You'll have to excuse the title of the post, I just felt like saying that. Some pretty good basketball games last night. How about Mike James' shot during overtime of the Timberwolves-Pistons game? Yeah, he stepped out of bounds, but only because Rasheed Wallace bumped him out. Either way, I thought it was a good no call by the referees. The shot itself was just ridiculous.
I watched the first half of the Cavs-Nuggets game and caught about the same amount when I got home from the radio station and it was on replay at 3 in the morning. The Nuggets looked pretty good playing against the Cavs. Maybe Denver should appeal to the Commish to have them moved into the Eastern conference. They'd probably make the Finals.
One other note about the Nuggets, I really like the Steve Blake-Earl Boykins deal. For a team with Allen Iverson and eventually Carmelo Anthony, Boykins takes too many shots. Getting a pass-first point guard like Blake really improves the team offensively and makes it easier for Carmelo to find his place in the offense.
Watching the Spurs-Hornets game last night, two things came to mind. First, Chris Paul getting tossed from the game while watching from the bench in street clothes made my night. How often do you see someone get thrown out of the game from the bench? And I'm not talking somebody who's not in the game, we're talking about somebody not in the lineup. Great stuff all around.
The second thing I noticed was that this Spurs team doesn't seem like the championship teams of the past. I know that they're still one of the top teams in the NBA, but as much as it pains me to say it, I think their run of NBA championships is over. I'm not panicking over this team like I've been seeing on ESPN, I'm just stating what I see. This team doesn't have the edge that it had in years past. I'm not worried about the bench or the center position like I hear Greg Anthony talk about. What I'm worried about is much worse. They don't have that killer instinct they had before.
When the Spurs were at their peak, they did two things. First, they funneled the opposing team's guards to their two seven-footers. They still do this, but unfortunately Tim Duncan is not the shot-blocker he once was and Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto are no David Robinson.
The other thing that the Spurs don't do anymore, which terrifies me is they don't grind down the opposing team like they used to. During the Spurs' championship years and all of the years in between, I knew that as long as the Spurs were close in the fourth quarter they were going to win. Rarely ever did they lose a close game. They would just hang around until it came time to play and then they would execute...and execute and execute. Until the game was over and they had the win. They can't do that now and I don't think they can win another title if they can't.
I may be wrong. And I hope I'm wrong. But if I don't see a change anytime soon, like by the end of next month when the Spurs take on their "Rodeo Road Trip," I'll be ready to pronounce the Duncan Dynasty dead (please excuse the alliteration).
