The New York Knicks did us all a favor this season by signing Rasheed Wallace, because we should always have his crazy ass involved in the NBA forever and ever until the world ends. Interestingly enough, the apocalypse will be David Stern’s fault, but that’s not related to today’s news. Namely, that Wallace’s season is over.
The Knicks are optimistic that Wallace, who is now out 8 weeks after foot surgery, could play in the playoffs, but let’s be realistic. That would require the Knicks to make it past the first round or at least win more than zero games.
After losing out on free agent pitcher Cliff Lee, the New York Yankees have been questionably desperate in filling the spot in their rotation vacated by Andy Pettitte, who has previously announced that he is done with baseball. Probably. You know, maybe. While Yankees GM Brian Cashman has made it clear that his team isn’t desperate, he has also said that he would love to have Andy back if he wants to be a Yankee for one more season. He just can’t be all Brett Favre about it.
Said Cashman:
“Andy has talking about being home for years,” said Cashman. “Being from Texas and having to be in New York for six months out of the year can be hard because he has kids and he’s missing important time with them. He’s opting not to play right now but that might change it might not. I told him don’t ‘Brett Favre’ us. You got to be all in and fully dedicated to play. Do I need him? I need him, but I don’t want him to play if his heart’s not in it.” (Via The Trentonian)
Admittedly, it’s hard to take Cashman very seriously after he let Roger Clemens act like Favre before Favre was Favre. But I really hope more team officials and general managers use this new strategy. Wouldn’t it be great if Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge publicly told Rasheed Wallace that he better not Brett Favre the Boston Celtics? On a far lesser scale, if the Kansas City Royals told Gil Meche that he better not Favre them? Imagine the joy that we’d finally witness as owners and GMs grabbed their cojones all because Favre has been such a douchebag.
Cashman also said that this year’s Yankee squad is making up for its shortcomings by focusing on teamwork. He’s even had Navy SEALs come in to talk to the players about having each other’s backs, to which Alex Rodriguez just blushed.
… as a Chicago Bull, and to be fair, he had a way better game helping Chicago out than he did for the Boston Celtics, the team that actually pays him $5.85 million this season. Rasheed Wallace had two points last night in the box score, going 1-for-7 from the field, and showing once again that he is arguably the worst player in the league that gets a decent amount of minutes.
Early in the fourth quarter, Brad Miller shot a jumper from just outside the elbow, only to have it miss and come directly down to the 6-foot-11 Wallace. Have you ever had a ball came out you from off a rim? You just grab it, right? Well, it appears Rasheed tried to do some Matrix-like re-rebound, where he tossed it off the backboard before he could handle it fully. Call it hot potato rebounding. The ball went in, the Bulls gained two more points because of Wallace, and thus defining the 2010 Boston Celtics.
Honestly, watch the video again, and look at Wallace’s face after the ball goes through the hoop. Isn’t that the exact expression every Celtics fans in the world has had after ever Rasheed three-point attempt, or lazy defensive effort?
It’s like the city of Boston sold their souls to the devil when they got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. “Let us win this one championship, and then you can give us whatever trash you have out there on the free market? Nate Robinson? Heck yeah, bring him in!”
Surprise, the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers defeated the Detroit Pistons 90-86 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series tonight. In a related story, I incorrectly wagered $76 on this contest. Anyway, Rasheed Wallace took the blame:
Wallace missed a shot near the basket that would have tied it at 88. “I’m going to put this one me,” Wallace said. “There’s no excuses. The last bunny, that was a bucket I should’ve made. I’m going to take this one on the chin.”
You can read more about how one of Philly's own fans didn't think Reggie Evans was any match for Wallace at Need4Sheed.com. If the #7 seed can upset the #2, imagine the havoc the 11th place finisher of the Eastern Conference could cause in the playoffs. But since they fired Jim "Rockford" Boylan, I guess we'll never know. Also, they only let the top 8 finishers into the post-season. Stop by tomorrow morning for the Chief's authoritative analysis of this and other playoff matches. Perhaps he'll even offer an opinion on the NHL . . . nah. -KD
I was halfway through writing an unfunny post about Tom Petty playing halftime at the Super Bowl when I saw this video of Pistons sixth man Jason Maxiell taking abuse from his teammates, which just so happens to be more entertaining than my writing. So this video joins the ranks of paint drying, grass growing, and December bowl games as things that are more stimulating than a non-video post on With Leather.
The good news for me is that even the shitty posts here are better than actually doing your job. Now get back to work on that Excel spreadsheet, I'm done posting for the day.
Yeah, you already saw this 800 times on the news and SportsCenter, and also on every other blog in existence. But I'm working on West Coast time today, and this needs to be part of the official record.
In case this blog is the first thing you're reading since emerging from a cave, that's the Nuggets, leading 98-95 with 1.5 seconds to play. They inbound the ball successfully and they win. Instead, Tayshaun Prince gets a hand on the ball, and Rasheed Wallace scoops it up and heaves a 60-footer to send the game into OT.
The Pistons won in overtime, 113-109. Like, obviously. The Nougats probably shouldn't have even stepped onto the court after regulation. I'm not one to break out superlatives when I'm talking about something besides myself, but this has to be one of the Top 5 regular-season game finishes in NBA history.
