Monday, March 12, 2007

Hanging with the NBA

Last Sunday I went on a mini basketball odyssey. We all enjoyed that. But it was a whole new ball game this weekend. Now I truly believe that you are either a college fan or a NBA fan. You can appreciate the other but if things go too far you end up cheating. And for NBA fans it was a tough weekend. The big conference had their tournaments championships, selection Sunday, bracketology! Big day. But I stayed true and devoted myself to watching 3 NBA games.

Kings/Nuggets

- When the news broke that Ron Artest had been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence he was “excused indefinitely” from the Sacramento Kings. The great thing about the word “indefinitely” is that it does not specify an exact time. But for some reason I assumed it would be longer than 2 games.

- Here’s a glimpse into my thought process: “Who the hell is Linas Kleiza? Is he available in my fantasy league?

- One of the referees explained Allen Iverson’s technical foul to Marcus Camby like this, “Marcus. Marcus. He cannot have over actions like that after a call anymore. It’s respect for the game. You cannot do that anymore.” For the record A.I. simply ran to the bench after the foul was called.

- Mark Jackson just could not help himself and he responded to the ref’s explanation with the following: “He needs to put some base in his voice. He sounds like my 3rd grade teacher.” Mike Breen is a professional. But you could tell he was uncomfortable.

- We all can agree that the Eastern Conference is terrible, particularly the Atlantic Division. However, let’s not lose sight of the fact that if the playoffs started tomorrow the 7th and 8th seeds in the west, the Nuggets and Clippers respectively, would have losing records. And Sacramento at 28-33 is still in the picture.

- Joe Maloof, speaking publicly about Ron Artests’s recent legal problems for the first time, stressed that up until this point Ron has been great. Really? What about Artest’s agent questioning Coach Eric Musselman’s control, the bizarre back injury that stemmed from using his wife’s car, dominating the ball some games to the detriment of the team, and reports of a Bibby/Artest feud? Other than that he’s been great?

Well ABC made the call and as a result the Bulls and Celtics did show up on national television today. Neither did the Kings. Thank you thank you. I try.

Celtics/Bulls


- With under 2 minutes to go in the first quarter the Celtics had Allan Ray, Rajon Rondo, Sebastian Telfair, Leon Powe, and Brian Scalabrine on the court. Now that’s a pre season lineup. And they were still playing as a unit until Paul Pierce checked in for Ray with 6 minutes to go in the second quarter. And they ended up taking the lead! Rondo was doing Rondo things - leading fast breaks, attacking the basket, and in general making Tommy gush. Leon Powe had a ferocious dunk as well as a legitimate low post move that resulted in a basket. Scal hit a three. And the Bulls had the likes of Ben Gordon and Luol Deng in. It was surreal.

- Deng gives Pierce trouble.

- Towards the end of the first half Mike Gorman complimented Scal for counting the number of Celtics on the court before heading to the bench. Tommy yelled, “court awareness!” So next time someone asks you what Scal brings to the team, now you know.

- Pierce and Al combined to score 6 points in the first half and the Celtics were only down by 7. I was surprised.

- Ben Gordon is an assassin.

- “He’s a great shooter. Not a great player but a great shooter.” – Tommy on Ben Gordon. For the record if Gordon were a Celtic he’d be the second coming of some Celtic great and an All Star for years to come.

- The other day Bill Simmons hit on something I’ve been thinking about for a while in his running diary (Insider):

“One of the funny subplots of the season: Tommy's unabashed devotion to Rondo's unselfish game and his thinly disguised loathing of Telfair's shoot-first game. It's been like listening to a father constantly raving about his son at Harvard and grunting every time someone asks about his son who ended up at Bunker Hill Community College.”

And tonight Simmons’ theory had some juice. Check out Tommy’s reactions:

Rondo had three jump shots that were atrocious. They had absolutely no chance of going in. Tommy was silent. Meanwhile, he was all over Bassy for passing up 15 foot jumpers. I think the Telfair criticism was justified although I never thought it would come to people demanding that he shoot. But the Rondo shots deserved light mocking at the least.

Rondo pushes the ball and finds a teammate for a lay up. Tommy praises Rondo.

Telfair pushes the ball and finds a teammate for a lay up. Tommy praises whoever finished.

“Tough shooting night for Rondo, 5 of 15.” – Mike Gorman on Rondo

“Yeah but it started well.” – Tommy

Mavericks/Lakers

The ESPN crew is spending an inordinate amount of time defending Phil Jackson’s salary. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time not caring.

If this were a fight they’d stop it.

No comments: