To read more thoughts from Jason on the Knicks, continue to check here or on his site, http://www.malajas.com/knicks.
Before I delve into the Knicks and their impending quick out, there are two subjects I would like to address.
SPURS.
My opinion is the same as everyone else's when thinking about the San
Antonio Spurs and it is a feeling of indifference. However, I decided to
change this way of thinking. With Poppovich's Coach of the Year award
and the Spurs claim of the first seed in the Western Conference, I
decided it was time to find out if I could like them and sucked it up to
watch game 2 of the first round series between the Spurs and the Jazz.
I am amazed that I do not read about the Spurs more. This team can
play almost any style, is arguably one of the best dynasties in NBA
history, and has one of the most outstanding NBA citizens in Tim
Duncan. But we do not talk about them. Instead we discuss all the
other "Big Threes" in the league. The Heat, the Knicks, the Thunder and
the Celtics all garner more headlines than the Spurs, who have quietly
become the best team in the Western Conference and, in my eyes, the
frontrunners to winning their fifth NBA championship in 13 years. How
is it anyway that the Spurs have won championships so many years apart?
1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007. I had to look that up. I thought they had
won three championships. Even with their championships, they are
humble and assuming. It is like they thought it was too obnoxious to
win four championships in five years and decided to space it out so they
could fly under the radar. This year is different though. With
Poppovich winning the award and seemingly have the whole 82 game season
planned out (66 regular seasons and 16 wins for a championship), they
are finally entering the conversation.
One quick tangent about Poppovich. I expect him to release a journal
after he retires and the one page about the 2011-2012 NBA season is
some crazy complicated decision
tree that mapped out every possible scenario, showing the highest
probability for the Spurs to win a championship. In it, I fully expect
him to have an 11 game winning streak planned so that he can sit his big
three with the greater picture in mind. In a season where the back
breaking schedule caused injuries to be too frequent, can we not praise
the genius of Poppovich to sit his best players and groom everyone else
in order to hold them accountable to win a game on their own?
Back to my main point, I am now putting them as my top contender for
the NBA title this year. This may be due to the fact that I am typing
this after having two martinis, or I just watched them destroy the "just
happy to be here" Utah Jazz. We all know the Heat are making the
finals. But we all still question their resolve to win the big one.
Front what I have seen, their big three is better than any currently out
there. They will beat any pretenders to the big three crown, whether
it be the Knicks or the Celtics (even though they pretty much invented
the term), as well as any big three teams that come out of the west,
including the Lakers or the Thnder. However, I suspect they will have
more trouble with teams such as the Pacers or the 76ers, who play a more
team oriented game. They will still beat these two teams, but these
series will expose them. Their weakness is that they still play 3 on 5.
No matter what we hope from their supporting cast, the Miami Heat bench
and the other two that start the game, are still the same as last
year. Inconsistent, thus unreliable. Because of this, any team that
functions with a hive mind will push the Heat to the limit. The Spurs
are the ultimate in terms of being a team. Sure their big three would
never beat the Heat in a pickup game, but they can adapt to any style of
play, something that the Heat could never achieve given their current
makeup. If the Spurs meet the Heat in the finals, I suspect many people
will be disappointed with the boring team beating the exciting team.
However, it reinforces what the NBA is all about. It is not like the
Superbowl, where anything can happen, or the World Series where chance
plays a bigger factor than anything else. The winner of the NBA finals
is usually the best TEAM. That is what the Spurs are. They are a TEAM
that is prepared and hungry for a championship. After all, it has been 5
years since their last one. They are due.
LEBRON'S MOUTHGUARD.
In
case you missed it, LeBron had a mouthguard made with the the roman
numerals, XVI on it. This signifies the number of games a team needs to
win in order to win the NBA title. I found it amusing that a
commentator suggested that LeBron was more focused this year because he
had that made and it was the reason why they are the favorites to win. I
am paraphrasing, but my wife said that if LeBron were truly that
focused, he would have had sixteen mouthguards made, from XVI to I,
signifying the number of games he had left for a championship. I think
that sums up LeBron's career thus far. He will never win with the
general populace until he truly WINS, and it seems that he does the
things people expect him to do. From only showing up in body to the
fourth quarters early in his career, to the decision and the "not one,
not two..." quote and now the mouthguard. LeBron never creates his own
path. He only has a surface commitment. He is the ultimate "just happy
to be in this league" player. This is coming from a reformed LeBron
hater who is trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I truly hope
that he does win one eventually. I just do not think it will happen
this year because of the aforementioned Spurs.
FINALLY. THE KNICKS.
There
is not much to say about game 3 between the Heat and the Knicks. They
lost as expected, despite teasing all of us for the first half. My
respect for Carmelo is continually growing though. I have always liked
him, but his effort in the last two months is truly commendable.
Despite being overmatched by LeBron and company, his play indicated that
he did not want to lose this game. I hope the Knicks faithful take
that into account during Melo's next slump or when Jeremy Lin is playing
well. I also hope that the Knicks address their third quarter issues.
On a night where Tyson Chandler receives his Defensive Player of the
Year award, and the first half was a battle of defenses, the Knicks
still collapsed. LeBron got his fifth foul early in the third quarter,
but the Knicks still could not capitalize and gave the lead away.
LeBron came out with a vengeance in the fourth quarter, destroying the
Knicks, and putting the game away.
I also do not understand why
we are entertaining the return of Amar'e and Jeremy Lin. Why force
things when the series has clearly slipped away? I say give the players
who are hurt the directive to completely heal and work on the
weaknesses of their respective games in the offseason. Forget about
coming back too quickly and set their sights on owning the 2012-2013
season. Why would the Knicks management not acknowledge this now? They
have a solid team that can compete next year. Supposing that they can
bring back a solid core, and if they can address mental issues such as
having a team mentality and not giving games away in third quarters, the
Knicks would be early title contenders on everyone's list. I say
strive to get everyone healed both in body and mind. That is the only
way the currently constructed Knicks can compete.
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