Tag: TNT

The Heat Get Beat Down

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not ahhhh you know the rest. That is one sentence I bet Lebron James wishes he could take back. As you all know, the big “3” assembled themselves to embark on a quest. That quest was to win multiple championships. However, the way they look right now they might have to settle for just the 1. Dwyane Wade is dealing with injuries and Chris Bosh is playing like a soft 6’2″ shooting guard inside a 6’10” body. Lebron James has been left to pick up his entire team and carry them on his back (a la Cleveland 2007). I doubt this is what Lebron was anticipating when he signed with the Miami Heat. Maybe, just maybe this is karma’s way of saying, “Hey Lebron you shouldn’t have done that bad thing that you did”. Obviously that’s just a joke, but even if the Heat get past the Pacers in game 7 do you really expect them to beat the San Antonio Spurs? The way they are playing right now I highly doubt it. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though and let’s take a look at where we are and how we got there.

The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers are deadlocked at 3 games a piece and will play a decisive game 7 on Monday night. The Heat, yes the Heat, are lucky to be in this position. The Pacers have been the better team in this series, and they were just 2.2 seconds away from winning this series. Now, there are vital questions that must be answered. How will the heat respond to this beat down? Will Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh show up to play Monday night? Will the Pacers carry the momentum from this big win into game 7? I’m going to answer all of these questions for you (just hold your horses), but first I will tell you how we got here.

Game 6 was a prime example of how the Pacers can beat the Heat. They out rebounded the Heat 53-33, and they out scored them in the paint 44-22. That my friends is a recipe for success against the vertically challenged Miami Heat. As a whole the Pacers played an efficient offensive game shooting 50% from the field. A fair question to be asked following the game is, who owns the 3rd quarter now? The Pacers came out of halftime on a mission. They out scored the Heat 29-15 in the quarter and completely turned the game around. The 3rd quarter onslaught was led by Pacers up and coming superstar Paul George. Dwyane Wade clearly can’t guard George as he went off for 28 points, and Roy Hibbert was his usual dominant self down low adding 24 points and 11 rebounds. Hibbert also had the play of the game by drawing an offensive foul on Lebron James as he drove the lane late in the 4th quarter. This was like the meeting of the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Point goes to the immovable object on this one. Also, what kind of cry baby is Lebron James? After being called for the foul he ran the full length of the floor in disbelief. Needless to say he was hit with a technical foul (hahahaha). Anyway, let’s get back to the task at hand. The real positive the Pacers should take away from this game was their defense. They held the Heat to 77 points! They also held Wade and Bosh to a combined 15 points on 4 of 19 shooting from the field (that’s a whopping 21%). Good stuff guys! You know you’re in trouble when Lebron misses having Anderseon Varejao and Boobie Gibson on his team. I have one question for whoever believes they have a reasonable answer: if Dwyane Wade is so hurt, why does he continue taking so many shots? I mean the Heat’s box scores have looked a lot like a Carmelo Anthony led squad lately. Whatever adjustments the Heat decide to make, they will not win if Lebron is left to beat the pacers singlehandedly. And this brings us to the most important question of all. What is going to happen in game 7?

The Pacers are going to win game 7 in South Beach. They are going to continue to impose their will on the interior. They will be too tall, too strong, and too physical. And most importantly they are going to come together as a team and will their way through the finish line. Lebron will post his usual phenomenal stat line, but Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will continue their struggles. This offseason will be a tumultuous one for Lebron and the Heat. Many questions will arise about the disappointment of this big “3” and their failed union. And questions of what the future will hold will follow. I am personally looking forward to their demise. That is what you get when you are cocky, and arrogant, and think you’re better than everyone else. Now all I have to do is hope my game 7 prediction is not wrong. Tune into TNT @ 8:30 p.m. for what should be a riveting game 7 in Miami. Enjoy!

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

I Think I Left My Clutch Gene At Home Today

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

When your team wins you get all the accolades, and when your team loses you get all the blame. Thats how it works in superstar land. Today, Lebron James is shouldering 100% of the blame for Friday night’s loss. It was an enormous loss for James and the Heat as the Indiana Pacers secured home court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pacers will travel back home with their confidence at an all time high after coming within inches of stealing both games in Miami. The biggest question after their heartbreaking Game 1 loss was how would they respond? Well I think we all found the answer to that question. The Pacers stayed true to themselves and they continued to highlight their strengths on the floor. They stayed physical with Miami, they used their length and size on the defensive end, and most importantly they utilized Roy Hibbert early and often. In turn he responded with another career game in these playoffs. He put in 29 huge points while grabbing 10 rebounds. While Hibbert was a big part of their victory, the Pacers showed that you don’t need to rely on one superstar to win. The Pacers starters all scored in double figures and their bench only contributed 5 points. This shows you how balanced they are, and that they all subscribe to the “team” concept. At the same time I must not overlook Paul George’s effort last night. He is truly solidifying his ranking as one of the best all around players in the NBA. He has the daunting task of guarding Lebron James, and at the same time is being asked to contribute 20+ points every night. Yes, Lebron’s stat line was godly (as it always is), but when it mattered most what did “king” James do? To find out you gotta keep reading…

