This is about as pumped as I’ve ever seen Tim Duncan, and the fella has as many national championships as Derek Jeter. And yet … in Game 1, of Series 1, in 2008, he lets loose into the sky with a free-flailing yippee-yahoo fist pump. I guess when Robert Horry’s no longer on the team, someone has to attempt those shots.
San Antonio won 117-115 in double overtime to take the 1-0 series lead. Timothy Duncan finished with a cool ranch 40 points. Stay tuned for Game 2, when more rarities surface: Shaquille O’Neal makes a 3-point shot. Bruce Bowen helps up the guy he just knocked down. And Steve Nash guards someone.
So the verbal barbs were barbered between Gilbert Arenas and LeBron James to christen the Wizards-Cavaliers series, although the counterbarbs by Cleveland were done not in words, but in second-half points. So Cleveland begins with the series lead after with a 93-86 victory in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs first round. And as is the customary “braggin’ rights” ritual, Gilbert Arenas awarded a celebratory big sandwich to the Cavaliers bench.
(Winner of Game 2 brings the juice boxes.)
Twenty of James’ 32 points were in the latter 24 minutes, while Arenas — who didn’t start — finished with 24 points and missed two shots late in the fourth quarter to try and pull back even with Cleveland. Some might question the tactic of shunning James through the media before the game, but perhaps they didn’t insult him enough. What of his body odor? His ability at Scrabble? His naivete when it comes to clicking on random Internet links? Don’t relent, Washington. This series is still within your grips.
Phoenix-San Antonio rages onward as today’s final post comes to a close, but the playoffs for today are but half over. You’re free to get your Dallas-New Orleans series “onward,” as the kids like to say at ice cream socials these days. And the rematch between the Jazz Hands and the Rocket Men will commence a little past your bedtime, mister, but you’ve been good, so feel free to stay up late for it.
And yes, you can have some of that sandwich. There’s enough for everyone. Damon Jones didn’t finish his.
We’re looking at every NBA Playoff series through the eyes of both Free Darko and Basket Bawful. Here’s Free Darko’s look at the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets series. Your author is Bethlehem Shoals.
Congratulations, Denver. Every novel needs a character after which no kid shall ever be named; every reality show needs an agitator. This year, you narrowly edged out Golden State for the right to represent the crazed and unruly in the all-too-regal Western Conference playoffs.
The real bummer is that it doesn’t have to be like this. Have you looked at your roster lately? Allen Iverson’s flaws have receded with age, and he’s now just an unspeakably quick, team-friendly guard who would rather die than lose. Carmelo Anthony — who, in a truly history-making move, became the first person ever to operate a vehicle under the influence — scores efficiently, has upped his rebounding and could take anyone in a no-holds-barred grin-off. Marcus Camby was last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Kenyon Martin has fully recovered from two years in microfracture exile and does good works at both ends of the floor. Nene lost a nut and still wants to give it his all. Najera has enough nuts for us all. Even J.R. Smith, once so cancerous that he was traded twice in one week, plays D and has learned to tell when he’s not on a hot streak.
This is the talent level of a contender. These are players who, despite their problematic pasts, are all great people now who regularly babysit my otter collection. Golden State was a boom-or-bust experiment, a nothing gained, nothing lost exercise in Don Nelson’s inherent weirdness. The Nuggets, on the other hand, should be steadily winning, with some nights where they look elite. At very least, they should be that. Instead, they’re a neurotic mess that’s taken Smith as a spirit animal of sorts. They only thrive when they surrender to the utter chaos that’s dogged them so — even as they’ve got the raw materials to assemble an ode to competence.
I come here not to assign blame, but to weep. I’d like to see Iverson make one last run. Melo is a very good basketball player who deserves mainstream respect. This team has people who like to rebound and, in their own way, defend. Even George Karl, the scapegoat of choice, has been a successful NBA coach. He’s a little batty, but could you imagine Larry Brown trying to helm this bunch?
