Rejoice!

Fines for flopping!

Lots of happy people, outside of San Antonio, and perhaps Cleveland and Utah. I wonder what the odds are on who will be the first? I'd have Varejao as the favorite, with Manu close behind. We shall see. Now all we need is a Laker win tomorrow to top a solid 24 hours.

Lookalikes! Sasha Vujacic & Rafael Nadal

The Machine meets The Machine on clay. Sasha Vujacic and Rafael Nadal, respectively.

Post game Thoughts - Lakers - Spurs Game [It was not a foul, What has Pop been Thinking............]

• Spurs have no reason complaining on that last play. Miller and Smith made great points on 'Inside The NBA.' Barry should have leaned in to make the foul more obvious. Even then, it should have not been a two point game. The play just before it, it looked like the ball hit the rim before going off of the corpse of Robert Horry. Thus, the Lakers should have had the ball with 5.6 seconds left, with the Spurs forced to foul. Even a play or two before that, LO's block looked fairly clean. Finally, the Spurs got generous calls the entire game until then. If they could not capitalize on that, why should they have to be bailed out?
• Looks like Pop followed what me [and others] have been saying and played Barry more in place of the corpse of Finley. I am just confounded as to why it took Pop this long to make such adjustment. I'd assume Finley is about -90 total for this series by now.
• Also, why does Pop not play Kurt Thomas? He can defend, shoot, and rebound better than Horry, and would not pass up an open 4 footer........
• I was really impressed with the maturity of the Lakers. Luke Walton affirming that he was struggling even though he was scoring in the first half, and Kobe noting that he took the shot too early with about 28 seconds left.
• Odom and Fish had decent bounce back games and provided the momentum killing plays when needed.

Pregame Notes - Lakers - Spurs Game 4

[Random thoughts before the game..............]

• Right, left! - Even though its been duly noted that Manu is a left hander, and that The Machine has been one of the few people to actually realize this, Ginoblii still lit up Los Angeles in Game 3. However, he did a lot of the damage on step back threes, and Sasha should continue to play the left. If he is going to continue hitting contested threes at a 72% clip, the Lakers simply have to accept it.
• Early success inside - Lamar Odom seemingly has the psyche of a 5 year old. As such, he needs to have early success for him to gain confidence. Thus, look for the Lakers to be in trouble if Lamar continually misses easy shots inside, early.
• Energy is the name of the game - The bench, ignoring the resurgent Farmar, was simply not very good. Even if they are being outscored, the Laker bench, the 'bench mob,' needs to be energetic on defense, and hopefully cause some turnovers. Furthermore, on offense, off the ball cuts, and an inside out game are necessary for success with Kobe on the bench.
• Pop not Doc - My criticism for Doc Rivers has been well documented. However, I was critical of Pop for his substitution patterns in game two, and Pop responded by showing that he was no Doc Rivers. Look for more usage of the effective Barry if one of the corpses, such as Finley, is struggling.
• Focus on Tony - As much the average viewer would like to focus on Eva, the Lakers need to focus on keeping Parker outside. Good things happen for the Spurs when Parker can penetrate effectively.

Suns Coaching Search Update

I am sure many out in the desert are wondering what Steve Kerr will do after essentially having [made the mistake of] chasing out Mike D'Antoni.

[Author's Note: As much as I dislike the Suns, I have always found SSOL very entertaining, and do believe it has revolutionized the NBA in that teams averaging 100+ is much more common. Perhaps there is no better object in which the result of SSOL can be seen as vividly as in the 2 free taco promotion at Laker games. Before D'Antoni, it used to be the Lakers had to win and hold the opposing team under 90. whereas now, it is that the Lakers have to hold the opponents to only under 100]

Well, KTAR has the update.

Personally, I feel that Mark Jackson may be good fit, PR wise. He has been well embraced by the media, and the blogosphere for the most part, and will bring excitement, while not matching that in the SSOL era, could still hold expectations and results high. One of the criticism's of D'Antoni was that he was not tough enough with his players with regards to practice and defense, and Jackson could definitely right that.

Another intriguing candidate is Brian Shaw. I think he may be a good short term fit in Phoenix as, from as far as I have garnered, his offense is stylistically loose, which would allow Steve Nash the flexibility he would need to be the great play maker. Furthermore, Shaw too, would probably have no problem confronting players, even though he has generally been well liked by players.


And as always, I have no doubt that you can not go wrong with Spurs' or Pistons' top assistants. I would assume these two would not shy away from using the Suns bench, such that the starters would not be consistently tired late, and since it would allow players to be capable when they are forced to come in. [More D.J. Strawberry please!]

I suppose we will find out in mid june.

