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.

One Shining "Moment"

As you've learned from 86 posts over the past 5 months, basketball and sports in general are a huge part of my life. If sports is my major, than history is my minor. In fact, I was a broadcast journalism major in college, accompanied by a minor in history. My interest for history probably stems from stories that my parents told my siblings and me growing up, about historical events from their childhood and early adulthood years; where they were when JFK was assassinated, etc. I remember taking great interest in JFK, Watergate and other historical events of the 60s and 70s, thanks to first hand accounts from my parents memories.

My generation had our first "moment" on September 11, 2001. We all can remember where we were, what we were doing, what we were wearing on that Tuesday morning that changed the world forever. Me, I was waking up to go to a morning class, was about to hop in the shower when a roommate alerted me to news coverage that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Three hours later, I was still on the couch with that shower towel still wrapped around me (I had a pair of shorts on too - get your mind out of the gutter). As a journalism student at the time, I hit record on the VCR and watched Peter Jennings and company deliver the news throughout the day. It was the beginning of a new world that we would now live in.

Just over seven years later, I had another "moment." On an unseasonably warm night in early November, I joined a couple of my closest hundred-thousand friends at Grant Park in Chicago, to be a part of history, as Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America. That night brought a sense of hope, change, history, and it rejuvenated my interest in history and the politics of our country.

Obama, National Security Team and US Armed Forces get the job done (NYT)

That brings us to May 1, 2011. A normal Sunday night in the Daily Onions household: dinner on the grill, 60 Minutes, paying some bills, getting ready for the week to come. The First Lady and I decided to watch an episode of Friday Night Lights to end the weekend. At the conclusion of the show, there seemed to be nothing on TV, so I reverted to throwing on CNN. It was about 9:10 pm CST, and as we turned on CNN, we saw the report that POTUS would be speaking to the country at approximately 9:30 pm CST. The reports did not say what he'd be talking about, so I immediately took to Twitter to see what else I could find out. For the first 10-15 minutes, there was nothing substantial. Then as time went on, POTUS's speech was being pushed back and reports of Osama Bin Laden being killed and captured were being confirmed on Twitter. Moment.

I don't think I've refreshed Twitter as much as I did over the next two hours. I wanted as much information as possible - all my former journalism teachers/professors would be proud. Then, just as we waited on Election Night back in 2008, we waited once again to hear directly from Obama. Once again, he approached the podium with that swagger, and told us how things went down. Even the vague details of the secret mission and firefight gave you the chills. The speech was thoughtful, well-written and delivered nearly flawlessly. The final lines made me proud to be an American, and made me forget about the nonsense that has divided our great country over the past few months.

But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Best Picture: FDNY (NYT)

Guaranteed those words will be put in the history books (will they still have books then?) that our children will be using in classes for years to come. Along with those words, they'll see all the memorable pictures from Ground Zero, outside of the White House and other locations around the country where crowds gathered to show their US pride. Just when you thought we'd have an entire post with no real sports mention, I have to talk about the fact that the crowd at the Mets-Phillies game broke out into a USA chant when they heard the news (in the 9th inning, with the score tied at 1-1.....wow), and that college campuses across the country acted as if their team had just won a National Championship. This is what our country should be about.

May 1st, 2011. The night that President Obama, Commander-in-Chief,  made the official announcement that Osama Bin Laden was dead. The night that POTUS gave new meaning to "walk-off" as he took the confident swagger back into the White House offices after delivering the news to the world. The night that all Americans collectively celebrated and said THANK YOU to all the US troops that have put their lives on the line, to ensure our country remains safe. Your time, energy, intelligence, courage, bravery and effort should be recognized and commended every day. May 1st, 2011. Another "moment" we'll be able to tell our kids about, thanks to the men and women that protect us every day.

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.

