Random Thoughts

First of all, I watched both games on TNT last night. Cleveland-Chicago, and Denver-L.A. I have to say right away something that I noticed. Both games ended with final shots that arguably could have been called a foul. Anderson Varejao tried to lean into the defender and though contact was minimal, there was contact. Then, Derek Fisher was blocked by Carmelo Anthony, but the replay shows that their hand also connected. It wasn't an obvious foul, but the same foul was called 3 possessions earlier when Lamar Odom hit Carmelo Anthony's hand on his follow through. I know that none of them were as obvious as the one on Tuesday against Durant, but the point is that it happens all the time. I am still pretty confused as to why the league would feel it was necessary to make an official statement. I have not once disagreed that it could easily have been called in foul. In fact, I will honestly say, that as upset as I would have been, I would have no argument had they called it. But they didn't, and what is the point of the league's statement? Whatever, like Jerry Sloan said, the page has already been turned.

Tonight, watching Mike Brown on "wired" gave me this hunch that Mike Brown is secretly one of the worst coaches in the entire NBA. I acknowledge that this is just a hunch. I have no data, or statistics or even reason for thinking this. Just listening to the things he said to his team seemed so stupid. The whole time, he would say things like, "Get back on defense" and "don't turn the ball over". I even heard him say, "We gotta knock down our shots". Really? That is the great advice your giving these professional athletes? I just compare that to hearing Stan Van Gundy, Greg Poppovich, Jerry Sloan, and other coaches on there. They all say very specific, detailed instructions. Maybe Mike Brown is the reason the Cavs haven't been able to win a championship. I'm pretty sure any coach in the NBA could get the Cavs to have a great regular season record with Lebron James.

The Lakers and Nuggets game really bothered me. Finally, a game that had me rooting for the Lakers, and they choke. Why was Kobe Bryant not playing? I realize that the Lakers have the 1 seed in the west wrapped up, but they are still fighting for homecourt in the finals should they face Orlando (both 55-23). This makes no sense to me, especially because I remember last year the Jazz needed to win their last game against the Lakers to take the 7th seed. The Lakers had the overall 1 seed wrapped up, and me and my friends spent the hours leading up to the game talking about wether or not the Lakers would rest Kobe. They had nothing to gain by winning, but played Kobe full minutes, along with Pau, Odom and everyone else. Maybe I'm way ahead of myself here, but I wondered if maybe the Lakers were looking at the bigger picture. Am I crazy to think that the Lakers thought, if they win great, but if they lose, then it will increase the chances of Denver winning the division, and therefore increase the chances of Utah taking a 4-5 seed, which faces them against the Lakers in the 2nd round. In case you've been living under a rock, LA dominates the Jazz and I would guess the Lakers would probably like to play Utah more than any other team in the west. What do you think? Am I over-thinking it?

I am not sure how things will turn out but they are not looking good. Denver is now 1 full game ahead of the Jazz, with 3 games left. We cannot end in a tie with them, because they own the tiebreaker. This means that for us to win the division, and have a shot at the 2-3 seed, we have to win all 3 games we have left, and Denver has to go 1-2. It could happen, but I was counting on the Lakers to win that one. Either way it will be a great ending to a great season.
Sean