Down 0-2, Make It Interesting

The Good Ole' Days

 As of this moment in time, both the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are down 0-2 in their respective series.  Both teams are up there in age (except for Bynum and Rondo), are not playing well, and we may be witnessing an official changing of the guard in The Association.  I decided to pose a question to my fellow Nextians:

Who has a better chance to make their series interesting?  The Celtics or the Lakers?  Here is what these genius' said.

Of course, the trusty Bilbo "Burglar" Baggins chimed in first:
I hate betting against The Lakers, but I think they will drop Game 3 w/o Ron Ron. Unless Gasol and Odom have epic games, I find it hard to believe they will win in Dallas. Boston has a much better chance of winning at home, despite looking like they just woke up from a nap. Rondo needs to take advantage of the fact that Bibby is guarding him and
I could see LeBron settling for jumpers with Shaq filling the paint. He isn't the defensive stopper he once was, but he can still take up space and deliver hard fouls.

Overall I don't like either team's chances, but if the question is which team will make the series more interesting (not a sweep) than I'll go with Boston.

Bilbo Baggins
2x YeeBA Champion

Timmay (Czar of the MVM) decided to respond:
Bilbo...your signature is weak.  The Lakers are the champs until proven otherwise.  The Mavs, well...they are the Mavs and were the last team to take the first 2 on the road in a best of 7 and lose the series.  Go Celtics...win game 3!

BK kept it short and sweet, trying to wrap up his week at work:

Lakers. I think the heat are a better team than the mavs

Toomie (MVM) kept it even shorter as he had a tee time after work:
Celtics

Timmay (MVM Czar) then made it all about betting:
I would love to say the Celtics because I put $100 on them to win the series, but I think age is catching up to them.  Their entire team is injured.  I hate the Lakers, but if they win Game 3, they are right back in it.

BK then responded a day later:
Can I take back my answer about the Lakers? I haven't watch Boston play too much this year but I get the sense they are old and the Heat are just hungrier. Its all about the matchups, I think everything is setting up to be the Heat's year and LeBron isn't going to back down.


Well, it seems to me as if "getting old" is a pervasive theme amongst THE Nextians who had time to respond on a Friday afternoon.  Although I do not agree and wonder if these guys actually watch the games, we all agree that this is the end of an era.

Celtics GM Danny Ainge Is Stunned

I love this picture to no end.  The Heatles are playing tough and with athleticism.  The Celtics are playing detached, whiny, and sloppy.  All the while Celtics GM Danny Ainge is coming to realize that he made the worst trade deadline move for a contending team in the history of the Association.  This look?  Priceless.

Thanks to Deadspin for finding this HD Quality screenshot somewhere on the internets.

Why The Celtics will win the '10/'11 'Ship (Barring Injuries)

If a picture speaks a thousand words then I'm thinking that a picture of Kobe on the floor with only D. Fish offering a hand up contrasted to this picture would tell about a bajillion words.  Does that make any sense?  No?  Good.

I was going to steal a BDL idea and do a "Provide a Funny Caption" contest for a free 40oz but thought better of it.  I don't think many of us drink 40's anymore anyway.

Troy Murphy -- Spray Tan

Why does the NBA Universe suddenly care about Troy Murphy of the DunMurphy Sisters? He wasn't good enough to earn time on the lowly Nets who traded him for two Warrior big men who have 6 fouls each. The Dubs immediately bought out his contract thereby netting owner Joe Lacob a "measly" $250K in order to sign former Clipper Al Thornton. But when Celtic fans are involved they get all crazy and think about how a washed up big man who can shoot will help them win the crown this year. I'm sure he'll have a warm spot on the pine next to the O'Neal Sisters. C's fans then dig up videos like this:



Please stop thinking about Troy Murphy and get back to enjoying real players in the NBA. Thanks.

Tony Allen's Shot

Celtics fans cringe when Tony Allen takes a jump shot. Not quite as much as Laker fans gasp when Ron Artest hoists from three, but pretty close. The funny thing is that both of these guys are solid defenders. In the 2010 NBA Championship, Tony guards Kobe really well and Artest does a good job limiting Paul Pierce (until Game 5). But I digress. Let's look at Tony Allen's shooting.

In 2010 Tony Allen shot 51% from the field. Not too bad! But lets look at this a little deeper, shall we?

For shots taken at the rim, Tony shot 65.8%. But it gets worse. Tony shot 28.6% from under 10 feet, 33% from 10-15 feet, and 25% from 16-23 feet.

(Thanks to Doc Funk for the picture with caption. He does the captions all the time and is much better at it than The Nextian's past attempts)

But at least Doc Rivers has Tony reined in. For 2010 Tony took 158 attempts at the rim, 35 under 10 feet, 15 shots from 10-15 feet, and 40 jacks from 16-23 feet. The above picture shows us why he shoots just over one "not at the rim" shot a game.

NBA Finals Game 4 Fun

After this celebration, Big Baby started drooling all over the place.

