David Stern has been saying that they are satisfied Clay Bennett and the owners from Oklahoma City have honored their obligation to make a good faith best effort to keep the Sonics in Seattle. But those private emails keep becoming public, and now we learn the league's top lawyer, and Clay Bennett himself have worried that may not be the case, especially after minority owner Aubrey McClendon's statements last year that the owners never intended to keep the team in Seattle. As Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times tells us, Bennett, for instance, emailed McClendon: "I am concerned from a legal standpoint that your statement could perhaps undermine our basic premise of 'good faith best efforts'..." One of the fights going on right now: lawyers from the City of Seattle want to depose Commissioner Stern. This threatens to become a major distraction from the playoffs.
A very cool way to use google maps to show a whole mess of statistics. I'm a big believer that if we want people to use and understand the best statistics out there, we need to find a way to make their presentation more intuitive. (Who loves spreadsheets?) This is a cool example of that.
Now that the Suns are having a hell of a time stopping the Spurs' backcourt, it's not entirely a bad time to point out that Phoenix drafted Rajon Rondo.
DraftExpress has a new database which lets you search and sort every player, every salary, every agent, every agency, and more. Powerful stuff.
What do Jason Kidd, Tony Parker, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan all have in common? They are all. against all odds, top ten in the league in playoff three-point field goal percentage. Among those who have actually attempted more than four, Shane Battier is the king, having hit eight of 12. Also worth noting: the rebounding leaders (Carlos Boozer, Antawn Jamison, Mehmet Okur) have a little over thirty rebounds each. Dwight Howard has 54. And Brandon Bass is 11 for 11 from the line ...
AusTechSpur at Pounding the Rock writes: "The Suns are no longer the Fun and Gun Suns. They aren't even a ghost of the team that tried to shoot in 7 seconds or less. Are all the people who hopped on the Suns bandwagon (I'm talking to a lot of you) because they were a "fun" team to watch getting off now? The boring, slow, plodding Spurs just outscored them 23-4 in fast break points. Think about that. Four freaking fast break points for the Suns. They don't rain down threes, they only shot 13. So, what are all the Suns bandwagoners attracted to now. The Big Mouth's quotes, personality and hustle?" ESPN's J.A. Adande is all over it.
If the Wizards are to beat the Cavaliers in this series, I suspect this, as told by the Akron Beacon-Journal's Brian Windhorst, will be a major factor: "Caron Butler is attacking more off the dribble, which is what he probably should've been doing all along against Wally Szczerbiak. The defenders are therefore giving him more space and he's going to his pull-up game. He's an excellent player and he's showing it tonight."
Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail: "Apparently Magic guard Jameer Nelson collapsed in the hallway outside the Magic dressing room in the game after being hit with a sudden back spasm. According to Magic coach Stan Van Gundy he took a hit defending a screen-and-roll and then the back spasms kicked in. If he can't go Saturday that could be a major problem for Orlando."
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic: "Thursday's magnetic resonance imaging exam on forward Grant Hill revealed about what the Suns medical staff was expecting -- no tears, some inflammation. A decision on Hill's Game 3 status will still be made Friday but it does not sound like he will play."
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his L.A. Times blog: "Any time a professional team must play in Denver there must be an allowance made for the altitude which in Denver is over 5,000 feet. That has a major impact on the stamina of teams that train at sea level. It takes a week or so to acclimate to the additional altitude, which has a dramatic effect on an athlete's heart and lungs. This is a serious home court advantage and it has led to some major misjudgments by anyone trying to assess the Nuggets chances."
Utah's problem in Game 3 was they they played so well in Games 1 and 2. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune quotes Jerry Sloan talking about losing as motivation: "I've always thought that in order to try to stay focused after the good, you've got to think that you're playing after a loss. That's pretty hard to do, to punish yourself and say we lost even though you won, in order to prepare yourself for the next game."
Wizznutzz, so pleasingly nuts it makes my head hurt: "EVERYONES TALKING CRAZY ABOUT THE HARD FOULS! NBA promises to crack down on 'OUCHIES'!!! The media is going crazy about HAYWOOD and LEBRON aka CRIMSON and CLOVER aka GOOD TOUCH and BAD TOUCH, acting like suddenly Brendan Todd is Sweeney Todd, somekind of crazed enforcer. CMon now LEBROn v Haywood is Rourke vs Schwimmer my friends we arent blind. IF BTH is ruffing you up, making ya cry 'THEY TRYIN TO HURT ME DANNY!' then u know u soft. ALmost makes me wish we were back playing against ANDRES 'DIRTY WAR' NOCIONI. He might have been a a filthy Argenitnia [edit for PG-13ness] but at least he could take a kick in the Falklands."
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