Out until the playoffs...

From everything I've read today, it looks like Leon is shut down for the rest of the regular season in the hopes that he can rehab his knee and make it back for the first round of the playoffs. Details are still pretty vague as it seems like the Celtics front office have recently attended classes at the New England Patriots Injury Information Chokehold University. This obviously sucks but considering the way the top of the Eastern Conference is looking, Danny and Doc might want to consider doing the same with KG. Watching Leon put up those great numbers while Garnett was out makes this harder to take. Leon's contract is also up the end of the year so going into free agency with an injury history isn't going to help his chances on landing a sweet deal. (On boston.com's sports section right now, there is a local interview with Leon discussing his injury and the team's overall health that's over seven minutes long. I tried posting here but the media player didn't fit properly. Also the audio is pretty wack. But do check it out if you're trying to kill the last 14 minutes of your workday...)

By the way, I REALLY don't want to see the Heat play the Celtics in the first round.

Final Four!

This is my official "I am happy that UConn made it to the Final Four" post. They played a brilliant game against Purdue, and had one of the best games of the season yesterday afternoon against Missouri.

I had Missouri losing to UConn in my bracket, so it was no surprise when they beat Memphis. I'm a firm believer that Memphis will always be overrated no matter how talented they are until they get into a stronger conference. Either that or Conference USA gets competitive. What if Tulsa or Marshall decide to give Memphis a run for their money and just go all out on recruiting? That might give the Tigers some clout. But instead, they just come off as a big fish in a small pond.

For the record, I have one Final Four team (Duke) out. However, UNC and UConn, who are meeting in the finals for me, are both very much alive, AND everyone who's competition for me had Pitt in the finals. They all also had Louisville in the Final Four as opposed to my pick of Michigan State. If UNC and Michigan State win tonight, I wins myself some cash money. Expect a "Hooray I'm rich!" post very soon.

Back to UConn. Missouri is a better team than they've been given credit for, and I knew they'd be a challenge. UConn shot brilliantly the first half, and they played great defense, but it didn't matter. They'd have 3 hands in their face, and Missouri guys would still be hitting shots left and right.

I hate when fouls are called on Hasheem Thabeet, because 90% of the time they're not fouls, but the refs had let him slide on another foul that should've been called earlier, so you can't argue too much. The announcers yesterday, as during the entire tournament, kept harping on the fact that Hasheem Thabeet is a disgustingly good Scrabble player. I'm considering challenging him on Facebook. How many points do you get for "2009 National Champion UConn Huskies"?

There was one play where they called a travel on Jeff Adrien. The amazing part of this was that HE DIDN'T HAVE THE BALL. There was a loose ball, he and a Missouri player were both trying to gain possession, and before he ever got possession, a travel was called. The next play, a reach-in was called on Thabeet which left Jay Bilas baffled, saying "I have no idea where that foul was".

However, my boy Kemba Walker stepped it up and hit his stride. So begins the Kemba Walker era. With A.J. Price going into the NBA next year, how does UConn replace that void? Oh, just by finding an even better point guard. I expect Walker will go down as THE BEST point guard in UConn history. He's got that much natural ability, he just needs to learn the mental part (which, as he showed yesterday, he's doing quite well with).

So UConn held off Missouri, and frankly I think that Missouri is a tougher matchup for UConn than either one they'll face next round. I'm looking forward to Michigan State upsetting Louisville, and for UConn to then stomp all over their dreams of playing a home championship game.

The women's team is currently delivering a second half beatdown to California after looking slightly human the first half. Tiffany Hayes is pulling off a female Kemba Walker performance, and frankly these women just can't be beat.

In other women's basketball news, Michigan State got boned by the referees at the end of the game last night. They blew an 8 point lead in the last minute of the game, but when throwing up their final shots of the game and attempting to get a rebound off of the miss, they got hacked to all hell. I have a slight crush on their coach, Suzy Merchant, which is why I mention this. The no-call was disappointing to see, and Iowa State squeaked by with a win they might not have deserved.


Time to tune in to the end of Louisville's run.

Friday Pic O' tha Week

Villanova and Pitt? Yay! Memphis and Purdue? Boo! I actually thought for a second that John Calipari's squad could complete the comeback, but it was not to be. Let's see if Louisville and UNC can match their number one counterparts and make it to the Elite Eight tonight. The NBA regular season is rapidly coming to a close and our pic o' that week is quite the metaphor for the Eastern Conference. And Leon will be out at least another couple of games. In the West, the two through eight spots are tighter than Tiger Woods' wallet after a meal. Japan won the WBC this past Monday and while no one in the US still gave a crap (about the whole tournament in general), the worldwide audience was quite sizable. Finally, what do you all think of NFL commish Roger Goodell wanting to convert some preseason games into regular season ones? It won't be for at least another couple of years but we can all agree that four preseason games is a bit much. Eighty degrees tomorrow!

An open letter of apology to all my fellow Patriots fans

Dear Patriots fans,

I have been wrong. For the past two seasons, I have firmly held the belief that Bill Belichick is a dirty, cheating, no good dickhead. When Patriots fan friends of mine said "Well, EVERYONE in the NFL has taped at some point, not just the Patriots", the easiest response was to get up on my pedestal and tell everyone how good the Colts are and how they'd never do that because they have ethics.

No, the Colts haven't been caught video taping. They'd never do that. They have ethics.

