The Night Watch

LA 120, Utah 110 (LA 2-0)

Tonight might as well have been labeled ‘Kobe Bryant Appreciation Night’

All of Mamba’s hard work was commemorated tonight as David Stern presented him with the Maurice Podloff trophy. It was a tribute to a man who has grown as both a player and as a teammate. Out of all the greatness that Kobe has had, this was the hardest year to hate him. He was playing well, he was being a great teammate, he seemed semi-genuine and it seemed as if he was actually…growing. I even found myself *gasp* liking the guy, despite the fact that he ruined much of my adolescence. Try and find a Blazer fan over the age of 17 who could even think about liking Kobe and I myself will reward you. Good luck.

All of those good vibes, all of those good feelings and thoughts of growth…in true Kobe fashion he ruined it with his MVP acceptance speech. He had it going with the “I don’t know what to say right now” and it seemed like we were going to get a moment. We were finally going to get to peer inside Kobe Bean Bryant for a genuine moment. And then he killed it with his ‘We’re playing to June, let’s get this party started!’ For serious Kobe? Let’s get this party started? Where is Amy Poehler to tell him ‘really?’ That’s so late 90’s/early 00’s it’s not even funny. Pink was still trying to act black when that saying was so pop culture. Disgusting. If MJ wasn’t so busy clubbin’ with Oak he would have vomited.

In all seriousness, Kobe played out of his mind tonight. 34 points on 18 shots with 8 rebounds and 6 assists is a damn fine way to celebrate winning the MVP. The score may indicate otherwise but Utah was never truly in this game. They had their moments and spurts, but the Lakers dominated as they have this entire post-season. And it was not just Kobe. Derek Fisher has been huge this series. Not only did he have 22 tonight, he has also done a tremendous job on Deron Williams (for the most part). Kudos to Phil Jackson for the way he has developed that bench. At no point in time during this game did it feel like the Lakers were going to dip when the bench came in. And that is an accomplishment.

For Utah…the good news is that Deron Williams seemingly found his game and his swagger in the second half. Doug Collins made a good point in the second half that perhaps Williams was giving Fisher too much respect in Game 1 and in the first half of tonight’s game. Not so in the second half. Williams had 22 of his 25 points in the final 24. For the Jazz to have any success they need Williams to quarterback them. When Fisher was D’ing him up the Jazz just seemed lost.

The bad news for Utah….they can’t guard the Lakers. LA scored 109 points in Game 1 and 120 in Game 2. Obscene numbers for a team which shackled Houston up pretty handily in round 1. For Utah to win they will have to find a way to defend. There isn’t much of a way that they can score with the Lakers, LA has way too many weapons. The task is much easier said than done, especially considering the level that Kobe is playing at and the way the Lakers are playing as a team. They also need to get some production out of Carlos Boozer. Could someone please find his game? TNT wants you to think that this dip is coming just in the playoffs. Let me tell you personnally that You would be foolish to think this dip in production is just coming out of the blue in the playoffs. No, no, Boozer has been going downhill since the month of April when he averaged 13.9 points per game and 7.4 rebounds. That’s a big difference from the 21 and 10 he averaged for the whole season. Trust me I would know he was on my fantasy team stinking it up while Coup smiled. In the playoffs he’s yet to reach 21 points and has looked positively average against the Lakers. Settling for a jumper that isn’t falling and missing contested layups. Watching Lamar Odom go by him. The Jazz need Boozer to get it in gear quick. If it weren’t for Paul Milsap’s effort (17 and 10, 13 in the first half) the Jazz would have lost by 20+.

While the Lakers have clearly been in control the first two games, this series is far from over. Utah remains a tremendous home team and Jerry Sloan still is a tremendous head coach. With the power of Mormon-ia behind them (yay for making up words) we could very easily be looking at 2-2 and wondering just how the Jazz let the Lakers beat up on them so bad. They find a way to defend, get Boozer in the game and shake D-Will loose and it could be a series. All of that is easy to say on paper but hard to do in real life. And add to that the fact that they have to stop fouling. The Lakers shot 43 free throws tonight while the Jazz shot 16. No Jazz player shot more than 4 free throws and Kobe attempted 4 less free throws than the Jazz did on the night. Not a good sign.

Orlando 111, Detroit 86 (DET 2-1)

How could anyone have watched Chauncey Billups slip into the splits and not grabbed at their own body? That look liked it hurt…everywhere. I thought it was his groin, hamstring, quad, knee, ankle, man parts. It was horrifying. Not quite as horrifying as watching the Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop or enjoying your lunch only to glance and see ESPN show a montage of horses collapsing to their death…but still horrifiying.

If you missed out on the game, the big story was that Mr. Big Shot did indeed do the splits 4 minutes into the game, straining his right hamstring and never returning. The Magic proceeded to smile as their prayers were answered and go on a 20-6 run. They never looked back. After Chauncey went down it was an uphill climb for Detroit the rest of the night. They had their moments but could never quite get to the top of the mountain. The combination of Chauncey’s injury and Rodney Stuckey picking up two quick fouls were too much to overcome. At one point they had Rip and Tayshaun bringing the ball up the court. Yeah….not so much.

(What happened to Lindsey Hunter? Anyone? I’m pretty sure tonight was his moment. Stuckey was game but we all know if this was 2001 that Lindsey Hunter would have had 5 threes and the Pistons would have won.)

Not aiding the Pistons’ cause was the fact that Rashard Lewis was lights out. 33 points, 11/15 shooting, 6/8 from behind the arc and some timely buckets. Examples: Detroit cuts the lead to 10 with under a minute left in the first half….three-ball and a layup from Rashard puts it to 15. Detroit cuts the lead to 3 late in the third…three-ball from Rashard puts it back up to 6. Magic are only up 4 to start the fourth quarter, three-ball from Rashard on the first possession of the quarter to bring momentum back. Big time players don’t just put up big time stats, they make big time buckets. And Rashard Lewis did that tonight. The impressive part of his performance tonight sure as hell wasn’t the fact that he scored 30+ it was just how dominant he was. And yes I did say dominant and Rashard Lewis in the same sentence, please don’t sue me. For the Magic to have a chance in this series they need one of their stars not named Dwight to play out of their mind. Tonight, Rashard did it. Next game, Hedo is going to have to step out of his 18-point shell.

(Anyone else catch Reggie Miller call Sheed…’Rasheed Lewis’. Unreal. Even better is that Rashard missed the free throw and Sheed screamed out ‘THAT BALL DON’T LIE’ and kept muttering all the way to the bench. Gotta love it.)

No one was happier to see Chauncey gone than Mr. X-Factor himself Jameer Nelson. He ended up with 18 points. For the record, when Jameer has scored 18+ in the post-season the Magic are 5-1. Just a thought. What was more obscene to me was the alarming rate at which the Pistons gave up dribble penetration. With the Magic, dribble penetration leads to three-pointers. They had 11 on the night and shot 45% from the arc. Detroit continues to not take away Orlando’s strengths (i.e the deep ball and Superman)

Detroit certainly does not need to sweat this
series (at least not yet), but they should definitely be anxious about Chauncey. His impression of Melina may not hurt the Pistons now, but no Big Shot could hand the ECF to the Cavs or Celtics.

Also…could someone tell the Orlando fans that its the playoffs and they can cheer. My goodness is it just me or do they have to be the dullest crowd in the nation? WNBA crowds are about fifty five thousand times louder than this….ok bad example because it’s a bunch of screaming kids. But still. Step it up, this isn’t Disney World.