Don’t Kidd me

After the first week of the NBA playoffs, here are my observations. Hopefully, they are better than the Knicks.

Tip-off: Kudos to MCV, ABC 7 and CUC for allowing us to see almost all the playoff games. Power outages were minimal. The only games we did not get were the couple shown on NBA-TV which MCV does not carry. That is the same situation that happened in the NFL last season with NFL-TV. A cable company must purchase a season-long package in order to obtain the rights to those games, which they then pass on to the customer. Even customers who do not care about the NFL or NBA would get saddled with the extra charges. Besides, the best games are shown on the other networks.

Mark Cuban rolled the dice and got snake eyes. Jason Kidd is one of the greatest point guards of all time, a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Wonderful. Too bad for the Mavericks he is past his prime. Kidd used to be one of the fastest players in the league. Not any more. He cannot keep up with Chris Paul who is leading the Hornets to the second round. Cuban was hoping Kidd could get him that elusive championship ring, but the window is closing. Like many Stateside homeowners, Cuban committed to a bad mortgage. Rising star Devin Harris and two first round picks were too much to pay for Kidd. The Mavs will pay for that for years to come. After taking a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals a couple years ago, Dallas has taken a slide down Misery Lane. Cuban can’t blame anyone except himself.

Steve Kerr pulled a similar move with the Phoenix Suns by trading energetic Shawn Marion for Shaq, the Big Cactus. But unlike Cuban’s desperation move, I see Kerr’s logic. The run n’ gun Suns were not built for the slow-down, defensive-type games that inevitably emerge in the playoffs. They needed some way to get past Tim Duncan and the Spurs. The Suns played the Spurs tough in the first two games but came up short in the fourth quarter. Close, but no cigar. Spurs are one tough hombre. They play with the heart of a champion.

Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Kevin Garnett are all leading their teams to playoff victories which is exactly what MVPs are supposed to do. I refuse to get dragged into a debate as to who is more deserving of the MVP award this season. They are all worthwhile. If I had to vote, I would simply drop their names into a hat, put on a blindfold and pull one name out. You can make strong arguments for each one but I won’t argue.

Tracy McGrady is getting a bad rap for not advancing past the first round of the playoffs in six tries. Five of those years, his team was the lower seed. This year, the Rockets are missing two main cogs, Yao and Rafer. I say, get off T-Mac’s back.

Finally, someone should arrest the entire Lakers front office for grand larceny. Getting Pau Gasol for a few beads was the steal of the century. If the Lakers do win the championship, and they might, then they should give some rings to Memphis management, or mismanagement in this case.