Lakers-Celtics: Rivalry Renewed

Somebody wake me the hell up!!! Throw some ice water on me or somethin'. I waited 21 years for my Celtics to get back to the NBA Finals vs the Lakers in '08 and now they're about to get busy once again 23 years later in 2010. That NBA rivalry between 84-87 was definitely the best that I've witnessed in my lifetime. The Lakers stars back then were Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, A.C. Green, Kurt Rambis, Jamaal Wilkes, Bob McAdoo and Michael Cooper. Celtics came to the court with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Cedric 'Cornbread' Maxwell, Gerald Henderson and Robert Parish. The Celtics were coached by KC Jones and the Lakers by Pat Riley.



This years total cast of characters doesn't have the star power of that cast, but damn sure will bring as excitement once they tip-off. My Celtics squad returns the starting 5 that won the title in '08 with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. No one expected them to get back to the NBA Finals. No one!!! The Lakers as the defending '09 champions have Kobe Bryant who is arguably the best player in the game right now. The rest of the LA roster is a bunch of misfits. To be very honest, who cares about the rest of the squad??? Aiiight, they have basically the same squad from '08 with Gasol, Odom & Fisher. Having a 'somewhat healthy Andrew Bynum and the acquisition of Ron Artest in the '09 offseason was significant in propelling them back into the Finals. I respect the Lakers squad, but I don't like them at all. I can't help it cuz it's in my blood.



Even though I grew up in DC and constantly saw the Bullets, I became a Celtics fan. That's primarily because of my dad and granddad. My grandfolks lived in Roxbury, MA when I was real young. On those winter school breaks as a youngster, pop would take me from DC to Boston to visit the grandfolks for the holidays. Pops aint one for driving, so we always flew. During those trips we would find our way to the Boston Garden. There I was laced with a Nate 'Tiny' Archibald jersey, other Celtic trinkets andI quickly embraced the green and white as my team.



I grew up with tons of Celtics memorabilia and apparel. I personally have an autograph book with signatures of Larry Bird, Red Auerbach, Bailey Howell, Cedric 'Cornbread' Maxwell, John Havlicek & a ton other Celtics greats. I got all of those on my own walking various arenas before games when the Celtics were warming up. So understand that a second NBA Finals appearance in 3 seasons is a kid's dream. I've been to tons of Celtics games in my lifetime. I've flown to playoff games in other cities, home openers in Boston and more games vs the Bullets/Wizards than I can count since I do live in the DC area. I went to Game 2 of the '08 NBA Finals and my hope is to somehow get to Boston for a game this series. It might take a wing and a prayer, but I'm gonna find a way.



I cheered for a Celtics squad in '07 that won a total of 24 games and now they're going for their 2nd title in 3 years. Talk about the ping pong balls bouncing your way. I was mad when we didn't get the number one pick and a chance to get Greg Oden. One word: fortunate. Thanks Danny Ainge for the GM power moves, we all appreciate ya. I sure as hell never expected to be cheering for KG and Ray Allen in Celtic green. It almost seems unbelievable.



With all that being said, a brotha is full of energy anticipating the opening tip-off on Thursday night. Once it's all said and done I expect my Celtics squad to send Kobe home lookin' sad just like they did in '08. It's time to raise championship banner #18.



My prediction for the 2010 NBA Finals... Boston Celtics in 6. Just a reminder, I did predict a Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals back in Oct... Don't believe me? Click here...





Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

Usher does promo for NBA All-Star 2010

I love this promo... every part of it. Check it out!

Dying Breed

Larry Bird

One of the baddest players that I've ever seen play in the NBA.

Period!

In the 80s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were credited by many for saving the NBA. Bird was a 3 time NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics. He was a 3 time league MVP. He was voted to the NBA All Star game 12 times during his career. To say that Bird was great is a huge understatement.

Bird was white

That never mattered to me. Bird could ball. He was type of dude who you wanted on your team. He was deadly shooter who was like an assasin. I remember when I was growing up, people would say that Bird was black. The assertion was that Bird had to be black because no white guy could dominate in a league that was 70% black. Bird was Bird. There will never be another Bird. And that has nothing to do with his race.

Yesterday, I watched the Outside the Lines program on ESPN. The topic was about how there are so few white American players in the NBA. The numbers are at an all time low. Black players make up nearly 72% of the NBA. Foreign players make up 18%. And only 9% of the NBA are made up by white players. They intereviewed former NBA executive and Hall of Famer Jerry West and asked him where were the white players. West, who is white, said that there are a lot of white players who simply aren't athletic enough to make it in the NBA.

Is that natural? I dont think so.

Where are the white players? Why aren't they in the NBA? What do YOU think?

In Case You Missed It... D. Wade dunking on Varejao

I heart Dwyane Wade and I love him even more when he's extra hype during a game. This was passion at its finest and him stepping over Anderson Varejao after dunking on him was icing on the cake. Peep the vid.

'09-'10 NBA Predictions

The NBA Season kicks off tonight, so I figured I'd go ahead and give my predictions for the season. Feel free to chime in with yours.

NBA MVP: Kobe Bryant



Rookie of the Year: Sorry Blake Griffin, but I'm going with Tyreke Evans



Coach of the Year: Flip Saunders



6th Man of the Year: Ben Gordon



Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard



Eastern Conference Playoff Teams:

Boston Celtics
Cleveland Cavaliers
Orlando Magic
Washington Wizards
Atlanta Hawks
Chicago Bulls
Miami Heat
Toronto Raptors

Western Conference Playoff Teams:

Los Angeles Lakers
San Antonio Spurs
Portland Trailblazers
Denver Nuggets
Dallas Mavericks
New Orleans Hornets
Utah Jazz
Phoenix Suns

Two teams that will meet in the Finals: Celtics vs Lakers



2010 NBA Champion: Boston Celtics



Peace & Love..

G. Mo

Athletes & Flu Shots

After a dozen Cleveland Browns missing practice with flu like symptoms, the NFL decided to change some policies. If a team has at least six players unable to play because of the illness, it can promote players from the practice squad to replace them. A club can receive a maximum of eight of these roster exemptions. The NBA, NHL, and MLB currently do not have policies of an entire team being hit with with flu like symptoms but things may change, especially in the NBA since the six of the 20 Cleveland Cavaliers players in training camp missed practices or exhibition games at various times because of flu-like symptoms. Right now there are no exemptions in place that would allow teams to put swine-flu sufferers in that category to free up cap space.

With the Swine Flu outbreak should the leagues change their policies???

Should they make it mandatory that every player take the vaccine especially after a Washington Redskins Cheerleader was crippled after being vaccinated???



Thoughts???

Crab Dribbles & Bunny Hops

The NBA is now on record with the fact that they'll be allowing 2 steps before the player has to stop, shoot or pass the ball.



In all honesty this changes absolutely nothing. All they've done is corrected the written rules to match how games have been officiated for the last 2 decades. Under the letter of the law players weren't really supposed to take 2 steps, but the refs never called it. Now that 2 steps are official, does this mean star players will get 3 steps unofficially? Cats have been taking 2 steps since I can remember anyway. It's the 3 step taking jokers and the ballers who continually switch pivots 2 or more times that need to be penalized . I don't know about 2 steps to a complete stop though, that's definitely a walk. What about moving your feet before you put the ball down? Is that still gonna be called a travel? The fact remains that traveling needs to be called much more than it is. Superstars won't like it, but that's just too bad. There's 4th graders out here who are more consistent not traveling than a lot of NBA players. You know I'm on point. David Stern is turning the NBA into a silver spoon fed, corporate, heartless league full of Mr. Whipple "Don't squeeze the Charmin" type ball players.



Now, he's accommodating the rules so they don't look so bad for NOT calling traveling. The game would be so much better if they actually enforced basic principles like you know...traveling.



Just imagine it now, both Shaq and Lebron coming through the lane like Usain Bolt with the basketball. They both already get away with murder. Guess now you can call it the Cleveland Track Meet. Lebron cries enough as it is and gets his way.



Is David Stern conspiring to 'assist' in getting the Cavs to the NBA Finals? That 2 step, plus the hop step and the crab dribble that Lebron does is just taking the game a step back in terms of basic fundamentals. Stern is giving to much leeway to players just for the sake of entertainment. But with the current economy I suppose they gotta keep selling tickets. It is what it is. Now if they could only determine a way to enforce the rules against flopping and Academy Award acting performances. Shaq & Lebron would be really exposed then. LOL!!!!

Peace & Love..

G. Mo

"Without Bias"

First of all, make sure you see this documentary film.
Second, check out this joint.
Thirdly, don't miss it!!!

Have I made myself clear?

The documentary film on the life and tragic death of Len Bias made by Kirk Fraser is outstanding. I had the opportunity to see a screening of it this past Friday night at the Lincoln Theatre. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 13th Annual American Black Film Festival

It's scheduled to air on Nov. 3 at 8pm as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary film series. It will continue to air on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic over the following month after at various times.



Now, if you're a regular on my blog at ChocolateCityWeb, then you know how the death of Len Bias truly affected me. If you're not, feel free to check out an entry I penned entitled, Death of Len Bias: 20 Years Later on the anniversary of his death before continuing to read this one.



There's are a variety of reasons why I looked forward to this film. First off, Len Bias was an incredible athlete. Being truthful, using the word 'incredible' is a gross understatement to the talent that this man possessed. That's like saying that Michael Jackson was a decent entertainer. Since the untimely passing of Len Bias, I've read tons of articles, watched specials on athletes and substance abuse and talked to youth about the dangers of drug use at various mentoring programs. Quite often someone much younger will ask me to give more details about Len Bias and what occurred. I always pause for a second, almost like I did when the news of his death was first received. There's almost no way to explain the events that took his life. I mean, even 23 years later it still stings. Seeing Without Bias really answered some questions that I had. It gave me some clarity on things I had wondered for many years. I'm sure it will answer questions that folks have.

I'm not saying that there's earth shattering testimony given during the film. We hear from the James & Lonise Bias, former Georgetown coach John Thompson, former UMD coach Lefty Driesell, former UNC coach Dean Smith, a number of Bias' Terrapin teammates including Keith Gatlin, David Gregg & Jeff Baxter and various sports writers including Michael Wilbon, Kevin Blackistone, James Brown & Jackie MacMullan. Now a documentary would not be complete without having Marion Barry in the mix. He said a few words also.

However that biggest impact on the film was the appearance of Brian Tribble. After all these years, we finally to hear from him during the film. I'm not talking about a quick 10 second sound byte either. You get to hear the story in his own words regarding what occurred. You get to truly see how Len's death affected him. You can feel it. The segments where Tribble talked were very profound.



As an added bonus to the evening, director Kirk Fraser was available for Q&A after the screening. It was clear that many folks either didn't care about the Q&A session or just didn't know because as the credits rolled, people were piling out into the lobby. I'd guess that maybe 75% of the folks had left, but best believe I remained. Fraser answered a handful of questions from the audience. A good number of folks also stepped to the mic to commend and thank him for making the film. There was a brief point where one of the audience members asked if there were any of participants of the film in house. At that time it was announced that Brian Tribble was present and he was given a mic and stepped to the stage to sit next to Kirk Fraser. The brother at the mic in the aisle began to ask a variety of questions to Tribble all in one breath. To his credit, Tribble maintained his composure amidst a flurry of random thoughts that seemed to pop in the gentleman's head and said something to the effect of "That's a lot of questions, what's your primary point?", which garnered a laugh from the remaining crowd.

The man proceeded to ask Tribble what he had learned from the incident, but also asked him whether the drugs were supplied by him or Bias that night and how such pure cocaine found it's way into the dorm room that night. Without transcript of the Q&A, it's impossible for me to summarize that complete dialogue. However, Tribble acknowledged being 'hard headed' and making young mistakes in life as everyone does. He also said that folks should listen to those who love them. In response to the question about the cocaine, he basically said "Only two people know where it came from... me and Len. He's passed on, so I could easily say it was him. But he's not here to defend himself, so what's the purpose in discussing this aspect?". That's not a direct quote, but his response was similar to that. The way it is quoted might sound abrasive or snappy, but it was far from that. It was said more in a somber tone that I think everyone in the audience understood.

What does it matter 23 yrs later where the drugs came from? Why disparage the man's name now or ever? Regardless of where it came from, the circumstances won't change. It won't bring Len Bias back. At some point he made a conscious decision to use cocaine that night and it took his life. I gained respect for Brian Tribble. First, just his appearance in the film and secondly for walking up to that stage and answering questions. That definitely was not anticipated. I for one, laid a great amount of blame upon him in my conscience for Lenny's death. I don't feel that way any longer.

Getting back to Kirk Fraser, there was one answer that really stuck with me. When asked by one attendee whether he was connected to the Bias family or what was the reason he decided to make the film he answered "My connection is I'm one of the individuals that he saved... because of his story I didn't go down that path".



Props to Kirk Fraser on making the story come to life and told the way it needed to be told. Look out for Frosty (Len's nickname), the biographical motion picture sometime in 2011

But first, make sure you see the documentary film. Yeah I said it again.

Peace & Love...

G.Mo

Lebron finally speaks!

About addressing the media, his sportsmanship, and being dunked on. After months of coming up with a good response it doesn't hold as much weight, it would have seemed a lot more genuine if it were June and not August but here it is if you're still interested in hearing his response.

Everybody Loves A Winner

Everybody loves a winner.

That's an old saying in sports.

It is very true. As long as you're winning...things can be easily forgotten. These thoughts came to mind last week as I watched Kobe Bryant celebrate winning an NBA championship with his Los Angeles Laker teammates. Kobe stood on the stage and accepted the MVP trophy after finishing off the Orlando Magic. He was beeming. Even those of us who aren't fans of Kobe (like me)...could not help but see the happiness on his face.

In 2003, Bryant made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a hotel in Edwards, Colorado by a hotel employee. Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with the accuser, but denied the sexual assault allegation. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser informed them that she was unwilling to testify. Bryant's accuser brought a separate civil suit against him that was ultimately settled out of court. I don't know what happened between Kobe and that woman. Neither do you. The two of them are the only ones who really know what happened. Nevertheless, I won't pass judgement on Kobe. Back then, the future looked bleak for Kobe. Even though the case was settled, he was no longer one of the most marketable faces of the NBA. Avertisers could not afford to market and promote him the way that they once did. Not only was he trying to overcome public opinion, he was playing without Shaquille O'Neal.

Time heals wounds. Winning cures all. That's what Kobe would quickly learned. He elevated his game on the court and off the court. Kobe became more personable with his teammates as well as the media. Slowly, people began to see Kobe in a different light. On the court, he was winning the fans back. He helped the Lakers reach the NBA Finals last year vs the Boston Celtics. Despite losing to the Celtics, the Lakers had the best record during that season. The Lakers had more nationally televised games than anyother team in the NBA. From a marketing standpoint, Kobe was back. Although he lost in the Finals, he played for the 2008 Olympic Team and led the team to a gold medal. In my opinion, that team would NOT have won it without Kobe.

This year, Kobe played some of his best basketball as he enters the prime of his career. I noticed that after Laker games, you'd see Kobe kissing his wife in the tunnel near the locker room. Their intimate moment was always caught on camera. Why? It's marketing 101. It's the re-branding of an athlete. Anytime an athlete falls...it gives a chance for the the fans and the public to pick them back up. By winning a championship, Kobe has come full circle. Along the way, he's made more fans. He has made people like me...who didn't care for him before...secretly root for him and really appreciate his talent.

Kobe's story is not unique to just him. We've seen this before. In 2000, Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis was facing a murder charge following a fight between his friends and 2 men after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. Two men were left dead on the street. Lewis proclaimed his innocence. He was eventually charged with obstruction of justice and served no time. The following football season, Lewis led the Ravens to the Super Bowl where they defeated the New York Giants. Lewis was named the MVP. He is often called the best linebacker of his generation and is regarded as on of the best players to ever play the game. Ray Lewis is one of the premier faces of the NFL.

We all go through trials and tribulations in life. Athletes are no different. Anytime an athlete falls from grace, most of us want to see them rise back to the top. Why? Because everybody loves a winner. Guys like Kobe Bryant and Ray Lewis are winners. Winning makes things better. If you get into trouble, adapt to your new situation, then overcome.

Hey Mike Vick, are you listening?

12kyle

Dirk Wants his Baby!

It is reported that Dirk Nowitzki wants sole custody of his unborn child. He filed a petition in a Dallas County Courthouse last week that he wants Crystal Taylor (if that's really her name) to give up the baby the minute she delivers if he's proven to be the father.

Her lawyer said to the Beaumont Enterprise, "Our only focus in this case is to ensure the laws of the state of Texas are complied with to protect any and all rights Taylor has in delivery and her rights as a mother." Interesting. It's quite unusual how this woman didn't follow any of the laws of the state of Texas before she got arrested but wants to comply with the laws now that the father wants the baby.

However, I have to give it to Dirk. Even though he has problems stepping it up on the court when the Mavericks need him, he did manage to step up to his role as a father when it became apparent he was going to be one. Kudos to you Dirk.