The Southwest Showdown

I have to tell you I am conflicted on who to pick for the Western Conference Finals.  The reason? Well there are so many tasty story lines for each team, we could serve them as a huge plate on an episode of Man v. Food.   There is so many things that interest me about this individual series, and then the series after it if either the Oklahoma City Thunder or Dallas Mavericks advance.  I don't care if I am the 2414th blogger to say this, but I am so happy to not see the same teams in the Conference Finals. It's a great change of pace, and either team in the NBA Finals will be a breath of fresh air. Hopefully I can figure out the pick by the end of this post.





NBA Playoffs 2011: Where
everyone including me jumped
back on the Dirk bandwagon



Dirk v. KD-  I trust Marc Stein of ESPN.com when he talks about Dallas, and he discussed at great length how Dirk isn't as bad of a defender that people make him out to be.  He says that he is a good team defender. I know he will not guard Kevin Durant, nor will Dirk guard KD, but he is one of the only players who can look Durant in the eye each time down the court. The funny thing is both of these players should guard each other, but worry about getting tired on the defensive end. I predict both guys have huge series unless they start matching up with each other. Also both of these players need to hammer the lane, and try to find the other so rack up the fouls early.

Old Fellas v. Young Gunnas- This is like watching a YMCA adult league where you see the older men maybe some former college stars taking the young, upbeat college kids for the championship. The Mavericks have a great number of players from my time growing up an NBA fan like Jason Kidd, Peja Stojakovic, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, and even Dirk. All of these guys are ring-less, and everyone of them minus Dirk knows this is their last shot at an NBA title.

In the other corner, Durant ready to put himself on the next level of superstars in the NBA, Russell Westbrook making the argument for either being the best second banana in the NBA, or the next Stephon Marbury, and Serge Ibaka on the cusp of being an All-Star player on both ends of the court. I can almost guarantee you there will be some chippy play in the first two games as a way for each side to establish themselves, just like in Y ball. The old men want to show these 'kids' who owns the court.

J-Kidd v. Russ- I heard Kidd's quote yesterday saying Westbrook is the second-fastest point guard he faces in the league right now, other than NBA MVP Derrick Rose.  Kidd is a crafty veteran, but I find it hard to believe he will be able to keep up with Westbrook for the entire series. Although Kidd is drinking from the fountain of youth that Mark Cuban bought his team before the playoffs so who knows maybe he can do it.  I do believe unlike the Memphis series, this could be a Westbrook-first series.  I think my biggest beef with Westbrook's shooting has been his lack of finishing near the paint therefore it looks like a shittier shot than it actually was.  Also it's not his fault Scott Brooks coaches with a children book instead of a playbook.

Mark Cuban- Notice how Cubes (people who are cool with him can call him that) is barely doing any interviews during the playoffs?  Just giving emphatic gestures from his seat like a proud father at his son's high school game.  He isn't giving any quotables to the opposing team or bitching about the officials.  I figured out  the reason why... Cuban has been burned before by David Stern, and he will be damned if it happens again to him.  Cuban knows like the players do, they have a great opportunity to win the whole thing, and Cubes opening his mouth will cause more trouble than anything else.

Every and I mean every NBA conspiracy theorist knows that's true, and would also feel it is poetic justice if Stern hands Cuban, the Larry O'Brien Trophy after the Miami Screwjob.  In case you are wondering, this would rank 2nd in Awkward Sports Moments, only thing higher will be when Tiger Woods is set to win a major championship with his porn star girlfriend looking on.

Fear the Beard:  If I didn't mention James Harden, then I should not be discussing the NBA. Harden has finally stepped up to the plate and been the player we all expected him to be out of college. I have been very impressed with the way he has become a great role player for a playoff team. Also, if you are a regular reader here, you know I enjoy tremendous facial hair because I cannot grow a good beard to save my soul. The power of beard in sports has worked in mysterious ways this year with Brian Wilson's beard beginning the momentum then Brett Keisel's beard getting to the Super Bowl losing to one of the only things that can stop an epic beard.... the Green Bay Packers.  Also my buddy Microwave would probably pour a drink on me if I didn't add, he grew a Harden-like beard where I concluded he will be only non-Amish white guy to pull off this look.

Prediction: Originally in the latest Snotap pissing match also known as the NBA Bracket Challenge, I took the Thunder to the NBA Finals. So I would have to take them to win this series right?  Nope, I also took Dallas to lose in round 1 too, I think the Mavericks win because they have better coaching, not because they are more experienced, or Dirk is better than KD.  The Thunder will lose Game 5 or Game 6 because Scott Brooks gets outcoached by Rick Carlisle. After watching the three overtime game and other instances in the past month, I cannot trust Brooks any longer in this NBA Playoffs.


Dallas Mavericks in Six.

-Charlie.

