Thursday Night's NBA Doubleheader: THAT'S why we love this game!
Why is basketball our favorite sport and the world's greatest game? Last night in the NBA was a pretty good example. Only two games were scheduled, so hopefully the league's coaches, management, and players took it all in.
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First, Mavericks over Rockets, in Houston.
157 points? 42% and 39% shooting? Must have been a bore, right? Wrong.
That was some serious playoff type basketball played in Houston. Both teams wanted the win bad.
The Diggler, Josh Howard, and Jerry Stackhouse scored and defended. And Jason Terry came up big late. The Mavs are certainly ready to win their sec..., sorry, first championship.
The Rockets? The team, and T-Mac specifically, are still playing some damn basketball. Great stat line for McGrady: 27 points, 10 rebounds, only two turnovers, and X assists (pick your own number: assists are made up numbers by the home team's stat crew. and yes, we know the game was in Houston). Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, Chuck Hayes, and the great Mutombo also played well. That is a team that is getting better and better.
Once Yao returns from injury, they could be the league's best, or close to it, if everything comes together and they remember that winning is a lot of fun.
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Cavs beat up the Lakers. Just beat them up.
Any road win for a young team is sweet. But to beat the Fakers in LA (the crowd was actually pretty good, surprisingly), and to have them blink in the last couple of minutes, now that's special. Great way to end the first half of the year.
The Cavs defense was as impressive as any played this year that we've seen. They attacked, made smart gambles, helped each other out, and just pummeled the Fakers into 39% shooting and a lot of long faces in the fourth quarter. That's what good D will do in football, hockey, and basketball: win the game in the last quarter/period.
LeBron played the kind of game he was born to play: Great. 22 foul shots? Defense played like, well, MJ? Yes and yes. And his lack of expression was beautiful. Again, MJ tore their hearts out, but didn't seem to ever play it up on the road. Ice cold on another team's court is the way to do it.
Winning is a lot of fun, we would think.
The Cavs got terrific efforts from Anderson Varejao (one of the league's best young big men and a perfect player for this team), Eric Snow (who played great the last few minutes), and Larry Hughes, who looked a bit sluggish but still had 15 points and 5 rebounds. And Donyell Marshall can still shoot the ball, still block a shot, and rebound the ball, too. That is a quality team.
We have had our doubts about the overall talent level on Cleveland, and still think that they most likely don't have enough to win a title this year, but man, last night was some beautiful basketball.
Something to build on.
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The best quote we've read in recent years comes from the Patriots Tom Brady, who tells a story about a member of the Michigan athletic department staff who always claims his favorite ring is the "next one."
Gonna be a great second half to the season.
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First, Mavericks over Rockets, in Houston.
157 points? 42% and 39% shooting? Must have been a bore, right? Wrong.
That was some serious playoff type basketball played in Houston. Both teams wanted the win bad.
The Diggler, Josh Howard, and Jerry Stackhouse scored and defended. And Jason Terry came up big late. The Mavs are certainly ready to win their sec..., sorry, first championship.
The Rockets? The team, and T-Mac specifically, are still playing some damn basketball. Great stat line for McGrady: 27 points, 10 rebounds, only two turnovers, and X assists (pick your own number: assists are made up numbers by the home team's stat crew. and yes, we know the game was in Houston). Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, Chuck Hayes, and the great Mutombo also played well. That is a team that is getting better and better.
Once Yao returns from injury, they could be the league's best, or close to it, if everything comes together and they remember that winning is a lot of fun.
--------------------------------------------------
Cavs beat up the Lakers. Just beat them up.
Any road win for a young team is sweet. But to beat the Fakers in LA (the crowd was actually pretty good, surprisingly), and to have them blink in the last couple of minutes, now that's special. Great way to end the first half of the year.
The Cavs defense was as impressive as any played this year that we've seen. They attacked, made smart gambles, helped each other out, and just pummeled the Fakers into 39% shooting and a lot of long faces in the fourth quarter. That's what good D will do in football, hockey, and basketball: win the game in the last quarter/period.
LeBron played the kind of game he was born to play: Great. 22 foul shots? Defense played like, well, MJ? Yes and yes. And his lack of expression was beautiful. Again, MJ tore their hearts out, but didn't seem to ever play it up on the road. Ice cold on another team's court is the way to do it.
Winning is a lot of fun, we would think.
The Cavs got terrific efforts from Anderson Varejao (one of the league's best young big men and a perfect player for this team), Eric Snow (who played great the last few minutes), and Larry Hughes, who looked a bit sluggish but still had 15 points and 5 rebounds. And Donyell Marshall can still shoot the ball, still block a shot, and rebound the ball, too. That is a quality team.
We have had our doubts about the overall talent level on Cleveland, and still think that they most likely don't have enough to win a title this year, but man, last night was some beautiful basketball.
Something to build on.
--------------------------------------------------
The best quote we've read in recent years comes from the Patriots Tom Brady, who tells a story about a member of the Michigan athletic department staff who always claims his favorite ring is the "next one."
Gonna be a great second half to the season.
posted by joe sweeney at 12:03 PM
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