sad Hawks bench
The Hawks will be paying Joe Johnson nearly $25 million in 2015-16. Uh oh.

Sorry if today's post doesn't have its usual snap. I'm suffering through a bout of flu-like sympots. No, the actual, honest-to-goodness flu-like symptoms. Really.

The Atlanta Hawks: Jesus Christ, Hawks.

Look, I like being right, and I labeled this team a pretender way before it was fashionable to do so. But holy wow. The Bulls were playing in Atlanta on the second night of back-to-back games and went absolutely apeshit on the Hawks in the first half, shooting nearly 74 percent from the field and 78 percent from downtown while setting season highs with 41 points in the second quarter and 72 points in the first half. Chicago led by as many as 47 and cleared their bench to start the fourth quarter. And fans in Philips Arenas started chanting "M-V-P!" for Derrick Rose (30 points and 10 assists).

I have one word for this: Damn.

Said Josh Smith: "This is starting to get embarrassing."

Starting? You've lost seven of 10 during a playoff seeding run, Josh.

Smith continued: "We didn't help each other, and when you don't help each other it gets contagious."

No kidding. And whatever's wrong with the Hawks is contagious like the the superflu virus in Stephen King's The Stand. Only it won't bring the Atlanteans the sweet oblivion of merciful death. Only repeated (and nationally televised) failure and humiliation.

The numbers are absurd. The Bulls finished with an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 60.8 and an Offensive Rating of 135.4. They outrebounded the Hawks 40-26 and had an absurd Offensive Rebounding Rate of 32.3 despite the fact that they were scoring at will. Chicago outscored Atlanta 48-18 in the paint. And those numbers included a full fourth quarter's worth of garbage time. Some would say that, for the Hawks, resistence is futile. In this case, it was non-existent.

To me, the defining moment of this game came with 2:08 left in the third. With his team leading 91-55, Rose committed his only turnover of the game and, after Joakim Noah fouled Josh Smith to prevent a breakaway, Rose was cursing himself out. Despite being ahead by 36 points. Meanwhile, the Hawks were all blank stares and resigned looks. Except for Jeff Teague, whose 20-point outburst and undressing of C.J. Watson prevented a 40-point loss for his team.

Maybe they're just waiting for the playoffs?

Here are some fun facts about the Hawks. Did you know that they are the only winning team in the league with a negative point differential? Did you know that 19 of their 31 losses have come by double-digits?

Now stop and think about Joe Johnson's contract. This team is so screwed.

Joe Johnson: The line: 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting and the worst plus-minus score on his team (-32). By comparison, Luol Deng -- overrated and ovepaid, right? -- had 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting and a plus-minus score of +39. As always, I'm just sayin'.

Reality check: Joe's contract is on Atlanta's books until 2015-16, at which point he'll be making nearly $25 million a year. Based on his statistical decline from last season to this season, he might be declared legally deceased by 2015-16. Which is bad news for the Hawks...and amusing to pretty much everybody else.

Josh Smith, poster boy: Outta the way, Josh. Also, stop taking so many threes.


Vince Carter: Steve Nash continues to amaze -- he had 19 points and 20 assists last night -- but continues to be a victim of fate, circumstances, and his teammates. Although he may have reinvented himself in New York this season, I will never forget (nor will I forgive) when last May, in the most important game of his life, Amar''''''e Stoudemire managed only 2 defensive rebounds in 43 minutes and 17 seconds of playing time. And believe me, L.A.'s Offensive Rebounding Rate of 37.8 was the biggest reason the Lakers won that game.

And, of course, if STAT could have kept his ass on the bench back in 2007, Steve Nash might have some championship jewelry.

Enter Vince fucking Carter.

I hate Vince Carter. I have almost always hated Vince Carter. Well, at least since he jammed a double-edged knife in the back of the Craptors franchise. When he was traded to Phoenix to play alongside Nash, I went into full-blown denial mode. Even when he'd played like feces, I have refused to mention it, refused to acknowledge his vile, festering presence on a team I really, really like.

I can't do that today. I'm too pissed.

Vinsanity's stat line is so typical of this stiff that it should be engraved on his tombstone: 17 points on 7-for-23 shooting...2-for-13 from downtown.

PLEASE STOP SHOOTING THEM VINCE!!!!

If that stat line typified Carter's failed career -- do not come at me with his career stats...I'm warning you -- then the single play that represents all that I hate about this man happened with 24 seconds left in triple overtime. With the Suns trailing 137-135, Vince chucked up unlucky three-point attempt number 13. Forget that he was 2-for-12 at that point, or that, down by only two points, a three wasn't necessary. Instead of doing the dirty work, Carter bailed out and swung heavy for the homerun. Of course, this is the same jackass who flung a trey when the game was tied at 123-123 in the second OT. And did I mention he also missed a triple at the end of regulation?

I'm convinced: Vince Carter is trying to kill me one jump shot at a time.

Of course, Vince shouldn't have even been in the game at the end of the third overtime session. And he wouldn't have been except for two whistles that went against Grant Hill in a 12-second span of a single Lakers possession. Were they by-the-books fouls? Possibly. But the refs had been letting an awful lot of physical play go to that point. Then, suddenly, they're calling body contact. Of course, it helps that the body contact was committed against Kobe, a.k.a. The Master of The Verbal Flop and the Baseline Dive.

To further put Carter's shame into perspective, only four Suns players finished with negative plus-minus scores: Channing Frye (-1), Nash (-4), Robin Lopez (-5) and Carter (-20). Anything standing out there? Is one of these things doing it's own thing? Oh, and I haven't even touched on Carter's vomit-inducing defense:


Let's not forget how his "helpless" defense left Ron-Ron wiiiiiiiiiide open for a critical three-pointer (vid from Marylander):


Somewhat ironically, Vince played over 40 minutes and finished with a STAT-like 2 defensive rebounds. And, of course, L.A.'s 18-10 advantage in offensive rebounds were the behind-the-scenes story of the game.

More on this debacle from chris:

MAN. Hardwood Paroxyism -- repping Memphis -- is just ON FIRE with his series of angry tweets in the wake of the crushing Laker win - another day of sunshine for the big markets, another reminder that Small Markets Not Named San Antonio are second-class citizens. I'm just going to quote these. This is pure gold.

"How awesome must it be to be Lakers fans? To nearly constantly feel the thrill of victory? Must be a lot better than us small market chumps"

"I just think it's awesome that the Lakers prove that there are people who win in this world and people who don't."

"Until the Lakers get their next superstar(s). Because that's what winners do."

"@PrausNichols I know! And the Smush years were way worse than most fans who wait entire lifetimes and never see any significant wins."

"@loverofsports Why do you say that? It's true, right? There are winners and there are losers. winners like Kobe and losers like Nash."

"@Smooth_Operatah That's what happens when you root for a loser. When he winds up in a big market he'll be healthier."

"@ColinZvosec Winners win and losers lose, bro. pick your train and riiiiiiide"

@ColinZvosec LA won because they're better, period. When it counts, winners win. It counted tonight. Had they lost, didn't count.

"Reality? Lakers are from Awesomeville, population: no losers"

"(brief departure into reality: the fact that games like tonight largely embody Steve Nash's career is slightly crushing) CAUSE HE'S A LOSER"

"Look at Pau Gasol. Those Memphis fans (ARE THERE MEMPHIS FANS? AMIRITE, LOL) never appreciated him. Because he wasn't a winner. Now he is."

@ValleyoftheSuns Best players are only on winning teams. Like the Lakers.

"@loverofsports Oh, yeah. How many times is Minny on TV? Does Minny have a Randy Newman song? Does Flea come to their games? DON'T THINK SO"

"poor Sasha Vujacic. He went from a 1.8 ppg winner to a 10.8 ppg loser in the same season."

"Matt Bonner? Scalabrine? Both redheaded and WINNERS! (redundant adjectives, I know)"
Lamar Odom, quote machine: "I'm tired. I want to go home. I'm in the mood for pancakes."

Kobe Bryant, unintentionally dirty quote machine: From multiple readers: "We did some good things, got our hands on balls."

The Washington Wizards Generals: The Generals got obliterated in Portland -- trailed by as many as 38, lost 111-76 -- and fell to 1-32 on the road. Shocking to...absolutely nobody.

Said John Wall: "They got whatever they wanted. It was like we weren't even out there."

It's gotta be surreal to have the "Clippers rookie" experience in Washington.

Update! Jordan Crawford and the Worst Pass in NBA History: Man, I must have been sick to miss this one. Fortunately, Basketbawful reader Gökhan had my back:



Kevin Johnson, quote machine: The former Suns great and current Sactown mayor on the possible relocation of the Kings to Anaheim: "The slow death is almost over. It's painful."

Basketbawful lacktion reporter chris, quote machine: "With Mayor Kevin Johnson sounding even more dejected than ever, let's just say I am on Mayflower Watch right now."

rbiegler, quote machine: From a fan post at Sactown Royalty: "The Maloofs are fucking idiots. Half-wits. Fat, tan, sweaty, party shirted douche bags. ... Do you people realize that for over a decade the fate of our franchise has been in the hands of middle aged men who frost their hair and wear Affliction t-shirts?"

Labels:

49 Comments:
Blogger Cortez said...
In other news...

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! I just read the most enlightening piece on basketball I have EVER seen!!!!!!!!!!

Some mathematical savant crunched "the numbers" and found that...wait for it...This will blow your fucking mind!!!!!!

OPEN SHOTS ARE BETTER THAN CONTESTED SHOTS!!!!

OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!!!

but that's not all folks. This basketball super-genius confirmed that shooting further from the basket is highly correlated with lower shooting percentages!!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!!

This just in...

Bears crap in the woods. More at 10.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
aww bawful is butthurt...hating on the lakers as usual...sigh...

Blogger chris said...
In honor of the Maloofs and of the most famous ex-Craptor of all time...

the most amazingly angry, depressing cover of Rebecca Black's Friday yet, by Matt Mulholland.

Enjoy.

Anonymous EuroGuy said...
@Anonymous: I guess it's not a requirement that you actually read the blog, before you comment. I don't see any hating on the Lakers, it's all on V Carter.

The Hardwood Paroxyism twitter-rant is just #WINNING.

Anonymous Marylander said...
This video tells a lot about Vinsanity's D last night.

I was watching the game and I couldn't believe how Ron Ron got this wide open look. In the video Vince C knows he screwed up but it was too late. Also Channing Frye should've contested or fouled Ron Ron before the dunk 2 min to go in the 3rd OT. He didn't do either. And also I don't know why Phoenix didn't foul LA in the end. I guess clutch time is where experience comes into play.

Anonymous Barry said...
What's up with these wild Anonymous types straight from the Ball Don't Lie comments section?

Usually doing the same thing they accuse the author of....being butthurt.

Blogger chris said...
Hey, I'm feeling hurt too!

But that's because it's safe to say that Mayflower Watch is now getting critical with Anaheim moving up their meeting two weeks just so they can maximize the pain inflicted on Sacramento fans as early as they can.

I hope the Maloofs enjoy the fact that they will be the reason major professional sports never returns to this town, once they lock up Arco, er, POWER BALANCE PAVILION for the last time. (BTW, yep, Power Balance is a SoCal company. Coincidence? No.)

Once that first moving truck comes in, California will have its Art Modell.

Blogger Will said...
anon- mentions of Vince Carter: 16
mentions of the Lakers: 4
so how exactly did you extrapolate that this post was about Laker hate?
or are you just a troll?

Blogger Dan B. said...
Bawful -- Two things:
1) Hope you feel better soon!
2) Ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck Vince Carter and his irrational confidence from behind the arc. No, Vince, just because you missed 10 of your last 12 treys doesn't mean you're due to make the next one.

Anon -- I like how the post title says "I Hate Vince Carter" instead of saying "I Hate the Lakers," and you still can't even manage to figure it out. Trolling FAIL.

Blogger chris said...
CNBC's Darren Rovell tweets...

Sad retail news of the day: Greg Oden jerseys have hit the NBA Store clearance rack http://is.gd/huK2e7

Ouch.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
This would have sucked way worse if I hadn't lost hope in the Suns previously. I'm really disappointed that such a good game ended on such whimpers, and the team that committed less of these whimpers won.

Anonymous Czernobog said...
@Chris: No. Just no. It isn't people like Rebecca black who are lowering the standards, it's people like, who raise her out of the obscurity she would otherwise be in.

She could have been a teenager who once paid to have a crappy song made just for the hell of it, and now she's a celebrity and the pieceashit company that took her money will be swimming in it.

All because of you.

Anonymous SirGirthNasty said...
Was anyone at all surprised by the idiocy it must have taken to sign Joe Johnson to that contract? Hadn't he just come off an underachieving playoff series loss where he said this about Atlanta fans: "We could care less if they show up."

Way to go, Atlanta. Now you've crippled your cap with an overpaid and whiny superstar. Congrats, you're in an exclusive club known as NBA GMs.

Blogger Michael Hsu said...
There is no Laker hate is all Vince carter Hate. The radio 710 (Lakers radio) was saying that Vince Carter was the 6th best player on the Laker team. I think he was the 5th best he certainly did more for them than Derek Fisher last night!

Hey Vince just because you are on the Suns doesn't mean you have to take all the three point shots!

Turning point of the game was the 6th foul on Grant Hill and you could see the look on his face. It was saying "@#$#@!! I put Vince Carter back in the game."

Anonymous allison said...
F*CK, that "pretend to get elbowed in the face" was the first time I've ever gotten pissed off watching an NBA video clip

Blogger Paul said...
Maybe what Anonymous tried to say is that last night Carter hurt the Suns so much that he might as well be wearing a Laker jersey, hence the hating on the Lakers? lol

Anyways, we are paying too much attention to an anon troll.

@Chris:
Wow, yeah is looking like the move to Anaheim is a done deal.
I've been to arco arena only once, granted it was almost 12 years ago. But is it really THAT outadated compared to our Honda Center in Anaheim?

I mean, the Honda center is no Amway arena by any strecth and then on top of that moving into "Lakerland"? fucking Maloofs are really screwing the good people of Sacramento.

BTW, I'm wondering what kind of T.V. deal are they looking at.
Local games for the Lakeshow are transmitted by Fox sports.
Local and away games for the Clips are transmitted also by Fox Sports.
Fox sports actually has two different feeds here in Socal, so they have no issue transmitting both the Lakers(local) and Clipper on the road.

When the Lakers travel though, our local Kcal (channel 9) takes care showing the games.

KTLA channel 5 (a TW affiliate) used to show the Clippers away games I'm wondering if that's what the Maloofs are after. Then again, KTLA dropped the Clippers due to poor ratings. And I definitely not see FOX giving the Maloofs a very profitable deal if they already are loaded with Lakers and Clippers games.

Which again, brings me to my original dissertation that the Maloofs are simply out to screw the good people of Sacramento.

Anonymous Shrugz said...
Everyone thinks everyone else is a hater.
I'm okay with the lakers myself but I hate lakers fans, they read half-assed and accuse you of hating.

Blogger chris said...
Czernobog: Frankly, I don't care. The lyrics are awful, but the comedy I have gotten from the Friday bandwagon is more than I'll be getting this year from a basketball team that will soon be saying goodbye to Sacramento, so let me have my moment.

Paul: Arco may be old, but it's not exactly that much worse than the Pond (Honda Center, ahem) AND it is the SAME EXACT AGE AS THE PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS.

"old" = "not enough luxury boxes for Stern and the Maloofs to cowtow to rich people"

There.

Yeah, I think the Maloofs feel like, now that the Lakers have rejected a new Fox Sports West contract for $30 million a year...that they can swoop into SoCal and get the same deal.

Newsflash: it's not going to happen.

But anyone accusing the Maloofs of being good businessmen would be like accusing the Orlando Magic of being clutch in playoff free throw situations.

Anonymous Koggz said...
Hey let's not let the anon idiots define Lakers fans, I'd be insulted.

Besides, what are you going to expect from a blog written by a Celtics fan? Deal with it, it comes with the territory.

Anonymous avoozl said...
Splitter said. "Of course I'm no Tim Duncan. I'm the new guy here who wants to help the team.''

This guy fits in SA- so cheesy.


Koggz: People already did deal with it, by insulting that guy ;P

Anonymous Vanilla said...
I know the poster was busy hatin on Vince Carter for missing those 3s, but nobody going to point out how in 3OT Steve Nash airballed a wide open 3 that could have iced it? 20 & 19 don't mean he didn't choke.

