Scott Berinato is a senior writer at PC Week and a regular contributor to Outdoor's magazine. E-mail him at scottwb@mail.com.
This, my friends, is what I was talking about. Finally. The Post Season.
Already, seven games have been decided by four points or fewer. Win or go
home. Gotta love it.
If you've missed a moment of the blanket
San Antonio has a huge edge with Duncan, but it's a toss up without him...
coverage TNT and TBS have dished
out both over the airwaves and on the 'Net--no fear. I'm here to sort it all
out for you with the top ten observations from the quarterfinals so far.
But before we get to that, let's take a moment and salute Grant Hill. He
didn't get much ink (pixels?) here this year, but that's not because we
don't like him. Of course, the heart and soul of the Pistons is one of our
favorite players because he doesn't need the ink. He gets it done without a
lot of chest thumping.
Unfortunately, Grant went down with a broken wheel. Out for the playoffs, it
looks like the end for his Pistons, too--but we should take this time to
tell Grant we appreciate him. See you in the tournament next year.
Okay, the top ten observations from the quarterfinals:
10. Phoenix-San Antonio has turned into a win-lose for fans. The win--this
is going to be a heckuva series, closer than many probably thought with the
defending champs hurting a bit and the Suns elevating their play. The lose:
it's a heckuva series because the inimitable Tim Duncan is in street shoes
nursing that torn cartilage in his knee, if you can nurse something like
that.
I think San Antonio has a huge edge with Duncan, but it's a toss up without
him. One silver lining with Duncan out, Samaki Walker rose to the occasion
in game two. Love to see players fill in like that.
9. The Jazz are for real. Short memories are good for some people: relief
pitchers, politicians, Vince Carter. But journalists fall prey to their
short memories every year with the Utah Jazz. The Salt Lake cagers never
fail to turn up their game come playoff time. This year, with a convincing
2-0 lead, it's the same. Each regular season we hear the same
rumblings--they're too old, getting too slow, too tired.
Now, at the expense of an imploding Sonics squad, they look like they could
even give the Lakers a run at it.
