After two excellent months here on blogger, my blog has been picked up by a new and excellent sports website. Check me and my writing out at Most Valuable Network.
Phoenix Suns Blog: Born and Raised
General NBA News: Life Below the Rim
Enjoy and thanks for reading. Keep on keeping on.
We haven’t had the potential for a smile this awkward since the San Diego Chargers drafted Eli Manning number one overall in 2004. Roughly a week after getting shut down by the like of Golden State’s Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Dirk Nowitzki will be receiving the league MVP award at a press conference in Dallas sometime early this week. That means that, for the first time since Moses Malone in 1982, the association’s MVP will have failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. The Dirty German barely beat out long time friend, ex-teammate, and two-time winner Steve Nash for the award.
For those who were skeptical if Nowitzki deserved to win it before his post-season meltdown, now is the time to remind your friends and family that you were in fact right. For Dirk, David Stern, and the league, it's time to make some tough decisions.
First, Dirk. Since no one is taking my dream situation of Nowitzki and Nash playing a game of HORSE to decide the honor too seriously, here is another opinion - refuse it. He really has to. If Dirk is looking for a way to get his team back on track, there is no better way then putting their success in front of his own. He needs to say that he didn’t live up to his billing as MVP and that next year he’s going to work twice as hard to not only win the award again, but to finally break through and bring the city of Dallas an NBA championship. This would excite the fans and his teammates as well as hopefully help them recover from some of the psychological damage that this year’s playoffs might have caused. If he wants to keep this team together, it is simply the best option.
As far as Stern and the league are concerned, Dirk’s vote for MVP started out as a dream come true. Here was a white European player – two of the association’s most sought after demographics – who also leads his team, has a complete game, never gets into trouble, and is good representation of a player with tremendous passion for the game. Then Dirk disappears in game one of his series with the Golden State and everyone realizes “Whoa, the Warriors might actually win this thing.” A week later that nightmare became a reality. Now Stern is left wondering whether or not the sportswriter’s votes are cast a bit too early and whether the post-season should play some role in that decision.
It's hard to say whether or not we should wait on the MVP vote until after a round or two of the playoffs simply because, as much as we don't like it, the MVP is a regular season award; for the playoffs we have the Finals MVP. Still, would we be saying the same thing if the Lakers had knocked out Steve Nash and the Suns last year - a good possibility after going up 3-1 in the first round? Thankfully Nash pulled off nothing short of an MVP performance and saved face for himself, his team, and the NBA. After two straight years, Stern needs to come up with some answers to solve the potential of this problem happening again. The people don’t just want to know that the man being put in the pantheon with Jordan, Wilt, Bird, and Magic isn’t a round one washout, they demand it.
Dirk has a lot of time to prove himself since he’s only 28. Still he may have squandered his best chance to etch his name in the record books by winning the championship this year. Now he has to go back to the drawing and get his team back on track. After all, he is the MVP, and another season starts soon.
It has to be pretty shocking for the Phoenix Suns to realize that, while they employ the two-time reigning MVP in Steve Nash as well as former winners of Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, and this year’s Sixth Man winner, the most important player for their second round series against the Spurs is a 34 year old journeyman who averages a little under five points a game. That's right, Kurt Thomas. Big Dirty.
Thomas’ presence in the middle of a free flowing Suns system is exactly what Phoenix has been looking for over the last three seasons of early playoff exits. This year, it’s exactly what they’ll need if they want to finally finish off their archrivals from San Antonio. Lord knows they'll need all the help they can get.
Dirty's D doesn’t so much limit Tim Duncan’s ability to score as it does his ability to pass. Duncan is going to score; no one can really stop that. If Thomas can contain him in one-on-one situations and force him to take tough shots without fouling, then the rest of the Spurs offense becomes ineffective. The Suns aren’t forced to double team Duncan and leave one of the Spurs sharp shooters open on the perimeter. That makes the passing lanes shrink dramatically. Now, rather than switching over, a player like Shawn Marion can stay put on his defensive assignment of Tony Parker, who effectively kills the Suns in an open floor setting. This also frees up Amare’ Stoudemire and allows him focus on his offense rather then having to guard Duncan down low.
While it's Thomas’ defense that helps keep the Spurs’ scoring in the 80s and 90s, the offense he provides is an equally surprising benefit of his game. Where most players enjoy the “oohs” and “ahhs” that dunks and deep threes bring, Thomas is content with sitting at the elbow and making fifteen footers all day. By perfecting the lost art of the midrange game, he has opened up the floor for Steve Nash’s passing by making himself a threat and forcing people to camp out on him rather then defending the three-point line or double teaming Stoudemire.
Finally, his ability to create mismatches by setting picks might be one of Thomas’ most effective tools. Last night he continually kept Duncan on his heels by putting up screens and forcing him to switch over on to Nash. Duncan may be one of the league’s best defenders, but he is no match for Nash’s speed. Last night might have been the first time in a long while that Tim Duncan had a “deer in the headlights” look on defense. That look is something the Suns hope they can recreate come Saturday.
Credit Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni for using his third different lineup of the postseason, even with all his players healthy. Many people might think that it is a bad move to make changes this late in the season, but D'Antoni has confidence in both his players and his ability to coach them. He isn’t making these changes because he is scared, rather because he wants to give his team every opportunity to win. By putting Thomas in the starting lineup and saving Jones, Barbosa, and Diaw for the second wave, he has created a strong team eight players deep that has a good chance to challenge the Spurs for the best team in the West.
I want to thank everyone last night who was involved in proving me right. The media, David Stern, the NBA, Tim Duncan, everyone. It feels really good to finally get the recognition I deserve. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out what I wrote a couple weeks ago concerning the suspension of Joey Crawford.
"I won’t pretend to know what exactly happened, but I will say this – if that was Rasheed Wallace and not Tim Duncan, this is a non-story. For that reason alone, the suspension was unacceptable."
"I wasn't trying to show nobody up... It didn't make no sense to me. If I wanted to blow up, I could've blew up then. Why blow up when there's 8 seconds left when the game is over? It doesn't make no sense. Do I have 'moron' written on my forehead when I walk out on the court or something? I don't. ... I'm smarter than a lot of people think. I'm going to continue to play basketball and do what I do." - Stephen Jackson
I never got to see Pete Maravich play basketball. Sure I've seen the highlights, read the books, and heard the stories, but I never got to sit in an arena and see the man who created showtime basketball play it in it's purest form. Its one of the things I regret most, but I guess that's what happens when you're born two years after a hero stops playing. Still, the Maravich legacy is one of the strongest in basketball. True, he never had the stats or the playoff pedigree to warrant such attention, but it was his affect on the game and how it has been played that made him one of the 50 greatest players in history. Without him we don't have guys like Magic Johnson and Steve Nash to look up to now.
That's why legacies are a funny thing, because its not always the stats, but instead the imprint a player makes that defines him.
If anyone is facing this reality now, its 36 year old Robert Horry, the geriatric power forward for the San Antonio Spurs who often gets confused for Will Smith. His career numbers of 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds aren't even good enough to get him into an all star game much less the hall of fame, but ask any Kings fan, any Pistons fan, any Magic fan, and most recently any Nuggets fan who they'd least like to have the ball when their team is up in the waning moments of a game and the response should unanimously be, "Robert #$%&ing Horry". ESPN could cut together an hour long special of stomach punches he's delivered to hopeful fans with big shots.
Still, big shots alone don't get you a place in history, instead it's been Horry's consistency that has set him apart from everyone else. Consider this: In his fifteen year career, Horry has never missed the playoffs. He's played in the second most career playoff games, has the second most career playoff threes, and holds the record for most career NBA Finals three pointers, passing Jordan in 2005. Most impressively, he has six championship rings with three different teams. A seventh ring this year would give him the most by any player never to wear a Celtics uniform. All this from a guy who never suited up for an all star game and hasn't averaged double figures in 10 years. Meanwhile he's helped solidify the legacies of Olajuwon, Shaq, Kobe, and Duncan.
Where does that put him in history? Who knows. He probably won't make it into the hall of fame and I have a hunch my kids won't be asking me about Horry as much as they'll be asking me what it was like to see Jordan, Bird, or Magic play in their primes. Still when it comes down to making big shots in clutch situations, there's never been anyone bigger than "Big Shot Rob."
Sometimes a name can say it all.
The Shots: (From NBA.com)
* June 11, 1995 | NBA Finals Game 3 | Orlando Magic at Houston Rockets
With the score tied at 103 and the shot clock winding down, Hakeem Olajuwon kicks out the ball to Robert Horry, who launches a three over Orlando's Horace Grant, propelling the Rockets to a 106-103 victory and a 3-0 series lead on the way to a sweep and back-to-back NBA titles.
* May 6, 1997 | Western Conference Semifinals Game 2 | Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz
Horry drains all seven of his three-point shots, which is still a playoffs record for most attempts without a miss. Unfortunately, the Lakers lost the game 103-101, and were defeated in the series 4-1.
* June 10, 2001 | NBA Finals Game 3 | Los Angeles Lakers at Philadelphia 76ers
With the series tied at 1-1, the Sixers were within one point with under a minute to play. Brian Shaw found Horry in the corner and he drilled the three with 47.1 seconds left to give the Lakers a four-point lead.
* April 28, 2002 | Western Conference First Round Game 3 | Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers
Down by two with 10.2 seconds left, Kobe Bryant drives on Ruben Patterson and kicks the ball to a waiting Horry. Scottie Pippen tries to help out, but Horry's three finishes a first round sweep of the Blazers.
* May 26, 2002 | Western Conference Finals Game 4 | Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers
Up by two points with two seconds remaining, Vlade Divac knocked the ball away as far away from the hoop as he could. Unfortunately for the Kings, Robert Horry was there waiting behind the three-point line. Horry caught and shot in one fluid motion. The three-pointer was pure. Instead of going to Sacramento down 3-1, the Lakers tied the series at 2-2. L.A. would go on to win the series and their third consecutive NBA title.
* June 19, 2005 | NBA Finals Game 5 | San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons
Horry capped a unbelievable Finals performance with a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds left in overtime to give the San Antonio Spurs an 96-95 victory and a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6.
* April 30, 2007 | Western Conference First Round Game 4 | San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets
Up one point with about 35 seconds left, Tony Parker drove on Allen Iverson and kicked the ball to a waiting Horry. Marcus Camby tried to block the shot, but Horry nailed a clutch three pointer from the right corner and put the San Antonio Spurs up 3 games to 1.