It's The End of The Worlds As We Know It

All my optimism was for nothing apparently. I was really hoping that Team USA would win these World Championships. It seems like everyone was against them. They were either supposed to lose, because they can't shoot or don't have this or don't have that, or they were supposed to win because we have the best players in the world. But it seems like nobody WANTED them to win. Nobody was cheering for them to win. I was. I know there were people out there who were. But all we heard was the criticism, the scrutiny. Too much celebrations from Justin Doom. Hater. They were doomed to fail from the beginning by Chris Mannix. Pessimist. When can we just cheer for our country's team and point out the good things that are happening? Carmelo Anthony is playing the best basketball of his career. Dwight Howard is turning into the second coming of Shaquille O'Neal. Joe Johnson has quietly one of the most complete games in the league. Why can't we talk about those things, instead of all the negatives. I don't know about you, but I'm excited for the season to start now. I'm looking forward to the Olympics in 2008. I'm saying it right now. The Team USA bandwagon is completely empty right now, but I'm riding shotgun. Who's rolling with me?

Must See NBA TV and The Warriors

Alright, back for the second time today. Only two things going on in basketball right now. First is the World Championships in Japan. The U.S. beat Germany by 20 on Wednesday morning. I wish I could say that I woke up/stayed up for an unprecedented 7th consecutive time to watch the live game, but I didn't. I was in dire need of making up for my lack of sleep over the weekend. But I did catch the replay last night. What are my thoughts? Well, in all honesty, the same as everyone else's. They couldn't shoot, but played enough defense to win. It's as simple as that. But these next games are must see basketball TV in my opinion. Argentina vs. Spain? USA vs. Greece? If you are a fan of basketball, whether it be international or NBA, you have to love those matchups. And then the final? I can't wait.

In the NBA, the only news lately has been the hiring of Don Nelson as the coach for the Golden State Warriors. I personally love the idea of Nellie coaching the Warriors again. I think he'll implement the style his old Warriors and Mavs teams used, back when the Mavs were continually knocked out of the playoffs in the second round by the Spurs (burn!). But as long as he can get the Warriors to have fun and make the playoffs at least once during his time there, I think you can consider it a success. We'll see how it goes.

I think that's all for today. I'll be back on tomorrow sometime to post my thoughts on Team USA's semifinal game vs. Greece. Have a good one.

Is This Thing On?

First off today, I want to give a HUGE, and I can't emphasize that word enough, shout out to Sam Rubenstein and SLAM Online for posting a link to this blog on their site. Now I don't feel like a crazy person who's only talking to himself. I might actually have an audience.

So to those of you (or all of you) who might be new to this site, welcome. The general idea here is that I post my thoughts on what is going on in the basketball world. It might be something somebody else has already talked about, and it might not. You'll never know, it's just how I feel that particular day.

One thing I would like to talk about right now is the title of this blog. On first glance, it seems like of lame. And after explaining it to you, it might still seem kind of lame. And if that's the case, bite me. Anyway, when I was in elementary school, everybody had those T-shirts that said "Basketball is life" and on the back it said "The rest is just details." That is sort of the idea behind this blog. And that phrase just takes me back to the time when I really fell in love with the game of basketball. So the name stays. That's all for right now, because I have to go to class. But I'll post some more later.

Getting Closer

In uneventful fashion, Team USA rolled past Australia early this morning on its way to the quarter finals of the World Championships. A 32-6 second quarter put the separation between the two teams and not much changed after that. My friends and I actually left and went to IHOP during the third quarter because the game was decided so quickly. But nonetheless, I always enjoy a win. Up next for Team USA is Germany, led by none other than Dirk Nowitzki.

Some notable standouts from the Australia game: Chris Bosh, who looks like he's finally gotten some confidence after putting up 20 and 10 against Senegal. Joe Johnson had 18 points, and of course Carmelo Anthony did his thing and scored 20 points. As much as I'd like to elaborate on how the game went, there's plenty of other sports sites that do that. But I think that the US is on its way to a gold medal. And I'm looking forward to seeing them play either Spain or Argentina in the finals.

It's Getting Crowded

Well the USA cruised along early this morning and beat Slovenia pretty easily, moving their record to 3-0 so far in the preliminary round. They will take on Italy, who is also 3-0, tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM central time.

