The Association

The Clippers Get Baron Davis, Let's Sing About It

by Brett Edwards

Wow, that escalated quickly. Turns out the picture I put up yesterday was a bit prophetic, as it looks like Baron Davis and Elton Brand will be teammates in Clipper-land. The Clippers get Baron Davis, and the Warriors get ... absolutely nothing in return. Nice job, Dubs. Anyway, while Warrior fans are likely singing the blues today, Clipper fans are rejoicing, as is evidenced by this video. By the way, this guy's some kind of songwriting genius to have put this together so quickly.

[via FanHouse]

Free Agency Begins With Elton Brand and Baron Davis Opting Out

by Brett Edwards

As of midnight on July 1, the NBA's free agency (negotiating) period began, and did so with a couple of big names unexpectedly opting out of the final year of their deals. Elton Brand and Baron Davis both walked away from big money, a little over $16M and $17M respectively. Brand might very well remain a Clipper; he just wants to make sure the team signs some other pieces so they can compete for a playoff spot. Baron staying in the Bay area? That seems a lot less likely.

The other big name in question is Gilbert Arenas. He's expected to stay with the Wizards (for less than a max deal), but it seems his status may remain unresolved for a few weeks yet. Stay tuned.

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!

Write What You See: A Great Night in the Association

By Craig Kwasniewski

Okay this is not some long-winded gloat-fest about the Lakers win over the Suns. I'll save that for the playoffs. Instead, tonight was a night for all the hardcore NBA fans out there. You had major debuts, a sick game winning jumper, a triple double, a very smart trade and even a Clippers win... simply fantastic!

So let's just run with another edition of Write What You See:

Boom Dizzle hits a SWEET game winner against the C's: I gotta give Baron Davis and GSW Hoops credit for beating the Celtics without Captain Jack. Normally I'd try to find something negative in the W just to get under the very sensitive skin of the Oaktown fans, but you guys deserved this one. I thought the Celtics would come out on fire after their loss last night at Denver and I thought Golden State would drop a second loss in a row, but instead they rode the wave of their incredible fans and once again rallied in the 4th quarter for a huge win. That has to be something like 12 fourth quarter rallies by GSW this year. It's a damn shame that they currently sit 9th in the west. The NBA *NEEDS* this team to make the playoffs!

Spurs get Kurt Thomas: Once again, while other teams are making panic deals in trying to keep up in the wild west (read: Dallas and Golden State), the Spurs go under the radar and acquire exactly what they need: a defensive big. This is why the Spurs have been contenders since 1999 and will still remain in the title race for the balance of Tim Duncan's career. Tim Thomas offers veteran experience, a tough/east coast style of defense and he's a great teammate. What makes the deal even better is that the Suns have been reeling defensively since they let Thomas go in a money-saving deal. So as the Lakers and Suns are scary-big, the Spurs counter with additional front court help and gave up nothing in return. They match up perfectly with what the Suns offer and can probably hang with the Lakers.... simply a smart deal.

LeBron with a Triple-Double: With all the debuts and game winners is LeBron's triple-double against the Pacers. The ESPN guys were praising Kobe tonight as a top MVP contender, but I'm still giving it to LeBron. The guy is simply carrying a broken and not-that-talented team to W after W. They may run out of gas in the playoffs against the C's and Pistons, but what LeBron is doing is straight out of the 80's (Bird, Magic, Mj, Isiah) with that will to win.

CP3 to Kidd: Debut This! Chris Paul drops a major schooling on Dallas in Jason Kidd's debut. I'm guessing that the Western Conference leading New Orleans Hornets are getting tired of all the talk about everyone else out west the past week and were primed to send a message to the Mavs. I know Kidd only had one practice with his new team and I know they'll get better, but expect a lot of the top point guards to have great nights against Kidd. The guy's simply not the same defender he was a few seasons ago. And I can't state this enough (especially after the Kurt Thomas trade), the Mavs are not big enough to hang with Phoenix, San Antonio or Los Angeles.

Shaq's debut in Phoenix: No gloating here... just a few facts: Fact, Shaq played his ass off and clearly knows his role with Phoenix (defense, rebounding and size). Fact, Nash and the Suns will learn to play with Shaq. Fact, Shaq is no longer explosive, but is smart enough to make a difference. Fact, with Shaq eating space, Amare will get some seriously monster numbers.

However...

Fact, the Suns defense is not that good (especially with Nash, Shaq and Amare all poor on pick and rolls). Fact, the Suns will miss Marion's help defense (he was a great rotational shot blocker). Fact, the Suns will miss Marion's defense against Kobe (he split defense on Kobe with Raja Bell, who looked tired at the end). That being said, despite the loss at home to a Lakers team missing Andrew Bynum and playing the second of a back-to-back and despite blowing the season tiebreaker in a very emotional game, the Suns are still one of the teams to beat out West (three team race with the Lakers, Suns and Spurs).

That was a fun game to watch and I'll pay close attention to Shaq's "college basketball season" over the next few weeks just to see how it plays out.

Whatever happens, tonight was one of those "I love the NBA!!!!" nights.

Around the NBA and Blockquoting Myself Until I Go Blind!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Time to do my favorite thing of all time... outside of cracking on Pat Riley and the Miami Heat, which is way too easy these days, especially after getting rolled by the Celtics' Big One (KG and Ray Allen were out). I mean rolled... at home by a score of 117-87. And all D-Wade could do was score a Barkley-needs-to-remove-him-from-his-five 7 points.

EMBARRASSING!

Where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the Golden State Warriors, which is never not fun, especially after losing to Houston 111-107. But I'm sure it's because the refs screwed over Tha Dubs, right? Actually not, the Yao Ming-led Rockets shot 2 more freethrows than the perimeter-oriented Warriors (32 to 30 in Houston). But unlike Miami, Golden State is expected to drop a roadie to a very good Houston team, so there's nothing embarrassing about it...

I'm just happy.

So AGAIN, where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER, OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the San Antonio Spurs, which... is... pure... fun! Especially after losing to a team currently on a Miami Heat-esque 14-game losing streak. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs fell to the redneck-owned Seattle Sonics 88 to 85. The loss puts the Spurs at 0-2 on their annual Rodeo trip.

RODEO-SMODEO... it's called a long road trip and many teams have their own brutal roadies every year (Chicago has the circus trip and the Lakers have the Grammy's trip), but all I hear over and over again is "Rodeo... Rodeo... Rodeo..." Deal with it and move on! Every team has 41 home games and 41 road games, unless your the Clippers where its 39-43 because of the Lakers. So what does a 9-game roadie at the end of January/early February mean? It means you have a crapload of home games coming up!

Suck it up San Antonio!

Anyway, my real favorite thing of all time... blockquoting myself (only because, as many of our regular readers know, I'm rarely right). Anyway, because of a first half injury to Son of Walton (vaginal inflammation?), the Lakers were forced to use a lineup that I've been suggesting for days. This is what I said on Monday:

Simple solution to Son of Walton crapfest: Shift Kobe to the 3 and start a backcourt of D-Fish and (heavy sigh) Sasha Vujacic. I can’t believe I wrote that, but Vujacic is a lot better offensively this year and his defense gets under the opposition’s skin. And Kobe at the three spot is a ton better than Son of Walton.

So with the Lakers trailing 100-91, a line-up of Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown put the Lakers on a 29-9 run on their way to a 121-109 win at Staples Center. Two key adjustments were made down the stretch: Kobe was moved to small forward and Son of Walton was NOT on the floor. And as I hoped, Vujacic's scrappy/annoying defense got under the skin of Nate Robinson, drawing a technical foul along the way.

One of the biggest flaws in Phil Jackson's coaching is his inability to change line-ups from game to game. Once he finds his rotation, he sticks with it all season. In many cases he'll start a rarely-used player instead of messing with his set rotation. The best example was with the 1994 Chicago Bulls, the season after MJ's first retirement. Instead of acquiring a big-time scoring guard, Jackson stuck journeyman Pete Myers in Jordan's shooting guard spot and maintained the same rotation from 1993 throughout the rest of the line-up.

Well, son of Walton's case of sudden vaginal inflammation caused Jackson to make the change tonight and hopefully this'll shed some light on the Zenmaster. Until Bynum and Trevor Ariza return, the Lakers best chance is Kobe at the three, facilitating, passing and attacking from the post and sides of the court.

Here's a few other things that I saw from Section 316:

Robinson and Lee were tired at the end: One other reason why the Lakers were able to pull away late in the game was that David Lee and Nate Robinson were simply gasses at the end. Both were having great games; Lee with his hustle and put-back points (21 points!) and Robinson who was hot from the perimeter. They both played a big part in that 100-91 lead but all the hard work and long minutes finally caught up with them. Lee had to fill in for the foul-plagued Eddy Curry and Robinson's taking up a lot of Marbury's minutes, both playing 10 more minutes than normal.

Nate was on fire! The Knicks were running Rip Hamilton-type of screens all over the floor and giving him decent looks, which mostly he hit.

Knicks bigs can finish: Curry, Z-Bo and Lee are all long, strong and have soft hands. Once they got the ball inside 3 feet they rarely missed. The Lakers, on the other hand, blew a lot of easy shots for various reasons. Obviously Kwame has no hands and Mbenga has no offensive games, but it was Odom and Turiaf who missed a few easy put-backs. Odom goes through these stretches where he puts so much English on his shots that they lip out.

Knicks fans not as much of a force tonight: Normally a huge contingent of transplant Knicks fans roll out to Staples for the Laker-Knicks game (with their "back home's" and "out here's"). But maybe the Isiah era has finally taken a toll on west-coast Knicks Pride or maybe they're all at the Super Bowl. Either way, Knicks games are always fun because of their fans but this year was a 3 on a 10-scale.

Laker haters rest easy: This is the last 316 section report until February 19th because the Lakers head out on a 9-game roadie because of the Grammy's. (Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip!) So outside of a 10,000 word anti-Son of Walton post, there will be a lot less Lakers stuff here at TAB for the next few weeks.

Why Monta Ellis' Career-High 39 Needs an Asterisk

By Craig Kwasniewski

Not to rain on the parade of Monta Ellis after dropping a career-high 39 spot on New Jersey and leading the Golden State Warriors to a 121-119 win over New Jersey, but I will.

With a wry smile...

Not because the 39 points that came at home against a below average team from the weak-ass Eastern Conference. Not because he rested on defense against a Jason Kidd that simply doesn't shoot the rock anymore. And definitely not because New Jersey, in the midst of a 7-game losing streak, simply doesn't play defense nor do they have a legitimate big man to guard the hoop.

It's none of that at all... 39 points in the NBA is impressive no matter what the situation is. I won't take that away from Monta... big ups to the little guy!

What's amazing (not ironic, but more coincidental) about the career-high 39 is that Choke-A Monta Ellis scored the exact same 39 points in the ENTIRE Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz last season.

Yep, 39 points in a 5-game series against Utah or more specifically 7.8 ppg., far less than the 16.8 ppg. he averaged last season. Hey, but he did have more assists in that 5-game series than he did tonight... a whopping 3 to 2. So Golden State fans, if you want to crown Monta... crown him. He is what we thought he was... a regular season baller!

So let's put a nice big "*" right next to Monta Ellis' career-high 39 points* (Just like that!). And do this...

* - in the regular season which equals the total points he scored in the 5-game 2007 Western Conference Semifinals

Carmelo Anthony's All-Star Ballot

by Brett Edwards

Carmelo Anthony is too humble to hype himself up as far as the All-Star voting goes, but that doesn't mean he can't help out his friends. Right now, it seems that he's all about giving love to Baron Davis. And why not? 'Melo doesn't need the help, he's leading the Western Conference forwards right now. But Baron is mired in 6th in the very crowded Western guard spot, so he needs all the help he can get.

Warriors fans and I have had our differences, but I'm in agreement that Baron deserves to be an All-Star this year. The problem is, so does Kobe, so does Steve Nash, so does Allen Iverson, and so does Chris Paul. It will be very interesting to see who gets in; right now it looks like inevitably someone is going to get screwed.

[via FanHouse]

Tables Have Turned, Mavericks Now Own The Warriors

by Brett Edwards

After a year in which the Warriors completely dominated Dallas, both in the regular season and the playoffs, it appears that the Mavericks have finally figured them out. As Kenny Smith screamed repeatedly during the dunk contest where Vince Carter was doing ridiculous things, "IT'S OVER!" Dallas dominated from start to finish, and the Warriors must now be wondering if they'll ever win a playoff series again.

The "BALLGAME!" play in this one came late in the fourth, when Dirk blocked Stephen Jackson's shot attempts twice on the same possession, then Stackhouse finished with an acrobatic spinning layup on the other end to seal the deal.

By his teammates accounts, Dirk played his best game of the year.

"He exorcised some of his demons," Jerry Stackhouse said. "It's something that needed to be done."

"He just refused to allow them to double-team him," added Jason Terry. "This was definitely his best game of the year. I liked everything he did."

Even a couple of the Warriors, who are occasionally a little cranky in defeat, were nothing but complimentary towards Dirk:

"I think Dirk just played his game, like the MVP," said Stephen Jackson. "I thought he played great. I think if I could put my hand on one thing it was that he was more patient on the block. I think he just stayed under control. He definitely carried them tonight."

Warriors forward Al Harrington noticed, too.

"Dirk was aggressive. He wasn't passive," said Harrington, who scored 21 points. "He was determined to put his team on his back and play at an MVP level."

So I don't think the Mavs have anything to worry about anymore when it comes to playing the Warriors. But Golden State has plenty to worry about when it comes to thinking playoffs. Now that they have lost their edge on Dallas, who exactly do they think they can beat in the first round? Obviously not San Antonio or Phoenix, and we know what happened when they met up with Utah. The Lakers? Doubtful, considering they were very lucky to beat them last time, and before that one they had lost nine in a row to L.A.

Unless GSW can somehow get one of the top three seeds in the West, there's just no way they're winning a playoff series this year.

Hey NoCal Drop a Banner!

By Craig Kwasniewski

So Golden State eeks out a 108-106 win at home against a team playing the second of a back-to-back with their best player (and the NBA's best closer since 1998) out with an injury... CONGRAT-U-EFFING-LATIONS!!!

So here's a few follow-up questions:

Did you hit the streets of Oakland (get robbed) and celebrate?

So where's the parade? Will it cross the bay into SF or is it just an Oaktown thang?

Will the Warriors bitch to the refs during the parade?

Will Matt Barnes get a flagrant foul in the ring ceremony?

How big are the rings? And will Stephen Jackson hock them at the local pawn shop?

Did Baron Davis get hurt putting the ring on his finger? (He's missed a combined 98 games since 03-04.)

Will they drop a banner for winning their second game in the last 16 against the Lakers?

Will any other of their celeb fans try to kill themselves in celebration?

Will Warrior Nation finally remove the tags from their brand new Baron Davis jerseys?

Will they spend another $72 on the new "We're Back!" tee shirt that dropped last night?

And by the way, what the hell are you back from? Back to advancing to the second round of the playoffs? Back to watching Nellie *NOT* take a team to the NBA Finals? Back from suspensions (Jackson for 7 to start the season, Matt Barnes for the flagrant on Turiaf last night)? (This can't be a historical reference since 90% of y'all didn't know the Bay Area had an NBA team before 2007.)

So call in sick tomorrow, enjoy the celebration and bitch to the refs... Bay Area Hoops earned their HUGE victory last night!

BTW - This ain't no rivalry, you're 2-14 against the Lakers. The last time Golden State won a season series was in the 93-94 season. (Yes GSW fans, you had a team back then.) Like Kobe said:

This is nothing. This is like slap-boxing. For a real rivalry, you have to match up in the playoffs. The regular season is nothing.

Exactly!

Anyway, I heard the celebration went on until the early morning... feel free to act like you've been there before!

Quick Question for the Golden State Bandwagoners

By Craig Kwasniewski

While you're busy wearing the $72 We Believe tee-shirts (which is now on ebay for $20), I have a quick question:

Outside of the RUN-TMC era, do you know anything about "Tha Dubs" history before April '07?

Does Sleepy, Mr. Mean, Purvis or Karl mean anything to you? What about 51 in Game 4? Or Al Attles, Silk Wilkes or Phil Smith? Without looking up at the banner, what year did you win an NBA title? Does Joe Barry Carroll ring a bell? How about Ralph Sampson? Can you name at least two coaches between Nellie's reigns? Who finally broke up the the great RUN-TMC era?

Okay the last one was a trick question depending on who you ask. Your beloved Don Nelson traded away Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens so the judges will accept either one of those two.

Just admit it, before the Golden State Warriors morphed into "Tha Dubs" last spring, you knew nothing about them. They're like Von Dutch or Cross Colors... the trendy pick for suburbanites to cling to hoping for a little street cred.

Let me expain... I've been going to almost every Warriors-Lakers games at Staples Center since 1999-2000 and last night was the first time *EVER* that GSW fans showed up. They came out in force, decked out in brand new Baron Davis jerseys or the overplayed "We Believe" tees and cheered throughout the game (even down 16 with seconds left). Big ups to the newly found life-long fans for gearing up and representing the mighty Oaktown. Tha Dubs needed every bit of that energy, especially in their 9th loss in a row to the Lakers.

Warrior Nation has officially become the most annoying trend in sports today. Detective David Mills from my one of my favorite movies, Seven, best describes the movement:

You're a movie of the week. You're a t-shirt, at best.

A $72 one at that... but of course Mills' wife eventually lost her head in the movie, which best explains what Stephen Jackson was trying to do to Lamar Odom in the closing minutes. With the Lakers up 14 with 5 minutes left, Jackson goes head-hunting on Odom. But unlike Dallas (especially Nowitzki), Odom has that New York edge where the Warriors bullshit tactics don't get to him. Anyway, on the next possession, Baron Davis gets a technical foul on defense. You know, it's kinda refreshing to see that tha Dubs are still the sore losers/cheap shot artists we knew and loved from the Jazz series last spring.

Here's my last question, after losing to a team with 5 regulars nursing injuries, who's not intimidated by thug antics and who dominated you with a 20-year old center: Do you still believe?