1. Warriors in Command
The big news of the first round of the NBA playoffs is obviously Golden State’s 3-1 lead over 67-win Dallas, a series that would have any neutral observer pulling hard for the Warriors even if he/she didn’t know they were enormous underdogs. Golden State epitomizes the coming out of FUN in the NBA this post-season, flipping the bird to the conventional wisdom that you need an airtight freeze-dried stiff upper-lipped dose of disciplined, didactic conservatism in order to win pro hoops in the spring. In fact three of the four most enjoyable teams among the 16 combatants are painting mustaches and spinning whirlagigs on that shibboleth.
No, the new news is that speed, athleticism, transition flow, and ball movement are threatening to be in vogue for the first moment since the Showtime Lakers a pair of decades ago. And joining Steve Nash as the poster child of this stomp-the-throttle fantasia is Baron Davis, who is turning in a folk hero style performance this series. If you like serendipity, your favorite Baron moment tonight was the half-court bank-in to the tie the game at the halftime buzzer. If its plain grit and hustle you hanker for, that jousting with Jason Terry for the steal on the out-of-bounds pass and subsequent transition layup with Terry riding his hip like a bad jockey, all in the last three seconds of the third period, comes out on top. And if seize the moment ingenuity is your thing, Baron’s rebound off his own free throw miss and followup lay-in might be the snapshot.
Of course everybody is going to gush about Golden State–we’ve all got guilty consciences for picking against them, not truly believing until tonight’s gritty victory. That they still might lose is a possibility, of course, but irrelevant to the lasting glory of these first four games. If they keep going, sweet. But it’s that initial rush that really salts away the memories. Golden State fans feel better right now than they will if the Warriors win 55 games and make it to the conference finals next year.
There are a couple of things still worth pointing out about Dallas, however. First, the universally accepted label slapped on the Mavs was that they were stylistically versatile, that they could play Bump and Grind with the Spurs and the Jazz and Beat the Clock with the flyboys. But it wasn’t so. Of the team’s mere 15 losses in regular season play, a third of them were to Golden State, who beat them in all three meetings, and Phoenix, who beat them twice in a row in the final couple months of the season. People mistake the Mavs’ quickness for a team that enjoys transition play. They don’t. Even their fastest players like Devon Harris and Josh Howard have the sort of explosiveness that works best in the half-court for them, and regular rotation guys like Nowitzki, Stackhouse, Dampier, and Terry don’t thrive against teams that love uptempo play. And if you need further convincing, the 45-4 edge the Warriors had in fast break points tonight over the first 46 minutes of the game might be the smoking gun.
Second, this has not been a good series for Avery Johnson, who was the single biggest reason why I decided the Mavs could withstand what was clearly going to be a difficult series for Dallas (but highly entertaining for the rest of us). It began when he went small with the lineup change, a move subsequently discredited by the fine performance of Dasagana Diop in the middle, who has been as much of an obstacle to the Warriors as anyone in a Dallas uniform–the key to tonight’s game was when he picked up his 5th foul with the Mavs up 7 in the fourth period. The other mark against Avery is that his inflammable emotions on the sidelines haven’t inspired his squad and may have contributed to their rattled demeanor. There was no way for anyone to know how the Mavs would react, of course, but if anyone should have had a clue, it was Avery.
Third, as someone who has watched Kevin Garnett be pilloried for playing fundamentally sound, unselfish basketball for lo these many years, I’m a little suspicious on the pile-on Nowitzki is being subjected to right now. TNT announcer Dick Stockton (oh I wish Harlen and Collins could have done this game) was a real asshole about it, justifiably pointing out Nowitzki’s absence of aggressive point scoring, but either deliberately or blindly not noticing all the little things Nowitzki was doing on defense and for ball movement tonight. Granted, Nowitzki has not had a great series by any means, but neither has it been a classic choke–far from it. According to the popcornmachine.net totals, Dallas was +3 tonight in the 47:09 Nowitzki played, and -7 in the 51 seconds he sat.
2. Bullish in the East
Speed kills, exhibit B was Chicago’s sweep over ossified Miami, the pathetic defending champs who mailed in the entire regular season in the belief they could just flip a switch in the playoffs, only to get de-pantsed by the Bulls’ squadron of small, quick, very talented and poised top 5: Deng, Gordon, Wallace, Nocioni and Hinrich, with PJ Brown the token slowfoot.
My advice to any neophyte or otherwise clueless GM: Get some players from Argentina. Like Manu Ginobili, Nocioni seems to kick it up a notch when it matters most–otherwise known as having a killer instinct. Deng, like Baron Davis, is writing his name in neon across these playoffs, sending poor Eddie Jones packing with his combination of strength, size and quickness. Gordon has so much confidence in his shot right now that a priority for opponents should be to frustrate him and get him out of sync, even at the expense of leaving others open a little more. Wallace is the experienced hand, the guy who can battle in the paint and play superb interior D without retarding the high powered pace that is the Bulls metier. And Hinrich, well, he had an off-series, beset by fouls, and if the Bulls are going to beat the Pistons in the second round, he’ll have to raise his game and move his feet better against Chauncey Billups. I wouldn’t bet against it.
3. Hidebound SOB/PhDs in San Antonio
Watching these games for the pure basketball of it all, I found myself rooting for Golden State (even my disdain for Don Nelson abating), Phoenix, Chicago, and….the Spurs. How could this be? AI is one of my all-time couch potato lures, and I dislike Tim Duncan’s “noble carriage but blatant whiner” hypocrisy almost as much as ref Joey Crawford. Worse, if there is a team that can send the NBA back to the stone age in terms of bruise-over-cruise prioritizing, it is Gregg Popovich’s unmerry men.
But damn it if the Spurs don’t have grit and guile and team synergy that isn’t lightning in a bottle but fermented for eight years in oaken casks in the dusky depths of their collective souls. The key plays in Saturday night’s pivotal road win over Denver were Robert Horry’s steal and bucket to trigger a deadly surge at the end of the third quarter, and Michael Finley making them pay for doubling Duncan while keeping close watch on Ginobili and Parker–he buried treys. The key plays that nobody ever thinks about being key plays were all the times the Spurs scrambled back on defense.
I don’t understand why Pops wants to throw Bowen on Iverson every third or fourth possession, especially when Tony Parker is playing decent D for a change and hair-shirt defenders like Bowen are the only guys that usually give Carmelo Anthony fits. But I don’t think it is a very bright idea to criticize Gregg Popovich’s decisions about how to play defense. Still, it’s a head-scratcher that doesn’t seem to be working.
Another reason I swung to the Spurs is Denver feels like a punk-ass outfit. Nene has had a bevy of marvelous moments, but is still prone to putting a little mustard on the rage when he finishes an open dunk with his team down 6 with two minutes to go–and he’s whining more than Duncan. Karl hasn’t worn well since his heyday in Seattle, even, or especially, his fluke year in Milwaukee that bagged him the huge contract. And Melo, well, Melo is the poor man’s Kobe Bryant, and that is not a compliment. Can score in the clutch. Does a lot of things well. Obviously smart, pretty well-spoken, and often fun to watch. But from afar, he doesn’t feel like a great teammate–there’s a distance there that might be arrogance or immaturity or simply a lack of inspirational leadership. In a playoff year when speed and transition are the rule, a squad with Melo and AI should ready for their close-ups. Instead, the Nugs don’t seem ready. Or maybe the Spurs are simply that good.