Miami, Police Ask For Help Locating Lebron's Offense

The Miami Heat and South Florida Police are asking for the public's help in finding Lebron James' offense, the main part of the 26 year old basketball player which disappeared before game 4 of the NBA Finals. James--who police warn is clearly mentally unstable for deciding to host a one-hour "Decision" on where he would play basketball in the 2010-11 season--has been declared a missing talent case following game 4. Last year it went missing towards the end of his days in Cleveland, notably quitting in the final game loss to the Celtics, so the public shouldn't be that concerned as its happened before. This time however it could be much more serious as his doctors have warned the public that the bigger the stage, the more the offense tends to vanish--and it doesn't get much bigger then the Finals that Lebron is en route to blowing.

According to teammates in Miami, his talent has been going through a serious crisis brought about by the move to Miami. In the finals especially, the offensive ability of James seems to be trying to play more like J.J. Barea or a hybrid mix of Raymond Felton and your average NBA shooting guard, than like the MVP known for drives in the lane and putting up massive amounts of points. Said teammate Dwayne Wade "I know it has been hard for his offense, he was so used to being the star, and now he feels obligated to like, have assists and stuff, it's really different."

Inside sources have blamed Chris Bosh for the disappearence. An unnamed coach said "Bosh needs the ball, so Lebron feels obligated to help feed him it so he doesn't have another meltdown like he did after we lost to Chicago."

Here in the Finals Lebron has taken this role to heart, feeding Bosh to the tune of 24 points in game 4, and the game winning shot in game 3. This deferment has caused his offense to be as much of a mirage as his championship rings.

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Trivia Tuesday: Professional Sports Relocation

With the Atlanta Thrashers announcing today that they will be moving to Winnepeg, I figured it was a good time to bring out a relocation trivia questions--here they are:

The Thrashers will be the 10th NHL franchise in the to relocate (actually move, not move arenas within a city) in the modern era (since 1976). Who were the other 9*?

Bonus #1: 13 Major League Baseball teams have relocated--can you name them?
Bonus #2: 13 National Football League teams have relocated--can you name them?
Bonus #3: 20 National Basketball Association teams have permanently relocated--who are they? (the New Orleans Hornets did temporarily during Hurricaine Katrina but I left them out).

Put your answers in the comments below. Good luck**.

*Side Note: Not among the 9 you need to name is the San Jose Sharks who were an expansion team but basically split off from another NHL franchise in one of the oddest sports stories ever where the Sharks were allowed two drafts--a dispersal draft and an expansion draft. Thought the dispersal draft wasn't really a dispersal draft but a reverse merger of a professional franchise. Seriously, this happened.

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A Standing O: NBA Playoffs Talk

Last Saturday night I was heading home from the bars when it started to rain. I put my head down and started hoofing it to get home. All of a sudden I knocked into a really large person and looked up to see Blake Griffin staring back down at me. I got over my initial shock, apologized and went on my way. Since the Knicks failed to win a game in these playoffs, that was about my personal excitement in these NBA playoffs. But as usual, Alex O has many more insights to give in this post:

http://www.burdandkeyz.com

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Pretty exhilarating stuff if you have been able to watch a lot of these games.

This was a great regular season of NBA basketball: The ups and downs of the “talents from South Beach”, the amazing MVP worthy year of Derrick Rose, the surprise year by the veteran Spurs, the Melo-drama, Blake Griffin!!!

A) Unfortunately the Knicks are no longer in the party. It seems they blew their load in the first 2 games and left us all wondering “what if” they closed out those games. Now we Knicks fans have chock full of teams (nemisi?? Is that the plural of nemesis?) to root against: Heat, Celtics, Bulls, & Lakers.

B) I for one was rooting for Chris Paul and the Hornets to topple the Lakers. Is it possible that the Knicks (who just picked up Chauncey Billups option for next year) could trade Burps for CP3 since their contracts are a match--- both making $14M and free agents after next year? I guess it depends on the owner of the New Orleans Hornets who is……… David Stern/NBA. Maybe the toast from LaLa/Melo’s wedding will come true?!?

