nba musings

Here is what the muse™ is noodling on right now:

Sadly, I have to agree with Ron Artest
* Apparently somewhere, sometime in the not-so-distant past, Doc Rivers said that the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics starting five. I heard that and was surprised that Doc would go there. I suppose technically he’s right, but the statement is neither here nor there and certainly doesn’t diminish the Lakers’ accomplishments. Anyway, Ron Artest took umbrage and spouted off about Doc on his Twitter feed. Sadly, I have to agree with him. Damn you Doc, don’t put me in this position!

Rondo’s convenient ‘family problems’
* Here is the order of events: Rondo gets a DNP-CD, Rondo remarks that he’ll probably be the final Team USA cut, Rondo withdraws from Team USA because of ‘family problems’. Fishy timing. But oh well, selfishly I’m glad he got cut/quit because this way he’ll be more rested for the upcoming season. Though technically speaking if they do what they did last year, they’ll rest all season anyway. Bah dump dump *cymbols* thank you, I’ll be here all week, don’t forget to tip the waitstaff…

OH MY GAWD, THAT’S A FOUL!!!!
* Happy birthday, Tommy Heinsohn! Damn it, I miss Tommy. Could the off-season end already, please? I’m bored and reduced to watching dogcrap TV like Dark Blue on TNT. *shiver* It’s not right. [Update: A little Twitter birdy informs that it is also Stan Van Gundy's birthday today too. Someone giftwrap that man a three-quarter sleeve black crewneck, stat!]

I’m sure it was just a little ‘love squeeze’
* So, a couple days ago I read that the Nuggets are trying to move J.R. Smith. Blasphemy! Then the next day, I heard that he kinda, sorta, might have… choked someone a little. Oopsy. Tsk tsk. Oh J.R., people already question my integrity for loving you so much. Why you gotta go Sprewell some dude? Behave! Sigh.

Looks like Jesus, acts like…
* The Tigers placed Johnny Traitorface Damon on waivers and the Red Sox claimed him, so for a day or so my local radio was bloated with “Johnny’s coming back, baby!” talk. I didn’t think it would actually happen, but it was amusing to think about. He blocked the potential shenanigans with his no-trade clause claiming that he just loves Detroit like a long lost play cousin. Yeah, riiiiight.

Woooooow
* Damn, why did I wait so long to watch the Glen Davis “Dougie” video? It’s ah-may-ZING-ly hypnotizing. *holding up a lighter, swaying side to side*

Oh Rajon… When I saw you come out during the Cavs series wearing this designer polo, I hoped it was going to be just a one-time thing:

Then last night, this:

Which is one step away from wearing your own lordly initials on your grampy sweater:

Or a jumbled slogan sweater:

So in conclusion, whether you’re pimping another designer or yourself — just say no.

If you haven’t already scoped this vid of Rondo getting plunked by a ball and barely reacting (at least at first), then you have to check it out. Hilarious. (I also love dude at the end strolling up with his microphone. Late to the party, pal.)

Credit: YouTube/espnforsberg

I love this interview on Boston.com. If Rondo was any more laid back, he’d be sleeping.

This was in today’s intro to The Basketball Jones:

“People tell me the Celtics keep losing because they’re old, but I have another explanation. Maybe they just suck.”

Then I read this from WEEI’s Jessica Camerato via Red’s Army:

The Celtics repeatedly have mentioned “turning a corner” to get back on a winning track. But with 17 games left in the regular season, how far away is that corner? “I don’t know, maybe 17 blocks,” Rajon Rondo guesstimated on Friday. “It should be the same zip code.”

So which is it? They suck or they’re not trying? Either way, I don’t like it one little bit. Poor chemistry, age, injuries — all that I can forgive. A team that just doesn’t try… is dead to me. So, I sure hope Skeets is right. Because I’d rather have a team that sucks.

Related articles:

• TBJ: Ep. 528: Bump Bump
• Red’s Army: Rondo’s not so subtle hint: we’ll try in the playoffs
• WEEI: How Close Is That Corner?

Whenever my team struggles, I almost always suspect it has more to do with the between the ears stuff than anything else. Mainly because with a team full of present and future all-stars, there’s no way the problem is talent, so it has to be something else. This season, I keep hearing: 1) They’re old! 2) They’re injured 3) Did I mention they’re old? 4) Like geriatric “I have no teeth and need a new hip” old? Well, while those things are true to a degree, I don’t hear anyone saying anything about Kobe (who is also over 30 and also injured, but playing great) so I tend to think those are excuses. So again, when my team under-performs, I immediately start worrying about their psychological makeup (a by-product of being the daughter of a sports psychologist possibly). So, when I heard these comments from Rondo via the morning radio honks earlier today, I said, “A-ha!”

“In the locker room, you can feel it. You don’t feel like it’s the same continuity and camaraderie in the locker room as it was the first year. The first year, it was a crazy spirit in the locker room. But now it doesn’t feel the same. It’s not the same right now. We’ve got to find a way to get that back somehow, some way.” [Boston Herald: Rondo hints at other problems for Celtics]

So the ubuntu has fallen off the rose, huh? Does not surprise me. I actually think it left town the day KG got hurt last season and just hasn’t come back. Hopefully Rondo airing the dirty laundry will help kick start some kind of positive locker room karma joujou. Or it will split the team further apart. Either way, I think he did the right thing speaking up. Somebody had to kick this team in the ass.

Related articles:

• Boston.com/Mazz – Celtics need something to believe in
• ESPN – Rajon Rondo hints at locker room issues for the Boston Celtics

I’m working from home today. On days that I work from home, I commonly watch ESPN2. Yes, both airings of First Take. Normally, it’s just Skip & whoever bantering about LeBrick James and/or Ocho Stinko — you know, enjoyable. But on days following one of my team’s losses, it’s brutal. Today… it was this:

They kept cutting to SportsCenter, who kept showing it over and over and over and over and… Sigh. I figure if I post it here and watch it again and again, maybe it will lose some of it’s power.

Be gone, clanky free throws and game winning bearded basket makers. Be gone!!

Here is what the muse™ is thinking about this week:

Rondo gets paid
* So Rajon Rondo may like to fight with people. I’m ready and willing to admit that it’s a distinct possibility that he’s a tiny bit of a douchbag. But, you know what? He’s our douchebag and we’re keeping him!

Is there anything more obnoxious than Favre-cam?
* I have to hand it to Brett Favre. He really stuck it to Green Bay. I keep rooting for him to lose and somehow the old bastard just keeps on winning. I’m not even sure exactly why I’m rooting for him lose. It’s just that somewhere along the way, he turned into the bad guy. Over-exposure maybe? The mother-bleeping Favre-cam maybe? Oh yeah, that’s right… Now, I remember.

For every incident they admit, there are at least ten more they don’t
* This Tom Cable story just gets sicker and sicker. He doesn’t just knock assistant coaches around, he beats wives and girlfriends too?

“More than 20 years ago, during my first marriage… I became very angry [at his first wife, Sandy] and slapped her with an open hand. What I did was wrong and I have regretted and felt sorrow about that moment ever since…”

Slapped her with an open hand, huh? Sure, Tom, sure. Major props to the district attorney’s office for dropping those recent assault charges. Because you know, I’m pretty sure that guy just ran into a door.

Manu swats a bat in mid-air
* Am I the only one that feels bad for the bat? While we’re at it, where the hell did a bat come from? And how small was that thing? Was it just a baby bat, frantically search for it’s mother? Sweet Jesus, never mind. I don’t want to think about it anymore.

J.J. has a career night
* I know I’m only supposed to talk about J.J. Redick when someone in the blogosphere mentions Erin Andrews… But, there was that whole time period during the peeping tom thing where Erin was all over the place and I didn’t bring up J.J. once during that time. Mostly because I was too lazy to blog during that time, but still. I’m due and what better time than now when my boy J.J. has a career night for the Orlando Magic. 27 points! 6 rebounds! 5 assists! Pretty nice stats. Of course, one my Facebook friends still had the nerve to ask me, ”You do still know he’s bad though, right?” Tsk tsk! Behave, you!

R.I.P. Trojans
* My USC Trojans got massacred in Oregon this past weekend. My mother, the Michigan fan, took great glee in this. My sister, the Notre Dame fan, also took great glee in this. Damn it! Damn it all to hell! *shaking fist at the sky* I’m a glass half full kind of girl though, so on a happy note… In NFL action, both the Jets and the Giants LOST! Bwahahahaha…

Want to avoid flying bullets? Don’t lurk in the christless bushes
* Two paparazzos are suing Tom Brady & Gisele Bündchen for a cool million smackaroos, claiming that bodyguards (employed by Brady/Bündchen) fired shots at them while they were trying to snap pics at the couple’s wedding in Costa Rica. Citing “physical pain and anguish” the photogs are looking to cash in. Bitch, please. Until you actually have a bullet wound in your butt, don’t distract my quarterback! More on this nonsense at bostonherald.com – Tom Brady: What shots?

