Which One of You is Michael Finley?

by sungo on Nov 18, 2007 12:50 PM CST in Game Previews

Game 10: HOU 84 @ SA 90

Seriously, he has to be reading PtR, right? Stampler rightfully throws him under the bus after the Dallas game, noting the team's poor performance when he's on the floor and his complete lack of offensive rebounding and blocked shots. Later that night he throws up 17 points (on 8 FGA), 4 rebounds (including one of the offensive variety) and 5 assists? Plus, there's my infamous post from last year where I blame him for everything short of global warming and after which he played markedly better (until getting hurt during the second round of the playoffs). I'm telling you, he's going to block a shot against the Hawks on Tuesday and then scream "Fuck you stampler!!!!!" at the camera.

The Spurs obviously did a much better job on the boards this time around, holding the Rockets to only 7 offensive rebounds (and none from Bonzi!). Why? What key changes did the Spurs make? I dunno. Maybe they just tried harder. Maybe Bonzi was out late the night before.

Luis Scola played out his gourd, scoring 20 points on 11 FGA and drawing at least 3 charges. It's a shame the Spurs gave him away, especially when you consider he's getting paid less than Oberto and is five years younger than his Argentine counterpart. Plus Scola's the better player... but Fabricio is considerably hotter. For sure.

I enjoyed watching the three Argentines on the court together and had some realizations as to why. They play a fluid style of basketball; always moving, seeking better positions in relation to their man and the ball. Yes, they have the tendency to flop like fish out of water, but they flop intelligently. Their theatrics either occur well away from the basket or as a last ditch effort, such as when a 7'-6", 310 pound Chinese man gets the ball three feet from the basket.

For the second game in a row Tony Parker did not look himself. He's probably got a twisted contusion on his plantar tendonitis. But hey, he still canned a couple big jumpers and some free throws down the stretch.

Besides being injury prone, the Rockets biggest flaw is their horrible point guard tandem of Rafer Alston and Mike James. They both display horrible shot selection, neither of them particularly enjoy passing the ball, they're both at least 31, neither of them can play anything more than respectable defense and they're making a combined $10 million this year. In short, they suck large donkey balls and I'd rather have Jacque Vaughn.

Time for some PtR contest updating:

Key won the Milwaukee game with a 104 - 87 prediction (113 - 88 final score).
T2150 won the Laker game with a 109 - 86 prediction (107 - 92 final score).
AusTechSpur won the Dallas game with an 81 - 104 prediction (92 - 105 final score).
aaronstampler won the Houston game with an 88 - 83 prediction (90 - 84 final score).

The current standings:

aaronstampler - 2
AusTechSpur - 1
bones - 1
guille - 1
Key - 1
krukow - 1
Matthew Powell - 1
papa smurf - 1
T2150 - 1

I've decided to make a slight change to the scoring. A perfect prediction will resort in 3 points, not 5.

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Fin

Fin did ball the other night. I hope he can keep it up, he is looking really old some nights.

"The road to success is always under construction."

by DennardC on Nov 18, 2007 11:03 PM CST reply actions

Re: Which One of You is Michael Finley?

I suck at guessing scores.

Y'know, Matthew, just for the record, a system that gives, say, 4 points to whoever was closest, 3 to the next person in accuracy, and so on and so on, might be fairer. It would reward whoever is better at predicting scores - as it is now, if you're lucky to guess the exact score once, you immediately pass all the people who were closer far more frequently. Also, you can be second best for every game, and you'd still lose to the person who only won once and missed by a lot the rest of the time.

Just some feedback for next season's contest.

I really wonder at the people that still argue that Scola's trade wasn't a mistake. Is there any doubt that he's potentially a far, far better player than say, Bonner? Consdering he's getting paid less money, I think the FO made a mistake somewhere. Dropping 20 for two games in a row might not be a panacea, but Bonner would be hard-pressed to match it on a regular game. At least nowadays.

Oh, and by the way, if Finley is a member of this forum, that might explain the lack of confidence and ego Mike Monroe was talking about the other day.

by LatinD on Nov 19, 2007 12:47 AM CST reply actions

Re: Which One of You is Michael Finley?

You're right, your suggestion would be fairer. And it would also take 5 times as much time; time I really won't have in the spring when I'm taking a couple classes and working full time.

by sungo on Nov 19, 2007 8:33 PM CST up reply actions

Re: Which One of You is Michael Finley?

Yeah, I imagine it would.

Just mentioned it because I remember you had a complex formula for it, and thought you might have the Excel skills to automatize it. If you want, I could try my hand at it based on what you have right now... I'm not an Excel expert or anything close to that, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Anyway, didn't mean to demean your effort in any way or sound ungrateful. I know this is merely a pastime for us people with too many Internet hours and that you're using your own free time to not only run this blog but to set up the contest.

As I said, I was just giving some feedback. Now onto the next prediction...

by LatinD on Nov 20, 2007 1:54 AM CST up reply actions

Re: Which One of You is Michael Finley?

This could become like Reservoir Dogs as we all try to find out who is the spy. I've been a harsh critic of Fin so that should put me in the clear. Or was that just a trick...

by Jones on Nov 19, 2007 5:25 PM CST reply actions