The Association

Celtics Doing Something the Pistons Can't Do... Defend LeBron

By Craig Kwasniewski

This ain't Tayshaun Prince running away from LeBron!

It's no secret that LeBron owns the Pistons. Literally any time he faces the once vaunted Pistons defense, LeBron flies down the lane for uncontested layups and thunderous dunks. The infamous Game 5 from last season proves a point, LeBron's in their head. As a basketball purist, it's really frustrating to see a team that once thrived off of their defensive reputation simply give up. Embarrassing!

Well, big ups to the Boston Celtics for putting on a defensive clinic on LeBron last night, forcing him into the worst game of his career. And it really didn't take brain surgery, just hard work. The C's were always closing the lane on drives with multiple players, they were always in LeBron's face contesting every shot and the were quick to recover off the help defense, challenging jumpers whenever LBJ dished.

Mix in the thoroughly uncreative offense from Cleveland and you have one of the one of the league's best shooting a preposterous 2-18 from the field with 10 turnovers. Seriously, Mike Brown needs to wake his ass up on offense. The TNT crew and especially Charles Barkley were losing their minds watching LeBron struggle in their 1-4 set down the stretch. Basically it's LeBron at the top of the key and the rest of the Cavs spaced all over the floor opening lanes for LeBron to dive. This works against teams like Detroit, who don't challenge LeBron once he gets to the paint. But against the C's, LeBron's expending a ton of energy just to get a shot off, which explains those blown layups in the last 45 seconds... LeBron was simply gassed.

Brown needs to find a way to create easy shots for LeBron. How about running LBJ off some curls to get the ball on the wing or posting him up? Take the pressure off LBJ by not having him run the point so much. The Cavs have the talent to beat the C's, but they need their closer to have the energy down the stretch.

BTW - Mike Brown deserves every bit of blame for his uninspired offense, but I'm not calling him a bad coach. We all look at these Cavs as a modern day version of the Doug Collins-led Chicago Bulls with LeBron and his supporting cast. But Brown's done a fine job getting his team to buy into the LeBron-first offense, play hard and win (not an easy thing to do in the game today... dudes want to score and not be role players, which explains Larry Hughes being shipped off). But Brown's also done a fine job at making the Cavs one of the best defensive teams in the league. It's no fluke that both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had their career worst games last night. Sure, some may argue that they both were tired from playing defense against LeBron, but we're talking a COMBINED 4 points from two of the big three.

Anyway, not a lot of teams have the talent make up of the Boston Celtics to defend a LeBron James like last night. But the Pistons do! Flip Saunders (or more like Joe Dumars), are you watching?

Even if LeBron splits KG and Parker Posey he still has Kendrick Perkins waiting to close the lane... textbook defense.

Kevin Garnett Is a Patient, Patient Man

by Brett Edwards

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and nothing was cooler than KG laying out ZaZa -- with his team ahead by 34 points -- as a payback for the shot ZaZa gave him in Game 4. Garnett's intensity is legendary, but plotting your revenge for three games before delivering it? That's psychotic. And by psychotic, I mean, awesome.

Monday Morning Point Guard

By Craig Kwasniewski

Time to dust off another edition of MMPG. It's been awhile since the last time I did one of these, basically it's a brief look at the past weekend's action in the NBA.

The Celtics blowout in Game 7 was no surprise: Did anyone really think the Celtics would get knocked out of the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks? Turns out, neither did the Hawks... jeezus! Talk about a major case of sphincter-itis! Actually this series totally reminded me of the Lakers-Sacto Kings in 2000. The Kings were young and hungry and rode the wave of their home court to push the league-best Lakers to a deciding Game 5. And just like Sunday, the Lakers rolled to a 113-86 win. Bring on LBJ, this will be fun!

Utah owned the glass and still loses to LA: The Jazz DOMINATED the offensive glass 25 to 8 which helped them shoot 22 more field goals than the Lakers. Mix in that Pau Gasol played like a rookie and I'm stunned the Jazz didn't win. If fact, except for a late rally, the Lakers held the Jazz in check all game. This series really comes down to the fact that the Jazz simply can't stop Kobe Bryant. And I don't want to hear anything about the refs "helping" Kobe! A lot of those fouls were because the Jazz were too late to rotate over to defend. It's weird... but a team that does such an exceptional job of containing CP3 simply can't stop Kobe.

One last thing, this might be a stretch but Derek Fisher played Deron Williams so well yesterday that I'm wondering if there's like a whole mentor-student thing there. There's no way in hell that D-Fish could hang with Williams, but he had many key steals and did a decent job of containing him. The 18, 9 and 9 were deceptive numbers, Williams wasn't much of a factor.

Rick Carlisle to the Mavs... really? Hey didn't Dallas just fire a defensive oriented coach that calls all the offensive plays? Can Mavericks fans really put up with the s-l-o-w, predictable and boring style of ball that Carlisle likes to play? And was Carlisle that much better of a coach than Avery Johnson? How many NBA Finals appearances? Exactly!

Spurs need to slow it down! Okay, I only watched portions of the Hornets-Spurs game from a distance in a bar (date night with the wife... believe me I tried!), so I won't pretend to be an expert on Game 1. But what I did see was the Spurs trying to match the NO in an up-tempo game... and they got crushed! The Spurs don't have the athletes to match Chandler, CP3 and West in an up-tempo game. Slow it up and slug it out or this will end real fast.

Pistons - Magic: Not too many thoughts here... But if anything, the Magic should try to use Hedo Turkoglu more. There were moments in the 3rd quarter where his offensive game reminded me of Scottie Pippen, but with a better outside shot. His length and ability to draw fouls while driving to the left of the cup need to be exploited more.

BTW - I used to give all the ex-2002 Sacramento Kings a bunch of crap over the years, but Turkoglu, Stojakovic, Bibby and even C-Webb (with quality in studio analysis) have done a good job to shake their choking reputations this postseason.

Coach of the Year Award is Officially Worthless

By Craig Kwasniewski

It's official the Coach of the Year ranks right up there with the ESPY's, the Tony's and the Grammy's... basically it's a worthless paper weight.

No, it's not because Byron Scott won the award, though I'm curious why Phil Jackson didn't get any run considering he coached the Lakers to the top seed in the brutal Western Conference through a myriad of injuries, the Kobe distractions in November and a blockbuster trade (just ask Avery and D'Antoni how difficult that is). But OF COURSE you can never give a nine time NBA champion the award!

It's because Doc Rivers finished in second place!

He even got 23 first place votes!!!!!

So you're telling me the same Doc Rivers who personally lost Game 4 on Sunday because he made ZERO defensive adjustments is the second best coach in the NBA. The same Doc Rivers who has never advanced in the playoffs in *NINE* seasons of coaching. The same Doc Rivers who led the Celtics to a franchise best 18-game losing streak. The same Doc Rivers who coaching the Orlando Magic during their franchise best 19-game losing streak. REALLY????

Those 23 media members should lose their jobs!

The Celtics revival was all because of KG, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and all the brilliant off-season moves by Danny Ainge (BTW - he should split the Executive of the Year award with (I can't believe I'm saying this) Mitch Kupchak). In fact, anyone who knows basketball agrees that the Celtics succeeded despite Doc Rivers coaching (again, just read Boston Sports Guy's chat on ESPN.com just to see how much the people believe in Doc's coaching skills).

So if Glen Rivers is the second best head coach in 2007-08, then let me just ask all the Celtics fans out there: do you feel comfortable with Doc as your coach in a three game series?

EXACTLY!

