scary
Serial killer or NBA general manager? Or...is he both?

The Cleveland Cadavers: Let's see: Houston's Chase Budinger scored 14 of his career-high 30 points in the fourth quarter (including 11 straight in one six-minute stretch). What's more, the Rocketeers had a 57-37 rebounding advanteage, including 22-7 on the offensive glass. Much of that board work was done by Chuck Hayes, who grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds (including 13 on the offensive end). Chucky grabbed 12 rebounds in the first quarter alone...which set a Quicken Loans Arena Record for most rebounds in a quarter.

Said Antawn Jamison: "We let [Hayes] control the game. He set the tone."

Allow me to repeat: Chuck Hayes controlled the game.

Don't worry, Cleveland fans. Help is on the way: Your team has traded for Baron "Only If I Care And Maybe Not Even Then" Davis! The bad news is he'll probably be taking some time off to deal with a knee injury. And a terminal case of apathy.

Byron Scott, coach of the year candidate: "If you look at the stat sheet, offensively, we probably should have won. But if you give a team like that 22 offensive rebounds, you make it very tough on yourself. They were more physical and aggressive."

The Detroit Pistons: Austin Daye's 17-footer put the Pistons up 101-100 with 11 seconds to go. This is how the next several seconds went: Indiana's Brandon Rush dunked the Pacers to a 102-101 lead with five ticks left and then the Rodney Stuckey lost the ball out of bounds with one second on the clock. Game over.

Said Knee-Mac: "We were one play away from winning the game.

Welcome to Detroit's season. That's 10 losses in 14 games, by the way.

The Orlando Magic: A home loss...to the Tyreke Evans-less Kings?!


You know, defense used to be Orlando's "thing," but the Sactowners scored 111 points on 52.5 percent shooting. Dwight Howard had 31 and 17 (plus 2 steals and 2 blocked shots) while going 11-for-12 from the line. Not much more Pumanman can do. Especially with defensive stalwarts like Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Redick and Gilbert Arenas backing him up.

Said Howard: "We've been talking for a long time -- all we seem to do is talk. You guys know what the difference is. You watch the games. If guys don't want to play, they need to sit down. We can't just have guys or anybody out there not playing hard. We're professional athletes. This is what we do for a living. If you can't go out there and go hard for two hours, then you shouldn't be playing."

In related news, the Magicians surrendered 50 points in the paint and gave up 26 points off 17 turnovers. 'Tis better to give, my friends, than to recieve.

Said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy: "Down the stretch it was just terrible. When we got the lead we had a couple of careless ones and it's terrible. "I'm not happy with anything other than Dwight right now. I'm not happy with anything."


Added Howard: "We have a lot of talent, but talent won't win you championships. You get to the finals, both teams are very talented. That's how they got to the finals. But hard work, commitment -- every play, every night is what gets you the championship. We're one of the most talented teams in the NBA. We're a deep team, we have guys that can do a lot of different things, but if you don't bring it, it's a waste of talent."

Pretty much, yeah.

The Washington Wizards Generals: Another night, another hapless blowout for the Generals, who trailed by as many as 36 points before losing 117-94. This chunk of the AP recap pretty much says it all:

Washington (15-41), one of the worst teams in the league, has lost three straight. With its season long gone, it made a trade during the game to stock up for the future.

The Wizards sent guard Kirk Hinrich and forward Hilton Armstrong to the Atlanta Hawks for guards Mike Bibby and Jordan Crawford, forward Maurice Evans and a 2011 first-round draft choice.

"It was a pretty tough thing to hear," Wall said. "Kirk's a veteran guy who taught me an awful lot about NBA basketball. I'll really miss him. And Hilton was a good friend, too. I wish them both well."

Hinrich and Armstrong were on the bench for the whole first half, but never came out of the locker room after halftime.

"I think when the deadline is over, guys will have a sense of relief," Saunders said.
I think he means "when the season is over, guys will have a sense of relief."

The Oklahoma City Thunder: Down three points to the Spurs with 13 seconds to go...and an an airballed three-point attempt by Jeff Green was the best shot they could get? Coming out of a timeout? With Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the team? Really?

The Chicago Bulls: So...the Bulls celebrated the return of Joakim Noah by losing to a Craptors team that had dropped 18 of its past 20 games.


You can read my full writeup at By The Horns. Here's a sample:

But Chicago's defense -- which began the day ranked first in Defensive Efficiency and ended the night ranked second -- was as out of synch as it's been all season. The Raptors shot 58.1 percent from the field. That was a season-high for Bulls opponents. Toronto's 118 points were the second-most the Bulls have surrendered this season.

The fact that the Raptors put up so many points without hitting a single three-pointer (0-for-5) highlights just how awful the Bulls D really was.

Toronto had 29 assists, went 32-for-34 at the line and scored 58 points in the paint.

Let's face it: Everybody thought Noah's return would improve the team’s defense. At absolute worst, it should have been a zero-sum situation, right?

Instead, the Bulls looked like they had never stopped anybody from doing anything ever. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out the players returned to the locker room to find their clothes and wallets gone. And then flew back to Chicago to discover their cars had been broken. Their locks changed at home. Their identities stolen.

Or maybe that was just their defensive identities.

Hey, coach Thibodeau: What went wrong?

"What didn't?" he said. "Every aspect. Start with defensive transition, keeping the ball out of the paint, challenging shots. Every aspect of our defense went out the window. Offensively we scored more, but defensively it was a disaster."

...

In all, the Raptors went 5-for-5 on dunks and 17-for-21 on layup attempts. According to Hoopdata, the Bulls usually hold their opponents to a 61.7 percent conversion rate at the rim. That number ranks 10th in the league. Last night, Toronto converted well over 80 percent of their shots at the rim. Basically, Chicago did everything short of laying out a welcome mat and personally escorting the Raptors to the hoop.
So, uh, if the Bulls can’t stop Andrea Bargnani (24 points), DeMar DeRozen (24 points) and Amir Johnson (17 points on 8-for-8 shooting), how in the world are they going to slow down LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh tonight?

carlos boozer
This picture scares me. That is all.

Kyle Korver: From Basketball reader Lord Kerrance:

How bad are you defensively when Jose Calderon starts punking you out?

"Korver was sometime on LB [Leandro Barbosa], sometime on DeMar. I was trying to find the guy being guarded by Korver and play the pick and roll with them."

So much for Gay Elf Defense.
The Milwaukee Bucks: So the Knicks beat the Bucks in 'Melo's debut. This shows how good New York can be in a two-superstar system, right? Maybe. But I'd like to point out that the Bucks rank dead last in Offensive Rating (101.2), but they scored 110.8 points per 100 possessions against the Knicks. And, what's more, Milwaukee's 108 points was their third-highest point total of the season.

As always, I'm just sayin'.

Of course, the Bucks lost to a completely revamped Knicks team that hadn't even gotten a proper chance to practice together yet. They're now 22-35, 17 games back in their division and 4.5 games behind the Pacers (26-30) for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Damn. Even with the Celtics, Heat, Bulls, Magic and Knicks, the East still kinda sucks.

Also, from Basketbawful reader balazs: "From the ESPN recap: '[Carmelo] matched the third-highest scoring game in a Knicks debut since 1964, just two points shy of Keith Van Horn's 29 on Oct. 29, 2003.' Keith Van Horn! And the second highest scoring debut belongs to: Allan Houston! Great company."

The Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love (15 points, 11 rebounds) got his 44th double-double in a row, thereby equaling Moses Malone's streak for Philadelphia in 1982-83. But Zach Randolph (24 points, 10-for-16, 10 rebounds) stole Love's lunch money in one of those classic "I shoulda been an All-Star insteada him" games.

Said Mike Conley: "He's taken it personally. I think my man deserves to be an All-Star also. He really played like one tonight."

Added Z-Bo: "There's a little something to that."

As the AP recap pointed out: "In two games this month, Randolph combined for 47 points and 23 rebounds while Love was limited to 25 points and 21 rebounds."

And as the current NBA standings point out, Minnesota (13-45) is barely ahead of Cleveland (10-47) for "Worst Team In The League" status. Stay tuned.

Michael Beastly's new 'do: Maybe I'm a bad person, but my first thought was: Who let the WNBA player into the arena?

beastly

Kevin Love, unintentionally dirty quote machine: "Z-Bo's a load down there."

The Utah Jazz: Real ESPN.com subhead: "Dirk drops 23 as Mavs cruise past lifeless Jazz." And that pretty much sums it up.

Said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle: "It's a good team even without Deron Williams."

Yeah, uhm, Rick? Check the box score. Utah's used a starting backcourt of Earl Watson and Raja Bell. Sure, Devin Harris is on the way, but that man is a walking stat curse. Remember: The New Jersey Nyets ended up 52-150 and suffered one of the worst seasons (12-70 in 2009-10) in NBA history from the point he said "We knew we were going to be a playoff team" on December 9, 2008 to the day he was traded.

So...yeah.

The Atlanta Hawks: There was a lot of talk about the Dirty Birds being shorthanded, having sent Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford and Maurice Evans to Washington for Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong.

My response: It was Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford and Maurice Evans.

Still, Atlanta was playing the second of back-to-back road games. Of course, they had gotten clobbered so badly the previous night in L.A., none of their starters logged more than 27 minutes and 32 seconds. Still, fatigue got the blame.

Said Hawks coach Larry Drew: "I thought our guys kind of wore down, and coming off back-to-back and having to play catch-up basketball when you're down 18 points is tough to do in this building."

Joe Johnson: One night after scoring 14 points on 6-fo-14 shooting against the Lakers, Atlanta's All-Star finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting to go with a game-high 4 turnovers.

The Los Angeles Clippers: The Other L.A. Team might have had a chance in this one if they'd been able to hang onto the ball. But they could not, turning the ball over 23 times for 25 points going the other way.

Said Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro: "When you turn it over that much, you have to play on your heels, and when you have a guy like Chris Paul, he'll pick you apart.We couldn't put enough offensive firepower out there to put any pressure on them."

Remember how the Clippers were, you know, surging before their league-high 11-game road trip? And how I said that things were gonna turn ugly on said trip? Well, the Clips are 10 games in and have only two wins to show for it: One against the Knicks and one against the Timberwolves. Their final game is against the Lakers. And I think we all know how that's gonna turn out.

The Portland Frail Blazers: The Blazers went up 85-75 on a running jumper by Wesley Matthews with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter. Good news for the Portland Soccer Moms (as Bill Simmons likes to say), right? After all, science has definitely proven that Kobe Bryant is not clutch and the Lakers have had one of the league's worst offenses (in terms of offensive decline) during the Mamba Era.

Only Kobe scored 8 points on 4-for-5 shooting over the final five minutes and 31 seconds, including the game-tying 15-footer with four seconds left to help force overtime (thanks to a missed last-second layup attempt by LaMarcus Aldridge). In OT, Bryant nailed a nine-footer with 27 seconds left to put L.A. up 100-97. Then he calmly went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 18 seconds of overtime to secure the win. That perfect foul shooting brings me to the next point...

LaMarcus Aldridge: He led the Blazers with 29 points, 14 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists. But he missed three layup attempts in the final minute of regulation, one of which was blocked by Lamar Odom. Those were his only three shot attempts in crunch time.

What's more, in the overtime session, Aldridge had more technical fouls (1) than points (0). The worst of his moments came when he bricked two free throws with 19 seconds left that could have pulled Portland to within a point. Thanks to those misses, the Blazers went from "We have a chance" to "Pointless fouling to prolong a lost cause."

Chris's always-amazing lacktion ledger:

Rockets-Cavs: Ryan Hollins had two boards in 17:35, but bricked four times and fouled thricely for a 3:2 Voskuhl.

Pistons-Pacers: DaJuan Summers experienced some Super Mario sunshine in just one second of play to close out a Detroit loss!

Purple Paupers-Magic: In a shockingly non-celebratory event, Chris Duhon drained his Game Boy's batter in just 20 seconds for a Mario.

Generals-Sixers: Washington's Kevin Seraphin shorted out a board with two fouls and a turnover in 10:29 for a 3:1 Voskuhl, while the Sixers' Darius Songaila sang a tune of lacktivity by bricking once in 6:58 and adding on two lost rocks and four fouls for a +7 that doubled as a 6:0 Voskuhl!!!

Bulls-Craptors: Omer Asik went on the WiiPlay cow riding module for 24 seconds to earn a Mario in victory.