C) The action I have seen these playoffs been extremely entertaining, and I missed Durant’s end of game performance that sent the Denver (Old Knicks) Nuggets packing. I did see Ibaka have a couple of nasty blocks early in the game. There is little doubt that I agree with Bill Simmons that to win the NBA crown you must be able to protect the 6 feet around the bucket. I also missed the improbable 5 points in under 5 seconds that extended the Spurs vs. Grizzlies series. I was very bummed that game was not on TNT last night. Grizzlies go home and are a 2.5 point favorite to complete the 8 beats 1 seed rarity. It is 9 pm Friday night---- only game on that night since Heat and Thunder took care of biz last night. I recommend all hoops fans to youtube the play Darell Arthur of the Grizzlies made in game 4 where he blocked the shot then chugged downcourt full speed and finished an amazing alley-oop.

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A Standing O:...and the Colorado Rocky Mountain High

It's been a while since we got some knowledge from Alex O but he's back today with a post about the New York Knicks, Gallo, and, well, John Denver as well. So whether you're Italian, American, or from the Jersey Shore, you'll love our next Standing O:
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“And the Colorado Rocky mountain high!” John Denver (Great lyrics)

Some have missed Gallo in a Knickerbockers uniform (MSNBC)

Here are some thoughts and links about the Knicks we traded for Melo, Burps (billups) etc. Gallinari, Chandler, Felton, Mozgov, even the corpse formerly known as Eddy Curry is gone but not forgotten. Knickerblogger had a good piece about saying good bye to Gallo. Worth checking out even if it is a bit much. Better yet was the comment I pasted below, from an Italian guy who watched Gallo’s Dad and D’Antoni play back in the day:

1. kaine says:
March 3, 2011 at 2:06 pm

You may not know, but there’s a weeping nation out there.
There’s a generation of italian like me that fell in love with the nba in the 80′, thanks to the men that played then. before the dunks and the no look passes, it was the great personalities. Kareem.Magic.Bird.Jordan.Doc.Moses.Akeem. Ewing. the bad boys.
and when we were in awe at watching the gods, we followed a great italian team, lead by one of the greatest mind that we witnessed on a field, moustache men D’antoni.
I can assure you that he was that good, a stern general well different from the laid back coach of today.
In that team played Gallinari sr. A bruce bowen-type player, I had the luck to wath them play live and I can’t recall to saw him ever try a shot to the rim. defense was his thing, nothing more.
In that glorious days, our collective daydream was to see one italian player to finally succed on an nba field. to show that we are not bound to scramble for a ball with our feet in the mud, but that also the Italians can fly
Last year I finally had the occasion to visit the big apple, and obviously I dragged my wife at the Garden. I was graced with a (rare) great win over the 76ers, and Gallo (along with Douglas) was the leading force to the win.
Seeing him live to blossom into a king for Knicks brought to me all the lost memories of my generation ; the dream of us playground player to become an Nba star was now real. the quest had been fulfilled.
The icing on the cake was that happened in New York, the city that we consider part of ourselves. it’s not the global icon, it’s just the perfect blend of European and American flavours that we love.
I can assure you that Gallo felt the same: he truly truly loves new york.
Now the song has ended. the knicks dismissed Gallo like some high school sweetheart traded for the new flashy hot girl. just another victim of the summer of LeBetaDog.

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A Standing O: Star-Melo and the Trade Deadline

It's been a fun season in Knicksland but last night was something extra special. Last night was the Knicks fans' consolation for not being chosen by LeBron in The Decision. When he saw SportsCenter last night, he probably wondered how nice it would have been to be King in New York City at MSG. If anything, the Carmelo trade was a nice reminder of how exciting Knicks basketball can be with an opening montage that had to make everyone from the Tri-State Area excited about the Knickerbockers again. One guy certainly excited? Alex O and he tells us why in his latest Standing O:

The Star-Melo shined brightly at MSG last night

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This is a great post showing what Melo means to the Knicks offense. Now the Knicks have 2 players who can command a double team. Not many squads have that. Bill Simmons made a great point--- the Knicks now have 2 of the 10 guys that started in the All-Star game. It will take a few weeks to find out how this team can gel. We did not see Anthony Carter, or Shelden Williams, or Balkman or Brewer. It will be interesting to see who gets time with the new squad. One thing that we saw last night was how good Toney Douglas can be. Playing tough D and shooting the lights out, Douglas is showing what he can do when he is healthy and given some time. Hopefully seeing more of him will be the new normal. Clearly defense and rebounding will continue to be issues with this team.

