Joe D has done it again. This time he has lured high scoring combo guard Ben Gordon to the Detroit Pistons for a reportedly 55 million buckaroos and 5 years. A hefty price, but well worth it.

So what does Gordon bring to the Pistons? Ben Gordon brings the ability to shoot and score from range in a playoff situation. If you watch enough NBA ballgames, you will notice that some players can accumulate stats in the regular season and not do it in the playoffs. It is actually a rare ability to score when well guarded. Rip Hamilton can do it on the Pistons and now Ben Gordon will also bring that ability to the Pistons.

Gordon, 26, has been nailing three-pointers and creating his own shot since he came into the league as the third pick of the 2004 draft.

He is scorer who is a great shooter and adept at running the pick-and-roll. He stands 6-feet-3 and carries a career scoring average of 18.5 points. His compact body allows him to get into the paint and finish through contact. The only real knock is that he’s too short for shooting guard since he lacks the playmaking skills to play the point. That leads to defensive mismatches when paired against taller and more athletic players such as Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade.

Gordon has been on the Pistons’ radar for quite some time. and he upped his value when he averaged 24.3 points during a classic seven-game series against the Boston Celtics in this year’s playoffs.

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Will Ben Gordon co-exist with Rip Hamilton? Many think so.

With the trade of Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets, the Pistons needed a long distance scoring threat at guard and now they have one. Rip can only shoot threes from a set shot position. Nothing wrong with that, but you do not get a lot of those opportunities in the playoffs.
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There was David Stern giving his annual pre finals state of the NBA address. This year it was quite interesting, as it was announced that the Charlotte Bobcats would most likely be up for sale. That in itself would be news, but you really have to realize how tough it is to make a buck in the NBA.

News has leaked in recent weeks that Bobcats majority owner Bob Johnson, who founded the team in 2004, was losing over $10 million annually from his original $300 million investment and wanted out before he was even more in the red.

Charlotte is currently valued at $284 million by Forbes. Once boasting one of the league’s more robust attendance averages at the old Charlotte Coliseum, it currently ranks 29th among the NBA’s 30 franchises in net worth.

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Now stop right there and give it some thought. The Charlotte Bobcats have never been very good and do not have a marquee player to exhibit to the NBA marketing gurus. Tough to sell a team that is considered a joke.

The Magic must make money with Dwight Howard, right?

Now how about a magical team like the Orlando Magic. They must be making tons of bucks, right? This is where you might be surprised. This is where you realize just how bad the economy really is.

While the Magic are ranked 17th by Forbes with a valuation of $349 million, the franchise was expecting in May to lose $15 million to $20 million this season.

Martins said at the time that the amount the team lost this season would depend upon its playoff run. Reaching the Finals will definitely lessen the blow, but the Magic certainly have even more riding on the opening of their new arena in 2010.

The Magic have received some good news in regards to that opening, though. Sports Business Journal reported last month that a $100 million loan the Magic were seeking to help them finance their contribution to the arena was close to going through.

The approval of the loan will make the team the first mid-tier professional franchise to secure financing that big since the slowing down of the credit markets at the end of last year.

Stern has even promised them the All Star game to help them out. Now if the Magic are struggling, how can the Bobcats expect to turn a profit?

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What is up with Shaq and all the Dwight Howard bashing. It just never seems to stop with this guy.

First let us lay the ground work. You will find me to be a big Shaq fan, even watching Kaazam and trying to enjoy it, even putting up with all the anti-Kobe stuff. So why does Shaq have to go after Dwight Howard?

In the past year alone, Shaq called Howard an “impostor” and insisted that, “Everything he’s done, I’ve invented,” and on and on. On opening night of the NBA Finals, Shaq posted a goofy photo on Twitter of what a Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy child would look like. After five years of this, Howard still doesn’t get the reason that Shaq revels in ripping him.

“I can’t tell you why he’s said a lot of discouraging things,” Howard said Friday at the Staples Center. “I wish he wouldn’t say it because he’s one of the few guys that we all look up to.”

For most, O’Neal’s motives are transparent. Somehow, Shaq thinks it diminishes his own legacy if Howard achieves something significant sooner than he did.

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Shaq smiles, but then opens his mouth

Shaq even worries about Jabbar and rips on him as well. Now wouldn’t it be funny if Shaq goes to a team in the East and has to play against Dwight Howard to get to the NBA Finals. Now then, justice could be served.

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Every year you hear the same thing about how the NBA is rigged so it will be a final with Boston and L.A. or a final with LeBron and Kobe or Shaq and Tim Duncan and every year we all fall for the same story line.

But the NBA is not rigged. There, it had to be said. Well, there were those times when my Pistons were, uhh, let’s save that story for another time and just stick with the NBA is not rigged, even though we know it is.

