LeBron-A-Mania Is Running Wild AKA "The Decision"

Before "The Decision"

I think you can make sense of LeBron going to any of the rumored four NBA teams who seemed to have the best shot at landing him.

Let me take a stab at it.

The Chicago Bulls: Playing with a true point guard like Derrick Rose and with a young banger like Joakim Noah has to be pretty tantalizing to James. As would be, playing on Michael Jordan's home court and proving to others that he could win there. I always thought this was the best place for his future because of the young players and the fact that the franchise has prove worthy of having the NBA's greatest ever player play there.

But LeBron's at his best when the ball is in his hands and he's directing the team. There's a reason why Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan never needed superstar floor leaders. They do the leading. Rose is probably better off finding his own Joe Johnson type and running his own thing.

The New York Knicks: I imagine that playing in the big apple is the major reason to go there. When things happen in NYC, they just seem bigger than if they happened in Cleveland, even if they are the exact same thing. It's that empire state of mind. Add to that, playing with Amar'e Stoudemire and running teams to death with the pick and roll, I'm sure that LBJ has had visions of playing in the city that never sleeps.

On the flipside, Amar'e didn't really play that well against Pau Gasol in the NBA Western Conference Finals and if people didn't already know before then, they now know that he just doesn't seem interested in playing defense. I'm not sure if Amar'e is the type of player who is going to be the best big man on a championship winning team.

And also, LBJ probably doesn't want Spike Lee bugging him all the time. "I got a movie for you LeBron! We'll call it "LeBron Doing Work".

The Miami Heat: Who doesn't want to play in Miami? It seems like South Beach is every NBA player's second home as it is. And now with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh making the Heat hotter, LBJ has to be thinking that he doesn't have to play out of his mind every night in order to win. Throw in the fact that the tax situation in Florida is much easier on an athlete who plays half of his games in the state, and it seems like win-win.

But I do wonder that for someone who seems to be concerned about his legacy, the scenario of playing with the best guard in the league not named Kobe would lessen him a bit in the eyes of the fans. It wouldn't to me because as the Lakers have proven, even with the league's best player in Kobe Bryant, he needed Shaq (or Shaq needed him), and also Pau Gasol to win a championship. It's rarely ever about just one guy.

The other thing is that for guys who both are best with the ball in their hands, how can D. Wade and LBJ share the basketball? Who takes the big shot?

Winning does cure all of that, at least for a little while (again, see Kobe and Shaq), and it has to be a tantalizing situation. Then again, does he really want to be the focus of the 4th season of "Basketball Wives"?

The Cleveland Cavaliers: I always hoped that this would be the place LeBron continued to call home. I looked at Kobe's own situation with the Lakers. Even though he did throw that small tantrum and wanted out, he eventually trusted that Lakers' management would do the right thing and stayed put. And they did do the right thing.

This whole free agency ego trip could've been LeBron's "Kobe tantrum". And then he'd sign with them and everything would go back to normal. He'd go back to work, trust in his management, and work on getting Cleveland that title. I still hope that's the scenario, but the other scenarios do seem more intriguing, sexy, and fitting for a, ahem, king.

Prediction: LeBron uses this ESPN 1-hour special to show how "good" of a person he is and re-signs with Cleveland. Then he can be the "Homecoming King".

I'll be back blogging "The Decision" and then giving my thoughts after it's all over.

"The Decision" - The Aftermath

I pulled for the upset, and I chose incorrectly. LeBron James said the major factor in his decision was the opportunity to win now, and win in the future. And thus, his career as one of a triumvirate of All-Stars for the Miami Heat has begun.

The opportunity to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh seems to be the major reasons as to why he chose to play for the Heat. He won't have to be superb every game because he won't need to be counted on like he was with the Cavs. That ultimately might be what ran him out of town.

You have to feel badly for the Cavs fans, but you can pin this just as much on the Cavs management as you can on LeBron. Let's not forget that in the last four years, the Cavaliers went from 2007 NBA Finalists, to losing in the 2008 and 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, to losing in the second round of the playoffs last year. That's regression. I would imagine that he feels that the Cavs couldn't put the right players together for him, where as with just one decision, he immediately plays with a young power forward who can score, and the best shooting guard in the NBA not named Kobe Bryant. He didn't need to rely on management. Power to the athletes.

He's going to get blasted for his decision, and for the way he decided. But ultimately, he, Dwyane, and Chris all probably had to take less money in order to get the deal done. What actually happened is what fans have asked athletes to do all along. Three guys decided that they wanted to win more than than they wanted to get the maximum money. They still will make a ton of money and you'll hear them all say, "It wasn't about the money," even though that's hogwash, but they did exactly what people have asked athletes to do for a very long time. Put greed aside for team.

Even more so than head coach Erik Spoelstra, LeBron is on the hot seat immediately. Wade stayed with his team. Bosh is going to be able to fall under the radar. If the Three Amigos don't immediately win, the hammer falls on the Akron Hammer. He has the most to lose. With his heightened portfolio comes the most responsibility.

By making this entire free agent period about him (and really, without this ESPN televised special, it was anyway), he's saying to the NBA and the sports world, "Look at me, watch me, see me, and follow me." In the day and age of Twitter and TMZ, it might have happened that way anyway. But if his legacy wasn't already in question, it will be now. The dude needs to win now and often in order for it all to be worth it.

2010 NBA Finals Game 7 - Lakers Vs. Celtics Play By Play

Some people are calling this game 7 one of the most important NBA games in recent memory. And since I've written about every game so far in this series, I figured I might as well do it again. But rather than write an article of reflection and letting what I just saw soak in, I'm going to do a play by play where I will be writing as I watch.

The announcers just said that the team who won the rebounding battle has won each game. Here's another good stat: I'm one for six in picking these games in the finals. And for the record, I think the Lakers pull this one out at home with a big run late in the 4th quarter.

Rasheed Wallace is starting tonight in place of Kendrick Perkins. If you're a Celtics' fan, you just hope he doesn't go 0-7 like in game 6.

