Heard in the Cheap Seats

I was originally going to do a huge breakdown of the NBA Finals, but I decided not to.  Why?  Honestly, I just can’t stomach writing about these two teams in depth.  I can’t stand the Lakers, and the Magic ended the Sixers and are coached by one of the most annoying people in the NBA, and that’s saying something.  I love NBA basketball and I will be watching, but I just can’t subject myself to a full breakdown.  At least, not for free.  I will instead just do a brief breakdown and give you my pick for the series.  I should mention that I almost always pick against the Lakers and am usually wrong when I do.

I think conventional wisdom says that now that the Lakers have reached the Finals, they will win.  Their propensity to get bored and not show up likely won’t happen now that the end is in sight.  Everyone is saying that Kobe Bryant can cement his legacy by winning a championship without Shaq.  On the other side, you have the Orlando Magic, who are seemingly occupying the space that was supposed to be reserved for LeBron James and the Cavs.  I’ll admit that they have surprised me.  They are firing on all cylinders now.  This series will be closer than some people think.  It comes down to how well Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol guard Dwight Howard and how well the Lakers cover the Magic shooters.  If the Magic somehow continue to shoot at a blistering rate, they can win.  Kobe Bryant will do his thing, but I think the key will be Rashard Lewis.  If he can be huge in this series, the Magic can pull the upset.  He creates matchup problems for every single team in the NBA.  On the other side, Kobe needs either Gasol or Odom to contribute somewhere around 20 points and 10 boards.  The Magic beat the Lakers twice during the season, because they are pretty much impossible to guard when they are moving the ball.  It will be an exciting, high scoring series, that’s for sure.

My brain tells me to pick the Lakers, but it is extremely hard for me to that.  I really don’t want to see that smug look on Bryant’s face when he wins his 4^th ring.  Unfortunately, I think that’s what we’ll see.  Although, maybe my pick can put a reverse jinx on the Lakers and then watch as Kobe disses his teammates.  LAKERS IN 7

Even though a cloud of suspicion regarding NBA officiating has been cast over the NBA Finals, Game 4 will take place tonight in Los Angeles.  Just like in Game 3, tonight is a must win situation for the Lakers.  If the Lakers lose tonight, they put themselves in a position to have to win 3 games in a row, two of which would be in Beantown.  The feeling out portion of this series is over with.  No more real surprises or gimmicks.  It now comes down to good old fashioned execution.  Up until this point, all that has taken place is both teams have won on their home floor.  Tuesday night was the first game that the Lakers played with aggression, and at times it was not pretty, but they came out on top thanks to a stellar performance by Kobe Bryant.  I believe that this series will go the distance.  I heard J.A. Adande say something on the radio that I agreed with one hundred percent.  He said that he felt that the Lakers best effort would beat the Celtics best effort, but that he didn’t feel the Celtics, with their defensive pressure, would allow the Lakers to have their best effort.  This is where it gets fun.  Now we have a series on our hands ladies and gentlemen.  The bright lights and pressure of the NBA Finals will be much more intense starting tonight, which could lead to some classic games.  I can sit here and break down every key component of this match-up, but I won’t.  If you have watched the games, you already know what both teams need to do in order to be victorious.  What I will be watching is which players perform under the pressure.

There is something about pressure in sports that is so compelling.  Legends are made by those moments when an athlete rises above the pressure.  These next few games will either make legends or leave certain players with the undesirable stigma of choking under pressure.  There have been many great players whose careers have been altered by these moments.  This series will alter the careers of a few great players.  I include Kobe Bryant in this mix, along with Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.  Kobe already has 3 rings and a legacy, but none of those rings came without Shaq.  He now has his chance.  Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen, depending on how they perform starting tonight can either cement their own legacies or fall under the category of great players who never rose above the pressure.  There are going to be points in tonight’s game and the remaining games to follow where we may see a player rise above or cave under.  We will know it when it happens.  The body language, the look in the eyes, the desire, the ability to have no fear even in the face of failing will all be things to look for. I cannot wait for these moments.  I cannot wait to see legends made, and at the same time legacies tarnished.

So far the NBA Finals has gone exactly the way I thought it would go, and the exact opposite of the way most experts said it would go. I figured that the Celtics would win the first two games of this series in Boston. I do think that the Lakers will bounce back in a tight Game 3, but I do not feel they will win this series. I stated previously here that this would go 7 games, and it still may, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see it over way sooner. Many of the advantages that I laid out on this site, turned out to be even bigger in the first two games. The Celtics have dominated all the aggressive play, especially loose balls and rebounding. The main problem for the Lakers, however, is that they came into this series riding high due to a high octane offense. Though the Western Conference was much better this year, the Lakers have not had to face a defense as physical, athletic, and suffocating as the Celtics. The Spurs did do a better than average job of forcing Kobe Bryant into taking jumpers, but unfortunately he made most of them. The Celtics, so far, have done a masterful job. They have intimidated the Lakers physically, and kept them away from the paint. When the Lakers are not hitting from the outside, their high octane offense starts running on unleaded. They have been settling for outside shots, and their patented ball movement and spacing has disappeared. Some people feel that with the 4^th quarter comeback in Game 2, the Lakers have gained an advantage. I disagree. The Celtics simply went to sleep.

Phil Jackson, the Lakers fans, and the Lakers can complain all they want about the officiating, but that won’t win ballgames. Not to mention, the Lakers have benefited from the refs calls as well, specifically in the Utah series. Go back and look at the numbers. Seriously. That means you Lakers fans. Its easy to point at the refs or the free throw disparity, but even in doing that you might miss the fact that there was only seven more fouls called on L.A. This again points to a lack of aggressiveness. When they were dominating from the free throw line against the Jazz they were the more aggressive team. They might get more calls if they actually grew a set of stones and actually drove to the basket. They need to get more physical and aggressive. Maybe they need to have their own equivalent of the 1984 Finals clothesline of Kurt Rambis courtesy of Kevin McHale. That changed the tone of the series for Boston. Instead of complaining about officiating, maybe one of the Lakers should have put Leon Powe on his ass instead of offering him a cup of tea on his way to another easy dunk. Kobe Bryant has a meanness and tenacity but I am not seeing it from the likes of Gasol, Odom, Radmanovic, etc. That is the problem. It has been stated so many times that defense wins championships. Cliché as it may be, it also most times proves to be true. So, can the Lakers come back and win 4 of the next 5 games, two of which would be in Boston? Anything is possible. Is it likely? Not unless they take off their skirts and act like they are playing for the trophy. Like I said, I believe the Lakers will make this an interesting series again by winning Game 3, but I would not be shocked, if they get off to a poor start, to see them implode. Then we will see the frustration of Kobe realizing that his teammates can’t stand up to the pressure, and then this puppy is over. We will see the preseason, hating his teammates Kobe Bryant. Lakers fans better hope that moment doesn’t come.

On this toasty Sunday morning here in Boston I’d like to offer our loyal readers a tip free of charge courtesy of Heard in the Cheap Seats: Whatever you do, do NOT lock yourself out of the house on a 90 degree day and then proceed to walk to Dunkin Donuts for an extra large hot coffee.  It’s really not a smart move–a lesson I had to learn the hard way this morning.  But I digress; Sunday Smattering follows ladies and gentlemen.

• Big Bummer for Big Brown: The horse racing world takes center stage at least once year (the Kentucky Derby) and at most twice a year when a horse is chasing the illusive Triple Crown.  As has been the case many times before, the media anointed Big Brown the savior of horse racing after a trying season and practically handed the horse the victory.  But the horse racing gods would not oblige and Big Brown delivered a clunker–finishing dead last at the most grueling race of the Triple Crown series.  Da’Tara, rode by the same jockey that spoiled Smarty Jones’ Triple Crown bid, played the spoiler once again.?

