The kids think everything's going to be all right

We all know there are some, um, issues with this local gang of basketballers but, I have to tell you, it was pretty interesting around the arena yesterday when we were waiting for another day of pre-draft workouts.

DeMar DeRozan wanders by, here comes Sonny Weems, there’s Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson trundles by and Joey Dorsey makes an appearance.

None of them had to be in town, they could have easily got their work in wherever they spend their off-seasons, but they all wanted to be here so they could check in with the coaches and get some teaching.

I was trying to think the last time I saw five young Raptors all in the gym here in June and I don’t recall when it was; perhaps back in the early days of the Butch Carter era.

It’s not usually until September that everyone starts arriving back in town for a long season and I’m thinking it says something about these kids – and what they want to accomplish – that they came up now.

We didn’t get a chance to talk to Amir, he was running late and we’ll probably get some time with him when we’re back there on Thursday but the others all said the things coaches like to hear.

DeMar wants to work on his penetration abilities because he knows if he beats his man off the dribble, he’s going to use his athleticism to get to the rim.

Sonny wants to extend his shooting range and work on his ball-handling.

And Jarrett? Well, if you read this, you know what Jarrett had to say.

Anyway, it may be not be the biggest news of the summer for this team but it’s a pretty good sign that at least the young kids are on board and looking to make things better.

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A couple of Irregulars were asking last night about one of those infamous Question And Answer Hours and, you know, it kind of makes sense given where we are.

So, we’re figuring Friday noon to go over Game 7, the workouts this week and whatever else is on your mind.

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Jarrett Jack’s a pretty bright kid – mostly because he shares my opinion of what used to be known as the planned Free Agent Summit.

While we were talking to him yesterday for this story, the conversation, as it always does with NBA types these days, got around the Summer of LeBron that’s coming.

Sayeth Jarrett:

The only part that makes it crazy is this free agent summit they’re talking about, that’s the only part that’s driving me up the wall. I hope they don’t do that, I hope they don’t all just sit around and ‘all in favour of me going here, everybody say I.’

“I hope they don’t do that.”

Now I never actually thought they would, I figured it was some extrapolation by a couple of guys looking for stories one day but it sure seems to have caught the fancy of a lot of people.

To Jarrett and me because his words are something I might say:

“This meeting stuff is just a little weird … I would never think to hear Magic and Larry and Kareem meeting up to see what’s going on.

“It’s like they’re trying to make a monopoly or something."

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Family digression time.

Sometimes parents do silly things.

Figuring Super Son’s graduation from Grade 8 was a milestone, we figure a cell phone’s a good idea as a gift, right? Yeah, right.

He’s probably going to exceed the unlimited texting option (I got one from the kitchen while sitting on the front porch typing this) and the repeated – and I mean REPEATED – versions of some mindless song called Burning Soul or something along with the Super Mario Wii theme as possible ring tones is burning my ears.

Yeah, sometimes parents do silly things.

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I’m sure a lot of you were like me and quite surprised when Steve Kerr hung ‘em up as GM or president or whatever his official title was out in Phoenix yesterday.

Well, the word I’m getting from talking to people hither and yon is that the reason was pretty predictable:

Money.

As you’ll read in my Coro-spondent’s piece here, owner Robert Sarver may or may not have decided Kerr had to take a pay cut (I’m hearing he did) and there is questions about whether or not the owner wanted to shell out the cash it’s going to take to keep Amar’e Stoudemire in town.

Whatever turns out to be the real story, the perception is this was a cash-driven decision.

Now, I’m hot and cold on Sarver. I thought he was a buffoon for a long time with his courtside antics, he redeemed himself a bit with the whole Los Suns things in my eyes but this one’s the tipping point.

Not only do I now think it’s a virtual certainty that Stoudemire walks, I don’t know how a guy with a reputation like Sarver’s getting is going to be able to attract either good free agents or good employees and I’m figure he goes frugal on his next GM hire.

Now, Kerr’s had his moments. Shaq was a stupid idea, Terry Porter was not much better but he’d redeemed himself a bit by getting Nash to re-sign, grabbing Grant Hill and putting together a pretty entertaining team.

I guess on the whole, Kerr’s tenure is like that of every other GM I can think of: Some good, some bad and a guy who just tried to do his best.

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More Raptors news? Man, you folks must be in heaven today.

While chatting with DeMar and Sonny yesterday, both told us they plan to play for the Raptors summer league team out in Vegas.

Good calls on both accounts; they could each use the work and another sign that these kids seem to get it.

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Got mail? I don’t have much so here’s your shot at sending a letter or two. Click here and we’ll start putting together the weekend missive.

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Okay, because we had so much local flavour here today, we kind of gave short shrift to that series going on out in L.A. Which is okay because I’m going to need to fill this space tomorrow and what better way to do it than setting up a Game 7.

But I will leave you with this: Lakers in six.

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The Goods On The Game, Celtics at Lakers, Game 6

Hello everyone.

Last night here?

Jarrett's trade demand? It's news to Jarrett

You want news? Well, news that Jarrett Jack wants to be traded from the Raptors is, well, news to Jarrett Jack.

Just ran into him in the arena while waiting for the workout kids to get done and he told us he hasn’t asked to be traded from the Raptors, his agent hasn’t asked that he be traded from the Raptors and he has no idea where stuff like that comes from.

“I hadn’t even heard of it until (Monday),” is how Jack put it. “Bryan Colangelo actually brought it to my attention. I was wide-eyed a little bit."

Colangelo, as you recall, suggested at the end of last season that he didn’t know if the Jack-Jose Calderon tandem could survive another year.

Jarrett’s not about to air any grievances publicly but he made it sound like he didn’t quite agree with the boss.

“I think we can. We went through last year and know some things we could have possibly done differently to kind of ease the situation between both of us.”

Which prompts the: “Such as” follow up.

“There are various scenarios. Obviously that’s up to the coaching staff and to the front office. I don’t come in there and say ‘play us like this and maybe it’ll massage our egos or make us feel better.’

“There were probably some situations where we could have maybe played a bit more together or switched up the rotation where I could come out and he would come in.”

Anyway, just wanted to get this up quickly, we’ll have some more later on. Now it’s time to go watch kids.

A strange feeling and a workout roster

My Spidey sense is tingling folks, it’s tingling a lot.

I don’t know precisely why – that’s the thing about Spidey Senses – but there’s just a feeling that something’s going to happen over the next 10 days to shake up this basketball team I cover.

Just from conversations I had in Boston and with a couple of other sources throughout the league, the over-riding sense is that Bryan is going to try to do something of significance before the draft and there is precedent for it.

I remember the night two years ago almost to the day – it was the Saturday of what’s become almost the annual free agent camp here – that a guy whispered to me that Jermaine O’Neal was probably going to be a Raptor and that it was all coming down around the draft.

Armed with the 13th pick and a whole bunch of players of varying degree of talent and contractual obligation to dangle, the chatter is that the president and GM of the Heroes Of The Hardcourt has something up his sleeve as one conversationalist put it yesterday:

“It’s too quiet, he’s got to have something going on.”

The thing about Bryan’s job this time around is that he’s got a lot of disparate parts to move in trades, which would make it easier to make a move, wouldn’t it? He’s got Hedo -- bad contract but, trust me, a guy whose reputation around the league is better than it is here)

He’s got Jarrett – good contract, coming off a so-so year.

He’s got Jose – not-so-good contract but, again, trust me, a guy whose reputation around the league is better than it is here.

He’s also got the No. 13 pick, which isn’t particularly coveted but which could definitely be in play in some package.

Now, I could be entirely wrong about this – not that that’s ever happened before – but all signs point to some kind of transaction coming down the pike before the draft.

Guess I’ve got some stuff to do once I get back around the lads for the workouts today and Thursday.

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Speaking of workouts, here’s the lineup for the morning and I’m headed off to google, I guess.

We’ve got littles: Dominique Jones of South Florida (6-4 PG, a late-first or second-round pick) and Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati (6-6 SG, same kind of projection).

But then we’ve got some interesting bigs in Marshall’s Hassan Whiteside and Solomon Alabi of Florida State. Whiteside’s better thought-of but both “people of interest” to the Raptors.

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Nothing says good morning like New Zealand-Slovakia in the World Cup, does it?

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Couple of things left over from a long trip to Boston – and I can fully endorse the Beantown Pub as a place to hang out and Harpoon IPA or Sam Adams Seasonal as a thing to hang out with so the sojourn had some ancillary benefits.

They’re kind of related because they go to things that people say that get blown, a bit, out of proportion.

I understand Phil Jackson took some shot at the Celtics during a fourth quarter timeout, telling the Lakers that the Celtics were known for blowing fourth quarter leads and that they were doing it again.

Even Paul Pierce had a “duh” to that one.

“You know, he’s right … I haven’t really seen too much of that in the playoffs but coaches say things to try to motivate their teams. He’s supposed to give them confidence, he’s supposed to say something like that.”

The second also involved Pierce, who was caught again by the TV cameras in Game 2 saying the Celtics weren’t going back to L.A., and he was asked about it Sunday night.

“I’m not supposed to think my team is going to come back (to Boston for three) and lose a game at home … I wasn’t being cocky about it, I was just confident in my team. I didn’t say anything negative about the Lakers, I was just referring to what I wanted my team to do, that’s all.”

Now, quite aside from the fact Phil’s likely to have a conniption at having the broadcasters use that comment of his – the deal is supposed to be nothing too contentious gets out of those inside-the-huddle things and there’s someone in the truck checking everything out – I have absolutely no problem at all with either his or Pierce’s statement.

Neither was quite earth-shattering or even newsworthy but they did give a glimpse into the true thought process of athletes and coaches and I’m fine with that.

I don’t think there needed to be any big hue and cry about either of them – sometimes we in the media tend to go overboard (and there’s another ‘duh!’ statement if I’ve ever typed one) and that’s too bad because it puts the fear of whatever deity you worship into the players and coaches.

But a little easily explained honesty’s not a bad thing.

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You know me: A bad news, good news kind of guy, right?

Well …

Bad news: The journey home not only included a cost-induced stop in Philly from Boston but also a two-hour delay in the City of Brotherly Love, kind of a fitting end to the NBA travel season that created just a 12-hour travel day.

Good news: Harpoon IPA at lunch, Yuengling at dinner.

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Yes, we’ll be here tonight to hang out during the game so, please, feel free to join, it’s truly a hoot.

And we may as well get this started: Click here to get the early submissions in for the mail bag.

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Oh, that free agent camp that the Raptors are holding this weekend? I’m told they’re shooting for 15 or 20 guys, mostly free agents, D Leaguers and guys who spent time in Europe last season.

Trouble is, we won’t know who the guys are until the last possible minute and that’s an issue every year at this time.

With so many guys trying to get so few jobs with so many different teams, it’s difficult to get hard commitments until the very last minute. If a player goes somewhere and does well, he gets to thinking that maybe he’ll get a job with one team and all those others he told he’d visit can just forget about it.

It’s frustrating as anything for the people trying to put these things together and why we won’t know for sure until Thursday night who will be on the court when things start Friday morning.

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At last a week with some Raptors news

Seems a guy’s getting home – eventually – just in the nick of time.

(But not in time to see the Mighty Yankees tonight, sadly).

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Big week ahead, folks, and I’m pretty sure over the course of Tuesday and Thursday I’ll be seeing whoever it is that emerges as the No. 13 pick in the June 24 draft.

Now, I offer this with the codicil that these things sometimes don’t work out, kids have a way of bailing at the last minute for whatever reason.

But right now, Thursday looks like the biggest day of the pre-draft period, big Patrick Patterson of Kentucky, wings Xavier Henry of Kansas and Paul George of Fresno State and guards Eric Bledsoe of Kentucky and Avery Bradley of Texas are due in. Bradley, however, has an ankle issue and might pull out; it’s interesting he’s the only guy they wanted to see twice in Toronto.

Tuesday, an equally interesting group of forwards Damion James of Texas and Quincy Pondexter of Washington and centres Hassan Whiteside of Marshall and Solomon Alabi of Florida State are supposed to be here.

I was having a little chat with Bryan on the weekend – we were both waiting for USA-England – and he was telling me that it’s “best available player” rather than any specific position when it comes to who’s going to be the pick.

Now, I think they need bigs more than anything given the uncertainty of Bosh and Amir Johnson but I’m hearing that if they think the best guy left is a wing, that’s who they’re taking.

With so many balls in the air – Bosh, Johnson, Turk, a point guard, Antoine Wright – they figure it’s too dicey to gamble on one position because so many might be open once camp comes around.

Now, out of that group, I certainly don’t have a favourite – I haven’t seen any of them in person except Bradley and we didn’t get enough of a chance to see him really work – and I don’t know that the braintrust has a favourite, either.

What they’re going to do is come up with some kind of list in their mind and if they guy at the top is there are No. 13, they’ll take him; if he’s gone, they move down to their second guy.

It’s going to take a little while to figure out who’s ranked where but that’s kind of what I’ve got this week to do.

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Digression time.

Are vuvuzelas just thunderstix on steroids? Man, that incessant wasp-like buzz takes some of the joy away from watching the games, doesn’t it?

Speaking of games, though, how about those Black Stars! Huge win, good penalty call, excellent shot and I’m thinking they look pretty good for second spot in their group.

And my friend in Accra tells me they were dancing in the streets after the final whistle. Good on them.

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Oh yeah, right.

Lakers in six.

Oops.

Anyway, pretty good game in a muck-it-up-defence, oh-my-God-how-good-is-that-Kobe-Bryant-guy kind of way with one moment of high comedy.

You see it?

Ron Artest knocks down Kevin Garnett and here comes Rajon Rondo who puts his arm into Artest, who flails and falls like he’d been hit by a steel girder.

(I’d say he flopped like some yellow card-deserving football faker but that would do a disservice to all those in the beautiful game who tumble like they’ve on the cusp of heading to the great beyond)

Rondo on it:

“I’m not that strong. He sold it a little bit. He’s probably the strongest guy on the court in this series; I’ve been lifting a little bit but other than that, I didn’t push him that hard.”

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More Raptors news?

Man, you folks are in the pink today.

End of week, I’m hearing they’re holding one of those big free agent thingies to find some bodies for summer league in Vegas.

The thing doesn’t have an official name so I believe we shall call it The Jamario Moon Memorial Camp For Hopefuls, seeing that’s where they found Moon so many years ago.

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An interesting theory proposed to me over the weekend in a conversation with a highly-placed poobah is that the guy actually driving this whole free agent thing is not LeBron James but Dwayne Wade.

Makes sense, right? Wade is the only guy who can truly “recruit” someone to come join him, he doesn’t have to go somewhere to hook up with somebody, there doesn’t have to necessarily be some sign-and-trade to make it work. He sits back, extols the virtues of Miami and gets his guy without having to go anywhere.

LeBron can’t do it with the Cavs, Bosh can’t do it with Toronto, Joe Johnson can’t do it, neither can Amare, nor can Dirk if they want to join forces with one of the others.

Now, I’m sure we’ve all heard about the breaking of bread out in L.A. with Wade, Bosh and Johnson and it’s nice that buddies got together for dinner; I’m sure there was all kind of talk about what it’s like to play in Miami and for the Heat and that’s just natural.

But it’s interesting to me that with all this talk about who “fits with LeBron” and where they might go, it’s one of the other guys some big shots are thinking is driving the agenda.

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I’m pretty sure some of you might have missed this but Bosh got this really big honour on Sunday night.

Yes, we of the Professional Basketball Writers Association – an august group of more than 150 that has somehow found fit to make me the president – voted him the winner of the Magic Johnson Award, which goes to the player who “combines on-court performance with steady co-operation with the media.”

Not bad, eh?

We administer three awards, the Magic Johnson, the J. Walter Kennedy Award for community service (won this year by Sam Dalembert for his efforts with Haiti relief) and the Brian McIntyre Media Relations Award for meritorious service of our industry which this time around went to the Golden State Warriors.

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All right, need to knock off an NBA finals off-day story and get out to the airport to begin the Lewis and Clark journey home. Oh, and maybe find a couple of hours to check out Italy-Paraguay.

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The Goods On The Game, Lakers at Celtics, Game 5

Ladies, gentlemen

Things are well, I hope.

Ready to go?

Time for the mail

A little lighter than usual, or else I didn’t look that deep into the in-box but that’s okay, the Black Stars are on in an hour.

Oh, and don’t forget to be back here tonight at 8 p.m. for the big game.

Have a nice day.

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Q; Hi Doug. Thought I'd send this again here, just in case it might have gotten lost in the blog stuff shuffle:

Would you have a Top 5 NBA Local Brews list to share? Somehow, I'd guess a Coors Light in Denver, a Schlitz (or even a Blatz) in Milwaukee, or a Steamwhistle in T-Dot may not be in the running. Just a hunch.

Cheers.

David M, Ottawa

A: Good hunch, although a Steamwhistle’s not a bad idea every now and then.

But so many cities, so many choices.

If had to go with five not to be missed over the course of a season, it’d have to be Yeungling, Harpoon (a Boston delicacy), Fat Tire when you get out west and when in Texas, I’d think a Shiner Bock would be something I might order. Now, you know me and my good friend Stella have a long-standing relationship but I guess she can’t round out the top five so I’m going with my current love, Sam Adams summer seasonal.

And, please, in the name of all that’s good in the world, if someone can find me a Samuel Smith Organic Lager, I will be eternally grateful. They used to have it at St. Elmo’s in Indy and a place I can’t remember in Seattle but I haven’t seen it in a long time.

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Q: Hi Doug Great work with the daily blog. Are you on a contract year? Do insecure Toronto fans have to worry about you leaving the city? Will they boo you when you come back if you decide to leave? But all kidding aside ...my question is when a player asks for a trade, how do his teammates, who are still under contract, usually react to it? Do they feel that the player turned his back on them (especially if the request came mid-season)? Or is it usually a business decision.

Thanx again for your work.

Rob H, Victoria

A: I’m on a day-to-day contract, I work at the whim of Mother Star but if there’s a nice five-year, guaranteed-mid six figure deal out there, I’m listening (Kidding, boss!).

Of course, I can’t speak to the reaction of every player when a teammate wants out and I haven’t had a chance to talk to a single Raptor since the whole Hedo Nonsense broke.

But over the years – and we go back to Damon wanting out, and Walt Williams looking for a deal and Antonio Davis being disenchanted and, of course, HWSNBN, my experience is that most players know it’s a personal matter and there’s no resentment or anger. That said, it’s incumbent on the player wanting out to behave in a professional manner because teammates want honest effort, regardless of off-court circumstances. There were definitely teammates in the 20-game period before the guy got traded to Jersey who wondered about his commitment.

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Q: Remember the whole "Lebron to Europe", "$50 million a year", "The Euro", "No salary cap" talk that was going on a year and a half ago. What was your take on it then?

Andrew R, Brampton

A: It was equal parts preposterous, posturing and boring then. I never for a second thought it was a viable option and I believe that’s always been the case.

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Q: Hey Doug, g'day from New Zealand. This is a basketball-ish question at best, but I hope you can give your sage advice.

I've been here a few months and noticed something unusual - the newspapers and TV pay attention to women's sport! Well, one in particular - netball.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the game, but it's sort of a cross between basketball and ultimate frizbee (think basketball without the dribbling or a backboard).

Anyhow, I was wondering what your thoughts were on the merits of having a women's sport that is entirely distinct from the men's one - rather than just a women's version of the major leagues?

Also, do you know if there are many players who cross between women's basketball and netball? Aussies being drafted into the WNBA, or Canadians going down under to play at a pro level?

Thane B, Blenheim, NZ

A: I’m familiar with netball and know it’s a very popular sport in Europe but it’s practically non-existent in North America and I’ve never known anyone to play it.

And I don’t think we need a “women’s specific” sport, actually, although I can see an argument that says it’d be better for them to attract attention to a game they alone play. However, as long as people don’t try to compare the game as played by women to the one played by men, I’m fine with having them compete in the usual sports.

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Q: Hello Doug! Are you enjoying the World Cup Festivities down there in Boston? Must be kinda cool to be in a country whose team is actually participating in the tournament. So, while this football championship is without argument, the largest (in all ways) global sport spectacle there is, where would you say the Mens' Basketball Tourney rank for world attention? Do you think it sits in second place for global interest? By the way, have you ever attended one of these World Cup games? (And is the Stinky Ford Focus proudly sporting the Black Stars flag yet?) Thank you. Bafana Bafana Bafana!

Lorie P, London

A: As a single sport entity, I think the world basketball championship does sit second. I suppose a case could be made for rugby’s world championship but I don’t know that it creates the passion in Asia and South America that the world basketball championships do.

And it’s been quite interesting for a couple of days here. As I mentioned in this story this morning it was quite fun sitting on a stool next to a couple of fervent France fans watching their game against Uruguay and there was quite a Saturday afternoon buzz around U.S.A.-England.

The coaching carousel's getting full

Pretty slow day yesterday so kind of a slow morning around here. We’ll be back with much more fun stuff the first of the week when a guy can get home and back to concentrating on the local Heroes Of The Hardcourt.

Until then …

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Now that the Hawks are going to hire Larry Drew, there are only two coaching vacancies left in the league – the Cavs and Clippers – and I’ll ask this:

Which one’s more attractive?

And I’ll answer this:

Today? It’s the Clippers.

Such is the state of confusion around the Cavs that I think I’d rather go work for zany Donald Sterling than sit around until mid-July wondering when LeBron James is going stop holding the Cleveland franchise – and most of the league – hostage.

Los Angeles has some cap room, a high draft pick, the spectre of Blake Griffin actually playing next season and just seems more stable at the moment.

Go figure, eh?

The one thing we haven’t heard much about, though, is who might be in line for the L.A. job. I presume now that Drew’s gone to the Hawks, the usual suspects will be linked to the Clippers.

But if I’m an unemployed coach or an assistant looking to improve my lot in life, I’d be getting my agent to make a call, it’s not a bad job that’s open out west.

Better than the one in the East in many regards.

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Doesn’t this pretty much sum up the difference in the two teams who’ll resume NBA Finals hostilities tomorrow night?

Not sure how many of you saw the post-game interviews the other night when Nate Robinson and Glen Davis were doing their Rowan and Martin schtick up there but it ended with a question about Robinson jumping on Davis’s back and Big Baby not even feeling it.

Says Nate:

“We’re like Shrek and Donkey.”

Now the day before, Derek Fisher was sitting at the same podium talking about his relationship with Kobe Bryant.

Says Derek:

“He (Bryant) jokingly refers to it as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in terms of how we go about balancing it.”

Hmm.

Cartoon characters and social activists.

Interesting.

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Digression time:

Yannick Noah does remain the coolest man on earth but I have to tell you Desmond Tutu is the coolest former Nobel Peace Prize winner of all time.

Did you see him during Bafana, Bafana vs. the Mexicos on Friday morning? The guy was rocking. I love the guy.

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Basketball time:

So a little spy (actually, the legendary Philadelphia Phil) tells me the Sixers staff next year may have a decidedly Raptor look to it.

Doug Collins has yet to formally announce his staff as he takes over as the head coach of the Sixers; the only thing he’s said for sure is that Aaron McKie is going to hang around.

But, as many of you know, Brian James, ex of the Heroes Of The Hardcourt, is going to join him and he’s not the lone guy with Toronto ties.

Phil says Mike Curry should round out the staff, which gives us all kinds of old friends to chew the fat with before Philly-Toronto tilts next season.

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Here’s one from the mail bag that covers some old ground but probably bears repeating. And with a relatively slow day and quiet night, here’s one last shot at getting something in before tomorrow. Just click here.

Q: Hey Doug, at what point do we hold Bryan Colangelo's feet to the fire? When will he be on the proverbial "hot seat"? In his defense (somewhat) he's never tried to do a re-build through the draft, I believe because of his initial success. Long question cut short(ish) if this off-season ends up with the Raptors coming out on the losing end will the big time decision makers allow Bryan Colangelo to try and re-build this team (through the draft or not)?

Bill V, Toronto

A: He’s on the hot-seat now. And it doesn’t matter how close you hold his feet to the fire, he knows what he’s up against and just because fans are clamouring for more success doesn’t mean he’s going to work harder. He’s worked to the best of his abilities since he got the job.

And if the Raptors go down in flames again this season with little appearance of improvement, I would imagine ownership might look long and hard at making a change.

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Digression time:

So they’ve got this somewhat goofy mayor here in Boston, which as you know is one of the great sports cities in North America, right?

This week the guy, Tom Menino, is hosting an event this week as part of the NBA’s community efforts and the final.

Kids, dignitaries, some old players, some current players and various league office poobahs are gathered.

Mr. Mayor is saying his thanks to the NBA and includes Donald Sterns.

Of course, this is the same mayor who once referred to the guy who made the winning field goal in a Super Bowl as Adam Veritek so the locals just kind of rolled their eyes at the Sterns-Stern, Donald-David thing.

Not a particularly funny story but what the heck.

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Some this, that and defence of the officials

Okay, so a guy works until about 1 a.m., has to stop by a hospitality suite to catch up on the comings and goings of the game and the gang and it’s like 4 a.m. before things get all wrapped up.

You wanna know why things are a tad tardy today? There you go.

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So. A series. How about that?

As I wrote today, Doc’s little riverboat gambler imitation kind of worked pretty well, no?

We were all a bit surprised that he stuck with four subs and Ray Allen when the game turned in the fourth quarter but I guess it just shows that, every now and then, someone comes out of nowhere to win a game.

And the whole thing kind of underscored the main difference between these two teams: The Celtics play with an overabundance of emotion; the Lakers tend to be more detached.

Every now and then, excited beats cool.

I’m not sure it does all the time – and I still think the Lakers have more talent and will ultimately prevail (I’m thinking six games sounds about right) – but watching the likes of Glen Davis and Nate Robinson turn around a game was pretty cool and added some gas to a very, very boring game through two quarters. There might have been a bit too much posturing for my tastes but whatever gets you through the day, I guess.

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We all know the referees have been getting killed in this NBA final, Doc’s taking shots at them, Phil’s taking shots at them, we’re taking shots at them and it’s been a bit tiresome.

I wonder how many will mention that Game 4 was really officiated well; hardly noticed the guys with the whistles and there weren’t any post-game complaints.

And his little pre-game chinwag with the media, Phil hit on a pretty good point:

“What we like to say to the players is you play beyond the refereeing, you play above the refereeing. If you get caught up in the refereeing, then you're doing a disservice to the game and to our game particularly. So you play beyond it and play the game according to how it's going to be refereed. If it's going to be tight, then you've got to play according to how it's going to be refereed. If it's going to be played loose, then you have to adjust to having a tougher type of game.”

Now, if Phil hadn’t spent the early part of the series whining, it might mean a bit more but at least he said what a lot of us think:

Just play the damn game.

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A guy’s got a lot of time to hang around a hotel room on a rainy Thursday waiting for a 9 p.m. start to a basketball game and some days you just get lucky with what’s on the tube.

No, not the greatest Law and Order or Criminal Minds rerun; the concert to open the World Cup and, I tell you, it was pretty spectacular.

The best? Desmond Tutu.

I don’t know that I’ve seen a more joyful, excited man; he was dancing and singing and it was like nothing I’d seen. Kind of hit home what having the World Cup in Africa means.

Classic.

Oh, and Alicia Keys can warble with the very best of ‘em. Outstanding.

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Here’s a snippet from the mail, mostly because I have an awful lot of questions and want to get one or two out of the way:

Q: Hi Doug. If the Raps could acquire M. Beasley (J. Jack contract matches up) what are your thought on him playing SF, as move #2 would be a sign and trade of Bosh to LA for Bynum. I know you have said he is not a BC guy but damn, his upside is great, and the young guys like D. DeRozan with good character could get him headed in the right direction.

Dan G, Barrie

A: Yeah, you would want to get him away from that bad-influence, trouble-making Dwyane Wade guy. And tell me why his “upside is great.” He’s an okay offensive player who disappears for long stretches and defends like me.

Speaking of the mail, if you take a second to click here, you’ll get a note delivered and when I’m sitting around watching France-Uruguay I’ll have something do if the game’s boring.

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Raptors? Nothing.

Sorry.

(Well, not really; I figure we’ll get our fill of the pre-draft shenanigans next week when kids start heading back into Toronto for pre-draft workouts so a little quiet time right now isn’t so bad).

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We’re going to get more into the Big Baby story for here and the paper later this afternoon but, I have to tell you, he was like Shecky Davis when he got up on the podium in the press room after the game.

First, it’s mentioned to him that Phil Jackson offered a terse no comment to a question about how the Lakers didn’t seem to have any kind of strategy to deal with Davis or Nate Robinson.

“I don’t have no comment, either. If Phil Jackson don’t have no comment, then I don’t have no comment.”

Then they’re talking about Doc Rivers not taking him or Nate Robinson out of the game in the pivotal fourth quarter.

“I was really looking at the clock like ‘when is he going to come get me?’ … We’re playing, but timeout go by, he don’t sub and I was like ‘man, he’s letting us roll.’ … I want to give Doc a hug, man. I love Doc.”

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Okay, again, sorry for the tardiness, fun and frivolity got in the way. Life happens.

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The Goods On The Game, Lakers at Celtics, Game 4

Hey everyone.

Hey anyone.

Welcome back again for another big night.