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It’s Brandon Roy’s birthday today, celebrated joyously by the folks over at OregonLive.com’s Blazer Blog. They’ve got this awesome video of Brandon devastating the Lakers.
So the Blazers return one of the league’s most promising teams. They also add Jerryd Bayless, who was MVP of the summer league. And Rudy Fernandez, who was the best player in Europe last season.
Kevin Pritchard, when not pritchslapping the rest of the NBA, keeps reminding Blazer fans this crazy experiment in bringing in good quality character guys and turning them into champions will take a while.
But looking at this roster, if these guys even live up to half of what they can do this year, I think this team could win an NBA Championship. Like, now.
“If I had a redo, I’d probably take Boston over San Antonio in the Finals (or maybe Detroit over the Lakers). I do think the East will win, unless LeBron somehow gets the Cavs back to the Finals. (FYI…Boston went 25-5 against the “mighty” West this year.)”
I’m not claiming to be Nostradamus with those predictions. Admittedly, they were pretty safe. But in a comment to my post, loyal PFB reader (and pastor) Matt Doan said:
“I can’t believe you are using your brillant blog to unfairly criticize the mighty WEST. Disneyland tickets on me for the PFB Family if an East team even wins a game in the finals…Wait edit that (my wife just freaked out) Disneyland ticker[sic] for you and your family if the Eastern Team wins the NBA finals.”
Well, well, well. What do you know? Looks like I need to start looking into some plane tickets…
They were the best team on paper, the best team in the regular season, and the best team in the Eastern Conference Playoffs this year.
With their 39-point blowout of the Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday, the Celtics confirmed they were the best team in the NBA Finals as well.
Break out your boomboxes*, the Boston Celtics are the 2008 NBA Champions.
Congratulations to Doc Rivers, the Big 3, and the Big Bench that carried the Celtics to their 17th NBA Title.
Congratulations to Paul Pierce, the NBA Finals MVP who suffered through a brutal stabbing 8 years ago and suffered through watching Antoine Walker take so many terrible shots over the years on those mediocre Celtic teams. Truth be told, you deserve this.
Congratulations to Kevin Garnett, who now has an NBA ring to go along with his League MVP. For the sake of his heart, here’s to hoping he tones it down a notch of three. This guy is so intense, he makes Tiger Woods look like Rocco Mediate.
Congratulations to the sports fans of New England, who better enjoy what they have now, because multi-sport title runs like this don’t happen very often, and rarely last long.
Now, who’s ready for some football?
*on a personal note, 22 years ago the Celtics beat the Rockets for the NBA title. To celebrate, me, my buddy Luke, and my brother Josh paraded around the block of our New Bedford, Massachusetts home with a boombox and homemade signs declaring we were the champions.
Josh called me tonight during the 4th quarter from Boston, where he was watching the game with our youngest brother Jordan. We wondered if Luke was watching up in Toronto, and we both decided to take a walk around our respective neighborhoods when the game was over, just for old time’s sake. I opted not to go with the boombox this time.
is there any reason why a game 7 isn’t a good idea? whoever prevails at that point, it’s a great story and a huge win. if it ends tonight, i sort of feel cheated. no disrespect to the Celtics but how many times are the Lakers going to blow a lead like that? like, never! even if they lose, it just feels right for Kobe to make it to a game 7.
i know this, i’m going to be bummed if i stay up that late to see it through to the end, and there is no game 7. i’m already working on a sleep deficit, and it would be nice to be rewarded with one last game in the Garden.
i want the Lakers/Celtics for 7 games. what else are you going to watch? this or this. give me a break!
I almost turned off Game 4 in the third quarter, but for some reason, I didn’t. My reward for sticking with the game? Witnessing one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history.
Without the help of the refs or a Home crowd, the Boston Celtics played shutdown defense and hit one clutch shot after another, scoring 47 of the game’s last 68 points to beat the Lakers 97-91. That was an inspired comeback and a stunning collapse rolled into one.
You gotta win 4, though…so don’t break out those victory cigars just yet.
Anyone else watch the second half of this classic? Anyone give up on the game and go to bed?
No doubt that you’ve heard about Tim Donaghy’s recent revelations regarding misconduct by NBA referees in key playoff games. (If you haven’t, read here.) Though specific teams and referees are never mentioned, it’s clear from his statements that he is accusing the NBA of conspiring with other referees to fix the outcome of more than one playoff game.
