As usually happens the first round produced its share of heroes and goats, or as we like to call them here at SC. com, pimps and poops.
First, the Pimp Awards...in a completely non-scientific poll SC. com authors bestowed their Iceberg Slim awards on Baron Davis, Don Nelson for their pimptastic dismantling of the heavily favored Dallas Mavericks, who once again may be forced to revert to the "Allas Mavericks" next year. Other nominations for pimp awards went to Luol Deng, Jason Kidd, Kobe and ubiquitous perennial pimpmaster Steve Nash.
As might be expected it was far easier to hand out the Mr. Hankey statuettes. It's human nature to complain and even more so when NBA fans are involved, so following is a sample of quotes from SC.com authors on their poop awards. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Poop nomination for the Nuggets. I didn't expect them to win, but jebus come up with some original offensive sets with Iverson, Melo and crew.
Hard to argue with that.
Huge poop nomination for the entire Heat team....blah and Shaqs FT's
too.
The Miami Heat this year reminded me of Cinderella ... they played well enough all season to get an invite to the ball and then as soon as the first round began, the clock chimed midnight, turning the Heat into a pumpkin. A huge poop-shaped pumpkin, if you will. Stick a fork in the Heat; they're done.
My own co-poop nominations go out to T-Mac and Yao. Never has a duo appeared less imposing despite putting up superficially nice counting stats. On paper they sound great. A 7'6 behemoth in the middle who's often touted as one of the top centers in the game and one of the great swingmen and HS-to-pro talents of the last 10 years in T-Mac. And it's not as if the roster around them is all that terrible either. T-Mac has yet to win a playoff series in his career. Doesthe outcome of this series underscore the need for excellent PG play in the playoffs? Because I think that might be the one element the Rockets were lacking. Let's hear your nominations for first round Pimp and Poop.