Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher celebrate after a game that featured surprising turns and performances from beginning to end. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Yesterday I wrote how if Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celticsfollowed suit with the rest of the series, there would be more drama before the game than during it.  How happily wrong I was.  The game had surprising twists plus more storylines than a Robert Altman film.  If I didn’t know better, I’d’ve thought this game was shown on cable rather than ABC, ‘cuz TNT Knows Drama (oh wait, didn’t they change their tagline to the even lamer “TNT – Very Funny?”).  There also still was some post-game suspense (which I’ll get to in the end). So now, in honor of the Lakers winning their 16th title, we’ll go over the 16 surprising tales this game created, starting out with the 12 stories that played out duringthe game:

1. The Redemption Of Ron Artest

The 2010 Laker team had one difference from the 2009 team: they swapped Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza.  At the beginning of the year Artest stated that if the Lakers didn’t win again this year that the blame should fall on him.  It was a bold, perhaps fair statement to make.  With his horrendous shooting throughout much of the playoffs and into the Finals, LA fans had the bullseye painted and everything.  However, with Kobe and Pau struggling in the first half (okay, hell, the whole game), his scoring kept the team in the game.  Add to it that he held Paul Pierce to 5-of-15 shooting and this poor maligned, albeit slightly crazy guy, perhaps can finally move on from his Malice At The Palace rep.

To read the rest of my post, go to the main FanSided page here.

Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are the only ones who have been bored waiting between games. (source: Yardbarker.com)

For the rest of my article, click to the main FanSided page here.

Kobe's so darn good, Alvin Gentry's fine with losing to him. Elsewhere, Stan Van Gundy and Mike Brown still can't sleep, wondering what they did "wrong" to lose to the Celts. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Many have already talked about how the Lakers and Celtics have taken two different paths to the Big Show. It’s more than just a West Coast/East Coast thang, or offense versus defense. It’s also about the psychological effects they’ve left on those in their wake. Kobe, the self-proclaimed Black Mamba, has been an unstoppable force since Game 5 in the first round against the Thunder (by the way, I kinda love self-proclaimed nicknames. They should be totally illegal, but I find it so humorous that someone would decide to make up their own nickname that I loooove to ironically call them that. Thus I’m thrilled that Sasha Vujacic’s started getting playing time so I can yell out “The Machiiiiiiine” every time he touches the ball. Of course the true irony is that I’ve now used the Black Mamba tag so much that it no longer seems ironic to me when it comes out of my mouth. …Wait, what am I talking about? Oh yeah, Celts/Lakes.)

(more…)

Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale have held the trophy more than 14 franchises combined. (source: Yardbarker.com)

As we prepare for the 62nd championship round, one thing is clear: when it comes to winning the whole enchilada, the rich keep getting richer.

-Out of 30 franchises, only 16 have ever take home the trophy.

-Boston (17) and the Lakers (15) have combined to win (32) more than half of the championships.

-By contrast, the next franchises on that list, the Bulls (6) and Spurs (4), won all their rings during one time period and one superstar’s tenure (a certain Michael Jeffrey Jordan and Timothy Salierius Duncan — okay, I made up Dunc’s middle name; anyone know if he’s got a real one?).

-After that we’ve got 3 three-peaters (copyright Pat Riley) with the Pistons, Warriors and Sixers. Followed by 2 two-timers (Knicks and Rockets). For you Knick fans, that means if LeBron comes to NYC and wins 4 titles, that means we jump to #3 on the list!

For the rest of my post, click here for the main FanSided page.

Don't let the open arms confuse you. If you say something David Stern doesn't like, he'll fine you. No, there's no truth to the rumor that The Beatles wrote "Back In The USSR" about him. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

First off, please, please, please don’t confuse me for a whiney Boston Celtics fan. I actually was excited for them two years ago when they got Kevin Garnett because I felt like KG and Paul Pierce were two guys who deserved a shot and I wanted to see what they could do. Then they both, particularly KG, turned into jerks. So now I’m staunchly anti-Celts. I hope they lose this series, and I’m psyched that the Magic won last night. But Orlando shouldn’t have been helped out so egregiously by the refs.