Jazz-Mavs: In the first game of the Post-Deron Williams Era, Kyrylo Fesenko kept lacking it up as always, fouling twice and bricking once in 6:07 for a +3 and a 2:0 Voskuhl. Meanwhile, Dallas's DeShawn Stevenson tossed two pieces of masonry and earned a foul and giveaway each for a +4 in 5:26.

Clippers-Hornets: Willie Warren went 100% from the Vieux Carre (on one attempt) but only had 51 seconds of parading for a Mario, the same timespan as New Orleans's Quincy Pondexter!

Lakers-Frail Blazers: Armon Johnson hammered out a 100% shooting percentage (on one attempt)...in only 8 seconds of gameplay, earning himself a SUPER MARIO!

Labels:

39 Comments:
Blogger Cortez said...
"This picture scares me. That is all."

Here's why...

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0014683/

He's a ruthless intergalactic super-villain.

Anonymous Karc said...
Donald Sterling must really hate Baron Davis. The public heckling was bad enough, but now to send him off to Cleveland with an unprotected pick (which will probably be a high pick) to be coached by Byron Scott, which didn't work at all when they were in New Orleans. Yikes.

These are the real gems of NBA trades. Two horrible teams making trades, and it looks like one side did out of spite because they overpaid for a player. Well, Mo Williams was overpaid, too, but at least Dan Gilbert never publicly buried him.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
I brought this comment from Wild Yams forward from yesterday's comments 'cause it got me all sorts of fired up:

So Laker fans are still totally justified and non-hypocritical for ripping McHale for gift-wrapping Boston's lone championship in the last 25 years with that Garnett swindle.

I call bullshit. Big time.

In return for Garnett, the Wolves got Al Jefferson (who became a 20-10 guy), Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff's expiring contract (worth $12 million off the books), two first-round draft picks and cash considerations.

So, to recap, a 20-10 guy, a $12 million dollar expiring contract, two double-figure scorers (Gomes and Green averaged 12.1 and 10.4 PPG, respectively, and Gomes shot nearly 40 percent on threes the previous season), a "potential guy" in Telfair (who's still on the team by the way) and two first round draft picks.

That's a swindle? Really, Yams?

If you really believe that, then go ahead and tell me what better package the T-Wolves could have possibly gotten? They got foundation piece (even if they traded him), they got major salary relief (remember, Kwame's expiring deal, which was the key to the Gasol heist, was worth $4 million less than Ratliff's), what at the time appeared to be a handful of decent role players and two first rounders (even if Minnesota wasted 'em).

The Garnett trade set the Timberwolves up to have FOUR first round draft picks in the 2009 Draft. They fucked that up...but they could have really built something with some wiser drafting. But that doesn't change the fact that they got serious value back from the Garnett trade. So, seriously, don't give me this "Garnett swindle" crap.

[/rant]

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Also, to clarify, a Luigi is the 0 second appearance, which we've only seen on free throw substitutions or something similar, and a Super Mario Galaxy is under 1 second.

Lost moment in Basketbawful history: I was the only writer pushing for the 0 second to be called a "Luigi's Mansion", but no one else understood the joke =(

Anonymous JJ said...
Karc, you're right, I don't see this as a coincidence from Sterling. Sending anyone to Cavs is evil, though coming from Clippers, it may not be a huge adjustment. Clippers bandwagon was fun while it lasted...

By the way, does anyone else think Melo/Amare alliace will not last? Aside from the obvious (the team has no D so they won't get anywhere in playoffs), I don't think Amare will appreciate all the spotlight Melo has been getting. He wanted to be the man, and yet, now suddenly everyone in NY is only talking about Melo this, Melo that. So, I think he'll get disgruntled quickly (also from reduced touches). In addition, Melo has an advantage over Amare since he can create a shot for himself better. And the PG who was feeding Amare is now at Denver, and PG who was feeding Melo is at NY. I think Amare's production will go down and ultimately get traded before his contract is up.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
JJ - Ya, everyone in Phoenix can foresee that outcome. Let the sad New Yorkers have a bone, then crush them with reality.

Except the ending is him trying even less on defense and getting hurt or "hurt", thus riding out his 5 years guaranteed. Remember, Amar''''''e's contract drama was the original Melodrama before Melodrama.

Blogger 49er16 said...
Even worse for the Magic. The Paupers were playing the Magic the next night after being thrashed by the Heat.

Anonymous Adrià said...
Which team will be the next victim in the B.A.D. post? Stay tuned!

By the way, Dan, I play NBA 2k11 too (and played 2k for years), and I'm subscribed to this Youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Smoove7182954#p/search/0/h__T2bwiNic

This guy's been doing 2k videos since 2k9, he's an expert player and an awesome commentator. And the link I provide is a video about the in-game glitches. It couldn't be better for bawful!!

Blogger Dooj said...
Amare only got 13 shots last night... don't think that will last.

Blogger Fishy said...
My favorite part of the LA/Portland game was the sequence in overtime when Aldridge ran into Gasol causing him to foul out (I love that... offensive player runs into defensive player = defensive foul) and then for good measure Aldridge weakly threw the ball at Gasol in a little temper tantrum, then missed both free throws.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
If Amare couldn't handle "sharing" the spotlight with Nash (who literally handed him dunk after dunk), wait until he has a ballhog on his squad who takes the ball out of his hands.

This is going to be awesome

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Mr. Bawful - Come on, the trade for Garnett was a pure unadulterated heist, just like the trade for Pau Gasol was a pure unadulterated heist. The only difference (as I was pointing out in my comment that you then took out of context) was that the KG swindle was an inside job (thanks to Lurch McHale), while there were no shenanigans involved in the Gasol swindle, just pure stupidity on the part of Chris Wallace. KHayes666 was trying to say Jerry West gifted Gasol to the Lakers the way McHale gifted KG to the Celts, and I was just pointing out that Jerry West was no longer working for Memphis when that trade went down.

In any event, that shit is ancient history. I came in here to commend your writeup on last night's Lakers-Blazers game, specifically because I loved how you mocked Abbott in it. Kobe not only scored a bunch of crunch time points last night, but he also came up with a crucial steal and also had at least one key assist (to Artest for 3), and also played with good restraint and kept looking for Gasol down the stretch and in OT. Not that any of that made Henry Abbott rethink his stupidity...

Blogger Paul said...
Mr. Bawful, I'd like to nominate Henry Abbott for Bawful writer of the year and the Yahoo staff as runner ups.
I don't know which one was first if the chicken or the egg. But while Abbott has gone about publishing what seems like a zillion articles of pure, unadulterated Kobe hate, the staff at yahoo has gone the other way and given Kobe the best mouth jobs since his Colorado days.

Also on that Garnett trade.
We talkin' about "Al Jefferson"? The same Al Jefferson whose mere departure from Minny allowed Kevin Love to become pretty much a motherfucking beast?
The same Al Jefferson who hasn't been able to fill Carlos --I play only 50 games a season and don't give a shit about Defense-- Boozer? in Utah.
But at least the Timberpoops got three great players in Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair.
Lets say that again, RYAN GOMES, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, GERALD GREEN

And then the first round picks, the Cs gave their own picks which even though they were 1st rounders is not like they were lottery or even close.

I've said before and I'll say it again, the Lakers did business with a fool while the Cs did business with their wife.
Both, Memphis and Minny could've done much better but then where would we all be at, watching the Spurs and the Pistons go at each other for 10 consecutive years?

Anonymous Karc said...
@Fishy - Apparently, that was a double technical on Gasol and Aldridge, which made no sense to me. Aldridge clearly threw the ball at Gasol after the foul while Gasol did nothing. It was a cheap bailout so the Lakers couldn't get the free throw. If anything, let that stuff go. and not call anything. But the refs huddled up like they knew that should be a T. Weird.

As for Kobe being "clutch," the myth has clearly taken over the reality at this point. Stats show he isn't that clutch, but when every team in the league is terrified of him getting the ball late in the game, it doesn't really matter. If only they had a decent 3-point shooter...

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Karc - I completely agree with you about why the refs called that a double T on Aldridge and Gasol. LA was up 3 at that point, so a T on Aldridge would have potentially given the Lakers a 4 point lead, and you could see the refs didn't want to ice the game that way. And yet, if they're going to call Odom earlier in the game for a T for holding his hands palms up in a "where's the call" expression, you've got to give Aldridge a T when he throws the ball at another player. My prediction is the league will rescind the T on Gasol, but not on Aldridge (after all, Gasol did nothing except get hit by the ball).

