ALL BARK, NO BITE

Yumi

2011-01-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Since my last post, I have completed my first semester of medical school successfully.

I regret not thinking to write about the feeling of stress that led up to our first cumulative midterm exams, because I don't think I'd be able to do it justice now. Needless to say it was draining.

When the day came and went however, the usual relief wasn't quite there. I didn't get the sense that my success was due to my diligence. Rather, I felt that had I spent less time than I did, that I would have met with failure. I'm constantly told that this "desperation" is a good thing, and a sign that I'm making a sincere effort. I often question myself in that regard, but that's a thought for another day.

I went back home to Bellingham to spend the holidays with my family, but was met with bad news. My dog Yumi had been unable to eat for a couple of days, and the veterinarian hadn't been able to come up with a definite reason. She had always been a hyperactive bundle of energy who learned to run before she learned to walk, but she could do little more than slowly move toward me and crawl onto my lap when I came home that day.

To make a short story shorter, she underwent surgery and they found a piece of fabric or towel that she had eaten. This had apparently bunched up and tied up her small intestine, causing abrasions and internal bleeding. The vet was able to remove it, and a day later resected the gut in the hopes of recovery, but she passed away a few hours after.

We drove to the overnight pet clinic to get her body, and I saw her laying on the table. Her eyes were half open and she was still warm. It was almost as if she was just waking up in the morning, if not for how still she was.

I honestly can't recall ever feeling so sad and empty.

I had taken care of Yumi from when she was a puppy, and was there every step of the way as she grew up. When we first got her, one of the peculiar habits we found was that she would sometimes put one paw in the bowl of water she was drinking from as she lapped it up. She was always wary of eating food given by strangers, but had an insatiable appetite otherwise. She was gentle and sweet at times, and incredibly yappy and loud others.

Yumi the first day we got her, sleeping on the couch

Tossing and turning a bit, I guess

Her right ear was floppy for the first few months

Yumi as a puppy with my sister in our lawn in Bellingham

We had her tied up in the kitchen so she would always be around people (and food) back home. She always got excited when people came over to use the water dispenser on the fridge, thinking it would be an ice cube headed her way. She loved playing with our other dog (her dad) Snowy, and would play with him until he was exhausted.

Still the cutest puppy I have ever seen

Very lucky to get this yawn on camera :)

Looking up at me. She usually avoided looking straight at the camera, so this took a lot of tries.

Me and my Yumi in Bellingham

I took her to dog training classes, where she was by far the quickest learner. She was terrified of most other dogs, though.

Yumi always tucked herself on my legs during classes

Yumi picking out her prize for doing her trick correctly

Graduation day with proud dad

She came with me to medical school for the first few months. She slept in my room and would stand on her hind legs and shuffle back and forth along the side of my bed, trying to lick my arm or face to wake me up when my alarm went off every morning. I'd roll over to the other side of the bed, and she'd run around and try it again over there.. Haha. "Clevah girl."

On her hind legs as a puppy

We used to play hide-and-seek. I'd tell her to go out of my room, and then leave the door only slightly ajar. I'd pick a spot to hide in and she'd run back in. She always checked behind the door first before anything else.. For some reason she could never find me if I hid behind the bed, so I would peek from under and see that she would check different places and keep turning around. After a few minutes she would walk back outside to try to look for me elsewhere.. It was always the highlight of my night after a long day of studying.

Yumi sleeping next to my feet while I studied in Yakima

I wish I had been able to spend more time with her. She always brought me happiness and having her taught me a lot about caring for others.

First night we had Yumi

Yumi in snow taller than she was

Yumi in action

Stress

2010-10-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've come to appreciate and fear is stress.

For most medical students, the school experience itself is a stressor of gargantuan proportions. It's in essence a 6 year commitment to training. It usually comes along with an obscene amount of debt (roughly $70,000 or so for the first year alone) and is by no means easy, as I've elaborated on in previous posts.

It becomes imperative that you perform well because of the nature of your career (lives after all, are at stake). Furthermore, changing your mind is often not an option, unless you are fortunate enough to be able to afford it financially. Beyond that, medical school also robs you of the better part of a decade, which just happens to be the prime years of your life.

As we all know, there are always external factors that complicate things further.

The commitment to medical school seems to be a large hurdle in relationships. I've had several of my friends go through breakups for different reasons amidst the academic battle we go through. It's honestly very disheartening and difficult to deal with, even as an observer.

Seeing people I've grown to care about a lot go through the kind of pain I'm seeing is depressing.

It's always been easy for me to look at relationships and see them as a "given."

"Well yeah, those two are meant for each other"

I always thought that it was a testament to the strength of a relationship to give off that perception, but now I wonder if it's all merely a facade.

It is medical school. It is a commitment requiring time and effort in the pursuit of a noble profession. Are people truly so easily dissuaded when this gets in the way? Are relationships merely what they are because they were fortunate enough to avoid this level of distraction? What constitutes selflessness and dedication?

Even in my own (very single) life, I feel myself drifting from the people I love. Friends who just months ago were intimately familiar with every detail of my life now know nothing beyond the superficial status of "studying." Similarly I know little about them. I have no doubt that the strongest of my friendships and relationships will survive, but it is unlikely that they will be as strong as they were before (or perhaps more appropriately, as strong as they would have been without medical school)

This underlying "tuition," to weaken or lose bonds with people we deemed irreplaceable at some point in our lives, is a debilitating cost for what amounts to a glorified technical college.

Is it all even worth it?

Week 4-6

2010-09-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

The week leading up to the exams was what you'd expect I guess; there was a lot of cramming and not much sleep. I ended up not having enough time to study all of the anatomy material, which unfortunately showed up in my exam grades as well.

That said, I passed all of my tests fairly comfortably.

Anatomy, OPP, and Clinical Skills all ended up being around the class average, and everything else was above it.

I went back to Bellingham the weekend after exams to meet with Kristin, Michelle, Lisa, Tanya, Sean, Rachel, and Sarah. Had a pretty great time and was reminded that people will still be there for me even if I can't keep in touch much anymore. It was surprisngly comforting.

I also met up with Naho, who I'd originally met while traveling in the Gold Coast, Australia. We walked around Robson St and I took her to one of my favorite chinese places in BC.

It's funny how the mind works. I spent that week of the exam scolding myself for not being more diligent and keeping up. Week 5 ended up being a short one with little new material being presented, and Week 6 was a 3 day week due to the Labor Day holiday. I have made an effort to keep up with reading, but the envisioned daily cram sessions have not happened at all.

We had our white coat ceremony at the end of Week 5, which was pretty fun. Watching my colleagues walk up on stage, I realized just how many people I've come to know and like. I can definitely see how these people could be lifelong friends. It's really pretty surprising how well most of us get along, considering we're all supposedly Type-A hypercompetitive personalities :)

Coming up on friday is the agricultural field trip, which no one is looking forward to due to it taking up 14 hours of the last weekend before the next exam block. ARGH.

Week 3

2010-08-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

So I ended my second week of medical school by completely slacking off over the weekend.

What ended up happening was a long week of late nights and sleep deprivation, as I tried to catch up with the material I should have covered when I was busy playing StarCraft or generally having fun.

I ended up having a lot of trouble keeping up with the lectures since I was tired, and that just meant having to go over that material later that night. That of course led to even less sleep, and so on and so forth. FML. Lesson learned, medical school, lesson freakin learned.

So here I am on Sunday night, and I smartened up a bit and hit the books hard this past weekend. I mailed in Thursday night since I was exhausted, but followed it up with a good 10 hours of studying on Friday, and probably around 6 on Saturday. Today I worked for around 8.

In other words, I spent a full day of my three day weekend on just studying.

A few encouraging things have come up, though. While I am pretty anxious about the coming exam block on Friday, I am not having too much difficulty sticking to studying for long stretches as long as I get a good meal in me beforehand. I've also started jumping rope after every section I finish to keep my blood flowing (something I picked up from Di). The material is getting to be more complex, but between my own studies and bouncing ideas off my fellow students, it is manageable so far.

I worry quite a bit about my friends from back home. When I first left, I couldn't imagine not keeping in touch constantly. That hasn't really worked out very well so far, and I'm not sure if it will. I guess I have to hope (or trust) that those relationships will still be there for me when I do have the time to visit.

I'm definitely getting to know my classmates a lot more, and have made some definite friends. Di, Josh, Samantha, Brandon, Nate, Nicole and Ashley are probably the ones I've talked to the most at this point, and they are all awesome.

Yumi is bored out of her mind, and I feel bad because I imagined a lot of exercise and socializing for her when I brought her here with me. She spent most of this past week holed up in her pet carrier while I was at school studying. I let her wander the house when I get home, but usually I'm only here to wash up and sleep. She always sleeps near me, and usually tries to find some sort of padding (e.g. my scrubs) to lie on.

Week 1 and 2

2010-08-14T20:10:00.001-07:00

After getting settled into my new home (and picking up a nasty cold in the process), I got through my first week of Medical School here at PNWU.

So far, we've had one OMM quiz, which was on material given to us over the summer. I got a 76%, which was surprising because I felt like I didn't miss anything.. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. Either way, it's just a quiz and I'm still happy because I passed.

The only other "graded" material we've had are a trio of post-tests for Community Doctoring. These are designed to be fairly easy, I think, because we are given the tests in an ungraded form prior to lecture. Retaking them in-class wasn't so bad, and I managed high marks (100%, 90%, 100%).

So all in all, I'm passing and I'm happy.

That said, I am beginning to understand what people say about medical school being tough. It's not that the material is terribly complex or confusing (though epidemiology boggles me right now), but rather that there is just a LOT of material. I was never a spectacular student in undergrad due to my lack of discipline for studying, but at the same time I've never run out of time trying to read. It's a little scary to think that I've been overwhelmed in week one, and hopefully I'll be able to adjust my study strategy accordingly.

The basic sciences are what intimidate me the most, as I had terrible grades in both microbiology and cell biology in undergrad. To exacerbate matters, my base knowledge has been buried in the past three years of working/partying/playing, so I'm more or less starting from scratch.

Anatomy lab was an interesting experience. I had the priviledge of dissecting my first cadaver, and while it was not nearly as straightforward as I imagined, I found it pretty enjoyable. I'm hoping that things will become more clear as we get further into the class.

OMM was a little confusing for me. I had difficulty figuring out whether or not I was feeling the right things, and feel that I'll need quite a bit of additional time in the OMM lab to get a better handle on it. The second-years I've talked to have said that it took them a while to figure it out too.

I've gotten to speak to most of the members of our class of 75 students at least once, and I haven't met one that I haven't liked. I'm sure I'll get to know them pretty well as the weeks go by, but if the first week (and orientation) is any indication, we're a pretty good group. I haven't seen the cut-throat competitiveness that I was worried about. Everyone seems willing to help each other out, which will only make all of our lives easier.

Next week the difficulty and volume for all the classes is going to be ramped up a little bit, so we'll see how that goes.

In non-school related news, I'm finally getting over the last bits of my cold and am going to start exercising again. The forum has a 90-day challenge that I'm probably going to participate in, and I'm going to try to replace StarCraft with exercise in my daily regimen, haha. There is a heavy bag at the local YMCA, and that's probably going to be my spot for free weights and whatnot.

Yumi seems to be adapting pretty well. Her noise hasn't been a problem, and she's been remarkably well behaved, being able to run around the house. Hoping to get her some more outside time to get socialized.

(The stuff I describe in this post actually relates to the second week of school. The first week was just orientation so I didn't go over it much)

Skydiving video

2009-09-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

From Skydive Snohomish, 9/27/09

Dior grey jeans

2008-12-24T02:58:00.001-08:00

Dior homme 19cm made in japan

2008-12-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

August Clothing Pickups

2008-08-21T15:54:00.001-07:00

Why not?

Hugo Boss Crewneck Sweater $120+tax

I picked this up at Boys Co. in Canada. Not going to lie, I only bought it because it said "BOSS"... hahah. I think I actually got this in July but whatever. I think the original price was something like $160 but I got it on sale. The material is actually pretty nice, but gets dirty easily (I wore it once and already had to get it dry cleaned). All in the name of having BOSS on my chest. Oh well.

Adidas x Diesel "Thanaz-AD" Jeans $110+tax

These were a pretty bad impulse buy I think. They are a pair of decent quality raw jeans. Original price was $220 and they had them for 50% off. Anyway, it's a collaboration between Diesel (expensive jeans) and Adidas (sportswear).. Weird combination of brands really. Clearly got together to match up against the Evisu x Puma collaboration. Has nice detailing but nothing over the top.

French Connection Transformers Tee $38+tax

It's freaking Optimus Prime on a nice t-shirt. I'm sold. There's Japanese writing. HELP.

Nike Sportswear x Loopwheeler AW77 Full Zip Hoodie $265

Ever wonder what a $265 sweater would look like? Like something you can buy from Walmart but with two tags on it, hehe. As you can see from my previous post, I've been fiending for one of these for some time so I picked one up. Workmanship is amazing. It's super soft, and feels really durable. It's pretty awesome. Also extremely overpriced and not worth it. I don't care. I happy.

Total Damage = $TOO MUCH$
There went my bonus check.. doh.

Loopwheeler, or my newest fashion fetish

2008-08-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I'm a pretty fashionable guy. I appreciate stuff that fits well, and have spent some hard earned cash on things that might not make sense to a lot of people. My latest obsession is with a japanese brand called Loopwheeler.

There are several things that make Loopwheeler so appealing to me.

Background
In the end, most clothing brands sell just that--their brands. They sell their cuts, their logos, or their looks and designs. Loopwheeler has its own unique story. A brand that works exclusively in cotton, their namesake is a rustic piece of technology called a loopwheel.

According to their blog, these loopwheels were the machine of choice for knitting fabric in the 40's and 50's. The results of which are known for exceptional softness and durability, stemming from a slow process that involves putting less tension on the material. The downside of course, is that it is only capable of making 22-23 meters of fabric a day. That equates to 8-9 sweatshirts.

Due to this gross inefficiency, few places in the world still use loopwheels, and of course, Loopwheeler is one of those few.

Quality
Loopwheeler is one of those rare cases where their selling point is essentially their quality. Their clothing ends up being extremely soft through years of washes. Sweatshirts that can basically be worn for the rest of your life while only getting more wearable over time.

They use a 4-needle sewing machine to make their clothing (as opposed to 2- or 3-needle machines that are the norm), which essentially means that it does not need a sewing margin. Sewing margins would require extra layers of fabric, which is what you will notice for any sweaters you have lying around. The perks of the 4-needle machine is that makes the seams noticeably softer without sacrificing durability.

Exclusivity
While Loopwheeler is distributed in a handful of places outside their main stores in Japan, supplies are extremely limited, and "handful" is few and far between indeed. Selfridges in England, the famous Colette in France, and the two Loopwheeler locations in Japan are the only spots to pick up their product. When they're in stock.

This has changed a bit recently, as Nike has released their high-end Sportswear line. They have collaborated with Loopwheeler for tees and sweats for the first time on American soil. However, Nike Sportswear is for the moment limited to only New York and Los Angeles. And even then? The prices are prohibitive, with sweaters at $200-$240, and shirts in the $50 range.

Pictures and info shamelessly stolen from Loopwheeler's website and blog :)

ROUND 2.........FIGHT

2008-05-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

New Orleans vs San Antonio
This is going to be a hell of a series, a huge test for the Hornets. Popovich brings a lot of defensive schemes that will try to keep Paul as one-dimensional as possible. I see the Hornets living and dying by David West's offensive game. If he can continue knocking down his sweet mid range jumper, then the Hornets will coast. If not, they're looking at some lopsided losses. West needs to keep Duncan busy on the defensive end, while a combination of Chandler and West keeps him from going off offensively. Paul will do his thing, and I like how he matches up with Parker, who doesn't have the size or post game to abuse CP3's defensive shortcomings.
Hornets in 6

Detroit vs Orlando
I am a huge fan of the Magic and how their team is set up. I really feel they are a good point guard away from becoming a dominant team in the East. That said, they will have Jameer Nelson (who admittedly played well against Toronto) matching up against Mr. Big Shot. Billups will absolutely abuse Nelson on the post, and it'll be up to the Magic to keep it from getting out of hand. They haven't been looking for Howard much on the offensive end but he still finds ways to score.. It's likely his points will be down since Detroit has the muscle to stave off those putback dunks, but his defensive impact should be enough to dampen an already mercurial Pistons offense. Live by the 3 and die by the 3 for the Magic.. Who happen to have two guys nearly 7 ft tall who shoot 40% from the distance. Magic in 6 or 7.
Magic in 6

Updated with the other two matchups..

Los Angeles vs Utah
I feel this is going to be THE series to watch in this year's playoffs. The matchups are just fun and the stars more than any other series are able to control the outcomes of the games. Gasol's finesse against Boozer's strength. Kirilenko trying to control Kobe. Deron Williams with the opportunity to raise his game if he can dominate Fisher and the other Laker point guards. The consistently inconsistent presences of Lamar Odom and Mehmet Okur. If Utah can buck up and hold their home court after going into a 2-game hole in LA, this is going to be a seven game classic. Kobe is the best offensive player on the planet, and I feel he will pull it out for LA.
Lakers in 7

Boston vs Cleveland
I originally had Boston beating Cleveland in six games, and with Doc Rivers' coaching flaws fully exposed in the first round, it is very tempting to change that pick. However, I very much feel that the Cavaliers are an 8-seed cloaked in Lebron James' brilliance. My brain tells me that having no secondary scoring option means the best defensive team in the league will lock down the king. My heart tells me that if Joe Johnson and Josh Smith can take turns punishing the Celtics, then Lebron can do it in his sleep. I'm sticking with my original prediction, though I would love to see an upset.
Celtics in 6

NBA Playoff Predictions

2008-04-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

I've got stones. These were made before the playoffs but I neglected to post them here..

Lakers v Nuggets
The Lakers are a very balanced and solid team all-around, while also possessing the best SG in the league. The Nuggets have a big time offense but are horrible on the other end (Camby is painfully overrated in that regard). They also have no designated defensive stopper to slow down Kobe.. And don't have anyone who will make Gasol work on the defensive end. With a healthy Nene, Denver could have made this a series.. As it stands though, I can see the Nuggets winning one before getting closed out.
Lakers in 5

Jazz v Rockets
Houston got nailed by the basketball gods and not only go into the playoffs without Yao, but without Rafer Alston as well. While they have a great complement of role players around T-mac, he is about 4 years and a back injury removed from being able to carry a team to wins that way. Utah should close out in either 4 or 5.
Jazz in 5

Suns v Spurs
I'm not in love with the results of the Shaq trade so far, but I do think the Spurs will be showing their age, and that it will be Amare and not Nash that holds the key to finally beating San Antonio.
Suns in 6

Hornets v Mavericks
I'm a Hornets fanboy so this is an easy call for me. I am really tempted to say it'll be a sweep, but I'll give the Mavs enough respect that they are only a year removed from winning 67 games in the regular season. I basically feel that Paul is too dominant a force at the point for Dallas to handle, and that acquiring Kidd to help against the big guards that have tormented them in the past (Wade, Davis) backfired since he isn't quick enough to keep up with Paul--or good enough offensively to make him pay on the other end.
Hornets in 6

Celtics v Hawks
Boston is too experienced, too deep, too good both offensively and defensively for the young Hawks. Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce is a wash at best, and I don't see where else Atlanta's points are going to come from.
Boston in 4

Cavs v Wizards
This is an interesting pick for me because I feel Washington has the better team and is also the hotter team towards the end of the season. The Cavs have been banged up and never really got to gel after their big trade, while the Wizards have had lots of success playing without Arenas. However, Lebron James is an absolute monster. He's the NBA's most dominant force and can singlehandedly rip apart just about any team in his path. My brain says Washington, but my gut says never bet against the guy averaging better stats than Michael Jordan.
Cavs in 7

Magic v Raptors
I am a huge fan of Orlando this year. They have had a lot of ups and downs and generally lost their media darling label from earlier in the year, but they have solid plays and are probably the most difficult team in the league to match up against. Their one weakness is that they have the worst distributing starting PG in the league in Jameer Nelson--and Toronto happens to have one of the best in Jose Calderon. The Raptors have no one to stop Dwight Howard, which basically means a lot of putbacks and open shooters for the Magic. I foresee some close games mostly thanks to Toronto's solid point guard play. (Also off topic note: If Calderon were traded for Jameer Nelson right now, I'd pick the Magic to win the East)
Magic in 6

Pistons v Sixers
Pistons are too big and too experienced to get knocked out by Philly. Their team defense will prevent Iguodala from any kind of Kobe-like offensive explosions. Obligatory Sixers win for when the Pistons become lackadaisical/bored.
Pistons in 5

These are my other predictions, but I'll hold off on rationale til the 2nd round is set for real.

Lakers def Utah 4-3
Hornets def Suns 4-3
Celtics def Cavs 4-2
Magic def Pistons 4-2

Celtics def Magic 4-1
Hornets def Lakers 4-3

Hornets def Celtics 4-2

HORNETS

Title isn't really necessary

2008-03-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

The Perfect NBA

2008-02-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

For the people who find this topic familiar, this my original post from way back when:
http://sportstwo.com/forums/Perfect-NBA-t57843.html

The original topic was actually replied-to a long time after it was originally posted so some of the later replies have different context, just to let you know. Given all that, I'm updating my list for 2008.

1. Abolish conferences and divisions, and have each team play the other twice.

This goes against my original post which called for playing 4 times. The reason is simply that the season as it is is extremely long. Because of that, players and teams are more likely to take games off (whether intentionally or not). This is a situation where less is more: the importance of an individual game in the regular season would be magnified, as teams would vie for home court advantage in the playoffs. How ridiculous is it that this year we have 4 western conference teams struggling for the last couple spots in the west when they would be comfortably placed in the East? Also considering that they are playing against tougher competition more often?

The reason a lot of people cite for divisions existing is rivalries. I contend that rivalries based on team performance are much better than rivalries based on geography. Why add additional games to the season just to develop rivalries that may never come about?

The practicality of this does get called into question though, as I'm uncertain how arena revenues would be affected. The season would have roughly 15 home games rather than 41. This should keep the arena contract costs lower, but would definitely make getting arenas built for games quite a bit more difficult. Then again, if the NFL can do it then it should be possible.

2. New Playoff Format

Like my old post, I would want teams seeded according to their overall ranking, regardless of location. This gives us a true playoff in which teams are ranked according to their regular season performance.

All series would be best of 3. This is taking my old idea of abolishing the 7-game series entirely to the extreme. This makes homecourt advantage HUGE, and ups the ante of every single game. This would also give the Finals more of a Superbowl vibe, rather than be the 5th most exciting matchup of the postseason, as it often tends to be. The best team may be a bit less likely to win, but the greater level of excitement is more than worth it.

3. TV Referee

I touched on this idea in the old post, citing that the NBA needs instant replay. People responded by saying that it would bog the game down unnecessarily, and upon further review, I agree. Instead, I'd love to see a referee that sits at the scorers table and views the game from the TV screen. It gives additional angles for better refereeing on individual calls and can serve as a proactive review area for officials as the game goes on. It also gives refs more accountability--those questionable calls that are so obvious to us on ESPN are going to be EXACTLY what the ref sees. So if they screw up, they're going to look pretty bad, and don't really have any excuses.

The NBA supposedly critiques every referee call after every game anyway, so they are still reviewing calls using (I'm assuming) the same game footage that we see on TV. Why not give the referees on the floor that perspective as well? At worst it would expose the shortcomings of the all-too-human referees, and at best it gives us more accurate officiating.

4. Abolish suspensions and ejections, especially in the Playoffs

Punishment for egregious behavior is necessary, especially on the global stage of the NBA. Suspensions and ejections however, aren't the solution. Who is getting punished when Tim Duncan gets ejected for yelling at a referee? Amare and Diaw leaving the bench to come to Nash's aid after an Horry shove? Players getting into a shoving match over a hard foul?

It's the team and the fans that pay. National TV ratings pay dearly anytime a superstar gets suspended prior to a big ESPN or TNT game. Fans that pay big money to see their favorite player are suddenly left hanging. The game in which it occurs becomes called into question. Subsequent games lose meaning and/or interest.

My solution? Ramp up the fines big time. If a player gets fined 5% of his annual salary for each ejection, I have a feeling he will control his temper. The league can review individual cases for more serious occurrences and levy a fine accordingly. What happens if rather than a season-long suspension, Ron Artest had to pay his entire salary minus per diem in fines? The point is to penalize the player himself. Not his team, not his fans, not the TV companies, not the league.. just the player.

5. All-star weekend

Dunk Contest - This year we have fan-voting, which is interesting in that it gives a LOT of power to the commentators (Kenny Smith anyone?), and raises the inevitable issue of it turning into a popularity contest if certain players enter the field. God forbid Yi Jianlian enters the contest and wins on a two handed reverse jam.. However, make the field BIGGER! This event is a huge fan draw and limiting contestants to relatively unknown young players really keeps it from becoming a big deal again.

3-Point Contest - Not much to improve upon. As with the Dunk contest, I'd want a bigger field. Perhaps set aside a couple of spots for fans to vote on who they want to invite to the contest.

Skills Challenge - I don't like it at all in it's current incarnation. For whatever reason it has drawn some very good players to play in it, but it doesn't strike me as particularly exciting or indicative of skill. I'd love to see this replaced by a 1-on-1 tournament of 8 players. Monta Ellis vs. Kevin Martin? Deron Williams vs Chris Paul? How about Steve Nash against Dwight Howard? Now THAT's a skills challenge.

That stupid event with WNBA/NBA/retired players - Why does this even exist? Does anyone honestly care about this at all? Other than being a way to get more players involved in all-star weekend, it's pretty bad. I would rather see a shootaround or something. I'd scrap it for a longer dunk contest.

Damnit PJ, We've been over this before

2008-02-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Remember that Sonics-Lakers game from not too long ago?

To quote myself:

Wally Sczerbiak "tries" to inbound the ball. I realize this isn't really Wally's fault.. After all, Coach Carlesimo should know that if you're going to choose a person to inbound the ball, it should be someone who has actually passed it on more than a couple occasions.. Timeout sonics.

So when the Sonics are down 99-100 to the Phoenix Suns, with the ball under their own basket and Wally inbounding the ball.. Why doesn't it surprise me that he pulls a Chris Webber? Ugh.

View it if you dare.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280208021

Hornets @ Suns on 2/6/08

2008-02-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

Quite possibly the most entertaining game I've seen this year.

You can take one look at the box score for it, but I really suggest watching it if you get the chance.. Give google a shot and see if you can find it.

An absolute travesty that this game wasn't on national television.. Actually it was on NBA TV, that separate entity that you don't even get with League Pass (ugh).

Incredible game.

