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NBA Discussion / David Stern ~ the sheriff that didn't even need to fire

« on: March 19, 2011, 09:46:09 PM »

Hey, y'all:
  
David Stern, after a particularly (to him, at least) rancorous diatribe recently by the even~normally shrill Stan Van Gundy had had enough guff from him. 'I don't think you will be hearing any more from him this year," replied a taciturn Stern when queried about Van Gundy's remarks. And guess what? Not a peep from anyone in Orlando, nothing since Stern's pronouncement. Now THAT is power...let's see if Stern can deal with the upcoming CBA tsunami better than Roger Goodell and the NFL have.
  
There can be little doubt that Stern wields greater power in the sport he presides over than anyone since Juan Antonio Samaranch (of Olympics fame)...I'm just sayin'!
  
~ RB
Shaq #1

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NBA Discussion / 'Monster Mode' a must in Motown

« on: June 09, 2004, 09:47:21 AM »

Hey y'all!!!  

It is apparent to me that the upcoming Game 3 of the Finals will be the one that ultimately determines the eventual series victor...should 'Our Heroes' come away with the 'W' in Game 3, it will be exceedingly difficult for the younger, less-experienced Pistons to avoid the lengthening shadow of despondency that will surely be cast over them in the event of a defeat.

It is imperative that 'The Big Aristotle' come out with his game face on, as he did against SA in the famed 'Milk Money' 2000 WCF...as a Shaq-supporter, I know that he still has not yet put forth his best performance in this year's "winnin' time", even though for the most part he has played with energy and made major contributions to the winning ways of the LAL. Up to this point, I have not seen Shaq perform his "Godzilla Stride" in the playoffs this year,  as he does when he's really feeling it.  It's time to break out now - Shaq must rampage on Detroit just as Godzilla did on Tokyo, leaving only devastation in his wake. It's up to Shaq Daddy to deliver an M.D.E.-level performance for 'Our Heroes' to emerge from this series as 'The Champs'.  Nothing less will do, I think.  It has already been proven that the Pistons cannot contain 'The Pachyderm' - now the LAL must relentlessly feed the rock to him until the Pistons are battered into submission by the 'Unstoppable Juggernaut' that is Shaquille O'Neal.

I'll bet anything that Shaq is petitioning PJ for 'Luuuuuke' Walton to get more PT in the upcoming games...check out what 'The Big Historical' had to say about him in this L.A. Times article today:



This Kid Rocks as He Goes on Roll
By J.A. Adande, Los Angeles Time Staff Writer


Sounds the Detroit Pistons didn't want to hear:

• 19,000 fans in Staples Center chanting "Luuuuuke" and Luc Robitaille nowhere in sight.

• The postgame interview room moderator announcing "Luke Walton will be next."

Those were the noises that accompanied Luke Walton's breakout performance of the playoffs.

Better to judge by the sounds than the numbers, because the statistics weren't mind-blowing — seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots in 27 minutes of play. But it was the timing of plays, the effect they had on the Lakers' 99-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 2 of the NBA Finals that led to these sound bites:

"Luke Walton was phenomenal tonight," Piston Coach Larry Brown said.

"He just came in and had a monster performance," said Laker guard Kobe Bryant, who sent the game into overtime on a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining.

"You can talk about my shot all night long, but without Luke in the game playing as well as he did, we wouldn't be in that position."

He even was the topic of postgame conversation between Shaquille O'Neal's mother and Denzel Washington's wife.

"Luke was all right," Lucille Harrison said. "He did good. I'm happy for him."

The sounds of success.

The funny thing is, Walton isn't much for words himself. He doesn't talk a whole lot, just enough to get his point across.

When Jack Ramsay first met him, Walton didn't say anything at all. Bill Walton brought his son, about 14 at the time, to an All-Star game and introduced the kid to the coach of Walton's 1977 NBA championship team. The father said Luke — christened for the nickname of Portland teammate Maurice Lucas — would be the best player of all his sons.

Ramsay asked Luke whether he was going to play in the NBA one day. Young Walton just nodded. A big, emphatic nod.

It takes that type of confidence to make an impact in the NBA Finals when you're a rookie who hasn't played in the previous two playoff games, and spent a total of eight minutes on the court in the four games before that.

Walton stayed sharp, working hard in the three-on-three games the reserves play after practice, then sticking around to take extra jump shots with shooting coach Bob Thate.

Still, there's a big difference between playing half-court games in a gym while the media concentrates on interviewing other players and being called upon to save a team from falling behind two games to none in the NBA Finals.

"Of course" he was nervous, Walton said.

"But I love stuff like this. I've always loved big games and I was just hoping I would get my chance."

OK, that's what he was thinking. But what was Coach Phil Jackson thinking, sending the kid into the fray with the Lakers trailing by a point late in the first quarter? We said Jackson needed to make a radical adjustment after the Lakers lost Game 1, and this was it.

"Maybe insanity is the best excuse," Jackson said. "I just needed somebody in there that could move the ball and had the ability to create things off the dribble. And Luke is a kid, a rookie. Of course you always worry about them getting calls offensively, having things happen right for them. And then, the other end of the floor, that they don't get overmatched defensively. But he held his own and actually was the player of the game, really, for us tonight."

The defensive end was the key. Normally, teams try to exploit Walton by posting him up with bigger players or trying to beat him off the dribble, and they force him out of the game.

At first, the Pistons went at him with Corliss Williamson. But Walton drew an offensive foul against Williamson, who pushed him away. He also forced a turnover when he jumped into the lane to help on Richard Hamilton, who lost the ball. In the fourth, he tipped away a layup by Hamilton.

By holding his own on defense, Walton could stay in to help the offense. He always has a knack for doing that with his ability to find the open man — especially O'Neal.

"It amazes me how he can give me the ball and guys that have been playing with me four, five, six years can't give me the ball," O'Neal said.

Walton got the ball to everyone Tuesday night. He found Karl Malone, who was fouled and made two free throws. Then he dished to his buddy Kareem Rush for a three-pointer. He drove and reached around a defender to pass to O'Neal for a dunk. He also made a nice bounce pass in traffic to O'Neal for another slam.

Walton's final assist came on a pass to O'Neal. In overtime, the Lakers led by six with 1 1/2 minutes remaining when O'Neal passed to Walton in the corner. Walton dribbled down the baseline and just when it appeared he was going to get in trouble he threw a look-away alley-oop to O'Neal for a two-hand dunk that cemented the Lakers' victory.

Amid all the passing he managed to make all three of his shots — on a pass from Fisher, an open three-pointer and a coast-to-coast layup off a defensive rebound.

The Lakers outscored the Pistons by three points after he entered in the first quarter, and went from a tie game to an eight-point lead when he came in for the final 9 1/2 minutes of the second quarter.

The fans serenaded him after every basket, every assist, every loose ball that he knocked to a teammate.

"LUUUUUKE."

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com


-RB

Shaq #1
 

3

NBA Discussion / News from L.A.

« on: June 03, 2004, 01:23:08 PM »

Hey y'all!

Check the "incentive clause" bit in here - good one!

June 3, 2004

NBA FINALS LAKERS VS. DETROIT
They're Feeling Quite Spirited
 Lakers praise the Pistons' defense, while Jackson warns them not to dismiss Detroit's capabilities on offense.

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

Cranky and edgy the last time they faced the media after a practice, the Lakers were decidedly more upbeat Wednesday morning, Shaquille O'Neal's going as far as to welcome the ever-growing throng by bellowing, "Hello, people and peoplettes."

The Minnesota Timberwolves, plucky to the end, are done, and a new sense of vigor seems to be moving through the Lakers, four victories from a fourth championship in five seasons, a first in 19 seasons for Karl Malone.

Their opponent now decided, the Lakers began Wednesday by breaking down film of the Detroit Pistons, who consider it a banner day whenever they break 75 points and have made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1990 primarily because of an active, smothering defense.

The Lakers said the right things after their short practice, praising the Pistons' defensive speed and acknowledging the need to control the boards.

Coach Phil Jackson even warned that the Lakers better not laugh too hard at the Pistons' low-scoring series with Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals.

"Perhaps the biggest concern of mine is that the players, simply because the scores were in the 60s or mid-70s, don't take for granted that this team's not a good enough offensive team to stay with us," he said.

Not without their bumps and bruises, the Lakers found their list of ailing continuing to multiply, with Malone, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and Devean George experiencing injuries of various degrees.

None are expected to miss Game 1, but Malone's injury appears to be the most serious, a right knee that swelled up after Monday's Western Conference finale against the Timberwolves. He had fluid drained from it Tuesday.

George has a sore left knee and Fisher continues to recover from a tender right knee that he said limited him to 75% of his ability Monday. Fox, suffering from neck and shoulder pain, will visit a neurologist today.

Five full days between games has a way of healing those that need it, although Malone and Fisher could continue to be affected.

"Both Fish and Karl have injuries that are going to be debilitating somewhat," Jackson said. "I think it's going to be the wearing of the schedule that's going to be the telltale. I think they'll be able to push their way through these games early."

The NBA regular-season schedule matched the Lakers against the Pistons twice in the first 11 games of the Laker season, on Nov. 14 and 18, the only two times they would play each other unless they met in the NBA Finals.

Each team took its separate path to get this far, the Lakers via armloads of discord and disharmony that finally seemed to recede in San Antonio with Fisher's last-millisecond heave, the Pistons via a sound defensive scheme and a save-the-season deadline trade involving, of all people, Rasheed Wallace, who has taken the term "reinvented" to an entirely different plane.

It was Wallace who used to rack up technical fouls as if they were part of an incentive clause in his contract, few games passing consecutively without him annoying a referee enough to get whistled.

Since joining the Pistons after a one-game stay with the Atlanta Hawks, Wallace has been a model citizen, understanding his place in the offense — Option No. 2B, behind Richard Hamilton and usually Chauncey Billups. He has even slapped on a set of headphones after games to give insightful TV interviews on occasion, a clear deviation from his anti-media days.

It's enough to wonder if the Pistons are really as intimidating and irritable as the ones who swept the Lakers in the 1989 Finals.

"They're pretty lightweight," Jackson said with a wry smile. "They don't have the [Rick] Mahorn, [Bill] Laimbeer, [John] Salley, etc., group, that were pretty vicious. Dennis Rodman, all those guys packed a real good punch."

At the same time, Jackson said his assessment was less an indictment of the current-day crop of Pistons than the current NBA rules, rife with harsher penalties for flagrant fouls and the like.

"The rules were different in the game [in the late 1980s]," he said. "This was a [Detroit] team that if you went in there and took a shot, they were going to pound you a couple of times if the whistle was blown just to make sure you even thought about coming back. Those types of things don't exist in today's game.

"You can't do those activities that Detroit was doing at that time any more in the game. That part of it has changed. The fact that they're a very good defensive team … the Pistons of the '80s were a very good defensive team."

O'Neal, for his part, said the past Pistons were "hard-nosed and played hard, much like this Detroit team." He boiled the series down to the "Fantastic Four against the Wallace guys," elaborating on Ben and Rasheed Wallace's importance by implying, once again, that he needs the ball to keep them at bay.

"We definitely have to get the ball inside, get those guys in foul trouble," O'Neal said. "We just can't let them roam around and block shots and get rebounds. Those two guys are determining factors in their game. They're going to go at our big guys, we'll have to go at their big guys too. They're going to use their fouls and do whatever everybody else has been trying to do. But if we keep playing the way we've been playing, I like our chances."

