|  |  |  | | | | | Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sports | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  When ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg reported on Tuesday morning that the NBA had made a move to outlaw upside down headbands, my initial assumption was that someone was having a little fun with Chris. He's a smart dude and a great reporter, but the league can't be that petty, can they? Boy, can they. Because there was something missing on Rajon Rondo's head last night as he took to the court against the Heat. A headband. Not even a right-side up version. Because, yes, the NBA has banned upside down headbands. How can you tell it's an upside down headband? Well, about a decade ago, when headbands were starting to come back into vogue after a 20-year or so absence, the NBA decided to cash in, and replace all the team-issued headbands they provided free of charge to their players, with a version that featured the famous NBA logo on top of the team colors. And you had to wear the logo'd version, for fear of a fine. Rasheed Wallace took it to the man by turning his headband inside-out, but the league came down on that, so Rasheed stopped. We didn't really hear a peep about the logo'd headbands for a few years after that, until 2007, when it became obvious that quite a few players were following Rondo's example and turning the logo upside down. We even posted about it, in BDL's early days. Most of the players listed haven't really played much in the years since that post, while one guy (J.R. Smith) has dumped the headband altogether. But Rondo carried on, upside down all the way, with Jerry West facing downward on national TV dozens of times a year as the C's made it to the Finals two out of the last three years. But not anymore. Because he's been asked not to do it, by the league. And he's not wearing a headband anymore. He's playing against the Cavaliers as I write this, and he's still not wearing a headband. Why? Because, yes, the NBA is that petty. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
Utah at Denver Really, you can't go wrong tonight. Milwaukee and New Orleans will be a show, I can't wait to see Blake Griffin's first game as a Los Angeles Clipper, the national TV docket (with that Clipper contest, and a Bulls/Thunder pairing) is pretty stacked, and League Pass runs for free until next Tuesday. But I'm going with the Jazz and Nuggets, partially because I want to see how the Nuggets react to their best player essentially telling them they're not good enough for him, but mostly because I'm looking forward to Al Jefferson spinning and hooking his way toward his first All-Star berth. This is a loaded night, though, with 13 games and not enough TVs in the world to try and keep up. So toss in some comments down below, and enjoy the first full night of NBA basketball we've had since April. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out. C: Sactown Royalty. Tom Ziller reminds us why he's Tom Ziller, with "The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of the Sacramento Kings."
PF: WFNY. Cavs rookie Manny Harris is buying his team doughnuts.
SF: SI Vault. A rather strange high school picture of LeBron James.
SG: SRI: Carmelo Anthony is taking it one passive/aggressive trade demand at a time.
PG: ESPN Los Angeles. I do believe Shannon Brown has extended his range.
6th: Deadspin. Shoals swears that he's not writing a Heat Index, and I believe him.
7th: ClutchFans. Rockets backers are rightfully effusive in their praise of Brad Miller. Braise.
8th: CleveScene. Dan Gilbert didn't have any dirt on LeBron, at all.
9th: Newark Star-Ledger. The Nets are hoping -- hoping -- to just lose $25 million this year.
10th: AP. Speaking of which, the draft is heading to Newark this June. Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Holler at me at kdonhoops (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
In today's Memphis Commercial Appeal, Ronald Tillery delves into a players-only meeting that not only saved the Memphis Grizzlies' 2009-10 season, but also altered Allen Iverson's career significantly. Iverson was just two games into a three-game career with the Grizzlies, and already moaning about playing time. Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins, faced with a fractured team and a 1-4 record to start a season that most thought wouldn't get much better, decided to take a stand. From Tillery: The Grizzlies were mired in losing and Allen Iverson - having missed a training camp during which Hollins preached a philosophy of one team, one goal - was upset about playing off the bench. Suddenly, the Griz had to deal with one big ego, one major problem. So on Nov. 5, 2009, Hollins asked everyone in a Los Angeles gym to leave practice. That included visitors such as former Griz president Jerry West. Hollins then got something off his chest. In front of the team, Hollins demanded that Iverson conform to the team's philosophy, understand his role and respect his teammates.
It completely and utterly saved the season. Iverson would play one more game, a loss against the Lakers, before leaving the team. The Grizzlies turned around following his absence to finish the season on a 39-37 tear; not enough to make the playoffs, but surprising nevertheless. Iverson, meanwhile, went on to issue a fake retirement that nobody believed, followed by a terrible run in Philadelphia, another leave of absence, and as of today (until his next retirement/leave of absence) he's signed to play some ball in Turkey. And though we don't have the Grizzlies making the playoffs again this year, Hollins is still in charge of one of this league's better young teams. Now, if only the Grizzlies would give him one of this league's better young payrolls. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  We are chatting, soon, but it will have to start at 3:45 Eastern, as opposed to 3 p.m., Eastern. Kindly click the jump for the fun. (Note: If your comment doesn't appear right away, rest assured, it shouldn't. Comments are moderated, but because we like you and don't want to limit contributions to a level that other large sites do, we'll try to get to it. It might be a few minutes. It might be 20 minutes. Chill out. Eat some papaya.) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Hey now, you're a goofball, with your And1 tat-too ... (Congratulations on having a Smash Mouth song stuck in your head for the rest of your day. Week. Life.) A nice respite from that particular brand of hell? Stop by later this afternoon for a Ball Don't Lie Hump Day Chat!, which will start up around 3 p.m. Eastern time. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Last year's record? 50-32, lost in the second round to Phoenix. Significant departures? Roger Mason Jr., Keith Bogans. Significant arrivals? Tiago Splitter, Bobby Simmons, James Anderson. Projected record, as predicted three months ago in time to publish in Yahoo! Sports' NBA Preview Magazine? 55-27 Why I think that sounds about right? Because, even as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili fall further and further from their primes, it's important to remember what their primes once stood for. The best center-that-was-called-a-power-forward in NBA history. The best sixth man in NBA history. This isn't exactly Chris Gatling and Kendall Gill, working a few years after their prime. No, this is TD and Manu, with help from an in-prime bounce-back year from Tony Parker, and hopefully the same from Richard Jefferson. Given aid from youngsters like DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter, sopping up minutes and getting it right. Though the West doesn't have a clear-cut number two behind the Lakers, the Spurs seem to have the rotation and the temperament to stand out. And in a seven game series? Just wait until they get there ... Why I think I might be terribly, terribly wrong? Injuries, I suppose, could derail things. Actually, injuries could completely derail things. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker have long struggled with plantar fasciitis. Richard Jefferson and Manu Ginobili have had their injury concerns over the last few seasons, and DeJuan Blair, if the rumors are true, only has one leg. So it's completely feasible for a rash of these things to pop up and stop the Spurs short of 50 wins. Healthy, though? This is a team with championship potential. Dan Devine's Corner Three  Mark Eaton rhymes ...
Made-up limericks about "going for it" in the NBA regular season and in life, from the 7-foot-4 former Utah Jazz center and current celebrity motivational speaker.
DeJuan Blair's a rebounding machine.
On him, Coach Pop is mighty keen.
It was love at first sight
When Greg watched the night
That DeJuan tried to crush Hasheem's spleen. -- Let's take a closer look at Antonio McDyess, who is calmly breaking the world record for longest amount of time holding your breath. This has been a closer look at Antonio McDyess, who is calmly breaking the world record for longest amount of time holding your breath. -- We'll be missing you 
Sayonara, Roger Mason Jr. The emergence of George Hill and the presence of Keith Bogans cramped Mason's style in San Antonio last season, but he's just a year removed from starting 71 games for the 54-win 2008-09 Spurs, averaging 11.8 points per game and hitting 42.1 percent of his threes, including some serious daggers. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
Boston 88, Miami 80 When you strip the hype away, this was an ugly game. A poorly-executed game full of first-week jitters that saw both teams work at league-low levels of efficiency whilst turning the ball over one in every five times they came down court. But holy cow was that entertaining. And it is so, so good to have the NBA back. Because that game, despite all those screwups, was so fun to watch. We can get into the heavy-handed stuff surrounding this season later on -- how LeBron James needs to take control earlier in the contest and stop treating these runs like an All-Star Game; or how the Celtics can truly eke out 60-plus wins even while taking it easy if Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson contribute at a high level -- for now the point is that absurdly rough first time showing. It felt unrepresentative. And if the Heat and Celtics don't win by an average of 20 points tonight (against the 76ers and Cavaliers, respectively), I'd be surprised. Even considering how terrible the play was on Tuesday night. You can't just waltz into a season and match the level of intensity that a game like this demanded. You're not ready for it. Every media member that was around for Games 3-through-5 in last summer's Finals turn could not stop talking about how the in-Boston hype and pressure and noise on Tuesday night felt exactly like a Finals game. No team, no player, could rise to meet that sort of scene on the first night of the regular season. Not even Michael Jordan, who lost a massively-hyped season opener in Boston in his last year with the Bulls in 1997. The Heat had no clue. It was obvious to even the fair-weather fans that tuned in to see the gimmick in play. One superstar would zig, the other would zag. Dwyane Wade would cut baseline, but LeBron James would pass to the corner. 14 of the team's 17 turnovers were committed by James and Wade, and you got the same feeling for most of Tuesday's loss as you did during those three minutes Wade and James spent playing alongside each other in the exhibition match against Detroit last month. That it felt like an All-Star Game. A whole lot of respect and over-passing, not a lot of leadership. But it's early, so we're backing off right now. Rajon Rondo (the player that LeBron James needs to emulate, at this point, with his penetration) had 17 assists in the win, while Daniels (eight points in 13 minutes) and Glen Davis (13 and five rebounds in under 30 minutes) were exactly what the Celtics needed them to be. Jermaine O'Neal had just one point and two rebounds in almost 13 minutes, but his defensive contributions were huge, on top of the two blocks that showed up in the box score. And Paul Pierce (19 points on seven shots) sure had those shoulders squared. So, yes, it's time for a deep breath, and 12 steps backwards. Especially with 81 games to go. We'll be around for all of them, with quite a bit to break down. For now, let's let the flow guide us, instead of making rash statements straightaway. *** Portland 106, Phoenix 92 This didn't feel like a 14-point win for Portland. The Trail Blazers deserved the win, and they dominated that final period (31 to 11!), but this was a close game for three and a half quarters, until the Suns fell apart in the final period. Phoenix's defense, as you'd expect, is miserable. Hedo Turkoglu was absolutely dominated by Nic Batum in the fourth quarter, Steve Nash had issues boxing out all night as he tried to check the small forwards he was matched up with, and Channing Frye would really appreciate it if you wouldn't touch him. It was so bad that the Portland announcers were pointing out what a solid defender Hakim Warrick was in relation to the rest of his teammates, and Hakim Warrick couldn't even guard a Portland play-by-play announcer at this point. 116.5 points per 100 possessions for the Blazers, which would easily lead the league if kept up throughout the season. The team had 31 assists on 42 field goals (a little bit of home cooking, there), it managed 18 offensive rebounds, and it really should have had a double-figure lead on the Suns throughout. The problem was that Phoenix just knows how to score. The team had 81 points after three quarters, as the Blazers had no clue how to handle both Steve Nash (26 points) and Jason Richardson (22 points; he just seems to have it locked in every time he plays Portland). Nash turned the ball over nine times, and a bunch of those were unforced errors. Still, the Suns had it humming for a while, and you get the feeling the team can't help but improve offensively. Defensively? They're screwed. That team is terrible on that end. (Also, Rudy Fernandez? That dude was into it. Cool to see.) *** Los Angeles Lakers 112, Houston 110 The Rockets looked as if they were a few jitters away from an impressive opening night win. And the Lakers? They look like a team that can acclimate and take on just about anyone at this point. Even though Los Angeles played behind for most of the game, you just get the feeling that the Lakers have an answer for any style of play from the opposition. And not in the style that we saw last year, when the Lakers continually played down to their competition. Los Angeles got away with one -- pulling away for the win as Steve Blake (39 percent, career) and Shannon Brown (33 percent, career, but with a shooting style that looked nothing like what we saw on Tuesday) nailed seven of seven three-point attempts in the second half -- overcoming combined 4-22 shooting from Ron Artest and Derek Fisher and a whole host of Rocket shots that should have gone in. But that doesn't mean the Lakers don't have the finest, most chemistry-laden squad of them all. These are your defending champs, and in spite of giving up all those points, this is still your championship favorite. And it would take about 40 Miami wins in 45 tries, at this point, to dissuade me from that idea. As an aside, though, I'm fully expecting Miami to win about 40 times in 45 tries starting in a month or so. With the pressure on, Yao Ming still brought the footwork and the touch in his first game in 17 months, though he still missed seven of 11 shots, turned the ball over four times, played some iffy defense, and fouled out in less than 24 minutes. Outside of clutching his shorts in his night's waning moments, the guy looks about the same. Give him another month, and he'll be the best bit player in the game. Pau Gasol, at times last night, looked like the best player in the game. 29 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks for the Lakers' starting center, working as we'd like to see him. As Chris Webber pointed out post-game, Kobe Bryant was the master of the quick dump pass, finishing with seven assists and 27 points aided by a needed 11 free throw makes. And while I'm sure his knee is killing him, it was certainly hard to tell as he made play after play in Shane Battier's face. The Rockets? Guys like Battier and Yao kept tossing up quick shots, thinking that they were going to be blocked. Luis Scola had 18 and 16 rebounds, but he wants some of those 18 shot attempts back. Aaron Brooks was fantastically efficient with 24 points, Kevin Martin can be a star again (27 points), but there are still things to work on. That said? A terrific showing, from both teams. I thought the Lakers were a work in progress and the Rockets an iffy playoff contender entering Tuesday night. After this game, we should be really high on both these teams. God, it's so great to be doing this again. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Apparently Dwyane Wade is some amalgamation of a superhero in his latest Nike ad. It's a season-long campaign, that will see Wade (not as "Flash," which is unfortunate because Flash was a super-amazing movie; but as "D3") vanquish all manner of bad guys (from the Lakers, Magic, and Celtics; if we're reading this correctly) in advertisement form.
The clip features comedian Kevin Hart, and it's not bad. It's nowhere near as good as LeBron James' recent ad, though. A clear step down. Which probably means that Chris Bosh's upcoming Nike ad will merely feature him tying his shoes while whistling the theme from "Green Acres." Actually, that doesn't sound half bad. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
Ben Collins covered the Celtics-Heat opener last night from the TD Garden for SLAM Magazine. You can read his coverage here: He writes a blog for Boston.Com called Today's Soundtrack, too, mostly with his hands. He wrote it with his elbows and teeth once. It was a long night and he doesn't want to talk about it.
BOSTON -- In the Miami Heat locker room before their 88-80 loss to the Boston Celtics last night, there were two enormous easels (in my notebook it reads, "CHECK OUT THESE F'ING ELABORATE EASELS") with sixteen plays on them. This is not common. Sometimes there are whiteboards with two or three plays on them alongside rudimentary defensive suggestions in all-caps, like "TRY TO MAKE THE BALL NOT GO IN THE HOOP WHEN THE OTHER TEAM MAKE SHOOT-SHOOT," and quotes from the Bible that could be misconstrued to double as sports references. ("Then Joseph said, 'Dude, you've got to stay in front of Ricky Davis. He's not that good.'") But never sixteen plays. I'm not sure that's why the Heat played so badly, though. I watched the whole game. I only saw one play, and it was a clear-out. At halftime, I was asked by an elevator attendant how the Heat were playing. He had heard the score and deciphered from grumblings of the last batch of riders that the Heat may not have appeared trés compétente out of the gate. "How do they look?" "Well," I said. I was trying to find something very relatable, something everyone had seen before. "Have you ever seen three stray dogs in a parking lot fighting over a piece of meat?" "No." "Me neither. They look really bad." In hindsight, this was a bad analogy on two counts. Because: 1) I just implied that I think this elevator attendant is spending at least some of his spare time in a parking lot with at least three homeless dogs and a large-enough slab of meat. And, 2) The Miami Heat's suck last night was a much more dynamic suck than your typical suck. It was nuanced and interesting and sophisticated in its horribleness. They had their unchained-dog moments of ultra-assertiveness, yes-like when Chris Bosh presumably screamed, "I'm taking over!" then proceeded to miss six consecutive shots to start the second quarter. But they were also uncomfortably passive at points. This umpteen-championship dynasty with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, if it exists, will have started with a nine-point quarter that eerily resembled a first date going very badly. If Erik Spoelstra's offensive playbook was just a laminated sheet of paper that said, "Just do whatever is the basketball equivalent of making a mountain out of napkins and silverware to try to get her to stop talking about politics," then this game should've been stopped at halftime to give Erik Spoelstra the Coach of the Year award. But that wasn't his gameplan. I saw the easels. That's the problem, though. I saw those easels. I'm not sure the players did. It certainly didn't look like it, at least. LeBron tried to justify this after the game. "We know that Rome wasn't built in a day," he said. True. But Rome wasn't built by one guy screaming "I got this!" and heaving two-ton stones on top of other two-ton stones while everyone else stood around and fed each other grapes. (They did all of the grape-feeding afterwards, if I remember correctly.) On the easels-the Roman blueprints-there were these elaborate pick-and-pops for LeBron and off-the-ball designs for Dwyane Wade to get him free layups. A couple of reporters were just sitting there ogling before the game, wondering how this team was ever going to be stopped. But I just watched a fourth quarter where LeBron was trying wrap up this awkward first date nicely, anyway, attempting to end this sucker on a high-note. He tried to tell a joke. LeBron: "What do you call the other four people in black on the court with me right now?" Date: "What?" LeBron: "I have no idea. I'm just going to pretend like they're not alive." It didn't work. Now I'm wondering if they are ever going to get started. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  There once was a note, pure and easy, playing so free like a breath rippling by. At least, that's what I've been told. At the heart of this, is our fandom. At the core of this, is the obsession (to whatever end) with something that makes us happy. With something that, consistently, we can go to and find comfort in. Or anger, in. Or frustration, in. Or satisfaction, in. Or love, in. The direction and eventual destination behind the emotion doesn't matter. What counts, more than anything else, is that we feel. That we're feeling something that opens up our pores. That we take to this influence to take us from the life that wants to numb us. NBA basketball has been my obsession since the Reagan Administration, and this is coming from someone who was born just six months before that oiled-up chickenhawk was even elected. Since I was a kid, I've wanted to write about this game for living. Since I was a teenager, I've been able to pull off the writing bit, working for websites as far back as 1997. Sometime in my 40s, I'll probably be able to make "a living" off of this that won't result in crippling debt. And, as a result of all this, I will be taking over editorial duties at Ball Don't Lie. Please try to hold your applause until the end of the speech. That is applause, right? Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness. The note that began all can also destroy. I've heard that, as well. This is the part where I have to defend my credentials. This is the part that I have to remind you - people that have never met nor spoken to me - that I honestly could not care less about the way NBA players, coaches, executives, and owners are regarded. That there is no pre-meditated bias, only honesty in my own words. This is the part where I have to point out that I've done nothing more, over the last decade at least, than watch more NBA games than you could possibly understand, while constantly correcting and questioning and doubting and believing in myself. Which is about the exact opposite of the typical, go-team-go, NBA fan that thinks he or she has got it all sussed. It's my job to get it right. And I won't always get it right. You can't trust me to get it right, just as it is with any other NBA analyst. But, trust me; I'm going to work my ass off more than any other NBA analyst you're familiar with on my way toward trying to get it right. That's the burden I took on a decade and a half ago, and that's the ideal that you are now charged with holding me up to. This site, as it was with the first one I started writing for back in 1997, will only get bigger and better. Keep shouting, keep stomping, and keep expecting great things. My goal, as it has been for a decade and a half, is to provide you with the sort of NBA coverage that I expect when I pull up my browser every morning. Stick with us -- your/our beloved BDL -- and we'll get there together. 13 games tonight, brothers and sisters. I'll be watching. I'd love it, if you'll be reading. | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
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