Playoffs 2008: The List of Coaching Have-Nots

By Craig Kwasniewski

Is it me or have these playoffs established a wider divide between the coaching haves and have-nots? For every Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson leading two well-oiled machines primed for a colossal showdown in mid-May you have Flip Saunders and Doc Rivers doing... well doing their best Doc Rivers and Flip Saunders impressions (read: not coaching). Since the haves are very obvious (Jackson, Popovich, Byron Scott, Jerry Sloan, the Hedgehog and Mo Cheeks) lets focus on the have-nots:

Mike D'Antoni: Honestly, Phoenix Suns fans should be even more pissed off at D'Antoni after Sunday's season-saving win over San Antonio. It only took all of three games for D'Antoni to finally make the key defensive adjustment by switching Boris Diaw on Tony Parker. THREE FREAKIN' GAMES!

When we finally look back at the 2006-07 Suns, people will point fingers squarely on Steve Kerr and blame downfall of the Suns on the Shaq deal. It was a huge gamble that, as Charles Barkley pointed out on TNT, the Suns needed to take a chance on. Sure, they probably needed more time to blend together as a cohesive unit and facing the second best team in the West in the first round obviously didn't help. But Mike D'Antoni cost the Suns this series. Let's even look at that epic Game One where Popovich ran circles around D'Antoni at three key moments:

1. D'Antoni had Leandro Barbosa guarding Michael Finley as he hit the first game-saving three at the end of regulation. Where was Grant Hill? He has same build and athleticism as Finley and is strong enough and has the basketball IQ to throw off Finley from the perimeter. Instead the Brazilian Blur, who's not know for his half-court defense, became the Brazilian Burned and the Spurs were given a second chance.

2. The second game-saving three was a pure miracle shot by Tim Duncan that never should have happened. The Suns should have fouled Ginobili when he was dribbling around the perimeter looking to create (or facilitate, the buzz word for 07-08) for one of the Spurs spot-up shooters. Instead, the Suns watched Ginobili dribble around and then the collapsed on him in the lane leaving Duncan wide open. Why collapse on a guy in the lane when you're up three? And isn't it a European thing to foul instead of playing defense? And didn't D'Antoni make his name as a hoops star in Italy?

3. But the game winner was pure Popovich! The Suns were out of time outs and Nash just hit a risickulous three in the corner to tie it up. Normally Pop would signal an immediate time out and diagram a play. He's notorious for saving all of his time outs for these situations, but the Spurs didn't stop the action. Why? Because the Suns took out all of their interior defenders for that last-second three and Popovich realized that Manu had a good chance at driving the lane for a game winner. Well... we all know how that ended and we all know that Pop CLEARLY dominated D'Antoni.

So the question remains, how many more postseason failures and late adjustments will the Suns' fans, front office and roster put up with? Or more importantly, how many more seasons do they have a relevant Steve Nash on the floor? Stay tunned!

George Karl: Rumors persist that the Nuggets are keeping Karl for next season.

(Time to play "Really" with Seth Meyers and Amy Pohler.)

Really? The Nuggets are keeping a head coach who's led the third highest payroll to a first-round sweep? Really? The Nuggets have a total of three playoffs wins in the last four years (BTW - such a low number that it's grammatically correct to write out the number) and you're keeping him? Really? Melo admits that the team quit in game three. Isn't it the job of a coach to motivate the players? Really? Really? The same George Karl famous for season-ending flameouts in Seattle and Milwaukee is being asked to return? Really? Karl will return to coach the team that "saved" Allen Iverson from 76ers. Isn't that the same 76ers that have at least two more playoff wins than Karl's Nuggets? Really? REALLY?

Avery Johnson: Before Sunday's loss to New Orleans, Johnson was on the 50-50 list along with Mike Woodson, Mike Brown (say what you want about his coaching, the guy pulls out W's), Sam Mitchell and Rick Adelman. But Avery Johnson made two mistakes that killed the momentum of the game and ultimately ended the series (Dallas just doesn't have the stones to rally from a 3-1 deficit.).

What the hell was JJ Barea doing in uniform instead of Tyronn Lue? I know he's injured with a back, but a broken Lue is eons better than Barea! And the Mavs paid dearly when Johnson put Barea in with a lead during the second period. Barea played like it was "win a spot on the Mavs night" and killed all of their momentum. That was the turning point of the most important game of the season and Dallas never really threatened the rest of the way. Why play the ball boy during the playoffs?????

Unlike Phoenix, people should point to the Kidd trade as the downfall of the Mavericks. It never should have happened and now the Mavs are way over the salary cap with Avery Johnson most likely fired this summer.

Doc Rivers: Until this guy actually wins a playoff series (which he hasn't in *NINE SEASONS* of coaching!) I can't ever consider him a good head coach. And the "best team in the NBA" just lost to the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. Hey I understand... quality teams are allowed to stumble every now and then. As San Antonio showed us, good teams tend to lose focus. But what absolutely kills me is that this guy is actually in the conversation for his second coach of the year award. Really? (opps, I already did that!) So you're telling me that he's getting votes over nine-time NBA champ Phil Jackson or even Jerry Sloan (who deserves it more that anyone). The guy has never won a playoff series in *NINE SEASONS* of coaching!!!!!!!!!

Eddie Jordan: Two GLARING things with the Wizards: bad turnovers and worse emotions. A ton of HORRIBLE turnovers did the Wizards in on Sunday. But what's even worse is the lack of control that Eddie Jordan has on his players. Is it wise to piss of one of the best players in the NBA? Do you really need to motivate him even more?

Flip Saunders: Let's save the best story for last. On Sunday's telecast on TNT, Chris Webber confirmed what everyone in the NBA already knew but didn't know: that the Pistons tune out Flip Saunders. With Detroit losing to Philadelphia by 10 at the half, Ernie Johnson put a question out to the former Piston and new in-studio member:

Ernie: You've been in that locker room with Flip Sauders at halftime, what is the mood in there now.

C-Webb: Truthfully, no disrespect against Flip but it doesn't matter what Flip says because they take on the personality of Joe Dumars. So I'll tell you this: Rip, Chauncey, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed and McDyess are very mad right now, they're probably not even talking and they're probably just saying, "okay we're going to go win this ballgame."

Joe will come down to the locker room though and tell everybody, "I don't know what y'all think you're doing. I'll trade all y'all today." Joe will do that.

So who's doing the coaching anyway... Joe D or Flip? This totally explains why under Saunders the Pistons seem bored during the playoffs. But if they were tuning him out last year (as C-Webb learned first hand), then why is Saunders still coaching them? Again, like the Suns, how many playoff disappointments under Flip Saunders will the Pistons' fans, front office, and roster put up with? Sheed, Rip and Chauncey are getting up there in age. Do they really want to do this again next season?

You can't hide bad coaching in the playoffs.

Kobe to CP3: 30 and 10 Ain't No Thing!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Kobe is an ass! How dare he interrupt Chris Paul Media Fellatio Month! Personally, I feel I need to hear even more about Chris Paul's back-to-back 30 and 10 against the corpse of Jason Kidd.

BTW - not to say I told you so, but regarding Kidd's defense I wrote several weeks ago, "Be ready for limited defense against the likes of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Baron Davis, Tony Parker and Steve Nash." So... I told you so!

And we still need to celebrate that CP3 himself improved the Hornets by 17 games this season.

BTW2 - Celtics and Lakers "quietly" improved by 42 and 15 respectively, but forget all of that... CHRIS PAUL AND NOBODY ELSE IMPROVED THE HORNETS BY 17 GAMES!!!!!!!! WOOOOO!!!!!!

Anyway, Kobe Bryant is an ass! How dare he soil the aura of Pauls's beloved back-to-back 30 points and 10 assists by dropping 49 and 10 himself! How dare he pull it off against the team with the 2007 defensive player of the year and runner up in 2008! How dare he shoot 66% from the field along the way! Oh and how dare he lead the Lakers to a relatively easy 122-107 win over Denver!

Seriously, I'm getting tired of the collective ballwashing of Chris Paul this week. Yes, it's impressive what he did in the first two games of his playoff career. And yes, I was totally wrong in thinking that Dallas would beat New Orleans in 6 (obviously, I forgot to read my own posts regarding the death of Jason Kidd's defense). But we really need to take CP3's effort into perspective: he did it at home against a player that even I can drop 10 and 4 on. Basically, Paul did what he was supposed to and led his team to wins in the playoffs.

Well Kobe did just that and then some last night.

BTW3 - Many people out there will argue that Denver's defense is one of the wost in the NBA. Based on 100 possessions (the best way to balance statistics between high-octane offenses and slug-it-out "defensive" teams) the Nuggets allow 103.2 points per game which is shockingly 8th in the league.

So let me apologize for Kobe for interrupting your celebration. Y'all can go back to blowing CP3...

Photos: When Duncan Speaks Spurs Listen

By Craig Kwasniewski

With Game 2 just a few hours away (hopefully it's not a letdown like the Cavs-Wiz series), I thought I'd post one of my favorite images from the memorable Game 1. During a timeout late in the 2nd OT, there was shot of the Spurs waiting to hear instructions from Popovich. Duncan's just sitting there thinking... waiting... and then suddenly he looks up at the scoreboard and calls the team over to say something. The *ENITRE* Spurs roster (including inactive players) rush over and lean in to listen. Clearly, he's the leader of the team and clearly the entire roster respects what he has to say. Some of the superstars in the NBA tend to over-inflate their leadership value just to save face (Kobe). Well with a playoff game on the line... check that... with one of the greatest Game 1's in the history of the first round on the line, when Tim Duncan speaks, the Spurs listen.

Check it out...

Photos: Tyson Chandler Smells a Victory

By Craig Kwasniewski

Talk about hard-nosed defense! One of the best/worst images from Saturday's Hornets-Mavs game was Tyson Chandler defending Dirk Nowitzki with his nose right up in Dirk's pit.... Now that's nasty! Or should I say DIRTY! Obviously Dirk doesn't wear any deordorant because Chandler got a technical right after this for pushing Dirk out of bounds. Yuck!

Playoff Predictions: Western Conference

By Craig Kwasniewski

Just wanted to get my picks in before the games start tomorrow (also so I can blockquote myself in the "I told you so" post in a few weeks). Let's start with the Varsity League, the Western Conference:

LA Lakers (1) vs. Denver Nuggets (8): "The experts" are predicting an easy series for the Lakers... I don't think so. The Nuggets have trouble against physical teams like San Antonio and Boston and the Bynum-less Lakers are far from the bruising days of the Shaq-Kobe era. The Melo "incident" (when is there not one with that guy?) will give Denver the much-needed us-against-the-world attitude and will give them even more focus. These games will be very entertaining and a throwback to the late 80's Lakers vs. the Doug Moe-led Nuggets with high scoring and very little defense. The Lakers will win this series in 6, but it won't be easy.

New Orleans Hornets (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7): Quick question... if Chris Paul is such an MVP and better than Isiah Thomas (as the Boston Sports Guy so irresponsibly wrote), then why are a lot of people predicting a Dallas win here? Isn't the MVP supposed to find a way to win the close games? Isn't the MVP supposed to lead a team through the playoffs in the early rounds? Shouldn't this be a relatively easy series for the Hornets because Chris Paul is just that good? Hey, give CP3 his damn MVP and let's get another awesome MVP press conference like Dirk's from last season because New Orleans ain't beating Dallas. Dallas wins in 6.

San Antonio Spurs (3) vs. Phoenix Suns (6): What a series! With so much history and bad blood between these teams it's a damn shame it's happening in the first round. (Actually, no it's not! The Lakers only have to face one of them... so fight it out to 7 guys!) The Suns made the Shaq deal solely for the Spurs and so far it's been a success with two easy W's. Interesting fact: since 1999 either Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan have made it to the Finals. Will 2007-08 be the first season without either big? Who knows... San Antonio has too many nagging injuries and not enough time to rally to save the season. I see is a motivated and quickly gelling Suns beating the Spurs in 7.

