Boston Celtics to win the NBA title

A couple of weeks ago I posted the NHL mid-season standings and used the results of the season series to date to predict that the LA Kings would defeat the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final. It was a bit of a joke as LA have been crap since then, but it also shows you just how tight the playoff races are in the NHL.

That's not the case in the NBA, which has just passed its halfway point. Here, the conference leaders are just so much better that there is little point in doing this sort of predictive analysis; the top teams almost never lose a season series. Boston hit the midway mark at 32-9 to lead the East while San Antonio dominated the West with a 35-6 record. With so few defeats, it would be very unlikely that either team would have lost an intra-conference season series and that turns out to be the case. So Boston would face San Antonio in the final and would win based on their victory back on Jan 5.

Using 41-game records and NBA tiebreakers, the playoffs would set up like this:

Boston over Charlotte

Atlanta over Orlando

Miami over Philadelphia

New York over Chicago*

San Antonio over Portland

Dallas over Utah

Denver over LA Lakers*

Oklahoma City over New Orleans

Boston over Atlanta

Miami over New York

San Antonio over Dallas

Oklahoma City over Denver

Boston over Miami

San Antonio over Oklahoma City

Boston over San Antonio*

The * represents a series where the team with the better record is losing the season series. The Lakers-Denver matchup is a bit unfair; they played once in Denver before the midway point with the Nuggets winning and the Lakers home win a couple of days ago isn't counted here. Not that it matters, San Antonio wins the West over all comers.

This analysis isn't that interesting because talent differential between the top teams and those sneaking into the playoffs is significant in basketball. In the NHL, teams can be quite close in talent levels and there is no dominant squad, so it can be a bit more fun to guess what might happen, and the playoffs will have more upsets.

Still, with blockbuster trades to come (Carmelo Anthony for example) and injuries lurking, anything can happen, so I'll post another update for the NBA after 62 games have been played. Check back in 2 months for that.

Best,

Sean

Read More

Boston Celtics 93 at Charlotte Bobcats 62 - December 11, 2010

After an afternoon at the new NASCAR Hall of Fame, I walked the few blocks north to revisit Time Warner Cable Arena, this time for an NBA battle featuring Boston and the Bobcats.

Time Warner Cable Arena

North Carolina has a deep basketball history, particularly at the university level with reigning national champion Duke and UNC the most notable programs. At the professional level, the Charlotte Hornets led the NBA in attendance for their first 7 seasons, including 358 consecutive sellouts at the Charlotte Coliseum, before fans became disenchanted with the team's owner and stopped going. The ranchise moved to New Orleans in 2002 and the Bobcats were created to replace the void.

However, a lack of luxury boxes and other revenue generators made the Coliseum too outdated to house an NBA team, so a downtown arena was constructed as part of the deal to bring the Bobcats to town. There was a lot of political controversy in the construction of the arena which I didn't follow when it was happening and don't fully understand even now, but the venue opened in 2005 as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Two years later, the Coliseum was demolished after only 18 years of existence.

In 2008, Time Warner Cable purchased the naming rights to the new arena and it subsequently became known as the Cable Box to locals. Just five years old, it is the second-newest arena in the NBA after Orlando's Amway Center.

It is located in Uptown Charlotte, which is really downtown in any other city. There's a light rail station right there which is very convenient, although there is also plenty of parking nearby. I went on a Saturday and parked in a $5 all-day lot but by the time the game was over, the attendant was gone, so it was free! I didn't see any nearby street parking but didn't look very hard either.

There are two main entrances, one on Trade Street (above), the other on 5th street. It is this latter entrance where the box office is located. I should note that there are TicketMaster machines next to the box office which don't have any additional charges, while buying a ticket inside will cost an additional $3 as a facility fee.

Security here is the tightest I've seen and the lineups are long as a result. A gentleman in front of me at the hockey game was told he could not bring in his pocket knife, so they are quite serious and you will need to empty your pockets of all metal objects.

Once inside, there is a large atrium with more ticket windows. It opens into the north end of the seating bowl, although you can't enter there without a proper ticket. In the lower bowl, seats are sloped at a fairly gentle angle, while the upper deck is much steeper. As I mentioned in the previous post, this is not good for hockey, but it works nicely for basketball. An anonymous commenter mentioned the term "short-axis arena" but I haven't been able to find much detail (his comment is on the first page of a Google search for that term).

I walked around once and noticed a number of interesting features. First, there was a practice gym which you could look into. Not sure who was shooting below but don't think he was involved in the game.

On one wall by an escalator there was a historical display on basketball in the state (below), which looked interesting but I didn't notice it until I was on my way out and didn't have time to explore it as I had to get going. There were also a couple of displays for high school champions in both North and South Carolina (Charlotte is right on the border of the two states).

