What's up with the Lakers?

Kobe needs to recapture his aggresive
style of play to give the Lakers
any kind of chance.

If you remember from my blog last week titled "Western Conference Semifinals Preview" I predicted the Lakers to beat the Dallas Mavericks in five games.  I expected the Laker's size to be far too much for the Mavericks to handle, and for Kobe to go off against the Mavericks usually porous defense.  Thus far, both of these predictions haven't came to fruitition, although in Kobe's defense he has been shooting the ball well.  In spite of some desperation attempts at the end of the game yesterday, Kobe was shooting 8-12 from the field up until the Lakers fell behind with three minutes to play.  However, Kobe only shot ONE free throw all game, ONE FREE THROW! During the regular season, Kobe averaged 7.1 free throw attempts per game, and he has averaged 6.3 per game throughout the playoffs.  Kobe needs to be more aggresive going to the hoop, as he has only attempted eleven free throws the entire series. Part of the reason why the Mavericks were so successful yesterday was because they shot 29 free throws. Even if you take out the free throws the Mavericks made at the end, they still attempted 23 free throws.  The Lakers will need to be more aggresive if they want to win another game in this series, let alone attempt to comeback from such a deficit.

Another advantage the Mavericks have utilized in this series is three-point shooting.  I pointed at this as a potential weakness for the Lakers, and it has definitely been exploited.  The Mavericks shot 12-29 from three in Game 3, 8-25 in Game 2, and 9-20 in Game 1, shooting a combined 29 for 74 for 39.2%.  Conversely, the Lakers are shooting 10 for 52 for 19.2%.  The Lakers lack a prolific three point shooter that most contenders have right now.  Stojakovic and Terry are proficient from beyond the arc for the Mavericks, along with Ray Allen for the Celtics, Kyle Korver for the Bulls, James Jones and Mike Miller for the Heat, and Kevin Durant for the Thunder.  Steve Blake, Shannon, Brown, and Ron Artest are not up to par from beyond the arc, and the Lakers clearly miss the shooting of players such as Sasha Vujacic from a few seasons ago.  Regardless, shooting 19% from behind the arc is awful.

Barea has been quite the sparkplug off the
bench for the Mavericks!

Finally, point guard play has really hurt the Lakers and has been a boon to the Mavericks.  Jose Juan Barea has provided speed, shooting, and energy off the bench, burning the Lakers defense for some easy layups.  In addition, his emergence allows the Mavericks to rest Jason Kidd.  Derek Fisher has been atrocious for the Lakers.  He shot 3-6 from the field in Game 1, 2-7 in Game 2, and 3-8 in Game 3.  Considering most his shots are hardly contested, he should be shooting a higher percentage.  In addition, his decision-making was questionable at the end of Game 3.  Fisher fouled Jason Terry going for a steal with eight seconds left on the shot clock in the final minute of the game.  Why one would foul such a good free throw shooter with the shot clock winding down makes little sense to me...  On the next possesion, Fisher tried throwing an in-bounds pass to Lamar Odom that sailed over his head.  The Lakers should have designed a play in which Fisher could ahve inbounded to Kobe, but regardless a veteran like him should not be hurting his team's chances like this late in the game.  The Lakers veteran team seems to be falling apart, and without strong three point shooting and agressive play from its superstar, is most likely heading home early this year.

Western Conference Semifinals Preview

Following Memphis's 99-91 victory over the San Antonio Spurs last night, the Western Conference Semifinals are set.  #8 seeded Memphis Grizzlies vs #4 Oklahoma City Thunder, and the #2 Los Angeles Lakers vs the #3 Dallas Mavericks.  Everyone expected the Lakers and Mavericks to be here, but the Thunder surprisingly crushed a hot Nuggets team in five games while the Grizzlies defeated an elderly and fading Spurs squad in six.  At this point in time it seems like anybody's game regarding who will make the NBA finals, as the Lakers have yet to exude their dominance from the past few seasons.

Oklahoma City vs. Memphis

Z-Bo carried the Grizzlies to a
surprising upset over the top
seeded Spurs

The Thunder defeated Denver in convincing fashion 4-1, with Kevin Durant taking over games at will.  He averaged 32.4 ppg against the Nuggets and got to the free throw line an average of 11.4 times per game.  More importantly, Durant averaged 30.5 ppg and 8.3 rpg against the Grizzlies this year, yet the Thunder were only 1-3 against them during the regular season.  Will this trend continue? I doubt it. Memphis was 2-1 against the Thunder with Rudy Gay, and without him they lack a threat at the 3 on offense that can also force Durant into playing stronger on defense and tiring him.  Tony Allen and Shane Battier are adequate at defending Durant, but neither is capable of shutting him down.  Durant will get his points, although he may not shoot as well as he did in the Denver series.  If the Grizzlies want to win this series, they will need a strong offensive performance from Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.  These two players should make for some intriguing matchups with Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, and Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed are capable fill-ins if the starters run into foul trouble.  At this point in time, stopping Zach Randolph seems pretty difficult.  He looked real impressive in the Spurs series and should continue to play well against OKC, as he averages 26.5 ppg, 13.0 rpg, and shot .580% from the field against OKC this year.  Considering Randolph's success seems like a given, Marc Gasol will have to perform well.  The matchup, that in my opinion, sways the series in OKC's favor, is Russell Westbrook against Mike Conley Jr.  Westbrook is an elite point guard and has put up 24.5 ppg and 9.0 apg against the Grizzlies this season.  Conley has been much less effective, to the tune of 13.0 ppg, 6.5 apg, and a dismal field goal percentage of .370%.  I just don't think Conley is the type of player that can carry a team deep into the playoffs, as point guard play and experience is of utmost importance in the playoffs.

Make it: Thunder in 6

L.A. Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks

Kobe looks to lead the Lakers
past the Mavs on their way to
a third straight championship

The Lakers looked pretty shaky at times against the New Orleans Hornets, but were able to right the ship and defeated the Hornets handily in Games 5 and 6 to put their fears to rest.  The Mavericks slipped up a bit against the Trail Blazers, letting a double digit lead evaporate in the fourth quarter to lose Game 4, but were able to close out their series at Portland with a dominating performance by Dirk Nowitzki.  The Lakers and Mavericks played three times this season, with the Lakers winning two of the three, and most notably the third game at home by 28 points.  Has this Lakers team played like two-time champions this season? No.  Can they repeat? Possibly.  Will they win this series? Definitely.  Andrew Bynum has returned to form and played spectacular down the stretch to end the regular season.  Although his health is a bit iffy at this point I still think he can have a profound impact in this series.  The Mavericks don't have the size to compete with the Lakers down low, as they can't play Dirk on either Gasol or Bynum.  However, what the Mavericks do have in their favor is superior point guard play and shooting from the outside.  Jason Kidd provides strong point guard play compared to Derek Fisher, while the outside shooting of Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic trumps that of Kobe, Ron Artest, and Matt Barnes and Shannon Brown if they're in the game.  As great as the Mavericks can shoot at times, they can't compete with the Lakers down low and don't have any strong defenders to guard Kobe.

Make it: Lakers in 5

Winning: Mark Cuban

In my second entry on 'Winning,' I shift my focus from the NFL to the NBA.  Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is clearly winning.  Cuban started off small in 1982, working as a bartender in Dallas and then as a salesman at a software company.  Mark then proceeded to start his own company, MicroSolutions, with the support of previous customers from his work as a salesman.  By 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions for $6 million, personally retaining $2 million in the sale.  Cuban continued his entrepreneurial ways by starting Audionet with a partner, combining their interest in college basketball and webcasting.  This company becaome Broadcast.com, and by 1999 was earning $13.5 million in revenue.  Taking advantage of the dot com boom, Cuban allowed Broadcast.net to be acquired by Yahoo for $5.9 billion and diversified his assets to secure his wealth.

As the current owner of the Mavericks, whom he purchased in January 2000, Cuban changed the culture around the fans and the atmosphere in the arena.  Once he became the owner, Cuban did not upgrade his previous seats to luxurious box seats, instead choosing to cheer next to his common fans.  Cuban also encouraged fans to email him with questions and complaints about the team, and introduced a three-sided shot clock, which allows anyone from the arena to see it!  Since Cuban took over the Mavericks, they have made the playoffs in all ten seasons, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006 where they lost 4-2 to the Miami Heat.  Despite his strong fervor for his team, Cuban has been fined over $1.3 million dollars for bad behavior by the league!  However, for every $ he is fined he donates an equivalent amount to charity.

In addition to the success of the Mavericks, Cuban has attempted to buy several other professional sports teams, most notably the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.  Cuban submitted a bid of $1.3 billion to the Cubs in July 2008, yet was not invited to participate in the final bidding process in July 2009.  More recently Cuban bid to purchase his in-state Texas Rangers.  He managed to outbid a group led by Nolan Ryan, with a bid of nearly $600 million dollars, yet lost his deal to Ryan's group. 

Besides his business ventures, Cuban has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, and in various films and tv shows, most notably Entourage this past season.  His rash attitude and indifference to other's opinion makes him a polarizing, yet quite interesting figure.  Why else is Mark Cuban winning? He has lashed out against the current BCS system here, and vigorously campaigns for a new system.  He also appeared with Charlie Sheen on Jimmy Kimmel several weeks ago, and is trying to start a reality TV show with the former 'Two and a Half Men' star on his HDNet channel in addition to potentially broadcasting some of his tour on HDNet.  If that's not winning then I don't know what is!