Superbad Superman has a stress fracture, but not to worry. It will heal in time for the next set of practices on July 21. That is when training camp resumes.

“It’s a six to eight week recovery time, and this is the sixth week,” said Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, who expects Howard to be fully healed by the time the team reconvenes for training camp July 21.

Still, the injury is worrisome for the Americans, who are planning to go to Beijing with just three big men — Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. If Howard were to aggravate the injury, that lack of front-line depth could become a major issue.
source

Dwight Howard has some serious guns for a hoop player

Image details: Philadelphia 76ers v Orlando Magic served by picapp.com

Something just does not seem right here. The USA has come right out and said that they planned this to win the Olympics. Then went out and put Tayshaun Prince on the team as proof that a non-superstar great defender clutch player could make the team.

But…They still did not stock the team with big guys and took too many guys that just like to score. Do you really need Carmelo Anthony and Michael Redd, when you have Kobe Bryant and LeBron James? And why are there no Celtics on this team?

My good friend RonB wonders why we don’t just take the NBA Champion team and send them to the Olympics. My addition would be to add a few players to their bench like Kobe and LeBron. Can you imagine the announcers getting all over Rondo in the Olympics? Ok, add Chris Paul as well.

Let’s say Howard reinjures his sternum. Just a hypothetical.

That leaves Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer as your big guys.

Chris is 6′ 10″ tall and weighs 230.

Carlos Boozer is 6′ 9″ and weighs 266.

Now Dwight Howard is a little taller at 6′ 11″ and weighs 265.

Wait a minute, no 7 footers at all? Howard sits and we go to a thin 6′ 10″ or a heavier 6′ 9″?

Check out the rest of the roster, no big guys there.

Joining Williams and Boozer on the ‘08 Olympic team are fellow NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Tayshaun Prince.
source

Yes, yes, the trend lately in college and NBA is to be more mobile, less defense and more offense. Boston’s center was only 6′ 10″ Kendrick Perkins, but he weighed 280 and had 6′ 11″ Kevin Garnett right beside him.

The Pistons had 6′ 11″ Rasheed Wallace. The Lakers had 7′ Pau Gasol. The Spurs had 6′ 11″ Tim Duncan. Maybe all that small ball is not working.

On the bright side, when Dwight Howard is healthy, he is a beast of a player and even without polished moves down on the blocks, he often commands a double team.

Go USA! Take the Gold in the Olympics.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Kevin Garnett – anything is possible

Image details: NBA Finals Game 6: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

It seems like yesterday that my Piston won the world title, the Larry something trophy, in the NBA.

My friends were on a high that lasted a week.

Boston fans feel like that right now. You could sell little kid sippy cups with Boston Celtic logos on them and the fans would scoop them up by the hundreds.

They sound just like we did. Our team is great. We will win next year and maybe the year after that! Forgetting, of course, that they barely got past the Atlanta Hawks. Yeah, the Atlanta Hawks.

Maybe it was better expressed by Kevin Garnett. He was on such a high that he could hardly speak, screaming “anything is possible, anything is posssssiiiibbblllee!” Man, you have to love Garnett, for it was a long wait. Nobody wants to be the next Charles Barkley and go out with no title.

Paul Pierce had a great playoffs and towards the end there was no stopping him. It was fun to watch. The Celtics Danny Ainge brought back the old stars and solid defense and taught us all what Joe Dumars has been telling us. These old guys know how to win and how to play D. Hats off to Ainge and crew.

Doc Rivers, truly a nice guy, proved us all wrong. He really is a great coach, not just because he won, but because he made a lot of subtle adjustments throughout the playoffs and they all seemed to work.

When the Boston Celtics built a new practice facility, they surrounded the court with their 16 NBA championship banners and left a blank space for No. 17.

The message was a bit too subtle for Doc Rivers.

The Celtics coach turned a spotlight on the empty spot on the wall at the beginning of this season so there would be no doubt about the team’s goal.

“They can turn that thing off now,” guard Ray Allen said early Wednesday morning, his left eye still red from the first-half face-raking and the postgame champagne spraying that accompanied Boston’s title-clinching, 131-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

source

With the core group of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, and Rajon Rondo, anything is possible and you have to think that next year could be another Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Boston Celtics with the Boston three party back at the NBA title game.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Boston Celtics rule the world or at least the NBA World.

Paul Pierce is MVP and played fantastic.

Kevin Garnett reminds us that anything is possible.

Defense rules and the Lakers better get one.

Redlasso gives us this video from after the final seconds.

source RedLasso

Kevin Garnett was so emotional that he was crying one moment and shouting out the next moment. Boston absolutely dominated the last game of the series.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Paul Pierce cannot be stopped. Not by Kobe. Not by anyone.

