Well, the NBA playoffs are underway, it feels like we've managed an entire post-season full of Bawfulness in just a few days.

A lot of the recent terribleness is directly related to "predictability": as in "If I do this [mildly / somewhat / extremely] stupid thing, what is the likelihood that this [mildly / somewhat / extremely] awful thing will happen as a result?" So let's head to the Bawful-meter (1 to 10, with ten being the most Bawful) and work our way up the chain of idiocy:

A Rose with a torn ACL:

Tom Thibideau: Dream Slayer

"Wanted...to...win...by...14..."

Ok, so everyone in Chicago wants to skewer Tom Thibideau's nutsack on the Willis Tower antenna for keeping oft-injured Derrick Rose in a game that was well in hand, but it's tough to put this one entirely on Thibideau. I'm thinking it's time for D-Rose to eliminate his signature "ACL-shattering-needless-jump-step" from his repertoire of moves, especially at the end of a game you're about to win. Oh and in case you're wondering, yeah, I also make a habit of blaming victims of violent crime.

But in the end, an injury like this could happen at any time, regardless of the situation, and Thibs said he was trying to get D-Rose ready for end-of-game situations. Hard to predict, so mild on the meter:

Bawful-meter: 2

World Pieces:

Ironic that a man who has named himself "World Peace" is trying to decapitate people, but Hannibal Lecter was a Psychiatrist who also ate faces, so there is a precedent. There is literally not scale on which to judge what Ron-Ron did...does he genuinely show joy by flinging elbows? Did he think Harden was coming at him? Or did he just want to see if a man's face would do this?


While this bizarre incident happened before the playoffs, it certainly affected them, with MWP getting a well-deserved 7 game suspension. The Lakers don't mind, given that their first round series is against the Nuggets. Maybe MWP figured the Lakers wouldn't need him, and just wanted a league-imposed break.

Bawful-meter: 5

Side note: Should the Lakers go 7 games with the Nugs on purpose just so that MWP can be available for the entirety of the next series? Crazier things have been on a basketball court. Quite recently, in fact...

Chest Bumpery:

"SUSPEND ME FOR GAME TWO!"

Contact with an official gets you a game, period. Your first instinct when approaching an NBA official should be "These guys are already lousy at what they do AND have short fuses AND want to make every contest about them instead of basketball, so I better be measured with my discontent." Apparently, Rajon Rondo does not possess this ability to reason. Doc Rivers once called Rondo "the smartest player I've ever coached."

At this point, one might question that statement, but read carefully - he's the "smartest player" Doc has ever coached. As soon as the whistle blows, a man in a basketball uniform turns from a player into a person. Sometimes this line is blurred, and sometimes it is clear, but nowhere is the Jeckyll and Hyde on better display these days than with Rajon Rondo. Rarely does frustration manifest itself into bad judgement more distinctly than with Rondo...

Bawful-meter: 7

It's not like they were gonna win anyway, but...:

...but fortunately for Rajon, that very thing happened just last night, when Amare Stoudemire put his fist through the glass encasing of a fire extinguisher after a Game 2 loss to the Heat.

Even Melo was thinking, "Well that was selfish and stupid."

He had time to walk off the court, walk down the hall, decide to damage some property, and not even have the common sense to wrap a towel around his knuckles first. Now, he has managed to: 1.) Voluntarily relieve himself of the pressure of trying to beat the Heat 2.) Not be there for his teammates, and 3.) Pretend to possess such competitive desire that he felt compelled to punch an inanimate object (which punched back, quite effectively it seems).

Bawful-meter: 9

The only reason this doesn't earn a 10 is because of the label on the fire entinguisher, which Amare may have misunderstood: