Re-Cap of Game 2: LAL - Boston

I know, I know. At this point, I have no excuses. What could I possibly be doing for a month, not writing any articles, while the NBA Finals are going on. I almost feel like a horrible parent who is never there for his kid's youth soccer game, and then randomly pops in every 4th week to see how his son or daughter is doing, and then after the game the child just ignores the parent as they walk to the car. Too much? I don't care, that's how I feel.

I do apologize for being in exile this past month. I WITNESSed LeBron James fall out of the playoffs (plenty of pun intended there). Then I watched the Boston Celtics steam roll through the next series leading us to ANOTHER Boston - LAL series. Great, just what the NBA needs, another series that happens 50% of the time in all NBA finals. On top of all this, the NBA Playoffs have flown by quicker then Justin Beiber's rise to super stardom. So you can see why I'm a little bitter.

So after game 1, everyone and there mothers/daughters/fathers/grandfathers thought that the series was over and LAL was going to sweep, which is typical because in this country we are all prisoners of the moment, and flavor of the week specialists. Kobe was headed to his 5th ring and there was already talk of him being better than Michael Jordan.

Stop. Stop it right now.

Game 2 quickly brought all of those people back down to earth. The first half of the game was incredible, and probably the most exciting offense half of the NBA Playoffs. Both teams were executing flawlessly, hitting tough shots, and creating. On top of that we saw an "MJ-like" performance from Ray Allen who had 7 threes in the first half and had Kenny Smith tweeting "I'm gonna go kidnap Ray Allen so he don't break my record!" I love Kenny.

With Peirce/Garnett/Perkins no showing tonight, the game was in the hands of Rondo and Allen. And boy did they deliver. The lakers had a similar situation going on with Artest/Fisher/Kobe not really playing at the level they did in game 1. Artest was dreadful and Fisher was just out there to be out there. it seemed like Kobe was just going through the motions until about 2:00 left in the second quarter when he realized that the Lakers were in for a battle. (Bring on the Kobe-mancrushlove) He just seemed disinterested until he had that realization.

On to the refs. Good god almighty. I can't even say that the refs leaned towards Boston with their calls, but If you believe that I can't exactly say that I don't disagree. (that was about 5 double negatives) While a lot of the calls favored Boston, and ultimately got Kobe into foul trouble, the Lakers did hold a 39-22 free throw advantage. So the refereeing was atrocious both ways.

Ray Allen and Rondo stole the show though. If it wasn't for Ray's first half they Lakers probably win the game handily. Rondo, who had Kobe guarding him with 5 fouls, was constantly in attack mode, realizing Kobe didn't want to pick up his 6th foul. Leading to an explosion in the fourth quarter by Rondo.

Tomorrow night we shall see who wants to take control of this series. Boston is shaky at home, and after only 1 day off, both teams should be exhausted. Maybe the crowd at the Garden will bring the energy for the Celtics. Maybe the real Kobe Bryant will show up. Maybe the Lakers will get out on Ray Allen, and maybe Artest can return from his one game sabbatical. All I know is I'm ready.

Mike Brown: Going About Things, Cavalierly

If you told me before the Cavaliers-Celtics series, that the series would be tied 2-2 after 4 games, someone would have a 29-18-13 and his name is not LeBron James, and Cavs losses had LeBron deferring to his teammates during crunch time, I would have told you that you were either high, or you're living in a fantasy world, you know, something like the island in LOST.

Yesterday afternoon, we "witnessed" another ho-hum game from the Cavaliers and another inspired effort from the Celtics, which got me thinking, is this really on LeBron and co, or does it go deeper than that? While I understand that the players play the game and they are the ones who ultimately determine the outcome, but at some point coaches do step in to lead the team back on course once they stray off. There's a reason why these coaches are making millions of dollars. They do actually help the team, unless you're the Cavaliers. Last year, I wrote that Mike Brown was in the bottom 10 coaches in the NBA, and he is the absolute WORST adjustment maker in the NBA, and this is standing true to today. We saw him last year not adjust in the Orlando series, ultimately losing in 5 games. And now we see him not adjusting in this series, with the chance that they are going to lose in 6 or 7 games.

Flash over to the Lakers for a minute....Is it any secret why Phil Jackson has 10 rings? He's had great players, but he is the master of managing that talent, much like Joe Torre in baseball. He knows how to push the right buttons, how to motivate in different ways, and adjust to certain situations, and he lives by that old adage, "Survive, and advance." This is what the playoffs are all about. In the 1st series for the Lakers, we saw Russel Westbrook reek HAVOC on Derek Fischer through 4 games. Heading into the 5th game Phil (and Kobe) decided that they had enough leverage and help to put Kobe on Westbrook, while Artest stayed on Durant, and ultimately that decision won them the series, and it is decisions like this that have made Phil Jackson the best basketball coach in the NBA. These decisions date back to his Chicago days, when Stockton would be going off on Ron Harper, he would assign Jordan to lock him down and do his job on defense to suffocate the Jazz on offense.

Flash back to the present....

Mike Brown, yet again, is coaching this team out of the series. The excuse isn't LeBron and his teammates anymore. In fact, there is no more excuses, it's time to just shut up and play. But the Cavs will not win this series playing the way Mike Brown wants them to play. Let's break this down for a minute...

The Cavs have the deepest most talented team in the league. They can play small, big, quick, slow, half court, full court, run and gun, any style they want. You're playing a team that's core consists of guys in their late 30s. So why is Mike Brown playing right into the Celtics hands by playing Shaq, and slow Varejao big minutes? Is it because his name is Shaquielle O'Neal and you feel intimated if you don't play him? Bill Simmons pointed out the other day via twitter, that the best lineup the Cavs can play is Mo Williams, Delonte West, LBJ, Antawn Jamison, and JJ Hickson. JJ Hickson is averaging about 5 minutes per game. 5 minutes!! Every time he comes in the game he makes plays happen. Why not play this 4th quarter line-up, sprinkle in some Anthony Parker and some Varejao for defensive purposes, and just run the Celtics into the ground. This, once again, proves that Mike Brown does not understand the importance of making adjustments. He hasn't grasped "it" yet, about coaching.

On to the most important change that Mike Brown is REFUSING to make. Paul Peirce is "considered" their "top player" by the casual fan, and sometimes I feel like Mike Brown thinks like the casual fan. Paul Peirce's legs are DONE. You can easily guard him with Anthony Parker, or a feisty Delonte West, or maybe even Jamario Moon. There is no need to have the best perimeter defender n the Eastern Conference play against someone who can be shut down by another defender, much like the Lakers with Artest and Durant. However, stubbornly, Mike Brown believes that Peirce could kill them if LeBron is not guarding him.

I have news for you Mr. Brown....

Paul Peirce isn't the guy killing you! If you haven't noticed, there is a man by the name of Rajon Rondo who's nearly averaging a triple double against everyone who has guarded him. So why not stick LeBron James on him for the rest of the series, just to get done and advance? Is it so crazy to put a 6'8" freak of nature defender on the ONE player who is killing you? It's no longer the Big Three in Boston. As Magic Johnson so eloquently put last night, "It's the Big ONE, and the little Three, now!" And to an extent, he is right.

It makes sense to put LeBron on Rondo for the remainder of the season. He is the creator, he is the play-maker, he is the one who gets the "little three" going and the Celtics go as Rondo goes, plain and simple.

Hopefully Mike Brown will snap out of his funk for the remainder of the series. Maybe he should go to Phil Jackson's school of coaching because there he would learn how to adjust. He needs to learn how to get the most out of his athletes. The Cavs have enough fire power to score if LeBron has to expend energy on defense. It's why they went and got an Antawn Jamison and a Shaquielle O'Neal, so they can use LeBron wherever they need him. But now it's time to realize that they need him to be that 1st team all defender that he is. For his sake and the Cavs sake, I hope Mike Brown wakes up from that dream world he's living in.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other....

As I was driving my Ice Cream truck yesterday, unable to see the Masters up until the 13th-14th hole, I was pondering about writing a column recapping the Masters. At the time I figured Tiger was going to make some improbable run, and Phil was going to be there in the end giving Tiger all he could handle. I also thought KJ Choi would be the dark horse to sneak in and give Tiger and Phil trouble. And I also thought Lee Westwood would fall so far off that he might not even make the top 3.

Let's just say, I was 1 for 4.

