During the 2009 NBA Playoffs: Trevor Ariza shot 50% from the floor. Ron Artest shot 39%. Trevor Ariza shot 48% from the arc. Ron Artest shot 28%. Trevor Ariza made clutch defensive stops again and again for the Lakers. Ron Artest, a supposed lock down defender, made boneheaded decisions that resulted in technical fouls and ejections. Trevor Ariza knows the intricacies of the triangle offense and is productive in it. Ron Artest doesn’t, and frankly doesn’t have a reputation for being the brightest bulb in the ceiling. Trevor Ariza is young and getting better. Ron Artest is declining. Ron Artest is a stronger BRAND name than Trevor Ariza, but Trevor is the better player — especially for the Lakers.

With the Lakers up 3-1 in the 2009 NBA Finals, and 1 win away from history, it feels as if the Los Angeles Lakers have dominated the Orlando Magic and that a championship is inevitable, so let’s pause for a moment to notice just how close success and failure can be to each other, and what makes a champion. And while it would be cool if someone else read and enjoyed this, frankly I’m writing this mostly to remind myself how I...

panacea [pan-a-see-a] Noun a remedy for all diseases or problems [Greek pan- all + akes remedy] There is a lot of talk about Courtney Lee missing that final shot in regulation of game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals, but look at that shot in context: (1) Courtney Lee had just missed a wide open layup less than 12 seconds earlier, which is how the Lakers ended up with the ball and 9.1 seconds left in regulation to begin with. Courtney Lee took...

It’s Disney World verses Disney Land… — MONSTERS, INC. — Orlando is 35-7 when they lead their opponents in rebounding. Orlando is 42-4 when they score more than 100 points. What is more, during their regular season match ups the Magic averaged 107.5 points per game and shot 46.5 percent against the Lakers. Clearly, this isn’t the regular season. — RETURN TO NEVERLAND — Phil Jackson had his Lakers...

It sure would be easy to blame today’s loss by the Boston Celtics to the Chicago Bulls, both of game 1 and home court advantage, on the fact that Kevin Garnett wasn’t playing due to injury… easy, but not ENTIRELY correct. Certainly if Garnett had played, the Celtics would have won, however, the Celtics still had ample ability and opportunity to win this game but failed to step up. For example, __ Ray Allen definitely...

By now you have probably read articles that Kevin Garnett may not be back to the Celtics on time for the playoffs. So, if you are a Celtics fan, the bad news is Garnett may be out… but the good news is last year Paul Pierce made quite the miraculous recovery, didn’t he? Pardon my skepticism, and this is in no way shape or form to be construed as an anti-Celtics post… But given the recent history with this team (see clip...

RENO BIGHORNS (81) at UTAH FLASH (101) Friday, December 5, 2008 The Utah Flash rebounded to defeat the Reno Bighorns on Friday in Orem, Utah. Literally. In fact, this game analysis is so simple it can almost be done with one word: rebounds. The Flash out rebounded the Bighorns all game long, but when the game was on the line in the fourth quarter, when just 6 points separated the two teams, the Utah Flash out rebounded Reno 17 to 6. Good...

It had been EIGHT years since USA Men’s Basketball had won an international competition. Then, in USA’s EIGHTH game of the Olympics, the so called “Redeem Team” joined Michael Phelp’s EIGHT gold medal performance as the biggest stories of the 2008 Olympics, which started on… 08/08/08. That said, here are 8 observations about USA’s 2008 gold medal run think about. — 1 — If Team USA proved...

To my surprise, I started crying when the game ended, just a little, as I watched USA coach Mike Krzyzewski cry. Good job, Coach Krzyzewski. Good job USA. Game analysis will come other time; I’m just going to drink in this moment for now. I love this game, and I love this country… it couldn’t be any better, could...

Whenever there’s a conversation about USA Basketball, there’s always someone pontificating about the 1992 “Dream Team”  There should really be a special website for people who live in the past so they don’t keep cluttering up conversations about international basketball. And then there are the guys always harping on USA because it sends NBA players instead of college guys. Sigh. Today the best player on the...

redeem (verb) – to do something that makes other people have a better opinion of (you), especially after you have behaved badly or failed at something. — Cambridge Dictionary of American English. Whoever first coined the phrase, “The road to redemption” must have understood that redemption is almost never a single act or gesture. Redemption is a road that, like all roads, must to be traveled a step at a time. Today...

Perhaps the two most notable things about this game against Germany are: 1. How sharp USA played in a “meaningless game,” and 2. How USA strayed from the winning formula it has been using so far in international play. Because USA could force themselves to play with such sharpness in a meaningless game like this, I’m thinking there won’t be any let downs in the medal games to come. But it’s really remarkable how...

If you are a fan of USA basketball, this was a great game, but two numbers indicate Team USA wasn’t yet tested where it is weakest: inside. Those two numbers are 28 and 64. Twenty-eight. Spain committed 28 turnovers versus the United States. For perspective, Spain committed 8 turnovers in their previous game against Greece. Sixty four. USA shot 7 of 11 (64%) from the arc in the first half. For perspective, that is better than...

The first quarter was tense. In the first minute and a half, Jason Kidd picked up 3 fouls, none of them would have been fouls in the NBA. Enter Chris Paul, and he turned the ball over on his very first pass. Add bogus foul calls on Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, (not to mention the fouls that weren’t being called on Greece), and in the first 2 minutes of play, Team USA found themselves with a 5 to 0 foul disparity, a starter on the...

Hot on the heals of Josh Childress’s departure from the Atlanta Hawks to play in Greece, the Hawks have just learned they may have missed out on a promising prospect that was almost on their front door step. According to this story… Matthew Whitton, a cop in Clayton County, Ga., and his friend Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, say they recently found the body of Big Foot in the woods of northern Georgia. Veteran Bigfoot...

Observations about the USA vs. Angola game have me thinking USA has a problem with their “bigs,” or in other words, a BIG problem. — Angola’s 3 point shooting was about as bad as Team USA’s (29%), as was their mid range game, meaning most of Angola’s 76 points came inside, which is SERIOUSLY bad news for Team USA. USA’s bigs were dismayingly deficient defensively, especially since Angola may be the...