nbaculture

Ron Artest got a technical foul yesterday for trying to pull Yao away from a possible confrontation.  It was total bullshit, but it was an instinct call on the part of the ref.  A ref sees Ron Artest rushing into a crowd, bumping into Josh Howard, and then blows his whistle before he sees that Artests eyes are fixed on Yao the whole time.  Here’s the clip, you be the judge:

I thought Ron handled himself pretty well, and most people would agree, but that is because we know what Ron is capable of.  We’ve seen him in the past, and unfortunately any time we see him “behave”, we see improvement.  Artest hasn’t done much on the court that deserves this reputation, overall there are other people who are feistier (Rasheed), but it’s hard to forget that brawl between the Pacers and Pistons.

Did Not Play, Coach’s Decision.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen those letters and been so happy at the same time.  Coach D’Antoni did not play Marbury during the Knick’s debut, and as an added bonus they won the game.  I hate to be a hater, but Marbury just really got under my skin these past couple of years (and even in Minnesota), and seeing him knocked down a peg brings a guilty smile to my face.  Hearing the New York crowd chant his name and boo him at the same time was an oddly refreshing feeling.  But you know what, I think I’m officially over it.  Mike D’Antoni brought a little closure to my heart, and I’m sure the Knicks locker room is a happier place as of late.

Last night the San Antonio Spurs played the Phoenix Suns at good ol’ Alamo Dome.  As you know, Shaquile O’neal called out Popovich during the offseason about his usage of the Hack-a-Shaq strategy during the playoff series.  O’neal called him cowardly, and said he will make him pay for it.  I guess the Spurs got the memo.  5 seconds into the game, the spurs Hacked-a-Shaq, and it was Hilarious:

The thumbs up is classic, I need to get that as my desktop.   Popovich, you are my hero.  Not only are you a class act, you really know how to get under David Stern’s skin.  Over the years, partly due to their unspoken feud (Stern and Pop), Pop has become some kind of silent iconoclast.  What feud?  Popovich was killing Stern’s precious Nielson Ratings, how?  By winning with a team that many people didn’t consider fun to watch.  Why do you think ol’ Davy got a giant hard on when the Celtics met the Lakers?

Either way, god bless you Popovich.  Always a class act and you still have your viking beard.

It’s official, the basketball gods hate Portland.  Bill Walton (1st overall pick), Sam Bowie (2nd overall pick, famously drafted before Michael Jordan), and Greg Oden (1st overall pick).  Now we have to sit here and listen to ESPN talk about a curse, and how Oden is injury prone, fragile, and so on and so forth for the next couple of weeks.  I don’t know if any of you listen to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio, but he predicted just this thing happening (amazingly).  He basically said that the city of Portland, god bless their hearts, are setting themselves up for failure with high expectations and believing that Greg Oden will be around the whole season.  Now, I agreed that at some point he would get injured during the season, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to happen the first game of the season.

I guess it was too good to be true.  It was nice seeing Ewing Jr. make it on the Knicks’ roster, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  He had spurts of exciting play, and was impressive at times, but the Knicks opted to go with guard Anthony Roberson.

It is here at last people, and here are some interesting things to think about for today’s matchups.

Boston vs. Cleveland:  Big teams, big matchups, plenty to look out for.  The Celtics are pretty much the same team that one them a championship, and Cleveland is looking for retribution.  The addition of Mo Williams gives a little more depth to the Cav’s roster, but we have yet to see how well he and other supporting casts will mesh.  No question about king James, he’s bigger and better than last year, and that’s a scary thought.

Milwaukee  vs. Chicago: The new look bucks go up against one of last year’s surprising underachievers.  Ben Gordon has something to prove, along with all the other Bulls, while the Bucks are looking up after getting Richard Jefferson and an improved Andrew Bogut.

Portland vs. Los Angeles Lakers:  Heres the marquee matchup of the night, no offense to Boston and Cleveland.  Portland fans are very optomistic about the prospects of this year, and are looking to win 50+ games this year, which is possible but I personally think will be a longshot considering the depth of the West.  Greg Oden is back, and will be matched up against the Lakers young big man Andrew Bynum, both back from injury.  The Lakers on the other hand have been labeled favorites to win it all, an expectation that was absent to begin last year’s campaign.  How will they react?  Will Lamar Odom come off the bench?  How will Pau and Andrew get along in the paint?  Tonight will be the first night of competitive play, and should shed some light as to how legitimate these two teams are.

OMG, I was reading J.E. Skeets’ blog, “Ball Don’t Lie” and just saw his beard.  I didn’t even know he had one!  And he cut it off!  or at least trimmed it.  That’s a shame, he looked like a wizard, or an old viking or something.

Okay, so he underwent a much publicized sexual harassment lawsuit, destroyed one of the NBA’s most beloved franchises (albeit not single-handedly) in the offices, coached them to the ground and made no apologies.  What could he do that’s worse than that?  Use his daughter as a scapegoat that’s what.

By now you should have gotten word of Isiah Thomas overdosing on pills.  A 47 year old man was rushed to the hospital from his home, and seeing as how he is the only 47 year old man in his home, case closed right?  Wrong!  Isiah Thomas has told reporters and sources that it was in fact his daughter who needed help, not him.  This after the police have made reports of a 47 year old man being rushed to the hospital.  They were being pretty professional about the whole thing, holding confidentiality and all, but Thomas doesn’t know respect when he gets it because he gives none in return.

After Thomas’ reports have come to surface, Harrison Police Chief David Hall had this to say to the associated press: “It wasn’t his daughter… And why they’re throwing her under the bus is beyond my ability to understand.”.  Mine too buddy.  He went on to say this: “My cops… know the difference between a 47-year-old black male and a young black female”.  Well, I guess it might be tough for some people (namely the blind), but I can see his point.  Its pretty hard to confuse the two individuals.

So how is Thomas justified in saying all this?  He obviously has no respect for the investigative prowess of the associated press, and he cares more about his image than his daughter’s welfare.  I used to say, at least he was a hell of a good player, but now, I’ve lost all respect for this man.

Shaquille O’neal and Grant Hill have made it known that they are interested in buying the Orlando Magic, and have had discussions with Magic Owners.  Apparently they are serious, and good for them.  I’d like to see this happen, I think they are good for the sport and could bring a lot of things to the table.

And Stephon wonders why people don’t like him and blame him for the collapse of a an entire team.  The New York Knicks last played the Boston Celtics in a preseason game.  It was Marbury’s first start, and now, here’s where things get interesting.

I read a story done by New York Time’ Howard Beck to find out that there was a lot of chirping going on.  It was between Marbury and House.  After drawing a foul on Kendrick Perkins and hitting two free throws, Marbury yelled at midcourt “You’re a bum!”.  House retorted: “Don’t worry about me. You better worry about Ray Allen”.  Makes sense, Marbury was guarding Allen, not hous (who was on the bench).  Marbury replied : “You’re nothing!” and added “You’re caught up in basketball. Get caught up in life.”

If you go to other basketball blogs, you probably came  across this amusing phrase at one point.  Get caught up in life.  First of all, what does Stephon know about life?  He seems to have some issues himself, and he’s got more than an entire city upset with him.  Secondly, why is he trash talking with House?  He isn’t even playing!  I believe that trash talk can be useful, if you recall the Cav’s beat the Wizards in the playoffs with timely trash talk to a freethrow shooting Arenas (many could argue that this was the case).  But if trash talk serves no purpose, you are just a punk, a common bottom of the barrel thug.

Granted I received this story out of context, but it seems pretty straight forward to me.  Marbury should just shut up and play ball, you’d think someone that claims to love the game as much as he does would be grateful to be back after sitting out most of last year.  Not Marbury, he’s got a message and people are gonna hear it whether they want to or not.