That was the equivalent of Jordan/Pippen in 2000-03. It cannot be ignored, but it cannot be ignored in the same manner as Barry Bonds’ single season home run record cannot be ignored.

Phil Jackson and his Lakers had no answer in game two. Bryant provided and answer occasionally, but that was only to keep his team close. Close is never good enough, though.

The Dallas Mavericks played their tempo throughout the game. It would be easy to say that 40 of the 48 minutes were dominated by Dallas. The Lakers were lethargic and could not contend with a superior opponent. Los Angeles is not used to an opponent who can match them physically in the frontcourt. They have had a cakewalk to the finals the past few season. Now, they have a test. Now, they are losing.

Here at the Beef, especially this author, we love Ron Artest. However, we love him more in a pinstriped Indiana Pacers’ jersey than we ever could in purple and gold. In this series, he is little more than a distraction. The media will always want to remember him as the protagonist of the Malice in the Palace. That is not who he is any longer, though. He is still Ron Artest (and will potentially be suspended for game three), but Tony Allen has stolen his title in terms of defensive will and tenacity on the court.

Artest has become a non-factor  in this series. Who can he legitimately guard? Dirk Nowitzki can shoot over him and Shawn Marion can drive by him. He is out of place. The only player that he can flummox anymore is Peja Stojakovic and that is only because it is not difficult to defend a spot-up shooter. Yet, that is not to say that Stojakovic cannot get by Artest using the dribble. As he did so in both games.

Dallas controlled just about every aspect of game two. No, scratch that, they won the game handily and therefore controlled the game throughout. Even when the Lakers gained the lead, for the fleeting moments that they did, it did not appear as they had any semblance of control on the game. Dallas was making a statement, and that statement came from Würzburg, Germany.

Nobody in the NBA can guard Nowitzki. His off-legged jumper is something that will go down in the annals of NBA history as something that can never be duplicated. Charles Barkley said that when you guard Nowitzki you need a cigarette and a blindfold. Phil Jackson, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Ron Artest have masked their eyes and are presently smoking. What Nowitzki has done would be incomprehensible had we not seen him execute his offense to perfection for the past 13 season. Even though we have seen it before, it is not any less remarkable and is still spectacularly difficult to defend.

The Mavericks have always been considered a soft, jump shooting team. Fair enough, they were. But ask the Lakers if that is what they are currently. Dallas has grown, not only in size but in toughness. Tyson Chandler has changed the mentality in Dallas.

Los Angeles’ lauded big men have met their match through two games in the Western Conference Semi Finals. Andrew Bynum has not played like the young, overhyped center that some mistakenly believed he was, but more like the young, oversized player who is not used to taking on a challenge equal in stature to himself.

Dallas has big men to match the Lakers. When Chandler is on the court, Bynum’s numbers drop. He has only averaged 12.8 points and has an efficiency rating of -7.2. That rating is indicative of the Mavericks’ defensive resolve thus far in the series.  It is not just Chandler who is giving Bynum fits, as he is no longer swiping at the ball and instead holding his ground and not committing the foul. Along with Chandler, Brendan Haywood has also stepped up to become an unsung hero of the playoffs for the Mavericks as well.

With Haywood on the floor, Bynum’s rebounding numbers drop from 11.4, in the two games, to 8.6. His overall efficiency sees a decline as well from 1.1 to -17.1. Added to that is the fact that, through this series so far, Haywood has been accountable for every block the Mavericks have recorded while he is on the floor. Mark Cuban paid the money for a two-headed beast in the middle and that beast is dominating the defending champions.

The Mavericks are still a jump shooting team, however. This has worked against them in the past, but not so far against the Lakers. Taking the ball into the teeth of the Lakers’ defense is exactly what Los Angeles baits their opponents into doing. The Mavericks are stubborn. They still remember that Don Nelson taught them (the ones he coached at least) that the best shot is a jump shot. Only this Dallas team does not rely entirely on it.

In the two games against the Lakers, the Mavericks have employed and offense predicated on ball movement. Sure, occasionally Jason Terry holds the ball for too long and is forced into a low percentage shot but the Lakers have yet to fully capitalize on such situations. Dallas knows that driving into the paint against the Lakers is folly to an extent. But they must do it anyway. It opens up passing lanes and, as game two displayed, it leaves perimeter shooters such as DeShawn Stevenson and Stojakovic open.Three-point shooting has been key for the Mavericks thus far.

When the Mavericks do capitalize in the paint it is with J.J. Barea. So far the Los Angeles has yet to check him. In fact, they never will. Barea’s speed on the court is something that no Laker can contend with. Shannon Brown will be a step or two behind him and wholly out-of-place in terms of defensive positioning. It is testament to Barea’s courage that he competes for the same ground  on the floor that Bynum and Gasol feel is their birthright to defend. Having Steve Blake guard Barea is laughable at best right now.

The Dallas Mavericks learned from Brandon Roy. Roy torched them and lead his Portland Trail Blazers to victory in game four of the opening round, thereby tying the series 2-2. People doubted the Mavericks’ resolve. Portland never won another game in that series. Now, Dallas is on a four game win-streak. Most everyone had them written off on six in the first round but , surprise, these are not the old Dallas Mavericks. This is a team who has won four in a row and three straight on the road. Doubt them no longer.

Yes, the Mavericks have been up 2-0 before, but this time it is different. This time there will be no phantom calls that Stern calls down to his minions. Oh yes, the Lakers will fight. They must and Bryant will spearhead their assault. But, what can they do at this point? They have yet to get a meaningful stop, they are getting out coached, and Nowitzki is playing as if his defenders were rag dolls. This is Dallas’ series to win. The Lakers, after years of coasting through the Western Conference Playoffs, have finally met their match. Dallas has stung the champs and Los Angeles will not recover.

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by | November 12, 2010 · 1:39 PM

Beef Stew: Nuggets of hope and a hot Boston team

Beefy

It was a pretty busy evening in the NBA last night with two marquee teams taking the stage against worthy conference opponents.  Sounds like the perfect ingredients for some Beef Stew.

LA looses the perfection

The Lakers walked into Denver last night with an 8-0 record.  They had been playing a very heightened level of basketball to start the season with their newly acquired players adding depth and their starters showing their teeth.

Denver had other plans though last night.

The battered Nuggets, down 93-85 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, turned up the heat and began shooting lights out.  J.R. Smith hit a 3-pointer with just 4:12 left in the game that sparked an 11-0 run that inevitably handed the Lakers their first loss of the season.

Pau Gasol is showing that not all Spaniards are soft.

A shootout pursued throughout the fourth but Denver landed more shots with Smith’s causing both an end to the tiebreak but also sparking life in their defense.  Carmelo Anthony finished the game with 32 points but had a block over Pau Gasol late in the game that really got the home crowd into the game.  A series of poor shot choices is eventually what killed the Lakers as well.

Denver is a scary team that is about to get better.  Nene is finally back and had a good game with 18 points and five rebounds.  He played the entire fourth quarter with five personal fouls but did not get that sixth.  Ty Lawson and Smith led the bench with a combined 30 points.