Rumor: Shaq for Marion & Banks

2008-02-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

So here goes trying to get into the mind of Steve Kerr:

If the Suns do it, it means they are probably in panic mode about losing Marion for nothing at the end of the season (Matrix has a $17M player option next year).. And they probably feel that offers will only get worse towards the trading deadline since other teams will realize how desperate they are to deal.

Shaq's contract is basically $20M per year all the way until 2009-10. Marion has the aforementioned player option at the end of the year for $17.1M, and Banks is being paid around $4M per year to sit on the bench... all the way through 2010-11.

So if they somehow appeased Shawn "I want to be traded" Marion, they'd be looking at another long term deal to keep him on (which they've said they don't want to do); a questionable move since he would be getting older and obviously chafes at having less star power than Amare.

Since they are trying to ride Nash's creaky back (team option in 2009-10) while they can, this gamble isn't necessarily mortgaging their future either.

So I guess Kerr is hoping Shaq/Amare/Nash can keep them competitive and/or get them a ring in the next couple years.. and if not, they unload Nash and Shaq's combined $35M in 2010 and can rebuild around Amare, Barbosa, and possibly Diaw--a pretty solid core by anyone's estimation.

And if we assume that Shaq never gets healthy or never fits in..

Two years ago Amare was out and Nash took a team of Marion, Diaw, Bell, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas, and Barbosa to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to Dallas in six games.

Comparing lineups:
05-06 Suns
Nash
Bell
T. Thomas
Marion
Diaw
Barbosa

07-08 Suns (assuming the trade happens and Shaq never plays)
Nash
Bell
Hill
Diaw
Stoudamire
Barbosa

Granted, the Diaw of today isn't as good as he used to be.. But Hill is an upgrade over Thomas and Barbosa has only gotten better. For all the concerns over Nash, he is statistically on par with recent years.

While the competition this year is tougher than back then, one can argue that losing Marion won't exactly put the Suns in lottery status, and certainly leaves
enough left to make some serious noise in the playoffs.

If (a big fat IF) Shaq happens to get some semblance of his old form back, even if it's only for the postseason.. Then this move is going to look like a stroke of genius.

Old Man Shaq averaged 19 pts and 9 rebs the last 2 years in the playoffs, which of course includes the year they beat the Mavs for the championship. If the Suns can manage a 4-man running game while going to O'neal when the game gets bogged down, then who knows?

I would definitely love to see a defensive scheme to stop a Shaq-Amare-Hill-Bell-Nash lineup.

It's cute to say the least.

One question for Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace though..
You traded Pau Gasol for this:
- Kwame Brown's expiring contract ($9 Million)
- Javaris Crittenton (A good PG but not better than Conley or Lowry, so he'll never play)
- Marc Gasol (Pau's brother, who was a 2nd round pick and may never be an impact player)
- 2 (most likely late) first round picks in '08 and '10

Or you could have made a deal centered around Gasol for Marion and gotten $16 Million in cap relief?

Damnit, I think I need a new blog name

2008-01-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

I just came up with this one, too :'(

On a team where the priority is evaluating players this season, Damien Wilkins said he's not happy with his diminished role.

With the Feb. 21 trade deadline a month a way, a change of venue might be a way for Wilkins to gain more playing time. Wilkins, 28, makes $2.9 million this season, and a total of $6.4 million the next two seasons.

"I still want to be here if they want me to be here," Wilkins said. "I just want to play, to be honest with you. I just want to get on the court and help my teammates win games, be it here or somewhere else. That's all I want to do." -- Tacoma News Tribune

I'm pretty sure I love the Hornets

2008-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to my pet team for the best record in the West at 32-12!

This comes on a night where Chris Paul goes for 23 pts, 17 ast, 9 reb, 3 stl, 1 blk, 3 TO in a complete annihilation of the Melo-less Nuggets.

For the record, when we lose the Sonics, I am more than happy with getting the Hornets in return.

So the Sonics lost to the Lakers in OT

2008-01-16T23:47:00.000-08:00

Because:

When the game was tied with 20 seconds left and the Lakers with the ball, they elected not to contest the inbounds pass.

They had Jeff Green trying to cover Kobe, who ran one screen and caught the ball without any problem.

Kobe takes and makes a jump shot with about 4 seconds to go.

Sonics run Durant off of two screens and get him the ball at the top of the key, where he is immediately fouled by Kobe since the Lakers had a foul to give.

Wally Sczerbiak "tries" to inbound the ball. I realize this isn't really Wally's fault.. After all, Coach Carlesimo should know that if you're going to choose a person to inbound the ball, it should be someone who has actually passed it on more than a couple occasions.. Timeout sonics.

Wally again "tries" to inbound the ball. Durant is moving around calling for it. Wally instead fires a pass to Kurt Thomas near the 3 point line, who swings it to Nick Collison for a hastily launched 20 ft jump shot. Game Over.

At least they didn't run the play for Damien?:[

Sonics vs Cavs 1/8/08

2008-01-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

Some bulleted notes about the game as I see it..

Kurt Thomas makes a couple of mid-range jumpers in a row to put the Sonics up 8-4. As much as I love his ability to make that shot, the fact that they run a play for him to shoot it boggles my mind. Durant was standing at an average distance of about 25 ft from the rim, (with the ball nowhere near him) on both of those possessions.
Larry Hughes gets a steal takes a wide open jump shot on a 2 v 1 fast break, and predictably bricks it. Cavs fans boo.
Earl Watson brings the ball up and runs a screen and roll.. Minus the roll. He passes the ball to a Cavalier. On the ensuing possession, he dribbles around the free throw line area for half the shot clock before missing a contested 20 ft shot. On the one after that, he penetrates and jumps in the air only to find no passing lanes, and lands on his feet for a double-dribble call. I firmly believe that 90% of coaches in the league would have sat him down after that, but nope he's still in there. Let me mention that he never got the ball to Durant at any point.
This team is really depressing to watch. The Cavs are playing horribly and yet the Sonics make them look like the god damn 72-10 Bulls.

Nawleans, baby

2007-12-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

With my beloved Durant having to fight through the rigors of one of the 5 worst coaches in the league, I've replaced the Sonics with the Hornets (currently 11-6) as my team to watch anytime it's on League Pass.

They've just beaten Dallas (now 11-5) in OT.. Had a bit of a flashback in that Peja Stojakovic put up a great offensive game, reminding us that just 4 years ago that the best Euro in the league wasn't German. He's been a bit of a forgotten man due to his injuries and the general collapse that the Kings had in recent years, but his game isn't one that will diminish much with aging. Remember that in the Kings' prime, EVERYONE was raving about his Bird-like shooting percentages (48%fg, 43%3pt, 93%ft) as he tied for 2nd in the league in points per game (24.2). He's not done.

At the ever-important point, we've got Chris Paul: arguably the best young player at his position in the league, no offense to Deron Williams. The man is unselfish when necessary, can take over offensively at his whim, is not afraid of contact and is dangerous anytime he has the ball in his hands.

