Matt Barnes: It's Getting Ugly in Here

When asked about relations between the Mavs and Warriors, Matty Barnes had this to say (from Mercury News):

"The bottom line is, we don't like each other," Warriors forward Matt Barnes said. "We don't like them, they don't like us. It's going to get chippy, there's going to be hard fouls and that's the way we like to play."

I love this kind of mean spirited trash talk. Matt Barnes deserves special recognition for how he's played in this series. He's been phenomenal. Clearly Baron is the MVP, but Barnes has been the lightning rod, the intangibles factory, and the clutch-shot machine for the Warriors.
Add tattooed, ass whooping, Dirk dominating, destroyer to that list.

WARRIORS

It's good to live in the Bay Area. Baron Davis, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson, Mickael Pietrus are legends. 5:49 to go in the fourth quarter of game 5. Warriors up a point and they have the ball. Is history about to be made?


UPDATE: The answer is no. history will have to wait for thursday night in Oakland...

Understandable

Apologies to Nathaniel Friedman on my Slate rant yesterday. He commented on the blog, and I re-read his article. I still don't quite "agree," but I can see where he's going with it. I really kind of misunderstood it when I read it yesterday.
He's not advocating a shortening from the standpoint of someone who obsesses over basketball (me), but rather the "casual fan." And I can understand that most fans don't go home from work and park in front of the tube for 6 straight hours of Ernie, Charles, Kenny and the playoffs... everyday. And most of them don't play in 3 fantasy leagues and follow the stats and as many games as possible, all year, for all the teams. Additionally, I'd imagine, most of them don't know what the PER is, or the +/-, or why you should never listen to what Bill Walton is saying. (Even as I write this, I start to wonder; am I watching too much? The answer is no.)
So for them (being the vast majority of fans), I understand why he preferred the best-of-5 first round to the best-of-7, and he does actually make a good point about how more than half the league makes the playoffs. That doesn't really seem right when you think about it. Still, maybe it would just be better if we added an additional round or three, and just included all the rest of the teams...
Can you say 1 seed vs. 15 seed? 4 months of playoffs? 80 games in 80 nights? Lordy, that would be kick ass...

Gilbert Arenas: Douchebag?

In the pantheon of satisfying Cleveland sports moments (and believe me, it's a wee tiny pantheon), LeBron's psych out of Agent Zero at the end of game 6 of the 2006 playoffs ranks very high. For two reasons: LeBron wrote himself into playoff lore by whispering in Arenas' ear, and the Cavs won their first playoff series in 200 years. But I just found a third; I frickin' hate Arenas.
What kind of self obsessed, obnoxious little prick is this guy? Apparently the kind who'll call a press conference to announce he's on the cover of a video game. Even Samus Aron, famous for being a diva, didn't call a press conference when she made the cover of Metroid.

Adrian Wojnarowski does an excellent job of taking Arenas to task in his latest blog entry. Read that here. Well played Woj.

What a douchebag. But even more annoying is the fact that Arenas is not traveling with the Wizards, he's not rooting for them, helping their ailing confidence, trying to get in the Cavs' heads, nothing. Caron Butler is doing everything he can, short of cracking open his cast and jumping on the court in his suit. Caron Butler is a young beast, full of heart, good spirits and team camaraderie.
Arenas is a prick, and there's only one thing he's full of: himself.
And shit. Okay, 2 things...

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.

Dave D'Alessandro: Pinko?

READ THIS

Now tell me you're not thinking the same thing as me: This D'Alessandro guy is a pinko, socialist, turncoat, french fries & gravy eating mofo if ever I've seen one.

It is a truly glorious place, this vast white suburb of Detroit, inhabited by 32 million people of generous spirit. The best part is they really want nothing in return, which is convenient because those of us on this side of the border don't really give back much.
They send us these magnificent gusts of fresh air in the spring and fall; we send back acid rain and other forms of environmental pollution. They give us Joni Mitchell and Bruce Cockburn; we send them Bill O'Reilly and MTV. They send us some really good adult beverages; we reward them by taxing their timber.

Ummm... Bruce Cockburn? Who the hell thanks Canada for this guy:

And let's not forget Brian Adams, Celine Dion and Mike Myers. Here's how I'd thank them for those 3; a punch in the stomach. I guess Bill O'Reilly sucks, but we also sent them The Ramones, Jenna Jameson and crack-cocaine. Not to mention a whole generation of hippie draft dodgers, who have no doubt become successful pillars of society. At least by Canadian standards. Granted MTV sucks hard, but without it, where would Bruce Cockburn have gotten the idea for those hard rocking earrings in his right ear. Let me sum up Canada's contributions to the world this way: Barenaked Ladies, Sandra Bullock, Robert Goulet, enough said. Actually I'm shocked he didn't mention Steve Nash, maybe Canada's only truly valuable contribution to society.

But really I'm more disturbed by the veracity with which people in general (and D'Alessandro specifically) are jumping on the Raptor band wagon. I get it, they're good. Great, grand, wonderful. They're still a punk ass 47 win team that will be losing in the first round very soon to the Nets, who are themselves not that good. They roped in the majority of those 47 wins playing against the worst collection of teams in pro sports, the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division.

They do have, as D'Alessandro says, a guy finishing in the top 5 in MVP voting (Bosh), one of the better PGs in the game (TJ Ford), One of the best rookies in the game (Bargnani), and a bench full of solid role fillers, like Mo Pete, Calderon and Garbajosa. So my question isn't why are they so good, but why aren't they better? Essentially the heat on the Raptors sounds a lot to me like the heat on the Magic at the end of last season. And as we have now discovered in round 1 against Detroit; they still suck.

Sebastian Telfair: Through the Fire?

Or just opening fire? Interesting factoid: Sebastian Telfair has had more double-doubles in his career than run ins with the law over gun beefs. That's right, in 3 seasons the documentary film star has had 3 double doubles and 2 gun snafus. When you do the math on that, the Celtics finally realize what the rest of the league has known for a while; Sebastian Telfair sucks, and is not worth the trouble.
And now comes news the Celtics are doing the smart thing; pissing away the millions they spent on him, and "cutting ties." Even if Telfair hadn't gotten arrested, signing him last off season was a stupid gamble aimed at netting Iverson, which would have been a stupid trade. Ainge essentially mortgaged respectability at a chance to get the Answer. He may come out of all this smelling like roses if they land Oden or Durant, but that should be cold comfort to the Celts who remain years away from contending for the playoffs.
I'll admit that even I was wooed by Telfair's upside, but I realized even sooner than the Boston front office that signing Telfair was like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

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.

Good to Be a Cavs/Warriors Fan

For Cleveland transplants to the Bay Area, such as myself, there hasn't been a playoff this exciting in a looooooong time. In fact, the Cavs and Warriors haven't won playoff games in the same year since the 1991-92 season. So for 415/216 hybrids like myself, yesterday was a foreign emotion. I couldn't believe my eyes; both the Cavs and Warriors won, and pretty handily at that. Neither team looks like a title contender, but they both look interesting, and they both have a good time in store.
The Warriors barely squeaked into the post season, and being their first time in 12 seasons, they could've gone out 4-0 in thirty point poundings, and you still couldn't wipe the grin off Bay Area faces. We don't care how bad they lose, and neither do they. The result is that they're playing loose, comfortable, scrappy and chaotic. In short; they're playing Nellie Ball. As Dallas fans can attest, it'll never get you to the big show, but it makes for enjoyable and exciting games, lots of three pointers, and just maybe a prayer. With an impressive game 1 steal, the Warriors, once again control their own destiny. All they need to do, however unlikely a feat, is defend Oracle Arena. As long as they can run the board in Oakland, there's a growing possibility we'll get to see Mark Cuban have an aneurysm on national TV.
The Cavs certainly didn't look as punishing and controlling as I may have hoped. And the announcers/pundits/bloggers/assholes have been making them pay. Despite winning by the largest margin of any of the opening games, the Cavs have been roundly panned as the least persuasive winner so far. But I honestly don't mind. Charles Barkley insists the Wizards should be heartened that they can win games, possibly the series. I don't know what game he was watching. The Cavs should still sweep the Wizards, and I don't care if they they win the rest of the games by 1 point each. Getting to the next round in as few games as possible is the priority. The Cavs'll do fine. Pacing themselves in the first round against a sorely over matched opponent is no different from pacing themselves in the regular season. When the Cavs see the Pistons/Bulls/Heat in the conference finals, I want them to be as rested and hard to read as possible. Wish granted.

