Bleacher Report - Articles by Akshay Madhavan

Why Tennis Needs a Healthy Rafa Back

Akshay Madhavan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:43:41 -0400

With Roger Federer having been crowned almost unanimously by the greats of the game as the greatest tennis player of all time, Nadal fans, veteran tennis enthusiasts, and even casual fans (who like a little spice in their sport) are wondering, What Next?

That Federer has been dominant is beyond the realm of the subjective now. It is as clear as day as an objective fact could possibly be. And dominance is something that pales in all sports and is detrimental to the sport in more ways than one.

Nobody grudges Federer his success, let there be no mistake about that.

The man is a genius, a true one of a kind sportsman. The likes of which tennis hasn't seen in a long time. His style is unmatched in the long history of this game. There is no more aesthetically pleasing player to watch in the game (again, a subjective claim, but one almost unanimously agreed upon).

The man is a champion, humble, and pleasant, both in the locker-room and outside of it. He is mindful of the legacy of the sport and of his career in it. He understands his role as an icon in the sporting world and has been a responsible statesman for the game. He's won everything in sight and more, but one only wishes we could make it harder for him to do so.

His triumphs would only be sweeter and the sport and its audiences the richer for it. In this regard, there is no greater service Rafael Nadal could do to the game of tennis than to come back to the tour as fit as he can, and make it as hard as hell for Federer to do what he wants to do.

It has been made abundantly clear that, apart from Nadal, Federer has no equal on the tennis court. With his win yesterday, he became again in the eyes of everyone the best tennis player in the world (a title he had temporarily lost to Nadal in the last 13-14 months), and quite rightly assumed the No. 1 ranking too.

The rest of the field has been shown up as merely pretenders to the throne, with no semblance of consistency from Novak Djokovic or big game mentality from Andy Murray. Andy Roddick had to play the match of his life simply to go five sets and lose to a far from on song Federer.

All this leads everyone to believe that there is only one man who can do anything about the Federer juggernaut, and it is in the interests of us all that he come back to the game as quickly as possible.

Nobody should doubt Nadal's credentials for the job as champion beater. If there is one man who can make a match of it with Federer and challenge for each and every title and make this an interesting few years, it's him.

He has beaten Federer (more often than not) on all surfaces, and especially in the big matches. McEnroe once said he would chase Borg to the ends of the earth; Rafa has done much the same with Federer.

As one sports writer put it after the Australian Open Final, where Nadal beat Federer in the fifth set, “Rafael Nadal is not the No. 1 because Federer is having an off year. He is not the No. 1 because a champion is fading. He is No. 1 because he has taken on and beaten the best, time and again on the biggest stages tennis offers.”

Nadal may no longer be No.1 (which is probably how things should be as his manager Carlos Costa says, “Inside him, I don’t think anything has changed—he still thinks Federer is the best,”), and Nadal is comfortable being No. 2.

As a recent, lovely NYT article put it, "Nadal was a phenomenal No. 2. His No. 2-ness was heroic and inspirational, and he was known to mention it quite cheerfully in press conferences: “I’m not the best, but I am a very good No. 2 in the world.”

Nadal fans definitely don't mind him being No.2. Most true Nadal fans started supporting him simply because he was No. 2 in the world—the underdog and inspirational hard worker to take down the great and universally celebrated (with a lot of bandwagoners to boot) Federer who could do no wrong.

It is precisely this that has made Nadal everything that he is in the eyes of his fans. And now, all of tennis should want him to do it.

When Federer started his hell on the loose tear through men's tennis in 2004, people did not envision him getting to 15 so quickly, but soon it became obvious as to the dominance of the man.

For Federer fans, they have got all they wanted. Complete annihilation of his opposition in final after final.

For neutral observers, apart from the aesthetic quality of his game, it was getting tedious.

Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt were mere pretenders to Federer’s crown; a real challenger was needed and the world got one. Rafael Nadal fit that role perfectly. He raised the stakes for Federer and thereby legitimized his greatness by the sheer force of his challenge.

Every victory over Nadal was hard earned for Federer and as the rivalry was becoming legendary, the prism with which we began to view Federer’s greatness was unalterably shifted.

It is unusual in a sport for one supreme talent to face another in his own generation. Typically, an extraordinary talent has a lopsided career with very few challengers. We wish we had seen or could see legitimate challengers to Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Valentino Rossi, Sergei Bubka, and now we want Michael Phelps to have one.

In Federer’s case we wished for it and got one.

Nobody will doubt that Nadal is Federer’s equal on the court. Perhaps not in terms of talent alone or in an aesthetic sense, but when the point is played, Nadal can match Federer every bit of the way.

This is extremely rare to see in sport, and we are privileged to see it happen.

For Nadal fans, it is an amazing story that their man has come from seemingly nowhere to heroically disturb and stymie, for sometime at least, Federer’s march to immortality.

In many ways, it is the ultimate achievement against the odds; the quintessential example of an underdog champion (though he can no longer be considered an underdog).

It is a phenomenal effort, and I do not believe there is a parallel anywhere else in the sports world. We have been witnesses to something extremely unusual and amazingly inspiring.

For Federer fans, while their man might well have 20 Grand Slams by now were it not for Nadal, they should welcome the Nadal challenge and accept it for what it is. It is a clarion call to Federer to raise his game even more, dig deep, stare adversity in the face, stomach the Nadal challenge and triumph, so as to cement his greatness and make each victory of his that much sweeter.

It will make him more human, his losses more tragic, and his achievements more heroic.

Many people have asked that if he cannot consistently beat his main rival in his own time, wherefore does he become the greatest player of all time?

