Teams: Houston Rockets vs. Detroit Pistons
Location: The Palace at Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI
Start Time: 6:30 PM EST
Announcers and Network: Dan Shulman and Doris Burke, ESPN

Detroit is an interesting study because it's clear that the Allen Iverson Experiment isn't quite meshing the way they would like, and Houston is seeing its best production out of Yao Ming while dealing with Tracy McGrady's status as this generation's Grant Hill. I personally have a soft spot for Doris Burke as a color commentator, she never tries to talk over the action too much.

Teams: San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Start Time: 3:30 PM EST
Announcers and Network: Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson (ABC)

Same deal as earlier, this time with some high-powered Western Conference action. I had this debate with a buddy last night: if Andrew Bynum keeps powering his way to double-doubles on a consistent basis, there may not be a team that can compete with the Lake Show this year.
------------
Ridiculously even first half, aided along by an argument between Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy over All-Star reserves -- Van Gundy thinks Paul Millsap of the Utah Jazz should be an All-Star.

Generally, the games played between the Lakers and Spurs this year have not done anything to dissuade me from the fact that these are probably the two teams that should, pending the draws, meet in the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers have opened up a lead thanks to good ball movement and stiffening up on the defensive end. They're not in the Celtics' league yet as a defensive team; they are still capable of missing rotations. Fix that and they're a sure title team.

It's not helping that Luke Walton just committed what appears to be a flagrant....wait, no, no flagrant.

I really, really don't care what Jeff Van Gundy thinks about the number of movie award shows. TALK ABOUT BASKETBALL PLZ KTHXBAI.

Again, how good does Mitch Kupchak look for not giving in to J-Kidd fervor last season?

JVG: "The Memphis Grizzlies are the worst organization in professional sports."

The city of Detroit would like to have a word with you, Mr. Van Gundy, and then Minneapolitans wouldn't mind talking to you after that too.

79-66, Lakers after three, and again with the "Hotel California." (I had a rough night, and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!) Bynum has a big quarter with 9 points alone there and a couple of blocks. San Antonio doesn't quite have the spark with its new back-ups this season. They're really going to lean on Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili -- more than usual.

4th Quarter

17 point lead after Gasol throws a sick pass over his head to Odom waiting for the easy lay-in. That's just wrong.

Trevor Ariza gets the throwdown. Massive jam for a guy who's been the glue guy -- plays good defense, hustles, is physical, gets the chip-in points.

The Lakers fundamentally changed when Bynum came back, not only because they had a more physical player at the 5, but because it moved Lamar Odom to sixth man, where he could rotate among several positions off the bench and play a second team leadership role.

So first, the beleaguered Knick is sued, accused of sexually harassing his male limo driver, and now something much more depressing and violent happens in his life: the mother of his son and her daughter were found dead in Chicago.

Nova Henry, 24, and her infant daughter, Ava, were found at about 6 p.m. in the 0-99 block of West 15th Street, police said. Officers found Henry's 3-year-old son -- Curry's, according to the source -- in the Burnham Station apartment unharmed.

Henry's mother found her daughter and granddaughter in the apartment, officials said.

A source close to Curry -- a married father of four -- said the basketball player maintains that he is not the father of Ava Henry.

Court records show that Nova Henry filed two separate petitions to establish parentage in November 2005 and September 2008.

The source said that Curry is very active in his son's life.

A man who identified himself as Henry's uncle said she had been having domestic problems with a boyfriend, but police would not comment. The uncle also said that Nova Henry's grandmother's funeral took place Saturday.

Chicago has not always sat well with Curry -- he was robbed there back during his time as a Bull. The only good news to report out of this is that Curry's son is all right -- but if the NY Daily News is to be believed, he witnessed the whole ugly scene. Oof.

Teams: Dallas Mavericks vs. Boston Celtics
Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
Start Time: 1:00 PM EST
Announcers and Network: Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown (ABC)

Maybe "open thread" is the wrong term. I'll be watching, and while this is by no means a live blog, I'll be chipping in some observations as we go, hopefully.

1st Quarter

Is there anyone left who doesn't think that the Jason Kidd trade was a bad idea? I see the rotations early, and one would think that Rick Carlisle would have found a good way to put Devin Harris to use.

Dirk is 0-7 so far, and Dallas is working way too hard, thanks to the Celtics' defense. On offense, Hubie's right -- it's pretty much lay-up and kick-out drills. Even Brian Scalabrine is hitting 3s.

Ray Allen drops another 3. I'm not sure if the Celtics have missed one yet.

Hubie Brown's a little terrifying in HD.

Rondo pops a nice jumper to end the quarter, 38-23, Cees.

2nd Quarter

Another defensive breakdown by the Mavs when Scalabrine finds Eddie House on the backside just before the shot clock expires. Lead is 12 after Dirk hits one.

Mark Cuban should take MattyIce's suggestion of an oxygen tank for Kidd. Yikes. Another score and it's a 14-point lead again.

Now this is just Maryland-like on the part of the Mavs. 25 point lead on the same basic lay-in or kick-out for long shot offensive principles for Boston. Another jumper for Rondo. Remember how everyone knocked him and said you had to keep him out of the lane? Now, if that jump shot's as consistent as it looks, he'll be just as feared as the Big 3 down the line.

The Mavs have no handle right now. The passes aren't crisp at all and it's no surprise that they're turning the ball over.

Another House 3. 31 point lead.

Lead's now 36. Lazy pass, steal, kick out to House -- 72-41. Man, screw this game. That's 10 first-half 3s for the Cees. Ridiculously efficient shooting. Probably still over 65% for the game. OK, now it's merely a 28 point lead again.

Darius Miles became a chess piece rather than an actual athlete at some point during the past few seasons. After some oft-injured years in Portland, he was let go after a doctor determined he hadn't recovered from a right knee injury, and Portland prez Larry Miller and GM Kevin Pritchard used some interesting legal math to where if he did not play, his contract came off the Blazers' books.

Miles is two games away from a 10-game trigger that makes the Blazers responsible for his salary, thus making it near impossible for them to acquire a free agent. So, Miller sent out an email to the other owners threatening legal action if anyone re-signed Miles after the Grizzlies cut him earlier this week (he'd been with Boston earlier for six pre-season games, and played in two games for the Grizzlies.)

Well, the Grizzlies just told the Blazers to eff right off, picking him right back up and re-signing Miles to a ten-day contract -- and don't be surprised if he gets garbage time in two games to get the Blazers to pay up the $12 million left on his contract.

Everyone in the NBA is rightfully in a shvitz over this because this isn't the NFL at this point; to an extent, the NBA still has some balance as a player's league and a better union. David Stern hasn't gone down that kind of draconian path yet (and to an extent, he can't, with player contracts being guaranteed), and so far, quite a few owners and GMs are calling out Portland on this crap, which is really asking for collusion by any other name.

Can we not talk about LeBron James' contract until it's at least the end of the current NBA season? The Knicks and Nets both essentially killing their chances of being competitive in the next two seasons in order to have enough room to sign James in 2010, when he could opt out of his contract, has been the worst kept secret in pro basketball.

Now, James is dropping hints to the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he may just sign an extension in 2009 with the Cavs, and make the whole matter moot for another three years. Tom Ziller at The Sporting Blog makes the astute point that this is a solid business strategy -- James can hold the proverbial gun to management's head to ensure winning in town, giving other younger stars a model for contract extensions -- but that's the only thing that's novel or interesting about the whole thing.

I know the clearing of cap space is designed to say that at least teams have some future planning ahead of them, but it's rather disconcerting to see teams say, not even a quarter into the season, that they're going to trade away any chance of making the playoffs in exchange for stiffs with expiring contracts. Frankly, I'm hoping LeBron stays with the Cavs -- not only because he's a hometowner, but because it would make the cap-clearers look foolish when scrambling for Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade.

