NBA 2008-2009 Season Thread
03-12-2009
, 10:42 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:43 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:46 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:47 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:48 PM
Quote:
I'm sitting here, listening to Beethoven's Emperor Concerto on headphones, watching a stream of simulated game results from the 2008 season scroll by. It's putting me on a nice trip through memory lane.
I was thinking about the moment I realized that the Lakers were better than the Spurs. It was somewhere around Christmas time. Visiting family in Boston, I was having to deal with the realization that the Celtics were a real title contender, if not favorite, while my smug-ass relatives beamed with pride. It's been brutal in recent years. At least the Patriots lost a little over a month later. Except, other than deflating annoying Boston sports fans, I would rather they had won that game. I would have been quite thrilled to have experienced that historical season at a time when I'm able to watch and enjoy professional sports more than at any other time in my life.
Since 2003, I've pretty much always considered the Spurs as title favorites, or at minimum main contenders. Regardless of whatever homerism may have been involved in coming to that conlusion, it wasn't wrong. It's a nice feeling when you really know your team is the best in the league. You C's homers certainly have recent experience with this. It's different from that feeling Suns fans know all too well, where you just really really think so. Burn.
So it was pretty depressing when it really hit that I could no longer make a reasonable case in my own mind that my team was #1. On top of that, it looked like Boston was probably really good at that point. I hadn't seen enough of their games to be familiar with how good they were. The Boston homers almost certainly realized how good they were before I did. But on the other side of the coin, and for exactly the same reason, I had the Lakers pegged well before they did.
They are also becoming increasingly veteran, and not in a good way. Sure, Tony Parker still has much of his prime ahead of him, but as good as he is, he can't match the value of either prime Manu or Timmy, and those guys aren't showing any signs of getting younger. The Spurs have done pretty well with the model of throwing some experienced guys that Pop can trust to play a role around the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili core. As Timmy slowly (hopefully) fades from MVP level, is this strategy sustainable? The Spurs just couldn't score last year, and it was due in a large part to injuries, lingering and otherwise, but those sort of circumstances seem to be the expectation for the future, not the exception. No matter how great their defense is, and young kidcolin's (tm tuq) avatar could attest to that (to be clear, I do believe that despite the boxscore outcomes of the series, the Celtics' defense was stronger than the Spurs'), they simply can't win a championship against the current NBA field without improved offensive output -- where is that going to come from if not by running good in injury-variance? I'd say the Celtics of the ECF played roughly as well as the Spurs of the WCF. Stifling defense, and just enough points. Except it's not just enough against the Lakers, and 4-3 is 1-4. It was nice to see Ray Allen get his shot back in the finals. He being one of my favorite players over the years, it was tough to watch him throwing up airballs on open jumpshots. Just so everyone's clear, this last bit is most definitely a dig at Cavs homers.
I enjoyed the '08 finals far more than '07, despite the Spurs' win. The '07 series was basically unwatchable. In contrast, the '05 series, while disparaged by the unwashed masses, is to any good NBA lover a top-quality series, almost certainly the best of the decade. God damn that was a great series. My friend Asa called from China to celebrate at the end. Yes, another Cavs dig. While tuq will never be convinced, I did enjoy the '08 finals, including the outcome. I was surrounded by despondent donkey Lakers homers who decided they just had to barge in for game 6 of a series that I had been quite happily watching without them and their emotion. Musicians. I was quite happy that Boston won. The result was a reasonable and fitting conclusion to a unbelievably good season of NBA basketball. All storylines are in tact, including the setup for the sequel (zomg return of Bynum!).
The Spurs future over the next few seasons is uncertain, and it may be a long time before they win another title, but the organization is just too good to have any sustained periods of ****tiness anytime soon. At least I hope not. Pop has also gained beard-wisdom, and that is not to be misunderestimated.
Anyways, cheers to everyone who posted in the regular season thread last year, and everyone who plans to this year. Even the delusional Houston homers. Here are my gut-feeling picks for 08-09 regular season rankings:
West:
1) LAL
2) HOU
3) NOH
4) UTA
5) POR
6) SAS
7) PHX
8) DAL
East:
1) BOS
2) DET
3) PHI
4) ORL
5) CLE
6) TOR
7) MIA
8) WAS
I was thinking about the moment I realized that the Lakers were better than the Spurs. It was somewhere around Christmas time. Visiting family in Boston, I was having to deal with the realization that the Celtics were a real title contender, if not favorite, while my smug-ass relatives beamed with pride. It's been brutal in recent years. At least the Patriots lost a little over a month later. Except, other than deflating annoying Boston sports fans, I would rather they had won that game. I would have been quite thrilled to have experienced that historical season at a time when I'm able to watch and enjoy professional sports more than at any other time in my life.
Since 2003, I've pretty much always considered the Spurs as title favorites, or at minimum main contenders. Regardless of whatever homerism may have been involved in coming to that conlusion, it wasn't wrong. It's a nice feeling when you really know your team is the best in the league. You C's homers certainly have recent experience with this. It's different from that feeling Suns fans know all too well, where you just really really think so. Burn.
So it was pretty depressing when it really hit that I could no longer make a reasonable case in my own mind that my team was #1. On top of that, it looked like Boston was probably really good at that point. I hadn't seen enough of their games to be familiar with how good they were. The Boston homers almost certainly realized how good they were before I did. But on the other side of the coin, and for exactly the same reason, I had the Lakers pegged well before they did.
They are also becoming increasingly veteran, and not in a good way. Sure, Tony Parker still has much of his prime ahead of him, but as good as he is, he can't match the value of either prime Manu or Timmy, and those guys aren't showing any signs of getting younger. The Spurs have done pretty well with the model of throwing some experienced guys that Pop can trust to play a role around the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili core. As Timmy slowly (hopefully) fades from MVP level, is this strategy sustainable? The Spurs just couldn't score last year, and it was due in a large part to injuries, lingering and otherwise, but those sort of circumstances seem to be the expectation for the future, not the exception. No matter how great their defense is, and young kidcolin's (tm tuq) avatar could attest to that (to be clear, I do believe that despite the boxscore outcomes of the series, the Celtics' defense was stronger than the Spurs'), they simply can't win a championship against the current NBA field without improved offensive output -- where is that going to come from if not by running good in injury-variance? I'd say the Celtics of the ECF played roughly as well as the Spurs of the WCF. Stifling defense, and just enough points. Except it's not just enough against the Lakers, and 4-3 is 1-4. It was nice to see Ray Allen get his shot back in the finals. He being one of my favorite players over the years, it was tough to watch him throwing up airballs on open jumpshots. Just so everyone's clear, this last bit is most definitely a dig at Cavs homers.
I enjoyed the '08 finals far more than '07, despite the Spurs' win. The '07 series was basically unwatchable. In contrast, the '05 series, while disparaged by the unwashed masses, is to any good NBA lover a top-quality series, almost certainly the best of the decade. God damn that was a great series. My friend Asa called from China to celebrate at the end. Yes, another Cavs dig. While tuq will never be convinced, I did enjoy the '08 finals, including the outcome. I was surrounded by despondent donkey Lakers homers who decided they just had to barge in for game 6 of a series that I had been quite happily watching without them and their emotion. Musicians. I was quite happy that Boston won. The result was a reasonable and fitting conclusion to a unbelievably good season of NBA basketball. All storylines are in tact, including the setup for the sequel (zomg return of Bynum!).
The Spurs future over the next few seasons is uncertain, and it may be a long time before they win another title, but the organization is just too good to have any sustained periods of ****tiness anytime soon. At least I hope not. Pop has also gained beard-wisdom, and that is not to be misunderestimated.
Anyways, cheers to everyone who posted in the regular season thread last year, and everyone who plans to this year. Even the delusional Houston homers. Here are my gut-feeling picks for 08-09 regular season rankings:
West:
1) LAL
2) HOU
3) NOH
4) UTA
5) POR
6) SAS
7) PHX
8) DAL
East:
1) BOS
2) DET
3) PHI
4) ORL
5) CLE
6) TOR
7) MIA
8) WAS
03-12-2009
, 10:48 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:48 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:49 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:51 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:51 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:51 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:52 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:53 PM
03-12-2009
, 10:54 PM