| OCR Text |
Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Wednesday, February 23, 2011 7 1— THE GREAT DEBATE —1 Who is the favorite to win the NBA Finals? Celtics have depth and chemistry L ast year, the only thing that stood between the Boston Celtics and their second title in three seasons was size. Their big man Kendrick Perkins went down with a torn ACL in game six of the series, allowing the Lakers to overcome a 3-2 game deficit to win their second straight championship. Without Perkins, the Celtics got abused by the Lakers in the paint, most notably on the offensive glass, where they were outrebounded 23 to eight. In this post-"Decision" NBA, there is no shortage of teams to pick from when you're looking at title contenders, even if you relegate the discussion to just the Eastern Conference. Obviously, there's the Heat—who just happen to employ two of the five best basketball players in the world—who have predictably overcome early-season struggles because of unfamiliarity and are now dominating the league like they should be. There's the Bulls, whose addition of Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver to their already-astounding pool of talent—including 2010-2011 Most Valuable Player frontrunner Derrick Rose—has Chicago finally back in contention for the first time since Michael Jordan hung them up the second time. And then there's the Magic, who are on version 3.o of their attempt to build a contender around the broad shoulders of Dwight Howard. All of these teams are new, and all have ridiculously high ceilings for the future—but with the season a little more than halfway completed, it looks like once again, the Celtics will be the team to prevail from the East, and with their own new-and-improved roster, no one will be able to stop them on one more championship run. While the rest of the East's best were busy reinventing their teams in the offseason, the Celtics were focused on just one thing— getting bigger. They accomplished that task by picking up both veteran O'Neals in Shaquille and Jermaine to fill in for Perkins as he healed and back him up once he returns. Three years down the road, when the Heat, Bulls and Knicks are annually going at each Magic's pieces will fall into place A s NBA fans recover from an All-Star weekend overflowing with corporate sponsorship, Justin ieber, a gimmick-riddled dunk contest and a general disregard for defense, it was back to business as usual for the NBA, as the regular season got back into full swing last night. As the second half of the season gets under way, some will watch Miami as the "Big Three" continue to work out the kinks of a team in its first year playing together. Traditionalists will keep eyes on Boston and the L.A. Lakers, and others will watch Derrick Rose challenge LeBron James for a regular-season MVP award. People in Texas will watch the Spurs, and people silly enough to think New York instantly becomes a contender by adding Carmelo Anthony will waste their time watching the Knicks. Although these six teams offer interesting story lines going into the play• offs, Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic have quietly gone about their business to finally get over the hump and win the franchise's first NBA Championship. The Magic made headlines in December after a massive roster turnover because of multiplayer trades with Washington and Phoenix, but have since fallen by the wayside as far as headlines and hype are concerned. With that said, some have shrugged off the Magic as legitimate contenders, despite being only two years removed from an appearance in the NBA Finals followed up by a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago. Show me a man who thinks the Magic don't have a shot at this year's championship, and I'll show you a confused man. I wasn't sold on the Magic in their past two trips to the playoffs, and to be honest, when this season started I had no reason to think the 2010-2011 season would be any different. But the Magic have now found a balance of playoff experience and overall talent that it takes to win it all. First and foremost, you have to take a look at Superman himself—Dwight Howard. Howard made a name for himself in the league through rebounding and stifling JAKE HIBBARD D=0 Asst. Sports Editor other's throats, those two free agency signings by Boston won't mean a thing. However, on a season-to-season basis, Boston's move to bring in two veteran talents will prove to be the biggest pickups of the year when Boston is hoisting the O'Brien trophy. Along with the added size and presence those two brought to the team, the core group of the Celtics has played all season like a team io years younger. Who would've thought that the year Ray Allen broke Reggie Miller's alltime 3-point record would also be the year he shot a career high in 3-point percentage? Somehow, after all these years, Allen has put off aging and become a better player every year he's in the league. Paul Pierce is also having a career year in shooting, and Kevin Garnett has been able to stay healthy and continues to drive this team. After falling to the second round in 2007, Glen "Big Baby" Davis has developed into one of the best reserves in the league as well as the NBA's premier charge-taker—an underrated knack, especially