Image details: NBA Finals Game 6: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

Sam Posey or SAM missile. He just keeps burying 3’s.

Paul Pierce, not Kevin Garnett. It is the Paul Pierce series. Hey, Kevin is averaging a double double, but it does not matter. Paul Pierce is dominating.

Pierce had waited for his chance to be one of those generational Boston sports icons, and the Celtics had stopped surrounding him with a fighting chance. It was getting late in his prime, late in his patience. He watched Tom Brady win his Super Bowls and David Ortiz his World Series, and he could take it no more. This town is the best in the world for winners, and just the worst for everyone else.

These forever New England stars are remembered for the most clutch championship performances. Pierce was the forgotten, dismissed talent, a victim of unfair circumstance when the city never had less tolerance for losing causes.

Suddenly now, Pierce returns for Game 6 in these NBA Finals on Tuesday within a victory of a championship, within a whisper of his wildest dreams. Maybe the regular season belonged to Kevin Garnett for the Celtics, but the playoffs belong to Pierce. History is closing fast.

source

Phil Jackson has a pink top of his head. What is that?

Pau Gasol racks up the stats, but plays soft most of the time. Lakers need Andrew Bynum.

Kobe Bryant can’t score on 5 Celtics at once. They are playing great defense. Kobe will get his, but it will take a lot of shots.

Boston by 23. Is this a series of big leads by both teams or what?

Ray Allen had his eye poked in the first quarter and has done nothing since.

Halftime.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Kobe Bryant is ready, but is Pau Gasol ready?

Image details: NBA Finals Game 4: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

The Lakers blew it in game 4. A 24 point lead and still they did not win. The Celtics stepped up the defense and Paul Pierce went crazy on offense and that was it.

The Lakers have to face game 5 as a game to get respect.

Let me lay it out for you.

First off your leader has to be cool. Kobe Bryant is the ultimate cool right now.

Bryant insists the Lakers have moved on since their Game 4 collapse. There’s no time to dwell on what happened, all that counts now is what happens next.

“We’ve got to take care of business on Sunday,” said Bryant, who spent much of the past two days relaxing at home with his family. “So what are we going to do? How am I going to get my teammates in the right frame of mind, make sure they’re energetic, and that’s what it’s been all about.”

Bryant said he spent much of the past two days reading a Harry Potter book to his daughters.

“It was awesome,” he said. “He had more problems dealing with Voldemort than what we have dealing with the media and the Celtics.”

source

Lord Voldemort? Hmm, that would be interesting.

Garnett goes up for a rebound and what is this? Lord Voldemort has pulled out his wand and, oh my gosh, the ball just exploded. Did you see that? Kevin Garnett is just lying on the floor in a crumpled heap.

Anyway, secondly you cannot think beyond this next game.

The finals are in a 2 – 3 – 2 format. The Lakers almost came from 20 down to win game 2, but did not. The Celtics came from behind to win game 4. That made the series 3 -1. Hopeless is the major feeling right now. No NBA team has come back from 3 -1.

Even if the Lakers can get up for game 5 after the major disappointment of game 4, they would still face game 6 and 7 in the house of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. Not to mention the ghosts of Celtics past like Red Auerbach and Larry Bird. It is human nature to just not believe you can win all three games in a row, but you can always convince yourself to win the next game, the one right in front of you.

Third the Lakers have to play a complete game with enthusiasm. Derek Fisher is a veteran and understands the playoffs, but does Pau Gasol or is he and his other teammates just happy to be there?

Fourth, Kobe Bryant has to get hot. He cannot just dribble into the paint and dish off. If he is the best player in the league and Phil Jackson is such a good coach, then a new strategy has to be devised to make Boston unable to stop Kobe. Right now Boston is over playing one side of the court and it is working. LA has to find a way to get down low or get open shots on the weak side.

Back to game 5. The Lakers need this game for respect, and then if they lose in Boston, they lose in Boston and that is that.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Paul Pierce, with a lot of help, put the clamps on Kobe Bryant

Image details: NBA Finals Game 4: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

The Lakers are done. They had a 24 point lead in the second quarter over the Boston Celtics.

Even in the 3rd quarter the Celtics were down 20 points.

Then the Lakers stopped scoring.

What was it? It was Celtic defense and Paul Pierce scoring.

It didn’t help that Kobe was being locked down by Pierce. Kobe just could not get his jumper going at all. Every time Kobe drove to the middle of the floor, he was met with a welcoming committee from Boston and most of the time had to pass off to an outside shooter. That is fine, but then the Celtics would recover fast enough to cover the outside shooter as well.

Sam Posey made a couple of clutch 3 pointers late in the game and had 18 points. It seems that there is a new Boston bench star in every game.

Kevin Garnett had a very quiet 16 points and 11 boards. Paul Pierce was very dynamic especially late in the game with 20 points in spite of missing all 3 of his 3 pointers.

Kendrick Perkins left the game with a strained shoulder. We will have to wait and see how bad that is. Paul Pierce tweaked his ankle late in the game, but continued to play.

The Lakers wasted a brilliant game by Lamar Odom, who had 19 points on 8 for 11 shooting and 10 boards.

At one point in the third quarter, they flashed a graphic saying the Lakers had missed 9 shots in a row.

Where do the Lakers go from here? Game 5 is in LA and then the last two games are in Boston. No team has ever come back from a 3 -1 deficit. It is hard to imagine the Lakers winning the next 3 games with 2 of them in Boston.

It will be interesting to see the two team’s mindset for game 5.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Kobe Bryant walked off with a victory in game 3 of the NBA Finals

Image details: NBA Finals Game 3: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

Kobe was cool and calm and had an excellent game.

Los Angeles Lakers 87, Boston Celtics 81

Bryant scored 36 points with an MVP-worthy performance; Sasha Vujacic added 20 points and the Lakers, teetering on the brink of falling into an impossible hole in the NBA finals, beat the Boston Celtics 87-81 in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

L.A.’s brightest sports star, Bryant was California cool.

source

This took the pressure off his teammates and they also played excellent ball.

Vujacic, the self-proclaimed “Machine,” made three 3-pointers, including a crucial one from the left corner with 1:53 left that gave the Lakers an 81-76 lead. Pau Gasol finally flexed his muscles with two inside baskets in the fourth quarter and Derek Fisher, who took an $8 million pay cut to come back and play for the Lakers, made two free throws with 1:33 remaining as the Lakers held on.

source

Meanwhile the Boston 3 party was going solo with only Ray Allen showing up.

But it took everything they had to keep that streak alive as the Celtics, two wins from their 17th NBA title but only 2-8 on the road in this postseason, made the Lakers play a more physical, Eastern Conference-style game and nearly walked away with a win.

Ray Allen scored 25 points—15 on 3-pointers—for the Celtics, but only one-third of Boston’s Big Three showed up.

Kevin Garnett scored 13 points on just 6-of-21 shooting and Paul Pierce, playing a short drive from his childhood home, had only six points, missed 12 shots and was in foul trouble all night.

Game 4 is Thursday night.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Paul Pierce? Kobe Bryant? It looks like Leon Powe is the man as he is getting triple teamed by the Lakers!

Image details: NBA Finals Game 1: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

If you did not see this game, you would not believe it.

Boston dominated this game up until the last 7 minutes. The Celtics were up by over 20 points. Paul Pierce was scoring like crazy. Rajon Rondo was dishing assists like Bob Cousy. The Celtic Defense was shutting down the Lakers and frustrating Kobe Bryant. Boston was shooting so many free throws that the game lasted forever.

Then the Lakers caught fire!

They went on a 27 – 9 run and cut the lead to 4.

Boston had to call a time out and go back to Paul Pierce. It has been the Paul Pierce show and not the Kevin Garnett show so far. Paul’s knee appears to be fine. His ability to score is even better.

Paul drove to the hole off of a Kevin Garnett screen (since when did he become a screener in clutch situations?) and tried an up and under move that was fouled. Two foul shots later the Celtics led by 6 with 12 seconds to go.

LA called a timeout and ran a play at their end of the court. Kobe Bryant did not touch the ball. Pau Gasol could not find him. The Lakers missed. Paul Pierce actually blocked the shot and Boston won the game.

Paul Pierce, darting around the parquet floor with ease, scored 28 points, Boston’s defense mobbed Kobe Bryant long enough and unknown Leon Powe scored 21 points as the Celtics held off a remarkable Los Angeles rally for a 108-102 win over the Lakers on Sunday night. The Celtics have a 2-0 lead in these trip-down-memory-lane NBA finals.

source

Leon Powe

Wait a minute, Leon Powe had 21 points. Leon who? Powe had more free throw attempts than the Lakers 13 to 10. Now this was Leon who?

They asked Phil Jackson what he took from the game more, the Celtic defense for 3 quarters or the offensive surge of the Lakers late in the game and he responded with “Leon Powe getting more free throws than his whole team. That is ridiculous.” Phil could not really talk about the referees directly, but the message was clear.

Boston benefitted from 38 free throws to LA’s 10. Talk about your home court advantage!

Now the series goes to LA and we will see what the Lakers are made of. Typically a series goes to the home teams for a while when they are evenly matched.

We will see if Boston can steal one in LA.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Can Paul Pierce take his injured knee and guard Kobe Bryant and still score points?

Image details: NBA Finals Game 1: Los Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics served by picapp.com

Doc Rivers is cautiously optimistic about his two injured starters.

