SALT LAKE CITY — With a peppy young coach, a brutally young but brutalizing roster and the braggadocio-like belief that seed is just a number, the Thunder is the NBA’s Avalanche.
Both squads were the No. 8 and final seed in the Western Conference playoffs, and in some of their first-round games, a foreign onlooker would have struggled establishing the eighth seed.
Both squads have pushed the “pushover” moniker aside, rattled the big boys at times, and even during losing learned about winning.
“I think you got to bump your head a few times and learn how to win and compete on that level,” Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups said. “At that point, you have nothing to lose, so you’re just out there, playing freely.”
At Saturday’s Denver practice, Billups couldn’t get over the fact the Avs had taken the Sharks to overtime three times — and a fourth game was determined by a single goal. And C-Bill’s admiration for the Thunder has been season-long: “I’ve been talking about them all year, saying — ‘Man, boy oh boy, they’re going to be something to deal with.’ “
The Thunder and Avs each have a franchise- changing star with moves that can break a spectator’s ankle. Kevin Durant, a former rookie of the year, is now an all-star; rookie Matt Duchene, a possible rookie of the year, is a future all-star.
And from a basketball standpoint, what’s scariest to guys like Billups is that the Thunder has some salary cap space. There have been some talks around the league about a potential Chris Bosh sign-and-trade.
Yes, experience has prevailed in both of their series, but these two teams seem to be a year ahead of schedule — and thus teams will circle them on their schedules for years.
Day of rest?
Now this is an attention-grabbing headline. In our sister paper, The Salt Lake Tribune, Saturday’s article by Peggy Fletcher Stack was titled: “Is it a sin to watch the Jazz game Sunday?”
As she wrote: “Utah’s ‘faithful’ — those devoted to both their religion and the state’s premier pro sports team — face a dilemma this Sunday: Will it be the Jazz or Jesus?”
The Jazz, which plays in an extremely religious region, seldom host home games on Sundays, encouraging fans to spend time with their families. Of course, Utah hosts Denver today in Game 4. In a poll of 1,000 readers, 19 percent said they wouldn’t go to the game today if they had a ticket.
Hello, Cleveland.
In a week when the faithful Tim Tebow made headlines, his title-winning Florida Gator antithesis did, as well.
The outspoken Joakim Noah of the Bulls, he of the bushy mane and the brash game, continuously badmouthed the city of Cleveland, home of the No. 1-seeded Cavaliers and the Bulls’ first-round opponent.
But Chicago swiped Game 3 from Cleveland to cut the series to 2-1, and Noah has averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in the series.
Blazing Suns.
The most shocking story line of these playoffs, besides Ron Artest’s hair, is the Trail Blazers’ 2-2 tie against Phoenix. Brandon Roy’s return Saturday was as out of nowhere as the volcano Eyjafjallajökul. But beyond Brandon, the Blazers have put together a couple of nice wins thanks to a little grit and a lot of LaMarcus Aldridge. He made eight field goals in the Game 1 win, then combined for eight in the losses in Games 2 and 3, but bounced back with 11 in Game 4, while notching a double-double of 31 points and 11 rebounds. I still think the Suns are going to win this series, but their stock has definitely fallen from the last week of the season, when they beat the Nuggets by 22 points.
