It’s the playoffs, which can only mean it’s NBA conspiracy time.
So you’re the NBA, and it appears the Bulls are about to break up. You need stars to keep this going, and you need them in big places.
That may be one reason the Jazz is struggling already and spent an uncharacteristic amount of time, for a veteran team, complaining about the referees in its Game 1 loss to Houston.
The Jazz and the Bulls again? Utah cannot be what the NBA wants to see after Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
Now the Lakers, with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant–that’s something you can sell.
And it just so happens the Lakers are averaging more free throws than anyone in the playoffs after the first two games.
“We must have reacted slowly because we committed so many fouls,” Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said acidly after his center, Arvydas Sabonis, went out on early foul trouble as the Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the series. “I thought we were going to the basket, too. They must have had good timing. They blocked everything and we fouled everything.”
And among the top five teams in free throw attempts in the playoffs, the only one not in a physical series is, you guessed it, the Bulls. The other teams attempting the most free throws are Houston, Utah and Miami.
Hey, just wondering.
Test time: The test is here again for the Seattle SuperSonics. It’s the first round, they’ve lost the home-court advantage in their series with the Timberwolves and face two of the next three games at Minnesota. And their lack of rebounding may have caught up with them.
“We’re not paying attention to the rebounding, and the rebounding is killing us,” said Gary Payton.
Gee, and it only took two games.
The Sonics ended the season as the league’s worst rebounding team, which makes a title unlikely.
So after being blown out in Game 1, the Timberwolves decided to become the Sonics, who opened the series with Jerome Kersey at center. Minnesota went with three guards, Kevin Garnett and Sam Mitchell and outrebounded Seattle by 12.
Said Seattle coach George Karl: “They don’t have a guy over 6-6 on the court for a lot of minutes and they get 20-some offensive rebounds. They have a lot of confidence pounding us on the boards.”
So does everyone. What Seattle does is play defense on the perimeter, forcing steals and bad shots. Minnesota countered with ballhandlers, who could escape the pressure and bother Vin Baker on defense with traps.
And Seattle, almost a 40 percent three-point-shooting team in the playoffs, is shooting just 28 percent on threes.
“It’s our offense I’m a little worried about,” said Karl.
Are we looking at the biggest playoff upset since, well, the last time Seattle was upset in the first round?
The deal: It was the trade that hurt everyone. The Miami Heat, fearing it couldn’t re-sign Isaac Austin, acquired athletic Brent Barry, who didn’t make the playoff roster. Eventually Barry could help, but the Heat, in losing Sunday to the Knicks, were beat up at center as Terry Cummings came off the bench for 14 rebounds in 27 minutes. “I am a defender and rebounder now,” said Cummings, whom the Bulls were unable to acquire at midseason. As for Austin, he faded when he got to the Clippers. Said former Clippers coach Bill Fitch: “He came in here out of shape, or not in shape to play the minutes we wanted him to play. He’s not the shot-blocking intimidator on defense but plays good team defense.”
Nevertheless, look for Austin to be in demand as a free agent.
Straight talk: Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy usually is pretty accurate in his assessments. And Van Gundy, like many who write them down every day, is tired of the cliches: “It’s always intensity. It’s always focus, toughness. At some point, you have to put the ball in the basket. When we don’t know what’s wrong, we always talk about intensity.” So the Knicks hit seven of 15 three-pointers Sunday after being outscored on threes 33-3 in Game 1 and evened their series with Miami. Sounds easy enough.
Round 2: The Bulls and Hornets are leading their first-round series 2-0, so perhaps it’s time to look ahead to the second round. The Bulls play the Charlotte-Atlanta winner. And the Hornets’ success against Atlanta mirrors what has troubled the Bulls about the Nets. After being swept in the regular season by Atlanta, the Hornets attacked inside, outscoring Atlanta inside an average of 43-31 after being outscored there by Atlanta 43-30 in the regular-season games. The Hawks’ Dikembe Mutombo is shooting just 38 percent and averaging seven points, while Charlotte’s Glen Rice got so charged up he tripled his season average with 13 rebounds in Game 2 and even got five fouls in a game for the first time since Nov. 3. The Hawks are 0-21 in franchise history when losing the first game of a playoff series.
Free throws: Given his penchant for rough play, it was no surprise that Utah’s John Stockton wasn’t upset about the flagrant shot from Charles Barkley as Barkley decided to foul out of Game 2 in Utah. “My kids like Charles,” said Stockton. “I really do, too.” Added Jeff Hornacek: “It seems like every time we beat them, they end up doing something like that. You just have to prepare yourself. Every game is going to be a war.” . . . Among those who are home thinking about the draft, the Mavericks and Clippers are saying they’ll take Arizona guard Mike Bibby if they get the chance, while Toronto and Philadelphia are said to be leaning to 7-foot, 270-pound Pacific center Michael Olowokando. . . . Seattle’s Hersey Hawkins is wearing a bracelet given to him by his wife, with the initials WWJC for “Win With Jesus Christ.” Said Hawkins: “It reminds me how to act and behave.”. . . It was another disappointing season for Shawn Bradley, who averaged 11.4 points and 8.1 rebounds and has left Mavericks coach Don Nelson wondering about his plan to build around Bradley. Said Nelson: “Shawn’s got to get better, or we won’t be afraid to look for another center. It’s a shame if he messes this up.” . . . Pacers coach Larry Bird was impressed by his players’ decision to shave their heads, although one cannot be happy for Rik Smits. But Bird says his players have no idea about sacrifice: “Sometimes I look at them (with their new ‘dos) and I don’t know who they are, but if they can become closer as a team and win games, why not? We (the Celtics) quit drinking one year (1986 in the playoffs). That was tough, but we won it. It was the ultimate sacrifice, because there were a few guys on the team, including myself, who thought a beer was the best-tasting thing you could ever have after a game.”
