Consolation Prize

I was really hoping for an Andris Biedrins / Pau Gasol split screen commercial, but I guess this will do…

Baron vs. Zohan

Sit Your A** Down!

Though I didn’t get to see the game last night, I did get to see this video that is going around the web. In it, Paul Pierce wraps up Lebron James who is going for a lay up and Lebron’s mom gets very animated.

Look at what he says to moms.

Alexander The Great

by Mystery Cow

interestingly enough, there’s a dictionary listing for “brouhaha” but not one for “sasha”. the closest thing is “sashay” which is fitting since Mr. Vujacic seems to “sashay” back up court while fixing his luscious locks. with Denver it was Luke, now it’s Deus Ex Machina hurting them in Mormon-Land.

it’s easy enough to crow about the last two wins, but i sense a disturbance in the force. bad jujus are upon us, something wicked this way cometh. here’s a neat stat: Utah has lost a total of only FOUR times at home. while the Lakes were one of the FOUR, without Le Bestia i might add, the math still looks scary. even scarier in print. ekk. both games were won by double digits, BUT (and it’s a big “but”) those pesky Jazz flat out refused to go away into the cold, dark night. they stayed competitive till the very end with nary a nill of give up. that’s something that mayhaps bite the Lakes in the city near a Salt Lake where a rowdy crowd might just be enough to inch these Jazz over the hump. scary times indeed. you know what else was scary? sports talk radio today was all aflutter with thoughts of parade. IT IS WAY TOO SOON to even think about parades! that last time i was hearing this type of nonsense over the putrid airwaves was back when the Southland was abuzz with notions of a Clips vs. Lakes second round square off. arg! and we of the faithful know how that sordid story unwrapped in front of our very eyes, oh the horror!

tangent quips time, now to wander over to my feelings over Mamba getting his first MVP award. pure ambivalence. sure i would have been mad as hell if he didn’t get it, but now that he did get it…eh. like with everything in Mamba’s journey, it’s just another quirk that’ll be second guessed ad nauseam. Shaq got one too. now if he ever surpasses The Cap or Magic in hardware…now THAT’s something to get excited about.

back to why the Jazz might win some games. have you seen our defense? no really, have you seen it? the loud cries of “we want Tacos” haven’t been heard late in games at Staples since early April. some guy name Millsap was eating us up inside the box. while the Lakes aren’t noted as clog the lane defenders, but Jesus Maria! Millsap?!?!? this concerns me, here’s another thing that’ll only exponentially become a positive factor in formerly said rowdy crowd in the city near the Salt Lake. also, did you see how Deron absolutely had his way with Jordi Farms in the third quarter? he still hasn’t called the morning after to thank him for such a nice evening out. it’s customary for a guy to call up a girl after a great date. yeah, i know it’s a bad joke when you have to explain it. that’s how bad Jordi’s d-fense was. the you have to explain it after bad type. bad times are brewing. of all this, the scariest omen might be the latest weather report. there be snow up on them Utah mountains. do we remember the last time Vlad Rad was in Utah and there was snow up on them Utah mountains?

if Sloan, AK47, Deron, and Mr. Stabs-a-blind-man-in-the-back win one at home it’s not time to panic just yet. i HOPE they win one. while i want them to win game 3 platonically; i kinda hope deep, way back in the rear, next to the shallowest and darkest part of my mind that they get a loss out of the way. preferably game 4 with the series going back to LaLa. why for this wish? so no added pressure to this already combustible group of guys. seriously, i haven’t seen a group of guys complain about being fouled so much ever since a guy named Shaq used to play for us and complained about being hacked on each play. which he did, you know, get hacked.

but this guy, this gritty kid from the streets of Harlem, this guy is MONEY under pressure.

Basketball Blog - Celtics vs. Hawks Game 7 - Anything Can Happen

I haven’t been able to pay close attention to this series, but I have paid enough attention to see that the underdog Atlanta Hawks, this year’s version of last year’s Golden State Warriors, are playing out of their minds, and the Boston Celtics are letting them. You’d think that the Celtics, the team with the best record in the league, a team that I picked to win it all, wouldn’t allow the upstart Hawks to set the tone and pace of the game and outwork them.