If Denver somehow caught fire — and, as the resident crazies, they reserve the right to do so — the Lakers could have a series on their hands. Still, as exciting as that might be, it would still feel like a team reduced to playing the holy fool. These guys deserve better, damn it.
The Lakers, by contrast, are pure basketball this year. Last fall, it was nearly unthinkable that a Kobe/Phil joint would enter the postseason with not a scrap of psychology in sight. Lamar Odom doesn’t even seem particularly haunted these days. All we want to know is what will happen with Andrew Bynum, whose return would suddenly hand the West’s top team an ridiculously athletic, increasingly savvy, seven-foot star-in-the-making. And worst case scenario, Bynum comes off the bench, or plays limited minutes. These are purely technical matters, as opposed to the Nuggets’ internal struggles of the heart. For that alone, Kobe deserves the MVP, or some kind of award: The league’s most difficult personality, or at least its most complicated, has reduced himself to nothing but playing ball well and winning tons of games.
Will the Nuggets look at the Lakers and think “this could be us?” Multiple stars, strong role players and that Kobe/Iverson dichotomy that really doesn’t get talked about much anymore (maybe because it’s ceased to exist?). A Nuggets team skirting the edge of good taste could take this series six or seven games, but it won’t be without its pathos. This would be success at its most empty. The Nuggets are the jesters of this postseason, all the more so because, unlike those rascally Hawks, they could aspire to so much more.
It seems like a safe bet to say that Nevada center JaVale McGee will be a first round pick in the NBA Draft this summer. He has a 7-foot body, is athletic, and Chad Ford has him at No. 17 in his prospect rankings. Pretty admirable, no? But clearly this level-headed analysis is selling the precious McGee short. Which is why his mother, Pamela McGee, took to task of writing up his draft profile.
Before you start laughing, just remember the Mrs. McGee was a former star herself, winning college championships at USC and playing in the WNBA, as well as coaching there. Now you may resume laughing, as here’s what she wrote about her baby boy:
He blockshots [sic] like Tyson Chandler and has a 33 inch vertical jump and dunks like Micheal Jordan, as a seven-footer. He can face the basket and create off the dribble like an athletic Dirk. The intriguing question that baffles scounts [sic] is not is he a pro? But how good of a pro will he become.
If that doesn’t win over the scouts, imagine how impressed they’ll be with this slideshow of a four-year-old McGee eating Cheerios all by himself and drinking juice without need of a sippy cup.
Wait, you don’t remember him? Me neither, so let’s revisit his career. Tim Worley was a great running back for the University of Georgia (an All-American, at that) and the seventh overall draft pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1989. He didn’t have much of a pro career, lasting only four seasons, rushing for 1,792 yards and fumbling 20 times. He was arrested last Sunday for drunk driving and getting the ol’ Taser treatment.
Yeah. When you try to encroach on Merril Hoge’s touches, you’re gonna have that.
We’re looking at every NBA Playoff series through the eyes of both Free Darko and Basket Bawful. Here’s Free Darko’s look at the Cleveland Cavaliers-Washington Wizards series. Your author is Bethlehem Shoals.
Technically, this is the third year in a row that the Wizards and Cavs have met in the first round. In 2006, LeBron reminded us that he could do no wrong, even as he tackled the playoffs for the first time. But Gilbert Arenas refused to back down, matching James’s iron-wrought majesty with fiery whim. Cleveland won in 6, and James marched on, but it was this series that put Arenas on the map.
For 2007, the sham police were out in full force. Arenas went down with a knee injury toward season’s end; to add insult to injury, Caron Butler came up lame, too. The once-proud Wizards became the team everyone wanted in round one, and Cleveland got them. The sweep came easy, and James’s play was strong, if somewhat perfunctory. Gil tried in vain to spice things up by chirping loud from the bench, but Biz LeBron was in no mood. Last year had come down to playground tactics, with James whispering in Gil’s ear right before he clanked out the game-winning free throws in OT. This time, it was beneath him to trifle.
