Lamentations in the Desert

Tucson, 4/30/08

Lamentations in the Desert

For the fourth time in 5 years the San Antonio Spurs have beaten back the challenge of the Phoenix Suns. It’s the Curse of the Bambino; it has moved from Boston to Phoenix. The hack-a-Shaq tactic employed last night, an on other nights in the series, by Coach Popovich worked like a charm in game 5, as Shaq missed 11 out of 20 free throws, plus the Suns had 7 turnovers in the 4^th period, three by Steve Nash. The final score was 92 to 87.

Already there are rumors that Mike D’Antoni will be fired, that he and Steve Kerr, the General Manager now, have never seen eye to eye. D’Antoni is a coach who believes in a great offensive team, while Kerr, who ended his playing career as a Spur, ending with a ring to what he already had won in Chicago, wanted to put more stress on defense. The team never really adjusted adequately to the presence of Shaq in the paint; their gears as a speed team had a monkey wrench thrown into the run-and-shoot game. Steve Nash in particular had a hard time adjusting.

D’Antoni does deserve part of the blame for he did fail to intensify the efforts of his team. Popovich had his men charged and ready to wrestle with giants, yet their demeanor was calm and confident. The Suns displayed that sort of feeling only sporadically. The excessive turnovers are evidence of a lack of centering. They simply weren’t energized enough to step-up their play. In contrast, the Spurs were able to dip into their passion bucket and catch fire at the right time of year. I also saw that same fire and intensity with the Atlanta Hawks, a young club that’s green but talented. They played over their normal skill range in game 3 and 4, each of which they won against the Boston Celtics who are so heavily favored to make the Eastern Final against Detroit. Ex-Sun Joe Johnson had a magnificent game 4, scoring 35 points, including the last 9 points on some amazing Labron-like driving shots in the paint. No one stepped-up like that for the Suns. The question for next year remains does the Suns stay a unique offensive team striving for deeper team chemistry, or do they shake up the line-up and go for better defense rather than super speed, which is popular with the folks who buy the tickets? It could be a choice between D’Antoni and Kerr.

Can Roger Clemens sink any deeper into hot water? Who will believe anything he says anymore? I certainly don’t. Not only has he done HGH, he’s a philandering husband, and has been for nearly 10 years—and possibly with a minor. He met 32-year-old Mindy McCready when she was 15, although her father insists sex didn’t enter the picture until she was 18 and Clemens was 31. Mindy has confirmed the story that was in the New York newspaper. She will certainly be subpoenaed to testify somewhere down the line.