Federer’s genius deserves this test, and we would be lucky to see him challenged.

Another writer had written this after the Australian Open Final : "After their effulgent Wimbledon encounter, much was spoken about how these two great athletes were by themselves reviving interest in the sport, especially here in the United States.

Many fans who had neglected tennis for so long had welcomed home their prodigal son of sports and were once again interested in its happenings. Surely, there has never been a duo who so represent tennis—or any sport—in such a fine manner.

And if that match seven months ago is indeed considered the greatest display of tennis in a century, then the post-match ceremony yesterday will certainly be remembered as the ultimate graceful nod to sportsmanship.

Federer's tears and Nadal's sincere embrace and words for his rival will only solidify and crystallize this brilliant period in tennis history. And it leaves us all begging for more, wondering what other gifts these two wondrous athletes will bequeath to future generations of tennis followers."

Let us hope we can get a healthy Rafa back to the game and have the rivalry back on track.

Indeed, it is the best thing that could happen to the sport.

Five Things the Lakers Should Be Thinking About

Akshay Madhavan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:24:46 -0400

Even champions have issues to address sometimes. If the Los Angeles Lakers intend to become a dynasty, they'll have a busy offseason trying to avoid some problems that affected the Celtics from last year to this season. Everyone knows the Lakers will have their hands full in the offseason trying to keep their championship team intact. Universally, this seems to translate into "bringing back both Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza for next year."

Yes, this is because everybody knows Kobe Bryant is not going to go anywhere, but I am yet to see anyone offer anything else for the Lakers to ponder about. As a fan though, there are a few other issues I'm concerned with other than the usual ones thrown about:

1. Point Guard

Everyone acknowledges Derek Fisher's role in this Laker team as being a very crucial one, both as a leader and mentor to all the young guys on the team as well as a sort of counter (in a positive way) to Kobe's voice in the dressing room.

At the same time, it was painfully clear to everyone during the playoffs that Fisher has lost a good step-and-a-half on defense and is quite out of his depth when it comes to the smaller, speedier PGs in the league. Until he hit those two clutch threes in Game Four, there were several people calling for Jackson to reducing playing time for him. After that it didn't matter and people seemed to forget his previous less than stellar play.

Do the Lakers continue to give him the bulk of the minutes while keeping backups Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown for particular moments in the game? Or is it time to decide on a successor already?

Farmar is a livewire on the court but is too small to guard the Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups kind of player. Also you don't get the sense Kobe really trusts him.

Brown has also showed tremendous energy during these playoffs while being used a lot on defense with Odom running the point because Brown still isn't quite comfortable with the triangle offense. Will he overtake Farmar as a potential starter for the future because of his bulk?

The questions at point are plenty and they are not easy to answer. Derek Fisher is 34 and won't be at this level too much longer. The Lakers might need to take a call very soon.

2. Sasha Vujacic

The disappearance of Sasha Vujacic for the duration of the 2008-09 playoffs is something that is completely lost in the aftermath of a well-deserved, euphoric victory for the Lakers. Self-proclaimed as "The Machine" (he shot 60 percent of his threes in last year's playoffs), he went back to his team given nickname of "Mr. 12 o'clock" (because he would only make his shots in practice and not replicate the effort during the game) for the 2009 Finals, finishing without a single bucket.

Lakers fans will remember that Vujacic was one of the most disappointed after last year's Finals loss. After his effort this year, it would seem, in retrospect, that it was all a ploy to get his three-year, $15 million deal.

Vujacic's role was quite unclear for the most part, with Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown taking a lot of the Lakers' three-point attempts this year, something Vujacic did successfully last year. He's the supposed backup to Kobe at the two-guard, and as long as you have Bryant, you won't notice these problems, but Vujacic was practically invisible for the Lakers during their championship run.

Nobody knows what his year-ending interview with Phil Jackson and Mitch Kupchak was like. One can only wish that his role will be more clearly defined and he'll start making some buckets soon. The Lakers are spending five million bucks a year on him.

3. Luke Walton

His going up to Phil Jackson on a late-night flight to offer coming off the bench might not become the stuff of legend, but it's one of the intriguing underlying plots to the Lakers' championship run. It allowed Ariza's perimeter defense to become available in a starting role and Walton was able to better run the second unit with some precision passing and general versatility on court.

It is assumed that Walton will remain in the same role for next season, and he doesn't seem to appear to resent being on the second unit. Nobody with the exception of Kobe has been on the Lakers longer and Walton's words after Game Five of the Finals (where he recounted the road the franchise took to the championship and the sacrifices made) seemed to indicate he was in for the long haul. He's signed to a six-year deal at $5 million per year until 2011.

If he's content with his current role the Lakers shouldn't have a problem, but if he begins to want more playing time and a greater role with the team, it could lead to problems with the rotation, especially given Ariza's clear importance to the team.

4. Andrew Bynum

Last year the Lakers' loss in the Finals was placed by many squarely on the unavailability of Andrew Bynum for the playoffs due to injury. In their victory this year though, Bynum had little to do with it. He's long been viewed as having tremendous potential, but injuries have kept him from performing to his true level.

The Lakers have tended to use Gasol a lot at center and Phil Jackson has come out as saying that Bynum will only get playing time if he's energetic on defense. Bynum clearly has potential on offense and is a very decent free-throw shooter for a center. If he's used prominently beginning next year, the Lakers could look at slowly starting to have a more complete inside offense, with Kobe gradually becoming a facilitator and taking a back seat on scoring.

With a fully-developed Bynum at center and Gasol at power forward, this would be a scary front court to deal with. At the moment though, we're yet to see this consistently for large amounts of time in a game. Bynum has gotten into foul trouble early, and he's not showed the required commitment on defense.

