Local News: Run SteJax, Run!

TrueHoop noticed something in my own local paper, the SF Chronicle, that I missed. Probably because I don't read that commie rag too religiously (read: at all). It's kind of sad how much I don't pay attention to local news (that commie comment was just to make me feel better... and they are a bunch of pinkos).
At any rate, for those of you linkophobes who didn't click above, the gist of the article is that Stephen Jackson has a court date on Thursday. Remember when he fired his gun in public last summer? You don't? Maybe that's because winning a playoff series makes people forget a lot of things.
So he has a game in Utah Wednesday, a court date in Indiana Thursday, and another game in California Friday. Essentially SteJax is gonna need a court sanctioned delay (or continuance for all you Boston Legal fans) or a jury full of Warriors fans in order to not miss Game 3. And should he be swiftly found guilty, he could be missing even more time. Like 3 to 5 years...
There's a wind of uncertainty blowing through the Bay Area today...

A Burner's Sill Owns Rust

Yeah, that's an anagram for Bulls, Warriors, Suns, Nets. Call it a 2nd round losergram. A burner's sill owns rust.
The Bulls went down 2-0, but I still cling to the belief that this one's going 7 games. The Baby Bulls shot like 30% from the field last night. That won't happen in Chicago. As soon as they rediscover their stroke, this will be an interesting series. I promise.
The Nets didn't look bad against your favorite and mine, the Cavs. But that's all part of Bronski's plan. He's like the giant spider from the Lord of the Rings, except the spider probably would have made a funnier Sprite commercial. Only a few places bothered to pick up on the fact that it's now been over a month since the last time the Cavs lost a game. They may not be setting the world on fire, but they'll be mighty rested when it comes time to go toe to toe with the Detroit bad boys.
The Spurs are a bunch of hard assed, stone cold, killing machines. Just meat and potatoes. The Suns gave it their best shot, but there's no beating Timmy. Duncan's like the house in Vegas. Sure you'll win a bet here and there, but in the end, as the saying goes, the house always wins. The Spurs in the playoffs are like Dolph Lundgren in Universal Soldier. Although Manu Ginobili is unlikely to make a necklace out of the Spurs ears at the end of this series...
The Warriors are just about the only game 1 loser that walked away looking like they won. Utah's only hope was to walk into game 1 and slaughter the Warriors. That would've been the only way to stop the momentum. Instead they walked in and made it clear to the Warriors that the dream continues. If you thought Oracle Arena was bumping for round 1, just wait 'til you see the city of Oakland in round 2. We are gonna shake the building. The Jazz are good, but they've got no chance in Oakland, and now Golden State knows they can win in Salt Lake City.
So in review: Bulls will lose, Nets will lose, Suns will lose, Warriors will win.
A Burner's Sill Owns Rust... think about it. It's better than A Boner's Slur Swirls Nuts.

Game 2s

I feel like George W at an Enron investor's party... everything's coming up Houston. For the second time in 3 days, TMac and Yao dominated Utah in the second half, and snatched victory from their conservative, sometimes polygamist, clutches. Actually, Mehmet looked pretty impressive and gave Yao some problems in the first half. But with his shooting stroke gone cold, the lusty Turk couldn't get it done on the offensive end. TMac was pretty cold in the first half, but he sank 'em when they counted and Houston took a commanding 2-0 lead going back to Salt Lake City.
The Pistons blah-ed their way to another vic against the sorely outclassed Magic. There's really not much to say here other than that the Pistons could win this series in 4 with Rip Hamilton literally playing with his eyes closed. Dwight Howard's shortcomings are being exposed like a roll of film.

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.