Five things gleaned from watching two fun games last night (Heat-Bulls, Lakers-Suns):
1. Steve Kerr (on TNT) mentioned during the 4th quarter of the Heat-Bulls game that this has been the most competitive first round he can remember. No arguments here.
2. GP got the majority of the minutes in the 4th quarter last night - even though I saw Hinrich burn him at least twice, badly. Still, it's nice to see Gary running the point for a team that's winning in the playoffs.
3. You know how when you play a pickup game and a guy launches an obviously bad shot the entire gym echoes with "Off!"? I'm convinced that when Shawn Marion was a kid, every time he shot people said the same thing. Do his jumpers ever look like they're going down?
4. Raja Bell = Bruce Bowen = Bill Laimbeer = Danny Ainge = Players only fans of that team can root for. That's got to be one of the ugliest plays in awhile, especially when you see the look on Bell's face as Kobe was going by him. Bell looked like he was eagerly anticipating choking him. He has to be suspended, in my opinion, for at least a game.
5. I don't think I've ever looked forward to non-Sonic Game 6 as much as I'm looking forward to Suns-Lakers on Thursday. In fact, I hope the NBA doesn't suspend Bell, just so the Suns can't trot out any more excuses why they didn't win and we can see both of these teams at more or less even strength. If this was series was a pot of water, it was already bubbling before Bell clotheslined Kobe; now, the steam is filling the kitchen.
22 comments:
Anybody else notice that after Bell got tossed that the Suns went on a run? I thought Kobe was going to hit 6 straight 3's to put the Lakers ahead, but Barbos did a decent job on him and Marion seem to catch fire on offense.
Still, the Suns didn't dominate the game at all, and it seems to me like the Lakers should be able to win Game 6.
Personally in twentyfive years of watching pro basketball I have never seen a play that can compete in terms of ultimate bad taste a hard foul is one thing, what Raja Bell did tue. night in pheonex was chicken to wait until your team is up by twenty points, far enough through the fourth quarter to insure a win and then take the head off your opponet with total malise aforethought. this guy is not responsible enought To play pro basketball he makes Laterell Spreewell look like mother Theresa the guy belongs in prison. not to mention all his "well it's not really his fault, we've gotten a lot of bad calls, and he took an elbow earlier", (yeah and he gave a few when he wasn't busy floping) the only reason I'd likke to see Him on the floor (I maen on the floor) thurs is to get kicked. He should be garded by the guy that was garding Chris Kayman the other night. that's justice
Ugliest plays in a while? I'd rather get clotheslined than get grabbed in the nuts.
Especially when after the grab the dude adds a twist. I can't believe that he didn't get suspended for that. If some dude grabbed my sac and tried to rip it off, I'd do more than push him.
You're right, Lance, the Evans play was uglier. I suppose I was thinking of blatant, malicious fouls.
Plus nobody saw Reggie do what he did at first glance, all we saw was Kaman go off, whereas when Bell clotheslined Kobe everybody watching the game (outside the greater Phoenix area) jumped out of their chair and screamed "Holy crap!" at the tv set.
I didn't mean to minimize Bell's actions. Taking a cheap shot is always the sign of a true bitch, even if it is done toward Kobe. At least Raja took the cheap shot for all to see, were Evans tried to keep it on the DL. Staying away from a guy's junk is the cardinal fucking rule of male-to-male behavior (insert gay joke here). I've been clothlined before, but the pain is nothing compared to taking a shot in the jumblies.
From watching the game on tv, it sure didn't sound like the fans in Phoenix were particularly bothered by Bell's hit. In fact, immediately afterward it seemed as though they were cheering pretty loudly.
Of course, if the situation was different, and it was, oh, I don't know, Frank Brickowski laying the smack down on Karl Malone, I'd be inclined to clap just a little bit as well.
pretty low of raja. and he's complaining that kobe's been elbowing him? Kobe barely touches Raja and he starts flopping all over the place. Raja's a jerk, plan and simple.
Slightly off topic, but an interesting story from the Denver Post about GEorge Karl's divorce from the Denver Nuggets "family."
http://tinyurl.com/j2s2n
I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tells ya that a George Karl team is having harmony issues after Karl had transformed them from underachievers less than a year before.
SHOCKED!
While I'm not an advocate of cheap shots (which Bell's definitely was) I have to say this series got out of hand in terms of physicality long before this. His foul was no harder than Luke Walton's on Tim Thomas (one could even argue that was much worse, since Thomas was in the air and had a greater chance of getting injured) and no less flagrant than Kwame Brown elbowing Boris Diaw to the ground and standing over him menacingly. Bell definitely should have been thrown out of the game, but if they're going to set a precedent by not punishing those other fouls more seriously they cannot suspend him for this one. I think they will, of course, because it was against Kobe Bryant.
I agree with Ryan. Kobe does everything and pretends like he did not do anything. When Tim Thomas was fouled he pushed Diaw on them and Diaw got a technical foul. He elbowed Raja many times. That is the reason most people hate Kobe. I agree he has great basketball skills but he is the worst player..
this is freaking ridiculous, the suns have been putting up with the lakers being bullys the whole series, and the refs have been totally ignoring it...the suns (and bell) were only doing what was neccessary to show the refs that they can only take so much of their bullsh*t. I mean, the refs totally ignored all the brutality against the suns in game three and now people are getting upset at the suns for retaliating. I just hope the suns will be able to play their game and the refs will be FAIR TO BOTH SIDES. I understand Bell had to be ejected, but Kobe had it coming to him for a long freaking time.
...bullied? WTF...this isn't freakin' recess. so you whine to the recess lady (ref's) and the Lakers have to go put their nose's against the wall for the rest of recess...c'mon. if you watch the elbows that Bell points out, they are incidental AT BEST. He's using his off arm to shield Bell from reaching around. Bell happens to stick is grill down there...OOPS. What Bell did, c'mon, that's a straight cheap shot and a bitch move, just like James Posey on Hinrich, just like Reggie Evans on Kaman, just like Karl Malone on Isiah Thomas. I don't even like Kobe, i think he's a great player, but personally i hate the bitch, but the sun's being BULLIED???....PWAHAHAHAHAHAHA...hilarious!!! G Man, go sit at your desk, get a piece of paper, and write this sentence 500 times, "the Phoenix Suns are pussies." no recess for you...
In the second-round of the NBA Playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers will destroy either the Los Angeles Lakers of the Phoenix Suns—there is no denyin' it!
C-Dub, a rapist??? Really???? Some horny white chick (who by the way did some other dude that same night) see's Kobe Bryant (he's a celebrity, I couldn't tell you how many chicks of the same persuasion I've pulled just being black, let alone an NBA player) and goes up to his room bangs him, he gets a little too rough and she cries rape, and she gets paid. And you're gonna get on here and call the dude a rapist. I have never been a Kobe fan, and I hate the Lakers, BUT that crying rape shit when you are in a celebrities room at 2AM (ala Mike Tyson) is fuckin bootleg and you know it. You don't like Kobe, fine but don't be a little bitch and call the man out for some corny ass shit like that. STOP CONTRIBUTING TO THE PUSSIFICATION OF MEN!!!!!! Pull your panties up and keep it real.
It just tall all u guys how good Kobe is and how much Bell still need to learn to be at Kobe level.
If that is Biggie, you were singing a different tune regarding the Duke lacrosse players and that alleged rape. Very similar situations.
I seem to recall that you had some strong negative feelings toward the accused rapists in the Duke case, as did I. I assume that those feeling stem more from the alleged rape than from the racist remarks of the players .
These lacrosse kids may not be celebrities, but they are rich, at least substantially more so than the accuser. The accuser in the lacrosse incident has credibility problems (past convictions, drunkeness, supposide pictures of bruising before the alleged incident, claiming $2000 was taken from her purse) just like the girl in the Kobe incident (her previous sexual encounters, prior history of rape allegations). In both cases, physical evidence would seem to point to the possibility of a sexual assault (In Kobe's case, the blood; in the Duke case, rape kit evidence that points to assault).
I have no doubt that at least some of the guys in the lacrosse incident are racist, but I don't think that has any bearing on whether or not they raped the stripper. They weren't so racist that they had a problem hiring black strippers. It should also be noted that the woman who claimed the lacrosse players yelled racist remarks at her is also a convicted felon, not to mention that she is on the record as saying she is looking to "spin this to my advantage."
In both cases, the court of public opinion has heavily played into the perception of what happened. Some claim the women in both cases are money hunger liers, others counter that there's no way the accuser would put themselves through such an ordeal if the alleged assault didn't occur. Both cases stoke racial tensions, with each side claiming unfair treatment.
To me, if you take out the names of the people and places that theses alleged crimes take place, they're all but identical.
I'm inclined to believe that both women were raped, so I'm curious as to why you would think one was being truthful (duke accuser) and the other wasn't (Kobe accuser)?
Maybe we could settle this thing by locking Kobe in a room with the Lacrosse players and letting them all rape each other to death.
Only in Utopia Paul.
"They weren't so racist that they had a problem hiring black strippers." That's just it dude, that's WHY they hired black strippers because the way those kids are raised (privileged in posh neighborhoods, going to schools with probably almost no black students) they dehumanize black people and therefore it is easy for them to rape a black woman as opposed to a white woman (who subconsciously reminds them of mothers, sisters, aunties). I'll go far enough to say that this was probably premeditated, that they requested the women to be black for just that reason. Being a fly on the wall in many situations in a town like Seattle has shown me many things. You'd be surprised at the things you hear at bars on the eastside, and from frat boys in the U district. It's a mob mentality that I've noticed, it seems when you get a group of young white guys and alchohol is involved (i'm generalizing here, it is not ALL white guys) then the old guard way of thinking seems to bubble to the surface. Parents fail to teach tolerance and often let their own prejudices seep into the minds of their children, it's sick. I see your point though Lance and yes I'll admit I am biased, I have that Dave Chappelle syndrome that whenever a black person is on trial for something I automatically give them the benefit of the doubt. I think you would too were the odds so stacked against your kind. I'll also admit that I LOVE anything that pisses white america off, I'm not a baseball fan by any means, and knew little about Barry Bonds 5yrs ago. But now that white America hates him, I love that dude, he's awesome, GO BARRY. I hope he breaks the Babes record and then spits on that fat bastards grave actually. I hate Babe Ruth. Mainly for the fact that people say he's the best but he only played against all white competition. How can you be the best when you don't play against everybody??????????? So yes Lance, you're right I do look at situations differently, but, at least I can admit it.
More importantly, is Smush Parker getting paid for his work in this series? If he is, he ought to give his salary to Kobe, because he sure as hell isn't doing anything out there. That game last night was tough to swallow, especially that Thomas 3 at the end of regulation. Kobe's amazing, but I don't see how he can lead this Laker team past the Suns in Phoenix in game 7.
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