Categories
Phoenix Suns

Around the Rim: Finally time to smile


1. Suns start climbing out of their hole
It took four games and over a week of playoff basketball, but the Suns finally grabbed their first victory of the postseason. After getting pummeled in Game 3, Phoenix returned the favor on Sunday, spanking San Antonio by 19 points, 105-86, leading the entire contest. Raja Bell scored a game-high 27 points and Boris Diaw was a pair of assists shy of recording a triple-double, posting 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in place of Grant Hill who didn’t play. Amare Stoudemire was off target all game, connecting on only 3-of-11 shots for seven points and Steve Nash recorded a mere four assists, but the Suns were still able to build leads that reached 32 points. Tony Parker was the Spurs biggest scorer, tallying 18 points after posting a playoff career-high of 41 points in Game 3. San Antonio must now wait until Tuesday for another chance to close out the series at home.

2. Last second heartbreak in Washington

The Wizards hung tough for 47 minutes and 44 seconds, but then Delonte West delivered the dagger. With 5.4 seconds left in a tie game, West gave LeBron James a break and hit the game-winning 3-pointer to give Cleveland a 100-97 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series. James was on fire once again, posting 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to go with a blow to the head from DeShawn Stevenson. Stevenson smacked LBJ toward the end of the opening half and it looked like fists would fly between the two momentarily, but cooler heads prevailed. However, Stevenson could be in for some repercussions after the league reviews the flagrant foul. It’s been a physical series thus far and Wednesday’s Game 4 should be no different even if Stevenson can’t suit up.

3. Up and down, up and down
After dropping Game 1 at home and Game 3 in Philly, the Pistons tied up their series against the 76ers by taking a 93-84 win on the road. Tayshaun Prince led Detroit with 23 points, backed by Rasheed Wallace’s 20-point, 10-assist double-double while Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups posted 18 points and seven assists apiece. The Pistons struggled against their seventh-seeded opponents again in the first half, but they bounced back after the break, outscoring Philly 34-16 in the third quarter to go from 10 down to eight up. The Sixers finished with six players in double-figures on offense; unfortunately, Thaddeus Young led the squad with a measly 15 points. Andre Iguodala raised his series average to 10.5 points per game by posting 12 on Sunday in yet another pathetic playoff performance.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: LeBron James @ Washington 44 min, 34 pts (FG: 11-25, 3FG: 3-8, FT: 9-14), 12 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl

Buzzer Beater: Dallas desperately needed to win Game 4 against New Orleans to gain some momentum to climb out of a 0-2 hole. No such luck. David West led Nawlins with 24 points and nine rebounds while Peja Stojakovic scored 19 and Chris Paul appeared to actually be human with 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the 97-84 win. The Hornets now have a strangle hold on the series, leading 3-1 with Game 4 coming on Tuesday evening in the Hive. Dallas is spiraling out of control as a franchise quickly. The first home loss to New Orleans since January of 1998 is only the tip of the Mavericks problems. Josh Howard went 3-of-16 from the field after calling half the league potheads and admitting to getting stoned in the offseason. American Airlines Arena was devoid of virtually all fans for over half of the final period. The city is beginning to call for the head of Avery Johnson and the team has quite possibly literally lost their testicles since planning a parade when they went up 2-0 on Miami in the Finals two years ago. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted Big D because at this rate people will be wearing grocery sacks over their heads to the games once again. Ah, the good ol’ days.

Categories
Chicago Bulls

Drew Gooden’s beard is a bet, but the pubic hair patch last year was all his idea


If you’ve been paying attention to the NBA this season then you’ve noticed the Bulls Drew Gooden’s mangled mess of a beard. And if you’ve really been paying attention then you’ve probably noticed that Gooden isn’t the only one sporting the Billy goat look. In particular, we’re talking about Washington’s DeShawn Stevenson. Turns out the two made a friendly wager over the summer to see who could resist the razor longer.

We both live in Orlando during the offseason, and we were talking,” Gooden said. ”I had the ducktail going last year, and he wanted to do something crazy this year. I said, ‘I’m not going to cut my beard this year, and I bet you can’t do it.’

”That’s how it all started. I dared him, and now we’re to this point. There are some penalties for whoever cuts the beard first.

Obviously, the first penalty would be losing the respect of lumberjacks across the nation, but the penalty Gooden is referring to is the $20,000 that is at stake. That’s a whole lotta money for just growing a beard and proper beard etiquette clearly states any beard bets over $500 are to be announced publicly in advance. Rumor has it that Kimbo Slice, Baron Davis and ZZ Top are pretty pissed they didn’t get invited to participate.

Links:

[SunTimes.com]: Gooden hopes to be hair for the long run

Categories
Washington Wizards

Around the Rim: DeShawn Stevenson stings the Hornets in their hive


1. One and done
The curse of being No. 1 came to life again on Monday. After sitting atop the Western Conference at the All-Star break, the Hornets are riding a three-game losing streak, sliding all the way to fifth in the playoff chase. The latest team to get their shots in on the Bugs was the Wizards. The score was tied at 92-92 when the buzzer sounded and DeShawn Stevenson’s 3-point fadeaway J ripped the twine, giving Washington a 95-92 victory in Nawlins. The trey gave Stevenson 33 on the night to offset a 22-point, 8-assists performance from Chris Paul. New Orleans led nearly the whole game until a Stevenson free throw with less than 15 seconds remaining put the Wiz up 92-91 and the rest is history. Stevenson was responsible for seven of Washington’s final nine points in the comeback.

2. Gimme five!

It certainly wasn’t pretty for the Spurs early on as they scored just five points in the first quarter against the Hawks, but the champs rallied back from their franchise-low to win by 15 points, 89-74. San Antonio shot a pathetic 1-for-17 from the field in the opening period, but finished with a respectable 42 percent shooting effort. Tim Duncan put up 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while Tony Parker had 15 and nine assists. Kurt Thomas grabbed nine rebounds in his Spurs debut. The Hawks didn’t capitalize on the Spurs early woes, scoring just 16 points in the first before going flat once again after halftime when they were outscored by 16 points, 27-11 in the third.

3. Detroit is b-b-b-ballin!
The Pistons continue to roll on their west coast road trip and their latest win came at the expensive of one of the league’s top home teams. All five Detroit starters finished with double-digit points, led by the trio of Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups scoring 20 apiece, as they slipped past the Nuggets 98-93 in Denver. It was just the seventh home loss for Denver who played without head coach George Karl who was ill. However, the lack of normal leadership didn’t seem to affect Allen Iverson (28 pts) or Carmelo Anthony (23 pts, 11 reb). The Nuggets had a chance to tie the game with 6.5 seconds left, but J.R. Smith could only make one of three free throws following a foul beyond the arc by Billups.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Dirk Nowitzki vs. Chicago 38 min, 29 pts (FG: 10-19, 3FG: 3-3, FT: 6-6), 10 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Portland (29-27) @ Los Angeles Lakers (39-17)
Sure, Brandon Roy will most likely miss the game with a bum ankle, but this is still a must-see game. After all, we’re talking about a pissed off Kobe Bryant leading a Lakers squad riding an eight-game winning streak while holding the top record in the West. Bryant got tossed from a blow-out in Seattle and there is no doubt he’ll be taking his frustrations out on the Blazers – with or without Roy. Don’t forget, Kobe dropped 65 points on the Blaze last season.

Buzzer Beater: Jason Kidd returned to Dallas on Monday night, playing in front of his new/old home crowd for the first time since 1996. It was like he never left…except the Mavericks won. Kidd almost put together a patented triple-double in his debut, finishing with 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a 102-94 victory over the Bulls. So, J-Kidd, how’d it feel to be back?

I was happy to be back home. This is where it all started for me,” Kidd said. “I didn’t get an opportunity with that franchise [the Mavericks of the mid-1990s] like this one. This is different and I’m going to take advantage of that.

Categories
Washington Wizards

DeShawn Stevenson claims to have slept through shootout at his crib


As if David Stern didn’t already have enough on his plate with the contamination of his league by a crooked ref, the commish now has a shooting at DeShawn Stevenson’s Orlando home to deal with.

The Washington Wizards’ guard was supposedly asleep in his gated community home early Monday morning after an evening of clubbin’ ended with Stevenson and some of his boys bringing home some sluts women from the club. According to witnesses, the group was followed into the gated suburban community by a Cadillac Escalade and the driver of the Caddy got into an argument with one of the hos patrons from the club before opening fire. During the rain of gunfire, bullets tore up Stevenson’s Lexus SUV, his BMW and his crib, but Stevenson’s crew claims that they simply ran into the house and never returned fire. Apparently, the group of, uh, groupies just vanished into the night in their hooker heels and exposing outfits.

But, like always, something isn’t adding up in this high profile crime because Stevenson’s entourage is saying they never fired any weapons at the vehicle, but investigators found blood on one of the cars and bullet casings in the driveway. And about 30 minutes after the shootout, a man named Curtis Ruff drove up to a hospital in an Escalade with gunshot wounds to his leg. Ruff refused to cooperate, but the authorities feel pretty confident that he’s the dude they’re looking for. Well, duh!

However, either this guy decided to blast himself in the leg or he’s a worse shot than Harry from Dumb and Dumber OR DeShawn’s boys are lying about the return fire. We’re guessing it’s the latter. And what makes this even more suspicious is that nobody involved in the incident wanted to press charges. Now, we know that rich athletes are a completely different breed of people than us, but we can guarantee that if someone starts shooting up our home then we’re going after his ass. We’re guessing that like Michael Vick and all the other liars in the world of sports, Stevenson will eventually come out with a completely different story regarding the incident. Because, as of now, this story makes Jayson Williams’ tale of playfully twirling a shotgun before the shooting death of his limo driver seem somewhat plausible.

Links:

[SI.com]: Authorities investigate shooting at NBA star DeShawn Stevenson’s home
[WashingtonPost.com]: Man Shot at Wizard’s Home