Henry Imler June 13th, 2006

Each game in the finals, the Heat get to a great early lead and then the Mavs spank them.

It is hard to watch.

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Henry Imler June 2nd, 2006

I was correct on my Eastern Conference prediction. The Heat beat the
Pistons 4-2 to go to the NBA Finals for the first time in their history.

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Henry Imler May 31st, 2006

As the Pistons/Heat series has progressed I have become increasing
weary that something was going to happen, illegal signing; or prehaps a
freak injury, such one to the thigh, rib cage, or the kidney. Game 5 is
about to start and I just came across this article that summed up by
feelings perfectly: HYDE: The Heat’s success has superstitious fans at a loss:

You cross your fingers. You rub your rabbit’s feet. You
throw salt every few minutes over your right shoulder because you read
somewhere it’s good luck. Or maybe it was over the left shoulder.

And because you’re a Heat fan, a real Heat fan, one who has been
through it all for 18 years and has the anti-depression medicine to
prove it, you toss salt over your left shoulder, too. Just in case.

“What’s wrong?” friends ask from outside your locked bedroom.

“Nothing is wrong,” you say.

“Isn’t that good?” they ask.

“It’s too good!” you yell. “Something awful is going to happen!”

Nervous? Well, someone has to be. Your team leads Detroit 3-1.
You’re a game from the NBA Finals. You know there’s no way, by any
basketball script, the Heat can lose this series. But if you’re a Heat
fan, a real Heat fan, you’ve felt the unexpected slap you in the face
for years.

Remember that shot by the Knicks’ Allan Houston? Remember Alonzo
Mourning’s fight? Remember Jamal Mashburn passing the season to
Clarence Weatherspoon? Remember how Mourning’s disease threatened his
life as well as this franchise’s future?

You spent years on a couch trying to forget.

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Henry Imler May 30th, 2006

The Heat beat the devilish Pistons last night
to take a commanding three to one series lead in the NBA Eastern
Conference Finals. Miami has been in this situation before, but that
was back in 1997
and they were in the Pistons’ current place, down three to one to the
Chicago Bulls, in one of the hardest series to root for. I was a huge
Jordan and Zo fan.

Back to last night. The Heat are looking more and more like the best
team in the NBA. They are finally playing good defense. Just watching
Posey, Payton, and Walker’s play on the defensive end is shocking after
the way they stood around on D throughout the regular season. Can you
imagine it? Walker playing defense? Did anyone catch the ballerina hop
he did in the third or fourth quarter in game three? It is a far cry
from his HAM SANDWICH from earlier in the year.

The Heat are scaring me. They seem to be playing too well. They are
countering everything the Pistons are throwing at them. Each time the
Heat build a comfortable lead, the Pistons will claw their way back
into the game. Before the first game of the New Jersey Series, the Heat
would have faltered, loosing each game. Not now. Now the Heat respond
to each of the Piston’s runs with a spurt of their own.

Wade has been spectacular. He hits bailout shots, picks apart the Pistons’ zone defense. Yes, the Heat have the vaulted Pistons playing zone defense.
You know you are good on offense when a team reverts to the zone. They
acknowledge that they can’t guard you one on one. It’s like Steve and
Ryan trying to cover Drew and myself, it just ain’t gonna happen. Back
to Wade, the man is hitting everything he throws up, connecting on 69%
of his shots, the best in NBA playoff history. All the while, Shaq is
back, making his comments about the “regular season chess match” seem
sageish. He is punishing Ben Wallace. As great of a defender as he is,
Ben Wallace cannot play Shaq 1-on-1. Shaq is throwing him around. Did
anyone see Shaq’s coast to coast last night? That energy has not been
there in a long, long time.

Posey
is doing what he was brought in to do, play great D and hit threes.
Walker is doing what he was brought in to do, be a play-maker and
provide a release for SHAQ/WADE. Payton is playing four years ago. This
is all seemingly too good to be true after the regular season.

Anyway, conventional wisdom says that the Pistons will claw their
way back and tie the series and win on their home floor over the
inconsistent Heat. However, every game their series says otherwise.
Heck, the Heat look to beat my overly confident prediction of winning
4-2. It is really looking like they will win 4-1. The best part about
that scenario? Besides shutting up Anthony (Pistons in 6), Broussard (Pistons in 7), Hollinger (Pistons in 7), and Stein (Pistons in 6) up? The Heat will be in Basketball Heaven for the first time.

