Well, Cleveland got exiled from the playoffs once again, this time at the hands of the C’s. As much as I despise Boston (90% due to Paul Pierce), I gotta hand it to them for showing that five is greater than one: or none in the case of game five. In the meantime, Tony Allen’s monstrous dunk over Sweet n’ Lo Jamison deserves some burn since it pretty much caps how Boston beat the Lebroners: swiftly, efficiently and, according to some, unexpectedly. Read the rest of this entry »

Cleveland is a city that lives and dies (mainly dies) by its professional sporting teams. It’s so bad that instead of having banners to hang their hats on, they have losses. Heartbreaking losses & signature plays to be more specific. Say The Catch, Red Right 88, The Drive, The Shot, The Fumble or Edger Renteria’s extra inning hit & nothing more needs to be said. The only thing more frustrating than these epic plays is that Cleveland teams are always on the verge of success when they occur. It’s one thing to never even sniff success, but it’s something entirely different to have it snatched from you grasp over & over again.

This season, the hopes of Northeast Ohio rest on the shoulders & elbow of LeBron James. His sore elbow, which unless you’ve been living under a rock, has been the talk of the media over the past week and a half. While test results have come back negative, on look at James’ last game against the Celtics will show something is bothering him.  Be it mental, physical, fatigue or some combination of all these factors, the public wants to know what’s going on.

Thanks to the marvelous powers of Twitter, we can get information straight from the horse’s elbow’s mouth.  Striking a balance between informative tidbits & entertaining quips, 11 days & 6,608 followers later, LeBron’s elbow is in the process of taking Twitter by storm. Below I’ve provided a sampler on the genius that is Lebron’s Elbow.

The only question that remains is whether this year will be remembered as The Elbow if the Cavs do happen to lose.

April 27th 10:56pm

With these unassuming words of encouragement LeBron’s most famous appendage made his voice heard for the first time. Little did we know the comedic gold that would be shortly following.

April 27th 10:59pm

Obviously not his first time at the rodeo, LeBron’s Elbow is well versed in post doctor’s visit procedures.

April 28th 4:06pm

With MRI results coming back negative, it was time for a confession. I’ll have to remember this home remedy come late August when the pollen count rises.

April 30th 1:20pm

My personal fave & the one that initially led me down the rabbit hole.

May 1st 3:04pm

This explains a lot about Big Baby. A lot. Someone in Bristol needs to get this guy a segment on NBA Shootaround.

May 1st 8:30pm

Didn’t we all buddy, didn’t we all.  Hindsight being 20/20, we probably would’ve been better with game one going into quadruple overtime.

May 2nd 2:04pm

Understandably miffed for not being mentioned at all, this omission could be proverbial straw that breaks the Cavs back (& season).

May 3rd 7:59pm

Don’t blame game two on the ‘bow. He’s just a perturbed as Cavalier fans.

May 5th 5:38am

Can you really blame the fella? Three+ MRI’s have to affect you in one way or another… and we all know what too much radiation did to Terry Crews’ bicep.

May 6th 4:05pm

Watch out Chuck Norris… LeBron’s gunning for you suburban legend title.

Follow @LeBronsElbow to keep up with the latest shenanigans.

Sidebar: Will these playoffs will be remembered as “The Elbow” if the Cavs don’t win the chip?

It took him 88 games, but Rasheed Wallace finally came to play for the Boston Celtics. Throughout the season ‘Sheed’s been somewhere between a running joke & major disappointment. The Boston Three Party thought they would be getting the Rasheed from a few years back, the one who could stretch the defense with his timely outside shooting & vast array of post moves. Instead, they got an out of shape, aging player who could’ve been charged for committing fraud… for impersonating a basketball player (I see you Biggga).

Shoot, if it wasn’t for this basket he scored for the Bulls late in the season, half of the country wouldn’t have even known he was still in the league. So you can imagine the pleasant surprise Wallace provided his teammates last night: seven of eight from the field, three from four on three’s for 17 points and two rebounds thrown in for good measure. As a NBA fan nomad & fan of Rasheed since his days in Carolina blue, it was good to see the mercurial forward have a good showing. Mainly because who knows how many outings like this he has left in him. Perhaps Doc needs to call him out more often… or maybe they told him it was time to earn his paycheck.

On another note, isn’t it funny that LeBron’s elbow hurt much more after missed jumpers than when he makes his now nightly chase down block? I’m just sayin’…

On to other matters, let’s welcome the Atlanta Hawks to the second round. For a moment it was looking like Orlando was going to get a bye or something.

Orlando Magic Vs. Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta can be one of the more entertaining teams in the league – especially when they don’t have to play on the road. But few (if any) outside of Milwaukee thought they’d get pushed to seven against a undermanned Bucks squad running on nothing but heart. The Hawks can (& should) play up to their competition, but they’ve yet to prove they can hang with the true class of the league. If they want this to be the start of that, they’ll need to steal one on the road & hold home court.

