Norwegian Wood

nba西部决赛, 湖人4-1战胜马刺, 时隔4年后重返总决赛.

首先得表扬一下马刺, 的确是有总冠军的风度, 在第四场关键的一个no-call的情况下, 不抱怨, 不泄气. 正如pop赛后所言:

We told our team at the beginning that we wanted to stop their transition offense, which we did. We wanted to hold them in the low 90s, which we did [for the most part]. We wanted to cut their free throws as a team and Kobe’s [individually], which we did drastically.

If we really thought we would be able to do all that, I would think the series would be a win for us. So the fact that we didn’t come through offensively is a disappointment, but part of that is a credit to the Lakers.

这个系列和第一轮马刺对太阳的系列很类似. 太阳在第一场占尽优势的情况下, 两个加时都没拿下比赛, 最终1-4告负. 这轮马刺第一场在客场第三节打到一半的时候还领先20分, 但最后却输掉了比赛. 比赛的胜负也许并不重要, 毕竟太阳和马刺第一场都是客场, 能赢就属于赚了; 最重要的是输球的方式, 两个队在丢掉第一场后感觉士气就降了一个档次, 直到系列结束都没缓过来. 另外, 马刺的进攻的确有问题, 从常规赛最后阶段就有苗头, 经常n长时间没人能够得分, 再加上ginobili的伤势的确影响了他的发挥. 湖人能够战而胜之也是实力使然.

东部决赛, 凯尔特人领先3-2. 今晚第六场, 我个人希望活赛拿下今天比赛, 然后看第七场, 谁出来湖人都不好打. 但hamilton的投篮手上场比赛受了伤, 还不知道今天能不能上场, 即使上场了水平如何也不可知. 就整个系列来说, 还是凯尔特人的胜面大一点.

update: great article talking about kobe.

update: 凯尔特人赢了第六场. 21年之后, 湖人凯尔特人再次相遇总决赛. 预测湖人in five.

may 21st
5k, 40min, rail trail

may 22nd
8k, 1h, rail trail to coots

may 23rd
pulse, shoulders and back, 1h; basketball, 3h

may 24th
soccer, 2h

ayh在columbia访问一年, 马上就要回去了. 趁着他还在纽约, 可以骗吃骗住, victoria长周末去了趟big apple. 美国签证就是麻烦, 交了100块钱, 还被check了两次, 最后只给了我三个月一次入境机会, 纯属敲诈嘛. 出发之前查了下飞机票, 200多, 再加上去机场的车费就更贵了. 然后看灰狗, 170不到, 还能够就从屯里出发直接到纽约市中心, 就是时间长点, 12个小时, 不过对于我就无所谓了, 一觉就睡到了.

周四晚上出发, 第一次坐长途汽车, 想象中总是空荡荡的车厢, 零星几个乘客, 可以躺着睡觉. 没想到人多得不得了, 整个车没一个空位. 半夜的时候到大瀑布, 同车有人在过境的时候被盘问了许久, 耽误了一个小时; 然后开到syracuse(就是carmelo anthony大学的地方)的时候车突然就没油了, 后来说好像油箱漏了. 还好离syracuse没多远, 汽车公司再派了一辆车过来, 换了车继续开, 最后到纽约的时候晚点了3个小时.

纽约下了挺大的雨. 下了车后打了个的去哥大, 说是去116街的, 结果把我开到了160街, ft… 见了ayh, 放了东西, 去downtown见龙静夫妇, 去一家中国店吃中饭. 因为下雨, 就在time square转了转, 找了地方聊了阵天就回哥大了. 休息休息.

第二天老天做美, 天气晴朗, 地铁到42街然后去坐油轮, 3个小时绕着manhattan岛转了一圈, 远处看了看自由女神像. 下来后正好一条街上在集会, 随便在路边摊上吃了中饭. 去看双塔遗址, 都被围栏封起来了, 没有什么好看的. 再走去华尔街, Federal Hall, George Washington的雕像, 记得mgs2最后raiden和solidus单挑就是在这里. 回到哥大后还去打了会球, 洗了个澡休息…

downtown manhattan

ellis island, where will smith brought his gf in the movie hitch

status of liberty

brooklyn bridge

george washington status in front of the federal hall

接着两天看了两个博物馆, 一个Metropolitan Museum of Art, 有凡高的自画像, 一个American Museum of Natural History, 好像就是friends里Ross开始时工作的地方, 有个巨大的恐龙架子. 不过最有趣的还是space show, 一个球形的电影院, 头顶的整个半球都是银幕, 看的是cosmic collisions, 视觉和音响效果都无以伦比.

