Messed Up

It has not been a good week for the media in sports. First Kirk Herbstreit’s blown ‘Les Miles is going to Michigan’ and now the whole ‘Jason Kidd is on strike’ thing. I swear I learned not to jump to conclusions and to get all your facts straight before reporting things in Intro to Mass Communication. Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that Jason Kidd has way too much respect for the game to ever pull a stunt like that. He at least has to get the benefit of the doubt. I mean it would be one thing to speculate ‘Maybe Jason Kidd is trying to send a message’ but to actually have the headline of a story be “SOURCES: ‘On-Strike Kidd decides to sit-out’ is just blatantly misleading. If I’m Joe Blow and I read that headline without reading the words underneath I’m thinking ‘I can’t believe Jason Kidd would do that’. It’s just wrong. I mean the guy is the best PG in the L, averaging damn near a triple-double and THE main reason why this Nets team is sniffing .500

There’s no way anyone is sweeping that Texas three-step and you know it. The only reason we’re talking about a measly win over the Sixers (which by the way wasn’t so measly) is because the bench showed that they CAN play a big role. They are the key to the C’s success. They’re better than Cleveland’s bench from last year and they have the C-3. That’s my argument. And you should be impressed with 6 points from Big Baby because you called him useless.

I don’t really know what else to say about the Mavs. As a team when you know there are only two people on the court who can beat you (Ginobli and Parker) and you let them combine for 60 points…what’s going on? I don’t like Dallas and their D at all. Their biggest weakness last year? Perimeter defense. Biggest weakness this year? Perimeter defense. But remember last year they were motivated, they had the look of assassins. Dallas isn’t strong enough mentally to wait and turn on a switch because truth be told…they haven’t won it. So how do they know when to turn it on? How far to turn it on?? Teams like the Lakers of the past, the Spurs those teams were full of veterans and had won titles. They knew exactly what it took and when they needed to step it up a notch. Even the Heat tried that strategy last year and it failed…moreso because of D-Wade’s injury than anything else but it isn’t foolproof. Dallas is lacking confidence and are too worried about all the wrong things. Limiting Dirk’s minutes, starting this guy…just go out and win games. Get your confidence up so in the playoffs you can actually win it this time. Right now the only teams I could see them beating in the playoffs are the Hornets and the Lakers and they won’t have enough wins to face either of those teams.

I think Mamba might finally be back to being Mamba after last night. The difference between how he played last night and how he played on opening night are night and day. I think if that shoulder injury had happened when they played the Rockets he wouldn’t have come back. The competitive fire is there to fight off the flu and the shoulder and to drop 12 big ones in the 4th quarter. Not only that but to help lock up AI and THEN drop this quote after the game:

“I’m not one of these players that believes if a guy gets hot there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said. “I just don’t believe that.”

Yeah he’s back. I will say this, they beat the Nuggets only because Denver does not have a third offensive weapon. If you want to talk about a horrible bench this is the team you need to be talking about Coup. AI and Melo can run rampant but defenses can key in on them down the stretch like the Lakers did. Then who is going to make plays? Surely not JR Smith. He’s way too inconsistent of a shooter to be depended on night in and night out. Teams are going to let guys like Anthony Carter, Najera, Kleiza and the rest of the poo poo platter beat them. Things should get better when Atkins and Nene come back but for right now the Nuggets are in a bit of trouble IF defenses key in on AI and Melo. Which by the way is way easier said than done.

Which leads me to Game 1 of tonight’s national doubleheader on TNT. It’s Denver vs. Dallas, two teams that are overrated in my eyes. Which team is going to address their respective weakness to get the W? Will Dallas get Dirk going and play some defense? Or will AI and Melo run rampant on the Mavs? Will Denver get some help to get the W? Or will JR Smith clank jumper after jumper as the Mavs get easy transition buckets? It’s anyone’s ball game for two teams that really need a W.

Game 2 of the doubleheader…Heat at the Blazers. Another case of two teams needing wins. Blazers went 1-2 on that nasty trip against the Southwest Division and now return to the safe confines of the Rose Garden. Or at least they used to be safe; Blazers have lost 3 of their last 4 at home. Another intriguing stat that I just noticed…Blazers are only 1-6 against the Eastern Conference. They welcome a Miami team that is super close to rock bottom at this point. 4-13…have lost three in a row and are in the middle of a 6-game West Coast road trip. The same trip that broke the Bulls over the head with a steel chair. Riley has to know that their best chances at W’s are against the Blazers and the Clippers (don’t know if they can hang with the Warriors and Suns at all right now) and go home 6-15. Much better than 4-17. Encouraging sign for the Heat is that they stuck pretty close with the Jazz on Monday night. Will the Blazers be ready to match the effort of a desperate Miami team? Wait…will Miami actually be desperate? Is this the game that Shaq and D-Wade tell everyone they are stil Shaq and D-Wade? Or do B-Roy and LaMarcus show them that youth conquers all? Whose role players are going to step up? Actually I’m more interested in that. Only time will tell.

Speaking of the Blazers…am I the only one semi-excited about having Darius Miles in the back pocket? I mean he can’t do anymore harm actually playing than us just paying him and him sitting on the bench. Is this more of my crazy talk?

A lot of coaches are worried about having to be miked up for TV games. Well there’s a loophole if coaches think about it….just cuss if you don’t want a part to be televised. Simple, simon.