Basketball is pretty cool too.

Last week Kottke linked to a post about why Baseball is the best of all games.

We make the case for basketball.

There are many arguments to be made: the awesomeness of the dunk, the sweet crispness of a catch and shoot three, etc, but the most fundamental difference is that basketball allows a synchronization unavailable in other sports. Obviously all team sports require teamwork, but basketball more than the rest relies on and even thrives on creative teamwork.

A taste.




Basketball, Hockey and Soccer are obviously all similar in this regard. Football relies heavily on planning and strategy and is segmented. Sure, a runner scores a touchdown because of the blocking, but rarely is a block conceived spontaneously. Similarly the Favreian improviser is praised because that quality is so unusual.

If football is segmented, then baseball is almost completely a collection of individual moments assembled together. It lacks fluidity. It's why the Jamesian numbers approach gained such traction, whereas its been more difficult to apply similar concepts to other sports.

Hockey, Soccer and Basketball are similar in their essence, but the former two are expressly more restrictive. In hockey the full range of motion is constrained because on skates players are locked to the ground. And even on the ground they can only turn around or move laterally in limited ways; the acrobatics happen in spite of the skates.

Soccer is closest to basketball, but because it is played on such a large field, it's play is more spaced out and thus moments of hyper-connectivity are fewer. Plus there's the obvious limitation of playing handsless. Having to use your feet and being on skates are what makes soccer and hockey respectively interesting. But by limiting the body's capabilities they limit synchronization.

Basketball at its peak is the pinnacle of wordless communication: the no look pass, the behind the back pass, the alley-oop...Isn't that an instinctive pleasure - to be in sync with others?

This dovetails with our CP3 post from last week re the resurgence of watchable basketball after a decade-plus of isos, 10 second post-ups, and scores in the 80s.

Thats why it was so easy for everyone to jump on the Suns bandwagon a few years back,



or the Warriors bandwagon last spring.



Sure, an 8-1 upset is compelling in its own right, but no one was lovin' the '94 Nuggets that much.

Open-court, pass-happy basketball, ie basketball played the right way, engages even the uninterested non-fan, because that kind of creative and spontaneous athletic communication strikes a chord universally.


We leave you with Showtime.

The Western Conference Playoffs are Here

For all intents and purposes, the NBA playoffs have started in the Western Conference. The kinda-Big Nine, (we wont include the Blazers) are separated by a measely 7 games (5 games for the first through eighth seeds), and aside from gunning for home field advantage, most need to worry about making the playoffs.

Last week, watching the Mavs-Spurs and Jazz-Hornets games you could sense that these games suddenly felt different. They no longer smacked of that dullness unique to the regular season. In the latter game, Chris Paul sank the nail-in-the-coffin free throws to chants of "MVP." Duncan got the same treatment courtesy of the San Antonio crowd. We're surely on pace to break some sort of MVP chant record. Here's L.A. for Kobe when they beat the Mavs.

The reason for this enthusiasm is that the fans are turning out to pack the arenas for these games, because the increase of intensity has been palpable to everyone. And as they turn out, the Pauls and Kobes of the world have been rewarding them (like Kobe's 22 4th quarter points in that Lakers win). It started with the avalanche of trades, the three biggest of which all sent the biggest piece from East to West: Gasol to L.A., Shaq to Phoenix, Kidd to Dallas. Meanwhile the Spurs and Warriors quietly added size and depth (Thomas and Webber respectively), Utah got itself a shooter in Korver, and Houston and New Orleans swapped scoring for a deeper bench.

And just like that, each team was energized by the added pieces, while at the same time, their competiveness was fueled by the other teams' deals. We always hear about how teams like the Spurs or Pistons - veteran, championship teams, - know to take their games to another level this time of year, but now, everyone everyone has (in the West anyway). The trades kick started an escalating cycle of intensification, further motivating each team until that intensity reached a level that normally qualifies as playoff caliber.

Kobe, after the Lakers beat the Suns: "It was a familiar energy in the building. It felt like a playoff-type of environment. It was fun to be a part of."

And Stephen Jackson after the Warriors beat the Blazers: "For us, every game is a playoff game."

There are about 20 games left in the regular season, give or take, per-team. Then there are another possible 28 games of the playoffs for the eventual conference champions. So are we to expect the kinda-Big Nine to naturally kick it up one more notch somehow? How will that shake out for the Western conference finalist? Will they be so habituated to playing at such a high level that they'll come out and absolutely demolish the East rep? Or will the opposite happen, that they'll beat each other up so much in the next four months that they'll be drained by the battle royale and thus not have enough left in the tank when the finals roll around? Because as much as the West is collectively better than the east, no one argues that the East's big three (Boston 18-7 vs. West, Detroit 16-8, Cleveland 16-12) can't hang with their western counterparts.

Just by virtue of the surplus of so many good teams, each of the kinda-Big Nine's schedule is brutal. Lets just look at a sampling, how often they have to play the top teams during their next 10 games: Every single one of these teams plays at least four out of their next ten against each other or Boston/Detroit. (Incidentally no one plays Cleveland in their next 10). Phoenix and Houston lead the way with the toughest schedules (not taking into account back-to-backs) with seven out of their next ten against top dogs. The teams (along with their current hot streak) are listed in order of the standings entering tonights' games.

SA 14-1, (10 in a row): at Denver, at PHO, Denver, at NO, at Detroit, Boston

Lakers: 16-3 (13-2 with Gasol) at NO, at Houston, at Dallas, at Utah, GS, at GS

NO 8-4: at Houston, SA, Lakers, at Detroit, Houston, Boston

Utah 16-4: at Phoenix, Denver, Boston, Lakers

Phoenix (No hotness to speak of) 10-7 (3-4 with Shaq): at Denver, Utah, SA, GS, Houston, at Detroit, at Boston

Houston 15-0: at Dallas, NO, Lakers, Boston, at NO, at GS, at Phoenix

Dallas – not hot, no matter how you slice it: 8-7 or even 12-7 if you prefer (4-4 with Kidd) Houston, Lakers, Boston, SA

Golden State 10-3: at Phoenix, Houston, at Lakers

Denver 9-4: Phoenix, SA, at Utah, at SA, at Det

Mark Cuban touched on this a couple weeks ago already, speculating that this was shaping up to be the best NBA season ever. And it's looking like he was quite prescient. "Everybody right know is fighting for their lives and fighting for a playoff spot. It was a fun game to be a part of," said Deron Williams about their win against the Mavs. Just a couple of days before that, Chris Paul threw this one out when they beat the Jazz: "When you play against the best, it brings out the best in you."


UPDATE:
The guys from bleacher report recently covered this as well, handy charts included.

Shaq-Marion trade

Everyone has already been all over this, and specifically the Suns angle. So I'll keep it short and about the Heat.

The general consensus is that it's a dumb risk for Phoenix and Miami was pleasantly surprised to have the deal fall into their laps, with the few dissenters suggesting mutual benefit and pointing to a 38 year old Kareem still "running" with the showtime Lakers. Either way, everyone is on board that that it worked out great for the Heat.

Marion will have the option to opt out of his contract at the end of this year. As good a player as Marion is, even if he does opt out, the trade will still be worth the salary dump for Miami. They have J Will, Ricky Davis, and Zo coming off the books at the end of the year. Next year's payroll with Marion will be $53 million and a mere $36 million without him.

No matter how much Marion improves the team this year, they're a lock for the lottery. It's unreasonable to think they can make up 10.5 games on seven teams in less than half the season, and somehow compete for a playoff spot.

What the Heat ultimately get out of this is flexibility. Their only priority now will be to build for the the 09/10 season, the last year of Wade's contract. They have two years to put together a team that's a contender, one that's good enough to ensure that Wade isn't tempted by greener pastures, and is happy to re-sign and stay in Miami. Saddled with Shaq's contract and his inefficacy the Heat were on a path in the complete opposite direction. Now with or without Marion, because of the financial flexibility, they have the opportunity to rebuild now, and compete again soon. (Before the trade was even official, Dan LeBatard* was already thinking about Elton Brand.)

The Heat should play out the rest of the season as if they just got their September call-ups. Give the minutes to the youngsters and see if Marcus Banks can at least be an upgrade from Chris Quinn and if Dorell Wright will continue to get better or if he's plateaued. The natural complement to this route is sitting the, if not gimpy, then certainly less explosive Wade. Sure, give him 15-20 games to play with Marion, to be able to assess their chemistry, but after that, considering he'll be playing on the Olympic team all through the summer, give him a rest.

Then they can go into the off-season with a healthy Wade, a lottery pick, a better sense of their youth and of Marion, and sufficient cap space to pursue free agents.



*LeBatard's upcoming article on the trade is due Sunday and is rumored to reveal that neither Riley nor Kerr initiated the talks.