最后一天去central park走了走, 在纽约这样寸土寸金的地方能有这么大一片公园. 去了Rockefeller Center, 电梯到顶上top of the rock, 看纽约的整个市容. 还看到了NBC Studios, seinfeld里面老出来的镜头. 另外seinfeld里几人老去的那家餐馆, 竟然就在112街和broadway交界的地方, 离我住的地方很近, 特意跑去瞻仰了一会. 然后去Madison Square Garden, 毕竟是所谓的篮球圣地, 尽管Knicks烂得要死. 晚上的车回加拿大, 一切顺利.

central park, looking from the top of the rock

empire state building

east river side

hudson river side

nbc studios

madison square garden

06-07 Season: Premier Champions

爵爷的排阵有点意外, park连替补都没进, 要知道过去四场冠军杯park都是首发的, 发挥也都不错. 后防五人老阵容, 中场carrick, scholes在中间, hargreaves首发右边, saf应该是看重了他的冠军杯比赛经验. ronaldo换到了左边. 前面tevez和rooney. 切尔西还是用essien打右后卫, terry和calvalho中间, ashely cole左边. 中场lampard, ballack和makelele. 前面唯一变化是malouda先发左边, j cole在右, drogba突前.

经过头20分钟的试探后, 曼联率先打破僵局. scholes和brown做了一个one-two, brown拿球横切, 竟然起左脚传中, ronaldo在后点高高跃起, 球擦着左门柱入网. 接着的上半场曼联占据绝对优势, 三次很好的机会都没有抓住. 一次rooney从后场大脚长传, 精确的找到在左路的ronaldo, ronaldo传球, tevez头球被cech挡出, terry慌乱下解围将球踢到禁区前沿, 正好carrick赶上一抡, 可惜射得太正, 又被cech挡出. 还有一次也是rooney横传, 球漏过cech和ashely cole, tevez面对空门慢了一拍. 可惜的是切尔西在上半场补时的时候扳平了比分, essien的远射经过两次反弹, 落到了lampard脚下, lampard捡漏成功. 上半场1:1平.

下半场后chelsea占据了一定优势, 但也没有太好的机会. drogba有一脚打中门柱. 90分钟后仍是1:1, 曼联的进攻主要还是靠ronaldo, rooney发挥一般, 基本上没看到人, tevez浪费了不少机会. 加时上半场lampard射中了一次横梁, 让人虚惊一场. 常规时间快完的时候giggs换下scholes, 超过bobby charlton的曼联出场记录(758场), 加时下半场最好的机会也来自giggs, evra突入底线回传, giggs推空门, 被terry头球挡出. 最终进入点球决胜.

头两轮都进了, 第三轮ronaldo的射门被cech扑出, 接着四人也都进了, 最后一球terry只要罚进切尔西就赢了. 没想到terry脚下有点打滑, 射在了立柱上, 曼联死里逃生. 第七轮giggs罚进, anelka的射门被van der sar扑出, 最终曼联加冕双冠王. 曼联每次夺冠, 过程总要搞得惊心动魄.

van der sar扑出点球后两个镜头很耐人寻味. 在中圈的球员都扑向van der sar, 只有ronaldo一个人落在后面, 躺在草地上哭泣. 120多分钟, 他从英雄到罪人, 最终的胜利让他如释重负, 最后是老队长gary neville走上来, 扶起他一起加入庆祝的人群. scholes当时在场边, 他己经被giggs换下, 在其它替补球员冲向自己队友庆祝时, 他走向场中, 安慰罚失点球的terry.

2008-05-21 Wednesday
@Luzhniki Stadium

United 1(6), Chelsea 1(5)

United: Van der Sar; Brown (Anderson 120), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes (Giggs 87); Ronaldo, Rooney (Nani 101), Tevez.
Scorer: Ronaldo (26)
Shootout: Tevez, Carrick, Ronaldo (miss), Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Giggs

Chelsea: Cech, Essien, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole, Makelele (Belletti 120)., Ballack, Lampard, Malouda (Kalou 93), J Cole (Anelka 98), Drogba (sent off 116).
Scorer: Lampard (45)
Shootout: Ballack, Belletti, Lampard, A Cole, Terry (miss), Kalou, Anelka (miss)

united official
espn soccernet

may 11th
long run, 15k, 2h, rail trail

may 13th
normal run, 10k, 1h, rail trail

may 14th
pulse, shoulders and back, 1h

may 15th
pulse, chest and arms, 1h
normal run, 7k, 1h, rail trail

not an easy match. wigan fought hard to deny united’s victory, but eventually united prevailed. what a day for ryan giggs! he tied sir bobby charlton’s record of 758 appearance for united, and he scored the second goal to bring united the 17th champion. one more match to go for this season. let’s bring another trophy to old traffold.

2008-05-11 Sunday
@JJB Stadium

WIGAN ATHLETIC: Kirkland; Boyce, Bramble, Scharner, Figueroa; Brown (King 81), Koumas, Palacios, Valencia; Bent (Sibierski 70), Heskey

MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Park (Giggs 68), Scholes (Hargreaves 67), Carrick; Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez
Scorers: Ronaldo (pen 33), Giggs (81)

united official
espn soccernet

may 4th
long run, 15k, 2h, rail trail

may 6th
soccer, 1.5h, back field

may 8th
pulse, chest and arms, 1h
normal run, 7k, 1h, rail trail

may 9th
basketball, 3h

may 10th
normal run, 5k, 1h, rail trail

东西部两场比赛, 对比分明啊.

vs

东部骑士vs凯尔特人. 当凯尔特人的team defense升级到这样的高度, 骑士几乎没有机会. 再加上骑士的进攻, 很难想象这样的球队也能进东部半决赛. lebron连着两场表现都很差, 一场2-18, 一场6-24. 看来得寄希望于凯尔特人在季后赛客场的反常表现了.

vs

西部黄蜂vs马刺. 黄蜂的战术很明确, double-team duncan, 放外线三分. 马刺外线头两场很不争气, 这场总算表现好点了. 比赛紧张激烈, 两个组织后卫打对攻. 一边chris paul25投15中, 35分9助攻; 另一边parker24投12中, 31分11助攻. ginobili也有31分, 最终马刺拿下了这场必须拿下的比赛. 不是很明白pop的战术, 黄蜂的弱点其实很明显的, 一是替补一般, parker和ginobili就应该找着黄蜂的大个打争取犯规, chanlder三场比赛都没有六犯下场实在不可思议. 只要chanlder和west下场, 黄蜂就没什么戏; 二是chris paul的个子, 防守上明显有缺陷, 要是我就用ginobili给parker挡拆, 只要黄蜂一换防就让ginobili扛着paul打, 还能造paul犯规. 三是防守west为什么不用udoka, 第一轮打太阳udoka表现蛮好的, kurt thomas有点慢跟不上west, 用duncan防又容易使duncan犯规, horry老了不中用, pop在这一轮可是一点机会都没给udoka.

ok, i probably need another post to emphasize my point: the jazz are cooked. even i haven’t had too many lucks this year in predicting the playoff outcomes, but the two games i watched just make me wonder how jazz are gonna come back? my conclusion is no way. my points are:

1. kobe is a much better team player now. when he filled up stat sheet like 30/6/6, there is just no way you can stop him. the thing impressed me most is his decision-making: when to pass, when to shoot. he can have a hot-hand and still help his teammates involved. commissioner stern is better at speeches:

“I think that there are times where [players] don’t realize what they do for the game and what the game does for them until after they’re retired,” Stern told reporters before the game. “And it’s always rewarding for me for players either before or at their prime to come to have an understanding of what the game has done and continues to do for them, what it means to them, really, and what their performance means to others. And I get the strong sense that Kobe has reached that point this season.”

2. nba is dreaming about a lakers-celtics final, which could be a lot of people’s fantasy. i felt like the refs are a little bit tight towards jazz, but jazz definitely committed a lot of fouls.

3. lakers offense is just breathtakingly good. players are constantly giving up good chances to create great chances. they are on the top in assists and firing up more than 100 points every playoff game. and they have a superb bench. i smile every time when i think that ariza and bynum are gonna be back next season. they will be scarily good…

4. fisher is good, not only does he hit big shots, but also he knew a lot of jazz’s offense because he played for them last season. gasol and odom are both very comfortable in the triangle offense. their combination of players just felt right. i can see if jackson has the freedom to choose any players in nba to play triangle, he will pick all the lakers players.

4. jazz offense just doesn’t working right now with boozer struggling. players seem to lack of fighting spirit which is very unlike a sloan’s team. deron williams was very passive until the fourth quarter, but it was too late. i predict that d-will is gonna have a huge night in game 3, but his team will lose. the thing is lakers are not afraid of d-will scoring; they just don’t want d-will scores a bunch and gets his teammates involved. jazz is most dangerous in that situation. lakers now is just too good to be beaten by one person.