“The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money’s worth,” said a Denver player, not wanting to be identified for fear of retribution from the league.

Was the outcome rigged? I refuse to believe it was.

The 16 field-goal attempts the Nuggets missed during the fourth quarter had much more to do with the defeat than any of the 30 personal fouls called against Denver by the referees.

Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson and the Lakers organization were fined $50,000 by the NBA for complaining about the calls in Game 4, won decisively by the upstart Nuggets.

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George Karl thinks something stinks

When Kenyon Martin wanted to complain to the press about the referee’s favoring the Lakers, Chauncey Billups came to the rescue.

“Don’t let the league take your money,” Denver teammate Chauncey Billups told Martin.

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Hey, this Dwight Howard guy is pretty darn good. Well, we all know that is an underestimation for the ages. Howard has been dominant.

Oh, yes, LeBron has been LeBron and is still clearly the greatest player this side of Kobe Bryant, but Howard has turned his team into winners and carried them on his back. When he becomes unstoppable underneath, then the Orlando shooters like Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston, and Michael Pietrus become great 3 point shooters.

Howard wants a shot at the Lakers

Vinnie Johnson once remarked after making a dozen threes in a row in warm-ups, “But can you make them in a game with a hand in your face?” Well, when you are sending 2 or 3 guys down low to stop Howard, there are no hands in your face!

Everyone is still looking to LeBron to somehow pull this one out, but the Magic are frustrated with how much the public pays attention to only LeBron. They want respect and they want a shot at the NBA Title.

So the Cavs laid off Howard to start Tuesday, and he made them pay, scoring 11 points in the first six minutes. They went back to double-teaming him for much of the next three quarters, and Howard scored just six more points before the start of overtime. Still, all the attention he drew freed the Magic shooters, most notably Rafer Alston (notes) and Michael Pietrus (notes), who combined to make 11 3-pointers.

On one comical possession, Cavs guard Mo Williams turned his back on Alston to follow Courtney Lee (notes). With no other Cav within five feet of him, Alston buried yet another 3-pointer.

“We need one stop,” James said. “We haven’t got one stop to win a ballgame yet.”

James has realized he can’t beat Howard and these Magic alone. He received more support on Tuesday than he did in Game 3, but it still wasn’t enough. Williams made just two shots after halftime, falling flat, so far, on his “guarantee” that the Cavs would win the series.

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No sooner do you put out a post on how great LeBron is and how much of a battle he is in with Kobe Bryant to be the best player and along come the Magic and make LeBron all human again.

News flash, LeBron is not the Terminator.

Movie news Terminator Salvation: Your intrepid author got the chance to see this movie this past weekend and the Terminators did not fare any better than LeBron did in game three. Like LeBron, the Terminators missed their free throws late in the game and the result was a less than satisfying movie, in spite of Moon Bloodgood playing the hot hot Blair Williams.

LeBron James from Terminator to Human

The Magic came to play and the referees came to whistle. They weren’t just whistling Dixie, they were whistling fouls and there were over 80 of them.

Orlando shot 51 free throws, hitting 39. Cleveland attempted 35, making 26.

James shot 24 free throws, making 18. Dwight Howard (24 points and nine rebounds) made 14-of-19 free throws — including big ones down the stretch — before fouling out and Hedo Turkoglu hit 11-of-12.

Howard, a career 59 percent free-throw shooter, said he was singing a song in his head to relieve the pressure at the line.

” I didn’t think about it too much. I just tried to shoot,” Howard said. “I heard a song playing at halftime. I just kept thinking about dancing. If my free throws are going in, I might have to keep up that routine.”
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Late in the game with Orlando protecting the lead, James just could not make the plays to get Cleveland back in the game. One time he was stuffed clean by Howard on a breakaway 3 point attempt and the refs called a foul (that kind of game). Another time LeBron drove under the basket and was stuffed by Michael Pietrus.

Oh, there were many people happy to see a human LeBron.

Yes, he hit a great shot Friday night in Game 2.

But from listening to all the hoopla, you’d think it was the greatest shot since William Tell split the apple sitting atop his son’s head.

It’s no wonder the raucous, roaring Magic fans Sunday night felt the whole world — ESPN, Nike, the NBA — was on LeBron’s side. One fan even held up a sign that said: “Magic’s 6th Man: The Fans. Cavs’ Sixth Man: The Refs.”

Seriously, have you ever seen so many invisible fouls? Dwight Howard fouled out on a phantom call on LeBron. Hedo Turkoglu was called for another. During a timeout while the Magic dancers were on the floor, LeBron actually walked right through the middle of their routine. Amazingly, none of the dancers were whistled for a foul.
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It is a great time in the NBA when legends are being born and young players are maturing into great players. As an example, the battle of player supremacy is going on between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

It does not matter which side of this debate you take or even if you do not take a side at all, because this is just great theatre in the NBA.

