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I don’t spend a lot of time writing about politics here, but I had an interesting insight while driving home today to watch the debate that fits pretty well on this blog: “Holy crap, John McCain just tried to pull a Matt Doherty on Barack Obama, with this crazy ‘halt the campaign and debate‘ thing.”

The strategy refers to a Doherty approach used in a 60-48 loss to Duke on March 8, 2002. Now, as you read this post and begin to wonder how in the WORLD I could remember some innocuous game from the worst season for North Carolina in the last 30+ years, just remember that 1) I’ve been a diehard UNC fan the last 15+ years, 2) I watch a LOT of basketball, and 3) I have a special dislike of Matt Doherty. Now, on to the show:

First, a couple of assumptions we’ll use to equate McCain to a particular Doherty strategy (these are necessary so that Chris Lin or other Republican-leaning people are still willing to read):

1. Assume that McCain is seeing the same polls that fivethirtyeight.com and other sites are reporting (i.e. slight slide relative to Obama).
2. Assume that, as a politician, McCain (like Obama and others) is morally capable of using the financial crisis as a prop in a particular tactic to win the election.

If you’re not going to just sing along with those assumptions for fun, then stop reading now.

In 2002, Doherty was busy driving the North Carolina program into the ground. Now, that’s not a material part of the story and in no way am I saying that John McCain is getting ready to lead this country into a hell hole which will have us aching for the days of George W Bush (read into that what you will).

Anyhow, the North Carolina team was so lacking in talent for a program of such prestige, that even Doherty knew the team was hosed. It turned out to be the season that broke UNC’s seemingly infinite run of NCAA tournament appearances, though we didn’t know it at the time. On the day of the game, the only hope for making the tournament was to somehow triumph in the ACC tournament and win the automatic bid. It was with that backdrop that UNC met hated rival Duke (#3 in the country) in the Quarterfinals and Doherty choose to coin (in my mind) ‘pulling a Doherty’.

Knowing that the Duke team was “ahead in the polls” so to speak, Doherty had his players slow the game down to the point of pain. And I’m not talking about a Bo Ryan-like strategy where you play staunch defense and then come down the court to swing the ball 90 times until you get a layup. I’m talking about Adam Boone bringing the ball across halfcourt and then standing still dribbling until the shot clock was down to 10 seconds before even making a single move.

It’s impossible to convey the outrageous-ness of the strategy, because the final score doesn’t represent the extent of how crazy it was. Duke would run down, score a quick bucket, and then Carolina would eat up 35 seconds (and hopefully get a bucket). Usually when two teams score at such a low pace, it’s because of tough defenses holding each other to poor shooting. But I’d venture to guess Duke shot something like 55% in the game (unfortunately, ESPN has lost the box score to verify). Remember, Duke was one of the more explosive NCAA teams of the past 20 years. They had put up 93 and 87 points in the first two meetings against Carolina that season.

It was awful. And as a North Carolina fan, it was unwatchable.

But it was also some sort of perverted genius. Doherty himself put it best after the game:

“You don’t want to have to play that way, but it was the only chance we had to win,” said Doherty, who had clearly been crying in the locker room.

“We worked on it and I went to Jason (Capel) and said this is the way we need to play to try to beat Duke and he said, `Let’s do it. I’m with you.’ And we thought we were going to win.”

(Side note: this type of garbage is why I try to block out the Matt Doherty years in my mind)

He was right, it really was the only possible way for Carolina to win. They had to shorten the game up, possessions-wise, to the point where the importance of every single individual possession was heightened. Where each shot, instead of being worth a tiny fraction of the game, was worth relatively double (or triple). And then Carolina just had to play hard and hope – hope for a slip-up that would be magnified in import due to the shortened game. It’s a common practice by basketball and football teams (you see 3 or 4 teams do it to Peyton Manning and the Colts every year), but I vividly remember the Doherty game because of how explicit it was.

In essence, that’s what I think McCain was trying to accomplish this week. He saw an opportunity to shorten the game up. To magnify the impact of the debate and the last few weeks of the election by pushing things out. Nevermind that there was no fucking way he would actually be able to make a substantive difference (as he proved tonight in the debate, he and Obama both do not have depth of understanding on the economic crisis). With foreign policy (McCain’s clear advantage) being the focus of the first debate, he wanted to shorten its gap to Election Day as much as possible.

It was a crazy strategy, almost as crazy as Matt Doherty trying to turn a 40-minute game into a 25-minute one, but who knows… it could have worked.

Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of basketball, but I can definitively say this is a true first for me: waking up before 6am to catch a bball game on TV. It’s halftime of the US vs. Australia game at the Olympics and the US just hit a halfcourt shot to go up 12 right before the half. If you’re the Australians, don’t you have to wonder about those basketball gods?

I mean, shoot, they have Lebron, Kobe, AND you give them crazy hits like that?!

Really though, so far the Australians have effectively followed the playbook for how you stay with the Americans:

• Neutralize ball pressure by attacking the basket with the dribble (sort of a staple of any offensive gameplan against Coach K teams).
• Don’t turn the ball over (I think they have 7 or 8 turnovers at half, which against Kobe & co. qualifies as low turnover basketball).
• Try to make all the US shots difficult (or make the US shoot free throws). Hope the Americans get one of those free throw bugs, which seems to be working (I believe the US is 10-20 from the line in the first half.
• Slow the game down as much as possible by getting everyone back on defense and sagging off the US shooters (and hope they don’t shoot like they did against Spain, working so far).
• Bring in a thug to hack at the US star players to try to get someone thrown out. Dwight Howard almost fell for it when Carmelo was over-aggressively fouled.
• Pray and get lucky.

Despite all that, they’re still down 12 at half (though they were within 6 or 7 for most of it).

Here comes the second half!

No better way to spend a lazy Saturday morning than coming back from playing some basketball and firing up nbcolympics.com to watch the US beat up on Spain 119-82.

Random thoughts I jotted down while watching:

• I still don’t understand the officiating. Lots of very bizarre calls. Lebron chested up a guy the entire way down court on defense, held him as he tried to cut, and they called the foul on the offense. At least it goes both ways, sort of.
• Jason Kidd obviously is starting these games as a lifetime achievement award. Chris Paul does a lot better pushing pace and pressuring on defense.
• In general, the ball pressure by the US is the best part of their game. Lots of forced turnovers, lots of traps off of ball screens. I think the official number ended up being 28 turnovers – that’s ridiculous.
• Spain’s superstar youngster, Ricky Rubio, hasn’t looked that impressive, though he is 17. Scouts think he could go number one overall when he gets old enough. So far all I’ve seen him do is get flustered by Chris Paul and Deron Williams pressuring him and get bailed out by two shitty foul calls by the refs. He does appear to be pretty skilled, but he certainly doesn’t look like an elite athlete in ANY way. Not sure how that’s going to translate to the NBA, where it’s just really hard to dominate as a point guard without top-shelf athleticism in some way. His shot is also way too slow. It’s a pure set shot and he winds up for literally a second on catch.
• By the way, Rubio’s jersey says “Ricky” on the back. No last name, just “Ricky”.
• Pau’s brother Marc Gasol looks and plays like a fatter, longer-haired version of Brad Miller
• Dwyane Wade looks GREAT. Definitely doesn’t look like he has any lingering injury effects. He’s doing a tremendous job in help defense and is getting his hands on a lot of balls. He just had one dunk that actually made me exclaim “Whoa!” Yes, I’m also sitting by myself in my room.
• Lebron can jump very high. He’s also ripped. When you see him playing against guys who aren’t as physically gifted as all the usual NBA superstars, you’re just reminded that he was clearly genetically-engineered to be a basketball playing machine.
• The Spanish use the dirty rec center play of slowing the game down by haphazardly chucking the ball away every time they make a bucket. They also flop a lot, though not quite as much as the Greeks. I guess this is just standard International basketball and it really explains a lot about how Manu Ginobili plays in the NBA.
• Hey, there’s been a Tayshaun Prince sighting! Hooray!
• Spain has switched to a zone. It’ll be interesting to see how the US team, full of a ton of guys who like having the ball in their hands, are able to attack it with the pass. Or Lebron can just hit a 24′ three-pointer, like he just did.
• In general, the US is doing a good job defending the high pick-and-roll at the top of the key, in which Spain usually seems to want to hit one of the Gasol brothers rolling straight down the lane. Lots of helping and recovering from the other defenders, leading to other Spanish players getting the ball in awkward places. Seems like they should be sticking some shooters in the corners to counteract, but haven’t seen it yet.
• It’s amazing how easy it is to beat a full-court press when you have Chris Paul and Deron Williams on the floor at the same time. I’m not sure what Spain’s accomplishing by pressing, unless they just want to speed up the game.
• An AWFUL traveling call that a ref just made on Kobe. So bad that Coach K went to the head shake and “get that shit out of here” wave.
• Dwight Howard is on a mission to block every shot that he sees. He just picked up his third goaltending call, on an outrageous volleyball swat into the stands.

