perk goes down
When your starting center goes down for good halfway
through the first quarter, that’s a pretty bad omen.

Christina Aguilera Since the night began with Christina's stunningly crappy rendition of the National Anthem, I figured I'd start this post by ragging on it. How could such a truly great singer mangle such an important song so very, very badly? I mean, she skipped entire words during her overly stylized warbling. It was like she was singing the Anthem while being violated by a gorilla with anger control issues. And she wasn't dressed nearly slutty enough to make up for it. As Mark Jackson would say: Christina Aguilera, you're better that that.

Here. Share my pain.

The Boston Celtics: I would like to officially congratulate the Los Angeles Lakers on winning the 2010 NBA championship. Wait, I'm sorry, what was that? They haven't won it yet, you say? Oh, well, my bad. I guess it just felt like they'd won it after the can of whup ass they put on the Celtics in Game 6.

Usually, holding the Lakers to 89 points on 41 percent shooting would mean good things. Unfortunately, Boston hit only 33 percent of their field goals and managed only 67 points. And here I thought Christina's singing was going to be the worst part of the night. Man, I've seen more lively performances from a lump of sod. Seriously, the Celtics were playing so poorly that Bill Russell -- whom I had been hoping would show up to inspire the troops -- actually walked out in disgust during the fourth quarter.

That's right, Celtics. You shamed Bill Russell. Shame on you.

And hey, the Celtics made history. The bad kind of history, that is. According to Elias Sports Bureau:

The Celtics blew a chance to win the NBA title with a 22-point loss to the Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night. That ties the fourth largest margin of defeat for a team that was one win away from winning the NBA championship. The record for the largest margin of defeat in that situation is 35 by Seattle against Washington in 1978, followed by 33-point losses by the Lakers against Philadelphia in 1982 and against Indiana in 2000. The Knicks also lost by 22 points to the Lakers in a game in which they had a chance to wrap up the 1970 Finals. The good news for the Celtics -- three of those teams went on to win the title anyway (Seattle was the only team that didn't).
Thanks for the closing stat curse, Elias Sports Bureau.

Actually, in a lot of ways, this game reminded me of Game 1. The C's came out flat. After the first few minutes, I thought, "Boy, these guys could not look any flatter." Then Kendrick Perkins left the game with a knee injury and they proved me wrong. By the way, bad news for Celtics fans: An unnamed source says Perk is done. No worries, though! The Celtics still have Rasheed Wallace, who went 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-6 from downtown while finishing with more fouls (4) than rebounds (3)!

Crap.

Anyway, back to the Game 1 comparison...the Celtics didn't show any real intensity or a sense of urgency, which was fairly shocking given the circumstances. After they lost Game 3 at home, Doc Rivers said that his team had adopted an "every game is a Game 7 to us" mentality. Well, last night's approach might not have won a Game 7 of the preseason. During a WIRED segment in the first half, Doc told his players they were being outworked. Then they went out and got outworked some more. The final rebounding margin -- 51-39 going the Lakers way -- doesn't reflect how badly the Beantowners were pimp-slapped on the boards. The first half numbers do though: The C's were outrebounded 30-13 during the first 24 minutes.

Basketbawful reader J.R. said: "Instead of actually describing the worthless effort put forth by the Celtics in Game 6, I instead offer this clip of Spinal Tap album reviews that pretty much capture the appropriate spirit. The two word review to the album "Shark Sandwich" is especially fitting for the Celtics Game 6 performance." And because I agree...


Look, Russell was right to walk out. The Celtics peformance was embarrassing bordering on pathetic. It's not the losing so much as the effort. When a team is one win away from a championship, don't you expect all-out, balls-to-the-wall effort from players 1 through 12?

Said Doc Rivers: "I thought we'd play better, obviously. I thought we were ready. ... We played an individual game tonight on both ends. We never gave ourselves an opportunity offensively, because we never trusted each other. Everybody was out to make their own place."

Added Allen: "We didn't get in any rhythm early, and it affects our chemistry. We each tried to make the home run play early. As a starting unit, we take responsibility. We have to do a better job next game."

Trust me, Ray, the starting unit shouldn't take all the responsibility...

The Boston bench: Remember how important these guys were in Boston's three victories? Remember how, after a dominant Game 4, Big Baby said he couldn't be denied? Remember how everybody who was anybody said the Celtics needed every bit of spark they got from their reserves?

Well, they sure didn't get it last night. Would you believe that, until Nate Robinson hit a bucket at the 9:58 mark of the fourth quarter, nobody other than Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen had scored a single point for the Celtics?

You read that correctly.

The Celtics' pine riders were so bad I was checking the official rules on NBA.com to figure out whether any of them could be traded mid-game. Due to the early loss of Perkins and extended garbage time, Boston's reserves logged 98 minutes. Yet they finished with only 13 points on 4-for-26 shooting. And remember, all 13 of those points came during the fourth quarter. What's more, they dished out only 3 assists...and Nate Robinson had all of them. And they combined for almost as many fouls (13) and turnovers (5) as rebounds (21).

baby face
Yep. This pretty much sums up Boston’s bench contributions in Game 6.

Here's some more horror courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information:

After outscoring the Lakers' bench in four of the first five games, the Celtics' reserves were practically invisible in Game 6. Through three quarters, the Lakers' starters had outscored the Celtics' starters by only one point (52-51). It was the Lakers' bench, led by 10-for-18 shooting (55.5 percent), that helped build a 25-point lead after three quarters.
Yup: Over the first 36 minutes, L.A.'s bench outscored their Boston counterparts 24-0.

And forget the numbers. The Lakers' reserves provided an incredible amount of energy and hustle. That, even more than their hot shooting, is what made the difference. That hustle was best symbolized by this play described by ESPN's John Hollinger:

It was just one play in a 22-point blowout, so let's not get carried away with its significance. Nonetheless, it symbolized the two meta-trends that enabled the Lakers' 89-67 waxing of Boston in Game 6, and in that sense it was a defining moment.

The play came when Jordan Farmar dove past the Celtics' Rajon Rondo to come up with a loose ball after the Lakers deflected a Rondo pass into the backcourt. From a prone position near the 3-point line, Farmar skidded the rock along the floor to Kobe Bryant, who drove the lane and drew a shooting foul. The two free throws began an 11-2 run that put L.A. up by 20 midway through the second quarter, and from there the rout was on.

...

"The ball was on the floor," said Farmar. "It's the NBA Finals in an all-or-nothing situation, so you've got to get to it. I saw Kobe out the corner of my eye so I dove and got it over to him."
Said Phil Jackson: "Historically benches are much more comfortable on their home floor. But the energy and the direction they had was what I was pleased with. I felt they were directed and they had an idea what they wanted to get accomplished out there on the floor. That was important."

Ron Artest's elbow versus Rajon Rondo’s jaw: Memo to all the Lakers homers who think that Rondo "ran into a stationary elbow," please rewatch the film and do a reality check.


Update! Kevin Garnett, poster boy: Is this the play that caused Mr. Russell to storm out? If not, it should have been.


Kobe Bryant, quote / not-tripping machine: "We're used to being in must-win situations. The way we look at it, [Game 7] is just a game we've got to win. ... I don't mean to be a buzzkill. I know what's at stake, but I'm not tripping."

Pau Gasol, quote machine / captain obvious: "We want to carry everything we did tonight to [Game 7], and then I think we'll be in a very good place to win."

Lamar Odom, quote machine, Part 1: "If somebody's breaking into your house and trying to hurt your family, you've got to switch your mindset, right?"

Ron Artest, quote / crazy machine: "I don't make history. It's not something that I need to worry about. Unless, Twitter starts making history. Then I can use my Twitter."

Lamar Odom, quote machine, Part 2: "I told Ron to come here for this, to be able to play on this stage, because he deserves it. It's too bad that sometimes we have times in our lives where we just get remembered for one thing. Ron is a heck of a person and a hell of a basketball player. He's loyal as hell. I told him that he deserves, the work that he put in, what he had to persevere through, he deserves to play basketball at this level, on this stage."

Jordan Farmar, quote machine: "I have a couple floor burns, I have a blister on my hand, I've got a few pains. That's how it's supposed to feel in an NBA Finals game."

Ray Allen, quote machine: "They did have more energy than us, they were home in their own building. I felt good myself, and I'd like to think everyone else felt good, so we can't use that as an excuse. Making the extra pass, making a play for your teammate -- that didn't really exist for us tonight. We didn't make their defense work at all, and we let their offense score easily."

Rajon Rondo, quote machine: "To me, the game is over. We have one game [left]. They have one game. All or nothing. [Game 6] is in the past."

Kendrick Perkins: Regarding whether he'll play in Game 7: "We'll see what's up tomorrow."

Tommy Heinsohn's Retirement Home presents the Game 6 lacktion report / lament / whatever: From Chris:

As the Boston Massacre occurred again -- this time at Staples Center -- Kendrick Perkins technically qualified for a Voskuhl in 6:30 by negating a board with a brick, rejection, foul and giveaway for a 2:1 ratio. Also earning big man ignominy was Rasheed Wallace, as the ball didn't lie after SEVEN bricks in 7:22 (six from Figueroa Street) and four fouls, only countered by 3 boards to slightly improve the statline to a 4:3 Voskuhl.

Shelden Williams also sauntered into a 4:3 ratio of fail by negating three boards with a pair each of fouls and giveaways in 14:06. And Michael Finley found himself in the ledger again with a brick from the Library Tower in 3:21 for a +1 suck differential.

Labels: , , ,

87 Comments:
Blogger Will said...
Was anyone else reminded of Bubba Gump's death scene by that picture of Perk?

Blogger Dan B. said...
Ugh. That Lakers forum thread you linked to.... Attention Laker fans, this is why we hate you.

Anonymous ChrisLTD said...
It never ceases to amaze me how bad bench players play on the road versus at home.

Blogger Siddarth Sharma said...
This game was sad. Celtics going in with a one game cushion may have a hand in it. Game 7's got to be better, as it's all or nothing for both teams.

Blogger Wormboy said...
Ah, that game was so terrible. I'll keep it to two thoughts:
1) Rajon Rondo, get your ass to the rim! I don't care if you get flattened or blocked, get up and do it again!

2) Rasheed Wallace, I am angry with you. I saw you WALKING your flabby ass up the court while the rest of your team was trying to execute its offense. Guess what, stud? THIS is why you get in shape during the season. Because your starting center may be out for game 7 of the Finals, and we'll be watching YOU play 35 minutes instead of 15-20. And guess what? You're going to be gassed because you STILL have man boobs. And since you can't do it, we'll be watching Sheldon Williams playing hefty minutes in game 7 of the NBA Finals! He is still the same guy who, as a senior, was pwned by a Freshman Tyler Hansbrough! Yes, I went 1337 speak on you!

Gah, fucking inexcusable.

Blogger Cortez said...
"Memo to all the Lakers homers who think that Rondo..."

I'm certainly not a Lakers homer, not with a Larry Bird jersey hanging in my closet, a posters of the (real) Big 3 in my basement and a basketball skills VHS tape narrated by Red Aurbach [featuring Larry Bird with guest apperances by Bill walton and Jerry Sichting(!)].

Rondo ran into Artest's elbow. The slo-mo video you posted made it even clearer than when I saw it in real time. Artest is reverse pivoting off his left foot away from Rondo with his arms up ready to rebound. His arm[elbow] isn't even moving towards the free line direction (the direction Rondo is driving from).

Not really sure what you are seeing here. But then again, when elbows are involved you get a bit touchy.

Don't ban me!

Anonymous Karc said...
Does the NBA suspend Ron Artest for the elbow in order to guarantee the epic Game 7 shootout between Paul Pierce and Kobe Byrant?

Certainly looked dirty, but not suspension-worthy.

Anonymous Bateman's Legal Counsel said...
How about a WOTN for the Celtics' sportsmanship? Remember the play in which Pierce dribbled the ball of his foot, leading to a Kobe assist / Shannon Brown dunk? Pierce blatantly tried to trip Gasol, and Rondo shoved Bryant as Brown was elevating. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ8E0qJpgTU

Anonymous Sorbo said...
Well, we finally got the two matchups we were waiting for last night:

1) Josh Powell vs. Sheldon Willaims
2) DJ Mnbenga vs. Marquis Daniels.

Now if only My Morning Jacket guitarist Adam Morrison gets a chance to guard Michael Finley. Then will this Finals be truly bawful.

Blogger Paul said...
Anonymous Gabe said...

@jfefery

How can you argue the Lakers deserve the title after how badly they played? Yes they played hard, and yes the Celtics played even worse, but both teams played like crap tonight. Lakers simply played bad while the Celtics played ungodly awful. It was painful to watch. If game 7 is played the same way, whether LA or Boston wins, I'll say the same thing, neither team deserves to be a champion playing like that. The one thing LA did well is rebound. Their defense was decent but the Celtics missed tons of open shots and had tons of unforced turnovers, so LA's defense looked a lot better than it really was


Keep one thing in mind, these are two of the best defensive teams in the league.
EVERY single game either the Lakers or the Celtics have completely shut down their counterparts offensive games.

Being on the form of creating turnovers, low field goal percentage or hard fouling.
BOTH teams have displayed amazing defensive prowess (mostly in wins though).

So yeah, I don't find it that surprising that this is one of the ugliest finals I've ever watch.
But from there to even hint that neither of these teams deserves to take the Larry O'brien home is a far cry.


I have no idea what to expect from game 7 though. The Lakers margin of victory is much greater than the Celtics this finals and they'll be at home for game 7 where they've routed the Celtics two times already in the series.

On the other hand, the Celtics are the only one of the two teams that have won back to back games.
What does that have to do with anything you might ask?
Simple, that means that Doc Rivers has been able to make the right adjustment EVERY SINGLE time after a loss.

Looking forward a great game 7.

Go Lakers!

Anonymous KBZ said...
What about posting Paul Pierce doing a Denise Austin leg lift to try to trip Pau after blatantly flopping and turning the ball over against him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IgHEALy3yE#t=3m18s

Anonymous sonya said...
from that lakers thread:

Just like that ABC idiot Mike Breen who said "What a vicious elbow from Artest!" Amazing that standing their with your arms straight up in the air equals a "vicious elbow"

----------------------------------------

umm...question: do lakers fans watch the same games as everyone else on the planet?
I can't really think of any excuses for them not seeing a foul on that...

Blogger Unknown said...
Oh, I'm sorry. Instead of a stationary elbow, it was an elbow moving *away* from Rondo and he hit it anyway. I don't think Artest was really even paying any attention to Rondo at that point as he was preparing to attempt the rebound. No harm, no foul though. Little bandaid and Rondo was back out there. If it was dirty, he did a good job of looking clueless about it (it IS Artest, though).

Dan: If you take ANY internet posts seriously enough to hate a group of people, then you're doing it wrong. Youtube comments alone are enough to advance the argument for extinction.

Anonymous Karc said...
@Bateman's Legal Counsel - That's definitely worth a technical, but the refs will usually hold it in if stops the fast break. In contrast, Kobe intentionally got a T late in the game to stop another fast break by Boston. Although he's had that one coming for the last three games.

Anonymous Axe Head said...
I think I have finally figured out Rasheed Wallace. If you saw him on the street, you'd recognize him as one of those crazy homeless guys who walks around arguing loudly with the voice in his head. Plus he thinks he's Napoleon.

Which is impossible, because Ron Artest is Napoleon.

Blogger Paul said...
@Bawful

Laker homer here, one thing I'm not sure (even after watching your vid) is whether Artest had any intention of hurting Rondo on that play or not.
One thing I'm sure of though, is that it was one sweet swing.

Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo have managed to replace Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett as my most hated Celtics.
And after seeing Rondo pushing Artest in game 5 (ball wasn't even in play btw) those stitches on Rondo's jaw were just the icing on the cake for me.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like seeing players getting injured (knees, ankles, feet, concussions and that kind of stuff, I'm not happy about Perk's injury to give you an example).
But nothing sweeter than a hated player getting roughed up here and there.

Blogger Will said...
Dan B- the pic at the top of this article would be great for BAD (if you don't already have it)
http://deadspin.com/5564972/last-nights-winner-game-7-aficionados
WV-socopele- very apropos for this time of year.

Blogger Will said...
Axe Head- If you've seen Arsenic and Old Lace, you'd know that anyone can be Napoleon.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
What about posting Paul Pierce doing a Denise Austin leg lift to try to trip Pau after blatantly flopping and turning the ball over against him?

After watching the video, my feeling is that either a) Pierce's leg was stationary or b) he was doing a reverse pivot to get up and Gasol threw himself into Pierce's leg and then flopped.

Blogger Ash said...
Nate Robinson doesn't get a Bawful mention? I guess most Celtic fans had turned the game off by then, but the very last play of the game was awesome! Nate, instead of dribbling the clock out (there were less than 24 seconds left), tried to drive in and score. Sasha calmly poked the ball away and, lo-and-behold, dribbled out the clock.

Blogger Unknown said...
hmmm as a laker fan, I am a lil worried...

Yes lakers won decisively~ but game 7 could be a bloodbath... and in a royal rumble, im not sure Lakers have the edge...

Celts missed layups after layups, rondo played like a rookie pg... bench was non existent~

I really doubt celts are going to come out to game 7 the same way... the big three has enough experience and IQ to pull a game 7 upset in LA. I hate hate TA... but that guy can really D up~
like I said b4, i dont think missing perk would be a detrimental hit... celts simply play 4v5 on O with him... but they will miss his toughness and an extra big body.

cant wait till game 7...

Anonymous msk said...
@ Dan B. - yep, judge zillions of fans by the people who post on one internet forum. Because Celtic fans are SO CHARMING on the internet, or throwing things on the court, or holding up misspelled signs.

Plenty of Lakers fans suck. So do plenty of Celtic fans. Newsflash.

As for that elbow, the slow mo replay was pretty inconclusive. It's obviously a foul, but hardly looks intentional.

Meanwhile, though it may be brutally low-scoring, a Game 7 is exciting - anything can happen. Not a lock for the Lakers at all just because they're home - they think so at their peril.

Blogger Nathan Wright said...
Play physical, try to wear the other team down by shoving, hitting, clawing constantly. If you ever get a small dose of your own medicine, cry about it.

Btw, have the Lakers finally discovered how to play Pierce? Our guys stood completely still as he did his ridiculous flopping routine, and it seemed to work. Without bullshit foul calls Pierce hasn't got much.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
He was being rough with Rondo, but if Ron Artest really wanted to give an intentional elbow to Rondo's face, it would've looked like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsoven8b3g

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I nominate a Worst of the Day to ESPN for this:

"And Perkins wasn't the only Celtic to get banged up. Guard Rajon Rondo needed four stitches in his chin after taking a Ron Artest, ESPN's Rachel Nichols reported."

What's a Ron Artest???

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I'm rooting for the Celtics in these finals, and I have a great deal of respect for them...

But seriously, Boston fans, stop the bitching about elbows. You did it in the Orlando series when Dwight Howard went all HULK-SMASH, and now you are doing it again with Ron Artest.

I have said it before, and I will say it again - regardless of whether or not those elbows were intentional, Celtics fans are the last people on the planet who should be complaining about rough play in a basketball game. If it wasn't for hitting people on moving screens and "tough defense" (read: not getting called for fouls in the paint) your team wouldn't even be in the Finals.

I'm hoping you guys win Thursday, but please don't taint that victory by PMSing all over the internet for the next two days.

Blogger Dan B. said...
I guess the sense of exaggeration was completely lost in my comment. Not all Laker fans are as retarded as those people in that thread (though many are). But that thread was just painful. You'd think that Rondo had just decided to lunge headfirst into a brick wall for no reason the way they reacted to the elbow incident.

Without bullshit foul calls Pierce hasn't got much.You forgot about the jump shot from the right elbow. If he's not hitting that shot, he's dead in the water.

Blogger dunkfu said...
Glen Davis, quote machine:

"I can't wait. I can't wait to step up on the floor and win here in L.A. We'll come to play, we'll compete, and we'll be there at the end holding the trophy."

Anonymous UpA said...
Bawful game, a combined 37% shooting from both teams, I just point out this stat: 61-163, we JUST saw 100+ missed shots!!!

Is that NBA Finals BB?? C'mon... as with Cristina... BOS-LAL... you are better than that...

@Bawful....

"After watching the video, my feeling is that either a) Pierce's leg was stationary or b) he was doing a reverse pivot to get up and Gasol threw himself into Pierce's leg and then flopped."

LOL!!!!!

Stationary as in: having a fixed position; not movable. ??

Gotta be kidding, that leg was moving more than the whole Boston's scoreboard...

Reverse Pivot?? If that holds truth, I've seen drunken ppl with better "raising up" skills, if such motion would have not included Gasol, Pierce would then have gave us a good impresion on Bambi on the ice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZmDWltBziM

I'm still amazed that nobody brought out the wheelchair after such flop, The Hidden Truth looked as getting a gun shot!

Anonymous K said...
Sorry for reverse cursing Perkins with all my "he's the toughest center" talk yesterday haha. But really, if he doesn't play there goes the Wall of the celtics defense. He's there every play cutting off every driving lane on every isolation or pick n roll. Sheed can guard Gasol straight up, and Baby can guard Odom one on one. But neither of them is going to wall of the paint on cuts and penetration. Its going to be interesting to see what happens. I guess it cancels out Bynum.

Celtics fans can't feel too bad about this one though. Lakers bench is not going on a 24 - 0 run against the Celtics bench again. That was pretty much the game since the starters for both team most nights can hold each other to a draw. Anyway go lakers! Can't stand the idea of Shaq having as many rings as Kobe.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
After watching the video, my feeling is that either a) Pierce's leg was stationary or b) he was doing a reverse pivot to get up and Gasol threw himself into Pierce's leg and then flopped.

I don't know. Pierce glanced over his shoulder before lifting his leg, seemed intentional. Then again, if he wanted to take a guy out, he should've done this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r6vXeOfyQ

Best part of that video (other than Bird): Even with the elastic on, his glasses never even move up to his forehead. It's like they're attached to his eye sockets.

Blogger Unknown said...
Dan: Yeah, I didn't pick up on the exaggeration. I've no doubt there were plenty of double digit IQs on the thread. Other than a few select places I tend to avoid forums and postings for even things I like because after a while I start to feel my brain leaking out of my ears due to all the stupidity.

Such is the internet.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Wow Thursday is gonna be action packed. Soccer in the morning, baseball in the afternoon, Game 7 of the Finals at night.

I think the Celtics should start Rasheed Wallace in Game 7. The odds are against you anyways, just roll the dice. Besides, Shrek and Donkey need PT together.

Anonymous UpA said...
What's a Ron Artest???

From the Basketbrawl-Pedia...

A Ron Artest is an unintentional act of violence which starts as a rutine basketball play in which Player A provides a body part (usually the strongest one he finds to suit the needs of the moment) heavily into/in front of, through or behind Player B, who unconciuosly will be hit by such bodypart.

A trully well performed Ron Artest should end up as:

1. A foul call, followed by Player's A face of incredulence.

2. A flagrant 1 foul.

3. A mascot-included fist-throwing non-landing-fists semi brawl

4. None of the above and 3 points from Players' A Team.

Ron Artests are fan favorite subjects on BB forums and chats.

On the media:

"Guard Rajon Rondo needed four stitches in his chin after taking a Ron Artest, ESPN's Rachel Nichols reported"

On the court:

"Dude gave me a Ron Artest, when that happens you know you have to have that mindset and step-it-up"

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Dear Boston Bench:

Fuck you guys, straight up. I was telling AnacondaHL in the comments yesterday how good you played in game 2, and that you guys would show up last night, then you go and make me look like a slobbering retard by contributing exactly 'jack' and 'shit' to that game.

Thanks for that!

Meanwhile Jordan "I could pass off for any race" Farmar is out there dunking all over "the defensive anchor" of the Celtics, and Shannon Brown is getting on SportsCenter's "Top 10" with his one-handed alley-oop finish with his head over the damn rim.

Yeah. Suffice it to say, whoever's bench decides to show up is going to win game 7.

(Seriously though... can anyone tell me if Jordan Farmar is white, black, latino, or of middle-eastern descent? Because really, I can't tell, and that is annoying. He probably hangs out with Aaron Williams and the Lopez Brothers in his spare time, and they walk around confusing people.)

Anonymous avoozl said...
[i]Without bullshit foul calls Pierce hasn't got much.[/i]

Oh man that's fresh. I think you're getting Pierce confused with Kobe. I can tell you hate Pierce, but get real.

Also who's crying about the lakers' defense? Nobody. It's you lakers fans that whine about the Celtics being "bullies". It's you who are hypocrites because you whine about it but secretly wish the lakers played defense like that.

People saying Artest elbowed Rondo- that's just a fact. Are those stitches imaginary? I don't hear anyone whining about it. But that doesn't stop all these lakers fans from acting like a bunch of sickos and taking pleasure in it. Whatever.

Anonymous DKH said...
Lol at the Christina Aguilera comments. I immediately muted it and found a different version of the national anthem on youtube.

Also lol at anyone responding to bawful's comments on Paul Pierce/Pau Gasol. There's some pretty clear satire going on there.

Anonymous ChrisLTD said...
"After watching the video, my feeling is that either a) Pierce's leg was stationary or b) he was doing a reverse pivot to get up and Gasol threw himself into Pierce's leg and then flopped."

Dude, lay on the floor and try to stand up. Now try to do it really quickly. I promise you your leg will never kick up as high as Pierce's did on that trip.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Dude, lay on the floor and try to stand up. Now try to do it really quickly. I promise you your leg will never kick up as high as Pierce's did on that trip.

I didn't realize my sarcasm was that hard to follow.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
LOL!!!!!

Stationary as in: having a fixed position; not movable. ??

Gotta be kidding, that leg was moving more than the whole Boston's scoreboard...

Reverse Pivot?? If that holds truth, I've seen drunken ppl with better "raising up" skills, if such motion would have not included Gasol, Pierce would then have gave us a good impresion on Bambi on the ice...


I say again...I didn't realize my sarcasm was that hard to follow.

I officially LOL at you both.

Anonymous UpA said...
I officially LOL at you both.

Following you on that LOL for LOLing at me!

I was LOLadized...

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
AK Dave - Hey, you should be thanking me. Right as I got home, turned on the game, opened the box score, noticed all the 0's next to the Boston bench's PTS scored, and wondered if I was seeing things, Nate Robinson drove to the hoop and converted a tough layup.

Obviously the Perkins injury wasn't factored into my predictions based on refs yesterday, but I should have mentioned I noticed Ken Mauer as one of the top "Most Blowout games called" refs, thus taking the +6.5 wasn't as great.

Anyways, onto Game 7, basketball-reference has the quick and dirty historical breakdown, tl;dr - Lakers 80% chance to win it. Add in the Game 3 winner record, and the bench play comparison, it's looking like another for the purple and gold.

Of course all these opinions can change tomorrow at 9am =)

Blogger Preveen said...
I'll take you American's word for it on the Anthem, but the visuals were ... faintly scary. Not appealing.
I had a brain fart and forgot to watch the game before going to work. Good thing I didn't get late for work watching this one! :D Have to make sure to remember the next

Blogger Will said...
"I didn't realize my sarcasm was that hard to follow."
Welcome to the Interwebs, 'bawful.

Anonymous ChrisLTD said...
Bawful,
This is what happens when you don't use the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags.

Anonymous The Smug Mr. Anonymous said...
I always notice how different the blog and the tenor of the comments are when the Lakers win. It's so obvious.

I hate that Perkins may be lost for Game 7, but is somewhat karmic considered how little Celtic fans accepted Bynum's absence in 2008. In all honesty, I thought that the 2008 Lakers squad with a healthy Bynum would be a tougher defensive matchup for Boston. They had a better Kobe, a fresher Gasol and shooters who could make them pay (Radmonvic and 2008 Sasha). They just lacked someone to guard Pierce and toughness and rebounding (which Bynum had).

I disagree with the assertion that Ron intentionally hit Rondo, but I'm biased. However, Ray/Tony Allen and Rondo have gotten away with murder the whole series. It was nice to see Rondo get a little sweet chin music.

Blogger Cortez said...
"I didn't realize my sarcasm was that hard to follow."

If it helps you feel any better, I got it right away, for obvious reasons.

"I love this crowd!"
~Henny Youngman

Anonymous Matt said...
Taking a look at the Artest/Rondo incident, it seemed to me that, while Artest didn't purposefully swing his elbow into Rondo, he didn't seem to be making any effort to avoid contact and, for Rondo to go down the way he did (and need stitches, to boot), Artest was doing his best to keep his elbow in the same basic position (and therefore not get moved out of the way, which caused the inevitable collision to be more painful for Rondo).

On a completely unrelated note, I am always amused when I look at the BawfulBanner and see Yao appearing to take a huge dump on Bavetta's head. The look on Bavetta's face just adds to the hilarity.

I was also amused by the lack of awareness with regards to Bawful's sarcasm (although I did not actually LOL).

Blogger Preveen said...
Just for my info, is three steps allowed in the NBA?

Anonymous Sorbo said...
@AK Dave: I googled his Jordan Farmar and before I even got to the "m" in his name "Jordan Farmar ethnicity" was the second choice to pop up. You're not alone in your confusion. It said he's Israeli and black, although I'd just call him Californian, plenty of race confusion in this state.

Xtina: Why did you paint your eyebrows gray?

Anonymous Sorbo said...
If Rasheed gets one more technical in these playoffs, is he banned for the first game of next season or for the first game of the 2011 playoffs?

Anonymous Gabe said...
Ron Artest, the gift that keeps on giving. Someone needs to make a book of all Ron Artest quotes from his whole career, that would be priceless.

I'm a Celtics fan, but Ron Artest's elbow didn't look intentional to me. He puts his arm up and starts to turn around to box Rondo out, or just to look for the rebound. The real key here is when Ron's elbow connected, Ron was halfway turned between looking at Rondo and the basket. If it was intentional he would have been looking at Rondo until he connected. But still, it should have been called a foul. That happened quite a bit to the Celtics last night. Pierce got mugged a couple times going to the goal with no foul, and Allen also got slapped hard on the arm going for a layup attempt on a fast break. But all of those officiating mistakes are irrelevant because of the Celtics horrible play.

Blogger Preveen said...
http://twitter.com/jessicaalba/status/16278399926

A little part of me just died :(

Anonymous ChrisLTD said...
Preveen,
Was it your penis?

Blogger Cortez said...
"If Rasheed gets one more technical in these playoffs, is he banned for the first game of next season or for the first game of the 2011 playoffs?"

First game of next season. And you can rest assured that he'll most likely get that technical if the game is out of hand in the Laker's favor.

Blogger Mt. Wood said...
Rondo did take a legitimate elbow from Ron Artest...

What confused me however was that after the commercial break all of a sudden Rondo had a band-aid on his chin. . .

WTF?

Did he suddenly start bleeding over the commercial break? Because right after the elbow there wasn't any sign of a cut or blood or anything...

What is this theatrics bullshit? Celtics take acting class after every practice or what?

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Can people stop using "Ron wasn't looking at Rondo" as an excuse to prove it wasn't an intentional elbow? That's got to be like the stupidest argument I've ever heard in an argument like this. Like, even in normal play people use their elbows to feel their opponent so that they can be looking elsewhere, like up at the ball for the rebound, etc.

If you want to see if Ron's elbow was intentional or not, just look how he sets up the elbow as Rondo's coming. If it's setup well after Rondo's in mid-air then it's probably more intentional. If you believe people instintively jut out their elbows like that when turning around for the rebound, you probably believe it was an accident. IMHO, I have no idea, and didn't see the play live, and don't really care either way.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
If Game 7 gets out of hand in LA's favor (which I don't think will happen, BTW), look for Sheed to get two techs and get tossed. I think he'll pick up one T no matter what though. He could have received one last night when he went running in a half circle and yelling while swinging his arms, but the refs wisely didn't call that knowing it would have meant he was out for Game 7. But without any extra ramifications for T'ing Sheed up tomorrow, expect the refs to revert to their typical short leash with him. But he won't get two unless it's late in the game and the outcome is no longer in doubt. 

Speaking of the refs, typically officials are at their most fair in Game 7s, and they're also usually most likely to let the players decide things for themselves in those games rather than calling a lot of fouls. Also, kudos to the refs for laying off the whistles last night. I love it when neither team shoots many free throws. 

Blogger Preveen said...
@ChrisLTD : Nope. Don't worry, you won't have to fill in that role with your mom.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
There needs to be a twitter account called Ron's Elbows.

It was intentional, but I'm not sure he meant to hit Rondo in the chin. To me it looked like one of those elbows to let a guy know what will happen if he enters the key. A foul, but within the realm of a physical game, and not a Howard-like cheap shot.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
I know there shouldn't be any FA or Draft talk until Friday (or far after), but I had to sneak this in. There's a guy in the draft named Larry Sanders. Hey now!

http://insider.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/tracker/player?playerId=19359&draftyear=2010

Blogger Dan B. said...
What confused me however was that after the commercial break all of a sudden Rondo had a band-aid on his chin. . .

WTF?

Did he suddenly start bleeding over the commercial break? Because right after the elbow there wasn't any sign of a cut or blood or anything...

What is this theatrics bullshit? Celtics take acting class after every practice or what?


...Seriously? Come on. After Rondo took that shot, he put his hand up to his face, and after he pulled his hand back, you could see blood all over the palm of his hand. Dude had to get four stitches, but asked to get put back in the game as soon as possible.

Blogger Jacob I. McMillan said...
How about a KG/LO WOTN? Odom and Garnett had TWO classic moments of fail last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuU41qXsRn0 - Gasol gets a shot off as the foul is called, and KG does his "goaltend after the whistle" routine. Then Odom grabs the ball and tries to dunk it on KG's head. KG sees him doing this and quickly pushes him away, causing him to blow the dunk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duyZ9-9e6Wo - Kobe bricks a 3-pointer, and the ball goes straight to Garnett, but he can't hold on to it. Odom dives to the floor from like eight feet away and ends up tripping KG from a standstill position. Pure bawfulness.

Anonymous ChrisLTD said...
Preveen,
Sorry bro, you left the door wide open.

Everyone else,
We can't really know if Ron Artest meant to hit Rondo (unless he tells us), but I think we can all agree Artest has not earned the benefit of the doubt.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
This is way late in the conversation, but no WotN for Sasha's two airballs with no one guarding him?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Btw, there will be additions to WotN, but I've been getting shit on at work, so...

Anonymous Gabe said...
Ron's elbow was more like an arm-bar instead of actually throwing an elbow. If someone's flying at you, you're going to put an arm up to protect yourself or move out of the way. Especially since Ron doesn't know how to take charges since he's played on the streets (his words, not mine). And Ron outweighs Rondo by 100 lbs so he's not going to move out of the way. But he didn't throw that elbow at Rondo a-la Dwight Howard and his atomic elbows. Did he try to avoid Rondo? No. But it wasn't a dirty play by any means.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
Not one but two espn articles today that say that if the Lakers win Game 7, Kobe's in the MJ discussion as GOAT. Yuck. How soon we forget.

Even with the win, he's tied for third: 1) MJ, 2) Russell, 3) Bird/Magic/Kobe.

He needs six rings (maybe even seven) to even be in the Jordan/GOAT conversation.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
As previously stated, I don't really watch the games, so maybe someone could clear this up for me: In 4 out 6 games, Sheed has no assists, hasn't attempted a free throw in the last five, and is average 0.5 pg in blocks and steals. I know he's virtually immobile, but does he just stand at center court and spin like a subway turnstile? Does Doc have a certain number of Sheed minutes he has to use before the end of the year or risk losing them for good?

Anonymous Marylander said...
@ Mt. Wood

The "Magic Band-aid" is the new "magic wheelchair".

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
Keep it classy, Lakers homers. I can guarantee that each and every one of you would be singing a different tune - or crying, rather, as would I - if it was you that collided with Ron Artest's elbow in the air. The guy is a friggin' ox.

It wasn't intentional, it wasn't dirty, but this is what happens when you have a large man that is not aware/doesn't care where his arms are. Enough said. If I did that to someone playing ball, I would immediately apologize and beg forgiveness.

The game was turrible and I'm not optimistic about the Leprechauns chances in game 7. These two teams are meant for each other though; they're bipolar like nobody's business. One game, world-beaters, the next, couldn't beat a WNBA team.

Blogger Paul said...
Intentional or not, Am I the only Laker fan embracing Ron's elbow?

I didn't see blood in Rondo's face either btw. I wish I did though, god I hate the little son of a bitch.
I don't wish him to get injured but it wouldn't bother me if his face looked like Frankenstein's face after game 7.
I wish Fisher took a hard foul at Ray-Ray too. He is being whistled for way too many cheap fouls. If he is gonna spend that much time stock in the bench at least get his money's worth.

As a Laker fan the prospect of having Big Baby on the floor for more time does scare me. He is one guy that knows how to throw his weight around and Lamar has been incapable of defending him on the block all series long.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
re: "Ugh. That Lakers forum thread you linked to.... Attention Laker fans, this is why we hate you."

That why the real Lakers fans actually read, www.forumblueandgold.com


And seriously, cut Aguilera some slack, bitch can sing and that was good stuff.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Sorbo - Vujacic's airballs have nothing on that Rondo airball from the free throw line when LA gave him that shot. He was at least a foot short on that shot, easily.

Speaking of Rondo (and bricking shots from the FT line), does anyone else think the fact that he's 4-17 from the charity stripe in this series is making him less aggressive in taking it to the rim? I think it's the same fear that makes Shaq rush shots in the post sometimes: just afraid of having to shoot foul shots.

Blogger Paul said...
The Other Chris said...

These two teams are meant for each other though; they're bipolar like nobody's business. One game, world-beaters, the next, couldn't beat a WNBA team



hahahaha, me and my buddy were just talking about that one.
Is like every frigging game only one of the T E A M S shows up.

Here is hoping that both teams show up for game 7.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
@Wild Yams
Rondo sure doesn't look like he wants to drive. A lot of his shooting woes started when he had back issues in the Cleveland series. It's hard to explain, but whenever I played with an ailing back, my FTs became flat. Set shots require you to use your back more than a jump shot, which uses more of your leg and arm muscles. At the line, your back has to keep you balanced, absorb the force of your legs pushing up (without jumping), and provide some of the lift in your shot. And if you're back is fucked up, everything goes with it.

Given that Rondo (and Wallace) had both just flown across the country, I'm sure they're backs weren't feeling great last night, hence they're poor shooting.

Blogger Dylan said...
Rondo's aggressiveness has always been somewhat tempered by his poor free throw shooting ability. It's not as if he's ever been a good free throw shooter to begin with. The problem, though, is in the fourth quarter, because he's less agressive since he doesn't want to go tot he line.

Anonymous jj said...
what the hell..
basketbawful used to be a place for straight up bawful (and sometimes basketball talk).
nowadays its like reading youtube comments and you know what THAT means

Anonymous AK Dave said...
And seriously, cut Aguilera some slack, bitch can sing and that was good stuff.

HEY! Quit being sexist. Bitches hate that shit.

Anonymous Gabe said...
If Rondo got more aggressive and drove to the basket to get more FT's, I think he'd get in some type of rhythm and shoot decently from the FT line (like 70%). He's averaging less than 3 FT's a game, and that adds more mental pressure when he's struggling like he is. And I hope he tones it down with his passing, way too sloppy and way too many passes with no chances of connecting, such as a bullet pass in between 3 defenders to Perk. Who drops it every time, obviously. He even threw one like that to Shelden. Automatic turnover.

Blogger senormedia said...
Rivers...suggest[ed] that Brian Scalabrine will be activated in Perkins' place.

fckd

Blogger Preveen said...
@ChrisLTD : No worries, I'm not fragile. :)

Anonymous Sorbo said...
Rivers...suggest[ed] that Brian Scalabrine will be activated in Perkins' place.

fckd


What are you so worried about? Scal leads the league in high fives. That counts for something, right? Now KG doesn't have to go to the bench to ignore a Scal high-five.

Anonymous herman said...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlCFHVlajpmteWVpFehZCB28vLYF?slug=aw-celtslakersfinale061610

From the article: "Doc Rivers is an elite NBA coach..."

Anonymous Karc said...
Regardless of what happens tonight, Doc Rivers is an elite coach. If Boston wins, then it's not even a debate.

Rondo should keep pushing, regardless if he bricks free throws. Getting key Lakers in foul trouble (namely Bryant and Fisher) will pay off later in the game.

There should be a John Starks award to whoever misses more than 10 shots tonight if the game is close. Early nominations on the Lakers side include Kobe (especially if he tries to win the MVP instead of the actual title), and Artest (hitting those shots in Game 6 were fool's gold if he thinks he can do that again without Gasol and Odom on the floor). Gasol may not even get 10 shots, he certainly won't miss 10 if he does. For the Celtics, Ray Allen is an obvious choice, since he's already done it once, and may have to do it again if the Lakers clog the paint with Perkins out. Pierce, unlike Bryant, has to keep shooting to keep his team in the game, so he may get it.

BTW, anyone living on Los Angeles, get ready to feel the pain.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-me-lakers-lapd-20100617,0,3049219.story

Rooting for the Celtics, simply because it dramatically decreases the chances of someone getting hurt.

Anonymous UpA said...
According to The Hidden Truth.... We are not coming back to LA...

I guess he really MEANT that, did they even showed up on G6?

Will he come at least to watch the game?

Anonymous AK Dave said...
Please GOD let Rivers activate Scal