Catching up on the Votes: Day 33-37

June 3rd, 2008, Author: robd

Day 33’s Playoff MVP Votes
3 votes – Rip Hamilton. Hit the jumper late in the 4th when the Celtics got within 2, then hit the jumper with 45 seconds left that took the air out of The Garden. Rip didn’t shoot well in this game, but the great thing about Rip is that he never doubts his jumper. He never shoots without confidence. He’s a machine. Not a Sasha Vujacic kind of machine, but a reliable one nonetheless.
2 votes – Chauncey Billups. In hindsight perhaps Chauncey’s best games this series. 19 pts, 7 assists, scored when he needed to and made smart decisions with the ball. Translation: For once Chauncey didn’t look like an old man hobbling around with war injuries.
1 votes – Rodney Stuckey. Gotta give some love to Stuck this game. He made the start of the fourth quarter his own, hitting a couple of nice jump shots and scoring on a tough drive. This little patch of play was responsible for my house mate (Boston fan) cursing Stuckey’s name for the rest of the series. It may have only been six points in three minutes, but it introduced Stuckey to a lot of NBA fans for the first time.

Day 34’s Playoff MVP Votes
This was the game I realised the series was over. The Spurs were completely lifeless in this one, and the Lakers were simply awesome. It’s not often you see the Spurs lose by 30 in the playoffs. I don’t remember the last time that happened.
3 votes – Kobe Bryant. Not a standout game from Kobe, only scored 22 and only played 36 minutes. But it was another one of those performances where he controlled the game without blatantly dominating it. Oh, and shooting 10-17 against Bruce Bowen is not bad either.
2 votes – Lamar was awesome in this game. 20 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks – everything I (and others) said about him being a nightmare match up for Spurs was on full show in this game. Watching Oberto trying to defend him was also very funny.
1 vote – Jordan Farmar. I thought J-Farm was great, lots of energy, shot the ball extremely well, and kept Parker very quiet. I think more people should start calling J-Farm.

Day 35’s Playoff MVP Votes
This game was living proof for why I never bet on Detroit Pistons games. You never know what you’re going to get. I expected them to win game 1 – they didn’t. I thought game 3 was a lock – it wasn’t. I firmly believe if Detroit had won this game they would have won the series. Going up 2-1 with a chance to go up 3-1 at home is a far better prospect than going back to Boston tied 2-2. But, instead of ruing their missed opportunity, we heard the usual Piston nonchalance: “I don’t see it as a big thing… It’s all about whoever gets to four”. Maybe that’s why you lost the game, Sheed.

3 votes – KG. 22-13-6. Was brutal in that second quarter when Boston sealed the game. Continued to make a mockery of my pre-series prediction that he would struggle against Detroit’s bigs.
2 votes – Kendrick Perkins. I’m starting to understand Shooba’s rants on the forum about why KP will “eat your children”. Now only was he a beast in this game, but he looks so damn pissed off all the time. Just look at him. His face is like that for the full 48. Of course you are going to get rebounds when you look at your opponent like that.
1 vote – Rajon Rondo. This was a real solid game from Ronny. His set the tone from the start, pestering Billups early, and he made that 3-point play that gave the Celts a 9-0 lead.

Day 36’s Playoff MVP Votes
3 votes – Manu Ginobili. Manu was brutal in this game, a complete turnaround from his dismal game 2. When Manu is draining threes like this (5-7 from downtown) he’s almost impossible to stop because you have to honor his sneaky dribble and penetration moves, and his God-given flopping ability. Kobe did his best to counter Manu’s act with four threes in a ridiculous three minutes, but the deficit was simply too big, and that was thanks to Manu.
2 votes – Tim Duncan. Not many guys can have a boring 20-20-5 game. Tim Duncan did.
1 votes – Tony Parker. 20 points for Parker off some nice shots and those trademark acrobatic layups that, as a rule, force commentators to talk about his uncanny ability to score “points in the paint”. Just for once I wish one of the TNT dudes would be straight up about it…
Marv Albert: “Tony Parker on another gorgeous drive to the hoop!”
Doug Collins: “Great shot…”
Marv Albert: “His ability to score points in the paint is just uncanny, isn’t it Doug?”
Doug Collins: “Hmmmm yep”
Marv Albert: “I mean, when you consider he’s only 6-feet…”
Doug Collins: “Ok shut the f–k up Marv. He scored a layup ok? A freaken layup. I mean, shit. Why don’t you just go blow him?”

Day 37’s Playoff MVP Votes
3 votes – Antonio McDyess. Best ever playoff game I’ve seen from McDyess, hands down. If only Sheed stuck to his inside game like that. If only Sheed hustled for boards like that…
2 votes – Rip Hamilton. Brutally efficient game for Rip. 20 points on 8-10 shooting to go with 7 assists.
1 vote – Jason Maxiell. Oh my goodness. That block on KG was nasty. Let’s see it again…

And in case you think its a fluke, here’s one he served up for KG earlier in the season…

And if you think he reserves this stuff for KG only, here’s block of the year for 2008 – the man single-handedly stopped the most lethal two-man move going around the league today…

The one thing I love about J-Max and his defense, is that he doesn’t do anything with finesse. He doesn’t just get his hand in the right position to block those shots, like say, Tim Duncan would. He winds up and takes a massive swipe at the ball, and sends it back with 10 times the force of the player trying to dunk it. It’s incredibly violent, and one of these days Maxiell is going to miss the ball, accidentally hit someone in the face, and kill him.

More votes coming soon…