teke184

Heh... I fall asleep and the next thing I know, Orlando became the first team to advance and Boston's got a goddamn tie in their series. The chances of Orlando or Cleveland coming out of the East just got a lot higher tonight, as the Pistons keep dicking around with the 6ers and the Celtics are playing WAY below where they should be.

Why not, when you've got Adrian Peterson in the backfield? Wait... wrong Adrian Peterson.

Brandon Bass? Because it sure isn't Josh Howard and it's questionable on Dirk at times.

Hornets win, 97-84, to go up 3-1 in the series. Jason Kidd may not be back for Game 5. He got tossed from Game 4 for a Flagrant 2 on Jannero Pargo and, AFAIK, Stern has the ability to impose further punishment for cheap bitch-hits like that. (Kidd hooked Pargo on a layup and slammed him to the ground pretty hard. It was like watching a midget beat up an Oompa Loompa...)

Dampier's cheap foul was insult to injury... IMHO, the refs were MUCH more likely to call fouls on the Hornets when a Mav hit the floor than vice-versa. All it takes is an extra foul on CP3 or Chandler here to send them to the bench or depriving them of 2 shots at the line there to make a difference in the game.

Detroit can't hit shit right now and keeps fouling the 76ers. There's 9:30 left in this game, but I'm about ready to call this for the 6ers... especially if Rip Hamilton or other big-name Pistons foul out. (Rip has 5 fouls already.)

CP3 is the "silent assassin"? At least they didn't describe him as "silent, but deadly"...

It would be an accomplishment to do so at this point... They're up by 2 with 0.2 on the clock. They need a Hail Mary of a 3 to win or an incredible pass-shot combo for OT.

T-Mac is coming up short, but the presence of Rafer Alston for the first time in this series is making a HUGE difference, IMHO.

Two of those 2-0 series are about to become 2-1 series... The Raptors have the Magic down by 16 late in the 4th, while the Wizards are kicking the living shit out of the Cavs in the 3rd, 72-47.

The Raptors are making a statement right now, up 61-40 on the Magic at the half. The only players scoring for the Magic are pretty much the "triplets", as Howard, Lewis, and Turkoglu have 31 of the team's 40 points.

For New Orleans' potential FAs: "Birdman" Chris Anderson is someone I wouldn't mind seeing re-signed, but if he has to go to make room for draft picks, so be it. Bonzi Wells definitely needs to be re-signed. He's been a great 6th Man for the team since they acquired him from Houston. Jannero Pargo will likely take his player option to come back, as he's Chris Paul's backup right now and, frankly, isn't likely to get a better position anywhere else. Ryan Bowen is someone that will most likely go unsigned in order to make room for draft picks. Don't be surprised if New Orleans finds a way to move Melvin Ely or Rasual Butler to make room on the roster. Ely is in Byron Scott's doghouse, as well as having been largely replaced by Hilton Armstrong. Butler is largely out of the rotation right now, as the Guard slots are filled up by Pargo, Bonzi Wells, and the overpaid Mike James, while the Forward slots are filled up by Hilton Armstrong and Julian Wright.

Charlotte's problems with the Hornets were mainly centered around Hornets owner George Shinn, who was publicly accused of rape by a woman. He defeated her civil suit against him, but his reputation in Charlotte was ruined and people didn't want to throw money his way. The city's politicians, after a failed vote on a new arena, set an ultimatum for the Hornets - Shinn sells to someone else and the team gets a new arena. (The vote failed because the Charlotte mayor vetoed a "living wage" bill shortly before the referendum and, in response, the black ministers of Charlotte lead a grass-roots campaign to kill the arena funding.) Shinn's response to the ultimatum was to revive the notion of moving the team, later settling on New Orleans.

WINNAH~!

Can we get a clip of Varejao saying "I shed tears for Gilbert Arenas!"?

There are several points: 1. There are specific cases of "historic" teams that have moved, which undercuts the Sonics fans' "We have so much history here" argument. 2. There are specific cases where owners bought teams specifically to move them to new markets, such as the Nationals being bought and then moved to Philly, which had been abandoned by the Warriors. 3. The Sonics ownership's problems with the arena go back to Schultz, who was told to go fuck himself by the Washington state and Seattle politicians when he was asking about a new arena. While current owner Bennett's demands to stay in Seattle were outrageously high, the state's unwillingness to renew the tax specifically meant for sports arenas was a shot across Bennett's bow that they were going to play hardball with him. If Seattle and Washington state politicians are going to play chicken with Bennett, don't be surprised when he says "Screw you guys, I'm taking my team and going home." In short, *these problems predate Bennett buying the team* and Bennett's moving of the team became an inevitability once Schultz sold the team to a group that had no local ties and the Washington state and Seattle politicians didn't take that as a sign that they weren't going to win a game of chicken this time. Curse Bennett all you want, but leave OKC out of it and don't forget to heap a lot of blame on Schultz for his choice of ownership group to sell to and the Washington state and Seattle politicians for convincing Schultz that it wasn't worth the effort for him to remain the owner of the Sonics.

1. It's a quote from BASEketball, which started on the premise that people were tired of teams picking up stakes and moving on the second they got a better deal. 2. It also addressed Edwin's bitching about teams moving around, which goes WELL back in the NBA to at least 1960, when the Lakers ditched Minny for LA, and to the early 80s, when the Jazz ditched New Orleans for Salt Lake City. This argument could go back to the Syracuse Nationals ditching Syracuse to become the Philadelphia 76ers if you REALLY want to... and it would definitely be appropriate since the Nationals' history goes back to 1939, which pre-dates the NBA. The point is, there are a LOT of franchises that have moved around before, some of which several times, despite having a following in their original area and some measure of history. Sometimes they take the name with them, like the Lakers, Hawks, and Jazz, and sometimes they don't, like the Syracuse Nationals (76ers), Cincinnati Royals (Kansas City Kings / Sacramento Kings), etc.

"First, the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, where there were no lakes. Then the Oilers moved from Houston to Tennessee, where there is no oil. Then the Jazz moved from New Orleans to Utah, where they don't allow music. Then the Raiders moved from Oakland to Los Angeles, and back again... and nobody seemed to care."

I think that only works if the Dallas Mavericks become the Dallas Geldings. Given their past 12 playoff games, I'd say their balls have been gone for a while anyway.

Phoenix is on a late run here... they've cut the lead down from 15 to 5 with 2:30 left.

Allen just got traded from KC to Minny for this year's 1st (17th overall) and two 3rd rounders (73rd and 82nd). Don't be surprised if you see KC try to trade down from #5 to get additional picks since they're so depleted everywhere.

If you get beat by 25-30 in the playoffs, you have to feel bad no matter WHERE you play.

Too many people bitched when the Magic won the lottery one year to get Shaq and then won it the next year with only 1 chance in 14 after missing out on the East playoffs on the last day of the season. That is, AFAIK, the first and only time a team won in consecutive years, which they don't want to happen again.

The Hornets are kicking the living shit out of the Mavs right now, 67-53 at the start of the 3rd. If the Hornets can ice this game, I think the Mavs' spirit will be broken.

Per NFL.com, the Seahawks have cut former league MVP Shawn Alexander, just 2 years after he got himself a new long-term contract.