This years Masters had to be the most anticipated Masters in eons. And by eons I mean a really really long time. Everything that Tiger Woods had gone through up to this point was about to be put on the line. Phil Mickelson was dealing with his wife's struggle with breast cancer and dealing with all of the stress that comes with it. Lee Westwood had finished second, third, second in the passed three majors, so would this be the time he broke through? Fred Couples was trying to be the oldest man to win the Masters at 50 years old. Storyline after storyline presented themselves, so we all knew we were in for a doozy.

But the main story is and always will be, Tiger Woods. How would he play? Would he make the cut? Would he win it? Would he be heckled by fans and media members? Will he be a changed Tiger, and not throw his clubs and shout profanity at himself? And most of all, can Golf finally be relevant again with Tiger back.

Well nearly all of those questions were answered. His opening round 68 was so impressive to the degree it had me calling all of my known golf followers (which is about 2 or 3) asking if they had seen the round that Tiger just shot. Golf isn't like basketball, or football, or even baseball. If you take 3 weeks off it's almost impossible to come back and play well the first few times out. If you take 144 days off, like Tiger, it's completely impossible to play well. So what does Tiger do? He shoots an opening round 68, his lowest ever at the Masters for an opening round.

Of course there were other story lines as the weekend went on. We saw Tom Watson and Fred Couples rope in the "over 50" crowd, and had all the old timers rooting for them. Phil and Lee were in the hunt the entire way, along with KJ Choi and Anthony Kim. This Masters was just chalk full of great moments.

Saturday was just crazy. Phil Mickelson gave us all, maybe one of the best three hole stretches in the history of golf. Let's just remember that they're playing in Augusta, the course with the most unforgiving greens in the country. So Phil hits an Eagle at 13 on a solid 8 foot putt. What does he do as an encore? Oh, he hits a 149 yard Eagle in the air with a backspin, dead stick. He wasn't done. Phil takes the next Eagle shot on 15 and bounces it about 6 feet short of the pin, and it starts rolling and rolling and rolling and JUST misses the pin by 3 inches. Phil was on fire. It's like being at a Roulette table in AC, and you're just playing Black and the Middle Column back and forth. And you just hit every single bet, and before you know it you're +300. That's kind of what like Phil was doing on Saturday.

So we get to Sunday and we're set up for a Tiger, Phil, Westwood, Choi run at this thing. Everyone knows Tiger is 0-for-55 when not having a lead going into Sunday. But this felt different. Would he come back and make a run at it?

Well let's just say Tiger had a YO-YO type of day. His first 5 holes, 3 bogies. The next 4 holes he shoots -4.

Are you kidding Tiger??

And then on the back 9, he 3-PUTS inside 4 feet. So un-Tiger-like. You could just see he was losing his composure, and losing his edge. But what does Tiger do? He makes sure that we don't forget him. On the 15th, after a 3-putt Bogey, Tiger sinks an Eagle on a PAR 4!!! Should this really surprise us? This is what he does, he makes us engaged and interested.

But this was going to be Phil's weekend all the way, after his shot on the 13th. I've never seen a player go for a shot like this in my life, AND actually execute it. Stuck behind TWO trees, with 220 yards to the pin. Phil decides, "Instead of laying up, I'm just going to have the biggest pair of melons anyone has ever seen, and I'm going to stick this 4 feet form the cup." CASH!

Right then and there I knew it was Phil's tournament. I was watching live at my boss's house, and we both nearly fell off the couch. We spent the next 15 minutes watching the replay, wondering how in the hell he hit that shot.

So as we all know, Phil gets the green jacket, and a well deserved/earned win for Phil. Now he cements his place in history as one of the better golfers of all-time.

As for Tiger, I think Jim Nantz summed it up best. Bill Simmons tweeted this quote from Nantz, "Through all of this, Tiger manages a 69."

HaHaHa. Comon, you know you laughed a little bit reading that. But all jokes aside (it's really hard to put jokes aside by the way), everything Tiger had gone through, to go out and shoot a 68, 70, 70, 69, is freaking impressive. And this is why we continue to watch Golf and Tiger. It's because you never know what is going to happen. And once Tiger is back in full force, watch out world. He just shot a -11 at one of the toughest courses to play at in the world, after a 144 day lay-off, after being virtually crucified, he rose from all of it and played like the champion he is. All I know is I can't wait for the Summer. Watch out world.

