Having lived, roughly, the Celtics' and Lakers' travel schedule for the last couple of weeks, it is my firm suspicion that both teams will be a little tired tonight. Which means, to me, that fresh legs will be at a premium. If I were Doc Rivers, I would get youngsters like Leon Powe, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, and Tony Allen out there plenty. Experience and talent are primary, but a youngster at 100% can still overwhelm a better tired player under the right circumstances, often by simply getting to spots where the opponents are not. Anyone can be efficient with the ball when they're all alone. And even if it doesn't work beautifully, it'll make the starters fresher in crunch time.
It has been public knowledge for years that the NBA is digitizing its entire archive of games on film and video. Imagine the value of such a thing online: any play in NBA history, searchable and viewable. That's a gold mine for fans and advertisers. But I wonder if it will ever be publicly searchable, because it would be a powerful research tool for anyone who wants to criticize NBA referees. And you know the league is sensitive to that. For instance, before Tim Donaghy's latest allegations, there were all kinds of clips of Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals on YouTube. Not anymore! It is with great interest, however, that I read Glen Dickson's article about the NBA's video archive on BroadcastNewsroom.com. Turns out that at the moment the this archive is accessible by teams -- except for some games. "The league," writes Dickson, "has a separate storage section for sensitive material, which teams don't have access to, and an 'Officials Review System' that accesses low-camera angles that aren't shown to viewers, but are archived." Hard to imagine how the NBA could do a better job of telling the world they are not proud of their referees. They're the best in the world, the League seems to be saying, but we can't possibly let you analyze their work in any detail. If I were a deep-pocketed and suspicious owner (paging Mark Cuban!), I would just build my own archive of my team's games, from as many angles as possible -- because having all that information controlled by one entity is a miserable way to build trust.
I'm writing from the arena. Ray Allen, who has been tending to family issues, is certainly here. He was shooting solo, nailing shot after shot after shot. Standstill 3-pointers. 3-pointers on the run. Dribble-drive pull-ups. I saw 60 or 70 shots. Two were misses.
David Thorpe with lots of good coaching insight for tonight's game, including this: "Inexcusably, Radmanovic often approached Pierce standing straight up, not crouched in a defensive stance, giving him the green light to roast Radmanovic and get into the teeth of the defense. "Starting position" is preached hard to good defensive teams. Watch Boston to see the importance of this defensive strategy -- both in terms of individual stance and team positioning. If L.A. can make a major improvement in this area for Game 6, its defense should provide a tougher obstacle for Pierce." Thorpe and Mike Moreau will be joining Dr. Jack Ramsay and myself once again for some liveblogging tonight. I'll be watching for Radmanovic's defensive position.
A lot of NBA players are too macho to whine about rough play from opponents. Not Sasha Vujacic. Ramona Shelburne of the L.A. Daily News: "'Phil (Jackson) told me after the game that he thought I was a bit emotional. And I think he was right, I didn't manage it right,' Vujacic said. 'It all started from that poke in the eye (by Celtics guard Sam Cassell). I got a little bit mad because the ref was right there and he didn't call it.' That's not all. Later in the game, Cassell seemed to slam Vujacic down onto the court while they wrestled for a loose ball, and Vujacic said afterwards that he thought it was on purpose. 'That's OK, it doesn't matter, because we know that's the way they play and hopefully next time (the officials will) see it and I'll get the call,' he said. Vujacic hasn't been pleased with some of the things he thinks Boston is getting away with in this series, either. 'They (Boston) foul a lot. They get away with a lot of fouls,' Vujacic said. 'When we go back to Boston, we know that they are going do a lot of moving picks like they do, and they're probably going to get away with it. But we got to stay smart, stay focused and play with poise.'"
Michael Beasley's post-Bulls workout comedy routine, as told by Scott Powers of ESPN The Magazine: "Asked about measuring 6-foot-8 at the pre-draft camp rather than his previously listed 6-10: 'I'm a little disappointed to find out I'm actually a midget.' Asked if he can succeed at the NBA level like he did in high school and college: 'Depends if I like the coach.' Asked what he knew about other Bulls players: 'They got one Jayhawk that I'll have to work really hard to get along with.' Asked if he saw Bulls GM John Paxson play: 'I'm not that old.'"
Coach Anthony Macri, writing on Basketball Prospectus, has some free advice for the Lakers: "Early in the offense, prior to settling into the Triangle, the Lakers should look to ball-screen action. When they get tentative and their offense stagnates, Los Angeles looks for ball screens late in the shot clock. This only brings a second defender toward the attacking offensive player, typically Kobe Bryant. However, by bringing the ball screen early in transition offense, the Lakers can attack prior to Boston prepping any of their trapping or hard-hedge tactics. In fact, in many cases, they might force a switch, which would lead to Bryant attacking the rim."
Is there a player in this draft who will sell a lot of sneakers? I have heard that the answer is no, not really. I have heard the answer is "maybe OJ Mayo, if he winds up as a Knick." But here's the case that West Virginia's Joe Alexander could move product.
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