Thanks for the link! 4:20: Yet another flat 20-footer by Kobe with a hand in his face: Front of the rim, rebound Houston. Because his knees are deteriorating after 1,100-plus NBA games, Kobe shoots more jumpers and turnarounds, and it's absolutely the right move at this point in his career. At the same time, a smart defensive team like Houston (and Boston last season) plays up on him and dares him to drive for his points. When he doesn't, he has to make 20-footers with a hand in his face. You can't win a title that way. Hope we can keep him working hard to every point.
10:28: Yao pulls a Parish-like drop step on Gasol, then gets fouled on the attempted dunk and hits both freebies. Meanwhile, Doug Collins reports that the constant chatter between Wafer and Vujacic is escalating. Don't get my hopes up that someone might punch Sasha in the face, Doug. That's just not fair. 8:57: Vujacic clobbers Luis Scola on an upfake; Scola makes both FTs. Thank God Scola's hair didn't touch Vujacic's hair. I think the Staples Center would have blown up. 8:05: Three-point play for Ron Artest. Rockets by two. This Lakers crowd is deader than dead. It's not even "Weekend at Bernie's" dead -- it's "Weekend at Bernie's 2" dead. Such good commentary. You know we were all thinking the same things at one point in the game.
Meh.. Simmons is one those ESPN National Focus type characters who tries to 'keep everything in persepective' and capture the entire sports picture (ala Wilbon/Kornheiser) and this isn't really possible when looking at individual games. I like his writing style, but his New England homerism is borderline unbearable at times. His complimenting the opponent of the Lakers shouldn't be touted too highly. It is what it is. I liked it better when the ESPN glare picked the Blazers to shinedown upon and expose. The underdog mentality is practically Rocket doctrine, I'm not too sure how to feel about being semi-almost-respected by Bostonites..
Finally, Bill Simmons does a Rockets game... er a half of a Rockets game. The man is a genius writer and knows his basketball but he has put down Yao the past couple of years with Muresan comparisons, etc... I think a lot of basketball people like Simmons gained newfound respect for Yao after yesterday's game. If we win this series, everyone will view Yao differently.
Simmons is blatant homer. But the one thing you can not say about him is that he is not informed about basketball and the NBA. He loves his Celtics for sure, but I find him very informative when it comes to NBA. Check out some of his podcasts, especially with Marc Stein and Ric Bucher.
Honestly, I think it's funny how much criticism Simmons gets. After David Aldridge (clear #1), I rank Simmons somewhere in there with my other "good guys" (Hollinger, Bucher, Stein) as far as analysts actually worth reading.
Bill Simmons is a self-admitted Boston homer. His M.O. is to write as an observant and informed fan and not as a dry, humorless sports columnist. And Simmons is rooting for the Rockets not just because of the anti-Kobe factor but also because he really respects Daryl Morey and his moneyball approach.
Entertaining, but also some great insights into the Rockets' defense. Switching the 3, 4 positions and putting Artest on Odom and Scola on Ariza was a really clever move. The Rockets show again that they have done their homework.
