chicityk7
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Originally Posted by DLo13
CLE should go for Mike Woodson next. He's good with rebuilding projects.
yeah & we see how well than went........
Offical 2009-10 NBA Season Thread
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by mateen cleaves,
- Start date
yeah & we see how well than went........
live boy d
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ME LIKE
chicityk7
Banned
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that look s good but how in the hell will they sign those 3 when bosh & lebron want max money hell TP deserves it more than both of them HE HAS A RING.......
Simmons article
Hollinger:
Spoiler [+]
I broke a personal record last week: four playoff games in four nights, in Los Angeles (Game 2, Lakers-Jazz), Phoenix (Game 2, Suns-Spurs), Orlando (Game 2, Magic-Hawks) and Boston (Game 3, Celtics-Cavaliers). Intending to write a recap on Saturday morning's plane ride from Boston to Los Angeles, I ended up getting sidetracked by the in-flight movie -- "Extraordinary Measures" with Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser -- and only finished half the column. That led to this exchange when I arrived home:
-- Sports Gal: "I don't understand, why can't you meet your deadline? Just stay up later, work around the clock--"
-- Me: "I ALREADY WORK AROUND THE CLOCK!!!!!!!!"
I blame myself. Right as I started typing on the plane, I noticed the movie starting on one of those tiny, old-school airplane televisions above me. Fraser was leaning over a kid in a hospital bed and seemed sadder than at any point of his career since anti-Semites were hazing him in "School Ties." I thought to myself, "OK, I'll watch two minutes just to see how bad it is, but I will NOT put the headphones on."
Two minutes turns into five. That's when I realized that the girl from "Felicity" was Fraser's wife in the movie; she was just crying in every scene. I started thinking to myself about how much I love my kids, and how lucky I am that they're healthy, and within a few minutes, I was putting on those headphones. At that point, I thought, "All right, I'll just stick around until the 'work around the clock' scene," but by the time we finally got there, Fraser and Ford's quest to find a cure for Pompe disease had me hooked. Throw in Ford's overacting and it couldn't have been a better airplane movie: no surprises, some unintentional comedy, a couple of heartwarming moments, and every time the pilot interrupted us to tell us we were flying over something I couldn't see, the movie wasn't quite good enough to be ruined. Win, win, win and win.
So that's what postponed the column. Once the Lakers and Magic jumped to 3-0 leads Saturday, I decided to hold it until Tuesday morning as a Round 2 awards recap. Why wait so long? Because I don't actually work around the clock. I'm lazy as hell. Without further ado …
THE BOBBY CLARKE AWARD FOR "BEST PLAYOFF MUG"
To Steve Nash, who got busted open by a Tim Duncan elbow, received six temporary stitches, came back with his eye swelling shut, then made some one-eyed shots to clinch Phoenix's improbable sweep over its biggest nemesis. First of all, try shooting a 3-pointer with one eye. I bet you miss. Second, if that had happened to Vince Carter, he would have been on the ground for 20 minutes, they would have had to carry him out on one of those neck-stabilizing NFL stretchers, and he'd be groaning in a dark hospital room right now while a plastic surgeon checked out the stitches. Third, it's bizarre that the best Canadian basketball player ever always ends up with hockey-like gashes and cuts; he should just get it over with and knock out his own front teeth. And fourth, if you're a Suns fan, that's exactly how that sweep needed to end: in San Antonio, with Nash banged up, with all the ready-made excuses in place -- only this time, the bad luck bounced right off the Suns like they were wearing a shield.
I have Spurs-Suns 2010 ranked as the second-most entertaining/memorable/dramatic NBA playoff sweep ever. All four games stood out for different reasons, each game was supremely entertaining, the subplots in the series were sublime, and the overriding theme (Phoenix finally lifting that Spurs monkey off its back) was tremendous. Only the 1995 Finals (Houston over Orlando) trumped it because of the stakes, because it had a better ESPN Classic game (the incredible Game 1, or as it's more commonly known, the Nick Anderson Game), because it had a pantheon performance (Hakeem sticking it to Young Shaq with averages of 33 and 12 over four games), and because it took on added weight over the next few years for destroying a Magic team that really should have evolved into a juggernaut. It's nearly impossible to have an entertaining sweep. As the Magic and Hawks just proved. Painfully.
THE ROSIE RUIZ AWARD FOR "FUNNIEST MOMENT THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN BOSTON"
With Cleveland still finishing off Friday's 29-point beating, most Celtics fans were fleeing the arena a few minutes early in the first-ever 18,000-strong Walk of Shame. We were practically leaving tread marks. We had to get out of there. It was that bad. There hadn't been a single fun moment in the game; Cleveland hadn't allowed Boston to get involved once. As we were leaving, the Bruins (trying to sweep the Flyers in Philly) pulled their goalie and scored a game-tying goal, sending the game into overtime. Word spread quickly from fans refreshing their BlackBerrys and iPhones. A small rumble of excitement rolled through the masses. A depressed group of people suddenly had life again.
A drunk kid in a Pierce jersey walking in front of us summed the moment up best: "Ovah-time! WE GOTTA GET TO A BAH!"
(Postscript: The Bruins lost in OT. Throw in the Yankees' shellacking the Red Sox at Fenway and May 7, 2010, will be forever known as "Boston Massacre 2010.")
THE LINDSAY LOHAN AWARD FOR "OLDEST-LOOKING THING UNDER 22 YEARS OLD"
This goes to Orlando's Amway Arena (better known as the O-Rena), which opened in 1989 as a "state-of-the-art" place and quickly became the last nobody-had-any-idea-what-they-were-doing-when-they-were-building-these-things sports arena. No club seats, no midlevel boxes, concrete aisles … just call this place the Hot Tub Time Machine Arena. (When I walked in, I thought I was suddenly back in college attending a WWE event at the Worcester Centrum. I kept looking around for Rick Rude and Demolition.) The poor Magic recently had to build another new arena that opens next season; if someone doesn't purchase the O-Rena by next year (asking price: $90 million), the city of Orlando is probably knocking it down. So the Magic got 21 years out of a "state-of-the-art" arena. That's a catastrophe. On the bright side …
THE JENNIFER ANISTON AWARD FOR "BEST SELECTION OF COUGARS"
Put it this way: If you're a balding, moderately successful divorced guy in his late 40s or early 50s who likes to wear golf shirts and wants to out-punt your coverage with a fairly hot second wife who has a few miles on her and may or may not have spent two years working at a Hooters in the mid-80s, I'd throw everything in a suitcase and move to Orlando right now. I'm not kidding. Start packing. The O-Rena was teeming with cougars. In fact …
THE TORCHY'S AWARD FOR BEST SOUND OF A RECORD SCREECHING TO A HALT
At halftime, I did an interview with two local TV people in which I joked about the O-Rena cougar scene and added, "No wonder Tiger got into so much trouble!" Both guys reacted like Scientologists at an L. Ron Hubbard roast: horrified and even a little fearful. They told me they'd have to edit the joke out. Apparently Tiger jokes go over about as well in Orlando as O.J. jokes did in Brentwood circa 1994. Who knew?
(With that said … again … no wonder Tiger got into so much trouble! I don't think living in the Cougar Capital of the United States, in retrospect, was the best place for a horny celebrity who got married too soon to set up shop.)
THE KATE HUDSON'S IMPLANTS AWARD FOR "BEST NEW ADDITION"
To Antawn Jamison, who gave Cleveland everything that … oh, wait, that's not true. No Cavs fan trusts him right now. Or any of the other LeBronettes. Actually, Ron Artest, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal, Antonio McDyess, Caron Butler … did any new addition work out this season?
(Thinking …)
I got it! Channing Frye! He exceeded all expectations as a backup big man who could shoot 3s and spread the floor. So there.
THE SAYID JARRAH AWARD FOR "BEST RETURN FROM THE DEAD"
To the Lakers, who looked like they were imploding during the Oklahoma City series, righted the ship in Game 5 and never looked back. I watched every minute of the first three Utah games; the Jazz never played badly and never stopped trying. They just weren't as good.
The question, as always: Will Kobe do the right thing next round (pounding the ball inside, controlling the flow, picking his spots and taking advantage of the Lakers' obvious size advantages against Phoenix) or will he do the have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too routine (pounding it inside one game, then jacking up 29 shots the next game just to prove he can score on Jared Dudley and Grant Hill)? As I wrote last week, he's the most competitive guy in the league, but he also wants to be the hero, and sometimes, you can't be both. If he tries to be a hero against Phoenix, the Suns have a real chance. Don't think they don't know this.
(Important note: After much deliberation, I decided not to give Artest a Round 2 Award for his half-assed attempt to cause trouble by making passive-aggressive tweets about Phil Jackson's coaching before Game 3 in an apparent attempt to either [A] get attention, or come up with a plot for that week's taping of his reality show. Ron-Ron, you once caused a melee by charging in the stands in Detroit. You once played in a playground game in which someone was killed with a broken table leg. Don't go out like this. Even Sasha Vujacic thought those tweets made you look like a pansy. You're the Tru Warier! If you're gonna start trouble, start trouble! You're gonna let Phil Jackson laugh you off like that???? Like you're some sort of circus oddity? And what's wrong with you shooting 3s? You're a great 3-point shooter! Didn't they see how valuable you were when you locked down Durant in Round 1? Why don't they appreciate you more? Why don't they want you to fit in? Fight for your respect! Be a man! You're the Tru Warier!)
THE RICKY MARTIN AWARD FOR "WORST-KEPT SECRET"
To Doc Rivers … I mean, you have a better chance of seeing Doc Martens coach next year's Celtics team. It's the smart move -- jump ship before next year's more-than-possible "we're way too old and things have gone to crap" season, get a big TV contract, watch his son (a top high school senior) play hoops next year and help him with the recruiting process, and best of all, get paid during the 2010-11 lockout. I can't wait until he signs with ABC/ESPN, then we finally bury the hatchet on the most dramatic BS Report yet. Or I e-mail asking him to come on and he tells me to eff off. Either way, it's gonna be all kinds of awesome.
(By the way, I didn't believe the second half of that Artest paragraph -- I was just hoping one of his friends saw it, copied it and sent it to him. You never know. Anything to mess up the Lakers.)
THE PARISH-DECKING-LAIMBEER AWARD FOR "WORST NON-CALL"
To Joey Crawford, *%%# Bavetta and Greg Willard for missing Wes Matthews pull down Derek Fisher on the biggest inbounds pass of Game 3, creating a Lakers turnover and giving Utah (down one) a chance to pull out a miracle victory. That was such an egregious screw-up that my initial feeling about Utah's final play -- Deron Williams launching a 23-footer instead of taking it hard to the basket (always my preference if you have the right player because he might get fouled) -- changed when a friend pointed out that Williams never, ever, ever, EVER would have gotten a favorable whistle after that botched no-call. Good point.
(Random strategy note: Why would Jackson have Artest throw that inbounds pass over Luke Walton? Would you trust Artest to pass you a hot plate of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, much less the biggest pass of a playoff game??? Plus, Walton was put on the planet for two reasons: to throw game-clinching inbounds passes, and to enrage every male between the ages of 17 and 45 who can't believe their girlfriend or wife just said the words, "I like Luke Walton, I think he's hot." That's really it. I don't get it.)
THE CHARLIE SHEEN AWARD FOR "WORST PUSH FOR A NEW MEGA-CONTRACT"
Put it this way, Joe Johnson: Knicks fans aren't exactly going to be pouring champagne on each other because their team just signed the 29-year-old alpha dog of the 2009-10 Atlanta Hawks -- a team that was nearly embarrassed by the depleted Bucks, got taken to the woodshed by Orlando (four blowout losses by a playoff-record 101 points) and quit on their coach Bud Kilmer-style multiple times -- on the heels of a three-year, 28-game playoff run in which you averaged an 18-5-4 and shot 41 percent from the field. You cannot win a title if Joe Johnson is one of the two guys making max money on your salary cap unless the other guy is named "LeBron." Desperate NBA teams with money to burn this summer, consider yourselves warned.
THE SPENCER PRATT AWARD FOR "BIGGEST ENIGMA"
Paul Pierce has played so poorly (11.8 PPG, 32 percent FG), looked so lethargic and had such a lousy expression on his face during the Celts-Cavs series that …
A. I tweeted that Pierce should start telling people he's battling Lyme disease or pneumonia, even if it's not true.
B. My father -- the same man who calls Tony Allen "Trick or Treat Tony," blames six full years of Tony exposure for possibly shortening his life, and joked after Tony had a big game in the Miami series, "I hope this doesn't mean we re-sign him" -- texted me after Game 4 to say, "We need to start Tony and bring Pierce off the bench."
C. I texted my dad back saying, "I agree."
D. ESPN Boston ran a story with the headline: "Paul Pierce: 'There's Nothing Wrong With Me.'" By the way, if it's a news story because there's nothing wrong with you, odds are you're not doing so hot.
