Day 2

Don't say I didn't warn you about Houston.


On deck for today:





Jazz at Lakers, 3:00

True Blue Jazz: Yeah, so most people seem to have no hope in the Jazz. Be you a Lakers fan hoping for a sweep, a "famous" person... aka, a mainstream media guy... predicting the Lakers in 5 or 6 or a Jazz fan hoping the Jazz don't get totally embarrassed, you'd have to say/admit things don't look good for the Jazz. They've been struggling for the last bit, both at home and on the road (though that's a season-long issue). Injuries come and go, tensions may be rising, the coach may be giving up (or just trying to goad the team), the players may be packing for the off-season (and a new home?), etc. That, though, is what it is. And it'll all be dealt with at some point. Right now though, the main thing ahead is the first round playoff series with the Lakers.




Forum Blue and Gold: The Lakers have mismatches all over the place to exploit in this series. If they are smart, they should score plenty.

That starts inside in the paint. Mehmet Okur cannot keep Andrew Bynum off the low block or alter his shot in close, and Pau Gasol has a huge size advantage inside. We saw this some in the last regular season meeting between these two. When isolated, Boozer (especially a hobbled Boozer) was virtually helpless on Gasol. There are members of the Jazz — AK-47 — that love to come from the weak-side and block shots — Gasol and Bynum need to be aware and be ready to give up the ball.

The other big problem for the Jazz is at the two — Ronnie Brewer cannot slow Kobe Bryant. In the first two games this season against the Jazz, he averaged 38 points a game. Again, the Jazz can do things to bring help, but that leaves other players open if the Lakers share the ball.


Roomofzen Note: The Lakers are your 2009 NBA champions. Get the broom out.








76ers at Magic, 5:00


Liberty Ballers: We all know the Magic are a thousand times better on paper. We all know they have Dwight Howard. And we all know what the Sixers need to do to win. (3-point differential, defensive rebounding and free throws.) So, instead of polluting your minds with more useless numbers and strategies, I'm simply going to tell you in a couple sentences how excited I am, and leave you with a few YouTube clips to get you pumped!

How excited am I? As excited as I've ever been to watch a basketball game. Need I say more? On the flip side, I'm as nervous as a 6-year old school boy about to ask his secret crush if she wants to share a bag of cheddar fries. I think the game will go one of two ways -- good or bad -- there's no in between.

Don't ask me why I have faith in this 41-win Sixers team who has disappointed me time after time this season, because I won't have an answer. There's just something a special about this group of guys, and the sky's the limit.



Third Quarter Collapse: The book on the Orlando Magic this season is that they're a one-dimensional, three-point shooting team that struggles to win when their threes aren't falling: In a post called "Die By It," Depressed Fan points out that Orlando shoots 40.5% from three-point range in its wins and 31.5% in its losses. While I don't believe their fortunes are inextricably tied to the three-point shot, it is indeed an important part of their offense, to say the least.

And it will be even more important in their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Orlando's biggest advantage over Philadelphia is its ability to bomb away from beyond the arc. In the regular season, Orlando averaged 10 made treys per game, while Philly averaged just 4. If those figures hold up in the postseason, the Sixers will have to make up for an 18-point deficit from the perimeter alone. That's a tall order, especially against Orlando's elite defense.



Roomofzen Note: Goddamit! The Celtics were supposed to get Philly. How did this all go so wrong?









Heat at Hawks


Peninsula is Mightier: "The Heat's interior defenders will need to be wary of the Hawks tendency of over-driving. They get to the foul line a fair amount (25.4 free throws/gm during the regular season), but shot only 73% as a team, good for 28th (3rd worse) in the NBA.

Staying on the subject, should the Hawks get into foul trouble, expect coach Mike Woodson to go to his bench quickly. Apparently, he has a deep fear of his players fouling out and will go to great lengths to avoid that at all costs.

The Hawks big guys (Al Horford and Josh Smith) can get into foul trouble, and the primary backup for them is Zaza Pachulia, who isn't as good a defender as his aforementioned teammates. Attacking the rim and getting to the foul line should be a key point on the Heat's dry-erase board at practice.

Dwyane Wade has never lost a 1st round series when healthy, and he is very healthy. I'm just sayin..."


Peachtree Hoops: Outside of Bibby and Marvin, the Hawks have a tendency to lock in on shooting. Whether it is methodical penetration by Joe or under control back down by Al or "I might as well be blind folded" drive by Josh or Zaza, the Hawks tend to get tunnel vision. Sometimes this is ok. It works for the Hawks. They can draw fouls. They can out athlete a lot of guys at the end. Of course, I wish there was more ball movement, more cutting to the basket, but that is not just going to start happening at this point in the season.

Which means the Dwayne Wade help block could come to the front and center of this series. Rarely is someone that athletic, that quick, also that good at blocking shots. He can slip down off his man in half a step. Hawks players cannot feel satisfied with simply beating their man. Dwayne Wade will be lurking.


Roomofzen Note: I'll be rooting for Miami. I picked them to win and the more Dwayne Wade I can see, the better. Beasley, don't make me look bad!






Hornets at Nuggets, 10:30


Hornets 24/7: "First, expect some cross matching in the backcourts as both teams prefer to keep their best defender on the opposing team's point guard. Dahntay Jones will open defensively on Chris Paul, while Billups slips over to handle Rasual Butler. Vice versa, Rasual Butler will open defensively on Billups, with Paul taking Dahntay.................................................One interesting thing to note is that Chauncey Billups is perfectly in Rasual Butler's wheelhouse defensively, being rather slow and easy to defend on the drive because of Butler's length. In four games this season against the Hornets, Butler has held Billups to 35% shooting from the field and 32% shooting from deep while Billups has only earned .5 free throws more per game due to the defensive pressure. Billups has also only managed 4.8 assists per game. I expect more of the same as Butler sticks to him like glue."


Pickaxe and Roll: Chris Paul is their team. Denver took to trapping him off screens and it has worked beautifully so far. Paul averages just 3 turnovers a game, but against the Nuggets he's averaged 5.3 turnovers a game and that's his highest rate of slip ups against any team. Paul has averaged 20.8 points and 11 assists against the Nuggets this season. He shoots 81% from the foul line and likes to get there any way he can. Paul will work the refs as much as he can and has a knack for being able to initiate contact and draw calls. If Denver can corral Paul in this series the Nuggets can win it in 5 games. If Paul has his way the Hornets will be almost impossible to beat.


Roomofzen Note: Who cares who wins, I just want it to go as long as possible.


I'll computerless until Tuesday, but will be in the Garden tomorrow night. Enjoy the games everyone.

The Babcock Report: The Cornocopia

I have a laundry list of things that I would like to touch on in this edition of the Babcock Report. And, in the interest of efficiency I am also going to throw in an abbreviated U2 Is Not Classic Rock as well. Here goes...

Celtics V Lakers

Kobe and Phil...Is this the End?

Despite the fact that people have made such a huge deal about the Celtics dominance at the free throw line in game 2 no one seems to be pointing out the fact that the total number of fouls called in the game was only 28-21 in favor of the Celtics. The discrepancy in free throws arises from the fact that the Lakers played like huge pussies and refused to attack the rim. In the same vein as the Phoenix Suns "Seven Seconds Or Less" approach to offense, I am officially naming the Lakers offensive scheme "Twelve Feet Or Further", which is where LA's melange of European creampuffs and "Confused" 6'10" "Power" forwards look to take all of their shots from. TFOF...you heard it hear first.

................................................................................

U G L Y...you aint got no Alibi...

I cannot help but see a striking resemblance between Pau Gasol and Randy Johnson. Both of these guys illicit the same "do they have to show a close up of his face every 45 seconds?!" response from me. I only wish that Gasol was from Germany so that we could call him "The Big Munich".

Who knew Pau had a sick Slider?

Curt Schilling (who was sitting court side) reported on his blog that Kobe spent almost the entire game berating and blaming his teammates for the Laker's struggles. If the Lakers lose the series, how many weeks until Kobe demands a trade out of LA again? Over-Under = 3 weeks.

Sorry Guys...Kobe Hates you.

Fast Food

If you have not yet tried the new McDonalds Chicken-Biscuit breakfast sandwich I cannot recommend it enough...it is delicious. Just chicken and a biscuit... simple, classic, a true culinary masterpiece. I have to put it right up there with the Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwich as my favorite fast food chicken sandwiches.

U2 Is Not Classic Rock
(Abreviated Edition)


The Black Keys "Chulahoma"


If you are not familiar with The Black Keys they are a two piece band consisting of singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach (even in music I cannot escape a Celtics reference here) and drummer Patrick Carney. Much like the White Stripes they produce an amazingly powerful and textured sound despite the presence of only two instruments. They draw heavily on a classic blues/rock palette. If you read the last edition of U2 Is Not Classic Rock then you know I was planning on an all Blues edition. Well, I am still waiting for a few CDs to arrive in the mail but I didn't think that it was fair to hold out on you all until then. Much like the Chicken Biscuit breakfast sandwich, I cannot recommend this album enough.

The album itself is a collection of covers of the late great Junior Kimbrough. If you are not familiar with Kimbrough he is a real old school badass blues man in every way. If you like the blues check out his record label Fat Possum, there are many other great artists on board including R.L. Burnside, who is also a huge badass. Here is a picture of Junior Kimbrough:




Obviously, you can tell he is a badass. Anyway, the Black Keys cover his songs on this album and the whole thing is outstanding. From start to finish just straight up hard driving, heavy guitars-dripping with distortion blues. I also highly recommend the other Black Keys albums featuring their original compositions, particularly "Rubber Factory". 3 Cocks...Way up.

Final Thoughts

I think the Celtics win tonight and suck the will to live right out of LA. It is clear to me that the Celtics are the better team. They play better defense and they play together. Can you imagine how badly Garnett, Allen, and Pierce want this Championship? Now they are two games away...these guys have all played at such a high level for ten years or more in this league and now the only thing left to accomplish is within reach.

Enjoy this video in preparation for the game:




And also this:

Foil in the Oven: The Waiting Game

Please rock out to this song like KG does


During the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Babcock and I devoted most of our time on this blog, aside from the parts where we interviewed each other, to writing about how we couldn't write about anything because the anticipation was so great that it held us hostage to our own minds. I feel that way again. I am so amped for tommorow night that I don't even know where I can begin breaking down this series, but I'll try:

It was in the February 22nd edition of Foil in the Oven that I first stated that I was terrified of the Lakers. They were playing at the top of their game, and the Celtics were experiencing their most trying time of the season on a West Coast road trip (they would lose to Phoenix that night). The Cs would eventually get back on track, and much of that fear has dissipated.

I'm confident that the Celtics can win this series. I've said it all year, I really believe that this is the best team in the NBA. However, I believe that the Lakers are the second best team, and they present a lot of matchup problems. And, I'm not even talking about Kobe. Nobody can guard him, so there is no point in wasting my breath with analysis. But, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom provide serious matchup issues. Both of these guys can move, both of them can shoot, and both of them will most likely try to take their defenders (Perk and KG) away from the basket. This will open up space for Kobe to drive, but you can't leave them out there because he can dish to them and they are dangerous.

It will be interesting to see how the Celtics begin this series defensively. Of Odom and Gasol, I view Gasol as the bigger threat. However, it may make more sense to put KG on Odom, because KG seems more comfortable in space, and will do better if Odom takes him away from the hoop. Regardless of who he's covering, Perk is going to have to come up huge for us. He played great against Detroit, and he needs to keep that momentum going. The biggest key will be staying out of foul trouble. We're going to need the big man on the floor, and two fouls in the first five minutes isn't going to get it done.

The Gasol-Odom thing is something that has been haunting me throughout the past few days. But, I think that there are favorable matchups here for the Celtics as well. Mainly, I don't think they have someone that matches up well with Pierce. If Radmanovich is on him, Pierce should dominate. He's the Celtics' best scorer, and he just finished going against two of his toughest matchups in LeBron James and Tayshaun Prince. I expect him to have a huge series. I suppose they could put Kobe on him, but again I see that as a favorable matchup for Pierce.

As I have said, I'm confident. But, it's a different confidence than I've had throughout the rest of the playoffs. If the Celtics play their best, they will win this series. The problem is that throughout these playoffs they have been somewhat inconsistent. They come out some nights and look like that 66-win team from the regular season, and they come out on other nights and look like that 18-win team from last season. Games 3 and 4 in Detroit are great examples of this. In game 3, they executed well on both ends of the floor and dominated Detroit at home. In game 4, they were completely out of sorts on offense. The over-passing, the bad passes, the missed layups, it all looked a pre-season practice.

The Celtics need to play consistently well to win this series. I think they will. This is the NBA Finals. The end is in sight, win or lose. Many analysts today have said that they think this series is the key to Paul Pierce and Ray Allen receiving invites to Springfield when their careers end. The three stars have been working for their entire careers to play on this stage. I think they, and this entire team, have learned a lot about what it takes to win when the stakes are this high. Furthermore, Ray Allen has played through the worst slump of his career and has emerged more effective and confident than before. Those who thought Ray was nothing more than a spot-up shooter should now realize the many ways in which he impacts the game. The fact that they were able to come back from being down ten points in the fourth quarter on the road (with the referees also blatantly against them)on Friday says a lot about how this team has grown since the playoffs began. I expect no let down in this series.

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SI is really good this week. Most impressive to me was this piece about Kobe by Chris Ballard.

Two badass quotes from the article

1) A Western Conference scout who says that it is a common agreement that right now Kobe is lightyears ahead of LeBron and saying that the difference between the two is like the difference between "a Masserati and a Volvo."

2) This story:
It's 1996, and the Lakers call in Bryant, fresh off his senior prom -- he took pop singer Brandy, you might recall -- for a predraft workout at the Inglewood High gym. In attendance are G.M. Jerry West and two members of L.A.'s media relations staff, John Black and Raymond Ridder. Bryant is to play one-on-one against Michael Cooper, the former Lakers guard and one of the premier defenders in NBA history. Cooper is 40 years old but still in great shape, wiry and long and stronger than the teenaged Bryant. The game is not even close. "It was like Cooper was mesmerized by him," says Ridder, now the Golden State Warriors' executive director of media relations. After 10 minutes West stands up. "That's it, I've seen enough," Ridder remembers West saying. "He's better than anyone we've got on the team right now. Let's go."