They’re 2-10 in their last 12 playoff road games, which doesn’t bode well for them coming into this series. Stranger things have happened & if they want to change that stat, they’ll have to get Dwight Howard in early foul trouble  & get to the hole.  The first part of that shouldn’t be too hard, with fouls being the only thing Dwight gets faster than blocks. Stopping the rest of the team will be a bit harder.  The Hawks are moving in the right direction, but they’ve still got some work to do.

MZ — Magic in 5 Patrick M. | S. Cadet | Jason H. — Magic in 6 J. Tinsley — Magic in 7

The NFL playoffs last one month. So does March Madness (for now). Baseball lasts all of October with a little bit going into November. The NBA playoffs started on April 17th and won’t be over until sometime in June. It’s been two weeks and we’re still in the first round. That’s just too much. For all of David Stern’s brilliant decisions in the last few years, his biggest mistake was changing the first-round playoffs from a best-of-five series to best-of-seven in 2003. Read the rest of this entry »

Finding a good picture of this happening seems impossible. Maybe the photogs were sleeping, just like everyone else, when the Cavs’ Mo Williams decided to rise to the rim and on Paul Pierce. At this point, I’m not even sure which is worse — Paul Pierce’s decision-making…or Mike Brown’s post-game reaction. I guess I’ll pardon Mike, as this may have been Williams’ first known slam as a Cav. Pierce, what’s your excuse? Read the rest of this entry »

Before we get things started, let’s take a look back at a few things we’ve learned from the first round.

– The NBA is both a players & coaches league: Since the NBA is star driven, we’ve been conditioned to think that coaches don’t matter.  As seen in the Denver/Utah series, coaches matter a lot under the right circumstances.  The absence of George Karl hurt the Nuggets immensely, who looked downright clueless with Adrian Dantley manning the ship.  While the Jazz looked unstoppable running the system that Jerry Sloan’s had in place since the days of Methuselah.  From a talent standpoint, both teams were pretty even matched.  Deron Williams had his showing out party, but the difference were the men who drew the X’s & O’s.

– Injuries can hurt & help a team: Injuries were the talk of the league leading up to the playoffs, as vital players suffered both minor & major injuries as the season winded down.  But going back to Utah, the loss of Mehmet Okur played a pivotal part in their win as well.   It freed up more time for the likes of Paul Milsap, C.J. Miles & Wesley Matthews.  What they lost in Okur’s shooting was more than made up in better defensive match-ups and a balanced scoring attack.

–You’ve got to be able to win on the road: Regardless of whether the Hawks win game seven or not, any team that is a bad on the road as they are will always be pretenders.

– Never count out those veteran laden teams: Both Boston & San Antonio had up and down seasons with rosters built (& only care about) what happens once the 82 game season is over.  Be it pacing their selves, finally recovering from injuries or increased Geritol doses, both teams were able to turn it on once the playoffs started. So until the teams are dissembled, you can never count them out.

Cleveland Cavaliers Vs. Boston Celtics

There’s a bout going down on Saturday and we’re not talking about Mayweather vs. Mosley. With Lebron James’ elbow hurt, look for him to go to the rack early and often in this series. The old timers should give Cleveland a scare as the Cavs have a propensity to be too reliant on Lebron. Boston’s attack is simply more balanced with more dependable scorers and a defense, like Cleveland’s, that can put the clamps on down the stretch. For Boston to be the first team to four wins, “the big three” have to play like it every single game.

Ray has to knock down shots, Pierce has to prove why he is one of the more clutch players in the league and Garnett has to do more than yell and attempt to scare people. Which is a stretch at this point, on top of the fact that the C’s bench is too weak, thanks to the dud acquisitions of Sheed, Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson. For Cleveland, it’s simple – just provide enough help for LeBron so he can take over the last four minutes of the game.

J. Tinsley — Cavs in 6 Patrick M. | S. Cadet | Jason H. — Cavs in 7

MZ — Celtics in 7

Mr. Commissioner,

I know you’re as excited for the NBA offseason as anyone. Typically July and August are dead zones for the NBA as the sports world is focused on baseball, the NFL preseason and whatever US Weekly style floater ESPN can drum up about A-Rod or Tiger Woods. Not this year though. Nope, we’re in for two months of LeBron getting his attention-whore on as he makes every franchise genuflect before him in hopes of wooing him to their franchise. With D-Wade, Bosh, Amare and all the other marquee free agents up for grabs as well, the league’s going year round. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a big difference between just cause and flat out unfairness. Unfortunately James Johnson had to find that out the hard way last night as the Bulls fell to The Cavs in Game two. But there’s something about LeBron’s latest that doesn’t click for me. You don’t dunk on cats like that without a reason. James Johnson is just another unassuming NBA rookie working hard for his salary.

So why OD on him?

Perhaps he was truly saving that aerial assault for Joakim Noah as he had some choice words about Cleveland. Either that or I’m reading way too far into this non-controversy as Cleveland probably is just that unappealing. I’ll just chalk it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With that said, I’d LOVE to see Noah do another nervous dribble-filled coast to coast dunk starring LeBron. The likelihood for a repeat performance is slim to none as Lebron, unlike Pierce, doesn’t have a stride reminiscent of Robert “Tractor” Traylor. Anyway it’d be downright hilarious to see the master of the chase down get dusted by a gangly 7 footer in the open court.

It’s time for the NBA playoffs and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  Baseball’s just warming up & a few months from warranting paying attention to it.  Only thing popping off with football is the draft & spring practices in college.  Hockey’s playoffs have begun, but you can’t even find those games on TV if you wanted to.  The Lakers appear to be in prime position to repeat, but there are capable teams in both conferences standing in the wings & waiting to take it off their hands.  Which makes the NBA playoffs the hot ticket, the intensity picks as the O’Brien trophy is the ultimate prize. Read the rest of this entry »

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single game. He had sex with thousands of women.

Magic Johnson is the greatest point guard of all time. We assume he had sex with thousands of women as well.

I can understand the appeal for a groupie to want to give it up to two legends of their caliber. Hell, I can understand how Greg Oden’s Lord Of The Rings villain face can get some from an armada of skanks.

But Winston Bennett? Read the rest of this entry »

The Cavs hosted The Bronx Academy High Tigers last night and served up a grade-A monkey whooping. It got out of hand early with Bron Bron’s crew serving up dunk after dunk as often as possible and winning by 31. While people are talking about the reverse alley King James caught, an equally impressive highlight was Delonte West lifting his crazy ass in the air and dunking over Tracy McGrady. McGrady has had a Penny Hardaway-like fall from grace and his time in New York doesn’t look like it will be the rejuvenation process he hoped for.

I’m sorry, New York, but LeBron would have to be crazy to come to your town. He doesn’t need you. He’s already as big of a star as there can be in the league and New York is only going to do so much for him. Plus, the Knicks are cursed. You didn’t know?

I’ve hated the Knicks for the last ten years and I’ve hoped that they’d turn into the franchise they are now. The reason is simple: Patrick Ewing should have ended his career as a Knickerbocker. Trading him at the end of his career was poor form from a team that could have just limited his minutes and let him ride off into the sunset with one team. Instead, they sent him packing to Seattle in a trade that did nothing for anybody. You may think the curse idea is crazy, but wait 80 years from now when New York is calling the Isiah Thomas era the “good old days” and tell me I’m wrong.

Pundits will tell you Mr. Carter’s athletic ability has been on the decline for years. But every once in awhile he’ll hit you with a Roy Jones Jr. “Y’all Musta Forgot!”-brand dunk that puts him back on the radar. Such is true of his latest triumph over the Cleveland LeBrons Cavaliers yesterday. The Magic managed to rally and bring home the dub after Vince’s throwdown. The kicker here is seeing Vareflop getting the poster treatment. Too bad Delonte “WIYAH HANGAH!!” West had to get involved. Read the rest of this entry »

In a night where LeBron scored 47, 35 in the first half and at one point went for 24 straight points (while the rest of the team beat the half time rush at the concession stands), the night belonged to the OG Superman & lil’ Lex Luther. Read the rest of this entry »

If it seems like TSS is pro-LeBron, we are. Well, at least Gotty™ and myself are. I mean, why not? He’s a freak of nature who commands you to watch whenever he’s playing, regardless of alliance. He’s a captivating figure, and, I may be going out on a limb when I say this, one of the most physically dominating athletes of all time. Not the “greatest,” but just one person who is so much better physically than the rest of his counterparts (à la Jim Brown, Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps). That and he’s forced statisticians to insert a new category into their columns for his now patented blocks, also known as the “chase-down-block” or “CD.”

Last season, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Cavs had begun tracking chase-downs, primarily because LeBron had made it a signature play of sorts. (Consider it the NBA’s version of the “fourth quarter comeback,” a stat created by the Broncos to get John Elway more pub.) LeBron had 23 CDs last season, according to the team.

Whenever they begin to alter small factors of the game to accommodate your style of play, you’ve “arrived.” Whatever that means. According to this season’s numbers, he’s already more than halfway there with another stretch of the season to tackle. It’s getting to a point where if the opposing team finds themselves on a fast break, I expect to see #23 appear from the corner of the screen to spike the ball off the glass. Sooner or later, players are going to be forced to start pulling up from the three point line in hopes of salvaging points. Just ask his latest recipient, OJ Mayo.

They even refer to it as “CD” in the clip.

You Need to Invent New Stats to Explain LeBron James [NBA Fanhouse]

While the majority of the talk right now centers around the ASG, let’s make note of a few quick things.

1. My Orangemen served arch rival Georgetown last night. That gives me braggin’ rights over my dad until the February matchup.

2. LeBron and Dwyane (and their respective teams) dueled last night with Cavs emerging victorious, eeking out a 92-91 victory (check the full highlights). Looking ahead towards MVP consideration, please make note that LeBron and co. have defeated Kobe, Durant, and Wade in a four-day span. And to LeBron’s highlight reel, add the above clip of him giving D-Wade the business with a vicious two-handed dunk.