Monday, May 4, 2009

Joakim Noah, Kenny Smith, and Greg Maddux walk into a bar...

Just some random thoughts today:

1. My objection to Kenny's parity comment was more that it came off as "Rawr, you young whippersnappers think this is a good series? Why, back in my day we played our first round series barefoot in the snow! And every game went to quintuple overtime! And the series were best of 14! Don't ask how that works, it just does!"

Then he presents the Warriors-Mavericks as the best like anyone with half a brain would agree with him. I just hate it when analysts feel the need to have contradictory opinions just to seem like a connoisseur.

And I probably would feel a little ripped off about this series, too, if the only game I got to go to was game 3 (I lucked out and went to game 4 and game 6 as well.)

2. I think Joakim Noah is really somewhere in between the "poor-man's Dennis Rodman" as I believe Sir Charles described him as, and the bumbling, spaced out pothead we saw his rookie year. Yes, his interior defense looked really good against some inferior big man (although you can make a case for Kendrick Perkins being in the top 10 of offensive big men in the NBA right now,) but what encouraged me more was his great defensive rotation and ability to protect the basket against penetration from the guards. When VDN went with the incredibly stupid "4 guards plus Miller" lineup, the Celtics were getting to the rim at will (and that goes for the entire series, not just game 7.) And because on many possessions there were matchups like BG on Scalabrine, Noah was often asked to guard both Celtic big men near the basket, and did a tremendous job with it. If he keeps this improvement up, I'll be happy with Noah getting an extension at the end of next season.

3. Crap, out of time to talk about my mixed feelings on Maddux's retirement ceremony yesterday. Got a rec league championship to win tonight. I'll try to get to it tomorrow.

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