Game Time - The Warriors Invade Cleveland

All of this talk about where LeBron will land in 2010 is getting pretty annoying. Don't people know that Cleveland has the type of team that can win a championship today? Doesn't LeBron know this? LeBron needs to table all the talk about 2010 and focus on the task at hand because the boys in Boston aren't going to give up the mantle easily.

I'm with Chuck.

If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up. I'm a big LeBron fan. He's a stud. You gotta give him his props. I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years. I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers.

Word.

The Warriors come to town and though they played Boston very well on Wednesday, this team is a frenetic mess. Jamal Crawford only adds to that. At least they're exciting.

1st Quarter

12:00 - I'm terribly annoyed that I can't watch this game in HD.

10:35 - Brandan Wright is starting again and blocked a shot, ran the floor, and got a dunk. Hopefully he continues to get a shot.

10:00 - I've known guys named Diante (I think that's my little cousin's name), Dante (also spelled Donte), and Kiante but I've never met a Delonte. He just missed a three.

9:11 - After Andris blocked Zydrunas' shot, Stephen Jackson tried to get the ball and jammed his finger. He's out of the game.

7:16 - Ben Wallace shoots his free throws like Purvis Short used to shoot jump shots. He tries to bring down rain. And missed them both.

6:12 - Mo Williams blocked Jamal Crawford's jumper and then hit one of his own. Warriors up 21-15. I just heard a Ric Flair, "Woooooo!" This isn't Charlotte.

5:30 - LeBron dunked in his first of what will probably be many alley-oops. Don't fake the funk on the nasty dunk.

4:25 - Boobie Gibson just missed a three. Sorry, I just wanted to type Boobie Gibson.

2:40 - Put back dunk by LeBron. He's just so much bigger and stronger than everyone else. It's not fair. I thought Corey Maggette was strong. LeBron poses on Corey.

:56 - A Wally Szczerbiak put back? You have to work hard to let him get an offensive rebound. And what kind of spelling puts z-c-z back to back to back? We'll call him Wally for the rest of the game.

:09 - Jamal Crawford hit a three and was fouled, but can't complete the four point play. He's a gunner and fits in perfectly with this rag tag team. But he needs to drive to the bucket if he wants to make a difference. Warriors up 32-29.

2nd Quarter

11:36 - Is there really a need to play the instrumental to I Got Five On It during a Cavs offensive set? Are they trying to get people to just smoke weed in the arena?

10:44 - Hey, Anthony Morrow hit an open jumper. Remember just a couple of weeks ago when Warriors fans thought they had a starting two guard? Well, he didn't even play against Boston.

10:36 - Did you know that LBJ is only one inch shorter than Big Ben but outweighs him by five pounds?

10:05 - Kelenna Azubuike is having a pretty good game so far. I don't get the pronunciation of his last name though. The announcers say it's a-zuh-bookie. It looks like a-zuh-bweek-ay. Doesn't it?

8:50 - LeBron's fingernails must grow at an amazing speed because he chews on them like he's looking for the tootsie roll center.

6:39 - When they throw the ball into Stephen Jackson, it's like throwing it into a black hole. You know how when Mike Jordan would get the ball, he'd turn, dribble a couple times before launching a beautiful fade away? Well that's just like Jackson except he doesn't make fade aways.

6:09 - LeBron just got a break away double pump tomahawk dunk. Cavs up 42-41.

5:35 - He just knifed through the lane and threw it down again. Who is he? Do I even have to tell you?

2:48 - Zydrunas beat Andris down the court. Andris must be either tired or dead.

1:48 - After missing outside shot after outside shot after outside shot, Jamal Crawford's brain finally told him to go to the hole. And finally, he made a shot.

1:14 - LBJ for three. Why not? He's making everything else.

1:00 - CJ Watson with the elbow pad just hit a jumper. He can probably throw a mean bionic elbow with that thing.

:00 - LeBron got the rebound with four seconds left in the half, drove all the way down court, and if he didn't get trip, he would've probably dunked that one too. 58-52 Cavs at the half.


3rd Quarter

12:00 - Anthony Randolph starts for Brandan Wright. I guess the Warriors needed to go skinnier.

9:10 - Zydrunas traps at the top for some reason. Either that or he just couldn't get down court fast enough and decided to pretend.

8:00 - Maggette shoots a fade away 20 footer that missed the rim by about 3 feet. It's no wonder that Cleveland is up by 10.

5:59 - Ronny Turiaf thugged Zydrunas a bit and Zydrunas became very angry with him. What was funny about it is that it was Zydrunas who elbowed Turiaf in the throat. Zydrunas turned to Turiaf to yell some expletives at him but Turiaf couldn't say anything because he was trying to breathe.

4:32 - Maggette grabbed a rebound, jumped and hung in the air beautifully, but overshot the rim by two feet and now has three air balls. At least it looked pretty before he shot it.

3:03 - LeBron just hit his second three pointer in a row and the Cavs are now up by twenty points. I think you might be able to count the number of shots he's missed on one hand.

1:34 - Black Hole Jackson got to the hoop, put it up left handed and yelled, "And one!" The problem was that he not only didn't get the call, but he missed the shot. I think you have to wait until you make a shot before you can call that.

1:02 - LBJ found Anderson Varejao for a bucket and I think the song that came out of the speakers was Maniac from Flashdance. Is it because with his curly mane flopping over the top of his headband that Varejao looks like Jennifer Beals?

4th Quarter

12:00 - The Cavs outscored the Warriors 36-16 in the third quarter. I have a feeling we're going to see the youngsters for both teams.

11:39 - Brandan Wright just scored and was fouled. Announcer Bob Fitzgerald noted that all the young players were on the court and that it could be fun. Fun for whom? I used to screen calls for Bob back in my younger days at KNBR.

7:05 - How about this for a random CJ Watson stat? He's six for six shooting tonight and is ten for his last ten.

6:02 - Hey, Rob Kurz is in the game.

5:40 - Hey, Rob Kurz made a shot.

5:25 - The sound guy decided to play the music from Beverly Hills Cop for no reason whatsoever.

4:44 - This was immediately followed by the instrumental to Jay-Z's Encore. You're far too kind, far too kind.

4:44 - CJ doesn't miss free throws either. He just made two to cut the lead to 21.

3:14 - CJ just missed a shot. And here I was ready to call him the next great Warrior.

1:00 - It wouldn't surprise me if the sound guy was a real DJ. He just played Grindin' by the Clipse.

0:00 - The Warriors brought the deficit down to 15, but still lost 112-97.

LeBron photos by Scott Ableman and ben_lei and shared via creative commons

The Warriors Finally Trade Al Harrington

The big news out of Warriors land is that Al Harrington is no longer a member of the Golden State Warriors. It is well known around the Bay Area that Harrington isn't really a Don Nelson guy and he knows it. He made it public that he didn't want to be on the team. Nellie was quoted as saying that he thinks he's better than he is.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

ESPN.com reported that the Warriors and the New York Knicks have agreed in principle to a deal in which the Warriors would send Harrington in return for Jamal Crawford.

According to Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie, this deal helps the Knicks get all their contracts set up to clear by 2010, when they are expected to make a huge push to get LeBron James. GM Donnie Walsh also drafted and then later traded for Harrington, so he seems to be high on him.

I have mixed feelings about the deal. Crawford is more of a shooting guard in my mind, and the Warriors are waiting to get their star shooting guard back from injury in another couple months. Crawford is scoring nearly 20 points a game this season, which will definitely help the Warriors in the scoring department. The Warriors have had to turn to undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow for offense of late because of the lack of scoring from the back court. But what happens when Monta comes back? Crawford and Ellis play the same position and are both better shooting guards who will be asked to play point guard. Crawford likes to shoot the long ball more, while Monta likes the shoot the mid range jumper and go to the hole more. I'm not sure they can really co-exist on the court at the same time, but if Crawford was a 6th man, I could see Don Nelson putting together some interesting lineups. Also, Crawford can shoot the three, which the Warriors don't do very well outside of Morrow.

Right now, it looks like a good fit for the Warriors. I just worry about what happens when Monta comes back.

Photo by ssshupe and shared via creative commons

Last Night's Run - I See Promise

Can the Warriors get Gerald Wallace?
Before I get to last night's game, there was an article written yesterday that put a twinkle in Warriors fans' eyes.

The Sporting Blog talked about a potential trade which would net the Warriors Gerald Wallace and get rid of Al Harrington. Too good to be true? Probably.

Wallace would thrive in Oakland and give me a national holiday, while opening up PT for Brandan Wright. Al Harrington is kind of a bum, but he's also a 6'9" jump-shooter, which means on some basic level he'd fit with D'Antoni. And that buzz has been there for a minute.

But then not too soon thereafter, Tim Kawakami broke my heart worse than Hulk Hogan.

There’s a temporary–and perhaps serious–wrench in Al Harrington trade speculation:

His agent, Dan Fegan, says that Harrington has been nursing a back injury since late last month and that Harrington is scheduled for an MRI later today.

I'm still slobbering myself at the idea that we could get Gerald Wallace. But I won't believe it until I see it.

Warriors lose to the Grizzlies again
Rarely would I ever be in a good mood after the Warriors lost twice to the Memphis Grizzlies in one week. But after last night's ball game, while I was disappointed that they couldn't pull it out, I liked what I saw. They are still a Monta Ellis away from really competing at any decent level, but there was some young talent on that court last night. Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, and Andris Biedrins give the Warriors a long set of legs and arms to seemingly challenge any shot on defense, and dunk back any miss on offense. And though I've stated before that I'm not the biggest Jack fan when it comes to him controlling the offense and being the money guy, no one plays harder. While you cringe when he takes the "I have a dream" three pointer, you give him the benefit of the doubt because he plays so hard, guards the best perimeter player, and owns up to his mistakes.

We didn't play hard enough. Down the stretch I am the leader of the team, so I've got to be smarter and can't give up a wide open three to their best player at the end of the game.

They still have this logjam of odd guards trying to find time on the court. DeMarcus Nelson fits much better as a swingman coming off the bench for defensive purposes. CJ Watson looks like a decent back up point guard who can come in and spot up for jumpers. I'm not sure what Marcus Williams is quite yet, but at least Nellie let him on the floor.

If we can't get someone like Wallace, I'm not opposed to trying to bring in a starting point guard in a trade for Harrington. I actually like Ellis better as a two guard and it would allow Corey Maggette to come off the bench, where I think he'd excel.

More from last night
Devin Harris spoils AI's Detroit debut.
But Chauncey's homecoming goes a lot better.
The Hawks are 4-0. Where's Dominique Wilkins?
The Bobcats upset the Hornets. J-Rich and Raymond Felton each go for 20.

Blame It On The Boogie

Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the moonlight
Don't blame it on good times
Blame it on the boogie.

Tim Kawakami wrote in his blog today that Monta Ellis might be close to telling the Warriors to either love him, or leave him alone.

If he feels his recovery is coming along, Ellis could say by mid-December: Either void my deal or trade me, your choice, because I’m never playing for a franchise that would do this to me after I admitted my mistake and was ready to accept singular punishment.

That Ellis judgement is a very live possibility.

And there are teams that would take Ellis, if his deal was voided (basically, a release) or if the Warriors shopped him for trade.

I understand why the Warriors would feel like they were lied to. Well, because they were lied to. I understand that contracts have clauses and you're not supposed to do things that you are forbidden to do in your contract. That's all gravy. But 22 year old people make mistakes. Where's the forgiveness? Because the fans have already forgiven Monta. Why haven't the Warriors? And at what point do they push too hard and alienate him from the team?

What's frustrating from a Warriors fan perspective is that the franchise was back. We believed right? Even though they didn't make the playoffs last year, they had an excellent season for Warriors standards. We wanted them to resign Baron. If they couldn't resign Baron, we thought someone like Elton Brand could be good. Our eyes twinkled slightly at Josh Smith. We settled for Corey Maggette, knowing that we'd get Monta and Andris back. And now, you're telling us that we might not get Monta back and if we do, there's a possibility that he's going to be unhappy. It's far too reminiscent of Chris Webber, Latrell Sprewell, Joe Smith, and Gilbert Arenas. I thought we were moving forward, not backward.

So I came to this conclusion. Let's work together. Let's stop doing things that set the franchise back.

Warriors' brass, don't blame it on Monta.

Monta, don't blame it on the Warriors' brass.

Make up. Live happily ever after. You need each other. If you need someone to blame it on.

Do like Michael said. Blame it on the boogie.

Last Night's Run - The Rims Get Small

The Warriors can't shoot
It was one of those games. But it wasn't supposed to be one of those games. It was supposed to be high scoring, up and down, not fundamental, and wild and crazy. But it was none of those things. It was one of those games. It was one of those games where the home team plays a bit harder than the other, even if there were tons of fans dressed like seats in the arena. It was one of those games where one team simply couldn't make an outside shot so instead of taking things to the bucket and getting closer, they just kept shooting outside shots. Because you know, the percentages should even out right? How's this for shooting?

