Basketball!

[theyeti]

NBA starts 2nite! Basketball fans there? Anyone play basketball before for that matter?

I'm not sure what to think of the Timberwolves this year. They got tons of new players, but so did everyone else in the west... plus they got a couple morons in my opinion (Latrell Sprewell). Still a fan tho of course!

Gotta get into basketball mode since I work at basketball games after all! Can't be rusty, I gotta get the new wordsmanship down and stuph. {fro}

[jamesglewisf]

I had tickets to last night's Utah/Dallas game. Had to skip it because I was feeling so awful.

Hopefully I'll be well enough for Monday night's game.

[theyeti]

*pats wigglefish on the head*

*washes hands thoroughly with soap and water*

Two nights ago the T'wolves scored a franchise low in points, like 60-something, then the next night held the Raptors to a franchise-low 56! Wacky.

[jamesglewisf]

I got to go to the Mavericks/Kings game today. It was unbelievable. I didn't think the Mavs could beat them, and they probably couldn't if the Kings had Weber playing; but it sure was fun.

Easily the most fun teams to watch are the T-Wolves, Kings, and Mavericks. A game with two of them is unbelievable!

[theyeti]

I'm just happy the Lakers are having to survive the old-fashioned way without their bigshots... Muahaha!

I'm glad the T'Wolves are doing so well, but I also kinda feel jipped by them... I don't really like it when a team abandons what they've built and just decides to fling the bling around for a couple superstars. But I suppose that after so many years of losing in the first round, it was time for some sort of an overhaul.

[Grimey]

The T-Wolves are pretty scary this season. I would fear them much more than I would the Lakers.

[Grimey]

The T-Wolves spanked the Mavericks last night. Jim, do you think it was just one game or are they that much better than the Mavs?

[theyeti]

I'll answer that question on your behalf...

"The Timberwolves are 4 1/2 games ahead of the Mavs and I don't see any possible way they can catch up! We're allowing almost 100 points per game, and with games against the Spurs, Rockets, and Sacto coming up we'll be over that for sure. Minnesota has the league MVP hands-down and with Wally and the Kandi Man back, their starting five could be UNBEATABLE, plus the next five off their bench could all be starting for a playoff team!"

:D

[theyeti]

Woah, I thought it was going to be LA/Dallas 4/5... somehow LA beat Portland and Sacto lost, so it'll be Sacto/Dallas instead. I guess that sounds better for us here in Minnesota... I was already to detail how we could beat the Lakers! I don't think they're as tough as everyone believes.

The Mavs and the Kings are the top 2 scoring teams in the NBA.

Here's the complete bracket - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/bracket

My pick for the finals is Minnesota (of course) against either Indiana or Detroit.

[jamesglewisf]

I think the Mavs/Kings games should be some of the most fun to watch.

[Alec]

Boy, the Lakers just barely beat Houston. I didn't expect that.

[jamesglewisf]

The Mavs/Kings series has been interesting. Peja is shooting awful. The heroes of the Mavs are Daniels and Howard (rookies) and Najera who's not a starter.

[theyeti]

The refs are laying the smackdown on my Wolves right now. Can't hardly breathe loudly and get away with it... it'll be a miracle if we can wriggle our way out of this.

Stumbled across Mark Cuban's blog (http://www.blogmaverick.com/) a while ago... the more I watch the NBA the more he makes sense.

[Grimey]

Everyone has a blog nowadays -- except me.

I'll just have to post my malarkey here.

[jamesglewisf]

Don't follow the lead of Cuban when it comes to ref bashing. It's a waste of time and doesn't help you win championships.

[theyeti]

Peja was still shooting awful, until the 4th quarter yesterday. We held out though. This has been a really good series, either team could honestly be up 3-0 at this point. But if we can pull ahead tonight, we're moving on.

I don't know if I'd rather have the Spurs or Lakers. (But first things first.)