No, I’m not a conspiracy nut either who thinks the “League” told the refs to extend the series. I just think that the refs and the NBA honchos have let the power go to their heads. It’s insane how afraid the league is of dissention. For those who didn’t watch last night’s game, Kendrick Perkins, the one guy in the league who can do a decent job defending Dwight Howard solo, got two technicals and was tossed. The first happened when he was helping Paul Pierce up, but their grip slipped so his arm went back a bit into Orlando’s backup center Marcin Gortat. Gortat responded, slapping the ball away, and they got hit by double technicals. I understand that one. At the time, particularly from certain angles, it looked like Perk just maliciously elbowed Gortat on purpose. But upon video review, you can see it was more of an accident.

To read the rest of this, go to my original post on the main FanSided page.

Yeah, Dirk is annoyed about losing, but that has nothing to do with why he's opting-out of his contract (source: Yardbarker.com)

ESPN reported that Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki is likely to opt-out of his contract, ostensibly add his name to the free agency pool, and as an unrestricted free agent at that.  What does that mean for Knick fans?  Quite possibly not a damn thing.  Even if he 100% wants to return to the Mavs, he’d still do this for contractual reasons, so it doesn’t imply he’s contemplating leaving in the slightest.   What’re the contractual reasons?

Opting out to sign a new deal, for starters, would lock in terms based on the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement through the life of the next contract. Under the league’s current system, Nowitzki is eligible for a four-year maximum contract from Dallas worth $96.2 million once he opts out. The most he could receive from another team is a four-year deal worth $93.1 million.

Signing a three-year extension to the last remaining season on his current contract, by contrast, would expose Nowitzki to potential after-the-fact reductions to his annual wage if league owners are successful in their attempts to lower the value of maximum salaries in the next collective bargaining agreement.

[...] Another motivation for Nowitzki to opt out as opposed to signing an extension is the ability to secure a no-trade clause.

If Dirk played for anyone else besides Mark Cuban, I’d say this also was a good maneuver to put pressure on management to improve the team, but Cuban’s already made public his plans to go after LeBron.

(more…)

"What more can I do?" wonders Stan Van Gundy. Glad you asked... (source: Yardbarker.com)

After the Orlando Magic’s loss last night to the Boston Celtics, they’re down a seemingly insurmountable 0-2 and going into enemy territory to play the next two games. The good news? Both losses were close down the stretch. Stan Van Gundy is one of the best coaches in the game, and already he tweaked his line-up a bit after the first game. Seeing how well J.J. Redick performed in the opening stanza, Stan gave him even more run in the second verse, playing him 34 minutes. Yeah, yeah, JJ made the double bone-headed move at the end of the game where he didn’t call timeout as soon as he caught it, and then when he started dribbling he stopped before he crossed mid-court. That said, Redick was again outstanding, and one could equally fault Vince Carter’s free-throw misses or say that the Magic shouldn’t have let themselves get to the point where they needed a last-second save anyway.

Anyway, moving on, what other tweaks can the Magic make? Here are three:

For the rest of my post on the main FanSided page, check out the page here.

Was this the only time Mo Williams had to separate LeBron and Delonte? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

This rumor is too good not to pass on. A website reports that Delonte West has been sleeping with LeBron’s Momma:

My source explains the following.”My uncle is the general contractor at the Q and has been for the last 7 years. He’s good friends with a lot of guys at the Q, including some of the bigger boys in the organization and knows Dan Gilbert personally. My uncle has been told that Delonte has been banging Gloria James (Lebron’s Mom) for some time now. Somehow Lebron found out before game four and it destroyed their chemistry and divided the team. I am not making this up, I wish it wasn’t true but it happened.”

Definitely click here for the rest.

Orlando's Matt Barnes gets a good sniff of Joe Johnson in their series: yeah, JJ stunk (source: Yardbarker.com)

I really love Manu Ginobili, and I would’ve loved to see what he could do as a Knick, but I gotta say I was kinda glad when he recently signed a 3-year deal to stay with the Spurs.  That meant he wouldn’t be available as a huge risk out there tempting the Knicks.  If you look at the players with the 30 Biggest Salaries from this past season, you can pretty much lump ‘em into two categories: the best of the best and the obscenely overpaid injured types.  There’s a serious danger that Manu will fall into Group B.   As exciting as it’d be to see how good he could be as a team’s focal point (rather than Tim Duncan and Tony Parker being the first two options), it’s a bad bet.