More reading:

• The Heat is on Pistons
• Riley looks like a legend again as the Heat aims for top
• Wade pushes Pistons closer to the end
• Pistons face another brink job

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Henry Imler May 30th, 2006

I am of the opinion that there was one flagrant foul committed by
the Pistons on Dwayne Wade last night. Rip Hamilton did not commit it.

The NBA defines a flagrant foul as:

Section IV–Flagrant Foul
a. If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is
interpreted to be unnecessary, a flagrant foul–penalty (1) will be
assessed. A personal foul is charged to the offender and a team foul is
charged to the team.

Take a look at Davis’ foul on Wade:

Do you see where Davis has grabbed Wade’s arm? The arm grab was why
Wade was flipped over in mid-air and landed on his back. It was a foul
that could have knocked Wade out for the series. A foul that had
unnecessary contact. If Davis would have leveled Wade with his body -
great, a hard foul in the playoffs. That is what Hamilton’s flagrant
foul in the fourth quarter was on Wade, just a hard foul in the
playoffs. But grabbing the arm like Davis did, should have been a
flagrant foul.

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Henry Imler May 25th, 2006

After Miami’s big win over the Pistons Monday night, that
effectively erased the entire regular season, the Pistons are back on
their heels. They got out-worked, out-shot, out-defended, and
out-hustled almost the entire game. If it was not for three offensive
fouls on Wade and two on Shaq, the game could have been much, much
worse for the Pistons.

Tonight’s game will be a slug-fest. Already in the first game did we
see where the series was heading. There were several hard fouls,
including a flagrant foul on Posey when he stopped McDyess from scoring
a layup. It was a hard foul, but I did not think it warranted a
flagrant foul as Posey tried to go for the ball and the “follow
through” was just a byproduct of the physical location of the players.
The league apparently agreed with me: Heat’s Posey catches a break from NBA.

Additional story on the Heat: Ol’ men Payton, Mourning give Heat a lift.

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Henry Imler May 23rd, 2006

Heat in 6.

Consider the following:

Despite the differences in the two teams’ records, this
series should once again be a tooth-and-nail affair. You might not
think that in looking at Detroit’s 64-18 mark on the season and
comparing it to Miami’s relatively unimpressive 52-30 record. But break
down each team’s season and you’ll see a very different pattern. The
difference between the two clubs came in the first 41 games, when
Detroit went 36-5 while Miami went 24-17.

But in the second half of the season, there was no difference –
each went 28-13. And in the postseason, Miami is a half-game better,
with an 8-3 mark against Detroit’s 8-4.

From ESPN.

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Henry Imler May 15th, 2006

I love the NBA playoffs. After the best first round in history, the
second round is proving to be very entertaining as well. The Western
Conference championship is being played a round early and the Mavs hold
a 2-1 serries lead. The Suns and Clippers, two very good teams, keep
blowing the other out to a tally of 2-2.

Out East, my tummy is tickled each time I look at the standings. The vaulted Pistons failed to back up the latest Guaran-sheed
and after being up 2-0 on the Cavs, they find themselves all tied at
2-2. The best news of all comes from the lower half of the Eastern
bracket. The team picked first to implode, the Miami Heat, have finally
been playing as a unit. After getting blown out of their first game with the up and comming (down) Nets, they blew out the Nets and then kept their poise in the next two games and the Nets slipped up. The Heat currently have a 3-1 edge over the Nets in round two.

Man, I love this game.

Update: Awesome game between the Spurs and the Mavs just finished. The Mavs are now up 3-1!

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Henry Imler May 9th, 2006

We are witnessing an important moment in sport’s history, the death of Lebron James.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : By losing, LeBron will win

From
then on the LeBron James we are witnessing right now will no longer
exist. This series will change him forever. Much like the original
legendary Detroit teams of the past shaped, then changed Michael Jordan
in the late ’80s, this second legendary Detroit squad will do the same
to James. Because once Jordan made it his “mission” to defeat the team
that had not only stopped him from getting to the Finals, but
humiliated him in the way it did — that made MJ and crew never
relinquish anything once they got past the Pistons.