First Quarter

11:21 - Rondo has to have a much better game controlling the tempo and he can't give the ball away. Well, just 39 seconds into the game, he turns it over.

10:54 - Derek Fisher hits the first shot of the game and it's a three-pointer, his first of this finals.

10:00 - After a Sheed turn-around bucket, the Lakers' two-some of trees, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum bat around a rebound like a game of keep-away volleyball before Gasol finally puts it in.

8:31 - Remember what I said about Rondo controlling the tempo? He just committed a silly back court foul that should've been a non-play for him.

7:24 - And just like that, Rondo redemption. He scores the second of back-to-back layups for him and Boston is up 10-7.

6:54 - Kobe goes one-on-two with a wide open man to his right, only to take a fade away that hits the top of the backboard. He didn't trust his wide open teammate over his 10-degree of difficulty shot.

5:55 - First timeout and the story of the game is that the refs are allowing these guys to play. There have been at least two eyebrow-raising non-calls so far and both to the Lakers' detriment.

5:10 - Big Baby comes in for Rasheed and he isn't slobbering. Yet.

4:42 - Ray Allen knocks down his first three-pointer, making sure he doesn't go 0-8 again.

2:27 - Gasol picks up his second foul on a charge and Bynum has to come back in the game just a minute or so after he was replaced by Lamar Odom. The announcers said before the game that Bynum is only good for about ten minutes per half. Does this mean we may see some DJ Mbenga? We can only hope.

1:20 - Garnett picks up his second foul on an illegal screen that wasn't illegal and he has to go to the bench. Back comes Sheed.

0:00 - Rough first half, but Boston's just shooting better and leads 23-14.

Second Quarter

11:12 - Kobe comes out of the game for the first time. Both Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson are ripping his first quarter, saying it was his worst 12 minutes of basketball in the playoffs. It wasn't that bad guys. He had questionable shot attempts, but he played really well on the defensive end.

(They just showed Ryan Seacrest, George Lopez, Ellen Pompeo, Dustin Hoffman, and Jack Nicholson in a star montage of those in attendance. Who's Ellen Pompeo?)

8:21 - The Lakers tie it up on a Ron Artest steal and lay-up. It's now 23-23. Boston hasn't yet scored in the second half. The tide has definitely turned.

6:15 - In two consecutive sequences, Kobe was doubled and gave it up to Gasol. On the first sequence, Gasol kicked it to Artest for a missed three, and on the second, he missed a short jumper. At some point, Kobe's going to stop giving it to him if he doesn't make those possessions count.

5:15 - The Lakers are only shooting 28%, yet are only down two points. So far, Pierce isn't getting his shot off, and Allen is missing some very open shots. That's why the score is where it's at.

4:14 - Allen is having a stinker of a game. Maybe Denzel Washington should get his gear on to make Ray angry.


(Yet another star celebrity crowd scan shows us Usher, T.O., and Leo Dicaprio. Usher and T.O. were wearing some phat sunglasses. Dicaprio is wearing a UCLA hat. The dude's always wearing local college gear.)

2:08 - Rasheed hit his third old school Sheed turnaround jumper. They're isolating him now on Gasol, which tells you how confident they are in that match-up.

1:22 - Artest and Pierce get tangled up and we get our first small scrum. Double tech time. With Bynum only playing a handful of minutes, they can't afford Artest to pick up another one and get tossed.

0:34 - Brian Scalabrine checks in and for a second, I thought it was Michael Rapaport and this was the Celebrity All-Star game.

0:09 - Kobe missed a terrible three-pointer and was going crazy. He may get a technical tonight if he keeps shooting the way he is. He's 3-14 so far.

0:00 - Kobe and Gasol are shooting a combined 6-27, but the Celtics are only up by six. It's 40-34 at halftime.

(Magic's analysis at the half - Kendrick Perkins being out may be a blessing in disguise for the Celtics because Rasheed can score and the Celtics have to outscore the Lakers. And he also added that water is wet.)

Third Quarter

12:00 - The Lakers have fifteen offensive rebounds compared to just two for the Celtics. If the Lakers can shoot better than 40% in the second half, they should be able to win this game. But the Celtics are playing tough defense and the referees are letting these guys play.

11:20 - Ron Artest came to play today. He leads all scorers with 14 points after being aggressive and taking it to the hole for a score.

9:45 - Rondo hits a runner in the lane to extend the lead to eleven at 47-36. Kobe missed another long three. You know he's not going down quietly. This is going to be an interesting 22 minutes here.

7:37 - Kobe finally hits a jumper to bring the Lakers to within ten. He's 4-17 now.

5:38 - Odom follows an Artest miss to bring the deficit down to six. Garnett is killing Gasol on the other end and I think he's getting into his head.

(Third celebrity go-around; Jeremy Piven, my girl Christina Aguilera, Andy Garcia's mustache, Greg Kinnear, Courtney "Cougar" Cox-Arquette, and Laura Dern. The pool is getting a little shallow here. I'd hate to see what round four brings us. "There's Rita Perlman and Danny DeVito!")

3:48 - Kobe's only 4-19 shooting, but he does have ten boards. He's just not getting that call where he gets the defender in the air and then jumps into him.

2:37 - Gasol gets to the free throw line after what looked to be a clean block on Garnett on the other end. The replay shows that he didn't come near the ball and slapped the heck out of his hand. Derek Fisher just went back to the locker room after slipping on the court.

2:12 - Rondo goes to the free throw line which has been an adventure for him. He goes one-for-two. Celtics still up by six.

1:24 - Big Baby was close to slobbering after getting called for a foul and complaining.

0:00 - The Lakers close strong and are down only four after at the end of the third quarter 57-53. This fourth quarter is going to be rough.

Fourth Quarter

12:00 - Phil Jackson just said that Kobe needs to do more off the ball. I don't think that happens. I think Kobe is going to have a breakout fourth.

11:43 - Gasol finally hits a shot where he's defended well instead of passing it out and is fouled, but missed the free throw. Boston is still up by two.

