A few weeks ago I was salivating over the possibility of the Conference Finals matchups falling out like this: Spurs v. Suns and Heat v. Pistons. Now that those series are all over, here’s what I have to say about them: eh…
Both series just left you wanting something more and it’s all because of injuries.
From what I’ve been reading lately, I’d think that Antoine Walker was the one who pretended to find a human finger in the chili from Wendy’s or who faked his own abduction to avoid his upcoming wedding. Assuming there was a gender change in both stories, at least.
Almost every good story needs an antagonist, someone you’re always hoping fails, even if you don’t necessarily root for the “good guy” to succeed. The same is probably even truer when it comes to sports. When two teams you don’t particularly care for face off in a championship game, don’t you generally root for the team you hate less, as opposed to the team you like more?
The team that is the measuring stick for all detested teams is, and will probably always be, the New York Yankees. Only Yankee fans want that team to win. You’ll never find a time when someone from Texas, or Colorado or LA or Cincinnati or really anywhere outside of the tri-state area says “yeah, if my team can’t make it, I’m pushing for the Yanks.” It just doesn’t happen.
Here’s hoping the NBA gives us what we want this time around.
I don’t want any upsets in the second round, and as weird as it sounds, I don’t even want any close games. I just want the favored teams to advance so we get Detroit-Miami and Phoenix-San Antonio in the respective Conference Finals, and I don’t want anything to interfere with that outcome.
Game 7 sure lived up to all the hype, huh?
Another Celtics’ season is officially in the books and an uncertain offseason has now begun, after the Green mailed in a 97-70 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the deciding game of their opening round playoff series. Danny Ainge may have assembled a talented mix of youngsters and veterans, but after watching that debacle, he and anyone rooting for this team (and quite frankly, anyone covering this team, as well) should be embarrassed.
Let’s hope that Paul Pierce is a fast typist and has ample personalized stationary around. After last night’s wild playoff win in Indiana, he’s sure going to need it.
As just about everyone in North America is probably aware, Pierce was intentionally fouled by Jamaal Tinsley with 12.7 seconds left in game 6, with the Celtics leading 84-83. Because Tinsley hit Pierce in the mouth, the Celtics’ captain angrily swatted Tinsley’s hand away and the Pacers’ point guard dramatically (and exaggeratedly) fell to the ground. After a conference with his fellow referees, Steve Javie called a technical foul on Pierce, his second of the game, resulting in an automatic ejection and a Reggie Miller game-tying free throw. Because Pierce could no longer shoot the freebie, Indiana was free to choose anyone off the Celtics’ bench to shoot and confidently selected 20-year-old Kendrick Perkins, who promptly missed them both. By some miracle, the Celtics were able to overcome all this adversity and pull out the game in overtime without their star.
If you look around the locker room of the Boston Celtics, you’ll find a number of young faces. None is easier to spot than 2nd year Center Kendrick Perkins. Perkins, 20, is the definition of a man-child, at 6’10” and 280 lbs. While he is currently a reserve, big things are expected from the big man from Texas in the not-too-distant future. We had a chance to sit down with Perkins and talk about refs, his unbelievable work ethic, and getting respect from the officials:
As an NBA sportswriter, I already know everything there is to know about hoops. In order build my ego up even more, I decided to go look at some of my predictions about the league in my NBA preview. As stated above, I am always right about basketball, making some of these preseason observations a little odd. Hey, some of them were spot on. But others…yuck!
It’s remarkable how far Celtic Nation has come in exactly one week. On Wednesday, March 23rd, it seemed even many grounded fans had visions of grandeur for the Green and White. Seven days later, suddenly everyone is wondering if the C’s will slide into the 7th or 8th spot in the Eastern Conference or even [gasp] out of the playoffs altogether. All you hear anymore about this team is that they stand around too much on offense, can’t play any defense, and that Antoine Walker shoots too much and from too far away. After spending almost a month of predicting that the Celtics were poised to make a run at the Eastern Conference finals and beyond, fans now appear poised to give up with barely even a whimper.
Following the 2001-2002 season in which the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics’ brass (and probably even more importantly, ownership) had to decide whether or not to re-sign Rodney Rogers. Rogers, acquired in midseason and an essential piece of that team, was a free agent and potentially the difference between the C’s making it back to the conference finals or becoming a team that dies in the first or second round. Although Rogers expected Boston to pony up, then-Celtic owner Paul Gaston was in the process of selling the team and wanted to add as little payroll as possible and therefore offered Rogers the veteran minimum of about a $1 million. Bewildered and a little insulted, Rogers refused and signed with rival New Jersey, while Boston made an ill-fated trade for Vin Baker in an attempt to fill Rogers’ shoes. In short, it didn’t work, and the Celtics are still paying for that mistake, both literally and figuratively.