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NBA Recap and Playoff Preview

The 2015-2016 NBA regular season is in the books and the Golden State Warriors went 73-9.  

That’s it.  Post over.  I just dropped my laptop on a coffee stained concrete floor and I’m heading for the door.  Adios.  Bulseyeview out. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Got to admit, it felt pretty good to see the CD tray bust out on impact and the screen go gray and fuzzy, but now I’m starting to have droppers remorse.  Do you see any advertising on this site?  So maybe it wasn’t the right call but it was worth it to see the reaction from the guy next to me sporting the waxed mustache, Beats headphones and custom fur trapper boots.

But it’s worth stating again….The Golden State Warriors went 73-9.  No team has ever gone 73-9.  Not Bill Russell’s 10 time Champion Boston Celtics, not the Showtime Lakers, Larry Birds crew, MJ’s Bulls, Pops Spurs, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, not even any of the 5 teams who The Great Michael Cage played for.  That is simply amazing.  And this coming off of a championship year when it seemed that they had reached the pinnacle of 3 point shooting, motion basketball.  How could they possibly improve upon last years brilliant season?  How could Curry go from a regular human MVP to some sort of 3-D Shooting Clone who can pull from anywhere, anytime, over anybody and have a 49% chance of it going in?  Half court runner, no problem.  Dribble out of a double team and then step back and release with a 7 footer running at him, sure.  Drive the lane and flip it 15 ft in the air ala Gervin, done.  And if he pulls a look away 3 ball in the Finals in Dellavedova’s face and it splashes, I’m diving head first through my living room window.  

Didn’t anybody on the roster go on a post title 2 month bender on a tropical island or get into the studio with Wiz Khalifa to lay down some tracks?  I was expecting Bogut to show up to camp with a Foster’s oil drum boiler and a Crocodile Dundee knife belt.  I thought for sure Draymond would go back to Mama Babers cooking and return as the lovable pudgy rookie from Michigan St.  But no, this is an extraordinary collection of guys and not just in every facet of basketball, but in life in general.  They are the epitome of team and I’ll bet Steve Kerr will be getting offered some outrageous sums of money to go talk to the ranks at places like Apple, Google, FB, etc. in the near future.  Come on everybody, Do It The Warrior Way!

(Can I get a ™ for that?  You heard it here first).

But tomorrow the Warriors are 0-0 and the soap opera that is the NBA playoffs is about to begin.  The road ahead to the repeat will be brutal with the likely opponents being Houston, Clippers, Spurs and Cavs.  My head is swirling just thinking about the physicality required over the next two months to deal with the likes of Harding, Dwight, Paul, D Jordan, Kawai, LA, Timmy, LeBron, Tristan Thompson and that pesky Aussie, Deli.  The talking heads in the media will be trying to knock down the champs on a daily basis, and teams are going to throw the whole kitchen sink at Curry to try and upset his flow just enough to impose their will on the smaller team.  As with every year, the stars will have to step up, but the games will be decided by the odd role player who gets hot.  They will need HB, Iggy, Festus, S.Dot and the like to fill that role and knock down the daggers.  

It’s going to be fun and Ron Harper’s quote, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring”  will be whispered after every playoff setback.  Let’s tip it up.

I will more than likely declare the Warriors finished after every loss and will send out a slew of panicky texts,, but here is my calm before the storm call:

Round 1:

W’s over Rockets in 5.  Dwight gets ejected for a flagrant on Curry in game one trying to set the tone.  Beasley and Josh Smith get arrested in a nightclub after game 3 at 5:00am.  James Harden somehow scores 30 a game on 21% shooting after getting to the foul line 24 times/gm.  When Curry hits the final dagger in game 5, he steals Harden’s signature move and starts sauteing some veggies to the delight of the Oracle crowd.

Round 2:

W’s over Clips in a rough 5.  Chris Paul does everything but coldcock Curry and Blake Griffin plays like he’s at Wrestle Mania.  Clippers blow another large lead in game 4, causing Steve Ballmer to jump on the refs back after the game and the Clips then go easy in game 5.

Round 3:

W’s over San Antonio in a brutal 6.  Each team will hold their home court until the W’s sneak one out in game 6 on the road. Timmy D, Manu and Pop will call it good and Parker will be traded for draft picks.

Finals:

W’s over Clev in another knockdown, drag out 6.  This is what the W’s have been dreaming about all year long.  No more talk about last year being luck due to Kyrie and Love being out.  This is what fuels Draymond and Curry and it will take all of LeBron’s otherworldly talent to prevent a sweep.  After the last game, the weight of being 2-5 in the NBA finals will be so disheartening to LeBron that he will abruptly also retire, only to come back 2 months later.

 

Here are a couple of other NBA random observations after a long winter on the couch with Rick Kamala, 3D Dennis Scott, Kenny, Charles, Ernie, Shaq, Brent Barry, et al.

-How did  George Karl make it through a whole season in Sacramento with Boogie and Rondo?  That must have been the happiest pink slip moment of all time.  (note: I think Boogie and Rondo could be a cool name for a new cop buddy show).

-It was almost fun to see Kobe go out with a bang but who was that new giddy, goofy, almost dorky Kobe in the post game press conference?  Has he been been fooling us with this villain-Mamba persona for all these years?  I went to his final performance in Oakland this year and I’m a devout Kobe hater, but somehow even I had to get up and cheer when he checked out for the final time and I may have had a misty eye.  Weird feelings that need to be dealt with by a licensed professional.

-Is next year the year of the T-Wolf?  Those kids don’t even know how good they can be and they are just barely scratching the surface of their potential.  Towns, Wiggins and LaVine could be the next Big 3 if they get some direction. Dieng, Bjelica and Shabazz also look like keepers so there is a rotation of 6 all under 23?  I’d love to see what the Warriors staff could do with those kids.  

-Conversely, are the Lakers going to be cellar dwellers for the next 5 years?  😉

-Look out for the team that Stan The Man Van Gundy is putting together in Detroit.  They may give the Cavs a rough time in this first round.  They are a classic big, bruising East Coast team that resembles some of the past Piston teams.  They just need to find a leader with a chip on his shoulder and get a few guys to buy into doing the dirty work.  S.T.M.V.G should bring in Laimbeer, Isiah, Mahorn and Rodman to instruct these kids in the art of dirty man ball.  “Leave the balls on the rack.  First off young man, you need a mustache.  Then let’s get to work on some great wrestling holds and teach you how to use that butt as a weapon.”

-Joe Kavanaugh loves Devon Booker and I concur.  If Bledsoe and Knight are healthy next year Phoenix will have a nice small ball team.  Booker’s late season garbage time flurry was impressive.

-Lillard and CJ McCollum took some scrubs and have them as the 5 seed in the West.  That is amazing.  Both Lillard and coach Stotts should be in the conversation for MVP and Coach of the Year.  And how cool was it watching Lillard drop 50 something on the W’s in Rip City?

-North of the border in Toronto, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are working miracles similar to the duo in Portland.

-The disappearance of the Pelicans was a big surprise.  Anthony Davis may still be the future of the NBA, but he took a step back this year with injuries and a new system, and now I’m wondering if Towns and Godzingas may be in the same league in a year or two?
Good stuff.  It’s officially the era of the little man who can shoot and look for the best shooter ever to do it again.