One thing that I wanted to take the time to address today was the issue of Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups, and Michael Redd possibly taking spots on the team for the '08 Olympics. I read Sam Amico's thoughts on it a couple of weeks ago on ProBasketballNews.com and watched Ric Bucher from ESPN the magazine on ESPN News today talk about it. I decided it was my turn to weigh in on the subject.

A lot of people seem concerned that this current Team USA has great chemistry and adding one or all of those players to the roster will take away players who fit into the current team concept. I can understand where these guys are coming from, but I believe having any of them will make this team better. Bucher himself stated that his main concern with Team USA thus far is their ability to win close games, which they haven't had to deal with yet. If it becomes apparent that this team can't win close games in international competition, why would you not want Billups, whose nickname is "Mr. Big Shot", and Kobe Bryant, the most stone-cold killer in the NBA on the team?

I have in the past be a huge critic of Kobe Bryant, mainly because my Spurs couldn't seem to get past his Lakers for several years. But I don't think there should be any argument about his potential placement on the team. Kobe Bryant is the fiercest competitor the NBA has seen since Michael Jordan. I honestly don't see anybody in the NBA who comes close to his tenacity and mental toughness. Does he go overboard sometimes? Yes, but so did Jordan. Is he selfish? He can be, but I don't think that he has even been in a situation that he would be in playing for Team USA, playing with so many great players. Yes, the 2004 season he played with Shaq, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton, but there were already rifts in that team before the season even started. I believe that having Kobe Bryant on a team with this many great players, where he doesn't have to take all the shots, would not lose a single game. My thoughts here are kind of erratic and fragmented, I know. But my message is this: Team USA needs Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups, and Michael Redd. We can stand to cut Brad Miller or Chris Bosh, Kirk Hinrich, and Joe Johnson. Yes, in my last two posts I have sung the praises of those guys, but if everyone on the team is buying into the team concept the way everyone is saying they are, losing those guys will not have any negative consequences. But first things first, the preliminary round of the 2006 World Championships isn't even over yet. We've still got a long way to go until the Olympics. See you soon....

We Are The Worlds

So the USA is 2-0 so far in the World Championships. They looked very tight against Puerto Rico, especially early on, where they looked eerily like the 2004 Olympic team, bricking jumper after jumper against the zone defense Puerto Rico threw out. But early this morning against China, they looked a lot more comfortable and won easily. Team USA gets Monday off and plays again at 5:30 in the morning central time against Slovenia. I stayed up and watched all of Team USA's first game against Puerto Rico and watched the game through three quarters against China this morning before going back to sleep. I honestly believe this team is on the right track to win this tournament. Carmelo Anthony looks great out there. He's hitting jumpshots consistently and he is playing strong in the post. Both point guards, Chris Paul and Kirk Hinrich, are playing great out there. And the other people you would expect to do well, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, etc., are doing their jobs. And I don't think enough can be said for guys like Shane Battier and Joe Johnson. Both have been playing intelligently and unselfishly and have consistently knocked down perimeter shots, along with Hinrich, something that was sorely lacking from the '04 Olympics. As much as I wanted Bruce Bowen to make the squad instead of Shane Battier, because I'm a die-hard Spurs fan, I can't argue with what Battier is bringing to this squad thus far. I'm excited to see what this team does the rest of the way in this tournament, and two summers from now in the '08 Olympics.

One thing that has been bothering me so far this tournament though is the tournament itself. Why isn't a bigger deal being made about the World Championships? We had the World Cup of soccer earlier in the summer and it seems like it was the biggest news story in sports while it was going on. Even the World Baseball Classic was getting more publicity than these World Championships. Aren't the World Championships in essence the same thing as both of those events? Why is the extent of ESPN's World Championship coverage a 5:30 AM game and a small blurb on the bottom of the screen on ESPN News? I understand soccer is the most popular game in the world. But isn't basketball the second most popular game? Baseball is popular here in American, in Latin America, and in Japan. It is popular in select other places, but mainly in those three areas. Basketball is popular everywhere in the world. Here in North America, Latin America (Argentina was the Gold Medal winner in the '04 Olympics), Europe, Asia (The tournament is being held in Japan), Australia, and is growing in popularity in Africa. Soccer isn't even that popular here in America (unfortunately), and the United States was eliminated early on in competition. I believe that more needs to be made of this tournament. It's not like there are many competing stories in the sports world right now. Football is in the preseason (wow) and baseball is still over a month away from the playoffs. The only thing that should be remotely close to competing with the World Championships is the Little League World Series. But which would you rather watch: the best basketball players in the world competing for their country, or 11 year olds play baseball?

Guess Who's Back

I'm back, and for good this time. After a summer out in the boondocks with nothing more than a dial-up internet connection, I'm back in civilization and in the high speed world. As much as I would have loved to use the Jay-Z line "Allow me to reintroduce myself" as the title, I figured that would be too predictable and my creative ego would not allow me. So The Life blog is back and will be back for good. I don't see any breaks in the foreseeable future. When we first started here, I tried to have new posts up everyday, but with my schedule, I don't believe that will be feasible now. But there will be new posts up every couple of days, in no way will I neglect my duties here. Moving on...

The big news in basketball right now is the current Team USA and the World Championships. I have watched every televised warm-up game so far and I have to say, I'm very impressed. I was a little skeptical of the players selected to comprise the pool for Coach K to choose from for the Worlds and 2008 Olympics, and I was also very critical of Coach K as the choice to coach the team, but after watching this team play I am now under the impression that everyone involved knows what they're doing.

Coach K has these guys playing pressure defense and getting out in transition, all of which plays into Team USA's strengths of depth and athleticism. Who has impressed me the most thus far this summer? First and foremost, as most people have mentioned, Carmelo Anthony. When he came into the league he was being talked about almost as much as LeBron James. But after some bad decisions got his name in the headlines in negative ways and the rise of Dwyane Wade, he has been the forgotten man of the top 3 of '03. But after hearing rave reviews during the latter part of this past season from SLAM Magazine's Lang Whitaker, I began to pay a little more attention to him. Carmelo, to me, has been the best player on the court so far this summer. Wade and James have looked great, but Carmelo has been hitting consistent jumpshots and been able to create offense for the team. The majority of what I've seen from Wade and James is easy opportunities in transition. But regardless of how this team is scoring, they've been doing a lot of it and made it fun to watch at the same time.

Who else has impressed me so far? Joe Johnson has been a very excellent player thus far, and makes me wish I had League Pass so I could watch Atlanta Hawks games next season. Dwight Howard has looked like a beast, very reminiscent of a young Shaquille O'Neal as many people have pointed out, and I am interested to see how he will do playing alongside Darko Milicic for a whole season. Brad Miller has looked like he's loving the international game out there. I always liked Brad Miller, ever since he was asked what he would be doing during All-Star Weekend if he hadn't made the team and he responded that he'd probably be welding crap together. I even thought he should have been on the 2004 Olympic team as I wrote here for Insidehoops.com in 2004. But even now, after watching how well his game has fit into the international game, I'm surprised. He looks like he spent years overseas working on his game.

After watching Team USA play its warm-up games, I honestly believe they will win the Gold Medal at the World Championships. I believe with the exception of a couple of games, Team USA will roll through this tournament. Will I be surprised if they lose a game? Actually, yes, I will. I don't think any other team has the talent, depth, athleticism and maybe even basketball IQ of this team. As long as this team keeps playing tough defense, nobody should be able to hang with them, and we might even think of calling these guys a Dream Team. All that starts for real on Friday. We'll see you in a few days.

What's The Word?

I just wanted to make a quick post and apologize for the complete lack of updates, especially during the rest of the playoffs. I have been hampered by a horrible internet connection, so my posting abilities have been severely limited. But I will be back towards the end of August and I will have my thoughts on the NBA Finals (extremely belated, I know), the draft, and other offseason news along with my thoughts on the upcoming season. And with that, we will go back to having a semi-regular postings. We'll see you next month.

Beginning To Move On

Yes, the Clippers won last night. I'll let all the national sports websites let you know all about that, I'm just going to tell you that I have begun shopping for materials to build my shelter and if you know anyone who can help build it for cheap, email me here. The Mavericks continued the Grizzlies playoff torture last night, sweeping them 4-0.

But because all of the mainstream media is focusing on those two matchups from last night, we're going to talk about the other series. The Pistons beat the Bucks last night 109-99. Chauncey Billups had 34 and 6 assists including 16-16 from the freethrow line. Holy crap. Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince each chipped in 18 points. For the Bucks, Michael Redd had 33 points and T.J. Ford had 21. So now the series goes back to Detroit where the Bucks will not win.

