You saw the play from last week where the Celtics perfectly executed an inbound tip-in play with only 0.6 seconds on the clock. How did they do it? The Czar breaks it down:
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From the Booth: Czar And The Bear
January 15 by Leave a Comment
The Czar pays a pregame visit to Bear, the Utah Jazz mascot.
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Gameday Dish: Jazz take on LeBron and the Cavs
January 14 by Leave a Comment
Salt Lake City has traditionally been one of the toughest stops on the NBA map – The Jazz won 90 percent of their home games during the 2007-08 season. But this year Utah is an uncharacteristic 14 and 6 at home. Tonight they face the top team in the East the Cavs and I expect they will come out looking to make a statement and re-establish their home court dominance. They’ve been off for two days and no doubt Jerry Sloan will have them well-prepared and I know the crowd will be as loud as ever.
But Cleveland is a great road team
. Their 16 road wins have them tied with Boston for the league lead. The Cavs are playing as well as I have ever seen. With the addition of Shaq they’re more versatile. They can go big or play small with Varejao at the 5. They’re also the healthiest of the league’s top-teams. I’m sure they’d like to capitalize on the Celtics’ and Lakers’ injuries and create a little separation in the race for home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The key to the game for Cleveland is defending Deron Williams, who was out the last time the teams met. He’s a tremendous player: he’s strong in the post, quick in the paint and has great range on his jumper. He’s averaging nearly a 20 and 10 and is the leader of a Jazz offense that dishes out a league-best 25.8 assists a game. I look for Cleveland to try and force the ball out of his hands and disrupt the flow of the Jazz offense. They also have to watch out for Boozer in the pick and roll game and stop him from crashing the boards and filling the lane. He’s healthy again this year and back to playing at an All-Star level.
The Jazz on the other hand will have to deal with LeBron. He’s on an incredible streak right now. He had 41/10/8 in the win up in Portland and 37 points and 11 assists in the victory over Golden State. If you guard him with a big man he takes him off the dribble. If you try to match up with a smaller, quicker player he’s backing him down. And if you double him he finds Varejao cutting through the lane or the open 3-point shooter. I think the Jazz will throw different looks at him and work hard to prevent the supporting cast from having a big night.
Looking forward to the game tonight – there’s going to be a lot of energy in the building. Marv, Reggie and I have the call at 10:30 EST on TNT.
Top Telestrator Plays: Bird’s Steal
January 14 by Leave a Comment
The Czar of the Telestrator breaks down the play that further cemented the legend of Larry Bird.
Mike’s Memorabilia: Red Auerbach Trophy
January 14 by Leave a Comment
Red Auerbach Trophy for Coach of the Year – 1986: One of the highlights and tremendous honors of my coaching career was being named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1985–86 season.
It was my third year as head coach and going into the season the outlook was bleak. We were the second youngest team in the NBA. We had only won 34 games the previous year and my contract was up at the end of the season. Somehow I had to convince our guys that we could bounce back and turn things around.
Led by NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins and point guard Doc Rivers we went into the playoffs on the back of a hard-fought 50-win season. We beat the Pistons in the first round but unfortunately we were defeated by the Celtics in the second – they would go on to win the Championship.
Beyond our team’s success, Wilkins led the league in scoring with 30.3 ppg and made his first All-Star appearance. Spud Webb (one of the few players I could look in the eyes without a step stool) won the NBA Slam-Dunk Championship – becoming the shortest player ever to win the contest. I was named Coach of the Year and the Hawks signed me to a four-year extension. We went on to have three consecutive 50-win seasons. It was a magical year.
Check out this Hawks Highlight Reel from 1986.
Mike’s son admires his Coach of the Year trophy in 1986.