11:20 - Who would've thought that Ron Artest would be the Lakers' MVP tonight? He just caused another Celtics' turnover.

9:00 - Gasol has 14 rebounds, but he's being badly outplayed by Garnett tonight. He needs a strong nine minutes or will have to deal with that "soft" moniker all off-season.

8:46 - Kobe suckers Ray into fouling him beyond the three-point line and gets three free throws while down four. He hits all three. Nate Robinson comes in to give Rondo what looks to be a quick breather.

7:29 - Artest gets in the key and hits a short jumper while being fouled. His free throw ties the game. By the way, Derek Fisher still isn't back. Jordan Farmar has to play big time fourth quarter minutes if Fish doesn't come back in.

7:13 - Allen misses his first free throw in the finals. He hits the second and the Celtics are up by one. Garnett and Rondo are back in. That wasn't much of a rest for Rondo.

6:49 - Gasol misses another two free throws and is now 2-7 from the line. More importantly for the Lakers though, Fisher is back in the game. You knew he was coming back.

6:12 - Of course, Fisher hits his first shot after coming back in, which is a three. Tie game.

5:21 - Kobe sinks two free throws and then a jumper to give the Lakers a four-point lead. The Celtics might need to stop running plays for "Little Play" Ray Allen. He's missing too many make-able shots down the stretch.

2:20 - Down five, Pierce runs at Gasol and gets called for an idiotic blocking foul while in the penalty. Gasol hits one of two and the Lakers are back up by six.

2:14 - Artest commits just as silly of a foul while defending Pierce who was 30-feet away from the bucket. Pierce hits both and it's back down to four.

1:30 - Gasol gets Wallace back by abusing him on the baseline for a double pump put-in. I think all is forgiven after that shot. Lakers are back up by six.

1:23 - Sheeds says, "No sweat" and hits a desperation three-pointer (and a terrible shot if he misses) to bring the Lakers' lead back down to three. Sheed's played a game seven before.

1:01 - And Ron Ron gives it right back with a three. He's my favorite player today.

0:50 - "Little Play" Ray with a three from the corner, and all of a sudden in the last 90 seconds, both teams can shoot.

0:16 - These guys were just kidding for the first forty six minutes. After Kobe hits two free throws, Rondo hits a three from the corner and the lead is back down to two.

0:11 - Sasha Vujacic, who is in the game simply to knock down foul shots, knocks down two big ones and makes sure the Celtics can't tie it on another Hail Mary. Maria Sharapova must be so proud.

0:00 - The Celtics can't get a good shot off as Rondo shoots a corner three and it's a near air ball. Odom grabs the rebound and throws it the length of the court while Bryant snatches it just before it goes out of bounds and the game is over. The Lakers win 83-79.

Post-game

- Ron Ron thanks everyone in his hood and then thanks his doctor and his psychiatrist and pimps his new single. No, it's not about Michael Jackson. Only Ron Ron.

- Kobe's wife could be a Kardashian. I never saw that until now.

- Dr. Buss had problems clearing his throat. I thought maybe he was crying, but when I asked my Lakers' buddy what his deal was, he simply said, "He's old." Ok, then.

- Kobe says, "Anything is possible!" Ok, he didn't really. He said this championship was the sweetest because it was the hardest one.

- Mark Jackson says that Magic Johnson now has to move over and that Kobe is now the greatest Laker. He must not have watched Kobe shoot the ball tonight.

- Phil Jackson now has 11 rings and has coached the greatest player ever and a guy who is probably in the top 7 or 8 of the greatest players of all time and probably breaks into the top three or four when it's all said and done. Don't tell me that luck isn't a part of being great. Phil is lucky and great all at the same time.

If anyone says this was a great series, I'd disagree with them because the offensive play wasn't as up to snuff as the defensive play was. However, it was one of the more competitive NBA Finals we've seen in some time. Both teams left it all on the court.

Oh, by the way, I want to thank Ron's psychiatrist too.

The Lakers Make A Statement With Their Defense In Game Six

A day off and a trip home can cure all wounds. And there's a reason why home court is so important in the NBA, especially when you've only lost one home game all season long in the playoffs.

Coming home down 3-2 in the 2010 NBA Finals, the Lakers played as if they were the ones in the lead. They were loose, focused, and made an extra effort to clamp down on defense in game six.

Led by Kobe Bryant's 26 points, the Lakers cruised to victory, holding the Celtics to just 67 points and making them look badly in the process. The Celtics four-core of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen all scored in double figures, but all four together also averaged a minus 20 in the plus/minus stat category.

What was more impressive than his 26 points was Kobe Bryant's 11 rebounds and 4 steals. He also showed tremendous energy which seemed contagious to the rest of the club. Pau Gasol caught it like a cold. After two games in a row of pedestrian big-man performance, Gasol was one assist short of a triple double with 17 points and 13 rebounds to go along with his 9 assists.

Starting center Andrew Bynum only played 16 minutes, and at one point had to go back to the locker room for his knee. But Lamar Odom picked up the slack. Odom's 8 points and 10 rebounds don't look spectacular on paper, but his presence was huge, especially after Celtics' starting center Kendrick Perkins went down with a knee injury.

The Celtics backed off Rajon Rondo all game long and forced him to shoot from the outside to the tune of 5-15. They also forced Kevin Garnett out of the paint as much as possible and he was the guy taking 18-foot jump shots for the Celtics as the shot clock was about to expire on more than one occasion. They ran at Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, forcing them to take tough shots, or put the ball on the floor.

After being the goat of game five for the Lakers, Ron Artest not only played Paul Pierce tough, but he had a rare quality offensive game. He chucked up six three-pointers, making three of them and had 15 points.

Perkins says he'll try to play with ligament sprains in his right knee, but it's unlikely he'll even be as helpful as Andrew Bynum has been, who has been trying to play with knee issues of his own. While Bynum being out has definitely hurt the Lakers, they can switch to a faster line-up by putting Odom in. Perkins being out for the Celtics means that KG has to be the sole defender on Gasol. Also, it means Big Baby and Rasheed Wallace have to play a bigger part offensively and defensively. What did they do together in game six? They shot a combined 0-10.

