| 20 May 2009
When Charles Barkley opens his mouth, you pause, stop what you’re doing and listen. Just like when Warren Buffett talks about the economy or Bill Clinton gushes about his time in the oval office, it is must see TV.
After recently being challenged to a pushup contest by a female producer on TNT, Barkley simply replied that the only thing a woman could beat him at was “cooking and cleaning.” And last fall when Barkley was charged with a DUI, his excuse for driving intoxicated was that he was on his way to get oral sex from a woman. The NBA Where Caring Happens!
LeBron James leads Cleveland into the Eastern Conference Finals
Essentially there is nothing that Barkley won’t say, so needless to say, I am rarely surprised at what comes out of his mouth.
But even Sir Charles can throw us a curveball from time to time, which is exactly what he did Sunday night, picking the Orlando Magic to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Cricket, cricket.
His studio mates, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber were befuddled, looking at him like he had just threatened to blow up TNT’s studios. Smith asked Barkley something we were all thinking when he said, “You mean in basketball.”
Even Barkley seemed taken a little aback at his own comments, looking over his notes for a second time, like a straight “A” student that had just received the first “B” of their academic career, unsure how to react.
Confused but confident, Barkley reiterated his statement, “Yeh I like the Magic.”
At first I just assumed it to Barkley being Barkley, trying to be controversial and different, while also trying to drum up interest in the series, which will be played entirely on TNT.
But then I sat down and thought about it.
Thought about the fact that the Magic beat Cleveland twice in Orlando, including a 116-87 drubbing a little over a month ago.
And how they beat the Lakers twice this season.
And how because of their depth and athleticism, the Magic could give Cleveland big-time match-up problems, making the Cavaliers guards play big, and their big guys play small.
Oh my God, Charles might actually on to something here. The Orlando Magic can absolutely beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Now will they? That’s another story.
Cleveland comes into the series, having won all eight playoff games they’ve played, all by double digits, and are currently hotter than Seth Rogen’s acting career. It was these statistics that left Johnson, Smith and Webber befuddled in TNT’s studios Sunday night. The Cavaliers have dominated their competition in a way few teams have in NBA history, with everything they do obviously starting with league MVP LeBron James.
But outside of the King, Cleveland certainly has their flaws, all of which the Magic can take advantage of.
On the perimeter, Cleveland has a trio of guys- Mo Williams, Delonte West and Boobie Gibson- that all more or less do the same thing with varying degrees of success. Their roles are all essentially the same, occasionally take people off the dribble, but most importantly, catch and shoot when LeBron finds them wide open.
However, all three are also undersized, with West the tallest, graciously listed at 6’3. While each is skilled, they could have trouble matching up with the Magic, especially if Orlando decides to go with the “big,” line-up that gave the Celtics fits in their last series. That unit would have Courtney Lee (6’5) handling the ball and Mickael Pietrus (6’6) at the shooting guard position.
Down low, we know that when Dwight Howard wants to be, he is probably the most dominant low post player in the league. But does he always want to be is the question.
Everyone remembers him classically calling out coach Stan Van Gundy after the Magic’s Game 5 loss to Boston, roaring back with 23 and 22 in Game 6. But in Game 7, Howard was again quiet, attempting just nine shots and scoring 12 points (I know, I know, Orlando won convincingly and hit 13 3’s, but lets be honest, they can’t possibly do that every night). If the Magic want to beat Cleveland, they’ll need more than 12 points from their best player.
Power forward is another intriguing matchup, where Rashard Lewis and Anderson Varejao square off, arguably the matchup that could swing the series that could swing the series.
Here’s the situation with this one. At this point in their careers we know what both are: Lewis is a big, catch and shoot perimeter player, who even though he’s 6’10 rarely wants to go down low. Varejao is the opposite, an energy guy that should be on his knees every night thanking God that he is playing with the best passer of his generation.
Varejao averaged 9 and 7 this year, but if you watch the Cavs on any type of regular basis, you know that not all 9 and 7’s are created equal. Of everyone on Cleveland, no one is luckier to have James as their teammate, as it seems like the King always seems to hit Varejao with a pass in stride, leading to easy layup after easy layup.
Now we all know Lewis is the better player, comparing the two is like saying Sly Stallone is a better actor than his brother Frank. None of us doubt that.
But what the matchup ultimately comes down to is, “Which guy can make the other play his game?”
On one side, can Lewis draw Varejao away from the basket, and make him virtually ineffective as a rebounder and help defender? If he does that, all of a sudden it clears things up in the middle for Howard, who could beat up on the older, feeble Zydrunas Ilgauskas, like an older brother beating up on a younger one.
Of course the one thing that thing that will sway this series either way is the guy I’ve barely mentioned. The one and only LeBron James.
In years past LeBron has been a great player, but this was the first where he packaged his entire skill-set and turned it into the MVP season we’d all been waiting for. His outside shot has improved, his passing is spectacular, and some NBA insiders suggest that he should have been the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, as he improved so staggeringly, that he may actually be the NBA’s best shot blocker (If you don’t believe me, go ahead and Youtube “LeBron James, Jason Richardson. Mo Williams called it the best block he’s ever seen).
More importantly, James has also become the ultimate teammate, a guy that everyone loves playing with. In that regard, people talk about all the inside jokes Cleveland has, and pregame shenanigans that go on, and that’s certainly an important factor. It keeps everyone loose, with the entire Cavs roster thinking “Hey if this guy who everyone’s got their eyes on can act like an idiot, why can’t I?”
What no one talks about though, is how loose everyone plays on the court as well.
Remember when you were younger, and you played pickup with that one guy that was always WAY better than everyone else on either team. The guy who could get any shot he wanted, but also saw passing lanes that no one else did?
Playing with him was comforting, because you knew that if you were open, he would get you the ball. And whether any of us want to admit it or not, we all play a little bit harder when we know we’ll get the ball if we’re open. That’s all a basketball player can ask for, right?
Now, imagine that the guy that’s WAY better than everyone else is in the NBA, and you’ve got LeBron James. Not only can he get his shot whenever he wants, he can get you, your shot whenever you want it too.
It’s comforting for the guys on the perimeter to know they’ve simply got to remain patient and they’ll get open looks at 3’s. Same with Ilgauskas’ 15 foot jumper and Varejao getting uncontested lay-ups under the basket. In turn, like all of us in a pickup game, everyone on Cleveland plays a little harder, knowing they’ll be rewarded.
And that is ultimately why Cleveland wins this series, they know who they are: LeBron and Company. He’s the headliner, the star of the show, the man. Everyone else is just happy to be there.
There are no other egos, no guys that need to get their points to be happy. And like I took painstaking detail to explain in the last paragraph, they know that their points will come, which of course means they won’t force bad shots and passes that aren’t in the flow of the offense. They are intelligent enough to know that they’re playing with the best player in the world, and are simply along for the ride.
Orlando? They’re a gritty team that exceeded a lot of people’s expectations by getting this far, especially in winning both Game 6 and 6 against Boston to get this far.
But I’m not sure they yet know who they are. Do they want to be a perimeter team and take a ton of jumpers? Do they want to pound the ball to Howard down low? Is Howard assertive enough to be a 20-15 guy every night (because we all know he certainly has the talent)? Will Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu be happy if they don’t get their shots?
And while I think Orlando is starting to figure it out, I don’t know that they’re there yet. It may take a few games this series, or the summer of 2009 to figure it out. But Orlando is not yet ready to topple the Cleveland Cavaliers.
So with all regards to Charles Barkley, I’ve got to disagree. The Cleveland Cavaliers will win this series in 5 games.
Even Mr. Barkley, the man of many words, can’t talk me out of this one.
Photo Credit: http://bettorsedge.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/lebron-james4.jpg
