It's no longer March, but even the best sports tournament in the land doesn't finish in March these days so maybe the Madness and the magic have found their way to an LA doctor.
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| Hall Of Fame Coach? Doc Rivers. |
Before I go all in on butt kissing the legendary coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers, I was concerned that he was using way too much of his coaching capital on the resurrection project called Austin "Doc's son" Rivers. After an impressive double digit win in Game 4, the San Antonio Spurs had better hope "Baby Doc" or whatever nickname we'll be working on for Austin doesn't stick during this playoff season. Baby Doc might stick if he keeps performing as he did to help the Los Angeles Clippers defeat the defending champion Spurs on their home court last night. Along the way, we all got another one of those magical father son moments like Georgia State provided in this years NCAA Final Four tournament.
The win not only ties this series at two games apiece, it reminds avid fans that the NBA will always be owned by legends with one name, even if they all don't shoot baskets. Over the past decade, a few players and a couple of coaches have elevated themselves into championship contention in such a way that smart money would bet on them every time. Is it just a coincidence that each of them can be identified with a one name description? Maybe not.
Last night's Clipper victory signifies that the decade of the one named legends is poised to continue. Kobe may never get back to the top, but he won two rings in the past decade and joins the2 one name coaches and 2 other one name players to create a list of five one name champions in 10 years (Doc, Pop, Kobe Dirk and LeBron). Dirk (Nowitzki) might not be the same Dirk who upset the one-name legend LeBron to win his own crown, but he is still championship dangerous and desperate to put a cherry on the top of his stellar career as he almost did while pushing the Spurs to 7 games last season. LeBron also has Dirk to thank for the awful taste that propelled him to finally drink from the cup of victory and rinse the taste of defeat from his mouth, yet he also has Pop and the gang to blame for reintroducing defeats flavor last year.
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'Timmy' could also be that South Park kid,
not a one name legend like LeBron. |
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| Greg "Pop" Popovich |
Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker are all really good two name players that embody teamwork, but do so as they credit their one name coach on the sideline. Greg "Pop" Popovich has found a way to keep each of his Spurs teams championship relevant for the bulk of his career, all while being the only one name person during the storied run of the Spurs organization.
This morning, Pop will need a doc after getting popped by Doc. Although Doc Rivers captured his own crown a few years back while being the only one name person for the Boston Celtics during his tenure, his return to the top has been tasking, to say the least. No one, especially the LA Clippers who paid Doc handsomely to leave the Celtics and resurrect the Clippers, thinks that this Doc can't operate. In fact, he has pulled off the typed of coaching surgery that only adds to his legacy and his public persona- but also his expectations.
Game 4 outtakes
During the key moments of the Spurs .vs. Clippers game 4, Doc had his son defending Tony Parker, forcing him to struggle from the field, adding to his struggle from the free throw line as well. This season, Pop has officially handed the reigns of the Spurs over to Kawhi Leonard, who began to trigger a comeback for his team as the heated game 4 battle neared the end. Leonard's play making ability engineered a running right hander and two long range three's down the stretch of the game forcing a response from the Clippers coach, desperate for a win to even the series.
When Kawhi Leonard got hot, Doc sent the double team forcing him to attack the basket or find the open man. Leonard had never been a playoff double teamed player before this game, and frankly seemed overwhelmed by the respect it represents. When Leonard adjusted to the double by trailing the offense, he hit two 3's before the double could arrive, but seemed more awed by the moment than wide mouthed fans who keep wondering if we are all watching the second coming of Kobe, Jordan, and LeBron all wrapped into one player.
Good players never get doubled in the NBA playoffs because everybody's good in the NBA. If a coach doesn't have the ability to counter a good player with a good defender, then his coaching days are numbered. The challenge of the elite basketball league in America is what to do with the elite basketball players in the league. Kawhi Leonard has officially been added to the elite list because last night, Doc added him.
He should have been added last season when he won the championship MVP for himself, but the Spurs' ball movement was so precise that LeBron and the Miami Heat couldn't chase fast enough to double anyone safely. Shot clock basketball forces the isolation of the elite players, and Leonard has consistently proven that he is now among the group of elites. Pop uncovered his future star during last year's series, and seems poised to turn him into something that very few players ever become.
One name.