So now, we head into another installment of the most disjointed, unmentionable rivalry in all of pro sports. Gil missed the entire season with that same bum knee, but now may or may not be ready to step up and star again. No one, not even, Arenas himself, seems certain of his condition. Is he available in spurts? Poised to take up the Barbosa-like mantle of zany instant offense? Or, heaven forbid, will he take his rightful place in the starting lineup by the second game? He’s announced his plans to be more of a distributor, but in his few games back it’s his scoring that’s truly dazzled.
Why all the recap? Because these two teams are perfectly situated to fight each other for years. James and Arenas are two of the most natural-born rivals in the entire league: One entitled, god-like, and barely human, the other a first-class underdog determined to keep himself always fighting the odds. And against James, he — or anyone — will always come up imperfect and strange. But somehow, this feels like a strange coincidence, like seeing two people in one day who bought the same glasses as you. The NBA deserves better than this and indeed, all players involved deserve more.
We routinely say that THIS IS A LEAGUE OF STARS. You can keep your Zydrunas/Haywood matchup, your “worst game coach showdown,” and even DeShawn Stevenson’s endless rants and raves. I know LeBron thinks it’s about him to respond too much, and Gil is mostly focused on working his way back home, but come on. One of you will win this series, but that’s not all that’s at stake. Look a little deeper, and Brand James took a hit last year — there was that one incandescent game about Detroit, but aside from that he was either rote or unseen. And that Finals debacle has been erased from our collective memory in the sole interest of preserving the world economy, which relies so heavily on LeBron’s future worth.
And Gil, my man, this is your moment. Push Stevenson over to the side; his yapping is unsubtle and artless. Last year, you had no problem talking shit while laid up in a suit. You want a challenge? You want to show that you belong up there with LeBron, Wade or Kobe? After 2006, you were getting there; through no fault of your own, that path was lost. But what could be more classically Arenas-ian than taking this series on your back from the get-go? Let Caron and Antawn get theirs; honor what the team has accomplished without you. But for reals, this feels like it was scripted for you to thrive.
In spirit of 2006, from the ashes of 2007, across a landscape of resignation and incidental associations, it’s time that LeBron and Arenas recognize that this isn’t some fluke. They are both at defining moments in their careers, and like it or not, they need each other. By revisiting the past, they can renew themselves for the future. Let’s recapture that LeBron we didn’t take for granted. That Arenas whose insanity was matched only by his will. Without this, yeah, it’s two Eastern teams, one of which features LeBron. But if we embrace the past here, instead of dismissing it as muddle, this series has the potential to revitalize two of the NBA’s most charismatic figures.
Let the West, or the Celtics, worry about the L.O.B. The playoffs are about that, but it’s also where reputations come into being. This is two guys returning to their roots, whether they realize it or not. Here’s hoping they deliver unto us a real clash of civilizations.
So the verbal barbs were barbered between Gilbert Arenas and LeBron James to christen the Wizards-Cavaliers series, although the counterbarbs by Cleveland were done not in words, but in second-half points. So Cleveland begins with the series lead after with a 93-86 victory in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs first round. And as is the customary “braggin’ rights” ritual, Gilbert Arenas awarded a celebratory big sandwich to the Cavaliers bench.
We’re looking at every NBA Playoff series through the eyes of both Free Darko and Basket Bawful. Here’s Free Darko’s look at the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets series. Your author is Bethlehem Shoals.
It seems like a safe bet to say that Nevada center JaVale McGee will be a first round pick in the NBA Draft this summer. He has a 7-foot body, is athletic, and Chad Ford has him at No. 17 in his prospect rankings. Pretty admirable, no? But clearly this level-headed analysis is selling the precious McGee short. Which is why his mother, Pamela McGee, 
We’re looking at every NBA Playoff series through the eyes of both Free Darko and Basket Bawful. Here’s Free Darko’s look at the Cleveland Cavaliers-Washington Wizards series. Your author is Bethlehem Shoals.
