Month: February 2016

Endgame Begins Now….

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If I could have my way, the regular season would end today, and the playoffs would start next week. Last night’s “Good Ass Game of the Week” not only lived up to the hype, it obliterated any and all memory of this season’s good ass games.

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I was fortunate enough to not be in a public place and could scream as loud as I wanted after every made shot. There have been some good ass games this year (especially involving the Warriors), but none of them have matched the intensity, competitiveness, and drama as this one.

There was a major injury to the game’s best player at a key juncture. There was a halftime tirade by Draymond Green in the locker room. There was a mad surge at the very end of the game to even sniff a chance to foul and get possession back, but then Kevin Durant (after an incredible offensive night) threw the ball away at halfcourt instead of calling a timeout; after getting trapped in the backcourt. Then to compound things, KD fouled a 63 % shooting Andre Iguodala with 0.7 seconds left. Iggy had to hit 2 free throws and then the Warriors had to play defense in order to force overtime.

You knew once it got to OT, that it was pretty much over for the Thunder. You have to play perfectly in order to have a chance to beat the Warriors, and they’d given them new life. I thought if there was a game where it would be understandable for the Warriors to drop a road game–in a raucous Chesapeake Arena–then this would be it. It didn’t happen. Then to top it off, Curry hits and unbelievable jump shot (that everyone knew he was going to take) from 38 feet away from the basket, and iced the game. The playoffs came early, and if the NBA Final Four ended up being OKC-Golden State, and Toronto-Cleveland, I would not be disappointed (sorry Spurs fans–Andre Miller has no chance against Steph).

Well guess what hoop heads? They play again in Oakland on Thursday night. #goodassgamealert

By the way, if the season ended today, the same Western Conference teams that made the playoffs 2 years ago would be in again. This year proves that last year was in fact an aberration for the Pelicans, who definitely benefited from Durant’s season ending foot injury.

 

Monday

 

Oklahoma City-Sacramento

OKC takes off for the west coast after losing a heartbreaker of a game last night. Imagine playing that hard and that well, only to take an L. We know Russ and KD will show up for the game, but who else is gonna put in work? Sacramento may be able to sneak a W on the Thunder, if they come out #fullsass.

Indiana-Cleveland

This pick to click is on NBATV so I’ll only be able to watch the highlights of this one. Talk about getting schmoogled, League Pass is owned by the same company, Turner Sports, but you can’t watch anything on NBATV on League Pass. FOH!!!!

 

Tuesday

 

Portland-New York

Dame gets to take a huge bite of the big apple. I love when big name players go to MSG and turn it out. Don’t be surprised if “Dame Dolla” gets 46 in this one. Also, if you haven’t already done so, check out episode 9 of the Full Sass podcast on fullsass.com. Frequent contributor and Brooklyn resident,  Alex Knapp came on a gave some in depth analysis of the Blazers season. I expect to trade at least 20-30 text messages with him over the course of this game.

Orlando-Dallas

Craig Stein’s favorite team vs. his adopted babies. I like the Magic too. They really gave Golden State a run for their money up until this moment. Of course, the Mavericks are off limits this year due to area blackout, so I’ll be watching Sportscenter highlights at best. Needless to say, I’m definitely wavering on whether I want to get League Pass next year. The juice is almost not worth the squeeze.

 

Wednesday

 

Los Angeles Clippers- Oklahoma City

Russell Westbrook almost always goes HAM whenever he gets to play in front of his hometown peeps. To see him face off against Chris Paul is going to be a treat. Do yourself a favor and put money on the over for “number of scowls made after each whistle.”

Boston-Portland

Don’t look now, but Boston is in 3rd place in the east. If the season ended today, they would play the Pacers in what would probably be a 7 game series. Every hipster NBA writer would be drooling all over themselves, to wax poetically about the coaching minds of Brad Stevens and Frank Vogel.

 

Thursday 

 

Oklahoma City-Golden State (Good Ass Game of the Week)

If there were a way that someone could bottle up what it must have felt like for Steph to hit that cold blooded three, and rip the hearts out of everyone in that building, that person would be a trillionaire. I’ve seen some cold blooded shit in my lifetime, but it doesn’t get much nastier that shot. As soon as he launched it, you could tell it was good. You can’t manufacture the kind of confidence that the Warriors have right now.

