Author: John Paulsen (Page 524 of 937)

      What did the Magic do right in Game 6?

      May 15, 2009 /

      On Wednesday, after two straight narrow defeats at the hands of the Celtics, I asked, “Why can’t the Magic finish games?” I referenced an article by John Carroll, where he said the problem was four-fold:

      1. The Magic don’t fully commit at the defensive end.
      2. They refuse to pound the ball inside.
      3. They fall in love with the three-point shot.
      4. They don’t trust their coach the way the Celtics do.

      I focused on #2, and threw in a couple of other problems:

      5. Poor late-game play from Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis.
      6. They don’t have a guy who can consistently get to the hole.

      So what was the difference in the Magic’s win in Game 6?

      1. Check…they held the Celtics to just 75 points, 13 in the fourth quarter.
      2. Check…Dwight Howard attempted 16 shots and 12 free throws; both are series highs.
      3. No change…the Magic were just 6 of 26 for the game.
      4. It’s hard to gauge how much they trust Stan Van Gundy on a game-to-game basis. They responded with good defense and a strong game plan to feed Howard the ball, so they must trust his instruction to a certain extent.

      5. What about Turkoglu and Lewis? Here are their fourth quarter stats:

      Lewis: 2-5 (0-1 3PT), 8 points, 3 rebounds, steal, assist
      Turkoglu: 1-5 (1-3 3PT), 3 points, 2 rebounds

      So Lewis and Turkoglu went a combined 3 of 10 for 11 points and five rebounds in Game 6. They shot 3 of 15 for a total of 11 points (combined) in Game 4 and Game 5. Turkoglu didn’t play particularly well, but the one shot he hit in the fourth quarter was HUGE. It came with 1:23 remaining and the Magic clinging to a three-point lead. Lewis clearly played well. He shot just 40% in the quarter, but he got to the line twice for four more points, had an assist, a steal and drew an offensive foul on Kendrick Perkins.

      6. Check…Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston each had key driving layups in the fourth quarter. To win close games down the wire, you have to have a player (or two) that are effective at getting into the lane and finishing. Alston and Lee stepped up in the fourth quarter for the Magic.

      On the whole, the Magic did a better job across the board, save for some very suspect three-point shooting. But can they post a repeat performance in Game 7 in front of a very hostile crowd?

      NBA

      What’s wrong with the Lakers?

      May 15, 2009 /

      Like most NBA fans (outside the greater Houston area), once the news broke that Yao Ming was going to miss the rest of the playoffs with a foot injury, I wrote off the Rockets. How could they possibly keep pace with one of the top two teams in the league without their best player?

      Since the injury, the Rockets have taken two of three from the Lakers, and if Kobe and Co. were truly championship worthy, they would have gone on the road and won Game 4 or Game 6. Laker apologists will probably just say that their team will still win in Game 7 and they’ll go on to win the championship, but really, they shouldn’t be in this position in the first place. Anything can happen in a single game, and sometimes, no matter what you do, it’s just not your night. What if the Rockets collectively catch fire like they did in Game 4? What if Kobe has one of his 5-for-20 days? Or what if Pau Gasol goes down with an injury that knocks him out of the game?

      By letting the Rockets get back into the series, the Lakers have no margin for error. That’s the whole point of a seven-game series — it’s designed so that poor luck and bad nights don’t send a true champion home early.

      Continue reading »

      NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Which NBA teams will have cap space this summer?

      May 14, 2009 /

      The NBA free agency period starts July 1st, and as that date approaches I’ll preview this year’s free agent class in more detail. But for now, I’d like to take a look at which teams have the cap flexibility to be major players in free agency this summer. (Mind you, just because a team has cap space, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll use it. Just sayin’.)

      Not familiar with the NBA salary cap? Here’s a quick primer…

      1. The cap for the 2008-09 season was $58.7 million. The general consensus is that the cap will stay flat or decrease slightly. We’ll assume it sticks at $58.7 million.

      2. If a team is over the cap, the only free agents they can sign are their own, unless they elect to sign a player to the mid-level exception (~$5.8 million per season), the bi-annual exception (~$2.0) or to a minimum contract. (The bi-annual exception may not be used in two consecutive years.)

      3. If a team is under the cap, they can sign any free agent they want as long as they do not exceed the cap. They can also take on salary via trade up to the cap, so a team like the Grizzlies (with almost $20 million in cap space) could conceivably trade their first round pick to the Suns for Amare Stoudemire or to the Raptors for Chris Bosh.

      Here’s a list of the bigger names in the free agent pool this summer:

      Unrestricted: Carlos Boozer, Ben Gordon, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, Hedo Turkoglu, Allen Iverson, Mehmet Okur, Rasheed Wallace, Mike Bibby, Anderson Varejao, Grant Hill, Kyle Korver, Trevor Ariza, Brandon Bass, Chris Andersen, Zaza Pachulia, Chris Wilcox and Drew Gooden

      Restricted: David Lee, Paul Millsap, Ray Felton, Josh Childress*, Marvin Williams, Glen Davis, Ramon Sessions, Charlie Villanueva, Nate Robinson, Leon Powe, Hakim Warrick, Linas Kleiza, Jarrett Jack and Shannon Brown

      * It appears that if Childress does return to the NBA, the Hawks still hold his rights, so he would be a restricted free agent.

      There are eight teams that project to have more than $5.8 million (the value of the mid-level exception) in cap space this summer:

      Memphis Grizzlies
      Projected Cap Space: $19.7 million
      Memphis has been reluctant to spend for several years now and is probably one of the franchises that’s struggling the most in the current economy. I lived in Memphis for three years, and given its small size and overall lack of wealth, I always thought that it would struggle to support a professional sports team. With a core of Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies have to feel pretty good about what they have at off guard, small forward and center. The big decision this summer is what to do with restricted free agent Hakim Warrick. When dealing with bad teams, numbers can be deceptive, because no matter what, somebody has to score and rebound, right? Warrick’s PER (16.91) is #24 amongst power forwards, so ideally he’d be coming off the bench for a playoff team. The Grizzlies projected cap space assumes they make the qualifying offer to Warrick ($3.0 million). Memphis is one of those teams that could really use the services of a Carlos Boozer, David Lee or Paul Millsap, but in this economy, are the Grizzlies willing to make that kind of a commitment? They could try to make a run at Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire next summer, but the odds are long that either guy would want to play for the Grizzlies.

      Continue reading »

      NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Bill Simmons actually thinks he should get a shot as an NBA general manager

      May 13, 2009 /

      Last year, when the Bucks had a GM opening, Bill Simmons started a campaign to fill the position. Fortunately, the Bucks hired John Hammond.

      Fast forward a year, and Simmons is campaigning for the open Minnesota GM job, punctuated by this beauty in his so-called “epic” conversation with author Malcom Gladwell (the guy who thinks all underdogs should utilize the full-court press).

      NBA teams rarely, if ever, think outside the box, and that’s one of at least 50 reasons why I could succeed as a GM.

      This started out as a semi-joke, but I think over the course of the last year, Simmons’ ego, along with a few thousand emails of support from his readers, have convinced himself that he’s actually qualified to run an NBA franchise.

      Look around the league and you’ll find that NBA general managers are usually former players, had front-office experience prior to getting the keys to a franchise, have advanced degrees in business and have an deep understanding of the salary cap and of how the fiscal side of the NBA works. Bill’s greatest strength is his ability to compare an athlete to a character to some random movie from the ’80s. What’s he going to do — sit Kevin Love down and tell him that his game reminds him of Chubby from “Teen Wolf”? How does this get the T-Wolves to the playoffs?

      To me, the big question is whether or not Simmons keeps this up. Is he going to campaign for every open general manager position until he gets one (or more likely, dies of old age)? Or is there a certain point when all this I-can-run-an-NBA-team talk becomes so sad that he eventually just gives it up?

      There’s no doubt about it — Simmons is an entertaining sportswriter, maybe the best in the stream-of-consciousness/pop-culture business. But he needs a reality check, and there’s no way to give it to him.

      Humor, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Celtics’ gamble on Marbury pays off…finally

      May 13, 2009 /

      I missed the start of the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the Celtics/Magic series, but apparently there was a Stephon Marbury sighting. Check out this series from the play-by-play log:

      11:22 Stephon Marbury enters the game for Ray Allen
      11:04 Stephon Marbury makes 19-foot jumper (Paul Pierce assists)
      10:26 Stephon Marbury makes 21-foot jumper (Paul Pierce assists)
      8:30 Stephon Marbury makes 24-foot three pointer (Brian Scalabrine assists)
      7:56 Stephon Marbury makes 21-foot two point shot
      7:16 Glen Davis makes 6-foot hook shot (Stephon Marbury assists)
      5:54 Stephon Marbury makes 6-foot two point shot
      5:54 Stephon Marbury makes free throw 1 of 1
      5:26 Stephon Marbury misses layup
      4:54 Rajon Rondo enters the game for Stephon Marbury

      That’s 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting, with an assist to Davis. The Celtics didn’t make up any ground during Marbury’s six-and-a-half minute stint — when he entered and exited the game, the C’s were down by the same margin, 10 — but his hot shooting helped Boston avoid disaster. The Magic built a 14-point lead with 8:48 to play, but Marbury’s play helped whittle it down to eight with just under six minutes remaining.

      Keep in mind that prior to this hot streak, Marbury had played a total of 138 playoff minutes in 11-and-a-half games, shooting 14 of 55 (25%) from the field and scoring just 36 points. So, yes, his 12-point stint in the fourth quarter was shocking, and the Celtics probably wouldn’t have been able to pull out Game 5 without it.

      NBA

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