Michael Lee of the Washington Post on that same game: "After playing their worst 10 minutes of basketball in the tournament so far, they were searching for something to spark them. Then LeBron James told his teammates, 'The energy man has awoken.' James, the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar, went out and backed up his words, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the third period."
John Niyo in the Detroit News says the US can now start talking trash again, and relays a story that has been told many times already from the game vs. Brazil: "'Kobe came to me and, in perfect Spanish, he told me I should allow his defender to play harder or he'd get bored,' Argentinian referee Daniel Rodrigo told La Nacion, Argentina's largest newspaper." My thought: Bryant can say whatever he wants in the heat of the battle, but for us basketball fans? We're halfway through an Olympic qualifying tournament and have beat competition that is either weak or missing some of their best players. Let's be encouraged, but not crazy. As ESPN's Chris Sheridan points out: "Mexico, a 51½ point underdog, knocked down 15 3-point shots, almost all of them wide-open looks, and had a lot of success running the same pick-and-roll play that Greece used so effectively against Team USA in the semifinals of the World Championship last summer."
Remember when Chris Mullin was handing out fat piles of cash to every dog that strayed into the kitchen? He was the former player, it seemed then, who probably should not have become a GM. But that's changing a little, huh? And as Golden State of Mind points out, he's tighter with the money, and this upcoming season will be the first time the roster is 100% Mullin players.
Not too long ago (well, like, yesterday) Michael McCann was, to me, the sports lawyer for the blogosphere. In fact, I'm certain I have called him that many times. He'd even take requests from bloggers sometimes -- investigating on his Sports Law Blog difficult legal questions from sports bloggers. Maybe he will still do that, but he'll have less time -- because now he's a real deal columnist for Sports Illustrated.
Vin Baker is due in court today on drunken driving charges. In the wake of that Eddie Griffin tragedy, I'm pulling for a reasonable degree of sobriety in the NBA. Especially when cars are involved.
Celtic fans, you owe Kevin Garnett a beer or something. (I get the irony, yes I do.) James Posey said he signed with the Celtics -- the reigning worst team in the worst conference in the NBA -- because they had the best chance of winning a championship.
I'm totally interested in the idea that at some point NBA fans will be able to use video to assess the quality of NBA referees. I think the NBA should share those tools for free, but if they won't, people will be able to make some kind of assessments anyway. As I have mentioned before, the same thing is happening now to the police. More thoughts on citizen journalists and Jimmy Justice.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
