White Suburban Punk

Finally, the Celtics finished off the Magic.  No one noticed the officials (besides JJ Redick), Paul Pierce was The Truth, and the C’s got an unlikely spark from Nate Robinson.  This was an extremely determined Celtics team, and they seemed to be putting forth the extra effort defensively that was missing in games 4 and 5.  After I severely dumped on Orlando early in the series, I have to admit that they did show some heart in games 4, 5, and 6, but you can’t just show up for half a series and without question, the better team won.  The Celtics have gone through three of the NBA’s “stars” in Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Dwight Howard, and either Kobe or Steve Nash is next.  Eastern Conference champions again, and the Finals start Thursday out west.

See, this is why basketball, and the NBA in particular, is my least favorite sport.  The flow of play, the control of the game, and often the outcome, are dictated by the whims, the mood, and the emotional state of three largely incompetent officials who clearly have their own agenda.  And now this incompetence may decide not just this game, but also the series.  Both technicals on Kendrick Perkins and the one on Rajon Rondo were simply wrong.  Egregiously wrong.  To add injury to insult, Glen Davis was knocked out of the game and possibly the series by a Dwight Howard elbow on which no foul was called.  Sure, these things happen, but it at least could have been an over the back call.  Numerous fouls were called in the game for far less contact.  Watching this game, I felt like a sucker, like I had been conned.  Like I was the victim of a thief and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.  In no other sport are the officials able to assert as much control over the outcome as in the NBA.  And they are astonishingly incompetent.

Why doesn’t this happen in the college game?  Sure, you see bad calls and missed calls in the college game, but you don’t see officials completely taking over games and deciding the outcome.  For some reason, college officials seem to understand the role of the official better than in the NBA.  Officials in every sport are not supposed to be noticed if they are doing their job competently.  NBA officials are paid extremely well — one source I found states that rookie NBA refs make $80,000 and the veterans $300,000 – $400,000 per year.  That must be a major part of it — a sense of entitlement, a belief that “I deserve respect because I make $xxx.”  It also appears to engender a feeling that they are part of the show, that they are supposed to be noticed.  But this is the playoffs, for crying out loud.  These are supposed to be the best officials the NBA has to offer, and that game was an absolute rip off.

Photo from Boston.com

Phil Jackson denies interest in a return to Chicago Bulls.  Of course he does.  He is making $12 million, the highest paid coach in sports, and his contract with the Lakers expires at the end of this season.  He has coached the most dominant players in the game in their primes.  First Michael Jordan with the Bulls, and then Shaquille O’Neal, and finally Kobe Bryant, both with the Lakers.  I guess you could say that he’s all about winning, but I think it’s always been more about the Glorification of Phil.  With Lebron James a free agent this summer, Phil has once again positioned himself to be able to coach the most dominant player in the league.  However, after Lebron’s playoff performance this year, one wonders how close he actually is to becoming the best player.  Kobe’s Lakers will return intact next season with the exception of Derek Fisher.  Kobe will be 32 at the start of next season, while Lebron is just 25.  The best chance for Phil’s Self Glorification will be a return to the Lakers, probably on a one year contract.  That way, he will be able to see where Lebron lands and what other weapons are available, while he will also be able to judge what Mikhail Prokhorov’s billions might do for the New Jersey Nets.  It’s unquestioned that he will bail on the Lakers before their decline — he just has to judge when that decline will occur.  The best chance for Phil’s Self Glorification is to coach the Lakers next year and then Lebron James in the 2011-12 season.

The Celtics played like absolute garbage last night, while Orlando played their best game of the series, and it still went to overtime.  Boston seemed to play well in short stretches, especially right after the technical was called on KG, when it seemed the Celtics had finally been awakened.  But bad turnovers just killed them.  Orlando actually had more turnovers for the game, 19-15, but I can’t think of one Celtics turnover that wasn’t awful.  KG throwing the ball into the stands, Tony Allen not recognizing the shot clock, the aborted possession at the end of regulation.  Defensively, it seemed that Orlando finally made some adjustments and got the pick and roll going, which forced the Celtics into more switches than the first three games of the series combined.  And in the overtime, the Celtics looked tired.  It seemed like they were short on every shot and neither team could get any transition game going. 

Tim Donaghy was on the Dan Patrick Show this morning and stated that he wasn’t at all surprised by the result last night, that it fits the “blueprint” in his book.  He claims that in a pregame officials meeting in a 3-0 series, the NBA representative will show a bunch of Orlando plays that they want called as fouls.  They don’t tell them to have a one-sided game, but their emphasis is always on the team that trails.  If you can believe anything this guy says.

Anyway, I’m not worried, these aren’t the Bruins after all.  It will be even more satisfying for the team to clinch the Eastern Conference on Orlando’s home floor, the team that won it last year.

Photo from USA Today

I never broke into a car, never hot-wired a car, kid. I never broke into a trunk. I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof, nor through inaction let that vehicle or the personal contents thereof come to harm. That’s what I call the Repo Code, kid. Don’t forget it, etch it into your brain. Not many people got a code to live by anymore.

Hey, look at those assholes over there. Ordinary f—-in’ people, I hate ‘em.

Rashard Lewis continued his disappearing act with 4 points and Superman (ahem) Dwight Howard had 7 points and 7 boards as the Celtics crushed Orlando Saturday night.  Howard was an astounding -29 for the game.  Glen Davis led the Celtics with 17 points.  Both Orlando and Cleveland have shown themselves to be true front runners, with absolutely no guts or toughness when they face the slightest bit of adversity.  I imagine game 4 will include a massive amount of 3 point launches from the Magic (they took 30 in game 3, making 8).  That’s the easy way to look like you care.  They missed 63 shots in game 3 and had 3 offensive rebounds.

Phoenix beat the Lakers last night to trim the series to 2-1, but no one doubts that it’ll be LA in the final.  Derek Fisher should have a wonderful time trying to contain Rajon Rondo.  I imagine the Celtics will play the Lakers much like they played Cleveland.  Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett will man up Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum while Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Tony Allen will take turns on Kobe.  They will try to force Kobe to beat them single handedly, but unlike Lebron, he might be able to actually do it.  Lamar Odom and Ron Artest are kind of wild cards here, but Odom typically only shows up one game a series and Artest sure isn’t what he used to be.  Defensively, the Lakers are in trouble.  Kobe can take out Pierce, but Gasol and Bynum can’t handle Perkins and Garnett straight up, so Ray Ray should get plenty of open looks from outside.  And Rondo, what the hell are they going to do with him?  I guess they could try to put Kobe on him, but that would open things up for everyone else.  Too many weapons.  That’s my take.  It could be a classic series, and it will be good for the Celtics to close things out tonight and get extra rest, which Bynum especially needs desparately.

Photo from Boston.com

Vince Carter, an 84% free throw shooter on the season, misses two with 31 seconds left that would have brought Orlando within 1 point.  JJ Redick inexplicably tries to advance the ball before calling timeout on their last possession.  Orlando sure had an easy regular season and cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs.  Just like Cleveland, they haven’t faced one iota of adversity all season and they don’t have the cajones to deal with it when they do.  Vince Carter is just like Lebron with his constant complaining to the officials.  It reminds me of Johnny Most on Kareem: “This guy has been in the league for twenty years and he has never committed a personal foul.”  In the one game that Orlando absolutely had to be tougher than their opponent, they failed.  Miserably.  I thought the Celtics played about the same or a little better than Game 1 overall, despite a mess of turnovers in the fourth quarter.  Paul Pierce is the truth and Orlando got Rondo’d.  Now the old legs get three full days off before resuming the series Saturday night.

Speaking of choke jobs, Joba and the yankees coughed up another five run lead last night, aided by an Arod error.  ESPN the Magazine recently had a poll of major leaguers in which one of the questions asked who was the most overrated player in baseball: Joba #1, Arod #2.  The yankees bizarrely played the game under protest, apparently believing that Josh Beckett wasn’t coming out of the game because of injury.  After a great comeback and then blowing the game Monday night, the Sox showed some heart and held on to the comeback win last night, even though Papelbon struggled again.  I’m still not ready to put a fork in the Sox.

Tottenham Hotspur clinched the final Champions League spot in the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Manchester City, with the goal scored by Abigail Clancy’s fiancee, Peter Crouch.  Liverpool have clinched a Europa League spot as the seventh place team.  They can finish no higher than sixth.  Rafa Benitez has begun a series of meetings with Liverpool’s top brass, but there is still no word on transfer funds available or the sale of the team.  It does appear that Benitez will be staying with the club, however.

Hull City, Burnley, and Portsmouth will be relegated to the League Championship.  Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion have been promoted, and the playoffs begin Saturday for the final promotion spot.  Sixth place Blackpool will play a home and home with third place Nottingham Forest, and fifth place Leicester City will play fourth place Cardiff City.

Chelsea will clinch the Premiership title with a win at home against Wigan.  Manchester United plays at Stoke City trailing Chelsea by one point.  Everyone’s final game is at the same time Sunday, 11:00 Eastern in the US.

The Red Sox swept Orange County in a four game set and everything appears to finally be coming together, just in time for a visit from the yankees.  That game is actually third fiddle in the Boston area tonight, however, as the Bruins look to sweep the Flyers in Philly and the Celtics host the Cavs in game 3.  The loss of David Krejci could be devastating for the B’s, as he had been superb in the playoffs and the team really relies on his creativity in the offensive end.  If the Bruins can wrap it up tonight, they could get some significant time off, as Montreal tied up their series with Pittsburgh, 2-2.  Ole!

The pitching matchups for the Sox series are: Josh Beckett vs. Phil Hughes Friday night, Clay Buchholz vs. CC Sabathia 3:10 Saturday, and Jon Lester vs. AJ Burnett 8:00 Sunday.

The Bruins continue to captivate Boston sports fans as they took a 2-0 series lead on the Flyers last night.  This game wasn’t as non-stop breathtaking as game 1, but it was still plenty exciting.  The Bruins were so mediocre and downright boring all season, with a defensive orientation and an anemic offense.  They are a completely different team now.  They really don’t seem to play all that strong defensively anymore and they got caught making mistakes again last night.  Of course, Tuukka Rask has been incredible, and looks like the best goalie remaining in the playoffs.  But the startling thing has been the offense.  Even without Marco Sturm, these guys just click.  It mostly seems due to nothing but hard work.  In the Buffalo series and in the first two games of the Philadelphia series, the Bruins seem to win the majority of the battles along the boards.  They create chances, they muck in front of the net, and they throw it at the net a lot.  It’s also amazing how their strong stretch run helped them with seeding.  They were perilously close to the eighth seed for the last few weeks, but instead of getting Washington and then Pittsburgh, they got Buffalo and then Philadelphia.  And maybe Montreal can keep up their miraculous run so the B’s can get home ice for the conference finals.  But that’s a long way off.  Philly is going to be their typical brutal selves in game 3 at home, with an added dose of desperation.  Hopefully scumbag Dan Carcillo will try to stick his hands in Zdeno Chara’s mouth this time.

The Celtics shocked the NBA world by kicking the crap out of the Cavs in Cleveland last night.  After dominating the first half of game 1 and then falling apart, the C’s got a huge lead last night and then held off a late rally.  It seems that no one, either nationally or locally, gave the Celtics much of a chance in this series.  But they really do seem to be peaking at the right time.  Rajon Rondo has been by far the best player for either team.  Mo Williams had a good game 1, but he just doesn’t compare.  And all these supporting cast guys that we were supposed to be so worried about don’t impress me very much.  It also seems clear that Lebron is going to milk this “injury” for as long as the Cavs are still alive.  I would love to see him do his crybaby act again this year and walk off the court without congratulating the winners.  Again, that’s still a way’s off, but the Celtics have been the better team through two games, and the long layoffs between games can only help.

Ah, the Sox.  Big win last night and maybe that will help turn things around.  We still don’t really know this team’s identity, as they have not performed at all like anyone expected so far.  They just need to string together some good starting pitching performances and everything should start flowing from there.  That will make everything else look better.  JD Drew and Youk look like they’re coming around, and Cameron and Ellsbury can’t be out too much longer.  Adrian Beltre just needs to get games under him to freaking relax and start playing the third base that everyone expected. This is probably the best team he’s ever been on and he’s never played anywhere that demands winning like here.  I just wish the team had a little bit more personality.  Theo has gone the Patriots’ route with a group of professional, high character guys, which certainly makes life easier for Tito and the front office, but it’s not as fun to be a fan of a team like this.  Of course, comparing any team to the 2004 version will pale in every comparison, but, man that was fun.  The Sox get a pass until the end of the Bruins’ and Celtics’ seasons, anyway. 

Photo from Boston.com