Rambling through the Playoffs

With a faaaaantastic second round of the NBA playoffs coming to a close, I thought I'd offer up a few thoughts on the games of this past week:

* The Lakers-Spurs series just had me dumbfounded. Before the series I was positive that the Spurs would win in five. Maaaybe six games. And after the first two games, when Tony Parker looked like a Hall-of-Famer, I wrote the Lakers off just like everyone else. I guess the lessons are as follows:
1) The home court can change everything. In games 3 and 4, the atmosphere and style of play were so different, it was like the Lakers were playing as if the first two games never happened.
2) Never underestimate momentum. After the Lakers evened the series at 2, the conventional wisdom was that the Spurs were going to quit playing games and take control of the series when it shifted back to San Antonio. Not so- LA proved it's much easier to win Game 5 on the road if you've won the previous two.
3) You just can't dismiss superstars. I think that we can all agree that Kobe Bryant deserves the benefit of the doubt (on the basketball court, that is). You can never count a team out when they have a player like Kobe, who can score at will and cannot be fazed.

* Watching that series, you could sense that Robert Horry's heart just wasn't in it. Didn't you get the feeling that he was secretly rooting for his old teammates? By the way, with Horry now out of the playoffs, so ends the most underrated streak in NBA history: every NBA champion of the last 10 years had either Robert Horry or Steve Kerr. Think about it: Rockets, Bulls, Spurs, Lakers, Spurs. Maybe Kerr will come out of the TNT broadcast booth and sign a 10-day contract with the Timberwolves, just to make things interesting.

* How is it that last night, Jeff Foster was the most important player on the Pacers? The Warriors drafted this guy in the first round in '99 and he was quickly inducted into the Golden State Draft-Day Bust Hall of Fame. You're telling me that this guy is starting on the best team in the East?

* Watching the game today I was reminded of one of my favorite ideas for an NBA stat: conversion percentage. First you take the number of made baskets + number of trips to the foul line. Then divide that by the number of possessions. It's a great measure of how effective you are with your scoring opportunities. I'm always surpised at how many teams can't convert on their posessions in the last two minutes of the game. With conversion percentage, you could measure which teams can make the most of their chances in crunch time.

* The Game 7 between the Kings and T-Wolves is just what this playoffs need. Either Webber or Garnett will shed their label of choke-artist, so it will be absolutely riveting. But I don't think the winner will have enough to top the Lakers.