I am not 100%, but I think LaLa was wearing a puffy shirt at the game last night. It was great to get a feel for the excitement in the garden last night. The highlight of that was when LALA was asked what their 3 year old son said when he was told Daddy was traded to the Knicks: “we’re going home!”…………

AWESOME!

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How To Spice Up The All-Star Game

With the Melodrama that is the Carmelo Anthony saga, and the slam dunk contest featuring Blake Griffin the NBA's 2011 All-Star game certainly has everyone talking, except about the All Star Game itself. While most enjoy the high flying dunks and the skills competition the game, featuring the best in the world not playing any defense, scoring a million points, and making stupid plays, is merely an afterthought. But there are many things that the NBA can do to change this, however unrealistic they may seem, to bring the attention back to the All-Star game, and away from the parties, contests, and boardroom negotiating sessions between two desperate teams and a star player. Here they are...


Refs??? Who Needs Them

Because it is common knowledge that the All-Star game is merely the greatest collection of talent to play a pick-up game, the game should be rid of referees and the players should make their own calls. It always seemed silly to me after say Shaq took a free throw in Las Vegas bounced it on the court, had it go off the backboard, and dunked it, to have to see Steve Javie whistling him for a violation. The fact that there are ref's actually takes away from the seriousness of the game. Their laissez-faire officiating styles in the game can lead to blatant travels becoming layups. It also would be interesting to see some of the most serial complainers, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant come to mind, arguing with each other about a call. It would make the game more enjoyable, but also a bit more serious.

Play Half Court

While this may seem illogical, if the All-Star Game was played half-court it would greatly benefit the game. So many of the games points come on plays where the defense doesn't get back and the offense just throws it deep and gets easy layups. Well playing on one side of the court puts an end to this by forcing all players to play defense. Without idiotic fast-break points the games would be much tougher defensively. Every player knows who they are guarding, and if they decided not to play defense it would be abundantly clear when there man embarrasses them in a half court setting and scores easily. This essentially forces teams to play D and would lead to more intense competitive games.

Automatic Sub's If A Player Is Slacking Off, Or Not Caring

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Guest Post: Four Things We Learned From The Heat’s Win Over the Knicks

As the New York Knicks continue to improve, the more fans want to jump on the bandwagon. But our guest blogger this week has been rooting for the Knicks throughout--through the good times...and the Isiah Thomas times. He was at Madison Square Garden when there was no one there and he's seen the building slowly fill up as the Knicks have gained traction in 2010. He was also there last night to witness LeBron take apart the Knicks defense and he brings us some insight of what we learned last night. Without further ado, let's turn it over to Russell Simon for a guest post on four things we learned last night:
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LeBron was too much for a "mere" 24-point, 14-board Amare (The Record)

1. When Amare Isn’t Playing At An MVP Level, The Knicks Can’t Beat The Best.
Stoudamire has been one of the best players in the league throughout the Knicks 8-game win streak, averaging 26.6 points per game and 9.3 rebounds. He had 39 against the Celtics and almost single-handedly got people talking about the Knicks again. Unfortunately for the Knicks, when STATS not on, the Knicks aren’t either. He had 24 points, but was 11 for 28 shooting, and missed five free throws. It seems like it will take 30 points and 10 rebounds from Amare for the Knicks to win, and for them to go far the have to find ways to win when he has a mere 24 point 14 rebound day.

2. If The Knicks Starters Keep Playing This Much, They Won’t Make It To March Much Less Into The Playoffs
Mike D’Antoni has a problem: Rest Amare, Felton and Gallo and watch the team implode, or play them for a consistent 35 minutes a game. Amare is second in the NBA in minutes played with 37.6 minutes per game. Stoudamire had micro fracture surgery on his left knee in 2005, and like Raymond Felton, is playing more then he ever has in his career. This also shows just how horrible the Knicks bench is as they added only 12 points last night, with 8 coming from Toney Douglas and 4 coming in garbage time. The Knicks have to get their bench more involved, if only to give some of the starters a break, but can’t do that without the risk of falling behind, as they did in the second quarter against the Heat.