 

Friday

 

Portland-Toronto

Flip a coin to determine which team is  the 2nd and 3rd best backcourts in the NBA. I’m happy that this an east coast game because I have plans later that night.

 

Saturday

 

Boston-Cleveland, San Antonio-Sacramento, Atliens-Clippers

Meh. So many things you could be doing other than watching these games. This is a good time to do those them.

 

Sunday

 

Portland-Detroit

 

“Please excuse this lame rhyme.

Don’t matter what the game time

Right around the same time

The 4th quarter is Dame time.”

 

~BMick tha Click picka, from his debut mixtape  “Tha Pick 2 CLick” 

 

Dallas-Denver

The Nuggets are my guilty pleasure. I still have yet to watch a full game, but I’m always checking for their highlights. HAHA get it? “High”lights. Nudge Nudge. Wink Wink. Sometimes these jokes just write themselves folks.

 

We are heading into March, which means that we have basically one month of regular season ball to go. Its only going to get more complicated from here on out. My advice is to avoid the NCAA tournament as much as possible, and save all that cache up for the NBA playoffs. You’ll thank me in April–unless of course, you live in a cold weather city–then you should probably stay indoors until Spring is officially here.

Have a great week.

 

Peace,

 

BM

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

@clickpicka79

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

 

All Quiet On The Western Conference Front Pt.2

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I wasn’t expecting much activity this trading deadline, but things were noticably dull this year as the clock struck 3pm on the east coast. Jeff Green going to the Clippers (oh word????) and Channing Frye to the Clebrons were the biggest items of note. I like the Frye pick up for Cleveland. Frye is a decent stretch 4, but I can’t figure out for the life of me why he relocated to Orlando.

Maybe the chance to make all those monies in a tax-free state was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Who am I to judge? I moved to Oklahoma for the chance to make way less than that. At least he can go to DisneyWorld whenever he wants. My biggest thrill is leaving the state every two weeks.

Nevertheless, that sounds like a good set up for both Frye and the Cavs. I haven’t seen Frye play since he left Phoenix, but he can’t have regressed that much in a season and a half can he? I’m sure he’ll get the hell out of town the minute the season ends. I can’t imagine staying in Cleveland during the summer when you have a sweet pad in a place like Portland.

I’m not as high on Jeff Green unfortunately. He’s a decent defender, and can score occasionally, but I doubt he makes much of a difference on that Clippers team. By the way, Austin Rivers (who is hurt) and Pablo Prigioni are the two backup guards for that team right now. I just wanna know who’ll get fired first, Doc the GM or Doc the head coach.

Since there wasn’t too much player movement via trade, let’s see whose contracts get bought out in the next week or so. I hear David Lee is about to become Raef LaFrentz 2.0 when he clears waivers and signs with the Mavericks. I’m kind of into it.

Rumor also has it that Joe Johnson wants to get bought out, but his desire for a multi year extension is going hamper his chances of landing on a good team. Am I the only one who thinks Joe Johnson doesn’t give a shit about winning?

The dude has already signed two max contracts in his career. How much money does he need and what does he need it for? Maybe he is trying to help pay for Kanye’s 53 million dollar debt.

On to this week’s slate of good ass games:

Monday

 

 

Toronto-New York

My pick to click for Monday night even though the Knicks have been trending downwardly lately. Toronto may be the only team that can give the Clebrons a run for their money come playoff time.

Boston-Minnesota

This will be a competitive game. I’m not sure how entertaining it will be. Both teams can be a tough watch if you catch them on the wrong night.

Golden State-Atlanta

Last this year this was one of the Good Ass Games of the year. Atlanta has been pretty meh of late though. Regardless, its always a basketball clinic when the Warriors lace ’em up.

 

“Tap That Vein” Tuesday

 

 

Denver vs. Sacramento

“Our state got the best weed in the country.”

“No OUR state  got the best weed in the country!”

“Oh yeah? Well prove it.”

[produces a lighter and puts flame to a pre-rolled doobie]

“Wait what were we talking about again?”

This is one of those “League Pass and Chill” kinds of games. You can invite someone over and watch it or not watch it. And if you end up missing it, guess what? You watch it on archive the next day.

