Ready for some late-night greatness?

Great.

Guess we’re all going to have to change the sleeping patterns if the only good games in the NBA playoffs are going to be the last ones of the night.

For a fella who generally ends the evenings prone on a couch with heavy eyes and drifting off, that’s going to be a wee bit of a challenge.

So how’s this for here for now? We do some stuff that happened, look at some stuff that might happen and touch on a few other things? Works for me right now.

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I’m not sure a guy with three NBA titles to his credit and one Finals MVP to his name can be in the least bit under-rated but, my goodness, I don’t know that we give Tony Parker his full due.

Watching him yesterday was watching one of the true greats, he did what he wanted when he wanted where he wanted.

His ability to get to the rim, contort himself and finish, might be the best in the game, he is not an overly large man by any stretch of the imagination yet he can get in there, twist and turn and take the hit and score.

It is delightful to watch, we in the East don’t see him nearly enough to fully appreciate his immense skills and if he’s playing like that? The Spurs are even more heavily-favoured to win a fifth championship – 13 years after they won their first – and if that happens, we have to start talking about them as one of the greatest organizations and dynasties of all time in any sport.

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The NFL draft, which should have been hosted by Jerry Lewis, took about eleventy days to finish and was broadcast from start to finish; the CFL draft is in the middle of a weekday afternoon.

I kind of like the Canadian way, to tell you the truth.

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Big game for TOD down at the ballyard tonight, and it’s going to require some deft work with the clicker to stay on top of Rangers-Jays as well as Knicks-Heat, Magic-Pacers and Mavs-Thunder.

That’s because it’s Yu Darvish for Texas and as much as anything, the curiosity comes from wanting too just how good he is.

We all know the story: Sublimely gifted Japanese player goes through convoluted posting process on way to majors, Blue Jays allegedly have some interest in a winter where they might have needed to make a big splash but they lose out because they either weren’t willing to spend what it took to get him or to spend what it was going to take to sign him on top of that.

Maybe Alex and the boys were right; maybe they were wrong. It’s way too early to tell.

The one thing that intrigues me a lot about Darvish, though, is that we want to see how good a pitcher he is, pure and simple.

Think back to the other few big pitching phenoms of the last couple of decades, the guys who really created the buzz:

Diaskuke Matsusaka: Gyro-ball.

Fernando Valezuela: Eye-roll wind-up.

Mark Fydrich: Talking to himself behind the mound.

All had schticks as wells an abundance of talent.

Darvish? He’s just good, or at least we think he could be good, and the other huge draw of it is he might have been a Blue Jay.

Griff lays out part of the process here and that curiosity – Darvish may turn out to be the best pitching free agent the Jays might have missed on last summer – is what’s going to drive the audience tonight.

I’ll be tuning in a little bit, just to see what he’s got.

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We all know playoffs – in any sport – ratchet up the intensity and the emotion of everyone involved.

But it’s also a time when the very best are able to channel that intensity and emotion into greatness. Not so Rajon Rondo yesterday and it’s could very well cost the Boston Celtics dearly.

Forget that referee blew the call – it had to be a jump ball – it was up to Rondo to control himself and he didn’t.

No one in their right mind can consider his bump of ref Marc Davis an accident; don’t let anyone even try to convince you Rondo stumbled into him. Yes, he took a bit of mis-step but he balanced himself and the chest bump was clear and deliberate and stupid.

Ask any player anywhere about the one final limit to anger and he’s going to tell you it has stop with physically hitting an official, in any sport at any time anywhere.

Rondo has to get suspended – he’ll probably get one game, I’d give him two since he’s been sat down once already this year for throwing a ball at an official – and I don’t know that the Celtics can come back from down 0-2 to Atlanta.

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You know, if you live in a back split with nine steps up to the bedrooms and five steps down to the TV room and six steps down from the front porch to the lawn, having a surgically repaired Super Dog who can’t do steps has to be carried to bed and for walks and to just hang out, it’s a bit of a pain.

Just sayin’

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It is without doubt a fact that the NBA season was an abomination: Too many games in too few nights with no time to rest or practice and product, in many cases on many nights, sucked.

But, that said, I am not believing for a second the compressed season was the reason that both Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert blew out knees on the weekend.

They were what they were: Freak accidents that can happen at any time; they didn’t come with either guy was fatigued from a week with five games or the culmination of a tortuous month for either.

We know what the loss will cost each team – Rose is by far the best player on the Bulls and his absence may cost them a legitimate shot a title and Shumpert is New York’s best perimeter defender – and that cost is tremendous.

But it is the breaks of the game that they got hurt when and how they did; sometimes those breaks are just bad.

And, no, I have no problem whatsoever with Rose being on the floor when he was in that game. Anyone who’s ever watched Tom Thibodeau coach knows that’s how he rolls, he rides his stars hard and never feels a game is under control.

He’s blameless in this, as is the schedule and the lockout season.

They were tough, bad breaks. Sometimes crap happens.

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Comments

[LeeZ]

Nice piece in your paper today about the Jays' players' walk-on music (i.e. the canned music that accompanies there entrance in the game). Doug, if they had walk-on music for grunts, what would yours be? In other words, Bryan calls on you in a presser, and just before you ask your question, the sound system plays...? Maybe something by Doug and the Slugs?

