One Giant Leap for the NBA

With Four remaining teams left in NBA playoffs, my support is going to the underdog Cavaliers, who cut the Pistons’ series lead in half yesterday with a 88-82 victory. If the Cavs rally past the Pistons, and the Jazz somehow manage to steal the series from the Spurs, LeBron could conceivably capture his first ring, maybe. Crazier things have happened in sports lately right? And what could be better for the NBA after a relatively miserable season than the young King James getting his first ring and making the more reluctant older fans want to watch the NBA again. It would create a need to see if this guy holds a candle to the stars of the golden age of the NBA, which I was unfortunate to barely catch the tail end of. And seeing as Stern has no problem rigging various aspects of the NBA, mainly the lottery to screw the Celtics, the Cavs taking this thing down should seem more likely than it does.
But to get back on topic, it was in last night’s game that phenom LeBron James took his first step towards maturing into one of the best players in the game. He was out of his mind down the stretch. What makes it more amazing is that he made the Namath-esque prediction that it would be the biggest game of his life. I just can’t wait for 25 years from now when LeBron is being interviewed at a Cavs game, absolutely wasted, hitting on Cheryl Miller. You just have to love this guy though, the prediction, nailing a 92 footer in pre-game warm ups, hitting step-back, fade-away 3’s down the stretch in a must-win game 3, and finally, his clutch jumper to seal the deal.
I’m sure he will spark whispers about another basketball player who wore the number 23, but I want to say right here that I don’t think he is the next Jordan. He is a hand and a finger’s worth of rings, and about 99 monumentally clutch playoff performances away. That isn’t meant to take anything away from LeBron. In this era I don’t think any team can recreate the dynasty the Bulls had. Also, take a look at Jordan’s supporting cast. Pippen, Rodman, Kerr, incredible all-around player, rebound machine, and dirty 3 point shooter respectively. Guys like Luc Longley, Toni Kukoc, and Bill Wennington were all great role players. Jordan was an incredible leader, crunch time player, and overall one of, if not the most unstoppable offensive players ever to play the game. But he did have a lot of help. It’s not that hard for a professional driver to look good flooring it in a high performance well-oiled machine. LeBron could grow to become as good of a leader as Jordan, but with his supporting cast his best analogy would be Jeff Gordon driving a 1971 4-cylander Ford Pinto, there’s only so much he can do with it. In the current state of the NBA, imagine Bron Bron with a supporting cast similar to MJ’s. There is no one quite like pippen, but call Josh Howard LeBron’s Pippen. Jason Kapono is his shooter waiting on the elbow, a big upgrade from bricklayer Donyell Marshall. Give him some big men who, unlike Zydrunas Ilgauskus, my mom couldn’t box out and out rebound. She played her college ball at St.Michael’s in Vermont thank you very much. Think how scary that team would be. My point is the Cavs need to get this guy better help for him to get some rings. And don’t even get me started on Eric Snow and Larry Hughes.
So instead of drawing Jordan comparisons, take this clutch performance for what it is. I mean he was out of his Gord last night. Let’s all cheer for James to get his first ring with a less than ideal supporting cast and join Wade as the second of the next generation of superstars to win a championship. And if he does that, then maybe we can start calling him the air apparent. Maybe we can start to put the Silhouette of LeBron throwing it down over Rasheed Wallace on jump suits. Crazier things have happened in sports, right?

News Around the Leagues

Before we take a look at the NBA playoffs (again), lets take a look at whats going on in sports. Clemens looks like either between Mel Clark before Roger and JP brought him angels or the other rocket Chet Stedmond before gardenhosen rejuvenated his spirit. He just couldnt find the strike zone. Against THE PAW SOX. I can’t wait til we see what our boys are gonna do to him. Also in baseball, Ichiro told reporters that when he reaches age 40, he wants to take up pitching. This guy is an animal. I’d take him over Clemens right now. He has also said in the past that if he hit for power he would easily have 20-25 Jacks a year. Maybe pitching could “revive the dormant fire in his soul.”
In the NBA, the Knicks are showing interest in pursuing Vince Carter should he become a free agent. Absolutely shocking that the Knicks want to overpay an underachieving, over valued semi-superstar. A lot of over unders in there, huh?
In other news, Mike Vick just purchased Paris Hilton’s dog, Tinkerbell.

NBA Draft Lottery Dissapointment

• Well so much for tanking the second half of that season. So long to Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Goodbye to an overhyped 2007-08 season for the Celts. So much for the luck of the Irish. Somewhere deep inside of me I knew that this would happen. Now the Celts are left to choose 5th, and all of their tanking efforts of 07 got them nothing at all. Maybe Ainge secretly knew this before the lottery was shown on ESPN and therefore gave Doc an extension so he could tank us right on through next season to try to get the #1.
• I need therapy.
• Looking on the bright side (if there is one) the Celts can still get a decent player with the 5th pick. They have a young team already (doesn’t need to be any younger), and a few veterans that can get it done. So what do they do with the 5th pick? I think it is pretty simple. You have to go with Noah. Let’s face it he is a WINNER. Shouldn’t we be talking about him as the next Russel instead of Oden. After all he is the one with back-back titles. He does all of the little things that Russell did. Rebounds, blocks shots, and comes up with all of the big hustle plays. He can play the center position, and pass from the high post in Doc River’s offense. He fits perfectly alongside Al Jefferson who will see the majority of touches in the low post, but Noah can post up once in a while too. The thing that you have to love about Noah is that he is soooo intense when he is out there. He is going to give you 110% each time he is out there. There really isn’t a better fit for the Celtics in the draft. He passes, scores when you give it to him in the right spots, wins, rebounds, plays D, plays hard, and fills the spot that the Celts need to fill.
• That being said I still think that the most talented overall player in the draft is Corey Brewer, and he will be an absolute steal for someone.
• Besides Oden is like 28 years old, and Durant is bound to be a bust. Right? (banging my head on desk).
• The real question here is……who is the uglier human Oden or Noah?

The Playoff Blog is Back

• First off thank you Jason for the in depth research on that former Team USA-er Nick Collison. I think it comes as a surprise to us all that he is still in the NBA.
• Not much to say about that opening game between NJ and Cleveland. Donyell Marshall was hitting threes? and the Nets couldn’t throw it into the ocean. Not really much to say in general about the Eastern Conference playoffs. I wish Miami was still playing, because at least they would shake things up a little bit and make me watch. Although there is something that I have been meaning to mention. In game 3 in NJ Jason Kidd pulled down a rebound, then preceded to throw a perfect lead pass to Vince Carter who then dunked it. What was so great was how Kidd came down with the rebound then without hesitation threw the perfect lob pass. Carter was smiling, and just appreciating his teammate as he caught it and went in for the dunk. Just a really cool moment to see. Carter knew how great Kidd was playing, and could only marvel at it with the rest of us. Also in Game 6 Kidd threw an incredible “thread the needle” pass to Mikki Moore. Really have to love Kidd averaging a triple-double in the playoffs. Hoping to see him on Team USA.
• Now for the big show. Spurs/Suns in SA tonight for game 6. Very anticipated game with Stoudemire and Diaw coming back. Pretty much everyone that I talked to during the day was excited to watch this game.
• Bowen is playing unbelieveable defense on Nash, and should be congratulated. Parker dominated the first half, and Ginobli had 10 pts in his first 11 minutes. Then Duncan got it going towards the end of the half. That being said you would think that the Spurs were in total control, but it was just a two point game at the half. Nash is being followed by Bowen and an extra defender wherever he goes yet he is still able to deliver to his teammates. Just when I thought I had definitely seen the best pass of the night from Kidd, Nash throws a wrap-around pass as he is flying through the lane around Duncan right to Stoudemire. Just a remarkable pass.
• Big run for the Spurs in the third quarter. They weren’t missing from the perimeter. Phoenix just isn’t on their game tonight. Nash is frustrated and no one can make shots. I think we can all say that these are the two best teams left in the playoffs playing.
• Suns come into the 4th down 81-67. San Antonio wasn’t looking back, still making everything. Then Nash decided to finally take over. After scoring 10 points in a row by himself, the Suns found a few rare defensive stops. Then a few more hoops and Nash crossing up Bowen and making him fall over on his ass (that’s more like it Steve). The ensuing basketball by Nash cut the SA lead to just 9. The Suns gave us one last great spurt. Showing what great team basketball they are able to play. Nash was immaculate in the 4th quarter, but to no avail. I’m just sad that we won’t be seeing the game 7 that we should be seeing on Sunday. Just sad that the NBA did that to the Suns in game 5. Still though a great series played by the dirty Spurs.

