I have written a lot about injuries over the years, but I feel like out of the "common injuries" (the somewhat serious injuries that aren't quite serious enough to send you to the hospital or keep you out of action for too long like ankle sprains, achilles strains, pulled hamstrings, etc.) a lower back strain is by far the worst. Most other injuries can be worked around or favored or something. Because it's in your core, when you have a bad back literally every movement (or lack of movement) affects it. You're driving and you turn your head to check a blind spot...ow. You roll over in bed from one side to the other...ow. You stretch your arm to grab that one plate or whatever that is just within your reach in the top cabinet...ow. Your back isn't like other parts of your body. If your arm, shoulder, ankle, or whatever hurts, then that's what hurts. If your back hurts, your back hurts, but if you are doing something with your arms or legs (like lifting, running, jumping, or shooting a basketball) it hurts then too. One of the worst parts about having a bad back is that one of the "activities" that aggrivates it the most is simply sitting. So, for anyone who spends a decent portion of their day sitting at a desk at their job or during class (not to mention driving), this sucks. While stretching and walking can help, the best thing you really can do for a bad back is to just rest...and apparently even resting too much can have a negative effect! According to WebMD, too much inactivity can cause a bad back to be weakened.
Anyway, the obvious reason why I bring this up is because my back spazzed-out earlier this week. We had played football on Saturday and basketball on Sunday, and my back was a little stiff come Monday morning, but I didn't pay it much mind. Later in the afternoon while sitting at my desk at work, I leaned forward to get a better look at something on my computer, and it took all my strength to not yelp in pain in the middle of the office. I guess this illustrates not only how painful back injuries are, but also how delicate your back is, as it only took the most subtle of movements to basically turn me into a 70 year old man. I spent the rest of the day trying to be as productive as possible while simultaneously trying to move as little as possible. The spasm had set off some type of physiological response as well, as I pretty much sweated through my shirt the remainder of the afternoon.
That was Monday, and today is Thursday. It's improved slightly each day, but it's still there. I've been in a work training all this week though, and the 8 hours of sitting a day hasn't exactly been my cup of tea. Yesterday, I gingerly tried to work out, and my back seemed to hold up ok. Still, I don't think I've messed my back up this bad since high school, when I took a charge against some guy on Dematha who was built like a middle linebacker. That time, my back didn't get better for about 2 months, but that was partly of my own doing...the injury happened in the middle of basketball season, and instead of taking a week or 2 off when it happened I instead tried to tough it out. This allowed me to play through the season while only missing a game or 2 (as well as a half dozen practices), but I wouldn't doubt that it also prolonged my injury. This time, hopefully I can rehab at my own pace, and this back pain won't drag on too long.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
NCAA Inception
Dreams are always a funny thing, but I can’t think of a more mind-bending dream than the kind I had last night (oddly enough, it’s probably the most simple kind of dream you can have). Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up, staggered to the bathroom to relieve myself, and then stumbled back to bed. Once I got back to bed, I initially had a hard time falling back asleep…or at least so I thought at the time. At some point I realizd I was dreaming, but in my dream I was lying in bed in the middle of the night trying to go to sleep. So I guess I wasn’t actually having a hard time falling asleep, and instead I was asleep, but just dreaming of having a hard time falling asleep. I felt like I was in my own little version of Inception , and I needed Leonardo DiCaprio to come spin his little top to make sure I was in reality and not some other dimension.
I filled out my NCAA bracket this morning, and I can honestly say that I couldn’t feel less confident about my picks. This college basketball season has been as topsy-turvy as ever. Without getting too deep into it, I believe the reason is that the overall college basketball talent pool has really taken a hit the past few years. Obviously, the days of having the best college players stick around until their junior and senior years have been in the rear-view mirror for over a decade now, but it just seems like the one-and-done players have had a cumulative effect on the game over time, and what we get is a watered-down product. It saddens me because college basketball has long been my favorite sport to follow, but it is the reality of the situation, and I’m not sure the NCAA and the NBA are collectively willing to do anything about it.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand…the landscape of this college basketball season changed dramatically the day Duke freshman guard Kyrie Irving got injured. At the time, Duke was undefeated and the clear-cut #1 team in the country. The prevailing thought was that with Irving in the lineup, Duke was so much better than even the other best teams in the country (Kansas, Pitt, etc.) that they could possibly make a run at an undefeated season. Duke still finished the season with a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but who’s to say that they are any better than any other team seeded one through four now? Combine that with the precipitous fall of some teams (Michigan State was ranked as the #2 team in the country preseason and backed into the tournament as a 10-seed) the somewhat unexpected rise of other teams (San Diego State, BYU, and Ohio State), and the streakiness/inconsistency of another group of teams (North Carolina, Kansas State, UCONN, and Syracuse), and we have ourselves a mess. In past seasons, even if the early part of my bracket stinks I at least have had a good idea who would advance deep into the tournament. I have had years where I will barely pick half of the games right for the opening two rounds, but I will have almost all of the Elite Eight teams, Final Four teams, etc. picked correctly. Last year I picked fairly well, and I think my picks were in the top 10% in both ESPN and Yahoo’s nationwide tournament challenges. This year, I literally have no idea what I’m doing…and this is coming from a guy who watches a lot of college basketball. I might as well be picking games based on mascots and uniform colors.
In the East Region, I have mostly chalk all the way through. I picked 11-seed Marquette to beat 6-seed Xavier. I like this Xavier team, and Xavier traditionally does very well in the tournament, so this could very well be a foolish pick…but I also like this Marquette team, and I think they are better than their seeding. If I had any balls at all, I would take George Mason to beat Ohio State in the second round. This George Mason team isn’t just “good for a mid-major.” They are just plain good, and I feel like Ohio State is susceptible to an upset if the right team comes along, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on it. Making matters worse, I have Ohio State winning this region by beating West Virginia and Syracuse in the third and fourth rounds respectively…so, no pressure, Buckeyes. In a couple other minor upsets by seeding, I have a physical veteran West Virginia team beating young and athletic Kentucky, and I have Syracuse’s zone taking down North Carolina.
My picks in the West Region are either going to make me look like a genius or a complete idiot. In the first round I have a wildly inconsistent but talented Tennessee team beating Michigan in an 8-9 game, I have 12-seed Memphis upsetting 5-seed Arizona, and I have 11-seed Missouri beating 6-seed Cincinnati. In the second round, I have 7-seed Temple taking down 2-seed San Diego State. I originally had Missouri upsetting Connecticut as well, but I switched the pick (you can even see that I crossed out Missouri and wrote UCONN above it on my original sheet). I am a big fan of the Big 12 teams this year. Plus, I don’t think UCONN is that good outside of Kemba Walker, and I think they will still be gassed from playing five games in five days in the Big East Tournament. Anyway, I digress…in the third round, I have Texas knocking off Duke and Temple taking down UCONN to set up an Elite Eight matchup of 4-seed Texas and 7-seed Temple, and I have Texas beating Temple to win the region…like I said, either a genius or an idiot.
The Southwest Region is probably the most boring section of my bracket, so I will keep it short. I basically have chalk the whole way through unless you count 9-seed Illinois beating 8-seed UNLV in the first round and 3-seed Purdue beating 2-seed Notre Dame in the third round as “upsets.” Eventually, I have top seed Kansas beating Purdue to advance out of the region.
