Ballgame's Points

Jan 5

2012 NFL Wild-Card Preview

Wild-Card weekend is nearly here and there’s lot to break down, so let’s get right to it.

Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) at Denver Broncos (8-8)

If Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t playing with a high ankle sprain, Rashard Mendenhall wasn’t out with a torn ACL and Ryan Clark didn’t carry the sickle-cell trait, it would impossible to see this matchup ending in anything but a Pittsburgh romp.

But the Steelers are dealing with all kinds of adversity, as well as the burden of being a big road favorite in the playoffs. With the Saints’ shocking loss to the 7-9 Seahawks on the road in a 2010 wild-card game still fresh in everyone’s memory, it’s tough not to ponder the Broncos’ chances at an upset, given the circumstances.

As opposed to Seattle, which had two things going for it – a running back, Marshawn Lynch, who has a remarkable ability to get stronger as the season progresses; and a quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, who had been to a Super Bowl – Denver is afforded no such luxuries to fall back on.

Running back Willis McGahee averaged just 78.3 rushing yards over the final four games. Quarterback Tim Tebow crashed and burned during that time, fumbling seven times (four lost) and throwing five interceptions.

The Denver pass rush, spearheaded by Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller, should be able to make life difficult for a hobbled dalton Roethlisberger and keep the game close. But for a Broncos offense that scored a combined 17 points over the final two weeks against the Bills and Chiefs, it’s going to be nearly impossible to find the end zone against a Steelers defense that ranked first in the NFL in points allowed (14.2) and didn’t give up a touchdown in three of the last four games.

The Broncos will need a defensive or special teams score to throw a scare into Pittsburgh, which isn’t likely.

Steelers 16
Broncos 6

Cincinnati Bengals (9-7) at Houston Texans (10-6)

There’s always one wild-card game game featuring a team or teams that, talent-wise, are a notch below the rest of the field. Last year it was the Chiefs, who were smoked at home by the playoff-seasoned Ravens. In 2009 it was the Bengals, in ’08 the Dolphins etc. The downfall of the so-called playoff fraud always boils down to its ability, or lack thereof, to take care of the football.

Make no mistake: Turnovers will determine the outcome of the Bengals-Texans game. Neither team protected the ball well when they met in Week 14. Houston committed four turnovers and Cincinnati two. And both teams continued to have ball security issues down the stretch. The Texans gave the football away at least once in each of their final three games, and turned it over nine times from Weeks 14-17. The Bengals have also yet to play an errorless game in that stretch, tallying six turnovers.

A closer look paints an even darker picture for the Texans. Of those nine turnovers, five were committed by T.J. Yates. The rookie quarterback threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles over the final quarter of the season, while also fumbling an additional time.

Dig a little deeper and go back to Houston’s 17-10 win over the Falcons in Week 13, a game in which Yates lost one fumble, lost a second on a strip-sack that was returned for a touchdown before a pair of bizarre offsetting substitution penalties called it back, and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. That play was overturned because of a holding penalty, taking a second defensive score off the board for the Falcons.

Certain contests, despite the outcome, can serve as a harbinger of things to come. The Atlanta game was noteworthy in that respect.

On the flipside, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton fumbled one time and threw just one interception from Week 13 on.

Not to be lost in the mix are the issues of Texans star running back Arian Foster, who has put the ball on the ground in four of the last five games, fumbling a total of five times (three lost).

Considering either one or both of Yates and Foster will be touching the ball on every snap – or, gulp, Jake Delhomme – Houston’s recent problems taking care of the football are unlikely to suddenly vanish. Dalton may be a rookie quarterback going on the road for his first playoff game, but all the pressure is on the Texans to come through in the franchise’s maiden postseason appearance. How does Houston respond following a turnover late in a tight game that hushes an anxious crowd? The writing is on the wall for an upset.

Bengals 20
Texans 17

Atlanta Falcons (10-6) at New York Giants (9-7)

With the Giants, it’s a ongoing case of Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. Which team is going to show up? The one that nearly knocked off the undefeated Packers in Week 13 and followed with three stirring victories in the final four games (two over Dallas and one over the Jets)? Or the one that got flattened by the Redskins in a critical Week 15 tilt?

Anyone who is able to properly diagnose the Giants can predict how this game will play out. The Falcons couldn’t be any different than New York, in that you know what you’re getting from them. According to the number-crunchers at Football Outsiders.com, Atlanta is the most consistent team ever measured by its DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) system.

The Falcons play at a similar level week in and week out, a level that was good enough to knock off the likes of Detroit, Tennessee and Carolina, but not the Saints, Packers or Texans.

Looking at the Giants, it’s easy to finger the Redskins loss as evidence of a similar performance looming in the playoffs. But the Redskins also handily beat the Giants in Week 1, which suggests they may have simply had their number this year. The ebbs and flows of divisional rivalries can be tough to quantify sometimes.

The Giants fell victim to the most brutal of stretches from Weeks 9-13, during which they faced, in succession, the Patriots, 49ers, Eagles, Saints, and Packers, arguably the five best teams in the NFL.

The Falcons are consistently decent but never spectacular. The Giants are better than their record and playing at home. stafford A primary strength of both teams is their ability to throw the football. Eli Manning has a Super Bowl MVP; Matt Ryan is 0-2 in the playoffs.

Giants 27
Falcons 21

Detroit Lions (10-6) at New Orleans Saints (13-3)

Winners of eight straight, the Saints are blistering hot. Drew Brees has thrown 27 touchdowns and four interceptions throughout the win streak, during which New Orleans has averaged nearly 37 points per game, including back-to-back 45-point eruptions against the Falcons and Panthers at the Superdome to close out the regular season.

To underscore just how unstoppable the Saints have been, consider the following: They had 10 drives apiece in those games. Against Atlanta, those drives went touchdown, touchdown, interception, touchdown, interception, touchdown, field goal, punt, punt, touchdown. One of Brees’ picks came in the end zone and the pair of punts didn’t come until New Orleans had a 38-16 lead in the fourth quarter and had taken its foot off the pedal.

The Saints’ efficiency against Carolina was even more ruthless: touchdown, touchdown, interception, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, downs. Brees was picked at the Panthers’ 11-yard line and the Saints had driven 63 yards to the Carolina 13 before Chase Daniel took a knee four times to conclude the game.

If any team stands a chance of hanging with the Saints in the dome, it’s the Lions. Led by a white-hot Matthew Stafford, Detroit finished the season with wins in three of its last four games. Stafford threw for 520 yards and five touchdowns in a wild Week 17, 45-41 loss to Matt Flynn and the Packers. He has averaged nearly 378 yards per game in that span, throwing 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions.

The Lions have made a habit of getting down big early before surging back. Detroit has overcome deficits of 13, 17, 20 and 24 points to win. Stafford has been at his best in the second halves of those big comebacks against the Raiders, Panthers, Vikings and Cowboys.

The problem with that formula is that it requires the other team to either have a quarterback prone to making multiple huge mistakes (Tony Romo, Cam Newton) or an offense that can be stopped for consecutive drives (Vikings, Raiders).

Brees won’t be gift-wrapping any turnovers and the Saints’ last 20 drives don’t bode well for a Lions defense that has allowed an average of 26.5 points and 455 yards per game over the last four, and a Stafford-led offense that tends not to get its wheels turning until the second quarter. Brees will be motoring toward San Francisco by that time if Detroit stalls out of the gate Saturday night.

Saints 41
Lions 27

Jan 3

A six-pack of observations heading into the NFL playoffs

Before diving headfirst into Wild Card weekend (complete game-by-game breakdown to come Thursday), let’s first take a broad view of the 2011 NFL season, one which almost didn’t happen (but not really).

1. Parity officially took hold in 2011

Of all the professional sports leagues, the NFL routinely features the most turnover among playoff participants.

This year is no different, as six teams (Giants, Lions, 49ers, Texans, Broncos, Bengals) are returning to the postseason after varying hiatuses. The Lions end the NFL’s longest playoff drought (1999) while the Texans are set to play in January for the first time since entering the league as an expansion team in 2002.

brees But the league-wide parity runs even deeper, with eight teams having finished 8-8, the most since 2006. An additional five squads went either 7-9 or 9-7, meaning a full 40 percent of teams settled in the seven-to-nine win range.

2. A top-heavy league officially took hold in 2011

Yes, that statement is in direct contradiction to the previous one, yet for only the second time since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978, four teams reached the 13-win mark (Packers, 49ers, Saints, Patriots).

As opposed to 2007 – when the Patriots and Colts in the AFC and the Packers and Cowboys in the NFC all won at least 13 games – three of the four 13-win teams reside in the NFC this year.

Losing the conference-record tiebreaker to San Francisco means New Orleans becomes the first team in the 16-game format to win at least 13 and have to play Wild Card weekend.

3. Of the 12 playoff teams, seven are title contenders

Let’s start by crossing off the non-contenders. In the AFC, the Broncos – losers of three straight – are only in the tournament because San Diego and Oakland (both superiorly talented teams) were unable to overcome their respective mid- and late-season swoons. The Bengals went 1-6 against teams with winning records and the Texans fell flat over the final three games, the weight of the losses of Mario Williams, Andre Johnson and all of their quarterbacks too much to bear.

In the NFC, the Falcons are a classic beat-up-on-the-cupcakes and struggle-to-hang-with-the-brass team, their most notable victory coming back in October against the Lions in Detroit. The Lions, meanwhile, are too young and undisciplined to make a serious run.

That leaves the Patriots, Ravens and Steelers in AFC, and the Packers, 49ers, Saints and Giants in the NFC. Early edge in the AFC goes to New England, because Tom Brady is the only elite/healthy quarterback in the field. The NFC figures to be a dogfight from the start; while the Falcons and Lions will ultimately be overmatched, they are both better and/or healthier than any of the AFC’s bottom three. Naturally, Green Bay is the odds-on favorite to repeat as Super Bowl champs. However …

4. Beware of the 15-1 curse

Before the 2011 Packers, only four teams had completed a campaign 15-1. The first pair (1984 49ers and 1985 Bears) finished the job and went 18-1. The most recent two, however, saw their seasons come to crashing halts before reaching the Super Bowl.

The 1998 Vikings, led by Randall Cunningham, Randy Moss and Cris Carter, were bounced by the Falcons in the NFC Championship when Gary Anderson hooked a would-be game-winning 38-yard field goal, after going 39-for-39 up until that point. And the 2004 Steelers, after snapping the Patriots’ NFL-record 21-game win streak in October, were undressed by Tom Brady and Co. at Heinz Field in the AFC Championship, 41-27.

That’s not to say the Packers are destined to fall victim to recent history, though that does bring us to …

5. Beware of the New York Giants

If Eli Manning and the Giants have proven anything, it’s that they are never to be underestimated when the deck is seemingly insurmountably stacked against them. Who can forget the colossal effort the Giants put up in a meaningless Week 17 defeat to the 15-0 Patriots in 2007, a loss that served as a springboard to a rematch in Super Bowl XLII that no 120609Giants08kc football fan will ever forget.

Forget the symmetry between the identical 38-35 scores by which New York lost to New England in 2007 and Green Bay in Week 13. Forget that Manning used that Packers loss to rediscover his mojo (likewise for the New York pass rush) and lead the G-Men to (another) improbable postseason berth.

Actually, scratch that. Remember it all. And when the Giants are headed to frigid Lambeau Field in two weeks, remember it was Manning who took down the mighty Packers in Brett Favre’s Green Bay swan song four years ago.

6. The Patriots are somehow under the radar

Which is to say they are exactly where they want to be. Has a team that finished the regular season on an eight-game winning streak ever gone into the playoffs with more baggage? From an historically bad pass defense to injuries up and down the unit to multiple-score deficits faced in each of their last three contests, there is ample reason to doubt the Patriots.

That, along with an 0-3 run in the playoffs dating back to Super Bowl XLII and including home defeats to begin the last two postseasons. A combined 27-5 record over the last two regular seasons sure doesn’t buy what it used to.

While it’s crystal clear New England has its flaws, can a case truly be made that Pittsburgh – with an injured Ben Roethlisberger, no Rashard Mendenhall and a defense that ranked last in the AFC in takeaways – and Baltimore – with its persistent road woes, an unreliable Joe Flacco and a secondary that can get be beat – are in any better shape?

Apparently so.

Nov 16

Taking in a striking NFL landscape

With the NBA lockout threatening to swallow up the entire 2011-12 season – and slam shut the closing window on the Celtics’ chances at one final title run – it seems like a good time to relish the presence of football, and what has thus far been a riveting 2011 campaign. Consider the following:

• For the first time since the late 90s, the two undisputed best teams in the league (Packers, 49ers) reside in the NFC.

• Three quarterbacks (Brees, Brady, Rodgers) are on pace to annihilate Dan Marino’s single-season passing record of 5,084 yards.

• In this new era of gaudy air attacks enabled by concussion-related rules in place that essentially force defenses to play with one arm tied behind their backs, Tim Tebow is 3-1 as an NFL starter while running an offense that bears more resemblance to Navy’s than any other NFL team.

• A neck injury has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that Peyton Manning is the most important/valuable/indispensable player/coordinator/on-field general to his team in the history of the sport.

Typically, by mid-November all the chatter is geared toward which squads are contenders and which are bound to regress to the mean. That’s because roughly half of the teams are at or above .500 around Thanksgiving, but in reality at least bradybelichick one-third of those “playoff-hopefuls” are nominally such, and nothing more (aka the pretenders).

These days, however, there are a pair of juicier subplots that need to be investigated in more detail before the annual playoff-push commences.

Reports of Patriots’ demise premature … again

By tuning up the Jets on Sunday night, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady notched win No. 117 together, passing the Don Shula/Dan Marino tandem for first on the all-time victories list. The caveat being they did it in 35 fewer games.

So how does this relate to the here and now? First, it’s officially silly to write off the Patriots in the regular season. Period. Naysayers, naturally, have free rein to trash New England for its recent playoff inadequacies. That hate is founded for a team that is a combined 41-16 (.719) in the regular season since its last postseason win. Second, to not give New England the benefit of the doubt in a division it has owned each of the last seven years Tom Brady has been on the field is shortsighted.

Now, considering the cupcake schedule the Patriots are staring at over the stretch run, it’s going to be tough to legitimately appraise what looks like, at worst, a 12-4 team. The real answers won’t come until January. But teams start to develop patterns by this time of the year, which slowly evolve into identities.

As opposed to recent New England outfits – which, let’s face it, were gifted with talent but plagued by a soft underbelly – this squad has a certain spunk to it. The next-hand-on-deck mentality that was the hallmark of the title teams has made a cameo, most notably on Sunday night, when the Patriots trotted out of a defensive backfield that had even the omniscient Al Michaels grasping at straws in pursuit of arcane nuggets. Alas, even Google only knows so much about the Sterling Moores, Antwaun Moldens and Niko Koutouvides of the world.

Lest we forget, the Patriots of yesteryear were perennial long shots and afterthoughts – rife with castoffs and perceived nobodies – but they embodied the intellect, discipline and toughness of their pair of leaders, which permeated through the ranks, 1-through-53.

Preparation and toughness, more than anything else, wins in January. And while the Patriots have already lost more games than all of last regular season, it’s been their resiliency that has kept them hanging around until the bitter end of tilts against the Cowboys, Steelers and Giants that they had no business winning (something that can’t be said of Jets 28, Patriots 14; and Browns 34, Patriots 14).

aaron-rodgers The Packers are frighteningly good

Not exactly a newsflash, I know. But for those counting at home, Green Bay has not lost since dropping a 31-27 affair in New England last December … with Matt Flynn at quarterback. Since then, it’s been two wins to close out the 2010 campaign, four more en route to a world championship, and nine straight to begin the title defense.

Between the 15-game win streak, the otherworldly play of Aaron Rodgers and the 2007 Patriots still fresh in everyone’s memories, it’s difficult not to at least start thinking about the possibility …

Here’s my two cents: With a Thanksgiving game in Detroit and a trip to the East Coast 10 days later to face a Giants squad that is well-constructed to give the prolific Packers’ offense fits and also capable of putting up its fair share of points (ie the formula for beating Green Bay), I’m not ready to say the 2011 Packers are 16-0 in the making.

Though this is without a doubt the fiercest squad since the ’07 Patriots, and right there with the ’01 Rams as a team you must absolutely conjure up the perfect game plan for – and execute flawlessly – to even have a chance of prevailing.

In addition to the seemingly limitless explosive offensive potential of Rodgers and Co., the much-maligned Packers defense is a good deal better than it gets credit for. When Clay Matthews is flying off the edge and forcing quarterbacks into accelerating their progressions, and when Green Bay’s All-Pro caliber corners are playing off one another and in cohesion – as opposed to bickering among themselves – that D is a unit to be reckoned with (see: Packers 45, Vikings 7)

That said, Green Bay still has the feel of a 15-1 team with the potential to go 18-1 (the right way).

Apr 29

Celtics-Heat: The Main Course

There’s a reason the Celtics and Heat played on Opening Night, then again nine days later, and finally in Game No. 80. As soon as LeBron James packed up his talents and bounced out of Cleveland, the league knew this day was coming. So it charged up the hype-o-meter early, maxed out the hoopla and then let the teams go their separate ways in preparation for an inevitable May showdown.

Well, it is finally upon us. The Heat are favorites. No surprise there. The Heat Index is boiling.

lebron

As for the Celtics, they’re merely stewing. For a team that has manned the door of the Eastern Conference for three years and counting, this will be the third time in the last four series that they’re being expected to kindly arrange their things in preparation for an early summer. James – either boldly or coldly – referring to them as “lunch” is more than likely tacked on a bulletin board somewhere in their Waltham, Mass., practice facility.

On one hand, there’s no reason LeBron shouldn’t be oozing confidence. Miami finished the regular season on a 12-2 run, waxed Boston in the teams’ final meeting to secure the No. 2 seed, and chewed up the young and feisty 76ers – aka “breakfast” – in five games in Round 1.

Because of that, a good deal has been made recently of how Miami has started to “get it,” which is part of the reason most Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Celtics as nearly 2-to-1 underdogs in the series. What, exactly, that means has this scribe mystified, though.

The Heat’s blueprint for each of its 58 wins in the regular season was uniform: Ride the two – or sometimes three – best players on the court to victory, with a smattering of supplemental support. Miami often led big and continued to pour it on, as evidenced by their NBA-best plus-7.5 point differential.

Not one time did the Heat win a game in which it was losing or tied with less than 10 seconds remaining. Furthermore, James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were a combined 1-for-18 from the field in those scenarios. The one make came courtesy of James on Nov. 20 at Memphis, when he tied the game on a breakaway dunk with 5.5 seconds remaining. Rudy Gay then proceeded to un-tie it moments later.

