Self-Promotion Dept. (Vol 1)

In the non-NBA department, some of you may be wondering why I haven't been posting much. Well, after a three-year hiatus, I've returned to the sordid world of stand-up comedy. I had a little warm-up at Comedy Underground's open mic on Sunday, and starting tonight I'll be appearing every Wednesday night as part of Seattle's hottest new comedy show, Comedy Night at the Mirabeau Room on Queen Ann.

I'll probably won't be on stage that much tonight, but the line-up includes some of the Seattle's top young comics, so it's worth checking out. Did I mention Digital Underground's Humpty Hump was in last week's show? Who knows who will show up this week? Maybe Alton Lister!

(For more info go to myspace.com/paulmerrill.)

Dynamite

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.

Playoff Report

Vladi looks for a rebound, while Reggie looks for some nuts to grab.

Maybe I'm the only one who cares about this sort of thing, but I was curious to see how the players Seattle traded during the season are doing in the playoffs. Here's a quick look:

1. Vladimir Radmanovic - 8.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 7-15 from 3-point range
Radman hasn't had a breakout series, only going for double figures once, and that was in the weekend's blowout win over the Nuggets. He's averaging 20 minutes a night, which is a respectable number, but I'm sure he'd love to be playing more.

2. Reggie Evans - 4.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg
Evans hasn't seen many minutes, either, even with Kenyon Martin on the DNP list. As the backup PF, Evans' rebounds have gone from 16 in the first two games to 6 in the last two.

3. Flip Murray - 8.3 ppg
Flip continues to struggle from long range (2 of 10), but his 19 points Sunday against the Wizards was the best game of any of the former Sonics. Flip's minutes have been strange, 30+ twice and fewer than 15 twice.

(Editor's note: It looks like Reggie is getting very busy in the playoffs! - Paul)