There are things bigger than sports that happen all across the world every day, and one event in particular hit a little closer to home than most. Let us take a moment to wish everyone suffering lost power, flooded homes, or property taken away by Hurricane Sandy the best of luck in coping with these losses. My fellow students at Pace and I have been extremely fortunate in terms of the damage the storm has caused, but there are plenty of those who were ravaged by the storm. You can help these people out by visiting www.redcross.org, call 800-Red-Cross or text the word “Redcross” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Now on to the less depressing stuff. As many of you know, the NBA season began last night. The stars were out and the bad blood was plentiful. And of course, the sports pundits were out making their bold predictions determined to shape the outcome of the season. Now that the first round of games are done, it is time to look at the most overblown story lines for the season to date.
Overblown story line number 1: Rajon Rondo’s Flagrant Foul on Dwyane Wade.
It was garbage time in a rivalry game and the Heat had the game well in hand at that point. So with 18 seconds left, Rondo decides to stop the Heat’s leading scorer from breaking 30 by wrapping his arm around Wade’s neck in a game that was over.
Of course the post game comments did little to stop the fire. Wade called Rondo’s foul a “punk play” Rondo didn’t say anything, LeBron said Wade was pissed, and OMG Sally said that she saw Marry kissing Jimmy behind the lockers during third period!
Give me a break. The game was well over and nobody was hurt, so the rest of this was bravado. This is the exact kind of stuff that doesn’t matter in sports, yet it seems sexy to pundits to cover, so viewers have it shoved down their throats.
This foul is far more sore loser-ish than dirty. Rondo was upset that his team lost by 13 to the team that everyone in Boston wants to beat, so he took it out on Wade. Neither of these two men are saints, and there are plenty of examples on Youtube of both players committing dirty fouls over their careers. Plus it distracts from the actual story lines of the game, which are the following
-Whether or not LeBron can guard power forwards for the whole year after reportedly leaving the game with cramps (spoiler alert: yes he can).
-The Celtics biggest acquisition in the off season may be Leandro Barbosa and not Jason Terry.
-The Celtics and Heat still don’t like each other and that’s great for basketball.
-Rajon Rondo still can’t shoot free throws or hit an open 15 foot jumper. So while he apathetically puts up near triple doubles every night, he will not be regarded as the best point guard in the NBA for these two reasons.
-The impact of the “Hybrid Lineup” the Heat will play against the rest of the NBA.
Alas, our basketball minds are muddied by the he-said, he-fouled, oh-no-he-didn’t, take-your-hands-off-my-man! moments the NBA has to offer.
So while we get our minds out of high school for a second and look at a slightly more serious overblown story line Skip Bayless is falling in love with on First Take.
Overblown Story line 2: The Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks without Dirk Nowitzki. LA is overrated! Dwight Howard is a bum! They should have kept Bynum!
The Dallas Mavericks bested the “new look Lakers” by a final of 99-91. On a team with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and Dwight Howard the best player on the Lakers last night was Pau Gasol (23 points 13 boards and 6 assists, which is a fantastic line). Dwight Howard clanked 11 of his 14 free throw attempts and is being blamed with the loss and shrinking on the big stage of LA. Questions surrounding the increasingly inevitable destruction of Kobe Bryant’s body loom large. And coach Mike Brown is already on the hot seat a day into the year.
Fortunately for LA fans, I have ritalin in word form for you all: Everything is going to be fine.
The following statistics got lost in the missed free throw shots. Dwight Howard still had 19 points and ten rebounds in his first NBA game after having back surgery. Kobe had 22 points on only 14 shots. The Lakers shot 50 percent for the game. There are still 81 games left in the season.
Unlike Bill Simmons I was not ready to hand the Lakers the Western Conference just because the Lakers got Howard for nothing. I still believe that the West still runs through Oklahoma City, even post-Harden trade. Yet there is a big concern the Lakers are facing, and will continue to face if this is not solved now.
Scrap the Princeton offense. It’s killing Steve Nash.
For those who don’t know, the Princeton offense is basically four players outside the 3 point line and one guy at the top of the key. The four guys at the top of the key make backdoor cuts to try and get themselves open while the guy at the top of the key either shoots the ball or passes.
The guy in the key with the ball last night for LA was Pau Gasol. While Gasol is a good passing big man, Nash has far superior court vision and has won two MVPs with his passing.
Nash had a resounding seven points and four assists last night on three of nine shooting with no free throw attempts. Yet everyone is too worried about Howard missing free throws to notice. Nash told ESPN’s J.A. Adande that he was caught trying to move the ball in the Princeton offense instead of using his vision and passing skills that got him two MVP awards.
You don’t put great NBA players in a box and limit them based on what you want them to do. The same way you don’t tell Miguel Cabrera, triple crown winner, to hit the ball to just one side of the field. The same way you don’t tell Aaron Rodgers to not audible if he sees something in the defense. The longer the Lakers have this power struggle between Nash and the Princeton offense, the longer they will look like they have struggles on offense.
So bravado and overrating players are the kings on opening night rather than a good game between two heated rivals and the struggle between Nash and the Princeton offense. Welcome to the NBA.