But wait, proponents of the Heat “getting it” must be shouting, things have changed in the playoffs! Actually, they haven’t.

Not once in Miami’s four wins over Philly were they tied or trailing in the last three minutes of the game, let alone the final 10 seconds. Yet in their sole defeat, they watched a six-point lead with 1:35 remaining evaporate, culminating with James getting swatted by Elton Brand on an attempted game-tying layup with three ticks left. (For those scoring at home, make that 1-for-19.)

Success in the playoffs – when talent gaps are reduced and games are tight – hinges on two things: Late-game coaching and execution. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has proven incapable of drawing up crunch-time plays for his team (heck, he can’t even settle on which of his two stars should have the ball). And the game of improv that James and Wade have engaged in in such scenarios has failed to cover up the deficiencies of their coach.

Their late-game follies have simply underscored the importance of knowing what you want to do at the end of a game, and adding the necessary on-the-spot wrinkles to be successful on a consistent basis. It’s no secret Paul Pierce is going to have the ball in his hands at the top of the key, either isolating a weaker defender or waiting for a high pick from Kevin Garnett, on any Boston possession inside of two minutes. Or that Ray Allen will be run off a series of screens. Or a combination of the two. Great teams have their bread and butter, and dare the opposition to out-execute them.

doc

The Celtics have proven beyond any reasonable doubt throughout their run that they are the gold standard in terms of late-game execution, while Doc Rivers has established himself as the maestro of head honchos when it comes to putting his team in a position to prevail.

In Games 1 and 2 against the Knicks in the first round, the Celtics were outplayed for the vast majority of both contests but pulled them out on the strength of their discipline and execution in the waning seconds of each game.

Naturally, they can’t play like zombies for 46 minutes against the Heat and expect to bail themselves out late, because they will have already been run out of the building. For Miami to win the series, they will have to do just that: Run the Celtics ragged.

However, that means they must find an answer for a rejuvenated Rajon Rondo, who can run faster with the ball than anyone on the court. If Mike Bibby struggles to the degree that LeBron is forced to take it upon himself to hold Rondo – a plausible scenario – the game of whack-a-Celtic will officially commence, as Miami’s defense of Pierce will be reassigned to James Jones.

The Celtics have a lot going for them – a distinct advantage at point guard and a deeper and more experienced bench, first and foremost – but the difference in this series boils down to the systemic difference between the teams: The Heat are built to blow teams out and the Celtics are built to win close games.

LeBron may be anticipating lunch, but for the third time in four years, the main course of his postseason will be Boston in Round 2.

Celtics in 6.

Apr 15

Déjà vu for the Celtics?

It was nearly a year to the day that I took to my keyboard and made a case for the middling Celtics as title contenders. Despite their head-scratching inconsistency (put mildly) over the final four months of the 2010 season, I had refused to write them off.

Contrary to the product they had put on the hardwood throughout a 27-27 finish, I could not believe the championship swagger and enduring will that had been the driving force behind all their successes since the Big Three came together had simply vanished into thin air. There was a monster lurking just beneath the on-the-surface mediocrity of that team, and it was waiting for the charged atmosphere and bright lights of the playoffs to unleash itself.

Lo and behold – and to the chagrin of a few so-called titans of the East – the Celtics showed their face in the playoffs, charging all the way to LA in June, with two chances to hang their second banner in three years. Then Kendrick Perkins tore his knee apart in Game 6 and the team ran out of gas with six minutes left in Game 7.

1ablog-shaquillex-large

The offseason arrived suddenly and painfully, and the ball entered the court of Danny Ainge, who had to decide if he was going to blow up the Big Three – the “three-year window” had expired, after all. Ray Allen was in a walk year and Paul Pierce exercised his opt-out clause soon after the Finals, which made him a free agent.

With a lockout looming after the 2011 season, Ainge had the option to begin the rebuilding around Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett right then and there, or reload the chamber for one last run. His decision was loud and clear. Over the following weeks and months, he dizzied us all with an array of moves that included re-upping Allen, Pierce, Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson while bringing aboard Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal and Delonte West.

There was to be one last rodeo for this crew, after all, for a group whose rallying cry of never having lost a playoff series with its starting five intact still held true.

With Perkins quite literally putting the Finals loss on his own two shoulders (or one busted right knee), the big man – drawing further inspiration from Wes Welker, who made a swift comeback from the same devastating injury – embarked on a furious and painstaking rehab process that stretched through the first chunk of the new season.

To a layman following the Celtics during that time, it would have been understandable to arrive at the conclusion that the team was taking on the form of a juggernaut. Ainge, obviously, is no layman. On the contrary, he’s a basketball tactician with a business acumen. And while what he saw was indeed an outfit head and shoulders above the field – Shaq’s immediate chemistry with the Core Four had the team humming along to a 23-4 start – he also saw one glaring weakness: A lack of depth on the perimeter (read: Miami Heat, playoffs). Which precipitated the blindsiding deal that sent Perkins and Robinson to Oklahoma City at the trade deadline for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic.

(Yes, a case can be made that the one player Ainge chose not to bring back last year, Tony Allen, was the first domino that ultimately culminated with the Perkins trade. In reality, though, it was Daniels’ season-ending injury that forced his hand, as the team was essentially left with nobody behind Pierce and Allen to defend Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.)

In any event, the trade tore the core apart, both literally and psychologically. Basketball teams talk about being families, brothers etc. all the time, but in reality – and in a best-case scenario – they are friends off the court who work well together on it in pursuit of a common goal. The Celtics are/were the exception to the rule. From the Rome trip to Ubuntu to their regular blowouts and reconciliations that are commonplace occurrences in families but typically fracturing catastrophes on pro sports teams, the Celtics were different.

Professional athletes are unique in that they have an ability to compartmentalize their emotions, but this team was actually too close, if that makes sense. The loss of Perkins sent them into a grieving state, the ripple effects of which were felt for weeks after the trade. It’s no coincidence that Rajon Rondo slipped into an abyss not long after his best friend departed.

Add to that Doc Rivers’ formidable task of integrating new components on the fly and you have the ingredients of a 10-11 limp to the finish line and tumble from first place in the East to the No. 3 seed.

So, the question now is can they do it all over again, can they flip that switch and finish the job that eluded them at Staples Center 10 months ago? Can they once again use the playoffs as a focusing mechanism that syncs them back up and fixated on the next 16 wins they must have?

There were two immediate conclusions I drew in the aftermath of the trade:

ainge1

1) Ainge essentially double-downed on Shaq by moving Perkins. He had seen all he needed over the first third of the season to be convinced that a healthy Shaq made Perkins expendable, and thus gave him the flexibility to shore up what he believed to be the team’s Achilles heel. However, a healthy Shaq is not what the team has had.

2) The only way the Celtics would truly be able to get over the loss of Perkins would be to actively visualize and even prepare for the very real eventuality that the only way they’ll be hanging Banner No. 18 come June is by going through Perkins.

On the latter conclusion, it’s impossible to know if they’ve come to grips with the fact that they may have to battle Oklahoma City with a championship on the line and Perkins standing in the way.

On the former, it’s pretty simple. As presently constructed, the Celtics are in the best possible shape to navigate Rounds 1 and 2. Both the Knicks and Heat are perimeter-heavy teams with no legitimate post threats, which means Shaq will be a tangential component. Having the 6-9 Green will enable Rivers to go small in crunch time (à la 2008, when James Posey was around) with a lineup of Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Green and Garnett. That five is ideally equipped to deal with the Chauncey Billups-Carmelo Anthony-Amare Stoudemire and Wade-James-Chris Bosh trios.

Beyond that, the team’s fate will rest on the legs of a 39-year-old center. The Bulls will be waiting in the Eastern Conference Finals, and there’s simply no way the Celtics can expect to beat them four times with Jermaine O’Neal and Krstic flanking Garnett in the paint. Ditto for the Lakers or Thunder in the Finals.

Ainge has made no secret that parting with Perkins was one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do. But he did it, and in doing so he assumed the reins of the season and invited the ire of a rabid fan base. Whatever the outcome, it’s on Danny Ainge. His legacy in Boston, along with the legacies of a handful of future Hall of Famers, hangs in the balance.

Jul 9

2 Comments

Thoughts on LeBron …

I was at my buddy’s place for the “The Decision”, aka King LeBron’s “Fate of the Union” address.

As Jim Gray built the suspense for the millions (and possibly trillions) of spectators glued to their television sets, we came to the following conclusion:

There was no way LeBron was going to Miami. Not if he was the alpha dog competitor he’s led us to believe he is for all these years, the guy whose drive to become the next Michael Jordan, the first LeBron James, was genuine. The guy who wanted to be as dominant and prolific as MJ on the court and as global as Jay-Z off it.

That guy, we determined, would never in a million years resign himself to the fate of second fiddle. That guy would diplomatically cut ties with the team he was loyal to but that could never provide him with an adequate second fiddle. He would apologize to the city of Cleveland, thank them for the memories and announce he was going to Chicago, where as destiny would have it, something darned close to the mid-90s Bulls would be awaiting him.

If Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng aren’t Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr, they are surely in a neighboring area code. Tell me that assemblage of talent wouldn’t win multiple titles with a Jordan.

With a Jordan …

It was all there, tidily laid out for the King. From a booming and cosmopolitan city that could serve as his global platform to the complementary stars in place and right down to the building he would call home while adding more banners to the six already hanging in the rafters.

Instead he copped out. Actually, that’s not entirely true. The persona he conveyed and led us all to believe was really him copped out.

There is no debating that. Not when he’s joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on a team not called “USA”. Not when he’s coming to Wade’s city, a place that has already hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy courtesy of a Herculean effort by the Man himself.

Americans hate being duped. And that’s exactly what LeBron did to us for the last seven years. He made Joe Sports Fan believe he was the Chosen One, he made Cleveland believe he was the Messiah.

When it didn’t work out, Joe Sports Fan couldn’t really blame him. The Celtics were a better team than the Cavaliers in 2008 and ’10; the Magic were a better team in ’09. That was the window for these Cavs and the complementary talent simply wasn’t sufficient. That wasn’t LeBron’s fault. It was the Cleveland front office’s fault.

But that doesn’t change the dynasty on a platter that was served up to LeBron in Chicago. He could have had everything, and all he needed to do was sign on the dotted line, look into the camera and tell the world the next chapter in the brief but storied history of the Chicago Bulls was about to be written. By LeBron James.

Instead of penning that next chapter – as well as the defining chapter of his own monolithic legacy – in Chicago, he opted to become the copy editor for the Miami Heat.

For the next six years he’s going to correct some grammar, rearrange some sentences and of course, rewrite some endings. There is no doubt a successful writer is only as good as his editor. But no matter how great the editor and how much he facilitates the success of the writer, his accolades will always be secondary.

Lots of bling is coming for LeBron. The question is will he ever come to peace with the realization that Pippen is now officially the ceiling for his legacy as a player in this league.

Jun 3

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Celtics-Lakers XII: Who’s Hungrier?

By now you’ve read and heard every possible breakdown of the Celtics, the Lakers, the matchups, the coaches, the benches, the trainers … hell there was probably an ESPN the Ocho feature on the water boys, given the hype of this NBA Finals.

Among the facts, figures, Xs, Os and historical nuggets …

The Celtics return the same starting five that undressed the Lakers two years ago. Kevin Garnett isn’t the same player he was around this time in ’08 (more on that to come); Ray Allen is still Jesus Shuttlesworth; Paul Pierce is still capable of being the best player in the world on any night; Kendrick Perkins can shut down any big man in the league one-on-one; Rajon Rondo — the weak link of the ’08 squad that got benched midway through the Finals — is currently the best point guard in the NBA.

The Lakers return a new, better and stronger starting five than they did in Round I vs. the Celtics. Kobe remains in his prime; Derek Fisher can always knock down daggers; Pau Gasol is tougher, more mature and more fluid in the triangle offense; Andrew Bynum, though hobbled, is at least playing this time; Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza are a wash in production but Artest has a history of defending Pierce that makes him more valuable than Ariza was.

As opposed to ’08, the Lakers have home-court advantage and are 8-0 at Staples Center in these playoffs and 28-3 over the last three postseasons. They played the Celtics twice in that 31-game stretch and went 1-1.

The Celtics are 5-3 on the road this postseason, winning twice apiece in Cleveland and Orlando (who were a combined 76-13 at home this year).

As was the case in ’08, the Lakers (15 titles) are trying to get within striking distance of the Celtics (17) while the Green want to bury them while the closing window of the Big Three remains open.