At least discuss the 2009 free agents first....oh, yeah, that's not much of a class, is it?

LeBron James tells PD's Brian Windhorst he'll consider signing extension with Cavs this summer [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
LeBron Changes The Game. Again [The Sporting Blog]

The Vancouver Courier's Mark Hasiuk is either being particularly obnoxious, slightly racialist, or highly selective when it comes labeling an entire sport, in this case, the NBA, as "America at its worst." (It's likely bits and pieces of all three.) This case is getting a bit of attention on the interwebs this morning, because it's his theory behind why the league did not succeed in Vancouver with the Grizzlies:

Basketball traditionalists (older white guys) blame the overwhelming influence of hip hop culture in the NBA. But they're wrong.

Hip hop, a cultural movement spawned in 1970s New York, has been dead for years.

It sold its soul to corporate sleaze merchants, who repackage black music for a white suburban consumer base.

Nope, the remnants of hip hop--flamboyant chauvinism, jailhouse lingo, black ink tattoos--didn't kill the NBA. It was New York lawyers like Stern, who cashed in on the athletic ability of young black men while ignoring the social realities of basketball in America.

According to a New York Times report, more than 70 per cent of black American children are born out of wedlock. Most NBA players hail from poor neighbourhoods--and despite token college careers--graduate from broken public school systems. They are often ill-equipped to handle multi-million-dollar contracts, or the expectations of a community desperate for positive male role models. To be fair, the NBA, like other professional sports leagues, is a business. And it's not responsible for the endemic problems of black America. But considering basketball's influence on black popular culture, the NBA has a responsibility to produce a "positive" product, not the ghetto garbage we see today.

I have to admit that this tactic kind of confuses me: he's denigrating an entire class of athlete via their endorsements and appearance and blaming Stern and the league for riding that image to the bank. I still think these kinds of critiques that take cracks at the players for having tattoos, cornrows, etc. and more of an individual focus are misguided in the sense that the NBA has always marketed individual stars as soon as it got the guys like Magic, Michael, and Bird to do that with. Also, expansion and relocation has kind of diluted both the talent pool of teams and the regional focus of teams. It's no surprise that the league markets individuals, because the appeal of the teams themselves, to non-NBA fans, is hyper-local.

The problem is that Hasiuk does kind of come off as the old white guy who notes in the beginning of the excerpt I quoted. So much of this is because NBA players are visible in a way that baseball, football, and hockey players aren't in terms of uniforms; everyone gets to see in full what they don't like and run with it.

Also: you're not gonna get any points with me if you're gonna link Allen Iverson as someone who doesn't hustle and want to win. He may not play great defense, he may need the ball a bit more than you'd like -- but that's a guy who plays hard, every time I watch him.

NBA: a ghetto gutter run by money grubbers [Vancouver Courier]

I think most Philly fans probably saw it coming with a 9-14 record to start the season after making a major coup in free agency by signing Elton Brand away from the Clippers, but coach Maurice Cheeks got the ax today. Somewhat sad because there's no better story than a former franchise PG who won a 'chip leading the guys back to respectability, but the expectations are much higher than that with Brand in town and the Eastern Conference in flux if you're not the Celts, Pistons, or Cavs. Tony DiLeo, one of the Sixers' front office guys, will take over on an interim basis.

What's interesting to see is how the 76ers are the latest team to can their coach with about a quarter of the season down, as the Minnesota Timberwolves axed Randy Wittman from his thankless job (he could have been a miracle worker and he wouldn't have gone to the playoffs with that roster). Kevin McHale, once again avoiding blame for the T'Wolves failures in a way Matt Millen would envy, is on the bench for the rest of the season -- and hopefully owner Glen Taylor made an Isiah-like bargain with him. Eddie Jordan wasn't long for the Wizards, and he got canned as soon as it was clear the team was still struggling with the concept of defense.

The power battle between Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and coach Sam Mitchell came to a head long ago; Colangelo was just waiting for an excuse to fire Mitchell and bring in his own coach -- a subpar start provided good ocver. This is practically a hockey-like ratio that's appearing in pro basketball right now, and I'm trying to figure out personally why this is the case. A lot of it in hockey has to do with GMs who have coached or played before and know the sport, and maybe we're seeing more and more of that in the NBA, with the impatience coming from the "win now" demand.

Well, back to Mo, though, and we should all remember him, at the very least for being a class act and helping someone with the National Anthem during his tenure. Still a cool thing to do.



Sixers coach Mo Cheeks fired [Philadelphia Inquirer]

What's the NBA Season kicking off without the Knicks telling you their favorite Halloween costumes? Nothing I tell you! NOTHING!!!

My personal favorite is David Lee at about the 17 second mark

AA's Predictions:

East- 1) Det, 2) Bos, 3)Wash, 4) Mia, 5) Chi, 6)Cle, 7) NJ, 8) Tor
West- 1) Phx, 2) SA, 3) Dal, 4) Hou, 5) Den, 6) Utah, 7) LAC, 8) NOK

Eastern Conference Championship- Detroit over Washington
Western Conference Championship- San Antonio over Phoenix
NBA Finals- Detroit over San Antonio

ROY- Kevin Durant
MVP- Kevin Garnett
Coach- Byron Scott (NOK)

(posted by OMDQ)

For years now, the best part of watching Celtics games on television has been color commentator Tommy Heinsohn. A former player and coach for the team, Heinsohn is without a doubt the biggest homer I have ever heard call a game. His specialty is complaining about discrepancies in the officiating - in his eyes, no Celtic has ever committed a foul, and any referee who suggests otherwise obviously needs an eye exam. And the passion with which he calls the games, even at 73 years old...just once, I want him paired up with Gus Johnson for a tightly contested NBA Finals game involving the Celtics. Just once. The world would never be the same.

In other words, Tommy Heinsohn is gloriously awesome. He's my favorite announcer ever, in any sport (Joe Castiglione is a very close second).

Unfortunately, we are nearing the beginning of the end of the Heinsohn Era on Celtics television broadcasts. It was announced on Friday that due to his wife's health, Heinsohn will only do short road trips, an arrangement that will rob Celtics fans of his presence for at least 13 games in the 2007-08 season. He will be replaced by Donny Marshall.

My absolute favorite quote in that abovce link came from Mike Gorman, Heinsohn's longtime broadcast partner:

"Tommy likes to talk about the whys of, as the analyst, and I like to talk about the whats...It's very rare that I would step on his bailiwick, and vice versa."

Well, thank goodness for that. I'd hate for anyone to sustain a serious bailiwick injury. You don't just bounce back from those.

(For the record, "bailiwick" is "a person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority." Obviously, Mike Gorman is smart and uses big, scary words to demonstrate that fact.)

Hopefully all is well with Mrs. Heinsohn and Tommy can continue to impart his wisdom ("THEY'RE GONNA CALL THAT A HARD FOUL?!") through studio appearances on the pre- and post-game shows.

Photo: Boston.com

(posted by OMDQ)

From mjd over at The FanHouse comes the remarkable story of an anonymous broadcaster, an open mic, and the slip of the tongue heard round the world:

"During the online webcast of the Summer League Suns/Blazers game, one of the broadcasters (I don't know who it was, sorry) made a little bit of a mistake. His mouth believed he was off the air, but his microphone disagreed ... and unbeknownst to the broadcaster himself, he told the whole world this:

A Lakers team source told him that the Lakers would be trading Kobe Bryant to the
Grizzlies for Pau Gasol and Mike Miller, and that it would be going down in the next 10 days."

Kobe to Memphis? I know that rumors of his ultimate departure from Los Angeles have been swirling for some time now, but there's something not right about Bryant wearing anything other than the Laker purple and gold. Call me old-fashioned or naive or just plain stupid - I believe that a player who spends his entire career with one team enhances his legacy in the long run.

Regardless of one's feelings on the issue, however, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out - if there ever was a deal in place, and if either team backs out due to the leak.

(posted by OMDQ)

All we need is for Chris Chelios to start waffling on his status for next season and my life will be complete.

(It is mindblowing to realize that Chelios was drafted in 1981, when I wasn't yet two years old, and has played in the NHL since 1983. Mindblowing, I say.)

Does it matter as much if a coach simply can't decide on his future plans? In many cases, I would say no, but this one is different - mainly because I hate it when coaches only choose to remain on the bench when things are going well, as Riley has been known to do in the past.

Fortunately, we'll probably be treated to another two months (minimum) of "Will he or won't he?" I can hardly wait.

Report: Riley uncertain of his future, roster moves (Yahoo! Sports)

Just a quick post here on something I came across at SbB....

You may remember this story back in March that CSTV uncovered. Well there's an update. Apparently the well endowed girl sent an email to Elton Brand expressing her displeasure for him leaving Duke early. Elton's response.....

From: Elton Tyron Brand
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 1999 8:05 PM
To: Taylor, Jennifer
Subject: Re: Leaving Duke

Thank you very much, for reminding me of the reason why I left Duke. People like you can not and will not ever understand my situation. I'm sure daddy worked very hard to send your rich self to college. While real people struggle. Never being considered a part of your posh group of yuppies really hurts me to the heart.

Sincerely, Elton Brand #42 NBA"

Oh Snap! I love the sign-off too....#42...N-B-A B***h!!! And what?!?!


Head to A Sea of Blue for the whole story.

HUGE-BOOBED DUKE GROUPIE NOT CRAZY ABOUT CRAZIES (SbB)

WE REALLY WANT TO BE ELTON BRAND, AND HERE'S WHY (SbB)

I had every intention of finding and posting the video of Baron Davis throwing down over Andrei Kirilenko last night (first seen on Deadspin). I like this one better.

If you're 6'10" and no opposing player is within a ten foot radius, chances are you should be able to make this shot. Even if your name is Adonal Foyle.

Lots of great action around the sports world today, so where was I? Attending my nephew’s eighth birthday party and spending ten hours with family, of course. Always nice to see everyone – who cares about missing out on the Kentucky Derby, Mayweather-De La Hoya, the NBA playoffs and Chien-Ming Wang?

Oh, that’s right: I do.

So, for anyone else who might have missed out on the day’s festivities, here is a brief rundown:

Kentucky Derby: Street Sense goes from (nearly) worst to first, winning by 2 ½ lengths. My pick, Storm in May? Sixteenth.

Mayweather-De La Hoya: Floyd earns the split-decision win to remain undefeated. Media response was also split: the Associated Press scored it for Mayweather, 116-112, Yahoo! Sports called it a draw.

Jazz-Rockets, Game 7: Carlos Boozer was kinda effective (35 points, 14 rebounds, 41 minutes) in Utah’s 103-99 win. Houston’s Tracy McGrady had 29 points and 14 assists.

Chien-Ming Wang: So close, yet so far. Wang took a perfect game into the eighth before Ben Broussard killed it with a homerun. The Yankees walked away with the win, 8-1.

This was just sent down from NBA Commissioner Stern, but Joey Crawford has been suspended for the rest of the season, and the playoffs by the league.

"Joey Crawford's handling of this situation failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "Especially in light of similar prior acts by this official, a significant suspension is warranted. Although Joey is consistently rated as one of our top referees, he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor, and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities."

Source: The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN.

UPDATE #1- David Stern will actually be on The Dan Patrick Show in the next few minutes....I'll take down a couple of quotes for everyone who doesn't have ESPN Insider.

UPDATE #2- Here is the rundown of questions thrown at David Stern on the Dan Patrick Show.

-What lead to this decision?- DP
The release speaks for itself. Joey did not live up to officiating standards.- DS

-Did he make it personal?- DP
I don’t think so.- DS

-Are their similar prior acts by Crawford?- DP
I think there was one other where he made the situation more about himself than the game.- DS

-Do we know what Duncan was laughing about?- DP
It doesn’t matter. We tell our refs to move away from the action.
He is one of the highest rated officials, but this was beyond the line.- DS

-Did you consider any other actions?- KO
Yes, but in the end what was I going to do suspend him for a few series and bring him back for the Finals?- DS

-Can he appeal?- DP
I’m available for appeal, but it’s not going to happen. He thinks he did the right thing and he would do it again if it happened again.- DS

It was a rapid fire session, so some of the above is paraphrased. Just like the name says he was pretty stern. That line of questioning was over in about 2 minutes, and they moved on to Tanking and Tampering of the Draft. This was a pretty obvious decision and I think the above reaction from Crawford to the suspension proves that he wants to be bigger than the game. Good riddance.

By this point, I honestly don’t care if Kobe Bryant’s recent scoring binge is good or bad for the Lakers as a team; all I know is that it’s a whole lot of fun opening up a news story and seeing how many points he dropped on a particular night.

Like tonight, for instance, when the headline “Kobe's 53 not enough in OT loss to Yao, Rockets” jumped off the screen. First registered thought? “Hot damn, he did it again. The man is a scoring machine.” Second registered thought? “Oh, the Lakers lost. Too bad.”

Interesting facts that I did not know: Kobe “is the only player in the last 40 years to average 40 points per game for an entire month” and his 19 games with 50 or more points rank third in league history behind Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. He’s hit for fifty or better five times in the last seven games, including a stretch of four in a row at one point, leading the media to once again push the ever popular “Kobe vs. Michael” question.

My feelings on the subject are simple: Michael Jordan was a great basketball player whose reputation and influence was enhanced by the era in which he entered the league; if Bird and Magic started the process of “saving” the NBA, it was the arrival of Jordan that took it to the next level. Kobe Bryant is also great, of course, but has never made the leap to that level of transcendence. He has never been called upon to “save the NBA”, so to speak, and probably never will; that’s the responsibility of LeBron and Dwyane at this point.

You know what, though? There’s a good chance that someday, my kid will ask me who Kobe Bryant was, and I’ll have to tell him that he was one of the best players I ever saw.

Friday’s NBA scores are after the jump.


Philadelphia 88, Boston 82
Toronto 123, Washington 118 (OT)
Charlotte 97, Milwaukee 81
Detroit 110, New Jersey 105
Miami 92, Minnesota 77
Orlando 95, Indiana 87
San Antonio 102, Utah 93
Dallas 105, New York 103
Phoenix 125, Denver 108
Houston 107, LA Lakers 104 (OT)
LA Clippers 105, Sacramento 101
Seattle 120, Memphis 93

I thought the little imp was running over to Jack at first, but this is damn funny none the less. He has to settle for the nerdy white man high-five instead.



You do not touch Denzel!!! I think when he sits back down the guy in the white shirt laughing at him is Leo (yes, we're on a first name basis).

Announcers Beware......AA has a Tivo, and knows (sort of) how to use it. Your first video comes to you from Atlanta via Sideline Reporter Sandy Williams and Martin Lawrence. Enjoy! (Turn up the volume a tad....I said sort of!)



Couple of things.....

1. How many times can you use the phrase "star studded event" in one minute? Answer=3
2. Martin even tells you what movie he's in before you ask him about Norbit.
3. ML does a great job of playing it off, but I would have been pissed. Who the hell wants to go to Atlanta to do PR (no offense LTMA)
4. Shut up Mark Jackson.