5 Things We’ve Learned About The NBA Playoffs So Far

1. Kevin Garnett, a player that has drastically declined since his knee injury in 2008, has clearly been pulling the wool over our eyes since the Celtics’ 17th title banner found itself a place in the TD BankNorth Garden. How do I know? Well, besides the obvious itching sensation around my orbital lobes, he’s playing urgent, aggressive, and dominant basketball. No front line seems to possess the answer to the question he asks in or around the paint. Does anyone remember the opening line he had in that “It takes five” Adidas commercial he featured in? YOU WERE FOOLED. Yeah we were. The guy wearing the number 5 jersey, beating up on people, averaging 20 points and 11 boards a game in this postseason is definitely not the same person that got rejected by the rim in the 2009-2010 NBA Finals versus the Lakeshow.  KG has been in hibernation, patiently waiting for the opportune moment, for one last go at glory.

2. The Miami Heat players are on standby for the United States of America’s diving team for this summer’s Olympic games in London. Other athletes were in contention, but Lebron’s diving antics versus the Knicks sealed the deal for the Heat. Seriously though, diving and flopping is anti-basketball. In soccer, yellow cards are given to players who do what Lebron does. Mr. McMahon, I mean Mr. Stern should really consider issuing technical fouls to flop artists, instead of giving them to players for expressing their human emotions.

3. Age is a telling number. Based on this postseason’s performances at age 36, Tim Duncan tells me that he ages like Napa Valley’s finest spiked grape juice. Pouring in just under 17 points a game, Mr. Glass and his fantastic team look to be automatic partakers in the Western Conference Finals.  Coach Pop can always be counted on to construct a team that consists of players that all possess a useful role in the team’s ultimate goal. No ill mannered, hotheaded, ego obsessive divas wear silver and black. Coach Pop knows the formula for success and is showing it off on international television.

Hollywood Ain’t For Everybody

How many times have you been at a bar, at home, at a friend’s house, or just watching a game with a group of people? You listen to them talk, yell, and argue over players, calls, and nonsense. Then the ignorant comment is made by that guy who says.” Give me those players and that team, I can win a ring.” Sure you can. This is the same type of person that tries to discredit Phil Jackson, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Joe Torre. All three of these guys stamped their dominance on their sport and have rings and trophies to show for it. Was success solely a result of the players’ efforts? Could they have won with a manikin in the dugout or on the sidelines? Sober up and until then, shut up.

Managers and coaches are just as important and history shows it. Soldiers need a general, kids need a parent, and students need teachers. This is not my opinion, but logical thinking. Apparently, the puppeteer pulling all the strings in the Lakers’ front office does not think this way. Jim Buss appointed Mike Brown as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers after stating he interviewed really well. Former Laker and assistant coach Brian Shaw was not even given an interview. Longtime opposing head coach Rick Adelman was on the market and also not even called in for an interview.

Highlights of Brown’s first season as head coach include the benching of Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. Brown has given a lot of offensive touches Bynum’s way and trusts him enough to keep him on the court to close out fourth quarters. If you remember, Phil Jackson did not. Probably because he knew he is a hot head and can’t control the temper that possesses.

Lakers Survive and Get a Pau-er Surge.

Home court advantage proved to be important once again in the playoffs. The Lakers hit timely shots down the stretch, and came away with a 96-87 win. Steve Blake was huge off the bench, shooting 7-11 including 5-6 from downtown, scoring a total of 19 points. Metta World Peace got his first action since the 7-game suspension, and he proved to be the missing “peace”. The fact that World Peace could guard Andre Miller off the dribble and in pick and roll situations saved Los Angeles. George Karl went to a Lawson-Miller backcourt a lot this series because Blake couldn’t guard Miller. But with Metta on him, Andre Miller was just 1-10 shooting for three points and five turnovers.

Laker great, Magic Johnson, had made outlandish comments about if Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol didn’t play well then Mike Brown should be fired. Well like he did two years ago in a winner take all game-7 against the Celtics, Pau Gasol was a beast. He lead the Lakers with 23 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, and four blocks. Gasol played under control throughout the game only committing one turnover. We all know that Gasol is not aggressive and hungry all the time, but last night he did a great job in picking his spots when to attack and when to dial it down. In one instance, he tallied 5 offensive rebounds before finally getting the bucket. Pau knew that it was big after the all out effort to finish the play, and it was one of the turning points for the Lakers.

When you talk Lakers, you have to talk Kobe. But tonight wasn’t Kobe’s night to shine, only scoring 17 points on 16 shots. Denver’s game plan was double team him hard and often. It seemed to be working when the Nuggets had a four-point lead in the fourth, but Kobe being the smart player that he is ended up finding Blake and World Peace for open 3′s and ended with 8 assists on the night.

The Lakers had better gotten a good night’s rest and put in a great, not good day of practice today, if they want any shot of battling with the Oklahoma City Thunder. James Harden is going to be mad about the elbow, Russell Westbrook is going to be mad about not putting up 25 a game in the Dallas Mavericks series, and finally, Kevin Durant is going to be mad about not winning the MVP. Should be a fun series.

2012 NBA Mock Draft

This will be updated at least once more before the actual draft on June 28th. If you want to take a look at the first version of my mock, just click here. It was just a quick-pick version without any description as to why I mocked players where. It was also before the deadline to declare for the NBA draft, so much has changed since then. Let’s take a look at how I believe the first round will play out this year.

1. Anthony Davis – F, Kentucky

The consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, Anthony Davis gives the Bobcats a dynamic player to add to their already young roster. Pairing him up with Bismack Biyombo will give them a great defensive duo in the paint, but will he be able to develop his offensive game to the point where he can be a true franchise changer? Some say he is a Tim Duncan-like prospect. I disagree with that 100%. Others say he will be better than Blake Griffin. I think that’s a good place to start a discussion.

2. Bradley Beal – G, Florida

Thunder Sweep Mavs

One thing is for certain moving forward in these NBA Playoffs, there will be a new champion crowned once the final whistle blows in June. Tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder swept the defending champion Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs in one of the more exciting playoff sweeps in recent memory. The young and superbly athletic Thunder proved to be too much for the Mavs to handle over the four games.

In a matter of eight days, Oklahoma City beat Dallas 99-98, 102-99, 95-79 and finally 103-97 to knock the Mavs out and move onto the Western Conference Semifinals. Kevin Durant and Co. will await to play the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers/Denver Nuggets series, which currently has the Lakers leading 2-1.

Even though the Thunder swept the Mavs, if the next series is anything like this past series then there will be plenty of drama with people glued to the television.

Who do you have moving on in the playoffs? Comment below!

Ron Artest (Refuse to Call Him World Peace) Suspended 7 Games

The NBA has suspended Ron Artest for seven games after he beat down the Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden.

There’s two things about that statement. The first is that at this moment it’s hard to even type the name Metta World Peace after what he did to James Harden.

The second is that what happened wasn’t a hard foul or lapse of judgment. He sought to and purposely took Harden out.  Let’s move on.

League commissioner David Stern issued a statement on the league’s website.

Why Doc Rivers should be the Coach of the Year

Has this been the toughest year in terms of coaching for Celtics coach Doc Rivers?  If you ask him he will tell you it is.  Just looking at this season alone it’s hard to disagree with him, coming into the season it was headlined the “The Last Rodeo” for the Big 3.  With Pierce and Allen resigned in the off-season they joined Garnett (last year of contract), Brandon Bass (acquired via trade for Big Baby), Keyon Dooling (acquired via trade), Jeff Green (option), and Jermaine O’ Neal and brought in Chris Wilcox and draft picks E’twaun Moore, Jajuan Johnson and later signing Greg Stiemsma. 

   Looking at that on paper you would say the Celtics had enough to at least contend for another run at the title that they won in 2008.  But as always injuries plagued the team as it did for the past 3 years.  Before the season even began the Celtics lost Jeff Green to a heart condition they would later bring in Mickaël Piétrus  to replace him.  Also missing time would be Kenyon Dooling with a hip injury Bass with an injured back and Pierce would miss the first couple of games with a sore heel.  With all this the Celtics limped to a 15-17 record  at the All-Star break with many question being asked if the Celtics would break up the Big 3 cause they were too old and tired and it was time to look at the future.  And then to get even more bad news the Celtics would lose Wilcox to a heart condition and Jermaine O’ Neal would later be lost for the season (no shock there) with a wrist injury. 

Reggie Miller, Don Nelson Highlight 2012 Hall of Fame Class

It’s official. There will be a dozen basketball legends being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. Highlighting that class are former Indiana Pacer, Reggie Miller, and lifelong coach, Don Nelson. The announcement was made today that those two would be headed to Springfield, Massachusetts along with ten more of their basketball peers. The ceremony will take place in Springfield on September 7th.

The other ten inductees are:

- Ralph Sampson: 3-time college Player of the Year

- Jamaal Wilkes: 4-time NBA champion

Celtics Crush Heat

Yesterday’s game at the Garden was exactly what Rajon Rondo ordered – a nationally-televised game. The C’s point guard puts up ridiculous numbers in nationally-televised Celtics games at the Garden, and yesterday was no different. Rondo put up another efficient stat line en route to his league-leading 10th triple double since the start of the 2009-10 NBA season. On top of that, it is his 5th triple-double just this season! He put up 16 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists as the Celtics beat the Heat handily, 91-72.

The Heat were completely shutdown on all fronts as the C’s held them to their lowest point total of the season. LeBron (23), D-Wade (15) and Shane Battier (11) were the only Heat players to score in double figures while the entire starting lineup ended up scoring in double figures. LeBron had zero assists for only the second time in his entire NBA career. Miami looked completely out of sorts as the playoffs near and the pressure continues to mount on their shoulders to win an NBA championship this season.

Also contributing nicely for the Celtics were Paul Pierce (23 points, 7 rebounds), Brandon Bass (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Avery Bradley (13 points and one ferocious block on Dwyane Wade!). The win for Boston brought them to 30-22 on the season as they remain atop the Atlantic Division ahead of the 76ers. The Celtics’ next game is on Wednesday at 7:30pm as they host the San Antonio Spurs at the Garden. The Heat’s next game is Tuesday at 7:30pm at home against the 76ers, so it looks like Boston will be rooting for Miami to win to help extend their lead in the Atlantic Division. The Heat will continue to battle for the #1-seed in the Eastern Conference even though they trail the Chicago Bulls by 3.5 games. It should be an interesting finish to the regular season.

Mike Brown and the state of the Lakers

Whats gotten into Mike Brown lately?  Two straight games and two straight benchings, the new head coach of the LA Lakers is pulling no stops when it comes to the ‘my way or the highway’ attitude. 

       Lets observe this, for a moment the last place Mike Brown was where he had to deal with a diva superstar was Cleveland.  With the Cavs we found out after Lebron spurned them for Miami that Brown pretty much let Lebron do whatever he wanted which included not yelling at him for missed assignments and broken plays, also there was the Lebron Entourage that got to hang out and do what they pleased this was not only Browns mistake but the owners Dan Gilbert as well.  As we learn in life its good not to make the same mistakes twice and that is simply what Brown is doing now which is why you can’t blame him for trying to establish some type of authority.  He started the week off by benching his star player Kobe Bryant after he angrily punched a chair and then the next game he benched Andrew Bynum after he made a boneheaded 3 point attempt. 

     This wasnt the first time Brown came after Kobe you will recall after the game against the Wizards Brown called out Kobe for taking to many shots in the game  he later backtracked on those comments.  It seems like Kobe learned his lesson he came out after being benched and said all the right things but clearly Bynum learned nothing as he said he plans on chucking up more 3 pointers in the future.  Now this isn’t the first time we have heard grumblings of Brown and the system he is trying to put in place in LA.  Earlier in the season we heard from Metta World Peace complaining about his role in the team and then Chris Broussard reported that there was locker room grumblings of players not happy with the offense Mike Brown put in place.