Also if this were to be the path the Lakers end up taking on a consistent basis, it will reduce Lamar Odom's playing time and would alter his role in the offense, as he's been coming in as a power forward more often than not. If everyone in this bargain (Phil Jackson, Kobe, Gasol, Odom, Bynum) sees eye to eye on the matter, it could be the start of something very successful and indeed, dominant.

And to the most serious question of them all:

5. Is Josh Powell Kobe's best friend on the team? (If yes, then what do the Lakers do about it?)

Is it just me or does Kobe hug Josh Powell the longest during pre-game intros? Why? and How come? And unlike with the others, when Powell hugs Kobe, it's usually he who's whispering something into Kobe's ears, not the other way around!

I have nothing against the man, he looks like a perfectly great guy to me, but he's clearly got some kind of bond going with Bryant here. If he's Kobe's best friend and he played like five seconds for the duration of the playoffs, what does that say about the team? I'm one who's constantly defending Bryant's record as a teammate, but I still find this a bit weird.

Maybe anyone who has doubts on Bryant as a nice guy and good teammate should have Josh Powell as their spokesman. He knows something nobody else knows. I suggest the Lakers immediately sign him to a multi-year, several million-dollar deal. He could very well end up being the Lakers' biggest asset! He's far more "Kobe's man" than Melo is.

Kobe Bryant Is Not Michael Jordan; But Neither Is He Allen Iverson

Akshay Madhavan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:06:25 -0400

Why do grown men and women stop themselves from fully appreciating a quality athlete by being childish, immature, and dishonest about how that athlete compares with other stars in the game? And I am looking at both extremes here.

First, at some ridiculous Kobe fans who clearly have only recently started watching the game and think Kobe Bryant is already better than Michael Jordan. There is nothing they can tell you to prove this, but they simply believe it.

Just because MJ never scored 81 tells me nothing. Kobe Bryant is not already better than Michael Jordan, and any mature, honest observer of the game will tell you that.

Second, we have the equally ridiculous Kobe haters, who would have you believe that Bryant is an always overrated, petulant star who is as selfish and as good a leader as someone like an Allen Iverson.

These people, in their delusional world, believe Kobe is only a "scorer." Again, any mature honest observer of the game will tell you that Bryant is far more than simply a scorer.

Yes, I know Kobe is one of the most polarizing figures in sports, and I can accept that people will only either love him or hate him. But I believe this should remain in the realm of fandom alone.

Why are people so ridiculously biased either way? Why can't someone love Kobe and still understand and accept his many shortcomings? Why can't Kobe haters understand the greatness of the guy they hate? Is this asking for too much of grown adults who profess to love the game so much?

And I am talking here not just of casual fans, but a lot of TV analysts, newspaper writers, and scribes as well. The only people I see being honest in this debate are former players and the coaches in this league.

Almost all the people who are honest in this debate will tell you that while Kobe Bryant is not a Michael Jordan, he is not an Allen Iverson either. While he still has a ways to go to get to MJ's level, he's still a very great player and now, after his fourth Championship, one of the top 10-15 players to ever play this game.

He is NOT the best ever, nor the second best ever, nor the second best guard ever. Nor is he NOT in the top 50 or just another scorer and one of the most overrated players to play in the NBA.

He is a legitimate top 10-15 player of all time, but still has things to prove to further cement his legacy and take him to that Jordan-Magic level. All the honest observers I hear say the same thing.

Why can't casual fans learn a thing or two? And also ESPN's and Yahoo's analysts, who are so unbelievably subjective in their opinions sometimes for a large scale media organization.

Bill Simmons today said Kobe is not on Jordan's level because the same amount of people wouldn't look at Kobe in a room as they would Jordan. I mean, this is the level of journalism we've come to see in sports. It's absolutely ridiculous.

After such a feel-good story about the guy winning his fourth ring yesterday, all Simmons could get himself to do was bash the guy in a long diatribe and keep repeating ad nauseam the same old cliches of Kobe being selfish and petulant.

Simmons it seems couldn't "sense" that Kobe's teammates really loved him. I thought bloggers were to keep things honest.

I don't even need to recount the other side, that tries to prove that Kobe is better than Jordan, just because MJ's team won 55 games without him in the 93-94 season. This proves nothing.

Yes, he had a good team, so what? How does this in any way detract from his other achievements and make Kobe a better player? Yes Kobe had 81, good for him, Jordan had 63 at the Garden in a playoff game. Yes, Kobe once scored 12 threes in a game, an amazing performance. Jordan had six threes in a half in a Finals game.

Then we have people saying LeBron is greater than Kobe because his teammates like playing for him. Firstly, this very happy team of Cavaliers has achieved nothing as yet. Who cares how happy they are? You need to see which team is winning.

They can keep clicking all their mock photos all year long and have a ball, but if you don't win LeBron is going to be walking out of a lot of arenas looking like a poor sport.

The other side claims Kobe is a better teammate than Jordan because Smush Parker's numbers improved when he played with him as opposed to Scottie Pippen's whose also improved the year Jordan first retired.

Both arguments seem to come from seemingly brain-dead people.

Firstly, any normal players numbers will improve when you play with one of the best players in the league. And secondly, any second best player on the team's numbers will improve when the top guy is not around. Both are just silly arguments that tell you absolutely nothing.

When Kobe loses a Finals to the Celtics it is all on him and he didn't do well. When he wins, it is not simply because of him and it was a team effort.

