More of Kevin Garnett's Dirty Antics

Remember the days in the WWE "Attitude" era where evil boss Vince McMahon got the reserved "ass-hole" chant from the fans... We'll the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett is doing is best to receive those infamous chants (well deserved may I add), but instead, he gets the predictable, but I guess never too old "Garnett sucks" chant. Courteously from Basketbawful, here are just a couple of KG's asshole-like tactics:

(1) After getting a facial from Travis Outlaw, KG tries to give Outlaw a facial with his elbow. Watch closely on the replay at the 1:02 mark



(2) Two elbow attempts at LaMarcus Aldridge and then to have the audacity to put your filthy hands up and then do the hands out and say, "What did I do wrong" look after the refs copped out and gave a double technical (in which both the T's should have gone to KG)...

Nate's Greatest Offense Scheme: 6 on 5!!

You may be laughing now about that call/play/outcome at the end of the first half, but if you look at it, it played a vital role for the entire game.

Now, you all know that its suppose to be 5 on 5. Once the refs realized (after Kevin Garnett pointed that out) that the Blazers had 6 players on the court after an Outlaw dunk, the refs huddled together and decided to give the Blazers a technical foul BUT they also counted the bucket. Shouldn't they have waived off the bucket and then gave Boston the technical free throw??

That's a 3-point swing and with 22 seconds left in the game, Paul Pierce connected on a driving runner and was fouled and hit the FT to make the score 87-86 Portland. Subtract two from Portland and Boston has the one point lead and who knows what happens at the end (probably Nate would have found some way to lose)...

All in all, I really can't complain. The Blazers won and Nate really did one hell of a job tonight. I especially like the twin tower lineup of Oden and Przybilla together (although I would of liked to see more of that in the 4th)...

Bill Simmons on Mike D'Antoni and Don't Forget to Vote 4 Rudy!!

For the 1st time in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, the NBA fans will get to vote the for the final entrant into the contest and Portland's Rudy Fernandez is one of three players on the ballot. Watch the clip below and then vote for Rudy!!

Bill Simmons has a great article up on Mike D'Antoni's "Seven seconds or less" offense relating to that of past PG Steve Nash and current PG Chris Duhon with the Knicks. A very good read making me once again wonder what the Blazers would have been like with this genius using Sergio and Rudy who are built for his system rather than McMuffin's slow and (at times) sloppy pace... Just look at all the Knicks from last season and you couldn't find a reliable fantasy basketball player other than Zach Randolph... Now D'Antoni has people like David Lee, Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, Wilson Chandler, and even Quentin Richardson putting WAY above average numbers than they are accustomed to and they are no longer a joke and fun to watch.

Mavericks Receive Christmas Gift from McMuffin

A Christmas downer for the Blazers and yours truly an fans had to suffer through one of the worst coaching forth quarters this year. That's right. Nate McMuffin did his best to try to bring his worst coaching game to the table. For Dallas fans, it was joy.

The Blazers started off the 4th quarter with great momentum as Rudy just had a monster tip in to conclude the 3rd. Sergio Rodriguez was in the game who had a brilliant first half of 9 points on 4-4 shooting with just one turnover... Well, just 2 minutes into the quarter with Portland not scoring, McMuffin subs out Rodriguez for Blake and Sergio finished with the exact numbers as he did from the line above... Maverick's coach Rick Carlisle had to be thinking "It must be a Christmas gift because no coach can be that dumb." Well, let me introduce you more to McMuffin...

Also, early in the 4th after a "McMuffin-signature-panic-timeout", for some reason, he found it wise to sub Przybilla for Oden... During the commercial I was telling my dad and texting my bud Jeff that if Nate subs Oden back in, we'd have a greater chance of losing... Back from break, there is Oden and I'm thinking, "Oh SHIT"!!
Oden starts off the 1st position with a travel and I'm thinking, yup, somehow, Portland is going to lose this game all thanks to its beloved ignorant coach. The signs don't be telling me otherwise as (gulp) Brandon Bass embarrasses Oden on another play for a huge dunk and that right there told me that yup, the Blazers were going to lose this game.

And to top it off, Dallas backup PG J.J. Barea was an incredible 4-13 from the field but was a MAJOR catalyst for the Mavs in the 4th. He 5'9" guard finished with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers. 8 rebounds from somebody 5'9"!? I guess that stat alone should get a team a win, which it did. And it proved that you can have a bench finish games if they're playing well (cough-cough) Sergio and Joel (the main reason you beat Denver the game before) McMuffin...

Way to put a damper on this Christmas to Blazer fans Nate...

The Power of the White Guys

Without Rudy's spark at the end of the first quarter, without Sergio's creativity to drive and dish the ball, AND without "Vanilla Gorilla" Joel Przybilla's (10 and 19) hustle, defense, rebounding, and dear I say it free throw shooting (no thanks to Nate McMuFFin) thanks to Greg Oden being foul prone, the Blazers were able to avenge their loss to the Nuggets last night.