Previous Encounters

The Lakers and Pistons split their two meetings this season — held in a span of four days — with each team winning on its home court. A closer look at the games:

LAKERS 94, PISTONS 89

NOV. 14, 2003

High scorers: Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, 21; Pistons, Chauncey Billups, 29.

Recap: The Lakers extended their home winning streak to 19 games with the victory that was sealed when O'Neal made two free throws with 20.2 seconds left. O'Neal also had 15 rebounds and eight assists. Payton had a three-point basket late and Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone each scored 16 points. The Lakers, who outrebounded the Pistons, 57-41, held Richard Hamilton to six points.

PISTONS 106, LAKERS 96

NOV. 18, 2003

High scorers: Lakers, O'Neal, Malone, 20; Pistons, Billups, 24.

Recap: The Lakers gave up 33 points in the fourth quarter and went scoreless during a stretch of almost eight minutes. Bryant held Hamilton to 14 points and the Laker guard made all 11 of his free throws but only four of 14 shots. O'Neal picked up three fouls in the first 5:58, had his rhythm disrupted and played only 31 minutes. The Pistons shot 56.8% from the field.


-RB

Shaq #1
 

4

NBA Discussion / News from L.A.

« on: May 28, 2004, 04:02:18 AM »

Hey y'all!


NBA PLAYOFFS | LAKERS 92, MINNESOTA 85
Wolfing Them Down
Bryant scores 31 points, 18 in the third quarter, and O'Neal has 19 and 19 rebounds as L.A. moves one victory away from a Finals berth.

 
By Tim Brown, Times Staff Writer


Playing back from the edge of implosion, the Lakers stand on the verge of the NBA Finals.

Ever dramatic, ever routine, the Lakers on Thursday night had Kobe Bryant fly in from Colorado, Shaquille O'Neal storm in from the paint and Derek Fisher step in from the bench as they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 92-85, at Staples Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

They lead the series, three games to one. Game 5 is Saturday night in Minneapolis, the Lakers a victory from their fourth Finals in five years.

Six teams have come back from 3-1 deficits, none since the Miami Heat against the New York Knicks in 1997, only two since 1981, and the Lakers have won 12 consecutive close-out games.

"We can see the light to the Finals," Rick Fox said.

That close, Bryant spent his day fighting a charge of felony sexual assault a time zone away, arrived in the arena more than an hour before the tip, and then scored 31 points, 18 in a game-turning third quarter.

That close, O'Neal took 19 rebounds and scored 19 points. It was his fifth consecutive game of at least 16 rebounds.

Phil Jackson called him "terrific" and O'Neal seemed happy to do it. After the game, O'Neal's wife, Shaunie, changed their baby in a hallway off the press room as he looked on, the first dirty work he hadn't done all night.

"I'm just trying to do the little things at times," he said. "A lot of guys on this team demand shots. I don't really get the 20 to 25 shots I used to get. I block shots, get some rebounds. Just trying to do the little things."

That close, Fisher, who might have saved the postseason with four-tenths of a second left in Game 5 a round ago, and playing in front of handfuls of fans wearing foam fish heads, scored 15 points in 28 minutes.

Kevin Garnett, the league MVP, had 28 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, but his Timberwolves were outplayed in the critical middle two quarters, outrebounded, 45-24, through three quarters and face the same ending to this season as last — elimination at the hands of the Lakers.

Garnett on Wednesday called Game 4 "an absolute must-win" and now the Timberwolves must win out.

"We gotta win at home," he said. "That is the focus."

The Lakers won Game 1 in Minnesota, and they have that run of close-out successes, dating to Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals, the moment of their first title together.

Bryant, again, had incredible energy at the conclusion of a long day. After a half in which he missed some and hung back some, he made two free throws in the third quarter that gave the Lakers a 58-54 lead, beginning a stretch in which he scored 16 of the team's 19 points. By the end of the quarter, the Laker lead was 75-60 and the Timberwolves were tugging at the bottom of their shorts.

In Game 3, a more routine day by Bryant standards, he'd also gotten more involved in the second half, when he scored all of his 22 points.

"I just read it and pace it out, collapse the defense in the first half by swinging it around and moving the ball, getting other guys involved," he said. "In the second half, when I sense some momentum and I feel like it's time to go in for the kill, that's when I do it."

The Timberwolves were never again closer than seven points, despite 10 fourth-quarter points from Garnett and seven from Wally Szczerbiak, who scored 19 points. Darrick Martin started for Sam Cassell, whose back has been sore since before the series began, and Cassell played only five minutes.

"We're very confident," Szczerbiak insisted. "We've been close. We've been right there…. We beat them once. We gotta find a way to do it again."

Bryant again appeared weary, as he does at the conclusion of his travel days. In similar playoff circumstances, he scored 31 points in Game 5 against the Houston Rockets, 42 in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers have won them all.

"I just go day by day," he said. "Whatever I have to do I will do and that's pretty much the bottom line. Whatever I have to do, that's what I will do, no matter what it is. Whatever it takes."

And so the Lakers of Bryant and O'Neal, of newcomers Karl Malone and Gary Payton, are beginning to sense their championship, five wins off.

Ten months after he left Utah behind and signed with the Lakers, Malone smiled at his new place. He has played in the Finals twice, in 1997 and 1998, and lost to Phil Jackson's Chicago Bulls. Well, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.

"It's not really what I came here for," Malone said. "I've been there twice. I would like to win it. But I don't know. I'm just trying to keep all the emotions, all of that, not get caught up in all of that on the floor. I'm trying to keep an even keel. If we're so lucky, I don't know how I would be.

"To have it this close. I've been part of [being] up, 3-1, and I'll take this any day. Having to win one game looks a whole lot better than having to win three games."

After winning Game 4 Thursday, the Lakers took a 3-1 series lead and can eliminate the Timberwolves in Game 5 on Saturday in Minnesota. The Lakers have won 12 consecutive games when they have a chance to end a series. The last time the Lakers were not able to win a close-out game was in the 2000 NBA Finals, when they lost to the Indiana Pacers, 120-87, in Game 5.


 YEAR OPPONENT RESULT ROUND GAME  


 2000 Indiana W, 116-111 NBA Finals Game 6


 2001 Portland W, 99-86 First round Game 3


 2001 Sacramento W, 119-113 Conference semifinals Game 4


 2001 San Antonio W, 111-82 Conference finals Game 4


 2001 Philadelphia W, 108-96 NBA Finals Game 5


 2002 Portland W, 92-91 First round Game 3


 2002 San Antonio W, 93-87 Conference semifinals Game 5


 2002 Sacramento W, 112-106 Conference finals Game 7


 2002 New Jersey W, 113-107 NBA Finals Game 4


 2003 Minnesota W, 101-85 First round Game 6


 2004 Houston W, 97-78 First round Game 5


 2004 San Antonio W, 88-76 Conference semifinals Game 6


 
Dang...this record has to be pretty intimidating to the T-Wolves.  And, if wk thinks he's seen some bandwagons up 'til now, just wait!

-RB

Shaq #1

5

NBA Discussion / Army worms?

« on: May 26, 2004, 04:33:21 PM »

Hey jn!

After reading the L.A. Times this morning (see my reply to Lakermania's earlier post today), I was curious to find out what curmudgeon Times sportwriter  T.J. Simers was referring to in his mention of 'army worms' in his column.  Sure enough, as I surmised he was speaking of what we called 'tent caterpillars' when I was a young'un back East.

Check this - you Minnesotans are resourceful!

http://www.armywormwine.com/reviews.htm

Let me know how it goes down during the next game, brah...

-RB

Shaq #1