Tag: pistons

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NBA General

Around the Rim: King James just got crowned by the Bad Boys



It’s even annoying when unspoken.

1. Detroit rocks Cleveland
Everyone knew that the Pistons were going to be focused on LeBron James every time that he had the ball in his hands. Everyone just didn’t know that they would be so successful doing it. King James finished the game with a career playoff-low 10 points after going stone cold from the field (5-15 FGs), but that didn’t keep him from putting his fingerprints all over the game with nine assists and 10 rebounds. The Cavs were a 3-pointer away from possibly winning the game as time was running out but Donyell Marshall choked on an open shot from behind the arc and Chauncey Billups sealed up the 79-76 Game 1 victory for the Pistons with a rebound off the miss. Rasheed Wallace was huge in the win as Tayshaun Prince finally decided to take a night off and finished with less than 10 points (8 points on 1-of-11 shooting) for the first time this post season. Game 2 rolls around on Thursday and you can expect that the Prince and the King will both avoid repeats of their poor performances

2. Forrest Gump’s favorite time of year
So, tonight is the big night; it’s the night that will change the future of two very lucky franchises forever. Hopes and dreams have run wild for months and months about just who would end up with the pair of freshmen phenoms Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Barring any major league wheeling and dealing, tonight we will at least find out the two future homes of these kids, even if we don’t know who’s gonna go where. Here’s a look at all the teams participating in the lottery and their odds of getting the first or second pick:

Team 1st Pick 2nd Pick
Memphis 25.0% 21.5%
Boston 19.9% 18.8%
Milwaukee 15.6% 15.7%
Phoenix (from ATL) 11.9% 12.6%
Seattle 8.8% 9.7%
Portland 5.3% 6.0%
Minnesota 5.3% 6.0%
Charlotte 1.9% 2.2%
Chicago (from NY) 1.9% 2.2%
Sacramento 1.8% 2.1%
Atlanta (from IND) 0.8% 0.9%
Philadelphia 0.7% 0.8%
New Orleans 0.6% 0.7%
LA Clippers 0.5% 0.6%

And just too clarify; no, Phoenix doesn’t get to keep either of the top picks should they end up with them. Instead, they will have to return the pick to Atlanta if they land one of the top three picks. The Pacers will get the Hawks pick if Atlanta ends up with one of the top 10 picks.

And to further clarity; only the top three picks will be determined via the ping-pong ball bouncing lottery, while the fourth through fourteenth selections will be arranged according to the inverse order of their regular season record.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Rasheed Wallace @ Detroit 40 min, 15 pts (FG: 7-13, 3FG: 1-2), 12 reb, 2 ast, 7 blk

Buzzer Beater: The Jazz might have looked outclassed at times during Game 1 of the West finals on Sunday but nobody can point fingers toward the second year point guard who racked up 18 points in the fourth. Deron Williams carried Utah to a near comeback as he finished with game-highs in field goals and attempts (13-23), assists (9) and points (34); about all he didn’t do was hand out Gatorade to his teammates during timeouts. But the playoffs are all about adjustments and we guarantee you that both of these veteran coaches have been working the X’s and O’s with their teams since the final buzzer buzzed Sunday afternoon. Utah really needs to escape Texas with a split in the series but they definitely won’t have history on their side, 0-17 in their last 17 trips to San Antonio, as they head into the game. Then again, the Spurs have never beaten the Jazz in the postseason so, either way you cut it, somebody is going to make history by the end of this series.

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Quick turnaround doesn’t hurt the Spurs in Game 1



The Spurs were slam Duncan the Jazz
in Game 1.

1. Spurs continue to dominate Jazz in SA
The Utah Jazz took a beating in the second quarter of Game 1 against the Spurs in the Western Conference finals on Sunday and Jerry Sloan’s boys were never able to recover as San Antonio went on to take the opening game 108-100. Game 1 marked the first time that Utah had made it to the conference finals since 1998, and it showed as the club had the bewildered look of a team in unfamiliar surroundings (all except Derek Fisher, of course). San Antonio, on the other hand, appeared to have the routine down as they calmly executed their offense through Tim Duncan who finished with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds (27 pts, 10reb) for the tenth straight playoff game; that’s just two shy of Shaq’s all-time record. This is the fifth time in nine seasons that the Spurs have made it to the finals out west (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007) and they are hoping that their fifth appearance will help to eventually yield their fourth ring. The Jazz have now lost 17 straight games in San Antonio in a streak of futility that lasts back to 1999.

2. T-Mac needs a new coach to hold him down

We all basically knew that the droopy-eyed Jeff Van Gundy had probably coached his final game on the Houston Rockets bench and on Friday the club fired him. Now, with four seasons under his belt, Eddie Jordan from the Washington Wizards is the longest tenured coach in the NBA except for the two guys in suits on the sidelines of the West finals. It’s funny that Van Gundy would get fired considering that Tracy McGrady said that if the Rockets lost their first round series to the Jazz it would all be on him. Guess the fellas in the front office weren’t quite ready to fire T-Mac. Wonder why? Anyways, don’t feel bad for JVG; like a cat, he landed on his feet after the Rockets tossed him out. In fact, Van Gundy spent his first day off from coaching by calling the Spurs/Jazz Game 1 on Saturday for ABC.

3. Brotherly love
The NBA is all about symmetry. So, if one Van Gundy brother gets fired then the other one is probably about to get hired. It’s like cowbell; the NBA needs more Van Gundy. Stan Van Gundy appears to be the leading contender for the head coaching vacancy in Indiana where Rick Carlisle was given the boot after the Pacers failed to reach the playoffs. But Stan has options; after spending Friday in Indy with the Pacers, he will be out in Sacramento today for an interview with the Kings. Looks like Ron Jeremy Stan Van Gundy will be back on the sidelines by next season, and he should be after the job he did in Miami. Hell, if it wasn’t for Pat Riley’s enormous ego, SVG just might have been the first Van Gundy brother to grab a ring.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Deron Williams @ San Antonio 42 min, 34 pts (FG: 13-23, 3FG: 2-5, FT: 6-7), 7 reb, 9 ast, 1 stl

Buzzer Beater: Tonight starts the fifth straight conference finals for the Detroit Pistons as they graciously welcome LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavalier companions over to the Palace for Game 1. And don’t think for a second that either of these teams has forgotten exactly what happened during their series in last year’s playoffs. The Cavs had Detroit on the brink of elimination after winning three straight games to go up 3-2 but, unfortunately for Cleveland they were playing an experienced, veteran club who wasn’t willing to just go away. The Pistons would go on to win the final two games and shockingly eliminate LeBron from the postseason. Both teams have improved significantly last year, so while the series might be tweaked from a year ago, you can still expect to see a pair of clubs not giving an inch in this conference championship. Don’t sleep on the East; this should be another down to the wire series with these two growing rivals.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Detroit is going home, and that’s a good thing


1. Detroit makes the East finals, again
Detroit was on the verge of giving up a 3-0 lead to the Chicago Bulls but the Pistons went into Chi-Town for Game 5 and sealed up their fifth consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference finals with a 95-85 victory. In typical Detroit fashion, there was no flash or flare from any one player; it was just nine role players falling into line for the one uniting cause. The former Bad Boy and current Baby Bull Ben Wallace had to be extra disgusted as his old team celebrated in his new arena after he could only muster six points and seven rebounds in the elimination situation. Now that’s one stone cold fro! So, now there’s only thing on Detroit’s mind…

2. Who’s coming with us?

The Cavaliers will have another chance to put away those pesky Nets but this time they are going to have to do it with an arena full of fans telling `em that they suck. Then again, some Cleveland fans were making it rain boos during the fourth quarter as the Cavs shot just 3-of-16 in the period and didn’t make a bucket in the final 6:58 of the game. If Jason Kidd can manage to give another Big O type effort then this series will most likely be headed to the most loved and feared prospect in the playoffs: Game 7. Kidd is just short of averaging a triple-double for the series (14.4 pts, 11.8 reb, 8.8 ast), but don’t feel bad for the guy; after all, he is averaging a triple dip over the entire playoffs. That’s an amazing average of 14.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 11.2 assists over an 11 game stretch! And so we don’t overlook his defensive production, we should also point out that Kidd is also 1.82 steals and .45 blocks per game. He’s a virtual human Swiss Army Knife.

3. And on the other side of the bracket
We know that the Utah Jazz are patiently awaiting the winner of the Phoenix/San Antonio series, but what we don’t know is if we are going to be witness to one or two more big time brawls before the West finals are set. The Suns fans are still pissed about the Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw suspensions for Game 5 in which the Spurs barely escaped Phoenix with victory and a 3-2 series edge, but obviously Mike D’Antoni and his staff are no longer concerned with the past. They can’t be; it’s time to win or go home as the old saying goes. The Spurs have got to be a bit worried after the Stoudemireless Suns almost bucked the odds because Steve Nash now has his favorite target back in the lineup which has got to be giving Gregg Popovich some serious stress headaches. Luckily, San Antonio will have the advantage of playing at home with a raucous crowd yelling at the top of their lungs. We just hope that they can come up with something a little more clever than “Dirty! Dirty!”

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Rasheed Wallace @ Chicago 39 min, 16 pts (FG: 7-14, 3FG: 2-8, FT: 0-1), 13 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk

Buzzer Beater: First the USA Basketball committee tried to put together a team of NBA superstars who were supposed to razzle-dazzle the international competition, but instead they just got exposed for the selfish hot dogers they were. So, then the masterminds decided that they would go after the hungrier, grittier ballers who weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty against the scrappy Euros and other quickly acclimating squads. That’s a much better strategy than trying to assemble another Dream Team except for when those hardnosed guys decide to turn you down. Recently crowned defensive player of the year Marcus Camby told USA Basketball that although it was a great honor, he would not be able to accept their invitation to participate in the qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics. So, now where does the red, white and blue look for their presence in the middle? None of the superstars are walking through that door, to steal a phrase, and the lower tier Cambys and Brad Millers of the league have other agendas (family, rehab, vacation, rolling in money) and don’t want to be part of the humiliation that has become USA Basketball. That gold medal is just becoming more and more unrealistic with every day that passes.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: The West is almost set


1. No Mailman needed for this West finals delivery
The best story in the NBA postseason is finally over as the Jazz put together a late run and sent the league’s version of Cinderella packing for the offseason with a 100-87 victory in Game 5, but, more importantly, the win put Utah into the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1998. But just because Golden State is out of the picture doesn’t mean that there are no true heroes left. At least that’s what the media keeps shoving down our throat about Derek Fisher. Handling the rock in all the critical moments and knocking down his shots with a sharpshooters’ precision (7-10 FG, 4-5 3FG), Fisher left his fingerprints all over this game. Now the Jazz are left to practice, watch, wait and repeat until the dramatics over in the other half of the West bracket finally get hashed out. But GS can still be proud of what they did this year and how they played. Unfortunately, they were just a bit too raw for the refined playoffs and while it was rabid emotion that carried the Warriors over the Mavericks, it was that same enthusiasm which would eventually be their downfall. There was a whirlwind of whistles directed at The City ballers toward the end of the third quarter and the Warriors just began to slowly unravel over the final 12 minutes. We all knew that the Golden State run would eventually end but it still doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to Jessica Alba.

2. Who’s getting Bull-ied around now?

Two games ago, the Bulls were beaten up, thrown around and left for dead on the side of the road after falling down 3-0 to Detroit. But unlike those bloated deer that get blasted by speeding SUVs on streets across the nation, these guys rose from the dead to win two consecutive games against the Pistons. Never seen road kill do that before. Ben Gordon was obviously alive and well as he scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field that included a 5-of-6 performance from behind the arc. Kirk Hinrich didn’t resemble a dead armadillo or opossum either as he dished out 13 helpers to go with 17 points in the 108-92 Chicago victory. The Pistons are known for blowing comfy leads in the postseason but they are also known for winning the games that they have to have. But if they want to end this series quickly they are going to have to take care of business on the road. And Chicago is where Ben Wallace has had his biggest games of the series. In the two games in Chi-Town, Big Ben has pulled down 29 rebound while he only has 20 boards in the three Detroit contests.

3. The commish shows no love for Amare
We all knew that there would probably be suspensions handed out by David Stern after Robert Horry sent Steve Nash flopping flying into the scorer’s table. The incident had Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw hopping mad, and unfortunately for the Suns they hopped off the bench and onto the court which earned each of them a game suspension. Guess the whole “I was checking into the game” strategy didn’t work out for Amare. On the other side of the series, Horry’s actions earned him a two game suspension. It would seem that the Suns just lost Game 5 but now there is a ton of extra pressure on the Spurs as the suspensions have put them in a must-win situation that they must capitalize on. But, hell, we think it’s pretty safe to say that any coach in the league would rather be in Gregg Popovich‘s loafers instead of Mike D’Antoni‘s in this pivotal Game 5.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Andrei Kirilenko vs. Utah 34 min, 21 pts (FG: 8-12, FT: 5-5), 15 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl

Buzzer Beater: Dwyane Wade had to be feeling like a total idiot as he started putting on that stupid paper garment before going under the knife to repair both knee and shoulder. This was a surgery that he could have done back in February but instead opted to skip the procedure and rehab his way back into shape for the playoffs. And we think everybody knows how productive that decision turned out to be for Flash. Turns out that Dwyane’s pains were primarily coming from his knee and not the shoulder that sent him sobbing from the arena in a wheelchair. The recovery will probably take the entire offseason and possibly longer. Unfortunately, for Miami the “jumper’s knee” condition is nothing new to the franchise. Jason Williams had a similar operation performed last July and he was still in pain for half of the season.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Now that was some smooth Jazz styling



Carlos Boozer is at the edge of his
first conference finals appearance.

1. The City is becoming a ghost town
After the Warriors eliminated the Mavericks from the playoffs, the Golden State faithful celebrated to a point that even Joakim Noah thought was a bit over the top. Well, after the Warriors lost Game 4 to fall down 3-1 against the Jazz, the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in the state of California (20,679 to be exact) reacted as if they had just seen their precious Warriors for the last time this season. And they were right. Golden State is a completely different team at home than they are on the road and in Game 5 the supportive sea of yellow that cheers insistently for the Warriors’ excessively ridiculous 3-point attempts will now become a baby blue lagoon of venom and hate for any and all outsiders. Especially Jason Richardson after he delivered a hard, flagrant foul to Mehmet Okur in the late moments of the game that got him sent to the showers a bit early. But it didn’t really matter at that point; Utah already had the game well in hand and J-Rich was having a horrendous shooting game (3-12 FG) anyways. And after mesmerizing the nation with a dunk of John Starks over Michael Jordan or Kevin Johnson over Hakeem Olajuwon proportions, Baron Davis also struggled (6-16 FG) when it came time to draw the series even. Guess the motivation of having Jessica Alba in the crowd has to wear off at some point.

2. No mo’ “fo’ fo’ fo'”

Remember the Luol Deng that exploded onto the postseason scene during Chicago’s first round sweep of the defending champion Heat? Well, after virtually disappearing in the first two games of the Pistons/Bulls series, it seems safe to say that Deng is back on track and Chicago can finally remember how it feels to win because of it. After putting up 21 points and 14 rebounds in Game 3, Deng had another outstanding performance with a game-high 25 points to go along with a baker’s dozen off the glass. That’s 13 for all you non-pastry chefs out there. But Detroit still has a 3-1 advantage in the series and it is doubtful that starters Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Chris Webber and Richard Hamilton have a repeat of their pitiful shooting performance (13-of-45 FG) when Game 5 takes this rivalry back to the hardwood at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

3. Spurs/Suns saddle-up for Game 4
After Game 1, Steve Nash had a gash on his nose and Tony Parker had a bump on his noggin. After Game 2, Amare Stoudemire called Bruce Bowen “dirty” because he says that Bowen tried to purposely injure him. That’s about as physical as it can get, right? Wrong, because in Game 3 Manu Ginobili got a nice sized mouse under his left eye thanks to an inadvertent Shawn Marion poke and Nash took a knee right to the jewels when he tried to guard Bowen a bit too tight. But in the end it was San Antonio who grabbed a 108-101 victory in the game and a 2-1 advantage in the series. Phoenix is now facing, for all intensive purposes, a must-win situation for Monday’s Game 4 in SA because the Suns do not want to be looking at a scenario in which they must win three straight against a team as good as the Spurs. Put your mouthpieces in because this series is turning out to be the championship caliber slugfest that we never got to see between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer @ Golden State 44 min, 34 pts (FG: 13-19, FT: 8-11), 12 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Buzzer Beater: The Cleveland Cavaliers had been quietly and effortlessly making their way through the playoffs until New Jersey finally knocked them off their high horse and handed the Cavs their first loss of the postseason. In a statistical abnormality, the Nets were led in scoring by not one, not two, but three players who finished the game with 23 points apiece. Oddly enough, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Jason Kidd weren’t the only players to finish with 23 points as Larry Hughes racked up the night’s magic number as well. LeBron James finished the contest with just 18 points even though he’s got the number 23 on his jersey. Oh, well, it’s not like it would have mattered; the Cavs would have still lost by six points even if James had reached the 23 point plateau.

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Sacramento Kings

Odds and Ends: Ron Artest makes perfect sense


Here’s Ron Artest on the brawl in Detroit, courtesy of The Big Lead:


The Detroit owner, he’s a trip. He said if [Ron] wouldn’t have been laying on the table, the guy wouldn’t have thrown the beer. That don’t make sense cause I lay on tables a lot. I lay on benches in my neighborhood and nobody throws cups of beer or rocks at me. That just doesn’t make sense. One guy in the front row was calling me and Jermaine O’Neal mother hoes and bitches the whole game, and you didn’t see us attack him.

Yep, that’s Ron Artest, laying around master. Words cannot describe.

In other news…

[Our Book of Scrap]: Talk about a fruitless exercise: NASCAR promotes literacy

[Hockey Rants]: Disney Presents: The Haka on Ice!

[The 700 Level]: Temple Sports Put on Single Public Probation (for what? sucking?)

[The Offside]: Ice Soccer? Really?

[Steroid Nation]: For chrissakes, she’s paralyzed! Let her smoke as much pot as she wants.

[Yahoo ]: Stupid old people and their stupid holes-in-one

And finally, the soccer world is buzzing with goal by Andres Vasquez, which some are saying is the greatest goal every scored. The video is below so you can decide for yourself.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Detroit looks like the team to beat in the East



Must resist saying how good it feels
to be in the East finals.

1. The Pistons are pumping
For a half during Game 3 of the Pistons/Bulls series it looked like Chicago might snatch a game and make this series interesting again. Unfortunately for Chi-Town, it was the first half. The Bulls Baby Bulls came out of the locker room after halftime completely flat and got outscored 53-30 in the final 24 minutes before the mercy ended with the Pistons grabbing a 81-74 victory and a 3-0 lead in the series. Chicago defiantly showed some life despite their horrible second half shooting as they hit the boards, and they hit the boards hard. Four starters finished with double digits in rebounds as Chicago outboarded the Pistons 60-43. But Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince were just too much for Chicago to handle and now it’s starting to look like the Bulls will be lucky to avoid getting swept out of the same postseason in which they just swept out the defending NBA champs. Damn, we didn’t know that karma performed turnarounds this quick.

2. The West is best

On Thursday the league released the names of the All-NBA teams and the Western Conference showed why they have a majority of the best teams in the league; they have all the best players. In fact, out of the 15 players to make one of the three teams, only six were from the East. The first team consisted of only players from out west as Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant got the nods as the best of the best. The East did, however, dominate the second team with LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas and Chris Bosh joining the Houston duo of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Rounding out the teams were third stringers Dwyane Wade, Chauncey Billups, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony. Hmmm, somebody’s missing from this list. Ah, yes, Shaq! Nope, it’s no typo; the Diesel didn’t make the cut for the first time since his rookie year in 1993.

3. Boston is getting all their ducks in a row
Life is good for Celtics coach Doc Rivers. On Thursday, Boston gave Rivers a contract extension but didn’t bother to disclose the length of the contract or the amount of Benjamins involved. How rude! It’s unbelievable that Rivers managed to avoid the guillotine’s chop for the entire season after enduring the worst losing streak in franchise history (18 consecutive losses!) en route to a pathetic 24-58 record. Guess Danny Ainge doesn’t consider finishing the season 16 games out of the playoffs and claiming the dishonor as the worst team in the Eastern Conference to be rock bottom. Ainge obviously has a lot of faith in his current squad and feels that with a healthy roster and a little luck in the draft, the Celtics could become a contender in the near future. But by the look of things, Ainge certainly appears to be getting everything ready to welcome a young, fresh face of the future. Does he know something we don’t know? Perhaps David Stern has another scheme up his sleeve to revive a dying franchise.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Tayshaun Prince @ Chicago 43 min, 23 pts (FG: 9-16, 3FG: 1-2, FT: 4-5), 11 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk

Buzzer Beater: As if the Spurs/Suns series wasn’t already a great battle, Amare Stoudemire decided to add a little bad blood to equation by calling San Antonio a “dirty team” and accusing Bruce Bowen of intentionally attempting to injure him. To say that Amare was upset would be an understatement because according to him he was “very, very, very upset” about the incident. The latest accusation in the long line of questionable tactics from Bowen happened during the third quarter of Game 2 when Stoudemire was going up for a dunk under the hoop. “When I saw the replay and reviewed it three or four times, there was no doubt about it,”” Stoudemire said. “It was a purpose kick to the Achilles’ and he definitely tried to injure me.” And when you look at the play, it’s hard to argue with the guy. Here’s the footage, you be the judge.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: The great postseason series just keep coming


1. Late night fun in Utah
Well, the excitement has worn off and the Golden State Warriors are now in an unfamiliar position in the postseason; they are losing. Utah got huge nights from almost all of their starters as they squeaked out a late victory in Salt Lake City, 116-111. But the Warriors had a pretty good game from their starting five as well; in fact, four of the five scored at least 20 points in the loss. That’s the first time that has happened in a non-overtime playoff game since the Pacers fell to Celtics, 124-121, back in 1991. Oddly enough, the last time it happened prior to that was in the same series when the Boston lost to Indiana despite four guys racking up 20 or more.

2. Will the real Chicago Bulls please stand up?

It was another game and another spanking on Monday when Detroit handled their business against Chicago with virtually no interruption from the Bulls by beating them, 108-87. The Bulls which looked so ferocious in the first round against Miami are now resorting back to their old baby Bulls tactics of simply running and hiding when the bigger kids come on the court. But what do you expect when their coach is coming out to the public and saying that his team has no chance against the veteran Piston squad. Looks like the ol’ Don Nelson reverse psychology backfired on Scott Skiles.

3. Tweakin’ time
So, what happens when you are the best team in the league with the league’s best player and you immediately get humiliated out of the playoffs? Well, you get desperate and that might be exactly what is happening to the Mavericks after the Warriors sent them on an early vacation. Now there are rumors that Dallas could be looking to go after that interior stopper that could have filled up the lane against guys like Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson. And who’s the biggest guy in the league? Why the disappointed Shaquille O’Neal of course. So, what are the actually odds that Shaq jumps from Miami to Dallas at the age of 36? Probably not too good, but when Mark Cuban’s endless mountains of cash are involved almost anything is possible and desperate times often require desperate measures so don’t be surprised if Dallas starts courting the Diesel.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer vs. Golden State 42 min, 17 pts (FG: 6-15, FT: 5-8), 20 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl

Buzzer Beater: Apparently the Madden curse has the reverse affect with the NBA Live series of video games. Normally great players appear on the cover of the latest Madden game and then promptly have their careers ended the next season on the field. Well, in the NBA if you get seriously injured during the season you are then placed on the cover of the game. At least, that’s what happened with Gilbert Arenas after he tore a meniscus earlier in the season. LeBron James was reported to be second in the voting. Hopefully for Arenas he’ll be back to carry the name of the game like several of his coworkers have. Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan have all made the cover in the past and they have all had pretty stellar careers. Sorry Madden, no curse here.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Happy Trails, Florida



I came back for this?

1. No more magic, no more heat: The two Florida franchises were knocked out of the NBA playoffs over the weekend. Swept out even. On Saturday, the Pistons took care of the Magic in Orlando. Detroit was down by 5 points with 3 minutes left but rallied to win the game and series. The Magic weren’t supposed to be anything more than a roadbump for the Pistons and the series went as expected. The Heat, on the other hand, were supposed to defend their NBA title and set up a stellar series with the Pistons. Instead, they went meekly into the night after the baby Bulls ran all over them from the getgo. The Heat were toast after losing game 3 at home on Friday night but we expected them to salvage some pride and win a game. Nope. Despite coming out quickly in the first quarter, they couldn’t keep the lead in the second half and the Bulls took care of business in the knockout game.

2. On the brink: Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire had stellar games for the Suns to put the Lakers into a 1-3 hole but the big story out west is the Golden State Warriors completely outplaying the Mavericks on the way to a 3-1 series lead. Baron Davis is playing the best basketball of his career at exactly the right time. He scored 33 points and handed out a team high 4 assists in Sunday’s 103-99 victory. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki is playing like the anti-MVP. His stats still lead the Mavericks and he did have those two big 3s at the end of the game but it was too little too late. Already down 2-1 in the series, Nowitzki can’t wait the final minutes to start making big shots. He’s not Robert Horry, situational big shot Bob. He’s gotta dominate from the start. The Warriors have two shots to win this thing: Tuesday night in Dallas and then back home Thursday. There’s no way they win a game 7 in Dallas if it comes down to that, even though TNT is praying for that to happen.

3. On the brink 2: The Raptors might be the higher seeded team but the Nets are absolutely taking them out to the woodshed in this series. Sunday night’s game was especially embarassing for Chris Bosh and company as the Nets more than doubled them up in the first quarter and lead by as much as 33 points during the game. That’s two games in a row that the Nets have practically gone wire to wire. The Raptors will have to come out swinging in front of their home crowd on Tuesday, if not for their fans, then for NBA broadcasters who must be disgusted with the Eastern conference this year. Two 4 game sweeps that likely will turn into 3 when the Cavaliers take on the Wizards tonight. These playoffs aren’t doing much for the perception that the East is the JV league.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: A pair of underdogs win must win Game 3’s, sorry Orlando

That kind of night for the Rockets.

1. Jazz finally tune up the band
The Rockets won the first two games against the Jazz with relative ease in Houston, but what a difference a change of scenery can make. Back in Salt Lake City, Utah held the Rockets to just 67 points in an 81-67 Game 3 romping as Houston hit just 21-of-64 shots from the floor. And the 19 turnovers didn’t help any either. Oh, and did we mention that the Rockets became the first team in playoff history to have only four players score in a game (Yao Ming – 26 points, Tracy McGrady – 24, Shane Battier – 11, and Rafer Alston – 6)? On the winning side of things, Carlos Boozer showed why he was considered to be an MVP candidate before breaking his leg earlier in the season by carrying the offensive load with a team-high 22 points to go along with a dozen boards.

And for all you Andrei Kirilenko fans out there, it looks like Masha still hasn’t convinced Jerry Sloan to get that interpreter because AK-47 finished the game with just two points on 1-of-2 shooting.

2. When the stars come out, the Suns set

After suffering a 28 point spanking at the hands of Phoenix in Game 2 the Lakers promptly opened Game 3 by falling behind by 17 points before the end of the first quarter. But LA has Kobe Bryant and no lead is safe when Kobe is in the building, and in typical Mamba fashion Bryant loaded up his team and took them on a ride as he blew up for 45 points. And, believe or not, he even got a little help from his friends as Kwame Brown scored 19 points (we didn’t believe it either, but its true) and Lamar Odom put in 18 of his own along with 16 rebounds. The game got a little chippy at the end as Smush Parker went up for a slam with time expiring and the game in hand which drew a hard foul from Raja Bell and some naughty words form Mike D’Antoni. Looks like we’re establishing quite an impressive card for NBA Fight Night as D’Antoni vs. Parker will warm up the crowd for the main event: Tim Duncan vs. Joey Crawford. Let’s get it on!

3. The Magic need to pull a rabbit out of their hat
The first two games of the Pistons/Magic series were both decided by eight points as Detroit left Mo Town with a 2-0 lead. But a funny thing happened when the series shifted to Orlando; the Magic actually got worse and suffered a 16 point beating, 93-77, at the hands of Flip Saunders’ boys. All five starters for the Pistons finished the game in double digits with Tayshaun Prince leading the way with 23 points while Cha-Cha-Cha-Chauncey Billups was next in line with 21. Meanwhile, Dwight Howard‘s limited scoring capabilities are being exposed as his All-Star caliber season is ending with disappointment. Howard has been held under 13 points in all three games while never making more than five field goals in a single contest. Hopefully Howard’s inability to lead the team offensively will motivate him during the off-season and the world will be witness to a whole new monster come next November.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant vs. Phoenix 45 min, 45 pts (FG: 15-26, 3FG: 2-3, FT: 13-13), 6 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Buzzer Beater: ESPN released a list of “the 30 best international players in the NBA” and in a shocking move ESPN Insider John Hollinger named Dirk Nowitzki as the baddest man in the Association not American as apple pie. Why so shocking? Well, Hollinger clearly states in his “ground rules” that “I’m not basing the rankings solely on a player’s performance this past season; instead I’m looking at the big picture.” If that’s the case, how can Nowitzki be ranked ahead of a three time champion and five time MVP (2 regular season, 3 Finals) in Tim Duncan? Or even the two-time defending MVP Steve Nash? Hey, we’ll give Dirk his props; he’s probably going to grab the MVP this season and could possibly end the playoffs with a ring on his finger but none of that has happened yet. And until it does even if it does, he’s still gotta play second fiddle to Timmy D.