Aldridge was gravy again tonight going for 20 or more two nights in a row despite a humongous performance from Nene (17 and 13), 20 off the bench from Linas Kleiza (thanks to Travis Outlaw's piss-poor defense on him and luckily, Kleiza missed an open one after McMuffin subbed him in with less than 4 minutes to go), the ever so solid Chauncey Billups.

Oh and for those of you that attended the game and were happy that Travis Outlaw did NOT run out the clock so the Blazers would have a chance at scoring 100 for the Chalupas, that might not necessary be a good thing. (No, I'm not trying to save billionaire Paul Allen some pocket change). Whenever a team runs up the score against the opponent, you better believe that they will remember this, and that they will probably not only beat you the next time we play them, but they most likely will blow you out...

So thanks a lot Travis Outlaw for the Chalupas... Not only does your 8 out of 10 times you dribble once to the right and shoot an awful fade from 20 feet kill us, but so does your 8 out of 10 times you don't pass the ball once you pass half court. You may have the Basketball IQ of a McNugget, but you made 20,000 people happy with a free $1.50 from Taco Bell, but you can almost guarantee a LOSS on March 5 when the Blazers next play the Nuggets...


And for those keeping track...

McMillan and McMuffin... Outlaw and McNugget... = Same Basketball IQ

"All-Star Numbers" for 52!!

Greg Oden may wear number 52, but teammate and NOW (hopefully people around the nation realize) Brandon Roy is a superstar!!

Phoenix and their coward and awful coach Terry Porter had this thing in the bag leading by 12 points but Roy was unstoppable and everything he touched seemed to be magic. Draining threes, driving over three defenders for a layup, EVERYTHING!!

Roy has scored 30+ points in the last 4 out of 5 games now and last I checked, he was 10th in All-Star voting for Western Conference guards while somebody of the likes of Allen Iverson, who has stunk up the Piston, is 2nd in the Eastern Conference... No justice... People, get online and votes yours asses off for Brandon Roy!!

P.S. STOP voting for a washed-up Allen Iverson, who is getting outplayed by the likes of not only Roy, but in the Eastern Conference, by the likes of Dwayne Wade, Devin Harris, Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo, and my man, Jose CALDERON!

Nate's Pitiful Excuse to John Hollinger

McMuffin gives his lame-ass excuse for the Clipper debacle from ESPN's John Hollinger:

I talked to McMillan about the decision afterward, and he said he didn't believe in fouling in that situation. Among other things, he pointed out that the only way you can lose is by fouling, because the player can get a four-point play.

Um... did he not see the final score???

(Repost of last paragraph from last entry):

And the fact that the Clips had 8 seconds to get a final shot off where Mike Dunleavy was dumb enough to milk the whole clock so that if the Clips were to miss, they wouldn't get a second chance. Barron Davis was probably 10 feet away from the three point line milking the clock and the Blazers had ALL the time in the world to foul and make the Clips do IMO the more improbable thing of making the first FT and then having to miss the second and then get the rebound and score... Doesn't that sound a lot harder than LETTING B-Diddy having a nice look at a three McMuffin'?
It was a double overtime classic game indeed of two most god-awful coaches of today in the NBA...

Ladies and gentlemen: Mike "Dunleaky" and Nate "McMuffin"!!

What the Blake Was That?!

Edited: 8:20 PM on 12/15/02 (scroll down to final paragraph)



Or more like What the (Bleep) was that?! Steve Blake, a CAREER 77% FT shooter shoots five FT at the end of the 4th quarter and goes 1 for 5 and the Clippers are able to force a tie and end of beating the Blazers. If you can't make your FT's, you don't deserve to win the game. My beef is still with McMuffin'... When you have Rudy Fernandez who is about 93% who had already missed his "one", why not Rudy?

And once again, what about the bad timeout management by McMuffin'. You even had Mike Rice saying on TV commentary that he'd save a timeout because you know what you're going to run and you might need it later... Well, once again, McMuffin' ignores the thought of saving timeouts and out of the timeout, the Blazers run an iso-Roy... Really?! You needed a timeout for that?!

And the fact that the Clips had 8 seconds to get a final shot off where Mike Dunleavy was dumb enough to milk the whole clock so that if the Clips were to miss, they wouldn't get a second chance. Barron Davis was probably 10 feet away from the three point line milking the clock and the Blazers had ALL the time in the world to foul and make the Clips do IMO the more improbable thing of making the first FT and then having to miss the second and then get the rebound and score... Doesn't that sound a lot harder than LETTING B-Diddy having a nice look at a three McMuffin'?
It was a double overtime classic game indeed of two most god-awful coaches of today in the NBA...

Ladies and gentlemen: Mike "Dunleaky" and Nate "McMuffin"!!

The Taste of McMuffin... Bitter!!

Feels like a Bill Simmons's like diary... cue Adam Carolla... (Dear, Online diary...),

Remember Mike Dunleavy's timeout in the 2000 Western Conference Finals vs. the Lakers after the Blazers built a 15 or 17 point lead in the 4th quarter after Phil Jackson refused to call a timeout going down as the "Worst timeout called in Blazer history..." You all know what happened and I'll leave it at that... Well, number "# 2" happened tonight:

With a 5 point lead with 53 seconds left DRIBBLING past halfcourt, McMuffin' calls a 20 second timeout leaving the Blazers with one 20 left... Now, I can maybe understand a timeout if you're behind a bucket or two, or even up one, two, or three points.... but 5. (I notice McMuffin' loves to do these timeouts which is pure stupid and also, his calling 20 sec. timeouts after one FT so you can't advance the ball to halfcourt). I immediately told my dad that that was a terrible timeout for those reasons I mentioned above the parenthesis. Then, when the Blazers had to call a second timeout, I knew we had a great possibility of losing the game... Then, cue Mike Rice on you want to have one of these timeouts down the stretch in case of a f*** up and then a really Kevin Pritchard mind-boggled face... And what happens off the timeout... you guessed it... a turnover that turned into 3 points for Orlando to cut the lead to 2 with 29 seconds left and NOW with no timeouts, we get off a corner prayer three by Roy with a hand in his face that airballs and now Oralndo calls timeout... I tell my dad that YES, we are gonna lose this game now and low and behold... Turkoglu hits the 3 to give Orlando the one point win...

Not even with all the bloggers and forums out there that have expressed their (smart) opinions of playing Joel in the 4th quarter (McMuffin' failed to realize this until after mid season last year), to playing Sergio more, starting Batum or Rudy over Travis at the start of the season, whatever it may be... I still can't get the bitter taste of McMuffin' out of my mouth after this one...

KG vs. Jose Calderon

Another reason to hate (the most underrated asshole in the NBA) Kevin Garnett and love (the most underrated PG today) JOSE CALDERON!! I'll tell you what, if this was Rasheed Wallace taunting, not only would he have been ejected in a nanosecond, but probably fined and suspended as well...

Brandon Roy and "Four Horsemen" Blazing a Trail Late in New York

The Blazers stepped into "The Mecca" of NBA stadiums aka Madison Square Garden last night and things didn't look stellar early. The open shots weren't falling, Greg Oden put of a stinker and missed a couple of easy dunks, the Knicks were getting to the FT line w/ease, Chris Duhon was once again a super beast with 23 points and 13 dimes, and the Blazers would somehow only find themselves only down by as much as 9.

Brandon Roy would be a catalyst getting to the rim on numerous occasions to get easy layups versus New York's second worst rated defense. Roy finished with 23-6-5 (and 3 steals).

Roy had help in the second half by what I call the "Four Horseman" aka The Four White Guy (Team) consisting of Steve Blake, RUUUUUUUUUDDDYYY Fernanadez, "Spanish Chocolate" SUUUUURGIO Rodriguez, and "The Vanilla Gorilla" "Przyilla" Joel Przybilla. That's right!! This is a rare thing as I can only recall 2 other teams in my era (1983 to the present). Now you can compare us to the Jazz of the 1990s (John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, Mark Eaton, and Tom Chambers) and the late 90s to the Kings of the early 2000s (Bibby, Peja, Brad Miller, and "Floppy D" Vlade Divac)!!

Rudy got the 4th quarter started with a few threes including a sick stepback three against the shot clock. Sergio was finding the open man and finished with 4 assists (hence the bad FG%), and hit a huge three in the 4th. Rudy and Sergio had the best "Plus/Minus" ratio of +14!!

Blake hit some timely shots when the Blazers trailed that never ballooned NY's lead to double diggits...

AND then there's Joel!! Joel got the crunch time minutes over an ineffective Oden. Joel was doing everything from rebounding and getting a number of tip in points. And on defense, when we needed a stop against a high powered D'Antoni offense, he was the man!! A great article from ESPN's Henry Abbott about Mr. Przybilla's performance on the right corner of the page. Joel finished with eight points, 14 rebounds and two HUGE blocks.

Next stop, D.C!

"Little Sheed" vs. "Big Sheed"

As during the Blazers broadcast, Mike Rice and Mike Barrett referred to LaMarcus Aldridge as the up and coming star of the potential of Rasheed Wallace, whom the Blazers played last night. They are mirror images of each other. Both about the same height with long arms. Both have good outside games, which makes these too unique since big men aren't usually skilled from distance. And what's great about their outside game is that their long arms when they release make it very hard for opponents to block, yet alone defend. Aldrdige was on fire!! He has rediscovered his outside shot that past 3 games after an abysmal stretch. Because of the catalyst of LaMarcus's HUGE game of 27 points and dominance over my man Sheed, the Blazers moved into 1st place of the NW Division and are off to their best start since the 01-02 season!! Man, that seems like ages ago doesn't Blazer fans?