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| LeBron James |
With a name like Kawhi, it seems plausible that we can soon drop the Leonard from this year's Defensive MVP's name and send him into all time greatness without confusion between the world famous boxer, Sugar Ray. Unfortunately, right now he is up against a one name coaching legend that just elevated his legend a bit. You might say that Kawhi forced Doc to double team him with the way he's performed for the Spurs throughout the series thus far. Whatever the reason, Doc did it and it was like placing a defibrilator on a team whose fading double digit lead was their last sign of a heart beat in this series. To lose that lead could have meant losing the game and certain death.
Doc not only resurrected his son's career while taking the ire off of his own from the insanity of acquiring him in the first place, he neutralized the vaunted Spurs passing game and has forced them into one on one isolation basketball in which he has the younger, hungrier team with a strong defensive force in the middle (DeAndre Jordan) if things break down. Even when his force in the middle breaks down at the free throw line and has to sit down next to the coaches as it happened in last night's game, Doc steals minutes from his bench while also resting Chris Paul through crucial moments of the fourth quarter as it happened in last night's game. All of it worked because he recognized the need to double Kawhi.
The move uncovered youthfully inspired legs in Austin "don't call me Doc's son" Rivers- who used last night's game to go make a name for himself in the NBA. It also humbled Paul to the point that I hardly recognized him in the post game interview. It seems Doc has finally converted the Clipper's apostle Paul into a River's evangelist. Paul quickly creditted (Austin) Rivers with capturing a win for his Clipper team, but his tone was so calm and serene, that I would worry as a Spurs fan that the one name coach with a young and hungry team lead by a humbled Chris Paul represents a serious threat to their repeat.
Paul is no longer a young player, but he is younger than Tony Parker who is starting to reveal the mileage of being in the mix for so long. Paul is also the undisputed king of the short jump shot, which makes him the undisputed king of the pick and roll that creates the open shots for him. The poison of playing against the Clippers is the alley-oop ability of Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin, players who demand attention in the paint. Until this series is over, the Spurs will have to hope Paul misses his short jump shot- which he won't- or force him to make the extra pass for the WIDE open 3-point shot that JJ. Reddick and Austin Rivers are nailing.
Well- they nailed it during the games that the Clippers have won, but they will need to keep nailing the shots when or if the Spurs finally resurrect their own shooters who have been mostly absent in this up and down series. Pop used his defensive MVP to shut down Reddick's floor stretching ability which made Doc counter by inserting his son who can shoot and penetrate equally. Pop is formulating his counter at this very moment. Doc and Pop are now front and center down the stretch of this series, and their ability to counter each other will be on full display for NBA fans lifting the underbelly of a series that could be the prelude to a championship run.
Neither coach has won a game with all guns ablazing which might also be a credit to their coaching prowess. Neither of these teams lack counterpunching skills either, so the fatal blow could happen from an attack or a counter. In losing, Pop wouldn't fall from grace although he might insure the dismantling of a team that is sorely in need of an overhaul. If Doc wins, however, he will secure his place in history as one of the best to ever get it done. His championship caliber teams have certainly been talented, but they have also been amalgamations of traveling stars trying to connect at the end of their career, and sorely needing a coach capable of making that happen. Doc does what Pop has never bothered with. Pop certainly turned his Spurs into the disciplined fighting unit that his military background inspires, but he has never done what Doc has done once, and is trying to do once again.
Doing it like Doc just doesn't happen in today's NBA because it seems Doc is the only one capable of doing it. On one hand, he is biting off more than he can chew with trying to take down the defending champion Spurs in the first round of the playoffs, but on the other hand that is precisely how legends grow. If Doc can humble Chris Paul into the kind of team play that he has never relaxed enough to take advantage of, Paul becomes a player with twice the late game energy than what he usually carries into the fourth quarter. In other words, sitting and watching Austin Rivers do your job is supremely inspiring.
I'm rooting for Doc this season. Besides, Pop should have skin blisters from too many days under the sun. It might be a dark cloud for the Spurs to bow out in the first round of the playoff after winning a title last season, but a little shade is what it takes to heal those blisters and to make you hungry for the sun again.
Although he's touched the sun during his career, Doc knows about the chill of the shade and has used every trick in his book, including his son, for a chance to bask in the sun once again. Doc has his Clippers shining bright and on the rise. Although these teams are both shining brightly before our eyes, from what I can see, this championship chase will come down to Doc, Pop and LeBron.
Which ONE name
will prevail?