• Tempers Flare in Beantown: On a night when the Celtics were supposed to have the limelight all to themselves, the Red Sox stole a bit of the city’s attention with two separate incidents.  First, Coco Crisp charged the mound after being plunked by James Shields.  Most baseball brawl prove rather uneventful with a whole of shoving but not much fighting.  This one was a bit different.  Shields, instead of backing off the mound and praying for the hasty arrival of his catcher, took three steps toward Coco and attempted to deliver a haymaker.  With boxing in his lineage, Coco adeptly dodged the punch and then succumbed to the pile of Rays’ players that went after him.  Later in the game, Manny and Kevin Youkilis had a small dust up.  Maybe Yuk reads Heard in the Cheap Seats and read my call to action from last week?

• Chipper Hits Number 400: One of my favorite baseball players of all time, Chipper Jones, reached a career milestone this week–HR number 400.  Of course, immediately after the blast, the posts came fast and furious debating his hall of fame credentials. Let me put it this way, if he retired right now, he is easily in the top 3 in terms of switch hitters of all time.  That alone is enough to get him in. But, Chipper himself says he would like to play another 4 years at a minimum provided he remains healthy and the Braves would like him back.  Let’s just assume for argument’s sake he sees a fairly sharp decline in his power numbers after this season and only hits 20 HRs a year (a huge stretch) for the next four years.  Assuming he hits about 20 more this season, that would put him at 501 HRs for his career.  Now, let’s look at hits.  Let’s say he finished this season with 200 hits, which would be an additional 110 on top of where he currently stands.  Then for the next four years, he sees a slight decline to 175 a year.  That would put him above the 3,000 hit mark for his career.  In terms of RBI, he will probably get another 60 this year followed by four seasons at a conservative 80 per year.  That would give him 1700 RBI for his career.  My point is this: he is already a HOFer, everything he tacks on from here on out is just gravy.
• John Smoltz to Have Surgery: John Smoltz had to make the painful decision this week to undergo season-ending surgery, which begs the question, is this the end?  Contrary to the opinion of Jayson Stark, I simply can’t envision this being the end for Smoltz.  Before the announcement, Smoltz was making statements that would indicate if he had to endure another surgery he would retire.  But when faced with that reality, he quickly retreated from his stance.  John Smoltz is too much of a competitor to have this be the way he goes out.  He’ll be back for one more go around next season.
• Must Win Tonight for Lakers: Is it too early to call this game a must-win?  I don’t think so.  The Lakers need to come out of Boston tonight with a split or they can kiss their title hopes goodbye.

On Thursday night, the long-awaited NBA finals match up finally took its rightful place at the center of the sports universe. And if you examine what transpired in Game 1, there are a few subtle and not-so-subtle lessons that are evident and might impact how the remainder of this series plays out.
Lesson 1: Rajon Rondo Not Awestruck

Coming into this series, I believed this would be the primary factor in determining the Celtics success in the series. Reason being, you have a pretty good idea that you will get approximately 60 points out of the big three every night, but somewhere along the line you need to find an additional 30-40 points to win ballgames. In Game 1, the big three combined for 65 points. Tack on the 15 that Rondo scored and it is easy to see why the Celtics came away with a W. But more telling than the 15 points in my mind was the mere two turnovers. If he is able to keep that turnover rate steady for the remainder of the series, the Celtics will be in good shape–regardless of how many points he scores.

Lesson 2: Doc Still Hasn’t Learned his Lesson

Quietly, the skepticism in Boston regarding Doc Rivers’ coaching prowess grew from a barely audible whisper to a full-fledged buzz. What Doc Rivers needs to realize is that his best coaching asset is pulling back on the coaching. He is over thinking this game and it shows in his rotation. With the extended TV breaks in the playoffs, there is no reason Sam Cassell should be getting 13 minutes. None. It worked out this time around, but Boston’s resident ET has a tendency to kill any semblance of flow an offense manages to create. If he continues to get these kinds of minutes, Doc better be prepared for the fallout in the Boston media.

Lesson 3: Kobe Continues to Look for Teammates Early

Throughout the season and the playoffs, Kobe has been lauded for his willingness to involve teammates early in the game. I had some doubts that this would continue once the allure of the NBA crown was in sight. But if Game 1 is any indication, Kobe is content to involve his teammates early and look to take over late in the game. In Game 2, look for Kobe to ditch this strategy and come out of the gates strong with a solid first quarter. Kobe will not let his team leave Boston without a split.

Lesson 4: Defense Will Decide

This isn’t exactly a startling revelation. After all, how many times have we heard: “defense wins championships?” As tired as the cliché is, it probably was never more evident than in Game 1 of this series. Offensively, these two teams are pretty evenly matched. Defensively, the Celtics clearly outclass the Lakers. Defense is nothing more than a will to commit and right now, the Celtics have that will. Kobe is a world-class defender; I look for him to set the tone for the remainder of the series. In addition, don’t be surprised if Ronny Turiaf starts to get a slight increase in playing time due to the energy and defensive ability he brings to the floor. He might be the only player the Lakers have that can match the intensity and energy of Kevin Garnett.

Lesson 5: Lakers Will Win This Series

Bet you didn’t see that one coming did ya? With the Celtics winning Game 1, it wouldn’t seem logical to come away with the conclusion that the Lakers will win this series. But, the Lakers showed they are quite capable of winning a game in Boston. You can bet that Kobe will not score 24 points again in this series; in fact, I might even venture to say he won’t score fewer than 30. In addition, I don’t think we continue to see 15 a night out of Rondo. While the Celtics certainly took care of business on their home floor, they did not do enough to sway me from my original belief that the Lakers would win this series. That being said, Game 2 is a must win for LA.

This Sunday morning marks the return of Sunday Smattering–the column that is my facade for not being able to narrow my ideas down to one post–so I call it a smattering and post everything. Pretty clever huh?

Without further adieu, Sunday Smattering ladies and gentlemen:

• Lakers vs. Celtics: After all the hype, drama and predictions, the two most storied franchises in NBA history will once again meet to decide the NBA title. The story lines here are endless. As much as I loathe both of these teams, I even have to admit that this final brings a certain nostalgic feel that is a rarity in the world of basketball. My prediction? Lakers in 6. Bolder prediction? Brian Scalabrine, in his only playing time of the series, gets so overwhelmed with nostalgia he clotheslines Kobe Bryant going to the bucket to reenact the Kurt Rambis and Kevin McHale incident.
• Taylor Wants Out: Does this really come as a surprise? Forget the fact that Jason Taylor is not a 3-4 defensive end, the preferred scheme of Bill Parcels. Forget the notion that Taylor is 34 years old. Forget all of the logical reasons why Jason Taylor and the Dolphins are about as good a match as Charles Barkley and Las Vegas. Did we really think that a guy that spent his offseason prancing around on national TV would mesh with the stone-faced, tough-as-nails, Bill Parcels? Not a chance.
• Rookie Phenoms Rule the Week: Between the debuts of Clayton Kershaw and Jay Bruce (I’m still pissed about the walk-off last night against my Braves) two heralded rookies showed their chops right from the outset. Both of these kids have bright futures, but let’s not forget they are rookies–struggles will come.
• Will the Braves Ever Win on the Road?: How is that the same team can be 7-20 on the road and 22-7 at home? Seriously folks, I am at a loss here. I understand that there will almost always be a discrepancy, but clearly this is a case of a Braves team that plays Jekyl and Hyde. If they don’t get it straightened out soon, they can forget about the NL East crown.
• Historic HRs: Last night, Manny Ramirez hit number 500 for his career and Griffey hit number 599. These two could not be more different. By all accounts, Griffey is a nice guy that plays the game the right way. Ramirez on the other hand is an immature prima Dona. Why he feels the need to constantly draw attention to himself through antics on and off the field is beyond me. He is one of the greatest right-handed hitters to ever play this game–let that do the talking Manny. I don’t care if that was his 500^th HR last night, if he ever posed that long and walked up the baseline like that in a game I was managing, the next fastball would be placed square between his ribs. Can we put out a referendum to the league on this? Throwing at hitters is illegal, unless it is Manny Ramirez after an unnecessarily long pose following a HR (or single for that matter).
• Heard in the Cheap Seats Gets a Makeover: Alright, so I am not a Web designer, nor will I ever be–hence the awkward orange and green colors from our previous design. We’ve gone with a new look, albeit still not perfect. In addition, check out the About section, it now reflects our staff of two instead of our staff of one–a long overdue change.