It wouldn’t be right to ignore the basketball season altogether, right? Even if basketball was never my game. As the would-be art aficionados like to say, “I know what I like”. And what I like is usually a nice combination of talent, effort and brains.
Amare Stoudemire is ok, he’s got everything but brains. And Carmelo Anthony’s got talent and brains but so far hasn’t shown that complete effort I’d ordinarily like to see. That he did show some effort against the Bucks in that first game with the Knicks was absolutely heartening.
I hated the Anthony deal. I liked Gallinari and Felton especially, and Chandler seemed to be getting better and better. Mozgov was an unknown, but only because the NBA refs don’t give rookies any break at all before the All-Star Break.
All I hear is that the Knicks were only 28-26 and none of those traded guys made any difference. I disagree. A 28-26 record with a very young team is a hell of a lot better than the same record with an older team. And all those young kids were fun to watch…..so much energy, even if some of it may have been misdirected.
Did I like Gallinari just because he’s Italian? Yes. Now he’s in Denver and he won’t get many touches there. My guess is he’ll be off to Italy as soon as he can get there.
The other main theme of the Knicks trade was that the Knicks now own two elite players and are in a position to get a third, a combination guaranteed to bring a title to New York, as soon as 2012. And, while that’s true, they won’t be getting Deron Williams any time soon.
And, besides, they don’t really need a point guard. Chris Paul may be a slight upgrade over Chauncey Billups but he won’t be noticed as much as a big center.. I thought I’d heard that Dwight Howard might be available next year. Now that would be a nice addition.
I loved the Nets trade for Deron Williams. Not only is Williams a great point guard, ranked with Chris Paul as 1 and 2 or even 1 and 1A, but that the deal came as a complete surprise to the entire league was especially satisfying. It showed the enterprising spirit of that down-on-their-luck team, and especially Billy King and owner Prokhorov.
So now the Nets can hope to see some more free agents give serious consideration to Nets offers in the future. For the Nets, it doesn’t even matter what they had to give up. They badly needed credibility, something that’s been missing in Jersey since Jason Kidd was traded.
I should mention here that I had been a Nets fan through all the Kidd years and was a half season ticket holder for them back in those wonder years when the Nets shocked the whole NBA before losing to Shaq and the Lakers in the finals, Shaq of the offensive foul never called, Shaq of the elbow to the face never seen. Not that I’m bitter.
Ever since the Kidd days though, I’ve been a Knicks fan. Even in the Isiah years, they were obviously striving to get better, no matter that most of Isiah’s moves were totally inexplicable and just made the team worse.
My Knicks loyalty got stronger in a hurry when Dolan finally brought in some real basketball minds, in the personages of Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni. Do I like D’Antoni just because he’s Italian? Absolutely.
But while owners Dolan and Prokhorov seem to be getting most of the credit for these incredible player acquisitions, it was really the positioning that each team enjoyed, brought about by their respective GM’s, Billy King and Donnie Walsh, and, in the Nets case, Kiki Vandeweghe and Rod Thorn before that.
I still think the Knicks gave up too much for Anthony. It seemed as if their only competition for him were the Chicago Bulls and the Nets. Anthony would never have signed with the Nets and Chicago’s offer wasn’t really that close. As for him re-signing with Denver, I suppose that was possible but unlikely. And I would have loved to have seen the great Melo caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
But the Knicks had all the credibility in the world, even without Anthony, what with the Garden and the heritage and a good talented nucleus. Now the nucleus is gone except for Landry Fields, who I fear has moved a little closer to oblivion now that the big Three will be monopolizing the ball.
And that fast-paced exciting brand of play will be slowed down considerably with Billups running things, at least in the long run. It’ll be post-up, post-up one-on-one stuff now. I suppose D’Antoni can continue to hope for it but he won’t likely be seeing the defense he’d seen coming up to the trade.
For now though, I’m going to make the best of it. So the Knicks won’t be that exciting anymore. They won’t exude a whole bunch of energy. But they will be pretty good. Look for a lot of high-scoring games, something that had always been a D’Antoni trademark but that will be even more pronounced in the future, if D’Antoni is still the coach in the future.
That there should be any doubt about this management team’s future Is perhaps the saddest thing of all. It demonstrates that Dolan is still a bad owner who runs things his way, even if it’s the stupid way, the thoughtless way, the arrogant way. That it was necessary to deny the allegations that Isiah was coming back just demonstrated once again how out of touch the man is with the media (and reality).