Game 1s

I am not on fire so far. I picked home court to hold across the board, and for my troubles I got screwed by the team I picked to win it all, and the team everyone else picked. San Antonio and Dallas both lost, at home, in their game 1 match ups with clearly inferior teams. Could it be that they've both drawn their Achilles' heels in the first round? If San Antone were playing Golden State and Dallas playing Denver would it have gone down differently? Dallas can't seem to answer Golden State's free-for-all, jump shooting death squad. And San Antonio clearly has no idea what to do with Nene, who is re branding himself as the power forward of the future. All I could think when I watched Nene yesterday, was how much I'd like to see him on the Suns. He's like a 6'11" Leandro Barbosa, substituting defensive aggression for jump shooting ability. He romped all over San Antonio yesterday. And as a Golden State fan, a former off-and-on Pacers fan, with a long time closet crush on the Spurs, I can't tell you how weird it is to like Stephen Jackson. But Jacko is backo in a big way. SteJax made Dirk look like less of a MVP and more of a DQP (double quarter pounder... with cheese). Things are getting interesting all over.
Toronto focused all their energy on Vinsanity, which worked, and got pecker-slapped by JKidd and RJeff. I still like Toronto to win this thing, but you have to wonder how good New Jersey would be with Nenad. Next year, with Nenad, Miki Moore developing into a solid backup and Josh Boone and Bostjan Nachbar coming on strong, the Nets could be intriguing again next year. If they dodge the injury bug, lookout; a .500 season could be in the offing. Phoenix handled their business like the pros they are, illustrating why Kobe is a punk who will never elevate the Lakers without a Shaq-type backing him up. Detroit looked chiseled against Orlando, but I would have liked to see a nastier, more self assured victory. Ditto for the Cavs. Game 2s should be hot. Cap'n, out.

Cavs New Point Guard?

LUKE RIDNOUR
2006-07: He was supposed to have a breakout season, especially after a contract extension. After a series of inconsistencies and bouts with insecurity, however, Ridnour did not give the organization any security about his future as a starting point guard. He averaged fewer points, assists and steals than last season and his numbers declined badly after the All-Star break, resulting in a disappointing season for the one-time cornerstone. Ridnour is unhappy with his role and it seems like something has to change.
Staying or leaving? The club will try to trade him and the remaining three years on his deal and acquire a frontline point guard with size and experience. Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is intriguing as hell to me. I like Ridnour. He's young, energetic and he's a true point guard. Exactly what we need. Maybe a Damon Jones for Ridnour deal could be in our future?

Delicious Cavs News...

In a brief 10-minute session with the media, Gilbert also touched on several other subjects:
o The owner said he would not have a problem paying the luxury tax in order to keep restricted free agents Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, who figure to command major dollars in the offseason. Medina Gazette

That's what I want to hear. We need to keep Pavlo and the Brazilian Dandy. Without their tenacious bench play, the Cavs are lost. And Pavlo's blossomed into a legit starter for us. I'm psyched Gilly's gonna throw down the loot to keep us competitive.

A Picture Says a Thousand- Oh God My Eyes!

"Why yes Ms. Coulter, I think your vision for a more conservative United States is... is... what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yes. DY-NO-MITE!!" As mayor of TV Land, I declare this to be the greatest birthday party for Jimmy Walker ever!
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"Oh Brad, it's just you, I thought someone was robbing the bank..."
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"Officer, how many times do I have to tell you, I'm not drunk... I'm just very, very high on the marijuana..."
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Sweet! Looks like Suns have finally found a way to stop Tim Duncan in the paint.


