The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[udosuk]

Don't feel too bad Hud... The Suns played their hearts out and just came up short... Dirk didn't play spectacularly well (8/20 FG, 0/5 3P, only 10 Reb) but great defense gave them a chance... I noticed the Suns had a better FG% and 3P%, and was outrebounded by merely 3 (36-39), so probably the free throws were the major factor (25-15 in the Mavs' favour)... Also, they probably were too tired in the 2nd half after so many games...

Arrogrance is what I believe did the Pistons in... It's exactly why I hate Shaq in the first place... I wonder what's Detroit's reaction when they heard Wade was not healthy before the game, and how they felt when Shaq and Jason Williams demolished them in the 1st half...

So we have 2 new comers in the Final... But what a story for Avery if he could bring a championship to Dallas... Avery Johnson vs Pat Riley, what a constrasting matchup...

[Hud]

It's funny; not many people seem disappointed in the Suns in the playoffs this year. They definitely overachieved this year and could have easily mailed it in after Amare went down. Some on the Suns did admit they were tired at the ends of the last couple games. They have to get more guys on the floor next year in the playoffs. I hope Amare watched and learns from seeing what went on in the playoffs. If he returns and plays some defense, he'll be a true superstar.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finals now. The Heat had better not fall victim to what did in the Pistons by being overconfident. Shaq and Jason Williams (white chocolate) did step up in the last game. Too bad Jason took that last shot. I think he had been 10 for 10 til then.

[udosuk]

I think Jason ended up with a 10/12 FG%... But I don't really regard much when one shoots 100% (unless it's like 20/20 or more)...

I think the Suns did develope their players well in these playoffs, Diaw, Bell & Barbosa all had shining moments in various stage... Even Tim Thomas displayed great 3P shooting in several games... They would be even more formidable when they get Amare and Kurt healthy next season, and if they can find a good genuine centre they would be awesome (someone like Yao Ming)... But truth is, all other teams will probably evolve at the same time too...

I read that critics are blasting Flip Saunders' style for overplaying their 6 main players (starters+McDyess) and haven't given enough playing time for their young players to develop (e.g. Milicic and Arroyo) and so the future of the club is shaky now. If that's the case then perhaps Minnesota's problem now could have something to do with him too... It's really a big waste with Darko Milicic but I think the problem started from the days of Larry Brown... I always like Larry Brown but he did make mistakes from time to time... But Darko would shine in Orlando and the Detroit organisation will see what they missed out...

That's why I think highly of Avery Johnson's coaching ability... He always isn't shy of trying innovative things and give new players a chance...

Speaking of the Finals, I think the Mavs can match up Shaq with Erick Dampier, and shift Dirk to power forward (he's been playing Centre for 2 series now)... Also I'll expect him to shoot much more 3s...

[Hud]

There was an article in today's paper about what moves the Suns are likely to make during the off-season. It said that not many moves are expected which is pretty smart if they can pull off that trick. The first priorities are signing Barbosa and Diaw to extentions. They don't anticipate any trouble signing Barbosa since he would probably get the same money as Bell got. Diaw could be more difficult since they continue to use him as a center. As you noted, he isn't a true center but that seems to fit D'Antoni's coaching style. Amare rebelled last summer when they wanted him to be a center. Tim Thomas's stock also went up during the playoffs but he reportedly said he'd play for less money for a chance at the ring. I wish some of the high dollar guys (Nash and Stoudemire) would defer some money to help the team get deeper. The problem is that deferred money hurts the team in the future. Teams not in major markets have a much tougher time with salary cap issues and I think the Knicks are the only team willing to pay the luxury tax. The Suns are also slated to have 2 high draft picks this year, but might package them to move up for one more talented player. They are addicted to speed, so I think they'd like a big, fast guy who can run the floor. I can't speak for them, but I don't think Yao Ming fits that mold, but it would be interesting to see how he would develop under D'Antoni. He seemed to regress this season in Houston though. In one game, the Suns either held him scoreless or reboundless, I can't remember.

I didn't hear the details of Flip Saunders' woes but that sounds like valid criticism. I agree with you that overconfidence probably was the major problem with the Pistons.

How bout the D-backs? A 4 game sweep of the Braves is terrific. That's the first time in 11 years it has happened to the Braves. I think Bobby Cox is one of the best managers in baseball though. Brandon Webb goes again tonight and currently has a 24 or 25 inning scoreless streak going.

