THIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO:
http://offthebackboard.wordpress.com
A place for discussions about basketball, and whatever else related to sports that may intrigue me.
Edit: The perfect place to find ACTUAL reactions to these situations are on ESPN, where some pretty stupid, biased and exceedingly young people continue to post, regardless of whether or not they posess proper grammar skills, or basketball knowledge beyond the year 2004. Anyways, here is an actual post from one of the ESPN commenters:
jacorey32 (1 hour ago)
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piratelife are you serious, Kobe the most hated arrogant player/rappist in the NBA. why are you all hating shaq i don't understand. this man has 4 rings that 1 more than kobe and 3 finals mvps thats 3 more than kobe. oh wait Kobe does have the biggest choke series ever by and NBA Most vaulable player. did you watch the Boston series. How they kept saying greatest on the planet. sorry MJ never lost a 24 point lead, MJ never got beat by 40 to close a finals series wait Shaq never lost a 24 point lead wait Shaq neverl lost by 40 points to close out a series. And for all those they say that Shaq has been washed up. If I remember correctly Shaq has been in the playoffs every year since leaving the Lakers yr 1 Eastern Confrence against Pistons, yr 2 Title yr 3 playoffs with Phoenix. what did kobe do oh yeah due to lakers and favorable calls against Spurs they made it to the finals because from a buisness prospective it was a more profitable matchup. Just to discover they were clearly outmatched and didn't belong there. and to introduce the world to there new MVP Sir Choky Bryant. the rapist
3. Paul Pierce: "B's Upppp!"
Original Action: Paul Pierce throws up a bloods gang-sign subsequently after Al Horford drops him and talks trash. Pierce, reverting back to his Cali days, walks over to mid-court and throws up a "blood, sweat and tears" sign....according to Danny Ainge.
Original Reaction: Varied. From Danny Ainge claiming Pierce was signaling "blood, sweat and tears" (which makes me laugh everytime I read it) to people reassuring themselves once again that the NBA is full of thugs, to people debating whether or not it really was a bloods sign in the first place. The action did generate some contreversy, but nothing compared to what it would have been had Kobe Bryant done that in the first round against the Denver Nuggets after Kenyon Martin talked some smack to him.
Expected Reaction To Kobe Bryant:
Kobe is not a gangster. He grew up in Italy. He's so fake. How can he be throwing up gang signs, he has no street credibility! Everyone knows the main thing that basketball players want is street credibility, because you know, carrying yourself intelligently is out of the question! Kobe thinks he's a gangster. He's no Paul Pierce. That was not a blood, sweat and tears sign! Kobe Bryant thinks he's so hood. He's a fake; a phony! This is the difference between him and Michael Jordan, he always tries to be something he's not. He's not MJ, he'll never be MJ!!!!
More to come.....
Every year, bloggers, columnists and media guys that cover basketball seem to get extra excited come draft day. Yes, the Finals are over and yes, mock drafts are a way to cover basketball in the often-boring off-season, but I personally still don't find the NBA draft very exciting. I mean, really, how can you convince me that watching dudes in suits repeatedly come up to shake David Stern's hand is actually intriguing television?
Personally, not following NCAA basketball probably has a lot to do with it. I'm from Canada, and while we do get extensive NCAA coverage (we have CBS, no worries there), I don't know many guys my age (or even older) who actually follow it as religiously as they do the NBA. Furthermore, it's more of a pride/school thing with most people that actually follow the NCAA season. We have our own universities and schools here in Canada, and unfortunately, most of the ones with stellar athletic programs are known as either the "easy" schools, or basically ones where "hot" people who have dominantly "easy majors" decide to go. To be frank, the Canadian education program doesn't give two-shits about athletics.
Anyways, going back to the NBA Draft - I don't really understand why so many people devote such time into making mock drafts, and analyzing what player a certain team is projected to take with the 29th pick. For example, I can just imagine some blogger last year writing up a little mock draft with the following written: "The 76ers are expected to take Petteri Koponen [!] with the 30th pick!" Really, who cares? Moreover, do most of these people who do mock drafts even know who half of these players actually are? Have they watched enough games of each of the players to actually successfully project where they land or do they just get a credible source's mock-draft and just switch some names around to make it seem different?
It's all a toss up, and as the 1998 draft - along with countless others - prove, collegiate stars aren't exactly certainties for success in the league. Just ask JJ Reddick, or maybe Bobby Hurley, or perhaps Chris Jackson. "Upside" is great to have, sure, but players should only be devoted so much time in media-coverage when they're actually ON an NBA team and contributing.
I don't really care who the number one pick is, and by my calculation, it really doesn't matter. Ben Wallace was undrafted, yet I'm certain when I say that the 2004 Pistons would not have won that year's title without him. So, to the people devoted to these mock drafts and what not, continue with what you're doing. Don't let me discourage you. However, I know there are plenty of NBA fans out there who really don't care in any way about the NBA Draft, and to those fans: I salute you.
Sorry, but I'll pass on the hype. Wake me up only when there's a blockbuster trade that goes down involving a player that has actually spent time on an NBA basketball court.
Edit: ...the worst sequence of basketball in history goes to these next five "plays" that the Lakers made:
Words cannot even explain how disappointed I am right now. For the record though, the Lakers weren't even supposed to make the playoffs this year, so people need to calm down, especially Laker fans, but especially Kobe haters.
On the other side of the coin, the Boston Celtics steamrolled their way through the entire league on their way to supremacy of the NBA, churning out 66 wins and the top seed in the Eastern Conference, not to mention the best record in the league itself. However, with the playoffs, questions began to arise in regards to the Celtics, as they had to face seven games series' with the likes of the Hawks and the Cavaliers - crappy teams to say the least - before finally getting it together and defeating the Pistons in six. So while the Lakers have had an easier ride to the NBA Finals (not competition wise, I mean in regards to the relative ease that they coasted to this point), the Celtics have had to claw and fight their way to this destination; a destination that many EXPECTED them to be at coming into this season.
The Lakers have been genuinely outplayed EVERY game of this series thus far. Watching Game 5, I really did believe that the Lakers would choke (once again) at home and the Celtics would win the championship in LA. Why? A lack of execution. The Lakers role players have been unbelievably exposed in this series, as has their bench. While Pau is still a good player, he really needs to stop complaining so much about foul calls and be the catalyst for executing the triangle perfectly as he was in the regular season. Odom and Fisher have not shown up at all, and the Lakers bench has been below average at best, even considering Game 5. Luke Walton is not really that good of a player, has never been, nor will he ever be. Vujacic is a hit or miss kind of guy, and most of the times, he will miss, especially on the road. Jordan Farmer is arrogant, but his game doesn't back it up. Turiaf is useless on the offensive end, and Ariza is only good for defence. Don't even get me started on Vladamir Radmonavic. The only consistent player on this team has been Kobe, and even he is struggling.
If you watch the games, it is not that Kobe does not "trust his teammates", but rather that his teammates all of a sudden cannot hit their shots and look extremely shaky out there. Fisher went from looking like a solid, clutch point guard in the Western Conference Finals to looking like a veteran that has shrunk back to insignificance like he did in the 2004 Finals. Kobe Bryant has turned from the well-deserved MVP that steamrolled anyone in his path (including the Spurs!) in the Western Conference to someone that we're used to seeing 5-19 performances from. In this day and age, when you EXPECT Kobe Bryant to struggle in a series, that means that he as an individual has failed because his teammates as a unit are being exposed.
The Lakers have been thoroughly outplayed, outperformed and out-executed (I don't think that's a word) in this series. Paul Pierce has been exactly how Kobe Bryant NEEDS to be, and Boston's players have responded how the Lakers players should have when entering these Finals. Have you seen James Posey in these games? That is how Derek Fisher should be; a veteran that can make shots when needed. Instead, we had Fisher and Vujacic shoot something along the lines of a combined 3 for 20 in Game 4, and somehow the Lakers managed to win. I'm not so much scared of the Celtics, as I am for the Lakers. Basically, each Lakers win is a surprise, as opposed to an expectation.
The Celtics will win this title rather easily, unless the Lakers drastically change their ways, which doesn't seem likely. Phil Jackson seems like he hasn't coached the Lakers at ALL this whole series and Doc Rivers pretty much has everyone convinced that he's out coaching the Zen Master. I don't think that's hard when you have the roster that Boston does to be honest, but credit should be given to him for motivating his guys properly (not that they need much motivation in the first place).
The Lakers have gone from being the epitome of excellent execution to a team that has seemed disorganized, disinterested and at often times, a team that doesn't belong where they are. Something tells me that the Spurs would have fared better against the Celtics, because these Lakers don't look like the same team that beat the likes of an excellent Jazz team and an old-yet-still-efficient Spurs team. After all of the hype of how the Western Conference is unparalleled, an Eastern Conference team is likely to be standing on top of the NBA mountain by tomorrow night.
P.S - The reason you see UK sensation Craig David for this post is because, he has an excellent song called "Rise and Fall" from his second album, Slicka Than Your Average. I think it appropriately represents the Lakers at this point, as they seem to be falling more with every game after peaking against the Spurs. The confidence I once had in this team is all but shattered, and it isn't because Boston is a 66 win team; I stopped being scared of them the moment that the Atlanta frickin Hawks took them to 7 games. Rather, it is because the Lakers look genuinely SHOOK out their on the basketball floor....in the NBA Finals. Horrible time to be wetting the bed to the point that you "can't put the towel over [it]" (Kobe!), guys.