Coaches Critique



Hollywood lost one of the great ones this past week with the passing of Dennis Hopper. Hopper played a bunch of legendary roles over the years. However, one role struck a chord with me more than any other. He played Gene Hackman's brilliant and troubled assistant coach, Shooter, in the movie Hoosiers. According to Shooter, he knew everything there ever was to know about the greatest game ever invented. If Shooter was actually a real person and not a fictional character, I'm sure he'd have his own blog and would thouroughly enjoy fully critiquing the overall coaching performance of the four head coaches who brought their teams to the NBA conference finals. So in honor of Shooter and Dennis Hopper, here's my breakdown of the performance of Stan Van Gundy, Alvin Gentry, Doc Rivers, and Phil Jackson followed by a few short points about the Boston/L.A. final, which is Christmas in June for a hardcore basketball fan.

Before I get into the particulars of the job that Stan Van Gundy did in the playoffs, I want to clearly state that I like Stan. i like the fact that he looks exactly like porn star Ron Jeremy. I like the fact that he dresses like he's going out with the Soprano crew for goomah night. I like the fact that he shares DNA with my favorite basketball announcer in the world and most of all, I generally like the job Stan does coaching the Magic. With all that said, this past Eastern Conference final was not Stan's finest moment.

The Celtics determined right from the start of this series that they were content to let Dwight Howard beat them inside. The Celtics were determined to smother Orlando's perimeter shooters and they were prepared to live with their center Kendrick Perkins playing Howard straight up. The Celtics play tenacious half court defense and were successful in keeping Orlando's shooters from hurting them. For Orlando, there was a possible solution to this problem that was relatively simple, yet the Magic did not take advantage enough.

In last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Magic faced a Cleveland Cavalier team that for the exception of one player, was nowhere close to as athletic as the Magic. The Magic spent the entire series pushing the ball up the floor creating easy baskets, open transition threes, and forcing Cleveland to play at a pace where they were overmatched. Cleveland had a difficult time slowing the pace down because they play without a pure point guard. Mo Williams may look like a point guard, but he's nowhere good enough to play one on TV. And because Cleveland could not slow down the tempo, Orlando disposed of them in 6 games.

For the exception of one player, the Celtics core players are old, slow, or a combination of both. They play a very aggressive brand of half court basketball. Boston's kryptonite is having to spend extended periods of time playing in an up tempo game. They were forced to play up tempo far too little by the Magic. In the games where Orlando chose to push the tempo, they won. The Magic outscored the Celtics in every fourth quarter of this series. Granted we can throw game three out because it was a blow out, but to me that fourth quarter advantage is a clear sign that the Celtics are susceptible to being worn down late in games and the Magic did not take advantage of it at all.

Don't get me wrong here. In no way am I implying that it was as easy to play fast against this year's Celtics as it was against last year's Cavs. The Celtics have a point guard in Rajon Rondo who controls tempo as good as any guard in the league. Rondo is a superb athlete with a clear knowledge of the fact that his team plays better slow, even though he plays better fast. Cleveland didn't have a point guard. They had a chucker who's best trait was his willingness to defer to LeBron James much of the time. But the Magic made it easy for Rondo. Magic point guard Jameer Nelson is a decent up tempo point guard who Orlando did not have for most of last year's playoffs. When Nelson pushed the ball in this series, opportunities opened up for Orlando. There was one point during game 4, when Stan's brother Jeff was screaming to the viewers that Orlando needs to run, run, run. Instead they allowed Rondo and Boston to impose their tempo and now the Magic are playing golf while the Celtics plan for the Lakers.

The other spot where I thought Stan goofed was how little he played backup center Marcin Gortat together with Dwight Howard. If the Magic were content allowing the Celtics to slow down the game, then Stan had business going big to match up with the Celtics' size. Stan played Gortat and Howard together for only one long stretch in game 5, and that was in response to the Celtics being short on bigs due to Perkins' ejection and Glen Davis' concussion. The argument against playing Gortat and Howard together for long stretches is that it would bog down the offense, but with the Celtics guarding the three point arc aggressively, wasn't their offense bogged down already? Having Gortat in the game with Howard as a second shot blocker/inside help defender certainly would have assisted in keeping Paul Pierce and Rondo away from the rim.

And that leads to my final issue with Stan before I leave him alone. Pushing the tempo for a three point shooting team like the Magic is not rocket science. In the way Stan spoke after and during the games, and frankly, with the way his brother harped on playing fast during the telecasts, it was apparent that Stan wanted Orlando the up the tempo. But there seems to be an issue with Stan having the ability to get his message through to this group. Now before we all go blaming Vince Carter for this, which is convenient, but unfair and not accurate , it is important to note that at two separate times during last year's playoffs the Magic were close to a player mutiny against Stan. Stan yells an awful lot, and habitual yellers almost always end up delivering a stale message after a certain amount of time, regardless of the sport. Coaches who ride players like Stan does, have a shelf life. Food for thought.

Alvin Gentry took over the Phoenix Suns’ job in the middle of the 2008-09 season under tough circumstances. Suns GM Steve Kerr was attempting a makeover of the Suns style of play at the beginning of the 08-09 season. He had traded for Shaquille O’Neal at the prior trade deadline and fired head coach Mike D’Antoni at season’s end, all with an eye on creating more of a defensive identity for the Suns. He hired Terry Porter as head coach to execute this vision.
Well, Kerr’s vision was slightly impaired from the outset to say the least. The Suns were disappointing on both ends of the floor. Porter was fired midseason, albeit unfairly, because the Suns were not where Kerr thought they should be. In retrospect, trading for an aging, overweight center who can’t defend the pick and roll as a lynchpin move to establish a new defensive identity was like planning to stay dry in a monsoon with only a newspaper overhead. When Porter was fired, Gentry was given the job on an interim basis. Gentry immediately reinstalled the Suns up tempo style and although the Suns fell short of the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference, he managed to make basketball in Phoenix fun again.
In the offseason preceding this season, Kerr did Gentry an enormous favor (no pun intended) in offloading Shaq onto Cleveland for a few expiring contracts and a used gymbag. This was like a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Strike that, it WAS a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Gentry had the Suns playing a up tempo game, but still emphasized half court defense. Gentry also used an old Hubie Brown staple of rotation management by using an entire second team for stretches of the 2nd and 4th quarter of games. This became extremely beneficial when his bench guys had confidence in big spots and he was able to get plenty of rest for his two oldest starters in Steve Nash and Grant Hill, but I digress. The ultimate result was a 54-28 record and the third seed in the West.
Gentry did his best work in the playoffs. He kept the Suns focused against an undermanned Portland team. It became easier for Gentry to get his guys’ attention after they lost game 1 at home to Portland and they took care of Portland in 6. The Spurs were next for Phoenix. Gentry did an outstanding job in this series getting his guys to continually push the tempo and take advantage of George Hill’s inexperience as a point guard by getting him to play at Phoenix’s pace. Gentry also ran a ton of pick and roll with Tim Duncan guarding the screener. This was unstoppable for Phoenix in this series because Duncan’s deteriorating foot speed made it impossible for San Antonio to defend. You do not see many playoff series where Gregg Popovich gets outcoached, but Gentry did it here in a Phoenix sweep.
Interestingly enough, Gentry probably distinguished himself the most in the series in which the Suns lost. After getting soundly beaten in the first two games of the Western Conference finals by the Lakers, Gentry made some crucial adjustments to get the Suns back in the series. Offensively, he moved Amare Stoudemire a little further from the basket, giving him more room to use his quickness to beat Pau Gasol and/or a hobbled Andrew Bynum. And in the last 4 games of this series, Stoudemire shredded the Lakers. The other big move that Gentry made was to incorporate a 2-1-2 zone defense. The zone was a great wrinkle allowing Phoenix to hide their biggest defensive liability in Channing Frye so they could keep him on the court for his perimeter shooting. Furthermore, in the words of my man Shooter, the Suns made the Lakers “chuck it from the cheap seats. “ For the sole exception of Kobe Bryant, it took the Lakers awhile to adjust to the zone, and they didn’t have anyone who could guard Kobe anyway. So, when the Lakers started running their offense through the high post in gane 5 and had the 2-1-2 figured out, Gentry switched to a 1-3-1 zone which helped the Suns make up an 18 point deficit from late in the third quarter to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left. And if it were not for a missed box out by Jason Richardson and the sheer determination of my man Ron Artest (have the Ariza fans converted yet?), the Suns may have had a different result in that game.
The roughest part of this series for Gentry is that he almost coached a perfect series. Once the Lakers figured out the 1-3-1, Gentry went back to man to man to keep them off balance. He made one crucial mistake down the stretch of game 6, and that probably cost the Suns that game. In game 3 of the San Antonio series, Phoenix backup point guard Goran Dragic went on a scoring binge that would have made Drazen Petrovic proud. Dragic scored 26 points in 17 minutes, leading Phoenix’s second team to a road victory and a 3-0 lead in that series. Gentry never put his first team back on the floor. He brought Nash in to play with Dragic and shoot free throws in the last two minutes, but he let his second team finish what they started.
In game 6 of the Laker series, Dragic was elbowed in the head by fellow countryman and sworn enemy Sasha Vujacic. Dragic proceeded to go on another scoring binge and before long, the Laker lead was down to 5. With 4 minutes left in the game, Gentry inexplicably pulled his entire second team including Dragic to let his starters finish. Gentry’s best move was to keep Jason Richardson on the bench next to him and leave Dragic in the game. The Lakers could not stop him after he took the elbow to the head. And he finished the loss on the bench next to Gentry. The only defense for Gentry is the old adage, dance with the one that brought you. Still, an outstanding job by a great coach who really really surprised me. He matched wits in two straight series’ with the best of the best, Popovich and Phil Jackson.

I have never been a fan of Doc Rivers, the coach. I thought he underachieved in Orlando. And I flat out thought he was a bad hire for the Celtics. All Doc has done in his 4 years on the job is shut me up and he's on the verge of doing it again. Everytime I hear Doc talk to his team or about his team, I get this feeling that he was separated from Herm Edwards at birth.
Doc is not the best tactitician. Very frankly, its hard to discern the difference where his influence ends and ace assistant coach Tom Thibodeau's begins. But the one thing that is undeniable is that the Celtics play a team oriented style of basketball. If there were being judged on American Idol, Kara Dioguardi would tell them that they know who they are and they stay true to themselves.
You can't deny that this is one of the best help defense teams I have ever seen. As individual defenders, they're not bad. As a unit, they are outstanding. When it comes to playing defense off the ball, there is no weak link. That is a clear reflection of a team who plays with discipline and selflessness. These are traits that should always be credited to the head coach. Granted, his roster is long on veterans with championship experience, but Doc is still the one that keeps these guys playing the game in a way which accentuates the Celtics' strenghts. They keep the tempo slow. The funnel penetrators to towards the middle of the floor where they have help. They share the ball. They set good screens and they physically back down from no one. But none of this qualifies as Doc's greatest accomplishment this season.
Doc spent the second half of the season with a fractured locker room. There was a clear divide between his young guys and his old guys. Plus, he was saddled with an overweight Rasheed Wallace, who's indifference towards the game and his own personal conditioning was disrespectful to the Celtics and to the game itself. Boston's big three (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) were butting heads with Rajon Rondo. Rondo has developed a reputaion for being difficult to coach, surly, and nasty to deal with. But when Rondo emerged at the start of the playoffs as an elite point guard capable of leading any team deep into the playoffs, Doc got everyone to fall into line behind Rondo and Boston hasn't looked back. Doc has been able to get his guys to buy into the concept that we don't have to like each other to stand up for one another. The Celtics function as an on court family. They don't always like each other, but the act to the outside world like they love each other. A classic example of what Boon tells Otter in Animal House. "They can't do that to our pledges...only we can do that to our pledges." Doc has fostered an environment where the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. I tip my hat to a guy I considered a bad hire. He has been the right coach for this team. Now we get to see if his magic has run out.......

