Damn straight, Phil Jackson should be walking with his head down after some of his coaching choices! Right? ...Right? Um, maybe not. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Is there anyone in the NBA who gets criticized more than coaches?  It doesn’t matter who you are, how successful you are (or have been), or what players you have at your disposal — we can always find problems with you.  Earlier this year, Greg Popovitch was criticized for being unable to make his big off-season acquisition, Richard Jefferson, productive.  The other night, Phil Jackson, winner of more NBA titles than God himself, left himself open for target practice by choosing to draw up a play for Pau Gasol to attempt the game-tying three-point shot (Pau missed, which could cause the Lakers to lose home court advantage if they play the Magic in the Finals).

We, the fans and media, aren’t necessarily wrong in complaining about these points, but I think sometimes we not only expect too much, we also don’t always see (or know) the full picture.  For instance, maybe Phil was trying to make a point to Kobe about how the Black Mamba needed to give his body rest or it would cost the team (the previous possession Kobe missed two free throws that would’ve given the Lakers the lead).  If Kobe/Fisher/Artest/whoever hit a three for the tie, then maybe Kobe remains convinced that he can play through his injuries.  Sure, you can say this was a costly way to make a point (& I have no idea if Phil was trying to make this point), but if Kobe’s sitting out these two last games enables him to be healthy enough to lead the Lakers back to a championship, it’d be hard to argue with the results.

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(source: Yardbarker.com) Like a little girl in puppy love, New York hopes we're the one LeBron's eyeing.

Seems ESPN has launched ESPN NewYork.com today and decided to promote it by rehashing the ol’ Will LeBron James Go To New York story.  There’s a surprisingly large amount of Nothing New, mixed in with Shameless Sensationalizing, Idiotic Conclusions Based On Personal Feelings, and just Awful Math.  That said, there were maybe a couple of Intriguing Bits to me, but it might all feel redundant to y’all.  Without further ado:

Idiotic Conclusions:

The worst part was where the sportswriters speculated the percent chance of LeBron going to one team or another.  Let’s start with Mark Stein saying there’s a 10% chance that LeBron will go to Dallas.  10%???  10% means 1 in 10!  You’re going out tonight and your choosing between your ten favorite restaurants — that gives each one a really good shot at being chosen.  Thankfully, of the four other Dallas writers, they all only gave it a 1-3% chance.  I like Stein’s writing a bunch, but his thesis his based on this you-can-substitute-LeBron’s-name-with-anyone statement:

I firmly believe LeBron likes the thought of playing with Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, trusts Mark Cuban to be an owner who will always spend whatever it takes to contend and loves the city of Dallas and Cowboys football

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