Game. Of the. Year.
It's after midnight, I've got Indiana-Iowa and Kentucky-South Carolina waiting for me on my Tivo. I'm very tempted to let Oklahoma State's 105-103 triple overtime speak for itself...
1. When Kobe Bryant hung 81 on Toronto last year, it sparked a discussion amongst me and some friends as to what an equivalent performance in the other major sports would be like. One of the group who has no basketball experience kept throwing out ideas, and the rest of us kept rejecting them. The closest we came to agreeing with him was a baseball pitcher throwing a shutout while striking out 20 or so batters.
Even that, however, doesn't really stack up to a true virtuoso performance on the basketball court. There a couple of reasons why. One, basketball is a two-way game. Players play both offense and defense. Two, it's also a more fluid game than baseball or football. One player can make a number of spectacular plays in quick succession, which builds the crowd excitement.
And that, really, is what it's all about -- that's what differentiates basketball from other sports in this regard. When a player has it going in a basketball game, when he's in the zone and can't miss, the feeling in the gym is just...electric. I've witnessed a couple such performances live, both of which were high school playoff games in my home state of Vermont. If a player can get the place hopping with just a couple hundred fans in the house, you can imagine what is possible with a crowd of several thousand. I'm not sure you have to imagine it, actually; I think it's quite possible to discern that electricity even when you're watching on TV.
The only thing better is when two players, on opposite teams, have it going and trade big plays. That happened tonight with Oklahoma State's Mario Boggan and Texas' Kevin Durant. It wasn't quite 'Nique-Bird in the '88 Eastern Conference semis, but these guys traded huge baskets all the way to the final seconds of the third overtime, when Boggan answered Durant's three-point play with an improbable game-winning triple.
Both had a little help -- JamesOn Curry for Boggan, D.J. Augustin for Durant -- but there was little doubt down the stretch who would decide this game. It was the rare game where there were a large number of big plays, and the significant majority of them were made by Boggan and Durant.
Performances like theirs -- and games like this one -- are what make basketball fun.
2. Boggan bailed out Curry with his incredible performance. Curry, forced to handle the ball more down the stretch after Byron Eaton fouled out, scored well, but made a number of poor plays that are concerning for a player of his experience level:
-His team up two with under 45 seconds remaining in regulation, he drove the lane, inexplicably left his feet, even more inexplicably turned his back to the basket, then simply tossed the ball over his head. To his credit, he realized his mistake and got the rebound. But...
-He missed the second of two free throws, leaving the lead at just a single possession and quite possibly extending the game for about an hour.
-Fast forwarding to (I believe -- things blurred together a bit) double overtime, Curry lost the ball in the backcourt, committing the cardinal sin of turning his back to the defense while dribbling into a corner.
-Given a reprieve when Texas failed to capitalize on the above mistake, Curry took a very questionable shot relatively early in the next clock.
These aren't the kind of mistakes a junior guard who is the leader of your team should be making.
3. Even though it worked out, I question Texas coach Rick Barnes' decision to employ a full-court press on Oklahoma Stat's final possession of overtime number one. After Durant had knotted the score seconds earlier, the Longhorns pressed, and the Cowboys broke it easily for an alley-oop dunk. Augustin came back with a remarkable coast-to-coast layup to tie the score, and Texas again set up the pressure.
There were something like 10 seconds left, so I understand the concept of making Oklahoma State spend some time bringing the ball upcourt. But with a very young team in that environment -- where the crowd noise makes communication difficult -- I think you're better off playing it safe, particularly when you've just given up an easy bucket on the press.
1. When Kobe Bryant hung 81 on Toronto last year, it sparked a discussion amongst me and some friends as to what an equivalent performance in the other major sports would be like. One of the group who has no basketball experience kept throwing out ideas, and the rest of us kept rejecting them. The closest we came to agreeing with him was a baseball pitcher throwing a shutout while striking out 20 or so batters.
Even that, however, doesn't really stack up to a true virtuoso performance on the basketball court. There a couple of reasons why. One, basketball is a two-way game. Players play both offense and defense. Two, it's also a more fluid game than baseball or football. One player can make a number of spectacular plays in quick succession, which builds the crowd excitement.
And that, really, is what it's all about -- that's what differentiates basketball from other sports in this regard. When a player has it going in a basketball game, when he's in the zone and can't miss, the feeling in the gym is just...electric. I've witnessed a couple such performances live, both of which were high school playoff games in my home state of Vermont. If a player can get the place hopping with just a couple hundred fans in the house, you can imagine what is possible with a crowd of several thousand. I'm not sure you have to imagine it, actually; I think it's quite possible to discern that electricity even when you're watching on TV.
The only thing better is when two players, on opposite teams, have it going and trade big plays. That happened tonight with Oklahoma State's Mario Boggan and Texas' Kevin Durant. It wasn't quite 'Nique-Bird in the '88 Eastern Conference semis, but these guys traded huge baskets all the way to the final seconds of the third overtime, when Boggan answered Durant's three-point play with an improbable game-winning triple.
Both had a little help -- JamesOn Curry for Boggan, D.J. Augustin for Durant -- but there was little doubt down the stretch who would decide this game. It was the rare game where there were a large number of big plays, and the significant majority of them were made by Boggan and Durant.
Performances like theirs -- and games like this one -- are what make basketball fun.
2. Boggan bailed out Curry with his incredible performance. Curry, forced to handle the ball more down the stretch after Byron Eaton fouled out, scored well, but made a number of poor plays that are concerning for a player of his experience level:
-His team up two with under 45 seconds remaining in regulation, he drove the lane, inexplicably left his feet, even more inexplicably turned his back to the basket, then simply tossed the ball over his head. To his credit, he realized his mistake and got the rebound. But...
-He missed the second of two free throws, leaving the lead at just a single possession and quite possibly extending the game for about an hour.
-Fast forwarding to (I believe -- things blurred together a bit) double overtime, Curry lost the ball in the backcourt, committing the cardinal sin of turning his back to the defense while dribbling into a corner.
-Given a reprieve when Texas failed to capitalize on the above mistake, Curry took a very questionable shot relatively early in the next clock.
These aren't the kind of mistakes a junior guard who is the leader of your team should be making.
3. Even though it worked out, I question Texas coach Rick Barnes' decision to employ a full-court press on Oklahoma Stat's final possession of overtime number one. After Durant had knotted the score seconds earlier, the Longhorns pressed, and the Cowboys broke it easily for an alley-oop dunk. Augustin came back with a remarkable coast-to-coast layup to tie the score, and Texas again set up the pressure.
There were something like 10 seconds left, so I understand the concept of making Oklahoma State spend some time bringing the ball upcourt. But with a very young team in that environment -- where the crowd noise makes communication difficult -- I think you're better off playing it safe, particularly when you've just given up an easy bucket on the press.
posted by H.S. Slam, Ph.D at 12:53 PM
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