Some more things we as a collective class of NBA fans learned after an insanely entertaining day of basketball.
-Atlanta's original gameplan (gameplan? Game plan? Game-plan? Somebody tell me...), limiting Howard by guarding him 1 on 1 with Jason Collins, failed badly. And they still won, on the road. In a best of 7 series, the team that wins the first game wins the series 80% of the time. That should tell you something about how good Atlanta is feeling about their win tonight.
-The one thing about Atlanta's original gameplan in regards to Howard that DID work was that it allowed Al Horford to play power forward, a position in which he is much more effective. No Orlando player matches up effectively with Horford, and he matches up terribly with Howard, who absolutely dominates Horford down low on both ends.
-New York, Los Angeles, and Boston are Dwight Howard's most likely destinations of free agency, according to the NBA blogosphere. The good news for these cities: if you land Howard, you are getting the most dominant defensive force in the NBA, as well as a gigantic body who is coming into his own on offense. His baby hooks shots are excellent, he can hit bank shots from a respectable distance, his offensive rebounding and putbacks allow a crappy supporting cast to fire up crappy shots and not pay the consequences, and he runs the fast break as wisely as any big man I've ever seen. The bad news for NY, LA and Boston? If you don't land Howard, one of your bitter rivals is landing an instant dynasty. You've been warned. (Boston would loooooove you, Dwight. You know you want to play with Rondo. Boooooooston!)
-The Magic in Game 1 looked uncomfortable and out of sync, absolutely PRIMED for a first round exit at the hands of a lower seed. This kind of thing can happen when a mid-season panic trade screws up your entire roster. Every Celtics fan reading this just lost their appetite.
-Some good news for Orlando...Atlanta made a lot of mid range jumpers, a shot that is tough to maintain. The bad news? Joe Johnson, Kirk Hinrich and Jamaal Crawford are all very good at those shots. And perimeter shooting can take Orlando's best defensive option completely out of the game. So maybe the good news is limited. (Thinking...thinking...) Here's something! Atlanta's home crowd really sucks. So maybe losing homecourt advantage isn't such a big deal. Did that help? Didn't think so. Orlando's in trouble.
-Interesting stat of the night: Dwight Howard set a team record for most points in a half in a playoff game (31) and Jameer Nelson set the same record for a quarter (20).
-Stan Van Gundy may have had my favorite between-quarter interview of all time after the third quarter. It's customary procedure for a coach on a team that is behind to come out and say "well, we need to get more stops out there. It starts on the defensive end. We are going to try to get (insert all-star's name) more established on the offensive end." Van Gundy was absolutely brilliant in his candid-ness...
"We can't stop them at ALL. We can't stop their perimeter guys one on one, we can't stop them in post one on one, and they've played well out of the double teams we've gotten to. We've found no way to stop them at all."
(Then responding to a question about Nelson's great third quarter, clearly meant to lead Van Gundy into a less doleful line of thinking).
"Well, he was more aggressive on his pick and rolls, and we did a good job there. But it didn't matter, (gestures angrily at the scoreboard) we were down 7 at the half, we're down 14 now. If we can't get stops nothing else is going to matter."
(The sideline reporter thanks Stan, who mumbles something inaudible, while turning around in disgust.)
Aaaaand scene! Just...brilliant. There is no one else like him in the league. Doc Rivers is equally candid, but more intelligent and eloquent, so he is rarely left hanging for words like Van Gundy. The unintentional comedy level just isn't there. THERE you go, Orlando. There's your bright spot.
Did I forget anything? Tell me in the comments!
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