However...when the story broke yesterday about UConn's alleged NCAA rules violations in recruiting Nate "Devendorf Jr" Miles, I was fuming for many reasons.

1. Why now? Yes, I understand that Yahoo sports writers throw a party whenever someone decides to read them over anyone else, but this is a terrible time for the team. They've got a Sweet Sixteen game tonight against a great team, and so this creates a massive distraction. Is this Yahoo writer a Duke, UNC or Syracuse fan who needs some sort of edge by knocking UConn out? Wait til after they've won the title, then let this play out during the offseason. Don't be an ass.

2. Nate Miles? Who never played a single game for UConn? WHO CARES? This is what makes me feel that whoever looked into this had extremely petty ulterior motives. If this were Hasheem Thabeet being FedEx'd strippers to Tanzania when he was being recruited, or A.J. Price being given free laptops, that's something to worry about. That's when it's an urgent matter that needs to be looked into. Not when it's some douchebag who got expelled and never played a single game for the team.

3. This is where I realized I was wrong about Patriots fans. My third thought on this was...EVERYONE USES SHADY RECRUITING TACTICS. This is like parents finding out their high school kid drinks for the first time and they act all shocked. "NO WAY, YOU DRANK?!?! I HAD NO IDEA!!!" Am I shocked? No. Would I be shocked if similar allegations came out against Louisville, Duke, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, or other power schools? Not at all. Maybe it's just me, but I never thought shady recruitment was that big a deal because I assumed everyone does it. Now I understand how Patriots fans feel.

I apologize.

Best regards,
-James

The Blake Griffin Sweepstakes is Here!

I suppose I could write about the enormous Celtics/Magic game tonight and the potential repercussions it will have on playoff seeding and home court advantage in the East. I could look at current playoff match-ups too. But where's the fun in that? See, it's about that time in the NBA season when certain teams not only know that they have absolutely no shot of making the playoffs but they might not even win another game. And some are okay with that, fans be damned. This particular draft class isn't the strongest, so the worse your record is after 82 games, the better chance you'll have in drafting the six foot ten powerhouse from Oklahoma. It has been more prevalent over the past two or three seasons, but teams like Washington, Memphis and Minnesota have entered full, complete and utter TANK mode.

First, let's take a look at the current "lottery" standings. Highlighted almost exclusively from the Western Conference we have:

Sacramento -
Washington -
LA Clippers 1.5
Memphis 2
Minnesota 4.5
OKC 4.5

The Warriors and Raptors are right there as well as the only other teams mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Out of all those teams, the only one that I feel bad for is Minnesota. Big Al was playing fantastic basketball before he blew out his knee and the team went into a tailspin. Maybe you could drum up some pity for the Wizards with Haywood and Arenas being out the whole year, but then again, they shouldn't have signed Agent Zero(Games Played) to that insane $111 million contract. Memphis and the Thunder have some great young players who might start exhibiting some "nagging injuries" over these last 12 or so games. Honestly, who the hell is going to the OKC/Toronto game this Friday night. Even if everyone is going to play? Attendance is in the crapper as it is because of the economy, so are these teams really going to lose that much more money by trotting out a D-League squad for a few more weeks? If it means a shot at Griffin? As for the Clip, well, I think they've been in the sweepstakes since November.


So Sacramento might have the upper hand here. They still have to play Phoenix twice, New Orleans, San Antonio, the Lakers, Rockets and Nuggets. That's seven more losses right there. (Did they seriously only win one game against the entire Eastern Conference this year? That's fantastic or depressing depending on how you look at it.) Then again, the Wiz play three teams still battling for playoff spots in the East, Cleveland twice and Boston. But let's not rule out those pesky Clippers. They have a stretch of San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Denver and the Lakers coming up. Any one of these teams could get that 25% chance when the lottery rolls around.

HOWEVER!

Look what happened to the Heat last year. They were far and away the worst team in the league but somehow didn't end up with the first pick. Chicago did. A team that had the ninth best chance. NINTH! (1.7% for those keeping track at home) Which team holds that coveted spot as of today? The friggin' Knicks. A team that has shown signs of tankage lately themselves losing five in a row. Could that mean the eventual departure of David Lee? Thing is, Griffin is a stud. He averaged 30 and 15 this year and unlike my man B-Easy, he's a legit 6-10 with some bulk. Whereas last year, there was some debate as to who would be picked first, there isn't the slightest sliver of doubt this year. So who else is out there? Question marks, that's who. Guys like Ricky Rubio, Brandon Jennings, Hasheem Thabeet and Steph Curry to name a few. All guys with great potential or a certain valuable skill, but nowhere near a complete package or even a sure thing. As usual, there are no college seniors projected to go in the lottery.

How obvious and thorough will these teams be in their quest to suck the most? Will David Stern ever step in or does he think no one notices this stuff because of how good the top teams are? Will a team with a less than 2% chance get a crack at Griffin? The regular season ends April 15th and the draft lottery occurs on May 19th. Between now and then, we are in store for some possibly epic failure all in front of a televised audience. (The Kings do have a TV deal, right?)

Guess who's birthday it is...

HOORAY PEYTON!

The greatest quarterback to ever play the game turns 33 today. Since Manning only gets better with age, he should be hitting his prime in about 5 years.

You are all invited to my Peyton Manning Birthday Party.

The Ballad of Jay Cutler