We Killed The Heat: You're Welcome Cleveland

Two years ago, an injured Jazz team went on a February tear, going 15 and 1 and winning 12 in a row. Everyone started to talk about the Jazz being the best kept secret, a team everyone had slept on that would actually be able to put up a very big fight. Then the Jazz lost to the Atlanta Hawks. That loss set them back a little, but they rose to fight on. The next team on their schedule was the Miami Heat, an only OK team. The Jazz, who at this point were not adept at ever winning away from Salt Lake (or crushing bad teams), took a lead and seemed like they would hold on down the stretch. But they failed. Committing turn-over after turn-over, failing to score on fast-breaks, and a general lack of killer instinct allowed the Jazz to let the Heat back into the game late in the fourth. The same thing happened in overtime number 1: we got up early, failed to hold on, Dwayne Wade scored a gillion (actually, just 50). And, amazingly, again in overtime number 2. Then, in overtime 3, the Heat ran away with it. I knew, frantically reloading the gamecast on my computer screen, that we had just suffered a devastating blow, one that had destroyed our season. We limped through some more games but could never recover the magic of February and ultimately exited the playoffs in the first round.

That was a blow to the Jazz, but one we ultimately recovered from, as evidenced by our recent play. Now we're so good we've gone for revenge. Early on in this season the Heat lost to the Celtics and the Hornets. Everyone wrote off the Celtics loss as the first game and the Hornets loss as a really close game against the hottest team in the league. People were still talking 70 wins. But then the Jazz came to Miami and, coming back from so far behind it seemed they couldn't see the Heat, let alone catch them, the Jazz coolly iced them on a Millsap career night. Up until that point the Heat had been congealing into a really good team. They completely joked on the Magic, shutting them down harder than Boston or LA could and, apparently (in games I didn't watch), did similar things to other teams that would get laughed out of the West. But after the Jazz took it to them people started to grumble, asking if the 70 wins, Finals in five, scenario might be more fantasy than reality. And that seems anathema to the guys on that team: their Kryptonite is being questioned. As soon as it began they proceeded to loose to every single team with a record better than .500. The Heat were always going to be met with a lot of vitriol, but they could have buckled down and welcomed it, much like the guys from the youtube video I am currently obsessed with would have. Instead, they have begun a circular firing squad. It seems like LeBron or his people have leaked his displeasure with Spoelstra to the press and that any day now, Mike Brown will be the Heat's head coach (ESPN will be setting up a Spoelstra suicide watch very soon).

This team will go through some very public pain and may be forced to trade one of the much hyped big three. All because an unheard about Millsap (Knapp sack) went off against an otherwise tightly controlled defense. Which now can't defend to save it's life. Defense is all about trust and chemistry, knowing that when you block the lane or switch up your teammate will come in and pick up your guy. The Heat used to have that, they don't anymore. While they unravel, we keep rolling, beating a Lakers team firing on almost all cylinders, and having fun. As Dwayne Wade smugly put it after murdering the Jazz in 09, "Just another day at the office." As was his loss in Dallas. I think this Heat team will improve and end the season at 50 wins, losing in the second round of the playoffs. There will be a time when this seems brash and cocky, but right now the Heat are hurting. And if they fire Spoelstra they could be hurting a lot more before they're feeling good. So, for now, you're welcome Cleveland, hope you too get a chance to kick 'em while they're down on Thursday. To Miami I respectfully give this advice: if you want to stop being kicked then stop going to the office, stop bitching about each other, stop letting your egos inflate like you just won a championship, and thug up.

Panic?

As an addendum to C's excellent advice post I wanted to offer one of my own. I think its fair to say to Jazz fans that they shouldn't panic. We shouldn't celebrate emphatically, as we're likely the league's ninth best team or so, but panicking is not a good idea, given how crazy this summer was and how (relatively) painlessly our team seems to have adapted. There are other teams out there, however, and their fates don't seem to be looking as good. So my question is which teams performing below expectations should begin to panic? The Rockets are missing Mao, but are, in theory anyway, deep enough that that shouldn't matter. Nevertheless, their record is the second worst in the West (tied with Philadelphia's for the worst in the East). The Trailblazers, while still managing to sort of play decently due to a great set of role players, are missing their two stars to injury, maybe forever. And the Heat have drastically underperformed given the hope that they would be best team ever (still possible if they go on a 65-3 run).

With Minnesota, Washington, New Jersey, the Kings, and the Clippers seeming better than they have in years past (sorry Raptors) we might be finally entering an era of pretty evenly distributed basketball talent. It could be a basketball dominated by a few teams at the top, but not as dominated as it has been in recent years. That's good news for the fine people of Minnesota and the future fine people of Brooklyn, but bad news for those in Portland, Houston, and Miami that thought they would dominate. Do these problems seem bad only by dint of the natural overreaction that comes with limited data? Or are they actually damning? In other words is it time to chill or panic? And if so, should each team panic equally, or is Portland particularly screwed? Only two votes in 6 days will decide (see sidebar).

Chill!

It's officially the August of the the NBA season. Nothing crucially important is happening yet, so we as fans are allowed to overreact to each non-story with a fervent passion. Yet I wonder if this is bad for our collective health. It might be more valuable to relax, at least until there is something worth getting passionate about. I follow the Jazz most closely so I'll stick with them. Let's look at our record:

@Denver, Phoenix, @Oklahoma City, Toronto, @Golden State, Los Angeles (Clips), @Miami, @Orlando, @Atlanta, @Charlotte, Oklahoma City, New Jersey, San Antonio, @Portland, Sacramento.

Imagine that it is pre-season. Oklahoma City is crazy hyped, Portland hopes to have Greg Oden back soon, and Miami looks terrifying. No one in her right mind would have us not losing at least five games. This is a tough schedule, and given the historic slow starts, 7-8 might be more accurate. Yet, we triumphed over many of the best Eastern conference teams, and in dramatic fashion. We crushed OKC on their own home court. Things went well and now we sit 6th in the West, 2nd in our division, and with only improvement to look forward to. The rebounding has been awful for a few games, but do you really expect a Sloan-coached to maintain that? Of course not. Things will get better, so in the meantime, chill. Enjoy the most entertaining road trip of all time, enjoy beating up on younger-bro Wesley Matthews, and just wait because this Jazz team will only get better.

Vational Nalidation

Today, Bill Simmons echoed something this blog has firmly believed all season: the Jazz can (and hopefully will) be the second best team out west. He puts it nicely: we have all the ingredients of a successful team. A good perimeter defender, someone to score three-pointers (I hope we'll get there), someone to score in the low post, and someone to be unbelievable when the game is on the line. I think we can have all these things come December or January. Until then, we'll be battling the broken Blazers for supremacy of our division.

It's a hard-knock life

The recent news of Greg Oden's latest season-ending injury made me realize how tough the NBA can be. As a fan, you place your desperate hopes in the hands of a few athletes, only to have them let you down (unless you are from Boston or L.A.) As a player, you want to succeed and have dreamed of winning championships and beating buzzers since you were a little child, only to get injured and become possibly the second biggest disappointment in draft-choice history (come on, Portland!).

Then again, it could be a lot worse. You could be one of the other 6 billion people who are not athletes and never receive the accolade or economic benefits that these guys do. In conclusion, sorry Greg, best of luck to you. Hope that knee holds up for other purposes.

The Best Thing Ever?: A Video Essay

According to Elias, via the TrueHoop blog, via the delightful folk at The Basketball Jones, the Utah Jazz are the first team to come back from being ten points down in the second half to win three times in a row in the modern era (meaning, in this case, post introduction of the shot clock). That they did so after deficits of 18, 22, and 18 is impressive in itself. But that they did so on back to back games against two of the leagues top five teams, makes things all the sweeter. Beating the Heat was especially sweet (I can't wait to tweet, what a treat) and ridiculously improbable event. The Jazz's final output in regulation, during which they scored 14 points in 28 seconds, had they done that well all game would have them scoring 1,440. According to Hollinger, the odds of Williams, Kirilenko, and especially Millsap scoring their last 3s was 1 in 873. There's, of course, the fact that Millsap had never really taken 3s and that Miami dared him to do so, leaving a career 2 for 20 shooter open again and again. But none of these numbers hold a candle to actually seeing the performance:



Unbelievably awesome. The Jazz are down 8 and hit 3 after 3 as Miami misses only 3 of 11 free throws. After Millsap's last 3, Williams fouled out before the ball was even in play. So the Jazz had to play the last few seconds and all of overtime without him. Sloan had also decided to bench Jefferson, who was having a week night. And, at the end of the game, Fesenko took himself out, feeling that his free throw percentage was too risky and might cost the Jazz the game. So they finished things out with AK, CJ, Price, Millsap, and Elson out there. Sloan also coached the shit out of that shit. Pulling Jefferson at the right time, managing the clock brilliantly, and playing zone at the end to force Eddie House into taking a 3 with .4 seconds left. He played the zone again last night, which crippled Miami. I'm not sure why, but it seems like the Jazz have learned how to play it.

The awesome win against Miami came after Raja Bell gave a very inspiring speech to the troops at halftime, filled with discussions of heart, being underdogs, and other cliched sports things. In other words, filled with things that the FreeDarko group might disdain. But in their defense, they get results. What makes it so sweet I can barely keep it down, is that the Jazz lost in Miami back in 09, in a game during which they were up by several in the last few seconds. I remember watching that game on gamecast, and sickeningly believing the Jazz had put it away, only to see them blow it, blow it again in overtime, and then lose outright in overtime number 2. So, symbolically, this is huge. Beating the best team (eh, maybe 2nd best), at home, on a crazy comeback, to potentially spark a season as revenge for a season sunk in the same building? Come on, it's too sweet, even for you. What's also sweet is how many, shall I say, fair weather fans left the building at halftime and how many more did with 28 seconds left when they thought it was all over. Here's some Jazz comeback footage:



And here's some footage of their improbable victory against the Magic last night:



So why wasn't it the best thing ever? Well, Tracy McGrady did a similar thing to another team that was really, really good at defense. And while the Miami Heat are the most hated guys right now, and Millsap will probably get more credit for his destruction, the Spurs were actually defending.



Man, that guy's like the next Kobe! Anyway, as far as best things ever go, this recent Jazz development, good as it was, can still not hold a candle to this:


(H/T: Owen)

Defending Garnett from Bloggers, If Not The Fine People of Detroit

In a blogpost that begins with the history of Egypt under various occupying forces and continues through a discussion on the invention and uses of the cotton gin, a meditation on grammy interrupting performance artists, the transformative effects sports can have on San Francisco, and some other bullshit about the author's personal relationship to sports and how much Beth Shoals has helped him (I may have skimmed this), Jay from freedarko concludes about Kevin Garnett, "Why can’t we just call an asshole an asshole every time he acts like an asshole? What the fuck do we owe Kevin Garnett?"

For those who don't know, according to Charlie Villanueva's twitter feed, Kevin Garnett called him a cancer patient during a recent Celtics Pistons game. For those of you who further don't know (as I didn't until this time) Villanueva has Alopecia Universalis. Its a good thing our Dinosaur concept is dead. This guy was going to be our 4 and I feel like its kind of a cheap shot to make fun of someone's looks if they suffer from a look affecting disease (its probably only slightly less unfair to make fun of someone's looks if they have weird cheekbones or whatever, but you gotta make fun of someone -- if you don't, they'll make fun of you). For the same reason, that such a disease is likely to be a really sore spot and off limits to mockery, Kevin Garnett, if he said what CV says he said, crossed a line. But is he an asshole? And should we call him an asshole when he acts like an asshole? And, if so, should we do it once, or every time? Also, I'm a little confused as to what we owe Garnett. Fornication?

Beth Shoals also gets in on the discussion a little bit himself, rending his hair and lamenting that this callous beast and the beloved Garnett of yore are one and the same. This means, he reluctantly concludes, he'll have to reexamine his love for the old Garnett (and one can only assume based on the seriousness of his tone, his religion, career, and entire life philosophy).

This guy I've never heard of (what a wonderful basketball blogging community member I am) has a pretty good take-down of Jay's argument. To which I don't have all that much to add. I think its definitely true that Garnett is owed some deference for his genuineness with Bill Russell and his painful, frustrated, end-of-his-rope, somewhat self-serving, but weirdly touching interview with John Thompson (those things, to me, speak very highly of his character and his genuine feelings for history and team, respectively). Similarly, it seems silly to deny that his spirit and abilities have radically rejuvenated Boston's defense and made it a perrenial contender for best team in the NBA. But even ignoring all that, Garnett is just plain fun. Going beyond any personal qualities or feelings towards his teams, there is just something awesome about watching him play. Its similar to what's awesome about that Soy Bomb guy: you are highly entertained, on the edge of your seat, unsure of what exactly you're seeing, and nervous that the crazy behavior is about to escalate to something dangerous. This is mixed with the kind of adrenaline rush I normally get when a good guy shoots a bad guy after delivering a badass line in a movie. But the difference between Garnett and Eastwood in Unforgiven is that its just basketball, never anything too serious; and the difference between Garnett and SOY BOMB is that its basketball: instead of just dancing like a madman, Garnett is dancing like a madman (rhetorically, he's actually hitting himself, the floor, a pole, or rejecting a shot after the clock has run out) after having accomplished a very amazing physical feat, often when a basketball game is on the line.

I think this alone makes him fascinating and easily one of the most interesting guys in the league (I also think he's got a great personality, but that's beyond the point). Unfortunately all that insane swagger that leads him to talk trash, cry on tv, and inflict massive harm on himself and the basket, may lead him to cross the line against Charlie V (and likely others), for which he should, if guilty, apologize and say something about the heat of the game having gotten too intense (he shouldn't have denied it if it was true, never a good decision). Oddly, many have come out in Garnett's defense, but for the wrong reasons, saying basketball trash-talk is too sacred for twitter. This doesn't seem right. There should be a little public shame, perhaps, and then we should move on. We should not demand that Garnett strip himself of personality and antics. We already have a Tim Duncan, whose interviews I will watch as soon as this is posted to cure my insomnia. What the fuck do we owe Kevin Garnett? Appreciation for having entertained us, in more ways than one. Which is why I watch sports. On those merits I think Garnett is one of the best, if not the best, guy around.