Nice piece on Rondo by Holly MacKenzie (@stackmack) for Slam Online
* Slam Online’s definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players places Boston Celtics point guard, Rajon Rondo, at #27.

Standing alongside the other superstars suiting up for the Celtics, there isn’t a star that shines brighter (or that has the longevity), than the one illuminating Rondo’s game.

Damn right. It’s nice to see Rondo get some love. Read it here: slamonline.com – Top 50: Rajon Rondo, no. 27

Steph’s new home, tagline and background
* Steph’s StarburyTV on Justin.tv was apparently suspended for violating the site’s terms of use. You can now catch the show at its new home at http://www.justin.tv/starburyplus. The new mantra is apparently: YOUR IN THE MOMENT RT*. What’s up with professional athletes and spelling & grammar? You’re. Thank you. Also, RT is a Twitter thing. It doesn’t work just anywhere, babe. Nice background though. I imagine that’s what I’ll see on my way into heaven.

Recent Celtics-related articles from boston.com:

• Dickau chooses Suns camp over Celtics
• Wallace making way in community
• Rivers sees new Celtics adding a lot
• Garnett making progress

NBA Musings gets around
* Nat from Heels on Hardwood was nice enough to ask me to write up a Celtics preview for her blog. It was fun to actually start thinking about basketball again. This off-season has been crazy long. You can scope that out @ Heels on Hardwood – Match Ups – Toronto Raptors v/s Boston Celtics

Update 9/19: Zoe has been found! Yayyyy!
Help find Zoe! * John from Red’s Army has an adorable boston terrier named Zoe who is lost. If you live in the Foxboro, MA area or surrounding area, please visit this special blog and see how you can help: http://missingzoe.wordpress.com/. Today’s tip: If you see her, please call Foxboro Animal Control at 508-384-2523 BEFORE trying to approach her.  She’s a timid little dog.  She might be more likely to run off than walk over.

There’s actual new Celtics news? What hell you say?
* The Boston Globe recently posted a couple of Celtics tidbits. The first is about KG and his progress recovering from knee surgery. Sigh. I know it’s unrealistic, but I had kind of hoped his health wouldn’t be an issue once the season started. The second update has to do with Rondo and his contract extension. Actually, there isn’t much actual news on that. Just a confirmation that Danny Ainge plans to talk to Rondo’s agent and they may or may not be on the same page. Read the full articles @ The Boston Globe – Garnett making progress | Ainge to Rondo: We’ll talk

Kerry Rhodes is writing checks with his mouth
* So… apparently Kerry Rhodes is running his mouth about embarrassing the New England Patriots and rattling Tom Brady. Now, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when I would have called out Rhodes for being a yap-yap poodle better at flapping his gums than playing football. But, I’ve evolved. Like a veteran, I just grin and shake my head. I am content to pat him on the head like he’s a sassy toddler and say, “Awww, you’re so cute.” *wink* The quotables can be perused @ The Boston Globe – Rhodes wants to embarrass Patriots

This just in: Michael Jordan is a vindictive bitch
* While I was away, trying to resolve my domain relocation drama, Michael Jordan was inducted into the basketball hall of fame. I watched his speech while yacking it up with the peeps on Twitter and I thought he sounded like an ungracious ass. Other people didn’t have a problem with it. Actually, I didn’t have a problem with it either. I just thought he was being himself. One time, my mom and I were watching a Lakers game and she turned to me and said, “I don’t like Kobe. He’s not nice like Michael Jordan.” Wow. So, not only can my mom not pronounced Yao Ming’s name correctly to save her life, she actually thinks Michael Jordan is “nicer” than Kobe Bryant. Only someone who knows nothing about MJ would say that. He was, is and will always be – a dick. But, you know that line in Heathers when Veronica asks Heather Duke why she’s such a megabitch? Well her response is exactly what MJ would probably say, “Because I can be.” Mike Wilbon has a similar take. Read it @ The Washington Post – The Speech: That’s MJ

Kanye to NBAMusings.com: You ain’t no Beyonce (via Kanyelicio.us)