Fun Fact Friday: Brown and Out

Well, that didn't last too long. After just five games played in the 2012-13 NBA season, Mike Brown is out as the Lakers Head Coach. The new look Lakers, who added Steve Nash and Dwight (eisen)Howard to Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol to form the Big Aging Four, started the season 1-4.

Mike Brown: You're Fired.

Five games marked the fastest the Lakers have ever fired a coach, easily beating out the previous record of 12 games back in 1999, when they got rid of Frank Drebin Del Harris. Five games also is the fastest an NBA coach has been let go, the previous record of 9.

Still lots of information to come out on why the move was made, but here are some of the story lines on why this went down:

-Princeton offense: As Charles Barkley said on Inside the NBA last week on TNT, "I want my accountant to come from Princeton, not my NBA offense." He's got a point. While the Princeton offense can be successful with the right group of players and the right coach (not Mike Brown), it just wasn't working here. Not sure why Brown was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, when he had two of the best big men in the league, along with one of the all time greatest shooting guards, led by a two-time MVP at PG...none of whom have ever run the Princeton offense.

-Dwight Howard: True or False - Dwight Howard has been involved in the firing of two NBA coaches, on opposite coasts of the country, in a mere 6 months. True. With that said, we doubt Howard himself had THAT much to do with the firing.

-Kobe: Speaking of individuals that had to do with the firing. A lot of fingers are being pointed at Kobe. Well, if you saw the death stare he gave to Mike Brown at the end of Wednesday's loss to the Utah Jazz, you probably would too. We'll see what comes out in regards to how much say Kobe had in this decision. Kobe supposedly did sign off on Brown implementing the Princeton offense this summer, but I guess he's flip-flopping on that decision now.



-Weekend at Bernie's: Lakers assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the team tonight against Golden State, and most likely Sunday's game vs. Sacramento. The long term replacement is yet to be determined but common names being heard include Phil Jackson (obvious 1st choice), Jerry Sloan (pick and roll w/ Steve Nash leading the way), Mike D'Antoni (Nash's coach in Phoenix, good relationship w/ Kobe from Olympics and Italian roots), Brian Shaw (former Lakers assistant under Phil Jackson, probably should have gotten the job when they hired Brown). Daily Onions pick would be D'Antoni - probably the most realistic and best move at this point.

-7 Games in Heaven: Here is the next seven games for the Lakers. Golden State, Sacto, San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, New JERRRSEEEY Brooklyn, at Sacto. Six in a row at home, most thought Brown would get at least the weekend to clean things up. Why wait though? He's obviously not the right fit, so get someone new in who can take over the team when they have a handful of winnable games. Get them off to a hot start and go from there.

What is David Stern Thinking? NBA Opening Night

Welcome back, NBA. Whew....good to have you back in our life.

Tuesday night kicked off the NBA season with the prime time match up of the Wizards vs. Cavs Celtics vs. Heat. Lots of story lines in this game, but we'll save that for another time.

Instead, let's get to David Stern. Mr. Commissioner announced last week that he will be stepping down on February 1st, 2014, rounding out a 30 year run as the league's leader.

In his first appearance post retirement announcement, David Stern started off the Miami Heat Ring Ceremony by first acknowledging the tragedy and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Seriously.


At that point, I tweeted, "Nice start David Stern #sandynotkatrina #checkedoutalready"

Obviously, just a slip of the tongue by Stern, but it was interesting timing with him knowing he is on his way out, so maybe he'll just go into check out mode, with a side of I'll do whatever the hell I want mode (I guess the latter is what he is in the majority of the time anyway).

As the ring ceremony got underway, we wondered what Stern was saying to each player as he shook their hand. Everything written below could, or could not be what was actually exchanged.

Terrel Harris: "Who the f are you?"  (not only did Stern say this, but so did everyone else in America)
Norris Cole: "You're right...having that box haircut is the only way someone would ever notice you on this team."
Dexter Pittman: "Just because I'm on my way out, don't think you can pull any of that dirty crap you did last year. I'll be watching you....even if you only play 4 games this year."
Joel Anthony: "Who's Anthony, Who's Anthony?....Wayne's World, anyone?"
Juwan Howard: "Who would have thought you'd be the last Fab 5 member playing in the NBA?"
Mike Miller: "Don't go auctioning this ring off, like you did your house." 
Udonis Haslem: "You have two NBA championship rings?!"
Shane Battier: "Why can't everyone in the NBA be as nice as you? Oh, and cut the flopping, would ya?"
Mario Chalmers: "I would say I know how it feels to be yelled at by everyone, but I don't....sorry."
Chris Bosh: "I loved you in Avatar."
Dwyane Wade: "You don't know how many times I spelled your name D-w-a-y-n-e, instead of D-w-y-a-n-e."
LeBron James: "Remember that whole thing about beating the Lakers in 6 we talked about last year, let's make it 7." (shout-out to Grantland.com)

Tale of the Tape: Victor Cruz vs. Jeremy Lin

New York is dealing with a pair of out of nowhere superstars that are taking their sport by storm. First there was Victor Cruz, the New York Giants wide receiver that helped bring the Lombardi Trophy home to New York New Jersey ("I got a ring....he got one too!"). Now, after the last three games he's played for the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin is the craziest thing since Tebow Time.


Let's take a look at how these two surprising stars stack up against each other (yes, we are well aware there is a smaller sample size for Lin right now).

Cruz gets the slight edge for his high school, representing the great state of New.....Jerrrrrrseeey, but Lin wins when it comes to college. You have to give the nod to the Ivy Leaguer in the NBA, over the guy that had some academic issues at UMass. Similar in most of the other categories, so let's get into the more important things.


Fun things to do with their name:
Victor Cruz: Obviously everyone knows what to do here...Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Jeremy Lin: Endless opportunities here, and we've already seen the likes of Linsanity, #Linning, All I do is Lin, etc.
Advantage: For now, we are going Cruz. It's simple, easy to remember and can get loud. There are too many options for Lin right now, and we might be trying to hard to come up with more creative names.


First three games:

Salsa. Cruz.

Victor Cruz: In week 1, Cruz was shutout. Week 2 he had 2 catches for 17 yards. Week 3 was his breakout game in Philadelphia. Cruz had 3 catches for 110 yards and 2 TDs, including a 74 yard touchdown. The Giants went 2-1 in these three games.
Jeremy Lin: While Lin has played previously, we are going to focus on his three games this week, where he's really taken off: 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds. 28 points, 8 assists. 23 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds. He's also shooting 58% from the field in these games, and most importantly the Knicks have won these three games.
Advantage: Lin has been a little more consistent at the start, but as we stated, he has a lot more pro games under his belt. Cruz went on to have a record-setting season, so if we were to check back in April, we'd probably have to give the season award to Cruz...unless Linsanity goes out of control.


Celebration/handshake:
Victor Cruz: One word. Salsa.
Jeremy Lin: Thus far we have seen Lin bow with Carmelo Anthony after a big play (ala Cruz's teammate, Justin Tuck). On Wednesday night, Lin and teammate Landry "Lance" Fields, who attended Stanford, showed off their "nerd" handshake, where they mimicked reading a book, putting on glasses, and then wearing a pocket protector. 
Advantage: We are giving the nod to Cruz and the Salsa. While we like the bow, the handshake seemed a little too choreographed (because it was), and you need a partner to do it. Cruz's salsa was not only legit (Cruz's hip don't lie), but it also signified a touchdown for the New York Football Giants.


Contract Situation:
Victor Cruz: Currently in the second year of a three year deal, Cruz earned $450,000 this season. Next year he is set to make $490,000. For those scoring at home, Cruz's regular season stats were 1,536 yards and 9 TDs. In the postseason, 269 yards on 21 receptions and the first Giants TD of the Super Bowl. Jerry Reese, pay the man.

Linsanity taking over NYC.

Jeremy Lin: Earlier this week, the Knicks picked up Lin's contract for the rest of the season, which will pay him a pro-rated share of $800,000. With this guaranteed money, Lin might be able to get himself a new place in NYC, or at least a bed. For the last six weeks, Lin has been sleeping in his brother's living room on a couch. 
Advantage: Lin might end up making more money than Cruz this year, but it looks like Cruz has a better future both on and off the field. With that said, how crazy is it that Lin sleeps on his brother's coach! Come on, James Dolan, give the kid a hotel room or something. I saw plenty of invoices during my time with the Knicks, and room for Lin for a few weeks wouldn't make that big a difference.


Comparison to Others
Victor Cruz: Known as a slot receiver, you would have to compare Cruz to the best slot receiver in the league right now, Wes Welker. We need to give credit to Welker for basically revolutionizing the slot position (and thank him for dropping that pass in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl). I wouldn't say Cruz is as good as Welker, but I think he can get there. He's got the knack for making big plays out of nothing. If he repeats this year's output next year, Welker may have to make some room at the top of the Slot receiver rankings.
Jeremy Lin: I've seen bits and pieces of Lin's last three games, and the first person to come to mind was Steve Nash. With that said, obviously Lin has a long way to go to get to Nash status. But the way Lin handles the ball, sees the floor, gets to the rim, draws contact, etc, looks a bit like Nash. 
Advantage: Push. If you are wide receiver and get compared to Welker, or a point guard and get compared to Nash, that's pretty damn good. Like many of these areas, we'll see if Lin can keep this up the rest of the season, or if fizzles out in the next few weeks.


Twitter
Victor Cruz: @TeamVic has 135,500 followers. Cruz is pretty active as a tweeter, and is good about responding and interacting with his followers. Also has an avatar picture from the Super Bowl parade day earlier this week.
Jeremy Lin: @JLin7 has 74,280 followers, many coming in the last week. Lin tweets a limited times a day, and still has his location as Bay Areaaa (his spelling, not mine).
Advantage: Cruz wins with higher numbers and more activity.


Miscellaneous 
Victor Cruz: Mr. Salsa turned down the opportunity to appear on Dancing with the Stars, which he probably would have won. He also has been participating in a lot of Fashion Week events in NYC the past few days and will be presenting an award at the upcoming Grammy Awards.

Jeremy Lin: I wanted to include this tweet somewhere in this post, but didn't know where to put it. Last night, Knicks beat writer Frank Isola tweeted this from the Knicks game in Washington D.C. on Wednesday night. 
Advantage: Lin has proven that he can drive, just ask John Wall who he blew by a few times on Wednesday night.


Cruz wins the Tale of the Tape, 4-2 with one push. The sample size for Lin is small, and Cruz just helped lead the Giants to their second Super Bowl in five years, so I guess this result is expected. Regardless, we are excited for the Giants to lock up Cruz, and we are excited to see the success of Jeremy Lin continue.

Happy 100th!! Top 10 Posts in Daily Onions History

It's a big day today with lots of reason to celebrate. Yes, Christmas is only 5 days away, and yes Hanuka starts tonight, and yes there is a very important birthday today, but most importantly, today marks the 100th post in Daily Onions history!!

We figured there is no better way to celebrate number 100, then by looking back and reminiscing about where this blog has been over the past 99 posts. Here are the Top 10 posts in Daily Onions history, counting down from 10. (click the link to open story in a new tab)

10. Unit, Corps, God, Country- Daily Onions dives in to the Op-Ed world with its thoughts on BYU's Brandon Davies being suspended for breaking the school's Honor Code. Bonus - anytime you can work a quote from A Few Good Men into a column, it's a must - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/03/unit-corps-god-country.html

9. ONIONS Exposed- What would a college basketball blog be without a contest for March Madness. This post goes 1 on 1 with the 1st Annual Daily Onions Show Us Your Onions Winner - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/onions-exposed.html

Photo: SI.com

8. Memorable Melo- One of our favorite college basketball players (for obvious reasons), puts up an epic performance for a different orange and blue in last year's NBA playoffs - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/memorable-melo.html

7. Mach3 Fact Shaving- Remember when the biggest scandal involving Syracuse basketball was a bad rumor about point shaving? http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/02/mach3-fact-shaving.html

6. LeBron Best in Show...Right Now- We are very lucky that we included the words "right now" in this title, because after the Eastern Conference Championship, LeBron truly was on top of the game. Then we all know what happened in the finals. Go Mavs! http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/lebron-best-in-showright-now.html

5. State of the Onions Address- If your blog title resembles Union, the State of the Union address is a perfect time to piggyback with your own speech your constituents...with Raftery and Gus presiding, obviously. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/state-of-onions-address.html

4. Gimme Jimmer: Running Diary- Daily Onions had Jimmer Fever last year (hopefully we'll catch it this year too), and we documented every minute of one of his games at BYU. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/gimme-jimmer.html

3. Big E Hoops Weekend Recap- This could be number 1 on the list. Three days, three basketball games, three college alma maters. It doesn't get any better than that. Relive one of the greatest sports weekends. Thank you Basketball Scheduling Gods. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/survive-and-advance-big-e-hoops-weekend.html

Photo: New York Times

2. Why Blog? Why Onions? You never forget your first. This was the first ever post of Daily Onions, which explains why we got started in the first place. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-blog-why-onions.html

1. One Shining Moment- Do you remember where you were when this happened? One of the defining moments in the past year. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-shining-moment.html

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to having you around for the next 100 posts!

Draftastic Voyage: NBA Draft 2011

In our first A.E. post (after engagement...the First Lady and I made it official over the weekend), Daily Onions is going to breakdown one of our favorite nights of the year, the NBA Draft. Whether we've watched it from home, or live from the MSG theater, or got updates via text alerts, the Draft has always been a night of excitement for NBA fans because there is always so much "upside potential" for trades, new stars coming into the league, GMs making awful picks, etc. This year, however, stands out a bit from other years because.....this year's crop of draft players is AWFUL. Who knows, maybe in 5 years we will look back and talk about the surprise of how good the draft of 2011 was, but more likely it will be about the guy being drafted at number 14 being just as good as the guy drafted at number 3.

Best Dressed Wes

Daily Onions isn't going to do a mock draft as our preview. Wanna know why? Because if you Google "NBA Mock Draft 2011", 4,350,000 results come up in .32 seconds. Instead, we'll take a look at some of the things we are expecting tonight, what players we are rooting for to go into good situations, who's slipping, who's got a cool name, and who is going to be this year's best dressed player, aka The Wes Johnson Award. And now, in no particular order, let's explore this year's Draftastic Voyage:

• Top Two: All signs are pointing to the Cavs (who have the first and fourth pick) going with Kyrie Irving to be the savior for the city of Cleveland. If that is the case, then Minnesota has the opportunity to grab potentially the best player in this draft at Number 2. BUT, Derrick Williams is a tweener in the sense of is he a 3, or is he a four. If they draft him, Minnesota should just change their name to the TweenerWolves, because their roster will consist of Michael Beasley, Wes Johnson, Lazar Haywood, Anthony Randolph, and Martell Webster - all guys with no true identity in their position. Throw in an undersized Kevin Love into the mix, and a log jam at the point guard position, and the TweenerWolves are a bad pick away from combustion. In our opinion, Wolves need to aggressively shop that pick and see if they can make their roster look more like an NBA team, and not a Picasso painting

  

• The man, the myth, the Jimmer: If you aren't rooting for Jimmer to be successful, please leave the blog. No hard feelings, but we don't want you here. We are trying to figure out what would be the best situation for Jimmer. Is it Utah because of his local ties from BYU, and the tradition of John Stockton (aka white point guard), or is it Phoenix because he would have the best mentor a rookie point guard could ask for in Steve Nash (unless Nash is traded), or is it Indiana (Basketball, Indiana, White Kid that can shoot, it all goes together perfectly), or is it Sacramento (he can take over the point and form the backcourt that will average the most FGA's in the history of the league with Tyreke Evans). We are rooting for Phoenix (with Nash of course), or Utah (Jimmer and Gordon Hayward would be instant best friends).

• Best in Show: Shout out to Jim Nantz...sorry I stole your line about Kemba Walker and the Huskies being the Top Dog of college basketball. Seems like Kemba's stock is slipping in the last few days though. We've seen mocks with him as high as 5 and as low as 17. Daily Onions has had a love/hate relationship with Kemba this year. We think he can succeed in the right situation. If he goes to a bad team, I don't think he can put them on his back and make them a contender in the NBA, like he did w/ UConn in the Big East and NCAA Tournament. We'd like to see him go somewhere that he can be a 6th man/backup point guard, and can basically become a Ben Gordon or Jamal Crawford type player. Recently, Kemba hung out at the AXE Lounge (click here for video) and answered a few questions about his favorite sneakers, pre-game music, etc. One of our favorite questions was what UConn player he most admired. He said Rudy Gay was his favorite (Daily Onions is cool with that), but then said the player he admires most is Ray Allen (Daily Onions loves that). Kemba shows us he is smart, not only by finishing his degree in three years, but also by showing respect to the best shooter the game has ever seen. We'll let him slide w/ his answer to who he was rooting for in the Finals.

• Foreign Exchange: There is a possibility that 5 foreign players go in the top 15 tonight, and 3 of them could be selected in the top 6. Is there the next Dirk Nowitzki somewhere in that crop, or is there the next Darko Milicic. That's the risk GMs will face if they roll the dice and pick one of these guys early. It seems like the recipe for success with a lot of the international players is drafting them, keeping them stashed away for a year or two, and then bringing them over after a few more years of seasoning in their overseas league. Our favorite international player this year is Bismack Biyombo. Not only is his name really cool, but he is 6-9, 243 lbs, and has the potential to be another Serge Ibaka in a few years.

• Baby I Like It: Just when you thought we couldn't incorporate an Enrique Iglesias song into an NBA Draft preview, we go there. Here are some other players that we like, and are rooting for to get drafted into good situations: Kawhi Leonard (athletic as heck, great defender, can put the ball in the bucket, and was a joy to watch as part of the SDSU squad last year); Kenneth Faried (he's the next David Lee/Taj Gibson....you'd take a guy like that on your team any day, he'll be a great rebounder/energy guy); Tobias Harris (we wish he would have stayed one more year in college, especially if he would have chosen Syracuse over Tennessee...so much potential here, hopefully he doesn't rot away on someone's bench); Jimmy Butler (No, we didn't include him just for the Butler jokes, but he's another tough player w/ a lot of heart and can do all the little things for your team, would be a great fit for a perennial contender, also glad that he isn't playing for Marquette anymore); JaJuan Johnson (most likely a second rounder, but had a breakout senior season at Purdue, he can do a lot on the court and actually stayed in school for 4 years); Chandler Parsons (good to know that if MGMT ever breaks up, he can still be successful playing basketball); Shelvin Mack (he's from Butler, we love Butler, and we think Shelvin would be a great addition for a good team like the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, etc).

• Iggy Outta Here: As a 76ers fan, we know that tonight could be the end of the line for Andre Igoudala in Philadelphia. We are completely fine with that. He is a better fit for another team, and could be great for a contender, as a #3 option and lockdown defender. He is just one of the many names out there being discussed in trades tonight, along w/ Monta Ellis, Steve Nash, Lamar Odom (and Khloe?), Tony Parker, Johnny Flynn, and so on and so on. The Sixers have the 16th pick (aka Who the Hell Knows What Value You Can Get Here), but we hope they are wheeling and dealing to unload Iggy, move up in the draft, or bring in some help in the middle. 

There you have it. Everything that you needed to know about what Daily Onions was thinking about going into tonight's draft. T-minus 7 hours until the fun begins.

Final Thoughts on Mavs Win

WE DID IT! Dirk looks like an old-school Little League Coach w/ that hat though.

Thank you to the Dallas Mavericks for saving the NBA (minus that whole lockout thing). Besides some of those fans in Miami (can we really call them fans), no one wanted to see Wade, LeBron and Bosh team-up and win it in year 1. Before the season, everyone said, "The Heat might win 3 or 4 Championships down the road, but they can't win it THIS year." And then as the playoffs wore on, and the Heat took care of the Celtics and the Bulls, we were frightened. It was going to happen. LeBron, Wade and Bosh were going to walk around saying, "We told you....that celebration back in July, just a sign of things to come."

What would that have done to the professional sports landscape? What example would that have set for young athletes? If you want to win, there is a shortcut. Team up with the best, and that will make everything easier. That whole "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" would have been truer than ever. But instead, justice prevailed. A team with a couple of aging future Hall of Famers taking possibly one last crack at their shot to get a championship, along with a few cast-offs from other teams, and a coach that was forced out of a few other jobs for no good reason. The Mavericks were confident, not cocky. They played as a team, and got contributions from almost everyone on their active roster throughout the Playoffs and in tonight's clincher. They showed that there are no shortcuts. They showed that just because you don't get the job done once (Dirk) or twice (Kidd) in the Finals, you keep working to get better for when you make it back. They showed that it takes more than 3 players to win a championship. They showed that superstars step up when the game is on the line, want the ball in the hands, put the team on their back, and get the job done.

Thank you, Dallas Mavericks. You made 99.9% of sports fans proud tonight.

NBA Finals Game Six: Pregame thoughts and a (psuedo) Running Diary of the Rest

It's amazing what can happen in two weeks, five basketball games and five quarters of basketball. The last time we wrote, LeBron James was fresh off a complete takeover of the Eastern Conference Finals, proving that he had taken the next step and could succeed in the role of "closer" (or so we thought).

LeBron walked into the Finals on top of the NBA World

What has occurred in the NBA Finals through five games has been baffling. The same LeBron that had the killer instinct in knocking out the Bulls, went back to looking like a scared and uninterested player, scoring just a total of 11 points in five 4th quarters.

I'll admit, I stuck up for LeBron after Game 3, using the argument that Wade was the guy that night, and there was no reason for James to try and take over. He ended up making one of the biggest (and underrated) plays of the game with a tough no-look pass to Chris Bosh(face) for the game winner. After Games 4 and 5 though, its easy to see that LeBron still isn't the player we want him to be. We want him to be THE man. He is the most gifted athlete we've ever seen play in the NBA. He allegedly is "The Chosen One" and "The King". If that's the case, then put your team on your back (Wade included) and live up to your "Global Icon" status. And when you do record the quietest triple-double in NBA history, don't act as if you don't know why people are criticizing your performance.

With all that said, we have some basketball to play and watch. Some thoughts on Game 6 (currently in progress):

-Five minutes remaining in the 1st quarter and Dirk picks up his second foul. Brian Cardinal comes into the game, and the Mavericks go on a 17-3 run to open up an eight point lead right before the end of the first quarter.

-LeBron came out hitting a few jumpers. Definitely important for him to get going early, but no one will REALLY care what he does unless its in the 4th quarter.

-DeShawn Stevenson and Eddie House try to steal the spotlight in the 2nd quarter w/ a barrage of three pointers. After one of House's threes, Stevenson and Haslem start a little "fake tough guy" skirmish (Kevin Durant is smiling) going to timeout. Mario Chalmers came in from out of nowhere to get involved. His nickname should be "The Mosquito", because he is that annoying.

-Since the skirmish, Jason Terry scored 8 of the Mavericks next 11 points to give them a 2 point lead late in the 1st half. Jet has 17 points. Oh, and that guy named Dirk....he's 1-11 shooting. So for those of you scoring at home, the Mavs are up by 2, and Dirk only has only made one FG. If you have any involvement with the Miami Heat franchise, you can't feel good about that.

-At the half, Mavericks lead 53-51. Jason Terry, who was quiet (and called out for it) in the first three games, has now TOTALLY redeemed himself, Lloyd Christmas style. He's got 19, while LeBron has 11, and Dirk is 1-12.

SECOND HALF

-Dirk hits the first shot he takes. Chalmers makes a three and probably has an annoying little celebration afterwards. Normalcy restored.

LeBron's Disappearing Act in the NBA Finals

-LeBron passes up a 15 ft jumper, and then passes up a wide open 3 pointer only to turn it over on the drive. I don't get it.

-Wade hits a runner in transition to cut the Dallas lead to 65-62. Wade now has a 11, wouldn't be surprised if he goes into take over mode right now.

-And with that said, next possession James has 4-11 JJ Barea guarding him, and he gets called for an obvious offensive foul.

-Brian Cardinal with a hard foul on Chris Bosh. Cardinal's nickname is "The Custodian". Amazing.

-Two minutes later, The Custodian takes a charge on Wade. Wade gets a Technical. The Custodian is seriously having a huge effect on this game. A few plays later he delivers a hard foul on Haslem.

-With 1:49 left to go in the 3rd quarter, LeBron takes (and makes) his first shot of the quarter, a layup in the post. Dallas still leads 74-71.

-Jason Kidd is playing like its 2001. Just throws up a three and it goes in. Actually, in 2001 he couldn't make threes either....but you get what I mean. Dallas up 79-71 w/ under a minute to go in the 3rd quarter.

-Thanks to an Ian Mahinmi 15-footer at the buzzer, Dallas leads 81-72 going to the fourth. That's Mahinmi, number 28 in your program. Story of the game could be LeBron scoring a total of 5 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, or Jason Terry dropping 21 thus far, or The Custodian's. But if you really look at it, the Heat have missed 11 free throws thus far. Can't do that in any game, but especially in an elimination game.

-Wade with a STRONG drive to the hoop - gets it but misses the free throw (shocker). I'll say that "Wade is about to takeover" line again, just in case.

-PUERTO RICO......OHHHHHH. Huge three by JJ Barea. Mavs go up 7 with 10 minutes left. Oh, and LeBron is on the bench.

-9:30 left. Heat down 8. LeBron comes back into the game.

-LeBron drives, spins, shoots and hits the backboard and nothing else. That was the possession after D-Wade dribbled off his foot. Heat are falling apart.

-Barea w/ a nifty drive and layup. Mavs up 89-77. Does ABC have a camera anywhere in Puerto Rico??!? They must be going nuts for JJ right now.

-With 7 minutes left, LeBron makes a bucket in the 4th quarter. Cuts the lead to 91-82.

-With 6:30 minutes left, LeBron makes another bucket in the 4th quarter. Heat still down 8.

-With 5:00 minutes left, LeBron drives and turns it over. Heat still down 8.

-Tyson Chandler with a huge offensive rebound to give the Mavs a new :24....didn't someone once say something about rebounding and rings?

-DIRK!!!  WADE!!! Superstars exchange CLUTCH shots with 3:15 left. Anyone seen LeBron lately?

How you like me now? (nice touch w/ the tongue, Dirk)

-DIRK!!! with 2:27, Dirk drains a another  patented fadeaway jumper. Mavs up 99-89 under 2 to play.

-LeBron knocks down a 3 with 1:55 with the Heat down 12. Garbage points, Bron. They don't count.

-DIRK!! with some style points....Mavs go up 103-92 with 25 seconds left.

-The Mosquito hits a 3 to make the score 105-95 with 16 seconds left.

-Mavs dribble out the clock and knock off the Miami Heat. THANK YOU to the Dallas Mavericks. I would say, you have no idea what you've just done...but I think you know. Huge win for sports in general.

-Some final stats: Jason Terry finished with 27 points and one tattoo of the championship trophy on his bicep. Dirk had 21 and another clutch performance down the stretch to quiet the critics. The Custodian had 3 points, 3 hard fouls, took a charge and has a really cool nickname. For the Heat, Wade finishes with 17, while James finishes with a quiet 21, including 7 in the 4th quarter, and another disappointing performance when it counts.

-Congrats to Dirk, J-Kidd, Jet, JJ, and the rest of the Mavs. Huge shoutout to head coach Rick Carlisle, who has long been one of the more underrated coaches in the league. This playoffs, he took down Phil Jackson and the Lakers, took Scotty Brooks "pants off" when it came to coaching, and taught Coach Spo a thing or two in the Finals. With his new crew cut, Carlisle doesn't look like Jim Carey that much anymore, but he does look like an NBA Champion.

LeBron: Best in Show...Right Now.

Before you start reading this post, reach up to your eyes and remove the "I Hate LeBron" colored shades you might be wearing. I took mine off on Tuesday night. That allowed me to watch LeBron close out Game 4 that night, and then help orchestrate the greatest comeback/collapse in recent memory. I'm just waiting for the new NBA commercial..."The Eastern Conference Finals: Where 18-3 in the final two minutes and forty-five seconds Happens."

This is not the scene most NBA fans wanted to see.

It's well documented that Daily Onions has not been the biggest fan of the Miami Heat, LeBron James and Chris Bosh this year. We weren't impressed when LeBron lit up the Cavs in his first return, we knocked them when they cried after a regular season loss, we said LeBron couldn't close (which was valid), and we thought LeBron's apology to for The Decision AFTER he beat the Celtics was a day late and a dollar short.

Now I'm not going to go all Scottie Pippen on you and claim that LeBron James is the greatest all-around basketball player ever. That's just stupid, Scottie. I will say this though. LeBron James might be taking that next step. It's the step that he has been missing for the past 7 years. The step that is him putting his foot on the throat of the opponent, and closing something out. He did against Boston by scoring the final ten points of a game to seal it. He closed out the Bulls in Game 2, 4 and 5. Remember that suspect jump shot that he had, well it looked to be quite deadly last night with a couple of threes to get the Heat back into the game, and then the 18 foot pull-up jumper to give them the lead for good. Throw in what he did on the defensive end, shutting down this year's (well-deserved) MVP Derrick Rose in the last quarter of the final two games, pretty damn impressive (We'll get to Rose's struggles in a second).

You can hate the way LeBron James left Cleveland (we do), but if you truly enjoy watching the game of basketball on the court, what LeBron has done in the last two weeks has proven that he is hands down the best player in the NBA right now (Scottie, notice the two words "right now"). We've all witnessed him go through his growing pains over the last few seasons, but in this playoffs he's started to put it all together. Does the fact that he teamed up with Wade and Bosh to help get to this point rub me the wrong way? Yes. It does. Does his wink after the flop last night annoy me? Absolutely. But the skill, athleticism, and tenacity that he has had in the past few weeks, is all him. And its scary good.

As much as it pains me to say this, I think Miami beats Dallas in the Finals. I hate that part of this whole thing. Its bad for the future of the NBA. You get 2 super-duper stars on one team, throw in another all-star (I'll admit, Bosh had a pretty good series vs. the Bulls), and you can win in your first year of playing together. That pep-rally they threw in mid-July was just foreshadowing for what they'll do to celebrate in a few weeks. I don't like that part of it. I wanted LeBron to go head to head with Wade to see who was the best in the league, not team up with him to dominate the next few years. That's not happening, and now we need another super team to form and knock off the Heat (Dwight Howard, or a good shooting guard, if you are reading this, feel free to crash in our guest room while you are thinking about how to get traded to Chicago).

And now a few words about Derrick Rose. First of all, don't rip on Rose for taking a jumper at the end of regulation of Game 4. At that point in the game, there was NO WAY Rose was taking LeBron off the dribble to get to the rim. Either there needs to be a play drawn up where Rose is coming off a screen and catching on the wing, or you are living and dying by a pull-up jumper. Last night, the final three minutes of the game could have been Rose's worst three minutes of the season, or even career (minus a nice baby hook floater in the lane w/ 1:45 left). He fouled Wade on a breakaway layup for a 3-point play, he fouled Wade on a three for a 4-point play, he turned the ball over when the game was tied, and missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 25 seconds left. Before we take the MVP trophy away from him, let's remember this. First, his supporting cast let him down. Carlos Boozer might have replaced Chris Bosh at the top of the "Daily Onions Most Disliked Overrated Power Forwards with the initials CB" list. The Bulls aren't winning anything if Boozer is your next best scoring option. Secondly, Rose is 22-years old, and this was his first Eastern Conference Finals. Not many of the greats won at this age, or their first time around. Derrick Rose will be back to this stage (next year?) and he'll be better. The "only" bad thing is, so will the Heat.

Daily Onions Page 5: Celeb Sightings for NBA's Eastern Conference Finals

Instead of going to the New York Post's Page 6 to get your celebrity dirt and sightings, just come to Daily Onions Page 5 (its a page earlier, so its quicker to get to).

Between the Eastern Conference Finals featuring the Bulls and Heat, and some woman named Oprah filming one of her last tv shows, the city of Chicago has been buzzing with celebs from entertainment and sports.

While we didn't run into any of the Oprah crew, Daily Onions was running in the same circles as some sports notables last night.

With a college friend in town (Go Cuse!) covering the Heat-Bulls series, we've done our best to hit some of the best restaurants the Windy City has to offer. Last night it was Gibsons Steakhouse. A late reservation due to prior job #1 commitments meant we were entering a packed house at 9 pm.

Bosh Face

• On the way to our table we spotted Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher finishing up dinner with some friends.
• Following our own dinner, which included the avocado and crab meat appetizer (amazing), salad, filet mignon, side of mash and some strawberry shortcake to close things out (who's hungry now??), we rubbed shoulders with the Heat's top player in Game 1. Chris Bosh, who is known for the Bosh Face and for being a foodie, strolled into Gibson's at 11:15pm to sit down for dinner. I guess if you don't need to be at shoot around until 11 am the next day, you can start thinking about dinner plans around midnight.
• Working the bar at Gibsons as if it were the sideline of an NBA game, TNT's Craig Sager was missing his loud and eclectic collection of blazers, but he was rocking a pretty sweet zip up argyle sweater, with some multi-colored Nike sneaks (as a sneakerhead myself, I was impressed).
• We eventually moved from Gibsons to The Lodge (how can this night get any better - The Lodge - one of my favorite bars in the city). Holding court at The Lodge was TNT's Steve Kerr, who was laughing it up with some friends, most likely reminiscing about all the big shots he hit for the Bulls back in the day. Broadcast partners Marv Albert and Reggie Miller were nowhere to be found.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't Oprah's "Murderer's Row" of Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Beyonce, etc; but for basketball fans following the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals, it wasn't too bad. Now we'll just need to figure out where Ernie, Kenny and Charles will be after the game tonight.

It's Too Late to Apologize

Congratulations, you now will all have OneRepublic's Apologize in your head for the rest of the day. But we're not here to talk about R & B hits of the last five years. We're here to talk about the week that was in the NBA for apologies. If you ask me, we were 0 for 2, striking out badly on both.

No place in the game for this

We'll start with Andrew Bynum of the Lakers. His flying elbow to the ribs of an airborne J.J. Barea can be summed up in two words: bush league. In fact, that is exactly the term ESPN's Mike Tirico (Go Cuse!) used to describe the play. With eight and a half minutes to play, and the Lakers trailing by 30, Bynum's forearm shiver earned him an ejection. He then proceeded to act like a 4-year old and took his jersey off as he strutted off the court. Who would have thought that Ron Artest would be the guy trying to calm down a teammate while escorting them off. Go figure.

Everyone in the world knows that was a dirty play. I have no problem with a hard foul when you are playing the ball. But throwing and elbow to the ribs when someone is in the air, not even coming close to making a play on the ball is flat out wrong. In Bynum's post game comments, he said, "We were getting embarrassed, they were breaking us down. So I just fouled somebody, I was just kind of salty about being embarrassed. ... For me, it was embarrassing to have the smallest guy on the court keep running down the lane and making shots."

Right, you were embarrassed. I get it. Still not a good enough reason for your actions. As your teammate Kobe Bryant said, "they played better than we did, so to make the game ugly like that where players could potentially get hurt, you don't want to see that happen ever. ... It's not something that you want to see happen in the game of basketball, ever."

The fact that Bynum didn't apologize for the dirty play after the game might be more ridiculous than the play itself. Don't give me the "players need a cooling off period after the game" line. Bynum was tossed with eight minutes to play, so he had plenty of time to "cool off". Instead, he waits 2 days, TWO DAYS, to come up with a prepared apology. Big thanks to his manager, agent, Lakers PR staff for help crafting that one.

Poor Decision: LBJ definitely didn't handle his exit from Cleveland the right way

Two days might seem like a long time for Bynum, but that's just small peanuts when it comes to LeBron James. Last night, after the Heat disposed of the Celtics in five games, LeBron James apologized for "The Decision". He didn't apologize for leaving Cleveland (and he shouldn't have to), but he apologized for "the way it happened". Well, first of all, that was your decision to do "The Decision". Secondly, that happened back in July. Now eight months later you are finally sorry about it? You beat the Celtics, so you are now sorry for it? What if the Heat would have lost to the Celtics this round, would LeBron not be sorry about the way it went down?

Here's what I think. I think LeBron knew within a week after The Decision, that is was a bad.....decision. He should have apologized then. Those advisors that were in his ear telling him The Decision was a good idea, should have come right back to tell him that was a mistake. Actually, he shouldn't need someone else to tell him what was right or wrong. He knew it was wrong, and he should have been a man about it much earlier. Don't want to apologize a week later? Fine, why not apologize  during training camp, or after his return to Cleveland, etc. Instead James decided to apologize after accomplishing something that he couldn't do in Cleveland with his teammates there. In my book, that's a cop out. You went and joined forces with a superstar and an annoying sidekick to take down the Celtics. So now you think its acceptable to apologize for the way things went down? That's what I call bush league.

Daily Onions: Mailing It In

Not to steal any thunder from Sports Guy's big announcement yesterday releasing more details about his new website, but Daily Onions is announcing a new addition to our site with Mailing It In. This will give readers the opportunity to email questions to Daily Onions, and every so often.....we'll answer them! What a novel idea. These questions can be basketball related, sports related, pop-culture related, really anything related. If we don't think we have a good enough answer, we'll bring someone in to help us out. Do you want to have your question answered by Daily Onions? Shoot us an email at jrsacks22@gmail.com or post in the comment section and we'll do our best to provide you the goods.

Our first question comes from Pittsburgh, PA. Brady asks:
"Daily Onions, which team has a brighter future, the Knicks or the 76ers?"

Thanks for the question, Brady....that's an interesting one, and one that appeals to many of our East coast readers due to their rooting interests in these teams. In fact, all NBA fans should have a liking in this question, especially with Chris Paul and Dwight Howard being eliminated from the playoffs last night, rumors of their whereabouts for next season will start swirling.

Back to the current players on these teams those. Let's start at the top. The Knicks obviously have the advantage in the "superstar" category with Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. Both are perennial all-stars and both are legitimately top 20 players in the NBA right now. For the Sixers, their superstar would be......Bueller? Frye? Anyone.....anyone? Something d-o-o economics. Voodoo economics. Anyway, who is it? I guess you would say the closest thing is Andre Iguodala. In fact, let's start a new paragraph for Iggy.

Here are my thoughts on Iggy: One of the most athletic players in the league; One of the top lockdown perimeter defenders in the league; Not a consistent shooter at all; Has the ability to get to the rim, but often avoids contact and begs for calls; You don't feel confident when he has the ball in the final seconds and your team needs a bucket; He is the ideal #3 option for a top tier team in the league; He has the ability to put up a triple-double on any night (more of a 11-10-10 type of triple-double) because he does so much for you on the court. With all that said, I don't know if he should be in the Sixers future plans. As we saw last summer when he played with some NBA superstars on the World Championships squad, he'd be awesome if he were the third or fourth option on offense, and was a guy that could shutdown the opposing team's best player and do all the little things well for your team. The Sixers aren't good enough (yet) to have him play that role on this team, so they need him to do more and I'm not so sure that is a good thing. Oh, and I don't think Iguodala is good enough to "demand" a trade as he did earlier this season. I think its better off for both sides if they part ways this summer.

Future's bright for Holiday (Getty)

The Knicks have the edge in the superstar category, but I'll take the Sixers in the "young talent" category. Throughout the season and more recently the playoffs, I was impressed with the development of Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young, Jodie Meeks and I've always been a fan of Lou Williams. Throw in Evan Turner, who was the 2nd pick overall last year, even though I'm not sold on him ever being an All-Star in this league. Prove me wrong, ET. New York's young talent consists of Landry Fields, who showed his true rookie colors in the playoffs, and really hasn't been the same since the Carmelo trade. Honestly, I don't think Knicks fan should be banging on Lance in anyway because they basically were playing with house money. He was barely expected to make the team, but instead he turned out to be one of the best rookies in the league for 80% of the season. The Knicks other youngster that has a future is PG Toney Douglas, who did a nice job as a backup or fill-in for the injury prone Billups. He still has some ways to go before he isn't getting abused by Rondo anymore. As you can see, in our opinion, Holiday, Young, Meeks, Lou and ET > Fields and Douglas.

Let's head to the sidelines to see who has the better guy leading the way. I'll admit, I was wrong about Doug Collins. An old-school guy, with a heck of a basketball intelligence, I wasn't sure he'd be able to connect with this inexperienced and raw Sixers roster. He did. He cares about the players, he has them playing hard, and he has them all bought in to the system of playing both ends of the court and playing as a team. Dougie was a legit candidate for Coach of the Year this season. On the other side, you have Mike D'Antoni. He was great in Phoenix thanks to Steve Nash, but he has yet to find the player to lean on in New York. He's got two super-duper stars in Melo and Amare, with the potential of another one coming to NY in the near future (Paul, Howard?). Is his laid back approach to coaching the right fit for this collection of players? Probably not. The biggest predicament for the Knicks would be who could handle these big boys..........VAN GUNDY!!! HAAAAHAAA! (Sorry, that commercial is stuck in my head). Who knows if JVG will leave the booth and come back to coach, but I could see his return to MSG. Bottom line, I think D'Antoni is on the way out, and that is a good thing for the Knicks.

On the intangible side of things, I'm taking the Sixers. They play harder, they play as a team, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say they have the potential to be a poor man's Oklahoma City (stud Kevin Durant not included). Note, I said poor man's, so it's not THAT far fetched. I would like to stick up for the Knicks though. They had a lot of injuries and lots of roster changes this season, with a coach that doesn't really believe in practice (we talkin' bout PRACTIC), so its easy to see why there wasn't always a lot of continuity for the blue and orange.

So who has the brighter future? With the current roster, I'm taking the Sixers. There is more potential there and I like their cohesiveness. Insert Stephen A. Smith HOWEVER here. I do think that the Knicks have the potential to bring in a bigger name player in this off season or next off season, which could make them a top 4 team in the conference (assuming we have a season). The Sixers need some more talent/depth up front, and I doubt they'll get a top tier player at that position. That's fine though, they'll plug in the right guy who fits in with the culture that DC has created.

Am I Sixers fan? Yes. Was this answer slightly skewed towards the Sixers? Maybe, but I think we looked at both sides of the coin and were pretty honest with what each team's outlook is as of now. Did we mail it in while writing this post? Definitely not, so that means you should keep mailing in your questions!

Lessons Learned

We apologize for the brief hiatus, but the home offices of Daily Onions were recently moved so we've been spending lots of time getting organized and readjusted to the new digs. Oh yeah, we are now under the same roof as the First Lady, so we may have potential posts coming about that new and exciting experience as well.

Let's get down to basketball business now though. We all know about the Twelve Days of Christmas, but we've recently had the first Twelve Days of the NBA playoffs. To be honest, thanks to the quality of the majority of the games, its pretty much been like Christmas for NBA fans. Over that time, we've learned a lot about some teams, players, and other things associated with the Association. In no particular order, here are some lessons learned in the first twelve days of the NBA playoffs.

Durant has been taking over 4th quarters

1. Closers: Over the past two weeks, we've seen a passing of the torch for the best closers in the game go from Kobe, D-Wade, Melo and Lebron (how'd that name get on there??), to Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant. The Bulls might have closed out the Pacers in five games, but they got all they could handle in four of those games. Needing to come back from fourth quarter deficits in three of their victories, it was Derrick Rose that put the Bulls team squarely on his shoulders, and took over down the stretch. What do you need...floater in the lane, a three, a block on the defensive end, a layup in traffic....doesn't matter, Rose has got you covered. The only thing Rose hasn't done, is figured out how to wake up Carlos Boozer. That might be the toughest challenge he faces, but one of the most important things that need to happen for the Bulls to make a run to the Finals.

And then there is Kevin Durant. He took a huge leap this summer as the leader of the USA team that won the World Championships. He was the man on that team, and everyone expected big things from him all season long, especially after he led the league in scoring last year. A sluggish start and the emergence of Russel Westbrook might have had a few NBA folks forgetting about K-D. Well, not the case anymore. In the five game series against the Nuggets, Durant went for 41 twice, and in the close-out game, he scored 16 of the team's last 20 points to erase a 9-point deficit with 3:30 to play. Oh, and Mr. Westbrook, there is no reason for you to take 30 shots in a game.


2. NBA Basketball in NYC is Back....? Basically someone threw the question mark at the end of the sentence, like they threw a question mark at the end of "I'm Ron Burgandy...?" I don't think anyone expected the Knicks to win a playoff series this year (trade or no trade), but I also don't think anyone expected the Knicks to get swept in the first round of the playoffs either. A few quick thoughts on the Knicks, which we will expand more on tomorrow in a special new feature on Daily Onions (the suspense..stay tuned): Not sure they have the right guy in place on the sidelines for this team. You have two big chips in place with Melo and Amare, as well as some good young role players in Tony "Bologna" Douglass and Landry "Lance" Fields (and Andy Rautins...go Cuse!). You need someone to make that all work, to define some roles, to get the team playing together on both sides of the floor. Also having better players than Roger Mason Jr., Shawne Williams and Jared Jeffries would help as well. One final thought here - do we know how much of each paycheck D'Antoni gives to Steve Nash for helping make his NBA coaching career? Just wondering.

3. Young and Fun - A phrase that was once used to describe the t-shirts I wore in high school, this can now describe the youth movement in the NBA with teams like Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, with a little bit of Indiana, New Orleans and Memphis thrown in there. I said it last week and I'll say it again, Oklahoma City might be one of the most likable teams in the NBA (minus the scariest guy in the league in Kendrick Perkins). They have fun, they like each other, they play hard, and they've embraced the city and community of OKC as much as the community has embraced the team. Good story all around. The Sixers, led by crafty veteran coach Dougie Collins, have a good core group of young players in Jrue Holiday, Thad Young, Lou Williams (who has been in the league 6 years, but is only 24) and Evan Turner (still not totally sold). The biggest question for the Sixers is what they do with Iggy in the offseason. Last summer on the USA team, he showed he is the perfect #3 guy on a team - can score a bit, lockdown defender, athletic as heck, and can fill up the stat sheet. What he's not, is a guy that should have the ball in his hands at the end of the game. Sixers should try and move him this summer (assuming there is no lockout) to try and bring in some reinforcements in the middle. All things considered, very impressed with what the Sixers and Dougie accomplished this season.

CP3 messed around and got a triple-double against Kobe & Co. (Getty)

4. Health and Happiness - Not only is this the favorite toast of Daily Onions reader, Ramy, but it also describes Chris Paul. If he is totally healthy, the basketball world is happy - minus the guy trying to guard him. What he's been doing against the Lakers is quite impressive. At 100%, I think I'm taking Paul as my point guard right now. But not sure he can put together an entire season on that knee, trying to lead a team all by himself. It will be interesting to see if he stays in NOLA or heads elsewhere to team-up with a few other superstars. Either way, let's hope the knee holds up because I'd like to see a few more triple-doubles from CP3 in the future. Speaking of knees, hello Brandon Roy. The guy goes from 8 minutes and one field goal attempt in Game 2, to saving the Blazers season in Game 4 with his take over in the fourth quarter. He only had eight points in Game 5, so which Roy shows up in the elimination game tonight?

5. On the Tube - I'm officially moving the broadcast team of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr to the number two spot on my current favorites list (they are behind the Big Monday crew of McDonough, Raftery and Bilas - good luck trying to remove them from the top spot). With the classic sound of Albert, accompanied by the knowledge and wits of Kerr, they've been a great duo to listen to throughout the playoffs thus far. Not high on my list are the local broadcast team feeds that NBAtv has been using. Brevin Knight and Sean Elliott just aren't doing it for me. At least give me some Stacy King with his "hot sauce", "too big, too strong, too fast, too good" and "Big Sexy" (nickname for Kurt Thomas) if you are going to go local.

Speaking of the coverage, I have never watched an episode of Bones or Charmed in my life, but I have seen the final few minutes of Bones probably a couple hundred times. Tuning in to catch the beginning of the coverage on TNT, I am usually a few minutes early, so I get to see the awkward sexual tension scene between Bones (is Bones the girl or the guy, or neither?) and the other person (I don't know who's who!). Have they gotten together yet? Also, who knew that Charmed was on every morning at 7 am on TNT. Actually, I did, because that's what channel my TV ends the majority of most nights on during the month of April and May.

6. Final Random Thoughts - How many people ordered a customized Gary Neal jersey on NBA.com last night? Could you pick Gary Neal out of a lineup?.......Throw the Pacers into the mix of East teams that will fight for the 6-10 spots in the Eastern conference with teams like the Sixers, the Bucks, the Knicks, the Hawks, etc for the next few years. Lots of young talent on the team, and Vogel's got them playing hard........The Chris Bosh Face is one of my least favorite things of the NBA playoffs. Carlos Boozer's constant yelling when he misses a shot, turns it over, or thinks he got fouled is probably my second least favorite thing of the NBA playoffs..........I love this commercial..........If Orlando doesn't comeback to win this series, how many games does Dwight Howard have left in a Magic jersey, 0, 40, 90?........Last but not least, remember the Celtics? The defending Eastern Conference Champions that looked like crap at the end of is regular season? Well, they seemed to work some things out in their first round series against the Knicks. Granted, they were lucky to win games 1 and 2, but the Celts pretty much owned NY at the Garden. Christmas come early for all of us now, Celtics and Heat in Round 2.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

A day late...and maybe a dollar short, but we are going to give you some of our thoughts on The Masters, and even relate it a bit to the NCAA tournament. We'll also throw in some other green related thoughts.

-We'll start with the golfer that found out the hard way that indeed it ain't easy being the green jacket winner. Rory McIlroy pretty much did everything perfect at the Masters, starting on Thursday and going all the way through Sunday evening. Oh, besides those 4 hours that he spent actually playing golf on Sunday. The 21-year old was the second youngest golfer ever to hold the 54-hole lead at The Masters. Besides doing all the right things on the course, he was saying all the right things off it. When asked about Tiger Woods lurking on the leaderboard, Rory didn't worry about others, just kept talking about the way he was playing, how he felt comfortable, and how he would just have to continue that throughout his final round. Then he pulled a Butler. On the day things mattered the most, he just didn't have it. Actually, wasn't even close. The worst collapse at The Masters ever. Kind of sounds like the worst shooting performance ever in a National Championship game. But just as Butler did, Rory handled things better than ever in defeat. He talked about learning from this collapse, how this will help build his character, and how this will make him a better golfer in the end. He's right. He's 21 years old, and he'll be back.

-Speaking of being back, it was good to have Tiger back on Sunday. Whether you are a fan of him or not, the bottom line is that golf is better when Tiger is around. For the first 14 years of his career we were mesmerized by what he could do on the golf course. If you've ever heard a "Tiger Roar" from the gallery in person, you know it gave you the chills. Well on Sunday, he looked like old Tiger. He was walking putts in, he pulled out the swinging fist pump and was firing up the crowds. He shot an impressive 31 on the front nine, making him a co-leader at the turn. Two missed putts from five feet on the back proved that it wouldn't completely be his day (insert your "First time Tiger couldn't close in the last two years joke" here). He was also back to being himself with a brief (and what some might say...rude) post-round interview. We'll be honest with you, we are fans of some of the young guns on tour and want to see them succeed, but having Tiger around will only make things better for the upcoming golf season. Keep it up, Eldrick. Just lose the cursing and other poor behavior on the course.

-Here is what the final leaderboard at The Masters looked like: Charl Schwartzel, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, Geoff Ogilvy. We can only imagine what was going through Jim Nantz's mind as we came down the stretch, and he was prepping for a final call. After wearing us out with plenty of cheese during the National Championship, the possibilities were endless for many of the potential winners. "It's a beautiful Day in Augusta for Jason!", "Great Scott!", "Tiger, back on the prowl at The Masters!" (ok, maybe not totally appropriate), "Luke, I am your father, and you are the Masters Champion!". You get it. If Nantz pulled out "Walker Texas Ranger" and "Best in Show" for Kemba and UConn on Monday, you'd think we could have gotten a "Charl's in Charge!" or a "May the Schwartzel be with you!". Oh well, maybe next year.

-Staying with the green theme, but switching to the NBA, the way the Celtics have been playing of late has to make their fans a bit green in the face (BBM puke face to be exact). Things haven't looked right since the Kendrick Perkins trade, and the Celts have lost 2 in a row, are 5-5 over their last 10 games, and are 9-11 over their last 20. Last year Boston stumbled into the playoffs as well, but were able to flip the switch and eventually ended up losing in Game 7 of the Finals. For some reason, things don't feel like that this year. They locked up the 3 seed and will draw the Knicks in Round 1. Daily Onions isn't quite sure what our prediction for that series is at this point, but it should be one of the more exciting match ups in the opening round. We aren't going to bet against the Celtics, but Carmelo, Amare and Chauncey (and Lance!) should make things interesting and can win 2-3 games. Just as it is good to have Tiger back, equally good to have NBA relevant at Madison Square Garden in April......and May?

Diced Onions: Week in Review

You've probably been wondering....wha happened? Where did the Onions go? Well, we needed a little break, and had to catch up on some things outside of the Onions world. No fear though, we are here to recap many things we've been thinking about over the week.

-You officially know the NCAA Tournament is over when...

• You delete the March Madness On Demand App from your iPad or iPhone (what a great addition that thing was to the tournament though...whew).
• You stop having dreams about when you met Brad Stevens (wait, all of you didn't have this dream...nevermind).
• You start seeing waaaay too many underclassmen declaring for the NBA Draft. Since when did it become "cool" to be a mid to late first round pick? Remember when you only came out of college early if you were going to be a Top 10 pick? Yeah, me too. That's one of the reasons we are seeing "down" years in basketball, as well as younger players who are either struggling or riding the pine (or should we say cushioned seats) in the NBA.
• You yell ONIONS! when someone at work does something great under pressure, just to fill the void of Raftery in your life. You also throw in the Gus Johnson patented "HAHA" at the end of different statements.
• You realize you have about 350 days until you "gamble" on a sporting event again.
• You are waiting for Daily Onions to post an entry about this year's Show Us Your Onions Winner (coming early next week).

-With the end of the college basketball season, comes the beginning of the pre-draft NBA workouts and the Portsmouth Invitational, a showcase for college seniors. I'm Sorry Rick Jackson is showcasing his double-double-bility this week for the K & D Rounds Landscaping team. They already beat Sales System Ltd in Round 1. If they keep winning they might play Cherry, Bekaert and Holland in the finals. We LOVE the fact that these team names are completely local business sponsors. Brings us back to the days when we played street hockey for Adams Service Center, and were competing against the likes of Little John's Towing, Parker and Dudas, R and S Collectibles, to name a few. My brother and I always wanted to sponsor a youth sports team, and then become the Maloofs or Mark Cuban of youth sports by having the nicest uniforms, buying the kids gatorades and snacks after the game. Maybe Daily Onions will look to sponsor a little hoops squad next season.

-We'll start to shift our attention to the NBA now, with the playoffs only 9 days away. Congrats to South Jersey native, Frank Vogel, for clinching a playoff berth for the Indiana Pacers, after taking over midway through the season. Elsewhere, if Derrick Rose didn't put the stamp on this year's MVP with his performance against the Celtics last night, we aren't quite sure what else he could do. He took Rajon Rondo's pants off (credited to Ramy) a few times in the Bulls blowout victory over Boston. The Celts didn't look like the dominant team that everyone is scared to face in the playoffs. We know they usually can turn it on when it counts, but we'll see if the team will recover from the Kendrick Perkins trade that obviously has shaken up the team on and off the court.

The Weekend That Was

FINALLY!!! The regular season of college basketball is over. Postseason is here, or has been here for a few days thanks to a few conference tournaments that got underway last week. Lots to catch up on from the weekend, including the first four tickets being punched for the dance, rush season on college campuses and some crying in one NBA locker room (there's no crying in basketball!?)

Indiana State scored an upset and an automatic bid this weekend

First Four In: The past few weeks we've been hearing hypotheticals of the last four teams in the tournament and which four teams are the last four out. Well now we have four teams that are officially in. Congrats to Belmont (Atlantic Sun), UNC-Asheville (Big South), Morehead St. (Ohio Valley) and Indiana State (Larry Bird! - Missouri Valley) for guaranteeing their spot in the dance. Indiana State pulled the upset over Missouri State to get in, which means Mizzou St. will be one of those mid-majors now hanging out on the bubble. Take note of Morehead St. as well, as they feature Kenneth Faried, the nation's (not conference, the NATION) leading rebounder. The kid averages 14.5 per game and is slated to be a late first round pick in the NBA draft.

Five for Fighting: As in five days for fighting in Madison Square Garden because this year's Big East Tournament is sure to be a slug-fest. Top four seeds (Pitt, ND, L'ville and Cuse) get the double-bye (winning!) and are off until Thursday. Who would have thought that Villanova and UConn would be playing on Tuesday, as the 9th and 10th seed. Well, we kind of did and that's why we featured them in our teams not peaking at the right time post last week. Take the Villanova name off their tournament resume and it's nothing special. A loss on Tuesday would probably put them on the good side of the bubble, but I think a big reason for that comes from some name recognition. Throw in the fact that Corey Stokes is questionable for games this week with an injury, Jay Wright and his pinstripes have to be a bit nervous. Meanwhile, Syracuse is in the New Jersey/New York portion of the bracket, as they'll face the winner of St. John's and Rutgers/Seton Hall. Daily Onions doesn't see a team out of the top four seeds winning this tournament, but then again it is the Big East and anything is possible.

Great win for UNC, but storm-worthy? Not so sure.

Take Your Shirt Off: North Carolina, come on and raise up. It's official. The Tar Heels are back. We missed you last year, but are glad to see you are here just in time for March! UNC pretty much led the whole way against Duke on Saturday night, and with the win clinched the regular season ACC title. Freshman Harrison Barnes is finally starting to live up to the expectations and the Tar Heels have settled in with their new point guard Kendall Marshall running the show (15 pts, 11 assists). Daily Onions is still standing by their claim of Duke as a Final Four team, although we'd like to see a little more toughness from Blue Devils from here on out.

Elsewhere: Daily Onions first Final Four pick, THE Ohio State University made a statement on Sunday, telling the rest of the nation that they are the team to beat heading into the NCAA tournament. A near perfect performance by the Buckeyes yesterday led to a butt-whooping of Wisconsin, avenging the earlier loss in Madison. OSU was 14-15 from 3 pt. land (Diebler was 7-8) and shot 68% from the field. Jared Sullinger and his backside went for 22 and 8. In the SEC, Florida is quietly playing some of the best basketball in the country and locked up the SEC title yesterday at Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, Kentucky FINALLY got a win on the road, taking care of Tennessee 64-58. Are the Wildcats finally starting to grow up and learning how to win on the road? It will take more than a win at Jekyll and Hyde Tennessee to convince us.

Storm Troopers: It was a tough day to be a court side security guard in college basketball this weekend. Court storming was contagious as we saw it in Iowa's win over Purdue (acceptable); in Chapel Hill after UNC beat Duke (HIGHLY disappointed in Tar Heel fans - National Championship 2 years ago, beating your rival handily at home, act like you've been there); out west San Diego State fans stormed to celebrate a share of the Mountain West Conference title (ehhh, sure why not - it's been a Cinderellaly type of year for the Aztecs). We'll probably see a few more storms this week as some of the smaller conference tournaments come to an end. In these cases, Daily Onions says go ahead and storm the court, Bethune Cookman fans. Enjoy your 15 minutes, and then make sure you buckle up for your 15 or 16 seed in the Big Dance.

We'd hide too if we lose four in a row

Cry-ami Heat: According to Coach Spo, a couple of the Heat players were crying in the locker room after yesterday's 1-point loss the Da Bulls. Maybe crying will help the team that has lost four in a row and five of their last six. Bottom line, the Heat can't close. They are 1-9 against the league's top five teams, and 0-6 against the Celtics and the Bulls. Most of those games have been close, and down the stretch they are 1-18 from the field in the final 10 seconds with the chance to tie or take the lead (on odd days of even months). We all knew it'd take time for the Heat to really become a dominating team, but the fact that LeBron, Wade and Bosh have been coming up short in the clutch is a bit surprising (well, minus Bosh). That'll have to change come May, as the Eastern Conference playoffs will have five pretty scary teams in play (Celtics, Bulls, Heat, Magic, Knicks). Big shots will need to be made, and there won't be much time for tears.