June 10, 2005

PISTONS, SPURS—DULL FINAL SERIES OFF AND WALKING

      How many times have you heard these basketball experts say that defense is not boring—that it wins championships?  That may be true, but since my team is as far from the NBA Finals as any team in the league I don’t want to watch defense—I want excitement.  I’m sorry, NBA experts, this series is going to be dull with very few moments of interest.  Unless blocked shots, shot clock violations and rebounds are your thing then Pistons-Spurs will no doubt go down in history along with some of the other boring finales to a professional sports season.

       There’s a reason why I was rooting for the Phoenix Suns.  If that team were successful then it would open the game up for more teams to try and copy their frenetic, fast-paced approach to the game.  Unfortunately the Suns fell a little short—victims to inexperience and a lack of depth—and now we have to watch two teams struggle to get 90 points.  Actually it looks like 80 might win every game.

       So now we have Manu the Flopper on our TV screens.  As talented a player as he is it’s obvious that Ginobili has had a ton of soccer training—he goes down like he was shot any time an opponent makes contact with him.  And we also have Tony Longoria who needs his coach to scream at him several times during a game before he gets mad enough to compete.  And if I hear one more “he really picks up his game in the playoffs” comment about Robert Horry I’m going to throw something solid at the television screen. 

       As for the Pistons—sure they play well as a team and they are solid defensively, but they are here because of one reason, the deteriorating health of the Miami Heat players.  If Dwayne Wade is healthy the Pistons don’t win—simple as that.  As it is it took the Pistons right up until the final minute to put down the hobbling Heat.  The Pistons just don’t score enough—is their common criticism.  But the Pistons don’t need to score much when they take the full 24 seconds to put up a shot, and then force their opponent to use up the same time allotment to make their foray to the basket.  There sure is going to be a lot of dribbling around the perimeter in this series.

       Of course I would love to have Tim Duncan on my team.  He may not be exciting but he is as soundly efficient as there is in the game.  Any time the Spurs start to wobble there’s Duncan receiving a pass in the post, settling his team down, and making a play.  Why are the Spurs so successful?  Coach Gregg Popovich answers that question very succinctly—we have Tim Duncan.  It’s no surprise that the Spurs have been championship contenders each year that Duncan has been in the league.  Watching Duncan play at such a high level against the Suns was terrific viewing.  It’s a crime against NBA entertainment that the Spurs-Suns series didn’t go the full seven. 

       The Spurs showed, against the Suns, that they could play a variety of styles, and compete.  Unfortunately the Pistons will bring their style of play and force San Antonio to slow everything down.  Here’s hoping that this will be the last time we see slow moving play.  Here’s hoping that more teams pick up the tempo and follow the Suns.  There has to be a balance in the game.  There has to be some offence and some defence, some flashiness to go along with all the fundamentals.  Otherwise I’m going to be tuning in, and tuning out as the series goes on.  It’s too bad…Phoenix- Miami would have been terrific entertainment.