Advantage, Lakers.

Kobe Comes Up Big In Game Five, But The Celtics Still Win

At the very end of my article after game four, I noted that Kobe Bryant had yet to have a great, dominant game.

I wrote:

To me, the big question is going to be about Kobe Bryant. When are we getting his best game? He's the best player in the series, yet I'm not so sure he's been the story of any game yet. I have a feeling he's going to become the story soon.

Well, he sure was the story of game five.

Bryant had a terrific scoring night and if degree of difficulty was involved, he'd have scored all 10s, even from the Russian judge. He scored 38 points while playing over 43 minutes and had that look in his eyes that you hadn't seen yet in the series.

But it was a one-man show. Only Pau Gasol scored in double figures alongside Bryant and no one other than Bryant had more than two assists. You could say that it was because he was the one taking all the shots, but he didn't really turn it up until the third quarter.

He was much more animated near the end of the game than he'd been in the other two loses and it looked like his disappointment had more to do with his team not being able to stop Boston defensively than anything else.

Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski started his column on Bryant with this paragraph:

On his way into the losing locker room, the most angry man in the Garden was heard to bellow a spontaneous stream of curses into the ears of his Los Angeles Lakers. As the door slammed behind them, a witness heard Kobe Bryant screaming that he needed some-bleeping-one to make a stand with him.

At the press conference, Kobe was much more calm and matter of fact. But based on his answer about what he'd tell his guys to be ready for game six, he still seethed.

“Just man up and play. What’s the big deal? If I have to say something to them, then we don’t deserve to be champions.”

It was an interesting bit of truth about how he felt about his team facing elimination. He could've given the normal cliched line, but he didn't. But it also wasn't a challenge. It was as if he wanted them to know that he was bringing his A game no matter what, and it was up to them to bring theirs. It wasn't up to him.

It was sort of anti-leader. Rather than say that he was going to carry his troops on his back if need be, he said that he wasn't going to say anything because if he had to, it meant they weren't champions anyway. At least that's how I interpreted it.

On the flipside, you had the Celtics with their fearsome foursome all scoring at least twelve points. After game two, it looked like Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen were the guys carrying the team, but now, after game five, it's back to Paul Piece and Kevin Garnett. Together, they had 45 points and played big in the end.

Can Kobe save the series for the Lakers? I wouldn't bet against him. But it very much seems he's not confident in his guys and after game five, he probably has a good reason not to be.

What game five showed is that Kobe can play at a tremendous level and still lose. If the Celtics get to play five on one in game six, you have to like their chances.

Second Squad Wins Game Four For The Celtics

To start the fourth quarter in game four, Doc Rivers rolled out this line-up: Nate Robinson, Ray Allen, Tony Allen, Big Baby, and Rasheed Wallace. It was time to rest most of his starters.

But Phil Jackson decided that he was going for it. He started Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and Pau Gasol.

Two different strategies in a two-point game heading into the fourth quarter of an NBA Finals game. Jackson had already lost Andrew Bynum for the game because of that balky knee of his. He probably figured that they could get a quick jump on the second team before Doc would be able to bring back his starters.

Doc usually tries to rest Garnett for a good amount of time late in the third quarter and Rajon Rondo does need a rest every now and then. He gambled by allowing his second squad plus Ray Allen go toe-to-toe with the Lakers' top two players and Odom, who is as good as any player Boston had in the game at the time.

And somehow, it worked. The five-some played for over nine minutes straight and outscored the Lakers 25-15 in the quarter. Then KG, Pierce, and Rondo came back in the game to put it away.

When Jackson went for the kill, it was with Bryant and Gasol already having played heavy minutes, and Bryant especially looked lethargic at times. He bounced back to hit six threes to keep the Lakers going, but we haven't seen that one great Kobe game yet in this series. Gasol hasn't looked peppy since game two and here he played 44 minutes. Bryant played 43.

The Celtics won in spite of two technical fouls in the fourth quarter - one by Rasheed Wallace, a usual culprit and one by Nate Robinson. Wallace's was the result of reacting like a 2-year old child after he was called for a foul. Nate's was for staring at Lamar Odom's neck.

Nate Robinson provided a spark off the bench for the Celtics, who seemed to be in slow motion offensively. No one in the starting line-up, save for maybe Paul Pierce, played particularly well on offense. But when Robinson came in, he gave them a little hop in their step with 12 points and two big three-pointers. Nate is like "The Facts Of Life". You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have Nate Robinson.

Nate was called for a technical after he was knocked to the floor by Lamar Odom. Rather than dust himself off and walk away, he decided to man him up, except Nate is 5'7'' and Lamar is over 6'9''. All Nate did was really size up Lamar's neck. Thankfully for the Celtics, it didn't hurt them.

But Nate wasn't even their best bench player. That title goes to Big Baby. Big Baby is listed as 6'9'' and 289, but he looks 6'6'' and 300. He doesn't jump well and it looks like he's going to get his shot blocked every time he shoots down low. But there he was in the post with quick steps, pump fakes, and good body control to the tune of 18 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes. He was the best Celtics' player on the floor when he was in the game.

Even though the final scores haven't really dictated it, every game in the series has been really close. With it now tied at 2 wins a piece, it's for sure going back to LA. But there is one more game in Boston. Will LA be able to overcome tired legs and possibly losing Andrew Bynum? Will Boston's starters produce enough so that Doc doesn't have to rely on his bench to play so well?

To me, the big question is going to be about Kobe Bryant. When are we getting his best game? He's the best player in the series, yet I'm not so sure he's been the story of any game yet. I have a feeling he's going to become the story soon.

After Game Three, I'll Never Give Up On Derek Fisher Again

I had a good look at Derek Fisher for two seasons, starting in 2004. At the time, Fisher had been bumped from his starting point guard spot with the Los Angeles Lakers when they signed Gary Payton to run the team. Fisher opted out of his contract and became a free agent, attracting interest from my team, the Golden State Warriors.

He was the starting point guard on a team with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. He played tough defense and hit big shots, but he was never the focal point on their star laden team. But he was a winner. The Warriors thought that he would blossom and become more than who he was in LA, but it never happened.

Fisher was given a boatload of money to the tune of 37 million over six years. They had to overpay him to get him and saw Fisher as the leader of a young team. He was there to help the nucleus of Jason Richardson, Mike Dunleavy, and Troy Murphy gel, and to bring the veteran leadership that the team lacked.

In short, Fisher's stay in Oakland wasn't a successful one. He shot and scored more in Oakland than at anytime in his career, but the Warriors finished with identical 34-48 records. By the time the Warriors traded him, they had a new point guard in Baron Davis, and gave Fisher away to Utah for three guys who you may have never even heard of (Keith McLeod, Andre Owens, and Devin Brown).

I had given up on Fisher because Baron Davis was everything he wasn't. Davis ran the club, was the premier scorer, the most popular player, and became the guy they needed Fisher to become if they were going to win. But Fisher would come back to haunt them.

In the second round of the 2006-2007 NBA Playoffs, the "We Believe" Warriors ran into the Utah Jazz after knocking off the number one seed Dallas Mavericks. Derek Fisher wasn't any different in his role with Utah than he was with the Warriors. In fact, his numbers were worse. But he gave the Jazz a jolt that stayed with them all series long.

Fisher's young infant daughter had retinoblastoma, which is a rare eye cancer. Fisher's status for the series was up in the air but in game two, he made a reluctant return in the middle of the game and helped the Jazz win the game and eventually the series. It stood out as the moment of the entire playoffs. How can you give up on a guy like that?

Fisher asked out of his contract with the Jazz because he wanted to be in a big city where he could get the best medical care for his daughter. The Jazz allowed his contract to be voided and Fisher ended up back in Los Angeles with the Lakers, giving up many millions of dollars in order to come back. His 2007-2008 season with the Lakers was one of the best of his career and he helped the new Kobe-led Lakers get back to the NBA Finals, even though they lost to the Celtics. Last year, he had one of the worst years of his career since he became a starter, but the Lakers were a juggernaut and won the championship.

And this year, he had the worst regular season of his starting career. And I gave up on him again. After game two of this year's NBA Finals in which Fisher looked slow and lethargic, I thought Phil Jackson should start playing Jordan Farmar more because he was able to get to the basket where Fisher couldn't.

I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Derek Fisher was the hero in game three. He was he difference. Playing the most minutes that he played all season long, he came up big when he usually does; the fourth quarter. Fisher was 6-12 from the field, scoring 16 points and his defining moment of the game was scoring on a swooping lay-up going one-on-three (Garnett, Perkins, and Allen) and seemingly being fouled by all three as well.

But where he did his best work was in defending Ray Allen. In game two, Allen went off, hitting a NBA Finals single-game record eight three-pointers and doing so a lot of the time with Fisher chasing him around the court. In game three, Allen was 0-13 shooting and was the invisible man again with Fisher chasing him around the court. Allen might've just been off, but Fisher attacked him harder as if he took game two personally.

Derek Fisher's numbers may be on the way down. He may eventually lose his starting job on this Lakers team over the next couple of years. But never again, will I give up on the guy. He comes up too big in too many big situations.

Boston's Game Two Win Tells A Different Story

If you were a very casual basketball fan and didn't follow basketball all that closely, you'd have a few thoughts about Saturday's Boston Celtics victory over the LA Lakers in game two of the 2010 NBA Finals, and you'd be clear that it was how this series has, was, and will play out.

Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo are the big two for the Celtics

When the Celtics beat the Lakers in 2008, they had a big three. And there was an order to the big three. Kevin Garnett was the final piece of the puzzle, Paul Pierce was the longtime Celtic, and Ray Allen was the perimeter player who stretched the defense.

Back then, Rondo was still the young point guard who might've held them back. Today, Rondo runs their team like few point guards do. He's their best all around player and save for a lack of a real confident go-to jump shot, the weaknesses in his game are hard to find. He needs to have a hand in nearly every situation in order for Boston's offense to succeed, whether it's making the right pass, going to the hole, or pulling an offensive rebound. The day he has a bad game is the day Boston gets run off the court.

Ray Allen needs to be on the court or else the game slows down and the Lakers' length becomes too much for Boston. He stretches the defense because he's so hard to close out on when he's open. He has a quick release and is really good at recognizing when the defense is closing tight. Will he hit eight treys again in a game? No, but he remains the second most important offensive player for Boston in this series and his success is key to their success.

Pau Gasol is better than Kevin Garnett

While history will more than likely say otherwise, today, Gasol is head and shoulders above Garnett. He's simply the better player. He's always had the great offensive skills and now, he has a little bit of snarl in him. He won't play as overtly loud and angry as Garnett needs to because that's not him. But he's not backing down at all.

In the first two games, Gasol has averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds a game while Garnett averaged just 11 points and 4 rebounds a game. Celtics fans may argue that the referees haven't allowed Garnett to play his physical style and they might be right. But Garnett needs to adapt his style so that he's on the court more than 24 minutes like he was on game two. Gasol is having his way with him, but Garnett's the only defender in the front court who can match Gasol's length and who is savvy enough to make things harder for him.

Doc Rivers is Phil Jackson's coaching equal

This is never going to be true.

But game two was a good game for Doc. The Lakers were dominating the middle, but Doc allowed Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby to guard Andrew Bynum without much help. Bynum had a terrific game. But partly because of it, the Lakers' guard play wasn't as good as Boston's and that was the difference in the game. Kobe didn't have many open kick-outs and Fisher only shot 2 of 8. Kobe also looked frustrated at the way the refs were calling the game.

There might be a time in the series where Jordan Farmar has to play more in crunch time because he's one of the few guys on the Lakers who can get to the basket who is not Kobe Bryant. Fisher had a bad game, yet Jackson went to him in crunch time like he probably should've, but Farmar might need to play more down the stretch in close games, at least offensively.

