All-Star Weakend

I'm not a big fan of all-star games in any sport. They're just glorified exhibition games where there's nothing to play for. I guess in baseball they play for home field advantage in the World Series, but if there was ever a sport where home field advantage can be negated, it's probably baseball.

I told my dad right before going out on Saturday for Valentine's Day with my lovely that All-Star Saturday Night is ten times better than the actual game, but in all honesty it was a dud... well, except for Nate Robinson's dunk over Superman: that was pretty ill as the kids say.

Other than that, I'm glad all-star weekend is over and we can get back to actual basketball.

One team probably wishing the weekend would never end is the Phoenix Suns, who had to wake up Monday morning with a laundry list of task to accomplish. Step one was yesterday when they fired Terry Porter, a guy who quite frankly shouldn't have been hired in the first place. He was a bad fit from jump street, and even though new guy Alvin Gentry probably isn't the answer, he'll be a better fit, already promising to run and gun.

Step two was figuring out how to discipline the only player (at press time)in the NBA to have gotten into any kind of trouble during the weekend. Police pulled Suns' guard Jason Richardson over after he was cited going 90 in a 35. That by itself isn't earth-shattering, but the fact that his three-year-old son was in the back without a child seat escalated the incident. Dude, how can you not have a child seat in the back? That's like daddyhood 101. The Suns decided to suspend J-Rich for one game without pay.

Steps three and four? Figuring out what they want to do with Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal. It's becoming clearer by the day that STAT is bolting in 2010, especially with the team disintegrating right before our very eyes. I'm obviously a little late on this (sorry, it's just that point in the semester where posting is becoming difficult), but pretty much every team in the NBA inquired about his availability. Some attractive deals arose with Miami, Memphis and Chicago, but now it looks like he's not going anywhere. Ditto with Shaq, who has nothing short of great this year but has $21 million due next season. How many teams honestly want that on their payroll?

They just seem totally confused out there in the desert. If the season ended today, they'd be in the lower end of a really bad lottery this year.

Big game for Maryland tonight as they begin an absolutely brutal stretch against Clemson. After the Tigers they get to host both North Carolina and Duke. Wow, thank you, schedule gods! This is a winnable game for the Terps, as the Tigers are in the midst of doing what they always do in February: coming back down to earth. Clemson always gets off to these ridiculous starts and people jump on their bandwagon, but when they hit the ACC things change and they're only a little bit better than mediocre most years. That being said, the Terps have to come to their place, and they've been awful on the road going 1-4 thus far.

I'm not making a prediction for this game, so don't even ask for one. It's hard for anyone to take you seriously with a 2-14 record in pick 'em.

I'll save my good ones for March.

JET's flight delayed

Anyone who has read my blog for any period of time knows that I can be quite verbose when it comes to these entries. I may be more inconsistent than a Jamal Crawford jump shot in terms of posting, but any entry I make is by and large big and bulky.

Not this one. As a Mavericks' fan, I have a very short reaction to tonight's news...

$@&@!)!_@)!#)*)!#!_#!#!_#!#*_!#*!@#_!@#*_#!*#!*)@#_!#^^#&&&^%%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gone like Alex Rodriguez's chances of making the Hall of Fame (just kidding, when everybody comes to their senses and realizes you were one of the few "cheaters" in this steroids' era that admitted their wrong-doing, you'll be in).

LeBron f'd around and got a triple-double... and some prognostications

Before I begin, I would like to say that New York finally has a team to be proud of in the Knicks. They're not "there" yet, but they do play hard, and they definitely have some good pieces to build around.

But they did not want to get into the history books in this way.

The Knicks have given up two legendary performances in their past two games. Obviously I touched on Kobe Bryant's 61 during my last post, and I thought that was amazing. These days I'd rather listen to talk radio on my way to work and school than the same three T-Pain songs in constant rotation, and the talk was that Bryant put those numbers up as a challenge to LeBron James. While that may have been true, I dismissed it as just a night where Kobe was truly unguardable against a horrific defensive team, and even if it was a "statement" to James, I didn't expect him to take it too personally.

Wrong. Oh so wrong.

52 points. 10 rebounds. 11 assists. I'm not big on neo text-savvy language, but WTF!?

Bryant's 61 was nice, historic even. But, considering the fact that the last person to score 50+ with a triple-double was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975, I'd say Bron-Bron wins*.

Bryant may be the most complete offensive player in the NBA today, but if James doesn't win the MVP this year then something is wrong.

By the way, in case you weren't paying attention, #24 dropped 36 last night.

And, more important than everything I've typed thus far, the Mavs have won four straight, slowly creeping up the Western Conference charts. Is it any coincidence that they're 4-0 since Jason Kidd started calling the plays on offense?

Predictions for the next few days:

Los Angeles Lakers/Boston Celtics(tonight)- "It'll be one for the ages," boasts Ray Allen. Truer cliches have never been spoken. I know that Bryant has been playing with a chip on his shoulder since Bynum went down, but the Celts have been hotter than Kim Kardasian(courtesy of flickr before they shut me down) in biker shorts, PLUS they have the game at their place. Celts by eight to ten.

