This is kinda weird

Note: Just another reminder that Wild Yams is Basketbawful's special correspondant for the Rockets-Lakers series.

The Orlando Magic: You may remember it was only 10 short days ago that I said: "It can truly be said that no deficit is safe against the Magic. They simply will not allow their opponents to get blown out." This bitter truth (for Orlando fans) came back to haunt them last night in Boston. The Magicians were in control for most of the game. They went up by 14 (77-63) after a slam by Mickael Pietrus with 8:53 left in the fourth quarter, and they were still leading by 10 (85-75) with just under five minutes to go. But from that point on, the Celtics went on a 17-3 run to pull out a 92-88 come-from-behind victory. And perhaps the most painful aspect of this boner was the fact that the Celtic comeback was led by -- waaaaaaaaait for it -- Stephon Marbury and Glen Davis! That's right. Starbury scored all 12 of his points in the fourth and Big Baby had 10 of his 21 in the final period to account for 22 of Boston's 33 points. Said Baby: "Stephon Marbury led the charge in the second half, and made some things happen, and that energy fed me. Things weren't going right, and we're looking for an answer. ... You help others, and motivate others, and that’s what Stephon Marbury did and that's what we all did." Stephon led, the Magic lost. Talk about your bitter pills.

Now let's take a peek at Orlando's clutch (final five minutes) possessions: Missed two-pointer by Rashard Lewis; missed three-pointer by Lewis; turnover by Lewis (stolen by Ray Allen); missed three-pointer by Hedo Turkoglu; turnover by Rafer Alston (stolen by Kendrick Perkins); missed three-pointer by Alston; two made free throws by Rashard Lewis; one made free throw (out of two) by Dwight Howard; missed three-pointer by Anthony Johnson. The Magic also gave up three critical offensive rebounds, including two in the final 36 seconds when Boston was clinging to a one-point (86-85) lead. Had Orlando managed to snare just ONE of those rebounds...well, things might have turned out very differently. (But probably not.)

Said Turkoglu: "We were up all night, but the last two minutes we just stopped. We shouldn't even be in that situation because we could have won this game easily." Coulda, shoulda, woulda...but didn't. And there's some blame to spread around...

Orlando's three-point shooting: The Magic shot 5-for-27 in their Game 4 loss, and I said then that wasn't going to get it done...not for a three-point shooting team like Orlando. Well, they managed to nearly match that misguided marksmanship in Game 5 by going 6-for-24. To provide some perspective, Brian Scalabrine (2-for-3) and Stephon Marbury (1-for-2) were better from downtown than anybody on the Magic except for Courtney Lee...who was 1-for-1. So their outside game was "meh." What about their inside game...

Dwight Howard: Superman scored only 12 points and finished with almost as many fouls (4) and turnovers (also 4) as field goals (5). Moreover, his last bucket came with 6:56 to go in the fourth, and his only other point came on a free throw with six seconds left. But it's not Dwight's fault. Just ask him: "You've got a dominant player. Let him be dominant. I have to get the ball. I don't think you are going to win a lot of games when your post player only gets 10 shots. It's tough to get yourself going and get a lot of shots without a lot of touches. We have to get better with that. The coaches have to recognize what's working on the floor and stick with it. When you're in a situation where guys got it going, you know everybody's moving the ball and the energy is up, you have to stick with...what works." So it's Stan Van Gundy's fault then. Got it. But that doesn't take into account that Kendrick Perkins has been doing one hell of a job denying Howard position and contesting his 1.5 post moves. Plus, if you check the shot chart you'll notice that Dwight went 0-for-4 on anything that wasn't a dunk or a layup.

Officiating: Since I hate to point fingers at the officiating, I'll let the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan do it for me: "[The Celtics] also had the benefit of the doubt on an apparent Rondo air ball that was ruled as a legitimate shot attempt, and not, therefore, a 24-second violation. And the officials went deep into let-'em-play mode at just the right time, with a no-call on a Turkoglu excursion to the hoop particularly galling to the Magic." Yep. That's a little home cookin' you were smelling last night. And Stan Van Gundy wants you to know what the C's were eating for dinner. You know, in his own special passive-aggressive fashion: "You can watch it, you can write whether it hit the rim or not. But you want us coaches to say it, so that I can donate money to the league and I can be called a whiner and everything. You can write and comment on it. That's your job. Look, you're playing Boston. They're the defending champions. That's the way it is." Well, at least he's not WHINING about it...