There are more individual legacies on the line than any Finals since the Magic-Bird days.

The Celtics, who are the third-lowest seed (No. 4) to make it to the Finals since the league went to a 16-team format in 1984, arrive having disposed of the teams with the two best records in the league.

Kobe didn’t trust his teammates enough in ’08, but they gained championship experience last year and are a far tougher and more physical team as presently constructed. Which leads to …

X-Factor No. 1 – The Physical Factor

There is no doubt Gasol is a bigger and more physical presence than he was, not to mention a better overall player. Bynum’s size is an asset and Artest brings that bit of nasty and other bit crazy that the team lacked in ’08. Surrounding Kobe — no one has ever disputed his singular toughness and tenacity — is indeed a wholly different cast for The Rematch. But …

The Lakers are still a Western Conference team and for the better part of a decade the West has featured an up-and-down, run-and-gun style of basketball. Ever since the redux of the Bad Boy Pistons smacked the Lakers in the mouth in 2004 and unseated the Shaq-Kobe dynasty, the give-me-your-lunch-money teams (Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Orlando, Boston) have all resided in the East. It’s no coincidence that until last year, the Spurs were the only outfit to prevail out of the West since LA.

When you look at the teams the Lakers have gone through to get here, backyard brawls aren’t what come to mind when characterizing the series’. The Thunder were a young upstart, full of energy and buoyed by a rambunctious home crowd. Hardened they were not. The Jazz were decimated by injuries and, fully aware of the Laker punching bag they had been in recent past, rather willingly said uncle so they could start their summer vacations. The Suns — who have been known to be as rough as flannel sheets — dug down and banged admirably with a drastically undersized group. Who knows what happens if Artest doesn’t put back Kobe’s airball at the buzzer in Game 5?

So give the Lakers their due. They have grown and toughened since that ignominious defeat on the fabled parquet. But is that enough?

While the Lakers were busy taking care of the likes of Oklahoma City and Phoenix out west, the Celtics were taking the best shot each of the two biggest menaces in the game today had to throw at them. In succession. Pierce barely made it through the six-game bout with Lebron while Dwight Howard literally turned the Eastern Conference finals into an MMA event on hardwood.

To expect Los Angeles to match the physical intensity of a team that got knocked down by the two biggest bullies in the school yard only to rise up like nothing had ever happened, well that’s something we’ll all need to see to believe. That’s something that will take a more deep-seated will to win, a more lasting and insatiable hunger.

X-Factor No. 2 – The Hunger Factor

It’s impossible to argue against Kobe’s drive to win another ring, to match Magic with five and be within one of joining Michael Jordan with six. It’s no secret the Black Mamba wants to go down as the greatest of all time.

Yet he stubbornly underplays the tradition he’s a part of, the history he’s trying to make. Call it focusing on the goal at hand if you want, but that reeks of rationalization. The weight of that Lakers jersey got noticeably heavier after ’08, and it was a kind of force that couldn’t be lifted last year, when the Celtics were too hobbled to make it back to the ball.

Kobe is surrounded by legends — from Magic to Kareem to Worthy to Cooper — who all have something in common: they beat their hated rivals. For Kobe to barely acknowledge the history and rivalry between the two teams has got to be telling. Even if he surpasses Magic and meets MJ with six rings, his legacy will include a giant asterisk if he ends up losing twice to Boston. Magic knows this. Laker fans know it. And most importantly, Kobe knows it.

Then you have the Celtics, and the Big Three. Pierce was asked after the Cleveland series how it felt to best Lebron. His response in a nutshell: “We didn’t come to training camp this year saying ‘let’s beat the Cleveland Cavaliers’. Our goal is to win championships.”

You can be certain Pierce too feels the weight and burden of history. He may have gotten his one, but he knows very well that all the great Celtic teams and players before him won multiple championships. The expectation to excel above and beyond greatness is merely a byproduct of the town he’s called home for his professional life. Daunting as it may be, it’s something he embraces.

Same goes for Ray Allen, who is 1A next to Kobe in terms of dedication to the craft and care for his body. How hungry is he to head up a few more floors (wink wink) in the Celtics Pantheon? He talked about running into Jordan after the Celtics won in ’08. MJ told him they were lucky, that anyone could win one. He challenged him to win another and then come see him.

Then there’s Garnett. The man who was discounted after so many thousands of ferocious NBA minutes and a knee injury combined to give him a dose of reality. The truth is, if he hadn’t had Bill Russell — in addition to Doc Rivers — in his corner, he probably wouldn’t have been able to turn back the clock like he did vs. Miami and Cleveland.

Garnett reveres Russell, would probably jump off the Tobin Bridge if Russell told him he would respect him more for it. The two have formed an immensely close bond over the last few years, with the pupil gaining a wealth of knowledge from the exemplar.

Time was, an aging and underperforming Celtics contingent rallied for one last hurrah under the tutelage of a player-coach who already boasted a ring for all ten of his fingers. It was 31 years ago the Russell-led 1968-69 Celtics drove the most painful stake yet through the hearts of the then Wilt Chamberlain-led Lakers, beating Los Angeles in Game 7 at The Forum.

Kobe may want this one like he’s never wanted anything before, but this is KG’s last hurrah.

Celtics-Lakers XII. Here we go again. Again.

Celtics in seven.

May 14

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Goodnight Cleveland, Good Luck Orlando

Kevin Garnett, dapper and introspective as usual, was fielding questions at the podium approximately thirty minutes after the Celtics had unceremoniously ended the Cavaliers’ season in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Just as a reporter from the New York Times identified himself and proceeded into what would eventually become a long-winded question about how gratifying it was to have defied the odds, Garnett cut him off.

“There’s a lot of people in this room, boy,” he said, surveying the landscape from corner to corner. “Man! Lot of people in this room.

“I haven’t seen this many people since, uh, ’08. Mmm. It’s aight.”

He then turned his head down for a moment, but the smirk that had found its way across his face couldn’t be hidden. He was, after all, alluding to the horde of reporters from New York and elsewhere that certainly hadn’t been dispatched during the Celtics’ dismantling of the Heat, nor at any earlier point in the Cavs series.

The reason was simple. Outside of Boston, no one anywhere had given the Celtics a chance in this series, so why would rags from around the country dip into already strained budgets to chronicle merely the second speed bump en route to the King’s coronation?

Even when the Celtics tied the series at 2-2, the national sentiment was fairly universal: Lebron would take back control in Cleveland and most likely finish off the aging ex-champs in Beantown.

Whoops.

Suddenly “Summer of Lebron” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, eh? But let’s leave all (ahem) Spring of Lebron dissection to that mass of scribes KG was marveling at, because the King is surely all they will be concerned with for some time.

The Celtics, meanwhile, still have unfinished business. The few talking heads who actually still care about the remainder of the NBA tournament are once again writing the Celtics off in their Eastern Conference finals clash with the Magic (eight of the 10 on the panel of ESPN Experts – all of whom picked Cleveland, by the way – are siding with Orlando).

On the one hand, it’s hard to fault them. Orlando has torn a path of destruction through the playoffs to this point, winning all eight of its games by an average of more than 17 points. Throw in a six-game winning streak to end the regular season and the Magic haven’t tasted defeat since losing in San Antonio back on April 2. Impressive would be an understatement.

On the other hand, it’s borderline ludicrous how short a memory the media can have. After going 27-27 over the final two-thirds of the regular season, the Celtics are 8-3 in the playoffs. They throttled the Heat, holding Miami to 87.6 points per game while winning the series 4-1. The only game they dropped required an otherworldly performance from Dwyane Wade (46 points, 30 in the second half), not to mention a total collapse in the last 150 seconds that included five consecutive missed free throws (three by Ray Allen).

Then there was the Cleveland series. The Celtics led Game 1 for 35 1/2 of the first 36 minutes – until a Lebron bucket gave the Cavs the lead at the end of the third quarter – and trailed by no more than four points throughout the final frame before failing to execute down the stretch. They went wire-to-wire in Game 2 to snatch back home-court advantage, then submitted a no-show in Game 3 as Cleveland returned the favor.

They trailed for the first six minutes of Game 4 and 17 of the first 18 minutes of Game 5.

Other than that? 137 seconds.

For those who desire not to do the math, that means the Celtics were playing from ahead for 85 percent of Games 4-6. Dominant would be an understatement.

And these weren’t the Hawks, people.

Onto the Magic. It seems the same folks who fail to appreciate how the Celtics completely crushed the NBA’s best team also appear to have forgotten that Boston and Orlando played a postseason series but a year ago. The Celtics led it 3-2 and were up in the fourth quarter of Game 6 before succumbing to a deeper and better Orlando team that eventually dispatched of Cleveland and fell to the Lakers in the Finals.

Kevin Garnett was in a suit for that series and Brian Scalabrine was relied upon to play big minutes and hit big shots. Consider the last line of the previous paragraph and then digest that fact for a moment.

Now consider this: Dwight Howard discovered in that grueling seven-game affair in ’09 that Kendrick Perkins was his kryptonite. Perkins was strong enough to muscle him out of the paint and agile enough to cut off his driving lanes. For seven games, Perk held Howard in check on the offensive end, as Superman averaged a mere 16.4 points per game (he averaged 25.8 vs. Cleveland), with a good deal of the damage being done when Perkins was on the bench with foul trouble.

And this: Above all, what gave the Magic the edge in that series, particularly in close games late, was their ability to allow 6-10 Hedo Turkoglu to run the point, with 6-10 Rashard Lewis and 6-6 Mikael Pietrus occupying the corners and Howard in the paint. The Celtics couldn’t sag off any of the former three to double Howard, because all were dead-eye three-point shooters. It was a matchup nightmare.

That was with Turkoglu and without Garnett, mind you. An argument can be made that the Magic are better with Vince Carter this postseason than they were with Turkoglu last. It’s close, but debatable.

No one in their right mind can say the Celtics aren’t night-and-day different from last year with Garnett back, playing the way he is. It’s neither close nor debatable.

So let those talking heads use their big platforms to once again dismiss a team that is now 6-0 in playoff series’ with its core intact.

I’ll use a much smaller platform to say poof! The Celtics will make the Magic disappear in six.

Apr 16

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Time for Celtics to Put Up or Tap Out

Seven months on the hardwood, an uninspired 50 wins, fistfuls of maddening losses and countless wait-til-the-playoffs sound bytes – that about sums up the 2010 Celtics, no?

The team that began the season by bustin’ ass and takin’ names en route to a 23-5 start only to lose its drive, swagger, passion – who really knows? – somewhere along the way is at last where it wants to be: armed and intact for the postseason.

If it’s indeed possible to flip the proverbial switch, the time is now for the Celtics.

We are, after all, talking about a squad that has been the definition of pedestrian since its torrid start – 27 up, 27 down, garnished with a recurring touch of indifference. The way Boston played since Christmas, it’s a surprise David Stern didn’t change the marketing slogan of his league to, “With the exception of its most storied franchise, NBA Cares”, lest he be forced to answer a question with a lie.

But all that matters not now, for the season is new and the one and only thing the Celtics have said they needed for a run at No. 18 – good health – they actually have. The road is surely daunting, and that’s meant to be interpreted in a quite literal sense, as the Celtics will have to go into and through Cleveland then Atlanta or Orlando – against whom they were a combined 3-9 in the regular season – before again hitting the road for the NBA Finals.

Then again, only Dallas (27-14) had a better record away from home than the Celtics (26-15) – who were pretty blah in their own digs to begin with – so you can be sure they’re not fazed by the prospect of do-or-die games in an opponent’s building.

Maybe that’s what they’ve wanted all along. When they won the title in ’08 they owned a suffocating home-court advantage (combined 48-7 between the regular season and playoffs), and followed that up with a cumulative 40-9 mark last year, the bulk of that damage being done sans KG.

Even without its leader, that team was a force, spilled its guts on a nightly basis in defense of the crown it had worked so doggedly to capture. By the time the playoffs rolled around and an utterly decimated Green contingent was trotting out a starting five that included Glen Davis and a bench that featured Brian Scalabrine, the fact they actually led their second-round series with the Magic 3-2 before running out of gas was in itself a minor miracle.

But the recurring caveat – beginning with Garnett and culminating with Leon Powe – was they had a rallying cry, a chip on their shoulder, a unifying cause to keep them fighting even though the end game was predetermined. Cut off an arm? We still got another! Hit us in the mouth? That all ya got!

If the events of the ’10 season are to make any sense, follow something resembling an understandable narrative, it’s this: the team – and the Big Three in particular – was crushed that it didn’t have a realistic shot at becoming the first repeat champs since Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers. So they came out like gangbusters this year and mopped the floor with pretty much everyone they encountered, displaying the same tenacity and verve that had defined them for the past two seasons.

Then, in a span of two weeks smack in the middle of the holidays, Paul Pierce suffered a small tear of the meniscus in his knee that required minor surgery and Garnett hyperextended his super-delicate right knee. From that point on, the Celtics were no longer the Celtics. They lacked their typical defensive intensity, lost games to lowly teams, gave away more than a few fourth-quarter leads, and all of it was cloaked in that facade of indifference. It was then that the wait-til-the-playoffs talk started.

It was almost as if the Pierce and Garnett injuries were a wake-up call to hit the snooze button. The Big Three only needed to turn on ESPN to hear about their aging legs and excessive mileage on their NBA odometers. They realized that if they continued to wage the battle on a nightly basis, the war would once again be lost before it had even begun.

I come to this conclusion because – apart from Rasheed Wallace, who has been conspicuously absent from this column for what are probably obvious reasons – the indifference and spottiness that has characterized this Celtics team is simply too out of character to accept at face value. Because they do care, they are repulsed by failure. We have seen too much for too long to believe otherwise.

But after dealing with some minor adversity they came to the conclusion – consciously or otherwise – that in order to reach the promised land again, maintaining their edge or gaining home-court advantage was not the bridge there this time around, so they powered down to neutral and coasted through the last two-thirds of the season.

They might have taken their licks – from the fans, media and even each other – but as opposed to last year, they’re not licking any serious wounds heading into the playoffs, which is crucial.

The question now becomes can they flip that switch back on. Time shall tell.

Mar 1

Vancouver 2010: The American Olympiad

There’s always a large swath of the American public that takes little interest in the Olympic Games. Some haven’t the time to follow them; others are irked because “30 Rock” and “The Office” go on a two-week hiatus. Many simply don’t care.

For those who do give a hoot, the 21st Olympiad was pretty cool, no pun intended (particularly considering the downright balmy temperatures that hung over Vancouver for the bulk of the Games).

With the 30th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice” serving as a motivational backdrop, American hockey sliced its way back into the national conversation. US skiers carved out stories of redemption (Bode Miller) and overcoming adversity (Lindsey Vonn) while cutting up the slopes of Whistler Creekside. Shaun White soared, American bobsledders slid and Apolo Ohno skated into the annals of history.

Overall, by capturing an Olympic-record 37 medals, Team America owned the winter podium for only the second time ever, and first on foreign soil.

Oh yeah, and Stephen Colbert was there too.

30 years after “The Miracle”, there was nearly another

Only history will determine how the 2010 US Hockey team is remembered. Even now it’s a matter of perspective. Did they earn a silver medal or lose a gold? It’s obvious which answer players would give, but they are competitors. There is no tougher second-place to accept in sport than Olympic silver in hockey. Especially when you scratch and claw back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the gold medal game with 24 seconds left against a team of behemoths on their home ice, as the Americans did in what became a truly seismic tilt, on this continent at least.

Hopefully, at some point, the players will be able step away from the moment that slipped away and appreciate what they accomplished.

Before Sidney Crosby, the poster boy of these Olympics and the sport itself, found the goal a little more than seven minutes into overtime, Team USA had won every game it played, including a 5-3 victory over Canada in the group stage that sent the alert level of the host nation to red.

While Team Canada boasted nine of the 30 NHL captains, including the entire front line of the San Jose Sharks, the league’s second-best team, the Americans were built almost in the spirit of the 1980 Miracle squad: young, physical and vibrant. They may not have finished the job like their Lake Placid counterparts, but tournament MVP Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, Jack Johnson and the rest of the unlikely almost-champs put hockey back on the map in this country.

Day 1 and Day 14: Swings that helped secure the medal count

Perennial winter powerhouse Germany finished seven behind the USA in the final medal count, with 30. That difference could have been far more tenuous, had it not been for two defining events.

Day 1: Men’s 1,500 meter short-track race. Coming into the final turn, Koreans were poised to sweep the medals until Ho-Suk Lee attempted to pass his teammate Si-Bak Sung, causing both to crash and paving the way for a pair of Americans, Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski, to steal silver and bronze. A huge four-medal swing on the first evening of competition.

Day 14: Women’s Bobsled. The Germans, notorious for their recent domination of the bobsled events, were left off the podium after Germany 2 – leaders after two runs – crashed on its third run, allowing USA 2 to snag an unlikely bronze. That two-medal swing enabled the US to widen its overall lead to 28-24, a lead it would not relinquish.

Alpine-racing torch passed from Austrians to Americans

By far the biggest cumulative surprise of the Games was the US Alpine team stealing the thunder of the Austrians.

Three Americans – Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso – made repeat trips to the podium. Along with Andrew Weibrecht’s bronze in super-G, the US team compiled a remarkable haul of eight medals, three more than their total from the Nagano, Salt Lake City and Torino Games combined. The Austrians, who racked up a whopping 34 medals during the same time period, were held to four in Vancouver.

That doesn’t even include an utterly bizarre incident in the women’s giant slalom, when Vonn crashed and Mancuso, already on the course as the next racer with Vonn still immobilized, was yellow-flagged and halted halfway down as a precaution. A favorite to take gold in the event, Mancuso finished 18th after the re-done first run, her emotional state and overall focus visibly altered, along with the course itself considering she had to wait another 15 racers to go.

Despite the unfortunate/unacceptable occurrence, it was nonetheless an historic two weeks in the mountains north of Vancouver for the American downhillers.

Colbert Nation in Vancouver: Splendid entertainment

For those who missed it, US Speedskating was in dire straits after losing its main sponsor, the bankrupt Dutch bank DSB. Facing a funding shortfall of $300,000, Stephen Colbert used his “Nation” to bankroll the team, and in return was given an honorary spot on the team as the designated “assistant sports psychologist”.

Weaving the access into an overall package he deemed “Exclusive Vancouverage of the Quadrennial Cold Weather Athletic Competition” (so as not to upset NBC and its stranglehold on coverage rights), Colbert bummed his way around the Olympic Village, gained interviews with the likes of Vonn, Shani Davis and even Bob Costas, and of course, diligently fulfilled his duties as the assistant shrink to “his” athletes.

Let me be the first to say it: London 2012 needs Colbert. Here’s to hoping the US Swim team was sponsored by Bear Stearns.