In Case You Were Wondering

Just to erase any lingering curiosity, turns out Nick Collison still does play basketball in the NBA. He is on the Sonics and averages 9 pts in 29 mpg… I wonder what he’s doing during the summer of ‘08?

Just a thought

Just wanted to use this time to say that I am the man because I wrote about Timmy Duncan being underrated and then a more well known sportswriter named simmons wrote about the same thing, that is all on that note.

On a more sensitive note, the team SZ is pulling for GOLDEN STATE baby went down sadly 3-1 to the Jazz last night. As you can see, we are all in a state of depression and discontent during these difficult times. Alliteration aside, we won’t give up hope until it’s all said and done. Nor will we write about anything else.

Also, The NBA lottery is looming a mere 8 days away. My prayers go out to the Celtics who need the first or second pick. If not because we won 24 games, but because we just extended Glen ‘Doc’ Rivers’ contract. It would just be too much if they didn’t. As I watch Duncan systematically dismantle the defenses of the best teams in the league, while playing some pretty damn good D on the other side of the court, I can’t help but imagine what it would be like if he was doing this in a green jersey. It brings tears to my eyes.

Playoff Blog

I wasn’t planning on adding to the playoff blog tonight, but after watching this Golden State game I couldn’t possibly not write about the incredible game that I saw. First off I think I need to say that it will be a nearly impossible task for anyone to beat Golden State in Oakland. That crowd just pushes these guys to new limits. You can’t say enough about the noise level and the overall togetherness of this crowd. Also you have to love how ESPN needed to install the sound level meter to give the fans an idea of how loud that place is. Mike Tirico had to say how the crowd in Utah was loud too just to keep the Jazz fans happy with ESPN’s coverage, but we all know that Tirico wasn’t in Utah for either of those games.

A great start to the game for the Warriors who were connecting on everything early. Then they went through a dryspell at the end of the quarter and let Utah back into it. Then came a huge outburst in the second quarter. Just incredible shooting and energy by the Warriors. Really special to watch. I can’t tell you how enjoyable it is to watch this team play with this atmosphere. Utah is counting their blessings for GS blowing that game 2, because if they hadn’t then this series would be all but done. I was riding a huge high after that second quarter, but it would only get better. Baron Davis’ performance in this game was absolutely incredible. He is unstoppable right now. The funny thing is that everytime I talk about GS I find myself saying how great Baron Davis is right now. He hit some of the most difficult shots and layups that I have ever seen. Oh yeah and that rediculous posterizing dunk on Kirilenko. Not bad for a 6′2 guard with bad knees right? Kirilenko had been dominating the series on the defensive end, and Davis still went right at him. Davis’ performance in these playoffs has been one of the greatest ever, and it will only get better by the looks of it. The sky is the limit for this Warriors team with him leading the way. Did Deron Williams even play tonight? Mehmet Okur? They might have, but I didn’t see them because I was too busy being amazed by the Baron.

How USA Basketball should be run…

This is a topic that absolutely kills me every time someone brings it up. Whenever I hear something about USA basketball I can’t help but think about the lack of competence of the people in charge. The US team has been embarrassed over the past 4 years in International competition. There was the struggle at the World Championships in Indianapolis, and then the horrible performance at the Olympics that still makes me want to throw up everywhere. Even before these disappointments USA basketball had been struggling. Heck the only thing I can remember from before these things already mentioned is when Vince Carter jumped over that 7 footer. Sure you always hear about the dream team and how dominant they were, but really we can’t live in the past anymore. We have been the ones underachieving each and every year. So that is why I am writing this post. To tell you how I think the next USA team should be put together.