come playoff time. And of course, tying everything together at point guard is Rajon Rondo, who broke into the NBA's elite during last year's playoffs. Like I said, the win belongs to places other than Boston. The Celtics are and nearing their finale. But don't count them out this year, because they are still the team with the best chemistry and are equipped with the depth to match anyone in the league. Next year, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade might be celebrating come June, but this year, it's still all about the Celtics. VS j.hibbard@ chronicle.utah.edu BRYAN CHOUINARD Sports Editor defense—with the knocks always being that he had a limited offense game that included poor free-throw shooting and that he would disappear late in games—but he worked hard to expand his post-game, and he has the numbers to prove it, improving his points per game from a season ago by more than four to 22.8. Although Howard is the only All-Star selection from this year's group, Orlando management has put the pieces around him to get the best out of him and his teammates. J.J. Redick, in his fourth year in the league, has become a far better pro than anyone could have guessed and is able to spread the floor with fellow deep-threat Hedo Turkoglu. In case you forgot, Turkoglu found lightning in a bottle for the Magic during their run to the NBA Finals two years ago before committing career suicide when he chased the dollar signs to Toronto. After a short stay in Phoenix, Turkoglu was brought back to his old stomping grounds in Orlando, along with Jason Richardson as part of the trade that sent Vince Carter and Marcin Gortat to the Suns. The Magic couldn't have asked for a better mid-season move, as the trade was as much addition by subtraction as it was bringing in two players who were instantly thrown into the starting lineup. Carter is the closest thing to team cancer as Allen Iverson, and Marcin Gortat has been one of the most over rated mediocre big men in the league in the past three years. Just as it has taken time for the "Big Three" in Miami to mesh, the Magic will be a work in progress until all the pieces fall into place—but they will, and it will happen right around mid-April. b.chouinard@chronicle.utah.edu Vote on who won this week » www.dailyutahchronicle.com SWIMMING & DIVING Championships a chance to improve lackluster seasons Jake Hibbard finished fifth and sixth, respectively. The UNLV men and BYU women are favored to come up victorious in the tournament, based on a preseason poll by head coaches in the conference. Regardless, the Utes and head coach Greg Winslow remain positive. "Since January, we have been swimming better and better," Win- ASST. SPORTS EDITOR After two weeks off, Utah's swimming and diving team is off to Oklahoma City to compete in the 2011 Mountain West Conference championships. The women and men will try to improve on their showings in the 2010 championships, where they UTES continued from Page 6 However, the comeback attempt ended up for naught, as Sverrisdottir made six consecutive free throws on back-to-backto-back trips to the line to seal the win for the Horned Frogs (19-9, 11-3 MWC). Despite the loss, the Utes again showed their ability to dig themselves out of holes, even when they're on the road. "I feel like if there were five more minutes in games, we would win every game we play," Badon said. "The last six minutes or so we cranked it up a notch, but we came up short this game." In contrast to the majority of the Utes' games this season, both offenses started off red hot, combining to shoot more than 8o percent in the first four minutes. Both teams reached 20 points before the 10-minute mark, but the Horned Frogs went on a 14-2 run to take a double-digit lead. The Utes struggled with turnovers during the stretch and were unable to continue their frantic offensive pace from earlier in the half, going scoreless for more than seven minutes. TCU finished the half shooting 66.7 percent—including 5-for-7 from 3-point range—to head into the second half with a 39-27 lead. After the game, head coach Anthony Levrets lamented the hot offensive start the Utes wasted. "More than anything, we just didn't do a good job of slow said. "I'm excited to see how well we do this weekend." The Utah men finished with an 0-5 conference record and 3-8 overall. The team will be looking for junior Major Robinson and senior Garrett Peterson to step up. Robinson finished third in the 200-meter backstroke in the conference championships last year, and Peterson finished fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke. The women experienced a slightly more successful season, finishing 5-3 in conference and 8-6 overall. Senior Natalie Edge will attempt to have a repeat of last year when she won the 100-meter freestyle. Junior Hannah Caron will also be looking to go back-to-back in both the ioo- and 200-meter fly, in which she took first F DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE BASKETBALL WO Utah Game Stats 60 Points / game FG% 37.7 3-point FG% 31.8 FT% 72.2 Rebounds 33 Assists 14 Turnovers 19 Steals 4 Blocks 4 Home News Sports Outdoors Red Pulse Opinion Hogs Forums Classifieds Contact team. and Engagementeseentemmrilturim mark we.. the new record forMeyckng bracket for ...nee. la to 