Erick Blasco

This is epic. I don't like laughing at the dude's struggles, but man this is funny.

Nope, he's blasted away all my criticisms of him with the past two series. My goodness, how he's improved his jump shooting too.

He's installed an exceptional defense, that isn't easy to do. I shudder to think where the Heat would be with Mike D'Antoni as coach.

Give him credit for focusing on other things. He still doesn't run a great offense (though they have a corner screen into high ball screen philosophy), but you can make up for that with overwhelming talent. He got them to buy into defense (look at what he's done to Chris Bosh! Who is this guy!), he never panicked when the team struggled, he never pointed fingers at his players (even during the LeBron bump early in the season), yet he also never coddled them. The Heat stars aren't perfectionist self-sacrificers like KG and Ray Allen (Pierce is a bit of a showman), and they came with a lot of bad habits. Those habits began to be erased as the season wore on, and the finished product is excellent.

Yes you do. They begin with "I'm sorry I overreacted to every minor flaw Mr. Eric Spoelstra." Don't underrestimate any member of the Pat Riley coaching tree. They know how to get results. Coaching is more than melodramatic halftime speeches.

Ohhhhh, good quote by Kerr! Robinson as the MVP in the mid-90's getting dominated by Hakeem. That IS exactly what this was like. Let's bring back the rematch! Wade vs. Dirk!

Well, he COULD shoot 12% against the Mavs...

Rose is a better decision-maker, reads defenses a bit better, is more athletic, and is an average defender while Westbrook is poor---but yeah. And for all the LeBron haters, I thought his performance against Boston quieted you guys. This was a Jordanesque performance. Not only with his offense, but with his defense. His fourth quarter was incredible.

You may have to just take the average PER of an NBA player and compare that to the average PER of high school players. That should be fine.

This isn't as bad a hire as it's being made out to be, but all the criticisms are valid. Brown may not be able to reel in Kobe, and isn't a good offensive X's and O's guy. He does know how to get people to buy in on defense, and if he's smart, he'll have Brian Shaw teach him and continue to implement the Triangle. The Triangle wasn't Phil Jackson's offense when he ran it, and the Spurs had success with Greg Popovich giving lots of responsibility and voice to his staff. I don't know if Brown has the chops to motivate the Lakers when they're down though, and Kobe might tune him out. I don't think he's a guy who'll take the Lakers to the next level. I think he's a Conference Finals coach, on a team whose star player is an NBA championship guy. As for people wanting JVG to coach, I think he's having such a blast announcing he wouldn't want to get back into coaching unless teams opened up a vault for him. Keep in mind, he hasn't had a world of success either, though he clearly has the knowledge and the personality to get results.

You know what---you're right. Enjoy the treat we'll have the next few weeks---there's no guarantee we'll have a season next year.

Charley Rosen takes a look at the Thunder. http://msn.foxsports...s-Harden-052511 More after the link

Dirk has one more test. I don't think he's ever seen a defense in the playoffs as good as Miami's. A strong performance against that defense would be the stuff of true legends. Should Chicago come back, it would be a similar case.

He shouldn't get an easy pass. He's a scorer who's supposed to generate easy shots, supposed to demoralize teams at the rim, who's supposed to hit clutch shots, and who can will his team to wins over great defenses. He didn't do his job as often as he needed to, and left plays on the floor. His redeeming quality---he's young, he should figure things out. But he didn't put his best foot forward. Also, it's nice that Rick Carlisle, a good coach who's coached some very good teams, will get a chance to go to the Finals. He deserves this. As does Dirk for some very big fourth quarters.

The Thunder are still too immature. The entire team needs to bulk up and get stronger so they can score in the paint. Scott Brooks needs to open up the playbook, Westbrook needs to learn how to run an offense, and Durant needs to play stronger or he'll just be another jumbo-sized volume scorer. He should get better, but the Thunder dropped two games where they had huge leads late. They clearly have the talent---their lack of heart got in the way.

And finally, this is where Kevin Durant isn't an MVP player. He's so timid on his drives. He only looks to step back and can't finish in traffic, or shed ball-denial. He's been an incredible disappointment, just as big as Westbrook.

