The NBA playoffs are designed to tax both the mind and the body. Much like an inexperienced swimmer venturing into dark, murky water, young players who’re knee deep in the second round for the very first time tend to meet unexpected challenges that are impossible to prepare for. Increased on-court intensity combined with an unhinged atmosphere surpassing that which they saw in the first round makes the slope to a championship even steeper, and guys all across the league are now tasting it for the first time. Right now for Indiana, it tastes like ice cream. Read more…
The first round has come and gone, and thanks to a few serious injuries we’re left with an even more unpredictable mess than expected. Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Baron Davis splintered themselves in the most agonizing ways possible. Josh Smith, Al Horford, Ray Allen, Amar’e Stoudemire, Joakim Noah, and Caron Butler each missed at least one game, but all returned to action, forced to endure more pain than discomfort. Paul Pierce and Blake Griffin are playing through knee injuries. Chris Paul has a right hip flexor, and yesterday, in Game 1 of the second round, Chris Bosh strained an abdominal muscle, placing his availability in question.
Injuries are just a small part of the game, though. And here at Shaky Ankles, we’re moving away from the depressing, and onto six interesting things we learned over these past two weeks.
Read more…
Placing my biased dislike for the Heat in a peripheral bubble for one brief moment, I’ll admit that assessing this team’s chances of winning a title are as difficult now as they’ve been in the past 22 months. No organization endures constant poking and prodding—millions of ineffective and useless daily autopsies—like Pat Riley’s assembled crew of “Avengers”. But as has been regurgitated since last year’s memorable Finals collapse, no matter how long they ride a hot hand or suffer through a cold winter’s losing streak, two things are for certain:
1) As long as this team deploys LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in their prime, they’ll always lack mystique and resistance—two crucial elements for the creation of an engaging narrative. The Heat are too public and too good, to the point where it’s possible the only way they’ll lose four out of seven games is if they beat themselves (as was proven evident in Sunday’s loss to the Knicks, in which Dwyane Wade went 4-11 from the free-throw line and still came within an inch or two of hitting a game winning three), or somebody tears his ACL. Their best is better than everybody else’s best.
2) They will never be judged on regular season performance. It’s boring to the players, an ignored appetizer to the fans, and utterly meaningless when we look back 10 years from now and talk about what they had or had not accomplished. Read more…
At around 1:30 this morning I sat upright in bed, two knees tucked deep in my chest, far from exhaustion and completely enveloped in the most competitive/entertaining/violent series these playoffs have so far produced. It was then that an idea for a column appeared in front of my face; I’d name it, “The Call That Changed Everything”, and here’s how it would go. Read more…
Due to an increase in playing time, which further led to an increase in opportunity, Ryan Anderson has been named the 2011-12 Most Improved Player. I won’t go into whether or not Anderson “deserved” to win the award, mostly because it’s conditions are unsystematic. But I will say this: Ryan Anderson is a quality scorer and has been his entire life (going back to his collegiate days when he led the Pac-10 in scoring as a sophomore—O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, and Russell Westbrook all played in the Pac-10 that year). Behind Dirk Nowitzki, Anderson might be the league’s most dangerous three-point shooting stretch four—he stands at 6’10″ and led the NBA in three-pointers made and three-pointers attempted—which is wonderful news to the Magic. Ever since Howard was made the organization’s strategic focal point, Orlando’s main plan of attack was inside out, with the three-pointer creating almost as many nightmares for opposing coaches as the Howard, himself. In this way, a player like Anderson, someone who’s tall enough to comfortably get almost all of his shots off clean, is a perfect fit. Read more…
Last night’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder had everything you’d want from a high profile playoff match-up: superstars, back and forth buckets, unpredictability, great defense, bad blood, and all out hustle. Despite it only being Game 2 in a first round slugfest, this game gave us several moments where we had to remind ourselves that breathing is necessary for survival. There were 16 lead changes, and it was tied on 16 separate occasions. Read more…
The moment after he stepped back between his legs—causing Randy Foye to briefly resemble a delirious crazy person—and rattled in a three-pointer that tickled the edge of the rim before falling through (the one shot that most felt it was “meant to be” out of all that were taken this weekend), was the moment I decided to write something about Mike Conley. With the type of star power that’s normally reserved for a second or third round battle—featuring Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Rudy Gay, and Zach Randolph all anxiously grunting in their starting gates—through three quarters last night, Conley was the game’s best player. Read more…
On Christmas Eve, I previewed the season. Most of it was grossly incorrect, but today we turn a proud page on the past. Here are my awards and playoff predictions for the 2012 lockout abbreviated NBA season. Enjoy. Read more…
It was March’s first Friday night, and a somewhat unimportant contest between the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz had just ended. The game’s first 47:55 have since been thrown into a jumbled pile of endless shots, dribbles, screens, and gasping breaths that make up the NBA’s past, but that final five seconds has gone into a rarified vault; to a lot of people it’s a sequence that holds special meaning, capable of telling us more about the narrative in a larger sense than an entire game can.
Miami was on the road, but it didn’t matter. They were playing for their 10th straight win, crashing through all comers like a raw, young, unforgiving Mike Tyson. Still, they’re only human. With a trip further west towards Los Angeles to face the Lakers two days later, other goals were creeping into the back of their minds. And so, with 4.5 seconds remaining, the favored Heat trailed by a single point. Out of a time-out, the ball was inbounded to LeBron James, the world’s best player, and the game’s fate was placed in his wanting hands. His momentum already taking him towards the rim, James catches Shane Battier’s pass right outside the three-point line, and upon meeting Paul Millsap and Josh Howard’s soft zone pick and roll defense, chooses to dump the ball off to a popping, wide open Udonis Haslem—a man who is no stranger to bright lights and big moments. Haslem receives a perfect bounce pass with plenty of time to set his feet, square his shoulders, and launch what was once known as one of the surest shots in basketball. It’s off line. Miami loses. LeBron is the scapegoat. Read more…
The unique creature that is Shawn Marion’s jump shot has somehow managed to breathe for 12 solid years. The move could never stake claim as the prettiest thing associated with the NBA—overall the shot has had its peaks and valleys, just as everything else—but right now that ugly jumper’s effectiveness has dropped as low as ever, falling further below previous labels of aesthetic catastrophe to its current state: a detrimental offensive option. Read more…