I didn't eat here but did like the aviation-themed concession area with Frequent Fryers and Barn Stormers a couple of the names that honour North Carolina as the birthplace of manned flight.

The upper bowl is very wide with a couple of wall paintings, one that honours season-ticket holders. I had a center court seat midway up and the view is below.

The scoreboard is the biggest for an indoor arena at 28x16 but the coolest thing was the Charlotte skyline on top.

Overall, I enjoyed this venue for both basketball and hockey. It has a great location with plenty of restaurants and bars around and I noticed friendly staff at both events. After the two Charlotte teams lost while I visited, I've been warned about returning, but would suggest to other sports road trippers that they check the schedules out for similar doubleheader opportunities.

The Game

Boston was on a nine-game winning streak and won this one easily 93-62. I'm not even going to bother recapping it, it was ugly. Charlotte were terrible, shooting just 33.8% from the field and an abysmal 56.5% from the line. The Celtics didn't play very well themselves, but it didn't matter. Charlotte had lots of open shots and missed most of them. I liked the quote by coach Larry Brown: "You beg people to play hard and do the right thing, that's not coaching. You don't coach effort, you coach execution." Simply put, the Bobcats couldn't execute on this night and suffered their lowest point total in over a year.

Marquis Daniels driving

The highlight of the game was the national anthem by Lee England, Jr., who plays an electric violin. He also did a halftime show that was about 10 times more entertaining than the Bobcats were.

Next Up

I'm behind on my posting as I've been on the road since Jacksonville. I skipped the Miami Heat game on Monday night as the NBA has been a bit of a turn-off on this trip and I figured the Heat would win easily (which they did). I'm now in Ottawa visiting my new nephew and will be checking out my first QMJHL game tonight in Hull. I'll have posts on the Jacksonville-Oakland game, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and tonight's game over the next day or two before I take a couple of weeks off for the Christmas holidays.

Best,

Sean

Read More

Boston Celtics 94 at Orlando Magic 96 - January 28, 2010

After taking a day off to rest yesterday, I got back to business today in Orlando. The Boston Celtics were in town to take on the Magic in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference semi-finals. It was a nationally televised game and I decided to splurge to get a good seat to increase my chances of becoming a world famous sports traveler. Didn't work by the way.

The Arena

Amway Arena is located downtown, just off I-4. Lot parking is plentiful around the arena and costs $10. I stayed nearby so didn't have to worry about finding a spot, but when I took a walk around, I didn't notice any street parking in the immediate vicinity.

The arena is celebrating its 21st anniversary this week. In that time, it has seen numerous name changes, most notably the TD Waterhouse Centre between 1999 and 2006. Note that "Centre" uses the Canadian spelling as TD is a Canadian bank. Amway took over the naming rights in late 2006 and also has the rights to the new Amway Center, expected to open next season. The founder of Amway, Richard DeVos, is also the owner of the Magic.

Palm trees surround the arena

I find it surprising that the lifespan of an arena is now just 21 years. I guess the late 80s were the worst time to build - just before the sports boom that saw luxury suites and sky high ticket prices. Amway only has 26 suites, which is apparently not enough to keep the Magic competitive. It's interesting that 1989 is also when the Skydome was built in Toronto. Lauded at the time as the first retractable roof stadium, it is now considered a bit of a dinosaur in the stadium business. So perhaps Amway Arena has suffered the same fate.

The area surrounding the arena is devoid of anything useful. Across the main parking lot lies Lake Dot, but that is next to the Salvation Army and seemed to be a place where the less fortunate hang out during the day. Certainly dichotomous to have these people who need every penny living next to an arena where athletes are paid millions of dollars a year.

From Lake Dot

Inside the arena there is only one concourse with both seating bowls accessed from here. There are no luxury suites between the levels, so the upper deck is quite close to the court. As you walk around the concourse, you might notice the Central Florida Sports Hall of Fame, with notables including Arnold Palmer, who lives in Orlando.

The lower bowl is different than most basketball setups. All the end seats curve around the court and there aren't as many floor seats here. So the first row of these seats is also quite close, and the end zone seats aren't as bad as in other places.

The scoreboard is old and lacks any detail. There were no game stats displayed during play, instead they were shown at the end of each quarter. There was no out-of-town scoreboard anywhere.

There is a designated driver program which gives two sodas for free, a first. Otherwise there's not much point in detailing the food choices here as the arena will no longer be used for major sports after this season. I can tell you that the arena is up for sale, so if you have an extra $90 million lying around, you may want to consider it. But with the new Amway Center just a few blocks south, I'm not sure what use this place would be.

Overall, I enjoyed the game here. It's a cozier place than most new arenas and there isn't a bad seat here. I guess I have to visit again to see the new place, but I'm sure that the upper deck seats will be more expensive and further away.

The Game

The Celtics introductions

It was 80's night, which meant the Magic were wearing their old-style black pinstripe uniforms. They played 80's music all game long, but unfortunately, prices remained at their 2010 levels. The Magic dancers are shown below in their 80's garb.

ESPN described this game as a "Wild Finish in Orlando". It was an exciting ending, but the first 3 quarters were a foulfest - the game ended with 49 fouls, more than 1 a minute. There was no flow at any point. The officiating was really bad in this game in other ways too. On two occasions, Boston's Eddie House had 3-point baskets reviewed and reversed to 2-point shots. The game was nationally televised on TNT, so I guess the refs wanted some exposure too. Don't get me wrong, they did not affect the outcome of the game (Celtic fans might disagree as they drew 30 of those fouls), but they slowed it down. It took nearly 3 hours to complete!

Tip-off

Anyway, on to the recap. Boston was strong in the first quarter while Orlando was terrible, allowing the Celtics an 11-point lead. Both teams were equally bad in a 17-17 second period. The Magic finished the half shooting 33%, including 1/10 from 3-point range, and only 1 assist. Boston shot 49% and had 13 assists, and should have been winning by much more.

KG shoots from the outside

The 3rd quarter wasn't much better as both teams scored 21 points so Boston maintained an 11-point lead going into the final period. Orlando finally turned on the defense and used a couple of Jason Williams threes to move within 5. Dwight Howard then took over for the Magic, simply schooling Kendrick Perkins to make three straight hook shots. Perkins missed 3 free throws himself and Orlando was now down by 3.

Garnett made a great no look pass from this position

Rashard Lewis followed two Kevin Garnett FTs with a 3 and after Rasheed Wallace missed a jumper, Marcin Gortat made a jumper to tie the game at 84 and send the crowd into a frenzy.

KG guards Superman

J.J. Redick was then fouled on a 3-point play and made all of his shots to give the Magic their first lead of the game. But the Celtics did not give up and a Paul Pierce 3 followed by a Rajon Rondo runner made it 94-91 Boston with just 51 seconds left.

Paul Pierce double teamed

Redick, who had turned the ball over on a bad pass on a previous possession, decided to stick to his strength, tying the game at 94 with a trey (below).

After Ray Allen missed a three of his own, Orlando called a 20-second timeout. Their designed play failed and Lewis ended up with the ball, guarded by Garnett. Lewis ran toward the rim and there was no weak-side help - an easy lay-up gave the Magic a 96-94 lead with just 1.3 seconds left. Boston had one chance, but a 3-point attempt from Wallace missed badly and Orlando won 96-94.

I'm not sure how Orlando overcame a 14-point deficit in 11 minutes but they scored 35 points in that span. It's amazing that a team can stink it up for 3 quarters and win by playing well in the last 12 minutes.

This was a fun game, helped by a great seat and a nice comeback by the home team, defeating the Celtics who I do not admire. This was the 3rd and final NBA game on this trip. All three weren't decided until the final play with the other two decided by a single point. I'd be hard pressed to find 3 closer games between top teams. There's no doubt basketball is a fascinating game, but you really need to sit close to appreciate the athleticism on display.

Other Thoughts

One funny play happened when Howard stole a pass and immediately sent an outlet pass to the referee. With Orlando wearing their their black uni's, I think the referee's dark grey shirts might slightly resemble a Magic jersey, and Howard saw this out of the corner of his eye. Everybody got a good laugh out of that one. It even made the week's Not Top 10 on SportsCenter.

I should mention that the crappy Kia promotion I saw in Miami is here too. It's known as the Kia Performance Challenge and at least this time they selected a guy who could hit the rim. He still missed all his FT chances.

When I went to the box office, there was a single ticket in the first row above the tunnel. It was quite expensive, but I've rarely had the opportunity to sit in such a seat and having missed the Lightning game the night before, I decided to take it. It was worth it, as the pictures here should attest. It's such a different experience sitting so close in basketball. There was nobody in front of me, and nobody getting up during the game. Not something I can afford regularly, but coming all this way from Japan, it's worth an extra couple of bucks.

Fans here were good and stayed to the end for the most part. This is their only big league team, and they support them. I don't think having Vince Carter will put them over the top for the title, but they are entertaining. Will be interesting to see how they do in the new arena.

Next Up

I've got another full day in Orlando, and I'll cap it off with an Orlando Titans lacrosse game. Then I'm driving to Atlanta on Saturday, hoping to stop in at Mercer University to watch an NCAA basketball battle. Sunday I fly to Pittsburgh to meet up with Gary and the King and see an NHL finals rematch between Detroit and the Penguins. Monday I fly back to Japan, thus ending 18 great days of roadtripping.

Keep checking back for updates!

Best,

Sean

Read More