I’ve been saying for a good long while that the Magic simply are a mediocre team who can occasionally go on a great shooting run. Plus SVG is the certified “Master of Panic.”
And it was all proved last night.
Why coaches don’t foul when they’re up 3 is beyond me. Afriad they are going to take a “shot”???!?! Nonsense. The seconds it’s touched across half court. Wrap em. It’s that easy. Let em shoot. Do your job and rebound. That’s how you close games.
What SVG??? You like going toe to toe and LETTING Jameer Nelson give one of the ice cold closers of the game HAVE his 3.
And this is not take away from Derek Fisher. The guy was supposedly too old and busted to be effective. Over the course of the game he just can’t put 35 minutes together any more. All game he couldn’t hit the side of a bus. But in the last two minutes you STAY on him at the three line. He’s a great closer. He’ll hit that last one. Like big shot Rob. Like Ray Allen. Like Reggie Miller. You STAY ON HIM. You don’t give him three feet.
And you FOUL him before it even gets there.
Just absurd.
And it helps prove why Orlando should never have been in this finals in the first place.
Just a joke.
I can’t believe I actually like the Lakers better in this series.
Is it possible to not want either team to win? How glorious would that be. Kobe not getting his ring on his own, and the Magic being laughed off the court.
Orlando is up 3 to 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
How the hell is this possible? Cleveland was supposed to have a cakewalk to the finals and for good reason, they played fantastic all year long. So how is this happening?
I’m calling it the NY Giants Corollary. A team that was pretty much dismissed as dysfunctional meanders into the playoffs, gets hot at that moment and suddenly becomes a complete different team. It happened again last year with the Arizona Cardinals. They were a joke and suddenly they were in the super bowl. And we’re watching it right now with the Orlando Magic. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing Dwight Howard come of age right before us. I like underdogs playing above their talent. One of the greatest sports runs I’ve had as a fan was th e2001 Pats playoff run (even including apparent divine intervention and tuck rule discrepancy in Oakland).
But the sports fan in me also hates it with a vehement passion. Because what happens with the minority occurrence becomes the majority occurrence. It robs the moment of any kind of meaning. Every year any team can just “put it together” for a few weeks and contend. I’ve watched this Orlando team all year. They were streaky. They had major problems. Guys wouldn’t show up. Either Howard played well or the rest of the team did. As of Game 6 in the Boston series, they became a radically different team. They were efficient. Their “3 Ball” game suddenly became less reckless and desperate. They found a functional ball movement with Howard. He figured out better ways of getting down low (he still has no post game though). Petruis (Spelling?) suddenly became lights out… or SVG finally just, you know, starting playing him. And speaking of SVG I’m supposed to believe the ultimate headcase has suddenly just become and excellent coach? Cause that’s what he’s been doing this series: coaching the hell out of it. No. That’s not “who he always was.” This guy had shown a complete lack of coherence and confidence his entire career. Now he just “figured it out”? I don’t get it.
It’s a completely different team and we’re just supposed to say they were there all along?
I don’t know. The Cavs have been the best team in the NBA all year long. They’re not just suddenly sucking or anything. Maybe this is the Magic coming of age but part of me believes this is just like the Colorado Rockies in 2007; they’re just getting hot at the right time. Statistically they’re on a whole other level right now. It’s seems to come out of nowhere.
Maybe I’m wrong. Casual and some serious sports fans seem to love it. But that makes no sense to me. I like seeing teams just play at incredibly high levels. I don’t need to see a close game. I need to see great basketball. Great football. Great baseball, etc. When both teams play great? Perfect. But when a team is just playing at its height, dominating a season then coming to the playoffs to take care of business and go toe to toe with rivals? That’s the best. The 90s bulls. The 80s lakers/celtics. That’s the best basketball. And yes Orlando is playing wonderfully but I just get this sick feeling in my stomach that its inconsistent with who they are. They haven’t shown even flashes of this ice cold killer instinct they’ve had on display since game 6. I’m less amazed and more bewildered.
In an age where the exception becomes the rule, I’m still trying to be a fan of the rule.
For a blog where I spend half the time bitching about stuff I don’t like, I do try to avoid careless internet asshatery and needless contrarian bullshit, and instead focus on some kind of minuate, or larger theoretical argument. Let’s be honest, often the internet descends into “I HATE YOU’RE YOUR FAVORITE THING!!!!!!!! RARRRRRRRRR! U R GAY!!!!”. I try to avoid that. But… Occasionally I indulge in my more base tendancies. So for this week:
Here’s a list of 5 people I would punch if I saw them.
#4, Kobe Bryant
Reasons: A complete and total sociopath. Seriously, think about it. Isn’t something always off about his behavior? He’s so put on. He’s like a robot in interviews trying to mimic human behaviors and emotions, meanwhile coming off as the most calculated dude ever. He fake laughs too. Fuck, he makes A-Rod seem like George Clooney. He’s never acted like a human being unless he’s yelling or sexually assaulting someone. He also scored 61 points last night and is a great basketball player. IRRELEVANT.
Judgment: American’s have a high tolerance for athlete asshatery. In fact, we often like it (witness: Barkely, Charles). For some reason we will not tolerate a player being a total jerkface as long as their entertaining and truthful. But the second you become a political-answering prop (clearly visable against your inclinations) we immediately hate you. And the more successful you are, the more that spotlight shines, and the more apparent your transparency becomes. Therefore, Kobe, I hate you.
Punishment: PUNCHED.
Difficulty: Probab security team, Very, very tall, He could easily take me.
This is my 100th “like” post. Meaning I’m now on my 200th post. For such a prolific moment, I was going to do a post about something life-changing, but that was pretty hard so instead I’m going to talk about basketball.
I don’t know if you noticed, but Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is playing out of his fucking mind lately.
He had his first triple double last week and last night he put up a line of 25, 9, 8, and 3. Hells yeah! He’s got great speed and tenacity. His head is on straight. He’s learning how to penetrate. His jump shot is inconsistent but improving. And sure he’s still showing some mistakes of youth, but the moments of brilliance are coming fast and furious. My favorite thing to watch are his full-scale fake-outs. The fake behind the back passes, where he’s palming it like a baseball and throwing off every defender in a five foot radius. He has such great control of the backboard and can put in anything from any contorted position. It’s so much fun to watch a player develop. And Rondo is coming out of his proverbial training bra.
The central question for any guard is easy: is he in Chris Paul’s league? Well, if you mean the NBA then yes. But is he anywhere near Chris Paul in terms of awesomeness? Well, no. But that’s cause CP3 is in the running to be considered one of the greatest point guards ever (somewhere in top 5). Rondo however could eventually work his way into being a top 3 point guard in the league. He certainly went toe to toe with Deron Williams last night. He’s already a better defender than Williams too. And that ain’t not that bad!
So let’s hope the Big Three can become the Fab Four. And if Perk becomes even more of a beast then the High 5!
The WNBA is a tax write off for the NBA. That’s why it still exists.
As it’s own independent thing it is a commercial failure, let’s make no quams about this, but that’s okay. The WNBA hasn’t attracted male viewership because the quality is not as good as the NBA. It’s that simple. It’s the reason foreign soccer viewership is up, but not MLS. People want to see the best soccer just like they want to see the best basketball. There’s only so much sports to watch and people watch women’s tennis because it is actually an excellent product. Everyone says that Candace Parker’s consecutive dunks are transforming the game. They’re not. A step in the right direction? You bet.
The sport simply needs more physicality so it can look like modern basketball. It’ll happen with due time. Women are getting taller and stronger. It’s just a matter of time before they can throw it down over someone consistently. This isn’t sexist. Not in the slightest. It’s just a matter of sports nuance. Are WNBA players great shooters? You bet. They have incredible fundamentals and I’d be happy to show kids tape on how to create ball movement for set shots. But sit down and watch a game? It just doesn’t measure up to the physicality.
Which is exactly why the sports biggest new star getting into a throwdown last night is so important. Because it is awesome. Brawls are exciting. I don’t care what anyone says, brawls exhibit passion, pride, and physicality. The very thing that viewers like to see. The story has ALREADY gotten way more hits and interest than any other story in the WBNA and it happened last night. And it’s not all retarded catfight jokes. It’s much more legitimate than that.
For those unaware, whenever the Lakers start achieving a modicum of success in the playoffs (usually it has to be making it to the conference finals, or NBA finals) Angelinos start putting these dumb-ass flags all over their cars. The fact that these only come out when the Lakers are championship bound is the sure sign of a fair-weather fan base and all around crappiness.
I walked into work last Thursday wearing my Pierce jersey (totally awesome) and got not only the reactions of “Boston!? YOU LIKE BOSTON!??!” (to which I have to calmly tell them “I’m from Boston”) but better yet got a vast amount of scoffing at the very notion that Boston had a chance to win this series.
Whenever I pointed out that they did, I received the nicely ironic rebuttable of “then why are the Vegas odds so against them!?” Luckily that one’s easy, LA gamblers outnumber Boston ones in Vegas about 7:1. Boom. Easy. The line is meant to split the votes, hence, bigger odds.
Flashforward and here we are with the Celtics up 2-0. Needless to say no one is scoffing at me today, but ALREADY, there wasn’t a single Lakers flag on the way to work today. For the last week I’ve seen at least 30-40 no lie (there’s a lot of cars in LA). This morning, people have event taken down their Lakers memoriablia down from the front doors of their offices.
Are Lakers fans THAT fair-weather? I thought this is was a real rivalry and they’re jumping ship at the first signs of trouble? I like this cause it confirms their lameness. Yet, I want the intensity. I want the rivalry!
Of course, I fully expect these sullen ninnies to be back on the bandwagon, flying thier dumb flags, and saying “I told you so!” when the Lakers scratch together a couple of wins.
Or if they lose game 3… “Lakers? Nah. They suck. I Never liked em”
Flopping, for those who don’t know, is the act of falling to the ground and pretending like you were hurt and acting like a little bitch so you can disown your manhood and get a foul call.
Over-acting has always been a part of the game, as has “selling the foul” but throughout NBA history it’s pretty much been regulated to just happening in the moment. Not so much anymore. Flopping is happening so frequently and to such great effect that it started becoming a noticeable part of the game. Refs finally started to not call that shit, leaving said players to look like retards. Finally, the NBA is doing something about it for real and is going to implement fines for flopping.
The flopping development is partially just a natural evolution of the game (LeBron participates a little too much for my liking. Jordan didn’t do that. He would get fouled then stare at the ref like he was going to murder his family in their sleep), but most of it has to do with the influx of international players, who all seem to take part in this shenanigan.
First off, I love the influx of international players. They’re hyper-talented, bring a global interest to the game, and play great roles/fundamental basketball. It’s wonderful.
But they also flop. Maybe it’s the influence of soccer, I dunno. Maybe it’s just how they play games professionally around the world. I really don’t know. I just know Americans don’t like it. I don’t like it.
Finally, the owners want to do something about the wussification of the NBA. David Stern’s rules on “can’t talk back to the refs” is so bullshit that it’s turned the NBA into a bunch of guys who can’t show passion on the court. What the hell does he know about the game of basketball? He never played. He’s a lawyer. And people who don’t think that the “can’t talk back” rule/the dress code rule/and the “can’t step off the bench” rule aren’t all racially motivated are nuts. As soon as the NBA incorporated the Gangsta culture it was suddenly perceived they weren’t being gentlemen and turned into a bunch of thugs. That’s horseshit. The 80’s were all about thugging and it was great. Fan interest was at an all time high.
The greatest foul of that thug era was Dave Cowens. An “enraged Cowens, fed up with a second fake flop to draw an offensive foul in the same game”, ran the Houston guard down in front of the Celtics’ bench, leveled him with a “double forearm shiver”, which completely threw him into the stands. He then ran over to the referee and screamed “Now that’s a fucking foul!” (that’s often quoted without the “fucking” because papers can’t print that part). Today he would be ejected for 10+ games. Back then? just thrown out of the game and that’s it.
… I miss the 80s NBA so much
Also, Flopping in Soccer is like a whole different level too. My Favorite story (quoted from Wiki):
“In 1989, Rojas was in goal for Chile’s 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Brazil at Rio De Janeiro’s Maracanã stadium. Chile, down 1-0, would be eliminated from the upcoming World Cup with a loss. Around the 70-minute mark, Rojas fell to the pitch writhing and holding his forehead. A firework, thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosemary de Mello, was smoldering about a yard away. Rojas, his head bloodied, was carried off the field by his teammates who then refused to return claiming conditions were unsafe. The match went unfinished.
Video evidence later showed that Rojas had not been hit by the firework. His head injury was discovered to have been self-inflicted with a razor blade hidden in his glove. FIFA awarded Brazil a 2-0 win, effectively eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup. As a consequence, Chile was banned from the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Rojas was banned for life.
In 2001, following a request for pardon, Rojas’ ban was lifted by FIFA.”
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Posted by mgss 
