Welcome to the Plastic Beach

You mad?

98-83!

Previous to this game, things fell apart on us Chinua Achebe style. We were playing like shit. After what we did last night though, i have faith we will make the playoffs. Combined with the Bulls inexperience, the Bucks failure to be consistent, and the Heat's dependence on Wade, i see us pushing one of them out of the playoffs. It will be hard(**thats what she said**) but i think it will happen.

That's about all i have to say....

Prioritising Horribly

This was something I found that really made me think.
What are your priorities in life? What matters to you? To our generation? To our future?

What's Going On?

A Moose Track

"Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today"

An NBA season can do a lot to a team. Sometimes it takes a year for the players to jell, to get used to one another, and to perform well. Sometimes a team starts out strong, builds steam, and comes into the playoffs looking for blood. And, sometimes a team starts out strong, and then tapers off . . . like the 2009-10 Boston Celtics.

Before the all-star break, the Celtics were playing their worst basketball of the season. From January 11 to all-star weekend, they went 6-9, dropping games to Atlanta (2), LAL, New Orleans, Orlando (2), Dallas, Detroit and the LAC. The short break was going to be their resting time; they were going to come back and take the league by storm.

And they did, for a second there. They came back to face a west-coast trip with match-ups against Denver, Portland, Los Angeles and Sacramento, going 3-1. Ray Allen was shooting, something that he hadn't done since the middle of the season last year. Kevin Garnett was looking like KG, the first time he had played like he can since the surgery.

And then they came back home, beating the Knicks 110-106. On the surface, this looks fine. But the Celtics, who have prided themselves as a defense-minded team for the better part of three years now, looked like they just didn't give a rip about giving up buckets. The next two games the Celtics were matched up against the top and the bottom: The Cavaliers and the Nets.

Boston led for most of the matchup, and suddenly, in the middle of the fourth quarter, something changed (I didn't watch it because a power outage in Massachusetts took out my TV in the middle of the 4th. Huge storm with a ton of damage took us down, bunch of rain, most people didn't have power until yesterday). The Celtics blew the lead, eventually losing by 20 to the best team in the league. A loss is understandable, but a blown lead late in the game is inexcusable. It shows that they can't handle any of the elite teams in one game, much less a seven game series.

On Saturday, the Celtics played the Nets at 1 o'clock. I didn't even consider watching it. I was hanging out with my friends during the game, I didn't even see a point in watching it. When I got home, my mom informed me that the C's had lost to the Nets. I was more confused than Wally Szczerbiak in a half-court trap. The Celtics are considered to be title candidates, and even my Mom knows that the Nets suck. It was their sixth win of the year. Their sixth.

But then I looked at the box score, and three things stood out. The Nets were 34-41 from the charity stripe. 34-41. 34-41. The Celtics were 9-11. The Nets shot 44.4% from the field. Boston shot 50% and still lost. The Nets went 6-13 from downtown, where the Celtics went 3-19. There are only a few justifiable reasons for this loss.

The Celtics aren't playing defense like they used to. Yes, Pierce was out for these last two games, but this isn't just about those last two games. The Celtics have lost something. The defense isn't there. Nobody should let the New Jersey Nets take 41 free throws. Nobody. Our defense is gone.

The other thing. Rasheed Wallace needs to play like he should. He shouldn't be taking five or six threes a night. He needs to get on the block, post up and do what he does best. His leadership should be a big part of the team, and instead he just gains us four or five bricks from long a night.

We needed to do something at the trade deadline. So we got Nate Robinson. Did it improve us all that much? We aren't sure. But all this failure from such a talented team begs one question: What's going on?

--Moose

Remember Way Back When?

Remember when Jerry Stackhouse was averaging 30ppg in Detroit?
When Rasheed Wallace got 41 Technical Fouls in 2001?
When LeBron was just a kid, not all bitter at the game?
When Kevin Garnett was a perennial MVP candidate?
When Greg Oden dominated all things, and everything?
When Jermaine O'Neal would have his way with anyone he wanted in the post?