However, Denver is far from healthy with both Chris Anderson and Kenyon Martin out.  When they return, Sheldon Williams will return to the bench but not after receiving a lot of valuable playing time to start this season off.  Their return will add to the depth that is already present in Denver.  In addition, they will allow George Karl to throw a lot more at opponents from all angles of the court.  It could be very scary.

The Lakers shouldn’t be worried about this loss and knowing Phil Jackson, they aren’t.  They came in and matched their season average in points and got production from their stars.  It’s going to be a long season for LA and a lot of teams are going to learn how to beat them.  They weren’t going to stay perfect and a loss will help Jackson work out the kinks in his rotation.  Remember, this team was retooled with two new players in Steve Blake and Matt Barnes.  In addition, Shannon Brown is looking like he could earn a solid role in this rotation.  Before last night, they had only played two teams that even made the playoffs last season (Phoenix and Portland).

Anytime Denver and LA meet it’s a fun game.  Last night did not break from the trend.  The Nuggets are going to be dangerous when they are all healthy.  LA is going to be good but still experience some losses that they will learn from.

Can Miami contend?

The Boston Celtics are officially the fire extinguisher of the NBA with their achievement of being the first team to beat the Three Amigos of South Beach twice.  Actually, it’s really not looking like much of an achievement at all.

Miami came into last night’s game with only one win over a team that finished last season over .500 and that was Orlando which has its own set of problems.  Now, they are looking at back-to-back losses to Utah and now Boston.

Again, there are two storylines.

Boston is a good basketball team.  They were last season, they were the season before that and just because LA won the title and Miami loaded up doesn’t mean that they are just going to fade.  Their blue-collar style of ball is built for a long NBA season and the players are figuring out their rolls.  Doc Rivers has let Kevin Garnett that he is to defend, Ray Allen is to decrease his shots and that it is Rajon Rondo’s team to run.  He is no longer the player with searching puppy eyes looking for Rivers to tell him what plays to run.  He is playing with veteran confidence and racking up nearly 15 assists per game (last night he had 16).

Looks like Boston can stand the Heat

In addition, the Celtics will have the opportunity to retool when Kendrick Perkins returns and they no longer have to rely on Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal for big minutes.  When they rotate to positions off of the bench, Rivers will be able to put them both up against opposing second rotations.  Most teams don’t have the kind of depth that they have at the center position and it will allow them to grind and wear down their opponents.

Then it’s the Heat.

Where to begin in Miami?  First, it’s three players surrounded by garbage.  They need not to look further than Boston to see how a championship team is born.  It needs to have a mix of All Stars and workhorses.  There are no gritty players in Miami that are willing to take the charge.  Instead, they are relying on a limited amount of players to show up big and carry the rest of the team.

Carlos Arroyo started at the point last night.  He didn’t have one assist.  Joel Anthony started at center and he didn’t have a single rebound.  Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James combined for 58 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists.  Outside of Udonis Haslem’s 21 points and 10 rebounds, no one else really showed up for the game.  The big three will not be working on all cylinders every game and with essentially no one else on the team worth sneezing at, they wont win.

The other problem is LeBron.  He hustles and plays well but does not have a knack for making those around him better.   He simply takes too many shots and doesn’t seem to trust the players around him at all to lead them to victory.  When those players around you are Bosh and Wade, it could spell out problems now and later.

We all saw what he had to work with in Cleveland and right now it really isn’t much better.  In fact, last season’s Cavs team was put together a lot better than this Heat team and actually played together very well.  The chemistry just isn’t there in Miami and we have yet to see if it forms.  As of now, it looks like they are the exception to the load-up affect that worked in LA and Boston.

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by | October 16, 2010 · 10:39 AM

Roster Depth…Who needs It?

Each of these players has more rings than LeBron James

When it comes to team depth, it seems like the average NBA fan is all too ready to dismiss the notion as pure folly. They seem to feel that it is entirely irrelevant. The most common example they bring up is that depth does not win championships. It seems to them that the combination of two to three strong players (I’ll use some examples that were put in front of me by someone else: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe and Pau Gasol) and a role player or two and you can pretty much guarantee a championship. Signed, sealed, delivered, it is yours. Frequently, those who hold this belief puff up their chests and issue a challenge to prove them wrong. Well, lucky for them. I am always good for a well natured challenge and giving them that example is exactly what this article intends to do. First, however, the issue of roster depth must be addressed appropriately.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won their second title in a row and head into the 2010-11 season as favorites once more. In each of those championship runs, the Lakers rotation was sliced to six players essentially. Bryant, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest (2009-10), Trevor Ariza (2008-09), Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum were the key cogs that turned the gears of this team. In each of the championship runs the Lakers were paced by Bryant and Gasol with Odom in 2009 and Artest in 2010 logging the third most minutes. Only in 2009, when Ariza played slightly fewer minutes than Odom, was there not a dramatic fall off in the number of minutes played between the “role player” and the rest of the team. Interestingly enough, Bynum was essentially the sixth man, in terms of minutes played, on each of those playoff teams. (Can we call him a bust yet? I will.) There you have it. This is the argument that everyone makes when it comes to roster depth. You do not need it. Look at what the Lakers have done recently and you can see their point. Ah, but not so fast.

This off season, Los Angeles (not the Clippers) was sitting high and Kobe Bryant was simply sitting to rest his knee, heal his finger, ice down his body, and take pain medication. Yeah, he is beat up. Despite the fact that the team had just won its second straight championship with virtually the same roster, Artest and Ariza being the only difference, the Lakers did not seem content to try it again without making changes. So what did they do? They went out and added depth to their roster. “GASP! No, say it is not so! How can we, the Lakers faithful, who have exclaimed from on high that roster depth is a pointless pursuit come to terms with the fact that our team feels differently. Woe is us for our eyes and ears have been deceived. Oh, Zen Master, what did we do wrong to deserve such a cruel fate?”

Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, and Theo Ratliff were brought in and are all blatant roster upgrades over the likes of Jordan Farmar and Didier Ilunga-Mbenga. (No offense to Mbenga, I love that guy. But Farmar should take complete offense.) The Lakers kept Shannon Brown around, signing him to a two-year deal his offseason but will likely see his playing time dip with all the new additions. So why, if a small rotation wins championships, did the Lakers reload their bench. Simply put, their bench was terrible over the past two seasons. Awful, truly awful. Phil Jackson knew it, why do you think he played his starters so much? Sure they are good, but they need to rest at times. The bench was a liability and hurt the Lakers as a whole.

Donkey and Shrek

Look at last year’s finals, it is the perfect example of why roster depth is important. The Boston Celtics were much deeper than the Lakers were and they used it to their advantage. (“But the Lakers won so any point you are trying to make is invalidated.”) The series would not have lasted seven games if it was not for Boston’s bench. Game four is a perfect example of why bench play is important to a team. Boston’s bench doubled the point production of the Lakers’ reserves as they were led by Glen Davis and Nate Robinson. Davis contributed nine points in the fourth quarter which helped to stem a Lakers surge and secure victory for the Celtics thereby tying the series at two games apiece. Yes, the Celtics lost the series eventually, mostly because Kendrick Perkins went down in game six with a torn PCL and MCL, but their bench played a key role in the series unlike the Lakers bench. Depth improves a team.

So where is my example of a team that won a championship with an extended rotation? “Ha, you haven’t found one, have you? I knew it. What a blowhard. This guy over here doesn’t know anything about basketball. I don’t even know why I take time to read this stupid blog anyway. Pssh, I’m gonna go read the latest Bill Simmons and John Hollinger articles. At least those guys know what they are taking about. Get ready for another Lakers’ three-peat. Lakers rule!” Well, now that most of you have probably stopped reading, I can get to the team that defies this notion that depth wins nothing.

They did not need to worry when their starters sat

As a Mavericks fan, I write what I am about to write only because it proves my point. If it were not for that I could never bring myself to do such a thing as this or even admit to having knowledge of it. During the playoffs in 2007, the San Antonio Spurs used not only their star power, but also their overwhelming depth to beat every team they faced on route to a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals. Did they have a better starting five than the Cavaliers? Yes. With LeBron James worship reaching more demigod proportions everyday it would seem hard that a team could beat the chosen man-child. That being said, a better starting five will always have the advantage in the playoffs. Nonetheless, depth still helps.

Unlike the previous two Lakers championships, the Spurs in 2007 do not have a significant drop off in minutes or games played. Instead they have a steady, calculated decline with a complement of ten players receiving quite a bit of playing time. Jacque Vaughn played in all 20 of the Spurs playoff games totaling 208 minutes for an average of 10.4 minutes a game. Only Matt Bonner and Beno Udrih saw less playing time than Vaughn. Contrast that with last year’s Lakers, Jordan Farmar played in all 23 of their postseason games logging 301 minutes for an average of 13.1 minutes per game. Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Josh Powell, Adam Morrison, and Mbenga all saw less playing time than Farmar. Both of these players were their team’s respective back up point guards. The Spurs depth simply out classed each of their opponents, having only seen a six game series once, against Utah, on their way to the championship. Ten of the Spurs’ 12 players played in at least 18 games with eight playing in all 20. Eight of the Lakers’ players from last season appeared in all 23 of their playoff games; however, five of them only appeared in 16 or fewer of them.

Yes, rotations get shorter in the post season. It only makes since for a coach to play his best players more so that the team performs at a higher level when the stakes are greatest. This is a no brainer. Nor should Josh Powell be expected to play near as many minutes as Kobe Bryant. This is not what I am trying to say. What I am stating is that the Spurs team in 2007 breaks the argument that roster depth does not mean a thing in the playoffs. They proved that it does. Yes, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan logged the most minutes on the team but they were not forced to play 40 or more minutes a game because they had help coming off the bench who could maintain the same level of pressure on an opponent without any catastrophic decline in the team’s overall performance on the court.

Is the standard championship model based on the superstar, his sidekick, and a role player or two. For now it appears to be that way. This level of thinking is amateurish, though. The Spurs proved that in 2007. No, my example does not squash the two star player championship combination but it proves that an extended rotation is more valuable than it is generally believed. Ignoring the benefits of roster depth is to fail to grasp the entire point of a roster at all. Basketball is a team game no matter how much the media focuses on individual players. The Lakers are not about Kobe Bryant, they are about the triangle offense in which the team plays. There is absolutely every reason for a general manager to sign players who can come off the bench and replace starters while helping improve the quality of the team. This is why the Lakers signed Blake, Barnes, and Ratliff. (I think the Ratliff signing was in part because they expect Bynum to continue to underachieve and remain perennially injured.) It is why teams like Dallas signed Tyson Chandler. They do not want to see a performance dropoff when their starters leave the floor. A good second unit is a valuable thing to have, especially during the regular season when they can help you get wins to secure seeding in the playoffs.

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by | September 28, 2010 · 7:19 PM

Bynum’s knee puts the Lakers in need

What's new?

You might as well cover your ears every time news of Andrew Bynum rolls around.  NBA fans should get used to hearing about the ailing knees of the 23-year-old with what seems to be a 30-year-old body.

Bynum made an appearance at the Lakers’ media day wearing the new, lighter uniform but it will be the last time LA fans see him sporting the look for another two months.  Only a day after revealing that the young center would miss the first few games, head coach Phil Jackson broke some more bad news when he announced that Bynum would be out until the end of November.

Drafted tenth overall by the Lakers in the 2005, I doubt they had planned for Bynum to only play in a total of 274 games in his five years in the league.  He was limited to 35 games in the 2007-08 season after partially dislocating his knee.  He only played 50 games in 2008-09 due to a torn ligament in his right knee.

Now, he is being told not to put any serious weight on the knee and is being forced to workout on a stationary bicycle, upper-body weights and light walking.  His injury record is just building and building as he has only played one complete season in his entire career (2006-07).

Last season, Bynum started and played in 65 games and his stats rose significantly.  His minutes per game rose as well to over 30 and the Lakers won the finals.  However, after looking closely, the big man was inconsistent in the playoffs as LA matched up against faster opponents in Oklahoma City and Phoenix.  When the team faced the slower, more methodical Celtics in the Finals, he contributed even less.

It’s a story of an overhyped center that has never really paid off at all for LA.  He is a prime example of why the league no longer drafts players out of high school alongside Sebastian Telfair and Shaun Livingston.  He joins the ranks of high-drafted centers that just fell short with such company as Greg Oden.  It has not been pretty at all.

The Lakers gambled when they drafted him and it really looks like they came up snake eyes.  There is an obvious lack of depth at the five in LA as the team is looking to start 37-year-old Theo Ratliff.  Drew Naymick will be the backup for the defending champions.

We have seem them fight hard before without Bynum by utilizing Pau Gasol as a defender in the lane but his abilities  there are lacking.  The Lakers do have good defenders in Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant and Matt Barnes but they will not be able to defend the league’s bigger players.

It could actually turn out to be a big deal for the Lakers as they start the season off against some good frontcourts.  Sacramento has DeMarcus Cousins, Portland has Marcus Camby, Milwaukee has Andrew Bogut, Indiana has Danny Granger and Chicago has Joakim Noah.   Lamar Odom, Artest and Bryant will have their hands full and these teams will prove challenging to a team so shallow with its big guys.

In addition, just because he is set to come back at the end of November does not mean that he will be fully healthy or that he will not re-injure his knee.  He is a fragile player and Jackson has to know it too.  The franchise needs to reexamine having Bynum on the team if it wants to take itself seriously against some big names in the East and compete for another title.

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by | July 3, 2010 · 4:34 PM

Free Agency: Round One

The jury is still out

The past couple of days have been hectic to say the least. Rumors have been thrown around like copious amounts of money to average players. We here at the Beef are not in the business of rumor chasing so this article will center around commitments and agreements that have been confirmed. Basically that means we will not be discussing the players pictured above who have met with just about everyone by now. LeBron James was even treated to a cartoon by the Cavaliers in their attempts to retain him.

For more up to the minute Free Agency news be sure to follow the Beef on Twitter. Since we are a two-man operation (we are open to the idea of adding a capologist) it is the easiest way to keep up with the information we bring to you in 140 characters or less.

Why don’t we start at the top with the two-time defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. What? Why would the Lakers need to make any moves? They just won the NBA title. Well, if you are a frequent reader of this site you know that we like to discuss the glaring deficiencies of the Lake Show. Apparently the organization is all to aware of their problems as well.

Point guard Steve Blake has reached an agreement with Los Angeles on a four-year contract worth $16 million. This helps the Lakers shore up their bench woes and gives them a valuable back up point guard. Jordan Farmar’s growing disinterest in the role he has in L.A. has been much publicized so with this pick up it looks like his days in the purple and gold are close to an end. (The Pacers are said to have interest in Farmar but nothing concrete has been reported on this matter as yet.)

Easily the biggest news out of L.A. is the news that Phil Jackson has decided to return for one more season. The prospect of a fourth three-peat must have been to tempting for the Zen Master to turn down even if it means taking a considerable pay cut.

The other team that was in the Western Conference Finals has also been making moves of their own. Phoenix has extended an offer of five years and $30 million to Channing Frye which he has excepted. Also excepting an offer from the Suns is NBA journeyman, and Kobe Beef favorite, Hakim Warick. His deal is reported to be for four years and $18 million.

Milwaukee has also made some moves, John Salmons has agreed to a five-year $40 million deal. In the quickest move of free agency, the Bucks got Drew Gooden to agree to a five-year $32 million deal. These deer look to be a playoff team for several years to come.

In what may be the most pointless deal of free agency, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Darko Milicic have agreed to a four-year $20 million deal. This is a sorry consolation prize for the T-Wolves who had their sights set on Rudy Gay this summer. However, Memphis was true to its word in their efforts to keep Gay by offering him a max contract.

Paul Pierce plans to stay with the Celtics, which is no surprise to anyone.

Other than the above deals nothing much has been officially confirmed. It is important to remember, however, that these are all merely verbal agreements. Anything can still happen between now and July 8th when contracts can be signed. If you think verbal commitments are good enough just think about what Hedu Turkoglu did last year.

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by | June 13, 2010 · 10:50 AM

Future in Doubt

How much longer can the Lake Show remain on top?

The recent history of the Los Angeles Lakers has been nothing short of spectacular in terms of a sports franchise. This season marks the third straight year that the team has advanced to the NBA Finals and they are the defending champions. By achieving such heights the bar for the team has been elevated astronomically. However, this success has also had the effect of allowing fans and the media to ignore the problems, both present and future, that the Lakers face. There is no doubt that the Lakers have successfully dodged most, if not all, questions pertaining to the future (…the future, Conan?) of the franchise, its players, and its head coach. Instead the organization has chosen to blindside the media and fans by overachieving their way into the NBA Finals. (Their path there was nothing short of lackluster.) Here they can hide behind the historical ramifications of the series that the NBA and David Stern play up. Just around the corner, though, questions must be answered.

Whether the Lakers win or lose the NBA Championship is of no concern. If they win it will, for a time, be yet another distraction. As for now the Lakers are locked up, tied at two games with the Boston Celtics. As early as next week, answers may begin to be forthcoming about the future make up of the organization. Phil Jackson, who is in the last year of his contract as head coach of the team, has stated that he will make his decision at that time on whether he plans to remain with the team. It is a well known fact that Los Angeles is well over the salary cap and playing quite a bit in luxury taxes. In fact the Lakers will be paying the most out of every team when it comes to the luxury tax. They will pay $21.42 million next year. Perpetual tax payers, the Dallas Mavericks, will not even be paying as much as the Lakers. (Dallas will pay $17.79 million in taxes next season.) For Jackson to remain in L.A. he would have to take a sizable pay cut. There are those who feel that, if the Lakers do win the series with Boston, there is little chance of him leaving the Lakers and a shot of a fourth three-peat. However, Jackson is a smart man, a Zen man if you will (pun fully intended), he likely sees the paint chips forming on the gilded Lakers. He has said that he would not “buy into anything for three or four years…I don’t think that’s in the cards at all.” So what would he be buying into for the next three years if he remained with the Lakers? He would be buying into the aging and injured core group who are Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, and Ron Artest. His statement is far from a resounding declaration of confidence in this group of players if it is to be the Lakers’ core from here forward. There are two things that Jackson has shown to be partial to over his career: young superstars and money. Both are out there this summer. He has laid out the groundwork for a potential one year contract, in some of his statements, with the Lakers but after that it is up in the air. For Jackson to declare his intentions with in the week following the finals can only lead to speculation that he has already made up his mind. Pay cuts are not his style and less money is never Zen.

The most pressing question that has confronted the Lakers is the condition of Andrew Bynum’s right knee. He played only twelve minutes, just two in the second half, in game four against the Celtics because of major issues and discomfort (to say the least) with the knee. Bynum said that the knee had swelled to the size of basketball. Now it is medically unlikely that any appendage or joint should swell to such a size but that statement should give some indication of how bothersome his knee has become. Bynum had an MRI and also had he knee drained again on Friday. The MRI revealed no new damage to the tear in his meniscus. As of right now, his status for game five is still very questionable despite Bynum’s intention to play (he has said that he is 100 percent sure he will play in game five), after all this is a decision for doctors, coaches, and trainers to make, not players. This is just the latest injury on Bynum’s growing medical history form. His career has been marred by injury to the point where he has simply become an afterthought on the Lakers’ roster because of all the time he has missed; he is becoming Greg Oden-esque. However, he has shown glimpses of improvement and competency on the court. Despite his protracted growth, everything he has accomplished is far from being labeled as consistent. His erratic play and health have hindered the Lakers since they drafted him. There comes a point in which all investments must be cut loose if their returns do not yield profitable dividends. Bynum has proven to be a subprime mortgage. Los Angeles should begin to actively seek a serviceable replacement at the center position, if they do not then it is likely that they will default and there will be no bailout.

Bynum is not the only injury concern the Lakers have to worry about on their roster. Since the summer of 2007, Kobe Bryant has been Mr. Basketball. During that time he has played for the United States basketball team and the Lakers. With these two organizations he has played 237 regular season NBA games, 64 playoff games (including the current finals), and 28 games with Team USA. In total, he has played in 329 games in a three year span. To say that this accomplishment is insane would take top honors at the understatement awards. With the finals series against the Celtics currently tied at two games apiece, he will have to play in at least two more games, possibly even three so the end number could be as high as 332 games when all is said and done. Simply incredible. This number does not even include practices and hours spent in the gym. Kobe is the one piece of the Lakers that is not necessarily a question going into the future because he signed a three year extension with the team this season but the wear and tear on his body certainly is cause for concern. It would take a fool to question his motivation and his drive to win and this season has been a perfect example of just that. Bryant has been battling injuries all season, some disclosed, others not. Most notably he has dealt with a broken finger, a swollen knee, ankle, and back injuries. What toll has this taken on his body? He is sitting out of the FIBA World Championships in Turkey this year not because he hates America and only plays for money but because he needs a summer off to nurse his injuries. He is banged up. It has been some time since a face of an organization, if not the league, has begun to slow in their career. Bryant has hit his pinnacle and is on the way down, though his play on the court certainly speaks to the contrary on given nights, and the Lakers have not prepared for this sea change at all. (No, Shannon Brown is not the solution. It is befuddling how he has so much hype surrounding him.) He may have a few more years left in him; he will at least will himself to play better than he is capable of. That is what the great ones do. For the Lakers, though, their shortsightedness has hurt them. In three years Bryant will likely retire and Los Angeles will have the unenviable task of filling the biggest roster vacancy since Michael Jordan left the Bulls.

Success has also adversely affected the Lakers. This may seem counterintuitive but when it comes to draft picks it is far from it. Los Angeles has guaranteed itself late first round picks for the foreseeable future. They also dealt several picks to the Grizzlies in the Gasol steal…err, deal. Marc Gasol became one of these picks. The Lakers took a gamble on the untested seventeen year old Andrew Bynum in 2005. He has already been discussed in this article. Since they drafted Bynum tenth in 2005 they have had only one pick in the top 20, Javaris Crittenton. He was drafted nineteenth in 2007. (In 2010 he pulled a gun on Gilbert Arenas.) Of course poor draft position means that a team is winning and that is the goal of every team no matter what sport so the Lakers should not be held in fault for their poor draft history this past decade, but the end result of that poor history is the appalling state of their bench players.

It may seem as though we here at the Beef are beating a dead horse complaining about the Lakers bench ad nauseam but we seem to be the only people who have taken notice until very recently. Los Angeles has a terrible farm system, to make a baseball comparison. They drafted Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, and Jordan Farmar and therefore these are the players that they must build around for the future. To this list they added Shannon Brown, Josh Powell (who could see more minutes in game five), and D.J. Mbenga. Mbenga may be a great humanitarian and leader in Congo but on the floor he is still the raw player he was when he was on the Mavericks. (We at the Beef love this guy, seriously.) Each of these players has played an average of four seasons yet none have been able to work themselves into a starting rotation that was rather fluid until this season. Nor have they been able to establish themselves as reliable roll players. Phil Jackson has come to terms with the limits of their skills and no longer plays any of them for any significant amount of time and especially not together. When he is forced to rest a starter he will only put one of these players on the court at a time. It would be a rare sight to see Farmar and Brown in the backcourt again during the finals. If the Lakers are ever forced to hand the reins over to Farmar it will be their Ides of March. He was good at UCLA but his skills as a guard have yet to develop into NBA caliber. The best hope for the mediocrity on the bench would be to package them in various trade deals in hopes of acquiring more talented pieces to build upon.

For now the world can completely ignore the problems that the Lakers will face moving forward. Why should anyone be forced to care about the future? If the Lakers wind up losing to the Celtics, a multitude of questions about their future will rush (like Kareem Rush) to the forefront. Jerry and Jeannie Buss have a ship that is growing increasingly unseaworthy on their hands, it has yet to take on water but rust, corrosion, and barnacles are all becoming serious problems to its structural integrity. The captain is on the verge of jumping ship and each of the crew members has questions surrounding them and their performance. If nothing is done soon, the post Kobe years (a concept and time period that is rarely discussed) will be quite barren. In the world of sports, three years is almost an eternity. Three years is all Kobe is signed on for. The rest of the cast do not matter as much as him. He is the heart of the team and, with all respect to Magic Johnson, Bryant is the Lakers. Kobe and the Lakers have proven doubters wrong on countless occasions but one cannot help be notice that the end is drawing near. Los Angeles has three years, maybe less, to find some answers.

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by | June 3, 2010 · 9:06 AM

NBA Finals

Familiar faces in familiar places

For the twelfth time in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers will meet their storied rival, Boston Celtics, in the NBA Finals. No matter which team wins this year’s incarnation of the rivalry the two opposite coast franchises (the Lakers were in Minneapolis before their move to the City of Angels) will account for 33 of the 64 total NBA titles. In their previous eleven meetings in the playoffs, the matchup between the two teams has been quite lopsided with the Celtics having won nine of those encounters. On a variety of levels, the Lakers are looking to seek some semblance of vengeance for history’s and posterity’s sake.  Most recently the two franchises faced each other in the 2008 NBA Finals. For the Lakers, it ended in an embarrassing fashion as they were romped by the Celtics who won the series in six games. Once again the Lakers failed to accomplish the task set before them when matched up against their arch rivals on the NBA’s largest stage. The next season, the Lakers returned to the finals and were rewarded with the jewelry they had grown so accustomed to receiving in the first few years of the new millennia. Now they are back with a chance to redeem themselves, but these are not the same two teams that met two years ago.

During the regular season, the Lakers squared off against the Celtics twice, splitting the series. Each game was decided by a single point and neither team exceeded 90 points. Conventional wisdom states that regular season matchups bare no meaning to what will transpire in the playoffs. This year is no different. However, stats will be used from these games in the analysis of player performance, though at a minimal usage level. Thursday will mark the first time the teams have played each other since Boston beat Los Angeles 87-86 on 18 February. Both teams have taken completely different roads to the finals since that meeting. No matter what has happened though, record wise, is moot now. The Lakers have home court because they have the better regular season record. However this may not be as favorable as it seems because the Celtics are the first team in NBA history to make the finals with a better road record than home record during the regular season.

Returning to the finals, the Lakers relied on the player whom many consider to be the best player in the league if not the world. Kobe Bryant willed the Lakers to victory throughout the playoffs putting on one dazzling display after another. To this point in time, his performance during the last few minutes of game six against the Phoenix Suns has been the icing on the cake. Kobe, however, has a whole bakery at his disposal and there is no shortage of multi-tier cakes ready to be feasted on by players and fans alike. Doc Rivers will do everything he can to slow Kobe down. At this point, though, nothing and no one can do that. He will continue to drain buckets, especially clutch ones, at a rate comparable to the flow of oil coming out of BP’s burst pipe in the Gulf of Mexico. There is no top kill for Kobe. He has his ‘sexy’ matchup which will give him a change for personal vindication and revenge. We know what Kobe will do. He will do everything and he will be remarkable. Coming into the finals, Bryant has averaged 29.4 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists while shooting approximately 48.3 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. Never once has he been the issue. It has always been the players around him that have been the concern. This year it is no different.