While I had more upsets in the West Region, the Southwest Region is the wackiest section of the bracket to me. You have a #1 seed, Pitt, who currently has the label of “best program to never make a Final Four.” You have arguably this year’s best mid-major team, BYU (who also has probably the best individual player in the tournament). You have two mid-majors who have been so consistently good over the years that they are no longer really considered “mid-majors,” but who are having down seasons, Butler and Gonzaga. You have one of the most up-and-down teams in the field, Kansas State. You have the team with probably the most overrated seed of the tournament, Florida. And you have the team from a small school who I thought had a good chance of upsetting their first round opponent before the bracket even came out, Belmont. Anyway, I have three upsets by the seedings in the first round: Old Dominion over Butler, Belmont over Wisconsin, and Gonzaga over St. John’s. In the second round, I have Gonzaga upsetting BYU. I almost always pick Gonzaga to win a couple games in the tournament, and they almost always fail to do so (at least over the past few years). I’m wondering if as an 11-seed this year that they have been so overrated in past seasons that they are actually underrated this year. There’s a part of me that is telling myself to get off the Gonzaga bandwagon, but there’s another part of me that says they’re due…I guess we will see. In the Elite Eight, I have Pitt beating Florida to win the region.
So, after all the craziness I was talking about, I have three #1 seeds and a #4 seed that was the #1 ranked team in the country at one point this season in my Final Four. Hypocrital? Maybe…like I said though, I have little to no confidence in any of these picks. I have Ohio State beating Texas and Pittsburgh beating Kansas to advance to the title game, and I have Pittsburgh winning the whole thing. Truthfully, this Pitt team scares the hell out of me. They are tough and deep, but their tournament history is not great. They have been a top three seed almost every year for the past decade, and they have never made a Final Four. Three things make me think otherwise this year though. First, similar to my reasoning for Gonzaga winning a couple games this year, they’re due. Second, I think most of the other top seeds in this region won’t even make it to the second weekend of the tournament. Third, even if my second point isn’t true, this is the weakest of the four regions, and they should be able to handle anyone in their path. I say, might as well go for broke. Let it ride!
I filled out my NCAA bracket this morning, and I can honestly say that I couldn’t feel less confident about my picks. This college basketball season has been as topsy-turvy as ever. Without getting too deep into it, I believe the reason is that the overall college basketball talent pool has really taken a hit the past few years. Obviously, the days of having the best college players stick around until their junior and senior years have been in the rear-view mirror for over a decade now, but it just seems like the one-and-done players have had a cumulative effect on the game over time, and what we get is a watered-down product. It saddens me because college basketball has long been my favorite sport to follow, but it is the reality of the situation, and I’m not sure the NCAA and the NBA are collectively willing to do anything about it.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand…the landscape of this college basketball season changed dramatically the day Duke freshman guard Kyrie Irving got injured. At the time, Duke was undefeated and the clear-cut #1 team in the country. The prevailing thought was that with Irving in the lineup, Duke was so much better than even the other best teams in the country (Kansas, Pitt, etc.) that they could possibly make a run at an undefeated season. Duke still finished the season with a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but who’s to say that they are any better than any other team seeded one through four now? Combine that with the precipitous fall of some teams (Michigan State was ranked as the #2 team in the country preseason and backed into the tournament as a 10-seed) the somewhat unexpected rise of other teams (San Diego State, BYU, and Ohio State), and the streakiness/inconsistency of another group of teams (North Carolina, Kansas State, UCONN, and Syracuse), and we have ourselves a mess. In past seasons, even if the early part of my bracket stinks I at least have had a good idea who would advance deep into the tournament. I have had years where I will barely pick half of the games right for the opening two rounds, but I will have almost all of the Elite Eight teams, Final Four teams, etc. picked correctly. Last year I picked fairly well, and I think my picks were in the top 10% in both ESPN and Yahoo’s nationwide tournament challenges. This year, I literally have no idea what I’m doing…and this is coming from a guy who watches a lot of college basketball. I might as well be picking games based on mascots and uniform colors.
