One time, at Big East Media Day....

If Midnight Madness is the official kickoff of college basketball season, then the conference Media Days are the....end of the first quarter? Hold on, what? Screw the football analogy (we'll get to an interesting analogy in a little bit though), let's just say, Media Day is awesome. We get to see who the coaches pick as the best teams and players in the conference, and you get to see a bunch of college kids look uncomfortable in a shirt and tie.

Scoop, in a Suit. (Syracuse.com)

Today was Big East Basketball Media Day in NYC, which is the home of one of the homes of Syracuse University basketball. The coaches selected Syracuse and UConn as the co-favorites for the league title this year. Next was Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, Notre Dame and Georgetown rounding out the top 10. Jeez, this conference is tough.

On an individual basis, Pitt's Ashton Gibbs (and his undershirt) was selected as the Player of Year, while UConn's Andre Drummond was voted Freshman of the Year. Syracuse has Kris Joseph on the 1st team and Scoop Jardine on the 2nd team. West Virginia's Kevin Jones and Tim Abromitis of Notre Dame, both return for their 8th year of college, and were both voted as preseason 1st Teamers as well.

Daily Onions had the opportunity to attend Big East Media Day back before the 2002-03 season, when we were more Orange than Onion. We thought it'd be fun to reminisce about some of the names we chatted with that day at Madison Square Garden.

Let's check out the preseason 1st All-Big East honors that were handed out that day:

Probably taken before 1 of Bell's 6 NBA Games

• Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh - Selected as the preseason conference player of the year in '02-03, you can still find Knight in the Steel City, now as an assistant coach.
• Troy Bell (left), Boston College - This guy could absolutely light it up in college, is BC's all-time leading scorer, and had half a cup of coffee in the NBA.
• Emeka Okafor, Connecticut- Almost 10 years later, its crazy to think there was a debate over who should go #1 in the NBA Draft, Okafor or Dwight Howard. With that said, Okafor did win a National Championship, and has had a serviceable NBA career.
• Mike Sweetney, Georgetown - Undersized, big man for the Hoyas. Didn't have the body for an NBA career.
• Darius Rice, Miami, Jr.- Remember this guy? Freakishly athletic, McDonald's All-American, nephew of Jerry Rice. He ended up staying all 4 years of college, went undrafted and bounced around overseas and the D-League.
• Marcus Hatten, St. John's - Kind of like Bell, a pure scorer. Best memory of Hatten has to be playing for Uncle Phil at St. John's.

The 2nd team featured guys like: James Jones - yep, the same James Jones that is hitting 3s for the Heatles. He got his start in Miami as Hurricane; Chris Thomas - In a recent survey we just made up, this Notre Dame PG was voted most annoying player by opposing fans teams. Good to know he got an acting gig playing the PG in the movie Finding Forrester; Jerome Coleman - this Rutgers shooting guard led the Scarlet Knights to an upset over the eventual National Champions (Syracuse) that year in...New Jerrrrsey, and allowed me to exclaim "Send it in Jerome" (a Raftery fan even at a young age!) over the Syracuse radio airwaves. Shout out to Herve Lamizana as well.

Always a good time to look back at some of the players who came through the Big East. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman in 2002-03, and was picked to be the best Freshman of the Year in the conference, but was left off the 1st and 2nd team. Looks like Melo got the last laugh there.

Slick Rick: Why Don't You Sit the Next Few Plays Out

Speaking of laughs, today at Big East Media Day, Rick Pitino had some choice words about Syracuse and Pitt leaving the conference. Rick, who has been known to compare a tough start to a seasons to... 9/11, added this analogy to his resume:

"My problem is not them leaving," he said. "My problem is you did it in 48 hours. Don't run away with a girl after one date when you've been dating someone else for three or four years. You've been dating this woman for 30 years, show a little respect."

In case you forgot, Pitino, who has been married to his wife for more than 30 years, once met a woman in a restaurant, had a few drinks, and then proceeded to have sex with her in the bathroom. This occurred in 2003, and in 2009 Pitino admitted to not only having consensual sex, but also paying for an abortion. 

Pot, meet kettle. Hope you enjoyed media day.

College Basketball is Back! (Kind of)

A wise man once said, "I don't know if it will make any change, but I figure its time for me to start playing ball." That wise man was Jimmy Chitwood. And in the spirit of Jimmy, Hoosiers and basketball, Daily Onions doesn't know if it will make any change, but we figure its time for us to start writing about basketball.

Check out video of Jimmy Chitwood Gettin' Back into the Game

With the official kickoff of college basketball season (practices at least) tonight with "Midnight Madness", Daily Onions takes a look at what's on tap for the upcoming season:

1. Preseason Rankings!! We actually wrote about how stupid preseason rankings were last year in December after Harrison Barnes, a preseason 1st Team All-American before he even put on the baby blue Tar Heel uniform, struggled out of the gate, and UConn, the eventual National Champion catapulted to #9 a few weeks into the season, after being left out of the Top 25 preseason poll. This season's Top 5 Preseason Poll looks like this:

• UNC: Harrison Barnes, Kyler Zeller, John Henson, Kyle Marshall all return. That should be enough. Throw in two McDonald All-Americans....the early favorite to win it all and run the table.  
• Kentucky: Terrence Jones surprised everyone and came back to school, along with Doron Lamb (the 2nd best Lamb in college bball), and Darius Miller. Coach Cal, the snake oil salesman, also brings in the two of the best freshman in the country in Anthony Davis (Chicago) and Michael Gilchrist (NJ). Good combo of NJ and Chicago there.
• UConn: The Defending Champs bring back Jeremy Lamb, the little brother of Daily Onions loyal reader, Ramy. He joins one of our favorite big man underclassmen from last year, Alex Oriakhi, along with Shabazz Nappier, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler "White" Olander. Stud newcomer Andre Drummond will help as well.
• Syracuse: Oh, no (Cuse is in the House). High expectations for the Orange this year? That can't be good for the Cuse faithful. Everyone's favorite PG to hate, Scoop Jardine is back to run the show. All reports say that Scoop had a great summer at various camps and a stint w/ Team USA. Let's hope he learned how to be smart with the ball. The Cuse also returns Kris Joseph, who was picked as a 1st Team All-American. And that's right there is why we talk about how preseason rankings don't mean anything. We love Joseph, but a 1st Team All-American?!? Prove me wrong, Kris. Rounding things out for the Cuse are Brandon Triche, CJ Fair (Daily Onions Favorite), Dion Waiters (hopefully with a new attitude), Fab Melo, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland, Mookie Jones, Andy Rautins, Otis Hill.......right, you get it. The Orange return a lot. They also bring in 2 McDonalds All-Americans in Rakeem Christmas (lots of puns coming your way) and Michael Carter Williams. Trevor Cooney is another frosh, who folks are hoping can light the Dome up from outside.
• Ohio State University: No THE this year for OSU. Since we picked them to win it all, and they decided to bounce in the Sweet 16, you get no love from Daily Onions....for now. Once we see that large backside of Jared Sullinger (he actually slimmed down, though), I'm sure we'll rekindle the love. William Buford and Aaron Craft important returners for the Buckeyes.
• Duke: Yes, we can count. Duke is #6. Quick thought on the Blue Devils. They have arguably the best freshman in Austin Rivers, they return guards Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, and now have three, yes THREE Plumlee brothers (not that that means anything). We are very excited to see Austin Rivers play. When we saw him at the McDonald's All-American game, we called him "Steph Curry with a little more pop".....whatever that means.

2. Basketball: Yep, it's that simple. The fact that basketball will be played is a huge thing to look forward to. With no NBA season in sight, the youngsters will have center stage, and that will be awesome. Throw in the fact that the greatest basketball conference ever assembled, The Big East, will be playing one of its final seasons (could be final, could have one or two more) as the dominant conference, culminating with the basketball orgy that is the Big East Tournament in March. Man, are we going to miss that tournament.

3. Road Trippin': While the schedule Gods did not grace us with a Big E Hoops Weekend Round 2 scenario, Daily Onions is planning on hitting the road to catch lots of games in person this season. We'll catch the Cuse at Notre Dame in January, we are taking a trip to see Brad Stevens and Hinkle Field House for a Butler game, we'll see what Big East teams roll through the Windy City to play DePaul, and will be sure to catch some Big Ten action up in Evanston. In short, we love college basketball, and we can wait to watch it....as I am sure that goes for the First Lady of Daily Onions as well.

With that said, in order to live up to our Jimmy Chitwood promise, we'll be posting weekly leading up to the start of the season, and then will get things going a bit more from there. We are only 9 posts away from 100, so we'll be sure to have a HUGE celebration commemorating some of our favorites from the first 100, and previewing what the second hundred have in store.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a great college basketball season.

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Syracuse in the Eye of Conference Realignment Hurricane

There aren't many things that could bring Daily Onions out of hibernation before the start of the college basketball season. However, there are a few things...in no particular order:

• A face to face meeting with Daily Onions favorite Brad Stevens
• Winning a contest that allows us to go to the Final Four the next 10 years
• Daily Onions being bought by a huge sports website
• A monumental move that changes the landscape for Syracuse and Big East Athletics.

We really wish we were writing about one of the first three items on that list. But instead it looks as if Syracuse, one of the founding members of the Big East Conference back in 1979, is packing its bags and heading to the ACC.

Our initial reaction, as you would expect from a life-long fan and alum of Syracuse, is anger, disgust and sadness. While football is obviously driving this decision, we immediately turn our thoughts to the effect on Syracuse basketball. Let's think about the potential changes we'll see:

• Long-time rivalries with Georgetown and UConn, become yearly matchups with Wake Forest and Virginia (yes, as well as Duke and UNC....still, not the same).
• The Big East Tournament every March at Madison Square Garden turns into a trip to Greensboro, NC...I hear its lovely in early March.
• At least 4-5 games on ESPN's Big Monday, with Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery calling the game, the obvious best team of college basketball announcers in the business. We'll now have to endure Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale making out with each other on the air while talking about how good Duke is.

It's obvious that Big East die-hards and traditionalists are disappointed with this move. However, with conference realignment such a fluid situation (seems like you sound smarter if you say something is "fluid"), this could be a case of Syracuse making a proactive move to ensure that they aren't "standing up when the music stops" (credit to 'Cuse fan @cbombard for that analogy).

Hurricane Realignment headed straight for Big East

We'll take it one step further. Conference realignment is a hurricane, and it is coming straight for the Big East. Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross gets a call that says "if you know what's good for you, evacuate now." The storm is coming, and you are better off getting to a safer place now because we don't know how bad this could get.

How bad could it get for the Big East? Well, there might not BE a Big East (somewhere Mike Tranghese is crying). With rumors of four super conferences emerging - Pac12, Big 10, SEC and ACC - said hurricane could take out what we all once knew as the Big East.

If Syracuse ignores the evacuation warning, and like a stubborn homeowner on the east coast in the eye of the storm, says "I built this place, I'm not going anywhere," they could end up standing on the roof of their house waiting for someone to rescue them. If Syracuse waits to long, there might not be anyone coming to pick them up.

We're not quite ready to embrace this potential change, and it will indeed take some time to get used to it. But if this hurricane is as bad as it could be, we should be glad Syracuse got out before it was too late. 

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.