Can the Motor City Compete with Bullpower?

First, a tip of the hat to the Cap'n for the invite and congrats to his Warriors for their surprising and dramatic upset over the Mavs. Game 6 was one of those games that reaches beyond NBA fans. Even if someone doesn't watch basketball, all you have to do is tell them about Stephen Jackson's seven three-pointers or Baron Davis balling out with a pulled hamstring and they suddenly share the excitement of the game.

BUT TODAY IS PISTON-BULLS. So that's what we will be talking about. Game one tips off very shortly, and Detroit has home court advantage. The Bulls are coming off a tremendous series against the defending world champs. Not only beating the Heat, but sweeping them. However, the Pistons are an entirely different team.

Not to detract from the Bulls victory over Miami, but D. Wade was coming back from an injury and Shaq is getting old. The Bulls will have some serious competition with the Pistons. Every single game is going to be hard fought. But when it is all said and done, I'm going to have to say Detroit wins it in seven games.

Just the fact that I said the Bulls will have some serious competition with the Pistons (instead of saying the Pistons will have some serious competition with the Bulls) shows how much of a threat the Bulls are. The Pistons better watch their backs. Ben Wallace took a piece of Detroit's championship dreams when he moved to Chicago - and he has shared it with his teammates. It's going to come down to the strongest starting line-up in the East vs. the deepest team in the East. So crack open a cold one, sit back, and enjoy the ride because this should be the start of a beautiful rivalry.

Kanye isn't the Only Attraction in Chi-town

That's for damn sure.
The Bulls are the toast of the town once again. They absolutely embarrassed the Heat on Saturday, completing an improbable 4 game sweep of the defending champs. So much for the "Baby Bulls." These are men.
And these men may be the best team in the East. Detroit no longer looks like the clear favorite. They can turn it on and off at will, but they don't look nearly as hungry as they did 2 years ago. The Cavs have had the Bulls' number over the last couple years, but as much as I love the Wine and Gold, I think the Bulls just look like a more complete team.
They're fun as hell to watch, playing an 80's style of fundamentals-first basketball. But just to cover their bases they do have Ben Gordon, a Vinnie Johnson-style chucker who will either catch fire and torch you, or be cold as ice. I'm just hoping the Bulls'll be too tuckered after going 7 with the Pistons to go 7 with the Cavs...
Here's hoping.

More Game 2s

The Bulls racked the Heat last night, and it's official: I love the freakin' Bulls. Luol Deng and Adres Nocioni are both in my top 10 list of players the Cavs need before they can take the next step, and Hinrich is the prototype of what a point guard should be. Ben Gordon doesn't always take the smartest shots, but he can hit from anywhere, and more & more I find myself impressed with his driving ability. The front court combo of Wallace, Brown and Thomas can clearly tangle with any front court in the league. Duhon is as competent a backup point as there is in the league, and could probably start on most teams. And as if that all weren't enough, Thabo Sefolosha is rapidly becoming one of my favorite rookies. Not to mention they're the best defensive team in the playoffs outside of San Antonio. Watching the game last night, all I could think was how old the Bulls make the Heat look. Anybody still clinging to the illusion that the Heat can repeat needs to wake up. Maybe if Wade were 100%... maybe. But he's clearly not all the way back yet. This one's as good as over.
I like the Suns almost as much as I like the Bulls. And now I have another reason to love them; they make Kobe look like a WNBA player. Last night they beat the Lakers to the tune of 30 points, and for the majority of the 2nd and 3rd quarters made the Lakers look like a high school team. A shitty high school team.
The most annoying thing is how much the announcers were slobbering all over him even while he played like crap, his team played like crap, and he didn't even have the decency to go to the sideline and commit harikiri. Kobe misses an ugly turn around jumper in triple coverage? "He's just so hard to cover." Kobe makes an ugly and ill advised pass to a guy who hasn't hit a shot all night (Walton) when he could have easily gone to the bucket? "Kobe sees the court so well." Kobe's team is down 30+ points and he doesn't even look like he cares? "Kobe is such a good leader!" When are we gonna stop calling this guy the greatest? He's got the talent, to be sure, but at this point it should be clear that his ability to win games is, at best, on par with guys like McGrady, Carter and Pierce. They kept talking about the Suns being wary of Kobe miracles, but I can't remember the last "Kobe miracle" I saw. Other than when he turned those stadium nachos into loaves of bread and my 32 oz. Pepsi into wine...

Monday Slices

Rafer Alston, at it again? Van Gundy's playing it down, but Sam Mitchell used to do the same thing... at first. From RealGM.

Bottom Line: If Don Nelson shuts the F up, the Warriors at the very least would've been in overtime. Nobody else to blame, no matter how bad the call. From RealGM.

This is the kind of play that would get followed by James Brown shrieking "Good god, y'all! Hey, hey. Hey!" Holy shit, I am suddenly intrigued by Tyrus Thomas' upside. This is straight murder on both ends of the court. From TaurineDream.




And since we might be reunited with these two guys, how about a couple moments legendaire:

Me Likey TrueHoop + Great Jordan Story

TrueHoop really rules the ass off any other blogs, and the reason is Henry Abbott is so damn respected and connected, he constantly gets great stuff before anyone else. So I will now use his advantages to my advantage. Peep this (from an email Abbott got from Andrew Lawrence of SI):

It starts with Jordan shooting around at practice at old Chicago Stadium when he looks up and notices the m&m race on the jumbotron. Curious, he asks one of the Bulls' staffers what's up and learns what he is seeing is actually a dry run-through of the night's in-game entertainment, in which the jumbotron and m&m race factor prominently. (I'm pretty sure this was before shooting t-shirts out of an air cannon captivated a nation.) Naturally, MJ wanted to know if the winner of the race was predetermined. Of course the 8-bit graphics betrayed the answer: a resounding "yes".

