Degenerate Friday - NBA Conference Finals

Last night the Celtics started the Cavaliers summer earlier than expected and began the LeBron Watch in Cleveland, New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Miami. Everyone is going to focus in on the Cavs and why they were able to put up the best record in the regular season and then fizzled out in the playoffs. Was it LeBron’s fault? Was it Mike Brown’s poor coaching? Was it his pathetic supporting cast? The one thing that seems to get overlooked is that, using a decent sized caveat: “when healthy,” the Celtics are a better team with more talent than the Cavaliers.

Before game 5 of this round, everyone believed that the Celtics were old, washed up and trying to make one last stand against Cleveland before they drift off into the sunset. Now they have to be a legit threat to beat the Magic and challenge the Lakers. The Celtics won the title two years ago riding the leadership and defense of Kevin Garnett combined with the scoring of Paul Pierce. Last year Garnett was hurt and missed the playoffs, meaning the Celtics had no shot. This year Garnett is healthy and looks to have his swagger back. In addition, Rajon Rondo has matured into one of the top point guards in the league, and Ray Allen is shooting, literally, for one last contract. Add to that Pierce’s experience and shooting despite the fact that he was the slowest guy on the court that included Shaq and Zdrunas Ilgauskas, and the Celtics have all the pieces needed to contend. They have all the talent of Heidi Klum, they just need to stay healthy the same way she has bounced back from having her kids.

So let’s make degenerate Friday about picking the Eastern & Western Conference Finals:

Western Conference: Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers

This should be an extremely entertaining series with the fast pace of the Suns matching up with the stingy defense and offensive firepower of the Lakers. The Lakers have much more size on the interior which will provide a matchup problem for the Suns. Yet the Suns bigs like Channing Frye will be a tough pairing for the Lakers defensively because Frye will pull Gasol or Bynum away from the hoop and somewhat negate their rebounding. Steve Nash will provide nightmares for the Lakers because they’re going to need to use Derrick Fisher and Jordan Farmar to try and contain him. The Suns have also played better defense this year than they ever have, and that’s what will make this a close series.

The long lay off has helped both teams, allowing Nash’s eye to pop back in his socket and allowing Kobe’s finger and knees to get even more healthy. The Suns are flashy and have the people’s support to see Nash and Grant Hill finally get a title. They are like Kate Hudson in that everyone likes them and wants her to be happy, but even with her new perky friends it won’t be enough to win back A-Rod.

The Pick: Lakers in 6 games

Eastern Conference: Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic

The match up I am fired up for in this series is Jameer Nelson versus Rajon Rondo. My brother and I already have a wager as to who will have a better series, with me taking the Rondo side. I think Rondo is long enough to keep Nelson from shooting over him, and quick enough to keep Nelson in front of him. While Rondo may not score as much as Nelson, he is a much better playmaker and rebounds well with his long E.T. arms. The Celtics are big enough to run a rotation of defenders at Dwight Howard with Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace and even Big Baby Davis. Vince Carter should be able to explode against the eroding Paul Pierce and he will be the reason the Magic will get by the Celtics.

When it comes down to it, the Celtics still have the heart of a champion, and are playing their championship level defense again. The Magic are the hottest team in the league, having won something like 27 of their past 30 games, averaging double digit wins during that time period and they haven’t lost in the playoffs. Yet they haven’t played against anyone with the talent, experience and personality of Brooke Burke. The long lay off provides them an opportunity to cool off and game 1 will be a huge opportunity for the Celtics to jump on them early and wrestle away home court advantage. Maybe I’m just drinking the Kool-Aid and have forgotten how good the Magic has been playing, but…….

The Pick: Celtics in 6 games

Another Reason to Hate Philly: Cheaters

As anyone who reads this site regularly knows, I loathe Philadelphia. I dislike the city, the teams and the fans. It is the worst city I have ever been to in my life, and I’ve been to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Toledo, Ohio and Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin among other horrendous places. Their fans are the loudest, most obnoxious and ill-informed inbreeds in the universe. There is even a website dedicated to the city and its teams sucking. Well we can now add a few more reasons why we dislike them, courtesy of the Cheatin’ Phillies and the idiocy of Bud Selig giving them an unfair edge.

