RIP Guru

Rest In Peace to an iconic rapper and Boston's best of all time, 1/2 of Gang Starr, Guru. Tragic for hip hop fans, even if it did seem inevitable for awhile there.



Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal.

Hot hot heat

It was 90 degrees in Boston all day today (For Hursty and the rest of the world, that's over 32 degrees celsius). On April 7 in New England, that's unheard of. And tomorrow, the high is 58. I've heard about global warming, I saw An Inconvenient Truth, and if this isn't climate change then I don't know what is. A forty-degree change between two days is ridiculous.

There has been some "climate change" in the NBA lately. Two examples: the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Celtics have flat-out sucked lately. They've lost four out of the last five games, and the win was to the Cavs, who own the best record in the league and have clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. So that was a good win, but they still blew a 20 point lead in the fourth, so it left a bad taste in Celtics fans' mouths. The losses came to the Spurs (understandable), Thunder (understandable), the Rockets without Kevin Martin, Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza (shouldn't have happened) and the Knicks (inexcusable).

The Celtics' painful inconsistency has been embarrassing lately for a Celtics fan. I'm not embarrassed about losing--the wins and losses will come, especially when your team is aging quickly, it can all be expected. But the reason that it's been embarrassing lately is some of their apparent arrogance. Garnett is still jawing, and he can't back it up. So is the rest of the team. THAT is the embarrassing part. I can't apologize for the club that I root for, but if I could, I would. I wish the Celts could just shut up and play as hard as they can.

Which is something they haven't been doing lately, apparently. In the paper I've read countless quotes about how "their hearts aren't in it". It's a pretty quick turnaround that the Celtics have had lately. I'm not saying they're out of it, I'm not--but their ball lately has been painfully inconsistent for sure. Especially from the point of view of a MA resident and Celtics fan. It just bugs me that they're complaining about the calls WHILE the other team is putting up a layup on the other side.

The OKC Thunder sucked last year. AND the year before. But a lot of us knew that they would come around and be a playoff team in the future (I see you, BET), and right now, I see them as a formidable foe in the playoffs in the West this year. Yeah, their average age is 23. Which only means that they're ready to take the league by storm in years to come. Durantula going off for 40 seemingly every night. People haven't caught on yet, but Russell Westbrook is a nightly triple-double threat. Jeff Green is insanely versatile. The one thing that this Thunder team is missing is a decent center. After that....the league's theirs.

I feel like I (maybe all of us) can relate to this team more than any other because of their youth, style of play and tight-knit-ness off the court, because that's the sort of cameraderie that I feel with my friends/teammates, and they do things that we all do, based on articles I read and quotes that I hear. This team is so intriguing and fun to watch, when I was watching them own the Celtics in the fourth the other night, I found it hard to know who I was rooting for. And that NEVER happens, it was just impulse.

So, the NBA waters have been churning lately, and new things have been coming out for these seasons. I'm not saying that these huge turnarounds are unpredictable, but who knew that Garnett was gonna fall off THIS much, and that OKC would be near the top of the West NOW?

Then again, did anyone predict that the hottest day of the year in Beantown could end up coming at the beginning of April?

--Moose

Game Notes! Hawks @ Bobcats

-By Hursty-

Whadddddup!
So, these are live game notes of the Hawks/'Cats clash (duh).

Hawks are at 49-26, Cats at 40-36 on the season.

I'm watching the feed from the local Atlanta station, so don't get mad at me if 'Nique gets all excited, and I decide to write about.. whatever it is he's rambling on about.

Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby are both out today, so it's likely Jamal Crawford will get the start. Jeff Teague is expected to see extended minutes off the bench.

J-Creezy had a 50pt game against the Bobcats last year, just fyi.

Well, looks like Teague and Mo Evans will start tonight, Crawford will begin the game oooon the bench.

1st Quarter:

Diaw takes Evans in the post, then Smoove takes Diaw. Touch'e sir.

Teague is super quick, but... can't really control it. Gets his shot blocked by Ratliff (yes, Theo is still in the L), then turns it over a few possessions later. Charlotte lead 10-6 early.

Wallace misses a fast-break dunk, but makes amends 20 seconds later, and the 'Cats lead 14-6. Time out Hawks.

Boris Diaw's ass looks bigger in HD.

Wallace throws down a 'meh' alley-oop off the inbounds, assist to Diaw.
Crawford checks in.

Mario West is in the game for "defensive purposes". It's 21-10 Cats.

Mo Evans sucks, and Mario can't dribble the ball. Half-court trap? West has never heard of it.

