nba musings

Celtics @ Bulls 121-127

Doing my best Chandler Bing impression, I ask you, “Could this game be any more annoying?” First of all, whose bright idea was it to market all that St. Patrick’s Day NBA swag? It’s stupid. The Lakers and Pistons gear in particular just look all WRONG in green. Not to mention, their fans hate it, so who exactly is buying it? Every year we play some team that trots out in our colors and everyone (especially me) exclaims, “Oh this is so weird!” and is distracted the entire game by it.

Anyway, on to the game. Sucked. We lost Leon. Paul had a sore throat before the game, Rondo got hurt (again), Ray got hurt. We even lost Doc. Dudes were dropping like flies. To their credit, most of them just played through it, but I was half expecting Pruitt to be sent in to play center. The team looked tired, out of sorts, discombobulated, disoriented and just generally un-Celtics-like. Frankly, they resembled the pre-trade team that I used to watch piss away close games in the not so distant past. Where’s the defense? That’s what bothers me the most. I understand that the team has been hit with a ridiculous number of injuries and the guys that aren’t injured are tired as hell… but I just can’t stand to see guys give up on defense. There’s no excuse for it. We really need KG back. Like yesterday, if not sooner.

Oh well. We’re the dark horse now. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise. We might be bloody, exhausted and dragging our bloody stumps up the hill, but it’s not over till it’s over. It will be a whole different story come playoff time. Bank on that.

I really love this column. I’m not being facetious, I really love it. In fact, I’m surprised someone out in la la land didn’t write it sooner. I’ve been waiting for someone in LA to articulate what I knew they’ve been thinking about the Manny situation:

When Manny Ramirez reported for Dodgers duty he tried to explain to us why he was so happy to be out of there.

He said he was “suffocating” in Boston, the city and everyone in it relentless in their over-the-top devotion to things that really don’t matter. I’d rather read a Dwyre tennis column than anything written by Boston’s ponderous and self-important sports columnists.

And just imagine living in a place where everyone talks funny and all they want to do is talk, talk, talk about what they think.

Around L.A. we didn’t much care what happened in Boston, but while Manny began to fit in here, the bitter no-lifers back there handled the divorce the way they do most everything else.

They obsessed. And they continue to obsess.

[From: Boston won't give up its obsession with Manny Ramirez, by T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times]

He’s right. I am obsessed. I often wonder why I can’t let go of Manny. He was never my favorite player. Why should I act like we were married for ten years and he left me for a younger woman? The simple answer is, he was a huge douchebag. He didn’t care about the team, didn’t care about the fans and didn’t care about the city. He only cared about making the maximum amount of money he could get because he thought he was owed that. Like a spoiled celebrity, he eventually got to the point where he felt entitled to act any way he wanted. I don’t know about the Dodgers or their fans, but in Boston, we expect our players to play with passion and care about winning. I don’t know any professional athlete who thinks it’s ok to dog it.

Do Simers and his ilk really think it should be so easy for Boston fans to forgive and forget?

Never. Until my dying breath, I will hope and pray that Manny fails. I hope he never hits another home run, never collects another $45 million dollar paycheck, never gets another autograph request and is never given the opportunity to give another cutesy oddball quote to the press. Yeah, it’s like that. And do you know who you are Manny-loving Dodgers fans? You’re the 2nd wife that thinks it’s going to be different with her. You think he’s going to appreciate you and love you, but he’s really just biding his time with you until a better situation comes along. Right around the end of this season in fact.

That’s when I’ll say, I told you so.

Manny wants to be a Yankee and mark my words, someday, that’s exactly what he’ll be. Another good reason to hate him. Come to think of it.

Celtics  @ Milwaukee   77-86

The Celtics tend to suck it up Sundays at 1pm. They seem to really need to stay on their schedule and the games that step out of that really don’t work for them. Doesn’t seem to matter if it’s home or away. Our offense looked awful. Actually it’s looked pretty awful to me since so many of our guys went down and we’ve had to try and incorporate so many new people (buy-outs and rookies) into the system. I have to believe that Doc knows what he’s doing and regardless of how many games we lose leading up to the playoffs, it’ll all be worth it. Doesn’t mean I want to watch it though since I’m really spoiled and pretty much always expect them to win. Lol. All I know is that I miss KG like a long lost play cousin. I think he’s had enough rest by now… Come back KG!!! (…and bring Scal, TA, and Big Baby with you)

Amusing tidbit: When they showed the green Lakers t-shirt and said that the Lakers are upset by the St. Patty’s day line and Tommy Heinsohn said, “I’m tired of the Lakers talking. Who cares if they’re upset?”

