Coaching From the Couch - NBA Playoffs 2011

Notes on games up to April 25th:

• OKC has to trade Russell Westbrook if he can't play Robin to KD's Batman.  I don't know what that 30-shot performance was last night but it cost them the game.  Durant drained a 3 to make it 98-96, then Russ shoots a triple off the dribble. Brick. KD pops another three, cutting the lead to two pts with seconds remaining before Westbrook fires up an airball for the loss. Remember last year during the Lakers/OKC series when people were saying Russ was "The Best PG in the League?" Yeah, me neither.  Final point, KD had a chance to throw Westbrook under the Greyhound in the post-game presser but he deferred, saying that Russ's airball was a tough shot that had a chance to go in.  That's why he's their unquestioned leader and don't you forget it, Russell.
• Denver won that game despite George Karl checking out.  Did anyone notice that they ran no offense in the second half? It was all pick and rolls with a big and either Ty Lawson or Ray Felton with some threes mixed in by J.R. Swish.  They got lucky.  That kind off ball can't win in the NBA, I don't care how good of individual athletes you have. 
• Along the same lines, why did Karl take J.R. out with just about 2 mins left?  Right after the sub, OKC scored, cutting the lead to a comfortable margin.  Smith was hitting from the outside and they still needed some offense to secure the lead.  Unless Karl was thinking J.R. would shoot them out, allowing OKC to get possessions and regain the lead, that was a dumb move.
• Does Gheorghe Muresan play for Memphis?
• Lebron needs to let Dwayne Wade take the last shot when those situations present themselves.  Kyra Sedgwick is a better Closer than King James.
• By the way, how come the league didn't address when Lebron called Philadelphia's Spencer Hawes a "bi*ch ass n*gga" (at about 0:29) following a hard foul late in game 4? They fined Kobe for using a homosexual slur.  I know why.  David Stern doesn't want to address any race issues, period - but especially not when a black man directs a term generally meant to demean blacks toward a white man.  That's just too confusing.  Know what though?  It's our fault that the word is generally accepted now. Many blacks use it in mixed company, creating a false sense of familiarity so there's not as much emotion involved as in the Kobe situation.  Where's the NAACP on this?  Thanks a lot black folks.
• Everybody wrote Chris Paul off but now he's healthy and he's back.  I mentioned earlier that while he sat out last year's playoffs people had the nerve to say Russell Westbrook was the L's best PG.  That's crazy talk.  Some players are made better by the talent around them but look at the best current point men(Derrick Rose, CP3); they don't really have stellar players in their supporting casts.  Deron Williams faded this year with the trade and injuries so we'll see how he bounces back, but Chris Paul is setting the record straight.
• Speaking of point guards, Derek Fisher needs to retire. That is all.
• The Andre Iguodala Hate List: I hate his jumpshot, I hate that he never makes a game-winner, I hate his haircuts, I hate how he got so muscular it makes his hoop game look even more awkward, I hate how after watching his teammates make shots he jacks one up so it looks like he's doing something, I hate how he only talks with the bottom half of his mouth, I hate that he's paid like a marquee player but doesn't play like one.
• The Spurs are done.  Tim Duncan is old.  I watched Greivis Vásquez and Darrell Arthur run P&R on two consecutive plays for two made Arthur jumpshots. It's more than 24 hrs later and not a single Spurs player has hedged the screen to defend the shot yet.  It's over.
• Looking at Derrick Rose's ample protection during games, you wouldn't think he'd suffer ankle sprains.  Kobe on the other hand does. Rose wears hi-tops and ankle braces (I used to think he balled in ankle weights).  Kobe's signature shoes look like track spikes.  He's suffered two severe ankle/foot injuries this season.  Nike needs to come correct.

*Shout out to Jerseychaser.com on the Lebron clip.