Bad Shooter	FGM	FGA
S. Jackson	6	21
C. Maggette	4	16
A. Harrington	3	15
T. Hardaway	0	17

I know, Timmy didn't play tonight even though if he did, it would've been an improvement. But the reason I put Timmy there is because if you remember that game, the Warriors still won even though Timmy couldn't find the broad side of the barn. Why? Because he was only one player. Chris Mullin was able to bail him out and the Warriors won. Here, when you have three guys who feel the need to chuck up shots without much success, it's detrimental to the team. At least Andris Biedrins came to play as he scored 14 and pulled 22 boards. Also, we had an Anthony Randolph sighting for one minute.



Marc Gasol, Pau's angry little brother, was the only player for Memphis to really play well, at least offensively. He went for 27 and 16 and looked smooth and rough at the same time, if that makes any sense.

OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay both went 6-13 shooting and neither got to the free throw line so Gay still leads Mayo by a large margin in shots taken.

I almost forgot. The Grizz won 90-79.

More on Iverson for Billups
Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie has a really good recap of why this trade is much better for Denver than Detroit.

Detroit's taking another chance, and though there's the possibility the team might whiff in free agency, it hardly matters. They've cleared cap space and developed even more options. If nothing happens this summer, then they can run the kids for a year before trying to clamp down on the 2010 free agent market. After all, only Tayshaun Prince ($11.1 million), Jason Maxiell (reportedly about $5 million), and the backcourt tandem of Stuckey and Aaron Afflalo (combined to make $4.7 million) will be on the books that summer.

Nobody, not even Joe Dumars or Iverson himself, will be able to anticipate what sort of impact his presence will have on this year's Pistons team. AI's game is that unique. But given the far-reaching implications of what this deal could do for Detroit, again, it hardly matters in the long run.

Geoff Lepper says that Denver might've received some short term cap relief, it won't help that much in the long run.

The Nuggets save some $8 million in the short term; Billups ($11.1 million) and McDyess ($6.8) represent more than $4 million in savings over Iverson's cost ($21.9 million), which is doubled because the Nuggets are — even with this cost-cutting move - slated to go several million over this season's luxury-tax threshold of $71.15 million.

The deal could get even sweeter if the team is able to negotiate a favorable buyout with McDyess, who reportedly won’t play anywhere but Detroit.

But unlike Iverson and his soon-to-expire deal, Billups is on the books for another $25.2 million in '09-'10 and '10-'11 combined (there's also a player option for $14.2 million in '11-'12) and McDyess - unless a buyout is reached - will pull down $6.8 million next season.

So, in exchange for some short-term relief, the Nuggets have cast their lot with a 32-year-old point guard who has never led an up-tempo attack before in his life.

Tim Kawakami says that Denver got better, even if it doesn't make them a lot better.

The Nuggets aren't good enough to challenge in the West, but the Nuggets weren't going anywhere with AI and, in their spot, desperately needing new talent around Carmelo Anthony, it’s probably better to add Billups and his longer money than it is to let AI walk away next summer just to save some cash.

If I have this right, since the summer, Denver basically has traded Marcus Camby (given away a few months ago for cash purposes) and Iverson for Billups and McDyess plus some extra salary savings to use on Linas Kleiza's new deal and maybe some other things.

Again, nothing spectacular, but it's better than Denver sitting around and letting that roster atrophy and watching Carmelo get nasty and pretty soon he's ready to get the heck out.

Kobe Goes All Out For Guitar Hero

This my favorite TV commercial going. You have an awkward Alex Rodriguez, a goofy Michael Phelps, and a left out Tony Hawk which leaves Kobe Bryant as the most charismatic person in the spot. Where's Ronny Turiaf? Couldn't he have at least chest bumped Kobe at the end?

Joe Dumars Isn't Messing Around

The word around sports websites today is that Allen Iverson is going to Detroit in a trade for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess. Iverson is in the last year of his contract, and TrueHoop says that Joe Dumars' long term vision is to create cap space for next year when guys like Lebron James, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Tyson Chandler, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Redd are going to be free agents.

After Detroit lost to the Boston Celtics in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, Dumars stated that he didn't have any "sacred cows" and then fired coach Flip Saunders less than a week after the series loss.

For Denver, I'm not sure if it makes them all that much better, but it does show that the Iverson/Carmelo Anthony experiment didn't really work. Billups is more of a true point guard and he's a more dependable three point shooter (39% to 31% career wise) but Iverson's overall shooting percentage is higher than Billups'.

Also, the word is that McDyess might choose retirement over going to Denver.

Photo by bronwyn and shared via creative commons

Last Night's Run - Is Jack Really The Guy?

Warriors beat the Nets in New Jersey and I couldn't find it on TV
I was only able to listen to about half of the third quarter last night on KNBR. But my question is why, in this day and age, are there still radio only games? With all the cable channels in the world, why can't I get a Warriors game on TV? Even though New Jersey isn't a sexy pick, I'm sure some Bay Area fans would've wanted to see Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson play with their new team. Lopez had 10 points and 8 rebounds, though fouled out in only 19 minutes of action. Anderson had 12 and 4 in 18 minutes. Compare that to Yi Jianlian who started and didn't even score. After watching two heart breakers, it would've been nice to see what was a fairly easy victory.

Is Jack the guy?
The Merc had a Stephen Jackson quote that I'm struggling with.

I just know I've got to make plays. I've got to be more demanding of the ball to get myself going. I'm 30 years old. I can't just stand there and break a sweat.

Stephen Jackson is really good in his role of being the third option on offense. But the guy? I'm not so sure. He has terrible shot selection, can't really create his own shot, and is much better without the basketball. His role today without Baron Davis and Monta Ellis is that of more importance, but in no way is the type of player who can be the guy on a winning team. I'm all for Jack's attitude and I'm glad that he wants the ball. But he's going to have to change his style of shooting without responsibility in order to lead this team.

Nellie says Al is on the block
Chris Sheridan of ESPN says that Al wants to be traded and he's definitely on the block.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

That quote came from Big Don.

Other news
Joe Johnson has the Hawks 2-0 in the early season.

The Celtics get their first loss while the Lakers are still undefeated.

Derrick Rose had a big game to lead the Bulls over the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay now leads OJ Mayo 67-46 in shot attempts.

Last Night's Run - Warriors Give It Away Again

Warriors give it away
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now



The Warriors might've been listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers before the first two games of the season. If that's the case, I have one request for them. Please stop.

Hornets and Raptors fan could argue that their teams won the games rather than that the Warriors lost them and that's a valid argument. However, it doesn't go with the theme of this post, so I'll stick with my argument.

Nellie went with a much different type of lineup Friday night. It was actually bizarro-Nellie, and on Halloween Night. Rather than go small against Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, and Jermaine O'Neal, he went large to take advantage of Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Jason Kapono. Nellie's best line-up consisted of Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington, Ronny Turiaf, and Andris Biedrins. Defensively, they were tremendous, especially Turiaf. It made me think that he needs to start at the 4 spot, even if they don't go big.

Much like teams without great point guards do, the Warriors turned the ball over in the clutch. Late in the 4th quarter with the lead, they took terrible shots, threw the ball away, fell down with the ball in their hands, and things like that. It seemed that Corey Maggette was the designated go to guy in the 4th, but he didn't work out. Kapono was guarding him and rather than take Kapono to the hole and go to the free throw line, he was setting for jump shots and fade aways. And then when he finally decided to go to the hole, he wasn't getting the calls.

Al Harrington seems to believe that the heavy minutes that the starters are playing is causing them to be tired by the game's end, in what I think seems to be a shot at Nellie.

In the preseason, we weren't playing 40 minutes. Right now we are, so it's something we've got to get used to, get adjusted to, and quick.

The preseason is usually a time where you're resting. It seems like we should have been playing a little bit more so we'd be prepared for now. It's going to take us a couple of games to get adjusted to and then we'll start knocking our shots down in the fourth.

It's a logical statement, but anything he says might seem a little tainted because of this now public feud with Nellie.

New Jack City brings people together
Truehoop has a great story about Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and how there was a tiff between them and they were brought back together because of a trip to Oregon for Nike. During the trip, they watched New Jack City (Odom was also on the trip, but he's a sleeper) together and found out that they were each huge fans of the movie. And then, because they didn't have cell phone reception, they just started talking and worked things out.

With Rodney King's resurgence (he's on Dr. Drew's second season of Celebrity Rehab), I was reminded of this quote. "Can't we just all get along?"

Gay/Mayo Update
Rudy Gay hit a buzzer beater to help his Grizzlies beat the Magic last night. But more importantly, he opened up a huge lead over OJ Mayo in the shots category. He took 26 shots last night to Mayo's 11. He now leads 48-31.

Last Night's Run - Baron Davis Needs The Warriors

Baron Davis needs the Warriors and the Warriors need Baron Davis.
After watching my poor Warriors lose their home opener last night and at the same time seeing that the Clippers were blasted by the Lakers, I came to the conclusion that Baron Davis leaving the Warriors doesn't just hurt the Warriors, it also hurts Baron Davis.

(At least it hurts him on the court. Jay Jay just posted that Baron is now dating Kate Hudson.)

The Warriors some how hung tight with New Orleans last night and did it without having a point guard on the court for most of the night. Rookie DeMarcus Nelson, who isn't even a point guard, started at point guard for the Warriors, but for most of the night Stephen Jackson played the point, and we're not talking point forward. The Warriors played like Mike Martz was coaching them. They were frenetic, crazed, and at times, Stephen Jackson was playing like he took 4 shots of vodka at halftime. With Baron, they would've won the game, and probably easily. Even though Corey Maggette was better than expected, putting up 27 and 8, without anyone to direct that team, they looked like a 33 win team. They desperately need Monta, but it's not like he's a point guard either.

As for Baron, it might be worse. I took one look at the starting lineup that the Clippers rolled out there against the Lakers and man for man, the Warriors were better. I'm not sure how you can win with Tim Thomas starting and Ricky Davis coming off the bench and playing 24 minutes. Baron might've bit off more than he can chew. Marcus Camby was injured, but he's not going to help them put the ball in the hole. Who is going to score for the Clippers other than Baron? Cuttino Mobley is a career 16 ppg scorer, but that's on shooting 43% compared to Monta shooting over 50% last year. Maybe Al Thornton improves on his 16 ppg from his rookie year and maybe Eric Gordon finds a way to get some playing time. But that's a lot of maybes and when your best player is a guy who is oft injured, that's not a good look.

Photo by luzer shared via creative commons

Baron, you and the Warriors need each other. On the Warriors, you regained your status as one of the best point guards in the league. Without them, I'm not sure you can be.

Al Harrington vs. Don Nelson
The Warriors do have more pressing worries though. This won't be like the Chris Webber deal because Al Harrington isn't as good of a player, but it looks pretty ugly.

Geoff Lepper has some quotes from both guys.

From Nellie:

He better play his ass off, don't you think? For us to make a trade for him and get a good player in return, he's going to have to play well. Otherwise, if he doesn't play well, he doesn't get his wish, and I don't get mine by having a good player... You're going to play all you want. You're going to be begging to come out of the game.

From Harrington:

I've heard that before. So I'm just at the point where I want it to be shown to me... I've been the gunslinger before and the guy that could do whatever I wanted to on the floor. And that didn't happen (here). That's why, when he tells me that, I can't jump for joy, because I've heard it before. We'll start tonight and we'll see if that's the truth.

Nellie wins round one. Harrington shot 5-17 in 42 minutes with only 13 points and 7 boards.

Mayo vs. Gay
I stated in my preview that one of the most exciting battles this season would be to see who has the most shot attempts between chuckers OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay. After one game, Rudy leads 22-20. Come on OJ, I got money on you.

The Real Reason Baron Left

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/hudson%20dating%20davis_1085170

What's worse? Owen Wilson's sloppy seconds? Or Teri Hatcher's?

By the way, I'm not bitter....

Hack A Shaq With The Double Thumbs Up

Saw this on Ball Don't Lie and it was too funny to not put up.

Shaq went from frustrated and hurt to happy all in the span of a few seconds.

Last Night's Run - Opening Day

Because of the great invention that is the DVR, I was able to watch last night's double header on TNT early this morning. I mostly stayed away from any spoilers except for a Facebook message by one of my friends that let me know that the Lakers were busting the Blazers asses.

But there were three specific things stood out to me based on the games from last night.

(I didn't see Chicago vs. Milwaukee at all.)

1. The Lakers are better than I thought.
I know, it's only one game and I'm not about to give them the title now, but they played like a well oiled machine. Defensively they were impressive, though some of that could be attributed to the funk that Portland played in as well. This team is for real.

(Photo by rich115.)

2. Boston is still hungry.
I didn't know how they could be, that is, until they got their rings. They didn't play well in the first half but they played lock down defense in the second half, holding the Cavs to 35 points. With the exception of not having James Posey, they look very similar to last year's team and didn't miss a beat.

(This is an awesome story about KG and last year's playoffs.)

3. The Cavs are going to be good... real good.
They're going to figure out how to use Mo Williams. He's going to learn exactly where to spot up and Lebron is going to get him the ball. Though he didn't shoot well (free throws included), Lebron looks upset, kind of like how Jordan did after Detroit kept beating him up. He has an edge to him. They won't lose that kind of game in April.

The Opposite Of Phil

If the Blazers pull 25 offensive rebounds tonight against the Lakers, do you think Phil Jackson will go buck wild like this man?

Al Harrington Wants Out?

According to Tim Kawakami's blog, Al Harrington wants to be traded, and as soon as possible.

What's odd to me is that Harrington's value is in being able to play multiple front line positions in the Warriors' uptempo offense. He's probably far more valuable to a team like the Warriors, than most other teams in the league. But he's also one of those players who people continue to think is going to turn into a breakout star, even though they've been thinking about him like that for years.

I like Al in the Warriors system because he's fairly athletic and can shoot, but he's not the difference in turning a team around.

Also, Bay Area fans have seen this before. Don Nelson can wear on players.

Edit

Geoff Lepper has a story that quotes Harrington and Nelson as saying things are ok.

2008 NBA Season Preview - Monta's Mopeds

I'm not going to go in depth with a 5000 word NBA preview. I'm haven't done far enough research to do that, don't have the stamina for something like that, and I don't want anyone to fall asleep reading this. Thus, I have put together a list of ten for you.

These ten things are the top ten things that I'm looking forward to this upcoming season.

I'm looking forward to ...

Lebron and Mo Williams becoming the next dynamic duo.
Ok, maybe Mo isn't going to set the world on fire. But he does give Lebron a reliable second option (and one who doesn't run like he's on stilts). This has to be the year that Lebron takes Cleveland back to the NBA Finals because, um, he might not be around next year. And then it will be Mo Williams and everyone's favorite Wally Szcerbiak as Cleveland's dynamic duo.

Dwayne Wade upstaging rookie Michael Beasley.
A healthy Dwayne Wade (did you watch the Olympics?) means more to Miami's upcoming season than a Rookie Of The Year type of year from Michael Beasley. If you get both, Miami can contend for the playoffs. But if I were to bet on one, I'd bet Wade. Beasley is talented, but already has that Donyell Marshall vibe to him. Who me worry?

(By the way, I get to take that back if MB goes for 20 and 10 out of the gate. As for Donyell? He will just go back to hanging out with Tom Gugliotta.)

watching Portland early on.
The Blazers come out of the gate with Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez, Jerryd Bayless, Steve Blake, and Ike Diogu - sorry, I had to get in another ex-Warriors player. To me, they are the single most intriguing team all year long. How's Oden going to do in his rookie year after last year's injury? Is Brandon Roy ready to lead these guys to the playoffs? Is Rudy Fernandez going to continue opening eyeballs (did you watch the Olympics?)? Here's hoping Ike gets some run.

seeing if OJ Mayo can back up the hype.
I think he'll struggle early on, but have a solid second half, and probably the best last month of all the rookies. But what might be the most exciting competition on the Grizzlies is to see who chucks up more shots between Mayo and Rudy Gay.

hoping that Kobe Bryant has a great year.
The odds are against him according to Bill Simmons. But I think Kobe is a different breed. Even after playing all the way into the NBA Finals and the Summer Olympics, I don't think Kobe wants to do anything else other than play more basketball. If he stays healthy, I think the Lakers are back in the finals.

wondering if KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen have it in them to beat a hungry Lebron.
It's going to take a supreme effort to keep Lebron James out of the finals this year. And that's especially if Kobe gets there again. I have to wonder if those guys are as hungry as last year. They had a special season and as hard as it is to win a title, it's even harder to do it again.

Ron Artest's influence over the Houston Rockets.
For some reason, Artest's addition intrigues me. And I'm not sure why. I've never really been an Artest fan. Maybe it's because I have a soft spot in my heart for Yao and Tracy McGrady. Maybe it's because my friend Billy Parker roots for the Rockets. I'm still unsure about it, but I do know that Ron makes Houston the biggest wild card team in the West.

the Baron Davis era in Clipperland.
I'm going to deeply miss Baron Davis in the Bay Area. Eddy Zucko is going to deeply miss Jessica Alba at Warriors games. Even if his wheels fall completely off, it's better than the CJ Watson, Marcus Williams, DeMarcus Nelson three headed monster that the Warriors will throw out there this year. How old is Tim Hardaway? Maybe he can come out of retirement? Sleepy Floyd? I'd even settle for a 250 pound Keith "Mr." Jennings right about now.

the Anthony Randolph era.
Actually, I'm not really looking all that forward to watching him play basketball as much as the fact that I've always been a Bell Biv Devoe fan and Randolph is a dead wringer for Devoe. Really though, are they Warriors going to run Randolph, Brandon Wright, and Andres Biedrins on teams all at the same time? Calista Flockhart would be so proud.

Photo of Anthony Randolph, I Mean Ron Devoe, By cMacDutt

playing pickup ball with Coby Karl after no one signs him.

seeing how creative the mascots get in mocking Monta Ellis.
I predict that every mascot comes riding into the arena on a moped. By the way, I imagine that every Fantasy Basketball league has at least one (and possibly many) Monta's Mopeds, Mississippi Mopeds or Moped Monta team in their league. At least it's better than those Oden's Bad Knee teams that your leagues had last year.

That's all for now. Enjoy your hoops tomorrow. Welcome back NBA.

Team USA vs. Spain

After playing their best ball in their win over Greece two days ago, Team USA turns their attention to Spain, who is also undefeated through their first three games.

1st quarter

• Kobe just ran over Pau on a screen and Dougie Collins said it was good because that’s Kobe telling Laker teammate Pau this is real. It’s damn real.
  
• There’s been a Carmelo sighting. He just hit a three to tie the score at 7.
  
• Dougie Collins just said that in 35 minutes, Jason Kidd has taken zero shots.
  
• If anyone is fired up, it’s Lebron. He might run over and through someone today.
  
• When I grow up, I want my arms and shoulders to be large and cut like Lebron’s.
  
• Um, Lebron just ran over someone. He now has one foul. Kobe already has two.
  
• If they had a gold medal for most tattoos, Team USA would win.
  
• Spain is running a half court trap and poor Chris Paul is going to be banged around a lot. But he’s the perfect guy to break it.
  
• Paul to Wade makes the score 29-16 and Spain has to call a time out. That’s what they get for doing the slanted eyes.

 

2nd Quarter

• The first quarter ended with USA up 31-22.
  
• We have an early Tayshaun Prince sighting. He immediately hits a three and then throws a lob to Lebron for a dunk. And then his next three was blocked. The good and the bad of Tayshaun.
  
• Kobe finally hits a three and Team USA is now up 14. But then he gets his third foul and has to leave the game.
  
• Chris Bosh isn’t only the better player for Team USA, but everything picks up when he’s in the game compared to Dwight Howard.
  
• Team USA is 7-10 from the three point line and is up 16 with four minutes left in the half.
  
• A Carlos Boozer sighting! Unfortunately, he took Tayshaun out of the game.
  
• A Boozer buzzer beater puts Team USA up 61-45 at the half.

3rd Quarter

• At halftime, the song Basketball by Kurtis Blow played throughout the arena. In China!
  
• Carmelo is hot. He just hit his fourth three pointer and USA is up 22.
  
• Kidd finally took a shot and made it. It was a layup off a fast break.
  
• DWade just blocked a layup attempt with his forearm and sent it out of bounds.
  
• That was a pretty boring quarter. Team USA is up 86-63.

(Why is it so hard to find a video of the Dwayne Wade alley oop to Kobe Bryant from Thursday where he threw the pass falling out of bounds and with his back to Kobe?)

4th Quarter

• Craig Sager is talking to Tina Thompson who has some great soup coolers by the way. But I did watch some of the women play yesterday and they are even more vicious than the guys. They play to kill immediately.
  
• Lebron threw an alley oop to DWade, but his pass was late and DWade was already up in the air. He did flush it, but he clipped the rim on his way down and fell. Not the greatest oop, but just shows you how athletic DWade is.
  
• Team USA is now up 29 after a Michael Redd layup.

It was at this point that the kids could take no more. They didn’t want to watch the butt kicking any longer and wanted to play some PS3. With Team USA being up by 33 at this time (with 3:28 left), I obliged.

We need some Hacksaw Jim Duggan right now. USA! USA! USA!

(The final score was 119-82.)

Team USA vs. China

I wasn’t about to wake up at 7:15AM on a Sunday morning, but my DVR did.

1st Quarter

- Kobe is the defensive stopper, and instead of the Mamba, he’s now the Doberman.

- Yao just hip checked Kobe on the screen and knocked down a three.

- Yao was sitting in the key for what seemed like 5 seconds. Lebron runs right over him and scores. Blocking foul. No home town officiating on that one.

- Remember Wang Zhi Zhi? He’s on Team China.

- China can’t really get any shots off, but they’re shooting them anyway. And they’re making them.

- Yao rejects Kobe and on the way back down, Lebron pins someone against the backboard. I still haven’t got Team China’s names right. Well, except Yao.

- First subs for Team USA were Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, DWade. Kobe and Lebron remain from the OG starting lineup which also included Carmelo, Dwight Howard, and JKidd.

- It’s weird because I’m watching the basketball specific HD channel and they don’t go to commercial. They just run replays without any commentary during the timeouts.

- Kobe’s three pointer gives USA a lead of 14-11 with just over 4 minutes left in the first.

- China is 4 for 4 on three pointers.

-  Hometown officiating in full effect. DWade drove to the hoop for a layup right as the shot clock expired. They called traveling. How can one be called for traveling when he’s already in the air?

- In 1992, the margin of victory for Team USA was a staggering 43.8 points per game. In 2004, it was 4.6.

- End of the 1st Quarter - Team USA 20 China 16.

2008 NBA Draft New Edition Style

Ever since the Bulls won the rights to draft first, people wondered if they would take Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose. Beasley is a power player who has been pegged in this spot since the middle of the college season. Rose is a point guard who got his team all the way to the championship game. The Bulls seemed to like Rose better for a few reasons, and the word on Beasley was that he didn’t work hard enough, was immature, and was being compared to the likes of Derrick Coleman and Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, former number 1 picks with great talent that didn’t work hard enough to fully realize it.

I asked “Basketball Blog” contributor and Bulls fan, Young Randall what he wants the Bulls to do.

I think the Bulls take Rose with the first pick.  I really wouldn’t care if they take Beasley as their most glaring hole is a post scorer.  But if they take Rose then they should move Hinrich and possibly Gordon for either another pick or a big from somewhere.

What I didn’t post is that Young Randall also said he wanted to see a full length version of Shaq’s freestyle rap, where he basically asked Kobe how his backside tastes. Why Young Randall would want to hear more, I’m not sure. He’s a mysterious guy.

Let’s get this going. We’ll see how long I can last.

- I saw Vinny “Of The Black” (Del Negro) in the Chicago Bulls war room smiling. I almost forgot he was their new coach. Wait, is it the war room for the basketball draft or only for the football draft?

- The Bulls grab Rose and now the wonder is if Miami passes on Beasley because of Pat Riley’s supposed dislike for Beasley. I say they still grab him. Why would they take OJ Mayo if he and Dwayne Wade not only both play the same position, but both need the ball in their hands? It doesn’t make as much sense.

- Stephen A. Smith asked Rose what he would bring to the Bulls and one of those things was, “to stay focused”. I think he’s a bit nervous.

- The Heat take Beasley and if anything, with a front line of Shawn Marion and Beasley, they are very athletic there.

- Ovintin J’Anthony (better than Orenthal James) Mayo goes third to Minnesota and the first thing that comes to my mind is that he looks like a dead ringer for Ralph Tresvant. Maybe his NBA nickname will be “Mr. Sensitivity.”

 

- The Sonics pair up Russell Westbrook with Kevin Durant. In this NBA, where you draft based more on possibility, rather than finely tuned game, your fourth pick averaged 12 points and 5 assists last year.

(By the way, your first four picks are 3 freshman and a sophomore.)

- UCLA goes back to back as Memphis takes Kevin Love, which I’m sure makes ShavedAsian a happy man.

(My man Ty Kennan loves Westbrook and doesn’t think Love’s skills will cross over into the NBA. He covered the Pac-10 for AOL’s FanHouse.)

- To a chorus of boos, the Knicks take Danilo Gallinari from Italy. Let’s hope that Stephon Marbury doesn’t know how to speak Italian. The guy plays in Italy and Stephen A. Smith’s question has to do with Knicks fans “sleeping on him”. Nice job there Stephen A. Way to know your interview subject.

- The Clippers, who lead all of the NBA in the category of most lottery picks ever, take Eric Gordon, a 6’ 3’‘ shooting guard. They go from one undersized two guard to another.

(After Jay Bilas gets done telling us that Gordon can’t play point guard because he doesn’t handle well and is turnover prone, Stephen A. asks Gordon how he’s going to help the Clippers at the point. Nice job Stephen A.)

- Milwaukee took Joe Alexander who Jay Bilas says has freakish ability, but also said he benefited from power players guarding him. If he plays small forward, they now have two as the Bucks just traded for Richard Jefferson earlier today.

- The Bobcats pass up Brook Lopez and take DJ Augustin, point guard from Texas. Lopez either had something in his eye, or he was bummed to not go to Charlotte.

- Lopez goes to the Nets and according to one of the draft guys I read earlier today, trading Richard Jefferson was all about clearing cap room for Lebron in 2010. The Double L, Lopez and Lebron!

- The Pacers draft Jerryd Bayless from Arizona, yet another freshman. With the possible trade of Jermaine O’Neal for TJ Ford, looks like Jamaal Tinsley might be on his way out. I know a team about 75 miles from me that needs a back up point guard.

- The Kings took the first guy who isn’t even at the draft in Jason Thompson, who is the first senior taken in the draft. We’re at pick number 12. Jay Bilas says there’s nothing spectacular about his game and he’s just solid. On the ESPN poll, Kings fans graded the pick as a F. But second place was an A. Now that’s a polarizing pick.

- Portland kind of has a cool draft. Though they drafted Greg Oden last year, he didn’t play, so as far as fans are concerned, they get two top caliber rookies this year. They pair him up with Brandon Rush, though I swear they have the another guy named Brandon who is pretty good and plays the same position, and who stole Baron Davis’ All-Star Game spot last year.

- Next up are my Warriors. Tim Kawakami thinks the Warriors would take Anthony Randolph if he was available. Kosta Koufos went to the Warriors in a ton of mock drafts. And the pick is Randolph. Here’s another young guy that Don Nelson won’t play. Jay Bilas says that Randolph is so skinny that he makes the skinny Brandan Wright look like Mr. America. Ouch.

(Mystery Cow instant messaged me before I had to chance to watch the draft and said that the Warriors drafted “The Scarecrow”. I didn’t know if he was talking about Randolph because he’s so skinny or Robin Lopez because of his hair.)

- To keep up with my now New Edition theme, if you look at Randolph sideways and squint a little, he kind of looks Ronnie DeVoe.

 

(Now that we’re out of the lottery (aka, the Warriors have picked) I probably won’t update after every pick.)

- Just as I say that, Phoenix grabs the other Lopez twin. One Lopez twin could possibly play with Lebron in a couple years and the other will get to play with Shaq and Nash, at least for a year or two.

- Toronto just drafted Roy Hibbert, who will probably go to Indiana, based on the proposed trade for Jermaine O’Neal. I loved Hibbert when I saw him two years ago. I guess he should’ve came out last year.

- JaVale McGee just got drafted by the Wizards and his claim to fame is that his mom played in the WNBA. I bet Agent Zero is going to have a field day with that one.

- I thought it was odd that Portland would draft Rush considering that Roy plays the same spot and my intuition was correct. They traded he and Jarrett Jack to Indiana for Ike Diogu and the rights to Jerryd Bayless. Poor Ike. That makes three teams in the last two years. Brandon joins brother Kareem Rush. Memba him?

(Kareem Rush kind of looks like a drunk Ricky Bell.)

 

- The guys at the broadcasting table are actually an interesting group. Of course, with Stu Scott hosting this thing, you’re going to get a lot of cheese, but Mark Jackson is great. I love Van Gundy doing the games, but he’s said some wacky things on the broadcast like that he thought Stephen Marbury was still a good player and that he likes Ike Diagu. Jay Bilas is Jay Bilas.

- The Nets just took Ryan Anderson from Cal. Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson battled each other in the Pac-10 and now they are teammates and possible teammates of Lebron in 2010. Not bad guys, not bad.

- The one guy who has fallen is Darrell Arthur from Kansas. Someone who looks to be his little brother has already fallen asleep at the table.

- Utah, at 23, selected Kosta Koufos, who seemed to be handcuffed to the Warriors at the 13th pick. Jay Bilas really likes him by the way.

(If Koufos was black and was about a foot and a half shorter, he’d look like Michael Bivins.)

 

- Seattle just drafted a guy named Serge who is from Congo. Interestingly enough, he was wearing a green tie that matches his new Sonics hat.

- Ric Bucher just said that Arthur is slipping because he has a kidney issue. Yep, that would probably stop me from using a draft pick on a guy. The Hornets finally took him at 27.

- The first round is over after Boston just picked someone named JR Giddens, who supposedly has a ton of talent, but is a head case. I’ve had enough. As Kimbo Slice said after he beat James Thompson several weeks ago, I’m done Gus.

Edit:

Looks like OJ Mayo and Kevin Love are switching places in a trade.

(Since I couldn’t find someone who looked like Johnny Gill or Bobby Brown, here is a shot of NE sans both guys.)

 

I’m done Gus.

Plan C: Corey Magette

Baron Davis said no. Gilbert Arenas said no. Elton Brand said no. But Corey Maggette said yes. According to Marc Stein from ESPN.com, it’s a $50 million contract for five years.

He also stated that it is believed that the Warriors will sign LA Lakers power forward Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet, which the Lakers will have a week to match. I’m not sure they’ll let Kobe Bryant’s buddy get away.

Also, say goodbye to Mickael Pietrus. It looks like he’s on his way to Orlando. My favorite Pietrus moment was when I was at a game several years ago with Eddy Zucko, and they asked Pietrus who his favorite cartoon charter was. He said it was, “The Tweety Bird”. And he said it like only Pietrus could say it.

With Baron Davis verbally committed and ready to sign with the Clippers, word is that Elton Brand is heading to Philadelphia. Is that a back stab job worthy of when Carlos Boozer verbally committed to Cleveland and then went and took the offer from the Utah Jazz? J.A. Adande, also from ESPN.com, started his column about Brand by saying it is what it is.

As it turns out, Elton Brand is an NBA player, the Clippers are the Clippers and the joke’s on all of us who ever thought otherwise.

I wonder if B-Diddy can do the same and come back to the Warriors. Actually, I wouldn’t wish that on Clippers fans.

So why would Brand spurn the Clippers after saying all along that he wanted to help the Clippers get another superstar right by his side? Ric Bucher says it’s more about how he thinks he fits in the Eastern Conference. But it also has to be about the benjamins. It always is.

The Warriors Are Trying To Steal Brand

Supposedly, Elton Brand opted out of his contract so that he could offer the LA Clippers some flexibility to help to the team offer more money to a big time free agent. Last night, they got their guy in Baron Davis. It seemed like a lay-up that Brand would then agree to a contract that would allow he and Davis to be Clippers for the next several seasons. But it looks like Chris Mullin and the Golden State Warriors have given Brand something to think about.

According to both Tim Kawakami and Marc Stein, the Warriors have offered Brand max free agent money to come up north.

If the Clippers offer Davis what is expected to be $65 million over five years, their offer to Brand looks to be smaller than what the Warriors can throw at him. The Warriors reportedly are offering at least $90 over 5 years. I won’t even pretend to understand the NBA’s salary cap, but it seems that in order to have both Davis and Brand under contract for next season, the Clippers’ offer could be much less than what the Warriors could offer.

But Brand specifically has stated that his goal was to remain a Clipper and that he was inspired by what Boston did by having Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all on the same team. He wanted superstar teammates who were willing to give it their all. So if that’s his goal, the Clippers are probably his team. The Warriors’ best player is a young and small shooting guard and right now, they have no point guard. Will money talk? Who knows. But my bet is that Brand takes the Clippers deal. If he doesn’t, he might be more hated in Los Angeles than Carlos Boozer is in Cleveland.

BDiddy Gives Back The Keys To The City

It was time. Baron Davis opted out, the Warriors called his bluff, and now BDiddy is going to southward. According to Mark Stein, Davis has verbally agreed to join the LA Clippers. The deal is said to be for five years and $65 million, which according to possible deals I saw from the Warriors, was similar in base money, but definitely longer in years.

If Elton Brand comes back as well, the Clippers have two definite stars and immediately leap frog over the Warriors in the West. As for the Warriors, it doesn’t look like Gilbert Arenas is coming back to play for the team that drafted him. Newly re-signed Antawn Jamison thinks it’s a done deal that Arenas is back with the Wizards.

Now, where do the Warriors go from here? I think Chris Mullin and company have a back up plan, but I guess we’ll have to wait.

We’ve been basketball blogging a lot lately.

Agent Zero Is In The Picture Again

The Wizards Insider blog at the Washington Post is reporting that soon after Baron Davis opted out of his contract, the Warriors were trying to offer former Warriors guard Gilbert Arenas a max contract in the neighborhood of $100 million. The Wizards are offering a bit more (and an extra year), so Agent Zero has a big decision to make.

Warrior Fans, Remember This Guy?

The Wizards are offering more and have a better shot at making waves playing in the lesser Eastern Conference. But really, you could argue that the East had the two best teams in the league in Boston and Detroit. So even though the Wizards’ shot at making the playoffs and advancing further would be easier than the Warriors’, there’s still a bit of a ways to go for the Wiz. You could also argue that the Warriors have not only the better team, but the style that suits Arenas’ game best.

I don’t think the Warriors have the best shot to get him. I do think Arenas will stay in Washington. That city loves the guy. But kudos to the Warriors by going for the top guy available, after their own guy spurned them. It also says to Davis that he’s not even thought to be the best possible free agent by his own team.

I say this to Chris Mullin, which was first told to Mick Foley by Dominic DeNucci - you gotta a lotta ball(s).

Baron Opts Out

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?

2008 Team USA

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.

Lakers vs. Celtics Game 6 - Live Play By Play

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:

 

Lakers Hit "Rock Bottom"

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.)

We missed the Mystery Cow.

Update:

This latest commercial is great.

 

Are Lakers Fans Worried?

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.

Update: I nearly forgot. Rivalries never die.

 

Lakers vs. Celtics Preview

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.

Here are the revised predictions:

 

The Wackness

By Mystery Cow

And so it goes. Soon the bandwagon will fill to the brim. Sir Charles was giving lots of loving last night, reserving his spot. Thank goodness the WCFs are on the We Know Drama channel, because if this was the Sports Leader…well the coverage would be on par with the objectivity, below suckness. It’s actually fitting that the Sports Leader has the JV Conference Finals with their eastern sports teams bias. They can ball wash to their heart’s content.

As for any subconscious secret wishes for the Lakes to blow one at the Alamo to “get it out of their system” loss, there won’t be any this round thank you very much sir. Last time I did that, it evened up the series. Who knew my wanton wants and wishes would be so permissive that they shred through blog fantasy and actually reach reality. No more “what ifs”, they’re just too powerful to commit to word. Call it my anti-jinx. Because we all know that it takes more than brain, brawn, and giving it 110% to win the Chip. It takes a little bit of luck. In some cases, A LOT of friggin’ luck. i.e. The Miami Heat.

Are the Spurs done? Yes. Even if the series comes back to Figueroa Street the Lakes have already proven they can close on the road twice now. Consecutively even at two places where it’s considered very hard to win at. Remember “pundits” fearing how much abuse Mamba was gonna get in Denver? They openly wondered what kind of vile was going to be thrown at 24 after Angelenos were taunting Melo about his DUI, even prompting 24 to say that “yelling never blocked a shot”. Utah? Yeah we lost two, but we won THE one to close it out.

Good luck hearing any mention of this on the Sports Leader. I wonder if they’re gonna keep pushing those KG/Russell interviews and Big 3 This is Sportscenter bumpers after Flip’s Boys come out of the JV?

I’m glad Jordie is feeling better about himself, we haven’t seen him play like that since the season ended. But I feel for him, AI eats babies for breakfast and Deron was raised by DFish on the arts of musclin’ fools. Hard match ups back2back. Now he gets (I won’t make the obvious Mr. Longaria dig) Pepe Le Parker and some other cat who’s name escapes me…I think he used to play for Utah and has an even Frencher sounding name than previously said French guy. And since Manu is hobbled, Finley has older ankles than Ray Ray in Boston, and everyone else is old and slow; this allowed Farmer to cut loose whenever Parker drove to the hole and fell (which by the way he did plenty of last night). Farms was built to play this team. I wouldn’t be surprised he gets his breakout game off these bums.

With the ways things are looking, the Slovenian Machine will be cashing in this summer. Ronny will probably get some of that pie too. They’re just playing o’so good enough and not making too many mistakes that positive pub is starting to spin about them. Just in time for their contract years at that. Funny, last year at this time the Kobe Watch was unfolding…now I’m vexed at how we’re gonna keep everyone together for another run at the Chip.

Fantasy indeed.