On the opposing side, Kobe's teammates never showed up (even when he shoots at some 38 percent) and when they do it was all Kobe because he happened to have six assists.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Both sides on this debate are sometimes perfectly ludicrous. Nobody seems to honestly appreciate this guy just for what he is, nothing more and nothing less. Kobe Bryant is one of the great players of this game, anything more and anything less is dishonest, for the time being.

Too sad we only have people like Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley and Pat Riley etc who are perfectly honest in their appraisal and in their criticisms of the guy.

We should all learn from the people who've played and coached this game before mouthing off ill-conceived and extreme viewpoints, even though they are about a very polarizing player.

Jerry West: Manna from Heaven

Akshay Madhavan — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:06:38 -0400

As every human with a larynx holds forth on LeBron vs Kobe, as John Hollinger tries to settle the debate using his statistics, and ESPN has a roundtable of bloggers for their take on the matter, and all the Kobe hating, mainstream media put forth their ridiculously biased views.

This view is supported by delusional Cavs fans and matched on the opposite side by delusional Lakers fans; however, one voice rose above it all and for many people, settled the debate for the time being.

Everyone not living under a rock now knows what Jerry West's words (definitely infamous) were. He's not the first authority to opine on the matter, but simply the most high profile, and the one with the closest attachment to one of the subjects of the debate. What do these words signify though?

Why are they so important to Lakers fans who will never in a thousand years believe that LeBron James is better than Kobe Bryant? How could Jerry West even say such a thing? Our Jerry West?

The man who gave us our beloved Kobe turning on us like this? Caesar's "et tu??" to Brutus captures it very well for us (as Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports has said).

If, as a "second father" you can take sides in this all-important, enraging debate against your adopted son when he is in the midst of the most important playoff run of his career and say that his fiercest rival has "surpassed him as a player," you are everything we thought you were not.

This would mean you were disloyal, irresponsible, cheap and lowly.The Logo is one of the greatest, most revered and respected figures in all of basketball, and hence, this cannot be the case.

It cannot be that he hasn't said this with every intent and purpose of needling Kobe to raising his game to the heights it needs to be at to get the Lakers the championship. It cannot be that West simply happened to choose the eve of Game One of the WCF to make this monumental observation.

It cannot be that this simply happened to follow a lacklustre series against the Rockets for both the Lakers as well as for Kobe himself (even though he was great, he wasn't setting the world on fire) where everyone began to doubt their championship mettle and question their commitment and focus.

It simply cannot be that a wise sage of basketball chose so ill timed a moment to utter this opinion of his, deserting his adopted son in his most acute time of need.

Which father tells their son he's got a receding hairline right when the son is about to propose to his beloved? It simply doesn't happen. The minute I heard what West had said, I simply said "thank god!"

Nobody cares about the actual words Jerry West uttered. It's only the intent that matters to all Lakers fans. We don't care for this debate. LeBron could be Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain combined for all we care. We still root for Jellybean. Nothing changes that.

To us it's only about what West's words do for our man. And for one night we got to see that. Something we've been waiting to see all these playoffs. Something we want to see every game from here on. That Kobe Bryant knows he's the best player in the world regardless of what any newspaper, blog or fan says.

That he plays like he knows he's the best player in the world. That he wills himself to show the world what he is capable of and what that can do for this Lakers franchise. That he will bring back this championship now, no matter what. Because that is what he needs and the franchise needs and the fans need.

And it all happened because of 10 words his "second father" brilliantly chose to utter at a crucial time.

Much like Achilles was teased about Hector being a better fighter before the Trojan War, Kobe Bryant has been riled, and intentionally. All we care about is what those words do to our man. We don't care for the veracity of the observations. It was never meant to be a debate settler.

Jerry West is a shrewd man who knows what he's doing. He just kickstarted the second glorious phase in the career of the best basketball player on the planet.

As Phil Jackson showed Kobe videos of Jordan in his prime, willing those Bulls to playoff victory after playoff victory, and Jerry West does his bit in getting the Lakers closer, all that is left to see if how Kobe Bryant will react.

We've seen Act I yesterday night. The manna is only simply beginning to take effect.

Los Angeles: The Fake Show?

Akshay Madhavan — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:03:34 -0400

What is up with the Los Angeles Lakers, everybody asks. There cannot be a single basketball fan in the world who has not asked himself over the last two days; why are the Lakers playing like this?

Opposing team fans are freaked out. Lakers fans continue to pull their hair out. Sports writers across the country have come up with a myriad of reasons for the Lakers' erratic play. Rival teams and executives are no doubt clueless. The Lakers, of course, remain carefree throughout it all.

Why all the hoohah?

Because everyone thought the Lakers were loaded with talent.

Because everyone thought they had the best basketball player on the planet.

Because everyone loved their speed, length, and versatility.

Because everyone thought they had one of the best coaches the game has ever seen.

Because everyone thought they were hungry from last year.

Because everyone thought they were champions. And champions do not play like this.

In the basketball world, it is assumed that there is a specific formula for a championship.

You need to have dominant big men or Michael Jordan.

You need to play defense (read East Coast) like your life depended on it.

You need to have outside shooting that is absolutely lethal.

You need to have a great coach and, over and above all, the proverbial "fire in your belly".

If you don't have all of this, you cannot win a championship. This is what the conventional wisdom says.

If a team which is considered to have championship material does not play with this particular formula, it is quickly dismissed as lacking one of the required ingredients and hence does not have a chance of winning the national title.

Everyone expresses their chagrin at being let down and obituaries for the season are quickly written. Everyone is expected to play and win in a particular way that has been agreed upon by the system and any team that deviates is considered a huge exception, or, as previously mentioned, would have had a certain MJ playing for them.

In similar fashion, every writer in the country doubts the Lakers' "championship mettle," because they seem to lack a few ingredients.

Now, the Lakers have big men, but they are anything but dominant. They got mauled in last year's finals and have simply not showed up in some games these playoffs.

The Lakers play defense when they feel like it, but most of the time they simply ignore that entire aspect of the game.

They supposedly have excellent outside shooters, but they have amazingly defied the law of averages to suck continuously game after game.

They have a great coach and a transcendent superstar, but he is the only one with fire in his belly. His teammates mostly look like they're quite bored with the sport and would rather have chosen other career paths.

All this, of course, leads to them being severely doubted by the gurus in the national media and all the other people in the system, who cannot understand how a "championship caliber" team can play in such a manner.

I ask of you all, why do the Lakers have to play a particular way to win? It's not like they've played any differently before. When did they previously play the way you ask them to? What makes you expect them to start playing like that now?

When did they consistently play with an edge for two to three games in a row? When did they last get tough and nasty for an entire series? When did they play this "East Coast defense" that you keep talking about? When was the last time they looked, played, and felt like a team on a mission?

Yes, it's happened in very short spurts. But that only goes to show it's all very contrived. This is Los Angeles people. Get used to it.

This is the city of "Showtime," Shaq and Kobe feuding and fooling around, somehow getting to three titles with several game sevens, breakdowns, questionable calls, loads of luck, and a highly casual style.

This is the team that led Phoenix 3-1 in a series and then proceeded to hand over the series on a platter, like they were above it all.

This is the team that was fighting to get to 2-2 in the Finals last year and contrived to blow a 25 point lead at home.

This is the team that managed to lose by 39 points in a championship deciding game.

This is the team that was supposedly desperate for home court advantage throughout the playoffs this year and still managed to lose to the Charlotte Bobcats, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, and Philadelphia 76ers.

Why are people still foolish enough to expect them to play like a team that is a straw man for an example of a championship winner?

The Lakers are simply too talented, too casual, too cool, and too focused on offense and putting on a great show to be bothered with all these other requirements of winning a championship.

If they manage to win a title while they're at it, that's all well and good. I just don't see how they'll suddenly morph into some 90s, East Coast style team, emphasizing defense, cutting out the fancy stuff, locking down opponents, consistently owning the boards, and registering blowout after blowout.

When was the last time the Lakers won a playoff game in a blowout? You have to go all the way back to Game 2 of last year's Western Conference Finals against the Spurs, if my memory serves me well.

So, essentially, the Lakers are a fake show as far as the establishment is concerned and conventional wisdom suggests. But they could possibly win a title without doing most of the things people typically think are needed.

Let them just play. They are a severely flawed team, but which book says flawed teams cannot win titles?

Lakers-Rockets Without the Technicalities

Akshay Madhavan — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:39:47 -0400

Yes, we all know the Lakers have the superstar and the HOF coach, the Rockets have the perimeter defense and the center. What do we not know but?

1. Brandon Roy is better than Kobe Bryant and LeBron James: So maintains Ron Artest. In one of the most amazing statements you'll hear all season long, Artest was quoted as saying Brandon Roy was the best player he had ever guarded.

The number of ways in which to decipher this statement right before Artest squares off with Kobe are countless, so we're all left to come up with our own connotations. Is Artest trying to get Kobe to take 25 shots a game, come out of his good teammate mode and become the Kobe of 2005-06?

Or is he such a good friend of Kobe's and wants him to win so badly he's consciously provoking his buddy to play with fire?

While he was at it, Ron-Ron also claimed Bryant had only recently begun to play defense ("the last 2-3 years.")

Is this to get Kobe to expend considerable energy on the defensive end in guarding Artest or Battier (and hence lower his offensive capabilities) or (in keeping with the good friend angle) to get him to shut the Rockets down so that he has a clear path to the Finals?

2. Yao Ming doesn't know what "underdog" means: Ming professes to not know what this unique English term signifies, but assures everybody that he is "used to it."

With his pal and supposed franchise player for the Rockets T-Mac so constantly out of the team, Yao has had his fair share of burden carrying and underdog being. So believe him when he says he's used to it.

As another writer on this site has said, simply because nobody gives the Rockets a chance is a good reason to give them a chance. Yao will have you know he has no qualms being an underdog, whatever that means.

3. Jordan Farmar: When was the last time a promising point guard and potential starter was turned into a non-entity by an unknown, unheralded and lesser of the two players got in exchange for a salary dumping trade?

Shannon Brown has been quite a revelation, hasn't he? And with D-Fish on his last legs and almost definitely expected to pack it in with speedy rookie Aaron Brooks coming hard at him, Brown holds the key at PG for the Lakers.

4. Shane Battier is Mace Windu: Michael Lewis' NYT article, which made Battier look like some kind of super-species hybrid playing a mortal's game, would've been Kobe Bryant's bedtime reading over the last week and he knows he's got his hands full.

Apparently the smartest and most astute basketball player without even knowing it, Battier is sure to give the Lakers constant headaches with his Jedi-like abilities. The force is rather strong with him.

The Lakers can only hope Battier is in fact Anakin Skywalker(suddenly turned to the dark side with a few ill chosen three-point attempts) and Luke Walton is you know who....

5. Bynum rearing to go for first time in life: When the Lakers refused to "ship his ass out", Andrew "Let's injure that knee" Bynum knew he had to get better. He got into shape and actually became interested in playing the game, but amazing bad luck with injuries has got him down time and again.

Asked now to provide the defense, rebounding and toughness the Lakers lacked during last year's run, Bynum has got a few tests in store for him when he goes up against people who are used to be underdogs.