In fact, I like to think of him as the Herman Edwards of basketball owners. It must be nice to own a cable company. It requires little intelligence though, at least less so than is needed to own a pro basketball team.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Good Guys Won
Aside from the blow to my ego, having picked the Steelers to beat the Packers, everything else about the game was great, assuming, of course, you didn’t watch the halftime show. But the good guys got a commanding lead, the bad guys came back and the good guys held on.
Why are the Packers good guys? Listen to Aaron Rodgers talk, or Clay Matthews, or Greg Jennings or Charles Woodson. They’re all gentlemen. They don’t brag, they don’t say stupid things, they don’t play dirty and heck, they even covered the spread 31-25.
The Steelers aren’t really bad guys either. But their persona is at least somewhat bad, with Roethlisberger’s indiscretions (to say the least), Harrison’s illegal hits to the head and his stolid defense of them, and Hines Ward’s chippy blocks. But those things don’t really make them bad. It just makes them what they are, a really tough football team.
But they weren’t so tough yesterday. And that’s why they lost.
They didn’t play like the Steelers at all. I’d characterize their performance as uncharacteristic except for the fact that good teams can make you look bad. That’s what good teams do and that’s what the Packers were yesterday, a really good team.
Yeah, yeah, I know, the turnovers lost it for the black and gold. But it’s not as if they weren’t forced. You could also say the breaks and even the early officiating, went against the Steelers, but, in a way, the Packers forced those things too.
From the very start of the game, the Pack won the toss and elected to receive, thus throwing down the gauntlet right away, much as the Jets did against the Steelers, albeit with a very different result. The Jets proceeded to get run over by the Steelers running game and Rashard Mendenhall after they issued their challenge.
I recall thinking that the election to kick was brilliant but only if the Pack could shut the Steelers down on that first drive. This time the Steelers went 3 and out. The Packers were saying, “We’re not the Jets”. And the Steelers had to accept it after their offense sputtered.
The two teams slugged it out in the early stages, like two heavyweight fighters feeling each other out. But the Packers landed a couple of lefts and a couple of rights, some Starks runs and a few Rodgers completions, and the Pack hit the board first, taking full advantage of the weakness in the Steelers secondary and making Jordy Nelson look like Randy Moss in his heyday.
At this point, a really good team comes back immediately. Roethlisberger certainly tried, maybe a little too hard. On first and ten, deep in his own territory, he threw a floater and Green Bay’s Nick Collins not only picked it off but then made a nifty runback for the touchdown. To use a boxing analogy again, that was like scoring a knockdown…7-0 became 14-0.
Only then did the Steelers start to turn things the other way, driving the ball for 6 minutes or so, mixing the run and the pass, and getting on the board with a field goal to make it 14-3. They had a good round but were still trailing. Then they had another good round by forcing a 3 and out of their own.
The Steelers were on the move again, or should have been. But after about a 4-minute promising drive, Big Ben got picked again when free safety Jarrod Bush out-wrestled a Steeler for the ball and killed another drive. The Pack had scored a big counterpunch.
Right around then, all the hard play going on got reflected in injuries. The Steelers lost WR Sanders. The Pack lost Donald Driver, an even more fearsome receiver. Then Pack All-World corner (and more) Charles Woodson broke his collarbone stretching out for the INT but hitting the ground hard instead.
But the Pack wasn’t comfortable yet at just 14-3. Rodgers hit Greg Jennings over the middle for the third Packers touchdown of the day. It was a nice catch between defenders and Jennings held on tight after he got hit. Now it was 21-3 and at this point a lesser team than the Steelers would have been feeling a little groggy.
But the Steelers aren’t chopped liver either. In less than a minute, Roethlisberger found Antawn Randle El for a nice long one and Hines Ward a few times, the last one for a TD making it 21-10 just before the second half. The Black and Gold were serving notice they’d be showing up for the second half.
And show up they did. They dominated the third quarter. After forcing a Packers punt, they ran and passed their way back into the game, punctuated by a tough, hard (redundant) Rashard Mendenhall run, making it 21-17. After forcing still another Pack 3 and out, they drove down the field again but the Packers held on.
At this point, a coaching decision once again had a big impact. After the Steelers drive stalled, they elected to try the 52-yard field goal. But the move made no sense, risking the kicking of Shawn Suisham rather than the Steelers defense pinning the Pack down deep in their own end.
Coach Mike Tomlin gave the Pack a reprieve. The Steelers’ momentum stalled.
The Pack had managed to keep their head in front throughout, like Affirmed holding off Alydar down the stretch. Then, when things started to look their bleakest, the Pack’s Clay Matthews forced the Mendenhall fumble.
The fumble ignited the Pack. Rodgers hit a few passes and it was soon 28-17. The Steelers came back once again to make it 28-25 (after a 2-point conversion was good) but the Pack held on once more, driving for a field goal, forcing the Steelers to have to drive the length of the field for the TD to win.
After having gallantly held on, the good guys could have still lost this thing. But they didn’t. They held on.
Why are the Packers good guys? Listen to Aaron Rodgers talk, or Clay Matthews, or Greg Jennings or Charles Woodson. They’re all gentlemen. They don’t brag, they don’t say stupid things, they don’t play dirty and heck, they even covered the spread 31-25.
The Steelers aren’t really bad guys either. But their persona is at least somewhat bad, with Roethlisberger’s indiscretions (to say the least), Harrison’s illegal hits to the head and his stolid defense of them, and Hines Ward’s chippy blocks. But those things don’t really make them bad. It just makes them what they are, a really tough football team.
But they weren’t so tough yesterday. And that’s why they lost.
They didn’t play like the Steelers at all. I’d characterize their performance as uncharacteristic except for the fact that good teams can make you look bad. That’s what good teams do and that’s what the Packers were yesterday, a really good team.
Yeah, yeah, I know, the turnovers lost it for the black and gold. But it’s not as if they weren’t forced. You could also say the breaks and even the early officiating, went against the Steelers, but, in a way, the Packers forced those things too.
From the very start of the game, the Pack won the toss and elected to receive, thus throwing down the gauntlet right away, much as the Jets did against the Steelers, albeit with a very different result. The Jets proceeded to get run over by the Steelers running game and Rashard Mendenhall after they issued their challenge.
I recall thinking that the election to kick was brilliant but only if the Pack could shut the Steelers down on that first drive. This time the Steelers went 3 and out. The Packers were saying, “We’re not the Jets”. And the Steelers had to accept it after their offense sputtered.
The two teams slugged it out in the early stages, like two heavyweight fighters feeling each other out. But the Packers landed a couple of lefts and a couple of rights, some Starks runs and a few Rodgers completions, and the Pack hit the board first, taking full advantage of the weakness in the Steelers secondary and making Jordy Nelson look like Randy Moss in his heyday.
At this point, a really good team comes back immediately. Roethlisberger certainly tried, maybe a little too hard. On first and ten, deep in his own territory, he threw a floater and Green Bay’s Nick Collins not only picked it off but then made a nifty runback for the touchdown. To use a boxing analogy again, that was like scoring a knockdown…7-0 became 14-0.
Only then did the Steelers start to turn things the other way, driving the ball for 6 minutes or so, mixing the run and the pass, and getting on the board with a field goal to make it 14-3. They had a good round but were still trailing. Then they had another good round by forcing a 3 and out of their own.
The Steelers were on the move again, or should have been. But after about a 4-minute promising drive, Big Ben got picked again when free safety Jarrod Bush out-wrestled a Steeler for the ball and killed another drive. The Pack had scored a big counterpunch.
Right around then, all the hard play going on got reflected in injuries. The Steelers lost WR Sanders. The Pack lost Donald Driver, an even more fearsome receiver. Then Pack All-World corner (and more) Charles Woodson broke his collarbone stretching out for the INT but hitting the ground hard instead.
But the Pack wasn’t comfortable yet at just 14-3. Rodgers hit Greg Jennings over the middle for the third Packers touchdown of the day. It was a nice catch between defenders and Jennings held on tight after he got hit. Now it was 21-3 and at this point a lesser team than the Steelers would have been feeling a little groggy.
But the Steelers aren’t chopped liver either. In less than a minute, Roethlisberger found Antawn Randle El for a nice long one and Hines Ward a few times, the last one for a TD making it 21-10 just before the second half. The Black and Gold were serving notice they’d be showing up for the second half.
And show up they did. They dominated the third quarter. After forcing a Packers punt, they ran and passed their way back into the game, punctuated by a tough, hard (redundant) Rashard Mendenhall run, making it 21-17. After forcing still another Pack 3 and out, they drove down the field again but the Packers held on.
At this point, a coaching decision once again had a big impact. After the Steelers drive stalled, they elected to try the 52-yard field goal. But the move made no sense, risking the kicking of Shawn Suisham rather than the Steelers defense pinning the Pack down deep in their own end.
Coach Mike Tomlin gave the Pack a reprieve. The Steelers’ momentum stalled.
The Pack had managed to keep their head in front throughout, like Affirmed holding off Alydar down the stretch. Then, when things started to look their bleakest, the Pack’s Clay Matthews forced the Mendenhall fumble.
