They Still Believe

No one will ever forget the 8^th seeded Golden State Warriors knocking off the first place Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs. It could have been the fact that the Mavericks had won 67 games that season, or maybe the fact that it was the Warriors first playoff appearance in 30 years. It could have even been the sea of yellow “We Believe” t-shirts that flooded the Oracle Arena and made their way across the nation, but what really stuck out was the group of nomadic misfits that brought it all together: Stephen Jackson, Baron Davis, and others banding together with young players like Monta Ellis to help the Warriors finish out the season on a 16-5 run to squeeze into that last playoff spot.

            The 2008 offseason led to the slow breakup of the “We Believe” era for the Warriors. The year before, Jason Richardson had been traded for rookie Brandan Wright, and in the offseason Baron Davis opted out of his contract to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. Fed up with the organization, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis expressed their criticism and their desire to leave. Stephen Jackson was eventually granted his wish to leave after he was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats on November 16^th, 2009.

            Baron Davis started out his Clipper career in an uninspiring fashion. He averaged 14.9 points per game; his lowest since his sophomore campaign, and 7.7 assists while shooting a bleak 37 percent from the field. Baron Davis had brought high hopes to Clipper land, joining an already talented roster in Chris Kaman and Al Thorton and emerging rookie Eric Gordon alongside defensive specialist Marcus Camby who the Clippers acquired midseason. Despite all of this, Baron and the Clippers posted a terrible 19 and 63 record, with Davis missing 17 games with various injuries. The Clippers then landed Blake Griffin with the number one overall pick, and had hope of once again making it to the playoffs. Due to recent setbacks though, Blake Griffin is going to miss the whole year due to surgery on his knee. That hasn’t stopped Baron Davis from leading the Clips to a very impressive record. Baron Davis is back on track averaging 16.7 points per game and 8.1 assists per game and taking the Clippers to a 17-20 record, only two games away from matching last years win total. That’s without the rookie sensation Blake Griffin that was supposed to transform this bad-luck franchise. Despite having a winning record at home, the western conference is unforgiving, and the Clippers are still in the 12^th spot, but are only 3.5 games away from the eight and final spot. But with a motivated Baron Davis and a healthy line-up around him, things are looking up for this once unlucky franchise.

            Stephen Jackson has had his share of ups and downs as well. Despite his enormous talent and upside on the basketball court, it was his troubles off the court that had teams scared. After his involvement in the brawl at the Palace when he was among the Pacers, he was traded to the Warriors in a blockbuster deal. After they’re little run, Jackson expressed his desire to leave because he didn’t like the direction this Warrior team was going. He wanted to be traded to a contender, but ended up being traded to the Charlotte Bobcats. Jackson’s impact was not immediate, but now looking back, he has transformed this team into possibly the best-looking Bobcats team in franchise history. The Bobcats are 17-19, and if the playoffs started today, they would have the 7^th seed in the East. On top of all of this, Stephen Jackson is averaging career highs in points (21.1), rebounds (5.2) while averaging 3.3 assists per game.  On January 12^th 2010, Jackson posted both a career high and Bobcats franchise record 43 points on the Houston Rockets. Stephen Jackson has come in and turned this team around from lottery team into playoff contenders.

             In the spring of 2007, the NBA witnessed something very special happen. A group of rebels that were supposed to get swept in the first round of the playoffs, defied history by beating the 67 win first seeded Dallas Mavericks. Now, Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson are both trying to once again defy the odds, this time separately, but what people don’t know, is these are two members from the Warriors pastime that never stopped believing. 

Hungry Grizzlies

When people talk surprise teams of the 2009-10 NBA season, the Kings jump to mind, as do the Rockets, with good cause of course. Both teams have exceeded expectations with major injuries coming to key franchise players, but what about the Memphis Grizzlies. Are they for some reason old news after the whole Allen Iverson fiasco? Well, teams better start marking their calendars because the Grizzlies are slowly becoming a force, and with the youngest team in the NBA, a force that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

            After winning an average of a little more than 23 games in the past three years, this year seemed to be headed in the same direction. The young team was supposed to be guided by veterans Allen Iverson and Zach Randolph…really? That already sounds like a recipe for disaster, how much veteran leadership could these two bring to the table. Sure Iverson took a team to the finals, but these two had been called everything in the book, “lazy” “immature” “fat” and oh yeah, “practice?” What no one paid attention to after the Grizzlies started off 1-8 and Iverson already complaining about coming off the bench despite missing the preseason with an injury, was Zack Randolph had trimmed 15 pounds and ready to finally commit himself on both sides of the court.

            Things seem to be turning around for the NBA’s youngest team after they have won 17 of their last 26 games with Randolph leading the way with 20.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game and has come up big against the NBA’s most elite. He poured in 32 points and 14 rebounds in an overtime victory against the Cavaliers. Then a week and a half later, dropped 32 points and 24 boards against the Denver Nuggets in another win, proving the Grizzlies can run with anyone in the NBA. Alongside Randolph, blossoming center Marc Gasol control the paint with nearly 10 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Throw in young budding prospects O.J Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Mike Conley and this team looks like it’s going to be around for quite some time. Already boasting a record above .500 in 18-17, the Grizzlies are only 1.5 games out of the playoffs in a tough western conference where they haven’t been in four years, and it seemed all they needed was a little leadership.

            “He’s having a great season. We made him a team captain and he has really took that leadership role to heart,” bragged his head coach Lionel Hollins, who really should be discussed in the Coach of the Year award. He has meshed this young core well together, splitting the schedule up into five game blocks and setting the goal to win two of those five.

 It’s their drastic improvement on both sides of the court that has led to their success. Offensively, their seventh in the league, which is two behind the leagues best record Los Angeles Lakers, but what’s most impressive, is their focus on defense. They are fourth in the league in defense, beating out their opponents in every defensive category per game: rebounds, blocks, and steals. Adding to that, Memphis is 14-7 when they score 100 points or above, but are a dismal 8-14 when their opponent scores more than 100, proving how important defense is to this young team.

            With a talented young core of players willing to sacrifice for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the back, the Grizzlies are finally coming out of the woods, and they are all hungry for a postseason run.  

Artest Puts Opposing Defense on Arrest

So this is what it’s like. This is what it’s like without Artest. Prior to the season starting, the Lakers were going to go one of two ways with the addition of Ron Artest. Most critics said Artest’s antics both on and off the court will hurt the champions more than it will help them, but their were many believers as well. Most of the believers were really the only one’s whose opinions mattered too.  After Trevor Ariza’s agent scoffed at the idea of signing a mid-level contract, the Lakers offered the same deal to Artest, but not before getting their leader’s permission, and Kobe jumped at the idea, and it seems to have paid off. Early in the season though, the critics were at it again.

“Ariza is going to be an All-Star…Ariza is younger…Ariza is less of a distraction… Ariza is blah blah blah” Sure, Ariza is averaging 16.2 points a game as opposed to Artest’s 12.3…but who need anymore offensive weapons then Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom, and lets not forget to mention Artest is shooting nearly five percent better from than field than Ariza while taking a whopping five less shots than Ariza per game as well. Throughout all this, it’s not the offense the Artest was brought in for, and Artest knows that. In his infamous Hennessey interview, something that seemed to catch everyone’s attention is the fact that Artest boldly claimed Kobe was the leader on offense and Kobe has his supporting cast, and he was the leader on defense, and Artest himself finally has his defensive supporting cast, which seemed to surprised everyone, except Kobe. Kobe agreed with Artest’s bold statements that he may be one of the best defenders of all time, and why not.

The way Ariza plays defense gives the impression that he’s a great defender because he plays the passing lane so well. His gambles on defense either result in a steal, but more than not, result in his man beating him to the basket, and having either Gasol or Bynum get a block, or a costly foul. Artest on the other hand, is a lock-down defender, and one of the best. Early in the season in a game against the Atlanta Hawks, Joe Johnson exploded in the first quarter with Kobe guarding him  for 18 points and shot at a very high percentage. Kobe then gave the task of guarding Johnson to Artest, and Joe finished with 9 points the rest of the game with Artest harassing the multitalented scorer.