Utah Jazz (4) vs. Houston Rockets (5): Are the Rockets the worst team to ever win 22 straight? 10-years from now when we see the top 5 winning streaks in NBA history will we drop a collective WTF when we see "2007-08 Rockets?" Isn't that finger waving thing by Mutombo annoying considering that it's taunting and it should be a technical and that he brings nothing else to the table? Will Tracy McGrady miss the second round again? Is the Yao Ming era one of the most overrated eras in NBA history? Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and YES!!!!!!! Utah wins in 6.

Thurl Bailey is Why Manu Shouldn't Get 6th Man

By Craig Kwasniewski

The Sixth Man Award should NOT go to Manu Ginobili. The essence of the award is for the best player who contributes from the bench.... duh! In my opinion, it really applies to players not quite good enough to be starters who happen to add a lot to a team's success. Consider players like Vinnie "the Microwave" Johnson from the Pistons or Bill Walton from the 1986 Celtics. Both of those guys were HUGH bench performers who did all the little things along the way to NBA titles. Manu Ginobili is the Spurs 2nd best player who happens to come off the bench a few minutes into the game. Can you really give a bench player's award to a person who gets starter's minutes that also closes out games?

He's more like a modern day Thurl Bailey. Time for a little NBA history here: Bailey was a key player for the Utah Jazz from the mid-80's to the early 90's. The guy played starter's minutes (around 30 per game) and averaged as many as 19.6 ppg. during his best year in 1987-88, but never got any pub for the 6th man award. Maybe it was because he played in relative anonymity in Utah or maybe it was because everyone saw him as a starter who just didn't play the first 3 minutes of a game (which is the way I saw it).

This is why I think the award should go to Kyle Korver. Since his acquisition, the Jazz have gone 37-12 winning the Northwest Division along the way with an easy pass to the second round if they face the Houston Rockets. They guy gives them the right mix of scoring and experience from the bench plus he's an excellent freethrow shooter with the game on the line... basically all that you can ask from a 6th man.

Nothing against what Manu Ginolibi has brought to the Spurs this season. He improved his game even more this year to the point where he is one of the best clutch players out there. In fact, I'm curious why he isn't getting a 5th place vote for MVP. I just don't think he's 6th Man Award material.

Thank You Nellie!

By Craig Kwasniewski

CRASH! BAM! BANG! BLAMMO... Down goes the Golden State Warriors bandwagon! The Warriors were officially eliminated from the post season after losing to Phoenix 122-116. So down goes one of the best home court advantages! Down goes one of the most explosive and exciting teams in the NBA! Down goes the most sensitive fan base in all of sports. (Seriously, with all the time you have this summer, you need to get a backbone! Stop whining!) But most importantly... as a Lakers fan, down goes a very scary first round opponent!

And I have Don Nelson to thank for all of this.

Thanks for only going six deep all season! The NBA regular season is a grind and going retro and playing at most eight a game, you wore your team down. One of my favorite coach-speak applies to this team, "fatigue makes cowards of us all." The Warriors were simply gassed for all of April. A team that lived off of heroic late-game rallies were blowing huge early leads. This wasn't the same team that put fear into the rest of the league back in February and March. Nellie needed to look at the big picture and develop a bench.

Thanks for the C-Webb fiasco! Y'all remember that Chris Webber stopped for a cup of coffee with the Warriors? No seriously, a guy who was unemployed for half of the season was picked up off the street AND STARTED for the Warriors. Obviously he was out of shape! Obviously the game passed him by! And obviously it was the worst mid-season acquisition of the year! While the rest of the league was shoring up their rosters for the stretch drive, Nellie gambled on a one-legged, old power forward that is notorious for chocking.

