The Funniest Video You’ll See All Day

Last night’s Lakers-Celtics game was very emotional and physical. Games 5,6, and possibly 7 promise to be even more emotional and physical.  Undoubtedly, the most emotional person last night was the mentally unstable Rasheed Wallace.  With that said, enjoy this video featuring Rasheed Wallace from last night.

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Boston Needs To Run If They Hope To Win Game 4

While the score of Game 3 may have indicated that it was a sloppy, poor played game it was much more to say that it was just a very slow game.  The play was at times both sloppy and poor, but both teams still averaged over a point per possession.  The Lakers had 83 possessions and the Celtics had 82.  In the regular season, the Lakers averaged 95 possessions in a game and the Celtics averaged 94.  Ultimately, this slow pace was very beneficial to the Lakers.  In order to win a pivotal Game 4, the Celtics must look to push the ball.

Rajon Rondo has quickly become of the league’s premier point guards.  Undoubtedly, he’s a top 4 point guard at the worst.  However, he can be limited in the half court offense.  Rondo still struggles at times to hit mid-range jumpers.  If his penetration is stopped (which, admittedly is difficult), his effectiveness is greatly reduced.  In the open court, Rondo has some of the best vision in the game.  He does a great job of setting up teammates for open shots.  On top of that, when Rondo has you one on one in the open court, odds are he’s going to make you look bad.  Rondo’s speed and quickness is otherworldly.  He’ll blow right past you for an easy two points.

Ray Allen also steps his game up in a quicker game.  In Game 2, the Celtics ran the court off misses and set up Allen for tons of open threes.  He hit 8 of them, including 7 in a row, to set a new NBA Finals record.  His ridiculous play won a must-win game for Boston in Game 2.  In Game 3, the play slowed down and Allen damn near set a  NBA Finals record for shooting futility.  While he’ll never play that bad again, Allen undoubtedly gets his best shots in the open court.

A third benefit is the easy points Kevin Garnett can gain to get him into a rhythm.  Game 3 started out quickly, with Garnett scoring 6 easy points.  It set up Garnett for one of the better games of his playoff career and he nearly earned a Finals win all by himself.  He may have done this even without the quick start, but it certainly got him into the game immediately.  Its an easy way to get the psychotic big into the game, which the Celtics need in order to negate the Lakers’s height advantage.

Finally, a break neck pace neutralizes Andrew Bynum.  Bynum started out Game 3 looking lost.  He was nothing short of awful.  While Phil Jackson worried that the quick turnaround from Game 2 to Game 3 would effect Bynum’s play, the pace of the game only compounded that concern.  However, as the game went on (and slowed down) Bynum become much more effective.  He didn’t match his play in Game 2, but he was able to provide some inside balance that the Lakers needed (partly because even Gasol’s points came from 15-18 feet out.)  As noted earlier, the Lakers have a height advantage and one way to take that away is to increase the pace of the game.

Ultimately, I still think the Lakers are slightly better than the Celtics.  The fact that they were able to slow down the game from its early fast pace is a testament to this.  That said, it is imperative that Celtics don’t allow that to happen again if they want to win Game 4 and this series.

Paul Pierce’s Struggles Are Bringing Down The Celtics

Game 3 of these NBA Finals was just different.  Kevin Garnett suddenly looked youthful, Ray Allen had the most absurd turnaround in maybe NBA history, Kobe shot like crap, and Derek Fisher took the game over by himself in the fourth quarter.  As a team, the Celtics even outscored the Lakers 50-38 in points in the paint and had 7 more assists and still lost.  Just weird, awkward stuff that probably shouldn’t be expected to happen again.

However, Boston’s biggest issue is that Paul Pierce is flat out playing awful basketball right now.  At first, it was logical to assume that this was due to Ron Artest and his defense.  Artest has played great shutdown defense in the playoffs.  He shut down Kevin Durant in the 1st round, in a series where the rest of the Thunder played well enough to win.  While Durant did average 25 points a game, it was on 35% shooting and 28% from three.  Those numbers were down from 30 points a game on 47% shooting and 36% from three.  Artest played a huge role in that 1st round series win.

In much the same way, Artest had appeared to be shutting down Pierce in Games 1 and 2.  Tonight, it became obvious that it was more than just Artest’s defense.  Artest had 2 fouls tonight within the first 2 minutes of the game.  This meant that for much of the 1st half Paul Pierce would be defended by Luke Walton, which should have been an easy way for the Celtics to get Pierce into the rhythm that he had not found yet in the 1st games of the series.  Not only did Pierce not find that rhythm, it seemed like the Celtics didn’t even bothered helping Pierce get into it.  This would have been the perfect time to force feed Pierce plenty of isolation plays and run some screens to get him some easy open shots.  Instead, the Celtics went continued playing basketball as if Ron Artest was still defending Pierce.  Pierce finished the 1st half with one field goal, and finished the game with 15 points many of which were cheap points made with the game decided.

