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...

Thursday Picks and Rolls

First off, the other day when I posted Artested Development, I thought I was being an uberclever genius. Turns out I was not the first genius to think of that clever title.

LeBron is "back," which in itself is misleading as it suggests he was not balling all year, and everyone's jumping back on board. I'd love to hear what Kevin Brewer thinks after Bronny single handedly owned the Pistons last night. The thing to notice is the double doubles posted by Z and Gooden. It was Z's first in a month and Goodie's first in 3 weeks. When Bronson's better the Cavs are better, 'cause the only way to stop him is to throw all 5 guys in his way and hope whoever he dishes to misses an open shot (or Bron goes to the line, and your %s are similar).

Shaqalacka sticks it in and breaks it off on the Bulls. Let's see, a 33-14 fourth quarter against one of the best defensive teams in the league... Yeah Shaq's really fallen off...

Taiwanese ballers show 'Melo how to not be a puss.



Big dude in a Uruguayan league knocks a ref unconscious. And then a bunch of idiots take off their shirts as if that's really gonna unshatter this poor guy's jaw.



Basketbawful takes Scoop Jackson to task on this much ballyhooed Top 10 Centers list.


Adrian Wojnarowski thinks Kobe could've, and should've, drawn a bigger suspension. And then flatly states that Kobe could whoop Jaric's ass... which everyone, even Jaric, can agree on.

Haven't seen this in a while, but it's still freakin' awesome.

Oh Hell Yeah: Greatest Centers Ever

From ESPN's Daily Dime, a sick list of the greatest big men to rock the court. Just reading the accolades for this list makes your mouth water. I think I might agree 100% with this list, which, in itself, is an achievment; I never agree with anything. Maybe I'd shuffle the rankings a bit, for statistical dominance and longevity, I'd probably slide David Robinson in ahead of Walton. But I may be biased by how much I hate Walton as a commentator. While we're at it, I just don't quite like the feeling of putting any names ahead of sports' greatest champion, Bill Russell. His numbers pale in comparison to Wilt's and Kareem's. But 11 championships, 2 as player/coach, is just obscene. He's the greatest, and the proof is in the pudding; he pounded Chamberlain every time. Read this sweet bit about a playoff run in his 2nd to last year:

After four games, the Celtics were trailing 1-3. However, they rallied to win the next two games, and in Game 7, Russell so out-psyched his perennial rival, that Chamberlain only attempted two shots in the entire second half. Despite this, the Celtics were leading only 97-95 with 34 seconds left when Russell closed out the game with several consecutive clutch plays.


That's what we call domination. Other than that, this list is sublime...
(click it to go right to Daily Dime)

	Years	PPG	RPG	BPG	PER
Abdul-Jabbar	20	24.6	11.2	2.6	24.6
Chamberlain	14	30.1	22.9	N/A	26.2
Russell	13	15.1	22.5	N/A	18.9
O'Neal	14	26.3	11.8	2.5	27.8
Olajuwon	18	21.8	11.1	3.1	23.6
Malone	21	20.3	12.3	1.3	22.0
Walton	10	13.3	10.5	2.2	20.0
Robinson	14	21.1	10.6	3.0	26.2
Mikan	7	23.1	13.4	N/A	27.1
Ewing	17	21.0	9.8	2.4	21.0

Interesting Tidbit

Over the last 5 games Dwight Howard is remarkably shooting a higher field goal percentage than free throw percentage. Let me put that in perspective: Howard's so beastly in the post, he has an easier time putting the rock in the hole from 5-10 feet with 3 dudes in his face than he does taking his time with no defense from 15 feet. Now Shaq's career FG% is higher than his FT%, but it's not as much of a feat, when you're a career 52% shooter from the charity stripe. What makes Howard's last 5 games so special, is that his FT% (over those 5) is actually almost a full 10% higher than his season average as well, check this: 76%FG on 14 attempts, 71% FT on 8 attempts. Unfortunately his TOs are up over 5 per night during the same stretch, still you have to start liking DHowie as much or more than Bosh with these numbers and I love Bosh.

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...