Thanks for trading J-Rich! The same guy that destroyed the legendary RUN-TMC era when he traded Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens was at it again. When the Warriors traded Jason Richardson to Charlotte it looked like they were clearing the way for Yi Jianlian. Nellie loves him some point forwards and with the rumors that Yi wanted out of Milwaukee along with the huge Chinese population in the Bay Area, it looked like a perfect match. But nothing ever happened and the Warriors lost a key player from the 2007 run. Yes Mont-eh stepped up with a brilliant season, but the Warriors sorely missed J-Rich's minutes down the stretch and eventually they wore down. Nellie even candidly admitted last Thursday that the Richardson trade was a mistake. Was he trying to put blame on the front office or was he admitting his own gaffe? All I know is that Don Nelson has a reputation for tinkering with his roster (remember all those Dallas trades?)... he just may have destroyed another Warriors team.

Thanks for sending a message by NOT playing your best player down the stretch in one of the most important games of the season!

(Time to play "Really" with Seth Meyers and Amy Pohler.)

Really? You're sending Baron Davis a message in the 81st game of the season? Really? You chose the Steve Nash-led Suns to bench a top-five point guard? Really? You tighten your rotation from 6 to 5 for an all ready exhausted team? Really? Really? You bench your best clutch player with the playoffs on the line? Really? REALLY??? You benched a player who can opt out of his contract this summer? Really? Really? REALLY???

Thanks again Nellie!

Magic Johnson Pitching Health Insurance? Really?

by Brett Edwards

Comedian Bill Maher had a hilarious take on the fact that Magic Johnson is now a spokesman for a health insurance company.

This makes about as much sense as Carmelo Anthony becoming the spokesman for MADD.

If CP3 is MVP then Deron Williams is G.O.A.T.

By Craig Kwasniewski

Forget MJ, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Russell and Dr. J... the greatest of all time is Deron Williams! Sell the Air Jordans, stop being Witnesses and give away your Converse Weapons (the Black Larry Bird ones... of course) and cop a pair of the soon-to-be-released Air Williams.... Why?

Because Deron Williams owns the 2007-08 NBA MVP Chris Paul!

Seriously, do you remember a future MVP being so thoroughly dominated/owned/controlled by one dude?

Last night the the Utah Jazz travelled to New Orleans and blasted the Hornets 77-66. The "MVP" Chris Paul was a complete no show with 4 points and 9 assists in 33 minutes (he watched most of the fourth quarter from the bench as the Hornets were trying to rally from a late 18-point deficit). But this shouldn't really surprise anyone as CP3 has always had trouble against the Utah Jazz and especially Deron Williams.

Just look at the numbers:

In the four meetings (which the Jazz won 3-1), Paul averaged 12.3 points, 9.3 assists and shot an alarming 30.6% from the field compared to his season averages of 21.5 points, 11.5 assists and 49.1%. Against New Orleans Williams averaged 16.8 points, 11.0 assists and shot 57.4% compared to 19.2 points, 10.5 assists and 51.2% for the season. Based on stats and results Williams clearly wins the head-to-head match-up for 2007-08. And unlike the last two seasons where the Jazz were obviously the better team, Paul's Hornets have the best record in the Western Conference so there's no excuse (BTW - Williams career NBA record against Paul is 8-2).

So what's my point?

Can you even imagine likes of Kobe, KG or LeBron being so dominated/owned/controlled by another single player? The answer is plain and simple... HELL NO! They're too competitive to allow it to happen. But what about Chris Paul?

EXACTLY!

MVP my ass!

Owned by Deron Williams... please don't cry.

The Return of Dirty

By Craig Kwasniewski

The rumor of his demise has been greatly exaggerated...

Wasn't it just over a week ago that Dirk Nowitzki twisted his ankle in a nasty spill? Wasn't he supposed to miss a few weeks of action, killing Dallas' chances at making the playoffs along the way? And wasn't Dallas supposed to be the first 50-win team since the early 70's to never make the playoffs?

