The Sports Fan

I've watched every San Antonio playoff game.  Every single one.  They've only lost twice in these playoffs, and I've noticed a theme in both of them.  Tim Duncan gets in foul trouble.

See, Duncan is REALLY good at skirting the line, as is Bowen.  He always has his hands almost streight up, rarely bodies anyone, and almost never leaves his feet.  Yes, this is great defensive positioning...but if you still get the arm, it's still a foul...if you still go over the back on an offensive rebound, it's still a foul...unless your TD.  On the offensive end, he never lowers a shoulder.  Basically, he plays the game streight up and down, which allows him be more aggressive defensively than anyone else in the league.  When he's free to play like that, he can be a force defensively.  Of course, this is largely because he gets called for 2 of every 4 fouls he actually commits.  Regardless, when the game is being called tight, and he gets in foul trouble, he can't be as aggresive defensively, which filters down to everyone else.  For example, Bowen can only body up on whomever he's gaurding because he's not worried about the guy getting by him...Duncan's always waiting.  If Duncan has to play off a little, or is on the bench, things don't go so well for the Spurs.

To better illustrate, look at the following:

• Utah (Game 1) - 4th and 5th fouls with less than a minute remaining...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 6) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 5) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 4) - 3rd foul at 7:26 in the second quarter, 5th with 6:18 left...LOSE
• Phoenix (Game 3) - 4th foul with :38 remaining...WIN
• Phoenix (Game 2) - An interesting game in terms of this hypothosis.  Duncan gets his 4th foul with 2:56 left in the 3rd, and Phoenix is only up 5.  He leaves right away (replaced by Horry), and comes back with 9:15 left in the 4th.  Suns are up 11 now, and never really look back.  Duncan doesn't do much after that, as the game gets increasingly out of reach, he finishes the game out with 2 points, 3 missed shots and a few defensive rebounds...LOSE
• Phoenix (Game 1) - Finishes with 2 (!) personal fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 5) - Finishes with 3 personal fouls (Finley's 8-9 3pointers don't hurt)...WIN
• Denver (Game 4) - Finishes with 1 (!) personal fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 3) - Finishes with ZERO fouls.  Interestingly, he's one of only 3 players to get PT and not register a personal foul.  Brent Barry (5 minutes) and Linus Kleiza (5 minutes) where the others.  Duncan played 41 minutes in the paint, in a very physical playoff game without committing a single foul.  Um, yeah...WIN
• Denver (Game 2) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN
• Denver (Game 1) - Finishes with 3 fouls...WIN

What's just astounding is how many times he ends up with 3 or fewer fouls. EIGHT of the twelve games!  Huh??  In the other 4 games, he ended up with 4 fouls once, drew 4 and 5 in the last minute of the game, and they lost the other two.

The point of all this?

1. If you want to see who will win, see when Duncan draws his 3rd foul (if at all)
2. Anyone really think the NBA refs don't protect Duncan just a little?  So much for there being retribution for getting Crawford fired...

Save Melo From The Nuggets! PLEASE!

As you know, I was never a fan of the trade that brought AI to Denver.  I believed then, and more so now, that it'll set back Melo's development by years, and makes the Nuggets far worse.  At the end of the year, and in he playoffs, that seemed to be the case.  No one knew who was doing what, AI dribbled too much, and there was no cohesion.  The lone brigh spot over the end of the season was Nene.

So, now I see reports that Karl wants Ron Artest.  You have GOT to be kidding me.  He's blown up every team he's been on (one way or another), and he's a world class nucklehead. Should be great for team chemistry, right?

By my count, that would bring the head-case count to 4 on the Nuggets - Karl, Artest, AI and JR Smith.  Great environment to grow a superstart, eh?

Let's contrast Tim Duncan's development and Melos:

• Coachs - TD (1); Melo (3 so far)
• Mentors - TD (David Robinson - ultimate pro and good guy); Melo (Andre Miller and AI...yeah)
• Systems - TD (1); Melo (who fucking knows)

You get the point.  Tim Duncan has matured in a stable environment with great leadership and a system he can flourish in.  Melo has had 2 GMs and 3 coaches, no leadership to grow up under, various systems that ask different things of him, and is now surrounded by people of questionable emotional maturity - starting with his FRIGGIN' COACH!

Melo can be one of the great players of all time...is it too much to ask Stern to wade in and force either a management / ownership change, or a trade?

A few links to articles on Artest the Nugget:

• Sam Smith, it's on Page 2
• Yahoo Sports, with some good comments

I'm Not a Fan of Henry Abbot

First, I have to be honest - I'm new to the whole blogging thing.  I only started reading them 6 months ago or so, and started my own blogs just in the past few months.  I didn't know who Henry Abbot was before he showed up on the Worldwide Leader.  The first few posts, I was excited - he linked to a bunch of interesting articles, he seemed like a bit of an insider, and seemed really passionate about something I'm also passionate about - Hoops.

His past few posts have been idiotic, though.  He's becoming pompous and irrational.  His defense of the Commish and the Spurs has been irrational, culminating in his post today, on Stern and his 'headache'. 

My synopsis of his article (it's not a blog anymore, folks): the Brawl in Auburn Hills was the worst thing that ever happened in the NBA, we have to avoid something similar happening in the future at all costs, therefore players leaving the bench during an altercation rules must be enforced.

You know what that is?  That's Abbot taking a very high profile event, and using it to justify a really bad rule and almost-as-bad decision in the Spurs / Suns game.  Why?

• What instigated that whole fiasco was a drunk fan throwing something at a player, not a hard foul or a fight on the court.
• It was escalated by players leaving the bench area, but they were headed into the stands, not onto the court...What Stoudemire and Diaw did was not similar in any way to what Stephen Jackson and Artest did in Detroit.  They were moving down the sideline to a fallen team-mate, not into the stands trying to guess who threw something.

So, how do you prevent people from going into the stands, and fans and players swinging away at midcourt?  Well, you fix the arenas, and you create rules so severe that people will think twice before either throwing something or taunting players / coaches / refs too hard, and convince players that stadium security will handle anything that comes up.  Oh, and if players go into the stands for any reason, they're done.  Not just for a game, or a lot of games....done.

Does punishing Amare and Boris as they were punished prevent someone later from chasing down a rowdy, drunk fan?  Maybe, but the circumstances are too different to draw the conclusion Abbot is drawing.

The rule is a bad rule, it was applied selectively and subjectively to Stoudemire and Diaw, and that's a fact jack.

And, someone should tell Abbot and Stern that if they go to the 'I have a headache' line too many times, we - the fans - will run around on them and start frequenting seedy Arena Football and UFC events.  Put out, guys, it's the best way to keep us around.

What This Blog is All About

Hello Sportsfans,

This blog has been a work in progress.  I started with a couple of blogs devoted to teams I love (Broncos, Suns, Nuggets etc.).  The idea behind those blogs was that so many of the established commentators (print, TV whatever) were so lame.  They defended the indefensible, had very poorly held opinions, and too often talked too much from their perspective as a former coach / player / breathing person, and NOT from the perspective of a FAN.

Over the past few weeks, I've become more and more upset with a number of events, and have decided there's more than enough material to roll them all into one blog and comment about everything that crosses my mind.  Should be fun!

Lebron’s Out of His Closet

Lot's of blogs and emails about the house Lebron is building. It's news, so:

• Wierdly, 19 families within 800 feet of his house. It's upscale, but not as upscale as one would expect for a baller like James
• A limestone sculpture of his own head?? Usually, this only works when someone else is doing it, ala the sculpture in front of the United Center. In your own house??
• I can't find the link, but someone wondered whether Damon Jones would work in the movie theater, the bowling alley or the casino. Very funny, and my apologies to the original author

Also, he has a 2-story walk-in closet. There you go, young man.