Ray Allen's jumper: Things haven't gotten any better between Ray-Ray and his wayward jump shot. Last night, Allen went 3-for-11 and finished with more turnovers (4) than field goals. He now 2-for-15 (13 percent) from beyond the arc in the last three games and 7-for-34 (20 percent) in the series.

Reggie Miller, unintentionally dirty quote machine: As HoopBlah noted: "Reggie Miller is at it again in Game 5: 'Kendrick Perkins keeps massaging that sore left shoulder. I don't know if Dwight Howard is banging him or what.'"

forehead palm

The Houston Rockets: One game after manhandling the Lakers (only winning by 13, though the game was much more out of hand than that), the Rockets came out and tied for the worst loss in franchise history last night when they lost by 40 to those same Lakers (they were the same team, right? It's hard to tell). That means that if you include the fourth quarter of Game 4, the Rockets have now been outscored by the Lakers by 57 points in the last 5 quarters of play. And that's not good, not if you're facing elimination like Houston now is. There's a lot to pick on Houston for in this game, and if you look almost anywhere in the box score you'll see why the Lakers won. LA had more rebounds, more assists, had more blocks, more steals, had more free throw attempts, had fewer turnovers, fewer fouls, shot a better field goal percentage, shot a better 3-pt percentage, and every Laker scored (even DJ Mbenga). The only thing the Rockets did better than LA was shoot a better percentage from the free throw line. As badly as the Rockets kicked LA's ass in Game 4, this was much, much worse; and part of the reason for that is because of...

Ron Artest: Crazy Pills played a horribly uninspired game, but unfortunately for Houston, his lack of inspiration didn't preclude him from continuing to play stupid. Even though he only took 15 shots for the game, 7 of them were three-point attempts (of which he hit one); and on top of that he only hit three of the other eight shots he fired up, to finish 4-for-15 with 9 points and 4 turnovers. It probably would have been worse, except he only played 29 minutes due to the fact that it was a 40-point lead after three quarters.

Shane Battier: A game after breaking the 20-point barrier for the first time all season, Battier plummeted back to earth with a pedestrian 5 points on seven shots (1-for-4 from downtown). At the other end of the floor he let Kobe leave tire marks all over him, going 10-for-19 for a game-high 26 points in only 31 minutes of play. Battier was also a -28 on the +/-, but that only made him tied for third worst on the team, behind Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks. Brooks "led" the team with the worst +/- with a -32, though oddly he appeared to be one of the few Houston players who even approached having a nice game.

The LA Lakers: It might seem odd to have a team on here the day after it wins by 40 (and it wasn't even that close), but it's games like this one that make you fully appreciate just how poorly they played in Game 4, and how fickle their effort has been in these playoffs. They shouldn't get a whole lot of praise for this game, because even though they smoked Houston, with all the injuries the Rockets have, especially along their frontline, this is what the Lakers should be doing, and it's definitely what they should have done on Sunday. You see a game like this one and you can see why many picked them to win it all, but you also can't help but remember how they played just two days earlier. After a win as dominant as this one, you'd like to say that the Lakers should close the series out in Game 6 on Thursday, but the reality is you just don't know what to expect from this team.

The writers of "Fringe": From Trev: "The TV show 'Fringe' should get a Worst of the Night. In the episode they where talking about 'alternate universes' and a bunch of other stuff that really isn't important to this particular WotN. Anyway the last scene shows an alternate world where the Twin Towers still stand, and while in an office in the Towers they show a quick shot of a newspaper on a desk with a side-head that reads: 'Celtics Sweep: Len Bias Wins MVP.' While I appreciate the reference, Bias would be, what, 45 now? Also what's more f'ed up...being upset at bringing up the lost potential of Len Bias or omitting the reference of when over 3,000 people died?"

Corie Blount: Bad news for the former NBA baller: He's been sentenced to one year in prison for possession of nearly 30 pounds of marijuana.

Although Judge Craig Hedric did not sentence Blount to the maximum 10 years in prison, he rejected Blount's claim that the marijuana was intended for personal use and to share with friends.

"Cheech and Chong would have had a hard time smoking that much," Hedric told Blount.

Hedric fined Blount $10,000 and ordered him to surrender two vehicles and $34,000 in cash seized in the bust.
Busted, jailed AND the butt of a "Cheech and Chong" joke. Yowch. As Dan B. put it: "Corie, not only do you have to be a dumbass and get sent to prison for having a buttload of marijuana, but you also have to have a last name that sounds the same as 'blunt,' leading to many awful jokes. Have fun in the Gray Bar Hotel for the next year!"

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53 Comments:
Blogger Bcstein said...
Yams - How do we not get a special call out for Brian Cook? I mean, the guy was traded for Trevor Ariza AND Rafer Alston (less impressive), but managed to almost singlehandedly torpedo the Rockets chances to get back in the game with a -8 two minute stint at the start of the second that included an awful pull up three early in the possession, an ego-ectomy from Gasol, and 2 fouls in under 2 minutes, leaving the Rockets down 19.

I repeat, Kupchak got Ariza for this guy?

Anonymous Pablo said...
Chris, please help! I'm having lacktion withdrawals!! I need some mushrooms, or at least human victory cigars STAT!

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
It's a semi-legitimate complaint that Howard only got 10 shot attempts and barely touched the ball in the 4th quarter... but at the same time, I haven't seen anything "dominant" from him this series aside from grabbing a bunch of rebounds (but not the most important ones...). When he has been in the post he hasn't done anything but thrown up errant "nothing but backboard/rim/air" hookshots. His points seem to only come on fast breaks or defensive breakdowns by the C's. So while I understand all the people saying "you've got to get the ball to Dwight," the fact is... he hasn't done that much with the ball when he's had it.


Credit to Perkins I guess.

Anonymous Ruben said...
When I read about Dwight's comments, I envisaged you calling the wahmbulance for him. I'm glad he wants to step up, but like you said, he should really learn a post move this offseason (starting tomorrow). He also had 4 turnovers when teammates tried getting him the ball(all seemingly at bad times), and when he didn't turn it over, those were some ugly-ass hookshots. Kareem would be turning over in his grave. Oh wait, Kareem can't die...

Also, how much worse does Ray Allen have to shoot before we can declare his jumpshot dead again?

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
Hollinger gets it right: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-090513

Blogger Nick Flynt said...
I haven't missed an episode of Fringe, and yet I didn't see the Len Bias thing.

Ron-Ron fails again. As I've said, if he doesn't have a big game along with someone else getting 25+, it's all over.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
I agree with Caleb Smith. Dwight still doesn't look like a post player to me. He doesn't even look like the best center on the floor to me.

The key to winning this series for Orlando has always been Rashard Lewis. The C's have NOBODY who can match up with him. I would argue that he is Orlando's best post player; he has more/better moves than Dwight and doesn't need to be under the basket to get a shot off. He can drive it past Boston's bigs and post up their guards/SF's with impunity. In the games that they have managed to hang on to win, Rashard has been posting up and driving (not jacking up 3's). And yet, with the game on the line, Turkoglu is taking ridiculous pull-up 3's.

Orlando can still win this series, but Lewis has to start earning that 118 million dollars he's collecting. I don't blame the coaches either- RASHARD needs to step up and be a friggin leader. Call for the ball and make something happen. He's 6-10 with crazy athleticism and a silky-smooth jumper, not to mention a great array of post moves. He has always been a reluctant superstar- in Seattle he wouldn't step up and try to be "The Man" and it's the same thing here. But if he doesn't put on his big-boy pants and start calling for the ball down low, Boston is going to take this series.

Anonymous rawkusnuggets said...
The ghost of Shaq has possessed Dwight tonight!

Seems 'the Jet' and Charles Barkley aren't too happy about his commments either... Check out inside in the NBA.

Blogger Will said...
It really seems like the only two teams that have taken care of business this playoffs are the Cavs and Nuggs. Everybody else is playing a Jeckyl-and-Hyde act. I wouldn't be surprised if those are the teams that meet in the finals. Also, regarding Fringe, what dead-before-his-time star should be on that paper, Reggie Lewis?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
So Rockets get a WotN for losing to Lakers.

But the Lakers don't get a WotN for losing to the Rockets? (both games without Yao).

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Bcstein - You really wanted me to pile on Brian Cook? The guy's only in there cause Yao and Deke are hurt, and cause Hayes got in foul trouble. Not much should be expected of Cook, and that is why he's been buried on the bench for almost his whole career. The fact that he got lit up by Pau Gasol is to be expected. Kupchak did get Ariza for him, but it cost the Lakers Mo Evans as well (in other words, yeah, it was the steal you thought it was). Maybe Stan Van Gundy should get a mention for not recognizing that Ariza actually had something to offer, and kept him buried on Orlando's bench, telling him not to bother with his offensive game cause he was only ever gonna be a defensive player.

Look, Houston is way thin right now, so the end of their bench is getting minutes, and I don't know if it's right to get on them for that, or to get on the end of their bench for only being good enough to be end of the bench players. Maybe Cook'll rebound and have a big Game 6, but until his expectations have been raised above "none" I'll probably keep cutting him some slack for continuing to not produce.

The TNT guys all pretty much took Dwight to task last night on Inside the NBA for his comments about how the coach needs to recognize that he needs more touches. They all made the same point: since they didn't see him demanding the ball in the game, it's not right for him to go and demand it in the press afterward. Then they also laughed at Rashard Lewis for essentially saying the Magic are stupider than Boston is. Pretty embarrassing, Orlando.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Anonymous - What are you talking about? I not only ripped the Lakers apart in Monday's WOTN for that Game 4 loss, but I also put them in today's WOTN. Are you being sarcastic or are you just not that good with the whole "reading" thing? BTW, the Lakers only lost one game to Houston w/o Yao. The other LA loss was in Game 1 in which Yao had 28 points.

Anonymous Wormboy said...
I think Dwight Howard also deserves a pussy award. Look here "Superman," if you're going to whine about your touches, then don't do it in second person. First person is the non-pussy way of doing it: "I" "me." If you think you are the man, and the ball should come to you in clutch time, then freakin man up and say so rather than this passive "you" shit. Pussy.

Blogger Cortez said...
"...this is what the Lakers should be doing, and it's definitely what they should have done on Sunday."

Amazing how few people seem to fully grasp this concept. Blasting vastly inferior teams isn't noteworthy or particularly indicative of anything.

"Are you being sarcastic or are you just not that good with the whole "reading" thing?"

Most likely B. It seems to be a common theme here with a few people.

Anonymous hellshocked said...
When your go-to move in the post is a back door alley oop you don't get to demand more shots. 75% of Dwight's offense comes from offensive rebounds, running the floor and back door cuts. 25% comes from that very stiff half-hook that seems to be his only one-on-one move.

Dwight turns it over when doubled, doesn't score efficiently when singled and is a very bad passer to boot. If he wants more touches, as his athleticism would ostensibly require, he should learn what to do with the ball first.

By the way, it seems Jay Triano was given a three year extension by the Raptors. Knocking your team out of the playoffs and into the lottery via a 25-40 record is apparently the sort of thing people are rewarded for these days.

Blogger Bcstein said...
Yams-

I would agree on laying off Cook, except for two reason:

1) Every night the Celtics play, we have to watch Brian Freaking Scalabrine not lose the game for them, and he's just as far down the depth chart. In light of Scal's play, I think no end of the bench big is exempt from WOTN, and

2) The aforementioned Ariza factor. Maybe if Trevor wasn't starting for LA it wouldn't be as bad, but when the guy you got swapped for is now starting and putting up 13 on 8 shots, that's just sad. Hard to believe that Cook started 46 games for the Lakers at one point.

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
"Amazing how few people seem to fully grasp this concept. Blasting vastly inferior teams isn't noteworthy or particularly indicative of anything."

Actually, there's been some research done on this and in fact blowing out bad teams is one of the best indicators of future success...

Blogger Wild Yams said...
For those jonesing for a verbal beatdown of Brian Cook, might I suggest the following link:

"The former Laker saw 19 minutes of action in Game Five, mostly but not entirely in garbage time ("garbage time" having begun, in effect, at the start of the second quarter). Those 19 minutes amounted to a near-masterpiece of ineptitude: zero points on 0-for-7 shooting, three turnovers, two personal fouls, and hilariously ineffectual defense against Pau Gasol, all culminating in a magnificent net plus/minus of -28. That's a mind-warping stat, and it very possibly represents the theoretical outside limit of badness for an NBA player logging less than 20 minutes of PT.

If the Houston Rockets were to sub me into a game for 19 minutes, it would be a grotesque sight. I'm not sure I'd make it out alive. And yet, I'm reasonably certain that I could manage a net plus/minus of -28. Seriously. If you're surrounded by four actual NBA-caliber teammates, it's really hard to do any worse. That's why Brian Cook's stat line from last night fascinates me. In his awfulness, he allowed us all to envision what professional basketball would look like if we were to step onto the floor. For 19 magical minutes, we gazed into an alternate universe."

Blogger Cortez said...
"Actually, there's been some research done on this and in fact blowing out bad teams is one of the best indicators of future success..."

Blasting vastly inferior teams isn't noteworthy or particularly indicative of anything...

...in and of itself.

My bad.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
It makes me sad how much the Magic remind me of the Suns: live and die by the 3, inability to protect a double digit lead, and disgruntled player/coach drama.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Caleb Smith - Could you (or anyone else) please link those sources? I'm honestly not calling shenanigans, but am genuinely interested.

Anonymous flip said...
Hey, just a quick one about the officiating, in the Hedo drive, he loses control of the ball as he's going up, and I'm guessing that's why the foul wasn't called.

Just to clarify, I'm not a Celtics fan...

Blogger Basketbawful said...
AnacondaHL -- And let's face it...there are some serious parallels between Dwight and Amare. I'm just sayin'...

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Ouch Bawful, why you gotta throw a low blow like that when a brotha's down?

Atleast Amare can shoot the three... But Dwight doesn't have the freak injuries... And now I'm sad.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Your tears taste like candy to me.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Huh... I guess there are some similarities between D-ho and Amareye, but they're more different than they are alike, IMO.

Amare won't rebound, Dwight will.

Amare can shoot a jumper, Dwight can't.

Amare can put the ball on the floor, Dwight can't.

Dwight tries to play defense and block shots, Amare could care less.

Amare can dunk in traffic/over people/entire teams/small buildings, Dwight seldom dunks over the top of (multiple) defenders.

Amare gets his points off pick-and-rolls and fast breaks, Dwight gets his off iso's and putbacks.

Dwight has the (upper) body of a center, Amare has the body of a PF.

Amare can shoot free throws, Dwight can't.

...


Wait a minute- what did they have in common again? I forgot now. I mean other than their teams losing tragically when I'm rooting for them?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
flip -- I just want to clarify something, and I hope everybody else is reading this as well. I don't care if you're a fan of a certain team or not. I don't think fandom is concrete proof of bias or impartiality. I will judge your opinions based on your ability to reason and state facts. I might agree or I might not...but I'm not going to judge you based on what team you're rooting for.

AnacondaHL -- I didn't say it was one-for-one, but, yeah. And I only make you sad because misery loves company.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Anonymous -- "Wait a minute- what did they have in common again? I forgot now. I mean other than their teams losing tragically when I'm rooting for them?" Well, the obvious would be that they're both uber-athletic big men known for wicked dunks, but neither man has more than 1.5 post moves and they're probably both wildly overrated. How's that?

Blogger Nick Flynt said...
(For some reason, I'm going to be throwing out some things that remind me of Queen during future posts. Simply to spread interest?)

