Brown Bagged

Larry Brown was fired today by the New York Knicks, with IsiahThomas taking over as head coach. This should be interesting.

Mavs win game 5, Suns finished

Besides the fact that Dirk Nowitzki had a monster 50 point game, the Phoenix Suns are finished in this series for an entirely different reason: the loss of Raja Bell.

Bell looked slow and gimpy for much of Game 5, and was constantly beat off the dribble. However, the Suns aren't going to lose because they lost his defense. They are going to lose because they lost his offense. Bell was averaging around 15 PPG in the playoffs. Phoenix' problem is that they can't find anyone to pick up the point slack. No one is able to score Raja's usual 15 a game. And since the Suns are a team that need to outscore their opponents in order to beat them, this loss of offense is critical and will be terminal.

Other factors involved in the Suns being finished: not going to be able to beat Dallas twice in a row, not going to beat Dallas at Dallas in a Game 7.

Only way they have a chance: if Jason Terry gets suspended two games for punching Steve Nash in the "midsection."

Hack-A-Walrus?

So I'm a basketball fan, as anyone who visits sportsspeak should be, and as I'm watching the NBA Eastern Conference finals today and last Tuesday I start to wonder why Pat Riley does not do more of the now aptly named Hack-A-Walrus.

Hack-A-Walrus, of course, lends its name from the more commonly known "Hack-A-Shaq," where Shaq is replaced Walrus (in this case, standing for Big Ben Walrus). Confused? You shouldn't be. "Wallace" sounds to an incredible degree like "Walrus." And isn't Big Ben Walrus a much cooler name than Big Ben Wallace? Of course it is.

Moving on, Mr. Walrus has been shooting a lights-out 23.9% (11 for 46) from the free-throw line in the postseason. Soooo...why isn't he fouled more often? Everytime the Pistons get on a role and go on, let's say, a 6-0 run, Pat Riley should call in the Hack-A-Walrus play on the next two possessions and get them out of sync. It would certainly save timeouts. And, by the law of averages, fouling Ben Walrus twice and giving him 4 shots at the line will only give the Pistons one point.

In the end, it really doesn't matter if you foul Ben Wallace so many times that he ends up with 50-some odd points from the foul line; the Heat should still be able to win the game based on all the free-throws that Walrus misses. And the Pistons can't even counter with the Hack-A-Shaq manuever, since Shaquille is shooting a blistering 41% (39 for 95) from the line. Right now, Shaq can beat the Walrus in a free-throw shooting contest.

So, assuming that Pat Riley reads this by game 3, we should be seeing plenty of the Hack-A-Walrus strategy come into play.