Discussing Phil Jackson has always been somewhat of a conundrum for me. His results speak for themselves. He is the most successful coach in NBA history. And his 10 championship rings are symbolic of the greatness he has achieved in doing his job. Yet, more times than not, I have consistently disagreed with a lot of the methodology employed in his achieving such extreme and historical success.
Ultimately, Phil was created a unique and legendary legacy through his success in coaching superstars. One of the biggest fallacies about NBA coaches is that its easy to coach the best players. Its actually extremely difficult. Firstly, the superstar always has more power with ownership than the head coach, so its never your typical coach/player relationship. Its more of a partnership, except your partner has all the leverage. Just ask Mike Brown. He did everything he could to try and please LeBron, even at times giving guys playing time against his better judgment to be politically correct in his own locker room and got fired anyway. Jackson built his reputation through his relationship with Michael Jordan. He sharpened that reputation through his relationship with Shaq and Kobe. Then he lit a match to his relationship with Kobe by penning a tell all book about what a petulant immature child Kobe was, and then managed to rebuild that relationship a year later. Then, he goes on to win a title with Kobe and is now about to play for another one. He has cemented himself as the coach every star wants to play for. This is a legendary accomplishment that may not be replicated in our lifetime.
This skill that Jackson has to coach superstars has become the ultimate coaching band aid. The perpetual presence of a superstar on his roster has bailed Jackson out of many matchup and tactical mistakes. On this particular team, Phil’s band aid is the great Kobe Bryant. Phil has the luxury of doing things like keeping Derek Fisher in a mismatch (i.e Russell Westbrook in this year’s first round) because Kobe will bail him out. He can be slow to make adjustments to Phoenix’s zone defense because Kobe will bail him out. Phil has mastered the luxury of margin of error strategy wise because he is the pre-eminent coach to the superstars in the history of the league.
One of the other more interesting aspects of the way Jackson coaches are through his motivational techniques. Where many coaches choose the direct route in communicating with players, Jackson does things like handing them books to read to make them think. He uses quotations and historical references. He gives quotes to the media designed to send messages to players, but never his superstars. But probably the best thing he does is the public messages he sends referees through the media to try and park an idea in an official’s head for a future game. He almost always absorbs a fine in doing it. But it’s a very smart motivational ploy in the fact that by writing a check for a fine in the name of attempting to influence officiating makes his players feel like he’s in the trenches with them. He does things in a very unorthodox fashion, but frankly, that’s the thing that makes him the most successful coach of all time.

Now onto the finals….


This year’s finals reminds of an old advertising slogan from Old Milwaukee Beer. A bunch of guys sitting around a campfire toast with their cans of Old Milwaukee while exclaiming the slogan, “it doesn’t get any better than this.” Of course those guys were sleeping outside with mosquitos drinking watered down swill from a can, but I digress. As basketball fans, we’re drinking Cristal and eating caviar while relaxing on a gorgeous yacht. We have been blessed with the best matchup we could ever want with great players, great teams, and most importantly, historical significance.
Lets be logical about this and throw the 2008 matchup out the window. Even though there are very few new players from 2008, too many guys are just different players than they were that year. I’ll break this down from both sides.
If I’m Boston, the first thing I understand defensively is that odds are, I will not stop Kobe. However, if I shut down the guys around him and turn him into a high volume shooter while eroding his shot selection, I’m a step ahead. So, ultimately, the Celtics have to make sure to defend the post well and watch Fisher on the perimeter. Essentially, double Gasol in the post off of Artest and Odom, but don’t lose Fish. And whatever you do, guard Kobe the best you can, but don’t double him. Kobe can’t beat you alone, but he’ll bury you with help. Rondo cannot wander off Fish to help. Pierce should be Boston’s main double teamer assuming Allen guards Kobe.
Offensively, if I’m the Celtics, I’m a little concerned. Paul Pierce has been Boston’s best scorer in the playoffs and he’s about to be smothered in a way he’s not used to. Ron Artest put Kevin Durant in his hip pocket in the first round and he’s about to do the same thing to Pierce. Boston would be smart not to force it and let Pierce’s offense come passively. Odds are, the Lakers will guard Ray Allen with Fisher. The Celtics need to set plenty of low screens for Allen to make Fisher fight through traffic. Getting Allen going should be of paramount importance to Boston. Also, I bet Boston goes to school on the fact that Pau Gasol didn’t look great guarding Stoudemire in the last 4 games of the West final. The Celtics must re-commit to getting Garnett the ball in the post. Garnett was a great weapon in the second round against Cleveland. And getting Garnett the ball on the low block is a key to Boston creating foul trouble and exploiting L.A’s lack of quality depth with their bigs. If two of Gasol, Bynum, and Odom have foul trouble consistently, the Lakers will struggle.
If I’m L.A., understanding that Pierce should be taken care of, my main focus is to keep Rondo out of the paint. That primary responsibility will fall to kobe. I actually think Kobe will do a great job of this. Because of the inconsistency in Rondo’s perimeter shooting, he needs to be funneled to the outside areas of the court more than actually be guarded. Reducing Rondo’s penetration can make Boston’s offense stagnant. Also, whenever Bynum is on the floor, I’d have him cover Garnett. It will make Garnett’s life tougher on the low block, and if Garnett pulls him out to the perimeter, even better. The idea is to turn all of the Celtics into jump shooters, because with Ron Artest on the floor, Ray Allen is the only one who can consistently hurt you from there.
Offensively, if I’m L.A., I’m going to start Kobe in the post and invite Boston to double him. If they don’t, Kobe eats them for dinner. If they do, the Lakers end up with cutters and shooters galore. I would also post up Artest a lot, just to wear Pierce down a little. The other thing that will help the Lakers is to spend some time pushing the tempo. Remember, the Celtics lost every fourth quarter to Orlando. If they’re forced to run early, their advanced age will cause them to run out of gas late. I wouldn’t worry so much about getting Gasol too involved early. His stengths play into the teeth of Boston’s defense and he’s going to be a very important factor for the Lakers defensively and on the glass. Of course, if Garnett, Perkins, or Wallace start with the stupid fouls, Gasol in the post is just what the Lakers could use to land any of them on the bench for an extended period of time, which will allow the Lakers to dominate the rim. Glen Davis is not a solution for Boston in this series. Gasol and Odom are brutal matchups for him.
I have been underestimating the Celtics since before the playoffs. Remember, I’m the guy who declared that their championship window closed on Rivers’ and Danny Ainge’s fingers, so my prediction should come with a grain of salt. I see the Lakers finishing this in 6. Keep in mind that four times in the last two seasons, the Lakers have been tough enough to keep quality opponents from taking them to a game 7. They finished Denver and Orlando in 6 last year and Oklahoma City and Phoenix in 6 this year. The only team to take them to a game 7 in the last two years was last year’s Rockets. So, the Lakers did the most prudent thing. They went and signed Houston’s best player. Lakers in 6.
Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

You can follow my lunatic rantings on twitter at www.twitter.com/bgeltz

Rebounding from the lost entries



Since the playoffs have began, I've sat down to write two separate columns. The first one (which was damn good by the way), vanished into the Cyber Bermuda Triangle. The second one took me so long to finish that by the time I got 3 quarters through it, most of it was wholly irrelevant. So, in a recovery attempt, I'm going to tell you what surprised me and what did not.


First Round

I was surprised that Chicago played Cleveland as tough as they did. I know it ended in 5, but Chicago was at a severe talent disadvantage and made every game but one interesting. If I'm Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade or LeBron James, I'd give careful consideration to joining Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng in Chicago during the great free agent frenzy of 2010. Then again, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh don't need me to tell them that....

I'm not surprised that Orlando disposed of Charlotte in such short order. Charlotte head coach Traveling Larry Brown did his David Blaine imitation getting this blend of mediocre talent into the playoffs.

I was completely surprised that Milwaukee pushed Atlanta to 7 games. Atlanta's perimeter defense was so bad that Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford could have been mistaken for turnstiles. They made Brandon Jennings and John Salmons look like Tiny Archibald and Michael Jordan. And can Joe Johnson show up? He's gone from a player in Phoenix who was versatile enough to fill in whatever his team needed on a given night who has now become a high volume perimeter shooter with a horrific shot selection. Furthermore, he's done a subpar job fitting in with Atlanta's good young bigs in Josh Smith and Al Horford.

I was completely surprised that Boston disposed of Miami in 5 games. In my playoff preview, I boldly declared that the Celtics championship window had closed on Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge's fingers....oops. Boston has pulled off a shocking turnaround to say the least. And while I'm on the Celtics and I'm doing mea culpas, I feel the need to discuss Boston point guard Rajon Rondo. Up until these playoffs I had felt that Rondo's value reflected more on the stat sheet and less in overall contribution to wins and losses. After what I've seen in these playoffs,my view of Rondo is much different. My big criticisms of him were his weak perimeter shooting, weak free throw shooting, which is killer for a point guard, his propensity to gamble on defense, some poor offensive decision making, and a habit of chasing rebounds and getting caught out of position. Well, Rondo has improved both his free throw and perimeter shooting. His decision making has become impeccable on both ends of the floor. And his rebounding instincts have become a tremendous asset. He is clearly the Celtics best player. He's the straw that stirs the Garnett/Allen/Pierce drink. And if they make the NBA finals, he will be the biggest reason they got there. I was wrong about Rondo. He has become the fourth best point guard in the NBA, right behind Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose, and right in front of the defensively challenged Steve Nash.

I was not surprised that the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed the Lakers to 6 games. I knew Russell Westbrook would be too much for Derek Fisher to handle and I was correct about Ron Artest's ability to put Kevin Durant in his hip pocket. Laker coach Phil Jackson's loyalty to Derek Fisher is admirable and somewhat foolish all at the same time. I have joked frequently in the past about Fisher being washed up and frankly its not all that much of a joke. Fisher has hit many big shots for the Lakers in the past and Phil has a unique comfort level with him. Up until this point, it has served the Lakers very well, which is why Phil Jackson has 10 championship rings and I'm a hack with a website.

I was also not surprised that San Antonio finished off Dallas in 6 games. What did surprise me was how bad a series Dallas coach Rick Carlisle coached. In all fairness he was saddled with integrating Caron Butler into a team where Butler just did not fit. When you're a player on the Mavericks, its Dirk Nowitzki's world and everyone else is living in it. Butler played like he was still competing for shots on the Wizards with Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas. Butler was a factor in Dallas' game 5 win with 36 points, but he was a liability otherwise. San Antonio shut down Jason Kidd using Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson to guard him. And I was certainly not surprised that Spur guard George Hill was the difference in the series for San Antonio. What did surprise me was that Carlisle used his fastest guard, rookie Rodrique Beaubois so little. Hill killed Dallas because he was the fastest player on the floor and guarded Jason Terry admirably. When Carlisle finally decided to use Beaubois, he single handedly got Dallas back into game 6. And once they were back in the game, he buried Beaubois on the bench right next to Shawn Marion, who got buried on the bench down the stretch of every game. Ranger Rick is lucky that Dallas owner Mark Cuban is a reasonable man, or he could have easily found himself back in the ESPN studio.

I was not surprised that Phoenix took care of Portland in 6. What did surprise me was that an organization with the rotten luck of Portland would risk their franchise player in Brandon Roy by putting him in a playoff game less than two weeks after he had knee surgery for a torn meniscus. With a healthy Roy, Portland was not a threat to win a championship this year. And I don't buy the idea that he wasn't risking hurting it further. That Portland front office has become every man for himself and if they're not careful they are going to squander a stacked hand.

I know I shouldn't have been surprised by this, but I was sort of surprised that Denver rolled over to Utah without their head coach George Karl. Utah's mental toughness was certainly not a surprise, because thats the only way head coach Jerry Sloan will have it. But I thought Denver would play with some purpose considering that Karl dangled his return to the team if they made the second round. But with Kenyon Martin playing on one leg and Chris "Birdman" Anderson having no lift because of a knee injury, Denver was severely compromised inside. And when you combine that with J.R. Smith's reckless shot selection and Chauncey Billups channeling his inner Iverson all over again, Carmelo Anthony had no help.


Second round


I was so surprised that Boston was able to send LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers home in 6 games. They are so many things I saw in this series that had me shaking my head, I don't even know where to start. I was surprised the Celtics played as efficiently as they did, although that was more of a product of the fact that you could could have given the Cavs red uniforms, british accents, and swords and they could not have guarded Buckingham Palace. Antawn Jamison guarded Kevin Garnett like Garnett was carrying an infectious disease and Jamison didn't want to catch it. Mo Williams treated Rondo like he was a dragon. Williams acted as if he stood in front of Rondo, Rondo would breathe fire on him. And Cleveland coach Mike Brown showed an absurd amount of misplaced loyalty in guys who never earned it. Brown's best 5 in this series was Varejao, James, Moon, Parker, and West. Those were his 5 best defensive matchups. Instead he lived with Jamison and Williams who were defensive liabilities from moment one. Jamison was so bad in particular, that in game 5, Brown actually thought that the 350 lb. Shaq had a better chance to contain Garnett than Jamison. Thats like having someone send in Kevin James to pinch run for you.

And while I'm on the Cavs, indulge me a moment while I put in my two cents on LeBron James. All of this speculation that engulfs LeBron reminds me of an old expression that my grandfather on my mother's side used to use. Papa Nelson would say, "Everyone's on the bullsh-t." There is very very little I hear that I actually believe on where Lebron is playing, why he didn't play well, and what he is thinking. LeBron is a 25 year old kid who has the world in the palm of his hand. Anyone who pretends to know what he is thinking is so full of it, that they're eyes are brown, especially those closest to him. LeBron's pending free agency is the ultimate wait and see game. Our media driven, information seeking society is not good with that. Anyone can speculate until they're blue in the face. Its meaningless hot air. And as far as this notion that he quit on Cleveland in game 5 of the Boston series. I saw a young player who defended Boston's hottest player in Rondo very effectively in the first half holding Rondo to zero points and zero assists. He clearly didn't have it offensively, like a great pitcher without his good stuff. He needed his guys to pick up for him a little bit. And for the exception of Shaq, who is still plays a tough brand of basketball for a fat old guy, the rest of his guys played dead from the neck up. No fire. No urgency. LeBron James, the 25 year old basketball star looked frustrated. I know we're all suppossed to be witnesses and all, but its not really fair to the guy to act shocked when he turns up human. See, I'm on the bullsh-t with everyone else.....

I was not all that surprised that the Magic swept Atlanta. Atlanta ends up to be the polar opposite of the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And the worst part about it is that the Hawks quit. Their head coach Mike Woodson got fired after they were eliminated and I can't say it wasn't justified. His inability to get Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford to choose shots more selectively was fatal to the Hawks. In the upcoming great free agent frenzy of 2010, Joe Johnson should display a buyer beware sticker as he shops for a max deal.

I was definitely a little surprised that the Lakers swept the Utah Jazz. I certainly expected the Lakers to win, but I thought they would lose one or two games. Once again, I get caught underestimating how washed up Derek Fisher truly is. Deron Williams certainly scored and created at will against Fish. But Fish brought it right back at him, having a good offensive series. And while I'm here, I was extremely disappointed with the weak defense Utah played in this series, specifically their 3 best players. Willimas, Carlos Boozer, and Paul Milsap were destroyed by the Lakers. Frankly, for guys considered to be premium players, their defensive effort was insufficient.

I was completely and entirely floored that Phoenix was able to sweep San Antonio. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire pick and rolled San Antonio to death. Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN wrote a column about Tim Duncan's inability to defend the pick and roll (linked right here
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15752/has-tim-duncan-become-a-defensive-liability) and he's right on. Duncan's eroded foot speed really hurt the Spurs in this series. Also, the Spurs had expected Richard Jefferson to bring them athleticism on both ends of the floor and in transition. Jefferson was completely schooled by the Geritol taking Grant Hill. Jefferson never appeared comfortable in his role with the Spurs. And if recent history is relevant, the head coach with 3 championship rings gets the benefit of the doubt, not the aging chucker who hurt his career by thinking he was better than he was. Greg Popovich was not wrong in believing that Jefferson could compete athletically with Hill and Jason Richardson. But Jefferson didn't seem like he wanted to be up to the task.

Conference Finals

I am completely flabbergasted that Orlando has fallen behind Boston 2-0 at home nonetheless. It shocks me that the Magic have not played an uptempo game as they did in last year Eastern Conference final against Cleveland. I'm not looking to minimize how well the Celtics are playing, but Orlando has played this exactly how Boston would like them to. Boston has suffoctaed Orlando's perimeter players in the halfcourt. The Magic are in desperate need of easy baskets. And some wide open transition 3 point attempts wouldn't hurt either. But as long as they keep walking it up and use Dwight Howard in the post as their primary offensive option, they're on the express route to going home for the season. Their offensive philosophy needs to be simple. Run pick and roll with Howard in the half court and get out and run off turnovers and missed baskets. The Celtics can be hard to run against because they have become the smartest team in basketball, which is a counter intuitive statement considering that they have Rasheed Wallace on their team. But if the Magic make them run back od defense, they have a chance to wear down a team thats more than a little long in the tooth.

I am not surprised at all that the Lakers are handling the Suns with such ease. The most frustrating part about this for Phoenix is that the Lakers are burying them at their own game. The Suns love to run and the Lakers are running them out of the gym. Amare Stoudemire is taking a lot of heat for getting eaten alive by Pau Gasol, which is not a crime. Gasol doesn't discriminate. He does it to just about everybody. The Suns best bet to get back into this series is to go big and play slow. Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry has got caught playing too small for too long which has permitted Gasol and my man Lamar Odom to dominate both rims. Phoenix probably doesn't win the series slowing down, but anything's got to work better than what they just did in these two games.

I'll be back with more during the finals. And I'll get started on the draft and the great free agnet frenzy of 2010. If you wannt to follow my lunatic rantings on twitter, you can find me at www.twitter.com/bgeltz Giddyap. Y'all be cool.