Obligatory Larry Brown Picture #2

Just Another Week In The Association

There is a lot of action in the NBA, both on and off the court.

First, let’s get the latest Larry Brown gig out of the way. The vagabond coach landed yesterday in Charlotte as coach of the Bobcats. The Bobcats will become the ninth NBA team that he has coached. He has also coached Denver, San Antonio, the L.A. Clippers, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Indiana, and Detroit. In addition, Brown has coached in college at UCLA and Kansas, and coached the Carolina Cougars of the ABA. The picture shows Brown in the good old days as coach of the then-ABA Nuggets. Why not Charlotte, and why not Larry Brown? More power to them.

Surprisingly, most of the playoff intrigue is in the Eastern Conference. The lower-seeded teams such as Philadelphia and Atlanta are giving Detroit and Boston all they want. Will there be an upset? I doubt it. They’re making it interesting, though.

That thud you hear are teams in the Western Conference. What was supposed to be a set of classic playoff series have turned into wreckage. The Lakers swept 8th place Denver. The Spurs beat Phoenix, and the Hornets beat the Mavericks by identical 4-1 counts. Only the Houston Rockets spared themselves embarrassment by staving off elimination and forcing a Game 6 against the Jazz on Friday night in Utah.


The first casualty of the playoff disaster was Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson. Owner Mark Cuban made Avery the scapegoat for all that has gone wrong with the Mavs over the last two years. One truth of the NBA is that players tune coaches out after about three years or so, no matter who the coach is. Avery will land on his feet somewhere in the league. As for the Mavs, they are now just Dirk Nowitzki and a bunch of guys. This is not a championship team by any stretch of the imagination. Plus, it was a bonehead move to send two future draft picks to New Jersey as part of the Jason Kidd trade. Perhaps Cuban should cash out and sell the team. It’s going to be a painful rebuilding process in Dallas.

Finally, Playoffs

After a short hiatus, this blog is back!

After a long wait, the NBA playoffs begin this weekend. I have a hard time following the long NBA season. The 82-game regular season is a drag. However, the playoffs are a different story. The NBA playoffs are great entertainment. There is nothing like staying up for a late-night West Coast NBA playoff game with something on the line, especially if your team is playing said West Coast team. This promises to be the best set of NBA playoff series in a long time, possibly ever.

The Eastern Conference consists of two teams: Boston and Detroit. Shades of 1988. The Celtics have used the acquisition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to shoot to the top of the league and a 66-win season. The Detroit Pistons are right behind them, and look to be on a collision course with the Celtics. The other six teams (Orlando, Cleveland, Washington, Toronto, Philadelphia, and Atlanta) are there for filler, because the NBA requires eight teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Western Conference, on the other hand, is an eight-team battle royal. The West is so strong that Golden State won 48 games and missed the playoffs. If the Warriors were in the East playing an Eastern Conference schedule, they would probably be the 3rd best team on that side of the league. Instead, they sit home.

We have four great matchups in the West: Denver-Los Angeles, Utah-Houston, Phoenix-San Antonio, and Dallas-New Orleans. Any of those teams can make some noise in these playoffs. I believe the Lakers, Utah, San Antonio, and the Mavericks will win their first round series. The Spurs won’t go down easily, and will go on to meet the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. The Spurs will out-tough the Lakers to go to the NBA Finals.

Unfortunately for the West teams, the Celtics and Pistons won’t be tested until they play each other. Boston and Detroit will play a classic 7-game series, to be won by the Celtics. The Celtics then roll past the Western team, most likely the Spurs. Celtic pride returns, and brings yet another championship to the land of chowder.

The One J

Mark Cuban was bound and determined to pull this deal off, and he finally did it. Jason Kidd is making his debut in a Mavericks uniform tonight, after the Mavericks gave up five players, two first round draft picks, 3 million dollars, a bag of basketballs, and dinner at Bob's Steak and Chop House in Dallas in exchange for Kidd and two others. Kidd returns to Dallas, where he began his career 15 years ago. In his first go-round, he was known as one of the "Three J's", along with Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn. Kidd is the only one of the Three J's still in the league.

What is Cuban doing here? Kidd is still an All-Star point guard, at least in the Eastern Conference, but is on the back side of his career at age 35. Cuban is trying to keep up with Western Conference teams that have made recent big deals such as Phoenix (Shaq) and the Lakers (Pao Gasol). The Mavs find themselves struggling to keep up with the Spurs and the George Shinn Hornets, not to mention the Suns and the Lakers. Let's don't forget: the Mavs lost in the first round of last year's playoffs to Nellie and the Warriors.

Mark Cuban will never live down his decision to not sign Steve Nash to a long-term contract, allowing Nash to go to Phoenix to win multiple MVP awards. At the same time, the Mavs had a short window of opportunity to win a championship that is quickly going away. Their golden opportunity came two years ago. It may never return.

At least Jason Kidd comes to a better team than he played on in his first tour in Dallas. How much better remains to be seen.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane...

...it's Dwight Howard! The star big man of the Orlando Magic stole the show Saturday night at the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk competition.

Batman could never dunk a basketball.

One Championship Down, Another To Go

The Anaheim Ducks put the Ottawa Senators out of their misery tonight, winning Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, 6-2, and winning the Cup, 4 games to 1. The Ducks kicked the Sens all the way back to Canada. The series really wasn't close. As a result, there are riots in Newport Beach tonight. Not really. The Ducks' players can now shave their Grizzly Adams-style beards, since the playoffs are over.

The hockey finals ended tonight just in time for the beginning of the NBA Finals, which start tomorrow night in San Antonio. The Spurs go for their fourth championship in nine years over the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers, a/k/a LeBron James And A Bunch Of Guys. LeBron will be worth watching, all by himself. But, the Spurs will be too tough for them. The championship will go to a team on I-35. Problem is, it's not the Mavericks (remember them?). Spurs win in six.

This Guy's Awesome

LeBron James is the real deal. If there were any doubts, they went away tonight. LeBron scored 48 points in tonight's Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Detroit, 109-107 in double overtime. He scored 29 of the last 30, and the last 25 points of the game for Cleveland. It was a truly awesome performance. At times, it looked like LeBron was taking on the Pistons all by himself. The Cavs have a cast of spares surrounding the great LeBron James.

The Cavs now lead the series, 3 games to 2, with a potential series-clincher Saturday night in Cleveland. The Cavs have never been to the NBA Finals. The city of Cleveland has not had a team play for a championship since 1997, when the Indians lost to the Marlins in the World Series. However, a Cleveland team has not won a championship since 1964, when the Browns won the NFL championship. That was before the Super Bowl came along. It was also before I was born.

Thanks to a guy from Akron, Cleveland has a chance.

Ya gotta look out for CLE...

By the way, what is Chris Webber doing wearing the number 84?

What Is Up In The East?

The NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, just a few days ago, were looking like a two-team race. Both Detroit and Cleveland had swept their first round series, and had taken 3-0 leads in their second round series. They were on a collision course for a rematch of their playoff series from last year.

But, something happened on the way to DET vs. CLE. First, the Chicago Bulls won game 4 in Chicago, then surprised the Pistons last night in game 5 at the Palace. Then, the New Jersey Nets did the same thing to the Cavs, whipping the Fighting LeBrons in game 5 at the Q in Cleveland.

Something weird is going on in the East. The Bulls and the Nets aren't done yet.

Turn Back The Clock-More Cheesy Music

I had posted this briefly last week, but took it down, because I was unable to embed the Youtube video into the blog.

ABC carried NBA games up until 1974. There is a clip of their opening from 1973, with B.J. Thomas (or someone that sounds like him) singing this cheesy theme song, ending in "Timeout for the NBA Game Of The Week", with video of such NBA greats as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (with Milwaukee), Wilt Chamberlain, and Jerry West.

The owner of the video does not allow embedding, but he still has the video posted on YouTube. It is cheesier than a Kraft dinner.

NBA Game of the Week

He has other great video posted there, as well.

Good stuff...

Turning Back The Clock Again

More classic video from the folks at CBS and YouTube...

This is the opening of Game 5 of the 1976 NBA World Championship Series, between the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. The Celtics were heavy favorites, but had lost two games in Phoenix, and were tied 2-2 with the upstart Suns. This game is regarded by many as the greatest game in the history of the league, with the Celtics winning in triple overtime. The Celtics then went out to Phoenix and closed out the Suns in Game 6.

Some things to notice:

1) Young Brent Musburger.
2) Rick Barry. Now better known as Jon and Brent's dad, he was a great player in his own right. On this night, however, he appears on CBS with a toupee, and with this baby blue leisure suit, unbuttoned, with a huge cross hanging around his neck. Classic.
3) CBS had an ex-ref doing commentary, in Mendy Rudolph. Imagine if ABC/ESPN hired say, Joey Crawford, to do commentary.
4) The red checked jackets Mendy Rudolph and Sonny Hill are wearing on camera. Nice.

Not on this clip: the sixth man for the Celtics, none other than Don Nelson.

Good stuff.

Guess Who Else Is On Vacation

How do you lose Game 7 at home? That's what the Houston Rockets did tonight. Therefore, one side of the Western Conference playoffs is between the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors. Bizarre.

As a Dallas Mavericks fan, I can say: At least Houston had a Game 7.

Looking forward to that series between San Antonio and Phoenix...

Turn Back the Clock

From the archives of CBS, ESPN Classic, and YouTube...

This is the intro to Game 7 of the 1975 Western Conference Finals, between the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors. This is a long time before hip-hop and the NBA became intertwined with each other. Heck, this is even slightly before disco. Some things to notice:

1) The cheesy opening intro music, complete with lyrics and 70's-style silhouette animation. "You'll see the best in basketball, when you watch the NBA..when you watch the NBA on CBS.."
2) A young Brent Musburger, when he was becoming the voice of EVERYTHING for CBS. He was better then, before his ego got in the way. He's now been with ABC/ESPN longer than he was with CBS, but ESPN has cheapened him by placing him on those spare Tuesday night Big Ten games, among other things. He is, however, filling the shoes of the once-great Keith Jackson on college football, and is the subject of a drinking game.
3) The Bulls in the Western Conference? Yes, they were. The Bulls and Milwaukee were in the Western Conference until 1980, when the Dallas Mavericks came into the league. When the Mavs came into the NBA, Houston and San Antonio moved to the West with them, and the Bulls and Bucks went east.

This video clip is really good stuff. By the way, the Warriors went on to win this game, then won the championship in the next round by sweeping the Washington Bullets, four games to none.

Stayin' Alive

Up 21 in the first half. Down 9 with less than 3 minutes to play. I can't handle the suspense any longer. Great 15-0 run by the Mavs to close it out. (or was it a meltdown by Golden State-those 3's aren't going to fall forever)

Back to California for Game 6..

Train Wreck

There is a train wreck of Biblical proportions occurring in the NBA playoffs.

The Dallas Mavericks, winners of 67 games in the regular season, are down 3 games to 1 in their first round playoff series with the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors. Over the weekend, the Mavs lost two winnable games near the City by the Bay. I cannot describe how upset I am with them.

The Mavericks are on track to totally blow two entire seasons. Last season, they won the first two games in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, then blew a lead late in Game 3, as they lost the last four games of the series and the title to the Heat. While that was embarrassing and disheartening, the little Mavs bounced back to post the third best regular season record in the history of the league. At this point, though, that doesn't matter. They're getting their butts kicked by ex-coach Don Nelson and the Golden State Warriors. The window for a championship is closing, faster than the Road Runner can say, "Beep, Beep".

This series is not over. This team is capable of winning three games in a row, in spite of the matchup problems. After all, this team had a 17-game winning streak and two 12-game winning streaks.

But, it is so easy to knee-jerk over this thing, and that's what I'm doing here. If the Mavs blow this golden opportunity, where do they go from here? Does Mark Cuban fire Avery Johnson after winning 67 games? Do the Mavs trade Dirk Nowitzki after a possible MVP season? Heck, does Cuban get sick of it all, and cash out and sell the team?

This is bad. Really bad.

Ugly Uniform of the Day

It's been a while since there's been a UUOTD, as last week was no time to be throwing any team under the bus. But, UUOTD returns with a vengeance today.

The Atlanta Hawks aren't playing right now. They don't play past the middle of April, because they only play in the pre-season and in the regular season. They don't play in the playoffs. We'll hear from them next in the draft lottery, when they hope to get lucky with a ping-pong ball and get one of the top two picks in the draft. The Hawks are one of the worst franchises in professional sports. They have not made the playoffs since the Clinton Administration. Don't totally give up, though, Atlanta. The Dallas Mavericks were once the laughing stock of the NBA.

With that said, the Hawks are gone right now, but not forgotten. Their third jersey is a mixture of Del Monte mustard and Heinz ketchup. That combination fits on a hot dog, but not on a uniform. Ugly, ugly, ugly. The only saving grace to this look is that it is not one of their primary uniforms.

Would you like some chips with that hot dog?

I'm glad I'm not an Oscar Mayer wiener.

Eye gouge rating: two

Ugly Uniform Of The Day-Retro

We're still going retro, and we're still on the time machine. The time machine takes us to Atlanta, and 1971.

The Atlanta Hawks wore one of the ugliest uniforms in the history of the NBA. At the time, I'm sure it was considered groovy. However, it was tasteless. All that are missing from this uniform are the flowers and the flourescent Volkswagen bus.

The great Pete Maravich is shown in the home version. They wore lime green with blue, with stripes down the side of the uniform. On the back, the player's name was listed under the number. Maravich was simply "Pistol". Notice the knee-high socks, also. The Hawks really sullied his greatness with this uniform.

The Hawks changed their primary color to red when they moved to the Omni in 1972. They've had some bad looks in the last 30 years, but none as bad as this.

And, to think the team has chosen to wear this as a throwback this year. Ugh!

A Train Wreck?

NBA All-Star Weekend has turned into more of a party than a game. The game is usually pretty bad, and comes at the end of a long weekend of partying.

A lot of the time, I find Jason Whitlock to be a big blowhard. Other times, I agree with him. He opines here that bringing the All-Star Game to New Orleans next year is a bad idea. I'll let him say these things, because: 1) he's a better writer than me, and 2) because he's black, and there are things he says that I wouldn't be able to write.

Mayhem Main Event at NBA All-Star Weekend

Now, we have another reason why Mark Cuban doesn't want to bring the All-Star Game to Dallas.

Ugly Uniform of the Day

For today's UUOTD, we remain in the Great Lakes. That area has been a center for bad taste in uniforms.

The NBA, the 90's, and the city of Cleveland have provided plenty of fodder for this blog in recent days. Now, they all converge for one UUOTD.

The Cleveland Cavaliers changed color and uniform schemes with their move into Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena) in 1994. They changed to this black, orange, and baby blue uniform. There is a splotch of baby blue across both the jersey and the shorts. It looks like a kid spilled blue paint on a black uniform. The orange trim does not help at all. This was bad, bad, bad. The Cavs wore these for four years, before keeping the colors and removing the splotch on a revised uniform, which they wore for five years before moving to their present uniforms.

Once again, the NBA tried to get too cute. Somewhere out there, there is a uniform designer who is the object of much ridicule. The league may not design all uniforms, but they do approve all uniform changes. The uniform czar at the NBA was asleep on the job in the mid-90's.

Don't worry, though. These will come back as throwback jerseys in another 10 years or so.

For what it's worth, the Cavs are wearing their late 80's-early 90's orange jerseys Thursday night, in a throwback promotion. They are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the beginning of their run of quality teams, which played third banana to the Pistons and Bulls of that era.

Ya gotta look out for CLE.

UUOTD-Tuesday

We remain in the Great Lakes, but cross the border into the Great White North of Canada for today's UUOTD.

The Toronto Raptors came into the league in 1995, while the movie Jurassic Park was popular. I thought that was a questionable and goofy team name at the time. The uniform was even worse, as modeled by Vince Carter (above).

The NBA trend for some teams at that time was to have a big mascot on the front of the jersey, with a logo and a small number. For the Raptors, this meant having something akin to Dino on the front, complete with pinstripes and purple. They also had a little "TR" logo at the bottom of the stripe on the side of the shorts.

Gross. At least they didn't use Barney as a mascot.

The Raptors have done better to adopt the Canadian colors of red and white. The dinosaur uniform days are over.

The question in the future will be: What's a Raptor? I don't look for them to change their name to the Mounties any time soon, though.

UUOTD-Monday

Imagine this: A UUOTD not involving Cleveland or San Diego!

The 1990's were a decade where the NBA's marketing and design people were under the influence of drugs. That can be the only explanation for some of the bad uniforms and designs that the league is only now being purged of. Designs that were supposed to be cute and cool did not withstand any test, much less the test of time. There were some bad, bad looks as the league said goodbye to the great Michael Jordan.

A classic example is what happened to the Detroit Pistons' uniforms, from 1997-2001. The Pistons had a great look, with their blue and white uniforms, with red trim. Somebody in the front office, or in the NBA marketing office, got the bright idea to change the color scheme. So, the Pistons switched to teal, and this goofy horsepower logo. Grant Hill is pictured here with this uniform. A tough team from a tough city like Detroit did not need to be wearing teal.

Also, one of the worst logo designs were the alternate designs with the team initials, such as the "DP" on the shorts. That was so ghey. The Pistons were not the only guilty party on that-see the Utah Jazz and their "UJ" from the 90's.

Not coincidentally, the Pistons were struggling on the court. The team got smart in this decade, and switched back to blue and red. A championship soon followed.

Teal was a bad, bad look for the Pistons.