One round in, and only 8 teams are still playing for the coveted NBA (should be on NBC) Finals, among them Fuerto's favorite the Jazz along with the big dog Cavs, Magic and Lakers, Pop's Spurs, Nash's Suns, the "washed up" Celtics, and the "What the Hell almost happened" Hawks. Missing would be the flashy, yet undisciplined Nuggets and KD's Thunder, among others. As usual, Fuerto has plenty of thoughts on the latest NBA action.
First off, both 1 seeds rolled rather easily, but that's expected given the overall mediocrity of the Thunder and Bulls. Chicago couldn't put together a winning record in the regular season, and despite D-Rose's best efforts got blown out of the water 4-1. But, more importantly to the Bulls, they might have gotten an early look at their future star in LBJ. Just throwing it out there. Moving out west, Durantula definitely didn't roll over, but OKC is still a couple years away from becoming a legit contender. With that said, Durant needs to step up and make some big shots come April before we start mentioning him in the same sentences with the likes of Kobe, LeBron, Dwight Howard, and Luke Walton.
Orlando pulled off the only sweep of the round, but does anyone realistically believe that Charlotte belonged in the playoffs? I'm sorry, but nobody is ever going to take you seriously if you continue to start Theo Ratliff at Center. Dude had over twice as many fouls (15) than points (7) during the series. Not even Greg Ostertag could ever pull that off.
Boston, Phoenix and San Antonio each advanced rather easily. I'll admit that I was a little surprised that Miami got knocked around so much, but I'll put this out there: Michael Beasley is not a very good NBA player. Sure, he might average 15 per game on a mediocre squad, but he will never play a key role in winning a championship. In my lifetime of watching NBA, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a player in the playoffs play with as little intensity, and flat out not play any defense like Beasley did in Boston. To make things worse, he continually refused to try to beat KG off the dribble, which even Shavlik Randolph could probably could do. Just thinking that so many "experts" thought Beasley should have been taken in front of Derrick Rose is embarrassing.
One of the most entertaining matchups ended up being Milwaukee and KFW's Hawks. To me, this showed one of two possible scenarios: 1) Milwaukee (especially Brandon Jennings) is legit, and it is really time to Fear the Deer, or 2) Atlanta just isn't as good as people thought, and will get obliterated by the Magic. I personally am leaning towards number one. First of all, Jennings is definitely the real deal. He showed the ability to put his team on his shoulders and carry them to victories. He stepped up and made clutch threes to keep his squad in the game, and almost led them past an Atlanta squad many thought would possibly sweep them. This is what separates the Jordans and Kobes from the Durants (At least for now). I hate to sound like a Mel Kiper knockoff, but he's got all the intangibles.
Now for the whole reason you probably clicked on this article in the first place: The Jazz. If any of you thought to yourselves before the series, the Nuggets are just too athletic and entertaining for the Jazz to keep up with, please go to YouTube immediately, watch the "Ice Cream Paint Job" music video, and never read another MIB article again. Like I said 2 weeks ago, discipline, team basketball, and great coaching win ball games. Last I checked, Utah has all of these covered, and Denver without Karl doesn't really have any of them. Next, while many people were mesmerized by K-Mart and Birdman's tattoos, I was watching Paul Millsap kick their ass up and down the court with fundamentally sound basketball.
Even Kyrylo Fesenko gave Nene a tough fight game after game. D-Will dominated the entire series to prove he is definitely the best PG in the league, and Matthews and Miles played solid as usual. Oh yeah, and Kirilenko and Okur were both out the whole series, but the Jazz didn't even miss a beat, truly a testament to everything Sloan has built in Utah. I cannot wait for the Lakers. Sloan will be ready for some revenge, and AK47 will be ready to come back and lock down Kobe. And best of all... KORVER....WALTON....The NBA on ABC
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