(more…)

Just because LeBron is bent over, it doesn't mean you need to abuse him (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Okay, I know this is FanSided, not The LeBron James Non-Stop-Coverage Blog, but as has been stated by many people, the Cavs’ shocking loss has the potential to not just change the Cleveland franchise, but NBA history. Wherever LBJ goes, eventually championships will follow. So I’ve been shocked at the number of people who have summarily discounted his past performances to now label him as a player who just doesn’t have it. Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, is a wonderful writer, but he’s a self-acknowledged knee-jerk sports fan. He writes what many others have said/written/twittered over the last few days:

There’s a feeling that [LeBron] can still get better, and with better teammates, maybe he could. But fundamentally, to paraphrase Bill Parcells, he is what he is at this point — a gregarious, larger-than-life, supremely gifted basketball player who’s better at making us say “WOW!” than anything else. If he owned that cutthroat Jordan chromosome, or Magic’s leadership chromosome, it would have surfaced by now.

Okay, LeBron doesn’t have Jordan’s cutthroat quality, but c’mon, Kobe’s the only other player who’s ever had that.  Then again, I’m not certain that killer quality is always best for a team.  Bill Russell has more rings than anyone, so clearly winning is a huge part of his genetic structure, but he would never mentally eviscerate a teammate the way Jordan did with Kwame Brown.  There’s something mesmerizing about that killer mentality in Jordan and Kobe, but that desire to win can be expressed in various ways as shown by Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson and tons of others.

For the rest of the post, click here.

Could this be LeBron's final press conference in Cleveland? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

LeBron James coming to New York has always been a slim possibility.  Well, unless the Yankees are playing, then he’ll come.  But joining the Knicks?  Probably not.  For me, the most compelling reason for him to come, as I discussed in an older post, is that legacy-wise, for some inexplicable reason, winning championships in a major market carries more caché.  To me, because of his otherworldly abilities, I assumed his free agency thought process would really be more about “Where would I like to get some rings?” rather than “Where can I get enough help to win a championship?”  If he loses now, in just the second round, would that change his mental approach to the latter question?

There are still games to play, and I wouldn’t be surprised if LeBron willed the Cavs to victory yet.  And if he does go out now, it might not even effect his mindset at all.  However, since idle (or idol) speculation is all we’ve got left in New York right now, let’s look at possible ways that the King’s summer free agency could be effected by this surprise turn of events:

(more…)

So far in this series LeBron James and Rajan Rondo have stepped as leaders of their respective teams. When ranked by their Points/Rebounds/Assists averages for the playoffs, they rank at 1 and 8 respectively. You can see the list in more detail here: http://youcastcorp.com/c/102/go/index.php?r=71

Guess the line for both James and Rondo in Game 6. Answers must be posted below in the comment section by Thursday May 11th at 7pm EST.

The winner who comes closest to both will receive a free prize package courtesy of NBA.com

What’s hot in the NBA?

Gone Fishin!

Lakers Seek Revenge in WCF

Orlando Sweeps Atlanta

Big summer franchise movies are assembled much like a NBA franchise team. You’ve got the executives who care more about the bottom line (“Let’s sign Allen Iverson — he’ll put butts in the seat” or “Let’s hire Scarlett Johansson — she’ll add sex appeal!”) rather than whether they create a high quality product. They hire the actors, or ball players. The thing is, it’s then up to the coach, or director, to make something out of this collection they were force fed, with their name being on the line. When a movie sucks, how often do you hear, “Man, that studio executive did an awful job?” And days after the Chicago Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was coach Vinny Del Negro who got the axe, not GM John Paxson.

For the rest, click here.

After Game #1 it seemed like Mo Williams would be a Major X-Factor. After Game #2 and Rajon Rondo's defense, we're downgrading Mo to a mere Minor X-Factor. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

After last night’s game, it’s clear there are 5 Major X-Factors in the Cleveland Cavaliers/Boston Celtics playoff series, 3 Minor X-Factors, and 1 Under-Reported Straight-Out Factor.  What do I mean by Major, Minor and Straight-Out Factors?  Well, first a Straight-Out Factor versus an X-Factor is something you know is going to happen versus something that may or may not happen.  Like it’s obvious now that Rajon Rondo is a force who’s gonna bring it every night. Earlier in his career that wasn’t the case, and he was an X-Factor. Now he’s a Straight-Out Factor, but he’s an Over-Reported Factor (or rather a Justifiably-Frequently-Reported Factor), so we ain’t gonna go into him.

In terms of Major X-Factors or Minor ones, a Major one is a change that will effect the whole series, while a Minor X-Factor effects just one game.  For instance, Doc Rivers has said that he hopes Nate Robinson can come in at some point during the playoffs, get hot, and help them win that game.  However, Nate clearly isn’t gonna be a major X-Factor who’s gonna suddenly be a force who leads them to victory in every single remaining battle.  Honestly, I don’t even have him as a minor X-Factor, but who knows?

The Five Major X-Factors:

To read the rest, click here.

For once LeBron desperately needed Mo to be more than his towel boy (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Here’s a post I wrote for the main FanSided page:

The King looked dead. In the first half of Game 1, four of LeBron’s five attempts were with his left hand. He was passive, often receiving the ball and just swinging it to the next person to make someone else initiate the offense. By the third quarter, the Cavs were down by 11 to the Celtics and seemed lifeless. Antawn Jamison who’s been the #2 scoring option since joining the team would end the evening with only 7 points on 2 for 6 shooting from the field (and an equally pitiful 3 for 6 from the line). It was time for Mo’.

Mo Williams, rightly criticized for disappearing last year in the playoffs when he was the team’s undisputed #2 option, had his now infamous first dunk as a Cavalier, igniting the crowd and his team. It wasn’t just that throwdown either, as it was just the first of 10 straight points that Mo scored in a row in slightly more than two minutes. Cleveland had a one-point lead by the time the team made it to the fourth quarter. Then LeBron took over.

Read the rest of the story here.

Over the next few weeks Buckets Over Broadway readers will be able to compete in a number of contests. All you have to do is follow the provided links, come back here and leave your answers in the comments section. We’ll pick the winners at random and NBA.com will send you prizing ranging from pens to hoodies to yo-yos and everything in between.

Contest #1 (will likely end Monday May 3rd, earlyish)

It seems that NBA players are more stylish now than ever. In recent post game press conferences some of the game’s biggest stars have looked as slick in their off-the-court clothing as they do driving the lane or knocking down three pointers.

Check out some of their threads at the links provided below and then come back and tell us in the comments section here who was the best dressed, who was the worst dressed, and why for each. Winners will be picked at random by Buckets Over Broadway and be provided with some great gear courtesy of NBA.com.

Dwight Howard Press Conference

Stephen Jackson Press Conference

LeBron James Press Conference

Carmello Anthony Press Conference

Dwyane Wade Press Conference

Is Kobe eyeing the game clock or Father Time? (source: Yardbarker.com)

I posted this on the main page of FanSided:

With the Lakers/Thunder series tied at 2-2, and the winner of Game 5 historically taking the series like 85% of the time, the pressure is on Los Angeles tonight. Specifically Kobe Bean Bryant, aka the Black Mamba. In honor of the occasion, ESPN.com decided to nail the coffin on KB24’s grave by asking their writers six questions exploring what’s wrong with him. Let’s look at their responses and see where they’re spot-on and where they’re spot-off.

1. What’s wrong with Kobe?
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop writes:

This year, any time he’s called on to be truly explosive physically — dunk, block or beat a defender with raw speed — he doesn’t look like the guy he once was. I don’t know what’s wrong, but because it has happened quickly, I have to think it’s one of his many injuries, not just some age-induced slippage.

Several of the writers echo this sentiment, but there’s a key part wrong with it: this is not a new thing.  Kobe’s game has changed over the last three years as he’s aged.  He hasn’t been that explosive constant-driver-to-the-basket in a while.  As Chris Broussard correctly notes:

For the rest of my article, click here.

Dirk looks like he needs a lot of help. A LOT. And "a lot" can be spelled "LeBron." (source: Yardbarker.com)

When I recently wrote my little primer on how to root in the playoffs as a Knicks’ fan, I gave short shrift to the Dallas Mavericks.  That’s ‘cuz I didn’t think they’d suck this hard.  I also didn’t put much stock in the idea that LeBron James could go to the Mavs.  Now I’m worried that with Dallas crumbling quick, that could become a very real possibility.

(more…)

Would YOU want to live in Cleveland? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

1. Okay, everyone knows about this quote ‘cuz the Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah has been relentless in his digs at Cleveland. When given a chance to recant after Game #2, he offered this nugget (amongst others):

“I never heard anybody say I’m going to Cleveland on vacation.”

For the other two quotes, check out the end of the article here.