Monday Night Wrap-Up

Rapid Fire:

T-Mac Displays Iron Will

Despite fighting a hip pointer, Utah's extremely physical defense, and a wayward shooting stroke, T-Mac dug deep for 26 points and 16 dimes to push Houston to a 3-2 lead. Once again, Houston's success is tied directly to Rafer Alston's defense on Deron Williams (which, of course, no one ever points out). Skip had 4 steals and held Williams to 4-for-16 shooting. Even more impressive, Alston had 10 of his 14 points early when the Rockets were struggling mightily to score. (Not to get ahead of ourselves here, but try to imagine Yao lumbering around against Golden State. That would be a circus.)

Cavs Sweep

But they still disappoint the national media, which expects LeBron to go 40-10-10, turn water into wine (aka "turn Eric Snow into a below-average NBA point guard"), and then fly out of the arena like Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy at the end of Blades of Glory.

Spurs Mop up Timmy's Tears

Forive the departure from somewhat unbiased commentary, but I hope Michael Finley and Robert Horry made enough big shots for Tim Duncan to stop sniveling for five minutes. I'm sorry, I've had it. The whining is bad enough, but even worse is the fact that it is lionized by the announcers and pundits. I don't get it. The Nuggets got boned on their own home court, once again shoot a pitful number of free throws (16), and somehow it is poor Tim Duncan that got victimized. Enough.