Off The Press

Off the Press, it's the playoffs, y'all!!  Get ready for the funk!!  There's nothing quite like the NBA playoffs.  The sheer athleticism, the personal battles, the big shots, the nasty dunks, the Laker Girls, bring it all on!  I'm ready.  To paraphrase Gil Scott-Heron, the NBA playoffs got more drama than Hollywood's got stars and Beverly got Hills. 

Watch for Suns and stars, advises Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post.  Wilbon offers up a preview essay on the NBA playoffs.  After a perfunctory nod to the plethora of great first round playoff matches, Wilbon gets down to his real subject, praise-singing for the Phoenix Suns.  I haven't seen Wilbon this ecstatic since the last time Tiger Woods won the Masters.  Wilbon writes:

The Pistons and Spurs, winners of the last two championships, are great teams by any reasonable present-day definition. Whether they thrill people, which the truly memorable teams do, is another story. What the league really needs is a team everybody wants to watch, a team that reflects not just skill, professionalism and unselfishness at the highest level, but a team that leaves you at game's end with a sense that something joyous has just occurred.

The Phoenix Suns should be that team this year. Watching the Suns, when they're really on, makes you feel like you're watching a great band live, at its very best. It ought to be theater, the way it was when Jordan's Bulls, Bird's Celtics and Magic's Lakers played. The Suns don't have a player as great as any of those three, but they do have the reigning MVP in Steve Nash who enables them to play the way kids dream of playing, which is to say fast and daring . . . of sinking long shots and throwing pinpoint passes on the fly. The Suns are like a great hockey team on a power play; they always seem to have an extra man ready to shoot, somebody completely unaccounted for by the defense.

The Spurs are polite applause. The Pistons are a foot stomp. The Suns are a shrill scream and a leap from the seats. Phoenix is exactly what the NBA needs forfour rounds, right through the NBA Finals.

Wilbon is feeling the Suns, but his affection is grounded in reality.  He has the Suns advancing no further than the Western Conference Finals. 

Speaking of the West, Sportsline's Tony Meija delivers a preview and a prediction on the Western Conference.  Look for one first round 'upset,' Meija forecasts a Clipper upset victory in their series against Denver.  Did I just write that?  The Clippers in the playoffs (a bettor's choice, no less)...man, that hasn't happen since I was in high school.  Wow!! Clippers in the playoffs, and Karl Rove on his way out!  Man!!  This must be some kind of sign.

A lot of people are feeling L.A.  Both the Lakers and Clippers are surging.  L.A has two stories this postseason, notes USA Today's David Leon Moore. Some folks even like Kobe's Lakers to take the Suns in the first round.  USA Today's David DuPree writes, league's top scorer set for playoffs' top scoring team.  While beating Phoenix will be extremely difficult, one can't rule out a Laker upset. A win over Steve Nash in the playoffs (and probably in the MVP race also) is just too much for Kobe's ego to resist.  Expect a classic!!  USA Today has playoff capsules of all the first round series. Check 'em out.

Another interesting first round matchup will feature the San Antonio Spurs versus Ron Artest's Sacramento Kings.  The matchup between Artest and Bruce Bowen alone should be worth the price of admission.  Artest has been behaving (for Ron Artest) in Sacramento.  Perhaps it's the laid back environment or perhaps the proximity to Humboldt county's finest, for whatever reason one might infer, Artest has been a model citizen with the Kings.  The Denver Post's Marc J. Spears reports, Artest lifting Kings to higher level, playoffs.  Spears writes:

This a new Artest, an exile from Indiana who has in three months built a new reputation in Sacramento. He's become the king of the Kings, comfortable with media and the fans, and back to all-star form.

"You got to give Ron a lot of credit," Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said. "To me, it's really a great story to have the type of impact he's had."

The Kings were 18-24 and all but out of the playoff picture before acquiring Artest in a trade with the Pacers. Now they are in the playoffs at 44-38, having grabbed the last spot in the West following a late-season surge. They face No. 1 seed San Antonio in the first round

"My, my, my!," like Johnny Gill would say.  Is this really Ron Artest?  Man (what did I say about signs and portent?)!!  Just to let you know Artest has not left his bizarro universe completely behind, The AP's Greg Beacham reports Artest is predicting a series victory over the Spurs.  "No. 1. They're No. 1 now, but I think we'll leave No. 1,"  Artest stated.

Gotta love that Ron Artest!

We're about one week away from the NFL Draft and the dis-information campaigns of all 32 NFL teams are working overtime.  Believe nothing you hear between now and next Friday!  Trust me, I speak from experience.  I used to plant rumors on team fan sites and messageboards just to see how far they'd go. To glean any information from official NFL team sources would tax the capabilities of the CIA, and if President Bush really wanted to hire a solid replacement for Scott McClellan, he should consider Bill Belichick (not that Belichick would ever consider the job).  Belchick would give the Sphinx a run for its money.  Not only does he say nothing, he does it in the most dry, most monotonous drone.

Check out these two stories, the first, no clues to this mystery, by Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe, is a report on Belichick's pre-draft press conference with the media. "When the coach of the Patriots spoke to local media yesterday for the first time since his squad was bounced from the playoffs by the Denver Broncos, there was little expectation he would divulge inside information, and Belichick delivered. Or didn't," reads Solomon's account. 

Jason Whitlock, of the Kansas City Star, reports on Herman Edwards' first pre-draft press conference as head coach of the Chiefs.  Personality wise, Edwards is as different from Belichick as I am from Whitlock, however like Whitlock and I share an affinity for Ty Law, Edwards and Belichick are both masters of saying much without divulging anything.  Edwards is just a lot more entertaining than Belichick. 

As for Whitlock and I?

Whitlock reports, Herm knows what he's doing when it comes to cornerbacks.  The crux of Whitlock's report is, the cornerback-needy Chiefs will not be drafting a cornerback in the first round of this year's draft.  I'm saying that the Patriots will draft a corner with their first pick of the draft.  It may be Anotonio Cormartie of FSU or Ashton Youbouty of OSU, or neither.  The Pats will take a corner No. 1.  Which prediction will come true, mine or Jason's? 

We'll see.

out.

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• #1 Comment from monponsett 
  5/2/06 6:22 PM | Permalink

  lol... I bet that the guy who wrote "the Suns are like a great rock band at the height of their powers" wishes he could suck that page back out of the Internet about now, no?