The game drawing the most attention, and rightfully so, is Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals when the Lakers - on the brink of elimination - shot 27 free throws IN THE 4TH QUARTER to beat the Kings and force a Game 7. In fact, go back and read the AP recap of that game. Check out these quotes:
“I feel sorry for our team, because they did everything they could to win the game,” Sacramento coach Rick Adelman said. “It’s a shame, a real shame. … Our big guys get 20 fouls, and Shaq gets four. You tell me. Obviously, they got the game called the way they wanted to get it called.”
The officiating was so suspect, even Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson commented:
“There were some very interesting sequences in this game that were some eye-openers,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson admitted. “I’m sure we’ll want to take another look at them, both Rick and myself.”
What was the most disturbing subplot of the playoffs? Answer: The officiating, also the most disturbing subplot of the past four playoffs. If you examine the last four NBA playoff campaigns, during every situation where the league definitively “needed” one of the two teams involved to win — either to A) change the momentum of a series so it didn’t end prematurely, B) keep an attractive, big-market team alive in a series, or C) advance an attractive, big-market team to another round — the officiating appeared to be slanted towards the team that needed that game. I use the phrase “appeared to be,” because reviewing an official’s performance is purely subjective. Maybe I’m dead-wrong.
[regarding Game 6 between the Lakers and Kings] … LA needs a win to stay alive … from an officiating standpoint, the most one-sided game of the past decade … at least six dubious calls against the Kings in the fourth quarter alone … LA averaged 22 free throws a game during the first five games of the series, then attempted 27 freebies in the fourth quarter alone of Game 6 … rumors that David Stern wanted to pull a Vince McMahon and declare himself “The special guest referee” for this game prove unfounded.
The Lakers went on to win Game 7 against Sacramento (in OT) and beat the Nets for the NBA Championship that year.
If you’re wondering about the timing of Donaghy’s allegations, or the motives behind them, you’d do well to read Lester Munson’s analysis on ESPN.com. It should also be noted that David Stern has called the accusations “baseless”, and continues to refer to Donaghy as an “admitted felon” and a “convicted felon” - which he is.
My question is this: Do you think the NBA has conspired with referees in the past to affect the outcome of games? Yes or No.
With the NBA finals starting this week, and everyone in the media (rightfully) talking about the importance of the LA / Boston match up, I decided to do something a little different (but equally important) for my first post here: A list of the top-5 NBA players who kind of look like their mascots. I’m sure that the sports media will agree that this story is of equal significance to professional sports as two of the greatest legacy teams ever facing off in the NBA Finals.
1. Chris Bosh :: The Toronto Raptors
This one is hard to do justice with just an image. To really appreciate Chris Bosh’s dinosaur-likeness, you have to watch him play. He’s got a fierce ability to slash to the basket and an overall bird-like demeanor (and anyone who’s seen Jurassic Park knows that automatically links him with the Velociraptor).
2. Adam Morrison :: The Charlotte Bobcats
I could talk about his aggressive jump shot, his ability to claw to the hoop or his wild ball-handling, but only one word really captures his bobcat-like appearance: whiskers.
3. Bryant Reeves :: The Vancouver Grizzlies
What NBA fan could forget Bryant “Big Country Reeves”? Not since Bill Wennington has professional basketball seen a real-life mountain-man take to the court. He was Paul Bunyan in basketball shoes. And though his size makes him a sure-fire contender for a bear look-alike contest (he’s 7-feet, 275-pounds), it’s his down home, back-country style that really captures the true spirit of the grizzly.
4. Baron Davis :: The Golden State Warriors
April, 2007: The 15 teams of the Western Conference descend upon you. The hard-nose, leave-it-all-on-the-court play of the Warriors point guard in the 2007 playoffs proved that like King Leonidas, Davis wasn’t afraid to stand against the mighty, top-rated Mavericks–the true embodiment of a warrior. The sweet beard helps too.
5. Mark Cuban :: The Dallas Mavericks
OK, I know this one is a little bit of a stretch considering Mark Cuban isn’t actually an NBA player. But, even though he doesn’t actually put on a uniform every night, Cuban’s animated sideline antics and his off-court dealings make him just as much of a player in the league as any athlete. He also bears an eerie resemble to a young Mel Gibson in the movie Maverick.
I was one of those kids who grew up with the Atari, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Sega Genesis. Video games were pretty much all we played during those cold New England winters. In fact, I can still probably rattle off to you the first 5 games my brother and I purchased for our NES (let’s see: Pro Wrestling, Commando, Ikari Warriors, The Legend of Zelda, and Excitebike).
Josh and I loved to play sports games, and as such we were always renting the latest offerings from our local supermarket to see which games were worth buying ($40 games were a fortune to a 12-yr old). Tecmo Bowl, RBI Baseball, Double Dribble, Baseball Stars, and John Madden football all found their way into our catalog this way.
One game in particular that I remember renting and enjoying was Lakers Vs. Celtics, a game that has received quite a bit of hype this past week with the matchup in the 2008 NBA Finals. As far as i can recall (and we are talking about 18 years ago), the game was relatively good, though I still remember thinking that it was dumb to name a basketball game after two specific teams.
There were other basketball games that came and went in the Allain household. Remember Double Dribble for the NES? That game was gold when it first came out. Not only did Konami program in a sweet cheerleader halftime show, but they had those amazing dunk closeups when one of your players went in for a jam. Clearly they were ahead of their time.
Or what about NBA Jam, the popular arcade game that found its way onto home consoles? Were there ever better catch phrases spawned by a video game than, “He’s Heating Up!” and “He’s on Fire!”? I think not.
It’s always fun to take trips down memory lane, whether it’s remembering 8-bit video games or watching highlights of Bird and Magic battle it out in short shorts. If you’re not one for reminiscing, you might want to watch something other than ABC over the next 2 weeks. I have a feeling we’re going get a healthy dose of the 1980s sprinkled in with live action from the teams of today.
Speaking of today’s players, who do you like to win 4 games first in this match up between the best of the East and West?
Think the Lakers will steal a game in Boston and keep the series from going to a Game 7?
Think the Celtics are being overlooked and will ultimately hold serve at home to win the title?
Voice your opinion in the first ever Prayers For Blowouts Poll:
I’m not from Chicago, and I don’t live there now but for a string of years the Windy City was my home, and I became a MJ and Bulls guy. It was a great run during those dynasty years, and from time to time I still pull out my DVD set and re-live it. After Jordan left the game for good, I became utterly disinterested with the NBA. Iverson was fun to watch, and the Lakers with Kobe and Shaq were interesting, but not enough for me to really care. When Kobe and Shaq split up, whatever was interesting to me about the NBA was lost. No disrespect intended to the Spurs (or Pistons) and their Championships, or to LeBron and his individual talent; but I just couldn’t get into it for whatever reason.
But this year I’ve become interested. Keep in mind that I don’t live in an NBA city (Nashville), and so I don’t have a motivating fan interest from that perspective. Yet, the Celtics vs Lakers match-up is compelling to me, and I can be happy with whoever takes home the trophy. For me, the story-lines I seem to care about are as follows:
1. KG and Paul Pierce deserve to win one. Will they?
2. Can Kobe bring a championship back to LA, and put to rest that I-only-won-because-I-had-Shack thing.
Because of my MJ/Bulls ties, ultimately I must pull for the Lakers because Phil Jackson is at the helm. Then, there’s that picture above of MJ and Kobe. I have that pic saved on my computer because I wondered if Kobe would ever get close. For a true MJ loyalist like me, the answer is no. But at least Kobe has the opportunity to remind people who might have forgotten him amidst LeBron and others, that he is dominant.
Back in the day when I was fond of judging people, professional athletes were sometimes on my list - “those greedy athletes, their shameful behavior, blah, blah, blah, blah…” But eventually I discovered we are all cut out of the same cloth: our core identity is a reflection or image of God; we all desire the same things - love, peace, freedom, worth, purpose, and contentment; and we all suffer from misplaced dependencies, seeking the above things from a source not capable of supplying them. Let’s say Kobe brings the gold back to LA, or KG finally gets his. It will be a great accomplishment for either one and an indisputable fact of sports history but won’t ultimately supply the love, peace, and freedom they desire. It works the same way for you and I. Our achievements, appearance, possessions, level of fitness, knowledge, position, whatever…are to be enjoyed, celebrated, and shared but all of these can change, and are not the source of what we most deeply desire.
I don’t know for sure; but I sometimes wonder if MJ especially has run into this outside the game.
As I mentioned in my Burnside piece last week, I find the NBA Draft Lottery much more entertaining than the Draft itself. Hope, intrigue, and random chance are all at play, not to mention the future of a handful of NBA franchises. Knowing ESPN’s coverage of the event would probably be painfully drawn out - and of course it was - I sat down in front of the TV and played Uno with my kids, all the while keeping tabs on what was happening in Secaucus.
A few thoughts…
+ Could Jay-Z have looked any more nervous in his interview with Doris Burke? H to the izz-O, V to the is he really that uncomfortable? Funny how a seasoned performer can look so out of place in a different venue. What was worse, Host Mark Jones made an unfunny “99 Problems” joke when he threw it down to Burke, who proceeded to make her own “99 Problems” joke at the end of the interview. With apologies to John Piper, that 90 seconds of my life was a complete waste.
+ Speaking of not looking good, Larry Bird’s battle with late-night snacking doesn’t seem to be going so well. The Hick from French Lick looked like he’s spent a few too many evenings licking french-fry residue off of his fingers. I say that with the utmost love and respect for the man, mind you, after all, he gave me so many wonderful moments growing up as a Celtics fan in Massachusetts. (my favorite moment of that clip is at the 2:00 mark…I remember watching that live with my brother Josh like it was yesterday.)
+ Speaking of unhappy people, Kirk Hinrich has got to be a little annoyed today, doesn’t he? With Derrick Rose at the top of most draft boards, his role as starting PG for the Bulls suddenly has a big old question mark next to it. Chad Ford has the Bulls taking Beasley with the first pick, but I’m not buying it. I know I’m not the only one saying this, but the emergence of Chris Paul and Deron Williams as young stars who can lead their team deep into the playoffs has sent a signal to the league that a game-changer like Derrick Rose should not be passed on (Just ask the Hawks).
+ You don’t think Rick Pitino would mull over an offer to coach Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and Derrick Rose in the NBA Eastern Conference? I’m not saying that Paxson would offer the job to him, but I bet he’d find the possibility enticing.
+ Someone needs to tell these Team Representatives that we’d much rather see them express their disappointment with not moving up in the draft than the forced smiles through gritted teeth that they gave us last night. You wanted a better pick than you got - it’s okay to show some disappointment. I mean, how great would it have been if Mike D’Antoni had slammed his fist down onto the table and gone into a mustachioed tirade when his Knicks didn’t move in to the top 3?
+ So last year the top 2 talents landed in the West and this year they will land in the East. Could this be the start of a renaissance for the Eastern Conference? I think so…
Oh and in case you were wondering, we only played two games on Uno and Parker and Kylie each won a game. I was so angry that I didn’t win, i ripped the cover off of a couch cushion and pulled the foam padding out with my teeth in a fit of rage. If only I had the restraint of Fred Hoiberg. Oh well…
Did you catch who said “I’m going to Disneyland!” after the Celtics beat the Lakers in Game 6 the other night?
is there any reason why a game 7 isn’t a good idea? whoever prevails at that point, it’s a great story and a huge win. if it ends tonight, i sort of feel cheated. no disrespect to the Celtics but how many times are the Lakers going to blow a lead like that? like, never! even if they lose, it just feels right for Kobe to make it to a game 7.
No doubt that you’ve heard about Tim Donaghy’s recent revelations regarding misconduct by NBA referees in key playoff games. (If you haven’t, 
I was one of those kids who grew up with the Atari, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Sega Genesis. Video games were pretty much all we played during those cold New England winters. In fact, I can still probably rattle off to you the first 5 games my brother and I purchased for our NES (let’s see: 
Josh and I loved to play sports games, and as such we were always renting the latest offerings from our local supermarket to see which games were worth buying ($40 games were a fortune to a 12-yr old). Tecmo Bowl, RBI Baseball, Double Dribble, Baseball Stars, and John Madden football all found their way into our catalog this way.
There were other basketball games that came and went in the Allain household. Remember 
Speaking of 
+ I thought 