Not only will the Pistons’ 4-0 or 4-1 series win make LeBron face
linear defeat for the first time in his career, the beat-down the
Pistons will hand out will make him make sure he’ll never go through
anything like it again.

Which is why this series is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

We all know what happened with MJ when he died. He rose to become the best basketball player ever.

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Henry Imler May 8th, 2006

That was the best first round of the NBA playoffs that I have ever watched.

Before the first round of the NBA playoffs started, I gave my predictions. Let’s see how I did:

1) Pistons vs 8) Bucks
My prediction: Pistons in 6.
Actuality: Pistons in 5.
A good butt-whoopin via the Pistons. I still hate them and hate Ben Wallace most of all.

2) Heat vs 7) Bulls
My prediction: Heat in 4.
Actuality: Heat in 6.
This threw me for a loop. I had no idea that the Bulls would play out
of their minds for eighteen and a half quarters. The Bulls shot the
lights out through the first four and a half games. The Heat did not
play with any urgency until Wade went down in the fifth game. After he
came back, the Heat picked things up and started to play defense.

3)Nets vs 6)Pacers
My prediction: Nets in 7.
Actuality: Nets in 6.
I was pretty much right on about the closeness of the series. It seemed
that no one would know which version of the teams would show up on any
given night. If Peja would have been healthy, the Heat would be staring
at yellow and blue instead of off-white and blue in game one of the
semi’s.

4) Cavs vs 5) Wizards
My prediction: Washington in 7.
Actuality: Cavs in 6.
This was one hell of a series to watch. I still don’t know which one
was better, this or the Lakers/Suns series. Each game with the
exception of game one went down to the wire. I love to watch dueling
superstars, even if they do not play any defense! Poor Gilbert Arenas.
He would have hit some of the most memorable shots in playoff history
if it was not for Lebron doing the same thing two seconds afterwards.
Anyone think that is ironic that Lebron, who has lived up to the hype,
has an add campaign where “We are all witnesses,” is the tag line; when Carmelo has advocated an anti-snitch campaign?

1) Spurs vs 8) Kings
My prediction: Spurs in 6.
Actuality: Spurs in 6.

I am pretty proud of this pick. I think that with the Spurs having
their best regular season yet, many thought that this series would be a
cakewalk. I think that next season the Kings will get the 5 seed in the
West, if not the Pacific division title.

2) Suns vs 7) Lakers
My prediction: Suns in 5.
Actuality: Suns in 7.

This is perhaps my worst guess so far. However, I am glad I was
wrong. This was one of the best playoff series I have ever watched. The
only reason why the Wiz-Cav’s series topped this one was that the last
game was in this series was a blow-out where Kobe only took three shots
in the second half. Three shots and one point? WTH?! In a playoff game?
It defies explanation. I almost have to agree with Barkley and the
theory that Kobe was showing that his team cannot win without him over
a playoff series.

Nuggets vs Clippers
My Prediction: Clippers in 6.
Actuality: Clippers in 5.

I think I called this one pretty well. I thought that ‘Melo would
win at least two games. The Clippers should have been the three seed
anyway. They just have too many tools. The Nuggets, on the other hand,
have a few tools ^{[1] [2]} . Note to self (at the bottom of the page): Don’t grab anyone’s JackSack^TM during a playoff game. Note to Self 2: Never, every bitch about playing time during the playoffs. Idiots.

4) Mavs vs 5) Grizzlies
My prediction: Mavs in 4.
Actuality: Mavs in 4.

Pretty much nailed this one.

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Henry Imler April 21st, 2006

Before the 2005-2006 NBA season started, I made some predictions on who would make the playoffs. Now the field is set, lets see how I did:

1. Heat / Pistons
2. Cavs / Heat
3. Nets / Nets
4. Pistons / Cavs
5. Indiana / Washington
6. Washington / Indiana
7. Chicago / Chicago
8. New York / Milwaukee

Let’s see, I did a pretty decent job. Overall, I went 7/8 on the pool. Picked two of the division’s right,
just messed up on how good the Pistons were going to be and some minor
seeding issues. Well, this is if you leave out the New York debacle.
You figure, with that much talent and with Larry Brown at the helm,
that they would win more than 23 games. After all, they have the
[url=http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/gamecenter/recap/NBA_20050101_NJ@NY]
best point guard in the NBA[/url]. What I should have seen coming was
the Bucks. With Ford, Magloire, Redd, and Bogut, I should have seen them in the postseason.

