Huh? That was my reaction when I first heard Brandon say the phrase. We were playing in a corporate basketball league in London and we were playing against a team that was shooting lights out. We called a time out and gathered around Brandon to figure out what the heck we could do to slow them down. He said not to worry about it because they were "tree-ing".
BvF: What did you say?
Brandon: I said they are tree-ing.
BvF: Oh, ok.
BvF (turning to Bree): ::whispering:: What's tree-ing?
Bree: ::shoulder shrug::
BvF: Brandon, what's tree-ing?
Brandon: ::sigh:: Get with the program. They are playing above their level. They are playing in the trees. They are tree-ing. Any more questions genius?
BvF: Nope.
The NBA season is now over and I have had some time to get over my (recurring) disappointment at the performance of a Cleveland team. But the more I look at it, the more I am convinced that Orlando was tree-ing. Actually, I figured that out before the finals. I knew what was going to happen. Orlando was going to shoot lights out during the Cavs series and they were going to go stone cold in the finals. Sure enough...
Consider this. Orlando shot 48% percent from the field during the Cavs series. Not only that, but they shot 40% from three-point range. That's good. Really good. Add in the fact that Dwight Howard actually made his free throws and you have a team that scored a lot of points, really fast.
Then the "Magic" got to the finals and were not able to pull the rabbit out of the hat. They shot 43% from the field. This may not look that much worse than the percentage shot during the Cavs series, but consider this: Orlando shot an ungodly 62.5% in game three. They were shooting 75% at the half for crying out loud (and were only up by 5!). Take out this game and you find that they shot 38% from the field. They also only shot 33% from three-point range and shot much worse from the free throw line.
Why the difference? I'm sure there are plenty of theories: (1) better defense by the Lakers (I don't buy it - they did the same thing we did: double-down on Howard and give up the three); (2) Orlando was a better team than the Cavs (maybe; they did own us during the regular season, but I'm still not convinced. Consider that they did own the Lakers as well by winning 3 of the last 4 before the finals...); (3) Orlando had better coaching (ha! All I ever heard from Stan was "Play hard. Keep up the intensity. Stay focused. Play defense." I could coach like that. Any team interested in a coach next year? Law school's getting old.)
My theory: they were tree-ing. Numbers don't lie. They played well against the Cavs, but they were caught with their pants down in the finals. Or, I guess another way of putting it, the Magic got their branches clipped in the championship series.
What's the end result? There's always next year for a Cleveland sports fan.
Maybe next year.
BvF: What did you say?
Brandon: I said they are tree-ing.
BvF: Oh, ok.
BvF (turning to Bree): ::whispering:: What's tree-ing?
Bree: ::shoulder shrug::
BvF: Brandon, what's tree-ing?
Brandon: ::sigh:: Get with the program. They are playing above their level. They are playing in the trees. They are tree-ing. Any more questions genius?
BvF: Nope.
The NBA season is now over and I have had some time to get over my (recurring) disappointment at the performance of a Cleveland team. But the more I look at it, the more I am convinced that Orlando was tree-ing. Actually, I figured that out before the finals. I knew what was going to happen. Orlando was going to shoot lights out during the Cavs series and they were going to go stone cold in the finals. Sure enough...
Consider this. Orlando shot 48% percent from the field during the Cavs series. Not only that, but they shot 40% from three-point range. That's good. Really good. Add in the fact that Dwight Howard actually made his free throws and you have a team that scored a lot of points, really fast.
Then the "Magic" got to the finals and were not able to pull the rabbit out of the hat. They shot 43% from the field. This may not look that much worse than the percentage shot during the Cavs series, but consider this: Orlando shot an ungodly 62.5% in game three. They were shooting 75% at the half for crying out loud (and were only up by 5!). Take out this game and you find that they shot 38% from the field. They also only shot 33% from three-point range and shot much worse from the free throw line.
Why the difference? I'm sure there are plenty of theories: (1) better defense by the Lakers (I don't buy it - they did the same thing we did: double-down on Howard and give up the three); (2) Orlando was a better team than the Cavs (maybe; they did own us during the regular season, but I'm still not convinced. Consider that they did own the Lakers as well by winning 3 of the last 4 before the finals...); (3) Orlando had better coaching (ha! All I ever heard from Stan was "Play hard. Keep up the intensity. Stay focused. Play defense." I could coach like that. Any team interested in a coach next year? Law school's getting old.)
My theory: they were tree-ing. Numbers don't lie. They played well against the Cavs, but they were caught with their pants down in the finals. Or, I guess another way of putting it, the Magic got their branches clipped in the championship series.
What's the end result? There's always next year for a Cleveland sports fan.
Maybe next year.
1 comment:
Learned something new! You're not the only one who didn't know what tree-ing was :)
Post a Comment