Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Let’s all just relax now

A thought apiece on each of these would-be flagrant fouls:

HOWARD: He should have been ejected, no question. And now, even if he is suspended for Game 6, that’s a home game for the Erz. Would’ve been a lot better to have D-Ho tossed out last night when he was home. That said, the Erz earned that loss all by themselves. First of all, they got eaten alive on the boards. (At one point, I saw ‘Dre, Lou, Green, AI2 and Thaddeus on the floor. Small ball? Really? Orlando has a wealth of big guys — Hedo, Rashard, Howard, etc. — guys who control the glass and post our guys up. And you’re NOT gonna throw big bodies at them? You’re gonna try to outspeed them? Well, we see how well that worked.) Second of all, they didn’t make any attempt to draw D-Ho into foul trouble. On the offensive end, you need to move the ball around the perimeter and look for slashers, and/or work the pick and roll. A man should be charging into the paint on every possession. Dwight ain’t that savvy; he’ll pick up fouls quickly; you can limit his time on the floor, and get him and SVG stressing over him fouling out — which is good for us all around. (Not that it even matters. Even when D-Ho was on the bench, we weren’t taking the lane; we were settling for little jumpers. You don’t win games that way.) Bottom line: they better get their strategy straight for the next game, or it’s time to break out the flip flops.

RONDO: First of all, what kind of pu$$y move was that on Brad Miller’s part? Is this what they teach big men at Purdue, to traipse into the paint with weak-ass finger rolls? Try going strong to the hoop, Brad, particularly when the game depends on it. Now, that said, Rondo did NOT give him a flagrant. Watch the replay, people. He reached for the ball and missed. Period. In slow-mo, you can even see Rondo retract his hand the very moment he made contact; his mind triggered an “oops,” and he pulled back. The fact that two B-Mill teeth came out in the process doesn’t make it flagrant. Sorry. And as a ref, you don’t make a questionable call like that and hand the game over to a team. Now here’s a tip for Vinny D: When one of your players gets two of his teeth knocked out and requires stitches on the sideline, it’s probably a good time to sub him out. Yeah, the alternative is having Doc Rivers pick your shooter and sending in a cold bench player during the biggest moment of the game. But did Brad Miller look like he had any chance of making those shots? Sometimes you just have to take the expression on a guy’s face at, err, face value.

-G

P.S. Toggling back and forth between the two games last night, it struck me the enormous difference between the levels of talent at play. It wasn’t even close. Bet: Whoever comes out of the Sixers/Magic series will absolutely get crushed — CRUSHED — by whoever comes out of the Celtics/Bulls series.

2 comments:

U. Howard said...

I've been yelling at the screen for the Sixers to take the ball in to the paint for the last two games straight. My last blog submission aside, I feel you on the Erz lack of a game plan. They gotta keep looking for a formula that works. Oh yeah, and they need ot find it tomorrow, cus the crowd ain't gonna win us that game (with or without Da' Ho).

Greg Ippolito said...

We must have been writing our posts simultaneously, 'cause I didn't see yours till after mine went up.

Yeah, I like that DiLeo got a little hot under the collar (especially since that seems unlike him, generally). But I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us. Refs don't like being told they're effing up. We have at least one vengeance non-call coming next game -- I just hope it won't be a momentum-shifting one.

-G