Nyets CEO Brett Yormark yelled at this guy for wearing a paper bag on his head. Shouldn't he be happy the fans haven't switched to plastic bags?
In brief legal news, Mateen Cleaves has been arrested for suspicion of drunken driving. In other news, Mateen Cleaves is still alive? Wow. Who knew? Also, Gilbert Arenas might do some jail time. Bear in mind, this is the man who said he "deserved to be punished." Well, okay then. Why is your lawyer trying to get you out of it?

Not many games tonight to talk about, so how about a little throwback action? Luckily our readers have supplied plenty of material!

Courtesy of Bawful reader CaptainHomeless, let's take a trip down Manlove Avenue. (As he noted, "So, this is an actual street that I drive by every day in Indianapolis. I just ... thought you guys would appreciate it." Yes. Yes we do.)

As shared by Bawful reader 80sNBA, Hakeem once provided us with one of the all time great moments in man love history.

Thank God there was a camerman nearby to preserve this moment forever.

Worst of the Night in Pictures:

Just think of how empty your life would be without Stan Van Gundy

Gettin' a little personal there, don't you think, guys?

And just think -- this is the winning coach

Alright, alright, take it down a notch. You beat the Kings...
Nationally Televised Games:
Nuggets at Knicks: Nothing like the Bricks to make for a good national TV broadcast. These are the days I don't complain about not getting NBA TV.

All The Other Games:
Bobcats at Wizards Generals Bullets: Oh no! A moral dilemma! Who will Michael Jordan root for?! (Sorry, trying to drum up some kind of drama for this game, no matter how far-fetched)

Pacers at Pistons: This will probably be a 92-85 kind of final score, but not because of good defense. Ugggggggh. Fun aside: I was reading Chad Ford's ESPN.com chat today and just had to shake my head at this exchange:

Steven (Indy)
Is there anything I can do to stop the Pacers from winning meaningless games and ruining their chance at a top draft pick?

Chad Ford (1:30 PM)
I keep wondering the same thing. Last week they had the 4th worst record in the league, had an 11.9 percent chance of winning the lottery and were in line to land a franchise type player like Derrick Favors or DeMarcus Cousins. This week? They have a 1.7 percent chance of winning the lottery, have the 8th worst record and are in line to draft Cole Aldrich or Greg Monroe. Way to go Jim O'Brien. Rest Danny Granger the rest of the season (if it isn't too late) and give Josh McRoberts lots of minutes. That ought to do it.

Clippers at Mavericks: Have the Clippers started thinking about who they'd like to draft in the lottery yet? It'd be nice to let that guy know in advance, so he can mentally prepare himself for the inevitable injury that will end his season and/or career.

Labels: Bawful After Dark, Hakeem Olajuwon, man love

If there's one truly great player that never seems to get his due, it's David Robinson. That lack of appreciation always seems to come down to two sticking points. First, he never won a championship without Tim Duncan. (So what? Magic never won one without Kareem, Larry never won without Parish and McHale, Michael never won without Scotty, Kobe never won without Shaq, etc.) Second, and even more damning, Hakeem Olajuwon dominated him during the 1995 Western Conference Finals...right after Robinson received the regular season MVP award.

I hate that so much of the general perception about Robinson and his place in history is defined by his performance in a single playoff series. Yes, Olajuwon thorougly outplayed him, but Hakeem was absolutely on fire throughout those playoffs. (He also had his way in the Finals against Shaq, who it should be noted was second in MVP voting that season.) Moreover, the Rockets were peaking as a team at the same time: They rolled over a 60-win team (the Jazz), a 59-win team (the Suns), a 60-win team (the Spurs) and a 57-win team (the Magic). That was their "Never underestimate the heart of a champion" season, and what happened that May was much bigger than Olajuwon versus Robinson. And as well as Hakeem played, it's not like The Admiral just rolled over and died; he averaged nearly 24 points, 12 rebounds and over 2 blocks per game in what was considererd his most infamous playoff failure. I don't know abouat you, but I wish I could fail that well.

And anyway, the Hakeem comparisons are unfair. Playoff performances, however good or bad, are only one small sample of a much larger career experiment. After all, that wasn't the first or last time an MVP has been gunned down in a one-on-one matchup during the playoffs. Larry Bird outplayed Dr. J (the MVP) in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals. Kevin Johnson upended Magic Johnson (the MVP) in the 1990 Western Conference Semifinals. Paul Pierce outperformed Kobe Bryant (the MVP) in this year's Finals. Those losses have to be put into perspective. As such, take a look at the Olajuwon versus Robinson head-to-head numbers during their 42 regular season meetings: The stats are nearly identical. Except the most important stat, that is: Robinson's team won 30 of those games compared to 12 for Hakeem's team. That's a pretty overwhelming margin.

I also don't think that Robinson should be defined solely by his performances against Hakeem. This guy's accomplishments can stand beside all but a few players in NBA history. The man could put the ball in the hole: He led the league in scoring in 1993-94 and is one of only five players to have ever scored more than 70 points in a single game (with 71 points against the Los Angeles Clippers on April 24, 1994). He is one of only four players to have recorded a quadruple-double (with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks against the Detroit Pistons on February 17, 1994). In 1991-92, he became just the third player to have ever ranked among the league's top 10 in five statistical categories, joining Cliff Hagan (1959-60) and Larry Bird (1985-86) -- Robinson was seventh in scoring (23.2 ppg), fourth in rebounding (12.2 rpg), first in blocks (4.49 per game), fifth in steals (2.32 per game) and seventh in field-goal percentage (.551). That achievement also made him the first player to ever rank among the top five in rebounding, blocks and steals in a single season. And finally, he's also the only player in NBA history to win the Rebounding, Blocked Shots, and Scoring Titles and Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and MVP.

And that's the thing about Robinson: His basketball existence wasn't defined by any one thing. He did it all. No, he didn't have the killer instinct that's associated with many of the all-time greats. He wasn't the type of player who could (or was inclined to) take over offensively whenever and against whomever he wanted (he relied mostly on drives to the hoop and face-up jumpers). But in terms of playing the game to the best of his abilities and contributing in every possible phase of the game, Robinson has few peers. This fact is highlighted by his Player Efficiency Ranking (PER) numbers. He is currently third all-time (behind Michael Jordan and Shaq) with a career number of 26.18...despite his last few "off" seasons when he willingly deferred to Tim Duncan. He led the league in PER for three consecutive seasons, 1993-94 (30.7), 1994-95 (29.1) and 1995-96 (29.4). He also ranked second in 1991-92 (27.5), and third in 1990-91 (27.4), 1997-98 (27.8) and 1998-99 (24.9). He was still ranked as high as tenth in 2000-01 (23.7). To provide you with a little perspective, Kobe Bryant -- who is widely considered the most well-rounded player in the game today -- currently ranks 17th on the all-time list (23.57), and he has never finished higher than third in PER for a single season.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting PER is a definitive indicator of individual greatness. However, it does seem to genuinely reflect a player's overall contributions in several different areas. So I guess the point I'm trying to make about Robinson is that his greatness wasn't about winning one-on-one matchups, or scoring at will in clutch situations. He was about playing the game the way it's supposed to be played, on both ends of the court. And, based on how he did that, The Admiral truly should be considered one of the greatest of all time.

Labels: David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, The Admiral

Basketbawful reader flohtingPoint reminded me of this sick dunk Kevin Johnson fed to Hakeem Olajuwon back on May 15, 1994. As Mr. Point put it: "Man, they sculpted that dunk out of bronze and gave it to KJ for his retirement trophy."

The Suns didn't really do that...but they should have. (Edit: I was very, very wrong about that. More tomorrow.) Not many players got to use Hakeem as an extra in their poster, at least not while The Dream was in his prime. (The Toronto Raptors' version of Hakeem doesn't count. For anything. Do not bring it up again.) Historical footnote: KJ had 38 points (15-for-31) and 12 assists in that game, but the Suns lost 107-96 despite perfect shooting nights from both Joe Klein (3-for-3) and Oliver Miller (0-for-0).


Of course, Hakeem, being Hakeem, got his revenge just two games later. Oddly, the Suns won that one 103-89.


Muchas gracias to Wormboy for the links.

Labels: blocked shots, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Johnson, Poster Boy Classics, posterizations

1994 Knicks/Rockets Finals (nin-teen' nin'-tee-for niks-rahk'-its fi'-nuls) noun. An example of and comparison point for any low-scoring playoff series that is generally regarded as boring and possibly unwatchable.

Usage example: Watching the Cavaliers/Pistons series is almost as painful as the 1994 Knicks/Rockets Finals.

Word Trivia: The 1994 NBA Finals was one of the most competitive championship series in league history. It featured a marquee matchup between two superstar centers (Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing) and a cast of other all-star-caliber players (Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Mario Elie, Charles Oakley, Doc Rovers, Derek Harper, Rolando Blackman). It lasted the full seven games, and there wasn't a single blowout; none of the games were decided by more than nine points, and Games 6 and 7 were decided by two and six points respectively. Olajuwon outplayed Ewing on offense (27 PPG on 50 percent shooting versus 19 PPG on 36 percent shooting), but Ewing was a defensive monster, setting an NBA Finals record with 30 blocked shots, including a record-tying eight blocks in Game 5. However, this series is poorly regarded by most NBA fans for the following reasons:

1. Star bust: It was the first NBA Finals of the first post-Jordan era, and the first final series since 1978-79 that didn't feature Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and/or Michael Jordan. Due to the absence of an nationally recognized fan favorite, many casual fans were uninterested in the series and therefore neglected to watch it. The series was further marred by Ewing's poor play, John Starks' 2-for-18 shooting performance in Game 7, and the fact that Olajuwon -- who was named Finals MVP -- submitted a performance that was very good in its own right, but hardly among the all-time greats.

2. Defense wins championships...not ratings: The series revolved around defense and, for that reason, the scores were painfully low. In fact, neither team scored more than 93 points in a single game. The scores were as follows: Game 1 - 85-78; Game 2 - 91-83, Game 3 - 93-89; Game 4 - 91-82; Game 5 - 91-84; Game 6 - 86-84; Game 7 - 90-84. Game 6 was the only time a player scored as many as 30 points, when Olajuwon had exactly 30. It was basically a case of two teams walking the ball up the court, tossing it into the post, and four guys spotting up beyond the arc and waiting for the return pass while the centers beat the hell out of each other.

3. The juice was on the loose: The series had the misfortune of being played during the onset of the the O.J. Simpson murder case. During Game 5, NBC split coverage between the game and Simpson's freeway chase with the LAPD. While the Knicks and Rockets were battling down to the wire, the national attention was focused elsewhere.

And so, despite the many rule changes that were instituted specifically to irradicate this kind of grind-it-out basketball, there are still one or two playoff series each year that are highly reminiscent of the '94 Finals (most notably the 2005 Pistons/Spurs Finals, which nearly qualified as an historical recreation). And it's then, like clockwork, that everybody harkens back to the series that defined the term "boring series."

We know these guys were watching.But only because they had to.

Labels: defense, Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets, John Starks, NBA Finals, New York Knicks, O.J. Simpson, Patrick Ewing