NBA - Aaron Torres Sports
When Charles Barkley opens his mouth, you pause, stop what you’re doing and listen. Just like when Warren Buffett talks about the economy or Bill Clinton gushes about his time in the oval office, it is must see TV.
After recently being challenged to a pushup contest by a female producer on TNT, Barkley simply replied that the only thing a woman could beat him at was “cooking and cleaning.” And last fall when Barkley was charged with a DUI, his excuse for driving intoxicated was that he was on his way to get oral sex from a woman. The NBA Where Caring Happens!
Remember that movie with Freddie Prinze Jr., the one where he has to make the goofiest girl at his high school into the prom queen? I can’t remember what it’s called, because honestly it wasn’t very memorable. Save the Last Dance? Weekend at Bernies II? I honestly don’t know because after the first 700 romantic comedies you’re forced to watch, they all seem to run together.
But the premise is easy: take Rachel Leigh Cook, a girl that no one else sees anything in, and try to bring out the natural beauty in her. Get to know her and realize attractiveness is more than just fancy clothes and expensive makeup. Fall in love. It’s boring and cliché, but in a way the same story line is taking place in the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
With Round 2 of the 2009 NBA Playoffs set to wrap up, let’s look at the good and the bad from so far.
If you think about it, the NBA really is entertainment’s best spectacle.
In what other profession is someone that stands 6’3 considered to be too small, and guys that are 6’8 and 250 lbs., considered the norm?
Honestly, how many times have you even seen someone 6’8 just walking down the street? Once? It’s like Chris Rock once said about meeting Native American’s: “Yeh you met one, one time, then another one three years later.” Same with seven footers, you met one in 1999, and another last October. Yet in the NBA, they’re commonplace.
And when you factor in the ability of these giants to run and jump and dribble and pass with the coordination that they do, it becomes safe to say that the NBA is the world’s largest freak show.
In turn, I guess that makes the NBA playoffs the Grammy’s, Academy Awards and Emmy’s of the freak show: the world’s greatest athletes playing at their absolute highest level.
It is also what makes the NBA playoffs must watch television every spring.
Each year we become enamored, enthralled and enriched with the play on the court. Players and teams we don’t get to see much all year show us what we’ve been missing, and that when everyone’s healthy and interested (not always the case), NBA basketball really is the best reality show on television.
It seems like every year some team catches us off-guard, showing us something we never thought to expect. In 2007 it was the Golden State Warriors going on a run to remember, beating that year’s best team- the Dallas Mavericks- in a shocking six game series. That series opened our eyes to see that Baron Davis- when healthy and hungry- was still one of the best point guards in the NBA. Stuff like that happens ever year. It’s like the commercials say, The NBA: Where Amazing Happens.
Forget Christmas, this is the most wonderful time of the year.
Flowers are blooming, baseball season is underway and that pesky swine flu, which has been all the rage the past week, is finally in check (I can’t wait to re-read this article some time in 2011 and get nostalgic about the swine flu. It sure was a crazy week).
But with all that, there’s another reason to be excited: the NBA playoffs.
Gone are the has been’s (Pistons) and never were’s (Philadelphia). The same with the soon-to-be’s (Bulls) and maybe someday’s (Portland).
And with it, we have eight super-exciting, supremely fun basketball teams left, vying for the 2009 NBA Championship. And seven great reasons to watch.
no commentsHere at AaronTorres-Sports.com, I like to proudly say, “If It Happens In Sports, It Happens At AaronTorres-Sports.com.” But even I, Aaron Torres, the (I like to think) all-knowing sports fan, can’t be everywhere.
Which is why when I found out one of my old friend Tim Ehrens- who knows as much about the Boston sports scene as anyone- was going to Game 7 of the epic Celtics-Bulls showdown, I knew I’d have to track him down for an interview.
On Sunday we exchanged e-mails, with Tim still coming down from the proverbial high from attending another incredible game, in what may have been the greatest 1st round playoff series in the history of the NBA.
We discussed the atmosphere before and after the game, how and why the Celtics pulled out the victory and what’s next for Boston.
So while you and I might not have been there Saturday night, it’s time to welcome Tim, who was nice enough to take some time and give us his unfettered insight into Game 7 experience.
Enjoy!
no commentsAlthough I love sports as much as anyone, I’m almost never impressed by anything I see anymore.
Over the course of the last decade, I’d venture to say I’ve seen as many games, matches, races and rounds as anyone. In just the past 10 days, I witnessed the final round of the Masters, at least a dozen Major League baseball games and the same number of regular season and postseason NBA contests. Not to mention a few college football replays on ESPN Classic, a little bit of tennis and even some NHL playoffs to boot. And that doesn’t count the numerous Sportscenter’s, dumb First Take and Pardon the Interruption debates and Baseball Tonight episodes.
Because of it all, I’ve become a bit jaded.
I’ve seen Albert Pujols hit playoff home runs that haven’t landed yet (hello Brad Lidge), Roger Federer rip impossible backhands down the line, and Michael Jordan hit championship winning jump shots.
When it comes to sports I’m like some wine snob at a posh 5 star restaurant. I take a sip, swish around a bit and move to the next bottle. I have a sophisticated sports pallet and rarely am I in awe.
Which brings me to Ricky Rubio, the 18-year-old Spanish point guard that makes every teenage girl in Spain, as well as everyone in international basketball, swoon.
It’s happened again.
Another coach has been swayed by the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and the big checkbook of the New York Knicks.
Mike D’Antoni who led the Phoenix Suns to two Western Conference Finals and four playoff berths in as many years accepted $24 million over four years on Friday to lead the once proud organization out of the train-wreck that was the Isiah Thomas era. Over the next few weeks expect D’Antoni to talk about the taking the Knicks job because of the challenge in restoring the proud franchise. Of working for one of the NBA’s most well-respected executives in Donnie Walsh. And how coaching the Chicago Bulls interested him, but ultimately his heart led him to New York. Don’t let him fool you- this decision was about the glamour and dollar bills that only the Knicks could offer.
no commentsWell, I said something to myself today that I thought I'd never utter: Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA and deserves to the be the league's MVP. There, I said it.
That phrase is something I would have never been caught dead saying a year ago, yesterday or prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference semi-finals when the Lakers played the Utah Jazz. But here I am reflecting on the opening game of the round, and realizing, wow, Kobe Bryant really is a player unlike any other in the sport today.
Here's why: After scoring 38 points, including 21-23 from the foul line, getting six rebounds and dishing out a team high seven assists, I said to myself, wow the Lakers won and Kobe didn't have a great game.
Move over Isiah Thomas, there is a new man occupying the seat of "worst head coach in the NBA."
When I turned on the Bulls-Celtics game this evening and saw the Bulls down early, I assumed it was due to Boston's always efficient offense and tough man-to-man defense. After two minutes I realized that Chicago's plight was more its own doing than anything Kevin Garnett or Ray Allen was bringing to the table.
Defensively, the Bulls made zero effort to stop anyone, letting Rajon Rondo get into the lane at will and Kendrick Perkins get put back after put back. Not exactly Stockton and Malone in their prime.
At least the Bulls are usually pretty efficient offensively, but on this night Chicago's idea of running a set play was to let Joakim Noah pop out and continue to shoot brick after brick from 12-feet away. When this wasn't happening Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich were taking contested jumpers without even attempting to move the ball. Luol Deng was a dreadful 4-12 from the field. Yes that Luol Deng that Bulls general manager John Paxson refused to throw into a trade for Kobe Bryant, you know, the most talented offensive player in the NBA.
And through it all, Boylan just sat there, doing his best 'Weekend at Bernies,' playing dead impression.
Finally, just a few minutes into the second half, Rondo again blew through Chicago's matador defense and I was convinced Boylan was going to jump up and call a timeout. Any self respecting coach from Phil Jackson to Pat Riley, even the man Boylan replaced, Scott Skiles would get up, throw a chair or purposely get a technical to get thrown out of the game. But there'd be some reaction. Some violent explosion. Not from Boylan. He simply stared into the distance- like an infant watching cartoons- oblivious to the world around him.