Jordan's fading pivot to (seemingly) win the All-Star Game for the East in 2003?
The 2008 Giants?
The 2009 Steelers?
2010 Ole Miss Football team?
Joe Johnson as a Celtic?
Tayshaun playing in like, 400 straight games?
Hakeem as a Raptor?
Before Birthay Sex, and you had to ask 21 Questions?
Before New Orleans was flooded and Kanye spoke his mind. Truly.
The Jay-Z vs. Nas BEEF

Malace at the Palace
Ron Artest as a King?
Eminem before The Eminem Show
Tiger Woods as a loving, faithful father
Lady GaGa's first No. 1 single (name it in the comments)
That chick who sang the "right round" part in Timbaland's version? Yeh, that was Ke$ha

Remember where you were when Michael Jackson's death was filtering through?
What about the Twin Towers? (I was getting ready to go to school)

The Blackstar Album?
Before the Kardashians?
Run It - Chris Brown?
Confessions?
Breathe - Fabolous
Your first crush? Remember, that girl you couldn't ever speak to because you would say something really, really stupid by accident? Mhmm. Word vomit man.
When TMZ was about as well-known as UFC

The line "It's ok to lose your pride over someone you love, but don't lose someone you love, over your pride"
Shaq destroying fools in 04/5 with Wade, and his fall-off in the space of two years?
The Bulls of 2009 being almost the exact same team as they were in 06/7?
'Melo with braids? ... actually, everyone with braids?
Drew Gooden's ducktail soulpatch?
Mike Redd - All-Star
Carlos Boozer - Gold Medalist

Before ball was life, and life was ball?

When Hibachi 2.0 dominated the blogging world and brought the internet to it's knees? Yeah. This is just a reminder. We run this shit.

Did somebody call for an auction?!

While some really terrible things have happened in my life, none are more terrible than what i have recently experienced. While i am in some emotional pain right now, i feel as though what has happened could not have been stopped and i need to keep on living my life. It will never be the same, but it doesnt have to. That being said....

Whats up America! Im just trying to chill now and think, and i figured i might as well collect some of my thoughts on certain 'subjects on interest' to all of us, or at least me.

I will start where the last piece (by Daddy 'bachi himself DP left off (irony of DP being a father? Someone with the intials of the way you become a father ( or dont become a father depending on the hole you chose) is something i didnt forsee until after i typed it). Enough of the tanget, i am talking about this blog. Shit is happening. We all have our own personal situations going on. The team here knows about mine, everyone knows DP and Hursty are both involved/getting involved with college shit. The rest of the group all have their own things, which i cannot speak to since i dont know the full story/facts behind what they do outside the computer. But when it comes down to it, we are all a bunch of unmotivated, semi-lazy, mo-fos with priorities that differ from the improvement of this blog or higher thinking society (those two go hand in hand, in case you forgot, in which case you arent a member of the later).

In my opinion, we are starting to try the tricks couples use to restore relationships. Have a baby/get new blood in the mix. Move into a new house. Not saying Collin and a domain name arent good ideas, but if we are using them to try and save a site it is most likely going to fail once it doesnt live up to our expectations. If we are really going to get this site 'back' to what it once was, we need to forget what it was and try and recarve it/get re-energized about writting for it. Living in memories about how great our shit once was isnt going to get us anywhere other than a bloggers retirement home, where we will eat soft food and play bingo. We just need to get back to promoting our stuff, and making stuff to promote. It will be a cycle the way i see it. And we need to get back on SLAM and comment (like DP already said) and also go out into the rest of the cyber world and bump our shit too. This doesnt mean go on a site you have no interest in and start trolling for attention, but just find some stuff you already are on/that interests you and find ways to advertize it their. Put it in your signature, link it to your domain name; get people to look at it by typing insightful comments that will make people see we know what the fuck we are talking about. If we can reconstruct rather than move on, i think this site can prosper and turn into something bigger. We shall see.

Gerald Wallace didnt win the dunk contest but so what. We are on pace to have the best year in our franchise history, and to make the playoffs. To sum up the season, we won the season series vs the best team in the NBA (the Cavs) and lost the season series to the worst team in the NBA (the Nets). We are the squad that leaves a lot of people scratching their heads, but i just am loving what is going on; we are a decent NBA team now with some respect from the mainstream media. Maybe next year we will get a game on national tv. Probably not, but one can dream.

Seeing us as a place where people want to come is also impressing me. Names of recently bought out guys like Larry Hughes, Kenny Thomas, and Mike James among others as guys that WANT to be Charlotte Bobcats is just really something i can appreciate. People are starting to see that Charlotte is where you can play basketball and be yourself, just as long as you do it 'the right way'. Look for instance at Tyrus Thomas, whose numbers have skyrocketed since getting traded, every catogoery is significantly higher. Stephen Jackson's stock has also gone up since comming arriving in the Queen City. For the first time in his career, Jackson is getting POSTIVE media attention. Just amazing.

Tracy McGrady is back.It is nice to see Tracy getting minutes. After the Rockets signed Ariza, i pretty much knew the McGrady era in Houston had come to a close. Then the Rockets did him dirty and didnt let him play. I will let RV give us the 411 on what really happened and what the build up was behind everything, but for the end T-Mac's stint in Houston he was not treated well.

I got homework to do. I havent been at school for almost a week. So on that note, Cat out.

R.I.P.?????

I'm feelin really inspired right now to do this. I wasn't going to do another blog post for a minute but as I speak I'm watching my lakers do a pretty damn good job of hanging with the celtics without Kobe. Sure, I knew that they were going to put up a fight from the get go, but I love the energy they are playing with and how players who usually don't do much are stepping it up big time. I'm especially amazed at how Ron artest is just schooling Pierce on the lower block. Artest should have been playing like this all along and he looks the guy that La traded Ariza for. Perkins, eat your breakfast!!!!! Yeah I know that Ray made Shannon eat his but I really don't care for that ish. I just have a hatred for Perkins I can't describe. Maybe because he always looks like someone just robbed him at a liquor store or something. I don't know. LA probably won't win if they don't give Pau and Drew the ball more but it's cool. I'm just glad that LA is actually an alright team without Kobe and that some people still deserve their contracts(Sasha, you are STILL not included). I digress.

What I came to vent about is the life of this site. I probably won't even get any comments off this but this place is D.E.A.D. This wasn't my hopes for the new year but hey you can't plan things like this from happening. The song up top I got from Chucky Ham pretty much describes what is going to become of this site. It might actually be time to dead this site and start a new one. One where we can actually blog weekly and get more people reading our material. I sent an email out earlier talking about this and Hurst suggest we go with getting a dot com site. What you guys thinking? I think it's a great idea and if we actually start commenting on Slamonline more I think we can start a following like we did with hibachi. I love this site dearly and I've done some great ish on here as well as the rest of you guys but I know we can go to bigger and better things with a brand new site. Maybe even get some moola. But that's if you guys are with the plan. Hit me back up in the comment section and tell me how you feelin. play wit it.

Good-Bye, Bill Walker

It was fun while it lasted. I wish you luck in your career, and I hope you get some burn in New York, or anywhere, really. Sorry for leaving. Eddie, it was great having you here, too. J.R.....hmmm. Good luck, I guess.

--Moose

David Lee v.s. Al Horford

Al Horford: 13.6 PPG, 9.80 RPG, 2.2 APG

David Lee: 19.6 PPG, 11.60 RPG, 3.4 APG

Somebody PLEASE tell me what the NBA head coaches were thinking.

--Moose

From the ground up...

So has anyone noticed the Memphis Grizzlies this year? Maybe you haven't because you're so accustomed to looking for them at the bottom of the standings. This year though, they are actually 3 games above .500, and are playing some great basketball as of late. Due to their massive variety of talent, I knew that it was only a matter of time before they were challenging for a playoff spot, but I definitely didn't think that it would be going this well, this quickly.

Memphis is one of those teams that doesn't have a MVP-type player, or even a definite leader, (there is no Kobe, LeBron, or D-Wade on their team) but what they do have is a very talented group of players who can beat you in multiple ways.

~Rudy Gay is without a doubt one of the most underrated players in the league today. Most people only see his inhuman athletic ability by his spectacular dunks, but he is actually a very well-rounded player. He can get into the lane almost at will, and has the ability to draw fouls. He is also a very capable passer, and solid rebounder. I think the most underrated part of his game however, is his jump-shooting ability. When people watch highlights of him, his dunks and drives to the hoop are the only thing people notice, but he is actually a very dependable shooter, and most of his points actually come off of jumpshots. His 20.1 points is second on the team, and his 6.1 rebounds rank third on the team. Don't think he is just an offensive player though, he also gets 1.51 steals, and 0.86 blocks per contest. As I said, this team doesn't really have a go-to player, but Rudy is probably the closest thing this team has to a leader.

~Zach Randolph is a double-double machine. Since he played in Portland for the earlier part of his career, I am very familiar with him. Personally, I am not a fan of him, he is actually one of my least favorite players. I think he has a very bad attitude, and I didn't even like him when he was playing for my favorite team. He also has very poor shot selection. Personal matters aside, there is no doubt that he puts up numbers. No matter where he has played, whether it's been Portland, Los Angeles, New York, or Memphis, he has always been one of the most consistent players in the league. He manages to get 20 points and 10 rebounds EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. When I say every single night, I literally mean EVERY NIGHT. He always finds some way to get a double-double, no matter what the circumstances are. He is averaging 20.5 points, and 11.5 rebounds this season; which are both team-highs. He is also shooting 50% from the field, and 81% from the foul line; which is very impressive, especially for a Power forward. Despite all the negative aspects of Randolph's game, you can't argue with numbers like that.

~O.J. Mayo, while also being one of my least favorite players, is a player any team would like to have on their roster. He still struggles with his shot selection, at times, but that will get better as he matures. He's not really a defensive player, not a great rebounder, or even a great passer, but he can score whenever he wants. He is averaging 18.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists this season. When the Grizzlies absolutely need a bucket, O.J. will most likely be the one getting the ball, and he can usually make the shot, no matter how much defense is applied to him.

~Marc Gasol has turned into a very dependable post player. He doesn't get the same acclaim as his older brother, and has never really been taken seriously, but he is actually putting up near-All-Star numbers this season. He had a very solid rookie season, and people thought that he might be a pretty average player, but he put in a lot of work this offseason, and came back this year to prove he was way above average. He is putting up 14.7 points this season on 61% feild goal shooting, and is a solid free-throw shooter for a 7-footer shooting 66%. He has also proved that he can be a great rebounder and defensive player by grabbing 9.7 boards, and 1.5 blocks a game. Since Zach Randolph is more of a mid-range/perimeter player, most people thought that left the Grizz without a low-post presence, but Marc has actually developed a very nice low-post game. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see him in the All-Star game in the next couple of years.

~Mike Conley has had a lot of doubters and haters since he came into the league, but the Grizzlies know how good he really is, and have put all their trust in him to be their point guard of the future. They proved this when Allen Iverson came in at the beginning of the season. Iverson was expected to come in and be the starting point guard, but Conley ended up not only keeping his starting position, but also playing more minutes. Although his averages of 10.3 points, and 4.9 assists don't seem too impressive, that is exactly what the Grizz want him to do, and they couldn't be more satisfied with him.

One Knock on the Grizzlies is their lack of a bench. Outside of rookie Sam Young (8.1 points), the next highest scoring average by a bench player is Marcus Williams with 3.9. Their bench isn't exactly the best in the league, but coach Hollins always finds a way to get a good rotation out there on every possession. They also have a lot of young talent, who haven't even come close to realizing their potential yet (Hasheem Thabeet, Lester Hudson, Sam Young, DaMarre Carroll).

The Grizzlies have come a long way in a short time. The organization has been at an all-time low, and are finally starting to have hope for the future by their recent success. The bottom of the Western Conference is stacked as usual, and the Grizzlies might not even make the playoffs (or might just be in 7th or 8th), but if one thing is for certain, it's that you definitely can't take this team for granted.

I'm out....

(and be sure to check out Hurty's post right beneath this one)