THE MARK TWAIN/HALLEY'S COMET AWARD FOR "STRANGEST COINCIDENCE"
On the same night I attended my first Orlando Magic home game, my least favorite NBA player (Vince Carter) randomly decided to try in the second half and annihilated Atlanta. This was old-school Vince: cuffing one-handed rebounds over the rim, exploding through traffic for dunks, playing some (gasp) intense defense, even swishing 25-footers and skipping the other way with a front-running scowl. I immediately tweeted, "Should 'Vince Carter is trying' get a BREAKING NEWS spot on the ESPN ticker? I can't decide." In retrospect, yes. The world needs to know when Vince Carter tries.
The bad news for the other playoff teams? Nobody will beat the 2010 Magic in a seven-game series if Vince plays like that four times.
The good news for the other playoff teams? He's still Vince Carter. A real playoff team (namely, Los Angeles or Cleveland) will notice him gaining confidence like that, then just clobber him the next time he drives to the basket. That's the book on Vince: Knock him down once and he'll roll around on the floor for a few seconds, get up grimacing and never be the same. Hey, Atlanta? You know your backup center with the giant noggin and bacne? Clumsy, rugged, a little hot-tempered? Pachulia? Um, I'm pretty sure God made him a basketball player so he could someday clothesline Vince Carter in a playoff series. It's the best possible explanation. You should have told Zaza to knock Vince's %@@ down. Assuming you wanted to compete. And actually …
THE BIZARRO DIDO AWARD FOR "MOST PREMATURE WHITE FLAG"
Check out these Atlanta quotes between Game 2 and Game 3. I only made two of the four up.
Jamal Crawford: "[The Magic] are as good as anybody out there. I think they're built for a championship."
Josh Smith: "Orlando is really, really good, which sucks for us because we ran out of ways to quit on Mike Woodson about eight weeks ago. We can't escape this series with our dignity, but at least we can leave with our health."
Joe Johnson: "You almost have to play a perfect game to beat them. They can beat you both ways: inside and out. It's tough, man. When you got that combination, it's tough to beat."
Mike Bibby: "I'd have some thoughts, but I died two years ago."
(Important note: I read those Crawford/Johnson quotes on Saturday's plane and thought, "Wow, those guys are D-U-N." They lost by 30 a few hours later.)
THE JOHN TERRY/WAYNE BRIDGE AWARD FOR "MOST UNCOMFORTABLY BITTER SUBPLOT"
To Jazz fans for their continuing enmity toward Derek Fisher, who asked for his release from Utah three summers ago so he could play in an NBA city that had a hospital with an advanced eye surgery wing for his cancer-stricken daughter. He signed with the Lakers … who knocked Utah out of the playoffs in 2008, '09, and now '10. Jazz fans take this personally -- even booing him during games -- and conveniently forget that Utah was happy to let Fisher go in 2007 (not only was he overpaid as a backup, but it needed the cap relief for Deron Williams' extension) and wasn't worried about the Lakers contending at the time (since they finished 42-40 and seemed headed for a Kobe trade). A few months later, Chris Wallace gift-wrapped Pau Gasol to Los Angeles and everything changed. Not Fisher's fault. I am all for booing Lakers players and fostering random vendettas against them, but not like this.
See, here's what you get when you boo Fisher, Utah fans …
1. Bad karma. Goes without saying.
2. You just look stupid. Like you have no idea what actually happened. Fisher didn't betray you by jumping to a conference rival. The Lakers were floundering at the time.
3. You bristle every time a media member calls you the most (fill in one: bitter/angry/hostile/vicious) fans in the NBA. This illogical Fisher vendetta helps you on this front … how?
My advice as a neutral party: Let the Fisher thing go. It's creepy and ill-conceived.
THE TIM DONAGHY AWARD FOR "BEST REFEREE-RELATED INSULT"
With the Celtics getting killed in garbage time of Game 3, Zach Zarba made a bad call against Boston (not the first one), followed by a bitter fan behind the Celtics bench screaming at him, "That's enough, you already won your bet!" Hey now.
THE CARLA IN "VISION QUEST" AWARD FOR "MOST INSPIRATIONAL APPEARANCE AT A BIG GAME"
To Jay-Z, who brought Beyonce to Boston for Game 3, sat courtside and pushed LeBron to dizzying heights. Actually, after three days of national grief about his aching elbow (and his urgency, and his ability to play in pain, and his no-show in Game 2, and his "will to win"), LeBron was probably unleashing a virtuoso evisceration performance on the Celtics anyway. But Jay-Z's presence sealed the deal. LeBron didn't even need to symbolically brush dirt off his shoulders to bang the point home.
Every time I see LeBron in person, I pick up something new. This time around, I noticed something subtle: When he's in fifth gear and full-fledged attack mode, in the arena it feels like he's playing on a lopsided court that's tilted downhill. We hear the phrase "downhill runner" in football; LeBron is a "downhill dribbler." Can't remember ever seeing that before. The other thing I learned: Never bet against LeBron James if he's pissed off and Jay-Z happens to be in the house. Add that one to the gambling manifesto. Of course, Jay skipped Game 4 … and really, so did LeBron to some degree. But you know who didn't?
THE MAGIC JOHNSON AWARD FOR "BOX-SCORE LINES THAT HAVE NO RESEMBLANCE TO ANYTHING ELSE CURRENTLY HAPPENING IN THE LEAGUE"
To Rajon Rondo, whose series-saving Game 4 against Cleveland (29 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists, total control over the game) was a pantheon-level Celtics performance and had little in common with anything we've ever seen. Keep in mind …
• Since the 1986-87 season, only eight guards have grabbed 18-plus rebounds in ANY game (regular season or playoffs). Michael Jordan did it three times (once in the playoffs); Jason Kidd did it only once.
• Larry Bird had 69 triple-doubles but never a playoff game that looked quite like a 29-18-13. The closest: 24-17-10 (1981, Chicago), 19-16-13 (1986, Milwaukee), 25-15-11 (1986, Houston), 18-16-11 (1987, Milwaukee) and 24-18-10 (1990, New York).
• Only Oscar Robertson (1962: 32-19-13) and Wilt Chamberlain (1967: 29-36-13) had at least a 29-18-13 in a playoff game before, and in the past 40 years, only LeBron (2007: 27-13-13) and Magic (1986: 29-15-14) had at least a 25-13-13. So, um … yeah.
• If you read my basketball book, you might remember how I created a 42 Club for playoff performers who averaged 42-plus for points, rebounds and assists combined for an entire postseason (12-game minimum). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rondo also joined Wilt in the 60 Club for players who submitted a 60 (points, rebounds, plus assists) in one playoff game without scoring 30 points in that game. Wilt did it three times, all in 1967: 29-36-13, 24-32-13 and 16-30-19.
• For the playoffs, Rondo is averaging 17.9 PPG, 11.4 APG, 7.1 RPG and 1.9 steals. According to ESPN ace researcher Alok Pattani, only Magic Johnson ever averaged a 16-11-6-2 in the playoffs, and he did it twice: 1983 (17.9, 12.8, 8.5, 2.3) and 1984 (18.2, 13.5, 6.6, 2.0).
• We just compared Rondo to Magic, Wilt, Bird, Oscar and Jordan … legitimately. Kind of insane when you remember I was writing about him in "Rajon The Late Bloomer" terms just two springs ago. I continue to think we should dump "The Big Three" nickname and just start calling Rondo "The Big One."
THE MARK CUBAN AWARD FOR "BEST DECISION TO MAKE A MOVE BEFORE THE MARKET CHANGED"
To the Celtics for locking up Rondo to a five-year, $55 million extension in November. He's already underpaid and it hasn't even kicked in yet: If Rondo were available on July 1, he'd be the third-biggest free-agent target behind LeBron and Dwyane Wade (and a lock for a max deal). By the way, would you rather have Rondo at $30 million total for the 2011-12-13 seasons … or Chris Paul/Deron Williams at $49 million? It's a valid question. All right, I'll stop talking about Rondo before my jinx powers kick in and he blows out every ligament in his body.
THE CHARLES SMITH AWARD FOR "BEST WAY TO BUM OUT A KNICKS FAN IN LESS THAN THREE SECONDS"
2006 draft: Renaldo Balkman (No. 20); Rajon Rondo (No. 21).
2010 draft: Jordan Hill (No.
; Brandon Jennings (No. 10).
THE SQUAD 66 AWARD FOR "BEST CROWD-RELATED IDEA THAT COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE THE WAY WE WATCH GAMES"
When LeBron shot his first set of free throws during Game 3 of the Boston series, I was disappointed that the Boston crowd didn't chant either "You're a fa-ker! You're a fa-ker!" (to tweak him about his injured elbow) or "You're gonna leave! You're gonna leave!" That's when I realized something: Thanks to Twitter, we could mobilize crowd chants almost to the minute during playoff games.
For instance, let's say someone created a Twitter account called @CelticsChants (just for fun, I did it) and became the go-to chanting coordinator during games. Before Game 3, I post the tweet, "Chant for first LeBron FTs: 'You're a fa-ker! You're a fa-ker!'" Then, during garbage time, I post another one: "If LBJ goes to line again, chant, 'You're gonna leave! You're gonna leave!'" Even if 500 people at the game were following that account, wouldn't that be enough fans to get those chants rolling so everyone in the stadium joined in? Just for fun, I'm trying this for Game 6 in Boston: www.twitter.com/celticschants.
THE GEORGE LOPEZ'S LATE NIGHT SHOW FOLLOWING CONAN O'BRIEN'S LATE NIGHT SHOW AWARD FOR "MOST LAUGHABLY UNLIKELY SCENARIO THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY HAPPEN
"The Suns! The Magic! It's the 2010 NBA Finals on ABC!"
THE SUE ELLEN MISCHKE AWARD FOR "BIGGEST INFERIORITY COMPLEX"
To the Magic fans, who somehow took that last award personally. Whaddya mean it was laughably unlikely??? We're killing everybody! We whupped Cleveland in five games last year! We made the Finals last year! We have one of the best five players in the league! We have the best inside/outside game! We have the deepest team! We have a healthy Jameer, which we didn't have last year! WHY THE HELL IS THIS SO LAUGHABLY UNLIKELY????
Well, the odds were something like 40-1 for a Suns-Magic Finals heading into the playoffs. That's one reason. But the Magic fans are right -- it shouldn't have taken an 8-0 romp through the first two rounds to make some people take the Magic seriously. Still, it's hard for me to imagine them winning the actual championship for the following reasons (not counting Vince Carter and their arena, as mentioned earlier):
1. Their best player, Dwight Howard, cannot push a grocery cart through an aisle or walk across the street on a crosswalk without bowling over three people.
2. Their key guy for defending Kobe Bryant (Matt Barnes) had a crucial dinner scene in "Basketball Wives" two weekends ago.
3. Before Game 2, the Magic handed out "Karate Kid II"-type noisemakers, which the fans proceeded to bang for three straight hours (and left me feeling like I had a mild brain tumor afterward).
4. There are enough similarities between the 2002 Kings and 2010 Magic that someone could get a 1,200-word column out of it. Some definite "even though they had the best team on paper, they couldn't pull off four wins against an inferior big-market team, partly because nobody stepped up when it mattered, and partly because the league didn't want them to win" potential. I'm just sayin'.
5. Now that Tiger Woods is in seclusion, their No. 1 celebrity fan is this guy.
THE SLEEPY FLOYD AWARD FOR "MOST IMPROBABLE/MEMORABLE/ENJOYABLE PLAYOFF EXPLOSION"
LeBron has a season pass for "virtuoso evisceration" mode and uses it whenever he wants. Goran Dragic bought a one-day pass, like signing up for one day of Internet service in a hotel room. He chose to use it against the Spurs on Friday night. It was exactly the kind of fluke curveball that I had mentioned in Thursday's column; when you're dumping serious baggage (like Phoenix's mental block with the Spurs), it can only happen in the goofiest of ways. A backup point guard turning into a fireball, scoring 26 points in the last 14 minutes of a playoff game, and driving a stake into the Duncan Era? I think that qualifies.
Dragic's emergence as a reliable backup (and, occasionally, a streaky scorer) for Steve Nash symbolizes the Bizarro GM Success Run of Steve Kerr to a tee. Last season, everyone thought Dragic (a hopelessly overmatched second-round pick that Phoenix overpaid to lure him from Europe) was just another crappy Kerr move. Not anymore. He's like a crazy lefty hybrid of Beno Udrih (the point guard gene), Sarunas Marciulionis (the driving-hard-to-the-hoop gene) and Nick Van Exel (the pull-up, off-balance 3 gene).
Short-term, he saves Nash's legs and swings games. Long-term, they finally have a backup plan for when Nash retires to become player-owner of his Vancouver MLS team. Historically, now and forever, we will always have The Dragic Game. (Who could have ever guessed that one?) And for anyone who's a sucker for chemistry trumping talent -- you know, like me, the guy who devoted the first chapter of his basketball book to this phenomenon -- you had to love seeing the starters euphorically cheering on Dragic down the stretch, or everyone happily mobbing him after the game, or his GM hugging him in the tunnel like they were filming the end of a sports movie. One of my friends e-mailed me that night that I was a full-fledged sucker for the 2010 Phoenix Suns. Guilty as charged.
THE WHATEVER-THE-HELL-U2'S-LAST-ALBUM-WAS-CALLED AWARD FOR "MOST ABRUPT END TO A PHENOMENAL RUN"
To the Duncan-era Spurs: Four titles, 13 straight 50-win seasons (I'm including the stupid lockout season) and a boatload of fantastic memories. OK, not really. But we got to watch Duncan (the best power forward ever), Ginobili (the best international guard ever if you're not counting Nash, and you shouldn't, since Canada isn't really "international"), Parker (who perfected the celebrity relationship), Popovich (the best coach of the past 15 years), and two really fun rivalries (Spurs-Suns, Spurs-Mavs). Look, you can't stay on top for more than a decade without getting a top-three lottery pick or having Chris Wallace trade you a top-three lottery pick. That's just the way this league works. So hold your head up high, Spurs. Fantastic run. When players are bawling in their locker room because they finally beat you (like Nash did after Game 4), you know you accomplished something great. And you did.
-- Sports Gal: "I don't understand, why can't you meet your deadline? Just stay up later, work around the clock--"
-- Me: "I ALREADY WORK AROUND THE CLOCK!!!!!!!!"
I blame myself. Right as I started typing on the plane, I noticed the movie starting on one of those tiny, old-school airplane televisions above me. Fraser was leaning over a kid in a hospital bed and seemed sadder than at any point of his career since anti-Semites were hazing him in "School Ties." I thought to myself, "OK, I'll watch two minutes just to see how bad it is, but I will NOT put the headphones on."
Two minutes turns into five. That's when I realized that the girl from "Felicity" was Fraser's wife in the movie; she was just crying in every scene. I started thinking to myself about how much I love my kids, and how lucky I am that they're healthy, and within a few minutes, I was putting on those headphones. At that point, I thought, "All right, I'll just stick around until the 'work around the clock' scene," but by the time we finally got there, Fraser and Ford's quest to find a cure for Pompe disease had me hooked. Throw in Ford's overacting and it couldn't have been a better airplane movie: no surprises, some unintentional comedy, a couple of heartwarming moments, and every time the pilot interrupted us to tell us we were flying over something I couldn't see, the movie wasn't quite good enough to be ruined. Win, win, win and win.
So that's what postponed the column. Once the Lakers and Magic jumped to 3-0 leads Saturday, I decided to hold it until Tuesday morning as a Round 2 awards recap. Why wait so long? Because I don't actually work around the clock. I'm lazy as hell. Without further ado …
THE BOBBY CLARKE AWARD FOR "BEST PLAYOFF MUG"
To Steve Nash, who got busted open by a Tim Duncan elbow, received six temporary stitches, came back with his eye swelling shut, then made some one-eyed shots to clinch Phoenix's improbable sweep over its biggest nemesis. First of all, try shooting a 3-pointer with one eye. I bet you miss. Second, if that had happened to Vince Carter, he would have been on the ground for 20 minutes, they would have had to carry him out on one of those neck-stabilizing NFL stretchers, and he'd be groaning in a dark hospital room right now while a plastic surgeon checked out the stitches. Third, it's bizarre that the best Canadian basketball player ever always ends up with hockey-like gashes and cuts; he should just get it over with and knock out his own front teeth. And fourth, if you're a Suns fan, that's exactly how that sweep needed to end: in San Antonio, with Nash banged up, with all the ready-made excuses in place -- only this time, the bad luck bounced right off the Suns like they were wearing a shield.
I have Spurs-Suns 2010 ranked as the second-most entertaining/memorable/dramatic NBA playoff sweep ever. All four games stood out for different reasons, each game was supremely entertaining, the subplots in the series were sublime, and the overriding theme (Phoenix finally lifting that Spurs monkey off its back) was tremendous. Only the 1995 Finals (Houston over Orlando) trumped it because of the stakes, because it had a better ESPN Classic game (the incredible Game 1, or as it's more commonly known, the Nick Anderson Game), because it had a pantheon performance (Hakeem sticking it to Young Shaq with averages of 33 and 12 over four games), and because it took on added weight over the next few years for destroying a Magic team that really should have evolved into a juggernaut. It's nearly impossible to have an entertaining sweep. As the Magic and Hawks just proved. Painfully.
THE ROSIE RUIZ AWARD FOR "FUNNIEST MOMENT THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN BOSTON"
With Cleveland still finishing off Friday's 29-point beating, most Celtics fans were fleeing the arena a few minutes early in the first-ever 18,000-strong Walk of Shame. We were practically leaving tread marks. We had to get out of there. It was that bad. There hadn't been a single fun moment in the game; Cleveland hadn't allowed Boston to get involved once. As we were leaving, the Bruins (trying to sweep the Flyers in Philly) pulled their goalie and scored a game-tying goal, sending the game into overtime. Word spread quickly from fans refreshing their BlackBerrys and iPhones. A small rumble of excitement rolled through the masses. A depressed group of people suddenly had life again.
A drunk kid in a Pierce jersey walking in front of us summed the moment up best: "Ovah-time! WE GOTTA GET TO A BAH!"
(Postscript: The Bruins lost in OT. Throw in the Yankees' shellacking the Red Sox at Fenway and May 7, 2010, will be forever known as "Boston Massacre 2010.")
THE LINDSAY LOHAN AWARD FOR "OLDEST-LOOKING THING UNDER 22 YEARS OLD"
This goes to Orlando's Amway Arena (better known as the O-Rena), which opened in 1989 as a "state-of-the-art" place and quickly became the last nobody-had-any-idea-what-they-were-doing-when-they-were-building-these-things sports arena. No club seats, no midlevel boxes, concrete aisles … just call this place the Hot Tub Time Machine Arena. (When I walked in, I thought I was suddenly back in college attending a WWE event at the Worcester Centrum. I kept looking around for Rick Rude and Demolition.) The poor Magic recently had to build another new arena that opens next season; if someone doesn't purchase the O-Rena by next year (asking price: $90 million), the city of Orlando is probably knocking it down. So the Magic got 21 years out of a "state-of-the-art" arena. That's a catastrophe. On the bright side …
THE JENNIFER ANISTON AWARD FOR "BEST SELECTION OF COUGARS"
Put it this way: If you're a balding, moderately successful divorced guy in his late 40s or early 50s who likes to wear golf shirts and wants to out-punt your coverage with a fairly hot second wife who has a few miles on her and may or may not have spent two years working at a Hooters in the mid-80s, I'd throw everything in a suitcase and move to Orlando right now. I'm not kidding. Start packing. The O-Rena was teeming with cougars. In fact …
THE TORCHY'S AWARD FOR BEST SOUND OF A RECORD SCREECHING TO A HALT
At halftime, I did an interview with two local TV people in which I joked about the O-Rena cougar scene and added, "No wonder Tiger got into so much trouble!" Both guys reacted like Scientologists at an L. Ron Hubbard roast: horrified and even a little fearful. They told me they'd have to edit the joke out. Apparently Tiger jokes go over about as well in Orlando as O.J. jokes did in Brentwood circa 1994. Who knew?
(With that said … again … no wonder Tiger got into so much trouble! I don't think living in the Cougar Capital of the United States, in retrospect, was the best place for a horny celebrity who got married too soon to set up shop.)
THE KATE HUDSON'S IMPLANTS AWARD FOR "BEST NEW ADDITION"
To Antawn Jamison, who gave Cleveland everything that … oh, wait, that's not true. No Cavs fan trusts him right now. Or any of the other LeBronettes. Actually, Ron Artest, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal, Antonio McDyess, Caron Butler … did any new addition work out this season?
(Thinking …)
I got it! Channing Frye! He exceeded all expectations as a backup big man who could shoot 3s and spread the floor. So there.
THE SAYID JARRAH AWARD FOR "BEST RETURN FROM THE DEAD"
To the Lakers, who looked like they were imploding during the Oklahoma City series, righted the ship in Game 5 and never looked back. I watched every minute of the first three Utah games; the Jazz never played badly and never stopped trying. They just weren't as good.
The question, as always: Will Kobe do the right thing next round (pounding the ball inside, controlling the flow, picking his spots and taking advantage of the Lakers' obvious size advantages against Phoenix) or will he do the have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too routine (pounding it inside one game, then jacking up 29 shots the next game just to prove he can score on Jared Dudley and Grant Hill)? As I wrote last week, he's the most competitive guy in the league, but he also wants to be the hero, and sometimes, you can't be both. If he tries to be a hero against Phoenix, the Suns have a real chance. Don't think they don't know this.
(Important note: After much deliberation, I decided not to give Artest a Round 2 Award for his half-assed attempt to cause trouble by making passive-aggressive tweets about Phil Jackson's coaching before Game 3 in an apparent attempt to either [A] get attention, or come up with a plot for that week's taping of his reality show. Ron-Ron, you once caused a melee by charging in the stands in Detroit. You once played in a playground game in which someone was killed with a broken table leg. Don't go out like this. Even Sasha Vujacic thought those tweets made you look like a pansy. You're the Tru Warier! If you're gonna start trouble, start trouble! You're gonna let Phil Jackson laugh you off like that???? Like you're some sort of circus oddity? And what's wrong with you shooting 3s? You're a great 3-point shooter! Didn't they see how valuable you were when you locked down Durant in Round 1? Why don't they appreciate you more? Why don't they want you to fit in? Fight for your respect! Be a man! You're the Tru Warier!)
THE RICKY MARTIN AWARD FOR "WORST-KEPT SECRET"
To Doc Rivers … I mean, you have a better chance of seeing Doc Martens coach next year's Celtics team. It's the smart move -- jump ship before next year's more-than-possible "we're way too old and things have gone to crap" season, get a big TV contract, watch his son (a top high school senior) play hoops next year and help him with the recruiting process, and best of all, get paid during the 2010-11 lockout. I can't wait until he signs with ABC/ESPN, then we finally bury the hatchet on the most dramatic BS Report yet. Or I e-mail asking him to come on and he tells me to eff off. Either way, it's gonna be all kinds of awesome.
(By the way, I didn't believe the second half of that Artest paragraph -- I was just hoping one of his friends saw it, copied it and sent it to him. You never know. Anything to mess up the Lakers.)
THE PARISH-DECKING-LAIMBEER AWARD FOR "WORST NON-CALL"
To Joey Crawford, *%%# Bavetta and Greg Willard for missing Wes Matthews pull down Derek Fisher on the biggest inbounds pass of Game 3, creating a Lakers turnover and giving Utah (down one) a chance to pull out a miracle victory. That was such an egregious screw-up that my initial feeling about Utah's final play -- Deron Williams launching a 23-footer instead of taking it hard to the basket (always my preference if you have the right player because he might get fouled) -- changed when a friend pointed out that Williams never, ever, ever, EVER would have gotten a favorable whistle after that botched no-call. Good point.
(Random strategy note: Why would Jackson have Artest throw that inbounds pass over Luke Walton? Would you trust Artest to pass you a hot plate of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, much less the biggest pass of a playoff game??? Plus, Walton was put on the planet for two reasons: to throw game-clinching inbounds passes, and to enrage every male between the ages of 17 and 45 who can't believe their girlfriend or wife just said the words, "I like Luke Walton, I think he's hot." That's really it. I don't get it.)
THE CHARLIE SHEEN AWARD FOR "WORST PUSH FOR A NEW MEGA-CONTRACT"
Put it this way, Joe Johnson: Knicks fans aren't exactly going to be pouring champagne on each other because their team just signed the 29-year-old alpha dog of the 2009-10 Atlanta Hawks -- a team that was nearly embarrassed by the depleted Bucks, got taken to the woodshed by Orlando (four blowout losses by a playoff-record 101 points) and quit on their coach Bud Kilmer-style multiple times -- on the heels of a three-year, 28-game playoff run in which you averaged an 18-5-4 and shot 41 percent from the field. You cannot win a title if Joe Johnson is one of the two guys making max money on your salary cap unless the other guy is named "LeBron." Desperate NBA teams with money to burn this summer, consider yourselves warned.
THE SPENCER PRATT AWARD FOR "BIGGEST ENIGMA"
Paul Pierce has played so poorly (11.8 PPG, 32 percent FG), looked so lethargic and had such a lousy expression on his face during the Celts-Cavs series that …
A. I tweeted that Pierce should start telling people he's battling Lyme disease or pneumonia, even if it's not true.
B. My father -- the same man who calls Tony Allen "Trick or Treat Tony," blames six full years of Tony exposure for possibly shortening his life, and joked after Tony had a big game in the Miami series, "I hope this doesn't mean we re-sign him" -- texted me after Game 4 to say, "We need to start Tony and bring Pierce off the bench."
C. I texted my dad back saying, "I agree."
D. ESPN Boston ran a story with the headline: "Paul Pierce: 'There's Nothing Wrong With Me.'" By the way, if it's a news story because there's nothing wrong with you, odds are you're not doing so hot.
THE MARK TWAIN/HALLEY'S COMET AWARD FOR "STRANGEST COINCIDENCE"
On the same night I attended my first Orlando Magic home game, my least favorite NBA player (Vince Carter) randomly decided to try in the second half and annihilated Atlanta. This was old-school Vince: cuffing one-handed rebounds over the rim, exploding through traffic for dunks, playing some (gasp) intense defense, even swishing 25-footers and skipping the other way with a front-running scowl. I immediately tweeted, "Should 'Vince Carter is trying' get a BREAKING NEWS spot on the ESPN ticker? I can't decide." In retrospect, yes. The world needs to know when Vince Carter tries.
The bad news for the other playoff teams? Nobody will beat the 2010 Magic in a seven-game series if Vince plays like that four times.
The good news for the other playoff teams? He's still Vince Carter. A real playoff team (namely, Los Angeles or Cleveland) will notice him gaining confidence like that, then just clobber him the next time he drives to the basket. That's the book on Vince: Knock him down once and he'll roll around on the floor for a few seconds, get up grimacing and never be the same. Hey, Atlanta? You know your backup center with the giant noggin and bacne? Clumsy, rugged, a little hot-tempered? Pachulia? Um, I'm pretty sure God made him a basketball player so he could someday clothesline Vince Carter in a playoff series. It's the best possible explanation. You should have told Zaza to knock Vince's %@@ down. Assuming you wanted to compete. And actually …
THE BIZARRO DIDO AWARD FOR "MOST PREMATURE WHITE FLAG"
Check out these Atlanta quotes between Game 2 and Game 3. I only made two of the four up.
Jamal Crawford: "[The Magic] are as good as anybody out there. I think they're built for a championship."
Josh Smith: "Orlando is really, really good, which sucks for us because we ran out of ways to quit on Mike Woodson about eight weeks ago. We can't escape this series with our dignity, but at least we can leave with our health."
Joe Johnson: "You almost have to play a perfect game to beat them. They can beat you both ways: inside and out. It's tough, man. When you got that combination, it's tough to beat."
Mike Bibby: "I'd have some thoughts, but I died two years ago."
(Important note: I read those Crawford/Johnson quotes on Saturday's plane and thought, "Wow, those guys are D-U-N." They lost by 30 a few hours later.)
THE JOHN TERRY/WAYNE BRIDGE AWARD FOR "MOST UNCOMFORTABLY BITTER SUBPLOT"
To Jazz fans for their continuing enmity toward Derek Fisher, who asked for his release from Utah three summers ago so he could play in an NBA city that had a hospital with an advanced eye surgery wing for his cancer-stricken daughter. He signed with the Lakers … who knocked Utah out of the playoffs in 2008, '09, and now '10. Jazz fans take this personally -- even booing him during games -- and conveniently forget that Utah was happy to let Fisher go in 2007 (not only was he overpaid as a backup, but it needed the cap relief for Deron Williams' extension) and wasn't worried about the Lakers contending at the time (since they finished 42-40 and seemed headed for a Kobe trade). A few months later, Chris Wallace gift-wrapped Pau Gasol to Los Angeles and everything changed. Not Fisher's fault. I am all for booing Lakers players and fostering random vendettas against them, but not like this.
See, here's what you get when you boo Fisher, Utah fans …
1. Bad karma. Goes without saying.
2. You just look stupid. Like you have no idea what actually happened. Fisher didn't betray you by jumping to a conference rival. The Lakers were floundering at the time.
3. You bristle every time a media member calls you the most (fill in one: bitter/angry/hostile/vicious) fans in the NBA. This illogical Fisher vendetta helps you on this front … how?
My advice as a neutral party: Let the Fisher thing go. It's creepy and ill-conceived.
THE TIM DONAGHY AWARD FOR "BEST REFEREE-RELATED INSULT"
With the Celtics getting killed in garbage time of Game 3, Zach Zarba made a bad call against Boston (not the first one), followed by a bitter fan behind the Celtics bench screaming at him, "That's enough, you already won your bet!" Hey now.
THE CARLA IN "VISION QUEST" AWARD FOR "MOST INSPIRATIONAL APPEARANCE AT A BIG GAME"
To Jay-Z, who brought Beyonce to Boston for Game 3, sat courtside and pushed LeBron to dizzying heights. Actually, after three days of national grief about his aching elbow (and his urgency, and his ability to play in pain, and his no-show in Game 2, and his "will to win"), LeBron was probably unleashing a virtuoso evisceration performance on the Celtics anyway. But Jay-Z's presence sealed the deal. LeBron didn't even need to symbolically brush dirt off his shoulders to bang the point home.
Every time I see LeBron in person, I pick up something new. This time around, I noticed something subtle: When he's in fifth gear and full-fledged attack mode, in the arena it feels like he's playing on a lopsided court that's tilted downhill. We hear the phrase "downhill runner" in football; LeBron is a "downhill dribbler." Can't remember ever seeing that before. The other thing I learned: Never bet against LeBron James if he's pissed off and Jay-Z happens to be in the house. Add that one to the gambling manifesto. Of course, Jay skipped Game 4 … and really, so did LeBron to some degree. But you know who didn't?
THE MAGIC JOHNSON AWARD FOR "BOX-SCORE LINES THAT HAVE NO RESEMBLANCE TO ANYTHING ELSE CURRENTLY HAPPENING IN THE LEAGUE"
To Rajon Rondo, whose series-saving Game 4 against Cleveland (29 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists, total control over the game) was a pantheon-level Celtics performance and had little in common with anything we've ever seen. Keep in mind …
• Since the 1986-87 season, only eight guards have grabbed 18-plus rebounds in ANY game (regular season or playoffs). Michael Jordan did it three times (once in the playoffs); Jason Kidd did it only once.
• Larry Bird had 69 triple-doubles but never a playoff game that looked quite like a 29-18-13. The closest: 24-17-10 (1981, Chicago), 19-16-13 (1986, Milwaukee), 25-15-11 (1986, Houston), 18-16-11 (1987, Milwaukee) and 24-18-10 (1990, New York).
• Only Oscar Robertson (1962: 32-19-13) and Wilt Chamberlain (1967: 29-36-13) had at least a 29-18-13 in a playoff game before, and in the past 40 years, only LeBron (2007: 27-13-13) and Magic (1986: 29-15-14) had at least a 25-13-13. So, um … yeah.
• If you read my basketball book, you might remember how I created a 42 Club for playoff performers who averaged 42-plus for points, rebounds and assists combined for an entire postseason (12-game minimum). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rondo also joined Wilt in the 60 Club for players who submitted a 60 (points, rebounds, plus assists) in one playoff game without scoring 30 points in that game. Wilt did it three times, all in 1967: 29-36-13, 24-32-13 and 16-30-19.
• For the playoffs, Rondo is averaging 17.9 PPG, 11.4 APG, 7.1 RPG and 1.9 steals. According to ESPN ace researcher Alok Pattani, only Magic Johnson ever averaged a 16-11-6-2 in the playoffs, and he did it twice: 1983 (17.9, 12.8, 8.5, 2.3) and 1984 (18.2, 13.5, 6.6, 2.0).
• We just compared Rondo to Magic, Wilt, Bird, Oscar and Jordan … legitimately. Kind of insane when you remember I was writing about him in "Rajon The Late Bloomer" terms just two springs ago. I continue to think we should dump "The Big Three" nickname and just start calling Rondo "The Big One."
THE MARK CUBAN AWARD FOR "BEST DECISION TO MAKE A MOVE BEFORE THE MARKET CHANGED"
To the Celtics for locking up Rondo to a five-year, $55 million extension in November. He's already underpaid and it hasn't even kicked in yet: If Rondo were available on July 1, he'd be the third-biggest free-agent target behind LeBron and Dwyane Wade (and a lock for a max deal). By the way, would you rather have Rondo at $30 million total for the 2011-12-13 seasons … or Chris Paul/Deron Williams at $49 million? It's a valid question. All right, I'll stop talking about Rondo before my jinx powers kick in and he blows out every ligament in his body.
THE CHARLES SMITH AWARD FOR "BEST WAY TO BUM OUT A KNICKS FAN IN LESS THAN THREE SECONDS"
2006 draft: Renaldo Balkman (No. 20); Rajon Rondo (No. 21).
2010 draft: Jordan Hill (No.
THE SQUAD 66 AWARD FOR "BEST CROWD-RELATED IDEA THAT COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE THE WAY WE WATCH GAMES"
When LeBron shot his first set of free throws during Game 3 of the Boston series, I was disappointed that the Boston crowd didn't chant either "You're a fa-ker! You're a fa-ker!" (to tweak him about his injured elbow) or "You're gonna leave! You're gonna leave!" That's when I realized something: Thanks to Twitter, we could mobilize crowd chants almost to the minute during playoff games.
For instance, let's say someone created a Twitter account called @CelticsChants (just for fun, I did it) and became the go-to chanting coordinator during games. Before Game 3, I post the tweet, "Chant for first LeBron FTs: 'You're a fa-ker! You're a fa-ker!'" Then, during garbage time, I post another one: "If LBJ goes to line again, chant, 'You're gonna leave! You're gonna leave!'" Even if 500 people at the game were following that account, wouldn't that be enough fans to get those chants rolling so everyone in the stadium joined in? Just for fun, I'm trying this for Game 6 in Boston: www.twitter.com/celticschants.
THE GEORGE LOPEZ'S LATE NIGHT SHOW FOLLOWING CONAN O'BRIEN'S LATE NIGHT SHOW AWARD FOR "MOST LAUGHABLY UNLIKELY SCENARIO THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY HAPPEN
"The Suns! The Magic! It's the 2010 NBA Finals on ABC!"
THE SUE ELLEN MISCHKE AWARD FOR "BIGGEST INFERIORITY COMPLEX"
To the Magic fans, who somehow took that last award personally. Whaddya mean it was laughably unlikely??? We're killing everybody! We whupped Cleveland in five games last year! We made the Finals last year! We have one of the best five players in the league! We have the best inside/outside game! We have the deepest team! We have a healthy Jameer, which we didn't have last year! WHY THE HELL IS THIS SO LAUGHABLY UNLIKELY????
Well, the odds were something like 40-1 for a Suns-Magic Finals heading into the playoffs. That's one reason. But the Magic fans are right -- it shouldn't have taken an 8-0 romp through the first two rounds to make some people take the Magic seriously. Still, it's hard for me to imagine them winning the actual championship for the following reasons (not counting Vince Carter and their arena, as mentioned earlier):
1. Their best player, Dwight Howard, cannot push a grocery cart through an aisle or walk across the street on a crosswalk without bowling over three people.
2. Their key guy for defending Kobe Bryant (Matt Barnes) had a crucial dinner scene in "Basketball Wives" two weekends ago.
3. Before Game 2, the Magic handed out "Karate Kid II"-type noisemakers, which the fans proceeded to bang for three straight hours (and left me feeling like I had a mild brain tumor afterward).
4. There are enough similarities between the 2002 Kings and 2010 Magic that someone could get a 1,200-word column out of it. Some definite "even though they had the best team on paper, they couldn't pull off four wins against an inferior big-market team, partly because nobody stepped up when it mattered, and partly because the league didn't want them to win" potential. I'm just sayin'.
5. Now that Tiger Woods is in seclusion, their No. 1 celebrity fan is this guy.
THE SLEEPY FLOYD AWARD FOR "MOST IMPROBABLE/MEMORABLE/ENJOYABLE PLAYOFF EXPLOSION"
LeBron has a season pass for "virtuoso evisceration" mode and uses it whenever he wants. Goran Dragic bought a one-day pass, like signing up for one day of Internet service in a hotel room. He chose to use it against the Spurs on Friday night. It was exactly the kind of fluke curveball that I had mentioned in Thursday's column; when you're dumping serious baggage (like Phoenix's mental block with the Spurs), it can only happen in the goofiest of ways. A backup point guard turning into a fireball, scoring 26 points in the last 14 minutes of a playoff game, and driving a stake into the Duncan Era? I think that qualifies.
Dragic's emergence as a reliable backup (and, occasionally, a streaky scorer) for Steve Nash symbolizes the Bizarro GM Success Run of Steve Kerr to a tee. Last season, everyone thought Dragic (a hopelessly overmatched second-round pick that Phoenix overpaid to lure him from Europe) was just another crappy Kerr move. Not anymore. He's like a crazy lefty hybrid of Beno Udrih (the point guard gene), Sarunas Marciulionis (the driving-hard-to-the-hoop gene) and Nick Van Exel (the pull-up, off-balance 3 gene).
Short-term, he saves Nash's legs and swings games. Long-term, they finally have a backup plan for when Nash retires to become player-owner of his Vancouver MLS team. Historically, now and forever, we will always have The Dragic Game. (Who could have ever guessed that one?) And for anyone who's a sucker for chemistry trumping talent -- you know, like me, the guy who devoted the first chapter of his basketball book to this phenomenon -- you had to love seeing the starters euphorically cheering on Dragic down the stretch, or everyone happily mobbing him after the game, or his GM hugging him in the tunnel like they were filming the end of a sports movie. One of my friends e-mailed me that night that I was a full-fledged sucker for the 2010 Phoenix Suns. Guilty as charged.
THE WHATEVER-THE-HELL-U2'S-LAST-ALBUM-WAS-CALLED AWARD FOR "MOST ABRUPT END TO A PHENOMENAL RUN"
To the Duncan-era Spurs: Four titles, 13 straight 50-win seasons (I'm including the stupid lockout season) and a boatload of fantastic memories. OK, not really. But we got to watch Duncan (the best power forward ever), Ginobili (the best international guard ever if you're not counting Nash, and you shouldn't, since Canada isn't really "international"), Parker (who perfected the celebrity relationship), Popovich (the best coach of the past 15 years), and two really fun rivalries (Spurs-Suns, Spurs-Mavs). Look, you can't stay on top for more than a decade without getting a top-three lottery pick or having Chris Wallace trade you a top-three lottery pick. That's just the way this league works. So hold your head up high, Spurs. Fantastic run. When players are bawling in their locker room because they finally beat you (like Nash did after Game 4), you know you accomplished something great. And you did.
Hollinger:
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Knicks better not go after "The Declining" Tony Parker.
He's always hurt and he isn't playing the type of basketball he played a few years ago. Their best bet is to leave him alone and go after Devin Harris (if the Nets get the no.1 pick).
He's always hurt and he isn't playing the type of basketball he played a few years ago. Their best bet is to leave him alone and go after Devin Harris (if the Nets get the no.1 pick).
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Geez John, I wonder if your "cavs in 5" prediction has anything to do with you using the excuse of the elbow injury.
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some of you guys really think he's faked it? If he did, wouldn't you think, you know..actually use it as an excuse instead of saying there aren't any excuses? (which there aren't, you're playing this time of the year, youre healthy)
not his fault the media talks about it all day.
not his fault the media talks about it all day.
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[h1]
Ok, give us Blair and Hill.
[/h1][h1]Spurs Interested In Rudy Gayhttp://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/66526/20100512/spurs_interested_in_rudy_gay/[/h1]
May 12, 2010 10:22 AM EST
The Spurs want to get more athletic and are said to be interested in restricted free agent forward Rudy Gay.
Ok, give us Blair and Hill.
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They ain't that interested...
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You act like I asked for Duncan, Manu and Parker....
I like how some people underrate Rudy with his type of abilities. Hopefully he gets to become the first option next season to prove a lot of people wrong.
More than likely we will keep him and I hope we do at this point. He's not the major problem, its our backcourt.
chicityk7
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Originally Posted by bhzmafia14
[h1][/h1][h1]Spurs Interested In Rudy Gayhttp://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/66526/20100512/spurs_interested_in_rudy_gay/[/h1]
May 12, 2010 10:22 AM EST
The Spurs want to get more athletic and are said to be interested in restricted free agent forward Rudy Gay.
MAYBE T.P. & BLAIR BUT THEY NOT PARTING W/ G. HILL
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Tony Parker would be more ideal with Hill being younger.
Ginobili/Blair would be my favorite package. I would try to stay away from Jefferson and even Parker at this point.
I wouldn't even want to help out a team in our division anyway. I want them to continue to get old, so they can become less of a threat.
Ginobili/Blair would be my favorite package. I would try to stay away from Jefferson and even Parker at this point.
I wouldn't even want to help out a team in our division anyway. I want them to continue to get old, so they can become less of a threat.
billy hoyle
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first option?
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Rudy being a first option = No good
do be doo
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bhzmafia14 wrote:
DLo13 wrote:
They ain't that interested...
You act like I asked for Duncan, Manu and Parker....
I like how some people underrate Rudy with his type of abilities. Hopefully he gets to become the first option next season to prove a lot of people wrong.
More than likely we will keep him and I hope we do at this point. He's not the major problem, its our backcourt.
there is no way Memphis is getting Hill or Blair...Spurs wouldn't give them to PHX for Amare early this year...
Now if y'all want Richard Jefferson...hmmmmm
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Originally Posted by Billy Hoyle
first option?
He could be used as the first option on our current team.
I'm not saying a first option with him being the only legit scorer. But, on a team with Zach, OJ and Gasol, he could be used as the primary option in our offense.
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Rudy essentially shared the first option with Z-Bo this past season and O.J. the previous season. He's not going to improve that much more with more shot attempts and opportunities. I just don't see him making "the leap" any time soon, if ever.
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- Jun 24, 2005
When Rudy shared it with OJ the year before last, he was still developing as a player. The way Memphis ran their offense was inside/out. Zach was the main guy they were going to with Conley running the pick and roll with Marc.
OJ and Rudy were basically assed out the offense. There's a thread about Rudy's usage rate percentage on the Grizz site, but I don't need to get into all the statistical categories.
Just know that we need to run more pick and pops with Rudy and whomever our PG is, post him up more, and run more plays where he gets a screen at the elbow and then let him cut to the basket for a pass. Rudy is a big offensive mismatch that needs to be utilized way more than he is.
I knew some will say something along the lines of Rudy hasn't shown that he's capable of being THAY guy, but I would place the blame on the team especially towards the 2nd half of the season for the most part. There's no way Rudy should go the amount of times he does without even touching the ball let alone at least getting a shot off. Some complain about Rudy “checking out
OJ and Rudy were basically assed out the offense. There's a thread about Rudy's usage rate percentage on the Grizz site, but I don't need to get into all the statistical categories.
Just know that we need to run more pick and pops with Rudy and whomever our PG is, post him up more, and run more plays where he gets a screen at the elbow and then let him cut to the basket for a pass. Rudy is a big offensive mismatch that needs to be utilized way more than he is.
I knew some will say something along the lines of Rudy hasn't shown that he's capable of being THAY guy, but I would place the blame on the team especially towards the 2nd half of the season for the most part. There's no way Rudy should go the amount of times he does without even touching the ball let alone at least getting a shot off. Some complain about Rudy “checking out
Another good one from Simmons today:
Spoiler [+]
Memo to my editors (Tuesday night): "I'm going to wake up at 5:30 a.m., make a pot of coffee and write a retro-diary of Game 5. It needs to be commemorated for posterity's sake. The axis of professional basketball may have shifted. I need some time to digest what just happened. I am still in shock. Also, "American Idol" and "Lost" are coming on. Crap, did I say that out loud? I know you understand. Until tomorrow."
And now ... it's today.
Assuming the Celtics clinch the series on Thursday in Boston -- a game in which LeBron James and the Cavaliers will have more pressure on them than any team in the history of the second round, and also a game that could determine how the next 12 years of NBA titles unfold and possibly assassinate professional basketball in Cleveland -- we could end up remembering Game 5 as LeBron's Last Cleveland Home Game Ever, One Of The Best Five Nights In Knicks History and/or The Game We Realized That LeBron Was Really The Next Karl Malone. So what happened? How did things fall apart completely, totally and (possibly) irrevocably in less than two hours?
Come back with me to the land of retro-diary. We'll start at the 9:06 mark of the second quarter, with Cleveland leading 29-23.
9:06: Mike Brown subs Shaq and Parker for Ilgauskas and LeBron (0 for 2 at this point). TNT's camera catches LeBron plop down next to Jamario Moon, but as he's sitting, he turns his palms upwards in disbelief, then looks blankly out to the court. Hmmmmmm. Did that mean, "Why the hell did my coach take me out?" or "What the hell is wrong with me tonight?" It meant something. Bad body language. Remember this moment.
8:20: Shaq whips a line drive against the backboard. Rebound, Garnett. On behalf of all Celtics fans, I'd like to thank Brown for playing Shaq 112 minutes in the first five games -- he slows the Cavs down, clogs the middle for LeBron, stifles their movement offensively and gives the older Celtics an improbable speed advantage. It's fantastic. Not counting the last four games of the regular season (when LeBron didn't play), Cleveland went 21-4 when Shaq didn't play. But seriously, keep playing him!
7:21: Pierce makes a free throw, then posts up Parker for an easy bucket on the next play. Cleveland made a huge mistake in Game 5: It overreacted to Rondo's monster 29-18-13 in Game 4, tweaked its defense to slow him down and allowed Pierce and Allen to get going. I say "overreacted" because Rondo had one of the three greatest playoff triple-doubles in NBA history on Sunday. Pretty sure that wasn't happening again. Throw in his illogical rotations (41 minutes for Shaq and Ilguaskas?????) and the panic move of playing two guys who hadn't played all series (Ilgauskas and Boobie Gibson) and the only way Brown could have hurt Cleveland more in this game is if he clubbed LeBron with a tire iron during a timeout.
(Important note: Cleveland's biggest advantage in this series was/is athleticism. The Celtics can't match up with Hickson-LeBron-Moon-West-Williams or Hickson-LeBron-Varejao-Williams-West. In a Feb. 25 game in Boston, Hickson-LeBron/Moon-Varejao-West-Williams turned a 78-77 deficit into a 101-86 rout in just eight minutes. They blew the Celtics off the court. Tuesday night, Varejao played 17 minutes; Hickson played four; and Moon played seven. It's illogical. It makes no sense. You could argue that Varejao should play 48 minutes a game in this series, and that Moon should be the one defending Rondo. Wait, why am I pointing this out! Um, keep playing Shaq! Twenty-one points in Game 5! Looked great!)
6:10: Two ugly, disjointed minutes of basketball (offensive foul, three misses, a turnover, a double technical, loose-ball foul) leads to KG hitting two FTs. (FYI: "Ugly and disjointed" couldn't be more in the 2009-10 Celtics' wheelhouse). LeBron comes down and bricks a three. KG hits an open 18-footer. (30-29, Boston. No timeout by Cleveland????) Turnover by Jamison. TV timeout. Cleveland fans officially terrified.
6:10 (timeout): I know you're dying to hear my "Karate Kid" remake thoughts. Well, I'm in conflict here -- obviously, you can't remake iconic classics if they remain exceedingly watchable. On the other hand, I'm the same guy who once wrote that ALL movies can be remade as long as the remake has a different gender or race. I can support concepts like "Black Scarface," "Female Hoosiers," "Black Caddyshack" (which actually happened and was awful), "Female Rocky" and so on. So it would be hypocritical of me to say, "No, I can't support 'Black Karate Kid.'" I hate being pigeonholed by a previously established position. Damn it all. Back to the game.
5:11: Garnett hits a turnaround over Varejao; 32-29, Boston (11 straight). Of all the shocking things about the Celtics' improbable postseason run -- after all, they looked old and dead for nearly four months -- Garnett's quiet resurgence ranks at the top of the list. He played on one leg for most of the year, got shopped by Danny Ainge at the February deadline (it's true), looked like a salary cap albatross, seemed mentally off (barking/yapping like Good KG when Good KG was long gone) and generally just sucked.
Then the Quentin Richardson embroglio happened; it was like a basketball Epiphany for him. Garnett has been a different guy since. He's moving pretty well, staying within himself, playing solid defense and toning down the whole chest-punching/all-bark-no-bite routine. His last eight playoff games: 17-8, 53 percent shooting. Even Tuesday night's postgame interview with David Aldridge was surprisingly tame -- just a guy who played a good game calmly discussing it. If you're a Celtics fan, ALL of this is good. All of it. And yes, as recently as four weeks ago, I thought Kevin Garnett was cooked. Done. Finished. I would have bet anything.
4:32: Jamison misses an easy three-foot runner as every Wizard fan says, "See, I told you he'd choke in a big game!" That's followed by Pierce setting up Trick or Treat Tony (Allen) for an easy dunk in pseudo-transition -- did I mention that Rondo (0 points, 0 assists) has been on the bench for most of this 13-point run? -- followed by another horrific Cavs possession (Shaq holding the ball too long, a near turnover, LeBron forced to create something late in the shot clock) leading to a Boston steal and Pierce getting the "AND ONE!" layup as Boston's bench explodes. Boston up 37-29. Timeout, Cleveland. Uncle Mo and Auntie Mentum are wearing Celtics jerseys right now.
3:50: LeBron makes five of six free throws but Ray Allen answers with a two and a three; 42-34, Boston. We're now in Year 14 of the Ray Allen Era and he's still swinging playoff games. Last night: 25 points, six threes. For the playoffs: 18.3 PPG, 46% 3FG, five of 10 high-octane performances. Career playoffs: 87 games, 20.3 PPG, 41.2% 3FG, 89.5% FT. For my basketball book, I had Allen ranked one spot behind Reggie Miller in my Hall of Fame Pyramid ... but Allen has now pulled into a dead heat for the paperback. And what if Boston makes the Finals again?
3:50: Just threw some water on myself.
1:49: Little run for Cleveland: Basket for Varejao, three for Mo Williams (plus a Varejao free throw) ... and it's suddenly 42-39. Let the record show that LeBron attacked as much as he could during this stretch. He just didn't play well.
THE LIST OF KOBE NO-SHOWS
• Game 6 of the 2003 Spurs series: Lakers eliminated in a 32-point blowout (Kobe scores 20, commits seven turnovers).
• Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5 of the 2004 Finals: Kobe went 4 for 13, 8 for 25 and 7 for 21 as the Pistons finished off L.A.
• Game 7 of the 2006 Suns series: Lakers lose by 32, Kobe mysteriously stops shooting in the second half in a rarely seen Eff You To My Teammates performance.
• Game 4 of the 2008 Finals: Boston rallies back from 25 down to win in L.A. Kobe finishes 6 for 19.
• Game 6 of the 2008 Finals: Boston wins the title with a 39-point blowout, Kobe goes 7 for 22.
Of course, because of the stakes -- you know, the future of a Cleveland dynasty hanging in the balance and all -- it felt like one of the weightiest "Awful Big Games" by a great player in NBA history: 3-for-14 shooting, 0-4 on 3s, little urgency and a Mailman-like Botox game face (and he was at home!). He was perplexingly and memorably awful. As I tweeted, the "Kobe is better than LeBron" demo reacted to the game like Don Shula's house after the Tyree Catch. It's the trump card they desperately needed -- they can always throw Game 5 in any LeBron defender's face. Just remember, Kobe has laid more than a few big game eggs as well (see sidebar to the right). It happens.
(But if it happens again in Boston? We have a problem.)
1:29: Pierce beats Parker off the dribble for two. Huge basket. Great comeback game for the Peep (21-11-7); I feel relatively confident that he doesn't have Lyme Disease or pneumonia anymore.
1:05: Set play coming out of a timeout, wide-open three for Mo Williams ... brick. Mo in the playoffs: 13.6 PPG, 40% FG, 33% 3FG and such shoddy defense that Cleveland decided, "We need to find someone else to defend Rose and Rondo." He's the pimple on the NBA All-Star Game's rear end.
0:50: Allen makes a ridiculous, off-balance, hand-in-his-face three in front of Boston's bench. Boston 47, Cleveland 40. Six-point swing. LeBron attacks, gets to the rim, draws Rasheed Wallace's fourth foul (sadly, two more to go) and makes one of two freebies. Rondo responds by creating an easy dunk for Shelden "Billy Knight Has To Be Fired Up To See Me In A Playoff Game" Williams. After LeBron bricks a three, Ilgauskas jumps over Williams' back for a foul (one of two free throws), then gets a three-point play on the other end. Pierce drives hard to the hoop, doesn't get a call as usual, end of the half. Boston 50, Cleveland 44.
My thought process at halftime: If the Celtics can come out and throw a haymaker early, Cleveland will tighten up, their fans will become absolutely poop-in-their-pants-terrified, everyone will come to the sudden realization that they might be watching LeBron's last Cleveland home game ever, the moment would become so weighty that it would suffocate basically everybody, and the Celtics will cruise to a 25-point win.
Did I expect this to happen? Actually, I kinda did. The Celtics were playing with passion and purpose again, two qualities that had been dormant from Christmas through Easter. I hadn't just written them off; I kind of hated them. I couldn't believe that a team just two seasons removed from such a special title season would mail in a half-season like that. The halcyon days of ubuntu were long gone. When I predicted them to lose to Miami in Round 1, my cagey readers thought it was a reverse jinx. Nope. I really thought we would lose. The Celtics had given me no reason to think they might show up for the playoffs. None.
There are three types of sports fans: hopelessly devoted, rationally passionate and irrationally passionate. I am the latter. I overreact to big wins. I fly off the handle with bad losses. When things are going wrong with one of my teams, I become exceedingly sarcastic and biting (as anyone who reads me can attest). That's just my DNA. I can't help it. I am a full-fledged, unapologetic over-reactor. That's my mental process for following sports. My father is much more loyal and rational; with the Celtics these past three years, any time we stunk, he was always the one with the cooler head telling me, "We'll be fine, we're gonna win the next one." So the following moment was a big deal: On Sunday, my father sold his Game 4 tickets back to the team online for face value. He didn't want to pay for what threatened to be another stinkbomb, saying simply, "I'd rather watch Game 4 at home for free." The 2009-10 Celtics had knocked the faith out of an exceedingly faithful man. It wasn't worth $550 to him (a lot of money, by the way) to see if the Celtics *might* show up.
Here's the point: Neither of us even remotely saw Sunday and Tuesday coming. I thought the Celtics would roll over on Sunday and lose Game 5. End of story, end of season. Then Rondo played the game of his life, and Pierce/Allen caught fire in Game 5, and suddenly it was halftime and I was sitting there thinking, "Holy s***, are we about to murder professional basketball in Cleveland????"
Fast-forward to the third quarter ...
11:27: Allen takes a three from the corner ... bang! (Copyright: Mike Breen.) Boston 53, Cleveland 44.
11:07: Off-balance brick from Mo Williams. Pretty sure LeBron has to touch the ball there. Call me crazy.
10:54: Allen takes another three ... BANG!!!!! (Copyright: Mike Breen.) Boston by 12. Timeout, Cleveland. Crowd in shock. Simmons in shock. Everyone in shock. GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! What is happening here???
10:25: Williams drives into the paint and sets up Shaq for a dunk. Next play: offensive foul on Garnett. Next play: LeBron attacks but ends up bowling over a Celtic for an offensive foul. Next play: Rondo torches Williams for the "AND ONE" driving layup (but misses the freebie). Next play: 20-foot brick from LeBron. Next play: Rondo with a pretty pass for a KG layup. Next play: KG stuffs Jamison. Next play: Rondo stutter-steps Williams (playing four feet off him) for a pretty jumper. Boston 62, Cleveland 46 ... and the crowd is ... booing????
You just witnessed, quite possibly, the most damaging two minutes of the LeBron Era in Cleveland: Boston grabbed control and got Rondo going; LeBron's shooting touch officially abandoned him; and the Cleveland fans turned on their team. Look, I'm all for booing your boys when the game has been decided -- at some point, you have to let them know, "What just happened was NOT acceptable." But doing it that early only makes the home team more skittish/nervous/urgent than they already were; it's not like they're thinking, "Crap, we thought we could get away without trying! They're onto us! We gotta pick it up!" Booing makes everything worse. There's no upside.
And yet, I can't totally blame those fans because there was so much at stake; it transcended the game, the series and the season. Like, you could see yourself looking at LeBron in a Knicks jersey six months from now and saying, "I remember the moment I knew this would happen: Game 5, Boston-Cleveland, third quarter." Every Cavs fan in that building probably had that creepy, stomach-turning vision and thought to themselves, "COME ON! WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!" "(The ominous sight of LeBron's buddy John Calipari sitting courtside probably wasn't helping, especially when he's rumored to be the next coach of a Bulls team that has summer cap space.) Throw in their coach's abominable performance, LeBron's no-show, and Boston gaining steam by the play, and what do you do? I don't know. Cleveland chose to boo. Lustily. I can't kill them on it ... just pointing out that it didn't help.
8:14: LeBron bricks a three. So far in this quarter: A charge and two bricks. And he looks like he just caught a whiff of a decomposing body. Even Karl Malone is shaking his head right now.
Look, I still believe LeBron will end up becoming one of the best six or seven players ever. I also believe we'll look back at this Cleveland stretch and end up blaming his coach and GM. For seven solid years, the fate of the Cavaliers depended solely and completely on how LeBron James played. It wasn't really fair. With that said, he has four flaws right now: he doesn't have a low-post game; he hasn't learned to play consistently well when he isn't 100 percent (like, say, Kobe or Nash has); he settles for 20-footers and threes when he's not playing well (instead of just getting to the rim); and the way he floats in and out of playoff series is positively T-Mac-ian. The first three are fixable. I'm worried about the fourth. The T-Mac gene scares me. I'm not gonna lie.
7:47: Mo Williams drives and dishes to Shaq for a dunk. #@+# Stockton kills the moment for Cleveland fans by saying, "Harrowing thought (for Cleveland fans) that LeBron could possibly be playing his last home game in a Cleveland uniform." Oof.
7:27: Rondo finds Perkins wide-open because Shaq fell asleep on a high-screen switch. Perk makes one of two freebies. Boston by 15. (Still no Varejao. It's incredible.) With the Celtics shaded over to LeBron at the top of the key, Williams finds a seam and gets Shaq another dunk. (Boston is basically saying, "Take that all day. We will not allow LeBron to get going.") That's followed by an outrageous drive by Rondo -- beats Williams off the dribble, shakes off LeBron by pretending to dish it back out, keeps it and knifes between them for a layup. Hands down, he's the most exciting Celtic since Bird. Boston by 15.
CHANT TIME
In Game 2's column, Bill Simmons mentioned his far-fetched idea to spur on real-time chants at Game 6 of the Cavs-Celtics series. The plan: tweet suggestions for chants to Boston fans attending the game who happen to be following him at www.twitter.com/celticschants. Can this idea actually work? Bill is posting his first "suggested chant" right before game time on Thursday night. Stay tuned.
6:36: LeBron bricks a three. (Now 0 for 7 and bordering on "Mailman Jr." status.) Pierce misses a three in transition and Cleveland gets LeBron (hanging back) a dunk. He's on the board. Garnett and Rondo quickly respond with a gorgeous give-and-go for a Rondo layup. Mo Williams is getting worked like a speedbag. Timeout, Cleveland.
5:45: Coming out of a timeout, LeBron loses the ball in traffic ... but it goes right to Shaq (fouled going for a dunk). Shaq bricks both free throws. Of course he does. On the other end, Rondo takes Boobie Gibson (10 minutes in the previous nine playoff games, 12 in Game 5) off the dribble and gets fouled. I hate to keep belaboring the "Mike Brown stunk this series" point, but when you go 61-17 (I'm not counting the last four games), then win seven of your first nine playoff games, then you play one bad playoff game, should you really blow up your rotations for the next game? What does that tell your team besides, "I don't trust half of you" and "I'm terrified?" It's Panic-Coaching 101, right?
4:49: Garnett sinks a wide-open 16-footer (Jamison lost him through a screen), then LeBron throws the ball out of bounds on a botched pick and roll ("booooooooo!"), then Allen drains yet another three. Boston 73, Cleveland 52. Crowd catatonic. And normally, you'd think the game was over ... unless you've been watching this Celtics team all year. They love to blow leads. In fact, a friend texted me at this exact moment, "We need to be up 25 heading into the fourth." He wasn't kidding.
Following a Jamison three, some turnovers/fouls/bricks and a TV timeout, TNT comes back from commercial with shots of the mortified Cleveland fans in the crowd. I have watched god-knows-how-many NBA games in my life ... I can't remember ever watching a game that, as it progressed, started to feel like the next 12 years for multiple franchises and the league itself were at stake. Game 6 (and Game 7, if it gets there) will carry that same weight.
See, there was only one way LeBron was leaving Cleveland this summer: If the team fell apart so badly and indefensibly before the Finals that he could get talked into a "You just need a fresh start with a new team" case. He couldn't leave if they lost in the Finals to Kobe's Lakers; he'd look like a coward. He couldn't leave if they won the title; no great player leaves a defending champ at the altar -- it's never happened before. But if it plays out like this? He could leave. Absolutely. It's conceivable.
(That sound you just heard was 50,000 Knicks fans standing up in front of their desk and pumping their fists furiously.)
Let's skip to the fourth quarter since the teams traded baskets for the last three minutes of the third (including a three from LeBron). Boston 80, Cleveland 63.
12:00: Questions David Aldridge could have asked Mike Brown in that last interview: "Have you decided which realtor you're using to sell your house yet?" ... "Are you intentionally trying to lose this game, or does it just seem that way?" ... "Are you playing Shaq because you think it's 2001?" ... "Are you going to take a year off, or do you think you'll get right back into coaching?"
11:10: Rondo (16 points and 6 assists in the second half) slides past Gibson for a running 7-footer. Just curious: If Rondo and Nash make the Finals, doesn't that alter the "Chris Paul or Deron Williams is the best point guard alive" argument? I say yes.
10:52: Boobie Gibson misses a three as LeBron never touches the ball. That's followed by Big Baby Davis abusing Jamison on a drive to the basket (and the foul!). Celts by 23. LeBron immediately drives to the basket (two free throws, makes one, and by the way, he's not wearing his elbow sleeve any more); Davis answers with a wide-open 15-footer; Shaq makes a jump hook; then Davis puts back a missed Pierce jumper ... and the foul! Boston 90, Cleveland 66. Game over.
You would have thought I was ecstatic. And believe me, I was. The Boston fan in me was doing backflips. But there's an NBA fan inside me as well -- the one that cares about the history of the game, and true greatness, and how the eras intersect, and how the Current Legendary Player compares to the Previous Legendary Players -- and that part was just plain dumbfounded by the game LeBron James played. Hey, everyone has a stinker lurking inside them. But Tuesday night? Of all nights?
As the game wound down to the buzzer, I found myself looking towards Charles Barkley's comments more than ever before at any point in the playoffs. Like me, he cares about the big-picture stuff, and this was a big-picture moment. His words carry more weight than mine ever could. The funny thing about great ex-players is that they want new guys to be great. It's almost like belonging to an exclusive club -- you can't just let anyone in, they have to fight their way past the bouncer, but when they get there, you're delighted to see them.
We're glad you made it. Congratulations. Have a seat. Would you like one of MJ's cigars? Can Russell mix you a drink? We're glad you're here. We're proud of you.
LeBron just seemed like he was headed into the club. It was a foregone conclusion. Now? I don't know. And neither did Barkley.
"I gotta tell you something, Ernie," he said to Ernie Johnson. "As a fan -- and I've said all year that LeBron James was the best basketball player in the world -- but I'm 100 percent disappointed. Not the fact that he didn't have a good game, he clearly didn't have a good game. But his mentality ... I go back, I played against a Michael Jordan, a Karl Malone, a Patrick Ewing, listen, their gun was gonna be empty by the end of the game. And I did not see that tonight. Clearly it happened in Game 2, but tonight, in the biggest game of the season, this was clearly the biggest game of the season, I did not see the aggression that I needed from an MVP at home."
Exactly. It was ... dumbfounding. That's what it was.
At the same time, e-mails were pouring into my mailbox from Cavaliers fans. One guy said, "God hates Cleveland." Another said, "I'm watching basketball die in my city." Another said, "LeBron just virtuoso eviscerated David Robinson's record for worst performance by an MVP in the playoffs." Another said, "LeBron has his perfect excuse to leave the city and go join Jay-Z and the Yankees in New York like he has always wanted. We are all watching the death of professional sports in Cleveland."
The e-mails kept pouring in -- same themes, same thoughts. Maybe LeBron has been hearing those voices the whole time. Maybe his teammates just suck. Maybe Boston is better. Maybe LeBron isn't as good as we thought. Maybe he's more injured than we know. Maybe sports doesn't always make sense. There are no answers, just maybes. And since he's only 25 years old, it's too early to say that this week could define LeBron's legacy. Obviously.
At the same time, every career has a tipping point when you have to pour cement on the foundation of a career, have it harden and say, "How this plays out will probably determine who this player is going to be." For Jordan, it was the 1991 Finals. For Bird, it was the 1984 Finals. For Ewing, it was the 1994 Finals. For Magic, it was the 1985 Finals. For Malone, it happened late (the 1997 Finals). For Kobe, it happened early (the 2000 Finals). And so on. Always -- without fail -- it happens in the Finals, because it's the ultimate test of pressure.
Only this time, with LeBron James, it's happening right now. Round 2. At the age of 25. With the weight of a city on his shoulders. With a big decision looming. With the stench of a dreadful Game 5 still lingering. With an experienced Boston team (and crowd) waiting. On Thursday night, the cement will be poured for LeBron James. It's time. I have no idea what will happen, and neither do you.
And now ... it's today.
Assuming the Celtics clinch the series on Thursday in Boston -- a game in which LeBron James and the Cavaliers will have more pressure on them than any team in the history of the second round, and also a game that could determine how the next 12 years of NBA titles unfold and possibly assassinate professional basketball in Cleveland -- we could end up remembering Game 5 as LeBron's Last Cleveland Home Game Ever, One Of The Best Five Nights In Knicks History and/or The Game We Realized That LeBron Was Really The Next Karl Malone. So what happened? How did things fall apart completely, totally and (possibly) irrevocably in less than two hours?
Come back with me to the land of retro-diary. We'll start at the 9:06 mark of the second quarter, with Cleveland leading 29-23.
9:06: Mike Brown subs Shaq and Parker for Ilgauskas and LeBron (0 for 2 at this point). TNT's camera catches LeBron plop down next to Jamario Moon, but as he's sitting, he turns his palms upwards in disbelief, then looks blankly out to the court. Hmmmmmm. Did that mean, "Why the hell did my coach take me out?" or "What the hell is wrong with me tonight?" It meant something. Bad body language. Remember this moment.
8:20: Shaq whips a line drive against the backboard. Rebound, Garnett. On behalf of all Celtics fans, I'd like to thank Brown for playing Shaq 112 minutes in the first five games -- he slows the Cavs down, clogs the middle for LeBron, stifles their movement offensively and gives the older Celtics an improbable speed advantage. It's fantastic. Not counting the last four games of the regular season (when LeBron didn't play), Cleveland went 21-4 when Shaq didn't play. But seriously, keep playing him!
7:21: Pierce makes a free throw, then posts up Parker for an easy bucket on the next play. Cleveland made a huge mistake in Game 5: It overreacted to Rondo's monster 29-18-13 in Game 4, tweaked its defense to slow him down and allowed Pierce and Allen to get going. I say "overreacted" because Rondo had one of the three greatest playoff triple-doubles in NBA history on Sunday. Pretty sure that wasn't happening again. Throw in his illogical rotations (41 minutes for Shaq and Ilguaskas?????) and the panic move of playing two guys who hadn't played all series (Ilgauskas and Boobie Gibson) and the only way Brown could have hurt Cleveland more in this game is if he clubbed LeBron with a tire iron during a timeout.
(Important note: Cleveland's biggest advantage in this series was/is athleticism. The Celtics can't match up with Hickson-LeBron-Moon-West-Williams or Hickson-LeBron-Varejao-Williams-West. In a Feb. 25 game in Boston, Hickson-LeBron/Moon-Varejao-West-Williams turned a 78-77 deficit into a 101-86 rout in just eight minutes. They blew the Celtics off the court. Tuesday night, Varejao played 17 minutes; Hickson played four; and Moon played seven. It's illogical. It makes no sense. You could argue that Varejao should play 48 minutes a game in this series, and that Moon should be the one defending Rondo. Wait, why am I pointing this out! Um, keep playing Shaq! Twenty-one points in Game 5! Looked great!)
6:10: Two ugly, disjointed minutes of basketball (offensive foul, three misses, a turnover, a double technical, loose-ball foul) leads to KG hitting two FTs. (FYI: "Ugly and disjointed" couldn't be more in the 2009-10 Celtics' wheelhouse). LeBron comes down and bricks a three. KG hits an open 18-footer. (30-29, Boston. No timeout by Cleveland????) Turnover by Jamison. TV timeout. Cleveland fans officially terrified.
6:10 (timeout): I know you're dying to hear my "Karate Kid" remake thoughts. Well, I'm in conflict here -- obviously, you can't remake iconic classics if they remain exceedingly watchable. On the other hand, I'm the same guy who once wrote that ALL movies can be remade as long as the remake has a different gender or race. I can support concepts like "Black Scarface," "Female Hoosiers," "Black Caddyshack" (which actually happened and was awful), "Female Rocky" and so on. So it would be hypocritical of me to say, "No, I can't support 'Black Karate Kid.'" I hate being pigeonholed by a previously established position. Damn it all. Back to the game.
5:11: Garnett hits a turnaround over Varejao; 32-29, Boston (11 straight). Of all the shocking things about the Celtics' improbable postseason run -- after all, they looked old and dead for nearly four months -- Garnett's quiet resurgence ranks at the top of the list. He played on one leg for most of the year, got shopped by Danny Ainge at the February deadline (it's true), looked like a salary cap albatross, seemed mentally off (barking/yapping like Good KG when Good KG was long gone) and generally just sucked.
Then the Quentin Richardson embroglio happened; it was like a basketball Epiphany for him. Garnett has been a different guy since. He's moving pretty well, staying within himself, playing solid defense and toning down the whole chest-punching/all-bark-no-bite routine. His last eight playoff games: 17-8, 53 percent shooting. Even Tuesday night's postgame interview with David Aldridge was surprisingly tame -- just a guy who played a good game calmly discussing it. If you're a Celtics fan, ALL of this is good. All of it. And yes, as recently as four weeks ago, I thought Kevin Garnett was cooked. Done. Finished. I would have bet anything.
4:32: Jamison misses an easy three-foot runner as every Wizard fan says, "See, I told you he'd choke in a big game!" That's followed by Pierce setting up Trick or Treat Tony (Allen) for an easy dunk in pseudo-transition -- did I mention that Rondo (0 points, 0 assists) has been on the bench for most of this 13-point run? -- followed by another horrific Cavs possession (Shaq holding the ball too long, a near turnover, LeBron forced to create something late in the shot clock) leading to a Boston steal and Pierce getting the "AND ONE!" layup as Boston's bench explodes. Boston up 37-29. Timeout, Cleveland. Uncle Mo and Auntie Mentum are wearing Celtics jerseys right now.
3:50: LeBron makes five of six free throws but Ray Allen answers with a two and a three; 42-34, Boston. We're now in Year 14 of the Ray Allen Era and he's still swinging playoff games. Last night: 25 points, six threes. For the playoffs: 18.3 PPG, 46% 3FG, five of 10 high-octane performances. Career playoffs: 87 games, 20.3 PPG, 41.2% 3FG, 89.5% FT. For my basketball book, I had Allen ranked one spot behind Reggie Miller in my Hall of Fame Pyramid ... but Allen has now pulled into a dead heat for the paperback. And what if Boston makes the Finals again?
3:50: Just threw some water on myself.
1:49: Little run for Cleveland: Basket for Varejao, three for Mo Williams (plus a Varejao free throw) ... and it's suddenly 42-39. Let the record show that LeBron attacked as much as he could during this stretch. He just didn't play well.
THE LIST OF KOBE NO-SHOWS
• Game 6 of the 2003 Spurs series: Lakers eliminated in a 32-point blowout (Kobe scores 20, commits seven turnovers).
• Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5 of the 2004 Finals: Kobe went 4 for 13, 8 for 25 and 7 for 21 as the Pistons finished off L.A.
• Game 7 of the 2006 Suns series: Lakers lose by 32, Kobe mysteriously stops shooting in the second half in a rarely seen Eff You To My Teammates performance.
• Game 4 of the 2008 Finals: Boston rallies back from 25 down to win in L.A. Kobe finishes 6 for 19.
• Game 6 of the 2008 Finals: Boston wins the title with a 39-point blowout, Kobe goes 7 for 22.
Of course, because of the stakes -- you know, the future of a Cleveland dynasty hanging in the balance and all -- it felt like one of the weightiest "Awful Big Games" by a great player in NBA history: 3-for-14 shooting, 0-4 on 3s, little urgency and a Mailman-like Botox game face (and he was at home!). He was perplexingly and memorably awful. As I tweeted, the "Kobe is better than LeBron" demo reacted to the game like Don Shula's house after the Tyree Catch. It's the trump card they desperately needed -- they can always throw Game 5 in any LeBron defender's face. Just remember, Kobe has laid more than a few big game eggs as well (see sidebar to the right). It happens.
(But if it happens again in Boston? We have a problem.)
1:29: Pierce beats Parker off the dribble for two. Huge basket. Great comeback game for the Peep (21-11-7); I feel relatively confident that he doesn't have Lyme Disease or pneumonia anymore.
1:05: Set play coming out of a timeout, wide-open three for Mo Williams ... brick. Mo in the playoffs: 13.6 PPG, 40% FG, 33% 3FG and such shoddy defense that Cleveland decided, "We need to find someone else to defend Rose and Rondo." He's the pimple on the NBA All-Star Game's rear end.
0:50: Allen makes a ridiculous, off-balance, hand-in-his-face three in front of Boston's bench. Boston 47, Cleveland 40. Six-point swing. LeBron attacks, gets to the rim, draws Rasheed Wallace's fourth foul (sadly, two more to go) and makes one of two freebies. Rondo responds by creating an easy dunk for Shelden "Billy Knight Has To Be Fired Up To See Me In A Playoff Game" Williams. After LeBron bricks a three, Ilgauskas jumps over Williams' back for a foul (one of two free throws), then gets a three-point play on the other end. Pierce drives hard to the hoop, doesn't get a call as usual, end of the half. Boston 50, Cleveland 44.
My thought process at halftime: If the Celtics can come out and throw a haymaker early, Cleveland will tighten up, their fans will become absolutely poop-in-their-pants-terrified, everyone will come to the sudden realization that they might be watching LeBron's last Cleveland home game ever, the moment would become so weighty that it would suffocate basically everybody, and the Celtics will cruise to a 25-point win.
Did I expect this to happen? Actually, I kinda did. The Celtics were playing with passion and purpose again, two qualities that had been dormant from Christmas through Easter. I hadn't just written them off; I kind of hated them. I couldn't believe that a team just two seasons removed from such a special title season would mail in a half-season like that. The halcyon days of ubuntu were long gone. When I predicted them to lose to Miami in Round 1, my cagey readers thought it was a reverse jinx. Nope. I really thought we would lose. The Celtics had given me no reason to think they might show up for the playoffs. None.
There are three types of sports fans: hopelessly devoted, rationally passionate and irrationally passionate. I am the latter. I overreact to big wins. I fly off the handle with bad losses. When things are going wrong with one of my teams, I become exceedingly sarcastic and biting (as anyone who reads me can attest). That's just my DNA. I can't help it. I am a full-fledged, unapologetic over-reactor. That's my mental process for following sports. My father is much more loyal and rational; with the Celtics these past three years, any time we stunk, he was always the one with the cooler head telling me, "We'll be fine, we're gonna win the next one." So the following moment was a big deal: On Sunday, my father sold his Game 4 tickets back to the team online for face value. He didn't want to pay for what threatened to be another stinkbomb, saying simply, "I'd rather watch Game 4 at home for free." The 2009-10 Celtics had knocked the faith out of an exceedingly faithful man. It wasn't worth $550 to him (a lot of money, by the way) to see if the Celtics *might* show up.
Here's the point: Neither of us even remotely saw Sunday and Tuesday coming. I thought the Celtics would roll over on Sunday and lose Game 5. End of story, end of season. Then Rondo played the game of his life, and Pierce/Allen caught fire in Game 5, and suddenly it was halftime and I was sitting there thinking, "Holy s***, are we about to murder professional basketball in Cleveland????"
Fast-forward to the third quarter ...
11:27: Allen takes a three from the corner ... bang! (Copyright: Mike Breen.) Boston 53, Cleveland 44.
11:07: Off-balance brick from Mo Williams. Pretty sure LeBron has to touch the ball there. Call me crazy.
10:54: Allen takes another three ... BANG!!!!! (Copyright: Mike Breen.) Boston by 12. Timeout, Cleveland. Crowd in shock. Simmons in shock. Everyone in shock. GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! What is happening here???
10:25: Williams drives into the paint and sets up Shaq for a dunk. Next play: offensive foul on Garnett. Next play: LeBron attacks but ends up bowling over a Celtic for an offensive foul. Next play: Rondo torches Williams for the "AND ONE" driving layup (but misses the freebie). Next play: 20-foot brick from LeBron. Next play: Rondo with a pretty pass for a KG layup. Next play: KG stuffs Jamison. Next play: Rondo stutter-steps Williams (playing four feet off him) for a pretty jumper. Boston 62, Cleveland 46 ... and the crowd is ... booing????
You just witnessed, quite possibly, the most damaging two minutes of the LeBron Era in Cleveland: Boston grabbed control and got Rondo going; LeBron's shooting touch officially abandoned him; and the Cleveland fans turned on their team. Look, I'm all for booing your boys when the game has been decided -- at some point, you have to let them know, "What just happened was NOT acceptable." But doing it that early only makes the home team more skittish/nervous/urgent than they already were; it's not like they're thinking, "Crap, we thought we could get away without trying! They're onto us! We gotta pick it up!" Booing makes everything worse. There's no upside.
And yet, I can't totally blame those fans because there was so much at stake; it transcended the game, the series and the season. Like, you could see yourself looking at LeBron in a Knicks jersey six months from now and saying, "I remember the moment I knew this would happen: Game 5, Boston-Cleveland, third quarter." Every Cavs fan in that building probably had that creepy, stomach-turning vision and thought to themselves, "COME ON! WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!" "(The ominous sight of LeBron's buddy John Calipari sitting courtside probably wasn't helping, especially when he's rumored to be the next coach of a Bulls team that has summer cap space.) Throw in their coach's abominable performance, LeBron's no-show, and Boston gaining steam by the play, and what do you do? I don't know. Cleveland chose to boo. Lustily. I can't kill them on it ... just pointing out that it didn't help.
8:14: LeBron bricks a three. So far in this quarter: A charge and two bricks. And he looks like he just caught a whiff of a decomposing body. Even Karl Malone is shaking his head right now.
Look, I still believe LeBron will end up becoming one of the best six or seven players ever. I also believe we'll look back at this Cleveland stretch and end up blaming his coach and GM. For seven solid years, the fate of the Cavaliers depended solely and completely on how LeBron James played. It wasn't really fair. With that said, he has four flaws right now: he doesn't have a low-post game; he hasn't learned to play consistently well when he isn't 100 percent (like, say, Kobe or Nash has); he settles for 20-footers and threes when he's not playing well (instead of just getting to the rim); and the way he floats in and out of playoff series is positively T-Mac-ian. The first three are fixable. I'm worried about the fourth. The T-Mac gene scares me. I'm not gonna lie.
7:47: Mo Williams drives and dishes to Shaq for a dunk. #@+# Stockton kills the moment for Cleveland fans by saying, "Harrowing thought (for Cleveland fans) that LeBron could possibly be playing his last home game in a Cleveland uniform." Oof.
7:27: Rondo finds Perkins wide-open because Shaq fell asleep on a high-screen switch. Perk makes one of two freebies. Boston by 15. (Still no Varejao. It's incredible.) With the Celtics shaded over to LeBron at the top of the key, Williams finds a seam and gets Shaq another dunk. (Boston is basically saying, "Take that all day. We will not allow LeBron to get going.") That's followed by an outrageous drive by Rondo -- beats Williams off the dribble, shakes off LeBron by pretending to dish it back out, keeps it and knifes between them for a layup. Hands down, he's the most exciting Celtic since Bird. Boston by 15.
CHANT TIME
In Game 2's column, Bill Simmons mentioned his far-fetched idea to spur on real-time chants at Game 6 of the Cavs-Celtics series. The plan: tweet suggestions for chants to Boston fans attending the game who happen to be following him at www.twitter.com/celticschants. Can this idea actually work? Bill is posting his first "suggested chant" right before game time on Thursday night. Stay tuned.
6:36: LeBron bricks a three. (Now 0 for 7 and bordering on "Mailman Jr." status.) Pierce misses a three in transition and Cleveland gets LeBron (hanging back) a dunk. He's on the board. Garnett and Rondo quickly respond with a gorgeous give-and-go for a Rondo layup. Mo Williams is getting worked like a speedbag. Timeout, Cleveland.
5:45: Coming out of a timeout, LeBron loses the ball in traffic ... but it goes right to Shaq (fouled going for a dunk). Shaq bricks both free throws. Of course he does. On the other end, Rondo takes Boobie Gibson (10 minutes in the previous nine playoff games, 12 in Game 5) off the dribble and gets fouled. I hate to keep belaboring the "Mike Brown stunk this series" point, but when you go 61-17 (I'm not counting the last four games), then win seven of your first nine playoff games, then you play one bad playoff game, should you really blow up your rotations for the next game? What does that tell your team besides, "I don't trust half of you" and "I'm terrified?" It's Panic-Coaching 101, right?
4:49: Garnett sinks a wide-open 16-footer (Jamison lost him through a screen), then LeBron throws the ball out of bounds on a botched pick and roll ("booooooooo!"), then Allen drains yet another three. Boston 73, Cleveland 52. Crowd catatonic. And normally, you'd think the game was over ... unless you've been watching this Celtics team all year. They love to blow leads. In fact, a friend texted me at this exact moment, "We need to be up 25 heading into the fourth." He wasn't kidding.
Following a Jamison three, some turnovers/fouls/bricks and a TV timeout, TNT comes back from commercial with shots of the mortified Cleveland fans in the crowd. I have watched god-knows-how-many NBA games in my life ... I can't remember ever watching a game that, as it progressed, started to feel like the next 12 years for multiple franchises and the league itself were at stake. Game 6 (and Game 7, if it gets there) will carry that same weight.
See, there was only one way LeBron was leaving Cleveland this summer: If the team fell apart so badly and indefensibly before the Finals that he could get talked into a "You just need a fresh start with a new team" case. He couldn't leave if they lost in the Finals to Kobe's Lakers; he'd look like a coward. He couldn't leave if they won the title; no great player leaves a defending champ at the altar -- it's never happened before. But if it plays out like this? He could leave. Absolutely. It's conceivable.
(That sound you just heard was 50,000 Knicks fans standing up in front of their desk and pumping their fists furiously.)
Let's skip to the fourth quarter since the teams traded baskets for the last three minutes of the third (including a three from LeBron). Boston 80, Cleveland 63.
12:00: Questions David Aldridge could have asked Mike Brown in that last interview: "Have you decided which realtor you're using to sell your house yet?" ... "Are you intentionally trying to lose this game, or does it just seem that way?" ... "Are you playing Shaq because you think it's 2001?" ... "Are you going to take a year off, or do you think you'll get right back into coaching?"
11:10: Rondo (16 points and 6 assists in the second half) slides past Gibson for a running 7-footer. Just curious: If Rondo and Nash make the Finals, doesn't that alter the "Chris Paul or Deron Williams is the best point guard alive" argument? I say yes.
10:52: Boobie Gibson misses a three as LeBron never touches the ball. That's followed by Big Baby Davis abusing Jamison on a drive to the basket (and the foul!). Celts by 23. LeBron immediately drives to the basket (two free throws, makes one, and by the way, he's not wearing his elbow sleeve any more); Davis answers with a wide-open 15-footer; Shaq makes a jump hook; then Davis puts back a missed Pierce jumper ... and the foul! Boston 90, Cleveland 66. Game over.
You would have thought I was ecstatic. And believe me, I was. The Boston fan in me was doing backflips. But there's an NBA fan inside me as well -- the one that cares about the history of the game, and true greatness, and how the eras intersect, and how the Current Legendary Player compares to the Previous Legendary Players -- and that part was just plain dumbfounded by the game LeBron James played. Hey, everyone has a stinker lurking inside them. But Tuesday night? Of all nights?
As the game wound down to the buzzer, I found myself looking towards Charles Barkley's comments more than ever before at any point in the playoffs. Like me, he cares about the big-picture stuff, and this was a big-picture moment. His words carry more weight than mine ever could. The funny thing about great ex-players is that they want new guys to be great. It's almost like belonging to an exclusive club -- you can't just let anyone in, they have to fight their way past the bouncer, but when they get there, you're delighted to see them.
We're glad you made it. Congratulations. Have a seat. Would you like one of MJ's cigars? Can Russell mix you a drink? We're glad you're here. We're proud of you.
LeBron just seemed like he was headed into the club. It was a foregone conclusion. Now? I don't know. And neither did Barkley.
"I gotta tell you something, Ernie," he said to Ernie Johnson. "As a fan -- and I've said all year that LeBron James was the best basketball player in the world -- but I'm 100 percent disappointed. Not the fact that he didn't have a good game, he clearly didn't have a good game. But his mentality ... I go back, I played against a Michael Jordan, a Karl Malone, a Patrick Ewing, listen, their gun was gonna be empty by the end of the game. And I did not see that tonight. Clearly it happened in Game 2, but tonight, in the biggest game of the season, this was clearly the biggest game of the season, I did not see the aggression that I needed from an MVP at home."
Exactly. It was ... dumbfounding. That's what it was.
At the same time, e-mails were pouring into my mailbox from Cavaliers fans. One guy said, "God hates Cleveland." Another said, "I'm watching basketball die in my city." Another said, "LeBron just virtuoso eviscerated David Robinson's record for worst performance by an MVP in the playoffs." Another said, "LeBron has his perfect excuse to leave the city and go join Jay-Z and the Yankees in New York like he has always wanted. We are all watching the death of professional sports in Cleveland."
The e-mails kept pouring in -- same themes, same thoughts. Maybe LeBron has been hearing those voices the whole time. Maybe his teammates just suck. Maybe Boston is better. Maybe LeBron isn't as good as we thought. Maybe he's more injured than we know. Maybe sports doesn't always make sense. There are no answers, just maybes. And since he's only 25 years old, it's too early to say that this week could define LeBron's legacy. Obviously.
At the same time, every career has a tipping point when you have to pour cement on the foundation of a career, have it harden and say, "How this plays out will probably determine who this player is going to be." For Jordan, it was the 1991 Finals. For Bird, it was the 1984 Finals. For Ewing, it was the 1994 Finals. For Magic, it was the 1985 Finals. For Malone, it happened late (the 1997 Finals). For Kobe, it happened early (the 2000 Finals). And so on. Always -- without fail -- it happens in the Finals, because it's the ultimate test of pressure.
Only this time, with LeBron James, it's happening right now. Round 2. At the age of 25. With the weight of a city on his shoulders. With a big decision looming. With the stench of a dreadful Game 5 still lingering. With an experienced Boston team (and crowd) waiting. On Thursday night, the cement will be poured for LeBron James. It's time. I have no idea what will happen, and neither do you.
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- Aug 6, 2003
How the hell are the Knicks going to get Tony Parker??? Only assets are Wilson and Danilo. They aren't giving up Gallinari and Chandler isn't enough. He has one year left on his contract and that's the only shot he has of going there.
- 17,311
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- Jun 24, 2005
If San Antonio wants Rudy, New York wants Parker, then that means a 3-way could be cooked up.
I don't know who Memphis would get though. The only players I like are Gallo, Hill, Blair and Manu.
I don't know who Memphis would get though. The only players I like are Gallo, Hill, Blair and Manu.
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- Jan 29, 2007
This homer is still at it
And, word is that the Spurs want to move Richard Jefferson's horrendous contract, so im assuming chandler+ future draft picks? for parker and jeff. i dont see it happening either way unless its a 3way deal.
And, word is that the Spurs want to move Richard Jefferson's horrendous contract, so im assuming chandler+ future draft picks? for parker and jeff. i dont see it happening either way unless its a 3way deal.