Later that day I did rewatch the 3rd and 4th quarters on youtube, a technique usually reserved for watching bootleg TV shows for those who have somehow not heard of any of the 12 million sites reserved for such federally offensive activity.
Once I finished the 7 part epic of the end of the game I thought about how to write about it. I thought about the newly minted idea of the retro diary before realizing that not only did
Bill Simmons write one on the game, but he stole all my ideas! Jameer Nelson (seen here in what he should have been wearing all finals) getting inappropriate amounts of playing time! Rashard Lewis being a walking corpse! Trevor Ariza being the best player on the floor! The dumb blond chick falling down behind the broadcast crew! He even name dropped Jason Whitlock -- I met him once at a dessert buffet table, where else would he be, good guy though -- and made reference to other channels counter-programming! That's MY gig Bill! Let me and my small number of readers have their glory!Then I realized something. Lost in the horrendous inability of Jameer Nelson to guard Derek Fischer was the all important forgotten text reminding me of one player who had almost gone unnoticed in all the drama. Upon waking up in the morning I checked my inbox to find said text from my friend Fogarty:
"Dude u need another blog to tear JJ Redick apart more"
How can I resist that? A man so deserved of being torn apart could not possibly go another game avoiding criticism, right? That's right, he can't.
The stat is unavoidable. In the 4 games of this series, JJ Redick has played in 3. The Magic have won exactly 1 game. For those who failed connect the dots in preschool, that one game would be the illusive 4th for Mr. Redick. Still, when he comes in the game, ready to unleash his 35% playoff shooting, Jeff Van Gundy can hardly speak for fear of revealing his erection. Redick shot 2-for-6 yet displayed a "great offensive potency." Please, his most difficult move was a pump fake and step back that every NBA player in the new millennium NOT named Bruno Sundov has possessed. I'm 85% certain Jerome James even broke it out on his way to grabbing his lavish Knicks contract.
Redick hustled. Redick played with heart. Redick gave it his all on every play. Basically all those things that a good white player with inferior athleticism should do. Please, he's an NBA player and he even dunked once in college. Athleticism isn't the problem when you just aren't the player everyone wants you to be. You might just suck. Derek Fischer played balls to the wall in Game 4. His shots will be remembered and someone might throw out the "gutsy performance" but his heart was fantastic. Ariza gave the game his all in playing 44 of 53 minutes, but he's athletic, so who cares. Lamar Odom sure as hell hustled, but that might be the sugar high from all the candy, so lets just leave him be.
Redick's offensive game is whats to blame. His best skill used to be running off screens and driving his man
crazy trying to stick with him. Now, guys at the 3 and 4 can switch of the screens and still stay with him, neutralizing him even further. At one point when Redick was on the court the Lakers featured the lineup of Kobe with the supporting cast of Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Josh Powell, and DJ Mbenga. Not only was Redick ineffective against Kobe and four guys who aren't even important enough to make it on I'm a Celebrity...Get me Out of Here, but he wasn't even the best white American guy on the court! Luke Walton, in similar minutes during the season put up a combined points, rebounds, assists number of 10.5. Redick's was a mere 8.8.From this finals, Redick can only hope to take three things from it; Jeff Van Gundy's undying affection, more than his share of complimentary hair gel, and hey, lets not forget that at least he's not Adam Morrison.
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