And if Ron Artest is terrible offensively, Phil has to take him out on offense in crunch time right?

Jackson has used the postseason to call out players and officials, which is his own way of having fun with the earned perception that he's such a cerebral coach. But now that Boston has tied the series and can win it out on their home court, Phil is going to have to find the solution to his team's ills, rather than Steve Nash's and Kevin Durant's.

While game two didn't really tell the whole story of both teams, it did show that one game can tell a different story. Will the series play out like it did in game two? Probably not. But that different story might be closer to the real story than we thought could possibly be true after game one.

Game three should be the best game yet.

The Lakers Make Ugly Beautiful In Game 1

Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals wasn't a beautiful game by any means. If watching Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley go at it in the 1993 NBA Finals was Halle Berry, the first game of the 2010 version of Lakers vs. Celtics was Clint Howard.

The referees determined from the start (maybe they had a summit like LeBron and Dwyane?) that they were going to call the game closely, and probably a bit too closely at that. From the first backslide takedown by Ron Artest on Paul Pierce that was whistled for a double technical foul, it felt like the referees wanted to make sure both teams knew that they weren't going to allow much of the rough stuff, or at least allow the teams to get away with it. And that was to Boston's detriment.

Going into this series, I thought the Celtics had to have a few things fall correctly for them if they were going to win. Firstly, Rajon Rondo had to play out of his mind. Rondo vs. Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar is the only place on the basketball court that the Celtics have a real, surefire advantage. In my opinion, Rondo can't just have solid games. They have to be dominating. Secondly, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett can't be as inconsistent as they have been so far in the playoffs. And the Celtics had to play a physical style to test Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom and try to take Ron Artest out of his game.

None of those things happened.

Rondo looked good early on, but he wasn't dominant in any way. He didn't shoot well, but more importantly, he didn't look like he wanted to take the game over like they needed him to. He made some quality passes, especially in transition, but Boston needed him to finish rather than hand off to a Kevin Garnett who had a hard time finishing or kick out to shooters who couldn't get their shot off freely because of the Lakers' defensive length.

While Pierce's numbers look decent (24 points and 9 rebounds), he wasn't effective. He missed all four of his three-point-shots and half of his points came at the free throw line, which is mostly because the referees called the game so closely. Ron Artest played him physically, frustrated him, and made him work hard on the other end as well. Pierce looked like a completely different player than the 2008 version who was the soul to Kevin Garnett's heart.

Garnett is an absolute shadow of himself. He showed energy early, but it wasn't enough. Pau Gasol blocked his patented turnaround jumper twice, and it seemed to deflate him. On one play in the fourth quarter that summed up his night, Rondo fed him what should've been an easy dunk, yet he didn't jump high enough and decided to lay it in and didn't even get it above the rim. And on the other side of the ball, Gasol had his way with him.

The Lakers were the more physical team in the end. Ray Allen was in foul trouble all night, and his replacement Tony Allen couldn't blink without getting whistled himself. But the Celtics can't solely blame the tempo of the game on the referees because it was called like that both ways. Boston was called for twenty eight fouls, while the Lakers had twenty six.

Within all that ugly, I thought the two Lakers' stars, Kobe and Paul, played beautifully. I found myself just watching Kobe, even when he didn't have the ball in his hands. Other than a couple games against Oklahoma City where he just seemed frustrated, this has been a terrific playoffs for him. He was able to get to the rim at will, slicing through the Celtics' defense. And no one even tried knocking him down.

After game one, I think anything having to do with Pau Gasol and the word soft should be disassociated. This was an opportunity for him to prove that the Gasol who was shoved around in 2008 is a different player and he did just that. Because of early foul trouble to both Andrew Bynam and Lamar Odom, Gasol ended up playing 47 out of the 48 minutes, scoring 23 points, gathering 14 rebounds, blocking 3 shots, and helped hold Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins to a combined 7 rebounds. He was the best big man on the court by far.

The Celtics are going to need to turn up the defensive intensity in game two and ask Rondo to come up huge. Or else, they're going to be in a big hole going back to Boston.

Is This LeBron's Last Stand In Cleveland?

After losing on Boston's court to end yet another season without winning a title, LeBron James' off-season is going to be the worst one of his career. Sure, he's going to be courted like he's the prettiest girl in class before prom as teams like the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, and his current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers promise him the moon. But after another early exit from the playoffs, the hammer is going to come down on him.

After watching game four, the main thing that stuck with me is how little LeBron trusted his teammates to perform. Boston's defensive game plan was brilliant, but it's not like it was a creative strategy. When he had the ball, they attacked him before he could get a running start, and if he got by the first guy, they threw one of their 7 foot tall trees at him. And if he gave up that basketball, the defensive strategy worked. Anthony Parker, Mo Williams, and Antawn Jamison didn't seem like they wanted the ball. It was like they were comfortable watching LeBron do his thing.

In game six, LeBron probably should've forced his will a bit more, but it seemed like he fought it. He's more Magic than Michael or Larry. It's in his DNA to give up the basketball rather than take a bad shot. It's the single thing that separates him from Kobe Bryant. Kobe will take tough shots time and time again because his teammates depend on his scoring. And he has good offensive rebounders around him that will bat that ball around and give him another chance if it doesn't go in.

But for whatever reason, LeBron decided to trust teammates who weren't that trustworthy. While LeBron didn't shoot well at all (8-21), his teammates shot just as badly. The rest of the Cavs went a 20-52 shooting. Take away LeBron's 19 rebounds and 10 assists, and the rest of his teammates only pulled down 29 total rebounds and dished out 7 assists. You'd be hard pressed to give LeBron even a B- for his play and this is in a game in which he had a triple double (nearly a quadruple-double with 9 turnovers), but other than Mo Williams, no one else probably earns even a C.

If the Cavs as a team were shooting even half decently, then choosing to give up the ball so freely would've been the right move. But after watching his perimeter players brick shots badly time and time again, he needed to go to plan B. There didn't seem to be a plan B.

It's a similar style of defense that Orlando deployed last year when they knocked the Cavs out. Who was going to hit the big shots this year that they couldn't hit last year? And Danny Ferry's solution to that problem was to clog the middle more by signing Shaquille O'Neal and trading for Antawn Jamison. O'Neal is near the end of his rope and it sure showed in game 6. He had problem holding onto the basketball on offense and defensively, a bad kneed Kevin Garnett destroyed him early on.

As for Jamison, he's the kind of player who can fill up stat sheets but doesn't really mean a whole lot when it's all said and done. He's played on more teams who have won less than 20 games than he's played on teams who have played .500 basketball.

How much of that goes towards head coach Mike Brown? I'm sure some of it does, even though he wasn't the one bricking shots. As a fan wanting to see Cleveland make somewhat of a comeback, I was frustrated with Brown's substitutions, especially when they needed to get out and run. It's hard to run with either Shaq or Zydrunas Ilgauskus in the game. You end up playing four on five.

If you historically look at teams who win titles, they have one dominant star, and two secondary stars whose games compliment the star player. Until Pau Gasol came to the Lakers, the Lakers lacked the inside presence to balance out Kobe's game. Tim Duncan had Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli, with Ginobli being a big game player. Even these same Celtics who beat the Cavs had Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce and now have Rajon Rondo.

Jamison, a broken down O'Neal, Mo Williams, and Anthony Parker obviously aren't the answer. If Danny Ferry has swung and missed while the Celtics and Lakers have been able to make trades that have delivered the right pieces to fit with their stars, does LeBron continue to trust the brass?

Many people think LeBron goes back to Cleveland simply because it's his home town. But with the way free agency can break out, why wouldn't he just wait and see where some of the pieces fall? If he wants to play with a big man, wouldn't it be a good idea to see where Amar'e goes? If he wants a Robin to his Batman, wouldn't it be smart to see where Joe Johnson goes?

I don't think he's necessarily packing his bags and leaving Cleveland. I think he's waiting to see what they can go out and get for him. And that's the smart move.

Stephen Curry's Rookie Year Was All That And Then Some

Warriors' rookie point guard Stephen Curry's career started amidst trade rumors.

If you remember back to draft day 2009, his name was being floated in trade talks with the Phoenix Suns in a deal for Amar'e Stoudemire. In fact, many draft prognosticators figured the Warriors drafted Curry for the Suns because they already had a diminutive guard in Monta Ellis.

But the Curry trade never happened. In the end, it was probably for the better. Amar'e's a soon to be a free agent and while he would've made the Warriors' better record-wise this year, they wouldn't have been able to sign him and we would've been back at square one. You may say that the Warriors always seem to be at square one. But I'd argue that point guards like Curry aren't a dime a dozen. He has a chance to be special. Win one for the Warriors?

If you look at Curry's year-long stats, they look good, but not superb. Over 17 points a game and nearly 6 assists is nothing to sniff at, but those numbers don't knock your socks off. If you dig deeper, you'll find that he had a gem of a season. To really see Curry's growth not only as a scorer, but also a distributor, you have to look at his monthly splits.

In his first full month in the league, he was averaging roughly 10 points a game and 5 and a half assists a game. Stephen Jackson was also on this team. Wow, that seems like eons ago.

In December, you notice an upward tick in his play, but in January he really seemed to blossom. In the month of January, he averaged just over 19 points a game and 5 assists, but his shooting was spectacular. He shot 48% from the field, 89% from the free throw stripe, and 49% from the three point line.

His next two months were very consistent, and then in April, he exploded again. Some of the explosion could be attributed to Monta Ellis being off the court just as much as he was on it, but I see it as a sign of maturity that was forced upon a young player. When Ellis was out, Curry was able to change his role of second banana into being the alpha dog on the court. In eight games in April, he averaged 26 points a game and over 8 assists along with 6 rebounds. Those numbers are near LeBron-like.

It's obvious that statistics don't tell the whole story and Curry does play in an uptempo system. But Steve Nash does too, and has been knocked similarly, but who wouldn't want Steve Nash on their team? Curry will probably never be a great defender unless he adds some size and just works doggedly at it. But he can shoot, distribute, and has a knack for making the right play at the right time. He didn't take care of the basketball as well as he should've, but you can also blame some of that on the uptempo system.

The Warriors have such an unpredictable air about them because of the current ownership situation and decisions about the team and coaching staff probably won't be made until the sale occurs. It's hard to gauge what they'll do with their team. But after this season, one thing is certain; Stephen Curry can play and this franchise has a better outlook because of him.

Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals Is Riveting

I grew up smack dab in the middle of the NBA's renaissance in the mid-80s. It was lead by two superstars who couldn't have been more culturally different, yet seemed to be created out of the same fiber.

When I started to watch basketball there were three big stars. Dr. J was in the latter stages of his career, but his posters were still everywhere. And then there were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

I'll admit that I didn't like Larry Bird all that much growing up. He didn't smile. He was slow. He didn't dunk creatively. And his dang teams always won. My friends and I called him "Big Nose" Bird.

Magic on the other hand looked like he was having a great time on the court. He was cool, slick, and win or lose, you knew the basketball court was the number one place in his life.

They'd eventually cross paths time and time again throughout their careers and even after they stopped playing. When looking back at the history of the NBA, you'll see Johnson, Earvin and Bird, Larry side-by-side. They're like peanut butter and jelly.

I think that most of us born during that time frame will admit that the NBA is where it is today thanks in-part to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry. Though Michael Jordan came soon thereafter and transcended the sport even further, the league is not taken out of the tape delay doldrums of the early 80s without the two icons.

Ezra Edelman's HBO documentary Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals gets every feeling right. Going back to when I said that I didn't like Bird, those feelings were front and center at the start of the documentary. I was watching it with my kids and early on, and my youngest admitted to not liking Bird either without any prompting.

Edelman had the perfect story to tell. One player is affable and kind when the cameras are on. The other's hair is unkempt and he looks like a cold-blooded killer. Yet, when the camera is off, the roles change.

Magic Johnson admits that when he was able to be Earvin, he was the greatest guy in the world. But once he was Magic, he was intense, competitive, and he had an affinity for too many things, including sex. Larry admitted that being an unfriendly player on the court was calculated. He wanted every edge possible. He didn't like Magic, but he liked Magic being there. Magic was someone he could compare himself to night in and night out. He would wake up in the morning to read what Magic and Lakers did in the newspaper. He could use Magic to pump himself up and push himself to go higher.

(Check out the video clip I added in which they talk about their dislike for each other: http://www.fanbase.com/video/3884.)

When I was younger, I figured the Lakers and Celtics played each other in every NBA Finals of the 1980s. It was really only three, and for whatever reason, I remember them well. I remember Magic being one of the main reasons that the Celtics won the championship in the 1984-1985 championship. He made a few crucial errors that Larry and company capitalized on and swung the series to the Celts. He had to pay for it in the off-season. It was an off-season in which he says was the first time in his life he'd ever been depressed.

The Lakers would win the next two times they battled in the Finals, and Magic would gain the respect back by hitting a baby hook as the clock ran out to win one of those games. After being "Tragic" Johnson, he was officially Magic again.

Those three finals gave me some of the best back and forth basketball I'd ever seen. Jordan would one-up them both in the 90s and become the greatest ever. But he never had a foe. He never had a Larry or Magic to stand toe-to-toe with him. He didn't have a Frazier to his Ali. Larry and Magic had that.

Even though I love the basketball scenes and reflecting on how great the league was when I was a child, I think my favorite part of the documentary is when their careers were coming to an end. Larry's back injury caused an early end to his career. Watching him suffer made my back stiff as I was watching. I knew it was bad, but still, it was painful to watch.

And who doesn't remember where they were when Magic announced that he had acquired HIV? I was in study hall with the rest of the players on the varsity and JV basketball team and the varsity head coach came in and said what happened and that it's now more important than ever to practice safe sex. I think most of us were astonished, but you had to be cool in study hall and not too long there after, people were cracking jokes.

I'd heard an interview with Edelman and he said that he shot a lot of long interviews with people close to Larry Bird because he was afraid that he wouldn't get an interview with Larry himself. And even if he did get one, he didn't think it'd be good. But for whatever reason, Bird brought it. He looked uncomfortable, but he spoke from the heart and he didn't mince words. He didn't like Magic. Didn't want to hang out with him after games even if Magic thought they'd grown closer. Even today, their relationship is built on competition and respect. They don't see each other often because they don't have to.

The most touching part of the entire documentary was when Magic announced he had acquired HIV. His own buddy Isiah Thomas questioned his sexuality which frustrated him. Larry called him to let him know he'd be there for him and that it would be ok. Magic couldn't play anymore and that hurt Magic. But it also hurt Larry because he didn't have anyone's box score to read to push him any more.

Go out of your way to see the film. These men were the best basketball players on the face of the earth in the 80s and we as fans were so lucky they were connected like they were.

After the movie was over, my youngest son told me, "I didn't like Larry Bird at the beginning, but at the end, he was a good guy."

LeBron James - More Than A Game Movie Review

Last name ever
First name greatest
Like a sprained ankle boy
I ain't nothing to play with

Those are Drake's first lines in his single Forever from the More Than A Game soundtrack, but if LeBron James continues to dominate the NBA (and win a few championships), he may simply be known as "greatest ever".

More Than A Game is a documentary by filmmaker Kris Belman, whose IMDB page is very light on the resume. The film follows LeBron James and his friends, all from Akron, Ohio, as they rise from middle school hoop dynamos all the way until their high school graduation. James is one of the two main focuses, but his teammates and best friends Dru, Romeo, Sian, and Willie are there in full force as well.

The other main focus of the film is the father of Dru Joyce III, Dru Joyce II who was their AAU coach as youngsters and stepped into being their high school coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary after their original coach stepped down. His calming and teacher-like influence on the kids allows them to reach the apex of their potential.

From 2000 through 2003, St. Vincent-St. Mary won the state basketball championship three times, losing only in James' junior year. Even as a fourteen year old freshman, James was spectacular and simply looked and played like a skinnier version of his current self. It is amazing to see him grow up through the four years and improve his game, change his demeanor and really embrace his superstar status.

Hoops Dreams this is not. The idea wasn't to see the struggles of these five young men. It was to show their successes. It is a story that is almost written too perfectly if it weren't a true one.

There are two conflicts that send the team into confusion. One is with James and that's the one everyone remembers. How could James and his mother afford a Hummer? How could James afford all those shoes? But the other surrounds Sian who has to decide between possibly ruining their historic senior year run, or playing in a high school football All-Star game which would help him in the sport he loves best.

The best part of the documentary isn't necessarily the story. It's the footage that is used to back up the story. There is tons of footage of these five kids from middle school and up, and great footage of their senior year championship run, mostly because many of these games were shown on ESPN. By then, LeBron was already deemed as "The Chosen One" by Sports Illustrated and the most anticipated basketball player entering the NBA in years and years.

The early footage is of the hand held variety, but that helps the progression of the story. Early on, these kids aren't stars. Only their parents have footage of them. But by the end, ESPN is putting them on their network. It's quite the rise.

I did learn something about James from the film. When he came into the NBA straight out of high school, there was worry that by having a "posse", it could hurt him like it's hurt many players before. You keep friends around by paying for their living to simply hang out with you. If it could make MC Hammer broke, it could make LeBron James broke. But after watching this film, his "posse" is truly his family. He has a very close relationship with his mother, who raised him by herself, but his friends give him support and keep him secure. It's mentioned a few times in the film that because he didn't really have much family, he always wanted people around him. Those are his boys.

It's not a glorified "LeBron James is great piece" much like Spike Lee's Kobe Doin' Work was for Kobe Bryant. But you're not going to see deep into LeBron's psyche either. The story of five kids who grew up playing ball together and eventually became one of the greatest high school basketball teams of all-time is compelling enough.