[jamesglewisf]

That's a pick your poison question. The Lakers have so much talent, but if the Spurs can beat them, then what does that say about the Spurs?

I wouldn't want either.

[theyeti]

Has anyone else noticed how stupid the national announcers are this year? None of them except Al Michaels can string a complete sentence together for one thing. And Michaels doesn't actually know anything about baseketball so he just agrees with everything everyone else says.
Then there's the fact that they always favor the big-name teams. You'd think since we've got KG and Spreewell we'd get some love? Nope, cause we've never been past the first round.

Anthony Peeler just elbows KG in the head, and Doc Rivers goes off about how stupid KG was to start it, while Peeler gets ejected. Meanwhile, all the Sacto fans are throwing garbage on the court, and five free throws get shot with no explanation as to what they're for or who got the foul. And the only thing Rivers can talk about is KG and Flip Saunders, not about Peeler's elbow to the head or the fans making fools out of themselves and their city by throwing garbage.

As classless as the Sacramento Kings are, the announcers and the higher-ups in the NBA front office are even bigger idiots.

[jamesglewisf]

I don't think the Kings are the only ones at fault.The first elbow thrown by Peeler was similar to the hit teammate Brad Miller took in the midsection in a collision with Minnesota guard Darrick Martin in Friday's Game 6. Martin fell, and as he lay face-down on the floor, Miller pushed him hard in the back. Both players were tossed.http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/news/story?id=1802843

I'm not excusing it, but it's going on in both directions.

[theyeti]

That's just the national media again assuming that the Twolves don't know how to behave it the playoffs. Martin was trying to go around a pick and could hardly even see Miller on the other side. I couldn't even see an elbow hit Miller... it probably did, but in no way was it malicious or even intentional I don't think. The ref looking right at it tossed Miller right away, and only after they conferred later did they toss Martin too... make-up.

No, KG shouldn't have started the whole thing today... and yes, he should be smarter than to do that in game 6 of the playoffs. But shouldn't Peeler be smarter than to retaliate, in an elimination game, when your team has a 7-man rotation going? Yet which do the announcers mention? It's frustrating.

[jamesglewisf]

OK, theyeti, will it be the twolves or the lakers?

[theyeti]

C'mon, you know how I'm going to answer that don't you?

There's actually a lot of doubters up here. I'm not saying it'll be easy but I think we can at least make it go 6 or 7 games. We have lots of depth to play hack-a-shaq with - he's only shooting 38% from the line. {pukeface}

[Alec]

Who came up with hack-a-Shaq? - Not the term, the strategy.

[theyeti]

No clue, but we finally got it to work tonight. He was 9-11 from the line in game 1 but only 6-14 last night for 14 points. 71 pts ties an all-time playoff low for the Lakers.

Now the tough part will be pulling one out in LA.

I don't think having Cassell out will be as much a problem as people think, that is if he is out for game 3. If anything Cassell was forcing up shots in the sacto series that might've been better off going to other people. The difficulty is who will take the ball up the court, but Martin and Hoiberg and even KG have proven they can take command from the point.

[jamesglewisf]

When's the next game?

[theyeti]

Tomorrow ;)

Yep, we're still alive. Twas magnif last night, 98-96 but most of the second half it was a lot more. We need to keep Cassell on the bench in his cheerleader role, he may give us a boost on offense but it's the defense which we need and he doesn't have at less than 100%.

I don't want to sound like a whiner but we also need someone other than Dan Crawford on the whistle. *crosses fingers* I ranted on it here (http://theyetimn.blogspot.com/2004/05/ticket-back-to-la-without-one-moron-we.html), won't go into specifics now but basically he's worth 11 ppg against the Wolves, and if you replaced his calls in Game 3 with an average of the other four games, we wouldn't won by five instead of losing by eleven.

[jamesglewisf]

It sure looked like you were going to blow a big lead there in the last minute or so.

[jamesglewisf]

Did you hear about the ref going over to the scorers table during the Lakers game to ask how many fouls Shaq had? Why does he care? If he sees a foul, he's supposed to call it. It doesn't matter if Shaq would foul out of the game.

[theyeti]

Where'd you hear that? I believe it, easily, I've just been trying to avoid all media on the subject...

For the first half the other night, we were actually getting calls. Not getting the benefit from the refs, mind you, but for some reason it seems they actually forgot the Lakers were playing and called it like they saw it.

On Shaq's fourth foul, towards the end of the 2nd quarter, the TNT announcers commented that the refs didn't need to call it because even though Shaq obviously bumped the offenseive player (Spree i think), Spree got around him and it didn't impede his path to the basket. Uhm, a foul isn't based on whether it impedes the path to the basket or not. Shaq bumped him. That's a foul. Using that argument, whenever something futilely jumps up and taps shaq on the arm when he dunks, it isn't a foul, because Shaq's dunk wasn't affected in the least.

Anyway, at halftime, someone must've walked over to the refs and said, "Um... remember? Lakers? NBA finals? Super TV ratings?" And the refs were like "Um, hello? Game 7 in Minnesota? That's a whole 'nother game for TV!" And the NBA guys were like "Yeah, but we can't risk it Minnesota! Their fans are loud and knowledgable and passionate and hungry and don't all make five million dollars a year! The Twolves will lay the smackdown on the Lakers!"
So the refs and the other people compromised and decided to allow Kobe to take 15 steps on his drives to the hoop.

[jamesglewisf]

I heard them griping about it on the radio.

[CuriousG]

I don't watch basketball, I just had to look it up on ESPN to realize that the Lakers were playing the Pistons in the finals. Oh well, I guess I only have enough time to keep up with so many sports.

[theyeti]

Check out this letter in the Mpls star tribune today:As a Southern Californian, I began watching the Western Conference finals not attached to either team. By the second game, the Lakers had made a Timberwolves fan out of me.

While our Lakers were arrogant and rude, the Timberwolves played and conducted themselves respectfully and appropriately. The crowds at the Staples Center were obnoxious and impolite, while the Target Center always drew a fun yet welcoming and supportive crowd.

The Timberwolves treat the game of basketball with the honor and respect it deserves. I am proud to be a Minnesota Timberwolves fan.

Nicolette Rohr, Riverside, Calif.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4806628.html

[jamesglewisf]

How come the first game of the championship is being played at 9PM (EST) on a Sunday? They couldn't get an earlier time slot on the weekend? That has to hack off Detroit fans.

[theyeti]

I guess the NBA figures their scheduling stunk so much in the first half of the playoffs they might as well keep it up.

[Alec]

Did anyone watch much of the Lakers/Pistons series. It was unbelievable. That last game was just a shocker. It was like the Lakers rolled over and died.

I can't believe that the owner won both the NBA Championship and the NHL Stanley Cup.

[theyeti]

It was amazing. I'm happy. {mm}

And don't forget the WNBA Championship also. Why does he own teams in both Detroit and Tampa? That seems weird... it also looked like he was about to fall over when he was accepting the trophy, afraid that he'd drop it!

Wonder if Kobe will stay with the Lakers next year... and Phil Jackson too.

[jamesglewisf]

Does anyone think the Dallas/LA trade involving Shaq and Nowitski is a good idea? Do you think it will happen?

[jamesglewisf]

The Dallas Mavericks have traded Antwan Jamison to the Washington Wizards for Christian Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse and the No. 5 pick in tomorrow's draft.

Suppposedly it will help them get Shaq. Interesting.

[Grimey]

I don't think Shaq will make it to Dallas unless Cuban caves and trades Nowitski.

[jamesglewisf]

It kills me that we lost Steve Nash. It's never good to lose one of the best point guards in the league.

[theyeti]

And a Canadian, right? ;)