The ultimate skill is to take up a position where you are formless. If you are formless, the most penetrating spies will not be able to discern you, nor the wisest counsels be able to do calculations against you. Therefore, your strategy for victories in battle is not repititious, and your formations in response to the enemy are endless. Those who are able to adapt and change in accord with the enemy and achieve victory are called divine.
-Sun Tzu
(applies to pretty much any competitive event you ever do; fighting games, bball, board games)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
funny how at the beginning i thought there might not be a pistons-spurs rematch.
now there's a very good chance both teams won't even MAKE it. (the little good news is that both teams still aren't dead yet)
all those TINY things that i had against flip saunders' coaching is starting to come out as i stunningly find the pistons 1 game loss away from ending their chances of going back to the finals. and not even against the heat or nets. spurs possibly losing to the mavericks isn't so bad of a stunner, because everybody knew dallas was THAT much better this year. the fact that pistons are getting beat by a team they should've routed in 5 games though is rediculous.
but going back to the afterthoughts i've had about flip's philosophy:
for instance, i've always had afterthoughts about double-teaming, considering how good each of the pistons can play 1-on-1. if each of the pistons are that good, why double-team when you know it'll just leave a gaping hole open? it's hurting them, because it's not even really containing lebron, and all these role-players are beating the pistons. i'm not even too sure prince is doing that good of a job containing lebron. in my opinion, billups, hunter, even rip have done better jobs, because it seems that prince's big weakness on defense is he's too frail to fight through screens and still keep pace.
charles barkeley is right in that sometimes detroit feels that they can win games alone with their OFFENSE this year. this is showing in 2 ways; sometimes they rush their shots, and they are STILL a jump-shooting team. they're not being aggressive offensively. and they're looking at offense as a way to beat the opponents, rather than a supplement to their defense.
that being said, maybe the injuries to rip and sheed are what are hurting this team the most this series. rip's been off, and sheed's been off, which gets rid of MANY 3s that could've been hit. with that, you put the majority of the pressure on billups and prince to play your offense, along with antonio coming off the bench.
i still don't see the urgency and desire detroit needs to exhibit in order to win this series. cleveland has been containing lanes much more better on defense and playing their game on offense. lebron james has been nothing short of spectactular, as he has basically been unguardable, and finding open guys that easily. on top of that, his teammates when they get the ball DO finish.
i've had afterthoughts about what type of impact flip would have on the pistons at the beginning of the season like many, but it was quickly squashed in the season by their wins. now, at least to me, larry brown's coaching is looking VERY good.
pistons just don't seem to have that fire that they had in the past. the good news is that they have gotten out of a 3-2 hole on the road before. let's see if they get complacent or not.
---
on a side note, duncan looked VERY, VERY, good.
now there's a very good chance both teams won't even MAKE it. (the little good news is that both teams still aren't dead yet)
all those TINY things that i had against flip saunders' coaching is starting to come out as i stunningly find the pistons 1 game loss away from ending their chances of going back to the finals. and not even against the heat or nets. spurs possibly losing to the mavericks isn't so bad of a stunner, because everybody knew dallas was THAT much better this year. the fact that pistons are getting beat by a team they should've routed in 5 games though is rediculous.
but going back to the afterthoughts i've had about flip's philosophy:
for instance, i've always had afterthoughts about double-teaming, considering how good each of the pistons can play 1-on-1. if each of the pistons are that good, why double-team when you know it'll just leave a gaping hole open? it's hurting them, because it's not even really containing lebron, and all these role-players are beating the pistons. i'm not even too sure prince is doing that good of a job containing lebron. in my opinion, billups, hunter, even rip have done better jobs, because it seems that prince's big weakness on defense is he's too frail to fight through screens and still keep pace.
charles barkeley is right in that sometimes detroit feels that they can win games alone with their OFFENSE this year. this is showing in 2 ways; sometimes they rush their shots, and they are STILL a jump-shooting team. they're not being aggressive offensively. and they're looking at offense as a way to beat the opponents, rather than a supplement to their defense.
that being said, maybe the injuries to rip and sheed are what are hurting this team the most this series. rip's been off, and sheed's been off, which gets rid of MANY 3s that could've been hit. with that, you put the majority of the pressure on billups and prince to play your offense, along with antonio coming off the bench.
i still don't see the urgency and desire detroit needs to exhibit in order to win this series. cleveland has been containing lanes much more better on defense and playing their game on offense. lebron james has been nothing short of spectactular, as he has basically been unguardable, and finding open guys that easily. on top of that, his teammates when they get the ball DO finish.
i've had afterthoughts about what type of impact flip would have on the pistons at the beginning of the season like many, but it was quickly squashed in the season by their wins. now, at least to me, larry brown's coaching is looking VERY good.
pistons just don't seem to have that fire that they had in the past. the good news is that they have gotten out of a 3-2 hole on the road before. let's see if they get complacent or not.
---
on a side note, duncan looked VERY, VERY, good.
Monday, May 15, 2006
cavs definitely aint the bucks. that's why this series is knotted up 2 all instead of 3-1. that said, the game was still close all the way to the end, and it could've been 3-1 at the end of this game as opposed as to 2-2, but since it's knotted up and i like the pistons too much, i'm sitting here shaking my head.
lbj was nothing short of spectactular tonight; his long-range jumpers were falling, and eric snow was really good tonight. while lbj was the catalyst of this game's victory, everybody was hitting jumpers. so much about pistons being this tough interior defensive team.
whoever wrote on espn that the pistons are still primarily a jumpshooting team is right. i think this is what makes their offense not 100% dangerous. i think it can help them a bit, because it can help them stay injury-free. and when they get hot, you can't stop them. but it also gets rid of the ability to create shots when your jumpers can't fall. and when they went cold, as they did tonight, it hurt them.
prince needs to work on his post-up game into baby hook and go back to it as his main weapon; i thought when the pistons were controlling the game offensively was when they stopped going for jumpers and letting prince get in and give lbj fits on the defensive end. prince's in-close, post-up game is better than some ppl realize. i think the biggest way the pistons are going to get better offensively is how well prince becomes on his post-up game.
this is one TINY thing i'm holding against the pistons this year compared to last 2 years. yes, their offense is better, and yes, that does lead to a slight dip defensively. but larry brown had this "asian mentality" when he coaches you(remember your mom which hammered you in high school about that 1 B you got in a flurry of A's on your report card?). you could execute 90% of your plays to perfection in a game, and he would hammer you about the 10% plays you didn't after a game. i really do get the feeling that this year, the pistons have a "flip the switch" mentality; let's turn it on when we're down 10, as opposed to flipping it on before a game and breaking the switch off. and it's kinda helped by the fact that flip is a laid back coach. i see their lockdown defense only coming out in spurts as opposed to all 48 minutes. they're not focused all 48 minutes of a game.
basically, what i'm saying is that those 5% plays you didn't execute to perfection in the 1st quarter will come back to haunt you in a close game in the 4th. it's EASY to blow off those plays when you blow the opponent out. but basketball is such a high scoring game, that you really shouldn't have that mentality at all(t-mac goes for about 12 in 1 minute? miller gets 6 in about 8 seconds?). and tonight, that was the case when the pistons played against the cavs. if you took away 5 plays where the pistons tried to nail a jump shot and replaced them with situations where they let prince post up, or just take it in instead of a jumper, or some plays where they did not double when defending james, the outcome of this game could've been different.
but hey, i don't play the games; i just watch them. i COULD be wrong.
---
so, this is what i'm speculating: if larry brown leaves the knicks(didn't expect this to happen, but i would guess this is the most likely scenario), he will end up as the kings' new head coach. and why not; kings are becoming a much more physical team than in the past, relying on hustle and defense to win games more. and who better to bring in than that guy? they even stated that they were going to pass up don nelson.
(personally, i would like larry brown to coach the warriors; mike montgomery is a bit too laid back on the warriors, which may be why they suck so much defensively, and don nelson is not known for being a defensively genius, but bringing in rick adelman wouldn't be a bad idea either)
---
i think that if you're not an asian, you believe the stereotype that ALL asians can't drive. lemme correct this, and say it's not ALL asians. just the ones which have kids in the back and are FOBs. i guess every one of my taiwanese/korean acquaintances knows this, but i had to say it. ever see them drive 20 miles/hour slower than everybody else?
