- Chemistry. I don't mean whether they go out to dinner together, but whether they play well together in tight, close situations on defense and offense.
- Alpha dogs. They need 2-3 players that can take a game over, that have the Michael Jordan competitive gene. If you don't have a couple of alphas, you are a pretender.
- Bad coaches. Coaches who don't get playoff basketball and can't make series adjustments can turn a 'real' team into a 'fake' team very quickly.
The poster team for this is the Dallas Mavericks, who consistently win a lot of regular season games, but besides a run to the Finals in 2006, have delivered some of the greatest playoff stinkers of my lifetime.
There were two fake teams in this year's Eastern Conference playoffs. Let's discuss.
Cleveland
First off, it's impossible to develop chemistry when you're only offensive play in a tight game is a clear-out for LeBron. Mike Brown coaches good defense, but I think Naismith himself had more inventive offensive schemes.
This is going to come as a shock, but I'm not sure LeBron has the Jordan competitive gene. I've seen glimpses, but can you imagine even young Jordan going out like that? But LeBron's performance is almost besides the point. Hurt or tentative, no one else on Cleveland's current roster is a No. 2 or No. 3 for a championship caliber team. Actually, I don't think it's even close. That roster was fool's gold all year, and I even bought into that they were LeBron's best team. (Like that's even an accomplishment of any sort.)
Finally, coaching. I already picked on Brown in the first paragraph. He is not an awful coach, because he does something very well: coach defense. He helped turn LeBron from a poor defender into an above-average one, and has installed a very good team defense system. But he is in love with size, can't exploit match-ups, and lacks offensive creativity. Swap him out for Jerry Sloan, and the Cavs do not lose to the Celtics.
Orlando
I know, you think I'm overreacting to one loss. The Magic cruised through the first two rounds without a scratch. But they beat Charlotte and Atlanta, two terrible teams. No one should have been handing them a trophy yet.
How is their chemistry? On defense, I think it's very good. They center everything around Dwight Howard, and his presence helps them play good team defense. On offense, not so much. They run the offense through Howard, which is not really a great playoff option, especially when Howard might be the third or fourth best offensive option on his team. And Jameer Nelson is a PG who doesn't really get what a PG should do: make his teammates better.
Related to that is the alpha dog thing. Howard is absolutely an alpha on defense -- one of the best players in the league at changing the game on the defensive side of the floor. But he is offensively limited. Yes, there have been dominant offensive players who stayed within the paint. But they were dominant in that area. It's not that Howard is awful, but he's not dominant.
So that leaves the rest of Orlando's roster. Can you really win a championship with Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis as Howard's sidekicks? Man, I would not want to put my faith in the continual playoff under-performer Carter and Lewis, a guy who's shot less than 44% from the field for two straight seasons. Would I be comfortable with one of those guys as No. 3? Yes. But they need someone else. The perfect compliment to Howard would be Dwayne Wade, but that's not going to happen.
I think the Orlando brass was fooled by last season's run to the Finals, and thought the Vince trade would put them over the top. 'Hey, we made it to the NBA Finals with Hedo Tukoglu as our third best player. Get Vince and we're golden!' The problem is Vince is only an upgrade over Hedo 08-09 in name only. And Vince can't guard Paul Pierce to save his life.
As far as coaching goes, I like Stan Van Gundy. I think he's doing a good job with hand he's been dealt, and he made adjustments in the second half of Game 1 that almost created a monumental comeback. But I hope he's not too stubborn and doesn't continue to run his offense through Dwight. The offense should start on the perimeter with Howard as a second option. Actually, check that. I hope he is that stubborn.
Why the Celtics Could Win a Championship
That sentence seemed so improbable a month ago, that I would have laughed at anyone for uttering it. But it feels very probably now. What has happened?
First off, this is now Rajon Rondo's team. The offense and defense really begin and end with him. He is blossoming into a superstar, and is now in the discussion for best PG in the league honors, with such luminaries as Nash, Williams and Paul.
KG is back, not all the way, but to the point that he's a factor on both ends of the floor and is hitting key shots. Ray Allen is rejuvenated to the point that you feel like he's a better version of the old clutch Reggie Miller. And Paul Pierce is playing a complete game, not the vintage Pierce who outdueled LeBron in 2008, but a strong player who is fitting nicely into his role as sometime crunchtime scorer and boxscore filler.
Do I think they will win another title? No. I think they beat Orlando in 6, but then are beat by the Lakers-Suns winner. But this is a veteran team that on given night might have the best player on the floor (Rondo), so it would be foolish at this point to rule them out.
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