Time for the medal round. From the looks of it, our guys just need to avoid injury, foul trouble, and choking. Yikes, I think I just jinxed them.

I hope I’m not ruining your day if you were planning on watching the highlights in primetime tonight, but the US Mens Basketball team beat Greece this morning 92-69 .

I watched a bit of it this morning on nbcolympics.com (note, you can stream the entire game online and the quality is fantastic). A few random thoughts:

• If the US loses, it’ll probably be because of foul trouble. If you’re used to watching US college or NBA basketball, it’ll feel like these International FIBA games are a complete joke from an officiating perspective. You know when you’re playing pick-up with some random dudes and that ONE GUY calls a foul on EVERYTHING? That must be how all the US players feel, especially the guards. Lots of tiny ticky-tack calls. Luckily for the US, all of the other countries are much more used to this style of officiating.
• As expected, Kobe is the ringleader. He sets the tone on defense by playing really hard and it just permeates the rest of the team. Everyone pressures hard on the ball and denies passes – sort of classic Coach K defensive philosophy.
• The size of Lebron and Carmelo really helps the US on defense. With four guys on the floor who can pick up against guards, we’re really able to switch a ton of ball and off-ball screens. Trapping off of pick-and-rolls also works great when you have those two extra perimeter defenders to deny the next pass on a trap.
• Lebron can jump very high.
• The tandem of Howard and Bosh at the 5 spot is probably the weak link, only in that we’ve only got those 10 fouls to work with (please, God, don’t force us to put Boozer in). With all the stupid shit the FIBA refs call, could be an issue.
• Chris Paul and Deron Williams both look a little uncomfortable deferring to the other scorers so much. When they’re able to spend some time breaking their guys down off the dribble, they look great. Also, when Paul is out on the break, he’s a complete blur. The transition game in general is a huge advantage for the US.
• The Greek team LOVES to flop. At one point Kobe fouled one guy and he fell down like he’d been shot with a Magnum. Right on queue, the FIBA ref called a flagrant foul (you can’t make this stuff up).

Gotta love the Olympics.

… there’s actually no ‘but’. I’m just a betting man.

If anybody’s interested in betting on The Field in a “U.S. Men’s Basketball vs. The Field” for the Gold bet, let me know. There’s nothing like heavy wagering to spice up the Olympics.

As an NBA fan who has actively made clear to everyone in the last two years that I don’t consider myself a legitimate Warriors fan (I quit on them back around ’97, when they moved Spree), I think I’m uniquely qualified to speak objectively about Baron Davis opting out of the last year of his contract and joining the Clippers.

After all, if I was a real Warriors fan, this shit would be driving me crazy. A 29-year old point guard in the prime of his career who took this franchise to euphoria unseen since Rick Barry was on the squad? Walking with a year left on his contract? Moving to another team in the division? Seems pretty awful.

Here’s the thing, though: I don’t blame Baron one bit. Let’s look at the facts:

• The Warriors as currently constituted, will not win an NBA Championship. They will be lucky to sniff the Playoffs, with or without Baron. Period.
• Don Nelson is well known as kind of an ornery bitch. Who benches his star player after one bad shooting half in the most important game of the year? A guy ready for retirement who wants to lock up a couple more paychecks, that’s who.
• The Warriors (according to Tim Kawakami and others) were not even close to matching the number of years (5) and amount of money ($65M) the Clippers were dangling.

Now ask yourself, why would he want to stay? For goodwill? Because a bunch of fans who had never seen an NBA game at Oracle showed up and grabbed some yellow ‘We Believe’ shirts from the pile at the door?

In fact, the number of people flying off the handle about Baron’s decision is literally making ME get angry. C’mon folks, it’s the NBA. Have you seen those T-Mobile commercials? Do you think Dwyane Wade is really using a fucking Sidekick instead of an iPhone? The guy has his jersey number and nickname engraved at the bottom of his pool – I think he’s probably shelling out the $399 for the iPhone.

The NBA is about getting paid exorbitant amounts of money to do something you love: play basketball. Hopefully as a fan, if you’re rooting for the right kinds of guys, it’s also about winning. There’s no reason to believe this wasn’t about both for Baron.

Would you turn down $65M and the opportunity to upgrade Andris Biedrins for Elton Brand? Don’t kid yourself.

What’s the real lesson here? Do yourself a favor and shell out the extra for the throwback jersey, because that Minnesota Timberwolves Kevin Garnett jersey looks pretty stupid right now.

Hey Doc,

Congratulations, your stellar coaching decision to cover the greatest offensive basketball player of the last (at least) ten years with just one guy during the two most vital defensive possessions of your game clearly worked out well.

