|
NBA Sunday: San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns
Around this time a couple of weeks ago I wrote a story about a Suns game, and how the addition of Shaq would either help or hurt them. So far they have a below .500 record since the trade, and the critiques of the move by the Suns seem to be the last ones laughing now. It isn’t that Shaq isn’t trying. In fact, he has looked revitalized in his role, grabbing rebounds at a higher clip than he was with the Heat, but he simply too slow to match the high octane pace of the rest on the Phoenix lineup. Shaq is now in his mid 30’s, and even as a younger man he might have been too slow for the job, it isn’t easy lunging 330 pounds from end-to-end on a nightly basis. They do still have Steve Nash, and in a different year when Kobe and LeBron weren’t tearing up the court every night, he’d probably be in the running for yet another MVP trophy. He is averaging nearly 12 assists a game, the best in the league, and still has a way of making lesser players look good and good players look great. The Suns will probably still make the playoffs, but it is still a question mark regarding how far they will advance.
The Spurs, when completely healthy, are still the team to beat in the West. The defending champions can share the ball better than any team in the league, and also plays defense among the best teams in the league. Manu Ginobili leads the team with over 20 a game, but on any given night Tony Parker or Tim Duncan can take over a game just as easily. I favor the Spurs in this game, but I also feel that these are the types of games that Shaq could make a different, at least defensively.
NBA Sunday: Chicago Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons
Don’t look now, but the Detroit Pistons are now just a few games back from taking over top space in the Eastern Conference. Back near the beginning of the season when people were wondering if the Celtics would ever lose again, a just above .500 squad in the Pistons defeated the Celtics, showing they are still a powerhouse in the East. The rap on the Pistons was that they only play hard in big games, and will just coast to the regular season and only step it up in the playoffs. Not so fast. Since that early season match-up the Pistons have actually put up a better record than the once unbeatable looking Celtics. They have seemed to taken every team seriously, and behind the play of Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton, and Chauncey Billups they seem primed to make a deep run into the playoffs, probably either ending or advancing against the Celtics. Could be exciting.
The Bulls were expected to be among the better teams in the East. They were bringing back a nearly identical team that had made it to the playoffs the previous two seasons, but the team has sort of seemed to got stale. They fired Coach Scott Skiles, and have skidded to a sub .500 record. In the East, however, they still have a chance to make the playoffs, as do a few lower teams, but they need to start winning now. Up into this point they have showed nothing that proves they can make a run down the stretch. That is why I’m favoring the Pistons big in this game.
|