Celtics v. Memphis   102-92

This was the Leon Powe Show in every sense of the word. It’s the second great game he’s had this season and I love love love it. Thank goodness for him too, because Ray and Paul were way off. More Ray than Paul, but they both looked tired. Leon was doing all the scrappy Leon-ish things that won us the game. Rebounding, taking charges, making buckets in impossible spaces… Sigh. I could watch him all day.

Amusing tidbit: During the pre-game show, when they were talking about the Orlando Magic making the playoffs, Donny Marshall said, “I have some friends who still play on the Magic and they tell me that SVG treats them like college players and screams at them on every play. They’re starting to tune him out.”

Celtics  @ Miami   99-107

It’s funny how I much I love Dwyane Wade until the Celtics have to play him. Then I think he’s a gigantic pain in the ass who gets too many star calls. Kind of like Chris Paul.

I defy you to watch this and not get a little teary.

Source: 23witty, Youtube.com

I’m late with this, but I’m still compelled to discuss it. I’m definitely in the minority, but I’m a little turned off by Paul Pierce blowing off that little kid in the Cavs jersey. If you missed it, during the Celtics/Cavs game, Paul Pierce game out of the game to loud fanfare and was high-fiving everyone within spitting distance except a little boy wearing a Lebron jersey. While I do understand PP being a competitor and being in warrior mode at the end of a hard-fought game, I just think it was a shitty thing to do.

In contrast, after his post-game interview with Greg Dickerson, Leon Powe did give the kid a high five on his way out and the kid looked so excited and happy. It clearly made his day to be acknowledged by an NBA player. I don’t know. I know some people thought it was hysterical that Paul blew him off and thought the kid shouldn’t have been behind the bench in a Cavs jersey… but c’mon people. He’s a little kid. I’m sure he idolizes all of the players out there and thinks they all walk on water. Lebron is one of the biggest stars of the league right now, so it shouldn’t be out of the realm of understanding that many kids of all ages, in all regions, look up to him.

Ok, stop the insanity. Every time there’s a flagrant foul these days, the crowd grabs their pitchforks and starts storming the town square. Just stop it. There should be a rule that says that any fan whose player is involved on either side of a flagrant has to wait 24 hours before commenting on it. It’s so predictable (and I’m guilty of it myself, so this advice is just as much for myself as anyone else): The foul happens. Immediately the fans of the team of the player fouled yell, “DIRTY FOUL! That guy is dirty! What a dirty son of a bitch! Tar and feather that piece of shit!” The fans of the player who commits the foul says, “He didn’t mean to do it. It was obviously a play on the ball. It was just a good hard foul.” Both of you — shut up.

First of all, it’s nearly impossible to prove intent. I don’t care how many angles you view the play from. You don’t know what the person who commits the foul is thinking, planning or intending. You don’t. You can guess. But, the guess you make will most likely be tainted by your affinity for the team and/or player involved. Sometimes that’s fair. If Bruce Bowen or James Posey commit a flagrant they have earned a rep that will make it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, Glen Davis and Trevor Ariza commit a flagrant and I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt. You don’t have to be happy about it. Believe me, I wasn’t happy about it when Petro practically decapitated Scal and gave him a 3rd concussion (a foul that wasn’t even called). But, I think people need to chillax when it comes to labeling players “dirty”. That designation should not be assigned capriciously. It should be earned.

Celtics v. Magic 79-86

I was cooking up a stir-fry during the pre-game live show on Comcast and when I heard that Rondo was out, I almost chopped my finger off with the Ginsu. Actually, I was ok until they said Marbury was starting. Wha wha what? Marbury is starting? Why? The guy has only played a handful of minutes here and there (with mixed results) and now he’s going to start? Then I watched the game and it was pretty awful. It reminded me of what happens when guys who don’t play together much, suddenly have to play together. No rhythm whatsoever. The fact that they came back from a bazillion point deficit to make it a 3-point game at the end of the fourth, was amazing. It highlights the problem the Magic have actually and why they won’t make it to the Eastern conference finals. They don’t finish teams off when they have the chance. Not good teams anyway.

Celtics v. Cavs 105-94

Awesome game. Paul Pierce put the team on his back, but everyone played an important part in the win. It was great to see such a fantastic all-around game from Leon Powe. Reminded me of how well he played last year against the Lakers in the finals. It was also a nice win because I had some Cavs fan talking trash to me about how Lebron was going to come all up in my house and wipe the floor with my boys. Not this time, my friend.

I couldn’t believe the officiating in that game though. I was proud of the C’s for gritting it out and not letting the horrible calls rattle them. I swear that I’m not one to get upset about every single call (like Tommy Heinsohn). If it’s a good call and goes against my team, I’m fine with it and realize some calls are objective, but… there is such a thing as replay and the replay bore out that a bunch of those calls sucked pondwater. The game had a playoff game feel to it. I watched it on my local homer channel insted of ESPN because I somehow really need to hear Tommy wax philosophically about Leon’s knack for taking charges. It’s a sacrifice actually because I have ESPN-HD, but not ComcastNE-HD, so the picture quality isn’t as good.

I know post-game that a lot of Cavs fans were pissed about the Big Baby foul on Raggedy Andy and I’m sure I’d feel the same way if the situation were reversed. I think it’s a bit of a knee jerk reaction though to call him a dirty player. He hasn’t been in the league long enough for that. Dirty players build their reps, like the love of my life, James Posey and my arch nemesis, Bruce Bowen.

Celtics @ Nets 115-111

I can’t really remember one single interesting thing about this game other than that I was annoyed that it was so close.

Periodically, I’ll be sharing my picks for daily fave 5 most interesting, funny and/or informative tweets from people I’m following on Twitter.

Today’s fave 5 tweets are:

1. @phoenixstan - NBA Twitter Directory still has plenty of room…let us know if you are missing from the list. http://bit.ly/ghxXQ
2. @JenniferKeene - Rick Carlisle looks like an insurance salesman.
3. @Truth_About_It - is that Zach Morris in an upcoming TNT “drama”?
4. @freedarko - Just ate a rubber band by accident. It had found its way into my Vietnamese takeout and gotten covered with fish sauce.
5. @THE_REAL_SHAQ - Weee weee wha weee weee wha weee wee weeee what’s song is this

Honorable mention: @SPRFLS - If Antoine Wright, I don’t wanna be wrong. (This one came in after I picked my original 5 and it was too awesome to leave off.)

They can say whatever they want, but Manny Ramirez and Scott Boras lost. “Gas is up and so am I.” No. You’re not. As Bill Plaschke pointed out in the Los Angeles Times:

He wanted as many as five years — he agreed to less than half of that.

He wanted as much as $100 million — he agreed to less than half of that.

The Dodgers wanted a slugger who will stay hungry — they got exactly that.

I think this ended up being a good deal for Manny and the Dodgers. However, he can dress up this up all he wants, but the bottom line is that he puffed himself up, weaseled his way out of Boston and all it got him was a change of scenery. Enjoy La La Land, Manny. I hope you can manage to feed your family with that paltry $45 million you finally had to accept. Is this what Boras had in mind when he said he was ready to “play chicken” with Dodgers brass? If so, he sucks at chicken.

This is cool and all, but it could go horribly horribly wrong. These are the options for Maine’s NBA Development League team (which will most likely be affiliated with the Boston Celtics):

• Maine Beacons- The Beacons is a tribute to the more than 60 lighthouses in Maine that guide ships safely to shore, like our coaches will guide our team to victory. 
• Maine Crushers- The Crushers celebrates the lobster industry in Maine.  A lobster uses the crusher claw to destroy their prey, much like our team intends to crush our opponents.
• Maine Claws- The Claws name celebrates the lobster industry in Maine. Maine is the largest producer of lobsters in the United States.
• Maine Destroyers- The Destroyers name honors the 400 years of shipbuilding in Maine.  It is a vibrant part of Maine’s culture and history, and also represents our teams desire to destroy the competition. 
• Maine Red Claws- The Red Claws name celebrates the lobster industry in Maine.  Maine is the largest producer of lobsters in the United States.  The “Red” is in tribute to Boston Celtics Legend Arnold “Red” Auerbach. 
• Maine Swarm- The Swarm represents the state insect of Maine which is the Honey Bee.  Bees swarm together as a group to reach a goal, much like our players working together to win games and get the call-up to the NBA.    
• Maine Traps- The Traps honors the tradition of lobstering in Maine and the hard working lobstermen.  Our team will work hard to trap our opponent and get the win every night.

I’m honestly a little dubious about all these names. The “Red Claws”? I love that it’s tied to Red Auerbach, but “claws”? Oy.

Vote now!