Monday, March 7, 2016

Thoughts as of 3/7

            How is it that Manu Ginobili comes back from testicular surgery not only without anyone knowing (word was he might not even make it back for the playoffs) and totally kills it having his best game of the season and looking great.  15 minutes, 8 for 11 from the field,  Plus 10 +/-, for 22 points.  That’s incredibly efficient.  It’s easy to forget how good that guy has been for his career.  And while we’re on the subject of the Spurs no coach in the NBA will play his bench like Popovich.  He’s not in the least afraid to roll out any combination of players, partly because no matter who he sits for games and who he puts out there his players compete and know what they’re doing.  On any given night he’ll start Simmons and Kyle Anderson.  Or perhaps he’ll start Bonner in the second half of a game against say Sacramento even though Bonner has barely played this season.  Of course he comes out and hits two three’s.  Everyone on the team is ready to play and Popovich is ready to play them.  That’s just unheard of in the NBA…

            Exactly how does Golden State get blown out on national TV by the Lakers?  Truly anything can happen on a given night in basketball.  Bottom line is that if you shoot badly it’s really hard to win.  Even the best teams are dependent on being able to put the ball in the basket.  Golden State shot terribly against the Lakers and similarly San Antonio couldn’t hit anything against Indiana until it was too late on Monday.  The tendency is when the better team is really cold defense becomes harder to play and often the worse team will get hot.  It happens.  I don’t think either San Antonio or Golden State should worry too much but I do wonder if Golden State’s pursuit of Chicago’s record is a good idea.  The pressure of winning so many games in the regular season is pretty high and they should be remotely concerned about burning themselves out.  Frankly the regular season record means nothing if they don’t win the championship. 
            Strangely though Golden State is in a position where a regular season game against a terrible team (the Magic) is strangely meaningful.  Getting blown out by a terrible team makes other teams smell blood.  All season teams have been demoralized by Golden State.  Losing to Orlando would have given hope and confidence to the rest of the league.  Golden State managed a win but it wasn’t easy.  The Magic aren’t winning a lot of games but they’ve got a lot of talent and they’re competitive.  It’s just a matter of time before they’re good…

            I talked last week about how being good should have value even if it never leads to a championship.  I may have failed to mention Atlanta as a prime example.  They are an awesome team to watch when they’re dialed in as they are right now and though they have no chance at all of winning it all this year they’re fun to watch.  I also didn’t mention an important point that not only is a good team a better fan experience but in many markets it’s the difference between making or losing money as an organization.  It’s easy for pundits to tell Memphis or Atlanta to blow it up but Grit and Grind sells tickets.  Not every market is NYC where Dolan can put a crap product on the court year after year and still sell out.  Even the Nets are realizing that a terrible team means you have to lower ticket prices and no Billionaire likes to lose money even for a vanity project like owning a professional sports team. 

            The Cavs won against Boston which was surprisingly an important game for them.  Boston has given them problems.  It’s not a good sign that Love was only 1 for 6 though.  I don’t think they use him too well but at some point he’s got to take responsibility for his own play.  He is just not nearly the player he was in Minnesota.  Is that because he’s a bad team good stats player or because his skillset has tailed off?  It’s hard to tell.  I tend to think with this sample size that he just wasn’t as good as he seemed but he’s a little bit better than he’s playing now.  The good teams in the East have given the Cavs problems including Toronto and Chicago.  Chicago is suddenly at full strength and ready to make a push (Jimmy Butler, like Ginobili made a quick recovery) for the playoffs and Toronto is slowly creeping up on the Cavs for the best record in the East.  Until Toronto wins a playoff series though it’s hard to take them seriously.


            I wrote the last paragraph yesterday.  Apparently Jimmy Butler had swelling in his knee and his back is acting up after 1 game back.  Chicago’s fortunes are 100% tied up in Butler’s health.  If he can play soon they’ll make the playoffs and be dangerous.  If he can’t they could fall out of the playoffs and even if they make it they’re not beating anyone without him.  Having said that they had a big win Monday against Milwaukee to maintain their playoff hopes.  It’s easy to forget how good people thought Jabari Parker would be.  He’s shown some flashes lately of being a really good player now that he’s finally healthy.  He’s got a lot of skill and speed for a relatively large human being…

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