---
i REALLY should try to get rid of as much on my cpu as soon as possible onto cds and defragment this sucker... it's almost unbearable opening a program. problem is i keep finding online stuff to keep.
lbj was nothing short of spectactular tonight; his long-range jumpers were falling, and eric snow was really good tonight. while lbj was the catalyst of this game's victory, everybody was hitting jumpers. so much about pistons being this tough interior defensive team.
whoever wrote on espn that the pistons are still primarily a jumpshooting team is right. i think this is what makes their offense not 100% dangerous. i think it can help them a bit, because it can help them stay injury-free. and when they get hot, you can't stop them. but it also gets rid of the ability to create shots when your jumpers can't fall. and when they went cold, as they did tonight, it hurt them.
prince needs to work on his post-up game into baby hook and go back to it as his main weapon; i thought when the pistons were controlling the game offensively was when they stopped going for jumpers and letting prince get in and give lbj fits on the defensive end. prince's in-close, post-up game is better than some ppl realize. i think the biggest way the pistons are going to get better offensively is how well prince becomes on his post-up game.
this is one TINY thing i'm holding against the pistons this year compared to last 2 years. yes, their offense is better, and yes, that does lead to a slight dip defensively. but larry brown had this "asian mentality" when he coaches you(remember your mom which hammered you in high school about that 1 B you got in a flurry of A's on your report card?). you could execute 90% of your plays to perfection in a game, and he would hammer you about the 10% plays you didn't after a game. i really do get the feeling that this year, the pistons have a "flip the switch" mentality; let's turn it on when we're down 10, as opposed to flipping it on before a game and breaking the switch off. and it's kinda helped by the fact that flip is a laid back coach. i see their lockdown defense only coming out in spurts as opposed to all 48 minutes. they're not focused all 48 minutes of a game.
basically, what i'm saying is that those 5% plays you didn't execute to perfection in the 1st quarter will come back to haunt you in a close game in the 4th. it's EASY to blow off those plays when you blow the opponent out. but basketball is such a high scoring game, that you really shouldn't have that mentality at all(t-mac goes for about 12 in 1 minute? miller gets 6 in about 8 seconds?). and tonight, that was the case when the pistons played against the cavs. if you took away 5 plays where the pistons tried to nail a jump shot and replaced them with situations where they let prince post up, or just take it in instead of a jumper, or some plays where they did not double when defending james, the outcome of this game could've been different.
but hey, i don't play the games; i just watch them. i COULD be wrong.
---
so, this is what i'm speculating: if larry brown leaves the knicks(didn't expect this to happen, but i would guess this is the most likely scenario), he will end up as the kings' new head coach. and why not; kings are becoming a much more physical team than in the past, relying on hustle and defense to win games more. and who better to bring in than that guy? they even stated that they were going to pass up don nelson.
(personally, i would like larry brown to coach the warriors; mike montgomery is a bit too laid back on the warriors, which may be why they suck so much defensively, and don nelson is not known for being a defensively genius, but bringing in rick adelman wouldn't be a bad idea either)
---
i think that if you're not an asian, you believe the stereotype that ALL asians can't drive. lemme correct this, and say it's not ALL asians. just the ones which have kids in the back and are FOBs. i guess every one of my taiwanese/korean acquaintances knows this, but i had to say it. ever see them drive 20 miles/hour slower than everybody else?
---
i REALLY should try to get rid of as much on my cpu as soon as possible onto cds and defragment this sucker... it's almost unbearable opening a program. problem is i keep finding online stuff to keep.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
fyi, if you still think sheed's bad for the nba, i suggest you go to www.need4sheed.com, and click on the videos section. then watch the interview he did with stephen a. smith. you'll hear that he actually tries to cut down on the t's, it's just that the refs aren't allowing him to vent his anger in any way. give him a t for not talking, but just giving a dirty look? ok, so let's try something else; but now you're giving him a t for laughing it off? are you crazy?
(while you're there, if you're bored, you can watch sheed making fun of reggie miller prior to game 5(haha), or the interviews billups has w/best damn and stephen a. smith. i like how billups tells stephen a. to pick the spurs so that the pistons'll win this year(since he didn't in 04 and did in 05); stephen a was like "man, you're killing me, you're gonna make me look bad either way.")
btw, sheed's at it again... he made another declaration... i WANT to say it's guaren-SHEED, but i'm leaning more towards 70% it's guaren-SHEED.
some will say that what he's doing is cocky... i understand that, at the same time, i think he does it more to motivate his teammates; he puts his neck out there, knowing it'll raise his teammates' game; i mean, this discussion has been done in the past, on espn.com, during the year they had to play against the pacers to win the eastern conference crown, and again, against the heat to preserve their eastern conference crown.