That twitter guys a fuckin whiner

Anonymous Anonymous said...
does hitting clutch 3s and the 3 free throws to force OT balance out the 2 times Channing Frye posted up against fisher got double teamed and then lost the ball?

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Czernobog - I hope you don't think you're the first one ever to white knight for Rebecca Black, because there's likely someone out of the 38+ million (and about 4 million every day) people that's done it already.

I'm sorry that you dislike Internet fun!

Blogger Unknown said...
I tend to agree with Vanilla. Well, I by no means of protecting Vince Carter, it's true that he somehow caused the game by his poor shooting, but the 3pt shot that he took that could put the Suns in front by one, wasn't really that bad of a decision, it was right on the line, it just bounced out. On the other hand, I really don't feel Steve Nash was amazing at all, especially in the overtimes. He had 3 turnovers all in the crunch times, twice he lost the ball, and once his pass was right into the hands of Fisher. Those turnovers don't even include his two errant 3 pointers. One was the wide-open airball with 5 seconds left on the clock, and another one was him coming off the screen, jumping forward awkwardly to put up the shot. I can't put too much blame on him, you can tell Nash was really tired at that time, those were the facts. From my standpoint, he was the one caused the game, it wasn't Vince. The difference was, Nash did his best, and Vince did not.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Anon - It does. The Lakers did the right thing. They know that Frye isn't a post guy and isn't a passer, so after the switches to put Fisher on him, double with Kobe for the best odds. Frye more than made up for his terrible postup ability with those shots.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Speaking on unjustified Lakers hate, can I get a worst of the night for Henry Abbott?

Every time the Lakers win a clutch game, he comes out with another one-sided anti-Kobe Bryant post on his blog. It's getting creepy now.

Blogger Gregory Alexander said...
As a Spurs fan, it's kind of disheartening to know that the only reason that my team isn't relegated to the scrap heap with the Kings, the T-Wolves, and the like is because we tanked twice to get once-in-a-generation talents, drafted pretty well, and have a coach that isn't a complete moron. At least there's that.

Also, preening Lakers fans annoy me like the rest of the (non-Lakers fan) internet, but there are actually reasonable ones out there. This is coming from a Spurs guy who gets shit on by Lakers fans routinely, so it's legit. I also hate preening Celtics and Knicks fans, so I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity hater.

Blogger chris said...
As a Spurs fan, it's kind of disheartening to know that the only reason that my team isn't relegated to the scrap heap with the Kings, the T-Wolves, and the like is because we tanked twice to get once-in-a-generation talents, drafted pretty well, and have a coach that isn't a complete moron. At least there's that.

We tanked...and did get Tyreke Evans by accident, because some moron picked Hasheem "The Dream" Thabeet 2nd overall.

Not that that is going to save the franchise.

And we DID tank for Pervis "Never-Nervous" Ellison too. LOL.

I bet you there'll be an expansion team on Mars before Sacramento gets more than a guffaw and a smirk by Mr. Stern, once the Paupers become the Zombie-Royals and spend the next 50 years playing in front of a half-empty Arrowhead Pond (except when the Lakers show up).

Blogger Paul said...
@Bawfull
We definitely need at least an honorary bawful of the night for Mr. Henry Abbott, is getting really creepy.

@Chris:
So lets back track a little bit with the information we got in hand.

The Maloofs are moving because, they have a bad T.V. deal, outdated arena and low attendance due to small market.

In Anaheim they're gonna be playing at The Pond. They'll play small brother to THE CLIPPERS! oh and SoCal pretty much doesn't give a shit about crappy teams. I'd be surprised if they get a better T.V. deal than the L.A. Galaxy !!

Can't blame you if you are crying foul.

Anonymous Koggz said...
Screw the Maloofs for this whole thing. I live in between downtown LA and Orange County and, while trying not to sound pompous, I feel suffocated by all the sports teams here. There are no clear allegiances here and the area itself is so prone to bandwagoning it's ridiculous.

People went apeshit here with the Angels "move" and people suddenly love the team that's gaining momentum in their respective sport that year from LA. Yeah it happens everywhere, but when you've got so many teams going on, it's bound to happen just due to odds.

NBA wise everyone loves the Lakers, but only when we bring in a championship. And pre-Griffin, a huge amount of people love the Clippers just because they hate how good the Lakers are and they don't want to be too mainstream. Fuck, the Clippers are the hipsters choice of LA bball team. Sorry, but what role would the Kings be? Keep them where they're needed.

And LA doesn't even have an NFL team yet.......

Anonymous Koggz said...
@Anon:

I read the Abbott article. I, in particular, have noticed and really don't like his constant desire to criticize Kobe after Lakers games, but if there's always going to be a WotN for him, you can most certainly expect a VotN (Vomit of the Night) from Bawful and friends in the form of Woj articles. Consider these two as the yin and yang of Kobe-dom.

Besides, Abbott, while definitely disliked by me as a writer as of late, seems more like a fun-sucker to Lakers nation than a true hater. He's the sheriff to deflate the ego most Lakers fans possess after such games.

And yeah, no matter what he says, I'd rather have the ball be in Kobe's hands than anyone else's.

Blogger chris said...
Paul: The best part about the TV deal stuff is that...I get that they'd THEORETICALLY make more in Los Angeles...

...if they 1. had the Lakers' clout (they do not) and 2. were the only game in town like they are here in Sacramento (which they obviously will not be).

As I've said before, if they were so offended in 2006 that we didn't give them the key to the city, why wait until now to job us?

The low attendance IMO is also not due to small market, but due to the team being gutted by terrible managing post-Adelman. Arco used to sell out the way that The Who does now to advertisers.

Blogger The Sports Hayes said...
I said it before and I'll say it again, Kings should go back to Kansas City. The attendance issues are solved instantly.

Blogger Rogue said...
I am a Laker fan boy, and I would like to say, no need to approve douche comments from any ANONs who reply without actually reading the blog. Bawful's team suffered a close defeat to team he loathes yet he delivered a very nice readable and funny WOT. Great job Bawful , thumbs up to you.

PS. I feel for you pain. If Vagina Carter was playing for Lakers I would have gouged my eyes by now :(

Anonymous CaptionThis said...
Man, the fact that Atlanta exists is just completely unfair to the good teams in the Eastern Conference. Orlando basically has a lock on the fourth seed right now, which all but guarantees they will get the luxury of a four-game sweep. Meanwhile, the other teams vying for 1st (Bos, Mia, Chi) have to face either Philly (a young hungry team), NYK (no matter how much they suck they have Billups and Melo and Amare in a playoff atmosphere...scary), or Indiana (horrible record but honestly? Scarier than the Hawks. At least Indiana doesn't lay down for teams and get beat by 40, like, every third game).


wv. : desupyr "Gosh I wish Vince Carter would desupyr"

Anonymous Koggz said...
and to amend what I said earlier.. I meant I'd rather have the ball in Kobe's hand at the end of the game, not in general. That would be terrible.

@Rogue:
Yeah I agree. For someone who detests Kobe and the Lakers as much as he does, Bawful keeps it pretty restrained. And when he doesn't he produces those comics, which are gold. I'm surprised we didn't see one for Vag Carter.

Blogger Gökhan said...
i don't have time to go through all the commnets to see if this is posted so sorry if repost.

crawford made my day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNNIUbsvIL8&feature=player_embedded

Blogger LotharBot said...
Gokhan, that was an epic bad pass, but I can see what made it happen: the guy he was passing to started to make a move. Crawford tried to pull the pass back so he didn't pass it to empty space, but was far enough into the passing motion that he ended up just losing the ball in a wacky direction.

One of my favorite "bad pass" vids is this one of Anthony Carter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YbuI9wBXDM&feature=player_detailpage#t=79s (the whole vid is great, but the pass right to the opposing player at about 1:20 is hilarious.)

Anonymous kazam92 said...
From @kpelton

"Chuck Hayes has to be a top-5 unlikely triple-double guy of all time."

The Warriors strike again!

Anonymous dave m said...
Bawful - the flu adds an extra layer of nasty to your writing. It's good. Okay, so senility runs in my family? And, I'm reading the caption about Joe Johnson and $25M and staring at the photo... and all I can think is why is Joe Smith gonna be making all that money? It's like my head is stuffed with fuzzy blankets and I just want to take a nap.

Blogger chris said...
AND...

Supposedly,there's still hope to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

But we've heard that phrase before. So I'm not going to suddenly get too excited yet, I'm not suddenly lowering Mayflower Watch to "safe" just yet.

Blogger stephanie g said...
Two nicknames that are new to me:

Carmelanoma
Moody Fernandez

Blogger LotharBot said...
Spurs @ Nuggets worsts:

- Denver Nuggets free throw shooting. 14 misses in a game that came down to a shot at the buzzer. Dishonorable mention goes to Nene, who airballed a free throw on two different occasions, and Raymond Felton, who missed one that would've put his team up by 4 with 9.5 seconds left.

- Spurs second half 3-point shooting. They went into halftime shooting something like 12-20, and finished the game 13-32. Some credit goes to Denver's defense, but some has to go to guys just clanking. Ginobili, in particular, shot 0-5 on second half threes after going 4-7 in the first half.

- Three point defense by both teams. The Nuggets shot 57% from 3 on the game, and the Spurs were up over 60% throughout the first half. These are two very good 3 point shooting teams, but even so, those percentages don't happen if there are hands in faces.

- NBA officials. Manu Ginobili drew 3 fouls on 3 flops in the first couple minutes of the fourth quarter. There were also a ton of late whistles and surprising non-calls throughout the game.

- NBA officials part deux. Antonio McDyess became the first Spur to foul out all season, in game 71. Really? I know the Spurs are good, they have a good defensive scheme, and Pop is great with rotations, but there's no way a team is going to go 70 games without a foulout if refs actually call the game correctly.

Blogger Preveen said...
http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/steve_aschburner/03/23/taking-charge/index.html

Sure there must be some interesting stats in there for the guys who like that sorta thing. I found it quite fascinating. Specially the one that said NY was among the fewest 24 second violations in the league. A Mike D'Antoni SSOL team? Shocking! :D

Tho how it maps with your slowing down in pace after the Melo trade might be interesting.

Anonymous TransINSANO said...
I don't care about Abbot's specific subject matter so much as his overall condescending stats-define-reality agenda. Just look at these typical volleys from his latest statocrasy puke piece. Henry Abbott, quote machine:

"It's not sexy, and it's not exciting, but it's real. Things are changing in how we talk about sports. What's happening is that a lot things that used to be left to rumor, reputation and folklore are now being discussed with actual evidence."

"People who want to challenge assumptions now come armed with data."

"It's about assumptions. They're not good enough anymore. Not in a world of nearly limitless evidence."

Thanks Henry, and here I thought it was the Basketball Gods controlling these games. I guess that's the kind of folklore that can that from the primitive thinking that the results of the games matter more than the stats they produce; where you find out who the REAL winners were (Old assumption: the team that "won" the game. New reality: not necessarily, oh ho ho). Thanks for saving us from our narrow minded definition of reality and cramming yours down our throats instead. I think this says it all:

"And that brings us to the ultimate point of all this. It's not about Bryant. It's not about the Lakers. It's not even about basketball."

It's not about basketball.

Blogger Unknown said...
Re: Spurs-Nuggets, everyone was obviously calling attention to the absence of Tim Duncan, but the Nuggets were without their best perimeter defender in Arron Afflalo. That might have had something to do with the Spurs' draining everything from range until the Nuggets started disrupting their passing with crazy aggressive traps.

Anonymous Batmanu said...
I was attending the Spurs/Nuggets game from this evening (with great seats, mind you) and I'm sorely disappointed at the officiating from that came.

Aside from all the officiating woes mentioned by LotharBot, Wilson Chandler got away with a stiff-arm in the second-to-last possession. It was really Jordan-esque.

At least I made it onto Denver's webpage for "true fans."

Blogger winnetou said...
Just want to add two funny (but old) Lamar Odom passes: Odom passes to ref Ron Gehredson; pass to the Machine (who is on the bench).

Anonymous Anonymous said...
http://www.bballbreakdown.com/?p=5

Breakdown of VC's terrible game.