A.I. doesn't do THAT much for the Nuggets

If the Nuggets need to get to The Finals for Iverson to be considered a success, the deal is doomed. They are not that good.

If the Nuggets being a more interesting team that spends more time in the limelight is what will make the deal a winner, it's a shoo-in.

The Nuggets are more interesting to watch, and the divisional race with the Jazz should be a dogfight the entire season.

But the West is top heavy. San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix are the best of the conference, and would be no matter what the other teams do (only the addition of a 28-year old Michael Jordan would change this reality).

So go ahead, judge the A.I. trade to your personal criteria and think what you want.

Ugh, another San Antonio stinker

The Jazz, at some point, will have to figure out how to go to San Antonio and compete.

I have to admit, I didn't watch the game with the most intense interest. It started when we got to the anointed restaurant and the game was not available. (I later found out that Comcast, the local cable company, had technical difficulties.) By the time I got back to the car after dinner it was halftime and the Jazz were down 15. The announcer said something about Tony Parker having his way with the Jazz' backcourt.

It only got worse in the second half.

• It seemed the Spurs were able to rebound on the offensive end at will. One of the first trips down the floor in the third quarter San Antonio got four offensive rebounds.
  
• Tony Parker WAS allowed to run free. The Jazz allowed him to turn a 3-on-3 break into an uncontested layup in the early fourth quarter on a play that pretty much summed up the effort.
  
• Garbage time stats made the game look closer on the stat sheet than it was on the court. San Antonio ended the game shooting .500; After three quarters the Spurs were at 57 percent from the floor.
• If the Jazz can't mob the boards for a rebounding advantage they are in trouble, and Thursday night they got outboarded by 8.

Hopefully Saturday night at the DC against Portland will bring a better effort from the home squad.

A.I.

Wandering the "internets" this afternoon I came upon a blog about the significance of Allen Iverson leaving the Sixers and heading for the Rockies. It's an interesting mixture of love, dismay and reminiscence.

When one of my cousins lived in Philly we would chat about Iverson in many ways, often using him as a poster child for whatever argument either of us was trying to make. Once the comparison came up about the relative worth of Iverson vis-a-vis the floor nurses in a hospital ward. Iverson got paid far more money than the angels of mercy, but they contributed to the saving of far more lives than he did. This conundrum of relative value and social equity goes on, even though Iverson left Philly and my cousin succumbed to complications of diabetes.

From a basketball standpoint I think A.I. will make life more interesting in the Northwest Division. The Nuggets and the Jazz may go to the wire for the division title but the teams' personalities could not be more different. The Jazz are a team, and must play as a team. The Nuggets are now primarily Iverson and Carmelo, huge stars, either capable of putting up huge numbers, but both are primarily individuals.

A drama worth watching.