Nothing's Changed

Nothing too much to report on the lockup front. The owners are still locking players out because owners can't help themselves from paying players too much, you never know when one might be the next Rashard Lewis. The league has, allegedly, suffered a lot, but see this post and this one. It couldn't come at a worse time, after the LeBron collapse, the resurrection of Dirk, Mark Cuban made likable for a second, the highest rated season in NBA history, and so on. Everyone said what they had to say on that front back in June. There's not much for me to chew on, the carcass has already been heavily picked over. And for us non-Turkish TV getting basketball fans, life may be as dull as it can get for people who enjoy dunks. Not everything has gone wrong in this hot, malaise filled summer. Youtube is still working. Below is a little summer entertainment. Enjoy!








This Oscar Robertson mini-doc has a great subject but a really obnoxious tone. It takes the attitude of "Who can say what the past was like, there were angry white people and angry black people, but now we've all grown." This, it should go without saying, is highly ridiculous. The reason Oscar Robertson was "angry" was that he received death threats. The reason the white folks were angry and threatening his life was that he was good at basketball. That and the inspirational music would be enough for me to pass on it like Pistol Pete if it weren't a good story about a great player. It also gets a lot more gentle on the man in the end, but remains too judgmental. Definitely watch the video for the man, but be forewarned, whoever wrote the script, particularly the early part, majored in bullshit pseudo history.




If you're having trouble sleeping:



We can reminisce about his long and lustrous career, but he really stood out for moments like these:



Of course, if all else fails, we can sing like a girl, or like a frog.

The Best Thing Ever?: A Video Essay

According to Elias, via the TrueHoop blog, via the delightful folk at The Basketball Jones, the Utah Jazz are the first team to come back from being ten points down in the second half to win three times in a row in the modern era (meaning, in this case, post introduction of the shot clock). That they did so after deficits of 18, 22, and 18 is impressive in itself. But that they did so on back to back games against two of the leagues top five teams, makes things all the sweeter. Beating the Heat was especially sweet (I can't wait to tweet, what a treat) and ridiculously improbable event. The Jazz's final output in regulation, during which they scored 14 points in 28 seconds, had they done that well all game would have them scoring 1,440. According to Hollinger, the odds of Williams, Kirilenko, and especially Millsap scoring their last 3s was 1 in 873. There's, of course, the fact that Millsap had never really taken 3s and that Miami dared him to do so, leaving a career 2 for 20 shooter open again and again. But none of these numbers hold a candle to actually seeing the performance:



Unbelievably awesome. The Jazz are down 8 and hit 3 after 3 as Miami misses only 3 of 11 free throws. After Millsap's last 3, Williams fouled out before the ball was even in play. So the Jazz had to play the last few seconds and all of overtime without him. Sloan had also decided to bench Jefferson, who was having a week night. And, at the end of the game, Fesenko took himself out, feeling that his free throw percentage was too risky and might cost the Jazz the game. So they finished things out with AK, CJ, Price, Millsap, and Elson out there. Sloan also coached the shit out of that shit. Pulling Jefferson at the right time, managing the clock brilliantly, and playing zone at the end to force Eddie House into taking a 3 with .4 seconds left. He played the zone again last night, which crippled Miami. I'm not sure why, but it seems like the Jazz have learned how to play it.

The awesome win against Miami came after Raja Bell gave a very inspiring speech to the troops at halftime, filled with discussions of heart, being underdogs, and other cliched sports things. In other words, filled with things that the FreeDarko group might disdain. But in their defense, they get results. What makes it so sweet I can barely keep it down, is that the Jazz lost in Miami back in 09, in a game during which they were up by several in the last few seconds. I remember watching that game on gamecast, and sickeningly believing the Jazz had put it away, only to see them blow it, blow it again in overtime, and then lose outright in overtime number 2. So, symbolically, this is huge. Beating the best team (eh, maybe 2nd best), at home, on a crazy comeback, to potentially spark a season as revenge for a season sunk in the same building? Come on, it's too sweet, even for you. What's also sweet is how many, shall I say, fair weather fans left the building at halftime and how many more did with 28 seconds left when they thought it was all over. Here's some Jazz comeback footage:



And here's some footage of their improbable victory against the Magic last night:



So why wasn't it the best thing ever? Well, Tracy McGrady did a similar thing to another team that was really, really good at defense. And while the Miami Heat are the most hated guys right now, and Millsap will probably get more credit for his destruction, the Spurs were actually defending.



Man, that guy's like the next Kobe! Anyway, as far as best things ever go, this recent Jazz development, good as it was, can still not hold a candle to this:


(H/T: Owen)

2009/2010 NBA Schedule

The 2009/2010 NBA schedule is set to debut this Tuesday, August 4th. I will of course be among the throngs of NBA enthusiasts frantically downloading it as soon as the clock strikes the 1pm release date. But for those of you who won't even be able to make it through the start of another workweek without at least a hint of what is to come (or who can't care less and just want a general overview), here is a small taste of what you can expect.

Like last year, the season will open with a Boston/Cleveland match-up when the Celtics visit Cleveland on October 27th. It will also be the fourth time in six years that a Shaq-Kobe duo have taken the Christmas Day spotlight. While this may be a testament to Shaq's surprising longevity, it is also an indicator of a greater financial agenda.

With their golden ticket player, the mighty Cavaliers will take both of these prime spots ahead of an Orlando team that actually made the finals last year. Understandably, the schedule's construction is a 6 month undertaking beginning in early February, so maybe Matt Winick is still living in the land of pre-Eastern Conference Championship Puppet Land. Or maybe David Stern's feelings about small markets are showing. (Let's be honest, Stern would no rather down a bottle of tobasco than play host to a Denver-Orlando finals, or San Antonio-New Jersey for that matter).

In the end, perhaps it only makes sense for Stern to tend to his own and favor more commercially palatable programming. As part of a larger trend, NBA ratings and profits have been in decline for some time now. This was highlighted in 2006 when a rained-out NASCAR telecast embarassed the NBA with higher ratings than an ABC broadcast of the Lakers-Caveliers/Kobe-Lebron faceoff. In any case, check out the schedule for yourself on Tuesday and let me know what you think. What do you think about the state of financial sense and programming decisions in the NBA?

*As a side note, here is an interesting article regarding the NBA small market dilemma.