Ultimately, the Celtics need Paul Pierce to get going.  While Rondo is the Celtics best player, Pierce is the most important one.  The offense needs him to be able to penetrate effectively and spread the court with some deep shots.  When this happens, the whole offense falls into place.  The reason why the Celtics won the NBA title in 2008 was not because they were tougher than the Lakers, but because Pierce abused Vladimir Radmonovic and Lamar Odom.  That has not been happening so far this series and its why the Celtics probably need to win the next two games to keep their title hopes alive.  If Pierce doesn’t get going, he might be right that the Celtics “ain’t coming back to LA.”

Quick Thoughts 6/7 NBA Finals Edition

• Lakers are still taking the series.
• Lakers take Game 3, Celtics Game 4, and Lakers finish off with wins in Games 5 and 6.
• Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett all played their worst game of the series in Game 2.
• Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen both played their best game of the series in Game 2.
• Paul Pierce won’t go off in any of the games in the series.  Artest shut down Durant to the point that he was actually to blame for the Thunder losing in the 1st round. Pierce, likewise, will be contained.
• The likelihood of Bynum replicating his Game 2 performance is low, but Boston cannot match up with the Lakers’s length at all.  If Odom shows up this series at all, that is only going to get worse for Boston.
• Due to that, Boston has exploited their advantage (Allen and Rondo) to the max.  The Lakers still haven’t exploited theirs (length) to the max.  In other words, the Lakers have further to go to reach their ceiling.  Thats not good for Boston.
• I really only have a problem with one foul in Game 2 and that was Kobe’s 5th. First, it wasn’t a charge. Secondly, it totally changes the complexion of the game. Huge missed call.
• The 2-3-2 format is still incredibly stupid. That’s all.
• Dear Staples Center Fans, “Be LA” is a lame response to “Beat LA”.  A nice, straight to the point, “Fuck Boston” will do just fine. Yours truly, an embarrassed Lakers fan.

LeBron to Chicago?

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA middleman World Wide Wes is telling those around him that LeBron is leaning towards Chicago.  Wojnarowski also notes that the Bulls never had much interest in their new coach Tom Thibodeau until he signed with Wesley’s CAA.  You know who else is signed to CAA? LeBron James.  Wojnarowski finds it interesting that within 48 hours the Bulls went to having no contact with Thibodeau to flying out to Los Angeles to interview and hire him.  It all went down extremely quick.

Ultimately, its probably the best stop for LeBron.  Miami would be an interesting destination if Wade, LeBron, and Bosh decided to take less money in order to have those three together as a trio.  But, we all know that scenario is a bit of a dream.  Its just not likely to happen.  The Cavaliers are currently a disaster.  They have no coach and recently agreed to part with Danny Ferry as their general manager.  On top of that, LeBron’s supposed wingman in Cleveland is on the trading block (also fun to note that Delonte West is on the trading block. Just saying.)  Returning to Cleveland at this point would be kind of stupid.  That team has reached its potential.  He’s not winning a title there.  As for New York, there’s just no reason to even consider the Knicks.  LeBron should just settle for putting up ridiculous games at Madison Square twice a year.

That leaves Chicago and New Jersey are reasonable suitors.  The Nets have a a good amount of young talent.  Brook Lopez is going to a very good player as he progresses.  Devin Harris is another good player, on top of young talent like Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and Yi Jianlian.  Plus, the Nets could potentially add a good young player in Evan Turner or DeMarcus Cousins.  Ultimately, the Nets have a nice team building up and will be moving to Brooklyn soon.  It wouldn’t be a bad place for LeBron to end up.  However, Chicago is ready now.  They’ve already built up their young talent and have two legitimate wingmen in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.  Beyond that, role players like Loul Deng, Brad Miller, Taj Gibson, and Kirk Hinrich are already in place.  The Bulls are a team primed to be a contender.  Signing LeBron instantly makes them one, and possibly the favorite to win titles for the next 5 years.

Certainly the connections that World Wide West has built up has created a strong enough argument for LeBron to end up in Chicago.  The whole situation with Tom Thibodeau happened too quickly for it to be done based just on Thibodeau’s qualities himself (though he is deserving of the job.)  On top of that, Chicago just makes sense for LeBron.  They have the wingmen and role players necessary to take the next step.  The only question is whether or not LeBron actually does make the move.

NBA stands at LeBron’s beck and call [Yahoo!]

Big XII Pushes Re-Alignment Up

We’ve known for some time that the current landscape of college sports would be changing at some point.  The Big Ten started it by agreeing to look at expansion.  The Pac 10 then made it obvious that were interested in expansion and the SEC has made it known that they will look at expansion once the Big Ten and Pac 10 make their moves.  The Big 10 though had been hoping to make this a slower, more drawn out process.  However, that may have changed.