The fumble ignited the Pack. Rodgers hit a few passes and it was soon 28-17. The Steelers came back once again to make it 28-25 (after a 2-point conversion was good) but the Pack held on once more, driving for a field goal, forcing the Steelers to have to drive the length of the field for the TD to win.
After having gallantly held on, the good guys could have still lost this thing. But they didn’t. They held on.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
It'll Be Steelers Again
Okay, after studying this thing to death for 2 or 3 days, I can confidently say the Steelers should win this 45th Super Duper Bowl. Although they are still 2 ½ point underdogs in this contest, and most observers have picked the Packers to win, football games are dictated by matchups, and this particular matchup favors the team from Pittsburgh.
Most prognosticators are infatuated with Aaron Rodgers and his remarkable performances and numbers, much as they were quite taken by Tom Brady earlier in the season. Both those QB’s, and both those teams, can just eat an opponent up, and do more often than not.
When they cannot eat up their opponents though, when the opponent has a sound defensive plan against the pass, as the Bears did in their three contests against the Packers and as the Jets did in their playoffs victory, those QB’s and those teams have looked very vulnerable.
The Steelers will be able to run the ball, conspicuously to the left side, or the Packers right side, away from both AJ Hawk and Clay Matthews. The Steelers offensive line will be good enough in the running game to allow Ben Roethlisberger to pass just enough to keep the Pack defense honest. The Steelers will run left, run left, and run left some more.
Aaron Rodgers will get his passing yards to all those great receivers. The Pack will matriculate the ball down the field and, more often than not, fail to score the touchdown. Their running game will not go. Nobody runs on this Steelers defensive unit, especially not the Packers.
The Steelers offense can be compared closely with the offense of the Atlanta Falcons in that they have a big running back, a smart quarterback and a couple of good receivers. The Falcons played the Packers twice. In the first contest, a very meaningful one for both teams, Michael Turner ran successfully all day long, very conspicuously, to the Packers right side. The Falcons prevailed 20-17 in that one on a very late field goal.
In the second contest, the even more important playoff game, the Packers romped. In that contest, the Falcons, after taking a lead early, couldn’t stop Aaron Rodgers and the Pack passing game at all. To make matters much worse, Falcons QB Matt Ryan was intercepted for another TD, and the rout was on. The Falcons abandoned their running game. They had to.
The Steelers won’t have to abandon the running game. The Steelers pass defense is much better than that of the Falcons. They may be stopped early in the game but they’ll keep running. They may fall behind (in fact, it’s likely that they will fall behind), but they won’t fall behind by enough to force them to abandon their game plan. Very likely, they’ll give up two or three field goals, and one, possibly even two touchdowns, but the total Pack scoring will be relatively low, from 20 to 23 points.
The MVP of this game will very likely be Rashard Mendenhall. If the Steelers have success early in the game, as they did against the Jets, the game could conceivably get totally out of hand. If the Packers fall behind and get a little antsy, even an Aaron Rodgers could get picked a couple of times. And if they don’t get antsy, they still won’t have much success.
It’s likely though that the Pack will have at least some success early. The Steelers will likely be playing catch-up, something they’re well equipped to do. They’ll grind it out and keep their composure. The mistakes will be few and far between. They’ll own the second half and especially the fourth quarter. They can play conservatively and win this game. The Packers cannot.
The Packers pass the ball. That’s what they do. But how did they fare against the Bears, a team that plays defense much as do the Steelers? Not too shabby really, they lost the first one, and then won the last two. But they only scored ten points in their first win and 21 in the playoff victory, in which Cutler, the Bears QB, had to leave the game.
The Steelers are not the Bears. Their styles of defense can be compared but the players really can’t be. The Steelers play that defense better. The Steelers are better offensively than the Bears too. They can beat you with the run and they can beat you with the pass. And if you do manage to score, it’ll be an aberration.
The Packers are a very good team. There can be no question about that. They actually tied the Steelers in scoring defense this year. But they have no running game. The Steelers do. That will make the difference, as it does so often in playoff games, and especially in Steelers playoff games.
If the Packers have any advantage, it is that they have proven tough enough to win three playoff games on the road, at Philadelphia, at Atlanta and at Chicago. The road means nothing to them, and they could consider Super Bowl site Dallas as just another playoffs road game. The Steelers have been a good road team as well though, having lost only one road game all year. But their most recent wins were at home.
There are always a million intangibles of course. Turnovers should be even. Statistically, the two teams are very close. The Packers are probably healthier, especially with the question surrounding the Steelers first-string center Pouncey, but his replacement, Doug Legursky, has been tough, especially in the running game. Coaching should be a wash. Both teams have brilliant head coaches and coordinators, especially on the defensive side.
Another important intangible though is the effect that experience will have on this game. The Steelers have a huge edge in experience, and successful experience at that. The Packers have a big-time heritage for sure but their recent legacy has been pretty slim.
It’ll be 24-20 or so in favor of the Steelers.
Most prognosticators are infatuated with Aaron Rodgers and his remarkable performances and numbers, much as they were quite taken by Tom Brady earlier in the season. Both those QB’s, and both those teams, can just eat an opponent up, and do more often than not.
When they cannot eat up their opponents though, when the opponent has a sound defensive plan against the pass, as the Bears did in their three contests against the Packers and as the Jets did in their playoffs victory, those QB’s and those teams have looked very vulnerable.
The Steelers will be able to run the ball, conspicuously to the left side, or the Packers right side, away from both AJ Hawk and Clay Matthews. The Steelers offensive line will be good enough in the running game to allow Ben Roethlisberger to pass just enough to keep the Pack defense honest. The Steelers will run left, run left, and run left some more.
Aaron Rodgers will get his passing yards to all those great receivers. The Pack will matriculate the ball down the field and, more often than not, fail to score the touchdown. Their running game will not go. Nobody runs on this Steelers defensive unit, especially not the Packers.
The Steelers offense can be compared closely with the offense of the Atlanta Falcons in that they have a big running back, a smart quarterback and a couple of good receivers. The Falcons played the Packers twice. In the first contest, a very meaningful one for both teams, Michael Turner ran successfully all day long, very conspicuously, to the Packers right side. The Falcons prevailed 20-17 in that one on a very late field goal.
In the second contest, the even more important playoff game, the Packers romped. In that contest, the Falcons, after taking a lead early, couldn’t stop Aaron Rodgers and the Pack passing game at all. To make matters much worse, Falcons QB Matt Ryan was intercepted for another TD, and the rout was on. The Falcons abandoned their running game. They had to.
The Steelers won’t have to abandon the running game. The Steelers pass defense is much better than that of the Falcons. They may be stopped early in the game but they’ll keep running. They may fall behind (in fact, it’s likely that they will fall behind), but they won’t fall behind by enough to force them to abandon their game plan. Very likely, they’ll give up two or three field goals, and one, possibly even two touchdowns, but the total Pack scoring will be relatively low, from 20 to 23 points.
The MVP of this game will very likely be Rashard Mendenhall. If the Steelers have success early in the game, as they did against the Jets, the game could conceivably get totally out of hand. If the Packers fall behind and get a little antsy, even an Aaron Rodgers could get picked a couple of times. And if they don’t get antsy, they still won’t have much success.
It’s likely though that the Pack will have at least some success early. The Steelers will likely be playing catch-up, something they’re well equipped to do. They’ll grind it out and keep their composure. The mistakes will be few and far between. They’ll own the second half and especially the fourth quarter. They can play conservatively and win this game. The Packers cannot.
The Packers pass the ball. That’s what they do. But how did they fare against the Bears, a team that plays defense much as do the Steelers? Not too shabby really, they lost the first one, and then won the last two. But they only scored ten points in their first win and 21 in the playoff victory, in which Cutler, the Bears QB, had to leave the game.
The Steelers are not the Bears. Their styles of defense can be compared but the players really can’t be. The Steelers play that defense better. The Steelers are better offensively than the Bears too. They can beat you with the run and they can beat you with the pass. And if you do manage to score, it’ll be an aberration.
The Packers are a very good team. There can be no question about that. They actually tied the Steelers in scoring defense this year. But they have no running game. The Steelers do. That will make the difference, as it does so often in playoff games, and especially in Steelers playoff games.
If the Packers have any advantage, it is that they have proven tough enough to win three playoff games on the road, at Philadelphia, at Atlanta and at Chicago. The road means nothing to them, and they could consider Super Bowl site Dallas as just another playoffs road game. The Steelers have been a good road team as well though, having lost only one road game all year. But their most recent wins were at home.
There are always a million intangibles of course. Turnovers should be even. Statistically, the two teams are very close. The Packers are probably healthier, especially with the question surrounding the Steelers first-string center Pouncey, but his replacement, Doug Legursky, has been tough, especially in the running game. Coaching should be a wash. Both teams have brilliant head coaches and coordinators, especially on the defensive side.
Another important intangible though is the effect that experience will have on this game. The Steelers have a huge edge in experience, and successful experience at that. The Packers have a big-time heritage for sure but their recent legacy has been pretty slim.
It’ll be 24-20 or so in favor of the Steelers.
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