“We picked up our intensity, and it all started with number 37,” Bryant said after the game, giving all the credit to Artest despite exploding for 41 points and 8 rebounds to help the Lakers cruise to that victory. 

Even Joe Johnson gave the credit to Artest stating, “I really couldn’t get a good look, and Artest wasn’t helping me because he was faceguarding me.”

That was early in the season without Gasol, now we’ve been able to see how Artest really affects this team defensively. After the Christmas Day embarrassment against the Cavaliers, the previous number one team in the league in defense gave up 110 points per game to their next five opponents with Ron Artest sitting out with a head injury. They even lost one against Phoenix and were pushed to the wire against lottery teams Golden State and the Kings twice, gutting out a victory on Bryant’s last second heroics against Sacramento.

In Artest’s first game back, the Lakers gave up 79 points to a team that averages 99.7 points a game, and that is while giving up 11.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks a game with Pau Gasol sidelined with a hamstring injury. Artest’s lockdown defense has him in the running to win his second Defensive Player of the Year award because no one player completely changes the face and attitude of a franchise defensively more then Ron Artest. 

The Washington Bullets are Back

I thought the Washington Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards over gun concerns? Well, with 30 games into a disappointing start of the 2009-10 season, the Bullets, I mean Wizards, have much bigger problems now then trying to get back on the winning track. It’s been reported that on Christmas Eve, three time All-Star Gilbert Arenas and 3^rd year point guard Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in the locker room over…a gambling debt? The 111 million dollar point guard pulled a gun on Javaris first after Gilbert wouldn’t pay the younger point guard in a gambling bet.

When your making 111 million dollars (and not necessarily earning it), especially after sitting out a few seasons with injuries, shedding a few dollars to keep your integrity doesn’t seem like too big of a deal. Well, that’s the way it has been for these lowly Wizards. Before the season started, this team was on everyone’s radar to make some serious noise in the East. With All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas finally returning healthy, he looked ready to lead these Wizards to a deep playoff run. In the preseason, the once very talkative comedian Arenas declined to speak to reporters, claiming this season he wanted to solely focus on basketball. He even shut down his infamous blog to avoid any distractions. It seems since this disappointing season has started, there has been nothing but distractions for the team.

Early in the season when the team began to struggle, there “captain” Gilbert Arenas called out teammates, specifically Caron Butler for their lackluster play and ironically followed it up with a 12-turnover game. Not many teams have been successful when players didn’t like each other (Kobe and Shaq don’t count cause even though they didn’t skip and hold hands, they always played hard and had incredible chemistry), but when players hate each other to the point were they start to point guns at each other, you know you have big problems. There have been talks of trades surrounding the Wizards and I’ve always had hope in this team. With their own personal big three of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, and a good supporting cast in Brendon Heywood, Mike Miller and young prospect Nick Young, I figured the team would eventually get it together and pull out a string of victories, especially in the forgiving Eastern Conference. With a disappointing record of 10-20, they are only two games behind the Charlotte Bobcats for the eighth and final playoff spot, but this situation doesn’t seem reversible. Javaris Crittenton’s agent has already refused to resign him and if Gilbert is a convicted felon, his large contract would be void.

It disappoints me to see such a capable team go out like this. With extremely talented offensive and defensive weapons and a proven winning coach, this team had seemed to have a recipe for success. Yet, once again, the Bullets, I mean the Wizards of course, are living up to their name, and if they don’t pull out a miracle act and get it together, they’ll be a magic act and completely disappear in this year’s playoffs.  

Future Looks on Point

Wasn’t this supposed to be the draft where only the Clipper’s were getting an NBA ready player? Before the season even started, Blake Griffin, who has yet to play in his first NBA game, was projected as the only player to make an immediate impact on his team.

Seven games into the NBA season, that all changed, when the electrifying lefty Brandon Jennings dropped a double nickel 55 points on the Warriors in a four point victory. Jennings sent shockwaves throughout the NBA, and put the Milwaukee Bucks on the NBA radar for maybe their first time ever.  What’s even more important, the Bucks have a 12-16 record, good enough for second in the central division trailing only Lebron’s Cavs, and 7^th in the east.  That’s right…seventh! That’s good enough for a playoff spot if they started today and ironically, would be playing the Cavs in the first round. All this while their supposed franchise player Michael Redd has been in and out of the lineup and averaged a dismal 12.3 points per game, clearly lingering from his injury. With former number one pick Andrew Bogut in the center, sharpshooting guard Michael Redd making his way back from his injury, and the explosive Jennings running the show at point guard, the future in Milwaukee is looking bright

Moving back to the Western Conference, Clipper’s young rookie Blake Griffin still hasn’t been able to show off his potential as he suffered a knee injury in the preseason, but it’s another California rookie that has been stealing the attention. Sacramento’s rookie Tyreke Evans has picked up the slack with leading scorer Kevin Martin out with an injury. Martin is currently second in the league in scoring with 30.6 points a game, but has only played a team low 5 games thus far. He is working his way back after having surgery on his left wrist on November 6^th, and according to his 8 week projection absence, should be expected back sometime early in the new year. So when Martin went down, it looked like he was taking the whole franchise with him. Enter, Tyreke. With nothing to lose, the Memphis prodigy has led the Kings to a very impressive 13-16 record. At 6’6 and 220 pounds, Evans is currently averaging 20.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists a game. The last rookie to average 20-5-5 was a little someone named Lebron James. What’s most impressive is the Kings won a total of 17 games last season, with Evans running the show, their on route to more than double their win total this season. On top of all that, the Kings have sophomore power forward Jason Thompson leading the team in rebounding with 9.1. With one of the youngest teams in the NBA and leading scorer Kevin Martin coming back soon, the Arco Arena may be getting loud once again.

In their only meeting this season, the Kings won a thrilling 95 to 96 victory on a reverse lay-up by Evans with .9 left on the shot clock. Jennings had 15 points 9 assists and 6 rebounds to keep the Bucks in the game, but Evans’ last two of his 24 points were what sealed the victory in this exciting match-up between the point guards of the future. Although Griffin, the talk of the draft has yet to play in his first NBA game, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans have given the NBA plenty of reasons to smile. You can guarantee these two promising point guards will have many more battles to come in the future.

Ron-nnesy...Growing up?

The inevitable finally happened. The Lakers knew what to expect when they offered their Trevor Ariza money to the volatile but statistically better Ron Artest. The same Ron Artest responsible for the infamous brawl at the Palace, one of the worst fights in sports history. The same Ron Artest known as Thug Raider, the Queensbridge native that asked for time off to tour and promote his CD, My World. The same Ron Artest that worked at Best Buy his rookie year…to receive a discount?

Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers saw it differently though. They saw it as the same Ron Artest that was an All-Star not too long ago. The same Ron Artest that won Defensive Player of the Year. The SAME Ron Artest that led a depleted Rockets team to seven games against the Lakers last year.

Yeah he’s a little…whats the word, crazy? No, no that can’t be it, cause Ron-Ron’s got a point.

 “I know that’s what they say, but we’re all crazy. When white people have fun, what do they do? They drink and bang their heads and they grab you and go, ‘Come on, Ron! Let’s go!’ I’m like, ‘Now, these mother­------- are crazy!”

It’s easy to judge and point fingers at Artest’s antics and call the man crazy…okay its really easy to judge and point fingers at Artest’s antics and call the man crazy, but you can’t question the man’s heart.

“Certain things aren’t worth your career, but nothing is worth selling your soul for.” The Lakers knew what they were getting when they signed Artest to a long-term deal. A combustible but fiery defensive specialist with some offensive firepower, but also all of his extra baggage, and Artest has yet to fail to deliver both. Recently, Artest sparked controversy saying that he used to drink Hennesy during halftime when he was on the Chicago Bulls. That’s the key word though, used to drink. Now I know, that in itself is nothing to be proud of, but it sure seems like Ron is finally growing up. “I (still) party and have fun, but not like I used to,” admitted the Lakers star.

Prior to the season, Ron recently reached out to the man that threw the beer at him sparking the infamous brawl at the Palace, only to apologize and talk as “friends”…Friends?! You heard me, friends. When asked why, he responded “it’ll be something for people to understand when you fight with one another, you can always become friends, you don’t have to hold a grudge for the remainder of your life…”

Say what you want to say about the man, but he shines in the limelight, and theirs no denying he is one of the most real players to EVER play professional sports. His honesty is unheard of, and shocking, because no one wants to tell you the truth, especially celebrities, who must live perfect lives under the microscopes we watch them under.

 Ron has really flourished and capitalized on his so far small stay in Hollywood, and so have the fans. How can they not? Artest reached out to John Green, the man who threw the beer at him in Detroit, through one of his three Twitter accounts, promising to take the person out to lunch if they gave him John’s number. Artest has given away free tickets to fans, and has even made friends with a family through Twitter.

All this aside, how’s he playing is what it all comes down to. Artest said before the season, if the Lakers don’t win the title this year, “it’s on me.” Well, Phil wants him to shoot more, and with good reason. Sure Artest is averaging five less points since last year, but he is also shooting five less shots as opposed to last year, while also shooting six percent better from the field. He has looked a bit passive, but that is due to his obvious admiration for teamwork, and his desire not to interrupt the already offensively potent Lakers. Artest has been brought in for the obvious reason of defense, and is doing his part. Making sure no single player beats this team, and has led them to a number 1 ranking in defense throughout the league. Ron Artest is a very talented character, but most importantly, everything he says is genuine and real. The man is made for Hollywood, and how the Laker’s script ends up will fall in Artest’s hands, and how he chooses to write it.  

 

Lakers Bench Steady Mobbin'

Are they finally here? The Lakers team that actually looks like the team everyone has been dreaming about? So it seems, going into tonight’s game against a Chris Paul-less Hornets, the Lakers are riding a 6 game win streak in which they’ve hit the 100 point mark in all 6 games, and have won the last six by an average of 17.7 points. Sure, the competitions been fairly weak, but this is a huge improvement from previous Laker teams we have seen. I no longer panic when we face below .500 teams in fear that we will play down to their level, a problem that has haunted this team in years past. Everything is going right for this team, and  everything is clicking on all cylinders. With a healthy starting line-up, and the bench mob delivering, the Lakers are rolling past all teams (regardless of wins) in their way.

            Rolling past them doesn’t give this squad enough credit. Almost every player is contributing and filling their roles. This team is playing with a sense of urgency and chemistry that I hadn’t seen until Pau was in the line-up. Kobe is no longer aiming for 40, because he knows theirs other ways to obtain the W.

In the last two blowout victories against a controversial Warriors team and a winless Nets team, the bench has averaged a staggering 39.5 points a game. Not too mention, the development and hustle of players such as Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown have been tremendous. It’s no coincidence that the Lakers were able to rest their starters in two blowout victories that coincided with the strong play of the “bench mob.” Farmar to Brown is beginning to look like a consistent ESPN highlight reel, within their ally-oops and impressive blocks (Farmar on Skip to my Lou), seems as though the young UCLA native is beginning to grasp what is asked from him.

            It has bothered me to see Farmar’s production and minutes dip throughout his years in the league. His confidence has clearly been tampered with and has shown on the basketball court. A young point guard that has tremendous upside has been delivering sub par performances while his back up at UCLA Darren Collison is coming into town with an impressive so far rookie season, and his shooting guard at UCLA Arron Afflalo is breaking out of his shell for the Denver Nuggets. It has seemed up until recently Farmar’s development has gone backwards. Farmar changed his jersey number at the beginning of the season to 1, and with Phil saying he wants to limit Fisher’s minutes to around 25 a game (he’s at 26, his second lowest in his last 10 seasons) Farmar has shown he is deserving of more minutes as he has filed the role of point guard general quite nicely.

With a bench consisting of players like Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, and Sasha Vujacic, any of these players could explode for a 20-point game on any given night. Throw that in with an All-Star lineup that the Lakers like to call there starters, if the bench mob continues to play the way they have recently, it will be a steady ride on their way to another NBA championship.