Since 2008 and their last encounter with the Celtics in the finals, the Lakers have made very few roster changes. However, they have made one considerable move. The acquisition of Ron Artest has given Los Angeles the desired toughness that they so desperately lacked during the two teams confrontation in 2008. His mentality as a physical defender who is not afraid to bump, swipe, grind, grab, and pull are exactly why the Lakers got him. Surely Kobe and his teammates had had quite enough of him during the Western Conference Semifinals in 2009 when he was with the Houston Rockets. Playing with him is much more desirable than playing against him. Now they have Ron Ron and despite what people have been saying about Trevor Ariza (i.e. he is a better fit for the Lakers and so forth) they will quickly be proven to be yet more nameless faces among the hoards of fake and uneducated fans. If Ariza is truly better than Artest, then Artest looks to average less playing time than Ariza logged in the previous meeting of the last two NBA champions. Ariza averaged seven, yes seven, minutes per game against the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. In fact, Phil Jackson thought so highly of Ariza that he gave Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton the main defensive assignments against Paul Pierce, the player that Artest will draw defensive duties against. What do you want to bet that Artest maintains his 36.8 minutes per game average so far in the playoffs? Ariza is not Artest, and for the Lakers that is a very good thing. It is an even better thing that he is not Radmanovic.

In the first round of the playoffs, Artest held the NBA’s scoring champion, Kevin Durant, to 35 percent shooting. Durant went 43-123 from the floor during that series. Ariza is still better right? In the Western Conference Finals, Artest won the two games that clinched the series victory for the Lakers. He hit the game winner in the final second of game five after what had been a poor shooting night. In game six he exploded out of the starting blocks as he dominated the first quarter on his way to 25 points for the game. After that it was Kobe’s game. No other Laker put up significant scoring numbers. Artest came to Los Angeles to play for a championship and now he is getting that opportunity because of his contributions on the court during the playoffs.

Artest will now take his place as the second most important player on the Lakers’ roster during the finals. His role, however, will not be important for his scoring abilities but more for his defensive capabilities, which is why he was brought to L.A. in the first place. He will be assigned to guard twelve year Celtic and Los Angeles native, Paul Pierce. Pierce simply torched the Lakers in the 2008 finals as they had no answer for him. Now, with Artest, they do. Over Artest’s career in the NBA, his ability to shut down some of the NBA’s best scorers has molded itself into part of his reputation if not an entity entirely of its own. Paul Pierce is no exception to the rule although he has not been as adversely affected as some over the course of his career against Artest. Pierce’s career averages, through the 2008-09 season, were 22.9 points per game on 44.3 percent field goal shooting, 33.6 percent from downtown, 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 7.8 free throw attempts, and 3.1 turnovers. Against Artest his averages are 21.3 points per game on 43.6 percent field goal shooting, 39.3 percent from behind the arc, 5.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 7.1 free throw attempts, and 3.4 turnovers. Essentially these numbers are fairly consistent with a slight drop in scoring and rebounding with an increase in shooting accuracy from the three-point line. These numbers are nothing notable to really write home about.

However, this season, when matched up against Artest, the story is quite different. This year Pierce averaged 18.3 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, shot .472 from the floor and .414 from downtown, with 6.1 free throw attempts, and 2.3 turnovers. His scoring production is the lowest it has been since his rookie campaign but with the emergence of Rajon Rondo it is not at all surprising because he no longer has to carry the offensive load for the Celtics. There were two meetings between the Lakers and Celtics occurring on 31 January and again on 18 February. During these engagements there is quite a noticeable difference from his season averages. He averaged 13 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, shot 40 percent on field goals and 36 percent from behind the arc, with four free throw attempts and 2.5 turnovers. That is a dramatic difference from his averages and the Lakers can thank Artest for it and they will certainly be looking for similar production in the finals.

Unlike the first three rounds of the playoffs, Los Angeles’ frontcourt will actually be challenged. Sure Paul Milsap went off on them as did Amar’e Stoudemire at times but neither of those players is a consistent threat to dominate the interior both offensively and defensively. (Carlos Boozer was too banged up to even be a factor). The Celtics have player who excel at just that. With Andrew Bynum playing on an injured knee which he just had drained (draining it produced more than two ounces of fluid, that is a lot) and will inevitably have to have surgery on this offseason the Lakers must get as much production from Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom as they can. Boston just battered Dwight Howard for six consecutive games making him look like an untested rookie for much of the series. How do you think they will treat a hobbled Bynum? They will make mincemeat out of him. Gasol and Odom are the only two legitimate frontcourt options the Lakers have.

Gasol has been the second best Laker thus far in the playoffs averaging twenty points per contest while pulling down 10.9 rebounds. When on the court with Bynum, Gasol will play his natural four position and therefore be matched up against power forward killer, Kevin Garnett. Garnett has shut down every player he has matched up against this postseason. There is a reason that the likes of Antawn Jamison and Rashard Lewis were rarely, if ever, heard from in the second and third rounds in the East. In this season’s playoffs, Garnett’s defensive rating is a 99 so for Gasol to have any chance of success he must be at the top of his game rather than enjoying a siesta. He took the brunt of the criticism after the 2008 finals debacle and does not need an encore performance. In the eyes of many he is still a soft player. Instead of saying that the final’s loss motivated him, he needs to come out and prove that he is a better player than he was then. If he does not, he will be shown to be as soft as flan against the Celtics’ frontline bruisers.

Point guards have run wild against the Lakers. How will Rondo shape up in what is becoming his best playoffs yet?

An interesting set of matchups will also take place in the backcourt. Throughout these playoffs the Lakers have been continually tested by some of the league’s best point guards. This series will be no different. After facing Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, and Steve Nash, all of whom torched Los Angeles, they must now face Rajon Rondo, who is developing into the face of a franchise. Derek Fisher is no longer the defensive player that he once was and is not able to keep up with young quick guards who probe and slash through the painted area. For this reason, expect Bryant to pick up the defensive assignment on Rondo leaving Fisher to fight through curls and screens while defending Jesus Shuttlesworth. For the Lakers to be successful they must not allow Rondo to continue to average ten assists per game, Kobe knows this which is why he will place the onus on himself of defending Rondo.

Los Angeles has some favorable matchups when their most productive lineup is on the floor. The lineup that is most effective for the Lakers is when Gasol shifts to the center position and Odom comes in at the four with Artest at three and Kobe and Fisher in the backcourt. This would have the effect of putting Gasol against Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis, or a more likely matchup with Rasheed Wallace, who is notorious for pestering the league’s power forwards. It will be imperative that the Lakers physically establish themselves down low if they are to have any chance. However, after that the Celtics have the clear advantage in depth. For the Lakers to remain NBA champions the must execute (partially regret using such a cliché word) at their highest level as a whole. Continuing subpar performances from any of their players not named Kobe will not be tolerated by the Mamba and result in an uphill struggle. Their bench is totally impotent, as we have discussed ad nauseam, in the face of what the Celtics can call on from the bench. Yet, it is always unwise to underestimate the determination and will of Kobe Bryant.