6. Rick Adelman remembers 2002 :All thanks to Tim Donaghy, Rick Adelman was reminded of his old team the Sacramento Kings and their stuff of legend 2002 WCF 7 game series against the Lakers under Phil Jackson.

Of course, Adelman had no other reason to remember that series. Uncontroversial, staid series, full of one-sided wins and the opposing team sneaked through without any players of note, without any luck, and with a little-known coach, too right?

Adelman doesn't know what the word revenge means, so calm down. All because of Donaghy's allegations people think this means something to poor old Rick.

Lakers in 6. Let the fun begin.

A Lakers Fan's Awful Deja Vu: Postmortem of a Disastrous Game Three

Akshay Madhavan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:51:14 -0400

Will somebody please tell me if this is 2008 or 2009? After seeing Game 3 of the Lakers' series against the Jazz, I can't tell. Everything is as it was a year ago. I am as upset as I was then, nothing has changed.

The Lakers are supposed to be a far better team this year. They were supposed to have far superior inside presence by having Andrew Bynum back.

Getting Trevor Ariza back from injury was supposed to be a key for them on perimeter defense.

The acquisition of Shannon Brown has given them an outside shooting threat and more depth and strength at the point.

They were supposed to have vastly improved Team D and with an offseason and 82 games under them, this was supposed to be a team for the ages.

Can anybody honestly say right now that this team is all that it is made out to be? You have one of the best ever to play the game as your leader. You were called the favorites for the season even right after your Finals loss to the Celtics, all because of your potential.

I for one, am not seeing that potential come home to roost. After your performance in Game 3, I feel like I am back in May 2008, all those bad memories playing over in my mind.

Sure, one loss is really nothing, and everybody knows the Lakers will manage to pull through eventually. But all this was for last year wasn't it? When you were searching for your soul and getting a feel for the playoffs? What's your excuse now?

I know the MSM will write its usual banal platitudes on Utah's heart and its hyperbolic nonsense of a lower seed being inspired by its home court, but aren't champions supposed to not give the press the chance for any nonsense, by taking care of business?

I, as a fan, want some accountability here. I write this from 7000 miles away, from a little known part of the world. I went to sleep last night with my Bryant jersey on and had dreamy visions of Kobe leading the Lakers to a dominating playoff victory.

I get up at 7:00AM to watch the game and go to work late, in order to catch a memorable fourth quarter effort from my idol. Instead, this is the effort I get from you guys? I got this last year, when I was right there in the US, thank you very much.

What did I make that effort for? Because I thought this was 2009. I thought things had changed.

I thought you'd have gotten rid of your complacency and arrogance. I thought you'd focus on the tougher parts of the game, like defense and rebounding, getting to the basket, and making your free throws in clutch situations. I thought you'd finally become an intense team. I thought Kobe would finally inspire you to some great road performances. I thought you'd win the tough games.

I got my fill of ridiculous jump shot attempts, bone-headedness, and pusillanimity last year you know. If you intend a repeat performance, you could have told me about it, and spared me the effort.

I could simply have waited for Game 5 back in LA. I hope you read this sometime Kobe Jellybean Bryant. I look up to you as a demigod. This was not the effort I was expecting as one.

You are playing a tough and physical team on one of the toughest home courts in the league. You are playing a no nonsense coach who wants his team to get nasty. You just beat them badly twice.

Anyone with half a brain could have told you the Jazz were going to come at you hard. They did this to you last year in the second round.

You are jostling with the Cavaliers for bragging rights as to which is the more dominant team. You are playing an eighth seed that is supposed to be nothing more than a speed bump for you, and this is the effort you bring?

How many times in the game did Bryant, Odom, and Fisher amble the ball up the court? Did it seem to anyone they were playing in a playoff game?

Apart from Vujacic today, I don't think anyone had any sense of urgency. It was almost as if they didn't care. When the entire team lacks intensity and fails to execute, it is a failure of leadership. Bryant and Phil Jackson need to take the blame for that.

Kobe knew his jumper wasn't falling. Why then hoist 24 shots, some of which were plain ridiculous? It's all sweet when they go in, but in the playoffs you play the percentages. The highlight reels are only beside the fact.

If you aren't going to make the effort to get to the rim, how do you expect your teammates to stay disciplined?

And Phil Jackson, it took you 'til the last minute of the game to design plays for Pau Gasol to get open when Kobe got double teamed? Did you see how easy that last minute dunk of Pau's was? Where was stuff like that the entire game? Why were you letting Bryant take such asinine shots?

Pau Gasol, you of course could teach a master's level course in wussiness. On top of that you airball a free throw? And you don't even bother to contest Boozer's attacks on the basket. Are you aware of the word defense?

It doesn't consist solely of blocking layups. You, the second best player on a championship contender, let Carlos Boozer get 22 boards on your watch. I hope you had a sleepless night. It will serve you well for the future.

My grievances are plenty, and they do not end here. I had great visions of Kobe scoring 40 or 50 in a dominating road effort to take a 3-0 series lead.

I thought he would understand the fierce urgency, killing off the Jazz now, bringing that assassin's mentality from the first minute of the game and putting on a show. Instead I get a mediocre effort from a complacent, and contrived team that is still searching for its soul and exists as a sum of its parts.

I'm sure they thought the job was done after they went up by 13 near the end of the third.

Kobe has no excuses for starting the game so poorly and letting the Jazz come back from an eight point deficit in the fourth quarter with him in the floor. He seems to believe the Lakers will always find a way, and he typically leaves it till too late.

I did not see any rallying of the troops on his part. He was strangely subdued in the fourth, just going through the motions. None of it makes any sense to me. It all feels like the summer of 2008 again (Boston coming back from 25 down in Game 4 of the Finals).

Can somebody please ask Kobe and the Lakers what's up?

NBA Western Conference Expectations

Akshay Madhavan — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:28:17 -0400

Utah Jazz

A year after losing to the Lakers in six games, Utah was expected to fight for the 2 or 3 seed to avoid meeting the Lakers till the conference finals at least this year. Unfortunately, that's not how things have played out.

With several injuries, the Jazz have fallen off a cliff after the All-Star break and barely made the playoffs with the No. 8 seed. They now meet a Lakers team that has only one goal in mind, the Championship.

Utah is expected to be nothing more than a speed bump for the Lakers, but the Jazz play very hard on their home floor, and taking last year's series to six games should give them some hope of prolonging the series this time, too.

New Orleans Hornets

They have arguably the best point guard in the league and one of the most dynamic and talented players around in Chris Paul. He is to this team what D-Wade is to the Miami Heat.

They were an early season dark horse to go very far in the playoffs, but they haven't been able to replicate last season's performance in the regular season and doing so in the playoffs (where they took the San Antonio Spurs to seven games in Round 2) will be even harder.

While they have not much to lose, they play a surprise No. 2 seed in the Denver Nuggets who have much more to prove. Expectations are not high, but Chris Paul is known to win games all on his own.

Dallas Mavericks

A few weeks removed from fighting the Phoenix Suns for the 8th seed, the Mavs, as I write, have taken game 1 on the road from the third-seeded Spurs. This raises expectations for them and shows they had a lift and momentum coming in.

While they still chase that elusive championship, now with a veteran point guard, they don't seem to get bogged down by a sense of expectation.

Dirk Nowitzki and the talented players who surround him can just go out and play their natural games without worrying too much, because nobody knows whats to expect of them.

It's worked well in their favor so far and could take them a long way. Kenny Smith believes they'll make the conference finals!

Houston Rockets

In one of the most exciting Round 1 matchups, the Rockets take on the Portland Trailblazers. Game 1 just concluded with the Rockets shutting down Brandon Roy and Co. to take it on the road.

With their alleged star, Tracy McGrady out, not much was expected of the Rockets, and as with the Mavericks they seem to overachieve with nothing is expected of them.

Ron Artest has been a revelation and with Yao getting far more touches inside with McGrady out, the team seems to think it's got a winning combination, even with rookie point guard, Aaron Brooks (who's had an excellent debut tonight).

Nobody knew what to expect out of this series, other than close games, but people might have underestimated Houston's vastly greater playoff experience and versatility. They could even be considering a long Round 2 with the Lakers for all you know.

Portland Trailblazers

By consensus, they are the most exciting team in basketball. A popular dark horse pick to give almost every western team trouble, it's likely their playoff infancy will let them down (as we've already seen in Game 1).

They have a mature beyond his years and exciting leader in Brandon Roy and have nothing to lose. They've beaten the Lakers twice this season and beaten the Spurs and Rockets on the road.

Nobody underestimates them, and that could play against them, as teams bring their full effort to games. While they're just happy to make a fourth-seed entry in the playoffs, this season could be capped off with a long Round 2 against the Lakers.

San Antonio Spurs

They didn't make their traditional post All Star Game push to the top of the standings, but nevertheless finished with the third seed in a tough Western Conference race. Their odd years' ('99,'03,'05,'07) luck might have run out with a spate of injuries (Manu Ginobili being the obvious one) and a group of veterans who are all past their best.

Tony Parker is the only young gun and he'll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to give San Antonio a shot in the arm it sorely needs. They've won it all so many times before, nobody knows what drives this team.

The hunger for a championship cannot be compared with a team like the Cavaliers or the Lakers, so one must consider them a solid, professional group of champions that would just like to do the best it can. Losing Game 1 at home to the Mavericks has not been a good start.

Denver Nuggets

Not one person can honestly say they expected this team to be the No. 2 seed in the West. After trading for Chauncey Billups they seem to have acquired a new lease of life and while they only won three games more than last year, they have a new attitude about them and that makes one helluva difference.

They expect to finally end their Round 1 futility in the playoffs (they last made it to Round 2 in 1994) against the Hornets. This season will be really special if they were to make the Conference Finals and give, possibly the Lakers, a run for their money there.

They have high hopes for themselves and they've played like it. Billups is a veteran leader and sees around him a cast of special players who he thinks can go far.

Los Angeles Lakers

It is not too much of a stretch to say that if the Lakers don't win the championship, their season will be considered a colossal failure.

They've played with only one goal in mind (they lost the home court advantage to the Cavaliers) and that is to improve on last season's trip to the finals and go all the way this year.

They have all their pieces in place, and Kobe Bryant has no more excuses. It's championship or bust, as simple as that and Bryant will be the first one to say so.

No team this year even comes close to the expectations the Lakers have on their shoulders, and while that can be hard to play with, the Lakers will look at use that as added incentive, one which they far too easily ceded to the Celtics last year.

There are no two ways about it and the Lakers should play with an intensity that shows as much.

Why Kobe Bryant Has To Win It Now

Akshay Madhavan — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:58:15 -0400

To most NBA experts, players and fans, Kobe Bryant is one of the top 20 best players of all time and one of the top five guards the league has ever produced. To some, he is second only to Michael Jordan and to a third, out there, group he is the best of all time.

To get the first group of people to consider agreeing with the second (I leave out the third because nobody seriously believes that is ever possible), Kobe Bryant has to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a championship this season. And there are no two ways about it.

Kobe has three championships playing second fiddle to a Shaquille O'Neal in his prime. While he contributed far more to those teams than is popularly believed, they will never be thought of solely as Kobe's titles.

He's had two chances since, in the 2003-'04 Finals against the Detroit Pistons and the 2007-'08 Finals against the Celtics, and has come up short both times against superior defenses.

These were two great chances to be the leader on a championship winning team, but Kobe was not able to muster the superhuman effort required to overcome the odds he faced; the kind of effort Dwyane Wade mustered to lead the Miami Heat over a more favored Dallas Mavericks squad in 2006.

Kobe fans have no real explanation as to why Kobe couldn't carry his team through those two Finals. Both matchups were winnable, and should certainly have not been one sided at all.

Those were two rings Kobe could have done with and he would have had five by now and with one this year, he would have matched Jordan's tally of six. As we have it though, he's still looking for that elusive title, and this year presents him with a golden opportunity.

With the announcement that Kevin Garnett will be out for the playoffs, the Lakers are now faced with only the Cleveland Cavaliers as a team that can be considered championship contenders. And if Kobe loses the finals to LeBron, while having a far superior supporting cast, he should just pack up and retire.

Kobe Bryant is out of excuses and he's simply got to deliver this time to be considered in the same league as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and all the others. This has got to be a late career second coming. It started last year, but he fell short. I don't believe he's running out of time. But if he loses this year, there are simply no excuses left to make.

Even if he is triple teamed and his teammates shoot at 30 percent for the playoffs, Kobe Bryant has to win that championship. It's the only thing that will make believers of the doubters. That Kobe Bryant is one of the best to ever play the game of basketball.

NBA Playoffs: Eastern Conference Expectations

Akshay Madhavan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:32:38 -0400

Detroit Pistons

In a rare personnel miscalculation, Joe Dumars traded his team’s engine (Chauncey Billups) for the volatile Allen Iverson, and oh how the Pistons have fallen.

A year after finishing with the league’s second best record and making their now customary trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, they’ve had a 20 game drop to finish with the eighth seed in the East and barely make the playoffs.

While expectations are low, this team still retains a lot of its weapons from years before. Nobody thinks they can dislodge the mighty Cavaliers, the NBA’s best team, but nobody would be surprised if the Pistons showed some resilience and took this series to a hard fought six or even seven games.

Chicago Bulls

In being handed a playoff matchup against the defending champion Celtics as opposed to the Orlando Magic, Chicago has only itself to blame.

With a team that was only sometime ago considered on par with Portland for young talent, the Bulls have no excuse for finishing the season with a .500 record.

Their post-season expectations mirror their underachieving regular season as guard Kirk Hinrich beautifully captures when he says: “We’re excited to be in the postseason. We’re going to try to get ready.”

Philadelphia 76ers

Their season ended the day Elton Brand was ruled out for the remainder of it.

Having contrived to avoid the Celtics in the first round, it is possible that they might have a chance of an upset of the young, but still formidable Magic.

While they are 0-3 against the Magic this year, Iguodala (who led the league in averaging almost 40 mins a game) and co. should really want to prove themselves as worthy of a sixth seed, and a team better than its .500 record might suggest.

Miami Heat

D-Wade gets a chance to put some icing on his already legendary comeback and this team only goes as far as he does.

If there is a one man team in the NBA, this is it, and if there is one man you don’t want to face in the post-season, that would be Wade.

The comparisons to the 2006 Lakers squad on Kobe’s shoulders have been made ad nauseam, but the Heat don’t have to play the Phoenix Suns in the first round (Lakers took a 3-1 lead and then lost the next three).

We can all expect some fireworks in their series against the Hawks, and anything from then on is a bonus.

Atlanta Hawks

A year after pushing the Celtics to seven games in a first round matchup, more was expected of the Atlanta Hawks than they’ve managed to deliver.

That said, they’ve secured home court for their first round series and have drawn a team (see above) that, besides a certain No. 3, cannot do them much damage.

They should be looking to cruise through round one and then repeat last year's round one performance in round two.

That would be a pretty decent post-season outing.

Orlando Magic

While they’ve lost some crucial games they could’ve won over the course of the season, third seed sounds about right for this team.

They have the most dominant big man in the game today in Dwight Howard, and with a near 60 win season, there will be expectations.

Philadelphia shouldn’t pose much of a challenge, but Orlando aspires to more than just a second round appearance. It all hinges on how badly Dwight Howard wants it.

When he’s playing at his best, this can be a very dangerous club.

They should expect to give both Boston and Cleveland a run for their money.

Howard needs to show he can get it done in the post-season.

Boston Celtics

For a defending champion, they’ve been a bit under the radar this year, thanks to some high profile injuries and a season for the ages in Cleveland.

At the same time, this is a 62 win team and remains one of the best defensive clubs in the league.

Anything short of a repeat performance will be considered a letdown considering it is apparent that their championship window was only a three year stretch.

Ray Allen is 32 and KG, at 31, is showing the signs of all those years of toil.

They expect to have KG back for game one of the Chicago series and with him should expect to be in the NBA finals again, if not winning it all to repeat as champions.

Cleveland Cavaliers

That the Cavs have improved 21 games in a single season and have the best record in the league, with the most imposing home court to boot, should be enough to convince anyone of LeBron James’ candidature as MVP.

This unbelievable turnaround itself should please most Cavs fans, but having made a trip to the NBA finals with a far lesser team following James’ magical and otherworldly game five performance against Detroit in the second round in 2007, anything short of a championship will be considered a disappointment.

If you keep in mind that James is a free agent at the end of next season, Cavs fans would think a championship is the only way to keep James at Cleveland.

They have been the best team in the NBA for the stretch of the season and they will want to show in the post-season that their record was no illusion.