Rest In Peace

He will be missed. Wisest man on the planet.

Who wants it more?

Today, I saw people with sleeping bags outside of the TD Garden, lined up. The line stretched down the entire stadium, and across three streets. Every single person was wearing some sort of Celtics gear. Tickets went on sale today. The Finals will come down to one question: Who wants it more?

I'm going with the C's and the best fans in the league.

Celtics v.s. Lakers Finals Preview

The Eastern Conference Finals are over. I know, it's hard to say that after the Bruins' epic meltdown in the NHL playoffs that I heard so much about from the Beantown hockeyheads. But that was the fourth time in the history of sports that a team has come back from down three down in a seven game series, and really, Orlando's given up, even if they're masking it better than Cleveland did. So, the next games in this series are moot. And come on, the Suns aren't winning this series. If I'm wrong about this, and there is a Finals with either Phoenix or Orlando in it, then feel free to never take my NBA opinion seriously again. So, I'm going to go onto previewing the series, starting with matchups...

Point Guard: Rajon Rondo v.s. Derek Fisher
This is the most obvious pick in the whole series in terms of match-ups. Rondo needs to exploit Fisher. Rajon Rondo's success has been my ultimate I-told-you-so of my NBA following life so far, and he hasn't disappointed one bit in the playoffs. They're talking about him being the best all-around PG in the league now, and he's certainly the best in the East. Say nothing about Rose, it isn't even close. This dude wants to win, and he's been carrying them through every series. Boston needs Rondo to keep playing like he can for them to have a chance at this series, and going against Fisher is the ideal scenario. The only trouble it could cause Rondo is if he gets into foul trouble amidst Fisher's selling (coughFLOPPINGcough) calls, but I don't see it being a huge problem.
EDGE: Celtics

Shooting Guard: Ray Allen v.s. Kobe Bryant
Kobe is still the craftiest player in the game, and he will definitely get his. Because he can beat you with points or dimes, he's effective no matter how you play him. Allen is a hot-and-cold shooter, and the Celtics need him to shoot if they want to win. Every time Ray gets going, the Celtics win. Every time. With a defender like Kobe on him, that could be a tall order for a player who isn't quite the speed type. Allen should drive to the whole often to get Bynum/Gasol in foul trouble. Kobe will be a big part of this series with Ray, because the Celtics will often put Tony Allen in to guard him on the perimeter. This will allow the Lakers to double-team shooters like Pierce or Garnett without having to worry about Tony's gawd-awful shooting on the perimeter. But Kobe wants to be talked about with Jordan in the GOAT arguments, and he's going to be looking for blood. Everyone knows who gets this one.
EDGE: Lakers

Small Forward: Paul Pierce v.s. Ron Artest
Pierce started off the playoffs shooting very poorly, even with his game-winner against Miami. Once the Orlando series started, though, the Captain came back and has been shooting the lights out at a 58% clip, and Matt Barnes, a supreme defender, was, well, defenseless. Artest will body up on Pierce all day, and will try to bully him off the dribble. Artest is the third or fourth option on the Lake Show, and his offensive skill set isn't enough to make a huge impact on the Boston defense. It all comes down to how Artest plays Pierce. It's close, but, based on how PDubs has been playing as of late, I'm going to say...
EDGE: Celtics

Power Forward: Kevin Garnett v.s. Pau Gasol
There's no question who the best player of these two is. Gasol was the best power forward in the league this past year, and his offensive skill set will create problems for the Celtics. But, that isn't necessarily against Garnett. Glen Davis will get a lot of time against Pau while Garnett gets old-man-rest-time, and when that happens Gasol will pick him apart. The fact that Gasol shies from contact is a big deal for Boston; they need to get physical with Pau. If they fail to do that, then it'll hurt them. KG has been playing like, well, KG on offense and defense for the past couple of series', and it's been huge for the Celtics. This match-up is full of conditionals and questions, and it will be fun to watch. But, ultimately, it's obvious who has the advantage right off the bat.
EDGE: Lakers

Center: Andrew Bynum v.s. Kendrick Perkins
I don't know the status of Bynum's knee, and I don't think anyone does, and it could all be different by the time the Finals start, but as of now, nobody really knows. He's been playing about 20 minutes a night, and he's still been effective. Reports have said that he might be all right by the end of their series, and for preview purposes let's just say that's what's going to happen. Kendrick Perkins will have no offensive impact on this series whatsoever. Bynum might. He has a significant size advantage over Perk, and even though it will be a good physical battle, Perkins might foul himself all the way to the bench whole Bynum dunks all over him. Perkins' defensive presence will still be there, however. So, it's hard to know now, but as I see it, if everything's okay, Bynum has it. IF.
Edge: Lakers

Bench: Glen Davis, Tony Allen, Rasheed Wallace v.s. Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown
Lamar Odom is definitely the best player in either bench, by far. Odom is a huge blow to the Celtics, simply because he's an answer to any question. If you want scoring, he'll bring it. If you need dimes, he'll dish 'em. If you need rebounds, he'll grab 19 or so boards (see: Game 1). The dude is unstoppable, and he's huge. But, GBBD has been playing like a starter, Sheed has been playing the way that we intended him to play when they signed him before the season started, and TA has been bringing the defensive energy and offensive athleticism that propelled the Celtics past the Cavs. Farmar and Brown are solid, but they can't match up to the rest of the Celtics' red-hot bench. Even though Odom could start for almost all teams in the League.
Edge: Celtics

It's hard to make a prediction on this series. The size, athleticism, star power and experience that the Lakers have is undeniable, and everyone kew that they'd make it this far. The Celtics are a different story. Nobody thought they'd get past the first or second round, much less all the way to the Finals. But, the Celtics are definitely looking like the team that wants to win more than any other. They have shown a desire that has led them past the best teams in the league, and their savvy will be hard for the Lakers to get past.

In the end, the desire, deep roster, and a certain young point guard will prove to be too much for the huge and athletic Lakers. In seven tough, slow-paced (as both teams like) games, the Celtics will tough it out. I doubted them up until this point, and they are looking to secure their second championship in three years against the LAL. Should be a great series. Getcha popcorn ready...

--Moose

Give Me Peace Of Mind.. I Got 21 Questions.

So, I gotta know...

1. Who's coming outta the West? And who's coming outta the East?
2. If you take Rondo and James off of their respective squads, which team wins the series based on performances thus far?
3. How much money has the NBA lost in tickets/merchandise/tv advertisements etc because of the three sweeps in the second round? It has to be in the tens of millions.
4. Where do the Hawks go from here? Does Woody stay on as the Head Coach? What about Joe Johnson?
5. Is Dirk leaving?
6. What about Boozer?
7. Chris Bosh?
8. Are the Spurs going to get blown up?
9. How will the Rockets fair next year with a healthy Yao back in the line-up? More importantly, does he stay or get traded?
10. LeBron...
11. Wade...
12. Why do the All-NBA Defensive teams suck so much? Where are Ariza, Battier and Hayes?
13. Why are the Dodgers and Diamondbacks so f*king bad?
14. Why is there a Winter? Nobody likes Winter.
15. How long will the Suns be able to hang around with the Lakers for? It could be a very, very clean house for the Suns. Or it could be a 7 game series.
16. How come people eat spinach? That sh*t is disgusting.
17. How old is 15 really?
18. If you have four people naked in a row, how many legs are there? Two of the people are white, one is from The Philipians, and one is African.
19. Is Lady Gaga a man?
20. What are your top 5 ways to procrastinate?
21. DP, what college did you end up deciding on?

Peace, Hursty

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.

I Hate Duke

I can't believe I'm about to say this but..
... they deserve to win the NCAA Championship this year. Best team still remaining.

sigh..

FIN...

Brackets are for suckaz. I'm glad I finally realized this over the past two weeks of my life. That and the fact that ninjas are blowing up my direct line trying to find out when my dues will be paid(Kansas go f&ck yourselves).I would choose this time to bash my "champion" pick, Syracuse, but I won't. Butler came to play and they are looking DAMN good right now. Honestly, I have only seen a little bit of them here and there because their games are always on when I'm chillin at my workplace but from what I've seen, Michigan State better be ready for a war. Gordon "G-time" Hayward and his bulldogs are ready to sink their collective teeths into this championship and they are my pick to lose it all in the championship to West Virginia.


Remember when I said in my tournament preview that I would explain later on why I like West Virginia? I think this is the perfect time to explain these things. West Virginia is the only team that hasn't dissapointed me and I expected them to go the the Final Four from the get go. I informed all of the homeboys and girls that if UK ever played WV, they would lose. West Virginia just reminds me of a better version of Misssissippi State. They are so balanced from the 1 spot all the way to the 5. Everyone knows about Butler and what he can do but the rest of squad shares equal success and they are clicking on all cylinders without their starting PG. Really can't believe Duke is still in this thing because I expected them to choke like they do every single year. I blame Nolan Smith for proving me wrong. This tourney has been one of the most flippiest shits I've ever witnessed. Wouldn't be suprised to see Butler win it all or Michigan State. I just truly believe that the team that comes victorious out of the Duke/West Virginia game will be our new champs. But who knows what will happen with alll the f*ckery that has taken place these last 3 weeks. I just pray to God that Gus Johnson is announcing one of the games.....




Man just wanted to drop by a little quickie(pause) for yall. I'm out....Im in need of some hot wangs..