Sorry about the baseball digression. You brought up something that has interested me lately. I assume that Australia is on my side of the International Date Line? I didn't know which side of the line you were on.

[udosuk]

Yao Ming regressed this season? You can't judge a player's ability based on 1 or 2 games' performance... Since he returned from his first injury (around the All-star Game) he'd been lights out, I think getting 20+/10+ in 20 games in a row or so, and constantly scored in the high 30s... Just that whenever they faced the Suns they had troubled adjusting to the pace and always got stuffed... That said, I still regard Yao Ming as a very skillful player, and ain't really that slow like some of those European biggies... It's unfortunate about the Rockets' injury woes this season and I think a healthy duo of McGrady/Yao is a handful for any of the elite teams here... In fact I think any team would take him if given the chance...

So I see you guys can all shift your focus to the D-backs now... Hopefully they'll bring another championship to Arizona this year... Which makes me think, in the past 20 years was that 2001 World Series the only major thing Arizona won? Sorry for my unfamiliarity on the college sports scenarios... But I gather that Arizona is also a hot venue for golf tornaments...

Australia is on your opposite side of the Date Line... In fact I think you're only several hours ahead of me, but less a day... Let's put it like this - we're among the first (behind NZ) to celebrate a New Year's Day while you guys are (roughly) among the last, globally speaking...

[Hud]

I really didn't see or hear much from Yao this year so I probably shouldn't pass judgement on him. Something came up about him at "All Star Game" time but I can't recall what it was. I'll have to see if he was selected. I don't recall him playing in it. Salary cap issues would prevent many teams from going after Yao, unless it was packaged as a high dollar swap somehow.

The D-back World Series win was the only major championship ever won by an AZ Team. The Suns came close several times as you know, but couldn't quite make it. The Cardinals are pathetic. ASU teams probably shouldn't count, but they did win the College World Series several times I believe.

Sorry about the dateline thing. I do recall seeing the fireworks in Sydney on New Years early in the day on New Years. I have to pull out my Funk and Wagnalls.

I just caught a little on ESPN Radio and Steve Kerr and the moderator both picked the Mavs to win it all. Their rationale was that the Mavs are very versatile and throw many different matchups at you. I will be rooting for the Mavs, but won't get emotionally involved

[udosuk]

The last few years (including this one) Yao Ming has been an automatic selection to the Western starting lineup, largely because of the huge Chinese voters base on the net. And that's probably one of the main reasons that Shaq decided to move to the Eastern conference... This year Yao played too (the game was staged in Houston), and played poorly (5 pts, 2 rebs in 19 mins), which is probably what stimulated him into that post-All-Star-break great form... T-Mac got 36 points that game, only to be upstaged by Lebron and Wade's combined 49 points (Wade made the winning basket)... IMHO Steve Nash was a bigger disappointment in the game, only 2 pts & 6 asts in 28 mins... Even Kobe Bryant got more asts (8)...

I have a gut feeling that the majority of all habitants outside the Sunshine state of Florida are rooting for the Mavs... Including both Detroit & Phoenix residents...

BTW I think the Arizona Wildcats is a world famous college sports franchise... Even Sandra Bullock wore their jumper in the movie Speed... While the Wildcats (Univ. of Ariz.) have got better achievements (NCAA basketball champs '97, baseball champs '76,'80,'86), ASU has produced more famous stars (Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Byron Scott, Eddie House [in the current Suns lineup] and Phil Mickelson)...

[Hud]

It's funny that you mentioned the U of A. They are the arch enemy of my local school, ASU. After my last post I remembered the championships Lute Olsen (?) has brought to them. So far, we've had no national champion in college football, but ASU came close once.

Phil Mickelson is a tremendous favorite here but also in most of the country (world)?. I believe his style of play and his readiness to smile and acknowledge the crowds help out also. Just an aside, but did you see the shot out of the trap late in the round Sunday? The commentators were speculating about how difficult it would be to get out of it and he made the shot. They did show that the ball was in an uphill lie which helped.

Most radio sports talk people are picking the Mavs. I wonder if the east coast media is? I doubt it.

Now they're saying that Larry Brown might have had something to do with the Piston's success while he was there. The radio sports people are saying that the team probably won't be the same next season.

Tim Thomas and James Jones were both on our local radio sports talkie yesterday. Both impressed me with their views. TT expressed a desire to return next season, but I'm sure if a gang busters offer comes in from another team, he'll have to take it.

I thought for awhile that Martima Hingus was getting some udosuk karma, but I guess not quite enough. The Russian Women seem to dominate tennis like the Koreans in women's golf.

Brandon Webb's streak ended, but at least he wasn't saddled with the loss to the Phillies. I wish the team was back on-the-road where they seem to have greater success lately. A D-back Pitcher just got implicated in the illegal drug probe. After watching some of the play of Conor Jackson in the field, I thought he might be on drugs.

[udosuk]

It's looking like Barry Bonds is rather the shame of ASU, instead of the pride...

Phil Mickelson is never my favourite... It seemed he took a long long time before winning his first major a couple years ago, but added a couple since then. Before that someone called him the "American version of Greg Norman" ... I guess he's proven he's better than the Shark now...

It'd be non-sensical to say Larry Brown had nothing to do with the Pistons championship... I think the US's failure in Athens and the Pistons losing to the Spurs last year (remember the play where Rasheed left Horry all open behind the 3P arc?) made him the scapegoat... Fact is, Larry was the one that gelled the group together and created the great chemistry...

Martina Hingis... I got sick of all the times where she showed the slightest glimpse of hope, only to be blasted away from the court... My karma wasn't enough for her before, and wouldn't be enough for her now... Fortunately () Venus Williams lost on the same day, thus eased the pain a little bit...

I think it's more the general European women (incl. Belgian, French, etc.) dominating their American counterpart rather than merely the Russian... Also, it's a similar scenario for the men too, where Roger Federer is the clear front-runner, followed by Nadal (Spanish), Nalbandian (Argentinian not European) & Ljubicic (Croatian). The rest (Andy Roddick, James Blake & our own Lleyton Hewitt) are relegated to the 2nd string now. Agassi should probably retire and focus on raising his son... It remains to see if Roddick could pick up his form for Wimbledon...

The Mavs just won game one, with Jason Terry playing a blinder. Dirk didn't shine too much which is a great sign for the Mavs, as I think he could only go better. The Heat actually made more FGs, but it's the FT that saved the Mavs again. Shaq shot 8/11 in FGs and 1/9 in FTs. Go figure...

I read from a paper that 60% of fans are predicting the Heat will win, the bulk saying it'd be in 6 or 7 games... So the common pictured scenario would be, after 5 games, the Heat will be leading 3-2 and then win 1 of the 2 Dallas games... Well if the Mavs win game 2 and take a 2-0 lead to Miami, it's a good chance they'll steal 1 of 3 in there (since they're a better road team than home)... So I guess game 2 is the most important game in this series...

[Hud]

It was gratifying to see the Mavs to win on Dirk's off night. I feel there may be many different heroes in games the Mavs win. The way the game started, it looked like the Mavs were overmatched, but Terry really saved the day for them. I also believe that if the Mavs win the next one at home, they'll probably take at least one in Miami. The Mavs were slight favorites to win the series in Las Vegas I hear.

There's lots of Barry bashing going on in the news here. Some of it goes all way back to his ASU days. He was almost cut by Jim Brock and Bobby Bonds drove up onto the practice field in his luxury car and talked it over with Brock. He must have smoothed things out since he played that season. It's pretty amazing how much Barry's skills seem to have deteriorated this season. I don't think he can possibly pass Hank Aaron for the career HR lead. While on baseball, Jason Grimsley is all over the news about his getting caught with HGH and Amphetamines. It's a shame that many others are going to implicated, but I don't really feel sorry for them.

It seems that most golf fans either really like or really hate, Phil Mickelson. I'm personally not much of a Tiger Woods fan since he seldom plays in the FBR (Phoenix) Open anymore. Have you ever heard any interviews with Steve Elkington? He's often on "The Jim Rome" show here, and is really entertaining. He seems like the kind of guy who would sit down with you and enjoy a Fosters or 2. He really lit into Tommy Smothers for his playing with a yoyo in a pro-am a couple years back. Elk was ready to kick his butt and didn't even know (or care) who he was.

[udosuk]

Frankly I don't play golf and couldn't even be called a fan... I had more interest in women's golf back in the times when Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb were dominating but not much now... Maybe when Michelle Wie matures her game more and develops a rivalry with somebody it'll get more fun to watch. Despite Karrie Webb being my countrywoman I always like Annika more, as I always dig grace and skills over power (and a good look doesn't hurt )...

As for the men's game, Tiger Woods or any of the Aussie golfers don't excite me... I did feel joy when Craig Parry (whose body shape isn't exactly what you'd call atheletic) won the matchplay championship a few years back, against the whole field of more fancied opponents.

Back to the NBA, on 2nd thought I think part of Dirk's struggling could owe to Haslem & Posey's tough D, besides his "big stage fright"... We'll have to wait and see if he (and the other Mavs) improves over the 2nd game. As I said the major factor in game 1 was the Heat's poor FT% (Shaq's 1/9 and Wade's 6/10 are the only FTs for the Heat in the whole game, so the combined 7/19 team FT% was the lowest in history). I don't see any problem with the Mavs winning the series with perfect execution of the "Hack a Shaq" strategy, and there is even some novelty in there as this plan is believed to have been originated from Don Nelson in his days coaching the Mavs...

As another side note, I can't believe nobody except tarek replied to my World Cup thread... I'm not sure you're aware that USA also is in there... But the current focus for them is more concerning the security issues than the actual matches... Last time they went all the way into the final 8 and most regard it as a fluke/overachieving performance... It remains to see if they're for real this time, but I doubt most American citizens care...

[udosuk]

The Mavs won big, Dirk didn't score a horde but it didn't matter. Albeit the series is still "on serve", a 2-0 lead is always intimidating in a 7-game series... Let's see if the Mavs could capitalise the momentum and win 1 of the next 2...

Shaq shooting 1/7 in FTs... Could be a karma thing for what they did to Ben Wallace... Let's see if Shaq is brave enough to take responsibilty if this becomes the key factor in the series...

[Hud]

Sorry I'm a bit late reporting. I did make a feeble attempt at a soccer post even before I read your previous post here. I'd like to see the US Guys do well, but I simply don't know what to expect from them. I had almost forgotten that sometimes "hooliganism" breaks out from the fans at the games. Over here, we're more civilised. We throw D-cell batteries and fake hypodermic needles on the field instead. A fan(?) in Phoenix threw an empty toothpaste tube near Barry Bonds the first time he played here this season.

It looks like I gave the D-backs "bad karma" by gloating about our success in Atlanta. There have been no wins since, and none in sight.

Wow, the Mavs were impressive last night. When I saw the fast paced style of play, I thought "I'll bet udosuk is happy seeing this pace". It looks like the Mavs have decided that Shaq and Wade aren't going to beat them, and the other guys will have to do it if it is to be done. I was starting to worry a little in the 4th period when the Mavs seemed content to run time off the clock and stop pushing the pace of play. I'm glad the Suns aren't playing the Heat since they don't have anyone who could contain Shaq. Diap and Dampeer(?) are doing a good job denying Shaq the ball. Shaq mentioned that he'll make his FTs when they count. I wonder how he can turn the spigot on and off? I think the Heat is doing a pretty good job on Dirk, but he was hitting his long range shots last night.

On a totally unrelated note: There was a report on our TV about a suburb of Sydney that was being plagued with teenagers cruising and playing loud music. The locals countered it by playing Barry Manilow Music. The kids decided to hang out elsewhere.

Another unrelated topic: The Australian mountain climber who was almost left to die on Mount Everest, was on the news this morning. They also had the man whose party stopped short on their climb and saved his life. The guy looks well, but probably will lose some toes. Those black fingertips don't look very good either.

[udosuk]

Hud, as an Aussie I'm preoccupied in the mood of our first ever World Cup match victory here... And the extraordinary circumstances how we got it...

Looks like Arizona fans are *real* nice... D-cell batteries... umm...

The major focus in game 2 exerted by the media was that Erick Dampier outscored Shaq 6-5 and outrebounded him 13-6... That with an earlier comment from Shaq that "Erick Dampier is the best center in the WNBA"... You can figure the rest... That said, Riley kept Shaq on the bench for the final 15 minutes, which I speculate as a deliberate move to psyche him up for the next few games... Let's see how much it works...

[TKiel]

O.K. it looks like I'm going to have to eat my words from a while back.

Tracy