Tell Tale Signs From Triple Overtime

Last night I thought it would be just a normal sports night with nothing going on and allow for my hiatus to continue from writing some lengthy posts.  Oh, how wrong I was as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies in three overtimes last night 133-123. It was one of those games where there ended up being so many interesting story lines that came out of this game, and could define the rest of the NBA Playoffs.



The first thing the Tuesday Morning Point Guards have jumped on has been the lack of coaching that went on in this game, which made for a sloppy overtime period.  Now, I agree there were some horrific moments in this game, but when two teams play 63 minutes, it is obvious there are going to be a lot of flaws for us to nitpick.  Additionally, Lionel Hollins versus Scott Brooks is not like Phil Jackson versus Chuck Daly. Hollins made an obvious error by putting O.J. Mayo out there to foul when he had five, and don't even get me started with Mr. Brooks.

I tweeted yesterday that Brooks is the Ned Yost of the NBA.  The guy is absolutely clueless. There is no offense, and he has no idea how to manage his big guys. I understand Serge Ibaka's ankle is weak and had five fouls, but why did Ibaka only get in the game after Kendrick Perkins fouled out in the third OT?  It makes zero sense to me.  At least rotate him for defensive help, but BrooksYost babied his ankle way too much.  The other problem with Brooks' style is he forgot to tell Russell Westbrook to pass the ball.

Westbrook had 40 points, but it was a forced effort. He did not let the points come to him, instead Westbrook decided that he would have the ball at all times attempting to score each time down. He ignored the fact that he had Kevin Durant on his team who by the way, only shot 20 times compared to Westbrook's insanely high 33. Not to mention, Westbrook played six minutes less than KD making that number even more ridiculous.

The only fair defense of what happened last night would be Durant facing guys like Shane Battier and Tony Allen, two guys who are lock down defenders. Even so, I think KD can make things happen against those individuals. Durant not touching the ball for nine minutes is inexcusable. Westbrook's style of play reminded me of Allen Iverson or Stephon Marbury.  It was finally clear last night that Westbrook wants no part of being the second banana of this team.

I would like to see Westbrook dish it off to James Harden or Durant, and start to move around the court to create a better shot.  Westbrook has this theory about himself that he can do similar things to Derrick Rose, which he sure as hell cannot.  Oklahoma City isn't going to win a ton of games with Westbrook throwing up garbage at the rim. The worst thing about this all is that Brooks cannot handle these personalities so if this napalms on the Thunder, they will be split up like the Minnesota Timberwolves did back in the day when Marbury didn't realize his role of number 2.

-Charlie.

Why Russell Westbrook is More Valuable than Kevin Durant

As my colleague Eric Nohelty would like to point out, I believe a NBA player's assists per game constitutes as a significant statistic in today's NBA. The list that my colleague Eric Nohelty posted earlier contains the players who average under 3 assists per game. Then, my colleague Eric Nohelty stated that he wouldn't want any of these players on his team in mock gesture of an argument we held last night.



The basic argument stemmed from my proclamation before the season that Russell Westbrook is more valuable (or important which is the same thing). Before the season, Kevin Durant was touted as a phenom the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. However, although Kevin Durant scores more points than James and Bryant the last two seasons, his assists per game pales in comparison to the two other greats. The amount of touches Durant receives should dictate that he average more assists per game. NBA analysts both on TNT and ESPN have said he needs to improve his court vision and passing. That is my argument against Kevin Durant in terms of assists per game and how he should not be considered in terms of a Lebron James or Kobe Bryant.

Now, for my argument towards Russell Westbook being more valuable than Kevin Durant. Durant averages just about 6 more points per game. He averages slightly under 2 more rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook averages 5.5 assists more than Durant per game. Westbrook also averages more steals and Durant averages more blocks. Durant shoots better from the field and from three significantly. These are the statistics. They are concrete facts.

Now, why would I choose Russell Westbrook as more valuable than Durant if Durant holds a slight edge in the statistical category? Why would ESPN have Westbrook at 7 and 4 in their MVP watch the last two weeks? Charlie look here. And why would ESPN not have Durant in the top 10 of their NBA MVP watch since the first weekend they released it?

Now obviously this is not a crackpot, glue-sniffing, idiotic argument that my colleagues Eric and Charlie think it is. Maurice Brooks, ESPN NBA analyst is quoted as, "In September, when Kevin Durant was leading team USA to gold at the FIBA World Championship, who'd have thought KD would be the second best player in OKC."

Westbrook carried the Thunder through Durant's unfortunate injury early in the season. With Durant out of the lineup the Thunder went 3-1 with a road win against Boston.

I'll leave you with this little nugget to consider. It should follow the syllogism model of reasoning. Fact #1: Kevin Durant is superior in all major offensive statistics other than assists per game and steals than Russell Westbrook. Fact #2: Kevin Durant is not being considered for MVP at this moment and Russell Westbrook is. My conclusion: assists per game may play a vital role in determining a player's importance.