Wiz Game 'n' Stuff

[bird <birdwl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey, that was a pretty good looking game, especially for preseason.  
Looks like Walker is starting to let things hang out, as he looked 
good.  Real good.  Damn good.  He was robbed of two assists when Eric 
Williams and Pierce couldn't finish.  He made the most of his 
opportunities down low, and, really, didn't make any mistakes that I 
could see.  Very impressive.  Pierce had a monster offensive game, 
although, again, he needs to make more of his free throws.  Such a good 
pure shooter shouldn't miss even as many as he did.  He got a few good 
defensive plays in, but neither he, nor Eric Williams, nor anyone else 
could guard Jerry Stackhouse there for a while.  (Of course, then the 
Whiz helped us out by not going to him anymore.)  Tony Delk, after a 
slow start, also ended up with really good offensive production.  I was 
again gratified at Shammond Williams' play (and couldn't help shouting 
out the Michael Jacksonesque "Shammond!  Shammond!" after particularly 
good ones -- ya gotta thank Mike Gooen -- iirc -- for that one).  Tony 
Battie (I mean, "BAAAH-tee) also looked really good out there, though 
he seemed to play fewer minutes, both because he got into a little foul 
trouble in the second half, and also because Vinnie Baker was playing 
well.  I don't know what numbers he ended up with, but I tried to pay 
particular attention to Baker, and I liked what I saw.  He sealed guys 
well, and seemed to go for the offensive rebound.  (The entire team 
seemed to make rebounding a priority.)  Baker also made a great play 
where undoubtedly the official scorer gave a bound to Sundov, but it 
was all Baker's doing, as he stayed with it and tipped it to Bruno.  
Baker made some moves down low that were really effective.

Would still like to see more of a defensive clamp, but it's preseason, 
and no self-respecting NBA team is going to shut down other teams in 
the preseason.

As for ESPN, I think the choice of Timmy Hardaway in the studio is a 
bad one.  He basically just repeated what Frazier said when asked a 
question a bunch of times.  As for Elliot and Saunders, they ain't bad, 
though Elliot ought to stop applying traditional b-ball cliches to a 
team like Boston who have no use for them.  He should also learn how to 
pronounce Bruno Sundov's name.  Snoopy already mentioned Saunders weird 
pronounciation of Battie's name.  It could've been worse, and when 
Elliot teams up with Brent Musburger (isn't he dead yet?), it will be.  
And is anyone else fearful of all these new gadgets, graphics and 
camera angles that ESPN is promising?  Be afraid.  Elliot was like 
"we've got lot's of goodies for the fans!"  Dude, the game is the 
thing.  Just show the game.  That's all I care about.  Certainly not 
the newestcoolestbiggest screen wipe or graphic.  And the camera angle 
thing could be bad.  I remember NBC introduced one about six or seven 
years ago -- the "camera-on-a-wire" thing -- that literally made me 
nauseated.

The only other thing to complain about is this sickening pandering to 
MJ.  He's clearly the greatest.  I can't believe he's being called for 
fouls.  He's just the coolest.  Phooey.  I still think Bill Russell is 
the greatest basketball player of all time.  Period.  Yet, Jordan is a 
very intelligent basketball player.  Even at less-than-100% (even for 
his age) he made smart plays and knew precisely what to do.  
Impressive.  The other pandering was this kowtowing people give the 
Lakers.  No one will win anything while Shaq and Kobe are there.  I 
can't see how another team can beat them.  Pshaw.  Let's see: the Kings 
almost did, Shaq's Big Toe injury could derail him, almost any team can 
beat another team on any given night.  Sure, they're the favorites, but 
people are acting like the games aren't even necessary.  Sure, the road 
to the Championship goes through LA, but I thought this was America, 
and if the road's blocked, we just take our gas-guzzling SUV and blaze 
another trail to the destination.  At least that's what the commercials 
on TV tell me.

OK, enough bitching, but it still wasn't as much as Doug Collins and MJ 
did.  How dare the refs have the temerity to call Jordan for a foul.  
Don't they know the score?  But I'm sure Doug's whining will make them 
see the light.  Yeah, that'll learn 'em.  I love beating Doug Collins.  
Finest kind.

Bird