I think this is some of the best basketball stuff I have seen all season:
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/07/duke-brings-phoenix-suns-sans-shaq-baskeball-to-college-and-ma/#cont
What's more, I watched UNC-Duke and Duke torched them. What Duke did--and what that post points out--is spread the floor, use a lot of high picks, pass, hit open threes, and play good, if not, passive defense. They were also so good at doing that--with more or less 6-7 interchangeable pieces who hit threes--they reminded me more of the 07 Golden State Warriors?
I actually think that this Duke team is for real. I know it's early and the brackets make it hard to predict a Final Four, but I would pick these four:
1. Duke
2. Stanford
3. Indiana
4. Memphis
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Super Bowl...
Screw Dan Shanoff, I did not think the Giants win was the hallmark upset of sports history.
I say this because it underlies a couple of developments:
1) as my buddy Jon pointed out the other day, DS' new gimmick on the sportingnews is frustrating...As someone who never read the sportingnews until DS went there, I now feel comfortable stating the main reason I never did--it stinks. Also I feel like DS' reaction was premature and for some reason, sums up the edge he has lost in the last few weeks. Maybe its the switch to sporting news, maybe it's a Christian Guzman impression?
2) Coming into this game, I didn't feel like the Pats were quite Goliath or even Achilles. As someone on Fanhouse wrote earlier tonight, they were MJ-Bulls material weeks 1-10 and then after that, more like a good team. The Ravens almost got 'em, the Eagles almost got 'em, and in Week 17, the Giants almost got 'em. There were shades of gray in their "greatness."
Even in the Jacksonville and San Diego games, the Pats didn't seem utterly daunting. Yea they were undefeated, but they didn't convince me they were the best team ever or even an automatic Superbowl champ.
3. I think the Giants were a very good team. On paper they pass my critical test: good qb (manning), featured receiver (burress), good defensive rushers (strahan), and a workhorse on the ground (jacobs). So it was no stretch of the imagination that they could peice together a win over a very good 18-0 team. After all, they played them twice.
I say this because it underlies a couple of developments:
1) as my buddy Jon pointed out the other day, DS' new gimmick on the sportingnews is frustrating...As someone who never read the sportingnews until DS went there, I now feel comfortable stating the main reason I never did--it stinks. Also I feel like DS' reaction was premature and for some reason, sums up the edge he has lost in the last few weeks. Maybe its the switch to sporting news, maybe it's a Christian Guzman impression?
2) Coming into this game, I didn't feel like the Pats were quite Goliath or even Achilles. As someone on Fanhouse wrote earlier tonight, they were MJ-Bulls material weeks 1-10 and then after that, more like a good team. The Ravens almost got 'em, the Eagles almost got 'em, and in Week 17, the Giants almost got 'em. There were shades of gray in their "greatness."
Even in the Jacksonville and San Diego games, the Pats didn't seem utterly daunting. Yea they were undefeated, but they didn't convince me they were the best team ever or even an automatic Superbowl champ.
3. I think the Giants were a very good team. On paper they pass my critical test: good qb (manning), featured receiver (burress), good defensive rushers (strahan), and a workhorse on the ground (jacobs). So it was no stretch of the imagination that they could peice together a win over a very good 18-0 team. After all, they played them twice.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Lakers
I am going to step out on a limb and say that the Lakers are now the best team in the West. With the addition of Pau Gasol today, they are over the hump.
They now have two players who demand a double team, a decent supporting cast (esp. in Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, and the injured Trevor Ariza), and a good coach (although coaches are highly overrated). Ole.
With that said, this is how I rank the West heading into the All-Star break:
1 Lakers
2 Mavs
3 Hornets
4 Suns
5 Spurs
6 Jazz
7 Nuggets
8 Blazers
They now have two players who demand a double team, a decent supporting cast (esp. in Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, and the injured Trevor Ariza), and a good coach (although coaches are highly overrated). Ole.
With that said, this is how I rank the West heading into the All-Star break:
1 Lakers
2 Mavs
3 Hornets
4 Suns
5 Spurs
6 Jazz
7 Nuggets
8 Blazers
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