Just when I was about to write off Dirk Nowitzki as a head-case reeling from back-to-back postseason disappointments he roars back with three RIDONKULOUSLY HUGE games saving the Mavs season and making them the most dangerous 7 seed in NBA history (okay that may be a little strong, but Dallas no longer looks like a whimpering poodle heading for lottery-land).

Let's take a quick look back at the last three games and how Dirk saved the Mavs season:

Dallas vs. Golden State: Criticized by his own coach for lacking leadership and the ability to fight through tough situations, Dirk surprises everyone and returns early from the high-ankle sprain against GSW. Dallas rode the emotions from the defending MVP and throttled the very fatigued Warriors 111-86. (Hey Nellie, you can't run at a 48-minutes-of-hell pace and play only 6 guys all season! Mix in a bench!) Oh and did I mention that this win was the first W against a winning team since the Kidd trade? This was their biggest win of the season!

Dallas at LA Lakers: The Lakers rallied back to pull out a win in the end, but Dallas dominated the first 3 1/2 quarters. Dirk reminded us why he was MVP last season during a 14-0 run in the second quarter. He absolutely killed Pau Gasol for three straight possessions forcing the Lakers to switch Odom on him as the Mavs went small. It made no difference as he took LO to the post and found Kidd for a wide open three (unlike Sunday, Kidd actually hit it). Dallas was short-handed (Stack was out and they were playing Tyronne Lue big minutes????) and had no business taking it to the Lakers. I'm thinking Dallas wins it if Stack is playing.

Dallas at Phoenix: The Amare Stoudemire dunkfest (and intellectually irresponsible MVP discussion) was interrupted after Dallas made a key defensive adjustment and Dirk clutched up with a key steal and two *SICK* hoops. For the first three quarters the Mavs defense focused on Shaq and Nash and Amare made them pay with an array of punishing dunks. So the much-criticized and soon-to-be-fired Avery Johnson made the game altering change and double teamed Stoudemire off screen-and-rolls. The result? The Suns were held to a shocking 9 points and the "MVP Candidate" missed 3 key freethows down the stretch.

BTW - Amare's NOT an MVP candidate! He's padding his stats while being single-guarded most of the time. Just imagine the damage LeBron, Kobe, Wade, etc. would do if they were never double teamed. His numbers ballooned after the Shaq trade because defenses stopped focusing on him! Like James Worthy was to Magic and Kareem so is Amare to Nash and Shaq. Just stop the MVP talk now!

Oh and those two sick jumpers by Nowitzki? Jason Kidd didn't do Dirk any service by dropping the ball off in a "here you take it" manner with the shot clock running down. (BTW - Didn't they get Kidd because of his decision-making skills???) So with Shaquille O'Neal on him, Nowitzki took what looked like two broken plays and hit a two (wait for it...) DIRTY off-balance jumpers to seal the game and secure the Mavs playoff spot.

Maybe Mavs fans will help me on this, but outside of that game-saving three-point play against the Spurs in 2006, was this the grittiest stretch of basketball in his career?

Photos: The Return of Hibachi!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Gilbert Arenas is back!

And just in time to save the Eastern Conference from a stale ending to the regular season. This automatically makes the Wizards the wild card team in the first round. Will there be enough time for Agent Zero to regain the form of last season? Will he fit in with the new defensive-oriented Wizards? Will he be "the man" during crunch time or will he defer to Tough Juice? There are too many questions and not enough time, but the Wiz will be very scary in the first round.

So *OBVIOUSLY* Agent Zero returns against the Bucks sporting a pair of Benihana x Adidas Hibachi TS Lightswtich GIL II ZERO's (the shoes have "Hibachi" on the front of them for crissake!). The kicks are one of 20 versions of Adidas's brilliant and ill-timed signature shoes for Gilbert Arenas in 2008. I'll definitely buy these when they hit the outlets in a few months (it's hard to promote them when you're injured so obvously sales are a little slow).

Anyway, here are a few photos of his return to action against Milwaukee along with the kicks... the blogosphere just got a lot more interesting: