Time for a proper NBA awards night

From where I sit it looks like the NBA should doing their awards differently...

 

A richly deserved MVP for Kevin Durant. And a beautiful speech. Too bad it was all done in Edmond, OK. I'm sure it's a great city, according to the Wikipedia entry it was number 1 on CNBC's 'Top 10 Perfect Suburbs' in 2011. Sounds lovely. Still not the best place to crown the league MVP. The NHL has been doing it for years, the NFL is now on board. The NBA should be doing these awards in a special presentation at the end of the season. The NHL heads to Vegas, the NFL is holding it in the Super Bowl city the night before the big game. Imagine a powerful speech in prime time TV from New York or LA, not from the winner's practice facility. Durant's emotion was palpable. Too bad most of us only saw it on SportsCentre.

At least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.

More heartbreak in Toronto

From where I sit it looks like the Raptors season will have a lasting impact...

For the most part it's a good impact. The series against Brooklyn grabbed the attention of most Canadian sports fans. However, I would like to start by saying their #WeTheNorth was grating at best. I know what they're trying to accomplish, but honestly I'm not enough of a basketball fan to even consider the Raptors 'my team'. Add to that they are from Toronto which is enough to make some people cheer against any team. So they are facing an uphill battle for the hearts of the nation. That being said, they did a great job creating atmosphere but inside and outside the ACC. Each game of the series was competitive, the only blowout being the Nets 97-83 win in game 6. Apart from that it was single digits, with four games being decided by two possessions or less. It was tight, exciting basketball culminating with a frantic charge from the Raptors in the 4^th quarter of game 7. The entire series came down to the final possession for the home team as time expired. And the Raptors got no shot. Kyle Lowry dribbled himself into three Nets and was left with nothing. He had Terrence Ross wide open to his left with 3 seconds left and he just lowered his head and tried to drive the lane. Lowry put the ball on the floor and grabbed it away from Patrick Patterson with 1.5 left as he desperately tried to be the hero. Instead he was rejected soundly by Pierce. I don't know why the ball wasn't passed. Was the play designed to have Lowry take it to the rack? Even I know that's a tough spot to go late in the game. Or did Lowry put blinders on and simply think he didn't need help? No matter what was supposed to happen the Raptors season came to a heartbreaking halt in game 7. Kind of like the Maple Leafs last season.

At least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.

Should the Sharks dismantle and round 2 picks

From where I sit it looks like there could be changes coming in San Jose...

via thestar.com

With lots of emphasis on 'could'.  Let's be honest here, it's hard to critique the Sharks. They are a great team 3/4 of the time. They have only missed the playoffs 5 times in their history, the last miss was over a decade ago (2002-03). They are a great team, in the regular season at least. A run to the final is still elusive. San Jose appeared in back-to-back conference finals, but only managed a single win; being swept by Chicago in 2010 and losing to Vancouver in 5 in 2011. They consistently approach the 100 point plateau, but stumble inexplicably at the last hurdles. Is it time for a change, at least in some of the big names who managed to all but vanish in the last four games against the Kings? Perhaps it's a coaching issue. Also take into account they play in a tough division. The Pacific is not a walk in the park, just ask the Canucks. It's a sad sight, great fans having their hopes dashed year after year by a team who simply can't get it done.

As for the teams who actually made the second round...

I'm fairly satisfied with my first round record. Not only was I 5-for-8, but I actually got 3 of them bang on (Boston in 5, Rangers in 7 and Chicago in 6). So, here's my prognostications for round 2. Carey Price will out play Tukka Rask and the Bruins won't be able to stay out of the penalty box. Habs in 7. The Penguins were woefully exposed by the Blue Jackets, Rangers in 6. In the West, Chicago is simply too good and will shut down Minnesota in 5. While Anaheim and LA will go the distance. The Ducks goaltending isn't where it needs to be to make it to the conference finals, the Kings is. LA takes game 7 in overtime.

At least that's how I see it and I sit in the cheap seats.

Adam Silver changes the NBA for the better

From where I sit it looks like Adam Silver manged to formulate the perfect response...

Sadly, Donald Sterling still stands to profit from the exposure of his true nature. Although the NBA plans to force him to sell the Clippers, Sterling will see a hefty payday. Forbes has the team listed with a $575 million value. Tragically there's nothing the NBA can do about that. The other problem is that despite all this exposure and negative publicity Sterling isn't going to change. Neither will anyone else sharing his disgusting world views. Change will start in youth, not adults. The key is education, not denunciation. That being said, it's great to see everyone on the same page. Having Adam Silver stand before the sporting world and speak on behalf of everyone in the NBA was a great moment in sports history. The anger is his voice was palpable. So was the passion. It's something we don't get to see very often from the head of a league. It was one of the biggest moments in NBA history. Adam Silver has been in charge for a matter of weeks and he has already changed the game. Good for him!

At least that's how I see it and I sit in the cheap seats.

Few choices in the Sterling controversy

From where I sit it looks like the NBA is facing a major headache...

via tmz.com

What options does the league really have to deal with Donald Sterling? Can they force him to sell his team? Not really, and even if they do that's going to cause more problems for the players and fans than for Sterling himself. Given the level of entertainment generated by the Clippers it wouldn't be fair to see the team sold to anyone who was going to do less with the franchise. For the first time in their history the Clippers are dominating LA and it would be terrible to have the team dismantled because the owner is allegedly a racist jerk. Then there's the word 'allegedly'. All of this is from an audio recording. It's really not all that hard to rearrange audio to make it sound completely different from the original intent. But Sterling has remained bizarrely silent. Even when caught red handed, most offenders will offer up immediate denials, followed by a tearful apology and assurances of upcoming counselling. There's been none of that from Sterling. The NAACP has revoked Sterling's lifetime achievement award, and even that seems strange. How could someone so brutally racist be in line for a lifetime award from a organization focused on equality? Add to all of this the NBA is finally giving it's response on Tuesday, a full 4 days after all this started. Of course all this is happening to the most sad-sack team in the NBA. Just when the Clippers seemed to have all their ducks in a row, they turn around and shoot them.

At least that's how I see it and I sit in the cheap seats.

NBA Playoffs too spread out

From where I sit it looks like the NBA needs to work on it's scheduling...

via sports.nationalpost.com

The Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets are putting on a great show. At least I think they are. I will freely admit I'm not a basketball fan. I'm peripheral at best, but I do enjoy the playoffs. I want to tune in. Really I do, but I have no idea when they're playing. The Raps and Nets have played three games in a week. In fact the entire NBA playoffs has been a mess. The first round started a week ago and four teams still haven't played game 3. I know there are always conflicts in scheduling. Today's arenas are booked almost every night and it can be difficult to get all the games running on a good time frame. However, the NHL has been at it for 10 days and every series is on game 5. Yes, the NBA is playing to it's audience by working the schedule so as many top teams get good weekend slots as possible, but two games in a week? That's pathetic. It's trying too hard to create artificial excitement by drawing the series out instead of creating real excitement by allowing the teams to keep playing. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Toronto-Brooklyn series, I'm assuming it's going to end some time in May.

At least that's how I see it and I sit in the cheap seats.

A good suspension and a dumb pitcher

From where I sit it looks like Stephane Quintal has passed his first test...

There's plenty of overused and abused cliches to describe the situation Quintal has been forced into. You can pick your favourite line. I'll go with 'jumping into the deep end'. In any case, he has started up where his predecessor left off. After Brendan Shannahan left NHL Head Office to join the Leafs in Toronto there was some concern about the next head of discipline. Thankfully, Quintal is already showing he studied Shannahan's methods and the League's standards and kept things rolling along. Matt Cooke's 7 game suspension is a solid number for a repeat offender. He is gone for the remainder of this series and, should the Wild advance, some of round two as well. It's a solid decision and it signals to the rest of the league that the punishment will continue to be consistent. Now, if only we could do something about the players who are consistently idiots.

And speaking of idiots...Michael Pineda deserves a special spot in the pantheon of idiots...

via tmz.com

Congratulations! You managed to cheat twice, get caught at it twice, and the second time was more obvious than the first. Sure, he didn't get ejected in the first game, but after everyone saw what Pineda was doing you'd think he'd try to hide it better! Add to that the fact that he was doing it against the same team! After their manager called him on it in the pre-game media briefing! I believe this meme best sums up the situation:

via kulphoto.com

At least that's how I see it and I sit in the cheap seats.