Bobcats are just dominating all facets of the game right now. Good interior defense, strong transition game, and they're finishing at the rack - unless Smoove gets a piece of it.

28-12 Cats are up.

Diaw gets a nice seal, feeds it to Tyson Chandler, who's just checkd in. Chandler throws down. Then Mario West goes baseline for the strong jam over Chandler.

Oh, man. Atlanta looks UGLY without Joe Johnson in the line-up. Bibby not so much, but Joe just does so much for the Hawks. Crawford airballs a 3 at the buzzer to end the 1st Q.

Bobcats have 11 made field goals. They've also got 11 assists. Efficiency at it's best.

-2nd Quarter-

Just quietly, Raymond Felton looks like he's been taking dieting advice from Boris.

Tyrus Thomas checks in and promptly commits an offensive foul. Yay!

Bobcats lead is "cut" to 14, after it had blown out to 20. Chandler decides to take matters into his own hands however, and on the third attempt gets a put-back to go. *Insert celebatory fist-pump*

Josh Smith is the only dude on the Hawks who's contributing offensively, and he's doing it off offensive rebounds and put-backs. 'Cats are still up by 17 though.

Crawford has 11 now, Wallace leads all scorers with 16. Actually, make that 18 - opportunity for an And-1. Smoove picks up his 3rd foul.

Wallace has 19, Smoove has a seat. Bobcats lead 51-33.

Wallace is just silky smooth. Another 3pt play gives him 22. Can I say he's in Predator mode?

Bobcats force another turnover. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Evans looses the ball off of his foot. Chandler gets an And-1 dunk (he hits the FT as well).

Cats finish the half with an 11-3 run, and lead 59-36 at the half.

-3rd Quarter-

Crawford starts in place of Teague, no suprise there. Horford kicks things off with a 15 footer, Felton misses, Crawford throws up a brick, then Felton decides to drive, $ money.

Hahaha, Diaw blocks Josh Smith's lay-up attempt, then misses the easy lay-up. He redeems himself 20 seconds later though.

Crawford hits a 3, and it's 63-43. Wait, no. S Jax hits a 3.

J-Creezy leads the Hawks in: pts (14), 3's (2), assists (4), minutes and turn-over's.

Hawks cut it to 14 after Smith blocks Wallace and gets a transition lay-up at the other end. Annnnd, Felton knocks down a 3.

Boris Diaw triple double alert! He's got 12, 7, 5 and most suprisingly... 2 blocks!
Wallace has 22 and 4. S-Jax has 8, 4, 3 and 2.

The T.V shows a great stat - the Bobcats have only lost 9 games at home this season. Orlando and the Hawks have only lost 7. Talk about protecting your home-court advantage.

Hmmm, Hawks have cut it to 13. 75-62, after Crawford knocks down a 3. Evans does likewise, and it's now a 10 point game. Hawks have also gone to a zone.

Charlotte takes time, and quickly disintegrates the Atlanta zone, peppering it from the perimeter. Bobcats lead 82-67 with 1.05 remaining in the 3rd.

-4th Quarter-

Bah, boring 4th so far. Most interesting thing so far is Wallace jumping into the 3rd row.

Teague hits a 3, cutting it to 10. Teague slids into the paint for two. But Evans and Wallace
answer the call. Evans has three 3's.

Bobcats lead 102-88. D.J Augustine has come to life. Wallace is still scoring at will, he's got 28. 5.45 remaining in the 4th.

The crowd is doing mexican waves... good times. 105-92 'Cats lead. Tyson Chandler is 6/7 from
the FT line. What!

Great hustle by Diaw - of all people - leads to a 2nd chance opportunity for the 'Cats. Josh Smith deflects a potential alley-oop to Chandler, who goes sprawling. Anyways, Diaw has 15, 9, 9, a steal and two blocks, 1 turn-over.

Charlotte lead 105-94, with 2.27 remaining in the 4th.

Shoutout to Betcats! Whaddddup man!

Neither team is particularly motivated to close out the game, and Charlotte trots out with a W.

Happy birthday to S-Jax, who turned 32(!) yesterday.

Diaw finishes with 17, 9, 9, 2, 1.

G-Force finishes with a game-high 28 and 6 rebounds.

For the Hawks, Horford finishes with a super quiet 16, 12, 3 and 2.
Mo Evans lead the Hawks scoring with 20, and Crawford ended up with 18 and 6 assists off the bench.

Overall, a very solid win for the 'Cats, who lead from start to finish. Their 41st win of the season ensures that for the first time in franchise history, they won't have a loosing record.



Peace, Hursty.