With the game on the line, Lebron committed two consecutive turnovers!! Ouch!! This was not one of his brighter moments. The first turnover was really bad. Let me set the scene for you: George Hill had just knocked down two clutch free throws to put the Pacers up 95-93 with 48 seconds left. As Lebron brought the ball up he attempted to lob a pass over David West across the top of the key. Instead West stuck his arms up as if he were a cornerback who didn’t turn back to play the ball and stole the ball. The Pacers went on to turn the ball right back over on a shot clock violation. So despite the Pacers trying their darnedest to give another game away, Lebron just wanted to not win it even more. He got the ball just inside half court with the clock running down. Everyone was holding their collective breaths wondering if Lebron could pull some more heroics out of his you know where, but NOPE. He drove the lane and attempted to swing the ball outside, but the pass was intercepted by George Hill. Hill calmly walked down the floor and knocked in two more clutch free throws. This put the game nearly out of reach with the Pacers going up by four with 8 seconds to play. Chris Bosh threw up a last effort 3-pointer but it missed and the Pacers held on to win 97-93. Now in just 48 short minutes the momentum has completely shifted and there is a new question to ask today. How will the defending champion Miami Heat respond to losing on their own floor in the playoffs? I, like most, think that the Heat will still win this series, but Indiana is a difficult place to win basketball games. The road to the finals has been slightly tilted uphill for the Miami Heat, and now it is their turn to stare adversity in the face. To see what happens in the next chapter of this story, tune in to TNT on Sunday @ 8:30 p.m.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Not Your Everyday Buzzer Beater

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

When you think of buzzer beaters, you usually see someone hitting a three pointer or someone hitting a jump shot with a hand in their face. Well, how does making an uncontested shot in a layup line sound to you to win a playoff game? Yeah, that sounds ideal to me too. Well, for those of you who couldn’t stay awake to watch the closing minutes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night, that’s what happened. Lebron James drove down the lane for an uncontested layup to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-102. Now, the majority of the blame is being placed on Pacers head coach Frank Vogel for not having 7 foot 2 inch Roy Hibbert on floor for the final possession of the game. Yes, some of the blame rests on Vogel, (and I’ll get into why in a minute) but the majority of the blame should land on Paul George and his “defense” on the final play.

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, click below to watch Lebron’s game winner:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqSXLCuANiY

There are 2.2 seconds left on the clock and everyone and their mother knows who’s getting the ball. The problem you normally have in attempting to guard Lebron James is that you never know if he’s going to shoot, drive, or pass the ball. However, with 2.2 seconds left, whoever gets the inbounds pass is going to either shoot it right away, take one dribble into a jump shot, or if he magically gets an opening he’ll take it to the hoop. So the excuse that Paul George hesitated to get out to Lebron James because Ray Allen happened to run through the lane is ludicrous. George needs to chase the best player in the world around and let Allen’s defender worry about Allen. The biggest problem with George’s defense though is that he overplays James, so when he gets the ball he already has a step on George. This horrid defense allows an unprecedented wide open layup for the game winner. Now the other hot topic is why in the world Roy Hibbert was not on the floor for the final possession?!?! To that question I have no rational response. Coach Vogel had a response, but his didn’t make much sense either. He said he left Hibbert on the bench because Chris Bosh was in at center for the Heat. Since bosh can shoot from the outside he stretches the floor and in turn pulls Hibbert outside (where he is mostly useless). This is why Roy Hibbert, the Pacers best interior defender was watching Lebron drive down the lane from the bench. Yeah, good idea Frank. His explanation is all well and good during the 1st quarter, but with 2.2 seconds on the clock it’s almost physically impossible for Lebron to get the inbound pass, drive the lane, draw a double team from Hibbert, and then hit Bosh for a wide open 12-footer. No one thought Lebron could get to the basket that fast by himself let alone pass off to someone else. Now, if Bosh somehow got the inbound pass and was to take the game winning shot, I think Vogel would have lived with a somewhat contested shot from 15-18 feet. Hibbert might by 7’2″ and not very mobile, but I’m sure he could have gotten a hand in Bosh’s face if that was the case. But that was not the case. James scored, the Heat won, and it’s only a matter of time to see how the Pacers respond.