And here's Dirk's chance to erase the past. Two free throws here. He's been great all series.

I'm proud of this Mavs team. They've stayed confident even when down, and when they've had a chance to take advantage of mistakes, they've assassinated the Thunder. And the defense and decision making by Jason Kidd? This is why they traded for him all those years ago. People still think that was an awful trade. He's been exceptional.

And when criticizing the Bulls offense, can we please give some credit to the Heat defense? What magic play are the Bulls going to run that will generate offense? The Bulls don't have enough one-on-one scoring or playmaking to consistently score against exceptional defense except when Rose gets strung out by a screen and the Bulls can get the ball to Noah at the foul line with a numbers advantage. Miami's defense is championship-caliber.

I'd post the thread during the first round of the playoffs where I said there was a double standard because nobody criticized Rose for being unable to run an offense and being a poor decision maker, but that would be arrogant of me. What I actually am proud of is that all the hyper-reactionary criticism of Spoelstra has taken a backseat. The Heat don't run the most complicated offense, but his baseline screen stuff gets some off-ball action, and allows his players to attack from the baseline, mostly Wade. Plus the man knows how to coach defense and how to hold people accountable. All the "patience" and "trust the system" stuff he talked about early in the season is paying off---and I'm impressed with the product. He's stuck with Anthony, he's made Bosh into a quality defender, and the Heat swallow teams up. Let's see how their killer instinct is in Game Five.

