Did one team win or did the other team lose?

How ‘bout them Magics?

Or more correctly, how ‘bout them Celtics?

As well as Orlando played – and they did have some fight in them that I honestly didn’t expect to see – I think the Celtics kind of took their foot off the pedal in Game 4 and that’s why we saw what happened.

They didn’t have as much of the passion and intensity they did in Games 1-3, I don’t think; the offence bogged down considerably when Rondo was less than great and they probably gave the Magic some hope. A scintilla, but still, some hope.

Is it enough? Historically, no. Realistically, probably not but I would not at all be surprised if we didn’t have a Game 6 back in Boston on Friday night.

The Magic are, in my opinion, pretty big front-runners; that they went into Game 4 with no real chance, survived a late collapse and still won and that has to count for something.

And the fact they won with HWSNBN playing like a pooch and Rashard Lewis still pretty much MIA was kind of interesting in itself. I think Rondo was just average enough that his clear-cut domination of Jameer Nelson was diminished a bit and Ray Allen missed a couple of shots that might have changed the tenor of the game.

Do I think the Magic can win four straight? No.

But I do think they have enough life in ‘em to win Game 5.

(Which means an easy Celtics triumph).

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One thing I was very glad to see?

Doc Rivers not calling a time out on the final possession of the fourth quarter.

Look, everyone in the building, nay, everyone in the world who was watching, knew that Paul Pierce was going to have the ball in his hands.

Letting him go against a defence in transition – even if it didn’t work out – makes far more sense to me than letting everyone catch their breath, figure out what they wanted to do and then doing it.

It wasn’t like they were going to lose the game in that situation – I may have thought differently had the Celtics been down one or two instead of tied – so what Doc did makes a guy who thinks coaches over-coach too often feel pretty good.

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Digression time.

You know, I like a decades-old maple tree like the best of ‘em. Majestic and towering and maple leaves and Canada and blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But I have to tell you, if I never have to see another of those little helicopter thingies cluttering up the deck I will be one happy man.

Anyway …

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Steve Nash has a busted nose and a black eye and everyone’s lauding him.

Now all he has to do is play as well as he did in Game 3 or else the Suns are sunk in Game 4 against the Lakers.

I think we can all admit that Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire were quite average in L.A. to open the series and quite above average in Game 3.

If they can do it again, the Suns can turn it into a best-of-three and then we’ve got some excitement to deal with finally in playoffs that have been memorable only because they’ve been unmemorable so far.

What I’m most interested in seeing, though, is what the Lakers do.

When Phoenix played a zone defence for almost three quarters the other night, it completely befuddled the Lakers, turning them into a three-point shooting team that played away from its strengths.

Phi Jackson has always – rightfully – been lauded as one of the best coaches at dealing with the egos and personalities on his roster; I’m not sure he’s ever been put up there with the greatest tacticians in the game, especially when you consider the vaunted triangle offence was not his personal invention.

He’s had a day to drill into his team the right way to attack a zone with the personnel at his disposal. Wonder how effective he’ll be?

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The Chris Bosh Saga has been eerily quiet since Friday afternoon.

I imagine he won’t stand for that. I’m wondering what tweet, list, ‘hey, I’m still here’ thing is going to come out soon. Because something will.

All I can hope for is that the Doofuses Up In Ottawa er, I mean Well-Respected Leaders Of Our Great Land Up In Ottawa, don’t weigh in on the situation like Obama did because I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle the angst.

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I’m sure you’ve all already breathlessly read today’s tome about the process the Raptors are now under taking to get ready for the draft, which is four weeks away.

(If you didn’t, take a second and do it now)

Now, if you want to break it down even further, and because everyone has a burning desire for every nugget of news imaginable, remember this:

They will “talk” to literally dozens and dozens of players between now and June 24 and probably work out 10 or 15 or even more. It is part of the due diligence that all teams go through. You will, I’m sure, hear about them chatting with guys expected to go in the top five, or top seven and it could all very well mean nothing at all.

The next “news” will be when they come up with a short list of guys they’re considering at No. 13, as they did last year with the three or four guys they were hoping to be there at No. 9. From that group they will simply be reactionary, hoping that things go as expected above them and they guy they most like is still available when they choose.

And that list isn’t going to become apparent for at least a couple of weeks.

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We’ll see you tonight for Suns-Lakers, right? It’s post-Mighty Yankees practice so I might be a bit worn out but it’ll still be okay.

Oh, and I know I didn’t get to any mail today – I seem to have found enough stuff to prattle on about – but if you want to send some questions, send ‘em here.

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The Goods On The Game, Magic at Celtics

Hey everybody.

Close-out game coming?

Presume the majority of you think that.

The Cavs in a mess, just like Steve Nash's face

With apologies to Gomer:

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Mike Brown’s out as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (here’s Brian’s story with all the gory details) and not things are going to get really interesting down there.

And, of course, it all has to do with LeBron James.

That Brown’s gone is not a shock at all, I don’t think he did a particularly good job with in-game decisions, he seemed to be coaching scared in the final stages of the cave-in to Boston and maybe it’s just time his run was over. Five years is a long shelf life for just about any coach, it seems.

But what’s it mean for LeBron?

Do you think the Cavs owner (and make no mistake about it, Dan Gilbert’s going to make this decision) is going to check with James to see who he’d like as the guy in charge next year?

And how fraught with peril is that?

Now, it seems everything the Cavs have done for seven years has been to cowtow kowtow to what LeBron wanted, from teammates to style of play to, yes, even coaching decisions.

But what if you give him carte blanche now and he still starts feeling restless and explores all the myriad opportunities that are out there for him this summer?

Does it mean the team has to wait until after July 1 to hire a new coach, leaving any moves between now and the hands of GM Danny Ferry (whose own contract doesn’t extend beyond then and whose job cannot be seen as guaranteed by any stretch)?

These are not good times for the Cavs at all.

Here’s one for you: If you’re an unemployed coach, and there’s even a remote possibility James won’t be with the Cavs next season, do you even want the job?

You’ve got no James and you know that’s probably going to mean playing before a half-empty arena.

You won’t have Ilgauskas or Shaq, leaving a front court of Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson.

You don’t have an athletic wing who can create his own shot and everyone else only thrived because of the presence of James.

Do you really want the job? I would imagine that there won’t be a whole lot of interest from too many accomplished coaches in that vacancy. In fact, I think it goes to the bottom of the list, even below the Clippers, of desirable employmen possibilities.

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Now that I understand it’s over, I can say with a measure of pride that not once in its entire run did I see as much as a single episode of Lost.

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How many among you think the Orlando Magic have any chance at all tonight in the close-out game in Boston?

I don’t, which means they’ll probably win by 20 but that’s just my Midas touch.

Anyway, no matter if the series gets extended for a couple of nights or not, I don’t believe there’s a rational-thinking person among us who believes the Magic can come all the way back and what we’ve witnessed is a flameout of epic proportions.

I’m not just talking about missed shots, that’s going to happen, and I thought the Magic had enough firepower to overcome Rashard Lewis doing a Channing Frye imitation.

No, I’m talking about the mental flameout where they simply didn’t compete and cowered in the face of the Celtics. That’s the most troubling aspect of the first three games (Game 3 was an embarrassment) and the one thing that they have to fix.

Major change? I don’t know, there are lots of big contracts that might be hard to move but they need some toughness and grit.

The Magic remind me a bit of the Raptors in two regards: They seem to get their defensive intensity off their offence, which is the wrong way to go about things; and they are front-runners of the first order.

They, like so many other teams, seem to lack that one take-charge guy who can get in the face of teammates and demand more accountability and better performance.

It’s certainly not a situation unique to Orlando – I can probably rattle off a dozen and a half teams that need improvement in that area – but because so much had been expected of the Magic, its absence is glaring.

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Let’s see:

Steve Nash gets that ugly gash over his eye in the Spurs series (still looks a bit discoloured even now) and then it sounds like he might have broken his nose in a head bonk with Derek Fisher last night.

Guess modeling might be not be the next career of choice.

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In light of the Mike Brown development, here’s a question left over from the mail last week. And because we’re hard-pressed to come up with nuggets every day at this time of year, remember to click here to send a question and we’ll parcel them out during the week when need be.

Q: Hi Doug. In your Friday morning blog you referred to LeBron choosing his coach as being allowed to say who his boss is. Do players, coaches, and whomever else think of coaches as players' bosses? Or is it more of an equal-but-different relationship? Any chance you have a Raps anecdotes to give some insight here?

Dave H, Kenora

A: They do, actually, in a lot of regards because coaches have the ultimate authority over one significant thing: Playing time.

Now, like most good work places, there’s a level of mutual respect between worker and boss and in the very best organizations, the relationship allows both to thrive.

Of course, it’s a bit clouded by the fact the boss (coach) doesn’t determine the salary, that’s the GMs job, but there are recommendations forwarded upstairs from coaches that have an impact on pay.

There aren’t a lot of specific boss-worker anecdotes around the Raptors, although when you ask a player who isn’t playing a lot whether he feels he should be playing more, you’ll get a facetious “ask him, he’s the boss” comment every now and then.

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Oh, don’t forget to get back here tonight just before 8:30 for our in-game blog thing, it’s a really cool place to be. Honest.

And if you’re driving around between 5-7 tonight, like coming back from a holiday weekend or something, you’ll be able to hears some major league bluffing about the pucks if you turn on The FAN590 in Toronto. Yes, a special guest appearance for a couple of hours to tax my knowledge of sports I know little about.

Lucky, lucky listeners.

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The Goods On The Game, Lakers at Suns

Good evening, kids.

Everyone having a lovely holiday weekend?

Hope so.

Another key cog on the market and we need a Canadian bag man

A few questions linger over the latest in L’Affaire Bosh, and I know there are many more to come.

Are we talking semantics here? Was Friday’s “news” actually remotely close to news?

Can it be mid-July yet?

Anyway, it’s what I do so I better do it, even if it’s hard to separate wheat from chaff these days.

So what do I think? You want an educated guess, gleaned from a few conversations and some experience?

There has not been a hand-written "list" put on Bryan Colangelo's desk or sent to his in-box but that it has been communicated to him somehow that if Bosh is going to go, these might be teams Colangelo should think about in a sign and trade. It's a no-brainer.

Does it mean teams like Houston or even San Antonio shouldn't make pitches?

Of course not.

I honestly think, knowing Chris a little bit from years of watching him, that he wants to be wooed. He wants to hear what teams -- Toronto included -- will do for him if he goes there. And while there may at this moment be "priorities" I don't for a second believe it's 100 per cent cast in stone that those are the only options he'll eventually consider.

Is Toronto entirely out of the mix? I honestly don’t think so but I also think the Raptors may be a fallback position more than anything else.

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Okay, well. Now the Bosh story maybe just took another interesting turn.

Marc Stein, who is as wired in as anyone who covers this league, has this little gem today that says Dirk Nowitzki’s going to opt out of the final year of his deal.

While the Mavs could very well re-sign him in July – or even before then although I imagine that’s a stretch – that puts another talented, experienced, really, really good player on the market.

And a guy, you could make the point of, who would be a perfect complimentary piece to a team with, say, Dwyane Wade or Derrick Rose or even, you know, that James guy.

This may be the most significant free-agent news since the season ended.

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Now that we have all the shenanigans of Saturday out of the way – and I sincere thank you for all the notes and best wishes – we can get back to normal, right?

And that means being around tonight to see if the Suns can at least make things interesting in their series with the Lakers. Man, I sure hope so because these playoffs have been brutal, haven’t they?

So be here just before 8:30 if you can drag yourselves away from the fireworks.

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Hands up anyone who is remotely surprised Canada lost its bid to host the 2011 Olympic qualifier for men?

(Click here if you somehow managed to miss it).

As perhaps you’ll recall, it was always going to be about money and Wayne, Maurizio and their gang just couldn’t guarantee enough of it.

And I’m kind of glad they didn’t in one respect. The last thing they should have done was come in with some fanciful, unrealistic financial promise they couldn’t possibly keep, leaving someone on the hook when it was all over.

But as Maurizio told me on the phone yesterday, at least the folks at FIBA Americas and FIBA overall know who these guys from Canada are and that things are really starting to look up for our national profile.

Of course, it’s still going to take oodles of cash and if they could find a bag man for future bids it’d sure help but I do think Maurizio and Wayne Parrish made a valid point.

Canada’s at least on the radar now, which isn’t bad after being thought of as little more than a backwater for years and years and years.

I’m told one of the best things about the bid, and I’m trying to track it down with no success quite yet, was the video message Steve Nash sent – bilingual in English and Spanish -- that was part of the presentation.

How’s that for helping out?

Here’s a guy in the throes of a pressure-packed NBA season, with a few other tugs on his life, taking time to help a program that he genuinely cares about.

Not bad, eh?

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Hmm, so Super Son wakes up silly early on a Sunday morning and before we get to the Three Stooges – traditional Casa Doug Sunday viewing – he’s got the LeBron James documentary, More Than A Game, in the VCR.

First time I’ve seen it; I can recommend it.

It’s not Curly, Larry, Moe and Shemp but still …

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I will never again doubt Doc Rivers.

It was after the last game Boston played here in April, a relatively easy win for the Celtics but not a game in which they had played particularly well. They were in a fight at the time with Atlanta to see who’d finish third or fourth in the East and everyone thought that was a big deal because it would mean avoiding Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs.

Well, I ran into Doc in the hallway when he was on his way to the bus and we stopped to chat a bit about what was coming up. Paraphrasing, this is what he had to say:

“We’ll be all right, really. It’s not about third or fourth to these guys; they don’t care. They know this all that matters is the playoffs and they don’t really care who they play when.”

Guess he was right.

The beat-down they put on Orlando on Saturday night was shocking for its thoroughness. Defence, offence, physical intimidation, whatever you want to talk about, the Celtics dominated.

It was stunning.

We’ll get into it a bit more tomorrow and the next day – and you have to know that what’s transpiring has opened a few eyes about the mental toughness and suitability of the Magic – but suffice it to say, the Celtics are doing just what Doc said they’d do.

Playing their best when it counts the most. Just like a team of seasoned veterans should.

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All right, gotta check the papers for the viewings of Shrek IV because Super Son’s got it in his head that it has to be seen. And who am I to argue with a 13-year-old film critic.

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Canada loses its Olympic qualifying bid race, surprise, surprise

If only someone has showed up with a bag of money.

There’ll be more details in a story I’m trying put together in between paragraphs of the daily Bosh tome but Canada lost its bid to host the 2011 Olympic qualification event.

Argentina beat Brazil in the final vote today, Canada was eliminated early because it couldn’t guarantee the financial windfall the other could.

Hardly surprising.

Anyway, just a quick update before I write; watch for more details here later on.

Oh, yeah, Bosh.

Nothing new, really, there’s either a list or there’s not a list, he’s either going to stay or he’s going to go. But things are at a sensitive stage and will be for the next couple of months.

Mail's early because it was "supposed" to be a nice slow day

So all a guy really wanted to do today was get this mail done, enjoy some nice dim sum to begin an afternoon puttering in the yard before cake and candles but, no …

Now it’s all about figuring out what’s real and what’s fake and what might be in the never-ending Chris Bosh saga and work awaits.

I tell you, free agency can’t come and go fast enough.

Enjoy this, see you in the morning.

(Oh yeah, there are several more questions lurking about here that I’ll get to sometime in the next day or two for a bonus mailbag).

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Q: Dear Doug. I recently watched John Thompson interviewing Steve Nash and Grant Hill and got to thinking about who I would like to spend an hour with talking about life and basketball. Aside from these three, Bill Russell and Wayne Embry were the most prominent choices.

If you had the opportunity, given how close you are to the game and how you are able to distinguish between what is important and what is trivial in life, which individuals associated with the game would you like to spend an hour with?

Thanks

Frank B, Toronto

A: Aw, way to go, Frank, you took Wayne and Russell off my list; although I have had the pleasure of talking about life and sports with Wayne on several occasions.

Sooooo … if they’re off, I’d like to have an hour-long session with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar so he could tell me about life as Lew Alcindor and how he became the man he is.

And if Bill Walton could cut some of the hyperbole out of his conversation, I think he’d be fascinating to chat with about his off-court interests and his long-ago involvement with the activist Jack Scott.

You know what? If I could host a dinner party with Red Auerbach, Sweetwater Clifton, Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper, I’m not sure it’d get any better than that, basketball wise.

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Q: "Always ready to answer with the biggest competence Doug" just a joke: "why don’t they do this sign-and-trade mister X with Chris?”

Stop with the never-ending question, I agree with you, we have to wait what Colangelo will be able to do.

Now the real questions. I saw more than 60% of Raptors games from the day Andrea signed with Raptors. You know I'm Italian and obviously I'm not so objective on Andrea evaluation. I think that Bosh is a wonderful player but I always thought that he was the biggest limit of Raptors development. He needs the ball too much, he is a great scorer, a nice guy, but, and this is a big BUT, he has a big limit: he is unable to understand when to be selfish and when it's better to assist some teammate. He has not in his mind the right and quick timing for the best decision about passing or shooting. His talent is unbelievable but his limit in understanding when to stop shooting to involve someone else in offensive responsibilities is so redundant and evident (in my poor opinion) over the years. I played basketball from 8 to 36 in Italy, then I coached the under 16 youngs of Benetton Basket (former team of Andrea, Kukoc, Del Negro and Messina), so you can understand my love and proudness for il Mago As NBA repeats "I love (and so much) this game". OK the questions, just 2:

Nr.1: Maybe CB was the "filter" to the Raptors development in this period? What's your sincere opinion?

Nr.2: I think that Andrea is probably limited in his development by his mandatory assignment to co-exist with CB, so he is in my opinion very underrated. I never saw by person a talent similar to Andrea. He could be an immediate impact all-star player, but he needs a team and a system build around him. For example I think that AB involved in a Phoenix-like way to play would flourish with very unimpressive stats (obviously Steve is fundamental for Suns success). So could we this year (if CB chooses to go to another team) see a very consistent new star in Andrea, if Triano gives him totally the Raptors keys?

Paolo P, Rome

A: I’m not sure that Bosh was any real kind of impediment to Andrea or anyone, I think his mere presence opened on-court possibilities for all his teammates.

Now, I’m sure you’re aware of the fact I’ve been pretty much defending Andrea for a long time. I see a unique skillset and thought patience and time was all he really needed to shine.

And I know that beneath that rather, um, placid exterior, there is a competitiveness, and an ego, that’s full of self-confidence.

I know, regardless of Bosh’s future, the coach and management plan to give Andrea far more responsibility next season and I’m also pretty confident he’ll come through. I think he perhaps shrunk a little with the presence of Bosh and his role as “the man” but I see signs of emerging attitude that I think will come out more next fall.

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Q: I help my wife coach her elementary school team. They are a challenging but good group of kids (picture the Bad News Bears). We've often talked about how humorous it would be to take the team to a Raps game!

This got me to thinking. Tuesday afternoon the Jays game started at 1 p.m. and got an attendance of 30,000, well over average, which was mostly school kids and according to Alan and Jerry was a good crowd.

Now I know that the Raps do not have attendance problems but have they ever thought of having an afternoon game for schools?

The crowd could be great and give the opportunity for young kids that would never have that opportunity to watch an NBA team and maybe grow interest in the game.

Nick M, Hamilton

A: I don’t know if they’ve thought about it, but they should. And what they should do (and I’m sure someone over there is reading this) is this:

Take one, maybe two, of the pre-season games, play it at noon and give 10,000 tickets to either Ontario Basketball or some school boards.

And they should take the other two games out of the season-ticket package and sell them individually. They should make upper deck seats $7.50 and lower level seats $12.50.

That’s what they should do.

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Q: Hey Doug, Already submitted something for this week's edition, but during a lull in the workday a question popped into my mind that I thought might have some mailbag-worthiness to it. And, this is it: I am presently doing preliminary planning with a group of very nice folks towards the design and construction of a group retirement residence. Now this is to be quite a unique place, designed specifically for retirees who had worked in the same specific profession. And, I wonder, if you were to be charged with the task of designing such a residence for retirees in your profession what particular amenities, features, requirements would need to be included to make it just right and suited to, as you have referred to yourselves, a gaggle of retired "ink stained wretches"?

Lorie P, London

A: The other one’s in here somewhere, no worries.

Now, I presume you could guess what I’d suggest such a home have: Lots of flat screen TVs, a whole whack of fully stocked fridges and perhaps a wet bar on every floor.

Oh, and I’d like to see a kick-ass barbecue on a huge deck with a brick charcoal barbecue close by and a nice stereo system pumping in some Sinatra, Springsteen, Pink Floyd, U2 and some old time jazz in a continuous loop.

If you build it, we will come.

Or at least I will.

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Q: You noted that there will be no games in Chicago (so that agents' meal tickets won't have their weaknesses exposed). There also are various tryouts of players brought to Toronto and other cities prior to the draft. I admit that I don't get it. These kids have been playing college ball all year. Don't the teams have enough film and scouting reports on them in real game situations to be able to assess their strengths and weaknesses? What more can they learn watching them workout in a gym 1:1 or 2:2 or whatever? Thanks, Doug and absolutely love your blogs. Must read every day.

Richard W, Toronto

A: Not much, actually. And that’s why I think those individual workouts in the gym are an exercise in futility. I think the best part about those visits is the time the coaches and GM get to spend with a kid off the court, dinner the night before, interaction and before and after the workout, that provides the most pertinent information.

Of the coaching carousel and crazed fans

Slow times, eh?

I have no idea how this keeps hitting the 1,000 level every day but you should count yourself lucky that it does. Really.

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Well, the first domino has fallen.

No, LeBron didn’t say anything and Bosh didn’t tweet or whatever; Doug Collins took the Philly coaching gig on a four-year deal everyone in the world is reporting now. (Here’s one of the many stories out there about it).

What’s it mean?

Well, the first thing it does is take him out of the running for the Chicago job – and I’ve been told there certainly was some interest there – but there are other layers to the coaching situation around the league that are pretty interesting to me.

In conversations I’ve had with a few people this week, one thing’s become quite clear: LeBron’s having an impact on that end of things, too.

The consensus among people was that both the Bulls and Nets – each looking for coaches, each armed with significant money to spend on free agents like the Cleveland guy – are probably working back-channels to get some indication if James wants to go either place in some package deal with a hand-picked coach.

Quite aside from the fact I find that whole situation a bit distasteful – I think players often have a far too large sense of entitlement and allowing them say in who their boss is goes even further over the top – it could delay other hirings as well.

The Bulls don’t seem to be in any hurry to even start a long interview process; we haven’t heard a whiff of real coaching news out of Jersey in quite some time and that’s pretty much got the whole process at a stalemate.

You’re going to hear a lot of the same names for all of these jobs – Portland’s Monty Williams, Utah’s Tyrone Corbin and Houston’s Elston Turner seem to be the flavours of the month in the assistants department while Sam, Avery Johnson and Lawrence Frank lead the former head coaches list – but all of ‘em are probably going to have bide some time while the James chatter goes on.

And don’t for a second think there isn’t talk going on behind the scenes between intermediaries over the future of James and guys like Bosh, Wade, Dirk and Stoudemire.

Maybe it’s agents talking to agents, GMs having “representatives” have private chats with agents, friends talking to friends, but there is chatter going on out there.

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Hmm, Shrek IV starts today?

Guess I need to block off a couple of weekend hours, eh?

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So the NBA hits ref Joe DeRosa with a one-game suspension without pay for tossing the ball to the fan the other night at halftime of the Orlando-Boston game and I’m quite fine and entirely unsurprised by that.

And, judging by the look on Joe’s face when they showed him on the court right after the start of the third quarter, he knew something was coming as well.

But here’s my question:

Are we going to hear about the Magic being hit with a substantial fine for lax security that caused the situation to occur?

Now, if half-crazed fans want to act like nincompoops, I’m all right with that.

But there is no way any team in the NBA should let some half-crazed nincompoop walk in the area behind the scorers table, stop for a few seconds and look like he was going to climb over the table, so incensed was he.

Someone with a uniform and a sense of importance either has to stop the guy before he gets going, or move him along once he does. Not doing either makes a bad situation worse.

No way Joe should have tossed the ball the game, that’s going over the line and there are consequences.

But no way that guy should have been allowed to get that close for that long and act the way he did without someone interceding.

I’m figure a $50,000 donation from the Magic to the NBA’s charitable arm would be suitable.

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Last call for mail this week by clicking here – and the usual flood hasn’t really started yet so get to it, ladies and gentlemen.

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Oh, you were wondering what’s up with the local Heroes of the Hardcourt?

Not an awful lot, actually.

They watched some drills and conducted some interviews Thursday at the Chicago pre-draft came with some of the kids they might have interest in with the 13th pick in the coming draft and it’ll be more of the same there today.

Now, because this is the age of disinformation for the most part – and because this team here likes to keep its draft plans pretty close to the vest – getting a definitive list of who they spoke with and what they learned in those discussions is going to be pretty difficult to obtain.

Things will come out in dribs and drabs but the real process of weeding out potential picks really starts tomorrow.

I’m sure Bryan and The Henchmen (I tell you, that would have been a great name for a 60s band, wouldn’t it have?) will return here tomorrow and really start figuring out who they want to bring in and who they want to go see.

I’m told they’ll probably get to a list of eight or 10 guys with a legitimate shot at being the 13th pick and the workouts for them should start in a week or 10 days.

Great. That means I have to start paying attention.

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Quick scheduling note for those who care, and even those who don’t.

Got some things to do Saturday and since they hold the possibility of decks and barbecues and celebrations, I can’t say for sure I’d be around for an in-game blog thingy of the Magic-Celtics.

So I think we’ll bag that one and be back Sunday night to see if the Suns can put some juice in their series with the Lakers.

Sound fair? Good.

And now, it seems to be another glorious day out there, I am going to go enjoy it. You should, too.

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A heap of trouble and a momentous day from the past

Oh, oh.

The lasting impression I got from listening to the post-game breakdown by the Suns after Wednesday’s loss was that they have no idea how to slow down the Lakers.

Troubling. Indeed.

But, and this is always what it comes down to when teams are trying to figure out how to defend the Lakers, unless the Suns get some grip on Kobe Bryant, this series might not get back to L.A., let alone to a Game 7 for a glorious Phoenix upset.

After Bryant scorched them for 40 in Game 1, the Suns shifted tactics and ran more double teams at him in Game 2.

Um, fail.

All Bryant did was dish out 13 assists – career playoff high for him – and sit back and watch the likes of Ron Artest and Jordan Farmar drill open three-pointers.

And as good as Pau Gasol was – and, man, was he good – it all starts with Bryant, a guy for whom Alvin Gentry and staff have no answer.

I guess, if I’m a coach, I’d probably stick with much the same tactics in Game 3 as I did in Game 2 and hope that either Artest or Farmar don’t make shots from the perimeter in a hostile gym.

Sure, it’s a gamble but what else are you going to do?

I saw a Gentry quote along the lines of “maybe we should let him get 80 and stop everyone else” and that sounds like a solid theory, if in fact you can stop everyone else.

The Suns haven’t been able to stop anyone, which is a problem.

What do the Lakers have? 128 points in Game 1 and 124 in Game 2? I don’t care what kind of offence you run, that’s despicable defence and you can’t win playing it.

Trouble is, the Lakers have shown the ability to run up the score pretty much anyway they want to and Gentry’s got a couple of days to figure something out or the dream is dead.

Sure, it’d be nice if the real Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire showed up, and if the empty jersey that’s Channing Frye finds his shot that’d be a help, too, but the problem with Phoenix is they can’t stop anyone.

Ever heard that before?

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Not sure if you read this one but as an addendum, four months before he died, Malik Sealy hit one of those shot for a lifetime.

Check it out.

But never mind the dogpile and the celebration and Kevin Harlan’s over-the-top call.

How about the Raptors connection?

Yes, that is the one and only Sam Mitchell making the cross-court pass to set up the bucket.

And, yes, that is the one and only Jalen Rose just missing a chance to contest Sealy’s game-winner.

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Guess the doofus who figured on that Orlando-Phoenix final might be feeling a tad sheepish at the moment, eh?

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Happy anniversary,

Happy anniversary,

Happy anniversary,

Happpppppy anniversary

(Sung to the tune of Happy Anniversary).

What’s this, you ask?

Remember the Nine Years Ago Today thing of a week or so ago, commemorating the May 2001 day when that Carter guy dropped 50 on the Sixers? Well, break out the mortarboards, girlz and boyz, the recall The Day Vince Graduated College.

Remember?

Day before Game 7 against the Sixers, he heads to Chapel Hill to grab a diploma, walk across a stage and come back to Philly.

I had no problem with it at the time and don’t today and neither does Vince. The topic came up in an interview he did down in Orlando early in these playoffs when he was asked about criticism and what he gets:

“You always hear something; I never feel bad about graduating from college, Never. I’d do it again. This is temporary, it doesn’t last forever, after it’s all over, you’ve got to have something to do and I come from a family of educators, all teachers so that’s all I know.

“That’s all I know, that was an honour to do so and still be able to go out there and play well; one shot away.”

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Back to Suns-Lakers for a minute.

I won't mention how "lucky" Lamar Odom was, again, as he shredded any and all defenders most of the night.

But here's how the stories read in Los Angeles and in Phoenix.

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Oh yeah, mail.

Gladly accepted by clicking here but can we put a moratorium on “why don’t they do this sign-and-trade with Chris?” queries?

Want to know why? Because it’s not up to them.

We’ll mention it again here, if Bosh wants to leave, he’s going to pick where he wants to go. It’s not as if he’s going to say, “hey, I want that $30 million extra, just move me anywhere.” He’s going to come with a list of teams or a team and then it’s up to Bryan to work something out with the other GM.

In this regard, Bosh drives the process.

Just reminding some of you.

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Quick digression:

As Chickens go, I guess a pair of one-eyed thingamabobs is all right.

That’s what we’ll be seeing in London in 2012, I understand from this story.

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Hey, no games tonight or tomorrow.

Cool.

That means a staff meeting after tonight’s Mighty Yankee workout and a Friday afternoon answering-mail-session at the local with no worries about having to race home to do one of those in-game blog thingies.

Oh, and yard work if Super Wife’s reading this. Really. I will. Honest.

Thanks, NBA.

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The Goods On The Game, Suns at Lakers

Good evening, all.

Was a gorgeous day here, a nice early summer night and I hope this game ends the evening with a bang.