Cavs look to even the score before Mavs amp it up
Overall, the sports world could so with more sports and significantly less television commentary. The NBA on TNT is one of those rare exceptions.
Now officially known as TNT NBA Thursday, this show has become one of the most popular programs on the sports schedule. The chemistry among host Ernie Johnson Jr. and analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny ?The Jet? Smith is rare, blending intelligence and humor while giving the viewer a reasonably balanced viewpoint of life in the NBA ? with Smith playing Abbott to Barkley?s Costello.
Handicappers rely on good information. There are plenty of television and radio commentators that try to make up for their lack of intelligent opinions by shouting a lot. Presumably this is meant to increase the ?entertainment? value. But the folks at TNT manage to be entertaining and informative at the same time. Plus they invariably broadcast compelling matchups, like the ones coming up for this Thursday?s double-header. The New York Knicks visit the Cleveland Cavaliers at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and the nightcap features the Dallas Mavericks in Phoenix for a 10:30 p.m. tip-off against the Suns.
The Knicks are flat-out horrible. Their record of 22-54 straight up and 35-41 against the spread heading into Monday night puts them very close to the NBA basement. But the way they are losing makes for compelling television. Coach Larry Brown may not have realized this when he took the Knicks job, but he has gone from the supreme example of team basketball, the Detroit Pistons, to the most dysfunctional group since Jim Jackson and Jason Kidd were playing keep-away with Toni Braxton and leading the talented 1994-95 Dallas Mavericks into oblivion.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are playing above expectations at 46-30 SU and a wallet-filling 41-32-3 ATS. That includes their current 10-1 SU and 7-4 ATS streak to put a stranglehold on the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But their one loss was to the Knicks, a surprise 96-94 loss at Madison Square Garden last Wednesday with New York cashing in as a 7 ?-point underdog.
Thursday?s game should look different in many ways. The Cavs are 29-10 SU and 23-15-1 at Quicken Loans Arena (nee Gund Arena). As well, the lineups for both clubs are in flux. Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed last week?s matchup with a sprained left ankle; his 15.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 30 minutes per game make Ilgauskas the second-most important player in Cleveland, next to a certain Mr. LeBron James. New York, meanwhile, was without point guard Stephon Marbury due to a strained left patella tendon. Both he and Ilgauskas could be back in time for Thursday?s matchup; Jalen Rose, however, might sit this one out. He?s suffering myriad nagging injuries; of note, the Knicks were on a 3-0 SU and ATS mini-streak with both Rose and Marbury out of commission.
LeBron?s physical prowess should whet the NBA nation?s appetite for the main course: Game Two?s meeting between the two most offensively gifted teams in the league. Phoenix (50-26 SU, 40-35-1 ATS) is on top of the leaderboard at 109.3 points per 100 possessions, with Dallas (58-19 SU, 38-37-2 ATS) close behind at 109.1 points. Amazingly, the Suns have been able to accomplish this almost entirely without power forward Amare Stoudemire, who is out for the rest of the season after arthroscopic surgery on his right knee ? supposedly his ?good? knee. Stoudemire gave the Suns 26 points per game last season.
Without the big man in the middle, and with Kurt Thomas out until the playoffs (if then) with a stress fracture in his right foot, the Suns have been forced to play the same up-tempo brand of basketball that we saw last year: 96 offensive possessions per game, to be exact. Boris Diaw has been a revelation as a ?small? 6-foot-8 center, giving the Suns 13.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and six assists per game while playing the kind of smothering defense that opposing teams just hate to deal with.
Dallas, like the Suns, has been trying to ?beef up? on defense the past couple of years in an attempt to make it deeper into the playoffs. Just like last season, the Mavs are the ninth-best defensive team in the league, allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions and driving the ?under? to a 40-35-2 record. The Suns, conversely, are in the middle of the pack at 102.9 points allowed per 100 possessions, and the ?over? is a tasty 41-32-3.
The common factor? None other than MVP point guard Steve Nash. His move to from Dallas to Phoenix is the main reason why Thursday?s matchup looks the way it does. Dallas is much more of a halfcourt team without the speedy 1-guard, which actually benefits Nash?s former teammate and current fellow MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki. Instead of bombing away from the 3-point line, the 7-foot forward is taking advantage of mismatches in the high post, improving his Player Efficiency Rating from an already high 22.53 two years ago to 28.18 this season. Looks like the Nash-Nowitzki split has been good for everybody ? we?ll see what Kenny and the Chuckster have to say about it Thursday night.