Misery loves company? I hope it's personal problems, because your squad actually has hope for the future. Meanwhile (and in the meantime, baby. Seaside Rendezvous - Freddy Mercury) the Suns are okay, but haven't found consistency in the playoffs in about three years, draft poorly, need to make a big decision on Amare (which they suck at) and have an oooolllddd liiiine up.

But The Show Must Go On.....credited to Queen.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Works for me. I was just thinking out loud ;)

Also notable:

Dwight can dance, Amare... would probably tear his knee trying

Dwight makes T-Mobile commercials, Amare doesn't even get to make videos with Shaq and Nash (but Alando Tucker does!)

Blogger Cortez said...
"...but neither man has more than 1.5 post moves and they're probably both wildly overrated. How's that?"

Remove the word probably and this sentiment will be perfect.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Buck Nasty-

The Magic must be feeling "Under Pressure" now that they're facing elimination.

yuk yuk

WV- dingl

Anonymous hellshocked said...
I actually think after the past two seasons Amare is rated right where he should be: a selfish, sometimes powerful offensive weapon who shows no inclination to exert himself on the other end of the court. Even the Bulls seeme to be favoring David West or Chris Bosh over Stoudemire in their trade-everyone-but-Rose-for-a-big-man explorations. Dwight, on the other hand...he finished what, 4th in MVP voting? AND defensive player of the year? Sheesh. Is there anything he does that actually requires a skill beyond being very strong and jumping very high?

I'm not an Amare fan at all, but he is close to money with that mid range jumper off the pick and roll, a weapon he added over the years through hard work. The next jumper Dwight hits will be his first.

Buck Nasty: More than draft poorly the Suns haven't drafted much to at all for a couple of seasons. They traded the picks that became Luol Deng, Rudy Fernandez and Nate Robinson by my (admittedly hazy) recollection, in an effort to save money. The Robin Lopez pick certainly seems like a waste and Mr. Dragic hasn't done much of anything but can you imagine the team they would have had if they had kept those picks? Each and every one of those players seems tailor made to play Suns run-and-gun.

Given the current state of their roster I really think Phoenix is gonna have to rebuild. I also think they should trade Stoudemire whose effectiveness without Nash (who might very well leave the season after next) would be quite diminished.

Blogger Cortez said...
From espn.com on D. Howard's insistence thathe get more shots.

"Moreover, virtually no correlation exists between his shot attempts and winning. He took 12.5 shots in wins and 12.2 in losses. He took 12.6 in games Jameer Nelson played before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury and 12.2 with Rafer Alston afterward. He took 10 to 15 shots in 48 of his 79 games."

"Howard normally doesn't get many shots because he's not a good one-on-one scorer, and the Magic win all the time when he takes a dozen shots or so."

More proof that people are delusional.

Anonymous Julian said...
it's sad to say, but if dwight had 2 or 3 moves, he would be getting 30pts a game, or if they could do an amare style cover-up, just start running and get the man some easy buckets.

What the Hell has Patrick Ewing been teaching 'Superman' in orlando anyway? The Ewing effect has now officially hit Dwights game.

............as Kenny Smith said on TNT, "The Ship be Sinking!"

Blogger Nick Flynt said...
It amazes me how often Kenny the Jet is right.

Blogger Caleb Smith said...
@BadDave. The article I was thinking of was actually written on football - appeared on foxsports.com and then later in one of those Pro Football Prospectus books. Now I could be wrong but I tend to think that this sort of thing translates to the whole team sports spectrum and is not just relevant to football.

Anyway - here's the article. It's pretty interesting... the conclusion is so counter-intuitive but its supported by the numbers. It's be very interesting to see someone try a similiar study with basketball.

Blogger Will said...
Kenny Smith just referred to his clown-red Rockets blazer as being "spliffy". I wonder what he does in the green room. (Yes, the puns were intended)

Blogger chris said...
Pablo: Last night was INDEED in an alternate universe -

no lacktion - not even a Voskuhl - and STARBURY AS THE HERO. HUH?!?!?!

Anonymous Brandon said...
Did anyone see that announcer flip out at Reggie Miller during a time out in the orlando boston game last night? k, watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ8thqF8GDQ
I walked in right as it started, and i couldn't believe it. It's either horribly scripted, or the funniest thing ever. Reggie Miller's face is priceless..

Blogger Preveen said...
Chris : Brian Cook, dammit!
End of the bench players shouldn't be putting up 7 shots. I'm guessing hes has less PT than Marbury for the year, but really! You get paid the money, practice and sit there with a uniform to play.
The +/-, OK, he got lit up by an All-Star, and key wheel on the Olympic Silver medal team.

Blogger starang said...
I love how there has to be a disclaimer for who writes the Lakers-Rockets posts.

Blogger starang said...
We were talking about it the other night. Here is a link that summarized almost everything I hate about Kobe. Worth the read, Kobe hater or not.

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?w=18dh9&storyId=4160555&i=TOP

Blogger The Dude Abides said...
Brandon, that bit last night was scripted. The guy who said "pretty boys" is supposed to be the TNT statistician.

Anonymous Geert said...
Woah, some serious lacktion in de Denver-Dallas game. A combined 7 Marios and 4 trillions (if you round up playing time of less then a minute, that is). And some nice synchronised playing time for the benchwarmers. I guess they were just hanging around on the court talking about their hobbys instead of playing ball. Except for Gerald Green, who obviously had don't-violate-the-shotclock-duty.

WF: artivoti. Italian food. Or an art-related election.

Anonymous RT said...
Again as I said before, give Dwight some quality training time with Hakeem and he wouldn't have to do all this whining.

No more Patrick Chewing.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Caleb Smith - Thank you, thank you. Great article, and I loved the GUTS, STOMPS, SKATES and DOMINATES as categories. :)

I also very much appreciate someone who actually backs a comment up. You freakin rock. My only complaint is that the article references the 03 Patsies way to many times. Eff those guys.

Buck Nasty - Part of the reason that Kenny is so right is because his fellow commenters are so wrong.

Anonymous Stotts Era said...
SportsCenter Fail, re: Blount getting caught with pot. Chris McKendry can't say marijuana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXC0W_sXCGU

Anonymous Wormboy said...
I'm glad to see the hate directed at Howard. I've long thought he was over-rated,and the "Superman" crap turns my stomach. Of course the league, and their network proxies, make a lot of money promoting big, recognizable stars with amazing athletics talents. Sadly, they tend to ignore the guys with real skills.

RT: Kudos man. Olajuwon is indeed what is needed here. The man was one of the best all-time centers, and he ate Ewing (and Shaq) alive.

I'll note that I think Howard's career may mirror Shaq's somewhat. Best outcome is that Howard works hard to add a suite of post moves like Shaq did. But Howard is unlikely to have the league bend and remake rules tailored to him, as we saw with Shaq. So without a vastly expanded repertoire, Howard may be doomed to be a one-dimensional player with no championships.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
I have a random question: do you think that LeBron could guard Howard in the post? It occurs to me that Howard and LeBron are probably very similar in terms of athleticism, but Howard is slightly larger than LeBron, though not hugely so. Could Howard develop more ball handling and shooting skills and become a better all around player so he could play power forward, or should he just relegate himself to being solely a post player a la Shaq? Anyway, with Howard's post game being somewhat limited the way it is, combined with what is probably not a real big difference in size and strength between Howard and LeBron, I wonder how effective Howard would be at posting LeBron up?

Blogger Cortez said...
"I wonder how effective Howard would be at posting LeBron up?"

Not very. There would be any overpowering James and he clearly doesn't have the skills to turn and face. That 2" height advantage would be moot.

Since this is all speculation I must add that defending Howard in the post would take away from LeBron also in terms of energy exerted grinding it out on the block defending and blocking out and running baseline to base line every play.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
To add a comment/observation to Cortez's response...I don't think most NBA fans really understand the physical toll that operating in the post/paint takes on a player. The constant pushing/pulling/beating/etc. is much, much more difficult than sprinting around the perimeter. Not to mention the fact that post defenders are given a lot more leeway than perimeter defenders, in terms of physical contact and uncalled fouls.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
As long as LeBron was putting solid effort into it, yes, I think he could.