In the East Region, I have mostly chalk all the way through. I picked 11-seed Marquette to beat 6-seed Xavier. I like this Xavier team, and Xavier traditionally does very well in the tournament, so this could very well be a foolish pick…but I also like this Marquette team, and I think they are better than their seeding. If I had any balls at all, I would take George Mason to beat Ohio State in the second round. This George Mason team isn’t just “good for a mid-major.” They are just plain good, and I feel like Ohio State is susceptible to an upset if the right team comes along, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on it. Making matters worse, I have Ohio State winning this region by beating West Virginia and Syracuse in the third and fourth rounds respectively…so, no pressure, Buckeyes. In a couple other minor upsets by seeding, I have a physical veteran West Virginia team beating young and athletic Kentucky, and I have Syracuse’s zone taking down North Carolina.
My picks in the West Region are either going to make me look like a genius or a complete idiot. In the first round I have a wildly inconsistent but talented Tennessee team beating Michigan in an 8-9 game, I have 12-seed Memphis upsetting 5-seed Arizona, and I have 11-seed Missouri beating 6-seed Cincinnati. In the second round, I have 7-seed Temple taking down 2-seed San Diego State. I originally had Missouri upsetting Connecticut as well, but I switched the pick (you can even see that I crossed out Missouri and wrote UCONN above it on my original sheet). I am a big fan of the Big 12 teams this year. Plus, I don’t think UCONN is that good outside of Kemba Walker, and I think they will still be gassed from playing five games in five days in the Big East Tournament. Anyway, I digress…in the third round, I have Texas knocking off Duke and Temple taking down UCONN to set up an Elite Eight matchup of 4-seed Texas and 7-seed Temple, and I have Texas beating Temple to win the region…like I said, either a genius or an idiot.
The Southwest Region is probably the most boring section of my bracket, so I will keep it short. I basically have chalk the whole way through unless you count 9-seed Illinois beating 8-seed UNLV in the first round and 3-seed Purdue beating 2-seed Notre Dame in the third round as “upsets.” Eventually, I have top seed Kansas beating Purdue to advance out of the region.
While I had more upsets in the West Region, the Southwest Region is the wackiest section of the bracket to me. You have a #1 seed, Pitt, who currently has the label of “best program to never make a Final Four.” You have arguably this year’s best mid-major team, BYU (who also has probably the best individual player in the tournament). You have two mid-majors who have been so consistently good over the years that they are no longer really considered “mid-majors,” but who are having down seasons, Butler and Gonzaga. You have one of the most up-and-down teams in the field, Kansas State. You have the team with probably the most overrated seed of the tournament, Florida. And you have the team from a small school who I thought had a good chance of upsetting their first round opponent before the bracket even came out, Belmont. Anyway, I have three upsets by the seedings in the first round: Old Dominion over Butler, Belmont over Wisconsin, and Gonzaga over St. John’s. In the second round, I have Gonzaga upsetting BYU. I almost always pick Gonzaga to win a couple games in the tournament, and they almost always fail to do so (at least over the past few years). I’m wondering if as an 11-seed this year that they have been so overrated in past seasons that they are actually underrated this year. There’s a part of me that is telling myself to get off the Gonzaga bandwagon, but there’s another part of me that says they’re due…I guess we will see. In the Elite Eight, I have Pitt beating Florida to win the region.
So, after all the craziness I was talking about, I have three #1 seeds and a #4 seed that was the #1 ranked team in the country at one point this season in my Final Four. Hypocrital? Maybe…like I said though, I have little to no confidence in any of these picks. I have Ohio State beating Texas and Pittsburgh beating Kansas to advance to the title game, and I have Pittsburgh winning the whole thing. Truthfully, this Pitt team scares the hell out of me. They are tough and deep, but their tournament history is not great. They have been a top three seed almost every year for the past decade, and they have never made a Final Four. Three things make me think otherwise this year though. First, similar to my reasoning for Gonzaga winning a couple games this year, they’re due. Second, I think most of the other top seeds in this region won’t even make it to the second weekend of the tournament. Third, even if my second point isn’t true, this is the weakest of the four regions, and they should be able to handle anyone in their path. I say, might as well go for broke. Let it ride!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A Couple Quick-Hitters
A couple of quick bullets for this post…
- Krissy and I have been going to the same gym for almost three years now. The particular gym has its advantages and disadvantages, but one of the disadvantages always was the lack of certain free weight machines. The weight area has dumbbells up to 100 lb., which is about as much as you can ask for without going to some crazy bodybuilding type gym or big time college football program’s weight room. However, instead of having (for example) a barbell flat bench, incline bench, decline bench, shoulder press bench, and a squat rack our gym always only had one Smith machine, which was basically used as an all-purpose area for all of the above exercises. There are a couple of drawbacks to this. First, it is the most used machine in the whole gym, and if you want to use it on a crowded weekday after work you might as well take a number. Second, I can definitely say that I have added size and strength over the past couple of years, but I always wondered (and even wrote about in previous posts) how my gains using the Smith machine and dumbbells would translate to a standard bench press (for example again). I believe my previous one-rep max was 195 lb. This number was back from when I was a senior in college. It’s pretty unbelievable that I hadn’t touched a regular bench press in about three and a half years given how often I workout, but a combination of injuries and a lack of access have kept me away from it.
Fast-forward to this year, when our gym added on the vacated adjacent space for the purposes of fitness classes and personal training. Luckily, one of the pieces of equipment our personal trainer friend, Scott, added to the training space was a flat bench. Late last week I actually got a chance to use the bench press for the first time. It was encouraging and humbling at the same time. Obviously, I expected the weight on the standard bar to feel about twice as heavy as the same weight on the Smith machine, which it did for sure. The biggest thing is just simply feeling comfortable on the bench again, as my hand placement just never seemed to feel right, and the weights wobbled a little even on my warm-up set with a 45 lb. plate on each side. Still, even after using up some energy with a couple other chest exercises on the equipment on the other side of the gym I was still able to do one fairly easy set of three reps at 205 lb. I decided to try for 225 lb. even though I started to feel a little bit fatigued. I got the bar about two-thirds of the way up when I felt I slight tap upwards on the bar from the guy who was spotting me. If he had let me struggle with it for another second or two, I’m convinced I would have got it up. Even though I didn’t truly finish the rep on my own, I feel like 230-235 lb. is within reach if I hadn’t done anything else before getting to the bench. I think just feeling comfortable on the bench after a three-plus year layoff is the biggest thing though. (Like psyching yourself out looking at the “triple digit” 100 lb. dumbbells, it’s easy to psych yourself out looking at two 45 lb. plates on each side of the bar as well.) So, it was definitely humbling, but it’s hard to be mad at a 30 lb. increase to my one-rep max.
- Several weeks ago (it seems like “years ago” now) when the Miami Heat were in the midst of their twenty-plus game win streak I wrote about LeBron’s full-fledged transformation from Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Ironically, that post followed a Heat win against Portland on their home court. Last night, Miami lost to the Blazers at home for their fifth loss in a row. I still don’t think, contrary to the opinion of some, that LeBron, Wade, and the Heat don’t really like to be hated. I think my Darth Vader analogy is correct, and I think most great players would almost rather be hated than loved. The hatred directed towards them just adds fuel to the flame. What I think is evident though after over 60 games is that this team (the key word being “team) just doesn’t have it. Critics have gotten on LeBron and Wade for not coming together to form a truly dynamic duo, for too much dribbling or standing/watching on offense, and for not closing out close games despite their all-world talents. The lack of purpose that Miami’s offense seems to have at times and their inability to make clutch shots at the end of games is somewhat troubling, but Wade and James have (some hiccups aside) still been their dominant selves. For example, in last night’s game Wade and James both played over 40 minutes, shot a combined 26 for 41 (a ridiculously efficient 63%) from the field, and combined for nearly 70 points, 13 dimes, and 17 boards. To me, the problem is one of the original questions that people had from the get-go: the team is LeBron, Wade, and who else? The idea that Bosh is the third wheel in the supposed “Big Three” has long ago been squashed. Being tucked away in Toronto for seven years, I really hadn’t seen Bosh play since his one year at Georgia Tech, when he appeared to be this ultra-quick, ultra-athletic, left-handed version of Kevin Garnett. I’m not sure if injuries just ravaged him or if he never really was what I thought he was in college to begin with, but he’s nothing like what I pictured. In reality, Bosh is a highly skilled 6-11 player…but he’s not good enough to be worthy of a “max” contract from Miami or anyone else. More importantly, he’s just not really a good fit for this team. From everything I’ve seen so far this year, I maintain that Miami’s best overall lineup is to go small with LeBron at power forward, Bosh at center, and then Wade and two other perimeter players…except Bosh can’t protect the paint, rebound, or finish around the basket in traffic well enough to really make that lineup work. I mentioned Wade and LeBron’s minutes last night. Bosh played 40 minutes as well. On a team where you know you’re not going to be the focal point on offense, how can a 6-11 guy play 40 minutes and only get 4 rebounds (nevermind his 7 points on 3 for 11 shooting)? Bosh should be averaging at least 12 rebounds a game this year…instead, he’s hovering around 8, which sounds impossible.
Bosh is easy to pick on, but it’s not hard to find other weak links in the Heat’s rotation. I’m not sure if there is even one other guy on their roster aside from James, Wade, and Bosh who would even start for any other team in the league, and those guys would be the last guys on the bench on the league’s other good teams like the Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, and Magic. Last night’s game was a case in point, as a deep and talented Portland bench absolutely throttled Miami’s second-stringers. Dampier, Big Z, and Howard simply can’t play anymore. Eddie House is a great shooter, but he’s such a liability in all other areas that he’s a 10 minute per game player at best. Joel Anthony is a complete mop. LeBron and Wade create a lot of wide open shots for guys like Bibby, Chalmers, Mike Miller, and James Jones, but if those guys can’t hit shots (which they haven’t of late) they are pretty much worthless. Another irony of last night’s game is that a guy that Miami could use is a guy like Portland’s Gerald Wallace. Wallace doesn’t have the size or offensive skill of a guy like Bosh, but he’s physical, athletic, versatile, a great defender, and he has great motor. Even though Wallace is a couple of inches shorter than Bosh and more of a combo-forward than a true power forward, wouldn’t somebody like him be a better fit as the guy that hustles like crazy and does the dirty work in that small ball lineup I was talking about before? Would Wallace have gotten torched by LaMarcus Aldridge like Bosh did last night? I doubt it. Anyway, if some of Miller, Bibby, and Chalmer’s open shots start falling it might be a different story, but this is starting to look like an embarrassing early round playoff exit for the Heat this year.
- Krissy and I have been going to the same gym for almost three years now. The particular gym has its advantages and disadvantages, but one of the disadvantages always was the lack of certain free weight machines. The weight area has dumbbells up to 100 lb., which is about as much as you can ask for without going to some crazy bodybuilding type gym or big time college football program’s weight room. However, instead of having (for example) a barbell flat bench, incline bench, decline bench, shoulder press bench, and a squat rack our gym always only had one Smith machine, which was basically used as an all-purpose area for all of the above exercises. There are a couple of drawbacks to this. First, it is the most used machine in the whole gym, and if you want to use it on a crowded weekday after work you might as well take a number. Second, I can definitely say that I have added size and strength over the past couple of years, but I always wondered (and even wrote about in previous posts) how my gains using the Smith machine and dumbbells would translate to a standard bench press (for example again). I believe my previous one-rep max was 195 lb. This number was back from when I was a senior in college. It’s pretty unbelievable that I hadn’t touched a regular bench press in about three and a half years given how often I workout, but a combination of injuries and a lack of access have kept me away from it.
Fast-forward to this year, when our gym added on the vacated adjacent space for the purposes of fitness classes and personal training. Luckily, one of the pieces of equipment our personal trainer friend, Scott, added to the training space was a flat bench. Late last week I actually got a chance to use the bench press for the first time. It was encouraging and humbling at the same time. Obviously, I expected the weight on the standard bar to feel about twice as heavy as the same weight on the Smith machine, which it did for sure. The biggest thing is just simply feeling comfortable on the bench again, as my hand placement just never seemed to feel right, and the weights wobbled a little even on my warm-up set with a 45 lb. plate on each side. Still, even after using up some energy with a couple other chest exercises on the equipment on the other side of the gym I was still able to do one fairly easy set of three reps at 205 lb. I decided to try for 225 lb. even though I started to feel a little bit fatigued. I got the bar about two-thirds of the way up when I felt I slight tap upwards on the bar from the guy who was spotting me. If he had let me struggle with it for another second or two, I’m convinced I would have got it up. Even though I didn’t truly finish the rep on my own, I feel like 230-235 lb. is within reach if I hadn’t done anything else before getting to the bench. I think just feeling comfortable on the bench after a three-plus year layoff is the biggest thing though. (Like psyching yourself out looking at the “triple digit” 100 lb. dumbbells, it’s easy to psych yourself out looking at two 45 lb. plates on each side of the bar as well.) So, it was definitely humbling, but it’s hard to be mad at a 30 lb. increase to my one-rep max.
- Several weeks ago (it seems like “years ago” now) when the Miami Heat were in the midst of their twenty-plus game win streak I wrote about LeBron’s full-fledged transformation from Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Ironically, that post followed a Heat win against Portland on their home court. Last night, Miami lost to the Blazers at home for their fifth loss in a row. I still don’t think, contrary to the opinion of some, that LeBron, Wade, and the Heat don’t really like to be hated. I think my Darth Vader analogy is correct, and I think most great players would almost rather be hated than loved. The hatred directed towards them just adds fuel to the flame. What I think is evident though after over 60 games is that this team (the key word being “team) just doesn’t have it. Critics have gotten on LeBron and Wade for not coming together to form a truly dynamic duo, for too much dribbling or standing/watching on offense, and for not closing out close games despite their all-world talents. The lack of purpose that Miami’s offense seems to have at times and their inability to make clutch shots at the end of games is somewhat troubling, but Wade and James have (some hiccups aside) still been their dominant selves. For example, in last night’s game Wade and James both played over 40 minutes, shot a combined 26 for 41 (a ridiculously efficient 63%) from the field, and combined for nearly 70 points, 13 dimes, and 17 boards. To me, the problem is one of the original questions that people had from the get-go: the team is LeBron, Wade, and who else? The idea that Bosh is the third wheel in the supposed “Big Three” has long ago been squashed. Being tucked away in Toronto for seven years, I really hadn’t seen Bosh play since his one year at Georgia Tech, when he appeared to be this ultra-quick, ultra-athletic, left-handed version of Kevin Garnett. I’m not sure if injuries just ravaged him or if he never really was what I thought he was in college to begin with, but he’s nothing like what I pictured. In reality, Bosh is a highly skilled 6-11 player…but he’s not good enough to be worthy of a “max” contract from Miami or anyone else. More importantly, he’s just not really a good fit for this team. From everything I’ve seen so far this year, I maintain that Miami’s best overall lineup is to go small with LeBron at power forward, Bosh at center, and then Wade and two other perimeter players…except Bosh can’t protect the paint, rebound, or finish around the basket in traffic well enough to really make that lineup work. I mentioned Wade and LeBron’s minutes last night. Bosh played 40 minutes as well. On a team where you know you’re not going to be the focal point on offense, how can a 6-11 guy play 40 minutes and only get 4 rebounds (nevermind his 7 points on 3 for 11 shooting)? Bosh should be averaging at least 12 rebounds a game this year…instead, he’s hovering around 8, which sounds impossible.
Bosh is easy to pick on, but it’s not hard to find other weak links in the Heat’s rotation. I’m not sure if there is even one other guy on their roster aside from James, Wade, and Bosh who would even start for any other team in the league, and those guys would be the last guys on the bench on the league’s other good teams like the Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, and Magic. Last night’s game was a case in point, as a deep and talented Portland bench absolutely throttled Miami’s second-stringers. Dampier, Big Z, and Howard simply can’t play anymore. Eddie House is a great shooter, but he’s such a liability in all other areas that he’s a 10 minute per game player at best. Joel Anthony is a complete mop. LeBron and Wade create a lot of wide open shots for guys like Bibby, Chalmers, Mike Miller, and James Jones, but if those guys can’t hit shots (which they haven’t of late) they are pretty much worthless. Another irony of last night’s game is that a guy that Miami could use is a guy like Portland’s Gerald Wallace. Wallace doesn’t have the size or offensive skill of a guy like Bosh, but he’s physical, athletic, versatile, a great defender, and he has great motor. Even though Wallace is a couple of inches shorter than Bosh and more of a combo-forward than a true power forward, wouldn’t somebody like him be a better fit as the guy that hustles like crazy and does the dirty work in that small ball lineup I was talking about before? Would Wallace have gotten torched by LaMarcus Aldridge like Bosh did last night? I doubt it. Anyway, if some of Miller, Bibby, and Chalmer’s open shots start falling it might be a different story, but this is starting to look like an embarrassing early round playoff exit for the Heat this year.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thank You, Dodge
For some reason, Dodge started changing the general look of all their vehicles a few years back. I’m not sure what the reason for the dramatic change was (too lazy to actually look it up), but I’m assuming that it was a last ditch attempt to drum up some interest by re-branding themselves as the economy collapsed and the car market began to sink. Anyway, I might be in the minority in this, but most of the vehicles in this new lineup were a little too, I don’t know, “boxy.” Without getting into the actual nuts and bolts of each car, boxy cars just aren’t aesthetically pleasing to me. For example, I despise cars like the Honda Fit or that boxy-looking Scion SUV. Now, in all actuality Dodge’s new look has produced some really nice vehicles, but sometimes I just can’t help but think that a lot of them look like giant Lego cars. Unfortunately, Dodge felt the need to apply the same Lego/Transformers look to the already existing Dakota and Durango as well…which seemed even stranger because except for some minor tweaks the Ram’s look has been left pretty much unchanged throughout all this…thank you for that at least, Dodge. Check out the 2nd generation Durango here.
Thankfully, it appears Dodge may have come to its senses with at least 1 of its vehicles for its 2011 lineup: the Durango. After a 2 year Durango production hiatus, the SUV has returned to Dodge’s lineup. It’s ditched the boxier look, but while this edition somewhat reverts back to the 1st generation’s style, the 2011 version has more of a sporty look. I have yet to see 1 in person, so I’m not sure if I’m the best person to dissect it, but the 2011 Durango looks like it travels a little bit lower than past versions. It still looks like it has some beef to it, but it almost looks like a crossover on steroids to me. Anyway, like I said I haven’t actually seen 1 on the road yet, but from I’ve seen in pictures and in commercials on TV Dodge gets an A in my book, and it definitely adds 1 more vehicle to my radar when the time actually comes for me to upgrade.
Thankfully, it appears Dodge may have come to its senses with at least 1 of its vehicles for its 2011 lineup: the Durango. After a 2 year Durango production hiatus, the SUV has returned to Dodge’s lineup. It’s ditched the boxier look, but while this edition somewhat reverts back to the 1st generation’s style, the 2011 version has more of a sporty look. I have yet to see 1 in person, so I’m not sure if I’m the best person to dissect it, but the 2011 Durango looks like it travels a little bit lower than past versions. It still looks like it has some beef to it, but it almost looks like a crossover on steroids to me. Anyway, like I said I haven’t actually seen 1 on the road yet, but from I’ve seen in pictures and in commercials on TV Dodge gets an A in my book, and it definitely adds 1 more vehicle to my radar when the time actually comes for me to upgrade.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)