Anonymous kazam92 said...
Wow. Perk and Nate to Thunder for Green and Krstic. I think the move helps both teams, but now Boston is essentially saying they trust Shsq.

Blogger chris said...
Paul: but then where would we all be at, watching the Spurs and the Pistons go at each other for 10 consecutive years?

No, because the Pistons decided it'd be in their best interest to get rid of their leader (Chauncey Billups) for the cAnswer.

Which nobody thought was a good idea.

Anonymous ZooTiger said...
Somebody get Mr. Abbott an SUV...... then go hit him with a mini-van.

Anonymous Stray said...
Boston just traded Perkins to OKC for Jeff Green and Kristic

Blogger The Sports Hayes said...
Celtics traded Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma for Krstic and Jeff Green.

With West return and the surprising play of Von Wafer (don't laugh), Robinson was expendable.

However to me this trade sucks. Kristic is a big white stiff and the toughness that Perkins brings is what the Celtics were lacking when they got outrebounded in the championship game.

I love Jeff Green, he's a dependable starter and puts up decent numbers but Kristic is NOT what the Celtics need.

I like getting Jeff Green and I don't mind seeing Nate Robinson go but they're gonna miss Perkins in the playoffs.

Anonymous kazam92 said...
Trades galore! My brain can't keep up. Semih Urdan is a Cav!!!!

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
People. Al Jefferson was, at one time, considered an emerging beast, a future All-Star, the best low post player in the league, etc. At least that is what I recall.

Yeah, his star don't burn so bright these days. But non-retarded basketball people thought he was a legit stud.

Compare to.. Kwame Brown. Really? REALLY?

The other players were salary cap ballast plain and simple and we need discuss them no further. No one is building a (non D-league) team around Gerald "I dunk with no shoes!" Green and Bassy Telfair.

Anonymous Stray said...
Well OKC's already stagnant offense is just going to get worse without any scoring besides Durant and Westbrook

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
Whoah........ what the.. why would the Celtics ship out Kendrick Perkins.. this makes no sense. You're betting the farm on The Drain and the Big Fatty Fat McFat Fat? Good luck with that one.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
NOOOO! Dragic!

Aaron Brooks you better be awesome. What the hell am I gonna do with my Ernie Johnson signed Dragic Jersey???

Blogger Paul said...
Green is a nice addition but Damn! the Cs are going to miss his toughness come play off time.

On the other hand, I do think this trade does make OKC contenders in the West.

WTF is gonna fill the hole in the middle in Boston? Nenad -I'm a much softer version of Pau Gasol's sister-?

And what does Green bring to the table in Boston?

Were there locker room issues in Boston?
As a Laker fan this deal straight up scares the shit out of me if we are to face the Thunder in the play offs.

I want to hear Mr. Bawful's take on this.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
What the hell is Boston thinking with this trade? I mean, I'd have never thought that the injury to Marquis Daniels would basically mean Boston's title chances were going up in smoke, but that seems to be what has happened. Is Boston so desperate for a backup small forward (how many minutes is Green gonna get behind Pierce, btw?) that they traded one of the three best defensive centers in the game away? Have Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal really impressed Danny Ainge so much this year that they no longer felt Perkins was necessary?

Both Shaq and The Drain have been injured a ton this season, and neither one has looked that effective when they were playing (I guess Shaq has looked decent against teams like Detroit that don't have anyone over 6'9, but otherwise, yikes). So if the Celtics do meet the Lakers in the Finals again, what exactly is the plan? Green can't guard Kobe at all, and at 6'9 he's only gonna be in the game when Pierce is out, and now Boston has nobody effective to put on Bynum. This trade makes it look to me like the Celtics are far more worried about getting past Miami, and want to make sure they've got someone to backup Pierce against LeBron without worrying about the center spot (since Miami has no center).

As for OKC against the Lakers now that they have Perkins, this does make OKC a tougher matchup for both LA and San Antonio, but OKC still doesn't have very much at either shooting guard or power forward; and since Kobe and Gasol play those positions, I'm not that worried.

In the end, this trade (alongside past missteps like losing Posey and Tony Allen) show what kind of a GM Danny Ainge really is when he doesn't have a buddy (McHale) on the other end of the trade rigging it to his benefit.

Anonymous Karc said...
Looks like Boston is trusting OKC to finish off the Lakers so they don't have to. ;)

Seriously, though, Boston had a title team already. Unless they knew for certain that Perkins was not going to re-sign, this is jumping the gun a bit. And I agree with Other Chris, Thunder defense is better, but where are they going to find offense? We've already seen that when the Spurs and the Lakers don't want Durant to score, he can't.

Blogger David Landon said...
Holy Mother of Optimus Prime is this a stupid idea! The Celtics centers are now worse than the 3-headed monster of Luc Longley, Will Perdue, and Bill Wennington that the Bulls had when they got bounced in the second round by Orlando in '95. Actually, strike that. Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, and Will Perdue would be an UPGRADE over The Big Geriatric, Drain, and whatever the frak a Nenad Krstic is.

Blogger winnetou said...
What in the world is going on?
Perkins, the missing piece in the "our healthy starting five has never lost a playoff series", traded?
Battier for Thabeet (and a pick)? Another pick included in the Brooks<->Dragic swap.
Charlotte going ahead with the Wallace to Portland trade, for Przybilla and a pick?

And dislike Abbott all you want, he did quote Roy calling Kobe a SWAC. ;)

Anonymous ignarus said...
1. The Knicks are Jim Dolan's toys; he's a spoiled brat and and no matter what they are when you unwrap them, they will all end up broken and sticky.

2. I feel genuinely bad for Baron Davis because he was REALLY enjoying life with Blake Griffin to pass to and now he's back with a coach he hates on a team that's trying to smash records for being awful.

3. Prokhorov is f-ing BRILLIANT and clearly needs a wheelbarrow to carry around his enormous balls. From a position of weakness (getting jerked around by Melo and the Nuggs) he cut his losses, restabilized the team, entered back into negotiations ONLY to screw the Knicks by competing with them, and then traded for freaking Deron Williams with less than his initial offer for Melo. Who DOES that??? No Balls League my ASS!

4. Hinrich to Hawks is an underrated but solid move, since Bibby doesn't have the athleticism to break up a fight between to bean bag chairs.

Blogger Paul said...
Memphis Fail: BIG FACEPALM

From the AP:
"The Memphis Grizzlies had agreed in principle to trade guard O.J. Mayo to the Indiana Pacers for forward Josh McRoberts and a 2011 first-round pick, league sources said Thursday, but the deal has fallen apart.

Minutes before the league's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, multiple sources told ESPN.com that a deal had been struck. But shortly after the deadline passed, Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley expressed concern that Memphis and Indiana might have missed the deadline to submit the transaction to the league, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported."


Bawful Strikes again!

Anonymous Aaron said...
Memphis was too busy updating twitter and facebook but forgot to submit the actual paperwork?

Anonymous gebwel said...
does anyone have a video showing blake griffin missing TWO dunks in ONE game last night? i guess jumping over a car really made him tired..

Anonymous stray said...
"Actually, strike that. Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, and Will Perdue would be an UPGRADE over The Big Geriatric, Drain, and whatever the frak a Nenad Krstic is."

Come on, David. Everyone knows Kristic would be called Charmin.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Question for Suns fans: does the Aaron Brooks signing make you think that this may be Nash's last year with Phoenix?

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Yams: Depends on what happens with the Qualifying Offer. It could be Sarver bunkering down for a lockout.

Anonymous Ignarus said...
Sarver's one of the guys pushing hardest for a hard cap and profit percentage restructuring.

Keeping Nash is PURE PR for him. He doesn't want to be known as the guy who traded him away.

Dunno the financials of the Dragic deal, but I doubt it had anything to do with basketball. Steve Kerr left for a reason and got replaced with an agent Sarver randomly met.

Blogger Lord Kerrance said...
I saw Dragic play this preseason and he was freaking incredible. SO, SO FAST. I was genuinely excited to see how he developed under an unselfish (and frankly, can't-do-30-minutes-a-night-anymore) guy like Steve Nash. Boo-urns to that trade.