I’m not sure which day will haunt me more: the day I first learned that there was no Santa Claus…or the day that I learned that Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick was releasing a rap album.
He said as much in a video interview originally posted on the NBA’s main website (which says it was “added” yesterday). His currently-unnamed “rap supergroup” already has a name for their first album, “Waste Management,” which should drop before the…alright, honestly, this is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.
This is like Kevin Garnett trying out for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I mean, a rap album? This is a joke, yes? I’d have a better chance of believing Allan Iverson getting into Augusta National. I refuse to believe this is happening. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make a quick run to Walmart for canned food and shotguns. –NBA Offseason, via Unsilent.
Video of JJ’s interview is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
After last night, the city of Los Angeles can claim 15 NBA titles and 25 arrests to its credit after Game 5 in Orlando and from the ensuing calamity in Los Angeles last night. But even the rioting in the City of Angels never got as ugly as the hat that Lakers coach Phil Jackson decided to wear to the award stand last night–a yellow baseball cap with purple home embroidered “X” on the front, signifying the ten championship teams Jackson has coached. From the Boston Globe:
Jackson won six titles with Michael Jordan and the Bulls and now four with the Lakers. In celebration of his accomplishment, he wore a yellow hat with a purple Roman numeral X on it with each title year listed around it.
Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy believes Jackson is the greatest NBA coach of all time.
“Hey, some of the stuff is almost incomprehensible, OK?” Van Gundy said. “I think if I’m right, the guy has won 51 playoff series now. Check your record book and see how many coaches have ever won 50 playoff games. It’s fewer than 20, and the guy has won 51 playoff series. It’s incomprehensible.”
Look, if he’s the greatest of all time, why feel the need to remind everyone about it? Most of us can count to ten. That hat–that stupid, ugly hat–is tacky on so many levels. It’s a pathetic show of arrogance from a guy that always seemed to handle his business in the right way. Now if he had smashed up ten storefronts on Rodeo Drive…that’s something one could commemorate with a homemade baseball cap. Ten Asian strippers in a weekend…you get the idea.
With LA winning Game 4 in overtime last night, one can reasonably assume that the Magic are effed. LA needs only to win one of their next three now, and Orlando currently offers no argument to suggest that this series will even get back to LA. Dwight Howard and his 7 turnovers seem unable to produce the breakout game needed to give Orlando a chance. But I guess we should talk about Derek Fisher now.
Fisher forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation and then drilled another with 31.3 seconds to go in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Orlando Magic 99-91 in Game 4 on Thursday night to open a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.[...]
“It ranks right up there at the top,” he said. “You know, even greater than 0.4 because I feel like we’re as close as possible to what our end goal is.”
The end goal? Taking Kobe on that Thailand vacation he’s always wanted. They probably won’t be doing too much there. Just hanging out.
I can’t say I’m amazed at how much of a non-factor Dwight Howard has been in these NBA Finals. He couldn’t take over in LA, and was almost a liability before breaking out in Game 3. Some have even wondered aloud if Howard has the capability of impacting these Finals. He is, according to David Thorpe, as told to TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott:
Thorpe made the point that every time Howard catches the ball against the Lakers, he’s surrounded by two, three, or four players. One of them, Pau Gasol, is a master of taking the charge. When Howard catches the ball in the post, there is a lot to worry about beyond completing certain steps. And nevertheless, the vast majority of the time he makes a good play, whether with the pass, a post move, or by drawing a foul.
Thorpe made this case, and then we watched Game 3. It was so true: Howard’s every post move is greeted with a hailstorm of Laker help defense. Nevertheless he scores efficiently. Single coverage would be a huge mistake.
He scores efficiently…from the free throw line, when he gets the calls. That doesn’t change the fact that Howard tanked in Game 2, or that, with the return of Rashard Lewis, he may not even be one of the three best scorers on his team. Being in Orlando tonight will help. But will that be enough? No, don’t answer. That was rhetorical.
Dwight Howard’s 21 points and 14 rebounds paced the Orlando Magic last night as they managed to win their first home game of this NBA Finals series, 108-104. The Magic shot 62 percent from the field as the Lakers…holy balls, 62 percent? Did Kobe stay on the offensive end of the floor for the whole game?
After two straight cold performances in L.A., the Magic were more accurate than any team in NBA finals history.
“They pretty much made all their shots,” Lakers forward Trevor Ariza said.
The Magic shot a blistering 75 percent (24 of 32) in the first half and cooled off in the second half when they were only 16 of 32.
Phil Jackson said that the controversial rim touch by Pau Gasol in Game 2 was, in his opinion, goaltending…The Lakers shot 61 percent from the line in Game 3, one percent worse than the Magic fared from the field…Scoop Jackson wrote some ridiculous thing about white people hating Kobe in his Page 2 column. I don’t why it’s called “hating on” somebody; maybe saying that is easier than actually articulating some kind of rebuttal to the conventional opinion. Whatever, dude.
After last night, the Lakers are up 2-0 on the Magic and it looks like this series will be put out of its misery faster than anyone might have expected. This time, it took LA 53 minutes to dispose of Orlando, winning 101-96 in OT. Much is being made of Courtney Lee’s botched alley-oop at the end of regulation that would have given Orlando the win, but that wasn’t the problem.
No, Dwight Howard is the f-cking problem. In the last twelve minutes, Howard had three points, three turnovers, and was getting his ass handed to him by Pau Gasol on the other end of the floor. Howard seems totally cool with letting J.J. Reddick taking the big shots, maybe because he can’t seem to do it. If the Magic even the series at home, the effort will stem from a rejuvenated Rashard Lewis, who was 6-of-12 from 3-point range and finished with 34 points.
I never liked the nickname of “Superman” for Dwight Howard, especially since it originated with a glorified costume change at a dunking exhibition and not from something, uhh, that he actually did during a game. But it fits when you consider the weaknesses–Superman is gullible and lazy and always expects to get the calls in the paint. Yeah, that’s Dwight Howard. Can we give the title to the Lakers now?
