...while wondering what ever happened to Orlando Woolridge

The NBA Finals are upon us and to all who disparage my beloved Association, I dare you to cast aspersions at this match up. No crybaby millionaires. No prima donnas. Classy coaches who preach fundamentally sound basketball. Two strong defenses. The last two champions squaring off against each other.

Detroit took out the Miami Heat in seven games, but were aided by the early health issues of Shaquille O'Neal and the late issues of Dwayne Wade. An additional factor was Miami's inexperience. Championship teams do not blow seven-point fourth quarter leads. The Heat did, and they are on vacation because of it. The Pistons, to paraphrase Rip Hamilton, "did what they do": they put on their hardhats and went to work.

Out West, San Antonio basically coasted to the Finals. They played an inexperienced Denver Nuggets team in the first round, a team that had no business in the playoffs at all, let alone in the second round in the Seattle SuperSonics and a Phoenix Suns team that was nowhere near as ready for prime time as the Dallas Mavericks made them look. As a result, San Antonio has not been tested this postseason. Still, they did what they were supposed to do.

We had Miami in seven over Detroit and San Antonio in five over Phoenix, so we were close. Let's see how our breakdown of the Finals goes:
*All stats are postseason.

Point Guard - Chauncy Billups (18.0/4.1/6.6) vs. Tony Parker (18.7/3.1/4.8)

Billups is the reigning Finals MVP but that was last year. Both he and Parker had solid seasons this year and have continued that into the playoffs. Statistically, these two are close, but where the separation starts to come in when you look a little further down the stat line. Parker is turning the ball over at a 3:1 (turnovers to steals) clip and shooting a horrific 67% from the line. In a close series, those things will kill a team.

Edge: Billups
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Off Guard - Richard Hamilton (21.3/3.9/4.9) vs. Manu Ginobili (21.8/5.8/4.3)

Again, you have two guys that are statistically close. Rip's coughing it up 3.5:1 but Manu's shooting free throws in the 70's, compared to Hamilton's 81%. This is evened out point-wise by Ginobili getting to the line about 50% more. Still, the turnovers versus the benefits of a slasher against Detroit's perimeter defense swing this one Argentina's way.

Edge: Ginobili
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Small Forward - Tayshaun Prince (14.7/6.9/3.6) vs. Bruce Bowen (4.8/2.9/1.4)

Stats don't lie. Bowen is heralded as one of the game's best defenders. Prince is averaging .89 steals per game to Bowen's .44. Neither turns the ball over much. At the free throw line it's not even close (78%-63%, Prince).

Edge: Prince
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Power Forward - Rasheed Wallace (14.7/7.0/1.1) vs. Tim Duncan (24.9/11.7/3.0)

Stats don't lie, though Duncan is turning the ball over an incredible ten times more than he is stealing it, while 'Sheed's numbers are basically even. Wallace has the mean factor, which goes a long way with me and Duncan is just too soft for my taste. Still, you take Duncan away from the Spurs and it's over. The same cannot be said for Rasheed.

Edge: Duncan
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Center: - Ben Wallace (9.8/11.7/1.0) vs. Nazr Mohammed (8.1/7.0/0.5)

Big Ben is out-blocking and out-stealing Mohammed 2:1 but is shooting a horrific 61% from the line. Fortunately for Detroit, he only gets to the line about twice a game.

Edge: Wallace
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Bench - McDyess, Hunter, Arroyo vs. Horry, Barry, Udrih

Very similar benches here. Both have scoring, both have specialists, and both have secret weapons (Darko v. Big Dog, anyone?). San Antonio is a little deeper, but Horry and Barry are also streaky. McDyess could start in a lot of cities.

Edge: San Antonio
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Coaching - Larry Brown (1393-909 [.605]; 1 ring, 2 Finals) vs. Gregg Popovic (396-210 [.653]; 2 rings, 2 Finals)

When Gregg Popovic was a member of the ABA Denver Nuggets, he was cut -- by Larry Brown. Many years later, he served as the best man at Brown's wedding. This is the quintessential student/teacher situation. Popovic was one of Brown's most loyal disciples and employs a coaching philosophy very similar to that of his mentor. Out on his own, he has won two rings and now seeks to prove that it is he who is now the master. The in-series adjustments are going to be fun to watch for those who are interested in the machinations of these two men. These are two brilliant coaches who are on even ground. The only thing that separates them is that only one of them is The Greatest Basketball Mind of Our Time.

Edge: Brown
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When looking at the players involved, each team wins two categories, with the deficiencies that cost one team a category being compensated for at another position. These are two sets of old-school roundballers. What we should see over the course of the next two weeks or so is a basketball clinic. Most of what people see as negatives in today's NBA should be vacant from this series and all that we love about this game will be on nightly display. This one will go the distance.

Prediction: Detroit in seven


And in a completely unrelated matter, while researching photos for this posting, I came across this, proving that Tariq Abdul-Wahad was not only once alive, but apparently had some hops, as witnessed by Horrace Grant and Derek Harper.

Until next time,
Paz