Thanks for making the NBA Finals into a series again. You and Mike Brown should probably trade notes during the offseason so you can both come back as even shittier coaches next year.

Cheers,
Jack

A caveat, regular readers will know that I have an almost unhealthy dislike of the Suns and vehemently disagreed with Steve Nash as MVP the last few seasons.

Currently I’m watching the Suns-Spurs Game 4. Phoenix is playing its ass off, but hey, when you’re down 3-0 maybe you should do that? Assuming this series ends as it should (with the Spurs getting it done), that would mean the Suns have been punted from the playoffs AGAIN before the NBA Finals (much less an actual championship). When you have a two-time NBA MVP on your team who is in the prime of his career, usually that would mean you’re getting ripped apart in the press for not being able to win when it counts. But for some reason, nobody gives Steve Nash shit for that. Why?

There are a couple of simple explanations. I’m interested to hear what other people think it is:

1) “Oh, Nash isn’t really like Lebron or Kobe or somebody like that. He needs the others around him to step up to win at that level.” Well, in that case, why the HELL was he the MVP before?

2) “Nash is white, so we don’t get on him.” I’m sorry, to me this seems like the only other logical explanation.

The bottom line is that nobody (the media, fans, etc.) seems to hold Steve Nash to the same standards we hold other NBA MVP’s. When he loses nobody’s surprised and nobody calls him a choke. Ask yourself, honestly, why is that?

I think it was only a matter of time (after all, I’ve been pumping him up for years), but it looks like Chris Paul is going to be using these playoffs to announce his ascension to the NBA point guard throne. You don’t throw up 32 points and 17 assists on Jason Kidd (even a mid-30′s Jason Kidd) unless you are that player.

Just watch the ESPN video clip of last night’s highlights. Notice how many of the plays involve the common thread of Paul, having the ball in his hands, scoring or finding shots for other players. I mean, look at the other players on his team: Tyson Chandler (who has magically thrived for the first time on Paul’s team), David West (now an NBA All-Star simply by knocking down the mid-range jumpers that Paul finds for him), and Peja (an aging shooter who is suddenly looking like his old self).

So everyone watch carefully as he firmly entrenches himself in the upper tier of NBA stars over the next few weeks. Kobe, Lebron, Tim Duncan, KG, and Chris Paul. That’s it.

Dear Mike Montgomery,

First off, thank you for making Stanford Mens’ Basketball a relevant program in the college basketball scene. What you were able to do over the years to overcome the strict admissions requirements of Stanford was nothing short of amazing. A Final Four appearance, four conference championships, and perennial standing in the top few of the competitive Pac-10 is tremendous no matter the school. To do that at Stanford where the players actually have to be able to read, write, and speak coherent English? Remarkable.

That being said, I heard today that you’re going to be the new basketball coach at Cal. If that’s true: thank you.

Over the past eight years, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve defended you. Even when our teams choked year after year in the NCAA tournament (see: 2001, 2004), I pinned it on bad shooting days, poor luck, and lack of athleticism. I told myself that we should be even lucky to have a nationally-competitive team – “what amazing coaching to lose to Alabama!” When you ditched Stanford for The League, I convinced myself that all Cardinal fans should be happy for you to go get paid. When you completely stank it up as an NBA coach, demonstrating a shocking lack of creativity and ability to relate to players, I blamed it on “the players that wouldn’t listen.” When Nellie came along and took that (mostly identical) team to the playoffs, I said, “Well, Monty’s style just works better for college.” Basically, I deluded myself in every way because you were the guy who made the program relevant.

So thank you for clearing my head up. Instead of sorting out another way to defend you, I can just move on and start hating you. In 2001? Stanford choked in the Elite 8 (and almost choked in the two rounds before that). In 2004? Stanford choked in the Second Round. And you know what? I’m going to start blaming those on you. You were a shitty NBA coach. You were an asshole for coming back to Stanford this part year and then jumping ship like a fucking mercenary for Cal.

And Cal? You might think you’re going to make that program a national power now since you can recruit academically retarded kids who don’t give a shit about school, but I know you won’t. I know because the Basketball Gods will not let someone so sinister win (and because UCLA and USC will out-recruit you for those players). And (believe me, this pains me to say it), if somehow your team is good enough, you’re going to choke like I know you can.

So congratulations, Monty. You just made me excited for next year’s Pac-10 basketball season. I can’t wait to root against Cal (and you!) in every game. Fuck Cal.

Sincerely,
Jack

p.s. Mike Lee was right, that was a class-less move to call out Billy Donovan years ago. You’re an asshole.