Opening Up

Incidentally, anyone persuaded that the NBA game is insufficiently wide open and exciting should definitely check out tonight's Denver vs. Golden State matchup. The teams are basically tied for the last spot in the Western Conference playoffs, both are quite good, and the play at the fastest and second-fastest paces in the league. Should be a very exciting game.

I think the Warriors are sentimental favorite for basketball fans everywhere, so I'll definitely be hoping they win. The Nuggets are, however, are perennially interesting team for anyone interested in basketball statistics. Conventional commentators are constantly overlooking Denver's defensive prowess because the team plays at a high pace.

Comments

I was going to toss in some bland pro-Warriors boosterism here, but then I realized that your readership is already about 20:1 Bay Area:Denver metro readers.
But really, you can't go wrong rooting for the Bearded One.

Posted by max | April 10, 2008 5:23 PM

Doesn't the fact that there are clawing and fighting to get the last playoff spot say something about the viability of wide-open offenses in the NBA, though?

Posted by Freddie | April 10, 2008 5:27 PM

Good lord, basketball insufficiently wide open? They score points every minute or so, sometime more often. Give me 90 minutes of grinding 1-0 soccer action any day over that.

Someone should chart the popularity of basketball over time against the incidence of ADD in the population.

Posted by Ryan | April 10, 2008 5:28 PM

I think the Warriors are sentimental favorite for basketball fans everywhere

That's exactly what a trust-fund scumbag would say. Next you're going to accuse Nugget fans of being racist.

Posted by right | April 10, 2008 5:34 PM

I think the Warriors are sentimental favorite for basketball fans everywhere, so I'll definitely be hoping they win.

Also, we should probably hate George Karl, though I couldn't really say why.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | April 10, 2008 5:34 PM

The Nuggs are 14th in opponent FG%, which should be fairly invariant to pace.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/byteam?&cat1=Total&cat2=opponent&conference=NBA&year=season_2007&sort=329

Posted by nbt | April 10, 2008 5:35 PM

Monta Ellis is making less than $1 million this year (in CA, no less). How crazy is that?

Posted by ben | April 10, 2008 5:48 PM

hate to start this conversation again, but .... from my experience watching the nuggets play (admittedly not alot since the all star break), they do not play great defense. They have some good defensive players, but they do not play defense as a team sufficiently to take their opponents away from their desired offensive game plan.

Posted by valisjason | April 10, 2008 6:00 PM

George Karl's cool: http://www.newsmeat.com/sports_political_donations/George_Karl.php

His support of the well-coiffed one can be rationalized away in terms of Carolina allegiances, but at least he's not a republican. Plus, I saw a thing on Real Sports where he and his kid both had cancer at the same time, and it pulled the heart strings.

George Karl has contributed mightily to Denver Nuggets basketball successes, just not as their coach.

Posted by David B. | April 10, 2008 6:02 PM

That's exactly what a trust-fund scumbag would say. Next you're going to accuse Nugget fans of being racist.

That was supposed to be a Petey parody, but upon re-reading, I didn't pull it off quite like intended. Oh well.

Posted by right | April 10, 2008 6:05 PM

I would think that Thuggets fans would have grounds for accusing the fans of other teams of being racist.

Posted by blah | April 10, 2008 6:09 PM

Can we have a thread devoted to political contributions by sports persona? I'd be especially interested in finding the donation to the most obscure candidate by a well-known figure.

Posted by BP | April 10, 2008 6:25 PM

Let Denver through. Leave us the GSW memories from last year, which were great.

Denver is the more compelling team. And with some irony, as they're neck and neck in the rankings, they seem the better squad.

Posted by Rico | April 10, 2008 6:40 PM

"Conventional commentators are constantly overlooking Denver's defensive prowess because the team plays at a high pace."

Hilarious.

Posted by GSOM | April 10, 2008 6:46 PM

Denver is the more compelling team. And with some irony, as they're neck and neck in the rankings, they seem the better squad.

Sadly, as a W's fan, I agree. I wish there was some way to drop out San Antonio (18-19 against .500+ teams, I believe).

Give me 90 minutes of grinding 1-0 soccer action any day over that.

I don't mean to be a dick, but I was watching the Sharks play last night, which was like my first hockey game in 10 years, and it occurred to me: What happens if you miss a goal? What happens if you miss THE goal?

In all seriousness, how can you enjoy a sport like that? And I love soccer--my favorite sport to play--but I have so much trouble watching it on TV I've never been able to follow it.

Or is this that ADD mentality you were talking about? Personally, I like not being able to glue myself to a screen for 90 minutes. Gets rid of those "Repo Man" shivers.

Posted by scythia | April 10, 2008 6:50 PM

The numbers show that Denver's problem is actually rebounding. Just as the quick pace and high scoring obscures the fairly good defensive work it hides some unimpressive rebounding. 21st in the league according to Hollinger (not terrible but way worse than people think) and the worst of all Western Conference playoff teams not named the Suns (who shoot the highest percentage in the league) and, incidentally, the Warriors (who get extra possessions via the best turnover differential in the league).

Posted by Mavis Beacon | April 10, 2008 6:52 PM

So, Matt, do I remind you of this post after another Spurs/Pistons final?

Posted by Tiparillo | April 10, 2008 7:52 PM

20:1? Nah, 20:2 I'm a big time Nuggets fan (fire Geo. Karl!!!) Rebounding is only a problem because Anthony won't do it. How many double-doubles does he have? not many. Iverson rebounds more than he does (maybe).