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"Okay Jared. You grab Carmelo by the neck, then I reach around you here, like so. Then I give your nips a bit of a tweak. Nate, why don't you take off your shirt. See isn't that more comfortable? Can I get anyone a Fresca? A 'lude? Anything?" Just another one of Eduardo Najera's sexy parties...

Wednesday Chumpliness

The Grizzlies are expected to talk to former Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, among other candidates, about taking over the front office. Memphis Commercial Appeal

I have two words for Memphis fans who think Vandeweghe will return them to grace: Kenyon Martin.
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Regardless of whether he retains his job as coach of the Sonics or if owner Clay Bennett decides to replace him, Bob Hill's life will go on.
"I'm not going to die," he said after Tuesday's practice. "I've got a wonderful family that loves me to death. I just had my first grandson yesterday. I've got a beautiful home in Texas. So I'm not going to die. If I'm not back, I'll feel bad because it's the first time I haven't been able to have success." Seattle Times

I guess he's not counting his 36-78 record as coach at Fordham, or his three straight 1st round exits as coach of the Pacers.
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"Yeah, we're going to play hard [against the Hornets] and hope for the best, but we're just going to have to shoot for next year. Can we still get into the playoffs? Yeah, we can. Realistically, will we? No." Los Angeles Times

That's Maggette illustrating perfectly what it's like to be a Clippers fan: painful, pathetic, un-ambitious, and scared of the Golden State Warriors.
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Bryant said he hasn't given any thought to his MVP chances. Orange County Register

Fortunately I have. He has none. Kobe is a great player who deserves an MVP award about as much as I do. To even discuss his name in the same sentence as Dirk, Nash, Bronny or DWade is a joke. In fact, as far as the numbers go on paper, and the teams records, I'm not sure how you'd justify Kobe over 'Melo.

"Winning MVP would be nice, but it would mean much, much more if we had one of the top records in the league," Bryant said. "To win it now would be kind of like an empty award to me." Orange County Register

To us all, my friend. To us all.
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Dolan also revealed that Thomas' sexual harassment trial is scheduled for September. New York Post

Wow I had almost forgotten about that particular noose around Zeke's neck. Make that reason 7,943 on the top 25,000 reasons why Isiah Thomas should be fired. Something else just occurred to me: could the Knicks be tanking to go after a high draft pick? I know what you're saying, "But Cap'n, the Bulls get the Knicks 1st round pick this year." Sure, I know that. And you know that. But are you really that confident that Isiah knows it? I'm honestly only like half kidding. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out Isiah doesn't even realize he's given up maybe the most valuable draft pick since Bronny for Eddy Curry.
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Clyde "The Glide" Drexler may have been voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, but he was voted off the stage Tuesday as "Dancing With the Stars" fans eliminated Drexler and partner Elena Grinenko. And after Heather Mills' fall in Monday's competition, she fell to the bottom two in voting. Metromix.com

I guess now he'll only have a career of legendary basketballing, a city full of fans who'd die for him, millions of dollars and his debonair charm and good looks to keep him warm. Poor guy...

James Dolan's Pooch Screwing Clinic: Open For Business

So you're a gazillionaire owner of one of the biggest market pro basketball franchises on the planet. Maybe the biggest. Who cares if your team has the worst roster of overpaid, underachieving layabouts. Or that your insane coach/president is literally throwing stacks of hundred dollar bills into an incinerator on guys like Steve Francis, Malik Rose, Jerome James and Jared Jeffries. Or that with two first round picks in last year's draft, he went after two 2nd rounders. What does it matter that instead of Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins, you could have had Balkman and Marcus Williams, Rajon Rondo or Dan Gibson? Who cares if your coach mortgaged your future on Eddy Curry, and now you don't have a first round pick in one of the deepest drafts in years...
Wait a second. That should all really piss you off. Sure the Knicks are still making gobs of money, but just imagine how much more they'd make if they could make the playoffs, or even be a contender. So with the team performing better than it had in years, with Curry, Marbury and the rest of these salary thieves not embarrassing themselves on the nightly, you take the carrot they've been chasing and stick it in their mouths. It can't be denied; announcing Zeke's extension with plenty of time left to go in the season sent the Knicks on a pathetic slide.
In fact, for all the bravado about an improved team, they're barely better than the humiliation factory they ran last season. Plus, as Adrian Wojnarowski recently pointed out, the extension really means nothing. If they play bad enough, Isiah will get fired whether he has 1 year to go on his contract, or a thousand. Even Isiah knows this. But it seemed like the threat of unemployment had lit a fire under the Knickersuckers to play for the job of the coach they love so. So why take away their only motivation?
They clearly love Isiah, and why not? For all the rampant failure and underachieving that goes on in New York, the maddest I've ever seen any Knicks (including Isiah) get about anything, is when they think another team is running up the score on them. Thomas doesn't hold them to account for their failures, so they don't hold themselves either. Now there's talk of bringing in Rashard Lewis. I hope for his sake he makes the right decision and passes. What the hell do they even really need to go after 'Shard for? The problem isn't a lack of talented players (at literally every position). The problem is the atmosphere of mediocrity.
Just listen to Dolan when asked about the possibility of bringing in Jerry West, one of the most brilliant and unstoppable men in NBA history, both on the court and in the front office:
"I wouldn't say to Isiah, 'Hey, Isiah, Jerry's coming in and you've got to take it,'" Dolan said. "No, I would never do that." (Ken Berger, NewsDay)
Good call, why put the needs of the team, city and fans ahead of your borderline creepy relationship with Isiah Thomas, the man who ruined the Raptors, ruined the Pacers and now has ruined the Knicks. Why do that, when you can run a clinic on how to kill a franchise. That, my friends, is what we call "screwing the pooch."

Didja Miss Me?

Of course you did. I'm not completely oblivious. I took the hint when you left a rim with a net in my bed. When I woke up, covered in Gatorade, I figured it was a message from the basketblogging mafia (Get it? That was supposed to be a play on the Godfather, think about it for a few minutes) telling me to bow to their will or be damned to the dustbin of blog failures. Well I won't bend over for any other blogs, I don't care how many politicians are in their pockets... Okay, I actually took a week off to manage my fantasy basketball team full time. You'll all be happy to know that with only today's games remaining, I am in 1st place with a 1.5 point lead. Pop the champagne bitches, the Cap'n's back.

Monday, Muddy Monday

Honestly now...

God Shammgod

Him and World B. Free need to hold an annual Ridonkulous Names Charity Streetball Tournament. Apple Blythe Allison Martin (Gwyneth Paltrow's kid) & Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee (Jason Lee's kid) will be the guest MCs for the event.
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Jewish Jordan? More like Jewish Jud Beuchler. Looking for Mr. Goodman...




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Traylor the Jailer

Think he'll get a new nick name in the Slam?





All jokes aside, I feel bad for the Tractor and, to a lesser extent, the thousands of junkies going without a fix in Michigan...

No that's not a shower of cocaine, it's the backboard silly.
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Cut Short: Dwayne Casey, Bernie Bickerstaff, (soon to be) Bob Hill


Extended: Doc Rivers, Isiah Thomas and (soon to be) Brian Hill





What's wrong with this picture? How the hell are the best 3 coaches out of these 6 awful teams the ones who lose their jobs, while the 3 worst coaches in the galaxy get cushy extenshes? Something weird is afoot...
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Cavs and Bulls both lost, Clips and Warriors both lost. So for all my fellow Cavs/Warriors fans out there, hope is still alive, but we've got a hell of an uphill climb. Cavs pretty much need to win the rest of their games to pull a game ahead of the Bulls and lock up a top 4 seed, and to hold off the surging Raptors for the 2 seed. The Warriors need to do the same to gain ground on the Clippers and lock up that coveted 8 seed. All you high school football players, take a knee and say a prayer for Cleveland and Oakland...

J Kidd and Vinsanity: Double Triple Double

Jason Kidd and Vince Carter both put up triple doubles in the same game.

V. Carter 16-28 FG 16 REB 10 ASS 46 PTS
J. Kidd 4-12 FG 16 REB 18 ASS 10 PTS 9 TO

Yes that's right, Kidd was 1 TO away from a quadruple double. Nuts! Has 2 trip dubs on the same team in the same game ever happened before?

50 Cent Presents: Michael Ray Redux

See, here's my problem with the myriad people coming to Richardson's defense on his stupid, bigoted, yet warm hearted statements about Jews: once you start giving passes for "good" intent, you create more confusion over what is and is not acceptable.
Jewish propensity for financial and legal positions is based in an ages old tradition of getting hunted down, murdered, enslaved or expelled by essentially every society on the planet. In short, we've been hunted since day one, so we find ourselves in jobs that we can pick up and take with us in the middle of the night when the storm troopers come to kill us. In fact, in a lot ways we're like Jedis, only we use Math proficiency instead of light sabers. Now Michael Ray actually hinted toward this understanding in his comments about his kick ass "Jew lawyers." When you factor in his time spent in Israel, Jewish wife and kids, I can sort of live with it. Additionally, his famous "Ship be sinking..." quote may be the most inadvertently insightful and simultaneously hilarious statement by a pro athlete in history. So I've talked it over with the rest of the Jews at the weekly conspiracy meeting, and we're gonna officially give Michael Ray a pass.
50 Cent is a different story altogether. Forget about the fact that he's a terrible and talentless rapper. Forget about the fact that he's maybe the worst influence on the youth of our country since Joe Camel. Forget about the fact that he's a multi gajillionaire crying about having to pay lawyers who probably have to work 'round the clock to keep him and his moronic posse out of jail. Even forget about his obscenely unwatchable movie Get Rich or Die Trying, which was like an elegy of idiocy. My question is this; what the hell is 50 Cent doing calling up a radio station to warn them about Jewish lawyers? Is there some sort of imminent attack by roving bands of lawyers? Is the law firm of Smilovitz, Smilovitz, Rothstein and Rosenbaum hitting the streets with high tech weaponry and bad attitudes? Or is 50 Cent just a fucking idiot?
My worry is that 50 heard Michael Ray and got it in his head that that was an acceptable thing to say. I know someone who just lost his invite to the Annual Matzoh Ball Soup Cook Off. Sucks for him, 'cause we're gonna be drinking Manischewitz "like it's your birthday..."

Thursday...

From a Wizards press release:

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard Gilbert Arenas has sustained a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, and the tear will be repaired by arthroscopic surgery. Arenas, who suffered the injury in the first quarter of Washington's game vs. Charlotte on April 4, is expected to be out for 2-3 months.

Dude, the Wizards can't catch a break. Without Caron they're a long shot in the playoffs. Without Butler or Arenas, I'm not even sure they can hang onto their playoff spot. I will say this; for all his obnoxious bluster, I honestly think Arenas is less important to the team's success than Caron.

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Holy Hell.


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Oh come on!

Hughes is close to a seven-figure bonus in his contract, but he'll need his teammates' help to get there. The deal Hughes signed in the summer of 2005 includes a $2 million payout if the Cavs reach 49 wins this season.

Does he get a bonus punch in the stomach if he shoots 25% from the field for the rest of the season?

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There are a very limited number of guys in the world that I respect named Tex. This is one of 'em. At least he didn't get passed over in favor of a WNBA coach and a couple of EuroLeague coaches... oh wait. Tex Winter on getting snubbed by the Hall of Fame voting committee:

"I think my family is a little more disappointed than I am,"
"I think that they think, 'Well, Tex Winter, he was just an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls, with Phil and with the Lakers.' I coached basketball longer than anyone in history. There's a lot of things that they don't consider. Maybe they are going to wait until I'm dead." Los Angeles Times

Now there's a guy who doesn't sound bitter...

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There are two big games going on tonight. Cleveland and Miami are squaring off, with both of them jockeying for playoff position. With Washington basically packing it in and raising a white flag, Miami is rejuvenated. The Cavs are still trying to hold off the surging Bulls and maybe catch up to the stumbling Pistons. Meanwhile, across the country, Phoenix and San Antone will give us a 2nd round preview. I predict San Antonio will lose to the Suns tonight, but they will beat them in a best of 7 come playoff time. The Cavs will beat Miami, and should they meet in the playoffs, the Cavs'll do it again.