The Screaming Viking

The mav’s managed to best the heat last night in convincing fashion.  Both teams had a few runs, but the mav’s were just too hot to handle.  Dirk went 1-12 in the first half, but Dallas still has a 2 point lead going in to the half.  All series long the talking heads have said that dirk needs some help and last night he got it.  I’ve been on wax a couple of times saying that I think the officiating is bias…last night I think it was pretty bad as well.  The heat had 15 more free throws than the mavs…which is quite a difference in the NBA.

Obviously my opinion means nothing, but I like the way things turned out.  I like to see guys that have worked hard for many years finally earn themselves a title (Dirk, Kidd, Terry…).  Those guys have been in the league quite a while, been to the finals at least once each and finally earned themselves a title.  I like seeing Mark Cuban win a championship as well.  He’s been outspoken and can be an ass but whenever he talks about his teams you get the sense that he is as much a fan as anyone.  He wants his team to succeed both on the court and financially, he pushes for that and seems to have passion.  I like the feeling I get from an owner who seems invested in winning year in and year out.

I also like that James didn’t win a title his first year.  I’m sure his will come, but I just don’t like his public persona.  The move from Cleveland to Miami put a very bad taste in my mouth.  I have never had a problem with a guy moving teams, I just didn’t like the way he did it.  Call your former boss, tell him your moving on…call your new boss, tell him you accept…hold a press conference.  Some heads have said that they do not like the way he kept Cleveland in limbo for a few years during his last contract with them.  He seemed to act like they owed it to him to get him a title instead of him earning one.  I realize the decision earned 2mil for charity and that’s cool, but I think he should have at least notified his former boss before he went on the air.  Even if it was a phone call a couple min before he announced…it could have been handled better.  I also don’t like the “Chosen 1″ tattoo on his back…it seems awfully arrogant.  If he’d have brought multiple titles to Cleveland..then by all means, ink it up.  But to do it before you have won anything is a bit ridiculous.

LeBron also seemed to shrink from the spot light.  An average of 2.5pts or something in the 4th quarter of the finals?  In a press conference he tried to point to the “other things” he does in the 4th…but the bottom line is when the game is on the line the ball should be in his hands and he should be taking the shots.  Maybe he’ll mature in to his role but it would be a shame if he continued this mediocre performance in the finals and was able to win a championship on the back of someone else.

I’ve been watching some NBA action as of late, the conference finals and the championship round.  I also caught parts of games through out the season.  I haven’t been much of an NBA fan for years…I’ve been turned off by the game.  I think being back up in this area and getting involved with the basketball program at the school has reignited some interest in watching the game on T.V.  That’s probably fairly normal I would imagine.  I’ve also posted several times on here that I listen to lex and terry quite a bit.  Chances are their commentary on the world colors some of my opinion.  I heartily agree with some things they say, and don’t so much agree with others.  Politically I think they are blind morons, but when it comes to sports I believe they have some opinions that are valid to me.  They have had Tim Donaghy on a few times during the conf finals/finals and his commentary and insight into what happens is nothing short of fascinating to me.  I believe that to a certain degree the NBA is far more rigged than other sports.  I think they have more interest and ability to make a series stretch out 7 games, keep the game close and hand the game to the team they want to win.  It could not have been more evident than in game 3 of this years finals.  If you don’t think things are rigged, you need to sit back and objectively watch this past game. Read the rest of this entry »

The heat moved past the bulls last night.  I watched most of the game and I will say that the bulls looked like they were working harder, but the Heat were the much better team.  It seemed like the bulls made quite a few mistakes and over all didn’t play tight enough to win.  The heat seemed to push less hard but made less mistakes, so the overall feeling of the game was the better team won.  I think quite a bit of that stuff has to do with playoff experience.  The bulls had to work through sync issues, while the heat were on basically the same page.

LBJ IMO looks to be the best player in league right now and might be on his was to being the best player ever…but I still don’t like him.  During these last two games with the bulls he put the weight of the team on his shoulders and took over the game.  The difference this year compared to previous years was when he decided to take over the game he did it through his own scoring as well as facilitating the scoring of others.  In previous years he was all about his scoring.  Maybe he didn’t have the supporting cast to be able to do that…we could debate that ad-nauseum…but this year he seems to be maturing into a great player.  I think he will need to win multiple rings and MVP’s to be considered the greatest ever…but he might be on his way.  I still don’t like him, solely for the way he left Cleveland.  Maybe that’s lame…but it’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it.  Me not liking the guy doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the great player he is though.

Last night LBJ won the douche award for “drawing” a foul on Rose.  I don’t think that kind of acting has any place in sports…it was a foreign soccer player move at best.  We also saw last night how, once again, the refs turned the tide of the game.  It took a couple of crap calls from them to bring the bulls down enough for the heat to get back in the game.  I firmly believe that there is an effort by NBA officials and execs to get the match-ups they want during the playoffs.  It’s tough to watch the game…but it’s entertaining to me to watch the crap fest.

I sat down and watched most of the bulls heat game last night…I’m not a fan of the heat, but the bulls didn’t deserve to win that game.  I’m not a fan of the heat because of LeBron James.  I watched the guy when he played for the cavs, pulled for him and all that…but after he went to miami the way he did I would love to see him never win a title.  This year though it seems fairly inevitable that he’s going to win.  I don’t have a whole lot of faith in the Mav’s when it gets to the title game.

The bulls and the thunder seem to be suffering from the same problems.  They have a relative lack of playoff experience as a team.  All kinds of talent and hustle, but they just can’t seem to come together collectively during some stretches of these playoff games.  There was one point when rose was on a break, bosh with 5 fouls was trailing…rose went for the shot, bosh went for the block and rose avoided him for the 2 points.  At that stage of this close game it would have been more valuable to get bosh fouled out and go to the line for 2 shots.  There was quite a bit of miscommunication on passes and cuts, turnovers that were unforced (ball dribbled off of another players foot as they were coming up the court…no pressure).  It’s those little mistakes that need to be cut out for them to be a successful playoff team.  There is value in players getting to the playoffs multiple times and learning how to function in that environment.

As much as I don’t like James, he sure turned on the D against rose in the 4th.  I think they put him on Rose around the 7min mark?  He shut him down…it was pretty dominate.  Rose settled for 2 jump shots at the end that I was pretty disappointed with.  I would have liked to see him put the ball on the floor and take his chances.  Maybe if it wasn’t a tie he would have.  Down 1 point I bet he drives to the hol

Watching the NBA usually sucks IMO.  I was a big basketball fan back in the day, but after I grew up a little bit I realized how subjective the officiating is, how lopsided it can be and how the flow of the game is interrupted constantly with the whistles and the time outs.  I always complained about the officiating, but I never put thought in to it beyond “it sucks” until lately.  On Lex & Terry they have interviewed Tim Donaghy a few times and he tells them how he would go about adjusting the outcome of various games.  After hearing that, it’s interesting to watch games with that information and notice the stuff that he is talking about.  Maybe they can’t play as physical on one end, maybe call is made that will shave a few points here and there…it’s pretty interesting.  I think in the NBA the officials are more able to keep the spread what they want it than any other game.  You can make adjustments in other sports, but it’s easy to add the “and one!” in the NBA…call a foul here, don’t call one there…etc.  They can’t put the ball in the hole but they can give them every opportunity.