Worth the Madness?

Due to the craziness that is March Madness, I found myself pondering a very interesting and intriguing issue with my friends and people who know a thing or two about basketball. There is no doubt in my mind that March Madness is the most exciting tournament out of any of the major playoffs in this country. Every year we see the upsets we see the drama and we see the expectations. But something just isn't quite the same this year.

So I posed this question between my friends and I, are the upsets from the early rounds worth the loss of the better and more quality teams in the tournament?

At first glance, most people say, "The upsets are what March is all about!" I agree... to an extent. But are the upsets really worth the price of a shaky elite 8 group, and and even shakier Final Four? If you really start to think about the tournament and what the people really want to watch, it becomes quite obvious that it is better for the tournament and the sport of basketball at the collegiate level, that the better teams advance. It creates a quality brand of basketball amongst the final competitors, instead of a team that might just be hot at the right time and is not as well-rounded as another team.

Now, don't get have me mistaken. The upsets are the most drama-filled, entertaining part about March Madness. I love them and I yell like a 6 year old girl every time something crazy happens. Every year millions of people go crazy trying to fill out a bracket and play the roll of the "experts" and be the first people to call a particular upset. Well that's all well and good...before the sweet 16. When it comes time to buckle down and get the best quality basketball, the upsets, in my opinion, aren't welcome after the sweet 16 with two exceptions.

Exception A) There is a can't miss, superstar on the underdog teams that you just simply can't resist seeing again and again. Think Stephen Curry during his Elite 8 run with Davidson.

Exception B) The team that is the underdog is actually much better then their seed projects them to be. Let's think Xavier the past three years, or Tennessee this year.

So what does all of this mean? Well for starters, this years tournament just had too many upsets of teams that just got hot and found the right formula to beat one juggernaut. Northern Iowa beat Kansas because they played in the moment, made threes in the clutch, got lucky that Kansas didn't press until three minutes to go, and just wanted it more than Kansas. Is No. Iowa the better team? Of course not, but this is the classic example of a team that just slips under the radar and catches the juggernauts by surprise. This happened too many times this year (Villanova, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, etc.) and the result is the least interesting Final Four that I can remember watching in years.

You think I'm the only one? You didn't notice the NCAA's stranglehold on that Duke Baylor game? It was so bad at one point that the referees in the game (the final elite 8 game) were so one-sided because they NEEDED Duke to make the Final Four, just for pure marketing purposes and ratings. A Final Four consisting of Butler, Mich. St, WVU, and Baylor would be the least watched Final Four in eons. So Duke out shoots Baylor in free throws by a ton, especially in the second half. Baylor shot something like 6 free throws while Duke was in the 20s. The 20s!!!

Now because of all these upsets of the early, better teams, we're left with a "put me to sleep" Michigan State team against a Butler team that just finds the opponents weaknesses and exploits them. They have no real advantage in talent and they probably aren't even in the top 5-8 best teams in the country. Duke is there because they were given the draw of a lifetime and the toughest opponent they had to face all tournament was a Baylor team that was playing against Duke/the officials. The only real solid team that I see in the Final Four is West Virginia. But even they have had some crazy injuries and a little bit of luck in their game against Kentucky.

My main point here is that, while the upsets are all fun, drama-filled, and they make you call your buddy at work and scream into the phone, "I LOVE MARCH!!!" They do not leave us with the quality basketball that we want to see in the Final Four. Call me a stickler, or a nit-picker, but I want to see quality basketball come the end of March, and I don't think I'm alone in this. I will always be for the underdog, just as long as they stay out of the Finals where the best teams should battle it out. Hopefully the teams in the Finals prove me wrong and we get one hell of an ending to one hell of a tournament so far.

It's March, Need Some Help?

If you were some kind of a computer hacker, and you understood how to do all of the crazy things that allow you into certain databases of information, and you somehow hacked into Kean's student body database, and you happen to look up the student, Thomas Michael DeRiggi, you would see that he is actually a double major. His first major and the thing that he spends most of his time concentrating on is Physical Education and Health. If you happen to scroll down underneath that you would see that his second major is non other than, Bracketology.