The Phillies are stealing signs, and have been accused by the Rockies, Mets and Red Sox which lead to baseball giving them a warning. Where is the outrage from the national media? Where are the claims that the Phillies back-to-back NL pennants and World Series championship two years ago are now tainted and should have an asterisk next to them? Where is the moronic congressman calling for MLB to take away their trophies? Because when the Patriots were accused of spying on teams and stealing their signs, blowhards like Arlen Specter wasted tax payer money on pushing the NFL to investigate. Let me get this straight, in baseball it’s okay to steal signs but not to use steroids. In the NFL, it’s okay to use steroids but not okay to steal signs. Got it. That makes about as much sense as putting Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher in a movie and then wondering why it bombs.

There are those who believe stealing signs is a part of baseball, however there is a big difference between watching a base coach for clues and having your bullpen coach using binoculars and calling the dugout phone to relay the signals. That is flat out, blatant misuse of the phone and using binoculars. The Phillies should face a huge fine and draft sanctions. There is no way to defend what they did. Absolutely none. It is CHEATING. While I did not ever root for the Phillies in the past, I used to respect them as a talented team that played hard. That respect took a major hit with these accusations.

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In addition to that advantage that the Phillies are getting by cheating, they are being given an unfair advantage by the league Commissioner. The Phillies are supposed to play an interleague series in Toronto during the same dates that the G20 summit is taking place in Toronto. The city of Toronto wants to move the baseball games due to concerns for security and traffic in the city. First, when was the G20 scheduled? I have to believe it has been planned for quite a while, so why did baseball schedule a series in town in the first place? That’s a minor brain fart. The bigger problem is the solution from MLB: to move the games to Philadelphia. Not only is it punishment for the Blue Jays to have to spend extra time in that horrific city, but the Phillies will now play 84 home games compared to 81 for every other team in baseball. And for a team playing in a division race that could come down to the wire against the Marlins, Mets, Nationals (yes, they could be for real) or Braves, those extra home games could be a difference maker.

Why wouldn’t Bud Selig move the game to a neutral site? Buffalo? Or New York? Or Baltimore? Or Detroit? MLB has used other team stadiums for neutral site games in the past – the Cubs and Astros played at Miller Park in Milwaukee as a result of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The Phillies are talented enough to win without the help of the Commissioner or cheating, so it’s really just more reasons to hate the already easily hated franchise/city/fans.

Is The King Not Wearing Any Clothes??

LeBron James was flat out awful in last night’s pounding of the Cavs by the Celtics in Cleveland. There is no other way to describe it. Combining his lack of urgency with the pathetic play of Mo Williams and indifferent coaching of Mike Brown has the Cavs on the brink of elimination. To put last night’s blow out in perspective, consider the fact that while Michael Jordan may have had off nights shooting the basketball, in 179 career playoff games, his team only lost 3 times by more than 20 points. Only 3 times in 179 games!! Even when he was not shooting well, he managed to keep his team from being embarrassed through effort and anger.

That is the biggest problem I had with LeBron’s game last night was not his 21% shooting from the field but the fact that he only took 14 shots and he looked disengaged. Where was the fire or the effort or the anger from getting your butt kicked? When things didn’t go right for Jordan or Bird or Kobe, you saw the scowls come out and the abuse of teammates to drive them to play better. Where is that from LeBron? I would guess that he is angry with Mo Williams and angry with Mike Brown, but he definitely has not shown that outside of the locker room, if at all. Does he have the ability to get fired up and take it to the next level? We have never seen it from The King. Is that his kryptonite? The fact that he doesn’t have “The Scowl” or the fire to focus every ounce of his energy on winning a title and not to get distracted by his pending free agency or trying to be a global icon. We’ll see what happens in game 6 in Boston, but if he does not come out and dominate, it will be obvious that the King is not wearing the clothes required to be the greatest of all time.

I think the biggest reason that he was disinterested last night were Mo Williams and the poor coaching from Mike Brown. Mo Williams has been absolutely awful. Not only has he not been effective offensively, but the Celtics have decided to attack whomever Williams is guarding. He does not have quick enough feet to stay with Rajon Rondo, and Rondo blows by him regularly to get a lay up or shoots right over him if he falls back. When Williams switches on to Ray Allen, Allen immediately goes to the block and posts him up. He has been a huge liability on both ends of the court.

The other issue is the poor coaching from Mike Brown. If Shaq thinks that Stan Van Gundy is The Master of Panic, I can’t wait to hear what he thinks of Brown once he retires at the end of this season. Brown has looked more lost on the sideline than anyone in the ABC series Lost. His playing rotation has been sporadic and random, playing Daniel Gibson for the first time in the series in game 5, giving uneven minutes for guys like Jamario Moon, and trying Zydrunas Ilgauskas for short bursts. He has basically decided on his rotation using the theory: “Let’s throw this in bed with Madonna and see if she sleeps with it.” Not exactly a recipe for success.

The good news for the Cavs is that they are not done yet and have a chance to bounce back on Thursday night in Boston. If LeBron comes out with authority, and Mike Brown stays home, the Cavs will be in position to win that game (like they did in Game 3) and get game 7 back at home. But if the Cavs fail, Mo Williams and Mike Brown didn’t help King James on the court, so maybe they could help him off the court by packing his bags when he leaves Cleveland for good.

Ho Hum Another Steroids Story

Texans linebacker Brian Cushing failed a drug test in September before last season, but was able to appeal and play the entire season, winning the league’s defensive rookie of the year award. Now it has been announced that Cushing failed the test, lost his appeal and he will be suspended the first four games of next season. Cushing is vehemently denying that he took PEDs, but will not say what it is that caused him to fail the test. His camp is on spin control and is leaking stories to Adam Scheffter that he passed a lie detector test about taking performance enhancers.

So what? Do we really care? Is it bad that I’ve become so immune to the steroids stories from all these athletes that I don’t really care whether he did or not? It’s not going to stop me from watching football. Do I wish there were no steroids or performance enhancers in sports? Absolutely. Do I really believe that these guys won’t risk shortening their lifespan and shrinking their junk for a chance to make an absurd amount of money? Definitely. They can always claim they were in the pool.

They are redoing the vote for the defensive player of the year. Another big “who cares?” from members of the media who are trying to be make a stand more than anything. Do you think Cushing cares whether he gets to keep his rookie of the year trophy? He knows he was the best rookie on the field, and so do we. Let’s just move on, no one really cares.

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Here’s a major FAIL by a politician trying to talk sports by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Not only does he start off by talking about “ionic” sports moments, but he then talks about Varitek splitting the uprights. Ouch. Varitek, the catcher of the Red Sox has never kicked a field goal like Adam Viniatieri has. It’s almost as impressive as the Congressman during the steroid hearing asking if Mr. Palmerry was on drugs when he got his 300th hit. (meaning Raphael Palmeiro and his 3,000th hit)

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And here is Erin Andrews first taste of attention, around the 45 second mark of this video to learn to dance like a BackStreet Boy.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Steve Nash was unreal last night leading the Suns while looking like a cross between E.T. and Two-Face from Batman. He took 6 stitches above his eye and the eye swelled shut, which somehow caused his good eye to bulge out even more throughout the 4th quarter. Nash and the Suns finished off the Spurs in 4 games and appear to be a pretty good challenge for the Lakers (once LA dismisses the Jazz). The Suns will provide a tough matchup with their outside shooting big men which have the potential to drag the Lakers big front court away from the hoop. The Suns continue their march as The People's Choice to win the title and the vindication of Steve Kerr as a General Manager continues. The Suns finally were able to beat the team that has kept them from getting the NBA finals routinely for the past 10 years. And the best part? We no longer have to watch Manu Ginobili flop all over the court with that large feminine hygiene product strapped across his face.

- Another point guard who dominated a game and put up ridiculous numbers? Rajon Rondo put up a sick triple double in the Celtics win on Sunday to even the series at 2 games apiece. Rondo is often overlooked when talking about the best point guards in the league – Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash and Derrick Rose get all the attention. Yet Rondo has proven that he has the ability to step up in the playoffs and throughout his career has played better in the postseason than he does in the regular season. Rondo also resembles ET with his bug-eyes and long, wirey arms. If the Celtics are going to win this series, and I still don’t believe they will, they will have to rely on huge games from Rondo to make up for the inability of Kevin Garnett to take advantage of his mismatch with Antwan Jamison.

HATE

- Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in major league history on Mother’s Day with his grandmother in the stands. It was a great story, except that all anyone wants to take about is Braden’s mini feud with Alex Rodriguez. Give it a rest. The guy wants to own the mound when he’s pitching, fine. A-Rod has no people skills so he has no ability to make a sane response, which blows it out of proportion. Just focus on the fact that Braden is a young talented pitcher with tremendous upside. A guy that was a junior college teammate of the much more heralded Manny Parra, and there is no doubt that the prospects for Braden appear much brighter than those for Parra. Congrats to the guy for throwing a gem against the team with the best record in the league.

- Trying to refrain from making any of the all too easy jokes about Tiger Woods this weekend. Let’s see, he had to pull out….of the tournament……with a bulging disc………There are just too many ways to take it straight to the gutter like asking Rachel Uchitel about his bulging disc. In the end, the critics are going to say that he quit and that he just wasn’t playing well so he opted to bail than stick it out. I don’t buy it. The guy has proven to be tough when he won the US Open on a broken leg, so people think that nothing can stop him from playing. However, if he wasn’t playing well, was in pain, and the pain was causing his swing to be even more off than it already was, I have no problem with him yanking himself off the course.

Degenerate Friday - Is Vince Carter Ric Flair?

Last night during the Magic-Hawks game, the key player on the floor was not first team All-NBA member Dwight Howard despite his 29 point, 17 rebound effort, or third team All-NBA member Joe Johnson. It was Vince Carter. The 33-year old veteran is the key to the Magic’s goal of winning the NBA title this season as a replacement for Hedo Turkoglu. Carter is needed to be the guy who can create his own shot in crunch time, because down the stretch of a close game Dwight Howard does not have a refined post game and is unreliable at the free throw line (last night not withstanding) and Rashard Lewis is only a spot up shooter. The Magic will need Vinsanity to knock down jumpers, get to the hoop and be able to create offense when the shot clock winds down.

Despite his immense talents, I find it hard to root for Carter. He was an absolute freak of an athlete in college at the University of North Carolina and his career stats are impressive (he is the second-leading scorer in Nets history having only spent 5 seasons in New Jersey). Yet he has always been a moody, pouting player that has the perception of a guy that puts himself above the team. While playing in Toronto he attended his college graduation the morning of game 7 of a playoff series against Philly and ended up missing a game-winning shot at the buzzer. He was accused of risking his team’s chances for his own personal goals. He then made comments when he was traded from the Raptors that were taken to mean he didn’t always give his full effort. His image is very similar to Randy Moss, another guy with as much talent and athleticism as anyone but a lack of passion to give full effort and and pouts his way through the season. If they have their heads on straight, Carter and Moss have the ability to carry their teams to championships but we’re still waiting for either of them to reach that level.

On the other end of the spectrum is a guy like Grant Hill of the Phoenix Suns. Hill came into the league with high expectations that were only tempered by the lack of success of his fellow Duke alumni. Hill immediately went to work and became one of the best players in the game. He gutted out injuries and played through pain, even causing long-term damage that would end up costing him years of being less effective. Yet he has worked his way back to being a vital role player on a team that is easy to root for. He continues to play hard, does not talk or whine about his injuries or his lack of playing time during his recovery. He is well-spoken and a team leader.

To use a wrestling analogy, Grant Hill is the People's Champion, The Rock. He rallies the crowd, plays the good guy and has everyone rooting for him. Let's just hope that Hill doesn't end up doing horrendous Disney movies after a failed attempt to be an action hero. Carter on the other hand is more like Ric Flair, the greatest villain of all time. He has the talent, but his arrogance and lack of concern for the crowd or whether or not he is liked overshadows that natural talent. If Carter could just grow that long blonde hair like the Nature Boy and let out a couple of classic Flair "Whooooo!"s before each game and after each dunk, it would be amazing.

The unfortunate aspect is that I think Carter and the Magic have a much better chance of winning a title this year than the Suns, yet I would much rather see Hill hoisting the trophy than Carter.

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Since it is Degenerate Friday, I have to have some action out there……

Cavaliers (-1) over Celtics (Friday night)
This is the game that LeBron James has to win. He cannot come out and be a drama queen or timid with his elbow soreness. He has rubbed it and shot the left-handed free throw so everyone knows just how banged up he is. Is he setting himself up for an excuse to leave Cleveland? “I was injured and the rest of the team couldn’t step up at all, so I can’t win here.” Or is he just building suspense? Kobe Bryant has a bum knee and a broken finger on his shooting hand, yet the media isn’t obsessed with it, and more importantly, you don’t hear Kobe talking about it. If James wants to win a title, tonight is his chance to come out and make a statement that he is going to take this team to the title. The Celtics have the heart of a champion and Ray Allen is playing better than he has in the past two seasons, so they will be ready to defend their home court. Yet the Cavs are 8-2 ATS in their past 10 playoff games as a favorite and 23-7 ATS in games coming off a straight up loss of more than 10 points. The abundance of off days should have given James enough time to rest his elbow and the Cavs will come out and take back their home court advantage.

The Best Point Guard to Never Win an NBA Title?

While watching the Suns take a commanding 2-0 lead in their series with the rapidly aging Spurs, a couple of things came to mind. First, “Los Suns” on the Phoenix jerseys. I get their support for the large predominantly Mexican immigrant population in Arizona and rallying against the immigration legislation. I couldn’t care less about the Suns politics. But is putting Spanglish on your jerseys helping or hurting the cause? I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, and a semester in college, so I have a pretty decent understanding of the language. “Sun” in Spanish is El Sol. The Suns would then be translated to Los Soles. So why in the world did the Suns have “Los Suns” on their jerseys? Who was the genius who came up with that? That’s like your buddy at Qdoba at 3 in the morning asking the guy behind the counter for “tres burritos with cheese-o, senor!” It’s humorous and offensive at the same time. Is that what the Suns were going for?

The second thing that crossed my mind was whether Steve Nash was the best point guard in NBA history without an NBA title. In my opinion, here are the top 4 point guards to have never won an NBA title:

4. Allen Iverson
Iverson was a dynamic scorer and changed the overall culture of the NBA. Unfortunately he was a horrid teammate and extremely mercurial and immature. His ability to get to the paint at his size was unmatched by anyone before or after him. He won an MVP award and got to the NBA Finals once, to go with his 4 scoring titles and 3-time 1st team All-NBA. He also was in the top 10 in the league in turnovers 7 times in 13 seasons and only shot 42% from the floor and 31% from beyond the three point line. He’s like Megan Fox – controversial and enjoyable to watch in small doses, but you can’t win a title or have a blockbuster movie with them.

3. Steve Nash
Nash can light up a scoreboard with his scoring or his passing and like Meg Ryan, has actually gotten better with age. He has bested his career scoring average in all 6 seasons since he turned 30, and led the league in assists 4 times in those 6 years. He ranks 8th all-time in assists and has a career assist to turnover ratio just below 3. He’s a two-time league MVP, but has never been able to get his team into the NBA Finals. The only real knock on Nash and what keeps him from topping this list is his defensive deficiencies. He is about as effective defensively as a turnstile to enter the subway, you can go right through it or jump over it and there’s nothing the turnstile can do. Yet with his creative offense and ability to change the overall pace of any regular season game, he is one of the best point guards of all-time.

2. Jason Kidd
Kidd has never been a prolific scorer and not a strong shooter, yet his all-around skills are what moves him just ever so slightly ahead of Steve Nash. Kidd is a great passer and rebounds better than any point guard to have ever played the game. When he was younger, he was a one-man fast break with his potential to rip down a rebound and instantly be out leading the fast break. Unfortunately as he has aged he has slowed considerably, and his defense and ability to get out on the break have declined significantly. Yet his basketball intelligence remains high and his court vision is on par with Nash and the guy at the top of this list. Like Maria Menounos, a ton of talent, but can only carry a show or a team so far before they top out and no one pays attention.

1. John Stockton
The recency effect almost led me to put Nash and/or Kidd ahead of John Stockton, but once I started looking at the stats, it was actually a tougher decision to not make this just a one person list. He holds the league all-time record for assists and led the league 9 consecutive seasons between 1987 and 1996. Over his 18 year career, he averaged just over 13 points per game and 10.5 assists per game, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.7. He was also extremely durable, only missing 22 games over an 18 year career, playing every game in all but two seasons. He also led the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice and would have a title if it weren’t for that guy in Chicago with a penchant for gambling, smoking cigars and crushing the spirits of everyone that rooted against the Chicago Bulls. Like Heidi Klum, she is the best but you might forget until you break out the stats and watch the highlight tapes.