Playoff Thoughts

1.    It’s Over Johnny:    Count me in the crowd that thinks there isn’t much reason to watch Cleveland-Detroit, Los Angeles-Utah, or Denver-New Orleans.  Still, let’s take a look at what’s happened so far to see if there is anything to learn about these series: 

Cleveland/Detroit:  This is playing out like your typical one-eight series.  Cleveland has pretty much controlled both games behind LeBron James and the rest of the cast has been perfectly fine.  What seems noteworthy is how much Detroit has struggled to score.  Rodney Stuckey is leading the team in scoring at 17 ppg but is an ugly 12-36 from the field (0-6 from three) and Rip Hamilton has 16 ppg on also weak 13-30 from the field.  A lot of this is a tribute to the great Cleveland defense but the Pistons regressed notably on offense this year (21st from 6th in 2007-08).  Losing Chauncey Billups obviously hurts but this team is both aging and not particularly hungry.  There is no great adjustment to be made here.  Detroit must hit shots to avoid a sweep, which seems unlikely given their talent level and their inertia.  Expect the Pistons to lean even more on Will Bynum, who has played so well this last month.  It’s a shot in the dark but that’s all Detroit has right now.

NBA Playoffs 2008-09: Playoff Preview

Finally, some tangible and meaningful games.  Even as a hardcore NBA fan, I found it hard to care too much about how seeding played out that last week.  Now, we can turn to what really matters…the playoffs.  This year’s playoffs seem to be straightforward on the top of the food train.  The more interesting questions come with who gives the favorites a run for their money.  Indeed, some Western teams have a lot riding in demonstrating that they are on the right track by testing the Lakers.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the match ups:

NBA All-Time Rankings, 2008-09 Update

One of our favorite exercises is trying to place the most recent happenings to NBA history.  In order to help us in that regard, Kyle Wright, who wrote the excellent book “NBA From Top to Bottom” has passed on his 2008-09 update.  Just to give you a little context, Kyle has ranked every NBA and NFL ever from first to last.  The list is based upon his formula, which identifies several factors, including point differential, strength of schedule, and various other factors.  It measures each team against its own league and that dominance is reflected in the list, the formula does not factor in playoff showings or relative strength of the average player for each era.  Kyle’s very cool site, Sports From Top to Bottom can be found here.  Here is the full list, with each team’s historical ranking, rating with Kyle’s formula, and raw won-loss record.

Quick Thoughts

1.    Award Stuff Part II:    We just finished up our award picks last week and I realized I left out a few things.  We made all our picks in terms of awards but we had also been reviewing each award historically speaking.  In that sense, we short thrifted our historical review of the Sixth Man, Most Improved, and MVP awards.  So, while we wait for final playoff seedings to be locked in, let’s look at some history.

Quick Thoughts

1.    Award Picks:    As the NBA season reaches a finish, we don’t have too much to do but wait for the playoffs.  While we don’t pay too much attention to the post-season awards, this is a perfect time to throw in my two cents as to whom the awards should go to:

Quick Thoughts

1.    Limping to the Finish:    About one month ago we had an interesting season going on.  The Magic, Celts, and Cavs were locked in a three-way battle for top seed.  At the bottom of the conference, the eight-seed had a logjam of potential teams vying for the slot.  Out West, the Lakers were pretty much in hand and the Dallas-Phoenix race for the eight seed also looked interesting.  At this point, with a few weeks left in the season, there aren’t a whole lot of reasons to watch the homestretch of the season.  Here’s a look at what’s left to actually watch: