July 2012
2 posts
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The Off Season: A Hypothetical For Brooklyn aka My...
To Bill Simmons,
While I am really writing this to sort out my thoughts and convince myself Deron Williams staying with the Nets can be good for the NBA and can give the East some credibility offensively, I’m addressing it to you because a) you might actually respond b) it’s a win-win for me. If you validate my thoughts I get to think I’m smart and feel good about myself, and if you don’t it...
June 2012
5 posts
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Step in the Lane Weekly (6-12)
Written by Michael Badger
First Step
Don’t Call It A Changing of the Guard. I understand why you would want to call it that. In the last month they have beaten the Mavericks, Lakers, and Spurs; the three teams that have represented the West this decade. As Kobe Bryant struggled in the fourth quarter, Kevin Durant shined. And as Greg Popovich reminded us, if they finish this run they will have...
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The Off Season: Free Agency, Part 1 aka The Deron...
On January 14, 2011 the Utah Jazz blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers. They shot 52.2% from the field and 50% from three. The Millsap/Jefferson combo combined for 36 and 12, Andrei Kirilenko and Raja Bell combined for 30 points, and CJ Miles contributed 20 points off the bench. Deron Williams had 26 and 9 on 10 for 16 shooting.
That was the type of success Deron Williams and the Jazz were having that...
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The Dominance of Jordan and the Bulls
To combat ESPN tweeters proclaiming LeBron’s amazing game 6 performance against Boston outdid Jordan’s 63 point night against Boston, which was not Jordan’s best playoff performance, I started to search through Jordan’s playoff game logs to find Jordan’s actual best playoff performance.*
As I went through each years’ games I noticed two facts, with the first...
New blog dedicated to the one and only Boston...
yourfavoritecelticsfan:
May 2012
5 posts
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The Offseason: The Lottery
The first of five part series leading up to the 2012 Offseason. Written by Michael Badger.
Intro
The fast and furious lock out forced scheduled has created many interesting stories and scenarios during this season. But beyond the shortened training camp, increased progressive fatigue, out of shape players (or just Boris Diaw), more frequent injuries, the dip in quality of play because of these...
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Step in the Lane Weekly (5-27)
First Step
Game Seven. Last night Boston prevailed in a game seven that was almost as ugly as their game seven loss in Los Angeles two years ago. The latter at least succeeded in giving us an unfiltered and thoroughly entertaining Metta World Peace (as Ron Artest1).
This time around the finish was significantly less fulfilling. After Andre Iguodala and the 76ers’ team defense thoroughly hampered...
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Bynum & Gasol vs. The Kobe System
written by Daniel Badger
Ladies & gentleman the Los Angeles Lakers have just lost in the 2nd Round of the playoffs for the 2nd straight year.
And all I’m hearing is trade Gasol, trade Bynum, trade both, and fire Mike Brown. I think we all agree that Mike Brown should get the boot but I have a problem with the trading of Gasol and/or Bynum.
This season it’s been more obvious...
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Step in the Lane Weekly (5-20)
Written by Daniel (D) and Michael (M) Badger
First Step
(M) Media Myths. When I was putting together the format for our end of the season review/playoff preview I initially included a section called Media Myths in which my brother and I would debunk claims by the media that held little to no truth value. The section got scrapped to save us time and to save the time of our readers but I decided to...
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Step in the Lane Weekly (5-6)
Written by Michael Badger
First Step
Chances. One week into these playoffs I believe five teams have a legitimate chance of winning the championship. In order: San Antonio, Memphis, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami, Oklahoma City. Indiana and a somewhat dysfunctional1 Boston team are really the only things that stand in Miami’s way to get out the East (actually there is something else but I will get...
April 2012
13 posts
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Four AM Thoughts: Reflecting on the 2012 Playoffs'...
Written by Michael Badger
Procrastination and my horrible sleep schedule routinely leaves me in unmanageable, inexplicable, and borderline suicidal situations. Most recently I find myself sitting at my laptop at 4:30 in the morning wondering if it is actually worth it to go to sleep or if I should just push through to 8:00 am when I have to take the first of the day’s three finals. I have just...
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Step in the Lane Weekly (Season Review/Playoff...
The first edition of our triannual review and preview blog analyzes this season in the NBA, hands out awards, and predicts the 2012 Playoffs. Written by Michael (M) and Daniel (D) Badger.
Team Taglines
Sum up each team’s season in one line.
Atlanta Hawks (M)-2012: The year we realized it wasn’t a highlight factory (D)-Shaking My Head.
Boston Celtics (M)-Stiemsma’s thoughts. (D)-Only one Eastern...
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Determining Who Will Win it All...
About 4 years ago I boldly claimed that the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns would never win an NBA Championship. I had this idea that teams built primarily around offense and put little to no focus on defense, other than adding a few defensive players to the mix, could never win a title.1My theory was disproved last year by Dallas when this happened.
Which leads me to my new way of...
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Step in the Lane Weekly (4-22)
Step in the Lane Weekly, Step in the Lane’s flagship blog, reviews the last week of NBA basketball. For those of you that have not read Step in the Lane previously (all of you) we recommend you check out our opening blog before you start. Enjoy. This blog is written by Michael (M) and Daniel (D) Badger.
First Step
Initial reaction to this weeks NBA action
(M)Blake Griffin. Robin Lopez committed an...
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A team championship exposes the limits of self-reliance, selfishness and...
– Bill Bradley
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March 2012
1 post
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Introduction: Some Preliminaries
First and foremost: Welcome! Thanks for checking out the blog. I hope you enjoy what we write and I hope what you read compels you to come back (If you could convey sarcasm in text it would be done here).
The goal of this blog is to provide mostly unbiased analysis and commentary on the NBA (past, present, and future), occasionally the inferior product (college basketball), and every now and then...