Just in case you live under a rock, and some of you do, it's March.

I repeat....IT'S MARCH!!!

Finally we have something to look forward to other than average NFL Free Agent signings, and pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. It's that time of the year. It's the most wonderful time of the year. And yes, it is my favorite time of the year (Disclaimer: I have about 5 favorite times of the year, so just bear with me).

Today, Selection Sunday, is one of the top five best days of the year, because it brings us the greatest tournament known to man kind: The NCAA Basketball Tournament. So you guys are asking, What is this blog actually about today? Well let me explain. Year after year after year after year, people fill out brackets to be involved in this fantastic event. I categorized these people into 5 categories that look like this:

Group E (The Paris Hilton Division): These our people who have NO IDEA who played who this year, who is in the tournament, when the games start, hell, they might not even know it's in progress. But these people fill out brackets every year because it's fun to be competitive, and somehow a winner comes out of this group every year.

Group D (The Khloe Kardashian Division): These are people who know what the tournament is, but have no idea about its participants. But these people have a catch, they have someone really close to them who knows a lot about basketball and can give them some hints and tips on who to pick. This is the scariest division, because you always underestimate these people.

Group C (The Billy Crystal Division): These are people who are avid sports fans, but just don't follow college basketball enough to really grasp it. Usually these people are bigger fans of another sport and college basketball is on the back burner.

Group B (The Tom DeRiggi Division): C'mon, what would my own blog be without me naming a division after myself. These people are people who follow the sport religiously and try to find out everything they can about every team before they make selections. In this group you see the majority of people who lose their bracket contests to Groups C through E because somehow these people do all the research, but get consumed by too much over analyzing and then get frustrated because they lost to someone with the intelligence level of Paris Hilton.

Group A (The Joe Lunardi Division): These people, and there's only about 5 in the world, know everything about every team. These people probably get paid to cover NCAA basketball and somehow win their brackets every year. This is about 0.0000000000001% of the population.

Continuing from before, millions of people fill out these brackets without the slightest clue about basketball. They make these rushed decisions because either they don't really care, or they want to be the first to call the major upsets. This is why I'm here. I am going to guide you all in picking the sleepers, the favorites, and the final four along the way. Let's start with a few sleepers to impress all of your friends with:

The most obvious one that I can see is between 6)Tennessee and 11)San Diego State. San Diego State won 25 games this year and Tennessee is so shaky at times that they make other teams better somehow. Take SDS and you'll be a happy camper.

Next I have a gut feeling that 13)Siena is going to beat 4)Purdue. Purdue lost their best player and just hasn't been the same since, and Siena is always tough come tournament time.

Lastly, watch 12)UTEP vs 5)Butler. Butler is riding high on their 5 seed but UTEP is a feisty group and I wouldn't be surprised if UTEP pulls of the upset.

As far as second round match ups go, watch out for 6)Marquette 3)Baylor. Baylor is a scary team but Marquette has been Big East-tested, as I like to call it. Very intriguing match up here.

Watch out for a sweet 16 run by 12)UTEP. If all goes to plan and they win, they will face a shaky Vanderbilt team that I don't trust one bit. If their was a safe sweet 16 run I think you see it in UTEP.

On to the Final Four...
I don't want to spoil my picks or anything but these are just some preliminary thoughts....

Duke got the easiest ride of all the teams, but I still do not trust them. I wouldn't be shocked if you saw a Baylor, or Villanova come out of that bracket. Also I LOVE, Kansas to the point where I think if you don't pick them to win the whole thing that your either high or you just don't care. I actually love Syracuse's draw because their two toughest opponents, Pitt and K-State, are both beatable teams and I expect the Orange men to roll into Indianapolis. Kentucky is super duper young, and I don't trust them at all. I understand everyone is in love with John Wall and everyone's doing his dance,(Yes, I can do the John Wall dance to perfection), but I'm just not sold on this team in crunch time against a team like, say, West Virginia. West Virginia-Kentucky would be an excellent game to watch, but I love WVU to make the Final Four.

So there is some preliminary thoughts on this years tournament. This year's field doesn't have the WOW factor like some tourneys in the past but it should be an entertaining few weeks. Check back next week as I explain why all of my picks were wrong and you guys should never listen to me again.