Empty the Bench

Give the early nod to Kevin Garnett in his matchup with Rasheed Wallace. The Celtics’ MVP continued his strong playoff run by putting the Celtics on his back and once again being their rock on both ends of the floor, chipping in 26 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks to Boston’s 88-79 win over Detroit. He also altered a few shots and of course his unbridled enthusiasm was infectious on the rest of the team, as it always is.

When the man is locked in–again, as he seems to always be–he’s still just as effective now as he was in his early days with the Minnesota Timberwolves. (That era sure seems like a long time ago all of a sudden, doesn’t it?)

Rasheed Wallace has his fair share of flaws on the court: not taking advantage of his post-up talents on the block as much as he should, falling head over heels with the triple tries, moping like a sad Basset Hound for extended periods of time, etc. He’s also one of my personal all-time favorites and usually one of the most entertaining players to watch in the league.

There he was faking like he was going to blow his top after being whistled for a foul, only to quickly relent and give Joey Crawford an emphatic lovetap on his butt. (Athletes love the butt slap, don’t they?). And I couldn’t help but smile along with him when he grinned from ear to ear after KG was whistled for a phantom foul, clearly enjoying the moment and well aware it was a weak call in his favor. Of course, Pistons fans would have traded those feel-good moments for more than the 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals he had in Game 1…

And just to make it official: ‘Sheed’s first patented “Ball Don’t Lie!” call came at the 4:21 mark of the 2nd quarter; the second came shortly after when Kevin Garnett missed his second free throw of the game with 3:46 left.

As tough a competitors they are, Wallace and Garnett clearly have a ton of mutual respect for each other. As the final buzzer sounded and the players headed towards the locker room, these two elite power forwards met at half court and quickly acknowledged each other’s effort. Moments later, KG sounded visibly embarassed when ESPN’s Michele Tafoya asked him how he managed to “get the upper hand on Wallace and dominate the matchup.” He was bashful in his response, wanting no part of saying he dominated ‘Sheed and twice making references to “looking in the mirror” when facing ‘Sheed and the Pistons team in general.

Kevin Garnett Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Some might say these two shouldn’t be getting friendly after an Eastern Conference Finals game, even if just for a quick moment. That they can show their respect for each other’s game after the series is over. Well, that’s bullshit. From the jump ball to the final buzzer, ‘Sheed and KG competed like longtime rivals, not old-school friends. As long as there’s no buddy-buddy stuff going on during the actual game, I think it’s a great thing to see and is more indicative of how the NBA really is than the bad headlines and press it still inexplicably gets attention for (while meanwhile NFL players get free pass after free pass for acting a fool).

More notes on Game 1 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals after the jump…

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Los Angeles Lakers: 57-25, 1st seed
San Antonio Spurs: 56-26, 3rd seed
Head-to-Head: They tied the season series 2-2

Prelude

Back in the early summer of 2007 not many people expected Kobe Bryant to still be a Laker in November, let alone to be leading them into battle in late May. Then again, this is a completely different team around him with returning Lakers hero Derek Fisher at the point and high-profile acquisition Pau Gasol manning the middle. Now they’ve earned the treat of playing the Spurs. After their annual tradition of flying under the radar all year, nobody is surprised to see San Antonio back in the Western Conference Finals. It seems like months ago that they were pushed into double overtime by the Phoenix Suns on the opening day of the 2008 playoffs, but since that second overtime period they’ve gone back to their winning ways and looked as methodical and deadly as ever.

There were a lot of unhappy NBA fans outside of Texas after the Spurs dispatched the Hornets on Monday, but none more displeased than Lakers fans. Instead of being the veteran squad facing a young and inexperienced New Orleans team Los Angles is now squaring off against a group of cagey vets with a lot more playoff success. LA is rebuilt and only has one key player over the age of 30 while the Spurs have remained the same with only one key player under the age of 30. Now the Lakers are the kids playing the old guard. And Instead of being heavy favorites, they’re facing the toughest out in the NBA playoffs.

