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ALDLAND’s NBA Finals Game 4 Live Blog
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Tag Archives: nba
NBA Finals, Game 3: Aptly named?
So far, the NBA Finals has been a tale of two blowouts. The most recent one belongs to the San Antonio Spurs, who routed the Miami Heat 113-77 to take a 2-1 series lead. The big story on offense was the three-point shooting of Danny Green and Gary Neal, who together made 13/19 shots from distance. As a team, the Spurs shot 50% from behind the arc, and they attempted 32 such shots.
Thirty-two three-point attempts seemed like a lot to me. The season average across all teams this year was 19.9, that number representing a record high. Thirty-two attempts is not an all-time record, though. In 1996, Dallas attempted forty-nine three-pointers in a 127-117 win over New Jersey. (Somebody named George McCloud was responsible for twenty of those attempts. The Nets, as a team– a team featuring none other than future Maverick Shawn Bradley– only attempted five. Rick Mahorn also played in that game, so do with that what you will.) In fact, there have been 404 games in NBA/ABA/BAA history in which a team attempted at least 33 three-point shots. It isn’t even the most this season, in which eighty-three games saw a team attempt at least 33 threes, and seven of those performances came in these playoffs. All time, only twenty-three playoff games have seen at least thirty-three attempts, though, which certainly comports with the trend the Sporting News discussed in the above-linked story on the steep increase in three-point shooting.
That the Spurs’ thirty-two attempts on Tuesday seemed like a lot to me only means that I haven’t been watching a lot of NBA basketball in recent years, which is absolutely correct.
Enjoy game 4 tonight if you’re capable of enjoying such things.
ALDLAND Podcast
Technical difficulties and general laziness are a good combination for going two weeks without a podcast. Fear not, dear listeners, as one of the two of those issues has been fixed and a brand new ALDLAND podcast is available for you to take in. Join Marcus and I as we preview the NBA finals, discuss the latest in MLB steroids news, and take a look at our preseason World Series picks.
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Download the ALDLAND podcast at our Podcasts Page or stream it right here:
Friday Roundup
- R.I.P. Dick Trickle. He wasn’t Cole’s biological father, but it makes no difference, and he certainly wasn’t any kind of new school driver. As sure as rubbin’ is racin’, the hammer had to drop one final time for Trickle, but this isn’t how we expected it to happen. To the best of the Midwest:
The NBA has reached Peak Charge
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Related
The NBA All-Star Game is a joke
Previously
We have reached Peak ESPN SportsNation
ALDLAND Podcast
Not a lot going on in the sports world these days with the MLB still getting into the swing (heh) of things and the NHL not quite to the playoffs yet. Co-host Marcus “Primetime” Paschall and I have scraped the bottom of the barrel and come up with some discussion of the thus far lackluster NBA playoffs, which is really more of a discussion of hypothetical future playoff matchups. But it will still be fun for you because what else do you have to do? Work? Hang out with family? So listen as we dig into the meat of the NBA playoffs and talk about the excessive NFL Draft coverage on ESPN.
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Download the ALDLAND podcast at our Podcasts Page or stream it right here:
Rasheed Wallace, perhaps the NBA’s best character, has again retired
Veteran forward Rasheed Wallace has retired from pro basketball for the second time, the New York Knicks announced Wednesday.
Wallace played in 21 games this season with the Knicks but had missed most of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot.
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A first-round draft pick in 1995, Wallace played 15 seasons in the NBA and won a title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He retired in 2010 after one season with the Celtics in which the team lost to the Lakers in the Finals. Wallace came out of retirement to sign with the Knicks in October.He finishes his career with averages of 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The four-time All-Star has been known as a volatile player and finishes as the all-time leader in technical fouls with 304.
About a million things could be written about Sheed, but none of them would be as interesting, engaging, or fun as Sheed himself. (E.g., this Grantland profile.) Instead, let’s just say that Sheed played hard, most of the time, and Sheed don’t lie, all of the time.
Is Rick Pitino trying to sink his player’s draft stock?
After Louisville guard Russ Smith’s team won the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it was a little bit surprising when Smith’s father announced right after the game that his son was entering the NBA draft. It felt for whatever reason like a kneejerk sports parent move– just let the kid enjoy the moment for a while– and besides, Smith hadn’t had a great game and is a bit on the small side to boot. He was one of the best players on the best team this year, though, so it wasn’t surprising when Smith confirmed his dad’s statement the next day.
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino confirmed it too, until he didn’t. ESPN reports:
“Russ, I think, is 50-50,” [Pitino] told Sports Radio 790 in Louisville [today]. “He’s a very confused young man in terms of his decision right now. He didn’t want his dad to say that about him coming out. He wanted time to think of it.”
Yeesh. Does Pitino, who has coached at major college programs and in the NBA, think he’s helping his player with those statements? (He’s not.) Is he trying to force Smith to return to Louisville? (Maybe.) Is he showing early signs of tattoo ink poisoning? (Possibly.)
Why can’t college basketball coaches in the state of Kentucky leave well enough alone when it comes to their players declaring for the NBA draft?
The Memphis Grizzlies have the best promotions
Last fall, the Memphis Grizzlies were offering free game tickets (and gas cards!) in exchange for guns. Now they’re straight up giving away beer. From the Memphis Business Journal:
The Memphis Grizzlies and A.S. Barboro, the Memphis distributor for MillerCoors, are doing their part to take the edge off of tax season while celebrating the Grizzlies’ upcoming 2013 playoff run.
Beginning at 11 a.m., April 15, the Grizzlies and A.S. Barboro will be giving 300 fans a free 24-ounce Coors Light in the plaza of FedExForum.
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“We looked at a couple of different days, but we decided we could ease the pain from tax day with some free beer,” [Steve Hegdale, general manager of A.S. Barboro,] said. “We’ll say a few words, check some IDs and give away some free beer.”Fans can begin arriving around 10 a.m. for an identification check to ensure they’re old enough to drink beer. Once that’s taken care of, fans will receive one of 300 limited edition Memphis Grizzlies 24-ounce cans of Coors Light. The giveaway is limited to one can per person.
“If there are two things in life worth celebrating, it is finishing your taxes and Grizzlies playoff basketball,” Chad Bolen, vice president of corporate partnerships with the Grizzlies, said. “Our friends at A.S. Barboro and Coors Light can help you quench your Grizz-sized thirst with a Memphis Grizzlies commemorative 24 oz. can of Coors Light. We encourage all basketball loving, tax-paying, Grizzlies fans to join us for a cold one.”
What could go wrong?
(Read the full story here.)
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Related
Memphis to accept guns in exchange for Grizzlies tickets
Steve Kerr to conduct TNT’s acid-jazz approach to the NBA
USA Today reports that TNT is experimenting with an “all analyst” approach to its NBA broadcasts. On Thursday, former NBA players Steve Kerr, Chris Webber, and Reggie Miller will broadcast the Thunder-Warriors game without a play-by-play announcer. Although all three have national broadcasting experience, Kerr has been tabbed (by the network?) to “act as ‘point man leading us to breaks. Maybe a little bit of a traffic cop if the game calls for it. It is more like three former players having a round table (discussion) almost during the game.'”
The concept intrigues me, and I am glad TNT is willing to experiment with the traditional broadcast formula, but I was wondering why Kerr was designated as the one to steer the broadcast, until I remembered his role in anchoring another all-star trio.
The Wood Brothers?
More hear.
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