Will they be demoralized after losing a heartbreaker on Miami’s home court? Will they bounce back and play Miami to another close game? I always thought this series was going to go 6 hard fought games, so I don’t believe this loss is the beginning of the end for the Pacers. Look for Hibbert to stay out of foul trouble early in game 2 and play the Heat tougher down low. He’ll need to play well for the Pacers to have a chance, but more importantly the Pacers, (a solid defensive team) need to play tighter defense, especially down the stretch of games in order to win. You can catch Game 2 on TNT, Friday night @ 8:30 p.m. Enjoy!

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Carmelo’s Return Spoiled

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Wednesday night marked the first game for Carmelo Anthony in Denver since being traded from the Nuggets.  The Denver Nuggets traded Anthony for a host of players and draft picks to the New York Knicks back in 2011.  When it comes to players being traded, sometimes you have players that become a cancer in a locker room or bring more drama to a team than a daytime soap opera.  However in Melo’s case, he and the Nuggets were in mutual agreement that it was time to move on.  Carmelo had always wanted to come back home and play in the city where he grew up, the one, the only, New York City.  At the same time, the Denver Nuggets found a way to get numerous promising young players and future draft picks in return for Anthony.  The trade turned out to be a win-win situation.  With that being said, I have never been more embarrassed for an entire fan base than I was for the IGNORANT Denver Nuggets fans that were in attendance Wednesday night.  From the second they introduced Carmelo Anthony to the starting lineup, they booed him.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, they booed him every single time he touched the ball.  To that I say, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?  And to make matters even worse, when Melo left the game in the 3rd quarter due to a banged up knee, the fans felt it was necessary to chant, “Where is Melo?”  Really?  Does that make you feel better?  This is not like Lebron James’ situation, where he left his team high and dry and they reverted back to the horrible team they were prior to his arrival.  It is not like Melo left the city he grew up in to chase the money.  NO, he wanted to come home and play basketball in the greatest arena on earth.  Now I know that fans aren’t always as smart as they let on, but I thought they were going to get this one right.  While everyone was wondering what kind of reception Melo would get from the crowd, I kept saying they have to cheer him.  For all he did for this team, they’d be the dumbest fans in all the world to boo him.  Well, if the shoe fits…….  So clearly, the fans that filled the Nuggets arena are classless and don’t understand anything about the NBA.  They clearly can’t look at Carmelo’s career as a Denver Nugget objectively and say, man he was great, he took us to the playoffs literally every year he played here (including his rookie season).  Say what you want about Carmelo Anthony’s game.  Tell me he’s not good enough to win a championship.  Tell me his style of play is not conducive to the “team” mentality.  You can even tell me he doesn’t have the work ethic of a Lebron James or a Michael Jordan.  But don’t tell me he didn’t give the Denver Nuggets everything he had for 7+ seasons.  Don’t tell me the Nuggets would have been a playoff team 7 years in a row without him.  And, you definitely can’t tell me that he wasn’t the reason you came out to the arena to watch the team every night.  So to all the Denver Nuggets fans who booed and heckled Carmelo Anthony, I say go back to school because you obviously don’t have any class.

As for the game, it was pathetic.  Man I get tired of using that word.  As I stated earlier, Carmelo Anthony left the game in the 3rd quarter due to his knee acting up again.  Carmelo Anthony is clearly not 100%, and they need to rest him so he’s healthy for the playoffs.  If a player is going to suit up, they need to be able to give it their all, every night.  And right now, he can’t do that.  Will having his knee drained solve all of his problems?  I don’t know, but I sure hope it does.  A very scary moment came in the 2nd quarter when Tyson Chandler went down after banging knees with Corey Brewer.  As of now the Knicks are calling it a knee contusion.  When asked about it after the game, Chandler said it shouldn’t be a problem and hopefully we’ll see him in uniform Thursday night.  Thursday night they continue their tough road trip against the Portland Trailblazers, and it would serve the Knicks well to have Chandler in there to slow down LaMarcus Aldridge (he’s pretty good).  If you haven’t figured it out by now the Knicks got blown out for the second straight game.  They lost the game 117-94.  While Melo and Chandler left the game and Raymond Felton’s woes continued, there was one positive to be taken away from Wednesday nights shellacking.  Iman Shumpert showed us that he can actually score the basketball.  Since always, I’ve been preaching that he is wildly underrated on the offensive end and once his knee is back to 100%, he will show the world that he can shoot.  Last night was a prime example of that.  Shumpert scored 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the field (which included going 4 for 5 from 3-point range).  So being the glass half full guy that I am (haha), let us take away only the positive (yes that’s positive in the singular form because there was only one) from last night’s game.  Other than that last night’s game was a complete and total disaster, and I’m not sure it can get any worse for the New York Knicks.  They need to pick off 1 or 2 of the 3 games remaining on this road trip and crawl their way back to New York with some confidence.  Luckily for them, the Utah Jazz are playing like the worst team in the galaxy right now, and that is where they finish their road trip.  But first, they will be in Portland Thursday night to take on the Blazers.  You can find that game on TNT at 10:30 P.M.  Personally, I can’t wait for them to finish this road trip so I can start going to bed at a reasonable time.  But hey, it’s not all about me now is it?

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Sloppy Joes Anyone?

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

The New York Knicks can be described by a simple formula.  As long as the good outweighs the bad, it’s okay.  Wednesday night at the Detroit Pistons, there was plenty of bad but just enough good to win a basketball game.  On a night where Carmelo Anthony wasn’t able to suit up, the Knicks played a sloppy brand of basketball.  They had 20 TURNOVERS!!  For a team who only averages about 12 turnovers per game, that’s some pretty ugly stuff.  The majority of the turnovers were committed by Raymond Felton (he had 7).  Felton however, scored 26 points and was one of main reasons the Knicks beat the Pistons.  The final score was 87-77 as the Knicks were carried offensively by Felton, J.R. Smith, and Amar’e Stoudemire.  Collectively they scored 68 of the Knicks 87 points.  As you can tell by the turnover totals and the final score, this was a hard game to watch.  I think I actually fell asleep for 5 minutes or so in the middle of the game.  Hopefully tonight’s game will be a little more interesting and technically sound.  Tonight the New York Knickerbockers host Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.  You can find this game on TNT at 8:00 P.M.  There are questions going around today about Carmelo’s health and whether or not he’ll play tonight.  I personally don’t think the Knicks have a chance to win this game either way, but Carmelo really needs to man up and get out there.  Everyone else can buy into his little “injury”, but I guarantee you he is not hurt.  He needs to grow up and start putting his team first.  Right now, the Knicks need to play every game like it’s their last, because seeding in the Eastern Conference is going to be crucial in the playoffs.  So Melo, even though I know you will never read this page, STOP BEING A BABY, RUB SOME DIRT ON YOUR KNEE AND GET OUT THERE!!  For those of you who are scratching your head as to why someone would rub some dirt on their knee, allow me to elaborate.  As a baseball player, when you get hit by a pitch, your teammates (whom are often road scholars) will tell you to rub some dirt on it and run to first base.  Anyway, Melo really needs to man up and take a page out of Kobe Bryant’s how to manual.  Kobe should clearly be Carmelo’s biggest role model.  Melo like Kobe is a shoot first All-Star.  The only difference (and by only I mean the 8 differences between Kobe and Melo) between Kobe and Melo is that Kobe has that life or death mentality ingrained inside of him.  Kobe is going to do anything and everything his team needs in order to win, including playing hurt, playing defense, and hustling from the opening tip until the final buzzer every night.  Carmelo needs to infuse those characteristics into his personality.  Then maybe other players, media, and fans won’t question his dedication when he misses a game with a questionable injury.

As for the game tonight against the Thunder, the Knicks need to go on one of their 3-point shooting rampages to have a chance to win.  I personally want to see the Knicks shoot less 3-pointers, but in a game without Carmelo Anthony, they need to get a huge game out of Amar’e and Chandler down low to open up the court for the outside shooters.  This is the only chance the Knicks have to beat the Thunder tonight.  And for the love of god, can Coach Woodson please stop fighting common sense and put Amar’e Stoudemire in the starting lineup.  I understand that he wants to keep Jason Kidd out of the starting lineup (and I agree with him there) and with Carmelo Anthony hurt he needs to find another starter, but James White AND Kurt Thomas are the answers to those questions?!?!  Coach Woodson is obviously confused.  At the beginning of the season, I liked what Woodson was doing.  The Knicks were playing defense and he had Melo giving it his all, but now Woodson just looks like an average coach that doesn’t know how to handle his roster.  The Knicks should hang tough in this game tonight because it’s at home, but I see the Thunder pulling ahead in the middle of the 4th quarter and winning by 10 points, 108-98.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well.  Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!