1. Home sweet home
So far, this year’s finals have be LeBoring as the Spurs have easily held serve on their home court during the first two games of the series. But as you’ve heard a million times before, especially from the Cavaliers squad and those windbags at ESPN, Cleveland has been in this position before and they have the an Eastern Conference championship to prove it.
Cleveland Rocks isn’t going to just be some stupid city slogan when Game 3 tips off because the walls of downtown establishments will probably actually be shaking from the celebrations and drunken cheers. Home court advantages like that can extremely helpful during the postseason; just ask Golden State and Utah. Both teams had long playoff droughts and their fans treated them like kings in appreciation for their return to glory. Considering that LeBron James has his city hosting a finals game for the first time in their 37-year history, we’re guessing it’ll probably add up to a Game 3 victory for the home team. It’s a lot easier for a young team to hit shots in front of a crowd that is cheering as opposed to booing and if the possibility of falling into a 3-0 hole isn’t motivation then nothing is.
But the Spurs are playing like a well oiled machine and in addition to making a run at becoming an NBA dynasty, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are beginning to make a run at the title of all-time best trio in league history. Other than Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale and Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, there aren’t too many trios who have been more successful at what they do than the fellas in SA.
2. More Billy Donovan B.S. for the Magic
As if having a college coach accept and then reject their multimillion dollar offer in the pros isn’t embarrassing enough, the Magic are now begrudgingly forced to the point of contacting fans who bought season tickets after Billy Donovan‘s hiring and asking if they’re still planning on coming. Turns out that a lot of fans are pissed and don’t want to go to the games anymore now that Billy the Kid has shot them in the back, and rightfully so. But there’s a catch to getting the refund; the season tickets had to be purchased within 48 hours of Donovan’s announcement big fat lie. However, there are some people who still seem to be interested in Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy era. And who knows, maybe the Ron Jeremy look-alike can take the Magic all the way to playoff success just to spite Mr. Gator.
3. Motown shakedown?
We heard that Flip Saunders wasn’t planning on leaving Detroit after the Pistons blew a 2-0 lead to the Cavs in the East Finals, but that doesn’t really mean a lot in today’s NBA. But once the president of basketball operations gets on his side, then that’s when you have a reason to feel comfortable. And that’s what Joe Dumars did on Monday when he brushed aside rumors of blowing up the team. In addition to reassuring his coach, Dumars also made it obvious that resigning Chauncey Billups is his top priority during the off-season. Rasheed Wallace, not so much. In fact, Gentleman Joe said that he “wouldn’t blink an eye about” trading away Sheed if it comes down to it. Sounds like the NY trade rumors could come to fruition after all.
Buzzer Beater: Everyone thought that Danny Ainge was going to have a complete meltdown after Boston slipped all the way to fifth in the draft lottery a few weeks back. And while Ainge might have appeared to be somewhat collected after having his hopes smashed by the bouncing ping pong balls of fate, we now have proof that Danny Boy is suffering through a bit of a mental lapse to say the least. Turns out that Ainge is open to the idea of bringing Sebastian Telfair back, despite the fact he got picked up by the cops with a loaded gun in his car a few months back. Guess if there is no new, young, franchise changing image coming to town then there is no new, young, franchise changing image to ruin with criminal hijinks and shenanigans. And it’s that kind of idiotic decision making that is why the Boston Celtics aren’t going to be improving anytime soon.