To start I need to say that over the last year or so the directors have done some nice things. The coaching staff that they have put together is a solid one, and they have the correct people in charge. That is all well and good, but the real problem with these past few USA Basketball teams has been the players. I don’t think I need to say that there have been too many one-on-one players who don’t know how to play team basketball, and have no interest in playing defense. Everyone already knows that (well except for the guys who pick the team each year). I liked the steps taken last year when they looked for a defensive stopper, but they ended up going with Shane Battier. I know Coach K and him go way back and everything, but really Shane Battier? Out of everyone that you could pick, you picked Shane Battier? Here is a nation that has all of these wildly multi-skilled stars that are athletic freaks, and you choose Shane Battier. Like I said I love that fact that they are looking for a locker-room guy, and a solid defensive player, but you can find someone better than Shane Battier. So they were looking for a role player, but what they forgot was to bring along a shooter. You look at all of these teams that they lose to and they all have players who make 3’s. How about we use all of this talent and athleticism that we have and spread these teams out like the Suns and Mavs do then dribble penetrate (which no one will be able to stop) and then dish it out. The thing is you have to have players who can make the trifecta. Sure we had the young stars playing like Lebron, Wade, Carmelo, and Paul, but none of those guys are even really dependable 3 point shooters. How about Michael Redd? Does that name ring a bell to anyone. Here is a guy who would have been in high contention for the MVP award had he not sufferred a knee injury in January. This guy can flat out shoot the rock. Heck, he can flat out score period. Yet he doesn’t even seem to be on team USA’s radar screen. If that doesn’t work for you then how about Gilbert Arenas who was left off of last year’s team USA. Oh yeah one more solution to this shooting problem, his name is Ray Allen. He happens to be the record holder for most 3 pointers made in an NBA season. Yet he isn’t the one that is playing, it is his “half as talented teammate who can’t shoot it into the ocean” Luke Ridnour. At least two of these 3 guys that I just mentioned need to be playing significant minutes in the next Olympic Games.

So after we get a few shooters on the team we have to go after some guys that get after it. Some guys who are intimidating. Some players who are going to give you 110%, and they don’t care who they are playing. They are going to be the ones who are inflicting pain. Way too many nice guys on this team. Do you think Jordan didn’t trash talk all of these guys when he was playing on the dream team? How about Bird? Yeah remember Larry Legend, the same guy who took the 3 point shootout like it was going to kill him if he lost. Nowadays you have guys like Lebron who cruise through the regular season, then go to the All-Star events, and moves as fast as Rosie O’Donnell in the Skills Competition. Ok, so we need someone like Ron Artest. He’s a defensive stopper, as good a defender as there is in the NBA one-on-one. He can make the trifecta at a decent rate, and he can score one-on-one in the post and get to the line. Oh yeah also, this guy is scary. Guess what if you were playing for Argentina you probably wouldn’t want to be going up against Ron Artest. Sure you have all the baggage that comes with him, but really come on you have to try to win at all costs. I love Bruce Bowen and his game, but Artest is twice the all around player that Bowen is.

Ok, that problem is solved. Now there is a problem that I really don’t know how to solve, but there must be a way. USA Basketball has to get all of the players who want to rest in the offseason to want to play for their country in these events. I don’t know how you do that, but there has to be a way. You do whatever it takes to get guys like KG to play on this team. I don’t care what you have to offer them, or what you need to give up but you need to do something. You can’t have guys like J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison on your roster. Seriously those guys are probably the two biggest NBA duds of all time. Everyone knew that it was going to happen like this. Morrison had an outside chance of being solid, but c’mon the guy is a cone out there on defense, and he isn’t that great of a shooter. Also he isn’t going by anyone on the offensive end. I don’t care what anyone says, but both him and Redick need to be removed from the possible roster immediately. Looking back USA Basketball has made this mistake before. Remember the 2004 Olympic team. Yeah me either cause they sucked, but Nick Collison was on there roster. Yeah that’s right that isn’t a typo I said Nick Collison. No really Nick Collison. No I don’t know who he plays for now either. Wait does he still play?

Lastly we need to adress the style of play of this team. You need to take two centers on this team at most, and neither of those centers need to be named Brad Miller. Look at the coaching staff that you have. Coach K, D’Antoni, McMillan. We need to be playing uptempo basketball, and rotating in players like a hockey team. That is one of the HUGE advantages that we have. We are about 20 stars deeper than every other team on the planet. We have sooo many guys who can flat out play. So why not use them all. Keep fresh bodies out there at all times, keep the pace up, and if someone gets hot then leave them out there. You have to take a couple Centers just so you have some type of post-up threat, and you have someone to clog up the lane. So with all of this being said I will now give you my proposed Roster for the 2008 Olympic team.

PG: Jason Kidd (I don’t care how old he is. this guy competes, and knows how to win and distribute the ball.)

SG: Michael Redd (guy can flat out shoot, and flat out score. He will only get better over the next couple years.)

SF: Ron Artest (Yeah that’s right, shut down defender, formidable scorer, and a scary dude.)

PF: Lebron James (You laugh, but really he is 6′8 with plenty of rebounding ability. remeber we are spreading the floor out and rotating guys in like crazy. Obviously him and Artest are interchangable.)

C: Amare Stoudemire (A finisher inside, solid rebounder, will be a very solid jump shooter by this point. Also very solid pick and roll guy.)

BN: Shawn Marion (your do it all hustler/defender/finisher) BN: Raja Bell (yeah I know a bunch of Suns, but he goes along with the toughness/defense/3 pointer shooter theme.) BN: Tim Duncan (I know it will be a task to get him to play, but he is as consistent of a player that you will find. also gives us a post-up game.) BN: Dwyane Wade (electric guy to have coming off of the bench, and probably will be the best player in the world at this point.) BN: Gilbert Arenas (another scorer/shooter coming off of the bench. This guy is determined and if he isn’t hitting shots you can just yank him. He can also play some decent D if he plays limited minutes.) BN: Dwight Howard (we all know that this guy is a freak. He is a monster inside, and hopefully will have a formidable post-up game by this time. We need him on this team.) BN: Baron Davis (We are all seeing what this guy is capable of. He is a ball hawk on defense, and can score at will. If he is healthy why not take him.) BN: Chris Paul (Probably the future of American point guards along with Deron Williams. I can’t decide between the trio of Paul, Williams, and Davis, but you have to go with two of them. I leave out Williams for now, but injuries or other circumstances could change that.) BN: Ray Allen (just feed him and watch them drop.) BN: Gerald Wallace (This guy can do it all, and is a guy who would definitely give 110%.) BN: Chris Bosh (Last big guy on the team, will be a perennial all star at this point in his career.) BN: Josh Howard (He will probably the best all-around player in the league year in and year out at this point.)

If USA Basketball does this I promise you we will be a success in the next Olympics. With the right blend of role players and stars playing for the right coaches no one should be able to stay close to us. Obviously there are notable guys missing from this team. Kobe has just logged too many minutes, and I hate to leave him off but really I don’t think he would be a help to this team. If he was put on the team though it wouldn’t reck my world. Carmelo is another guy I left off, because all he can really give you is offense, and it is all one-on-one. And that’s the way the cookie crumbles…….

Playoff Blog

Well the second round of the playoffs is fully underway now. Batting leadoff for TNT on this monday night was another blowout game between the Pistons and Bulls. I really could care less about this series right now and I refuse to write about it. But just for those of you who need to know here are three things about this series: 1) the Bulls are overmatch, and it will be a boring series with the Pistons taking it in 5, 2) no one cares, and 3) it doesn’t matter because the winner of everything is coming out of the West.

Now that we got that out of the way. Let me assure you, I didn’t waste my time watching that Pistons/Bulls blowout. Instead I went and played some ball myself, just to get pumped up for the nightcap between the Warriors and Jazz. I did my best impression of Matt Barnes left-handed dunk over Dirk Nowitzki about 10 times on my nerf hoop. Don’t worry I did my best Nowitzki impression too. I missed just about every shot I took, then realized I just couldn’t get it done and I am no MVP. Now that you know about me and my balling on the nerf hoop let’s talk about this Golden State/Utah series. It should be a very exciting series. Both teams will have great home crowds to push them, and they can both put the ball in the hoop. I like Golden State in 6 again. They are just on too much of a roll and too tough to match up with. When will people understand that the only place that Biendrins can score is directly under the hoop. He either gets a layup or a dunk, that is all. So just don’t let him get the ball there. Gordon Giricek started the game for the Jazz. You can’t tell me this guy is going to be the sparkplug for the Jazz. The only thing he has going for him is that he is one of the ugliest player’s in the L.

Not a good start for Golden State in the 1st quarter, but they will be sure to hang around for a while. Reggie Miller says that the point guard match up between Davis and Williams will decide the series. Let’s hope not for the Jazz’s sake, because Davis is just a better player right now. Even though Williams outplayed Davis tonight don’t expect that to become a theme in the series. We learned two things in the first half of this game. That this will be a great series to watch and that Andre Kirilenko can pass. I never knew the great ability and vision that he had. The 2nd half is a blur, because it was absolutely great. Back and forth they went down the stretch. Just great play from both teams, and you have to say the difference was Boozer’s offensive rebounding down the stretch. I still like Golden State in 6 even though they lost this first game, because Golden State won’t lose at home, and all they have to do is steal 1 game on the road. With the style they play they can definitely take game 2 or 5 in Utah.

Sunday’s Playoff Blog

It was another exciting weekend in sports, and Sunday capped it off with an exciting NBA playoff double header. I didn’t catch the first game of the Nets/Cavs series because I was still in a coma from the night before, but the highlights showed an exciting game. LeBron stepped up big down the stretch, he ended with 21. That doesn’t seem great but when your team barely cracks 80 and you get a win you can’t complain. He also hit two big shots from close range to keep the game out of reach. You love to see when a young player steps up and plays into that hero mode during the playoffs. The second half showed flashes of when James nearly carried his entire team to victory in a grueling series against the Pistons a year ago. I hope he gets some support at some point from the other Cavs.
I did get the opportunity to catch the second game of the double-header, an absolute treat. The Spurs and Suns battled back and fourth for 48 minutes. It was one of those games where neither team would quit. You knew they were going to trade buckets until one team finally runs out of time and needs to foul. 12 lead changes and 7 ties.
I was really impressed with the elevated play of both teams, the Suns led by Nash (what else is new), and the Spurs, by Duncan and Parker. I personally feel that Duncan is underrated by the mainstream. He is a superstar obviously but he didn’t get any talk for MVP. Yet, when you watch him it is a basketball clinic every time. He led all scorers with 33 and so many of them killed runs when the Suns were trying to catch fire.
On paper, the Spurs look like a bad match-up for the Suns. They have playoff experience, they have Tim Duncan, they have clutch shooters in Parker and “Big Shot Bob,” they have Tim Duncan, they have a spark plug flailing foreigner coming off the bench in Manu Ginobili, they play strong defense, which usually trumps offense, and they have Tim Duncan. I thought the Spurs would really slow things down and control the tempo. However, the game was played at a pace that really favored the Suns. They were running the way they always do, but instead of slowing down, the Spurs went toe-to-toe (unlike Mayweather and De La Hoya) and outscored them.
The only disappointment was Steve Nash having to sit the deciding stretch of the game; he gashed his nose when butting heads with Tony Parker and took a big impact (unlike Mayweather or De La Hoya). He had to sit down the stretch because the trainers couldn’t get it to stop bleeding. It was this stretch in which the Suns couldn’t answer on one possession. Just like that, the game was over. Being an avid Suns fan (second only to the Celtics), I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see if the Suns could pull it out with Nash. But in the end, the Spurs experience pulled it out. It was amazing how calm they stayed being on the road facing adversity, with an explosive team throwing everything they have at you. There were so many big buckets; this game was a thrill to watch. Game 1 has set great expectations for the series, and it should be one of the best in recent memory.

And Kudos to Clemens for being a Dick. Hope he enjoys sharing a rotation with Matt DeSalvo, Darrell Rasner, and Jeff Karstens (ERA 14.54).

Playoff Blog

Let’s continue with the playoff blogging! We will skip the Rockets/Jazz game, because well know one really cares about it. What is more important is the best game of the season that was on tap after it. This is clearly the most anticipated game of the season so far. It was a crazy atmosphere in Golden State again. Fans were going bananas and even looked like bananas with all of those golden shirts. I like to refer to the crowd as the “Golden Crush.” So a great start for the Warriors then some 3’s lead Dallas back into the game. The story of the early going has to be the one-sided calls that all favored Dallas. The NBA clearly wants a game 7. They couldn’t favor Dallas anymore. another annoying thing is that anytime a Golden State player posts up a Dallas player flops when being backed down. And they always get the call. Then the Baron Davis injury. What else could go wrong for the Warriors after the promising start. The horrible officiating continued, and Dallas kept getting lucky it seemed. Then the great Baron came back out of the locker room, and after Steve Kerr said that he would cool down from beyond the arc he scored 11 points in a row. Just an amazing performance. This really had the feel of the game 4 in GS. Dirk looks terrible again, and he can’t seem to get anything going. But really can I say enough about the crowd there. If anything can propel Baron Davis to another great performance it is that crowd.

Exciting 3rd quarter. Dallas couldn’t hit anything at all, and Golden State exploded to a huge lead. Lead by the great shooting of Stephen Jackson who was enfuego from the great beyond. This is an all time gutsy performance by Baron Davis. He is clearly hurting badly, yet he is still going by defenders and taking the ball to the rim. The crowd is still in a frenzy, and this is an extraordinary series by Matt Barnes. This guy makes all of the big plays, including that huge lefty slam right in the MVP’s grill in that quarter. Hard to believe that he was a castaway, just a testament to his work ethic. Dallas lived by the three in the first half, but now they are dying by it. I think everyone is believing what these Warriors fans believe now.

Just another Houdini act by the so-called MVP Dirk Nowitzki, but hey Dallas fans haven’t seen that before. Or have they? Haha suckas. Don Nelson is an absolute genius, and this Golden State team could be playing for a lot longer. It will be key for their studs to get some rest and heal up for the next series though. You gotta love it, and you better like it. Thanks Golden State.

Wednesday Web Links

Here are the best links that I can find for you for Wednesday May 2nd.

• We start with a link to the classic Tom Emanski Baseball instructional video. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/caple/030709.html. This is a column from ESPN’s Page 2 archive that talks about the long lasting life of this hilarious commercial. The video is on the right hand side, and remember this video produced baseball world’s back-back-back AAU National Champions. What they don’t tell you is the guy that ran and started baseball world is Tom Emanski who was a professional scout in his prior life. Oh yeah and you also have to worship the “crime dog” Fred Mcgriff and his hat.
• Here is one of the best Sportscenter commercials of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVEyEbroac4. This is the “Ringers” commercial in which ESPN city basketball league team is stacked with NBA players. The best part is at the end where the guy gets cleaned out on a screen and his teammate yells, “defense wins championships.”
• While we’re at it here is another site’s take on the top ten Sportscenter commercials. http://www.sportable.com/2007/04/30/top-ten-espn-commercials/. I have to agree with the #1, but some of the others are questionable to say the least.
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjtPkDdvkBU. This is as good as a youtube clip that you will ever see. It’s called Trampoline Basketball and is hilarious if you listen to it.
• LEERoyyyy JENKinSSS!!!!!!. http://youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU. This is a clip of guys playing the World of Warcraft computer game. It starts slow but stick with it because it is hilarious.
• While we’re at it here is another one of my all time favorite youtube clips. It is called FPS doug, and is about a guy playing a first person shooting video game. It’s just hilarious. http://youtube.com/watch?v=TsQFYceNZS8.
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=9cFkDTtQdMw. Larry Bird montage, and the next one is a collection of “Pistol” Pete highlights. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Y5KAaercTI.
• Remember this great Mountain Dew commercial? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl0az4l99Nk. You better like it, and you gotta love it.

And that’s the way the cookie crumbles………Back later this week with more NBA playoffs and how USA basketball should be run.