NFL: Week 9; Broncos vs. Bengals // NBA: Off & running from “musical chairs;” Denver
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“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.
NFL: OF the eight NFL divisions within the league’s greater partitions (the American Conference and the National Conference), only four today are led by franchises that are up by two or more games---the Houston Texans (AFC South), the San Francisco 49ers (NFC West), the New York Giants (NFC East), and the Atlanta Falcons (NFC South). Also, only one of the NFL's eight division-leading teams has been unbeatable since the start of the 2012 season, the 7-0 Atlanta Falcons, while two of the league's eight division-leading franchises are at 6-2---the 49ers, and the Giants. And, two of these eight teams are at 6-1---the Texans, and the Chicago Bears (NFC North).
During Week Nine, then, the division-leading teams most vulnerable to being kicked back to second place are the 4-3 Denver Broncos (AFC West), the 5-3 New England Patriots (AFC East), the 5-2 Baltimore Ravens, and the 6-1 Bears.
And surely out of the race for making a list of .500 or higher 2012 franchises (short of miracle turnarounds---they do happen) are the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers.
Can the 4-3 Denver Broncos beat the 3-4/.429 Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, staying ahead of the 3-4/.429 San Diego Chargers, which defeated the Chiefs last night, 31-13? The quick and cool answer is, “Yes.” The interesting sub-set to that answer is, “How?” One thing for sure, Broncos head coach, John Fox, and quarterback, Peyton Manning, will want to make certain that on Sunday as little as possible about Broncos tactics can be discerned by the Chargers, by the Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders, teams that have the best chance of enlarging the Broncos loss column between now and the post-season. Other teams challenging the Broncos though Week 16 will be low-end and quite beatable, among them, the Cleveland Browns, the Panthers, the Browns and the Chiefs.
According to the year’s stats, the Bengals aren’t going to be thrashed and humiliated by the Broncos. Bengals QB, Andy Dalton, has a decent record, 156 completed passes to date from among 243 attempted, which is a completion average around 64 percent compared with Denver QB Peyton Manning’s 68 percent. Dalton
But a real difference favoring Manning is that Dalton
Too, the Broncos rush record includes 100+ more yards gained throughout the season than the Bengals have been able to accrue, suggesting Bengals vulnerability to penetrations by running backs the likes of Denver’s Willis McGahee.
This page’s take: Denver up by 14 if it’s defense is as effective as it was last week against the New Orleans Saints; otherwise, Denver
NBA: IT looked as if the Miami Heat could dominate easily, own the NBA for several seasons when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh became the team’s “big three.” That did not happen right away, though the Heat avoided meltdowns during the 2010/11 NBA season.
Then the Heat reached the 2011/12 post-season---the Miami
And, Heat dominance seemed apparent during most of a Heat/Boston Celtics match on Monday, with former Celtics shooter, Ray Allen, joining tres amigos for the kill.
So, according to the Heat experiment the bringing together of two and three stars and an obedient supporting cast under one roof isn’t a sham---it can work, though it isn’t an easy strategy to pull off.
Apparent for several seasons, and which will likely remain so, is that the Heat “struggles.” When they win, it’s rarely as minute-after-minute dominators, with fans giggling over opposing teams unable to defend or shoot. A fourth quarter Celtics comeback may have put Monday’s game in tie-limbo and soon a Boston win in OT, were it not for Chris Bosh getting to the foul line and an amazing Allen shot from beyond the key.
A point to be made, then, is that during the NBA’s 2012/13 season the strengths of other NBA teams will keep the Heat from achieving the easy win and existing in a kind of stratosphere of basketball greatness. Certain teams will identify the Heat’s vulnerabilities and overtake them “on occasion,” a particular Heat vulnerability also being a strength, in that the Heat’s original three (James, Wade and Bosh) are multi-talented, multiplied when the three coordinate exceptionally well, more so than regards other NBA players. Still, neither of the three is as expert in a particular category of play as are some players on other teams, for example, passing as well as Steve Nash, improvising the right play for others as often as can Jason Kidd, rebounding and blocking like Howard.
A Heat strategy is for James, Wade and Bosh to change roles on the floor as situations develop, and this takes near-perfect timing, “fast transitions.” Interrupt that timing and Hell can turn up the heat on the Heat, especially when an opposing team’s one or two particular skills repeats and repeats, for instance, Gasol collecting the ball and passing to Nash, then Nash to Bryant for a three-pointer. Or, just Kevin Garnett or Howard having one of their better nights retrieving the ball, or blocking every which way.
A way of characterizing the NBA, then, is to say that there are no perfect NBA franchises: some are just less perfect than others. On the West Coast, the new Lakers could be among the post-season match-ups overtaking the Heat via a combo of specific star qualities---Kobe Bryant (playmaking, clutch shooting from anywhere, he’s the “all tools” star), Steve Nash (still among the game’s best passers “ever”), Pau Gasol (playmaking, assists), Dwight Howard (blocking, rebounding---“wings spread across the floor”).
The Oklahoma Thunder will shine throughout the new season from its own three-man set: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. The New York Knicks will be showcasing Carmelo Anthony and Amer’e Stoudemire again, also Raymond Felton, Tyson Chandler, and veteran, Jason Kidd, reinforced by deep shooter, J.R. Smith.
The Brooklyn Nets will deliver with Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. The Chicago Bulls strength will evolve from Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer being “on game,” and, as seen on Monday, the Celtics strength still comprises Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rando.
Think, too, of what Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili can do for the San Antonio Spurs, Dirk Nowitzki for the Mavericks.
The above said, note that the emphasis here is on “star player reliance,” on “big names,” and that the past two years have been a “musical chairs” activity across the NBA, e.g., Anthony and Smith from the Denver Nuggets to the Knicks, Howard from the Magic to the Lakers, Kidd from the New Jersey Nets to the Mavericks and then to the Knicks, Allen to the Heat, Jeremy Lin from the Knicks to the Houston Rockets, Andrew Bynum from the Lakers to the Philadelphia 76ers, Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the L.A. Clippers, Lamar Odom from the Lakers to the Clippers, Andre Iguodala from the 76ers to the Nuggets.
But the NBA consists of 30 teams and most are without “big names.” Several of these teams like it that way, e.g., the Denver Nuggets, led by seasoned coach, George Karl, who believes more in establishing teamwork among players who are highly capable of responding to changing situations, exploiting floor opportunities as they arise, rather than having two, maybe three “stars” that the rest of the team lives only to support. The “stars only strategy” requires plays that the five on the floor must stick to, or things can go haywire, while the teamwork concept opens up for a freewheeling game, for improvisation, as well as for some playbook rigidity.
Whether or not for the purpose of finding the right combination of players for a mostly teamwork style of play, few teams in the NBA have given away star athletes as often as the Nuggets have during recent seasons. In addition to parting ways with Anthony and Smith, gone from the Nuggets have been Aaron Afflalo to the Orlando Magic, Steve Blake to the Lakers, Chauncey Billups to the Knicks and then the Clippers.
Seeing today’s Nuggets as being symbolic of teams depending on solid performances from players operating mostly via teamwork as the ideal condition for winning basketball games (as opposed to functioning primarily from what two or three star players can do), such isn’t far-fetched. Earlier in the decade, when the Nuggets defeated other teams, the point differentials were mainly from Allen Iverson and/or Anthony being the team’s “sunshine boys,” each scoring 25 points or more per game. Of late, the Nuggets winning point spreads have been from as many as five players accumulating double-digit ppg each, but each of the five scoring less than 20 ppg, the aggregate often higher than when Allen and Anthony contributed. Don’t knock it---the Nuggets have made the playoffs each season since the departure of Anthony and other “stars.”
If there’s a star/specialist player that can contribute to undoing the Nuggets, it will be a super “center,” a Shaquille type who can halt the furiously fast and accurate-shooting Denver Denver
Outfoxing/outperforming those Shaqs will be key for the Nuggets becoming 2012/13 playoff contenders, allowing themselves the floor space for their hustle and steals, their rebounds and passes, their assists, and the unselfish shooting that is a hallmark of “the team that works as a team.”
Yet up against such top teams in the Western Conference as the Lakers, the Thunder, the Spurs and the Clippers, 2012/2013 won’t be easy-going for the Nuggets, nor will it be easy for the other mid-market “starless” franchises of the NBA’s divisions.
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