Movement makes basketball players and teams succeed: move yourself, move the ball, and help teammates do likewise. As a result of this movement, the ball will get inside with quality shots and possessions abounding. Phil Jackson and Tex Winter believe that the Triangle Offence is not effective without penetration. Obviously neither are screen and roll plays, motion sets, nor zone offences which is why San Antonio blew Utah away in the fourth quarter of Game 4 Monday night. Jackson believes in a 60-40 split between possessions devoted to guards and posts. According to the Lakers’ coach, offences are more productive …
The Blind Side
Michael Lewis’ latest novel, The Blind Side, is part-sport, part-economics, part-psychology, and part-sociology. While writing an article about his high school baseball coach that was published as the novella Coach, he re-connected with teammate Sean Tuohy, who was adopting a 6-5, 350 pound offensive lineman who played left guard for the Briarcrest Christian School football team that Tuohy coached. That student-athlete, Michael Oher, became a living example of how sport and money have become intertwined while the rich and poor and black and white have grown apart. At the beginning of the book, Oher is a marginal student and physical …
2005 Finals Redux
Both opening games of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals demonstrated the importance of mental training. I’m disinclined to blindly use the term “experience” but feel that a large component of the differences between the respective winners and losers can be described as the “mental training that comes from being there before and making use of that experience appropriately.” Self-confidence, team chemistry, pre-game planning, and court-sense are among other elements constituting the mental training. Utah was totally taken to the cleaners by San Antonio; like the 1998 Lakers, the Jazz were unprepared as to what to expect when playing a …
Of Mice and Men and Method Acting
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden retells the story of Cain and Abel, depicted by the Trask family as generations move from Connecticut to Salinas, California. East of Eden was also adapted to the screen, directed by Elia Kazan and featuring James Dean. Although Steinbeck and Kazan have achieved the peak of their professions – the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Academy Award for Best Direction, respectively – Kazan clearly outshines his literary counterpart in bringing the oft-repeated story to life.
On the Subject of the Association, Generally
Rules Are Affecting My Enjoyment of the Game: Beyond the suspensions of Stoudemire and Diaw, which were preposterous. Bill Simmons wrote a great column and I share a number of the views that he expressed. Irrespective of flagrant fouls (if they were enforced correctly, Bowen would have about a dozen points in 2007), consistent application of the rules is becoming a huge problem. Offensive Fouls: it’s too easy to draw a foul on contact that is chiefly incidental and should be a pass (see the call Bell drew against Ginobli for the push off). The responsibility should fall on the …
On the subject of Phoenix and San Antonio’s Game 5, Specifically
Bruce Bowen Drills Baseline Threes: So do Morris Peterson, Joe Johnson, and Donyell Marshall. Given how awkward Bowen is from the wing or the top of the key, he must shoot very well from corner in order to maintain his 38% overall three point percentage. In fact, the baseline three Bowen attempted in the last minute of Game 5 provided the Spurs with a higher expected point value (1.26) than had any of the other four players on the court attempted a two-point field goal (1.04). Mike D’Antoni Occasionally Mismanages His Rotation: The Suns largely played six players, in light …
Don’t Go Small(er)
I’ve heard that the Phoenix Suns will adjust to the suspensions of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw with a very small starting line-up (Nash, Bell, Barbosa, Ja. Jones, and Marion) for Game 5. I think this would be disastrous for a number of reasons and feel they should use some of their bigger players (Thomas and Rose) instead. Bench Scoring: If the best sixth man in the Association starts, Phoenix will not have any players remaining to provide a scoring lift off the bench. I’ve always felt that Leandro Barbosa is most effective as a reserve, although he has started …
Mike D’Antoni’s Worries
It is not the end of the Phoenix Suns’ world if Amare Stoudemire is suspended for Game 5 of the Conference Semi-Finals. The actions of Bruce Bowen and others that the Association Head Office has permitted during the first four games of the series should provide some context to any suspensions assessed as a result of Robert Horry body checking Steve Nash into the scorer’s table and the subsequent melee. Suspending Stat for leaving the bench during an altercation would be neither consistent with restorative justice nor crippling to Phoenix’s chances to beat San Antonio. First of all, the Suns …
I Never Had It Made
Jackie Robinson – who debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers fifty years ago – recounts his career in sport and business in his book, which he titled I Never Had It Made. Although known primarily among the general public for his baseball career, Robinson devotes scarcely more than a third of the book to the topic, covering his experiences in politics, business, and raising a family. Two basic lessons that the reader can take away are how adversity affects all sorts of people and it’s important to preserve nonetheless and that it is never to late to change one’s course in …
The Revenge of Don Nelson
The Association Playoffs have provided a number of interesting moments regarding how decision-making, self-actualization, creativity, and aggressiveness come to the surface on the basketball court and in life. First of all, ESPN Page 2 is entirely correct to congratulate “the Golden State Warriors for making us watch the N.B.A. again.” The Warriors – led by Baron Davis and playing with a five-second shot clock – provided one of the few surprising moments in an Association that had been mundane and predictable for the past eight or nine years. As Bill Simmons wrote, at least Golden State took chances. A number …
Individual and Team Honours
“I think back to the people who would drop by my office and say, ‘keep your head up’ when you’re feeling down. Publicly, when I was out and about, I kept my head up, you’re never going to show people that you’re struggling with things on the inside, but when you’re sitting in your office by yourself and you’ve lost three or four in a row and people come by and say kind words, you remember those times.”– Sam Mitchell The Toronto Raptors bested the New Jersey Nets 89-83 in Game 2 of a first-round series and Sam Mitchell claimed …
Basketball Is My Life
Reading books by Red Holzman or Bob Cousy describe playground basketball before World War II and the early days of the Association with enough detail to provide one with an excellent appreciation of the game’s history. Basketball Is My Life: Quaintly narrated in a conversational tone, Bob Cousy’s first literary effort was written after the Boston Celtics’ first Association title in 1957. The book lacks meaningful insight into basketball but the key theme is work ethic: in basketball, business, or life. Obviously, Cousy devoted significant time to the sport but basketball is not his life. Nevertheless, given the obstacles that …
La Dolce Vita
I’ve been told that you need to watch the adjacent Fellini films – The Nights of Cabiria and 8½ – to truly appreciate it, but I didn’t have a problem with the loose narrative of La Dolce Vita. In fact, the plot, seemingly unconnected at times, is essential to the themes that Fellini wishes to address. “Rome: a tranquil jungle where you can hide.”– Marcello Rubini Uttered by at the opening of the film by Marcello, a tabloid journalist, these words endeavour to explain the motivation of the protagonist Marcello and the director Frederico Fellini throughout La Dolce Vita. Marcello …
Three Lessons from Red Holzman
Red Holzman coached the New York Knicks during the 1970s, an era when the team won two Association titles. Knicks players included Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Willis Reed, and Earl Monroe – among others – and they were one of the first squads to utilize pressure defence throughout the entire game. The team is also fascinating because a number of very intelligent players executed a motion offence selflessly and because of Willis Reed’s comeback in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals. It seems like everyone on the team wrote books so naturally the coach has written four, of which I …
A Note for Lakers’ Fans
Irrespective of Kobe Bryant’s scoring average, the Los Angeles Lakers are in deep trouble because the team offence is completely gridlocked. The Triangle will not work without post entries and dribble penetration, which are two techniques that the Lakers are not currently practicing. The Lakers must establish themselves in those areas for the following reasons: It will create opportunities for Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, Brian Cook, and the rest of the bench to contribute that are not available in the current man-to-man offence. If the entire team is a threat to score, opponents cannot collapse on Kobe and Lamar Odom. …
Touch of Evil
Apparently, Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil is an unappreciated masterpiece. I am not that sure. There are some masterful shots and excellent performances, but I found the plot to be a bit of a train wreck. It’s like watching the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to execute the Triangle these days, extremely skilled at times yet missing some basic fundamentals. As usual, there was a dispute between Welles and the studio which led to the mangling of the original print. A DVD was released containing some of Welles’ requested changes, but it doesn’t surpass above average. Perhaps the film is an …