btw, this is just an observation, but i think the cavs have done better against the pistons WITHOUT hughes. the times he was in, he sucked like crap. then again, i'm basically basing this upon 1 game. we'll see if it still holds true come game 4.
it was funny at first, but now it's just become milked to death how many people are making fun of the nike commercial saying "we are all witnesses" to lebron james growing up, but now getting beat by the pistons in games 1 and 2. i'm sure you've heard it; "of course we're all witnesses... witnesses to an ass-whupping"
-------
spurs should've picked devin harris instead of "futilely" trying to chase jason kidd. it's hurting them now. btw, game 3 was really, really good from what i heard.
i thought the number of sports fans still think detroit's boring and want them to lose, but the last time i checked, the espn poll asking what matchup would you want for the eastern conference crown had pistons against heat leading by a huge margin ahead of everything else. ppl still think the spurs are boring though(or maybe not boring outside of duncan, but it is becoming a bit annoying how ginobili repeatedly tries to sell himself to the refs, and bowen gets away with stuff no one else does). i still watch spurs games in good interest; to learn tim duncan's low post offense and defense, and get amazed by bowen's defense(or at least, try to figure out why so many people dislike him as a defensive player), and parker's slashing. i also like horry. but i'll admit, while i don't dislike ginobili and bowen yet, both are slowly starting to wear thin on me.
heat are SO... SO... streaky. they really ARE the lakers of 04. one game they're terrifying to play against, the next they wilt and lose by 20. i still believe they'll give detroit the biggest problems on their way back to the finals, but i am so confused as to what heat team is going to show up. do they play russian roulette in the locker room and then by those results decide whether to play hard to just give up a game? just go by a "spin the bottle?"
(while you're there, if you're bored, you can watch sheed making fun of reggie miller prior to game 5(haha), or the interviews billups has w/best damn and stephen a. smith. i like how billups tells stephen a. to pick the spurs so that the pistons'll win this year(since he didn't in 04 and did in 05); stephen a was like "man, you're killing me, you're gonna make me look bad either way.")
btw, sheed's at it again... he made another declaration... i WANT to say it's guaren-SHEED, but i'm leaning more towards 70% it's guaren-SHEED.
some will say that what he's doing is cocky... i understand that, at the same time, i think he does it more to motivate his teammates; he puts his neck out there, knowing it'll raise his teammates' game; i mean, this discussion has been done in the past, on espn.com, during the year they had to play against the pacers to win the eastern conference crown, and again, against the heat to preserve their eastern conference crown.
btw, this is just an observation, but i think the cavs have done better against the pistons WITHOUT hughes. the times he was in, he sucked like crap. then again, i'm basically basing this upon 1 game. we'll see if it still holds true come game 4.
it was funny at first, but now it's just become milked to death how many people are making fun of the nike commercial saying "we are all witnesses" to lebron james growing up, but now getting beat by the pistons in games 1 and 2. i'm sure you've heard it; "of course we're all witnesses... witnesses to an ass-whupping"
-------
spurs should've picked devin harris instead of "futilely" trying to chase jason kidd. it's hurting them now. btw, game 3 was really, really good from what i heard.
i thought the number of sports fans still think detroit's boring and want them to lose, but the last time i checked, the espn poll asking what matchup would you want for the eastern conference crown had pistons against heat leading by a huge margin ahead of everything else. ppl still think the spurs are boring though(or maybe not boring outside of duncan, but it is becoming a bit annoying how ginobili repeatedly tries to sell himself to the refs, and bowen gets away with stuff no one else does). i still watch spurs games in good interest; to learn tim duncan's low post offense and defense, and get amazed by bowen's defense(or at least, try to figure out why so many people dislike him as a defensive player), and parker's slashing. i also like horry. but i'll admit, while i don't dislike ginobili and bowen yet, both are slowly starting to wear thin on me.
heat are SO... SO... streaky. they really ARE the lakers of 04. one game they're terrifying to play against, the next they wilt and lose by 20. i still believe they'll give detroit the biggest problems on their way back to the finals, but i am so confused as to what heat team is going to show up. do they play russian roulette in the locker room and then by those results decide whether to play hard to just give up a game? just go by a "spin the bottle?"
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