In what was a surprise move at least to me, Baron Davis opted out of the last year of his contract, that was to pay him nearly $18 million this upcoming season. This is according to the AP via ESPN.com.
The reason why I never thought it would happen is because I didn’t think there was a market for Davis to make more than that.
What it means to me is that maybe Davis and his agent think that it’s not safe to play out the deal and risk possible injury and instead, market himself based on last year’s play. If he were to get injured this year, his reputation would suffer and his earning power could be cut drastically. But I’m not sure it’s even going to matter. If anyone saw Davis at the end of last year, he wasn’t even close to the same person he was in the first half of the season. To say that he wore down at the end of the season would be a fair statement.
The Davis camp must believe that there’s a secure deal out there. He gave up $18 million for the opportunity to find one. Now the Warriors need a point guard, whether it’s going to be Davis if they resign him, or someone else.
What about Davis for Elton Brand in a sign and trade?
ESPN.com announced that the roster for Team USA was released.
Here is the squad.
Carmelo Anthony
Jason Kidd
Carlos Boozer
Chris Paul
Chris Bosh
Tayshaun Prince
Kobe Bryant
Michael Redd
Dwight Howard
Dwyane Wade
LeBron James
Deron Williams
What stands out immediately is that they are carrying 3 point guards on a 12 man team, and also have LeBron, Kobe, and Dwayne Wade, who all take turns at bringing the ball down the court. It looks like they are just going to try to run teams off the court.
They also seem a tad bit small with only Dwight Howard there to swat away shots. You’re going to see a lot of LeBron and Carmelo at power forward and because they are such good athletes, they’ll get away with it. What I worry is that if you play a team with two good post players, Dwight Howard isn’t going to be able to block every shot.
I’m sure I’ll be blogging a few of the Team USA games as well as the upcoming NBA Draft on Thursday.
The Lakers and Celtics faced off for the NBA title 3 times in the decade of the 80s. In 1984, the Celtics beat the Lakers in 7 games, while in 1985 and 1987, the Lakers prevailed in 6.
More than 20 years later, they are back at it in a close series. And right now, the only thing that favors Boston is that they are playing at home. I think the teams are close to even right now, which seems dumb considering Boston has a one game lead in the series. But let’s remember that the Lakers blew a humongous lead in game 4.
Paul Pierce is playing better than anyone else on the court, and you can’t even say that anyone else is outplaying their expectations. He’s outplaying Kobe and I’m not sure it’s really that close. But everyone else is sleep walking. KG had a terrible game 5. Big Play Ray is on and off, though I think that if you’re Boston, you’re a little more comfortable watching him take a big shot than you are KG. And for the Lakers, other than Derek Fisher and Kobe, who else do you want to see shoot the ball? And wake me up when Sasha Vujacic and Vladimir Radmanovic figure out how to play team defense. They are scary bad.
However, I think we’re going to get a classic tonight. It’s do or die for the Lakers in Boston and they have to play their best game in order to win here. And for the Celtics, do you really want to face Kobe in a game 7, no matter how up and down his game is right now? Didn’t think so. The pressure is on both teams and I think we’ll get a great game tonight. On to the game ...
1st Quarter
- Remember what I said about Kobe? He hits a jumper the start the game with a man right in his face. 2-0 Lakers.
- Garnett treated the ball like a hot potato twice when he had an open jumper and the Celtics had to settle for a three from Rondo. I don’t think that’s the shot they wanted.
- Boston is shooting 2-10, but the game is tied at 10. Even though he’s being aggressive, Rondo is shooting 0-4 and he’s not really close with his shot.
- Kobe just hit his third 3, puffed out his cheeks, grabbed the crotch part of his shorts like he was Michael Jackson, and lifted his shorts to expose his compression shorts. A fist pump would do Kobe.
- Luke Walton is in the game and Bill seemed so proud of him on Sunday. “Every day is Father’s Day.” Nice guy that Bill is.
- KG is starting to catch fire. He’s looking to shoot now. He just hit a turnaround jumper completely in rhythm and has 8 points. Celtics up 20-18 with a few minutes left in the first.
- KG just told a story about how before the game, he eats many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then Van Gundy said that instead of the Big Ticket, they’re going to call him the Big Loaf. Wouldn’t the Big Peanut have been better, especially if you’ve seen his head?
The Big Peanut
- KG and Kobe are playing well offensively, but Pierce only has two points. Gasol and Odom aren’t even really all that noticeable on the court right now. At the end of one, Boston is up 24-20
2nd Quarter
- There’s been a Big Baby sighting. I was wondering what happened to the guy.
