Matchup Tonight

So naturally, on 311 Day, the Miami Heat are playing the Boston Celtics, and I won't be able to see the game. With the Celtics only dressing ten players and starting a point guard who up until two weeks ago was a punch line to numerous jokes throughout the NBA, some believe it's a foregone conclusion that the Heat will cruise to an easy victory. Yes, Dwyane Wade is the best player in the league right now (all year?) but don't count out the reigning Finals MVP and Jesus Shuttlesworth. It might not be a pretty game, but I really want to see it, if for no other reason, than to see Leon and Udonis Haslem battle it out down low.

He'll be all up in Leon's grill tonight as well.

With tip-off a little over an hour away, I'd like to take a quick look at the two players and how similar their games are, as well as their similar roles on their respective teams. Basically their two of the best "dirty work" guys in the entire league. They don't have the height of most power forwards, but have the strength to body up on guys much taller than them. (Ask Ilgauskas about how fun it is to play against Leon.) Both guys have a knack for grabbing offensive boards. Both guys are soft spoken and prefer their play on the court to so the talking. I'm not forgetting when Haslem got ejected after throwing his mouth piece at a ref once, okay. But other than that transgression, Youuuuu-donis has been well behaved. Leon does get to the line way more often, even with his limited minutes, but Haslem has the better percentage. Both shoot around 50% from the field. I think Udonis has a better outside shot, but Leon is a bit more explosive and is a better finisher, especially on fast breaks.

Now while the Heat and Celtics play each other four times a year, this is the first occasion that Leon will get serious playing time with Haslem in the lineup for Miami. He'll be starting for Doc's squad tonight. I think this will be a true test for Powe to really see him go up against a four spot instead of guys like Yao Ming. Udonis has also been forced to play out of position at certain points in his career, so this could really bring out the best in both players. Flash and The Truth will get most of the attention for sure and looking at the box score tomorrow, you might not be able to tell that Leon and Udonis played great games. But that's the kind of players they are. Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame recently wrote an article about Shane Battier and how a lot of the stuff he does during games is hard to quantify. Leon Powe and Udonis Haslem are pretty much in the same boat in that respect. (Now that I'm thinking about it, if Lewis ever wrote a book about The Show, my head might explode.) But just remember, both the Celtics and Heat won a championship with the aforementioned guys contributing in big ways. Just sayin'.

"There's no break in the rhythm."

Monday...Meditations?

Damn it. Monday Musings sounds sooo much better than Sunday Musings AdamMan! Oh well. Thanksgiving slowed down the production at SPLP but we're getting back on track. Of course, this is just going to be me talking about random things incoherently because I don't (never?) have the ability to put together an actual structured column right now. My brain is fried from being back at work for one day. Okay ramblers, let's get ramblin'.

I had a feeling last Monday that the first big free agent signing was going to happen before the holiday. It's a week later and all we have is...Mike Hampton? Wow, way to make headlines Houston. This guy is like the Family Guy flashback when they remade Peter into the six hundred dollar man. He's not quite human, not quite cyborg, but all kinds of washed up. I know they aren't going to pay him a lot of money but where's the huge Teixeira deal? How come the Yankees haven't signed Sabathia yet? The Hot Stove is cooler than Freddie Jackson sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm.

Speaking of AdamMan, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like at Gillette yesterday. Apparently no one told Matt Light that poor Matt Cassel is playing for a contract. The running game continues to fail and I have never seen Randy Moss drop two wide open catches like that in the same game. The Patriots might have to win every game from here on out just to make the playoffs although only one team will make it out of the AFC West. James' absence is oddly conspicuous so far today. How could anyone be proud of that Colts' win? Whether you like them or not though, they are building some serious momentum. And I HIGHLY doubt Manning will ever have a game like that for the rest of his career.

If you have plans on Saturday night, break them immediately. Manny Pacquiao is set to put the beatdown on the Golden Boy himself, Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao is regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. I know next to nothing about the sport, but I've watched a bunch of Pacquiao's fights and they never fail to entertain. Now he's in the biggest fight of his career against a very unlikeable opponent who will most likely outweigh him by at least 15 pounds when they step into the ring together. Manny started his career at 108 pounds (or lbs.) and critics are hailing this as nothing more than De La Hoya not wanting to fight someone his own size. If you are on the fence about watching the fight and have HBO, watch the great 24/7 series. Initially when the fight was being discussed, Oscar said it would be his last fight. He has already changed his mind and will most likely fight again. But he'll keep ducking guys like Margarito. On the other hand, a Pacquiao/Ricky Hatton showdown could be infinitely entertaining and could quite possibly be one of the last great fights of this era. Let's face it folks, boxing in the United States has been on it's deathbed for some time. And whether Pacquiao wins or loses, the sport is only a few years away from finally kicking the bucket.

Has fan(s).

Saturday night, I attended the Clippers/Heat game at the Staples Center. Believe it or not, it was actually a pretty exciting game with LA squeaking out a 97-96 win. Miami had just beated Phoenix the night before and just didn't have enough gas to close out the game. They were outscored 29-23 in the fourth quarter despite good showings from Dwayne Wade (duh), Michael Beasley who came off the bench, and Udonis Haslem. One player who wasn't so productive was Shawn Marion. But that didn't really matter to one dedicated fan of "The Matrix." We were sitting in section 301, halfway up. And as stated before, I am a Heat fan. Apparently I'm not taking my team seriously enough. There was this dude in a Marion jersey yelling in a deadpan voice (if that's possible) "Let's go Shawn Marion! Let's go Matrix!" to the point where other people started chanting in jest. DID NOT bother this guy one bit. It also didn't bother him that Marion scored 5 points in 33 minutes. I had to go over and high five him at one point just so he didn't hurl himself off the balcony. Good times.

And just to throw this out there, I just finished Bret Hart's autobiography. If you were ever a fan of the Hitman or professional wrestling in general, it is a fascinating read. He kept an audio diary of his entire career and man is it in depth. The tragedies and struggles of Bret and the entire Hart family are truly monumental. It's a good 550 pages, but once you start, it's tough to put down. Kind of like a package of Peeps.

Things are looking up in South Beach

I was sweating bullets at 7:35 last night. After listening to how trades were falling through, I had this terrible feeling that the Miami Heat were indeed going to pick O.J. Mayo second overall. Looks like I was duped by my old friend Pat Riley. B-Easy is going to rock the red and black alongside two former Jayhawks, Mario Chalmers(!) and Darnell Jackson. Here's what espn.com's Chad Ford had to say about Miami's draft:

"I hate to break it to what looked like a very sober, perhaps disappointed Pat Riley, but the Heat won this draft. They walked away with arguably the best player in the draft and then got a second-round steal at point guard, a position at which Miami really needed help.
Beasley has a chance to be a superstar. With him and Dwyane Wade, the Heat have a terrific future. On top of that, Miami got a player at No. 34 who I had ranked as a potential mid-first-round pick. Chalmers is perfect for Riley: He is tough, plays defense, can shoot the lights out and is a winner. Once the Heat find a way to trade Shawn Marion, they'll be in great shape to make a big run at a young free agent next summer.
And according to John Hollinger's statistical formula, Jackson is one the biggest sleepers in the draft."

He gave them an A+. Needless to say, I am stoked. Hopefully they will find a taker for Marion before the trade deadline. It would be pretty interesting to see Chalmers, Wade, Haslem, Beasley and Marion on the floor at the same time. They could definitely pull it off against a lot of the teams in the league right now.

The Boston Celtics had a chance to STEAL Chris Douglas-Roberts at 30. They instead chose to go with J.R. Giddens. Not a bad pick, but I thought CDR would have been a perfect fit for the C's. He strikes me as a James Posey-type player. We all saw how well that worked out. Guess they're planning on resigning him and his man-hugs. Late in the draft, they traded for Bill Walker who was drafted by the Wizards. He has been described as, "Vince Carter before the ACL injury." Dang. And with the last pick, they took a seven foot dude from Turkey who they'll stash away in Europe. Solid picks but again, I'm really surprised they didn't take Douglas-Roberts. How did he fall all the way to 40?

The whole Memphis-Minnesota trade is weird to me. How did McHale and Wallace even talk to one another? That's quite the meeting of the minds. Don't really see how Love will help out Big Al...

What can be said about ESPN's coverage that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? I knew it would be horrible, but that was an absolute trainwreck of an embarrassment. AwfulAnnouncing did a great job of pointing out just how bad it was in their live blog coverage. I would start to get into here, but I would just get too worked up knowing that those jokers can be downright unwatchable and my journalism degree is collecting dust. (Thanks BU!)

Of course the Knick fans would boo Gallinari. I think he'll actually do pretty well there with D'Antoni running the show. Anyone but Rose wouldn't drastically benefit the team anyway. They are still a couple of years away from erasing the mistakes of Isiah. Nice Jeff Van Gundy chant though...

The only real shocker was Jason Thompson going to Sacramento at number 12. It looked like they had a chance to get either Bayless or Augustin, but they were both snagged right before the Kings were on the clock. Looks like they didn't have much of a backup plan. Oh and can the Maloof brothers just move this team to Vegas already? After what David Stern is doing to the Sonics franchise, he should give the Kings the go ahead just to balance things out.

So there you have it. There's plenty I missed I'm sure, but the forties of a certain champagne of beers didn't exactly help keep my head clear. And seeing as how I am an unreliable (at best) poster, there are talks of bringing in a few other writers to expand the site. I'll keep you posted.



P.S. Okay, just one thing about Stuart Scott. He badmouthed the person who bought Doc River's "Gatorade" shirt for $50,000. The money went to charity you buffoon! He was atrocious the whole night but that was the icing on the cake. I cannot stand this man. The amount of enmity that flows through my body is getting to dangerous levels. He had no business being anywhere near Madison Square Garden last night. None.

P.P.S. "So Brandon Rush, are you excited to be playing alongside Brandon Rush?" Good one Stephen A.