Pierce (sprained right knee) and Perkins (sprained left ankle) spent much of the media-access portion of practice riding stationary bikes, and coach Doc Rivers indicated he was more optimistic about Pierce’s chances of playing against the Lakers than he was about Perkins’s, even though the fifth-year center said he figured to be about 75-80 percent.

“There’s still aching in it right now, but it’s all right,” Perkins said of his ankle.

As for Pierce? “The swelling is down a little,” he said, after showing up at a news conference wearing a multilayered sleeve on his knee. “Still some stiffness, can’t quite all the way bend it like I want to, but it’s definitely a step forward.”
source

In a classic, don’t say what you want to say comment, Derek Fisher of the Lakers had this to say about Paul Pierce.

“It obviously changes their personnel,” said Lakers guard Derek Fisher. “Paul is a very talented player. He’s their go-to guy in a lot of situations, so, for whatever reason, if he doesn’t play, then a lot of things change. It doesn’t mean that they’re any worse.

“I mean, they went on a 6-0 run while he was out, so I was pretty happy to see him come back,” Fisher added. “We played them pretty even after that, but that 6-point difference after he left continued to change the momentum of the game.”

If either Perkins of Pierce are missing for game two, the Celtics are a considerably weaker team. The pressure would be on Kevin Garnett, big time, to score and rebound. Who would guard Kobe Bryant? Sam Posey? Who would keep Gasol off the boards?

Even if they do come back, how effective will Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins be?

Coach Rivers will remain cautiously optimistic!

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

Who will do this if Rasheed Wallace is gone?

Image details: Boston Celtics v Detroit Pistons, Game 6 served by picapp.com

It is simply amazing to me, your basketball writer, how fans and writers alike can simply take a one game loss and magnify it to immense proportions.

The Secret

Here is a little secret. Boston, another NBA team and a good one at that, beat Detroit. The U.S. Army did not storm in to Detroit and destroy the city. The Marines did not try to take out the Palace, which is in a suburb of Detroit called Auburn Hills. There was no Naval support in Lake Erie or on the Detroit River.

Detroit went to the Conference Finals for the 6th straight time and that seems to tire out the fans and writers more than anything.

Are the Pistons getting old? Yes, but then again the Boston big 3 of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett are already old.
Are the Pistons as hungry as they used to be? No. That is human nature.

The Question

Will Joe Dumars break up the Pistons? That is the Question.

First, let’s look at contracts. Who is under contract for next year?

It appears that 9 out of the top 10 players are under contract for next year.

The sole exception is Lindsey Hunter and he will most likely retire and move into the front office. Someday you may see Lindsey sitting next to Joe Dumars in the stands and wouldn’t that be something.

Here are the other 9 with their position, age, and next 3 years of contracts, if any.

Rasheed Wallace PF 33 $12,540,000 $13,680,000

Chauncey Billups PG 31 $10,000,000 $11,050,000 $12,100,000

Richard Hamilton SG 30 $9,750,000 $10,562,500 $11,375,000 PO

Tayshaun Prince SF 28 $8,675,620 $9,500,000 $10,324,380

Antonio McDyess PF 33 $6,373,900 $6,960,000 $7,000,000

Amir Johnson F 21 $3,666,666

Rodney Stuckey PG 22 $1,569,600 $1,687,320 TO $1,805,040

Jason Maxiell PF 25 $1,041,360 $1,877,572 QO

Arron Afflalo G 22 $944,520 $1,015,440 TO $1,086,240

(Note: TO: Pistons have option to renew or let player become free agent. PO- Player option. QO: Pistons can make a qualifying offer to the player, who then becomes a restricted free agent, which means the Pistons can match any other team’s offer.)

Source of salaries hoopshype.com, to see updated chart

Play like Joe Dumars

To understand Joe D, you must keep in mind that he likes to build a team that is good now without sacrificing the future. So, when Rasheed Wallace’s contract is up after next year, he will be old and will not be offered a max deal. Teams could outbid for him and the Pistons would lose him like Ben Wallace. This may mean that Joe would look to move him now while he has high value.

This presents a problem, due to the fact that Detroit was really one big man short all year. Amir Johnson did not develop into starter minutes and Theo Ratliff, a late addition is old.

Chauncey and Rip are aging, but still under contract for the next two years. Rodney Stuckey will begin to see some of their minutes. If he excels and many think he will, then one of those two could become expendable. Would Joe Dumars make that move now? Doubtful, because Rodney has not established his outside game enough and he is more combo guard right now than point or 2 guard.

Joe Dumars will certainly be looking for another big man down low. Perkins killed them in the Boston series and the Pistons used multiple fouls to guard Dwight Howard. They cannot hope to win a title without more beef up front.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed