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

Being the bastion of wisdom that he is, Sheed dropped off this (now old) jewel & I agree. I tried Twitter for a sustained period but had to give up and have taken my seat back on the sidelines with Ms. Weber. It looks like Sheed went in with high hopes, as did I, only to discover the inevitable. It’s too fast, too much going on, too time consuming as if I don’t have enough time-draining online activities. Too many micro conversations all buzzing @ once. And we’re obviously all three too old school. As Dustin said, Sheed probably still uses cassette tapes, LC doesn’t know how to download (think about that) and me…I’m just hardheaded, taking a Cicero approach to most matters.

I’m not as far behind on updating as Sheed is. I still check in periodically but definitely not enough to warrant saying I’m an actual member of the place. We’ve still got the @TSS_Crew joint going with regular updates and I believe the rest of the hooligans still reside there.

I did set up a a Tumblr though. Even if I only have the slightest of ideas what it’s really about, I like the random, artsy vibe to it. Yeah, it’s blank right now but give me a minute.

[Via]

And then there were two. Kobe vs. LeBron Dwight.  The Lakers vs. The Magic for the Larry O’Brien trophy.  Both teams won in convincing fashion to seal the deal.  You’d be hard pressed to find too many people who had this matchup a few weeks ago.  Shoot… Pat only had the Cavs not making it after consulting with Vivica, Ms. Cleo & Dionne Warwick about his beloved Celtics.  On the bright side David Stern & Phil Knight won’t have to hear conspiracy theories on the Read the rest of this entry »

David Stern has to be happy after the Conference Semifinals.  Two game 7′s and two Conference Finals match-ups with big names: Lebron Vs. Dwight and Kobe Vs. Carmelo.  So before we look ahead, we’ll take one more look back over the Conference Semifinals real quick.  S. Cadet came back like gangbusters this round,  picking all 4 series correctly.  Everyone else finished close behind with 3 correct picks.  Leaving the standings the same as last time (correct team – 1 point. correct length – 1/2 point):

Patrick M. – 13 points

MZ – 11 points

S. Cadet – 11 points

Jesse H. – 9 1/2 points

Cleveland Cavaliers in 4

S. Cadet – Cavs in 6 | Jesse H. – Cavs in 6 | Patrick M. – Cavs in 6 | MZ – Cavs in 5 Read the rest of this entry »

With the Hawks dispatching of the Heat yesterday, the first round of the NBA Playoffs came to a close.  The Rockets finally got out of the first round (so did Carmelo) and the Celtics barely made it out.  Detroit witnessed the end of an era and it may not have hit them yet; but San Antonio could have as well.  The Lakers found little trouble with Utah and Orlando prevailed in tough series.

We saw many a great games and the second round should produce even more.  But before we move ahead we’ll see how everyone did with their first round predictions.  Time to see who knew what they were talking about and who was misled by talking heads.

Patrick M. lead the way by picking all eight series’ correctly, as well as 3 series lengths.  MZ picked seven correctly.  S. Cadet picked six correctly and Jesse H. got five.

So the standings are as follows (correct team – 1 point. correct length – 1/2 point):

Patrick M. – 9 1/2 points

MZ – 7 1/2 points

S. Cadet – 7 points

Jesse H. – 6 points

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the games are underway and our first round picks are locked in for posterity & scrutiny.  So before things get too far along, here are how we see things playing out in the later rounds.  Not much to get into, as the picks speak for themselves.  Needless to say, when we came to the fork in the road: some went right, some went straight, some went left and some went to have themselves checked in.

Eastern Conference

Conference Semifinals

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers Vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks

MZ — Cavs In 5 | Patrick M. — Cavs In 6: What is it going to take to beat the Cavs? You need a go-to-scorer who can create his own shot (Joe Johnson,) a bevy of athletic guys you can used to Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no season like the post season and this rings especially true come time for the NBA Playoffs.  Around this time of year basketball heads nationwide crowd around TV’s to witness the best players in the world go at it. The Associations Spring classic has yielded some memorable moments: most of them being at Patrick Ewing’s expense in the 90’s.  But in all seriousness, the Playoffs provide drama, suspense and possible conspiracy theories worthy of a best selling novel.

The playoffs also call for self proclaimed basketball experts to foretell who’ll take the chip along with proposed sweeps, dark horses, and flops in between. The Crew’s resident basketball heads decided to throw in their 2¢ in on how the rounds will play out.

So read up and don’t get mad when you find out we’re right.

Eastern Conference

Read the rest of this entry »

I caught the Cavs vs. Pistons game Sunday night & I hate to say it (sorry LC & Beware), but the Pistons are done. They’re gonna be a non-factor come playoff time. They appeared to be about their business during warm-ups, but as soon as the ball was tipped they were listless as Clay Aiken at a strip club. On the other hand, Lebron and Co. were stanky leggin’ to their hearts content, probably taking a total of 3 ½ shots before the tip. My only Pistons highlight was seeing Rasheed Wallace out early taking 3’s looking like a straight bum with some cut up sweat pants and Carolina blue Sheed Force Ones on. He didn’t disappoint at all: getting a tech within five minutes and not scoring until the 3rd quarter. So with the Cavs up by 15 only ten minutes into the game, my mind naturally started to wander. Read the rest of this entry »

For Freak Something Saturday we present Jessica Rochelle

Kanye West Says ‘Best Hip-Hop Beats Of All Time’ Will Be On Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 [MTV]

A Brief History of Rasheed Wallace’s All Star Game AF1’s [NK]

Mr. Collipark Weekly Address: “If You Don’t Have A Song. You Should Not Make A Video. Lets Get To The Music” [Ozone]

Live Nation: No Deal Pending With Janet Jackson [Billboard]

Microsoft Opening Up Apple-type Retail Stores. Risky? [The Deal]

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn’t Fucking Work [The Onion]

Sperm Is Weird [Slog]

The Internet Isn’t Making You Stupid. People Are Making You Stupid. [Futurismic]

The Top 10 Foolproof Moves for Valentine’s Day [Spike]

YouTube Gets Video Downloads As Sony Re-signs Deal [Music Ally]

Twitter.com/TSS_Crew

Here’s a flipside to Kanye’s situation, as Eddie Griffin serves the paparazzi one…without causing them any harm. Read the rest of this entry »