Now enjoy your Moment of Zen:

LeBron Threw Game 5 b/c The Freemasons Told Him To

"I spoil a lot of people with my play. When you have a bad game here or there, you've had three bad games in a seven-year career, then it's easy to point that out." -LeBron James 5/11/10

For the conspiracy theorists out there, LeBron's Game 5 puke-fest does maybe-kinda point to him being told to tank the game by The Bilderbergs or Jay-Z and The Freemasons or whatever (Peep some prior "LeBron is a Freemason" evidence HERE ....directly from this blog!....via FreeDarko).

Just kidding, back to reality folks. First of all, Chuck Barkley thinks you royally choked:



Ouch! Now, for some day-after reaction articles matriculating from the NBA universe:

Wojo thinks that LeBron is just doesn't have the winners drive to do whatever it takes. After one of the worst loses by a Championship Contender in league history (a 32 point home court smackdown) he blames LeBron's other areas of focus and the Cleveland organization for being so permissive of LeBron over the years. Sounds like Wojo has been waiting to throw out this information for a while now.

Russillo (it's a podcast, folks) says that the game was one of the most shocking he's ever seen. He then puts the loss on everyone with the Cavs.

Hollinger (you have to be an INsider to see this article) takes a more logical stance, as always, and says that James' elbow caused him to go 1/11 on his jumpers. This elbow also caused him to pass up other open jumps he had throughout the game because he wasn't feeling confident in them. He also analyzes that James' good games this series have come after he's had extra rest. The one day rest games have caused the LeBron stinkbombs as he hasn't had enough time for his elbow to heal. What's concerning here is that Game 6 is Thursday after just one day rest. What Hollinger can't explain is why James differed on so many pick and roles counting a total of 13 times when he just passed the ball to a teammate not creating an advantage on the play.

Mr. True Hoop Henry Abbott points out what's wrong with Cleveland fans with an interesting take. With fans booing on their way out of the exits and the Cavs owner distancing himself from the team in recent comments, things do seem a bit doomed for Cleveland in this series and in LeBronamania this summer.

And, of course, Bill Sportsguy Simmons comes with a Retro Diary.

It was necessary to capture this moment in time before game 6 when LeBron either tarnishes his early legacy or steps up with a win for the ages in the Celtic's TD Waterhouse Ameritrade Garden. One thing's for certain: I can't wait to see what comes NEXT on Thursday at 5:00pm Pacific!

Thoughts Sent to Timmay in Chicago

Here is the transcript from my thoughts emailed to Timmay, who is a raving Bulls fan and owns a condo on the South Side of Chicago, after the epic Game 6 Bulls win in triple OT over the Celtics. Gangster:

I love the series for many reasons. First of all, the Bulls have manned up beyond belief. And I love all the mistakes they're able to get away with: DelNegro not fouling when down by 3 with the Celts not having any time outs left, the DRose crunch time turnovers, giving up large leads more than once in more than one win. So it's not like the Bulls are just playing great and that's it. They're totally mistake prone but almost don't give an eff if they fuck up. Their collective swagger propels them to make ridiculously retarded goof ups yet they have the gall to not let it affect their confidence one bit. I haven't really seen that before.

Two things that I hope: I hope that Game 7 tomorrow is really well played. I also hope that whoever wins can at least give the Magic a fight and hopefully win. It would really suck to have the series downgraded in history because of a 4-1 loss to those faggy Magic.

Cetics on the hunt for Starbury

The Celtics are scared. Scared shitless that they don't have a bench this year. No James Posey. No PJ Brown. They're so scared that they are legitimately thinking of signing the most crazy of crazy assed muthafukaz: Stephon Marbury.

I haven't been a fan of the new Celtics. First of all, they lucked into KG. McHale just handed him over. If the ping pong balls fell where they should have, the Celtics would have never traded for Shuttlesworth and KG as they would have had the 1st pick and a hobbled, underachieving Oden on their hands and sour puss PP (Paul Pierce). They bully teams around with scowls on their faces, KG picks fights with weak foreign guards, and Doc Rivers says the most retardedly basic things to the media. I honestly don't think he coaches other than finding that whole "Ubuntu!" thing last year. The Sportsfag is a homer for them, Boston has been winning WAY too much for their own good in all major pro sports, and all of the brand new "B" Sox hats and KG Celtics jerseys I see around SF frustrate the living hell out of me. So I hope they do "sign" Starbury for the veterans minimum pro-rated (by the way, Starbury is getting $150,000 a day for the remainder of the season from the Knicks). No championship this year with that crazy assed karma.

To remind you all how insane Steph is, please re-watch the video below. My favorite lines from a high as a kite Marbury include:

"I'm goin' for like 12, 13 dimes.....2 assists"
(cell phone rings) "oh, that's my better half"...long pause...."my wife"
near the end of the clip "yeah! yeah! I wanna see spittle on your mouf!"