1. Spurs / Spurs
2. Denver / Suns
3. Suns / Denver
4. Houston / Dallas
5. T-Wolves / Memphis
6. Memphis / Clippers
7. Sacramento / LA
8. Jazz / Sacramento

There is one glaring problem here. Where did I put the Mavericks? I
don’t know what I was thinking when I left them out of the playoffs. My
only guess was that I wrote T-Wolves when I mean to write Mavericks.
Still, I got all of the division winners correct,
even though I vastly overestimated how good the Nuggets were going to
be. Plus, I think that everyone gets a pass on the Rockets. Who knew
that all of their starters were going to be injured for months at a
time? Both Dave and Brad had them winning their division or finishing
second.

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Henry Imler March 27th, 2006

Pacers 91 - Heat 96

The Heat continue to peak. After the big let-down in Detroit and
Minnesota a week ago, the Heat have responded well in their last couple
games. They beat down Charlotte and won a great game against a revamped and now healthy Pacers team that took Detroit to the limit a couple of games ago.

Last week’s Pistons-Heat game was a let down, I will admit. In their
defense, I will note that they had their three most important players
hurt in that game. Wade had a sprained wrist, Shaq had a hurt thumb, and Zo tore a leg muscle
in the second quarter. However, besides those games the Heat have been
surging, winning 15 of their 16 games before the setbacks against the
T-Wolves and the Pistons.

Their next five games will be telling. In that stretch, there are three must-win games. They play the Cavs on Saturday, the Nets on Sunday and the Pistons
again next Thursday. I consider those teams and the Pacers the best the
East has to offer. If the Heat go 3-1 or better in last night and those
upcoming games, they will have cemented themselves as one of the best
teams in the NBA. The game that worries me the most is the Nets game.
It is the tail-end of a back to back and the Nets have been knocking
off the heavy hitters lately ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

The
loss of Zo really worries me. He has been playing great lately, filling
in wonderfully with Shaq, having a great offensive impact, 21 points
against the the Wolves, and blocking every shot that comes his way,
batting away 8 shots against the Knicks the day before the Piston’s
game. The Heat will miss his production, his fire, and his toughness,
all things that will be needed in the next five game stretch.

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Henry Imler March 1st, 2006

[youtube]pcyd9PvXeLA[/youtube]

This is the amazing dunk from earlier in the year. Sorry Zo, you got “faced up” pretty bad.

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Henry Imler February 26th, 2006

No, this post is not about that whale of a movie from who-cares ago. Instead it is about mentioning the hilarity of the first-annual Atrocious GM Summit. If you have ever been frustrated with your team’s dealings (or are a Knick’s fan), read ahead.

Simmons: Jim Paxson, let’s start with
you. Last February, you traded a 2007 first-round pick to Boston for
Jiri Welsch. Four months later, after you were fired by the Cavs, they
traded Welsch to Milwaukee for a 2006 second round pick. To my
knowledge, that’s never happened before. Walk us through that.

Paxson: Absolutely. When you’re making a bad trade,
there are some inherent elements that need to be there. First, are you
putting your own short-term interests ahead of the long-term interests
of the team? With the Welsch trade, there were rumors I might get
fired, and we needed another body to make the playoffs … really, why
would I care about protecting future No. 1 picks if I was probably
getting canned?

McHale: Hear hear! I don’t think we have a first-round pick until 2017. And I might trade that one this week.

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Henry Imler February 23rd, 2006

Chad Ford at ESPN thinks he can fix the Knicks and their newfound problem of having too many scoring point guards.

Here is his trade:

Lakers send Odom and Aaron McKie to New York; Kwame
Brown and Smush Parker to Atlanta; and Devean George, Stanislav
Medvedenko and Laron Profit to Utah.

Utah sends Carlos Boozer to Lakers.

New York sends either Marbury or Francis to the Lakers.

Atlanta sends Josh Childress to Utah and Tyronn Lue and Donta Smith to the Lakers.

It is an insider article, so here is the trade in the free NBA Trade Generator.

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Henry Imler February 22nd, 2006

Scottie Pippin pretty much sumarizes my take on the Francis trade.

Pippen on Francis Deal:

I am pretty much befuddled with what New York has done.

I am not a great fan of Steve Francis. He rubbed me the wrong way
when he came into the league and demanded that Vancouver trade him. He
just isn’t the type of player that can make your team better or that
can get you where you are trying to get to. He is very talented, but
his skills are built around his individual success and not around the
success of a team.

and some more…

These are three guys that love to pound the basketball
and create their own shots. Who is going to succeed at that position?
To me it seems like they have just told Isiah to just go out there and
continue to see if we can have the highest payroll.

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Henry Imler February 22nd, 2006

Francis dealt to Knicks for Penny, Ariza

Steve Francis is headed to the New York Knicks, who
acquired the three-time All-Star from the Orlando Magic on Wednesday
for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza.

The deal will pair Francis with Stephon Marbury as the highest-paid backcourt duo in the NBA.

Francis playing with Starbury? I don’t see this working out well. In
other news, millions of Chicago, Miami, L.A., San Antonio, and about 25
other team’s fans are happy that I. Thomas continues to screw the
Knicks over. All hail a losing record for Larry Brown.

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Henry Imler February 13th, 2006

Heat beat the Pistons 100-98.

This is a big win in many ways. Wade had his first “MJ stretch” this
season and it came against the league’s best defenders. He scored the
Heat’s last 17 points, including the game winner over perhaps the best
perimeter defender in the game today, Tayshaun Prince. It was also huge
that Shaq also had his highest point total of the season, also against
the best interior defense in the league. A healthy Shaq trumps a Ben
Wallace (remember the deep thigh bruise of last year’s playoffs).
Lastly, they finally beat a good team. I am hoping that this starts a
good ten game run to build off of for the playoffs.

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Henry Imler February 2nd, 2006

Finals bound?

Well, with the 2004-2005 Pistons. Israel Gutierrez notes that this
year’s Heat have a very similar record situation as the 04-05 Pistons:

It’s just a coincidence, but it’s an interesting one.
The regular seasons of this year’s Heat and last year’s Pistons have
played out eerily similar so far. Through 21 games (which is when Van
Gundy resigned), both teams were 11-10. Through 45 games, which is
where the Heat is right now, both teams were 27-18.

Now, the Pistons were in the middle of winning 13 of 14 games at
that time, and by March 1, the Pistons were 36-19 and looking good once
again. And we all know where the Pistons ended the season, in the
Finals.

While Gutierrez won’t go this far, I am predicting a finals
appearance for the Heat. I think they will beat the Pistons in a great
seven game series. By the time post-season rolls around, they will have
gelled and will be in stride. I think that Detroit’s lack of a bench
will be their undoing.

That and the Heat have 3 of my 5 favorite players in the NBA. The other ones play for Cleveland and Phoenix.

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Henry Imler January 26th, 2006

After the Artest/Peja trade happened another couple of teams pulled the trigger.

Boston will get:
Wally Szczerbiak
Michael Olowokandi
Dwayane Jones
Conditional 1st round draft pic.

T-Wolves will get:
Ricky Davis
Marcus Banks
Mark Blount
Justin Reed
2 Second Round Draft Picks.

What are your thoughts on the trade? I think Wally will be good for
Boston, I think Ricky Davis will hurt the Wolves. Does anyone else
think that playing for vice president of basketball operations Kevin
McHale? I mean, he was a helluva post player, I am proud to have some
of my moves likened to his, but he mades some bad, bad moves. I really
feel sorry for Garnett. He deserves to be traded to a contender. I also
feel sorry for any team Kandi plays for:

One of the few coaching jobs Abdul-Jabbar has held was
with the Clippers for the last half of the 1999-2000 season. He has
unpleasant memories of working with then-Clippers center Michael
Olowokandi, the first overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft.

“He resented having to learn something,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We had
one episode in practice when he told me he didn’t want me to correct
him in front of the other players.

“When he told me that, I knew I didn’t have a job. He was physically
gifted - he was three-quarters of the way there. The most crucial
aspect is learning the game. He wasn’t into it.”

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