Last Saturday, Jeff Van Gundy stepped down as the head coach of the New York Knicks for what he called "family reasons." He said he had "lost focus" as a coach. Van Gundy has been on the Knicks staff since 1989 and served as head coach for seven years. He leaves as the third winningest head coach in Knicks history with a record of 248-172. This season his Knicks stalled, but then jumped to a 10-9 start. Assistant Coach Don Chaney led the Knicks to a 101-99 victory over the Pacers on Saturday night.
Lakers prove to be beatable
Last Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers suffered their second loss of the season after jumping out to a 16-1 record. What seemed like an invincible squad proved it was only human as the Sacramento Kings downed them 97-91. The Kings showed the Lakers that teamwork does not always sell more tickets, but that it gets the job done in the long run. Six of the eight members who saw playing time in the game scored double digit points, as opposed to the Lakers who only had three players out of nine who played scoring in double digits. What makes the game ever more special for the Kings is that they pulled out this victory without their start player, Chris Webber. That's right; the Kings played Scot "One T Samurai Warrior" Pollard and Vlade Divac on the Mack-truck of a center, Shaquille O'Neal. Although Shaq still scored 31 points, the damage could have been far worse.Teamwork and overall shooting seems to be some of the reasons mighty Goliath was slain by the Kings. One would think the winner of this game had fewer turnovers and miscues. Not the case - the Kings turned over the ball four more times then the Lakers. That turnover margin can play a large role in a six-point contest. But what the Kings lost in turnovers, they gained in shooting. The Lakers were 4-19 (21 percent) from downtown and the Kings were 8-12 (67 percent). Free throw shooting also played a large role in the Lakers defeat. The Lakers were 15-24, shooting a miserable 63 percent, while the Kings shot 74 percent, making 23 of 31 attempted.
Heat and Bulls are far from Eastern Conference Championship days
It does not seem that far in the past when the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat used to duke it out for rights to play in the NBA finals. Tim Hardaway vs. Michael Jordan has turned into Ron Mercer vs. Eddie Jones. Sure that does not sound bad on paper, but when you look deeper, it is terrible. With a combined record of 7-29, a Bulls vs. Heat match-up is hardly intriguing. The two teams are hardly respected, even by the teams that lost to them. Collectively they are the basements of the league's Central and Atlantic divisions. Now, each team is on a one game-winning streak. Can that be considered a streak? Well when a one team is 3-14 and the other is 4-15, that is as good as it gets.Western Conference too good for own good
With a good portion of the league's power out west, a log-jam has been created in the standings. Six of the Western Conference's top teams have the same amount of wins, 12, as the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The Lakers, Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns all have at least 12 wins on the season. The top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons and the New Jersey Nets only have 12 wins apiece. This sort of competition leaves good teams fighting harder then they should for eight conference playoff spots. Teams like the Portland Trailblazers that own a 10-9 record try to stay competitive so they can hope for a seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs. Other teams like the Golden State Warriors must be cursing their location, as they are 3-9 against Western Conference foes and 5-4 against the weaker Eastern Conference. Does the strength of each conference really matter? No, when it comes down to the fine print, each conference is allotted eight teams in the playoffs and has one representing them in the NBA finals.