Blogger's note: Hmm. Good one. Summer Wind? Comfortably Numb? May want to change it daily based on mood

[striker 77]

Hey Doug,

Always human nature to lay blame when there is something terrible that happens like it did to Rose. Why people can' t just accept it for what it is, I just don't know. Thibodeoux is one of the best coaches in the game.. they were singing his praises just a month ago, for what he was able to accomplish with the Bulls, with or without Rose.. and now, some want his head... Crazy...

By the way, in reading the weekend mail, I noticed that you prefer Lowry over Dragic. Not to say that Lowry is not excellent, (he is, obviously) but Dragic seems to have just as much. I just think Dragic would be quite the fit in Toronto. Great playmaker, good defender, hits the three, drives the lane etc...
What say you? (youre gonna say that Lowry does all that too, right?...)
Cheers Doug.

Blogger's note: Six of one, half a dozen of the other maybe; I just prefer Lowry, think it's a bit tougher.

[sam]

Play off basketball -
Rose goes down for the count - Rondo is facing a suspension, The Heat blow out the Knicks, the Clippers stage an unbelievable 4th quarter comeback.
Some great stories are unfolding......
oh and Yu Darvish is in town tonight -

[AT]

doug, you did not mention the great reaction from the ref1 He didn't even turn around... has to go down as one of the best ejections of all time!!
Definitely deserved it...and should get a one game suspension....

[D-Mac Ottawa]

The Regend lives! Sure, and I go to bed, on a Sunday, like a good working-stiff citizen, at halftime...
Hey Doug, how about a little Willie Nelson for your walk-in theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T6WKdrxzyY
Cheers. Go TOD.

[SFJ]

I can't believe I switched off the TV late yesterday when it got into the 4th of the Clipp-Grizz game...hope to find at least some kind of replay somewhere...leson learned.
I know Rose and Shumpert sick injuries were just incredible and unfortunate accidents..however, if Shumpert had a reason to be in the game in the 3rdQ and was generally healthy during the season - I can't understand (even though I respect Thibs decision and love his coaching) why he "needed" to have Rose on the court with 71sec to go and a 12pt lead on home court with one of the best (if not the best) defensive line-ups (with or w/o Rose) against an 8th seed. I'm not saying that's what caused the injury - but they've been so careful not to rush Rose back from the several injuries he had during the season - but now you run him to death...and without reason. Sometimes you have to put some common sense before your coaching philosophy.
By the way - Pop took out ALL his stars with 2:19 (a lot more than 1:11) to go and "just" a 15 pt lead against the Jazz.
Unfortunately now Miami will have a "free" pass to the NBA finals...
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Love the Tony Parker piece. Love the Spurs in general and hope to see them in the finals...and get the 5th.
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What Rondo did was not only wrong but irresponsible too. What was he thinking...wait...he wasn't.

Cheers

[Michel G]

Seeing The Regend being one of the main reasons for the Clippers massive comeback last night is one of the coolest things I've seen this year.

[VCitty]

Hey Doug, quick question - when there is an incident like Rondo/Mark Davis - which it is obvious Rondo will be suspended for, does that mean Mark Davis will not referee any more Celtics-Hawks games? Do they take incidents like this into account when choosing referees for games?

Blogger's note: Oh, no. He could be assigned another Celtic game for sure.

[Lorie]

Hello Doug!
What a weekend for basketball! And so great to see The Regend play a big role in the Clippers' improbable comeback. And I managed to stay up for the whole game. And just a thought for you: the sure way to guarantee you're awake for those late games is to have an IGBT! Don't think I ever noticed you falling asleep during one of them! Just a thought. :) And I know there was lots going on in the sporting world, so it's understandable that you didn't recognize this important event in the blog this morning: Wills and Cate's celebration of their First Anniversary! Hope they've been able to navigate all those pesky adjustments we all had to make during that first year - who takes out the garbage, remembering to lower the seat on the (royal) throne... Oh, and that whole In-Law Thing! Hope Cate didn't resort to stuff like "who died and made you Queen?" in those expected arguments with her mother-in-law. Didn't work with mine either. Anyway, please give them my best when you see them in London this summer, okay? And for your up to bat music, it's gotta be this. One of your faves, if I recall! Cheers! Go TOD!!!
http://youtu.be/zNJ8_Dh3Onk

[Mike kovacs]

On a day like today for me 'I'm tired of waking up tired' by The Diodes would be my walk-on theme song!

[Peter]

The new Nets Logo. Black and white???

Blogger's note: Seems to be; guess Dodger blue would have been too much

[copyright songs]

hi

Guess we’re all about to have to be compelled to amendment the sleeping patterns if the sole smart games within the NBA playoffs are about to be the last ones of the night.For a fella who typically ends the evenings prone on a couch with serious eyes and drifting off, that’s about to be a wee little bit of a challenge.So how’s this for here for now? we have a tendency to do some stuff that happened, check out some stuff which may happen and bit on a couple of alternative things? Works on behalf of me right away.

Thanks