29 The U honored Charles GoodliffeNltd t'o rn a2 rontr year. for Ms mllitary eery. In Veterans Day ceteialto ED HELMS JOHN C. REILLY ANNE HECHE and SIGOURNEY WEAVER www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Score by Periods MORE NEWS THAN CAN FIT IN PRINT. Team 1st 2nd Total Utah 27 33 60 TCU 39 32 71 bubba@chronicle.utah.edu trel4".' ,Rvinttors, honors veterans TheDaily Utah Chronicle INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING ON TUESDAY, MARCH 1 AT 7:30 PM The Center Mr Information a. Ramer. on Ciym 71 50.9 53.3 75 31 17 16 6 10 defending them," Levrets said. "We didn't talk—we didn't communicate. Our goal for tonight was to not give them any wide-open, easy baskets, and we gave up way too many to start the game. That was as good offensively as we've started in a long time, but we wasted it because we didn't guard them as well as we needed to." The Horned Frogs opened the second half on a 9-4 run to widen their lead to 48-31 by the 17-minute 3o-second mark. Michelle Plouffe finally broke the streak with a 12-foot jumper near the baseline, and Badon followed with two free throws, but Sverrisdottir's 3-pointer squelched Utah's bid at narrowing the deficit to single digits until Rodrigues' 3s put the Utes back in the game. Plouffe had 17 points for the Utes, and Badon added a near triple-double with 14 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. PIC T U R E S So. 2008 youth outs breaks record, TCU j.hibbard@chronicle.utah.edu 0 X SEARCHLIGHT Login Ad Rates and second, respectively. "This is the best team I've seen since I have been here," Winslow said. "The biggest goal going into conference isn't going to be the comparison against anyone else, but to control what we can, control our swims and just have as much fun as we possibly can." Updated regularly with current stories & breaking news. e 'Dual sports le_ai^ .... ifr i .., ,urt,lhe' g e°rgy e% y 1 ernpartte:1tliarn '''' Ment said. Companies 1 r fun apply include Boeing o.,toding BP PI,C,Dow Chqinicai aiel N A Co., Generectf0:Cooand' .SdueisU;eoisl io wce:9 „,sile 1Luemp rbtirerg iuyiere Gates4sso, \ concerned i ng VS f#,, "PM" Dec I; other said 1Ccaelolc er Oin f 11111-1 s and ' ''' t3 a boo 4. 4 _..1 rted ng'veh; pi 0gs wi of the 'le bill Predi share W ‘ 0/74- r trad " 41 s ce:::::6,0 -nut not cl 'owed.:01:/,11::::,re:e:w 4 a en By jai Inside his dimly lit looks over blueprint)Gatewa , 3 004 wlye:imb 2af: hsf,?re:S, p . fanned: m 1 11,_; c. s:k: In eios: ti x ne.agGitiayot2,:ici;volan emtn s Ibl‘ oe :426 bi \< e a (3'` can't mst m ove Maya117:°111: i3 Ta° 11.11eddlit:t il: tC The 1' &e Inside at the Cinch a local At)))<))....)).• , .,,e, niealan age adnk . watering hole at Morin and tach AM and Maya Power ' Inn Where Rita Garcia has k 10\1 0 ■11C‘‘ ayaran work amid vivid re served drinks f v owea minders of their nativP t 14s 04 cior Inhles'• ACTIVES (s1 OR MORE). \3 sed ° rolS wraptS - t ' o"fib/ s. Oikehe b stt,r-eirnat, OCK e ' said. VOL (004/As) ar s:a2 s.p. . dtintent .T CLOSE s3t_ th,3 4 4N da t . GHQ Mk • „OttOrlk delwoc uonTreri rt sylOfg3ea2eetl f er, br+rua. 3ss n a nsassso '.' 328,00 0 1 level in a • <S, 4. better-tha gale s can inaA,16'^pl*.E , saf er, the "K , '‘(\e vc, d es1/4- .e."1 0.e" '0?* a ti,e C" N.P.N. - ite'" AN, Join the hottest tanning salons in utah Golden tan is seeking applicants for the following positions at our four stores: Sales Consultants NOW HIRING Managers Apply online at: goldentanutah.com/employment.htm GOLDEN STA N c; ,„ KIN 010E1611i PICIM msio HOMINEM ENMPRIMPRONCIII A MICUELARIETAFiu 'MARIIAPI[Irfit EHANAFN AMARDIREI TEN ICIIRIV0Plit BECI( wilEIANIERIERICIIECK Tit HOWER{ ' ''' ""',IEii iEONEEMS't9JIMBURNEAEENANOERPAYNEJIMTAILOR m_. FAIIrtIOff 101111310N "ifMGUEEARIEIA www. RESTRICTED ■ CodarROPIdgMOviamn ! PLEASE VISIT WWW.GOFOBO.COM/RSVP AND ENTER THE CODE CHRONM5UF TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASSES! TWO PASSES PER PERSON. EACH PASS ADMITS ONE. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. MUST BE 17 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER TO RECEIVE A PASS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. THIS FILM IS RATED R. RESTRICTED. Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent Or Adult Guardian. Please note: Passes received through this promotion do not guarantee you a seat at the theater. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, except for members of the reviewing press. Theater is overbooked to ensure a full house. No admittance once screening has begun. All federal, state and local regulations apply. A recipient of tickets assumes any and all risks related to use of ticket, and accepts any restrictions required by ticket provider. Fox Searchlight Pictures, The Daily Utah Chronicle and their affiliates accept no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection with use of a prize. Tickets cannot be exchanged, transferred or redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. We are not responsible if, for any reason, recipient is unable to use his/her ticket in whole or in part. All federal and local taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. Participating sponsors, their employees and family members and their agencies are not eligible. NO PHONE CALLS! IN THEATERS MARCH 4 |