Underestimating the Celtics has become a fool’s game in these playoffs. Time and again they have mustered the spirit of a championship caliber team that knows what it needs to do to reach its end goal. As in 2008, the Celtics’ return to the NBA finals has resurrected old ghosts and fond memories of days past. (The NBA is quick to embellish the historical ramifications of this year’s finals matchup to boost ratings.) Iconic sights and sounds are everywhere in our memories: the smell of Red’s cigar and physical play of Parish, McHale and Bird all come to mind. However, this season’s incarnation of the Celtics is not the same as the teams and players of old. Alas, this is a very different Boston team. A different swagger and different goal drive these green men even though it all comes down to hoisting the trophy as the green shirted and shamrock touting peons of the Garden plan on where to hang the next banner.

Will the Celtics fill the empty banner that hangs in their practice gym?

As opposed to the Celtics of old, these boys are not playing to highlight a dynasty but rather they are trying to establish one.  We all know they won in 2008 but without a ring this year, that season will become a more and more superficial memory of the super-loading done by a team with players desperate not to go down in history as this generation’s Ewing, Barkely or Malone.  Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Peirce all had careers in desperate need of rings but now, a dynasty is the next step and only one ring after the heavy-spending summer of 2007 will not make this group very memorable (or favorable) in the years and decades to come. Certainly they do not want their championship to be viewed in the same light as Miami’s. They would be looked at as a team put together for one banner as opposed to a group put together for all-out dominance.

To win the series against the Lakers, the Celtics have a lot to work on.  First, Doc Rivers and the starters need to prepare for a long haul. This rest should help but it is going to be a long series and in order to beat LA they are going to have to be ready to control the tempo and bang on the inside with the big men. Kendrick Perkins has been a ghost during this postseason but in the two games against LA early this season, he has fared well with 10 points and 12 rebounds a game.  His goal should to stay on Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum in the post to avoid easy buckets when Kobe attracts the double or even triple team. This is one thing that killed the Suns.

Next, Rajon Rondo says that he is not playing at 100 percent. Boston needs him in top form to be successful.  During the Eastern Conference Finals, he suffered from muscle spasms and a hurt back.  Rondo has been a monster during what is proving to be his best postseason yet.  He was once considered the weak link in this starting rotation but now is averaging 15 points and 10 assists in the playoffs.  His athletic ability is opening up a lot of possibilities for this team to score in several different ways.  He is playing with more confidence than before and is not looking to Doc Rivers with wondering puppy eyes anymore for guidance. The reins are his.

Boston’s bench also has to be as big of a factor as possible even if it does not show up on the scoreboard.  The Celtics are not going to get a lot of consistent or big numbers out of their bench but the effort and hustle that they provide is vital to Boston’s success on the court. Nate Robinson, Rasheed, Tony Allen, and Glen Davis have shown that they can show up but never on the same night. However, they can still be affective in two ways.  Defensive stands are key while the Boston starters are resting on the bench.  They will need to get in there and pester whoever is on the floor for the Lakers and help maintain leads or prevent further damage.  This will not be easy against L.A.’s starters but should be very easy against their bench. Try and name four important rotation players off of Los Angeles’ bench that will come up big. Odom does not count, even though his combined numbers for one game can be the total of four other players off the bench. Predicting the future is an endeavor for Marty McFly and Dr. Brown but when it comes to the Lakers’ bench it is easier than building a flux capacitor. Bynum should be a non-factor in this series due to his knee.  This will shorten Phil Jackson’s rotation so hopefully they will get to see more Luke Walton than even Bill Walton would like to see.  L.A.’s bench is embarrassing and the Celtics will have a chance to wear down the starters and hopefully get a chance to beat down some of those second team players.

Lastly, exploit the mismatches.  Artest and Kobe are some of the best defenders in the league but they cannot guard everyone.  Depending on whom they are covering, one or two other players will be open.  Expect Lamar Odom and Gasol to stay low against Garnett in any sort of post play and Artest and Kobe on the outer fringe of the paint and perimeter.  The jump shot will be challenged by these guys but with this matchup it will leave two players against weaker defenders at all times.  Derek Fisher will not be a factor on defense and will give Rondo a chance to manipulate the court.  Going outside, they will have to find the open man and trust me, there will be one somewhere.  Look for the open three and if not, bang it to the inside.  The refs have shown that they will call fouls on both Bynum and Odom.  Force Phil Jackson to decide on where to place his defenders.  This will always leave someone open.  He will make adjustments over the course of the games themselves and the series.  Track them and adjust.

Phoenix and Oklahoma City had speed.  Boston does not.  They forced the Lakers to play a full-court game as opposed the half-court style they prefer.  Boston is a half-court offense as well.  The Celtics will not be running an offense that will make the Lakers uncomfortable since that would force them to play outside of their style and for a team that is fairly old and beat up like Boston that would be suicide.  Instead, play smarter and exploit the defense whenever possible.  Mismatches will occur since L.A. has such a shortened rotation due to injury and sheer talent.

Last season, without Garnett, the Celtics found their human side in the Playoffs as Orlando steam-rolled them to gain a spot in the Finals just to lose to the blood-thirsty Mamba.  This season, the Celtics were Orlando’s Kryptonite and they can easily be considered one of the hottest teams in the playoffs with series wins against Miami, Cleveland and Orlando.  Outside of the Heat and their one-horse show, it is an impressive playoff resume, to say the least, especially since they only won 10 of their last 20 games in the regular season.  Here at the Beef, we had the Celtics written off by February as their age was beginning to show and it was apparent that Rasheed Wallace was never going to be a factor in Boston.  Now, they are playing for the title and since our predictions for this team didn’t work out before, we are going to throw out some more for this Finals because that’s just what we do.

Let’s just get it out there, Boston will win this series.  I know it sounds hypocritical since we have been dogging this team nearly all season.  But we do have our reasons for a change of heart.  Simply put, Boston is hot.  The pundits and King James himself saw Cleveland as an obvious favorite to win the East and the Finals.  Cleveland lost the last three games in the series by a combined 51 points.  They then went on to hand Orlando their first loss of the playoffs just to lose a commanding 3-0 series lead.  They walked away with the series but not after a big scare. Boston is on a roll and we have doubted them all along. This ends here. No longer will our good name be besmirched by the boys in green.

Plenty of analysts and sports writers are commenting on how the series will be close. Some of the games certainly will be. However, the Lakers have had an easy ride in the playoffs and coasted into the finals. So far their toughest opponent has been the young kids in Oklahoma City. Los Angeles believes itself to be a tough squad but has done little in the way of showing it. They have two tough players in Bryant and Artest but other than them the determination and grit of the team is very suspect.

We are going to have to see the Doc outsmart the Zen Master if Boston plans on hoisting another banner. Yet it will not be up to Rivers or Jackson in the end. What it will come down to is the heart of the players on the floor. Boston has met and toppled each challenge they have faced. They have dethroned kings and taken down reigning champions. Their heart is beating faster as they near the summit but it will not give out. No player on that team will let it slow down or stop until they hold the Larry O’Brien trophy in their hands and are on their way to Disney World.

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by | May 15, 2010 · 12:05 PM

Eastern and Western Conference Finals Predictions

Should the Magic keep the brooms handy?

The matchups are now set for the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. In the West the Los Angeles Lakers will play host the white hot Phoenix Suns and out East the Celtics, coming off their upset of the Cavaliers, will travel to Orlando to face the Magic. Many are already writing off the series in the West as Lakers manifest destiny grips many and blinds them to how well the Suns are actually playing. Orlando has seemingly not had a challenge at all during the playoffs as they have decimated each opponent they have faced. So how will the two series play out? Obviously we here at the Beef have no idea. (Look at all my previous predictions, I have been far from perfect.)  However, it is obligatory to predict a winner in each series and since these are the last two predictions before the Finals we might as well have a little fun with it. So here they are: The Kobe Beef’s Eastern and Western Conference Finals Predictions.

Western Conference Finals

1. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 3. Phoenix Suns

Phil Jackson is at it again. Just like he did to start the playoffs he is complaining about the play of an opponent to try and soften up the referees. Instead of Durant’s parade to the foul line it is now Steve Nash’s tendency to carry the ball. Yeah, OK, Zen Master. Play your little outdated game. Honestly, have you ever seen Nash carry the ball on a consistent basis? I have not. Whatever, though, Kobe Bryant kicks his legs out to draw fouls, every veteran player does something to gain the advantage. If you want the game called more closely go coach in college. I am fairly certain that Kentucky is about to have an opening. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

With their drubbing of the Jazz in the second round the Lakers and the press that fawns over them recently moved up to cloud ten. Nine just was not good enough for them. They are from Hollywood, remember. Yet, the Jazz team that they swept was depleted and each player seemed to have a myriad of injuries. They were a walking infirmary. It would have seemed comical to attach I.V.’s to them and wrap them in white bandages but that is basically what it boils down to in terms of injuries. The Jazz were sitting ducks.

Phoenix’s second round sweep of the San Antonio Spurs was the more impressive victory. They demolished a Spurs team that was in the midst of trying to recapture their old glory. San Antonio looked to be heavy favorites to challenge the Lakers for a trip to the NBA Finals. The Suns made quick work of them and sent them back to the retirement home.

So just how well do the Suns match up with the Lakers. A look at the regular season meetings between the two clubs would show that the Lakers have an advantage having won three of the four meetings. However, this is not the regular season. Inside the Lakers are too big for Phoenix and should dominate the glass and the paint. Yet, that will not necessarily be what happens. The Lakers’ big men are lazy on the defensive side of the ball. They rely purely on their size and strength to overpower opponents. It is a proven, albeit haphazard, tactic. Their laziness on the defensive end of the floor will only play into the hands of Black Jesus. Expect early and frequent foul trouble for Andrew Bynum (what’s new there) and Pau Gasol. If the Lakers have to turn to their bench for extended minutes at any point during the series things could get ugly for them and quick.

Derek Fisher has been a constant source of defensive ineptitude for the Lakers in the playoffs. Opposing point guards have torched Fisher constantly forcing Kobe Bryant to shift over to guard the one. Now the Lakers will face the best point guard they have seen yet in Steve Nash, the former two-time MVP. Do you think Fisher can keep up with Nash and his constant probing of the defense and the dribble penetration he brings to the opposing paint? No, me either.

Phoenix is the matchup nightmare that Los Angeles has not prepared for. Essentially, the Lakers are just a different incarnation of the Spurs. Los Angeles’ defense will be spread out so that Nash and Black Jesus can work the pick and roll to perfection. Will Phil Jackson have a counter? He may, but no matter what it is, it is unlikely to work every time down the floor. However, there is always the Kobe factor. Grant Hill and whoever else is assigned to guard him will have their hands full.

Series Prediction: The Phoenix Suns will not be a cake walk for the Lakers. No, they will be their toughest opponent yet. This series will be about depth: the Suns have it and the Lakers do not. Their lightning attack along with improved defense will give the Lakers fits. Expect Kobe to get a technical foul in the first game. The Lakers are accustomed to being the royalty of the NBA and dining on cuisine fit for kings however at the close of the series it will be them who are dining on cake with the huddled masses. Phoenix will win in six games.

Eastern Conference Finals

2. Orlando Magic vs. 4. Boston Celtics

Boston has been on some magical carpet ride after stumbling backwards into the playoffs, but now they appear to have recaptured their old form as when they won the NBA championship two years ago. They just did the improbable by knocking off the overall number one seed, Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. Just who do these Celtics think they are? Simply put, they are Rajon Rondo. Forget the big three, they should now be referred to as the four horsemen. Rondo is the white horse. He is the leader of the team now. Kevin Garnett inherited the title of leader when he came to Boston but it is clear that Rondo has usurped that position. It is his play that has got the team his far.

Cleveland may have been a gut check for the Celtics but they have not faced a juggernaut like the Orlando Magic. The Magic have plowed their way through the competition with ease and a ferocity that is unfound in any other team that is playing currently. Atlanta and Charlotte were mere sideshows and they expect Boston to be no different. Why should they? They have the number one ranked defense and their offense has looked unstoppable. One look at their scores and one would assume they were looking at the final score of a Harlem Globetrotters game.

On paper each team matches up well with the other. They are both strong at point, guard, forward, and center. Yet it is the intangibles that will dictate how the series will play out. Kevin Garnett completely shutdown Antawn Jamison in the series with Cleveland and will therefore naturally feel entitles to do the same to Rashard Lewis. They are not the same player, KG. Lewis prefers to operate around the perimeter and his will force Garnett out of his defensive comfort zone. He is not a wing defender. Forcing Garnett further from the paint opens up the lane so that Dwight Howard can operate in the post. If a double team drops down on Howard it opens up Orlando’s perimeter shooting, that is if Howard does not turn the ball over.

Boston will have to stay at home on the players they are guarding. There will be little, if no room for error as the Magic will capitalize on every open opportunity. If Boston switches on picks they will be in trouble, if they leave a man open they will be in trouble. The only legitimate depth off the bench that the Celtics have is in the frontcourt. (No, I am not talking about Rasheed Wallace.) They will need Kendrick Perkins and Glen “Big Baby” Davis to play well if they have any hopes of getting Howard into foul trouble. However, the Magic have shown that they are still unbeatable even with Howard on the bench. They are just too good from every angle.

Series Prediction: The matchup between Rondo and Jameer Nelson should go down as one of the better point guard duels in NBA playoff history. Rondo will likely get the better of Nelson in one on one situations. Boston is riding high on their magic carpet for now but it is the Magic themselves who will turn the Celtic’s carpet into a doormat. Orlando is too good at every position and has yet to even look like they could falter. Certainly, this will be a tougher challenge for the Magic than their previous two series but how much tougher we have yet to see. The fresh legs of the Magic will be key in the first game of the series and will be a catalyst for the rest of the series. Orlando will continue to play at an unmatched level and they will win the series in five games. (I’ll call it now; the game the Magic lose will be game four in Boston.)

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