So later that night, Phil calls a time out and Jordan & co. repair to the bench. As he's sitting down, he looks up at the jumbotron to see the m&m race about to start. So he nudges Scottie.

MJ: "Bet you 5 grand yellow takes this."

Pip: "Bet."

I'm told this went on for years before Scottie ever got wise...

Wow, Jordan's a real jerk. I believe that's what Bloggers might refer to as pwnage.

KG Compares RM to MJ... WTF?

Look even I said, yesterday, that Reggie Miller has a better shot at coming back than Pippen. But maybe Garnett's going a little overboard. Peep this, (from Rick Alonzo at the Pioneer Press):

Wolves forward Kevin Garnett said he thinks Miller, now retired, could make the transition from the broadcast booth back to the court.
"If it's Reggie Miller, yeah," Garnett said. "Michael Jordan, yeah. Any other old names you want to put in there, I don't think so."

First of all, as much as we all love Michael Jordan, have you seen him lately? He's what we in the sports industry might call tubbier than hell.
He looks like he swallowed Ron Harper. Him and Charles Barkley went to a Ponderosa the other day for lunch and the staff had to change their famous "all you can eat" policy at the buffet. But that's neither here nor there, because when the hell did we start throwing Reggie's name in with Michael Jordan? And when did it pass Scottie's name on the list of all time ballers? If we expanded the 50 greatest ever to 60, Regg doesn't make the cut. In fact, I'd argue you pretty much have to expand to the top 100 ever to find Reggie's name. Granted, Reggie's old enough to be KG's dad, but maybe Garnett's showing a little too much respect.

Bits & Pieces

Shaq: "I'm like President Bush. You may not like me, you may not respect me, but you voted me in."
Wow, Shaq's selling himself pretty short. I like and respect him way more than President Bush, and I didn't vote for either of 'em.

LeBron (when asked about staying a Cav): "You don't put all your eggs in one basket. But right now I am mentally focused on being a Cavalier and trying to win a championship."
Multiply that by Bronny throwing up Rocafella signs at the All Star game and you get a bad omen. I already hear the whispers on the winds, from the foul lands of Mordor. They say Orcs will be attacking, and LeBron will be Jay Z's employee before his current contract is up.


Chicago Tribune: "The Cavaliers are said to be very interested in signing Pippen." That's just great. Hey maybe the next garbage idea they come up with for our Point Guard woes can be another injury case like Larry Hughes... maybe they'll go after Tinsley... Don't look now... ESPN.COM 2/18: "Jamaal Tinsley is the guy I'm hearing they (Pacers) want to move. If Bibby and Kidd stay put, I can see someone (Cleveland, LAL, Miami) considering him the next best option."

Here's an innocuous little slip-in you might have missed, from VegasPop:
"The night before the all-star turnout at Body English included: Russell Simmons, Lebron James, Nick Cannon, Carmello Anthony, motorcycle stunt king Carey Hart, Suge Knight, Jaron & Jason Collins and former Hard Rock owner Harry Morton..."
I don't like Bronny hanging around Suge. And the impressionable Nick Collison could be signed to a Death Row Records contract before the week is up. Oh wait, that says Nick Cannon... he's hilarious... Imagine my shock when gunfire erupted in 2 separate incidents. Of all the stupid meaningless crap David Stern rules on all the time, he should absolutely consider adding a straight up rule prohibiting players from hanging out with Suge Knight. Which is not to say I have anything against the man... who seems very nice... and docile... and unlikely to come hunt down an innocent blogger who's seen Biggie & Tupac too many times... You know what, on second thought, forget I said anything. Suge rules...

Pippen Ain't Easy

According to the Chicago Tribune, Scottie Pippen is coming back to the NBA. As a coach? As a GM? As a mascot? Nope. He's back to play. Pip says he wants to play for a contender, and at the age of 41, apparently there's no shortage of teams ready to give him a shot. Imagine my shock when the Cavs were listed as the 2nd or 3rd most likely to land the legend. Of course the Bulls are in the mix, and the Lakers have to be strong contenders. Oddly I have this strange feeling he might end up in Utah. Don't ask me why, I just have this premonish. Pippen claims he's in the best shape he's been in 5 years. Well, 5 years ago he was washed up. But I'd still love to see him return and make a difference for someone... just not the Cavs. The last thing we need is to stick a piece of gum on the leak in our ship. Why have Pip play Point Forward when we could have Bron just do it himself. If we're giving up on the hunt for a true point guard, I'd rather see Bron bring it up or even Hughes. Let's see how it all pans out.

Progs: Pippen gets signed by the Jazz: Pippen flourishes, playing about 15-20 minutes per night and lending much needed leadership and age to the Jazz. Sloan falls in love with him and cuts Deron Williams. Jazz get knocked out in the Conference Finals by either Phoenix, San Antonio or Dallas.
Pippen gets signed by the Cavs: Cavs go on a 24 game losing streak, miss the playoffs and Pippen re-retires.
Pippen gets signed by the Bulls: They still can't beat the Cavs, Pistons, Heat or Wizards in the playoffs.
Pippen gets signed by the Lakers: Pippen flourishes, Lakers get knocked out in the Conference Semi Finals by either the Jazz, Suns, Spurs, Mavs or Rockets... but they do take it to 7 games.