Raptors at Pistons... sort of...
Wow, I hate the Knicks more than ever now. All they needed to do was beat New Jersey last night to help facilitate our matchup with Washington, but they couldn’t even do that! Fucking Knicks.
So the Nets are merely a half-game out of sixth place and a date with the Raptors in round one. With the Raptors holding steady and resting players, scoreboard watching is going to be the real action for the next two nights.
Here’s where it gets real interesting:
Washington plays Orlando tonight, Indiana tomorrow. Orlando plays Miami tomorrow.
The Wiz control their own destiny inasmuch as if they win both, they stay in sixth. HOWEVER… if they lose both, and Orlando also beats Miami, then the two teams will have identical 40-42 records and Orlando will have the tiebreaker. You think Orlando wants to play Detroit?
Basically, Orlando will not be rolling over for Washington tonight.
Meanwhile, New Jersey needs to win in Chicago tomorrow tonight and hope Washington loses 1 of 2 to move into sixth. Or even if they lose in Chicago, and Washington loses both games, the Nets take sixth because they hold the tiebreaker over Washington. (Kind of interesting in that the Magic number for both teams is 2!)
But that’s not all. Cleveland and Chicago are battling for the #2 seed - and remember, because the division winners (Toronto and Miami) are locked in at 3 and 4, one of Cleveland or Chicago will end up fifth. Big difference between two and five!
Cleveland is playing Philadelphia tonight. If Philly wins, Chicago locks up #2. Here’s how it affects Toronto: Chicago would much rather play Washington than New Jersey in round one. Chicago’s final game, of course, is against New Jersey. If Chicago wants New Jersey to move up… all they have to do is roll over for them.
However if Cleveland wins tonight, then Chicago must win to keep the #2 seed, so lets all put on our LeBron James jerseys and cheer on the Cavs tonight.
So like I said: a lot of intrigue remains. It starts tonight in Philly! NBA Action, it’s faaan-tastic.
Meanwhile, in Detroit, there’s a meaningless game between the Pistons and Raptors. Both teams are locked into their current playoff positions; thus, Detroit won’t be playing its best players that much, and the word is that Chris Bosh, Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani won’t play at all.
Bosh and Parker I can understand; they need the rest, and besides, they should at least be starting on Wednesday night (Fan Appreciation Night) and getting a couple minutes for the crowd. Tonight’s game is a road game, so let them rest (heck, let them stay in Toronto even!!)
But why wouldn’t Bargnani play? By all account’s he’s over his sinus infection and ready to go. Clearly he needs game time before the playoffs begin to shake off the rust. Even if it was just 10 minutes to get used to the speed of the game again, that would help…
Well, what can you do. I’m sure the staff is doing what’s best for Andrea. I just hope he’s ready to drop some bombs against the Nets in round one!
Meanwhile… how about all this Sam Mitchell for Coach of the Year talk?
I don’t know how I feel about this. For one thing, the guy still has several flaws (but who’s perfect?). But for another… why do they always give this award to the guy that came in with low expectations and exceeded them? Shouldn’t it go to the guy that was expected to lead his team to a lot of victories… and then did so? Is it better to exceed low expectations or meet high ones?
In other words, what’s the greater accomplishment: Coaching your team to 45 wins when it was expected to get 35; or coaching your team to 60 wins when 60 wins was expected?
In that sense isn’t Avery Johnson deserving? Mike D’Antoni? Gregg Popovich? These guys could win 45 games in their sleep it seems.
Now I’m not saying Sam doesn’t deserve consideration, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. While his X’s and O’s still need work, he has improved his communication with players, he has made adjustments on the fly that have worked out, he switched the team’s style early in the year to better suit the personnel, he’s inserted guys into the lineup when regulars went out with injury and the team hasn’t missed a beat… these are all good things. Not only that, he coached through a virtual firing squad that had lined up to take him down when the team was 2-8. That kind of negativity would make it hard to get outta bed, let alone come to work and coach a team.
But I still think the award should go to the guy who led his team to one of the best records.
And besides, you know, this Raptors unit is so much about “team”… to single one person out - whether it be Mitchell, Colangelo, Bosh, anyone - I think it diminishes the whole. Everyone exceeded expectations this year, and they all did it by working and playing together. Perhaps their should be a team of the year award: That’s the one the Raptors deserve this season.
So the Nets are merely a half-game out of sixth place and a date with the Raptors in round one. With the Raptors holding steady and resting players, scoreboard watching is going to be the real action for the next two nights.
Here’s where it gets real interesting:
Washington plays Orlando tonight, Indiana tomorrow. Orlando plays Miami tomorrow.
The Wiz control their own destiny inasmuch as if they win both, they stay in sixth. HOWEVER… if they lose both, and Orlando also beats Miami, then the two teams will have identical 40-42 records and Orlando will have the tiebreaker. You think Orlando wants to play Detroit?
Basically, Orlando will not be rolling over for Washington tonight.
Meanwhile, New Jersey needs to win in Chicago tomorrow tonight and hope Washington loses 1 of 2 to move into sixth. Or even if they lose in Chicago, and Washington loses both games, the Nets take sixth because they hold the tiebreaker over Washington. (Kind of interesting in that the Magic number for both teams is 2!)
But that’s not all. Cleveland and Chicago are battling for the #2 seed - and remember, because the division winners (Toronto and Miami) are locked in at 3 and 4, one of Cleveland or Chicago will end up fifth. Big difference between two and five!
Cleveland is playing Philadelphia tonight. If Philly wins, Chicago locks up #2. Here’s how it affects Toronto: Chicago would much rather play Washington than New Jersey in round one. Chicago’s final game, of course, is against New Jersey. If Chicago wants New Jersey to move up… all they have to do is roll over for them.
However if Cleveland wins tonight, then Chicago must win to keep the #2 seed, so lets all put on our LeBron James jerseys and cheer on the Cavs tonight.
So like I said: a lot of intrigue remains. It starts tonight in Philly! NBA Action, it’s faaan-tastic.
Meanwhile, in Detroit, there’s a meaningless game between the Pistons and Raptors. Both teams are locked into their current playoff positions; thus, Detroit won’t be playing its best players that much, and the word is that Chris Bosh, Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani won’t play at all.
Bosh and Parker I can understand; they need the rest, and besides, they should at least be starting on Wednesday night (Fan Appreciation Night) and getting a couple minutes for the crowd. Tonight’s game is a road game, so let them rest (heck, let them stay in Toronto even!!)
But why wouldn’t Bargnani play? By all account’s he’s over his sinus infection and ready to go. Clearly he needs game time before the playoffs begin to shake off the rust. Even if it was just 10 minutes to get used to the speed of the game again, that would help…
Well, what can you do. I’m sure the staff is doing what’s best for Andrea. I just hope he’s ready to drop some bombs against the Nets in round one!
Meanwhile… how about all this Sam Mitchell for Coach of the Year talk?
I don’t know how I feel about this. For one thing, the guy still has several flaws (but who’s perfect?). But for another… why do they always give this award to the guy that came in with low expectations and exceeded them? Shouldn’t it go to the guy that was expected to lead his team to a lot of victories… and then did so? Is it better to exceed low expectations or meet high ones?
In other words, what’s the greater accomplishment: Coaching your team to 45 wins when it was expected to get 35; or coaching your team to 60 wins when 60 wins was expected?
In that sense isn’t Avery Johnson deserving? Mike D’Antoni? Gregg Popovich? These guys could win 45 games in their sleep it seems.
Now I’m not saying Sam doesn’t deserve consideration, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. While his X’s and O’s still need work, he has improved his communication with players, he has made adjustments on the fly that have worked out, he switched the team’s style early in the year to better suit the personnel, he’s inserted guys into the lineup when regulars went out with injury and the team hasn’t missed a beat… these are all good things. Not only that, he coached through a virtual firing squad that had lined up to take him down when the team was 2-8. That kind of negativity would make it hard to get outta bed, let alone come to work and coach a team.
But I still think the award should go to the guy who led his team to one of the best records.
And besides, you know, this Raptors unit is so much about “team”… to single one person out - whether it be Mitchell, Colangelo, Bosh, anyone - I think it diminishes the whole. Everyone exceeded expectations this year, and they all did it by working and playing together. Perhaps their should be a team of the year award: That’s the one the Raptors deserve this season.