Monday, June 13, 2005
Hey guys. Soree for the long wait(if any of u actually waited) for me to update my blog. Its just that ive been really busy lately(duh!) cause its end of the semester and my final assignments were getting due and now im in the mid of my exam period. And here i am blogging. Bleh. History paper last Friday was sucky as hell. We had to memorize lots of crap(and i mean a lot) and even that is not enough, there were questions that the lecture notes and text book were not sufficient enough to give an answer. Oh well, its freakin over and i think i might be able to get away with a pass. Maybe. Next up is Construction. Should be a hell lot easier. Anyways, I'm going back soon, 20th June, but then ill be leaving for UK on the 28th. Shucks. Wished i could stay longer back home. Sigh. Oh well. Thats life. Not everything goes your way.Now that the NBA playoffs is at its peak, I've decided to put up a review on the conference finals and then on to my prediction for this year's trophy(Everyone who is not Nick can click the X button on top right corner of your screen).
East Side - Pistons 4 - 3 Miami
Miami - Really hate em for some reason. Mainly cause of Shaq. I think he's getting really big his mouth, rather than putting up big numbers. He's definitely not as dominant as he used to be. Whether it was bcause of his injury or his age or watever, he really didn't help Miami as much as was expected. Last year with the Lakers, Pistons used the same ol one on one with him and he scored more than this. Yet the Lakers lost. Now Shaq is putting up less numbers with still only one defender on him. There goes the give-it-to-shaq-then-kick-it-out-for-open-three strat. What really carried Miami though was of course Mr.Dwayne Wade. I'm not really a fan of him but i must say he's really good at penetrating and just causing so much problem to the defense. Even with the Pistons, arguably the best defending team in the NBA. He was able to score at will other than the first game, as well as feeding his teammates. Miami's role players were solid as well, hitting open shots and doing all they can to compliment Wade-Shaq. I think they were a pretty good team, but in game seven it all came to experience and a little bit of luck that they didnt have(Wade's injury).
Pistons - My favourite from last year. They're defense is as strong as ever, and they have been solid and stabile whole year round. Their balanced half-court offense wasn't the most efficient, but was just enough to keep the scoreboard busy. Basically won the series through experience. Nothing much to elaborate about them cause they're pretty much the same team from last year. I think that they're offense has gone down a lil compared to last year, where they had a really consistent attack while shutting down opponents on the other side of the court. Their defense is also not on par with last year's, but still their strongest point. I mainly thought that Game 7 was mostly about luck, cause both of the teams seems so matched up with each other, but the Pistons just barely squeezed out a win.
West Side - Spurs 4-1 Phoenix
Phoenix - Run $ Gun. That's it. That's all they have. Definitely was not sufficient to defeat the Spurs as they were dominated in this series. In the game they won, they played pretty good basketball, but id say the Spurs was just having an off night. Thumbs up to MVP Steve Nash for being his unstoppable self on the offensive, both his shooting and passing skills. Amare was doing great too, but still half of his points came from Nash or assists from other teammates. He has developed a good jumpshot though, which really adds a lot to his game. I kinda like Joe Johnson too, he's a pretty nasty offensive threat, scoring inside n outside. What was missing though, was defense and Marion. I never liked Marion on the offensive end, and it was no surprise to me that he played crap in this series. He never was a good one on one player, with no killer-crossover or post-up moves. He rakes up his numbers cause he's tall, he can jump, and he can shoot adequetly(apparently not adequet enough). Against a pure defender like Bruce Bowen, he simply had no chance. And back to the defenseless Suns, they were just logs on the D. For those who read and watched Slamdunk, there was a similar team with the similar results in the end.
Spurs - Has what the Pistons had last year, raping defense. Slowed down the Suns to a snail's pace, forcing them to bleed for points from the half-court. On the offensive end, the Spurs looked more comfortable than ever as they were scoring better than the Suns(the top offensive team of the season?). They just have so many weapons. Tony Parker slashing in for easy layups. Manu Ginobli penetrating wildly while shooting accurately and delivering crisp passes to teammates. Bruce Bowen and Brent Barry hitting the open trey. Nazr getting points in the paint. Horry being the role player he always is. Duncan being himself(though not fully). The point is, this guys are the best defensive team in the NBA this season, yet every player on the court can score. If that's not a winning formula, i dont know wat is. A clean win for the Spurs.
FINALS - Spurs to win it. Though i like Pistons to win as well. I think defensively they're pretty matched up, but Spurs have enough firepower to break through while the Pistons are still shaky with their half-court offense(too slow maybe). The end.
