NBA Blog

I lost a few braincells this weekend.  And by a few I mean all of them.  Derby weekend was insane.  I was in the infield for Oaks Day and Derby Day, right smack dab in the middle of the festivities.  My liver hurts.  My body aches.  And I loved every second of it.  Not to mention having the winning ticket for both the Oaks race and the Derby.  Not too shabby if you ask me.  It almost covered my bets, my tickets to the infield, the tabs at the bar, well, you get the point.  I wish I could go into more detail, but that would take way to long, and I haven’t really slept in three days.

Unnecessary Spurs question of the day:  Did anyone else get the feeling, when listening to John Thompson and Rex Chapman, that the Spurs were the team losing by 25 points?  Thompson was hammering them even when they were up by 30.  I understand the need to keep playing and maintain their focus, but they were still winning by 20+ points.  He didn’t have to beat it into our brains 500 times.

Well, Gordon took the 6th man of the year award.  Somebody I know had that one.

Okafor took ROY.  That wasn’t too bad of a call, and he BARELY beat out Gordon.  They very easily could have shared that one.

Ben Wallace took Defensive Player of the Year.  I’m calling B.S. on that one.  I know Ben dominates the glass, but I don’t care.  Bowen has been shafted for two years, and his time has come.  I think too many voters just voted for Wallace by default because the other two big names (Kirilenko and Artest) were on the shelf.  I think it is time that Bowen gets what is due to him.  Look at how he has shut down ‘Melo.  Aside from last night’s foul trouble, and who wasn’t in foul trouble, Bowen has controlled the best offensive player of the game every game this season.  Ridiculous.  (By the way, for all you hopeful blog-writers, be extremely careful when you type the word “shut” on your blog if there are no spell-checkers.  The “i” and the “u” are next to each other.  Just a little ditty of advice everyone should know.

Random idea of the day: Jerome James is the next Mark Blount.  Big close to a season.  Big  new contract.  Relapse to below mediocrity after cashing the big check.  Just an idea. 

My brother, dad, and I always share emails during the season, and after Saturday night’s Spur victory the emails were flowing aplenty between the three of us.  I was going to put something up for tonight’s games, but instead I will defer to a much wiser man than I.  Sorry bro, I’m referring to the good doctor.  We were discussing the hard foul on Manu, and Pops wrote:

“Looked like Buckner definitely got in the best blow.  Sean Elliott was very pissed.  He suggested that all 3, Buckner, Anthony and the thug of thugs from that esteemed university of higher learning (UC) and from the stable of that great coach Huggins, Martin,  should be suspended.  Sean had a difficult time with his post game report with Bill Land since he was so angry over that one event.  How about George Karl’s whining now?  He is on the Bowen plays dirty wagon and he also says that Manu has developed a new type of basketball, lower your head, run into whoever is in your way flailing arms and throwing elbows!!!!!  Manu did get a great elbow into the face of Buckner the first game!  Maybe Buckner was just getting even the other night with his slash across the nose.

They need to win tonight.  Hopefully, Duncan will show up and Parker will play above his current level which has been average.  Hopefully, the Nuggets won’t be gunning for Manu.  The first game, Anthony walked to the bench long before the finish of the national anthem.  He remained in the line the 2d game for the entire national anthem, but Martin left the line on the court before the completion of the song.  Anthony actually was pretty cool about his flagrant foul on Manu when asked about it.  He said that it was just a hard foul.  When asked why he waited until the last minute of the game, he said that it was the first time that he had a chance to defend him!!!  Camby, the man of punching his short coach (Van Gundy) after swinging and missing Danny Ferry, has been pretty cool and professional about this series.  He has reserved his comments bout his team playing better and tougher, while not ridiculing the Spurs.  He was spotlighted after the 3 man ganging of Manu, mouthing something like that was bush a move by his teammates.”

My point exactly.

I really wish I knew some Spanish.  You would think that after 15 years in San Antonio, I would come away with a little more Spanish capabilities than merely reading a breakfast taco menu. 

I’m only making this a point because, after last night, Manu, aka Neo, deserves some praise in his native tongue.  The man was sick.  For the first time EVER I think there is an international player who knows how to win in the postseason. 

Dirk is struggling to take over this postseason, and last night deferred to the scorching Jason Terry, and Michael Finley is still the guy hitting the Mavericks’ big shots. 

Yao looks, well, I don’t really know how to describe it.  He is in so far over his head right now.  I feel sorry for Tracy McGrady right now.  He’s doing absolutely everything to get it done, and when he hits Yao with the ball, it either goes through his hands or he misses a shot from under the basket that looks eerily reminiscent of me missing on a 7-foot rim.

Peja is pulling a Peja, and that’s all I have to say about that. 

Seriously, Manu is the only international player who is stepping up when it matters.  The only other international player to do something this postseason has been Andres Nocioni.  Then again, Manu and Andres did win a gold medal this summer.  Aside from that whole potential kidnapping of his family back in Argentina, I’d say Manu’s having a pretty darn good year. 

One more thing to mention before I relax and enjoy the games; do you think that Chris Webber is the anti-Iverson?  I was going to come with that earlier in the playoffs, but since the second-half of today’s game is the only time C-Webb has done anything for the Sixers, I thought I’d break it out.  He’s playing well right now, but I can’t help but wonder what happens in the final two minutes.