This past week the Pac 10′s plans to add 6 teams from the Big XII (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado) to become the Pac 16 were leaked.  It appears those six schools are seriously considering that offer as they have put an ultimatum on Nebraska to commit to the Big XII by Friday (Missouri may have received the ultimatum as well.)  Nebraska (and Missouri) are, of course, being courted by the Big Ten for their expansion.  The problem is though that Big Ten still has not formally giving out an invitation to anyone.  So, Nebraska is now stuck in a unenviable position.  Do they commit to a conference that may not exist much longer or do they depend on the Big Ten to come invite them and risk potentially being left out to dry?

The good news for Nebraska though is that their does seem to be some mutual interest between the Big Ten and Nebraska.  Reportedly, Nebraska AD Tom Osborne and Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel met recently to talk about expansion.  While this is still informal talks, its obvious that Tressel was talking on behalf of the Big Ten to Osborne.  For the Big Ten, adding Nebraska does add another strong traditional football program, although it does not add a great television network for the Big Ten Network.  Assuming Missouri comes over as well, the Big Ten would probably have to add Rutgers and Syracuse (plus another school – Iowa State?) to attempt to gain the New York market for the Big Ten Network.

Regardless, it appears the new landscape for major collegiate sports is about to become set.  With the Big XII’s ultimatum we’ll see Nebraska have to decide its future.  After that, we’ll see whether the other six Big XII schools are ready to move over to the Pac 10 or not.  From there, the remaining 4 Big XII schools will have to find new homes and the ACC and Big East will hope to keep their schools from joining a potentially expanding SEC.  One thing we know for sure, college football and basketball will look vastly different soon than it does today.

Nebraska emails: Osborne, Tressel met [ESPN]

Nebraska, possibly Missouri reportedly told to make decisions soon [CBS Sports]

Dave Trembley Fired, But He’s Not the Main Problem

The Baltimore Orioles finally put Dave Trembley out of his misery yesterday, removing him as manager after a 15-39 start this season. The O’s responsded under new interim manager Juan Samuel by getting creamed 11-0 by Boston. Awesome.

While there was no indication that Trembley was a good manager, he’s far from the only problem. The decay in this franchise from top to bottom is well known, and I won’t repeat it here, if only for my own sanity. I will note something that one would think is easily fixable, but shows how misguided this organization truly is.

Terry Crowley became hitting coach in 1999. This was his second stint as hitting coach in Baltimore. He also was hitting coach in Minnesota for most of the 90s, was a former utility man, and if you believe Earl Weaver, is lucky to be in fucking baseball. This was make the 2010 season Crowley’s 12th at the helm. In that time, the O’s have been below .500 all of those years (and certainly will this year), and have gone through five managers. Yet somehow Crowley stays on. Maybe it’s misguided loyalty, maybe he has dirt on Angelos, but otherwise I don’t get it. Crowley certainly hasn’t done anything to prove he’s worth keeping. Since he came back on, these are the Orioles’ rankings in runs scored and OBP.

1999:   8th in runs, 5th in OBP

2000:  11th in runs, 10th in OBP

2001:  13th in runs, 13th in OBP

2002:  13th in runs, 13th in OBP

2003:  10th in runs, 11th in OBP

2004:  6th in runs, 4th in OBP

2005:  10th in runs, 8th in OBP

2006:  10th in runs, 8th in OBP

2007:  9th in runs, 9th in OBP

2008:  8th in runs, 8th in OBP

2009:  11th in runs, 8th in OBP

2010*: 14th in runs, 14th in OBP

*through games played on June 4th

I remind you all that there are 14 teams in the American League, meaning during Crowley’s tenure, the Orioles were an above average offensive team once, in 2004. Part of this is certainly personnel, but the trend is there. This year, things have bottomed out, with a team ranking last in the AL in both runs and OBP. It’s a lineup of hackers, and even more damning to Crowley, the young hitters that are supposed to be the future have struggled. Matt Wieters is hitting .236/.310/.331 for a 74 OPS+.  Adam Jones also has a 74 OPS+. Nolan Remiold is in AAA. Only Nick Markakis of the young players in hitting well, but his excellent .391 OBP is blunted by a mere .417 slugging percentage. Crowley’s #1 job right now should be developing the young hitters, and by all accounts he’s failed miserably.

Firing Terry Crowley will not fix the Orioles by any means. However, a team can’t rebound until it realizes what it’s doing wrong and change its ways. For the Orioles, that means finally realizing that Earl Weaver was correct about Terry Crowley.

Pau and KG – Probably Not Good Friends

Possibly the most memorable event from Game 1 of these NBA Finals was how much Pau Gasol had improved since the 2008 NBA Finals.  In 2008, Kevin Garnett and the rest of the Celtics bigs manhandled Gasol and the Lakers.  However, the 2010 Finals looks like they will be different.  Gasol played beautiful basketball and his inside presence combined with Kobe’s outside presence created a dominating performance from the Lakers.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Pau Gasol is extremely motivated during these NBA Finals, which may not be a good sign for the Celtics and their fans.  Gasol was offended by Garnett in the 2008 Finals, not so much in how KG dominated him but how KG felt the need to belittle Gasol.  Wojnarowski says that Gasol doesn’t just want to defeat Garnett, but hopes to completely embarrass him.  If he keeps up his performance from Game 1, he should consider that goal a completed success.

Wojnarowski’s reporting gains steam with Gasol’s comments from Friday.  According to Gasol, Garnett has “lost some explosiveness” and is “more of a jump shooter now”.  Apparently Gasol really does hope to not just defeat Garnett but to embarrass him as well.  Of course, Gasol is correct but it probably also isn’t necessary to blatantly state that especially after just one game.

If Game 1 was any sign, we clearly are seeing a very motivated Pau Gasol right now.  He felt embarrassed by Garnett in the 2008 Finals and is hoping to repay the favor.  While it was only one game, it looks very likely that he will do just that.  I only hope that also means Gasol can say he’s won more titles than Garnett as well.

Feel his fury: Gasol pushes back [Yahoo!]

Gasol says KG now a jump shooter [ESPN]

Everyone Wants Texas

Yesterday, the Pac 10′s plans to become a super-conference were leaked.  The Pac 10 reportedly hopes to add six teams from the Big XII including Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.  Obviously, this would be a major shakeup and would kill off the Big XII.  However, it seems Texas may have more than one suitor.

An e-mail found by The Columbus Dispatch shows the Ohio State president Gordon Gee has talked to Texas president Bill Powers about joining the Big Ten.  The Big Ten’s plans to expand have been known for some time.  Right now, the Big Ten is money-making machine due to its huge schools’s alumni base and its own successful television network.  Each Big Ten school makes about $10 million more in revenue than Texas does per year.  With Texas being the most profitable college football team in the nation (even over Notre Dame), it seems like Texas would be a natural fit for the Big Ten.

Texas, beyond being a cash cow itself, brings a ton to the Big Ten.  It would add millions of new subscribers to the Big Ten network.  Houston, the Dallas-Forth Worth area, and San Antonio are among the largest markets in the nation.  The addition of Texas alone also allows for the expansion of a Big Ten title game.  There are rumors that the Big Ten wants to expand to 16 teams, which would certainly bring Nebraska and Missouri who were already rumored to be coming to the Big Ten.  One has to wonder if Notre Dame may even consider joining a conference that includes Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas?

The Pac 10 on the other hand just does not offer as much to Texas as it stands.  The Big Ten is the most successful conference when it comes to revenue.  While the new proposed 16 team Pac 10 (16?) would certainly bring in higher revenues, it seems a bit unlikely that it would be greater than the Big Ten’s revenues.

Ultimately, Texas is going to have many options to choose from.  The Big XII is clearly unstable and is going to be raided for the expansion of some conference(s), so staying put is not much of an option.  The Pac 10 and Big Ten are clearly already positioning themselves for you.  The SEC will certainly offer a spot in their conference eventually as well.  I think when it comes down to it, Texas will choose between the SEC and Big Ten and go with the lower travel costs of the SEC (plus, you know, the automatic birth to the BCS “title” game every single year.)

E-mail hints at Texas in Big Ten addition talks [Yahoo!]

Armando Galarraga Throws The First 28 Out Perfect Game Ever

Armando Galarraga was one out away from the 21st perfect game in MLB history (and 2nd in four days, 3rd in a month!).  That is, until Jim Joyce took it away.  Jason Donald weakly hit a ball that Miguel Cabrera had to go after. Galarraga went and covered first like he was supposed to and he had Donald out by a good step.  It really wasn’t even that close of a call.  However, Jim Joyce found a way to blow it and called Donald safe.  Even Donald’s immediate reaction was one of disbelief as if he felt guilty about being safe.  Galarraga got the next batter out to throw the first 28 out perfect game.  Here are some looks of the play at first from  @Jose3030.

Obviously, and rightfully so, this will spark up a new discussion over instant replay.  History was robbed tonight and to let such an atrocious human error take it away is unfair to Armando Galarraga and every other player in a Tigers uniform tonight (especially after that sick catch Austin Jackson made to lead off the inning.)  Yes, instant replay may slow the game down a bit, but how do you not let it in as part of the game after that blown call?  The ball is in your court, Bud Selig. Don’t ever allow this to happen again. Ever.