Kobe Jumps Over Pool of Snakes

The Machine's Head Band

ESPN's Shelly Smith is reporting a peculiar origin for the head band for the one known simply as "The Machine." Apparently, it was given to Sasha by the captain of the Laker girls. No wonder why I've heard of stories where people of both sexes were jealous of his hair.

Thoughts On The NBA Draft Lottery

The lottery works.

It really is as simple as that.

But undeserving teams get top picks! The worst teams can be pushed as far back as #4 or #5! David Stern fixes it!

I can't but chuckle at those attempts to discredit the lottery. Look, I am all for an NFL style draft. However, there is one grave problem in the NBA. Tanking. No one can deny that Miami did not tank last year, or the Celtics the year before, or the Cavaliers a few years before that. Why should teams that tank be rewarded with a player who has the potential to be a great? Please, do answer that. If it were a direct reverse order of finish draft lineup, the sanctity of the league could be tarnished as on the bottom end of the standings there would be a race to see who can lose the most.

As for the other two points, it is not the end of the world if you do not get a top 2 pick. Just ask the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics. It ended up working out kinda well for them. Finally, the lottery is handled by professional accountants who have a legally binding obligation. So I doubt it is rigged.

Avery and Rose to Chicago?

Avery Johnson needs a job. Avery Johnson likes to work with PGs. Chicago Bulls have the 1st overall pick. Derrick Rose is a likely candidate for the first overall pick. Chicago needs a coach. Hmm........

Eastern Conference Finals Preview

It is time for the Leastern conference finals and here are some of my [pointless?] thoughts on this series.

Matchup to watch: Rasheed Wallace vs Kevin Garnett. We all know 'Sheed is an awesome dude, and a proven playoff player, whereas, even Bill Simmons is resigned that KG simply is not all that clutch. This will also mark the first time that KG will have to consistently play defense in this year's playoffs. However this matchup goes could very well decide the outcome of the series.

Matchup to watch #2: Chauncey Billups vs Rajon Rondo. As good as Rodney Stuckey has been, Mr. Bigshot needs to be healthy and clutch again for Detroit to win one or two games on the road. As for Rondo, I have, from the very start of the playoffs, believed that Rajon Rondo's play will dictate how far the Celtics go. He has a skilled mid range game, and is arguably one of the best offensive rebounding point guards.

X - Factor of the series : Ray Allen. Allen had a beautiful game. A quick release on one of the best 3 point strokes in the NBA, coupled with an ability to drive either way. I do not expect him to miraculously recover all his skills, but if he does regain his touch, Boston may just be the dominant team seen in the regular season.

Doc Rivers Watch: Hopefully, he has learned a thing or two from the Cleveland series such that he will actually have a decent substitution pattern. Note to Doc : Corpses do not make the greatest basketball players.

My Inner Fan prediction: Pistons in 6. However, I have about as faith in this prediction as I have of comprehending the superstring theory or everything in my Philosophy of Agency class.

Lookalikes! Tom Crean - Bob Glauber

Indiana's basketball program maybe in shambles after Kelvin Sampso, but things are, relatively, up after the hiring of Tom Crean, the noted winner at Marquette, who shares a remarkable resemblance to Bob Glauber, of Newsday.

Left: Bob Glauber. Right: Tom Crean.

Quick Thoughts - WNBA Edition

- Candace Parker is going to special, and I do not say this simply due to her monsterous stat line. We all know what beauty can do in sports. Just look at the fuss created by "stars" such as Anna Kournikova. When you combine beauty with skill in sports, esecially in women's sports, you have a strong combination. Just look at the commercial sucess it has landed for Maria Sharapova. Candace Parker has the skill to be better and more dominant in her game while being on par in terms of beauty as Maria Sharapova. She plays in Los Angeles, which is the hot bed for star making. Parker also has the potential to revolutinize the WNBA in raising the salaries to above the wages for teachers, (her salary is only 44k,) as well as to increase fan fare.



- Also, according to Yahoo's Box Score, Lisa Leslie was -14, which I find slightly odd.

-Finally, a word on WNBA's new, "Expect Great" ('She wouldn't say that') commercials. While it is creative, the simple fact is that, a lot of people miss the "She wouldn't say that" part as during commercials, especially during a WNBA commercial, people would not be paying attention to the screen that shows that in text. The commercial is below. Assume it in the context of an NBA game, and make your own judgement.

A Tale of Two Coaching Matchups

Even though the Couch Potato gave only 6/10 bags for this weekend's action, today's NBA action, composed of two Game 6s, look fairly promising.

When one look at these games, even superficially, one difference between the two games stands out.

Coaching.

One game features two HOF coaches, one the longest tenured and consistently good, and the other possesses 9 rings. This contrasts sharply with the other game, which features two coaches, whose luck has been significantly better than their coaching.

Which much of the media may have ignored just how significant this is, this match up between Doc Rivers and Mike Brown will go down, for me, as the match up of two of the worst coaches in NBA playoff history. Bill Simmons (good luck on your situation with ESPN) has done a great job of sharing the skills of Doc Brown. Although, I have to admit, I was stumped to see Doc Brown following the conventional wisdom and leaving Rajon Rondo out there after he started playing well. However, this one game does not mask multiple silly substitution patterns utilized by Doc. Mr. PER, John Hollinger, gives light to one of the more dumbfounding grievances is his latest work for ESPN, the question as to why the corpse of P. J. Brown is getting more burn than the productive Leon Powe.

As for Doc Brown, it is simply frustrating for me. Just as Boston hired a good defensive assistant coach in Tom Thibedeau, the Cavaliers should look at hiring a good offensive assistant/associate coach for the Cavs to show that their run last year was not just a fluke, and to entice LeBron to stay rather than bolt Madison Square Garden or The Bronx. Look, it is NOT a good idea to get LeBron the ball 30 feet from the basket on the wing, especially when the spacing is so poor such that 3 defenders can collapse on LeBron without fear of a major penalty.

Just thinking about those two wasting the talent they had been given is frustrating.

Just watch the games for the difference. There is so much more ball movement and off the ball cuts in the Jazz-Lakers series. There is quite a bit of beautiful basketball there, with the exception of some unnecessary fouls and turnovers. The beauty of the game comes from the coaches. Perhaps Doc and Mike should be watching the game following their own for some ideas.

Lookalikes! Will Smith - Robert Horry

Oldie but goodie, these guys need no introduction.

Quick Thoughts 5/15

- Pau Gasol did not push off on Okur. I actually thought he did push off, and exclaimed as much over at Fanhouse's live blog, and was relieved the foul wasn't called, but this excellent post by the venerous Henry Abbot has caused me to change my mind.

- Destiny. This word gets thrown around a lot around this time. One proper use of it might have been yesterday, when Utah had about 10 chances to take the lead, but fell short each time. If the Jazz lose this series, this loss will be fairly haunting over the summer.

-Things the Cavaliers need to practice.
1. Spacing
2. Point of origin for plays run for LeBron

- I am not a Cavalier fan, but I empathize with Cavalier fans who are subject to Mike Brown's "offense." Mr. Brown, please do not call for plays where the lanes are clogged such that there are three players who are in LeBron path to the basket. It's called spacing. It's what worked during the first part of the game. Maybe even give the ball to LeBron on he low post such that he can utilize his strength and passing. Having him dribble the ball up is such a waste. Finally, LeBron, please do not settle for lazy jumpers.

- I feel bad for Bill Simmons. You could see this coming, especially after ESPN nixed his interview with Barack Obama. 2010, the year his contract ends seems so far away. Perhaps he can write a book he's always wanted to write, on a high school basketball team he used to cover. A sample is present at his new blog.

- Thank you to the one person that has me on RSS.

South Park Makes Arlen Spector's Point

Senator Arlen Spector claims that spygate is essentially like performance enhancing drugs, in that it will infiltrate into colleges and high school sports. Some fail to see how this relates as spy gate is so specific. Well, South Park is here to tell you how.

Steve Nash Shares Tips To Slow Global Warming

I dislike the Phoenix Suns. However, Steve Nash has always been a cool guy, and has been active in helping the fight against global warming. The garbage shoes are just one of those things that have to be liked. Nash is a passionate guy on the floor, and it is heartening to see superstars passionate about issues that are relevant to all of humanity.

Global Warming is cause that everyone on earth should be passionate about, and as such, I am proud to share this video of Steve Nash giving small tips on how to slow global warming.

Quick Thoughts 5/12-5/13

-Congrats to Kobe on getting his 8th All NBA Defensive team nod. Other first teamers include Timmy!, KG, Marcus Camby, as well as Bruce Bowen. A notable exception from the first team is Shane Battier, who for whatever reason was I left off of some ballots.

-An open request to Mike Brown. Please, do not start each set with LeBron on the elbow extended or dribbling the ball up. Thank you.

-Any playoff matchup have a more underwhelming coaching matchup than Celtics - Cavs? I thought not.

-I would name my kid Kobe.

On Home Court Advantage And Refereeing

Warning: This post may have been influenced by a bitter Laker loss.

14-1. 14-1. That is a great, almost incredible record, in most sports and in most situations.

14-1

Let that sink in. Now, that is the record of home teams in the Conference Semi-Finals of the NBA Playoffs. Considering the intensity of playoff games, simply pay attention to the magnitude of such a record. It serves as an exemplar of the gargantuan power that home-court advantage has in the NBA.

But what causes such an advantage?

Is it as conventional wisdom says, due to the impact that sleeping in one's own bed has? Or is it due to the home team simply played with more passion and energy and the associated energy of the crowd?

Maybe?

I however, would like to suggest an additional reason for such a disparity.

Referees.

Coming off the Tim Donahey scandal, refs had been under much scrutiny until the incredible race out West took away much of that scrutiny and attention. It would be silly to deny that home teams get the "breaks" from the referees. Look no further than today's Lakers-Jazz game for some proof. With Utah up 2 in Utah, with the ball, Carlos Boozer decked Derek Fisher with an elbow, taking out Fisher and Gasol, who was help up by Fisher's body (on the floor), and thus created a 5-3 for the Jazz. Needless to say, the situation was compounded when a touch foul was called on Lamar Odom to set up a 3 point play. On the opposite end of the floor, even with the Laker player missing the field goal attempt, such a "foul" was not called.

Furthermore, another practice in NBA officiating that concerns me regards how flagrant fouls are assessed. Such fouls are assessed based on the player-floor contact rather than the player-player contact. Such an act is completely against the spirit of the call, which is based on intent and original player-player contact. Why must a team be put at a disadvantage when a big fouls a more fragile or smaller player who the falls in an awkward manner? Or when, a player takes off without proper balance gets contact and falls awkwardly?

Please do not misconstrue this post as having no solid points. I, like many, would like to see games being decided due to ability, rather than some referees.

Karl Malone, Buzz Bissinger, Blogs

Fanhouse superblogger Michael David Smith has done an excellent job following the story regarding Karl Malone and the [non existent and cold] relationship with his son Demetrius Bell, a young man who has recently been drafted into the NFL. My personal thoughts mirror that presented by many a writers in the photosphere. I think it is right to criticize Karl Malone.

Honestly, think about it. Dude made over a 100 million over an illustrious, although incomplete, (no wonder why karma wasn’t on his side) career in which he accomplished everything short of winning an NBA title. However, to refuse to pay 200 dollars a week to support a woman whom you impregnated when she was only 13? I am simply dumbfounded as why he would contest his legal obligation to someone HE placed in a very precarious position. Such statutory rape, if it happened today, would make Roger Clemens look like a Saint.

How does this relate to Buzz Bissinger going off on blogs? Well, I would like to reply to that by posing a question to Mr. Bissinger. Where was your main stream media covering this story? All but the LA Times simply did not even acknowledge the Karl Malone story. Don’t get me wrong, the story about the Army safety was great, but after seeing the obsession with the Roger Clemens sage, would this not have been a better story? A famous dead beat dad who is rolling in hypocrisy, after attempting to champion family values, after his own dad committed suicide when he was young, had to be a better story. Yet, main stream media shies away from such controversy. Even ESPN, “the world wide leader in sports,” did not recognize this until Jemelle Hill finally become the first , today. I hope her column sets off main stream media into revealing this sickening story. However, had it not been for blogs and bloggers like Michael David Smith, I do not know if people would even know this story. Now that, Mr. Bissinger, would be quite a shame. [On a side note, a food for thought is whether it is the anonymity that enables bloggers to present possibly controversial items such as this whereas the MSM does not.]

Just like there are columns like Woody Paige’s Hakuna Matata column, there are some poorly written materials in the photosphere as well. However, if you take Woody’s column to be fully representative of all print media, then why would anyone respect such medium. That column showed about as much sense as anything written by any idiot anywhere. Yet, I still read print media. Why? Because there are some very good columnists out there. The same is true in the realm of blogs. It is unavoidable that there are bad blogs, but there are also many enlightening ones. Try reading Kelly Dwyers’s game recaps, Buzz. Those recaps are better than any league wide recaps presented by any print media. Now, if you look at the comments for his posts, you will see some idiotic items.

However, it is extremely ludicrous to group posts and comments. That would be if one were to hold the columnist responsible for everything audible uttered in response to a column in a print media. See how silly it is? Hopefully you can. In the end, it just seems like Bissinger is threatened. Even though, the threat maybe real, please, do not, accelerate and magnify the ‘threat’ with your off base statements.

Baron Davis Still Having Fun

Even though Golden State missed out on the playoffs, and even though Baron Davis may be looking at an interesting summer with regards to his long term status with the Warriors, it is good to see him having fun. Here's his new commercial spot with Adam Sandler promoting Sandler's new movie using the NBA's there can only be one theme.