Incredible first game. I got a few things to touch on.
First a question. Those of yous who watched, did you have trouble hearing the commentators? I have noticed this a lot last couple years, and it seems like it is always on ABC i have this problem. Never have this on problem on TNT; the game earlier on ESPN was fine. I have a theory ABC turns up the level on the arena sounds to help "bring the viewer into the arena." When the crowd is loud i can't hear nothing they say, when the crowd is quiet, it can still be tricky.
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Mainly there are just some specific plays i am curious about. In the 4th, Parker had the ball and Nash on him at the top of the key. Parker faked a pass left, and Nash completely left the ball to cover Finely who was wide open for a three. Maybe Nash bit on the fake initially, but he just kept running, all the way to Finley. Why would Nash leave the ball? i know it is important to not leave a man open for three, but isn't it more important to guard the guy with the ball? Anyone got a theory for why he would do that? I saw someone do the same thing against Detroit like a month ago. With the same result--uncontested layup.
In overtime ginoboli drove and threw up a runner. Shot went long and hit the far side of the backboard and Ginoboli got his own rebound, missed again; Thomas missed a tip-in; then, Duncan made the tip-in--which amounted to a huge basket. On manu's first shot, I saw three angles and saw no one else appear to hit the ball, and the ball did not hit the rim, which is a travel. I was shocked the Refs didn't notice the obvious travel, don't think the commentators noticed it either. Am i missing something here? Was that somehow legal? Did anyone notice that play?
Now for some accolades: Damn, how awesome were Duncan and Manu. That three pointer from Timmy was one of the greatest things i've ever seen. I was laughing my ass off. PHX should have watched the all-star skills competition; those SAS bigs can shoot threes, lol. And Manu from the point Parker followed out to the end, was just rediculous. He drove right to the hoop every possesion, at least a couple times right on Shaq. They had no answer whatsoever. Manu went left each time too, lol, they still couldnt' stop him.
How can anyone think NFL is better than NBA is beside me.
16 comments:
So, anyone watch this game? Ya'll need Tivo.
Incredible game. We had a little playoffs party, and we went fucking berserk when Duncan hit that 3.
Oh, and its not travelling if it hits the backboard.
Oh, and its not travelling if it hits the backboard.
Really? i could of sworn it needed rim. I want a second opinion;D
i didn't comment yesterday because I watched all of the games DVR delay and didn't want to read anything that might give away something. The first two were about 30-60 min. delay from realtime just so I could fast forward the commercials. After the SanAn game though, I needed a break. Mollie and I went to get some dinner and watched the new Judd Apatow movie.
I think the only thing stopping this game from being the greatest playoff game I've ever seen live is the fact that it was round 1, game 1 so there's just too much basketball to be played for it to be considered decisive. Even if it goes 7 games, people will remember game 6 and 7 and may refer to that crazy game 1 pretty casually. Maybe if the Spurs win in 4-5 games, it may be remembered as the game that broke the Suns but I don't think the Suns are weak enough for that to happen. That said, I can't remember feeling so emotionally intense about any game the Lakers didn't play in.
What's funny to me is how much my dislike for another team can dominate my brain's reasoning. For instance, in this series I was determined to root against San Antonio so I could see Kobe-Shaq and so I could have the Lakers knock the Suns out to avenge the last 2 years. Something changed in me at half time though. I've been rooting for San Antonio so long and dislike Phx so much that I couldn't help but want Timmy to squash Stoudimire. Even though San Antonio might be a more difficult matchup for the Lakers, I can't help it. I'll take some solace when they beat Boston.
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As for the commentators; that's hilarious that you mention it. I noticed that a few months back but just assumed it was some crazy feed/relay etc. that nobody was paying attention to. The fact that it could be intentional is a good point. I don't have my whole stereo setup here yet but I used to just play the audio through my stereo system and crank up the center channel.
What a first day though huh? Cavs win in typical Cavs style. Lebron & his 7 dwarfs beat another team with defense and some hustle. And that dunk?? It helps out dunk so much when the dunker falls after the dunk. To have the high point to low point go from 12' to 4' looks so much better than 12' to 7'. Those games are pretty boring basketball-wise. If it weren't for the emotional rivalry, I don't think I would watch them.
And then the Hornets! I read a story just after the All-Star break that at one of the All-Star game weekend parties, CP & MJ played as partners in a pool game. They were joking around and playing really well off each other for 10-15 minutes because they were so competitive. Both players made a mistake in the final few shots and they ended up losing. At the end, the smiles were gone MJ managed a smirk and said something like "this one's on you" and started to walk away into the crowd, at which point Paul yelled back, no smile, (over the 80 people gathered around to watch them) "if it was on me, we'd have won" and proceeded to walk the exact opposite direction.
I watch them all delayed too. I skip commercials, freethrows, even the walk to the timeline after a made basket. Though if i am really into the game i do that less. The houston game was too late. I had to watch the last 18:00 this morning. though i skiipped a lot fo the 4th as it slipped away.
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I could never bet on these games, because there would be too many times my money would go one way and my heart another. I picked DAL and PHX for first round wins, but was pulling like crazy for SAS and NOH.
Also, in the past seasons i wanted to root for SAS in the West, but they were usually favorties and it is very difficult for me not to root for the underdogs.
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The Cavs game was also typical cause they were losing at start of 4th.
Another note on that Dunk, If the pass is a bit behind, it makes the dunk look cooler too. If you remember that one with Dwight last year, he had to reach all the way back for an alley opp and i think it ended up being the #1 dunk of the season on that "top 10 dunks of 2006-07" video they did.
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Great pool story. That sounds just like them, haha. Hypercomptitive.
Oh yeah, and i don't have a stereo hooked up, just a couple built-in basic tv speakers. So the audio levels are probably pretty standard. No center channel to push everything through.
I have noticed this problem on my folks' TV too.
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One more thing on Duncan's three. A couple different commentators seemed to think the play was drawn up with that shot in mind. You think they really planned on that option(even as a 2nd option). Could be, but that surprises me.
Great point - I thought about that too yesterday. When the first person said it, all I could think was wow, Pop's got some cajones but about 5 seconds later my brain kinda sputtered and thought it definitely could have been an 'accident'. I settled on planned because he was so wide open.
Now... they repetitively showed it over and over through the highlights of the next few games and as the seeds were planted in my head already, so I got a better assessment later in the day and I think you're right, sort of. I think the play was setup to have it in Ginobili's hands (because he is a good decision maker and was being guarded by Nash). So, high pick & roll w/ Timmy and:
Normally, I'm pretty sure this play was setup as a 2 point play w/ 3s as options. In that case Option 1 is Duncan for an 18 footer. Option 2/3 would be taking it himself and/or dishing to Thomas if Thomas' man comes over to contest Ginobili's shot. Options 4/5 are the 2 shooters in the corners if one of their guys leaves them to help.
In the instance where you HAVE to have a 3 though (like last night), the options change slightly. Option 1 is Finley in the far corner (but they're guarding him cuz he just hit 1 biggie). Option 2 is Barry/Bowen (?) in the near corner. Option 3 then becomes Duncan for a 3pt. because options 4/5 (taking it himself and/or dishing to Thomas) require someone to draw the foul. Maybe 4 is really ahead of three but I think Ginobili had a clear shot at the basket so he couldn't throw himself into anyone and Shaq was so far away from him it was the only real choice.
So, I think he was planned to be behind the line and Pop knew there was a good chance he'd get the shot but at the same time... he was pretty far down the list of options and would be no option at all if Shaq had decided to at least move toward the basket. The other thing is that I think they had 8-10 secs on the clock so if Shaq had guarded, Duncan rolls toward the basket for Ginobili's possible rebound and they quickly steal/foul or maybe Ginobili doesn't even take the shot and he pulls it out to run another quick play for a 3 pt?
There you go doubting me again Tom. Someone tell him it doesn't have to hit rim.
As for the commentators saying it was drawn up, I heard Mark Jackson say that, and as we all know, that guy is three kinds of stupid. How stupid is he? Well, he might be the next Knicks coach.
Wasn't there someone mildly open to Duncan's right? I'm guessing Jeremy is right when the play is to get it into Manu's hands, pick and roll, and hope.
Worked out pretty well, but I don't think Pop said throw it to Timmy for the three.
what a game. i hope this is a good indicator of the level of intensity we will see throughout the playoffs. seriously, when he hit that 3 shasher's house was shaking
timmy
40 pts
15 reb
5 ast
1 stl
3 blk
eff +47.00
fg% .667
3p% 1.000
sheesh.
it is a teency bit bias cause i
didnt mention the few columns that
aren't impressive. and i didn't mention exactly how MANY 3s he hit, just that he hit em ALL ;) haha. still, has anyone ever seen an EFF that high?
Official Rule Book: Section XIII-Traveling, page 37 states:
f. A player who attempts a field goal may not be the first to touch the ball if it fails to
touch the backboard, basket ring or another player.
g. A player may not be the first to touch his own pass unless the ball touches his backboard,
basket ring or another player.
Nope...Timmy is just EFFing good.
Alright, i belive you now Haircut:)
Just finsihed game two. And once again, i got a question.
About the hack-a-shaq at the end of the third. Was the idea behind that to increase the number of Spurs possesions (and potentionally the lead) while Nash was on the bench? I can't think of any other reason.
It seemed very strange to me at the time they were using it. PHX only had 2 points in the first 9:00 of the period. That is not a typo. If PHX can't get any points with Nash in, i wouldn't expect many more with him out. I would say 1 point per possesion (what you can expect with hack-a-shaq, he did better than that though this time) would be a dramatic increase in offensive effeciency from what was going on. So any thoughts to the reasoning behind that?
I hope they do change that rule, watching a hack-a-shaq or hack-a-ben is boring and embarresing(and i mean for the team that is fouling).
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I'm pretty sure it is illegal to go completely out of bounds and defend the man throwing in the ball-which is what Nash did to Duncan with 14 seconds left in the game. I was surprised there was no call. Though i guess there is a fair chance that the timeout was called first, i couldn't tell, seemed like play was live when nash did it though.
I'm right with you on the Nash play. I was actually expecting the announcers to mention it but they didn't address it directly. I don't think the defender defeninding the inbound is technically allowed cross the plane of the out-of-bounds line but I don't know that for sure.
As for Hack a Shaq; I'm almost sure Pop was doing it with hopes that DanTony would take Shaq out like he did in game 1 therefore weakening PHX's defense (especially in the paint). Without Shaq in there, Timmy has a distinct advantage down low and Parker/Ginobili have much better finishing paths. Though PHX hadn't scored much at all up to that point (6 points in that quarter at the time of the first hack), Pop knows they can do so in vast quantities so I think he was just looking for an advantage where possible. And though they'd taken a commanding lead, with less than 2 minutes left in the quarter, SA had only scored 17 pts in the 3rd. That's too low of a clip to win a game against PHX so maybe the need for any advantage was justified?
Anyone see that body check Shaq put on Parker? I watched it a few times and I guarantee that Shaq delivered it on purpose. I'm almost positive that Phil used to order a hard hit or two on Parker when he entered the paint and he was much more hesitant entering the paint the rest of the game. I watched him after the hit this time though and he didn't seem near as soft as he did when he was 19-21. Note that though Parker had a phenomenal game and went on to score a number more buckets around the rim, he never went back near the basket if Shaq was there.
"agreed. i'm a D guy too. phx has had some incredible defensive quarters, and even a few halves. but i still haven't seen them string together more than that at a time, so my faith that they will do it 20 games in a row is kinda flimsy." -Jakeadomas
After two games, this quote makes you sounds like a pro. Lets see if they end the lay-up drills in PHX.
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Sounds good jeremy, i buy your theory on the hack-a-shaq strat. I knew there was something, being that Pop is a brilliant coach.
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For some reason, i can't remember the bodycheck. Maybe cause i've seen so many dooods get knockeddafuckout this playoffs.
I just finished the closer, heheh, 20 mins b4 wed. games start.
Very fun game. The 2nd half was very ugly by both teams, but it was still fun. Parker was vicious in the first half though, he reminded me a lot of when they played det in the finals. Just penetrating to the rim at will. And every time, he used the perfect amount of english, very nice.
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