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Guest Post: Revival of the Knicks

Wait, there's still a basketball team in New York? It's no "Second Coming Sale", but what's been going on with the New York Knicks has been very much of a revival of a team that has been dead for quite a while now. The Knicks are a legit playoff team, they have one of the best rookies in the NBA, and led by Amare Stoudmire--who just recorded his 5th straight 30-point game in a win over Minnesota (maybe the Judaism is helping?)--the MSG basketball team has shot up the standings to the point they are one game behind Miami. As ESPN's Chris Sheridan wrote in a chat this past week, the Knicks schedule will determine if they're for real, but they've been fun to watch and "you couldn't use "fun to watch" and "Knicks" in the same sentence for the past 10 years." But once again I will turn the analysis over to Alex O, our resident Knicks expert, to give us some more details on the high-flying Knickerbockers.
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Amare has led the Knicks back into respectability (NYT)

“Is me being a Knicks fan my punishment for being a Yankees fan?”

This was a tagline to a comment yesterday on the Knicks blog “Posting and Toasting” by Benny Blanco from the Brix

Many Knicks/Yankees fans may ask themselves the same thing. We can’t have it all. Steelers/Pirates fans have a similar dichotomy as did Sawx/Celts fans for many years. This may be changing as the Knicks have won 10 of 11 games for the first time since the 2000-2001 season. Starting five then was : Camby, LJ, Spree, Houston, and Mark Jackson.

Reality check….. as Mitch Lawrence points out in the Daily News how the Knicks have been feasting on a “cupcake schedule”. Of the 10 wins only 2 were against winning teams, Golden State, and New Orleans who started hot but has been terrible of late. Next they play Toronto, and the Wizards followed by Nugs, Celts, Miami (2x), Okie City, Bulls, and Magic. As my 8th grade Science teacher Mr. Bowles would say “this will provide a good litmus test”.

It is a good time to evaluate the team since we are ¼ of the way through this long season. The Knicks schedule has been the easiest in the league if you look at opposing teams win %, but they have played a lot of games on the road, and have had 7 back-to-back games. Their success on the road and in back to backs has been a key to their 13-9 record, good enough for sixth position in the East.

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Applying the "Unearned Run" Principal to Other Sports Stats

In baseball, there is a such thing as an unearned run. It's a run that not the pitcher's fault because some player on his team made an error. Errors themselves are not exactly cut and dry: "could the player have caught the ball?", "did they touch the ball?" and "is this a catch you expect the player to make?" are all questions asked before an official scorer gives an "E" or a hit. I think this is a great way of figuring out the true performance of a pitcher. While the pitcher should be expected to hunker down and not let runners score even when an error is made, the fact that a run resulted from that error can't always be seen as a pitcher's fault. Here's a few other statistics in sports that need to be changed among the same principal idea:

Eli Manning's numbers would look a lot better if tINTs were taken out (WSJ)

NFL -- The Tipped Interception: Eli Manning has had a really good season overall. He has the 5th-most passing yards in the league and is tied for Phillip Rivers for the most passing touchdowns...but he has 13 interceptions to 19 touchdowns, a pretty bad ratio for someone considered an "elite" quarterback. Those 13 INTs put him second-worst in the league to Brett Favre. But anyone who has watched the Giants this season know that Eli Manning didn't truly throw 13 INTs--over half (the Wall Street Journal says at least seven) of those were balls that were either tipped or went through the hands of a receiver right into the arms of a waiting defensive back. Tom Coughlin calls it a "damn plague". In my opinion, those types of picks need to be separated from the chuck-em-up-into-a-crowd INTs (which Manning will throw some of as well). My proposal? A tINT stat that measures the amount of balls that were tipped for INTs. Now balls that the QB threw horribly, a receiver gets his fingertips on and is intercepted by the defense doesn't count here (some of it will take a scorekeeper's ruling like an error), but this will help separate real INTs from the Tipped Interceptions.

MLB -- Team Errors. I know we already have the unearned run in baseball, but we need the team error as well. A pop up to shallow right has the right fielder, second baseman and first baseman all racing for it. All 3 get there but then they look at each other as the ball falls to the ground. No one touched it so no one can be charged with an error, but is this truly the pitcher's fault? No. This should go as an error as well. E-Team. It is totally ridiculous that a player usually has to touch the ball to get an error (mostly in the outfield) since many of the time the issue is that the player doesn't touch the ball. If a player should have caught it but there really is no one to give the error to, just give it to the whole goddamn team. It's totally ridiculous that the announcers blame the ball for falling into the "Bermuda Triangle" when it really just falls in between a bunch of fielders who should have caught it. E-Team.

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NBA Draft Moving from NYC to NJ

Garden State FTW!  On the heels of Andrew's email to me earlier today, in which he (smugly) indicated that the New Jersey Nets lost $64 million in FY 2009, we have just learned that the NBA draft is moving from NYC to Newark.

Scenes like this will soon be taking place in New Jersey.

The draft will be held at the Prudential Center (the new two-year home of the Nets, baby!) in June 2011.  The draft had been held in Manhattan every year since 2001.  Expect the announcement from NBA Commissioner David Stern tonight before the Nets' season opener in Newark vs. Detroit.

Guest Post: 2010-2011 New York Knickerbockers Preview

It's time to take a break from the Yankees 2010 funeral. Once in a while a topic comes along which we would very much like to know much about but would be B.S.'ing you if we tried to write an informed blog post about it. That's why we have a great group of guest bloggers and today we go with frequent blog commenter, Alex O to give us a Knicks preview. While I consider myself a Knicks fan, I have no clue how this team is going to fare this year. Alex hails from Connecticut and is a Yankees/Knicks fan (and also a fan of Buffalo Wild Wings). Soon we'll make him a hockey fan, too, so he can root against the man who has the same initials as him down in Washington. Without further ado, here is Alex O's Knicks Preview:

I had to attach this shot of Jerry Stiller with the mid 90’s Knicks City Dancers...“Serenity Now!!!!”- Alex

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The best words to describe this New York Knicks team are VERY INTERESTING! The Knicks are the 4th youngest team in the NBA which is intriguing in itself, and they now have a legitimate All-Star who decided to take his talents to the garden in Amare Stoudemire. I am not one to get into salaries because it ain’t my money and I just want to be entertained. Hopefully we will finally see a team that can run and gun in D’Antoni style. There is no doubt that this is a crucial year for D’Antoni to produce some results. I agree they should contend for the last playoff spot. Big turnover of the roster brings excitement for Knicks fans as they finally have a team with youth, energy, and the ability to protect the rim. I loved David Lee but his shortcomings were obvious and well documented. The Raptors got nothing for Bosh, the Cavs got nothing for LeBron, the Knicks got 3 young players for Lee.

Besides being young and having a legit star the Knicks also continue to build an international roster with new additions:

Kelenna Azubuike -- Born in London but raised in Oklahoma, he is a former D-leaguer who can shoot and score, is a great athlete but will be out with injury till January.

Ronny Turiaf—Born and raised on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, then moved to Paris for high school. He had a serious heart condition that was discovered after he was drafted by the Lakers doctors. He now runs a charity to help provide medical care for children with no insurance or means to pay for the care they need. It is worth checking out his personal website. He is fully rehabbed and will add size and help protect the bucket, which is something the Knicks have lacked since Camby left town.

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Amar'e Stoudemire Lights the Menorah? (and other weekly questions)

O.J. Simpson is still not a Jew, but if the newest New York Knick star, Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire, has his way, he may be considered for Adam Sandler's next "Hanukkah Song". Stoudemire says that he may have some Jewish roots on his mother's side and wants to find out more about them.  If you follow Amar'e on Twitter, you may have seen some odd tweets recently about his pilgrimage to Israel and his search for his "Hebrew" roots.We may have to change his Twitter handle from "Amareisreal" to "AmareIsrael", especially considering this interview he filmed with an Israeli news station (H/T Ian):

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How to Become a Hated Athlete: From LeBron to A-Rod

Before "The Announcement" comes tonight, the animosity towards LeBron James is thicker than the humid air in Greenwich, Connecticut where "The King" will make "The Announcement". So why has LeBron entered this level of hatred unseen by many in sports? Well let's look at the levels of sports hatred and see how LeBron (of the recently launched blog--with the picture on the right--and Twitter account) has become the A-Rod of basketball, because for as much hatred as LeBron has had come his way, no professional athlete has seemed to endure as much hatred as Alex Rodriguez.

The Carl Pavanos: No Yankee player has drawn as much animosity between fans, the media and the team in the past few decades as "The American Idle", Carl Pavano. Huge contract, huge expectations, and no production. Not bad production. No production. An unwillingness to pitch hurt and to put himself out there for the Yankees has made Pavano a hated man in New York. The worst part? He's left the Yankees and found a way to stay healthy and pitch well in the American League for the Minnesota Twins, even facing the Yankees in the playoffs last season. Players like David Beckham, JaMarcus Russell, Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, Darren Dreifort, and Manny Ramirez at the end of his Boston days, fit into this category, but for all of LeBron and A-Rod's faults, they don't fit here.

The Barry Bondses: America hates cheaters who either get caught or at least get accused of being cheaters. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire fit the bill in baseball but there are a handful of athletes in other sports especially cycling and the Olympics who fit this bill as well. I wrote before that we all hate Carl Pavano for not trying, but if he would have cheated, had success and been caught later, would he have been more or less hated? I think less, sadly. I'm not apologizing for Pavano, but I think that sometimes cheaters get a second look depending on how many other times they show up on the "hate scale". A-Rod qualifies for this after his steroids revelation, but LeBron--so far--has been clean.

The Art Modells: Teams switch cities all the time but few names have as much animosity associated with them as Art Modell who moved the Browns out of Cleveland and to Baltimore. When they won a Super Bowl in Baltimore, he was hated even more. This also applies to players who leave a team bare to chase the money and surrounds A-Rod when he visits Cleveland. This would also apply to Robert Irsay (who moved the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis) and could apply to LeBron James as well if he leaves Cleveland.

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When it isn't all about the money: Ruminations on the Knicks' plans for Summer 2010

Gene Wojciechowski (pronounced "Shuhshefsky") recently penned an article in which he discussed the advantages of the New York Knicks signing three major free agents -- LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh -- in the upcoming off-season (picture to the right from the article).

I usually detest what this man writes. But I have to say, on this one isolated occasion, I actually agree with him.

Andrew thinks that the time for superstars to take a pay cut in order to win a championship is a year or two before retirement, just like the Boston Celtics did a couple of years ago, rather than right before those superstars about to sign max contracts. Fair point, because that's how it has always been done in the past. Players just do not want to sacrifice a lot of guaranteed money that early in their careers.

But the 2010 offseason will be a most unusual offseason. This summer, the NBA will have a tremendously tremendous amount of free agent talent and a large number of teams with lots of cap space. If there were ever a time for record-setting collusion, this is it.

The reason is simple.

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Guest Post: Monthly Rankings Based on Sports and Life

On a snowy February day, Paul is back with another guest post. Paul "likes" include Joba-to-the-'pen, college sports, beating the Red Sox, classic rock concerts and hot cocoa K-cups. His "dislikes" include "clowns" (such as Johnny Damon), the New England Patriots, and the UConn Huskies. When bad things occur, Paul's signature phrase, "BRUTAL!", comes flying out. With that all in mind, let's get to Paul's guest post.
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As the very dull month of February is coming to a close (yay!), I figure it’s a good time to review and rank all the months of year based on a combination of sports enjoyment and life in general. For instance, August is a dull month in sports but I can’t rank it last since the weather is great. Below is my list, best to worst:

1) October – Easily my favorite month of the year; baseball playoffs, NFL and college football are in full swing. Also there is fall foliage here in the Northeast and the weather is cool and very comfortable. It’s a very festive time of year with Halloween, craft fairs, pumpkin coffee/muffins/ice cream/beer, etc.. Heck, even Bill Simmons mentions why October is his favorite month

2) March – This choice is here based more on location. It follows the worst month of they year (see below). March has "March Madness", of course, which I love as a college hoop fan. In addition to the tournament itself, the conference tournament week is sometimes even more exciting. I don’t watch spring training closely but the official return of baseball happens this month. Now March has daylight savings back with more daylight due to a change a few years ago (what a great idea, by the way). The feeling I get in this month is that spring is finally coming after a long winter!

3) December – I know it’s a cold wintery month, but we have the holidays to enjoy/stress out about. From a sports point of view, there is a lot going on including NFL regular season wind down and the start of college bowl games. College hoops starts to get in full swing, also.

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Dead Sports Night

Tonight is what I call a dead sports night in New York:

-The Stanley Cup Finals are over

-The NBA Finals are over

-The Yankees and Mets are off

-The ESPN Monday Night baseball game is Brewers vs. Indians

-One channel is showing high school lacrosse

-The most exciting sporting event on television is the College World Series

I think I'm going to skip sports for the night. Anyways, Weeds is on TV tonight. Back to the Stadium tomorrow.

