Was Pierce vs. LeBron like Nique vs. Larry 20 years ago? Eh: Sort of. The bottom line is that, like Larry, Pierce was significantly advantaged by his supporting cast; like Nique, LeBron may spend his entire career without earning an NBA title.
In the lead of today's Sporting News column, I was a little more concerned with looking forward than looking back: Boston did nothing to convince me that they will beat Detroit in the East finals, let alone the West champ in the NBA Finals. I am thoroughly unimpressed with their perfect playoff home record.
Becoming the first team ever to advance to a conference-finals round without winning a road game is not a mark of distinction. What it sets up is that if/when (ok: when) Detroit wins a game in Boston, the Celtics are in a ton of trouble. I wouldn't be saying that if they had a single road win during the last 14 playoff games. It's just not the signal of a championship team to not have them.
Meanwhile, Hornets-Spurs should be incredible. If any team can win a Game 7 on the road in a series in which the home team has dominated, it is the defending champs.
MLB: Edison almost rhymes with 7-win... If Big Unit is on, that makes the D'backs 4-deep in very very good starting pitching... Ryan Braun is my hero.
Candace Parker's rookie season in the WNBA is worth following on a game-by-game basis -- she seems to be THAT good... instantly the best player in the WNBA, which affirms her as the greatest female basketball player on the planet.
Big Brown: Triple Crown. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Let's hope he's not a Belmont fizzler. I have a feeling he is going to do it.
More later. Here is the rest of the Sporting News column today.
-- D.S.
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3 comments:
Gotta check you on this one Dan:
"I was a little more concerned with looking forward than looking back..."
Yet you base your assumption about Boston's future performance on their past performance! King Kaufman had a funny column on that very topic last week.
Dan,
It was hard not to think about the 'Nique/Larry game last night. Pierce and James did a pretty good job, and if I remember correctly, the Hawks in '88 were always coming back, and never got the lead, so that was the same.
But if I remember correctly, the entire '88 game was awesome. It had lots of scoring, great passing, and some pretty amazing shots. Yesterday's game had the same things...in the second half. The first half (mostly the first 20 minutes) was pretty lame, until the Cavs remembered to put the ball in the hoop.
Oh yeah, and yesterday's game didn't include Doc Rivers throwing up an 80-foot shot at the end of the third quarter that clocked a Celtics guy in the head.
Lakers/Pistons has got to be the finals favorite at this point. No matter who wins SA/NO, LA and Detroit are the only teams that have shown they can win on the road.
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