Sometimes in the NBA a team comes out much more ready to play than its opponent and rides that activity level to a victory. That was exactly the case in the Dallas Mavericks’ 93-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One. After fantastic offensive performances in Dallas, the Thunder seemed lethargic at the onset. Screens were more perfunctory than purposeful. Cuts were non-existent. Meaningful weak side action was seldom run. Players settled for contested jumpers. By the time the Thunder woke up, they were down 23 points. Meanwhile, the Mavericks played spirited defense at the onset. Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and DeShawn Stevenson each took turns defending Kevin Durant early. Their physicality forced Durant to catch the ball farther out than he would optimally want, and Stevenson and Marion used their length to eliminate entry passes. Later in the game Tyson Chandler would take a few turns defending Durant to a positive effect.Dallas shows on screens were excellent, with even Dirk Nowitzki hedging perfectly and delaying the ball handler on screen/rolls.The Mavs scouted and had their help defenders chuck Durant when he cut along the baseline from one side of the floor to the other.Dallas’ help defense was active, always providing assistance on drives to the basket.After James Harden blitzed the Mavs in Game Two, Rick Carlisle adjusted and gave Jason Terry help by trapping Harden’s screen/rolls.Dallas attacked Durant’s defense with Marion early, and it appeared to discourage Durant.The Mavs pounced on any faulty pass or dribble, coming up with five steals in the first quarter.With Dallas’ defense creating turnovers, the Mavs were able to fuel their transition game. This allowed Marion to get going early, and discouraged the Thunder. http://cdn0.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v777cf8a.jpg Of course, many of the Thunder’s problems were self-induced. The dirty secret of the Jeff Green-<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/players/4348/kendrick-perkins" class="sbn-auto-link">Kendrick Perkins trade is that Perkins has been a dud in the playoffs. His rotations were frequently late or absent, his passing was abysmal, he takes too long to gather himself at the basket, and too often he found himself trying to tip out rebounds rather than securing them, leading to extra Mavs possessions.When Durant is faced with aggressive ball denial, he’s not strong enough to shed the defender. Against the Grizzlies, the Thunder countered this by having Durant screen the ball and fan, but the Mavericks aren’t coming off Durant’s body to hedge on the screen the way the Grizzlies did. Instead the Mavs are switching the screens because they’re comfortable with Stevenson or Kidd checking Durant.Durant also missed several shots from in close where he doesn’t have the body to ward off Tyson Chandler’s physical length.Russell Westbrook committed four acts unbecoming of a point guard in the opening frame. He forced a drive into traffic and was stripped for a turnover, he forced an early offense jumper that clanged out, he pushed off on Stevenson on a stepback attempt for another offensive foul, and he missed a layup.Westbrook also committed faulty closeouts, seemed unawares as to how to fight through a screen, and put no pressure on Jason Kidd while setting up the offense.Finally, Scott Brooks deserves some of the blame. His offense has virtually no continuity, so once a primary option is taken away, it’s up to the players to make offense appear out of nothing. This is disappointing, because once the Thunder picked up their effort, they had some success. The Thunder successfully crowded Nowitzki on his isolations, fronted his post ups, and closed out hard on his catch-and-shoots. The Thunder also elected to two-time Dirk from the baseline. As a result, Dirk had a rough second half. Serge Ibaka used his length to contest Dirk’s jumpers, forcing Dirk to miss all three of his isolations against him. Nick Collison’s strong upper body and relative quickness prevented Dirk from getting separation. Collison bodied Dirk into shooting only 2-5 against him (with a pair of blocked shots), plus Collison’s ferocious hands wrenched the ball from Dirk twice, leading to three turnovers. Dirk also failed to seal Westbrook on a post up, meaning Dirk’s one-on-one ventures in the first quarter only generated four points in 12 possessions, an exceptional ratio. Dirk also was blocked on a roll to the basket, and shot 3-7 on various catch-and-shoots, usually after setting a screen then fading, to create open space. For the most part though, Dirk was a non-factor. Likewise, Jason Terry couldn’t find the range—3-12 FG—but he kept his forced shots to a minimum, moved the ball, and hit a big floater late. On the defensive end, he was better at staying attached to James Harden’s body on screen/rolls, and funneled him into help. Considering how Dirk struggled though, Terry’s poor performance was another win for the Thunder. Westbrook continued to knock down his screen/roll jumpers and abused J.J. Barea in the fourth quarter. It should also be noted that on Westbrook’s assaults, Chandler was usually able to provide effective help and meet Westbrook above the lane, while Brendan Haywood’s help was often a step late. However, despite these successes, the Thunder couldn’t completely overcome the huge deficit they set for themselves allowing the Mavs to hang on for the win. What do they need to do differently to capture Game Four? Get more continuity in their offense. Since Westbrook has so much trouble making the appropriate trigger passes, how about the Thunder run some 1-2-2 sets in the first quarter where Westbrook brings the ball up, makes an entry pass to Ibaka, and cuts through to the corner to effectively set a double screen or a split cut with Durant? This gives Durant some options to come to the ball, generates weak side action, and puts Westbrook along the baseline where he’s effective as a cutter. Oklahoma City can still run some continuity bringing Westbrook back around to post up or screen/roll.Kendrick Perkins has to be given a shorter leash if he’s not going to play with maximum effort. It’s a risk giving extra minutes to Nick Collison because the foul trouble he could be placed in, but against Haywood and the Mavericks bench, how about giving Nazr Mohammed and his short range jumper some time?If not Mohammed stealing some minutes from Perkins, the Thunder need to play small to create spacing for entry passes to Durant.Putting James Harden in screen/rolls puts the ball in the hands of Oklahoma City’s best playmaker.Keep crowding Dirk and hope the refs hold their whistles.Most importantly, come out with full energy right from the onset to put the Mavs on their heels and not the other way around. As for the Mavs, they can take solace in winning a road game in which its two best scorers didn’t play particularly well—a testament to the team’s defensive fortitude and maturity. A similar defensive performance in Game Four will have them in the lookout seat with the NBA Finals coming in to view over the horizon.

Good link. One of the dudes from the Paroxysm has seen the lottery process too. http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2011/05/18/the-fix-isnt-in/

The maturity Mayo showed while dealing with a very turbulent season makes me believe that he should be a core piece going forward. It's also going to be tough to trade Gay with his contract. Who are the Grizz going to get back? Rashard Lewis or Gilbert Arenas? How about trying out Gay as a sixth man? He's not a great shooter and his iso game clashes with Memphis' post philosophy. Mayo can work off the ball some, stretches the floor with his range, and really D's up. The Grizz can start Allen at the three and have Gay as the first man off the bench. They can also trade Mayo as they may not have the cap room to sign him the season after next. One thing Memphis does have is some depth on the wing so they can take the loss of Mayo if they bring back a productive player.