As a Spurs fan, the Pistons honestly scare the ish out of me. This team is a lot more solid and consistent than it was last year. I still believe that their bench is weak and if they had an injury or two and/or got into foul problems, they could be in trouble. But so far, that hasn't happened. I believe that the Spurs can beat any team they face, except the Pistons. Not to say that they can't beat the Pistons. I just think that if they played every other team in the league in a 7 game series, they would win at least 7 out of 10 times. But against the Pistons, I think that they would split it. These teams are that good.

And despite what I think as a Spurs fan, I believe that this is great for the NBA. The league hasn't had a rivalry like this in while. There were the Kings-Lakers games from a few years ago, and the Bulls-Knicks during the 90's. But we haven't seen an interconference rivalry like this that should meet in the Finals year after year in some time. Off the top of my head, I can't think of one. You would probably have to go back to the late 80's/early 90's when the Lakers were at their prime along with the Celtics, Pistons and up and coming Bulls.

Even though the ratings for this Finals last year were bad and casual fans didn't appreciate the tough, physical, half-court style of playoff basketball that these teams played, a rivalry like this is what the NBA needs.

David Stern has done great job marketing the league, placing stars over teams, but there needs to be a balance. Great teams need to be marketed just as much as great players. And what better way for that to happen when these two teams meet in the Finals for the second year in a row.

Now if the Spurs can just do their part and finish off Sacramento.

Quality AND Quantity?

I'm sure everyone has heard the saying "Quality over quantity." It's a very popular quote. But so far through these NBA playoffs, we've had both. The first round of these playoffs have been some of the best games I can remember from any of the playoffs in the last few years. In only one series, Memphis-Dallas, has a team not won a game. Four out of the eight series are tied at two games apiece. This postseason is on pace to be one of the greatest playoffs ever. How many last second shots can you remember that have either tied or won the game already? Plenty. The playoffs this year are easily must see TV. And the best part? The NBA playoffs take forever. We'll be seeing these great games well into June.

I'm sure every saw or at least read about the Spurs blowing both games in Sacramento this weekend. They lost game three on a last second layup by Kevin Martin, and were blown out last night in game four. Big deal. As a Spurs fan, I understand that the Spurs possess a very soft killer instinct. They rarely every put teams away swiftly, whether it be in one game, or a series. They will let teams hang around, usually they win, but sometimes it comes back to bite them in the ass. But I'm confident in Gregg Popovich's ability to make adjustments for the team and put them in a position to close out the series in six games. Plus, have you seen how Tim Duncan has looked these last few games? I understand that Sacramento is no longer double teaming Tim Duncan, but that could be a problem because if Duncan can get in a groove like he has these past couple of games, he can easily carry this team to a title.

The series that intrigues me the most though is the Bulls-Heat series. The Bulls have been playing great basketball throughout most of the series, other than their defense in the first two games, but in front of their home crowd they have really gotten it going. I know I jumped the gun in writing them off after the first two games, but it happens. I'm sure 99% of the country wrote the Red Sox off two years ago when they were down 3-0 to the Yankees, and look how that turned out. The Heat are turning into the Heat that everyone was weary of at the beginning of the season. Many people questioned if throwing together too many big egos would cause chemistry problems, and it appears it may have. I don't think that it will be too big of a problem in game five, but it is definitely something to keep an eye out for.

Watch out for the Clip Show to close out Denver tonight. With the Suns down 3-1 to the Lakers, and the Clips up 3-1 on the Nugs, could we see an LA round 2 series? It looks that way. But even more shocking, could we see the Clips in the Western Conference Finals? The same Clips that up until this past season were one of the most embarrassing franchises in all of sports? The same Clippers that their biggest (and only) fan in a city of celebrities was Frankie Muniz? Surely it couldn't happen. But it might. If that is the case I will begin building my fallout shelter and stocking up on canned goods because that would be the beginning of the apolcalypse. And if they make the NBA Finals? There will be wireless internet in that fallout shelter and I will post from their, because there is no way I would ever see the outside world for fear of my face melting.

Revelations aside these playoffs are turning out different than anyone ever pictured at the beginning of the season other than the inevitable Detroit-San Antonio Finals rematch. If you don't tune in tonight, you're crazy. Until next time...