Matt's NBA Basketball friend's fan blogs

Rajon Rondo should bake a nice cake with the words "thank you for trading Chauncey Billups" written in icing on the top and send it to Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars.  It wouldn't hurt if all of the Celtics helped (even Scalabrine), but Rondo in particular should take the lead on this one.  Stop scratching your heads and looking confused and don't ask why, you should know very well by now that some rambling, tangential diatribe of an explanation is forthcoming...

Does anyone remember the head to head match ups between the Celtics and the Pistons last season?  I certainly do, and do you know what the number one issue always was for the Boston Celtics against the Pistons?  It was the point guard match up, which at the time was the 6'3" 202 pound Chauncey Billups against the 6'1" 170 pound Rajon Rondo.  Does anyone remember the first Celtics home loss from last season, because I sure do (I was a history major, you know).  To refresh your memory, Chauncey Billups dropped 28 points and 8 assists on the Celtics that night, including two free throws that decided the game in the final second and propelled Detroit to an 87-85 win.  Although Rajon Rondo did not foul Billups on the decisive play (it was, of course, Tony Allen), Rondo was over matched for the entire game in what was to be a foreshadowing of future match ups with the big point guard.  

Continue reading "Raving About Rondo Part Deux: A Pat on the Back For Joe Dumars"

Don’t let the 9-2 record or the constant late game heroics of Paul Pierce fool you, something is very wrong with the 2008-2009 Boston Celtics.  Actually, “something” isn’t even the right word, because there are multiple things wrong with this year’s Celtics team that if uncorrected, will spell disaster for the defending champs come springtime.  If you don’t already believe me, then I would respectfully refer you to the tape of last Friday’s pathetisad home loss to the Denver Nuggets as evidence supporting my forthcoming claims. 

Sure, it was only one game, and sure, it’s only November, but that game was like the antithesis of a youtube highlight reel of the Boston Celtics, showcasing everything wrong with the previously invincible Boston Celtics in one concise, well-edited 48 minute clip.  Last Friday’s game was so bad (how bad was it?), it’s taken me nearly a half dozen drafts of this post to decide which flaws to focus on and how to describe them without making myself violently ill.  

Continue reading "Alarm Bells are Ringing"

Dear Antonio,

Greetings!  I thought i'd write you to congratulate you on your successful separation from the Denver Nuggets, and to offer some advice to you about how to spend your next thirty days of unemployment before resuming the endless grind that is the NBA season.  As a sportswriter and a liberal arts college graduate, I am an expert in not having a job, so you should read carefully and really consider what I have to say.  Normally, I wouldn't give away my secrets to jobless success for free, but for you, I'm willing to make an exception.

I'm going to violate my normal protocol and get right to the point here: watch TV.  That's my own personal secret to successfully combatting boredom in the many hours of the day when I should be working.  Oh yeah, and I read a lot of sports pages, thanks in no small part to the miracles of the interwebs.  There's a whole lot of content out there for the basketball crazed mind to devour, and thanks to cable and god knows how many different channels of ESPN, there always seems to be a basketball game on TV.  My advice to you, Antonio McDyess, is to watch as much basketball as you possibly can in the next 30 days, mostly because, in my humble opinion, watching is the next best thing to playing.  

Continue reading "For Your Consideration: An Open Letter to Antonio McDyess"

Do you think this whole Obama thing has a lot of NBA players psyched?  Looking at stat sheets from around the league last night, I'd say so.  Carmelo Anthony said he'd score 44 for Barack Obama (who will be the 44th president of our country), and while he didn't crack 30 in a loss to Golden State, I think it's safe to say that his excitement was a sentiment shared by many throughout the league.

Let's put it this way, Dwyane Wade missed a rare five-by-five by two blocks (FYI: a five-by-five is when a player tallies at least five points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) and LeBron James posted 41/9/6 on a bum ankle that he rolled in the first half, and neither one of these guys even came close to posting the SECOND BEST individual performance of the evening.  That's right, 41 by LeBron or a box score busting all around game from Wade didn't even crack the top two.

Continue reading "Trickle Down"

This years Lakers could be one of the best NBA teams of all time.  If they can all stay healthy they should run through the tough West and beat the Celtics  in the NBA finals.  It should be an interesting season.

Continue reading "Have you ever seen a team as good as this years Lakers?"

I know, I know, you're as sad and distraught as I am about the elimination of the Red Sox at the hands of the tampa Bay Rays.  Actually, if that is true, then you must be feeling ok, because I'm really not that torn up about it.  If this were five years ago, I'd still be in bed crying myself to sleep and cursing the universe for conspiring against me and playing such a cruel joke on a desperate fan. 

Thankfully, this isn't five years ago.  The Red Sox have killed the "curse" twice and baseball is, once again, just a game for me.  At least the Red Sox didn't roll over and die in five games, they made it a series and simply lost to the better team.  The Red Sox were banged up all around the diamond, and honestly, a little R & R will probably end up helping the team and the organization in the long run.  Sure, there's a bit of room for second-guessing (why was Beckett sent back out in the fifth inning of game two after he'd already blown multiple leads?  Earth to Tito?), but really, the Rays played harder and better and deserved to win. 

Continue reading "Silver Linings Galore"

Let me get this straight, I have to root for vintage Wakefield to try and even the series against Tampa Bay?  How did this happen?  I'm too angry to really provide any inisghtful analysis at the moment (at the risk of tearing Terry Francona to pieces), so all I can say is that the game starts in four hours, and y'all better watch. 

And for those of ou haters who are out there rooting for Tampa Bay to beat the Red Sox because you like shitting on Massachusetts (Blaine, Wilsons, Max, Benny), just remember that you're wilingly endorsing the state of Florida, who have brought you eight years of George Bush and Limp Bizkit.  I hope you're all happy.

Continue reading "How Did We Get Here?"

Hey folks, today I'll be bringing you a running commentary of my thoughts and reactions to game three of the American League Division Series between the Red Sox and the Angels.  I've never done this kind of thing before, so forgive me if I show some growing pains during this whole process.  At this point we're still about twenty minutes away from the first pitch of the game, but I'm already stationed in the best seat in the house, my gigantic, comfy ugly-as-sin yellow chair and ottoman in front of the television.

 The White Sox are trying to hold off the Rays and extend their series by another game at least, and they're currently leading 5-3 in the top of the eighth inning.  Even though the White Sox are out in front right now, there is no sense of comfort in their dugout.  There is just no quit in the Rays, period. It's their most dangerous quality.

Continue reading "Division Series Live-Blog, or A Journey to the Center of a Derranged Sport's Fan's Mind"

(Cue the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime”)

Hey, I know that song, it’s a good one.  It certainly is a familiar tune.  It must be October (there’s only one, you know!), because the Boston Red Sox just wrapped up another postseason smack-down in Los Angeles Anaheim, California.  Even though the final score was only 4-1, this loss seemed to be especially demoralizing for the Angels, who for the tenth (!) straight time lost to the Red Sox in the postseason.

As the title of this post suggests, tonight’s “contest” was a familiar rehashing of both recent and (the over 40 crowd’s gonna kill me for this) not so recent postseason history.  Jacoby Ellsbury found last season’s October stroke, going 3 for 5 (he also reached base on a fielder’s choice and on an error) with two stolen bases, one phenomenal catch in centerfield and a correspondence of at least 5 text messages between sis and myself discussing how cute and handsome he is while he’s doing all of this.  And while Ellsbury certainly was the best looking part of tonight’s game, his stat line is just the beginning of a complete portrait of dominance on a baseball diamond.

Continue reading "Same as it Ever Was"

I just want to throw it out there that I’m in total football denial over here.  As far as I know, there is no NFL, and hence no knee injuries or crushing home losses to the bottom feeders of the AFC East.  It’s just too painful.  In a concerted effort to distract myself from what is definitely not happening right now (New England redemption?), and in an attempt to stay current with my local surroundings, let’s talk basketball.

Specifically, I’d like to talk for a little bit about Rudy Fernandez, Portland’s newest rookie darling, who arrived with quite a bang in Portland earlier this week.  For those of you not in the know, Fernandez is widely regarded as one of the premiere (if not the flat out best) players in all of Spain, and made a HUGE splash in Spain’s dramatic loss to the United States in the 2008 Olympic Basketball gold medal game, raining down threes, making plays and putting Dwight Howard on a poster with a fierce slam dunk down the stretch.

Continue reading "Welcome Distractions Courtesy of Spain"