- Posey and Kobe are starting to go at it a bit. That’s the match-up to watch. Vujavic hit a jumper by the way. Better shooting than play defense, he always says.
- Referee Joey Crawford just tee’d up Doc for complaining about the way Kobe got through a screen by Eddie House. House ran right into him without stopping. He looked like he was run blocking for Emmitt Smith.
- Ray Allen was poked in the eye in the mid first quarter and had to go back to the locker room. He hasn’t come back out yet. Jesus Shuttlesworth would’ve played without an eye ball if he had to. Especially if it was a game of one on one with his dad.
- Pau Gasol hit a running baby hook to get the Lakers to within three. You don’t know how badly I want to type Paul Gasol every time.
- Big Game James Posey hits a three that you saw developing the entire time. KG and Pierce played catch while the double team came. Pierce swung to Eddie House, who drew a double team, and he dumped it to Posey in the corner. Beautiful basketball. House just hit a three as well. Boston is up 38-29.
- Kobe hasn’t done anything since the first quarter and he’s getting frustrated. He tried to go to the hole and went behind his back and Posey poked it away for the steal. Then Posey hit the three on the other end.
- I think Gasol just figured it out. “You mean to tell me that when I’m the tallest guy on the court, I should use my size and length when I post up? Are you sure about that?”
- KG chose the right game to start turning it up offensively. He already has 16 points before the half and Boston is now up by 21 points.
- Pierce has 9 assists by the way. MVP anyone?
3rd Quarter
- Kobe still can’t get untracked. He’s not forcing the action or even a bit upset. I’m a bit worried for him.
- Big Play Ray just hit a three to put the lead at 27 points. Yikes.
- Rondo just got his fifth steal and kicked it out to Allen for 3. These guys are on fire.
- Gasol got the ball deep in the post right under the rim. Did he
A) go right up with it since he was 3 feet away?
B) pump fake and get the foul?
C) dribble and let Kevin Garnett strong man him and tie him up for the jump ball?
If you answered C, you’ve been following this series.
- Boston is now up by 30 and the announcers are talking about Boston being able to celebrate on their own floor. There’s still three minutes left in the third quarter.
- Van Gundy just said that John Havlicek was the definition of regal and then complimented how good he looked. He ended it with a “my goodness!”
- At the end of the third quarter, Boston is up by 29. My goodness!
My Goodness!
4th Quarter
- There’s been a Trevor Ariza sighting.
- Ray just hit another three and has 19 three pointers in this series, setting a new record. Go Jesus. Go Jesus.
- He just abused Vujacic again. He went through a screen, Vujacic went down, he was open, and Odom didn’t come out in time to stop him. Another three for Jesus.
- Right as I was going to write something else, Ray hit another three. I give up.
- Up by 36 with over 6 minutes left, I wonder when the Lakers start to get mad and stop leaving guys open for three and start trying to rebound the basketball.
- Odom tries to take KG to the hole, KG holds him and swats the shot away. Odom goes down hard and is upset. KG sticks his tongue out and grins widely. Celtics up by a ton. KG laughing. Odom walks away. Sheesh.
- Exit KG, Pierce, and Jesus. Enter Leon “Jason Richardson/Morris Chestnut” Powe, Eddie House, and Tony Allen.
- Did Sam I Am even get on the court tonight?
- Big Baby took the ball from half court, dribbled down court, split two defenders, and dunked it. The Celtics are up by 43 by the way.
- Don’t worry about Kobe. We can look back at this time and say, remember how MJ lost in the finals and was able to come back. Wait, we can’t say that. Let’s officially stop the MJ/Kobe comparisons. Please.
- KG just screamed “Anything’s possible!” I agree. Especially when Kevin McHale can trade Danny Ainge his best player as a friendly gesture.
- I guess Bill Russell doesn’t need to give KG one of his rings anymore.
- Paul Pierce is the MVP. Boston defeats LA 131-92.
- Before the playoffs started, I said Celtics over the Lakers in 7. Then the finals started and I said Lakers over Celtics in 7. I wish I had my DeLorean and could stick with my first pick. Like Ron Simmons says:
A few days ago, I e-mailed Eddy Zucko to see if he wanted to watch Game 4 of the NBA Finals somewhere. He responded back that we should and we decided to invite fellow basketball bloggers ShavedAsian and Young Randall. Yesterday, Eddy texted me to let me know that he was going to try to get a table at the new Hooters establishment in Campbell. Thankfully we had a Plan B because people in the Bay Area love their Hooters. There was a line and they were only letting folks in one person at a time. Plan B was Rock Bottom Brewery.
(My cousin Tomiko showed up later in the 4th quarter and decided to bash the women of the Campbell Hooters establishment saying that they were all butter faces and then bashed two women sitting at a table who she thought were speed dating participants because they weren’t wearing any makeup. Women are mean. Just so you know.)
Because I work in San Francisco and it takes me an hour to get to San Jose, I didn’t show up until half time. When I got there, I was surprised to see not only my three fellow basketball bloggers, but also the Coach and Priscilla. I was already happy. Just knowing that the Coach is going to entertain me by just being the Coach makes me smile. Pris was there sans the boyfriend and I think she was trying to out drink the Coach. Bad move there.
Eddy and ShavedAsian were on the side of the table where you could actually see the game, but the TV was very far away. I was on the other side, so after I ate, I decided to walk over to the bar to watch the game, which became the best game in the series near the mid third quarter after being the worst game in the series for everything up to that.
Here are some details of the night.
- Eddy had one beer and change and was seen laughing and saying, “I’m giddy!” over and over again.
- ShavedAsian, a UCLA grad, was cheering energetically for Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar. We then started dropping Toby Bailey, Ed and Charles O’Bannon, Kris Johnson, and George Zidek all over the place.
- Pris had to deal with my “where’s Tik” jokes. She was tired of it after the second one.
- Young Randall stayed eerily quiet. It was so unlike him. It was like I didn’t even know who the guy was.
- Our friend Stella came right around when the 4th quarter started and was immediately cheering vehemently for the Lakers. I asked her if she was a Lakers fan and she said no. Okay ...
- Eddy Zucko was a rabid Lakers fan on this evening. That’s what you get when you are raised by a Lakers fan named Teodoro who missed a family engagement to watch the game and no one blinked an eye.
- We were discussing how much Leon Powe looks like Jason Richardson. And I think Powe also looks like a great man named Morris Chestnut.
He’s Up All Night!
- We all wondered exactly what Luke Walton brought to the table and ShavedAsian concluded that they just want him out there because his last name is Walton. My idea was that he doesn’t screw anything up so it’s more of a precautionary measure to play him.
- Late in the game, Sasha Vujacic, who has become Eddy’s favorite player, guarded Ray Allen for 22 of the 24 seconds of the possession, and then seemingly let him go for an easy lay-up and looked at Pau Gasol as if to say, “Where were you?” This did it for me. After watching him literally throw his palms up in terror whenever he is called for a foul time and time again, I told Eddy that after his defensive spectacle, I simply can’t enjoy watching him. Great shooter. Terrible sportsmanship. And though I didn’t see this, allegedly, a terrible cry baby on the sidelines too.
- As Stella and I went closer to the bar so that we could get a better view, a young woman wearing a green sweater over her very revealing shirt asked me what the score of the game was. She was just as close to the television as I was. She let me know that she didn’t have her contacts on. In a matter of 10 minutes I learned that she was from San Diego, just finished college, sent out 20-30 resumes a day, and was there with her boyfriend who was wearing an Andrew Bynum jersey and she was quite worried that a Lakers loss would ruin her boyfriend’s weekend, thus ruining hers. At first, he seemed upset that she was talking to me, and when I figured out she was here with someone else, I continued to watch the game with Stella. But even after that, she kept talking to me while I was watching the game. And then Miko and Steph came and I was holding 4 conversations while watching the game all at once. I would say that was a shining moment for me. What would you call that? Ambidextrous?
I was about to say bi-conversational, but then that reminded me of a great Triple H quote when he said, “I’m bi a lot of things, but lingual isn’t one of them. Wait, did I just say that?”
- After Big Play Ray Allen proved that he could still jump, and after Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce went mano y mano in a great display of “who has the biggest balls”, and after James Posey hit two big threes, and after Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett posted each other up and scored, all I can say is that it was a great game and unfortunately for the Lakers, makes every game a must win from here on out.
As it was, we went back to Tomiko’s and Dan’s place and Dan invited some neighbors over and they discussed how to get a Russian neighbor, who plays his music too loudly, kicked out. I think the conversation ended with the thought that threats of violence would be the best way to go about it. Eddy tried to get Young Randall to go upstairs and threaten the man in only his boxer briefs, but Young Randall wasn’t up for it.
(The best laugh of the night was Eddy’s back and forth text messages with cousin, who determined that he didn’t want to go to Hooters. If Eddy wants to tell that one, I’ll let him do it in the comments section.)
Even though the Boston Celtics have a two games to zero lead in the NBA Finals, something tells me that even Lakers fans aren’t really worried quite yet. With the schedule the way it is, the Lakers have three straight home games to try to even up the score, and then possibly head back to Boston up 3-2. Even as Boston routed the Lakers in Game Two for 3 1/2 quarters, I don’t feel a sense of urgency. What I sense is that Lakers fans think Kobe Bryant is going to make it all better. Isn’t that what MJ would do?
But in my opinion, they should be worried. Boston has outplayed them since the third quarter of Game 1 on. Paul Pierce is playing like how you’d expect Bryant to play, since Bryant has a few rings to show that he’s been there before. Bryant had a terrible first game and an uneven second one. Late in the second half of Sunday’s game, he finally started to look comfortable on offense, but there wasn’t much pressure to succeed when you’re down by so much. I think we’ll see a much better Kobe tonight though. It’s almost a given that the Lakers will win tonight according to most fans. It’s almost like it’s scripted to be that way. I am very anxiously looking forward to see how Boston comes out. If they come out fast and hard, there could be some unhappiness in So Cal.
Give it up for Leon Powe. Nice to see a Bay Area guy having big games on the biggest stage.
Here’s what some of my fellow basketball bloggers had to say about the happenings in the first two games.
ShavedAsian: The Lakers were well on their way to evening up the Series until about 4 minutes into the game, when they subbed in Luke Walton for the “P.P. Stopper” Trevor Ariza. Kobe has been too passive early in the games, deferring to teammates and settling for perimeter shots. That might have worked in the earlier rounds against lesser teams, but this is the Finals. You’re not going to get the same output from role players like Vujacic (sorry Eddy). He needs to make a statement early in the games, much like MJ would in the Finals. From what I saw in the final quarter, it looks like Kobe is just about to turn the corner, and this is going to be an entertaining series. Lesson Learned: Never awake a sleeping rapist!
HJ: I am seeing that Gasol should get the no defense player award. The drive that Powe took to the basket and Gasol just got out of the way?Powe?s not that scary. Leon Powe dominating is not a good thing for the Lakers. Even though Powe is a good player, he should not be scoring so easily. He had like 4 easy dunks! I thought they had a chance to come back, but I had no idea what play the Lakers were trying to run at the end. They used way too much time. SWEEP IN LA FOR LA!
Eddy Zucko: Never wake a sleeping Slovenian. Vujacic is going to blow up in L.A. Mark my words, J. Vujacic will do his best Leon Powe impersonation. Leon Powe? Really? The guy’s got worse knees than Patrick Ewing. No way he has a game like that again in this series. We all know Cal guys can’t win an NBA championship. L.A. in 6 games.
I e-mailed some of my fellow basketball bloggers to get their predictions for the NBA Finals, which starts tonight.
If you remember, we did our predictions at the beginning of the playoffs and all did a great job predicting a very predictable finals. Only ShavedAsian didn’t pick a Lakers/Celtics finals. He thought that Richard Hamilton’s Face Mask and the Pistons would get to the finals instead of the Celtics.
There were three of us who picked the Lakers to win it all and two of us who chose the Celtics originally. Young Randall and I thought that at the beginning of the playoffs, the Celtics had the best chance to win it all. I think I’m going to change my vote. I tried getting Young Randall’s prediction earlier today but he’s in a cave somewhere and won’t return e-mails or text messages.
- Exit KG, Pierce, and Jesus. Enter Leon “Jason Richardson/Morris Chestnut” Powe, Eddie House, and Tony Allen.
But in my opinion, they should be worried. Boston has outplayed them since the third quarter of Game 1 on. Paul Pierce is playing like how you’d expect Bryant to play, since Bryant has a few rings to show that he’s been there before. Bryant had a terrible first game and an uneven second one. Late in the second half of Sunday’s game, he finally started to look comfortable on offense, but there wasn’t much pressure to succeed when you’re down by so much. I think we’ll see a much better Kobe tonight though. It’s almost a given that the Lakers will win tonight according to most fans. It’s almost like it’s scripted to be that way. I am very anxiously looking forward to see how Boston comes out. If they come out fast and hard, there could be some unhappiness in So Cal. 
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