Of course, we’ve seen plenty of Lakers-Spurs matchups in recent playoff history. They’ve met in the postseason five times in the last decade. Los Angeles has taken three of those series and each team has gone on to win two titles after besting the other. These have been two of the most successful franchises in the league during that stretch, combining for seven of the last nine NBA titles. That history isn’t very informative of what’s to come though – the only players still around from 1999 are Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Tim Duncan.

The other guys who have been here since then are Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, two of the best coaches in NBA history with 13 rings from the bench between them and one Coach of the Year award each. We know both teams will be extremely well-prepared for this series and each coach will play the media like a maestro between contests.

After all the injuries and the big trade in LA, these teams as presently constituted only met once. The Lake show took that game on April 13th in the Staples Center 106-85, a win that has them enjoying home court in this series. In that game we saw the new and improved Kobe held to just 20 points, but also the revamped Lakers displaying their newfound balance with six players reaching double figures. That’s what will make this series so difficult for San Antonio: they can no longer just focus on taking Bryant out of the game and expect to win. He has a supporting cast he trusts now and doubling him every possession isn’t an option. That won’t stop the Spurs from throwing bodies and extremely physical defense at Kobe, but they know the NBA’s MVP gets as many star calls as anybody in the league, leading all players with 13.4 trips to the line a game in the postseason.

Rest assured, Kobe will get his. But will this newly constructed supporting cast step up to the challenge or will the Spurs superior defense, experience and savvy prevail?

ETB breaks down the Lakers-Spurs series and rolls out our predictions after the jump…

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ESPN – Chad Ford has everything you need to know about tonight’s draft lottery.
The Arbitrarian – Getting all geometrical on the metric of Winshares.
20 Second Timeout – There was some unorthodox scorekeeping in Chris Paul’s assist tally.
The Detroit News – Chauncey Billups admits that hammy hasn’t fully healed.
The Sports Hernia – Introducing Spurs fans Larry, Darryl and their other brother Darryl.
Epic Carnival – Eleven reasons why those pesky Spurs refuse to go away.
48 Minutes of Hell – Ok, ok, SA is a boring defensive team. So are the Celtics and Pistons.
The On Deck Circle – An in-depth analysis of the top candidates for the Phoenix job.
NY Post – It’s time for Mike Brown to stop catering to LeBron and make a real offense.
Black Jesus Disciples – Tree stakes look like toothpicks in the hands of Rodney Rodgers.
Golden State of Mind – Chris Mullin found a few gems, but botched the Warriors’ top picks.
Salt Lake Tribune – Fret not, Jazz fans: your star point expects to sign an extension soon.
Pounding the Rock – Yes, the Spurs have done this before. That’s why we’re sick of it.
The World of Isaac – Five reason Boston sucks. Not just the Celtics, Boston in general.
The Play in CA – Lakers fans have had it up to here with seeing the Spurs in the playoffs.
Ball Don’t Lie – And finally, the real reason New Orleans lost (not Jannero Pargo).

Boston Celtics: 66-16, 1st seed
Detroit Pistons: 59-23, 2nd seed
Head-to-Head: Boston Celtics won the regular-season series 2-1

Prelude

It seems like this has been in the cards since opening night. The NBA’s two best teams rekindling an old rivalry by squaring off in the Eastern Conference Finals for the right to vie for a championship. One franchise’s ascension to the front of the pack came about as quickly as perhaps any in NBA history; the other has been there for the past 6 years, a span in which they’ve made two appearances in the Big Show and came away victorious once. Both have been pointing to this matchup all season. Both have something to prove. Both know they’re good enough to not only advance, but to win it all.

Finally, it’s time to settle the debate that’s raged on for the past 7 months: who’s the better team—the Boston Celtics or the Detroit Pistons?

In the red corner, the second-seeded Detroit Pistons, who overcame the near three-game absence of starting PG Chauncey Billups due to a sore hamstring by defeating the Orlando Magic in a tidy five games in Round Two. They largely did it with defense, by frustrating Dwight Howard from start to finish, by limiting Hedo Turkoglu, and by making the big plays when they needed them most. Rookie guard Rodney Stuckey also acquitted himself nicely, stepping into the starting lineup and managing the team incredibly well given his lack of postseason experience and playing a big part in helping his team establish a new playoff record in Game 5 by committing just 3 turnovers as a team. (More on Rodney Stuckey here.)

They’ll have had almost a full week off when they take the floor Tuesday night, the kind of lengthy layoff that is sometimes as much a detriment as it is an advantage. When you’re playing at a high level and in a good rhythm, no team wants an extended break. In this case, however, the Pistons likely welcomed it: not only did it give Billups extra time to heal his hammy and get back up to speed in full-length scrimmages, it also benefited Rasheed Wallace (who banged with the hulking Howard for most of Round 2) and Tayshaun Prince, who after going toe-to-toe with the 76ers’ Andre Iguodala in the first round averaged just over 42 minutes/per in the second. It won’t get any easier with Paul Pierce lining up against him next.

And in the green corner it’s the top-seeded Boston Celtics, a team that looked nearly invincible during the regular season but has been pushed to the limit by both the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the postseason. One of the biggest storylines so far has been their surprising inability to win on the road (for more on that, please see “Wild Card” below), but let’s not forget how excellent their team defense has been… and as you may have guessed it all begins with Kevin Garnett, the NBA’s 2008 Defensive Player of the Year. He earned that honor during the regular season, and he’s certainly earning it in now in helping his team allow just 86.1 points/per thus far.

KG is getting it done on offense too.

Through the Celtics’ first 14 playoff games, Garnett leads the team in scoring (20.3) and rebounding (9.9) and has literally been the only Celtic who has consistently shot a high percentage from the field (51% FG). He’ll be put to the test once again in facing Rasheed Wallace, a mano y mano tangle that’s one of ETB’s absolute favorite matchups to watch.

The other two parts of Boston’s Big Three haven’t been quite as successful… that is until Paul Pierce almost single-handedly elevated his team into Round 3 on Sunday afternoon with a Game 7 performance Celtics (and Cavaliers) fans won’t soon forget. With his small-forward counterpart LeBron James doing what LeBron James seems to always do in big games, Pierce was every bit as good and in the end even better: 13-23 for 41 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals in 43 gutty minutes. And with the outcome hanging in the balance late in the fourth quarter, it was Pierce diving onto the floor for a loose ball, securing it long enough to call a timeout, and emerging from the scrum screaming with exhausted passion.

Ray Allen? Um, not exactly. More on him later.

So here we are, just hours away from the start of a series that most predicted all the way back in November would decide who’d represent the Eastern Conference in this year’s NBA Finals. Who’s better, Boston or Detroit? It’s finally time to settle the debate once and for all.

ETB breaks down the Celtics-Pistons series and rolls out our predictions after the jump…

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- Inhistoric.com – NBA fans across the U.S. are nearly unanimous: No. More. Spurs.
- The Grand National Championships – And here’s a guide to hating those Spurs.
- Gilbertology – Rodney White, Joseph Forte, and Jeryl Sasser have one thing in common.
- Cavalier Attitude – LeBron James and Mike Brown: good. Everybody else: garbage.
- Dime – Is Paul Pierce “The greatest pure scoring machine in Celtics history”? Um, no.
- MLive – Will the Pistons be rusty? Rasheed Wallace: “We still got that fire under our butts.”
- SI.com – Vujacic on Kobe, “Kobe always wants to get better. We are much alike.”
- HOOPSWORLD – The free agency class of 2004 has worked out pretty well.
- With Malice… – Is Jerry Sloan still the right guy to lead Utah to a NBA title?
- Biz of Basketball – David Thorpe thinks J.J. Redick could start for a playoff team. No joke.
- X’s and O’s of Basketball – Desperate games go to those who hustle, and the Celts did.
- Ball Don’t Lie – If New Orleans hopes to prevail tonight the fans need a change in tactics.
- The Hoop Doctors – When they play in Boston, Paul Pierce really is “The Truth.”
- NBA.com – Highlights from the biggest performance of Pierce’s career:

It now feels like eons ago when we previewed this grueling, grinding semifinals matchup between the Celtics and Cavaliers. There’ve been very few easy buckets for either team, and neither has been able to get into any kind of consistent groove on offense. Let’s just be honest: despite the considerable star power on the court, more than a few of these first six games have been hard to watch… but of course that doesn’t mean we haven’t tuned in every night.

If the Celtics had fostered any inkling of hope that they’d quickly dispatch of LeBron James and his mostly ragtag support crew, they were clearly wrong. Following their seven-game series with the Hawks, after tomorrow afternoon’s series-deciding contest they’ll have played 14 games in the past 28 days—mental and physical exhaustion has to be setting in. If they take this series, there’ll be no mercy on their tired bodies as the Eastern Conference Finals against the well-rested Detroit Pistons kicks off at 8:30pm Tuesday night. No matter how experienced this team is, immediately going from a second consecutive draining seven-game series into the fire against a hungry team bent on cementing their legacy like Detroit is no easy task.

LeBron James and Boston Celtics Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers make their third and final trip to Boston brimming with confidence that they can steal one and set up a rematch of last year’s ECF with Detroit. You don’t need me to tell you that 90% of that positivity is gained from knowing they have LeBron, who despite shooting a lowly 31% FG has been the best player on the court for either team during this series. Yes, Kevin Garnett is playing extremely well too, but he has a much more talented group of teammates to take the pressure off… or at least he used to. Paging Ray Allen, paging Paul Pierce: where are you?!

Here’s just five things after the jump to keep an eye on during Sunday’s decisive Game 7:

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As long as the Los Angeles Lakers survive through the 2008 NBA playoffs, Empty the Bench’s West Coast correspondent Christopher Thell will be submitting a local fan’s take on his beloved Lakers’ postseason trials, tribulations and successes. In this edition: The Lake Show advances with a sublime first half, though sullied by a late-game collapse.

As I drove past The Staples Center on my way home from lunch Friday afternoon I wondered if it would be buzzing with excitement or dormant come Monday evening.

The Lakers seemed intent on giving the downtown Los Angeles venue a night off by roaring to a 19-point halftime lead 62-43, vaunted Utah home court advantage be damned.

If you could bottle a stretch of Lakers basketball and replay it endlessly for the rest of the season, it would be the first half of Game 6. The Lakers looked like true championship contenders, playing inspired team ball. Seven players scored, led by Kobe Bryant with 16 points, Derek Fisher with 13 points, and Sasha Vujacic, rebounding from a horrid Game 5, notched 10 points, including 2-3 from beyond the arc. Pau Gasol chipped in with 6 points and 11 rebounds, and Lamar Odom contributed with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The Lakers shot 50% from the field, 56% from 3-point land and 88% on free throws, while committing only 4 turnovers and holding their high-scoring opponents to 43 points.

A truly beautiful half of basketball that seemed to signal to me that there was no possible way there was going to be a Game 7 in LA on Monday night – I was sure of it.

The game wasn’t in the bag just yet, after the jump…
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- 20 Second Timeout – “Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive, ah ha ha ha, stayin’ alliiiiiiiiiiiiiive.”
- Seattle PI – Joe Pace’s 30-year spiral took him from a basketball title to a homeless shelter.
- Clips Nation – The Clippers would do well to clear cap space for the 2010 free-agent derby.
- Bullets Forever – Is Georgetown’s 7-2, lumbering center a legit big man or just a big bust?
- Bright Side of the Sun – Pistons assistant coach Terry Porter could wind up in Phoenix.
- Detroit Free Press – Rip Hamilton is already a more prolific postseason scorer than Zeke.
- SLAM – The future of the NBA: The 2008 Slam High School All-Americans.
- TrueHoop – Does Chris Paul’s suspect defense render him merely a “very good” player?
- Hornets 24/7 – Autopsy of a blown opportunity for the Hornets in San Antonio.
- Dime – How sick would it be if San Antonio was introduced to The Undertaker’s theme?
- The On Deck Circle – How each Knick will work in Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense.
- Can’t Stop the Bleeding – This makes me embarassed for Channing Frye, on many levels.
- DC Sports Bog – The craziest game of hoops you never heard of is coming to DC in June.
- HOOPSWORLD – Dikembe Mutombo pulls a Brett Favre and decides not to retire.
- Red’s Army – Boston will be playing Sunday and they’re hoping it’s against Detroit.
- NBA.com – Bruce Bowen would never put his foot under a shooter or kick their legs…
- Page 3 – And Robert Horry? He wouldn’t lower himself to dirty plays either, right?
- Odenized – A sequence of flops and questionable calls turned the tide last night:

We interrupt your normal NBA playoff programming for the following announcement: Toronto Raptors PG Jose Calderon has had it up here with coming off the bench. As a soon-to-be restricted free agent, he also wants a significant raise in salary. And as a little icing on his homemade cake of discontent, it sounds like he’s been daydreaming about choking T.J. Ford.

“I would like to start and that’s the most important thing,” Calderon is quoted as saying in yesterday’s edition of the Spanish daily sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, a sentiment he first shared with visitors to his website. “I’ve been two years with [Ford] but I don’t know if I could be another year because things would have to change.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but midway through the season Calderon voluntarily surrendered his starting position to Ford, who’d grown a little bitchy about his role as a reserve. At the time I thought that maybe this spoke volumes about the Spaniard’s competitiveness—or more specifically the lack of it—but maybe there was something else behind it. Was Ford becoming too much of a cancerous malcontent? Was Calderon simply taking one for the team in the name of padding Ford’s ego? I pose these as questions because I really don’t know (and am not trying to pull a Peter Vecsey by stating conjecture as fact), but there was clearly something going on there behind the scenes.

Jose Calderon Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Here’s what I do know, however: as a starter, the 26-year-old Calderon averaged 13 points, 9.1 assists, 53% FG, 1.2 steals, and 1.2 triples. All of those numbers dropped off a cliff once he stepped aside for Ford. Comparatively, Ford put up 14 points, 7.4 assists, 51% FG, and 1.2 steals/per. In other words, there’s not too much of a dropoff between the two. Ford is quicker and plays the passing lanes better on defense, while Calderon is steadier, a deadlier perimeter threat, and less injury-prone.

In an ideal world, the Raptors figure out how to make this combo work; Ford is still on the books for a guaranteed $16.5 million over the next two seasons, with a player option for another $8.5 in 2010. He’s not going anywhere. If the Raptors decide the two can’t coexist, Calderon is clearly the more tradeable asset. But if/when they go that route, they’re stuck with a point guard in Ford who’s always one bad fall away from missing a lot of time. Good luck figuring this one out, Bryan Colangelo.

Related: Jose Calderon, T.J. Ford, Toronto Raptors

San Antonio won last night. Veteran team defense defending champion Spurs Manu Ginobili flop. Tim Duncan double team rebounding defense tough. Bruce Bowen cheap efficient hard-nosed. They’ve done this before. Veteran squad Gregg Popovich well-coached Spurs of San Antonio. Team basketball. Meticulous refs ugly physical slow methodical. Boring team gets it done cheap effective home-court advantage: Eva Longoria!

Veteran presence bench. Robert Horry Ime Udoka Brent Barry Oberto role players. Know their jobs. More experience in situations defense champions. Veteran defense defending champion Spurs Manu Ginobili flop. They have been here before. Tim Duncan double team rebounding defense tough. Bruce Bowen cheap efficient hard-nosed. Team basketball. They’ve done this before. Veteran squad Gregg Popovich well-coached Spurs of San Antonio. Meticulous refs ugly physical slow methodical. Boring team gets it done cheap effective home-court advantage: Playoff experience.

Again, veteran presence bench. Robert Horry Ime Udoka Brent Barry Oberto role players. Know their jobs. More experience in situations defense champions. Team basketball.

Defense wins championships after the jump…

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