In an NBC Philadelphia piece, one Timothy Parker lays out a case that the NBA stinks because guaranteed contracts and cavernous arenas have erased the presence of heart, hustle and excitement.
Instead of a point-by-point refutation of Parker's points (which would just bore everyone), I'd like to provide a counter-example to the writer's thesis. I'd like to tell you about Bobby Jackson and ask how he fits in this pessimistic view of the crushed NBA spirit.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Miami has two options this summer. The Heat can continue to be a legitimate one-man band, or it can get hooked up with some shady underground biotechnician and clone Dwyane Wade. Your choice, Heat.
Wade went ballistic (again) with 42 points on 34 FGAs and 13 FTAs. He added four rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. And only one turnover. I mention turnovers quite frequently in Doing Lines, but just to be sure you grok my spit: one turnover in (effectively) 45 offensive possessions Wade is personally responsible for is ... unreal. Those 3.4 turnovers a game might look like a lot. But account for how much of the offense rests on his shoulders and ... yeah. B-E-A-S-T.
Go ahead, call me a sap -- I've been called much worse. For some reason, jersey retirement ceremonies get me every time, and Alonzo Mourning's was no exception. Sure, Pat Riley's comments were cliche, and the Creed song was a poor choice. But Mourning becoming the first actual member of the team to have his jersey raised to the rafters (Michael Jordan and Dan Marino had their numbers retired for some reason as well) was awesome, and of course, well-deserved.
For the purpose of this post, I'm going to reference several messages (sorry, but I hate saying "tweets") on Twitter. That's probably going to annoy Mark Cuban, but there's not much I can do about that.
Soon after the Mavericks/Nuggets game on Friday, Cuban publicly complained about the officiating. As far as the NBA is concerned, the fact that he did so on Twitter is irrelevant -- public criticism is public criticism, whether it's comments made in front of a reporter's microphone, a lengthy rant on his personal blog or anger distilled into 140 characters or less on Twitter. As such, it was hardly a surprise when the league levied a $25,000 fine.
In the latter stages of the Suns' 129-109 loss at Portland on Thursday, Shaquille O'Neal had finally seen enough of the easy baskets and laughter from the Blazers.
It was time to do something. And he did, first calling out and then chewing out rookie Robin Lopez, who apparently wasn't putting up enough defensive resistance with the game out of hand.
It took a little while, but O'Neal was finally asked about the incident on Sunday, and sure enough he didn't disappoint. So, what was Shaq trying to tell Lopez late in that game?
Put it this way, commissioner David Stern is not going to be happy about it.
Dwyane Wade has had plenty of big scoring nights against the Orlando Magic, including a 50-spot against them earlier this season. Will it continue tonight? Probably -- in his last six games against Orlando, Wade is averaging over 37 points per game.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
Only one NBA team can legitimately claim its season ended before it began. Starting center Brendan Haywood, Washington's defensive anchor, tore a wrist ligament during a preseason practice. The injury basically ensured a mediocre defense would be destined for completely awfulness.
But Eddie Jordan's Wizards have always scored efficiently and frequently. Surely, the offense could save Washington. That'd be nice ... except that a month prior, the team's most potent scorer -- Gilbert Arenas -- had another surgery completed on his knee. His return date went from December ... to January ... to post-All Star break ... to Saturday.
You can understand how Washington finds itself at the bottom of the standings.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The disappointments have appeared nearly across the board in Toronto. An undersold problem, though, has been the inability of one Jose Calderon to fully grasp his role as the full-time starter at point guard. Calderon has been good offensively ... but not as consistent as he had been sharing duties.
The numbers and the math say the Phoenix Suns still have a shot at making the playoffs. What the Suns say, however, make the numbers and the math seem like optimists.
After the Suns' 126-118 slap-in-the-face loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night, reality is setting in. There was talk of hope and things not being over, but you got the sense the Suns were trying to convince themselves more than anything.
"We were playing for a lot tonight and I don't think we showed up with our attitude or our desperation," guard Steve Nash said. "I don't know. We didn't get it done."
In an NBC Philadelphia piece, one Timothy Parker lays out a case that the NBA stinks because guaranteed contracts and cavernous arenas have erased the presence of heart, hustle and excitement.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
For the purpose of this post, I'm going to reference several messages (sorry, but I hate saying "tweets") on Twitter. That's probably going to annoy Mark Cuban, but there's not much I can do about that.
In the latter stages of the Suns' 129-109 loss at Portland on Thursday, Shaquille O'Neal had finally seen enough of the easy baskets and laughter from the Blazers.
NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't. 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The numbers and the math say the Phoenix Suns still have a shot at making the playoffs. What the Suns say, however, make the numbers and the math seem like optimists.
