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.

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.