BG’s been puttin’ in work…Dime takes a look at the X-factors that will make a difference in the first round of the NBA playoffs…
LeBron’s teammates
Normally, the Wizards could stick Caron Butler on LeBron, bring a double-team here and there, and play pretty honest defense on the rest of the Cavs. But sans Caron, Washington will have to throw the kitchen sink at ‘Bron and — if he’s in a passing mood — it’ll be up to his teammates to come through and force the Wizards to respect them. Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones need to knock down the threes they’re being paid to make. Big Z has to play with a pair. Anderson Varaejo just has to catch the ball first and worry about the rest later. Eric Snow … well, he won’t take any jumpers anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Daniel Gibson should get a lot of burn in his first playoff series, seeing as he’s one of the few Cavs who can consistently hit a shot, but he’s also a rookie so who knows how he’ll react to the pressure. One other thing for Cavs fans to consider: if your team somehow loses to this suddenly-weak Wizards team because LeBron’s understudies can’t hit a shot, the King could be thinking, “Get me out of here. I’m not wasting my career doing this every year.”
Ben Gordon
A little insider info: for most of this season, whenever the Bulls have gone on a road trip, BG has been paying his own money to fly two of his boys into the visiting cities. Their primary responsibility? Find a gym in the city that will let Gordon come in late at night to get in hours of extra shooting practice. The goal? Gear up for a monster playoff run. As close as Chicago came to knocking off Miami last year, they won’t be in awe of the defending champs. And if BG’s hours of late-night shooting pay off, it could be game over for D-Wade and Shaq.
Toronto’s “inexperience”
A lot has been made of the experience gap between the Raptors and Nets, given the fact that while J-Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Twin Collins have been to the NBA Finals, only Rasho Nesterovic has seen notable playoff success for Toronto. But the Raps aren’t as green as you’d think: Mo Pete was on the Toronto team (with Vince Carter) that took eventual Eastern Conference champion Philly to seven games back in ‘01. Juan Dixon was The Man on an NCAA national championship squad. Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani have played on championship-level teams in high-level leagues overseas. Jose Calderon is the starting point guard for, technically, the best team on the planet — Spain’s gold-medal winning national team that ripped through the World Championships last summer. So none of them have made a major dent in the NBA playoffs, but it’s not like they’ve never played in high-pressure situations and in high-stakes battles. But the big question mark is Toronto’s franchise player, Chris Bosh. So far the biggest stage he’s played on was in the WC tourney last summer, and CB4 was a non-factor.
Grant Hill
Always an X-factor because of those feet and ankles, Grant suited up for 65 games this year, including a few games where he played 25-plus minutes even after Orlando had clinched its playoff spot. Will that come back to bite them? Because if Hill has to miss any time against Detroit, the Magic are done. Grant is the team’s go-to guy in crunch time, be it as a scorer or a creator, and no one this side of Kobe works the baseline better when he’s on.
Erick Dampier, DeSagana Diop and Andris Biedrins
The Mavs and Warriors both like to go small, but this series could hinge on which coach most effectively uses his bigs — Damp, Diop and Biedrins. When they’re not in foul trouble, all three can clean up on the glass and block shots, and Damp and Biedrins even give you a little offense here and there. The question will be how much playing time can be realistically given to the trio. Golden State routinely plays 6-foot-8 Al Harrington at the five, and as Al told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week, “When you’ve got a center out there at 7-feet trying to guard myself, where I’m really a small forward, it’s not going to work. It’s going to be very difficult to match up. They’ve got to make a decision on Diop and Dampier, how much they want them to play. We feel we’re going to have an advantage with their big guys out there.” And at the same time, Dallas can play a quick lineup and take advantage when Biedrins is out there. And don’t worry about the Warriors’ other 7-footers, Adonal Foyle and Patrick O’Bryant — they won’t sniff the court.
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