The Washington Post's Mike Wise to LeBron James: "Take heart, kid. You're not alone. Shaquille O'Neal was swept from the Finals in his first try. Magic Johnson's Lakers were swept twice in the Finals, once by an overdue Julius Erving-led Philadelphia team in 1983 and again in 1989, when Magic and Byron Scott were injured. Isiah Thomas lost in his inaugural trip before winning twice. Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets were dumped by Larry Bird in 1986 and came back to win two straight in the next decade. Unless you're Michael Jordan, losing on basketball's biggest stage is almost a rite of passage to winning it all one day."
The Akron Beacon-Journal's Brian Windhorst (my guest on Chad Ford's Daily Dish podcast today) writes: "Anderson Varejao always wants to shoot, the man has taken 3-pointers in this postseason. This is the last guy you want with the ball in a pressure situation trying to create his own shot. It is a disaster waiting to happen. It happened. This is a experience issue, in that case he's got to be smarter with the ball. Mike Brown was trying hard to get a timeout there. We all know the play out of the timeout would've been an iso play for the LeBron at the top of the key and the Spurs would've been ready. Who can say the Cavs would've even got a better shot with the timeout. Nonetheless, when the season is on the line there has to be better decisions made. Another lesson."
Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune: "For a total of 17:40, the Cavs managed to score just 12 points. To put that in perspective, the Cavs wouldn't have totaled 33 points in a 48-minute game at that pace. The Spurs outscored Cleveland 30-12 in that time - - including the last 10 points of the second quarter and first five points of the fourth."
I noticed the very same thing. Trey at the Blowtorch writes: "Back in the '98 Finals, there was that sequence where Karl Malone got the ball in the post and Jordan came from the baseline side to swipe it and take the ball down and score to set the Bulls up to win their 6th championship. Last night, a nearly identical set of events happened. I say nearly because Tim Duncan is better than Karl Malone. The ball got dumped in to Duncan down low. He was guarded by Varejao and LeBron came baseline to try to swipe the ball, but Duncan moved the ball just enough to not only avoid LeBron's swipe but to also send him scurrying to recover while Duncan went towards the hoop."
"Dear Dirk, Happy Birthday. I hope you will happy forever."(sic) Truly amazing Dirk Nowitzki video. Don't play it without sound, you need the creepy love music.
Arguably the best player not in the NBA, Theo Papaloukas, is a free agent willing and able to join the NBA. He says that if the playing time, salary, and wins are all there, he'll be in the NBA next year. 12 teams -- good ones -- are interested in the supersized ball-handler who has shredded Team USA more than once.
ESPN's Outside the Lines is doing interviews about the Oden vs. Durant debate, and the producer who spent time with Kevin Pritchard reads between the lines of Pritchard's statements and says he thinks Pritchard's mind is made up.
David Stern uses the phrase "Holy Moses" and SLAM's Sam Rubenstein loves it: "... it was a great moment. Sometimes when you meet a public figure, they aren't in character and it can be a letdown. Stern played the David Stern role perfectly. I haven't been that impressed since I saw Redman smoking back to back to back blunts in the back of a rap club 10 years ago."
Detlef Schrempf unloads on the Sonics organization to Greg Johns of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "I don't see being associated with that unless things change. I love teaching and coaching. But the situation there is just not how it should be. ... I remember the Sonics being a proud part of this community, and unfortunately that's not the case right now. I was told there would be meetings after the season and discussions of how to move forward, but nobody has talked to anybody. There really hasn't been much of any direction. I assume the new GM is just getting his feet wet right now and figuring out what the next steps are. But since the season ended, everybody is just sitting around in limbo. We're totally out of the loop. Someone has to take charge and show leadership. ... I was hoping the Sonics would form some group to go out and actively pursue business leaders, knock on doors, beat drums, be in the papers and on TV showing the positives of it. But I didn't see any of that." (via Enjoy the Enjoyment) Another Seattle assistant, Jack Sikma, may be on his way to join Rick Adelman's staff in Houston.
The Kings' coaching search turns into a zombie that will never die. To me, from a vast distance, who you want to coach that team depends mightily on whether or not you still have Ron Artest next year. Keeping Artest would be an argument for a big name, a heavyweight, who will need every shred of credibility. Without Artest, you can consider a whipper-snapper.
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