At the five, it's Tyson "The Bulls got rid of me to get Ben Wallace" Chandler, who is the second coming of Marcus Camby. He's got the same iffy offensive game coupled with monstrous defensive presence and rebounding numbers.

David West is a guy that I can't help but love. The man was basically a nonfactor his first couple years in the league.. then Chris Paul comes along and he decides that he can drop 25 and 17 every now and then, with the swagger of a Kobe or T-mac.

They're just very athletic and very fun. Along with Morris Peterson, their whole starting five is very competent, with four of them with the ability to take over any given game. Their team is built extremely well and has no real flaws other than a knack for injuries.. If I were a betting man I wouldn't have any trouble putting money on them against any team in the league. They're freakin scary :]

This sums up the 07-08 Sonics so far

2007-11-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

tradebark: ALRITE GUYZ WE'RE DOWN AND THERZ LIKE 2 MINS LEFT
tradebark: DURANT I KNOW UR THE BEST COLLEGE PLAYER EVER AND OUR FRANCHISE PLAYER AND YOU HIT A FADEAWAY 3 PTER WITH AL HORFORD IN UR FACE
tradebark: BUT
tradebark: PASS IT TO DAMIEN
tradebark: AND LET HIM CREATE
arthurjsb21: hahahaha
tradebark: K ALL IN
arthurjsb21: hahahaha
tradebark: $#^@$%^EWEAWEAW

On Donaghy and the "Future of the NBA"

2007-07-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

This whole scandal is getting more boring by the minute. I mean I realize it's the offseason so every NBA analyst/writer/blogger doesn't have a whole lot to write about other than the latest impending Team USA hip-thrust, but come onnnnnnnnnn..

Let's see what we've got so far

1. Tim Donaghy gets accused of point-shaving and possibly altering the overall outcome of games.

2. The mob is more than likely involved.

3. Donaghy has a "history" of gambling and a few notorious games under his belt (06-07 Game 3 Suns/Spurs and the Palace Brawl)

4. Journalists are milking the "is the league in trouble?" "will anyone ever trust the NBA again?" angle to DEATH.. Emphases placed on whether the league's future is at risk and the supposed problems of trust that it already had involving its fans.

Really, what the hell?

In the end, people are getting mad over strategic calls that Donaghy probably made in order to fix the over/under numbers for games he refereed.. Yes that sucks, yes it is clearly a problem the league has to deal with, but how do people honestly see this as THAT big of a deal in terms of game-to-game officiating?

How many times have you watched a game on TV and heard announcers talking about "make-up calls"? Where they obviously make a bad call on one end and call (or don't call) a cheap foul or travelling violation or defensive 3-second on the other end to "offset" it? In the end officials cover themselves because they are the ultimate arbiters for such calls in a given game.. A tiny shove is normally not called but is probably a foul under the rules, so a given referee could call it a foul at his/her discretion anytime. However it still boils down to being a bad call since they would likely be officiating outside of their normal patterns and potentially changing the outcome of the game.

How often have you seen officiating sensitive to outside factors? Such as flagrants being called if the hit player is injured or comes up fighting, but not if the player bounces back up without a word? Late whistles where fouls are called after the basket is missed?

How many times have technical fouls been called on coaches or players for yelling out an obscenity that just hit that official wrong? Yes the techs are often issued for a reason, but in the end they are complete judgement calls by the referee and have no true standards in the grand scheme of things--it is, by nature, the referee rolled up newspaper that can be used to whack the unruly dog. On the same note how many times have players and/or coaches been ejected via technicals for reasons not involving safety?

How many times has a player received key fouls from light contact and taken out of the game because of it? Or gotten away with a lot of contact and not? Players like Shaq complained endlessly about the physical abuse they received from game to game without getting calls; how different would the outcome of Shaq's prime be if he'd gotten say.. 30% more free throw attempts?

How many times have you seen Dwyane Wade shoot free throws? (had to throw it in there)

All of those things (especially Wade if you like the Mavs) are signs of bad officiating that are not only present in the league but are largely considered part of the game.. Every single one has, I'm certain, made an impact on the outcome of a game at some point in time, whether intentionally (Donaghy, Crawford, and that corpse they always put in Lakers games) or not..

.. And beyond the certainty that this scandal will probably improve officiating in those areas and more at least for the next couple years, I'm not sure I see why this is such a massive deal as far as the NBA's future is concerned. It's like you're telling me people put flies in my soup on purpose when there's like 50 of them in there already, and the soup still tastes good (or I wouldn't keep getting it!)..

And just like that, I like LeBron :)

2007-06-03T02:05:00.001-07:00

I'd like to mention that among my mess of predictions back in the day, I had the Suns and Cavs in the finals, with the Cavs winning their ECF in six games..

(And if not for those Suns suspensions I might've gotten it all right!)

That game 5 performance by LeBron James is, as a lot of people have mentioned, absolutely amazing. He basically scores every Cleveland point from the last part of regulation all the way through two overtimes, leading his team to the series-changing win.

Game 6 is something that won't be talked about as much but may say the most about that Cleveland team. They basically had little offensive production from LeBron until the third quarter, and yet they were right with the Pistons for most of the game (make that leading the Pistons).. And while everyone (myself included) feel that LeBron's supporting cast is barely good and certainly not great, they still showed enough to handle a fairly strong Pistons team, sans a godly LBJ performance.

Gary (who I have almost daily NBA conversations with, even though he thought Emeka Okafor was a better pick than Dwight Howard) feels that the difference maker for the Cavs ("x-factor") is none other than Larry Hughes. He feels that Hughes is the reason that Billups was essentially shut down all series, and that it has potential ramifications since San Antonio gets so much of its offense from Parker (and to a lesser extent Ginobili).

I don't necessarily feel that way, but I do think that the Cavs have a solid chance against the Spurs if only because San Antonio has a tendency to stagnate on the offensive end. In the Phoenix series, for instance, despite the fact that the Suns didn't really stop Duncan, the games never really got out of hand. You'd see the Spurs "controlling" both ends of the floor via excellent defense and a seemingly unstoppable Duncan.... and yet the San Antonio lead would be something like 6 or 7 points.

The issue is perhaps that while Duncan is a dominating post presence, he is not a dominant scorer.. In large part due to his shortcomings at the line. This is a guy that will annihilate anyone under single coverage, and makes the right pass when he is doubled.. But if he is fouled he shoots an abysmal percentage from the line.. Opponents can then use this as a means of cooling him down when he gets going.

Every analyst considers San Antonio the prohibitive favorite in the upcoming Finals, and with good reason. They're a more talented and experienced team collectively, have the more dominant post presence, and have home-court advantage.

But then people felt that way about the Mavericks last year.. and it's not too difficult to see LeBron doing what Wade did back then.. In fact it almost seems a certainty after his Game 5 performance.

On this whole LeBron James thing

2007-05-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Now, the media has been its usual self, jumping to conclusions about his heirness LBJ.

And while I am going to end up dying of trying to convince people that it's pretty unlikely LeBron will ever surpass Kobe (much less Jordan), this guy is getting a bit of a bad rap.

I've always been a guy who is unconvinced by close games as determinants of the better team. It no doubt suggests and supports it, but if you're telling me a 3-point win is as meaningful as a 10-point one, I'm not buying it.

Now, take a look at the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals:

Game 1- LeBron charges the lane and dishes to a wide-open Marshall, who misses the game-winning 3-pointer. LeBron is subsequently lambasted for his inability to put the team on his back when the game is on the line.

Game 2- Lebron charges the lane and takes a heavily contested shot (and is likely fouled on the play, but it is not called). The ball bounces to a wide-open Larry Hughes, who proceeds to miss his jump shot from 7 feet away.

Now, while LeBron's game 1 numbers were not impressive, his team still managed to be a wide-open 3 away from stealing one at Detroit. Give them that win and people would be claiming it a new era in the East, and perhaps in the NBA.

Moreover, game 2 could have been the exact same thing.

So why exactly are people being so critical? How are the Pistons being lauded for winning games that they SHOULD win, when they were an open 3 and 2 questionable late-game calls from losing home court advantage?

There's a lot to be said about how Cleveland could be trying harder and win those games, but that's just who they are. Despite who they are, they were 2 possessions in 2 games away from absolutely destroying the Detroit Pistons. Who is it that people should be worried about, really?

Oh my god

2007-05-22T18:32:00.001-07:00

I'm from Bellingham, Washington so this comes as crazy news

#1 pick = Portland
#2 pick = Seattle

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAa

Interesting article

2007-05-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2860279

I just got back from Vegas for the past 5 days so I missed out on a lot of NBA action..

But GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Day 6, 7, and 8 =[

2007-04-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

Well I missed the last couple days worth of games, but some interesting developments :)

Orlando now down 0-3.. Detroit is really exposing Dwight for the raw offensive player he is
Houston put forth the ugliest game in the history of the playoffs vs Utah.. and sadly they kept it somewhat close anyway
Bulls 3-0 against the Heat.. Definitely not what I envisioned but I'm not complaining! Injuries and age catching up with Miami
Lakeshow predictably took game 3 to keep things interesting.. Kwame Brown of all people had a monster game, though the Suns looked absolutely terrible apart from the opening 3 minutes.
Jason Kidd just put up a MONSTER triple double of 16 pts, 16 reb, 19 ast.. to lead the Nets to a 2-1 series lead over Toronto. Wow?
Golden State absolutely annihilated Dallas. Mavs fans have to be worried.. Outplayed in game 1, held close before imploding in game 2 (with markedly Dallas-loving referees with their 40+ free throw attempts).. and a complete thrashing at Golden State in game 3.

Day 5!

2007-04-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Spurs came back and won the game they absolutely needed. At one point they led by as many as 17, though Iverson got hot and kept it close towards the end.

Nene was absolutely meaty yet again; Denver's got to come away from the first two games feeling good about themselves.. They've been pushing the Spurs and exposing some serious weaknesses. Not to mention that despite a horrible shooting night from Iverson AND Melo, they were still a Camby missed dunk away from making this game turn out differently.

Golden State and Dallas coming riiiight up :)

MONTA ELLIS is going nuts on the Mavs! 10 points and counting and the first quarter isn't over!

Warriors finish the half on a 4-0 run to trail by two.

Shit hits the fan in the 3rd, with Baron picking up a couple of fouls, getting involved in a "fight" with Harris and Diop. Techs assigned to Davis, Jackson, and Diop. Bit more jawing and Baron gets tossed.

In the fourth Jackson picks up his second tech and takes his time leaving the game.

Mavs (obviously) win.

Now all things considered, the Warriors have to come out of this feeling pretty good. They did what they were supposed to do (steal 1 game on the road), and even during game 2 where Dallas was largely playing very well, they were well within striking distance throughout the game.

I predicted that Dallas would win, and I stand by that if only due to Golden State's maturity (or lack thereof).. but I do want this to go the distance since these games are very entertaining :)

I found it really weird that they didn't run any plays for Ellis after he exploded in the 1st quarter.. go figure though, huh?

To prepare us for tomorrow's games

2007-04-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

This is supposed to be an NBA blog, but since it's a related story, I've decided to make a little tangent.

Day 4 of the Playoffs!

2007-04-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Chicago-Miami game 2 is in progress

Shaq is being very aggressive early.. but a few calls not going his way leaves him with very little actual production

Miami is getting absolutely wrecked by long rebounds.. Makes me wonder why the heck they are collapsing so much in the paint when the Bulls don't even have a post presence or much penetration..

Bulls just lucked out to end the quarter, extending their lead to 10 off of a Wade turnover (and a subsequent Nocioni 3)

Wade's definitely not looking 100%. Seems to be avoiding contact from what I can see, and the Bulls are taking advantage.

Kapono making a difference in the 2nd quarter, stretching out the Chicago D and making them hesitant to double.

Why is the NBA so backwards? I have league pass but no NBA TV.. So I don't get to watch Toronto-New Jersey.. Weak sauce.

So Jersey loses in a fairly close game. Boki had a chance to send it into OT but missed an open 3.

Chicago gets hot and just plows Miami from beyond the arc. Big loser of this game has to be Wade.. So many plays where he would have finished and gotten 2-3 points but instead kick it out to an inferior player for a miss :( Too tentative.. Wasted a great effort by Shaq.

After the first quarter, Lakers are looking good. Kobe has played pretty much perfectly, with Odom and Walton getting touches. I keep waiting to see the Suns just go nuts on them but it seems the Lakers are doing a decent job at slowing the pace.

The fact that the Suns lead is a testament to the kind of difference Amare makes in situations like this.. The man is an automatic 2 points if the catches near the rim; they just didn't have that threat last year.

BARBOSA

BARBOSA!!!!!!!!

BARBOSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah, Barbosa ate the Lakers again. This series really looks like a goner the way he's playing. Bell seems to have gotten injured landing on a Referee's foot....Ugh. As if I needed another reason to hate retarded NBA referees.

If Nellie says so..

2007-04-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Nellie took it a step further just a little while ago on the Dan Patrick Show. Nellie: "There's a better chance of us being struck by lightning than of us winning tomorrow night." Surely, Nellie must have seen the forecast. Severe weather is headed our way. Better duck."

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Good ol' old school mind games..

The man is probably right though, I can't imagine Dallas letting this slip away.

One scary thing about the Rockets

2007-04-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Is that they are the nightmare team to play against if the game is close with the clock winding down in the fourth.

Games like that typically boil down to a lot of burning the block in the halfcourt.. Which isn't the strong suit of teams like the Suns or Mavericks.. Who are both excellent at the line but lack that "must-foul" post player and ultimately will end up jacking up a jump shot.

The Heat and Spurs have obvious issues since their go-to post players are questionable free throw shooters to say the least. The Pistons do have Rasheed, but more often than not it's "Mr. Big Shot" or Rip Hamilton with the ball in that situation.

The Rockets have a beefy center that shoots 60% from the field and 86% from the line.. and one of the most clutch players in the league right next to him.

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez

2007-04-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

Yao Ming is just absolutely punishing the Jazz. T-Mac is being his usual unstoppable self in the playoffs. Utah would be dangerous if they could just get a go-to wing guy.. Still, I can't imagine that Houston will sweep a Sloan team :)

Magic lost which is a bit predictable. My man Grant Hill did drop 21 though! CCCCHAYEA

Dwight didn't score much but honestly I'm not too surprised. He's incredibly raw offensively and on the typical night gets points only when he catches deep in the paint. By the way, in my dream scenario Chauncey Billups signs with the Magic in free agency next season.... eeee

Playoffs Day 1 & 2

2007-04-22T17:59:00.002-07:00

I was out of town and missed all of Saturday's games..

Magic did better than I thought they would; I really hope that Grant Hill decides to turn it on and destroy everyone for a game or two, just to show he can.

Bulls beat Heat, yawn! :)

Raptors really needed that win.. Young team losing home court advantage.. and that eminently questionable coach.. Blah. By the way, does Sam Mitchell deserve Coach of the Year really? I mean isn't it a crock of shit that he's going to win it despite being psychotic over the last few years? I mean didn't he assault one of his players or something? Is it really his coaching getting them wins or the fact that Chris Bosh is getting better and they surrounded him with 3 new solid guys (Bargnani/Calderon/Garbajosa)? Give Bryan Colangelo exec of the year and call it a day. JVG has my vote!

Day 2 is in progress but I was able to watch most of em

Cavs vs Wizards was a yawner.. I wonder how many Wizards fans were hoping for that LeBron ankle sprain? Seriously though, without LBJ that series might actually be close, haha.

Kobe went NUTS in the 2nd quarter against Phoenix.. but then Barbosa just went apeshit on the Lakers in the 2nd half.. And the Suns could/should have won by a lot more had their shots been falling.

Nene is meaty. If Iverson gets his shot going this series could get REALLY fun.. But man I can't get over how Nene is just bulldozing through Duncan and Elson; I guess I (along with everyone else) just forgot about how scary he was before the injury. Go Nuggets! :P

Nuggets win because Nene is a beast eee :) I really hate referees though. I mean in one stretch with ~2 minutes left Tony Parker drove to the lane and either got a layup or got fouled every time.. Iverson does the same thing on the other end and doesn't get the call. Not saying the refs are favoring Parker, but they generally favor the losing team. It's just so blah and yet so accepted since it happens evvvveerrryyy time..

Warriors-Mavs first quarter is fun stuff. Nellie has some nice ideas :) Matt Barnes is really making a difference.. Too bad Ellis sits for him!!

I would never have expected the halftime score to be 38-38 for the Mavs and Warriors.. I'm just happy Warriors are hanging in there :) They're missing a lot of easy shots and not getting a whole lot of calls going their way.

Baron Davis just ATE the Mavericks in the 3rd. GS leads by 6 after 3!

Warriors stun the Mavs!!

All of my dream playoff scenarios are shaping up! Warriors gave the Mavericks fits.. Just amazing how many *competent* players are on the floor at once for that team.. I love the constant cuts, the sharp passes, the ability for each player on the floor to go 1 on 1 against anyone.. Simply fun to watch!

Dirk seemed really frustrated; it seems that the big guards are able to frustrate him enough to keep him in jump-shooting mode.. Devin Harris though was getting to the lane at will; I'm really surprised Ellis didn't step up and do the same on the other end of the floor, but Baron handled it nicely.

Alright let's get this show on the road!

2007-04-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

My magnificent playoff predictions (Made before the playoffs began although posted a couple days late!):

Detroit vs Orlando - I am the biggest Grant Hill fanboy ever, which is why Orlando takes a game in this series. Otherwise, Orlando is too turnover prone to be dangerous to Detroit, and Dwight is still too raw to carry the team (even though I have a feeling he's gonna put up some monster numbers). Detroit in 5.

Miami vs Chicago - This is the super popular "upset" pick.. Miami didn't get a whole lot of respect despite the ring last year, but the bigger reason is that this series wasn't so easy for the Heat last year, and this time around Wade is hurt.. not even taking into account Chicago's growth and (overrated) free-agent pickup Big Ben. Chicago in 6 for me.

Toronto vs New Jersey - Now I don't watch too many Raptors or Nets games but my gut tells me that the refs are gonna decide this series and Kidd/Carter are going to get a whole lot more calls than Bosh. I like Calderon too, solid guy.. and Bargnani is a stud, but the team just seems too young to take out the Nets. Bearing in mind the Nets took the Pistons to 7 games last year. They take it here I think! Nets in 7.

Cleveland vs Washington - Really a shame that the injuries hit Washington so badly. Was a fun series last year and I really think that at full health it favored the Wizards... But they're basically taking a lottery team into this series and it's going to show. I'll give them a game out of pity. Cavs in 5.

Dallas vs Golden State - I talked about how I'm a huge Hill fan... Well, I'm also a huge Monta Ellis fan. He quieted down a bit towards the end of the year since Baron/Richardson got it going, but whatever I think he's the truth. People talk a lot about how GS beat Dallas in the regular season (3-0, although Avery didn't play anyone in the last game), but in the end Dallas is just too deep and too flexible. I'm looking for the Warriors to make this really fun to watch though. I'll say Dallas in 6 but I really want 7.

Houston vs Utah - Now this is just a great series to watch. Solid basketball all around.. Coaches that are super experienced in the playoffs and know how to win with their respective styles. It's Utah's misfortune that Houston's best players are impossible covers for their personnel.. Yao is too much of a monster lately and the Jazz have always had issues with wing players (hello overrated AK47). Rockets in 6.

San Antonio vs Denver - If there is an upset I am rooting for, it's this one. I firmly believe that Tim Duncan is the greatest PF to ever play the game, but I also firmly believe that the Spurs "dynasty" needs to end SOON. If I am faced with another Pistons-Spurs final (a rehash of that dreadful Rockets-Knicks of years ago) I might cry. Spurs are meaty but Denver has Nene. Still, hard to bet against their level of consistency and experience. Spurs in 6.

Phoenix vs Lakers - Suns are my pick to win it all. Leandro Barbosa is an absolute monster this year (look at his offensive numbers.. We're talking about a guy whose output is rivaling Tony Parker's.. and he plays behind Steve Nash!). Amare is gonna make a huge difference since the Lakers can't cover him. Nash actually deserved the MVP this year and it's ironic that he probably won't get it.. This team is just too good 1-6 for anyone to beat. Suns in 5.