Special post for a special game...

It's sad, but down here in India we get to watch two or three NBA games a week... Which combines to roughly 84 games a year... Now one team plays 82 regular season games + playoffs so you can guess how little we actually get (thank you very much ESPN)... Now the chances of a game turning into a classic is obviously small (because otherwise it would be an average game)... And with Game 6 of the Boston Chicago FIRST round (yes FIRST ROUND) series the Indian audience was incredibly lucky to get to watch the 3OT 128-127 Bulls victory live...

The match was amazing because there was always something going on... Both teams for at it right from tip off especially the Bulls... I though Salmons was incredible in the first quarter, knocking down all kinds of weird shots... Then Ray Allen showed up, and BOY did he show up... The most incredible part was someone or the other kept coming back... 1 minute the Bulls would be up by 12, 5 mins and a 23-3 run later Celtics lead by 8 and then comes Miller from nowhere with clutch plays... Followed by Hinrich... And this was just regulation...

You know the feeling?? When a team is 3 points up, but Ray Allen is on the opposite team... It's like you know the shot is coming, you just don't know from where... I mean how the hell do you shoot over a (generously listed) 7 footer fully extended... I mean, you can't fault (for most parts) the defence on Ray Allen... This guy is as good as Reggie Miller at his peak (I know you're thinking it)... "Big baby" Glen Davis was great to credit to him for some of his clutch shots... I still cant get over the fact that this guy was a second round pick last season...

For Chicago, it was a team effort (barring Ben Gordon who didn't show up - hamstring problems too much I guess)... Salmons starred in the first... And through out the game there were spurts from him, Rose, Hinrich, Miller... But, (even though they didn't score as much) to me, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah were the key players... Not because of the number of plays they made but the nature of the plays they made... Tyrus Thomas' emphatic dunk in the 4th made the crowd go wild... (Not to mention is superb rejection of Rondo - possibly the only time I saw Rondo drive the whole game)... Noah - What a steal... I mean sure Pierce is old... But if your big man can make a play like that? Well you've got one hell of a player... A lot of Bulls fans were upset at losing Nocioni (and his energetic & emphatic moves that got the crowd into it) in the Kings' deal but Noah has turned into a much better version of that... He makes sensible and hard plays... And he does it emphatically... Derrick Rose seemed a bit nervous in parts, but come on, he's only a rookie!! I personally felt Hinrich should have been handling the ball down the stretch... Rose looked like he could cough it up any moment...

Miller... Man what can I say... He's slow yes... But can he make clutch shots or what!! I really never knew he could shoot 3's today... (Yes I can be ignorant)... Not to mention that driving layup past Perkins late in the fourth...

Now I'm about done... Just a word for the fans dissing the coaches... Give them a chance!! Look at their results over a long term... Just by 2-3 games you cannot say a coach is bad just because some of his calls flopped... And in Vinny Del Negro's case, give him a break!! He's a rookie coach, but he's already proven to be decent (barring a couple of weird decisions)... Give him a couple of years, then judge him... For the Bulls it could be ideal - A young core growing up with the coach could help the team... It really could... Can't Wait for Game 7... Don't really care about the result, but we may need to keep the ICU's ready... Because Game 7 is going to be the clincher of one of the best playoff series' ever... Continue Reading »

Shah Rukh Khan - King of the noobs

There have been a lot of nice ads on the television of late... Added with a lot of corny ones and outright idiotic ones... I recently saw this ad with Shah Rukh Khan advertising a Hyundai Getz (I think)... Basically he "proves his teacher wrong" by showing that he can get mileage without sacrificing power... But come on the way they say it!!

Mileage can be increased for equivalent power only by increasing the combustion engine efficiency... Mileage is indeed inversely proportional to power... So Shah Rukh Khan if you want to "teach" people physics, well (to put it nicely) don't...

So anyway Shah Rukh Khan has been in the news lately... No it's not about some hare-brained movie of his but about his (lets say "interesting") team the "Kolkata KnightRiders"... First which owner in the world approves a system of having four captains, knowing the kind of ego's that players tend to have... Next, who supports this decision later by getting into a media battle with a former great?? I mean seriously I'd like Shah Rukh come to me and say he knows more about cricket that Sunil Gavaskar... Sure he may not have been the greatest in the limited form but he still stood there against attacks of the likes of the great West Indians for the country... So give the man some respect! And anyway when it comes to cricket who would you listen to, Gavaskar? Or s-s-s-Shah Rukh... Coming to John Buchanan... It's a theory (highly propagated by Shane Warne who himself is no saint) that Australia won all their trophies and accolades inspite of Buchanan... (In Warne's words, Buchanan was labeled a "goose" and the Aussies had to put up with his "verbal diarrhoea"... Ian Chappell was a lot more concise... He just claimed his daughter would make a better coach :P)... Anyway, who the HELL hires a coach with such a reputation among his own players, and then gives him total freedom?? Result?? Take a look...

Shah Rukh better decide what he wants now... To be "right", or to admit he's wrong and perform repairs... Because this IPL season will be long gone before long...

PS: Yeah I'm not a great fan of his acting either...
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