Kevin Garnett has a reputation of not being a big game player. He’s not the guy who takes the last shot to win the game. And after game six, he did nothing to shake that reputation. The defining moment of the game was on the last shot. Rajan Rondo was desperately trying to find someone to hit the open three to tie the game. It could’ve been KG’s Tim Duncan moment. But Rondo ended up taking a flailing three pointer that didn’t even graze the rim.

He is a great team player, but late in the game, team players can become invisible. At 7 feet tall, he’s not exactly the guy who can do what Lebron and Kobe can do at the end of the game. He’s not going to play isolation with the ball at the top of the key. But late in a game, Hakeem Olajuwon wasn’t going to continually pass the ball out. He was going to the bucket. Someone was going to get dream shook. This has to be KG’s moment. If he’s going to be able to stake his claim as one of the best players in the league, the Celtics have to win this game and he has to have a big one.

(I will update this post after every quarter.)

First Quarter

So far so good for the Celtics. They are contesting shots and the Hawks are shooting a terrible percentage in the first quarter. Paul Pierce is taking control offensively. KG only has 4 points, but he pulled 5 boards.

Second Quarter

Total domination for the Celtics in the second quarter. I believe Atlanta only scored 10 points in the quarter and have only 26 for the half. Joe Johnson has 12 of them. KG and Paul Pierce have 10 each and KG on 5-7 shooting. Celtics up 44-26 at the half.

Third Quarter

Scary moment early in the quarter. Rondo was going up for an uncontested lay-up and Marvin Williams basically clotheslined him. Flagrant foul. He’s out of the game.

I really had no clue that PJ Brown was still in the league. And give it up for Leon Powe. I’m glad to see that he’s been able to fit in with Boston. He had a superb career at Cal.

Maybe the most interesting part of the third quarter was a back and forth between the announcers. Mike Breen playfully called Marc Jackson, “Action Jackson”. Marc deadpans back, “Hey man, I’m a grown man, call me Marc.” Then Jeff Van Gundy says something about him asking Marc what his middle name was last week, and Marc said it was “Action”.

Celtics are killing them 79-43. Will Atlanta even get to 60?

Fourth Quarter

The Hawks did get over 60 points and Boston didn’t get to 100. But it was still much of the same. Boston wins 99-65 and now have to face Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. If Phoenix vs. San Antonio was a must see first round match-up, this is the must see second round match-up.

PS

I was probably watching the Giants game when this happened. Kind of a cheap shot there KG.

 

Basketball Blog - Schadenfreude

By Albert:

Luke Walton is constant. Luke Walton will suck, but Luke suck balls for the whole season. He’s constant. How bad was the Nuggets’ D? It elevated Luke’s game into “X-factor” territory, whatever that means. Don’t get me wrong, I like Luke. Just not as much as Willy in Vegas who thinks each year IS his year and deserves the MVP because of his deft passing and amazing court instincts. Plus Luke gets extra points for owning a BBQ restaurant 7 minutes away from where I reside.

My omnipotent forecast before the Dance began was Fo’, Fo’, Fo’. I stick by it, but I will add some expanded coverage. We’ll see Chris Paul (assface) in the Conference Finals. In the end, we’ll play the Magic for the Chip. Yeah, I said it. The Celtics will not represent the East. They’ll get by the Hawks…barely, but Bron will rise only to loose to the Man-Beast that is Dwight Howard.

Still don’t believe me that Paul is an assface? You know what’s worse than getting a “Credit Card” when trying to box someone out for a rebound? Having someone ask you what the capital to Thailand is.

My Take On The East

By Young Randall:

NBA’s JV League

 

Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  It seems like the Eastern Conference Playoffs are trying to show that their side of the bracket can be entertaining in the first round.  Series that seemingly were no brainer picks are quickly turning into interesting series.  The only series that was supposed to be somewhat interesting (and the only one I picked the lower seed to win in) was the Wizards and Cavaliers.  One, because of the LeBron James factor, and two, because of Deshawn Stevenson’s big mouth.  Well that series is now at 3-1 with Cleveland in command.

 

 

As of last night the biggest surprise of the series has to be the Atlanta Hawks.  Who would have thought after four games this series would have been even?  I thought it would be over in four and the Celtics are wondering what the hell just happened.  Doc Rivers had to tell his team in the locker room that they have to “make it happen” when they get back to Boston.  Make it happen?  This is the number one seed in the East and had an .800 winning percentage.  Make it happen?  I guess Boston thought they were just going to roll on Atlanta because they are The Celtics.  I expect this to be a huge wake up call for K.G. and company and they will close out the series in the next two games (which will take two weeks).  They will not be the Mavericks of this year.

 

 

 

 

The other big surprise is the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers are even with the playoff hardened Detroit Pistons after four games and they do not look afraid to go toe to toe with this Detroit. And they are doing it with their leading scorer, Andre Iguodala, averaging 10 points. Nine points below his season average. AI 2 is also shooting a measly 22% from the field. Eddy Zucko could go out and shoot 22% blindfolded. Philly has been lead by Andre Miller, Louis Williams, and Samuel Dalembert. They are all averaging double figures and shooting decent to good from the field (led by Miller’s 53%). But Philly is matching Detroit’s defense, holding the Pistons to under 90 points per game. While Detroit is matching this proficiency, Philly is giving themselves a chance late in games, and against a seemingly superior opponent, it gives them confidence that they can beat the Pistons. And they have come through twice. This series may well go 7 and at this point I would not be surprised if the Sixers pull it out. But I think Detroit will win in 7.

 

As for the other two series, I’ll let Eddy handle the Cleveland side show, and Orlando handled Toronto in 5 (which I predicted) with Dwight Howard asserting his dominance on and overmatched Toronto front line.  As the kids would say “Dwight Howard is a BEAST!”  Howard went for 20 points and 20 rebounds in 3 of the 5 games of the series.  If that is not dominance I don’t know what is.  I would be not want to be Detroit or Philadelphia who have to face Orlando in the second round. 

 

 

Damn I wish I could change my East Finals pick.

WITNESS: TAKE 2

By Eddy Zucko:

We all witnessed Lebron’s magical run to the NBA Finals last year. Well magical, until he ran into the Spurs. So the question in Cleveland is, can Lebron do it again? His team is supposed to be better, faster, stronger than they were last season. Making the big trade for Big Ben Wallace. Adding Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West for some much needed outside shooting. And getting a former #1 draft pick in Joe Smith as a throw in, in that trade. All they had to give up was the inconsistency of Larry Hughes and the beard of Drew Gooden. So are they better? Well no one has dropped faster from his all star status than Big Ben (expect maybe Zito). And the 3 other guys were all pretty much non factors as Cleveland limped into the playoffs with a record of 45-37. A record that would of kept them out of the playoffs in the west, but good enough for a #4 seed in the east. Sorry Warrior fans.

The playoffs began on Saturday with Cleveland and Washington up first. Lebron and co. playing a Washington team that got to the playoffs without the services of Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler for most of the season. But now both are back and for the first time all season, Washington has it’s full lineup at 100%. Which has most NBA analyst taking Washington to come out of this series. Trouble for Cleveland right? Well bring in Deshawn Stevenson, most famous for being accused for having intercourse with a 14 year old girl when he was 20.  Deshawn did the one thing you don’t do to Lebron, he called him out. He called Lebron overrated. Which Lebron replied back by comparing Deshawn to Soulja Boy. As in he’s a one hit wonder. Which begs the question, “Deshawn had a hit?” Lebron’s not really the Rock when it comes to snappy comebacks. So he let his game speak for himself. To the tune of 32 pts, 6 rebs, 4 ast and a Cleveland win. Things were a little testy in the beginning of the game. A couple technicals were handed out in the first half in a very closely contested game. But second half belonged to Lebron, scoring 20 of those 32 pts, mostly on uncontested layups. Washington kept it close, but in the end it was Cleveland 1, Washington 0. Deshawn by the way was 1 for 9 from the field and had a total of 3 pts. He should really leave the trash talking to people who can back it up.