---Perry
BetWWTS
Overall, the sports world could so with more sports and significantly less television commentary. The NBA on TNT is one of those rare exceptions.
Now officially known as TNT NBA Thursday, this show has become one of the most popular programs on the sports schedule. The chemistry among host Ernie Johnson Jr. and analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny ?The Jet? Smith is rare, blending intelligence and humor while giving the viewer a reasonably balanced viewpoint of life in the NBA ? with Smith playing Abbott to Barkley?s Costello.
Handicappers rely on good information. There are plenty of television and radio commentators that try to make up for their lack of intelligent opinions by shouting a lot. Presumably this is meant to increase the ?entertainment? value. But the folks at TNT manage to be entertaining and informative at the same time. Plus they invariably broadcast compelling matchups, like the ones coming up for this Thursday?s double-header. The New York Knicks visit the Cleveland Cavaliers at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and the nightcap features the Dallas Mavericks in Phoenix for a 10:30 p.m. tip-off against the Suns.
The Knicks are flat-out horrible. Their record of 22-54 straight up and 35-41 against the spread heading into Monday night puts them very close to the NBA basement. But the way they are losing makes for compelling television. Coach Larry Brown may not have realized this when he took the Knicks job, but he has gone from the supreme example of team basketball, the Detroit Pistons, to the most dysfunctional group since Jim Jackson and Jason Kidd were playing keep-away with Toni Braxton and leading the talented 1994-95 Dallas Mavericks into oblivion.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are playing above expectations at 46-30 SU and a wallet-filling 41-32-3 ATS. That includes their current 10-1 SU and 7-4 ATS streak to put a stranglehold on the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But their one loss was to the Knicks, a surprise 96-94 loss at Madison Square Garden last Wednesday with New York cashing in as a 7 ?-point underdog.
Thursday?s game should look different in many ways. The Cavs are 29-10 SU and 23-15-1 at Quicken Loans Arena (nee Gund Arena). As well, the lineups for both clubs are in flux. Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed last week?s matchup with a sprained left ankle; his 15.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 30 minutes per game make Ilgauskas the second-most important player in Cleveland, next to a certain Mr. LeBron James. New York, meanwhile, was without point guard Stephon Marbury due to a strained left patella tendon. Both he and Ilgauskas could be back in time for Thursday?s matchup; Jalen Rose, however, might sit this one out. He?s suffering myriad nagging injuries; of note, the Knicks were on a 3-0 SU and ATS mini-streak with both Rose and Marbury out of commission.
LeBron?s physical prowess should whet the NBA nation?s appetite for the main course: Game Two?s meeting between the two most offensively gifted teams in the league. Phoenix (50-26 SU, 40-35-1 ATS) is on top of the leaderboard at 109.3 points per 100 possessions, with Dallas (58-19 SU, 38-37-2 ATS) close behind at 109.1 points. Amazingly, the Suns have been able to accomplish this almost entirely without power forward Amare Stoudemire, who is out for the rest of the season after arthroscopic surgery on his right knee ? supposedly his ?good? knee. Stoudemire gave the Suns 26 points per game last season.
Without the big man in the middle, and with Kurt Thomas out until the playoffs (if then) with a stress fracture in his right foot, the Suns have been forced to play the same up-tempo brand of basketball that we saw last year: 96 offensive possessions per game, to be exact. Boris Diaw has been a revelation as a ?small? 6-foot-8 center, giving the Suns 13.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and six assists per game while playing the kind of smothering defense that opposing teams just hate to deal with.
Dallas, like the Suns, has been trying to ?beef up? on defense the past couple of years in an attempt to make it deeper into the playoffs. Just like last season, the Mavs are the ninth-best defensive team in the league, allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions and driving the ?under? to a 40-35-2 record. The Suns, conversely, are in the middle of the pack at 102.9 points allowed per 100 possessions, and the ?over? is a tasty 41-32-3.
The common factor? None other than MVP point guard Steve Nash. His move to from Dallas to Phoenix is the main reason why Thursday?s matchup looks the way it does. Dallas is much more of a halfcourt team without the speedy 1-guard, which actually benefits Nash?s former teammate and current fellow MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki. Instead of bombing away from the 3-point line, the 7-foot forward is taking advantage of mismatches in the high post, improving his Player Efficiency Rating from an already high 22.53 two years ago to 28.18 this season. Looks like the Nash-Nowitzki split has been good for everybody ? we?ll see what Kenny and the Chuckster have to say about it Thursday night.
---Perry
BetWWTS
