Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and NBA Top Performers

The Phoenix Suns rose from a sunset scene in Game 3 to even the series at 2-2.

In game 3 of the Suns vs Dallas series Avery Johnson successfully taught his team to play defense against the running Suns. I could not help but admire the little guy for drawing defensive and offensive strategies that totally controlled the game from Phoenix.

Two or three years back I remember reading a survey conducted by the NBA on who among the players will
become a good coach in the future. To my surprise and little had I known about Avery he was the GM’s first pick.

Back to the future, he transformed the MAVS into a different team in Game three as if I was watching either the Spurs or Detroit Pistons playing defense. The win also came in the homecourt of the Suns.

In Game 4 a different story is told. The NBA’s MVP brought his team back to avoid getting buried 3-1 like the Pistons. With Raja and Barbosa providing the speed, hassle, offense and defense they went back to their running game. Without Amare, Steve has taken Raja’s 15.3 point 2.9 point to a different level enroute to a 2-2 series tie in the conference finals.

The next three games is going to be a battle betweem Avery and Steve Nash. As long as Steve has his pawns intact, Avery may be a little behing Steve. After all, he’s closer to the game than Johnson is.

[tags]Sports, Basketball, NBA, Suns, Dallas[/tags]

I have never been a fan of Shaq ever since his first finals appearance when my favorite Hakeem Olajuwon crushed him and his Magic. I like David Robinson more who always took Shaq to school.

Ever since he left Lakers I have routed more against him and I would never want him to win a Championship without Kobe Bryant

And now, the only team that could play Shaq one-on-one in Ben Wallace hasn’t been successful at all. Are the
Piston’s incapable of winning at this level when Shaq and Wade are in healthy condition unlike last year?

Shaq and company are tremendously helped by their sixth man—Flip Saunders. I have no respect for his coaching ability even if he has stirred the Piston to 64 games in the regular season. For one, he has led the Timberwolves for a decent and sometimes excellent regular season in a highly competitive Western side but still failed to make waves in the playoffs for eight straight years despite KG’s stats in all categories insanely increasing game after game.

At this level a brilliant coach is needed and I don’t think Flip has the capability to win the series let alone comeback from a 3-1 deficit.

Pat Riley’s record is undeniable and comparing it to Flip’s is a big disrespect to Pat. He has done an excellent job spacing his players to give Wayde room to operate and he have easily gotten enough contribution from Shaq based on the stubborn one-on-one defense by Ben. I am not downsizing Ben but there were instances where help defense is needed which the Pistons failed to provide. As a result, Wayde is averaging a ridiculous 69 percent from the floor while Shaq pours in 60 percent.

Flip should watch the way the Bulls played Rodman one-on-one against Shaq with Pippen a half-step behind in help defense. Flip you got yourself a stronger Rodman in Ben Wallace and the same length as Prince but not the same brains as Phil.

As Billups and CNNSI wrote:

Detroit starts the same five players as it did during its title run in 2004 and march back to the NBA Finals a year ago. The only major lineup difference is the coach; Saunders replaced Larry Brown before this season.

“Some of us, a lot of us, have been here more time than he has,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “We can pull from a lot of our experiences. ... We’ve been here before.”

And in response to that, Flip says:

“As a coach, I make decisions,” Saunders said. “I have to live by the decisions. As players, they play, and they have to implement as far as what we do.”

Sorry to tell you Flip but your decisions just isn’t at the level of a conference final, so better start listening to your players who have proven enough in the past years more than you ever had and probably will.
That’s comforting for any Pistons fans as they might be going on vacation soon.

As for Dumar’s and Flip, you better start looking for another team as playing as the opposing team’s sixth man is not good enough.

My fellow colleague at B5 Media, Angelo from NBAObsessed, have sent me an interesting link named Kobe Haters.

It’s actually interesting how the guy hates Kobe so much and at the same time likes Lebron. How about me? I like both of them and are there any laws that will prohibit me from such admiration?

Kobe Haters Blog is sending shivers down my spine and so at 12 midnight I would rather save my energy and get some serious sleep. It is so tiring whenever I engage in a Kobe Lebron debate.

Any helpers?

Both Kobe and Lebron are out in the playoffs but it does not mean I will not blog on anything anymore. Aside from the two players, Kevin Garnett is my third pick whom I learned to love because of the unfair advantage he gives me in fantasy games. Anyways, the topic would not be about Kevin right now, but with a player I find fascinating—Tim Duncan.

After much thought I decided to keep a close eye on Tim Duncan who broke my heart by eliminating the Lakers enroute to their second championship. Man did I lost money for that Lakers’ lost.

My instincts tell me that they will crush Dallas in Game 7 at home. It’s routine for the Spurs to come out big in Game 7 at home. Totally predictable.

Oh my… Dallas had beaten up Spurs. It was a strongly fought match where I could not say Dallas was a superior team than the Spurs. I felt the Spurs had a slight advantage against the Mavericks and at the same time their homecourt advantage will magnify that advantage translating into a big win.

I can’t take anything away from either of the two and would simply say that it was Dallas’ time and enjoy your destiny.

I was at a Chinese restaurant in Bellevue, Washington watching game six of the Detroit and Cleveland series. Lebron made turnovers and missed shots down the stretch but also he converted points that kept the game close. I could slam Lebron and dismiss him as a big hype who cannot finish big games but I would not do that.

The Pistons were tremendous in getting four offensive rebounds under three minutes and showed a solid team game where players were positioned and spaced well for high percentage rebounds. On the other hand, Cleveland looked like a bunch of kids looking at the sky having their eyes follow the ball.

The Pistons had one offensive rebound after the other without the Cavaliers coach going outrageous and getting his team’s mentality back in place in succesive possessions. Oh now its the coach I am blaming; yes, Lebron should have called a timeout in the final possession for a good and clean potential three point play which he didn’t but still the coach should have shouted and did everything to get that timeout. He probably believes in Lebron but the way things were turning out in the last remaining minutes of the game indicated otherwise. Bad judgement coach.

Lebron might have choked during Game 6 but if he had a great coach like Michael Jordan had in Phil Jackson, then things is not where they are right now.

Game 6 was close, but after that game I had a feeling Lebron is too tired and the Pistons’ pumped-up team defense will crash the Cavaliers. So that’s what happened. The Cavaliers team sucked up with Lebron playing the point guard position and being relied upon for scoring in Game 7 is too much to take.

Michael Jordan did not have too many Game 7’s in the playoffs and always killed the opponents in Game 6 at the most. I strongly believe that Game 6 was the only real chance the Cavaliers had in the series.

Cleveland coach should have done a better job in preserving Lebron in stretches and calling timeouts at the right time.

Remember Doug Collins who transformed Michael from forward to a shooting guard that allowed him to focus and position himself into a scoring machine?

What does the coach of Cleveland want Lebron to do? Play point guard? Small forward? Shooting guard? King James may end up into another Scottie Pippen player. I have nothing against Scottie, in fact I requested a Scottie Pippen signature shoes as a gift to me back in high school; It just don’t seem right.

Lebron, you are not a hype. Just make sure to sign with a team that has the capacity to bring you to the promised land.

This is just unbelievable. The Pistons have won the first two games of the series and looked on its way to sweeping the Cavaliers in the series.

The unexpectable happened when Lebron James played like a legend on his prime draining one shot after another even to the closing seconds of the game. He passed and distributed the ball like Michael Johnson and pulled up a jumper like Michael Jordan. The next thing you know is they are back in the series at 2-2.

I was watching the way he moves and position himself to receive the ball, pass and distribute the ball, call out plays, hassle for the loose ball, going after interception passes; I am in total awe in the maturity he does these things.

He looked unstoppable whenever he decides to take the ball to the basket and he almost always looks like taking easy open layups. The Pistons defense is not bad especially when Ben Wallace is at center; but Lebron is phenomenal in the way he moves the ball, spreads the defense and make a quick attack leaving his defenders with lots of dust.

Most people believe that the Pistons will close out the series despite the Cavaliers evening out the series. But the way Lebron plays and makes his teamates better would prove otherwise.

The fourth player in NBA history to average at least 31.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists for a season is going to get better in the series. Watch out.

I could not post anything on Games 5 and 6 when the Lakers lost against the Suns because I felt things were not going right at that point. I was holding back whatever ego I had and tell the world that the Lakers especially Kobe has dominated and rose above all anti-believers.

Going back to Phoenix in Game 7, MVP Steve Nash and being the number 2 seed going into the playoffs is not something a Lakers fan would like to hear.

Michael Jordan rarely played a crucial Game 7 with the exception of playing Pacers during their second dynasty three peat. But come to think of it, Jordan and the Bulls were the league leaders and favorites to win.

This situation is different from the Michael Jordan era where all odds are against the Lakers.

It was a heartbreaker to see the Lakers tank like that and let the series extend up to game 7, something unexpected; or probably it is just my Kobe ego that says there is no way the Suns is coming back.

Kobe Bryant might have been too tired by playing both the point guard and shooting guard of the team. The young and experienced players of the Lakers cost them the series. Lamar for instance have been playing superb throughout the series until Game 7 when he sucked. He should have sucked the last two games prior to Game 7 and played well on the last game. But that’s not happening maybe next time when he got more years to back him up.

Anyways, my Kobe’s season has ended but definitely not a finished career. I have a lot to look forward to next year. This guy has shown he can carry his team and give him one or two more support players or a defensive towering specialist at the middle and he will move past the first round next year.

Until then, all we can do is watch the remaining stars. At least Lebron is still in the playoffs.

Leading 3-1 over the Suns simply shows the power behind Kobe Bryant. The Lakers have a pathetic lineup but looking at how they play anchored on Kobe tells a lot about his ability to carry a team to victory.

In Game 3 Kobe had a poor shooting so he opted to pass more finishing with 7 assists and sealing the victory for the team. He madfe his teamates play better throughout the team with his precise and crisp passes. He showed a lot of maturity by playing the point as well as the team’s main scorer.

In Game 4 he was just phenomenal hitting the Suns with one shot after another. He hit the shots that mattered the most shutting everyone out that he can put the dagger in his opponents heart. He bounced back from poor shooting night in Game 3 into scoring the most crucial shots of the game.

The Lakers simply buried the Suns. Do you think Nash is the MVP? Bummer man, that sounds more like it.