Dallas Mavericks/Utah Jazz(tonight)- Tough road test for the Mavs, but I like their chances against a Jazz team who can't seem to stay healthy. Mavs by five plus.


Memphis Tigers/Gonzaga Bulldogs- Should be a competitive game, probably the last real resume builder for both teams headed into March as I don't see either team losing more than one game in conference if any. I think the 'Zags have a ton more talent, plus they have the benefit of having this one at their place. The Tigers have too much youth in the back-court to win in such a hostile environment. 'Zags by ten plus.

Notre Dame/UCLA- No way the Fighting Irish should be on the bubble, not with the amount of talent they have. Yet, the "B" word and Notre Dame are starting to show up in the same sentence. I get the feeling that a step outside of that dreaded Big East box will be a good thing for them, mainly because the Bruins don't really have an answer for Luke Harangody. Irish by six or less.


Lakers/Cleveland(Sunday)- If ABC was salivating about the ratings possibilities when they initially scheduled this game, then they must be on the threshold of ecstacy waiting for it now after what they've done this week. Tough one for the Cavs, who if they hold to form will come into that game unbeaten at home. They can't go the whole season unbeaten at their place. Lakers in a close one.


So, there you have it, just in case I don't get back to a computer between now and Monday (which is probably about right).

Off to sportswriting.




*note: Apparently they took away 'Bron's triple-double, saying they mistakenly identified one of his rebounds. Okay, so hed 52, 11 and 9. So what, LBJ was still better.

Is This Smart?

Chris Broussard and Ric Bucher, two of the best writers in basketball, recently co-authored an article in ESPN Magazine on how to fix the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Tough task, I must say.

Today, Broussard plays Mr. Fix-It as he outlines five steps that the Clippers need to take to turn it all around. The first thing he says to do is trade Baron Davis, which at first glance seems weird especially since they just paid him all that money in the off-season, but the fact of the matter is he's just not happy. He thought he was going to a better situation; why else would he sacrifice more than five million a year by leaving the Warriors? Injuries have been a problem for the other L.A. franchise, but that doesn't totally excuse the Clips for having the NBA's worst record at press time.

So, the Clippers' job is to find a suitor for Davis, someone who would be willing to take a huge gamble to win now.

Enter the Dallas Mavericks.

Look at the proposal: Davis and Marcus Camby for Jason Kidd. Davis and Camby aren't exactly young, but they definitely have more in the tank than Kidd. Davis gives them a more explosive (albeit volatile) option at point guard, and Camby is a double-double machine when healthy. Plus, like Broussard says, Kidd would come off the books for the Clippers this summer, so it benefits them, too.

I don't know... something fun to think about.

Oh, and I dropped to 1-9 last night. Will it ever stop?

Nothing but Basketball

I thoroughly enjoyed the Super Bowl despite not having a rooting interest. For a game that went two weeks without snowballing into an avalanche of hype, it was fun to watch.

The end. No more football!

It's all about basketball for the next four months. Especially with my sportswriting class going on, expect more frequent posts from me as I try to cover the only sport I can justify covering.
Lots to cover, little time...
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In the wake of the Lakers announcement that Andrew Bynum would miss at least two months with a torn MCL, Kobe Bryant went absolutely nuts last night at Madison Square Garden, setting an MSG record with 61 points in their 126-117 win over the New York Knickerbockers.

Sorry, Bernard King. Apparently there's a new King of New York.

Is this what we can expect from Bryant over the last couple of months of the regular season? Nightly explosions trying to compensate for the loss of Bynum? Stay tuned...

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Being No.1 in college basketball has been a curse lately, with Pittsburgh, Duke and Wake each spending very little time there since North Carolina's inexplicable loss to Boston College.

Tell that to the UConn Huskies, who disposed of the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals like they were NJIT or somebody. UConn is looking like the truth with ten straight wins and a gaudy 22-1 record, including 10-1 in the Big East. Hasheem Thabeet still has a little ways to go, but he is starting to become a two-way player. He's always been an intimidating presence around the rim defensively, but if he can make teams honor his existence offensively, the Huskies may be the team "Thabeet" come March (dude, I made that up all by myself).

On the other side of the coin, I wouldn't read too much into the Cardinals' loss. Aside from a terrific game from Terrence Williams, nobody else from the 'Ville decided to roll out of their student housing beds to show up. With the weaker portion of the Big East ahead of them, they should be fine in no time... provided they don't lose focus.

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Huge win for the Dallas Mavericks last night on the road in Orlando. I know that a three-game winning streak normally isn't something to get all jazzed up about, but a win against one of the four best teams record-wise in the NBA should be. It looks like the Mavs are coming around, but they can't relax: the Portland Trailblazers are red-hot coming into their place tomorrow.

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I'm in the mood for a reckless prediction, given the fact that I'm 1-8 so far this year. There's nothing on paper to suggest this, but I think the Maryland Terrapins go into Raleigh and beat the North Carolina Tar Heels in a close one tonight. Three in a row versus the Heels!? Am I crazy!?

Hell yes.

Off to class.