Side note on theatre: watched Night at the Museum II with Ben Stiller and Amy Adams (not to mention the wife and kids). It was a great movie well worth the millions of dollars to just purchase tickets, pop, and popcorn. It managed to keep all of the characters from the original movie and introduce some new ones, most notably Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart.

Hey, we can’t always be watching the NBA playoffs, you know.

LeBron James makes gamewinner in game 2

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. One game after LeBron won the game for the Cavaliers at the end, Kobe Bryant strikes back.

This is a sport of superstars and the NBA has been waiting a long, long time for two such transcendent stars to fortify its Final Four. They’re fighting for an NBA championship, yes, but Bryant’s ferocity won’t allow him to let go of the title as the game’s best closer. Bryant still makes the biggest plays, the biggest shots, when it matters most.

So, Bryant made a trip to Denver for Game 3 of the West finals and buried the Nuggets with 41 points, with a rebel’s resolve. With Denver’s J.R. Smith(notes) draping him, Bryant swished a 3-pointer with 69 seconds left. With his legs wobbly, with nearly 20,000 people in the Pepsi Center cursing his name, Bryant delivered four free throws in the final 22 seconds of the 103-97 victory.

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So if you are at the movies with the family, like me, you can almost rush home and just watch the end of the fourth quarter to see the most heroic moments. But it is still better to see the whole game.

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Chauncey Billups is all the rage right now. It seems like everything he does works and everything he touches turns to gold. Gold Nuggets, that is.

Always known as a heady player when he was a Piston, nothing has changed while on the Nuggets. Check out this YouTube of Chauncey dropping the ball off of Kobe’s back to create a score.

If the Nuggets win they will have to point to Chauncey and say he led them there. Funny thing is, if Chauncey was still with the Pistons they might not have gone any further than they did. The Nuggets give Chauncey a chance to shine in a way that the Pistons would not have.

So please, Piston fans, understand why Chauncey had to go and wish him good luck with the Nuggets.

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Ok, pull it together; this game did make sense, only you were in denial. Well, same here, denial, denial. You have to look at the facts of the recent past and the facts say that Orlando is 9 – 3 against the Cav’s in their last 12 meetings.

But it was Cleveland’s home court. Surely, LeBron is going to turn it on, right? Yes and Yes.

LeBron was magnificent as usual with 49 points, but it just was not enough.

Dwight Howard just keeps getting better and better

On the other hand, Dwight Howard was definitely pumped up, maybe too much. He not only had a monster game, but opened with a monster dunk and destroyed the 24 second clock.

Howard delayed the game — and then he derailed the Cavs. He followed rookie Courtney Lee’s miss, dunking the ball hard for the Magic’s first basket. Too hard. His dunk collapsed the 24-second clock affixed atop the basket backboard one minute into the game, sending it falling against the support beam.

It didn’t tumble to the court, but the clock stopped working, causing a nine-minute delay.

After Cavs personnel surveyed the damage, they brought in two 24-second clocks out of storage that were placed on the floor. All NBA teams have spare shot-clocks in case of malfunctions. (The clock was repaired for the second half of play.)

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The Magic now have home court advantage, complements of a last second 3 pointer by Rashard Lewis and 30 points and 13 rebounds from Dwight Howard. The Magic will still play the next game in Cleveland, but are full of confidence and have home court advantage.

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Jerry West just happened to mention that LeBron James has moved ahead of Kobe Bryant in the race for best imitation of Michael Jordan on an NBA court. How could he say that?

Kobe denies even hearing it, but went out and put up 40 on the Denver Nuggets in game 1 of the Western Conference finals in the forum in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant, now known as #2

Kobe is competitive, extremely, and as bad of grammar as that sentence is, it is ever so true. It had to hurt to hear a former Laker like Jerry West, and someone that Kobe looks up to, mention that Kobe has dropped to number two in the world.

Sorry, Nuggets, you will have to pay the price. Here is the actual quote from Jerry West.

“I look at Cleveland [and] say to myself, ‘How many games could they win without LeBron James?’ ” West said. “That’s how great he is. He has a chance to be arguably the greatest player ever to play the game. … Michael Jordan was the best defensive player in the league, but he was also the best offensive player. It wasn’t a one-year fluke; he proved it over time. LeBron James will do the same type of things because he’s getting better. He’s a much more effective shooter. When he’s making his shots from the outside, you can’t play him. He’s just too big, too strong, too quick. And he has incredible body control. But more than that, he’s a great teammate. You can see his teammates love him.”

And then, the money quote.

“If I had to have somebody make a last-second shot, it would be Kobe Bryant,” West said. “But even though it’s hard for me to be objective, because I brought Kobe to Los Angeles, I do think LeBron has surpassed Kobe as a player.”

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