One Last Take and Linkage

Before I get into any sort of linkage, let me get some semi-coherent final thoughts on the Joey Crawford/Tim Duncan situation. ESPN Insider has some in-depth look at the quotes…and lets just say good old Joey found a way to make himself look even worse.

Crawford on the ejection: “He was complaining the whole time. And then he went over to the bench and he was over there doing the same stuff behind our back. I hit him with one [technical] and he kept going over there, laughing, and I look over there and he’s still complaining. So I threw him out.”

Well…first of all I would like to actually say kudos to ESPN/ABC for once. They (somehow) had a camera fixed on Duncan during the whole sequence, so instead of having to speculate on what Timmy did…everyone watching on TV could see. He laughed, presumably at what he believed was another bad call. Is that illegal? No. Crawford cannot make that judgment, he could’ve been laughing at one of Big Shot Rob’s killer jokes. There were no “words” or “complaining”…simple laughter. And last I checked the referees job was to monitor the action on the court. Tim Duncan laughing had no impact on anything that was happening during the play. So good one Joey.

Crawford on Duncan’s contention that he said nothing to warrant two technicals: “That’s his opinion. He said nothing when he was walking off the court and he called me a piece of [blank]? Is that nothing?”

The question asked if Duncan said something to warrant two techs…and Joey talks about what he says after getting ejected. Real smart.

David Stern is about to bring the hammer down. By the way, I just liked Tim Duncan 100x times more (and he was my favorite player when he was at Wake Forest) than I thought possible in 2007. I mean…when he was trying to talk to Joey, and Joey was being an idiot, Tim just calmly went into “Fuck you…piece of shit…..” with the same look and tone on his face (thank god my mom taught me how to read lips). Badass Tim Duncan…I hope he doesn’t shave for the rest of the playoffs. That would be awesome.

Also…the looks on Robert Horry and Tony Parker’s faces…priceless. I can’t wait until that comes out on YouTube so I can just pause it.

EDIT: Just watched Outside the Lines First Report…horrible explanation by Crawford during the game. He was mic’d up. He talked to Popovich and said “He was over there…laughing…smiling…looking at me”, to which Popovich was dismayed. Also, Michael Finley said “He didn’t say nothing” to which Crawford responded “He ain’t saying anything now either”

Crazy.

Elton Brand expresses his disgust with the lack of effort in yesterday’s killer loss to the Kings. It was almost sad…Brand has not gotten a lot of help all year, and remember he has been playing hurt for a while now…and to see a sacrifice like that greeted with sluggish effort has to hurt. Sam I Am gave it a try but his body failed him yesterday.
Smush Parker shouldn’t have bitten the hand that fed him. Jordan Farmar’s bizarre season came full circle last night as he entered the starting lineup. So lets see…Farmar was a contributor, than sat and went to the D-League, went back and forth, made some history and now he is starting? Have to hand it to the guy; a lot of players wouldn’t be able to go through all that and survive.
This article on the Bulls is a little too strong for my liking. I personnally don’t find beating up on a depleted (even Antonio Daniels didn’t play) Wizard team to be much of a statement. But to each his own. I still think Scott Skiles would make a killer college coach. Literally.
You gotta love this story on the Warriors, and how the arena erupt upon the knowledge of the Clippers loss. Is it a tad ironic that last year it was the Clippers who shed their troubled history and rallied to the playoffs and this year it is the Warriors doing the same thing, and kicking those same Clippers to the lottery. And I meant ironic like Alanis Morrissette did. And plus how can you not love a quote like this from Don Nelson;

“I’ll smoke a cigar, drink scotch and form my game plan,” Nelson said proudly. “The more scotch I drink, the better the game plan gets.”

Awesome.

More feel-good stuff on the Warriors and their tortured fans. Now how horrible would it be if they dropped the next two games and didn’t make it? Damn.
A slight kink in the armor of my ‘The Rockets are super-dangerous’ argument; their complete inability to guard the pick & roll. Chris Paul and David West sliced them up. You know Jerry Sloan is gonna have Boozer and Deron Williams using that. I bet he’s making Deron talk to Stockton everyday. If they can’t defend it, T-Mac, Yao and the rest of them won’t matter.
The road to repeating is looking pretty rough for the defending champs. I think they can beat Cleveland…Detroit is a completely different animal. The true X-Factor for Miami is Shaq. If the Diesel is dominant (aka not like last year) it will take the pressure of everyone else and D-Wade will not be forced to repeat last year (which I don’t think he could thanks to a diminished left hand).
Interesting article on how Jermaine should be ousted from the Pacers and they should rebuild. I’ve heard from sources he wants out. They’ve got a great power forward waiting in the wings in Ike Diogu. It’s been proven that when Ike gets time, he gives results. Go look up the game log. He has a knack for getting in foul trouble at times but he is very efficient and a beast on the boards.
This article is on Tarance Kinsey from the Grizzlies. Him and Hermann from the Bobcats both saved my fantasy team and are in the front-running for ”Players on Bad Teams who Started Killing At The End”. Bob Sura did it a couple years back in Atlanta. I just can’t wait until people overdraft them in fantasy next year. It always happens.
I guess Hawks fans don’t read the newspaper; if I saw the headline that said “Teams core to stay together” and saw our record…I would vomit.
Reason #2381 why New Jersey needs to get the #6 seed; so they can play Toronto.
Devin Harris can be a “driving force”. Agreed except for the fact that he can’t really shoot and disappears when the game counts. But other than that, yeah he can be a driving force.
Grant Hill is probably in the last playoff run of his career.
You may have LeBron, but Cleveland fans, headlines like these must give you a brief scare. ‘Sasha Pavlovic is potential key to playoff run’