Reflections

What a way to spend Saturday morning! Watching the Mia/Det game 1 while blabbering about the NBA playoffs:

* I'm watching Shaq for the 1st time in these playoffs. Shaq is looking great! Jump hooks, drop steps, up and unders, he even dusted off the surprise baseline spin from the good'ol days. I've always said this to casual NBA fans: yes Shaq's ha-uu-geness makes him a good NBA player, but Shaq's quick feet and soft hands are what makes him great (and separates him from the rest of the 300 club: Oliver Miller, Stanley Roberts, Tractor Trayler, post-rehab Shawn Kemp).

* I am still in mourning for the Clippers. But first I would have to peel the pieces of their carcasses off the Suns' train tracks. They were flat out destroyed in game 7.

I don't understand why Doug Collins insisted on sucking Dunleavy's jock all throughout the series. Dunleavy's coaching mistakes, once again, lost game 7 for the Clippers. He went away from trapping Nash on the screen and rolls in the 3rd quarter and gave Nash the breathing room to pick apart Clipper's defenses. He also left Kamen on Marion, which only worked in previous games because Marion wasn't hitting wide open shots--Marion was hot in game 7, and the Clippers look like a lumbering team with Kamen. Let's not forget this man's last second substitution of Daniel Ewing in game 5 gave Bell the tying 3-pointer. Dunleavy may be the best coach in practices and in negotiating with the front office, but I wouldn't put him on the floor duing crunch time.

I just hope that in the off season they find a way to keep Cassell for a season or 2, and then make him the coach after that--the same formula seemed to have worked out for the Mavericks.

* Speaking of Mavericks, I like this team. The Mavs have always had talent, but after their game 7 win over the Spurs, this team now has big heart too. They beat the Spurs after blowing a 20 point lead in the 3rd and after down 3 in the final possessions in the 4th. I like Dirk much better when he takes it to the rack and sneers in disdain after and-1's. Make the Aryan race proud, Dirk.

(written before watching Mavs-Suns game 1)