Wow

All season long the world was full of witnesses.
Fans witnessed.
Players witnessed.
ESPN witnessed.
The World witnessed.



And finally,

Lebron witnessed.

This is no blog to stab at Lebron James. He's a beast. He's young and already one of the top few players in the league. I have no quarrel with Lebron. Do I love him and his game, his intensity, passion and ability? No. But I don't dislike him. He's good for basketball and that's incredibly obvious.

But he's not there yet.

The simple truth is very clear to those who paid attention to this series. The better team won. Key word being 'team'. The best player on the court at all times was Lebron, but the next three best players in the series were Dwight Howard, Hedo, and Rashard Lewis. And it wasn't even close. And did anyone else notice that Mike Brown doesn't coach? He's such a puppet he should be in those Nike commercials alongside Kobe and Lebron (if they still exist). If there was ever a series to expose the fraudulence of the NBA Coach of the Year Award, this was it. Stan Van Gundy looked like Bob Knight compared to Brown. And we all saw it clear as day. That's not saying much for Stan Van, but it's really not saying much for Brown.

Cleveland had their chances. Up fifteen in the second quarter of game one, they took their King James sneakers off the throat. And it cost them. It cost them the game, and furthermore the series. Orlando would have wilted and died if they had lost by ten in game one. Instead, a team of jump shooters had the utmost confidence, the one thing you never want to give a team of jump shooters. Everything in this series was a mismatch. The best example maybe Mo Williams' empty guarantee to win the series. How pathetic, the damn thing didn't even go seven.

Back to Lebron real quick. I know there are those of you out there that ignore the media, and I applaud that. But for those of you who enjoy putting Lebron James and Michael Jordan's names in the same sentence, send me your address. I will personally make the visit just to punch you in the neck. It's not that Lebron isn't as good as Michael, I wouldn't expect him to be at this point in his career. It's that the very projection makes me sick to my stomach. In order to be considered in the same league as MJ, one must have at least 3 or 4 titles. To this point, Lebron doesn't. Kobe will most likely have four in a week or two, so his application will be looked at further. Remember this, in MJ's sixth season (granted he played two years of college ball so if you're of the age, not amount of seasons train of thought you're excused from this) he lost two playoff games and was the NBA Finals MVP against Magic's Lakers. In Lebron's sixth season he lost to the Magic (no pun intended). Just some food for thought.

So here we are.
No more chalk.
No more puppet.
No more pity for Cleveland crammed down the national audience's throats.
No more.

But you all know this.

You Witnessed it.

Horrendous Officiating Makes it Hard to Watch the NBA

In watching the NBA Conference Finals, I cannot help but become more and more frustrated with the officiating. The flagrants, the technicals, and the ticky tacky calls have done all they can keep me from watching. Fortunately for the NBA, my fanhood (and the lack of any other solid programming) has kept me tuning in night after night.

Let's begin with last night's Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals. The foul called on Mickael Pietrus while he was gaurding LeBron in the final seconds of the game was nothing more than the NBA wanting to see the best players in the finals, not the best teams. If this is just about who is the best player, why don't we just turn the whole thing into a trickshot competition... I'll get the Globtrotters on the horn.

If you are going to call the foul on Pietrus, then how can you not call the foul on Andy Varejao on the next play. Personally, I don't think either should be called. Both players played excellent defense. LeBron fell so he got the call. Dwight stood his ground and was rewarded with... well nothing.

Not only are bad calls being made, the refs are simply calling way too many fouls. Clearly the refs are not subscribing to the old adage "let the boys play." The number of fouls called has increased from 33 personals in Game One to 50 personals in Game Four of the East. I understand that players are going to be more physical as the series goes on, but how can the foul discrepancy be so large? Calling 50 fouls almost makes the game unbearable. It seems like there is a foul called on every play in the fourth quarter. There is no rhythm or consistency to the game.

The technical foul calling has been extremely over-sensitive. Last night's technical call on Howard for "taunting" Andy was completely unwarranted. Howard completely an And-1 and pumped his fist in no particular direction. By calling that a technical, the NBA is telling their players and the kids who look up to them to never be happy with their accomplishments. I thought this was competitive basketball. In the heat of the moment players are going to show some emotion. That does not constitute it as taunting.

Even if it did, why do we all have to subject to this liberal point of view where we cannot hurt anybody's feelings anyway? Why are teams and players not allowed to humiliate their competition? In Roman times, not only did they humiliate them, they made sure they did not leave the arena alive. In comparison, I see nothing wrong with a little fist pump after a key play.

Today, Howard's technical was rescinded, but it still turned the game and gave the Cavs all the momentum. Magic were able to bounce back, but what if they could not? Would the NBA have given them the game? I think not. Refs need to hold their whistles. They are hurting the game.

Hey! My head got in the way of your elbow!

As the Cavs/Magic series suddenly becomes more and more compelling, finally we have some blood. It spilled out of Mo Williams' face last night and guess what? The Cavaliers whined about it. Notorious whiner Stan Van got to sit back and watch his craft being perfected by the team that he has suddenly thrown into a bit of adversity. The Cavs cruised through the first two rounds and obviously, whatever hard fouls they encountered were minor details. They were winning, and winning big. Now things aren't so fun and fancy-free. Mo Williams' post game comments reflected a sore loser with a sore face and a huge basket of sour grapes. "Most definitely", Mo Williams replied when he thought it was a dirty play. Really, Mo? Seeing as how he was injured, I can let that slide. But when Mo goes onto say, "I couldn't care less about Anthony Johnson -- he plays 12 minutes a game. I couldn't care less." Now we have a problem. You never take potshots at another man's livelihood. Especially not a man who just made you look like a blubbering baby on national television.

Lebron is what Lebron is, he can say and do whatever he wants and that's just fine. He takes his hard fouls like a man, the right way. Mo Williams was a nobody before this year and it's looking like in about a week he will be just another professional athlete on a golf course. And guess what? Anthony Johnson may be playing for a ring! How great would that be?

Besides the fact that I believe that flagrant was ridiculous (Johnson just attempted to get his shot off, something that happens routinely after a foul in the continuation league), I find Mo Williams' reactions were less than warranted. The funniest part is that Johnson got in the Cavs heads, and he only plays 12 minutes a game.

Guess he made the best of those 12 minutes.

More than we can say for Mo.