Archive for November 25th, 2006
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
Oh, man…we love Mark Cuban.
We’re keeping this short and sweet. He posted an ode to Tim Duncan on his blog just a bit ago. It was nice, friendly, and complimentary to the game and the player.
To conclude his piece, Mark shows you a video of Tim that he himself has uploaded to YouTube.
By pure coincidence, David Stern has ordered all NBA videos to be taken off the video sharing site this very week.
Gee, wonder where Mark stands on that issue…we’re watching the work of pure, wily genius.
Love it. Love it.
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
Last year I read a book by John Feinstein called Next Man Up that’s a behind-the-scenes look at the 2004 Baltimore Ravens. Despite a roster chock-full of interesting characters, Feinstein was able to make the book a bore, and it’s for that reason expectations were lowered for Jack McCallum’s :07 Seconds or Less, which happens to be a thoroughly compelling all-access look at the 2005-06 Phoenix Suns.
While this is more or less a brochure for the Suns franchise — from the ownership to the coaching staff to the players — it’s an entertaining and interesting read, which is a credit to the personalities within the franchise and McCallum’s knack for roundball prose (hell, he’s been SI’s chief NBA writer since I was eight years old). Plus, you can’t go wrong with anecdotes like this:
Stories get into [assistant coach Alvin] Gentry’s head and never leave. He tells another one from Miami, about a player named Ladell Eackles who stood up during a team meeting and wrote on the board: “No Your roll.” Glen Rice said, “Sit down, dumb ass.”
In honor of Phoenix’s offense, which inspired the title of the book, here are quick trigger bullets to entice you to pick this up:
• I’d forgotten how great last year’s Western Conference Playoffs were, especially the Suns-Lakers, Suns-Clippers and Mavs-Spurs series.
• I’d also forgotten just how beast Raja Bell was in the postseason. He seems to be a personable, complex guy. The behind-the-scenes insight on his battle with Kobe Bryant is especially interesting. No wonder NBA bloggers are going nuts for the ongoing launch of RajaBell.com.
• Shawn Marion is another guy who could be described as complex, as in he has a complex about playing second and even third fiddle to Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. That said, I have a newfound respect for his skills and what he means to a team that’s won an average of 57 games eachof the past two regular seasons.
• Stoudemire, while jovial and fashion forward enough, is portrayed as not having the drive and determination to make it back from knee injuries. Sure enough, this season he’s been wildly inconsistent and not nearly as effective as he once was.
• You can’t help but love Most Improved Player and Frenchmen Boris Diaw. The Suns coaches certainly seem to. Brazilian Leandro Barbosa is in the same boat.
• Phoenix owner Robert Sarver, who I’d never heard of, is a bit of an eccentric. A running theme through the last third of the book is that he wants to — and actually does – trim McCallum’s eyebrows.
• As expected, Nash and Mike D’Antoni are who we thought they were — a point guard and coach working hand-in-hand at the top of their game.
• Eddie House is funny as hell, and I think the franchise lost something when he signed with the Nets in the offseason. Tim Thomas is an enigma, and I don’t think they lost much when he signed with the Clippers.
• I had to look this up on YouTube after reading about it … Dig Pat Burke’s Hair Restoration video. The cameos by Nash, Barbosa and James Jones are brilliant.
For more dirt on the Suns and reaction to the book, be sure to stop by True Hoop where Henry Abbott has a conversation with the author.
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
On Saturday, two NCAA College Football powerhouse teams will collide as the USC Trojans host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The USC Trojans and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are ranked no.3 and no.6 respectively. A win on Saturday will catapult them to the top of the food chain as far as NCAA College Football teams jockeying for a BCS Championship game is concerned.
This might not be the final piece of the national title puzzle, but it’s a huge one that’ll make everything else fit. The USC Trojans have their fate in their own hands. Currently ranked third in the BCS standings, they will move up to second, and into the BCS championship game against the 
Ohio State Buckeyes, if two of the four computers that have Michigan two and USC three, flip flop them.
All indications are that it’ll happen if the Trojans win out.
On the other side, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, no matter what happens against USC, is a lock to go to a BCS game, but even a blowout win likely won’t be enough to play for the national title considering Michigan won in South Bend 47-21 in mid-September.
In any event, this should be a great game between two tremendous teams in a rematch of one of the greatest games of all-time, last year’s USC 34-31 win on the famous…
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
Yup, apparently, the Portland Trailblazers have seen their status quo drop after every NBA Basketball season that came to pass.
In this same decade, the Portland Trailblazers were MINUTES away from reaching the NBA Finals and probably the NBA Championship. The Portland Trailblazers team led by Rasheed Wallace, Arvydas Sabonis and Scottie Pippen seemed destined to represent the West in basketball’s biggest stage back in 2000, if it wasn’t for a goddamn Game 7 collapse that let the Los Angeles Lakers fuel one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history.
Now, look at the Blazers now. Scottie Pippen and Arvydas Sabonis ain’t there anymore. Rasheed Wallace has already gone to Detroit to hand them 
the 2004 NBA Championship and earn his very first championship ring. Damon Stoudamire is now with the Memphis Grizzlies trying to salvage what’s left of his NBA Basketball career.
What’s left is a Portland Trailblazers team made up with a bunch of yahoos who just can’t seem to gel together. Now led by an out of shape forward named Zach Randolph who just can’t make up his mind if he wants to play shooting guard or center, these new batch of Blazers are just… to sum it all up with one term, TERRIBLE.
Oh yeah, adding yet more problems to an already troubled team, they lose promising young talent Darius Miles for the rest of the season for the second straight…
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
After we saw them bark at each other on the field last Sunday, they’re now saying that they are STILL on the same page.
Well, the New York Jets certainly needs just that. The Jets passing game is struggling, and after last Sunday’s loss to the defensive powerhouse known as the Chicago Bears, that struggle can’t be made clearer.
New York Jets wideout Laveranues Coles ran up to quarterback Chad Pennington last Sunday after Brian Urlacher intercepted Chad’s pass to Chris Baker. Known for their quarterback – wide receiver chemistry, Coles shouted at Pennington saying, ”I was open.”
The entire scene looked like a receiver showing up his quarterback. Apparently, both Coles and Pennington didn’t see it that way. Well, in case they don’t know it yet, 70,000 NFL Football fans did, as well as the rest of the world. 
Then just a few days after, Coles had a different dialogue when it comes to his young quarterback. ”Me and him have no problems.” He he… Go figure.
”Everybody has those moments,” Laveranues Coles said.
Then, Chad Pennington spoke about what exactly happened last Sunday, a week after they earned a shocking win over the mighty New England Patriots. ”That’s the one thing I like about Laveranues. He was frustrated, but that’s because he wants to win.”
Their friendship is well-documented. When the New York Jets were trying to…
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
O.J. Simpson was on his way in having a book entitled, ”If I Did It,” and the television special.
After a whole lot of criticism, News Corp. decided to scrap the whole idea, canceling both the book and the television interview. He he… Yep, many cats STILL hate the man named O.J. Simpson, and for good reason.
”I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project,” said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. ”We are sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.”
A dozen Fox affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before the Nov.30 
publication of the book by ReganBooks. The publishing house is a HarperCollins imprint owned, like the Fox network, by News Corp.
In this ”If I Did It” campaign, O.J. Simpson speaks about how he would killed his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Goldman, in ”hypothetical terms.” Of course, relatives of the victim hated the idea and have lashed out at the now-scuttled publication and broadcast plans.
”He destroyed my son and took from my family Ron’s future and life. And for that I’ll hate him always and find him despicable,” Fred Goldman told ABC last week.
O.J. Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murder in a case that became its own television drama. The former football star and announcer was later found liable for the…
Continue Reading November 25th, 2006
That may not be entirely accurate, but if we ran the Cavaliers, that’s exactly where he’d be.
After building a big lead in the first half, Cleveland scored a massive total of nine points in the third quarter and ended up losing by like eleven or something at Indiana.
(No, we can’t be bothered to check the exact numbers - it’s too disturbing to have to relive in any such detailed form.)
Same old story - lack of motivation and energy. This has to be the worst 8-5 start in NBA history - the team can play absolutely great when they want to, and they’ve done that for a complete 48-minute game exactly once this season.
We refuse to even look at the recap and yank a quote - instead, let’s go to ABJ columnist Terry Pluto, who wrote yesterday morning (before last night’s game obviously) all about the problems this team is having.
(He’s been asking and answering questions of himself for years btw- we quite enjoy it.)
Q: Doesn’t Brown usually mention a lack of defense when the team loses?
A: Yes, there are breakdowns. But the Cavs are allowing only 93 points per game, third lowest in the NBA. The real trouble spot is offense, which ranks 21st at 96 per game. That’s low for a team with LeBron James and some other scorers. They have a bigger problem on offense.
Q: Why say that?
A: In the past three games, in the fourth quarter they scored 12 points against the Raptors, 17 against the Grizzlies and 41 points in the second half against the Wizards. In Toronto, they went 0-for-10 on 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but didn’t shoot a single free throw. They just heaved up long jumpers. It was the same against the Grizzlies.
Again, we can’t check the numbers, but it was the same thing last night, in addition to a pathetic effort (in the second half).
And what does Brown do? Stand there with his hands in his pockets doing that thing with his lip. (It’s like a half lick/half bite.)
Honestly, he looks like he can’t wait to get off the court and into the office to watch film so he can “work”. Our conclusion is thus:
* Great x-and-o guy. When they’re doing things right, it’s smooth as hell on both ends.
* Great friend to the players - he’s undoubtedly a nice man and treats everyone with respect.
* Horrible, terrible, awful motivator. This might work two years from now when LeBron will fully embrace the leadership position, but right now this team needs someone to lay into them, “execute or sit next to me on the bench while I seethe” style.
What we’ve described above? Those three qualities? It’s a perfect description for…an assistant coach. Sorry, Dan (Gilbert). We love ya, but Mike doesn’t have it. When he was like this last year, we chalked it up to being a rookie head coach.
That’s no longer valid, and we aren’t in possession of the “he’s a second year head coach” card.
Not with this team, with this talent, in this conference, with that Lebron James.
NOTE: We love Daniel Gibson. Sure, he makes mistakes, but dude can score and has no fear. The next time we see the David Wesley/Eric Snow backcourt we may become a cutter.
NOTE 2: We keep saying this and nobody else has picked up on because apparently the national media is only able to fixate on box scores. His head is officially elsewhere: THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH LEBRON.