Memorable Melo

During the 2002-03 college basketball season, I had the distinct pleasure of covering Syracuse's basketball team, the eventual National Champion. That allowed me an up close and personal look at Carmelo Anthony and his ability to take over a game. I remember sitting in the Carrier Dome or on the road in East Lansing or in New Orleans for the Final Four, and as the game would tighten down the stretch, you knew that Carmelo would come to save the day. I remember realizing that Melo was the definition of "we need a bucket, give it to this guy and he'll make it happen."

While I'm not a Knicks fan (my team is the 76ers, and now I have an adopted step-son team in the Bulls), I'm a fan of Carmelo, and a fan of the NBA being relevant in New York City. So as I watched last night's Game 2 against the Celtics, I found myself rooting for Carmelo as if he was wearing a different orange and blue jersey. I was annoyed at how Melo got ripped after his lousy Game 1 performance and people all of the sudden were questioning his place amongst the top players in the league. We'll call it Overreactionitis that is a part of today's sports world. Whatever just happened, we need to blow it out of proportion and throw out any other evidence we might have to make a claim. Need another example? A few weeks ago, people ripped Butler for their poor shooting night in the Championship game, discounting the run they made to that game. Sure, for the second straight year, Butler knocked off powerhouse after powerhouse to get to the Final 4, but since they are a mid-major, its obvious they weren't prepared to perform on the big stage. We all know that shooting performance could have happened to any team. Enough about that.

Carmelo couldn't quite close out the Celtics (SI.com)

Anyway, everyone was calling for Carmelo to respond in Game 2. He had to show that the Knicks made the right decision trading half their team for him just two months ago. Throw out the fact that the Knicks were playing at the defending conference champions, throw out the fact that the Knicks team consists of Anthony, Amare and Billups. Melo had one off night, so it was the end of the world....for a day or two.

I don't know if Carmelo was trying to prove a point last night, but what he did was something special. With Billups doing his best Andy Rautins impression, rocking a suit on the bench, and Amare leaving the game midway through the 2nd quarter, the Knicks team looked like a mid-major college team, or an undermanned high school team. And that's what it felt like when I was watching, rooting for Melo and the Reserves to take down the Celtics in their building. I've been in my fair share of games as a coach or as a player, where we've been overmatched from a talent standpoint. But we fought, battled, scrapped, and had someone that was unconscious from the floor, keeping us in the game. The team started to depend on the senior at the end of the bench, who never played but was a good teammate, also known as Roger Mason Jr. The coach started to tinker with the lineup and was making the undersized, skinny kid play the center position because you were short on bodies (that was me!), also known as Jared Jeffries. Your backup point guard who was great to give the starter a rest during the season, and would play extended minutes on occasion, was now in the starting lineup and running the show. Yes, that would be Toney Douglas.

And then there was the superstar. The guy that was doing it all. Taking, and making, tough shots (Melo had 42 points on 14-30 shooting, 10-11 from the line). Putting the team on his back, doing everything he needed to do to try and steal a W (Melo had 17 rebounds and 6 assists, led the team in both). Then there were the shots that you can't give justice to in print. You know, when Melo catches on the wing, has a defender draped all over him. He goes into that series of jab steps, rip-throughs and head fakes before catching his opponent off guard and pulling up to drain a jumper with a hand in the face. I compare Melo on the wing to a scary movie (It's dark, the music is playing, you know something is going to jump out at you, you just don't know when). He's got the ball, you know he's going to shoot it, but you don't know when.....and then in a split second he rises and fires (Gus). Well what Carmelo was doing last night was a nightmare for Celtics coaches, players and fans. Luckily, the Celtics have four All-Stars on their team, and one of them (KG) was able to step up in the final 15 seconds to hit the game-winning shot on one end, and forcing a turnover on the other.

Carmelo's heroic 42, 17 and 6 didn't have the happy ending that Hollywood (or at least ESPN Classic) was looking for, but it was still quite impressive. The Knicks haven't won a playoff game since April of 2001. They'll play their first home playoff game since 2004 on Friday night. New York and MSG will have an amazing buzz in 2 days. While the Knicks might be down 0-2, they've proved they can play with the Celtics, no matter who is out on the court.