Great Moment In Color Commentary

It is times like these that I wish Jeff Van Gundy announced games for the Yankees (I wonder what comments he would have had for Swisher's baserunning this series).



"The player's IQ always astounds me" - JVG

(Hey...Jameer Nelson, he's calling you stupid!)

I think Jeff was just angry because his brother and the Orlando Magic made him announce yet another overtime game.

Awesome (H/T Jenn)

NBA Finals Set To Start And It Looks Like MLB LCS of 2004

Tomorrow night starts the NBA Finals. We don't know where amazing will happen this year (but we certainly know where spoofs will happen). I think the last time I followed a playoffs this closely was when the New York Knicks played the San Antonio Spurs in the finals. Since then, it's been hard to be a Knicks fan and although I grew a whole new respect for the Spurs, they weren't a team I longed to watch.

But this year I was back. I loved watching a young Chicago Bulls team push the Boston Celtics to the brink. I loved watching the Celtics try to play their hearts out to overcome the loss of Kevin Garnett. I watched Dirk Nowitzki trying to will his team to the promise land. I witnessed basketball return to Atlanta and the Houston Rockets push past injuries to their two best players and make a nice run through the playoffs.

But I really loved the final 4 in this year's conference finals. It reminded me a lot of the final 4 in the League Championship Series in 2004. There you had four superstars trying to get their teams to the World Series which were very similar to these four teams.

A-Rod's Yankees = Kobe's Lakers - You had to see this one coming, right? Two of the most talented players in the history of their respective games...but also two of the most hated. Both guys won MVPs, but were never known as "The Guy" who could lead a team to a championship. And they both had a lot of firepower surrounding them. Both teams had legendary coaches. Kobe has guys like Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. A-Rod had guys like Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. The Yankees had made the finals the year before but lost. The Lakers made the finals last year but lost. Got it?

Albert Pujols' Cards = Dwight Howard's Magic - 2004 was a playoff coming out party for a young Pujols. He hit a Brad Lidge slider that I think just landed. The same goes for Superman. He was a great player, but these playoffs have established him as a force. Both were compared to big men who played their position in the past (Big Mac and Shaq). And both of these guys could do the things that wowed the fans (the Howard dunks or the Pujols majestic HRs), but these playoffs made you realize something more about these guys: You can't match up against them. I'm not sure Howard ever reached Pujols level at basketball until the last game against the Cavs...but he helped cement himself as not only one of the best players in the game, but one of the most unlikely winners as well (many picked a very, very good Astros team to win the series easily and the same thing happened in each of the Magic series).

Carlos Beltran's Astros = Carmelo Anthony's Nuggets - Both came into the league with hype and lived up to it, but they were seen as complimentary players before this playoffs. There Beltran dominated with 9 homeruns and cemented his contract he would receive the next year. Similarly, Carmelo dominated in the games he played in the playoffs like he had never shown before and cemented his next large contract. And despite the solo efforts of both guys, they weren't able to make the finals. You also know that these two guys will take plays or maybe even entire games off and just coast. That's why these playoffs are so maddenly frustrating about these guys because you see how great they can truly be when they put their minds to it.

David Ortiz' Red Sox = LeBron James' Cavs - These guys went beyond dominating--you just knew that whenever they were up, something big was going to happen. You knew that when push came to shove, these guys were going to come through at crunch time. And there was nothing you could do to stop them. Your only hope was containing the other elements of their team. They almost seemed to have a destiny that year to win it all for their teams and give a long awaited title to a franchise severely lacking. In some ways, maybe Ortiz' 2003 Sox are a better comparison now because James, after a heartbreaking loss like the 2003 ALCS for the Sox, will have to wait until next year. And you know that's as painful for his fanbase (and for the NBA) as it is for him.

"Cavs Win!" Video

This video of one news team's reaction to LeBron James' game winning shot is awesome. Not only is the reaction of the people in the picture great, but you can see some random guy jumping up and down in the background (check out the top right of the video at the end). From ESPN.com (so funny):

A Cleveland news team was in a glass case of emotion -- until Bron's shot. What came next is the stuff of legend.

Dwight Howard Breaks Shot Clock

This is just so bad ass
Dwight Howard Knocks over Shot clock in Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and went on to win.