Please, Please let them win this one. :(

Posted by Elle Hamm | April 10, 2008 8:11 PM

Sounds exciting. Someone post the ratings tomorrow for this classic match-up.

Posted by Fred | April 10, 2008 8:33 PM

In all seriousness, how can you enjoy a sport like that? ... Or is this that ADD mentality you were talking about? Personally, I like not being able to glue myself to a screen for 90 minutes. Gets rid of those "Repo Man" shivers.

That's funny, and fair enough. I find it best to record a game, and have been known to savor it over two or three sittings rather than a straight 90 minutes. Depends on the action. Then again, Liverpool 4-2 over Arsenal the other day -- classic and gripping.

But still, you have to admit: the thought of basketball, of all sports, not being wide open enough? Worth a little mockery.

Posted by Ryan | April 10, 2008 8:48 PM

I find it best to record a game, and have been known to savor it over two or three sittings rather than a straight 90 minutes.Depends on the action. Then again, Liverpool 4-2 over Arsenal the other day -- classic and gripping.

Shorter Ryan: Soccer is so boring I often have a hard time watching 90 minutes at a time. When they score a lot, though, I can almost stand watching a full game in a single sitting.

Posted by ben | April 10, 2008 9:09 PM

Elle Hamm...fire George Karl? For what? The Nuggets ascension started after he got the coaching job. Before that? We were a team in constant rebuilding years and Denver basketball fans only went to Nuggets games to see who they were playing.

Keep George Karl, get rid of the baby blue uniforms. That's what I say.

Posted by Herb | April 10, 2008 10:27 PM

Meh, making the playoffs in basketball means very little considering there are 30 teams and 16 make the playoffs. Is there any support for contracting the playoffs to something a bit more reasonable like 8 teams?

Posted by JordanT | April 10, 2008 10:35 PM

Yeah, we won. Iverson was the same ol same ol- just brilliant. I can never believe he is 32 y.o. whew.

Posted by Ellen Hamm | April 10, 2008 11:04 PM

Is there any support for contracting the playoffs to something a bit more reasonable like 8 teams?

Frank Deford suggested on NPR the other day that the NBA and NHL should use World Cup style round robin + knockout format. 8 teams in each conf. play each other, four best advance and knockout thereafter. His reasoning: NBA and NHL copied baseball's playoff series format regardless of the fact that baseball is a series-based sport and NBA/NHL aren't.

Posted by Andrew | April 10, 2008 11:04 PM

Well, the Warriors lost. For longtime Warriors fans, it's hard to imagine that the Warriors would ever almost win 50 games. And only a team with the Bay Area's bad luck would win almost 50 games, have a .600 winning percentage, and miss the playoffs.

The Sharks lost game 1 of their playoff against Calgary (although they are currently ahead in game 2). The good guys of Arsenal lost to the odious Liverpool. Stanford women lost the NCAA Women's championship (and I'm a Cal grad).

Such a bad week for sports. Well, at least the A's won, and the Giants haven't yet managed to blow their 2-0 lead against the Cardinals.

Posted by adlsad | April 10, 2008 11:48 PM

"That was supposed to be a Petey parody, but upon re-reading, I didn't pull it off quite like intended. Oh well."

It made me smile.

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Mavis Beacon has the correct information.

And to prove the point, tonight the Warriors netted 14 extra possessions via the boards. Nene would cure the problem.

Helluva game, btw.

Posted by Petey | April 11, 2008 12:15 AM

Both teams played hard.

Posted by Petey | April 11, 2008 12:19 AM

I think the Warriors are sentimental favorite for basketball fans everywhere

Matt's just trolling me.

Posted by Kriston Capps | April 11, 2008 8:17 AM

"Matt's just trolling me."

I thought he was trolling me.

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Bubbachuck's best game in a Powder Blue uniform last night...

Posted by Petey | April 11, 2008 8:30 AM

Two teams far down the charts playing "both are quite good, and the play at the fastest and second-fastest paces in the league"

And this makes the NBA exciting? I wonder how bad the other teams that have won 20 more games are.

Posted by bernarda | April 11, 2008 8:47 AM

And only a team with the Bay Area's bad luck would win almost 50 games, have a .600 winning percentage, and miss the playoffs.

The Sharks lost game 1 of their playoff against Calgary (although they are currently ahead in game 2). The good guys of Arsenal lost to the odious Liverpool. Stanford women lost the NCAA Women's championship (and I'm a Cal grad).

Did Arsenal move to the Bay Area without me hearing about it? Don't worry, if you are an Arsenal fan, you will surely be elated when Chelsea knock Liverpool out in the Semis. *snicker*

On topic - that was a fun game last night, but it just proves that it is very hard for a team to rely on jumpers, like GS. You just can't be reliable for too long that way, no matter how good the shooters are. If Baron and Jax go 14-42, forget about it.

(BTW - why is Nellie not playing his bench anymore? They only got 30 minutes and 7 points off the bench. I'll bet the starters are exhausted from this playoff push.)

Posted by Al | April 11, 2008 10:07 AM

You can count on Denver losing to Utah and to Houston. So the bottom line is that the GS has to win out to earn the 8th spot. It basically comes down to winning at Phoenix for Golden State. If they win that game, then they will still be in.

Posted by Curtis | April 11, 2008 10:25 AM

Al,

Yes, I am well aware that North London is NOT the San Francisco Bay Area. I spent a semester abroad in England. Fell in love with English football and their passionate supporters. I became a Gunner for a lot of personal reasons and because I love Thierry Henry (although I still support Arsenal even though Henry moved to Barcelona - which is my favorite Spanish team).

Posted by adlsad | April 11, 2008 5:52 PM