I love me some Chris Andersen. His energy off the bench for the Denver Nuggets has made him a fan favorite in the city, and his patented “birdman” celebrations and signature style, tattoos and hair all over the place, have endeared him to both the casual and die-hard NBA fan. His 2010 averages of 5.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game don’t do justice to the energy and attitude he brings to the floor every night.

And now, he gives us this. The most obvious tattoo for someone nicknamed The Birdman.

Check out the neck. That’s a “Free Bird” tattoo. So awesome.

Well, somebody had to win that one right? In a game with some god-awful offensive statistics (I mean…GREAT DEFENSE!), the Lakers beat the Celtics in game 7 on their home floor, winning 83-79, and collecting banner #16 for the franchise and for the city of Los Angeles (and Minneapolis). The funny thing about this game is that the Celtics executed their game plan to a T: force Kobe into difficult shots all night by playing straight up man-to-man defense (Kobe went 6-24, with many shots coming out of the flow of the offense), play Rasheed Wallace on Pau Gasol and use Sheed’s length to stymie the big Spaniard, and let Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher and the rest of the Lakers role players try to save their season and win the title.

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Well, now even preachers have gotten into the mix. In Hilton Head, South Carolina, Reverend Christopher Benek of the Providence Presbyterian Church had a few choice quotes about God, and yes, LeBron.

“I think God wants LeBron James to be something of a modern day king. I think God wants the best for LeBron James. I think God even wants LeBron to win. And the way LeBron can do this is to simply do, at this most important time in his life and in sports history… LeBron James, at this time of immense importance, should humble himself publicly before the Lord, and put God first, and I can tell you how… LeBron James should agree to a three-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for $1 for each season. Not $20 million a season, $1.”

I imagine the preacher is referencing Steve Jobs’ famous $1 salary as the CEO of Apple. I’m not really sure why Reverend Benek has chosen to speak out about LeBron, but Lord help us all if more choose to do so.

Today’s weird NBA story is almost as strange as me leaving the bar before 1 a.m. last night. Maybe I’m getting old? That’s depressing. Anyway, Zach Randolph has been able to score from the low block effectively for years, and grab a decent number of boards. But, he’s never been known for dishing or his hustle. Until now. Apparently, Mr. Randolph has been implicated in a major drug investigation in Indianapolis, as a prime dealer of marijuana in the city.

A stake out on a suspected drug house 2 weeks ago led to 32 year old Arthur Boyd being pulled over in a Cadillac Escalade. The vehicle had marijuana and ammunition inside, and was registered to Randolph.

The Escalade led police to a storage facility where they say Randolph rents four lockers. According to the document, police dogs found controlled substances in two of the four lockers.

John Tompkins, Randolph’s attorney, was quoted by 6News saying that Randolph is not connected to any drug activity. He went on to say that the vehicle’s secret compartments were a safety precaution for concealing valuables. The Memphis Grizzlies will release a statement supporting Randolph on Thursday, according to Tompkins.

Is anyone really all that surprised?

I’ll admit, I’m now 0fer 2 in calling the past two NBA playoff games. I thought the Lakers would beat the Suns last night in Phoenix, taking a 3-1 lead back to L.A. for an anticlimactic game five. I thought the Suns’ use of a zone defense in game four was a gimmick, a one-time tactical adjustment by coach Alvin Gentry that had surprised and frustrated the Lakers temporarily, until they had a day or two to watch tape, game-plan and adjust accordingly. After all, they have Phil Jackson, probably the best passing big man in the league in Pau Gasol, an ideal ‘stretch-four’ in Lamar Odom, and one of the top two players in the league in Kobe Bryant. Done and done, right? 

Not so much. The Lakers find themselves in a hot zone against Phoenix both offensively and defensively, as the Suns roared (or blazed I guess, for the whole sun metaphor) to a 115-106 victory in game 4 last night. There were periods where it seemed like Phoenix couldn’t miss a shot, and especially a three, which frustrated the Lakers. So what, right? Phoenix can’t shoot 50% again can they? The Phoenix bench can’t again shoot 63% (!), right? Well, probably not. But it’s deeper than that. 

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Superman-ish? Maybe?

I thought the Celtics would win. You thought the Celtics would win. The Celtics thought the Celtics would win. But, the Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic had different plans for Monday night, as they defeated Boston 96-92 in overtime, showing some of the same offensive and defensive efficiency that led to a dominant end of the regular season and 8-0 playoff record before facing Boston.

During the regular season, Orlando was statistically the best defensive team in the league, anchored by Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard. They’d challenge every shot and continuously manage to disrupt their opponents’ passing lanes, leading to transition dunks and spot up 3s. It was working for Orlando last night, as they held Boston to 42% shooting and managed to force 16 turnovers. Dwight Howard will do his thing in the middle (both defensively and offensively; Dwight finished with 32 and 16), but someone you won’t hear about is J.J. Redick, who continues to play exemplary defense on Ray Allen, chasing him through screen after screen and managing to force Mr. Shuttlesworth into tough shot after tough shot. There’s a reason Redick finished the game with a +/- of +14, and it has less to do with his 12 points in 33 minutes than his tough defense on Allen.

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To their credit, the Orlando Magic came to play last night. During Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Orlando, the Magic corrected most of their mistakes from their Game 1 loss. They got the ball down low to Dwight Howard early and often, as Howard finished with 30 points on 9-13 shooting from the field and 12-17 from the line. They got better looks from three, going 7-18, although their 18 attempts were far fewer than their regular season average of 27. They played better defensively on everyone on the Celtics not named Paul Pierce.

It still wasn’t enough.

Down 3 with less than a minute left, Vince Carter was at the free throw line with a chance to cut the deficit to 1. He missed both free throws, likely cementing his place in Magic free throw follies history. After a Celtics miss and Magic rebound, J.J. Redick made the mistake of advancing the ball (not past mid court) before calling timeout, meaning that the Magic had to in-bound the ball behind the half-court stripe with under 5 seconds left in the game. A desperation 3 by Jameer Nelson fell short, the Celtics won by a final of 95-92, and now take a commanding 2-0 lead back to Boston.

The Magic might pull out a game in Boston, but realistically, they are done. They lost the first two games of the series on their home floor. Rajon Rondo is absolutely dominating the playoffs, posting a 25 point, 8 rebound, 5 assist, 2 steal performance last night that doesn’t even do justice to what he actually contributed. Paul Pierce came out of the gate firing, and finished with a cool 28 points. In a startling yet not surprising juxtaposition, immediately before Vince missed the two free throws mentioned above, Pierce calmly nailed 2 to put Boston up by the final margin. With the public coronation of Rondo, Kevin Garnett has quietly dominated his opposition these playoffs, starting with Antawn Jamison and continuing with Rashard Lewis, who has 11 points on 4-16 shooting IN TWO GAMES.

Don’t look now, but with the Celtics heading home up 2-0, and a certain L.A. team finally looking motivated for consecutive games, we might be heading for a classic NBA Finals match-up. that those of us who grew up in the 90’s will pretend we understand

I was pretty excited about Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals last night, pitting the Los Angeles Lakers against the Phoenix Suns in L.A. A long, physical, defense-oriented, triangle-offense team playing a run-and-gun, up-tempo team with a ton of chemistry and a deep bench promises for intriguing match-ups and a really high ceiling in playoff basketball.

Game 1 last night, which the Lakers won by a final of  128-107, was alarming if I’m a Phoenix fan, and reassuring if I’m a Lakers backer. After polishing off the Spurs in four games, many were talking about Phoenix’s newfound defensive prowess, with Grant Hill as primary defensive stopper, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye making key contributions off the bench, and Robin Lopez (when returning from injury) adding in a dose of toughness. That defense was rendered moot as Kobe dropped 40 points, 21 in a 3rd quarter that was as dominating a stretch of basketball as I’ve seen in the playoffs. Everyone had their chance at stopping Kobe (Hill, Dudley, Jason Richardson), but when he’s on like he was last night, there’s just no stopping him.

The obvious advantage the Lakers have in the series is the length of their bigs, as Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom have a distinct size and strength advantage over Hill, Lopez, and Stoudemire. Phoenix knew this and seemed to body up the Lakers bigs and attempt to deny entry passes all night. The result? The Lakers were able slash and drive the lane, leading to 56 (!) points in the paint as they cruised to a twenty point victory.

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I’m only half-skeptical that this conversation could have actually occurred during Game 1 of the Magic-Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Finals yesterday. Which the Celtics won, by the way, by the score of 92-88, to steal away home court advantage from the Magic and in the process hand the confident Magic their first loss of the playoffs. The Magic seemed to realize after the first half that they weren’t up against the Bobcats and Hawks of the NBA world, and were now facing an opponent with serious playoff mettle as well as the added motivation of being considered an underdog. I rattled on and on to a friend Saturday night about how “watchable” the NBA is again, and after a poorly played first half from both teams, the same friend sent me this text: ”I’m watching a Brandy-Ray J reality show on VH1 right now. Way more watchable than that first half.” I couldn’t even stir up a comeback.

Anyway, the Magic looked unprepared to host a hungry Celtics team, and an awkward self-interview with Dwight Howard acting as Clark Kent during halftime did little to dispel the notion that the Celtics are taking this playoff run more seriously than the Magic. Let’s see how Orlando responds to their first test of the playoffs. Game 2 is Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Hey, if it doesn’t work out, don’t worry! At least Orlando has a lot of cougars!

Phil Jackson, master motivator and media manipulator, took it upon himself to call out the Great Canadian Hope on Friday, when asked if it’s tough for the Lakers to prepare to face Steve Nash, because of the Suns guard’s frenetic style.

“Yeah, because you can’t carry the ball like he does in practice,” Jackson said, making a gesture of palming the basketball. “You can’t pick that ball up and run with it.”

Nice Phil. Now the whole world will be watching the Western Conference Finals to inspect whether or not Steve Nash carries the basketball. Nash was asked about Phil’s comments on Saturday, and not to be outdone, had an outstanding reply:

“It’s news to me. I’m fortunate. I don’t know if I’ve been called for a carry yet,” he said after the Suns practiced Saturday, then he added straight-faced: “I’ve never heard anyone accuse me of carrying it. I mean, the best coach in the league, Gregg Popovich, didn’t have a problem with it last week. We have the best officials in the world,” Nash continued. “I’ll just leave it up to them.”

Umm boom? And roasted?

 Suns coach Alvin Gentry spoke up as well:

“You guys got to admire Phil,” Gentry said. “C’mon, the stuff that he throws out there, I mean I think it’s great. He’s very creative. There’s a reason. But I think you’ve got to understand that there’s kind of a method to his madness. If you let it affect you, then it will.

“We spent the day ducking elbows on post-ups, to see if we could duck elbows on post-ups, ” Gentry said, a not-to-thinly veiled nod to the Lakers’ style. “So it all works out, it all works out.”

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO YOU DIDN’T!

Game 1 is tonight at 9 p.m. on TNT.

If you haven’t heard already, the state of Arizona just signed into a law a new, controversial immigration bill, which allows police to demand citizenship papers during something called “legal contact” and makes it illegal for the population to not always have said papers on their person. This bill has garnered a wide variety of opinions, as it deals with a divisive issue like immigration. I’m somewhat certain lawmakers are primarily worried about the safety of their respective constituencies, and attempt to put forth legislation – whether dealing with immigration or not – to help ensure the well-being of their voters. That said, you can see why this kind of bill would stir up some controversy. Even the 13-14 Arizona Diamondbacks are welcomed by protests during various road trips. The Diamondbacks!

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Man, I hope Kobe got paid A LOT of money to do this photo shoot and interview with LA Times Magazine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to stick ice picks in my eyes.

Self-explanatory.

It’s not often we have multiple posts regarding the same story in one day, but this is just too good to pass-up. Unfortunately for Mr. Johnson, when you get pwned in real life in 2010, you get to relive said pwnage reapeatedly, at the hands of the Internet.

via The Sporting Blog

James Johnson seems like an all right dude. But when you’re one on one with the King and you get no weak side help from your teammates, this can happen.