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Chin up There's no reason for Saunders to hang his head
Updated: Sunday May 06, 2001 11:18 PM
Some folks may be down on Flip Saunders because of the Timberwolves' five consecutive first-round losses, but he's one of the most underrated coaches in the game today. With all the adversity that team faced this year, his getting them in a position to win almost 50 games was a great accomplishment. It's just a shame they had to draw San Antonio in the first round, because the Spurs are the best team in the league. Saunders' players handle themselves professionally, and they play hard every night, so he does an outstanding job. But being in a small market such as Minneapolis hurts Saunders' reputation a bit, because no one knows much about him. Saunders played in college with Kevin McHale and coached in the CBA for a long time. Obviously, McHale knew he had a good talent for the game and hired him. This season proved McHale knew what he was doing. The death of Malik Sealy and the Joe Smith situation created a very negative environment for the T'wolves, but they really overachieved this year. There's no doubt that everybody thinks Saunders is doing an outstanding job. If by some chance he did take the fall for the team's postseason struggles, he'd be hired somewhere else in a minute. Seven-game series is answer to first-round's problemsAll this time between games causes all kinds of problems, and a seven-game first round would be the perfect solution. The TV networks would get their games, and there would be continuity of play for players, coaches and particularly the fans, who find it a little difficult to keep up with the series when there are four and five days in between games.
Fans can get disinterested when a series is extended over two weeks. The hard-core fans who are there every night can handle it. But the general fan just forgets that another game is coming up in four or five days. As for the players and coaches, they're used to having games every other day, or three games a week at least. Playing one game every five days breaks up momentum and gets them out of their rhythm. The NHL has seven-game first-round series, and it would work in the NBA, too. Unsung heroes of the first roundP.J. Brown: Brown is another player who quietly did a terrific job in the first round. He shut down Miami's Anthony Mason; you didn't even know Mason played in the series. Brown did a great job on him in that series, but of course you could say that about the entire Charlotte team.
Baron Davis: Davis has been the biggest unsung hero of the first round. He stepped up and showed the basketball world that he's a legitimate, big-time point guard. He was just dynamite against Miami. Derek Fisher: Fisher has done a fantastic job for the Lakers since coming off the injured list late in the season. He played very well his first game back - he got his career high in points and steals - and he hasn't looked back. Danny Ferry: Ferry hit some big shots in the first round for the Spurs. He's done exactly what San Antonio wanted him to do. The two big guys, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, are going to get an awful lot of attention, so they wanted 3-point shooters. Ferry is one of the outstanding 3-point shooters in the game, and he's extremely competitive.
Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN/SI's This Week in the NBA.
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