Will Allen Iverson go down in history as Charles Barkely junior?  You know, having a great career, but never winning an NBA Championship?

Poor little AI knocked down 51 points in a losing effort to the Los Angeles Kobe’s.  Allen was 18 for 27 from the field with no 3 pointers and 15 made free throws.  Incredibly the rest of the team went only 18 for 53 with 17 free throws.

LA put all five guys and a few from the stands to cover AI in the fourth quarter and held him to 1 field goal.

Iverson scored 49 points through the first three quarters but was held to a just a layup in the fourth. The Lakers clamped down on the 6-foot guard, forcing the ball out of his hands. The strategy worked. Iverson took only four shots in the last 12 minutes.

“When somebody gets 49 points in the first three quarters obviously its going to draw attention to the other team,” said Iverson, whose career high of 60 came against Orlando on Feb. 12, 2005. “When somebody’s got 49 points they want to make sure I get the ball out of my hands, and that’s what they did. My responsibly is to give it up and my teammates had to make plays.”   source

With Carmelo and Iverson as your stars, you are bound to suffer from a lack of big time defense and this is what Denver has to figure out.  How do you compensate for that?

AI may never get his championship.

NBA Basketball Fan Question  Do you think AI deserves a title?

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The return of James, your basketball author. Now the good and the bad. The good is that my most excellent boss and coworkers filled in quite nicely and that is most appreciated.

The bad is that James is diagnosed with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Fear not, they say the cancer is one that is curable, so let us move forward with our dreams of basketball!

Poor Cleveland.

First LeBron gets hurt and now season long hold out Anderson Varejao may skip off to the Bobcats.

The Cavaliers have the rights to match the contract and hold on to Varejao, but do they want to?

The deal is for the Bobcats’ midlevel salary cap exception, worth just over $17 million. Varejao could opt out of the deal after the second season and become an unrestricted free agent.

The 6-foot-10 Varejao has been in a prolonged contract dispute with the Cavaliers, which has kept him sidelined this season. He said last week that he would prefer to play for another team. source

Varejao has said he would rather play for another team. Negotiating tactic? Maybe.

Watching Varejao against my Pistons, you could see the energy and toughness he brought to the court. While being no superstar and never will be, those kinds of players are essential to have on your team.

Someone has to do the dirty work.

The Cav’s are a mystery right now. Making no noticeable off season moves and standing to loss a bright spot in Varejao to the Bobcats.

We will have to wait and see what Danny Ferry decides.

It would be a long shot for the Cav’s to make it back to the finals. They would not be able to sneak up on anyone. Add in the lack of moves in the off season and you have to wonder what the heck are they doing?

Ok, Cav’s are you just going to throw the season away?

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Cleveland match?

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The return of James, your basketball author. Now the good and the bad. The good is that my most excellent boss and coworkers filled in quite nicely and that is most appreciated.

The bad is that James is diagnosed with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Fear not, they say the cancer is one that is curable, so let us move forward with our dreams of basketball!

Yi is tall.

They list him at 7 foot and 238 pounds.

Got a chance to watch Yi play my Pistons. Yi was about all they had.

Yi is tall. He seemed to tower over Rasheed Wallace. How can he only be one inch taller?

Now the Pistons had there way with the Bucks and destroyed them, but Yi was one bright spot on their team tonight.

Yi can post as he did on Rasheed. Yi can shoot from mid range. Yi can rebound. Yi can even run the floor. Dare it be mentioned, he plays like a player that is only 6′ 9″. That is meant as a complement to how well he moves.

Pistons coach Flip Saunders likes Yi a lot.

“He’s skilled offensively. He doesn’t seem to be intimidated by anything. He’s got a chance to be pretty good.”

Yi, a 7-foot forward, was the Bucks’ No. 1 pick and sixth overall in the 2007 draft. He’s put up decent numbers, averaging 9.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. source

Just watching Yi, you can see that he has a bright future in the NBA.

Now you have to wonder how he likes that Milwaukee winter weather? Could he become the world’s tallest ice fisherman?

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you like Milwaukee winter weather?

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Boston is starting to roll.

Is it too early or will this be the norm?

Paul Pierce does not see any such issue at all. Pierce thinks they will get even better.

Paul Pierce scored 26 points, Kevin Garnett had 23 and 13 rebounds, and the Celtics shot 72 percent during an overpowering first half en route to a 119-92 victory over the Nuggets on Wednesday night.

“We are just scratching the surface on what we can do,” Pierce said. “We enjoy seeing the next player make a great play and no one cares who gets credit.”

Boston improved to 3-0 and has won both its home games by an average of 24 points. Ray Allen scored 22 points and is shooting 63 percent since joining the Celtics. source

The Denver Nuggets with their perennial high hopes were the latest Boston Celtic victim 119 – 92.

Get this, the lead at half time was 77 – 38 in what looked like an all star warm up.

Doc Rivers says the Celtic Big Three really like each other and that will be the key.

Boston is certainly loaded, but we should try and contain our enthusiasm. It is a long grind in the NBA and there are many stories to be told about this team.

The talent from the big three is certainly there. Can it make up for other deficiencies? You will just have to wait and see.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Are you totally sold on the Celtics yet?

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