 

Wednesday

 

Golden State-Miami

I just want to see if Hassan will be able to play this time. He put up 25 points, 23 rebounds last night, but Wednesday may be “Dray Day”

Toronto-Minnesota

The Rookies vs Sophomores game redux. Their last matchup did not disappoint.

Oklahoma City-Dallas

Speaking of trending downwards…….both of these teams have a couple of busters on their teams. Dion Waiters has been playing even shittier than usual, and I’m officially not a fan of Chandler Parsons. I have been on the fence about Gram’s nephew for quite a while, but this season has helped me make up my mind about him. But I will say this, the first time they played was a good ass mutha#@$%ing game.

San Antonio-Sacramento

My favorite team vs. my surrogate team. No doubt I’ll be watching this one.

 

Thursday

 

Golden State-Orlando

Two good ass backcourts squaring off. I think the Magic will keep it close for exactly one half.

San Antonio-Utah

Utah is the perfect place for Gordon Heyward to land–especially coming from a school like Butler. Talk about an easy transition. Homie goes from a small mostly white school in a small all white town to an all white state that feels like a small all white town. And now he’s got his homie Shelvin Mack on his side again. Those Butler squads were fun for a mintue eh?

 

Houston-Portland

Someone on Friday coined the term “Damegry” and I immediately hit  retweet. If he continues to get slighted like this, he’ll end up in the Hall of Fame. I knew the game on Friday with the Dubs would be a blowout, but not like that (I had the Warriors winning of course). Dame was on fire. The whole team played well, and they have been playing well of late; winning 13 of the last 16 games they have played. Dame and C.J.  are averaging 45.3 points a game this year. I fux pretty heavily with the PDX.

 

Friday

 

Orlando-New York, Cleveland-Toronto, Denver-Dallas, and Los Angeles Clippers-Sacramento

All of these games will be good, but I would recommend you do something else. Take your sweetie out to dinner, go see a movie, or a gallery opening. Cash in on date night another time. It won’t be worth it this evening trust me.

 

Saturday Night Fights

 

Oklahoma City vs. Golden State (Good Ass Game of the Week)

Did you see the way Oklahoma City got that head beat in this afternoon? Besides KD and Russ, who else on that team can you count on every night? They could have traded for Pau with some kind of package. I would be a fool to say this team is bad, because they aren’t, but this team is what I call “Oklahoma good”.

This is a term I reserve for things in this state that in a vacuum are not bad, but compared to things in other states, they fall short. This includes barbecue, Mexican food, football, and basketball. A ten rating in Oklahoma is equivalent to an 8 rating in Texas (And no I’ve never used  this rating system to rate women………..well okay maybe I have, but that’s another story for another day).

 

Sunday

 

Minnesota-Dallas

It’s games like this where League Pass pisses me off. You know how hard it is trying to find a clear streaming game on sites like “Milf Hunter” and “VIP Box”???  #Lisforlocalblackouts

Portland-Indiana

Monta ball vs. Dame Dolla.

Charlotte-Atlanta

I love both of these cities. I could see myself living in Charlotte under the right circumstances. Atlanta is a little too big for me, but if TNT ever came a calling, I’d make that move. I’m hoping that I can catch a game next year in Charlotte then hit Tobacco Road for a game in Durham, then a game in Chapel Hill. Anyway, this might be a decent ass game if you give it a chance.

 

Anyway, that’s all I got. I’m bout  to throw on that Utah-Portland game. From what I’m seeing on twitter, its a #goodassgame.

 

Peace,

BM

#fullsass #thisagoodassgame

@clickpick79

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

 

Ready? Break!!!!

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I apologize for letting you down hoop heads. I took the weekend off to record a new episode of Fullsass, and decided to post today rather than Monday or Tuesday, since there were no slated NBA games until Thursday. There were some college contests the last couple of nights, but not what I would call good ass games (though Iowa State and Baylor was about as good as a college game could get).

Before get into this week’s good ass games, I just want to go on record and say Aaron Gordon got robbed. No disrespect to Zach LaVine–his dunks were on point, but saying Aaron Gordon’s dunks were on the same level as LaVine’s, discredits the difficulty and creativity that went into Gordon’s display. When Gordon dunked over that mascot on the hoverboard, he should have gotten straight 15’s. You be the judge.

As for the game itself, well its weird to say this, but watching three straight alley-oops thrown off the backboard can get a little…..tiresome?? All Star games sometimes play out like BET hip hop cyphers, huge and overblown, vulgar, repetitive and sloppy, but also kind of exciting at times.

I watched the first half with some friends, and no one argued against doing something else for the second half of the game. As much as I like Toronto, there is no way in hell I’d want to be up there this time of the year. It looked like everyone enjoyed themselves, and thanks to a longer break, I was able to recover from my long weekend.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this upcoming deadline. There are some role players around the league that could have a serious impact on the few contenders. Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, P.J. Tucker, and Markieff Morris could really make a difference down the stretch if they go to the right team.

Outside of OKC, Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio, there aren’t any other teams who can realistically win it this year. Unless the players moved are game changers, it seems like it would be best to stand pat on any major moves (though I would love to see a Blake Griffin for Carmelo Anthony).

I plan to watch more games this second half (Although I’m certainly getting my money’s worth on League Pass); in particularly Utah, Portland, Boston, Toronto, and Denver. These teams are certainly better this year, and could make some noise in the years to come.

Now that all that is out of the way, let’s get to these good ass games:

 

 

Monday

Nada Wey.

 

 

Tuesday

Texas 85 West Virginia 78

Baylor 100 Iowa State 91

Don’t be disappointed if you missed these games. You can re-watch them on ESPN if you are really jonesing. I’ve watched about 5 full college games and only 1 of them lived up to the hype. That being said……..

 

Wednesday

Duke-North Carolina (Good Ass Game of the Week)

This is worth watching for the atmosphere alone. The first of this 2 game series is in Chapel Hill, and I have a feeling this will be as good as the time Austin Rivers hit that shot at the buzzer to upset the Tarheels. Plus, its Michael Jordan’s birthday. michael-jordan-sam-perkins2

 

 

Thursday

 

Los Angeles Clippers vs. San Antonio

Spurs still on the road. Clippers still without Blake.

By the way,  “Verse of the Year” so far goes to Kendrick Lamar on “No more parties in L.A.” He and Kanye did justice to that beat. #MURDEREDIT

 

 

Friday

 

 

Golden State- Portland

This may be a blowout, but you know C.J. and Dame will come with it. 2 years from now, if things continue to go well for both teams, this could be the Western Conference Finals.

 

 

 

Saturday

 

Milwaukee-Atlanta

New York-Minnesota Rising Stars Game Part Duex.

Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State 

This would be the “Good Ass Game of the Week” if Blake were healthy. Clippers may be able to hang with the Dubs for 3 quarters before it gets busted open.

 

 

Sunday

 

Utah vs. Portland

I think I would have a lot more respect for the Utah franchise changed their name. How many times have you heard people say, “There’s no jazz in Utah.”? Please! Send the name back to New Orleans (The Pelicans name may be exhibit #1 in Tom Benson’s capacity dispute case) and take on a more apt nickname. The Utah snowboarders, the Salt Lake City Punk with Matthew Lillard as an ambassador, or maybe even the Utah Squares…….Bring the Jazz back to New Orleans!

 

Cleveland vs. Oklahoma City

I’m curious what is going to happen between now and Sunday. Both teams need to bolster their bench. Otherwise,this game will only be as good as the role players’ contribution.

 

black-mamba

 

The Kobe countdown has officially begun. This is the last half of his final year. Enjoy it you Black Mamba sycophants. It’s about to be over. I wonder if he’ll be an analyst, and work with one of the major networks. I can imagine what that first year of retirement will be like. Can you imagine being a house guest at his spot and waking up with Kobe standing over you at 3:45 in the morning?

Kobe: “Sup dawg? You tryna hit these weights with me? There’s this 16 year old who wants to work out at UCLA.”

Friend: “Man we just went to bed 3 hours ago.”

Kobe: “C’mon bro. We gotta beat this traffic. After we get through working out. We’ll pick up the girls and go get some pizza.”

Friend: “Pizza Buona?”

Kobe: [laughs] “Nah man. We gotta fly out to Italy actually. It’ll be dope. On the way there we gotta stop in Germany to get my knee drained. C’mon dawg. We’ll only be gone for a few days.”

Friend: [sighs] “Fine. I’m getting up.”

Kobe: “Good. Bring your winter jacket too. I booked us a rock climbing lesson for when we hit Iceland on the way back.”

Dude has no chill.

 

It will be an interesting week full of good ass games. Enjoy the trading deadline. Hopefully some stuff pops off.

 

Peace,

BM

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

@clickpicka79

YAY AREA!!!!

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It was a festive weekend out in the Bay Area. The Super Bowl was in San Jose, and all the celebs and big time ballers were in town to take it in. When you’re rolling in dough it makes sense to peep the “Good Ass Game of the Week.”

Just because a game is close doesn’t mean it was a “Good Ass Game.” The “Roaracle” was strangely silent Saturday night, and it took me half the game to figure out why. I was thinking the game would be ridiculously hype, but then I realized that a lot of the real fans got priced out. The average ticket price online for Warriors-Thunder was $1400 bones (rumor was that it was easier getting into the Super Bowl).

With Drake, Bey-Z, K-Dot, Pharrell, and Wallace from “The Wire” in attendance, the game took on the feel of an event than a regular season game (Beyonce dropping her new video and tour announcement only added to the hysteria). I have a friend who went to both games (I’m giving him some time to cool off because he is a Panther’s fan), and he said it felt like he was at the Staples Center Arena. It was weird for sure, because I’m not used to it being so quiet there. Someone on twitter said it was only a preview of what games will be like when they move across the bridge.  God I hope not.

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The game itself was decent. A lot of people are ready to say the Thunder can run with the Warriors. I’m not one of those people. Its weird to say this, because Steph Curry almost had a triple-double, but the Warriors backcourt struggled a bit; offensively. Curry missed 16 shots, and he and Klay Thompson were a combined 2-15 from the 3 point line.

I’m not saying that the Thunder can’t get lucky and win one or two games in a seven game series, but it is laughable to come away from that game with any sense of a moral victory.

By the way, I find the fake indignation coming out of the Thunder locker room laughable. The Thunder have casually become of the more busterish teams in the NBA. When I hear Durant and Westbrook say things like, “We’re not scared of the Spurs or the Warriors” I just shake my head. No one expects NBA players to be intimidated by anyone else’s team  in the league, but can we just at least be honest?

Admitting there are some fundamental problems in the way your team plays isn’t being weak–it’s just being real. How can you say stuff like that with a straight face, when your bench was outscored 42-17? The Thunder can go into the next game against the Warriors with that same attitude,but the next time Dion Waiters is the leader in +/- ratio with a +1 rating , the result will probably be a blowout.

This week’s slate of games:

 

Monday

 

Sacramento-Cleveland

Tonight’s pick to click in the NBA. Besides the various in game matchups between Rondo and Kyrie, Boogie and anybody Cleveland throws out there, this game becomes even more intriguing because this may be George Karl’s last as the Sacramento head coach. By week’s end, Karl could be joining Jeff Hornacek, David Blatt, and as of today, Derek Fisher on the unemployment line. The Kings are a bit messy right now.

OU-Texas (Good ass game of the week)

I think this will be the hypest game of the week from a crowd standpoint. Oklahomans have a lot of panhandle envy, and the only reason they are relevant in sports is beacuse they get all the Texas players not good enough to stay in state. This (for good reason) creates a lot of resentment. I can’t tell you how many Okies hate Texas and Texas teams (outside of the Cowboys–they love the ‘Boys) but have spent little time in the Lone Star State . Most Texans barely bat an eye at this.

The dismissive attitudes that Texans have towards Oklahoma only adds to the resentment. Having lived in both states for a number of years, I can honestly say that Wacklahoma is only vaguely different from Texas. Texas is only better because it is bigger and has more money. They are almost the  same place politically, and if you took away Austin, then Texas would really suck. I’d still take San Marcos and Denton over any college town in Oklahoma though. OU sucks, and you won’t catch me going to Stillwater after the sun goes down. #Hookem

 

Tuesday

 

San Antonio-Miami

The beginning of the Rodeo trip for the Spurs. Usually this 8 or 9 road game swing is indicative of what kind of team San Antonio has. No Timmy. No Manu (poor guy) for at least a month, and Tony Parker is looking his age. The young guns are going to have step up if the Spurs are going to make the Western Conference Finals.

 

Warriors-Rockets

I don’t know how the Warriors even take these guys seriously. You know a team is busterish when their own fans don’t defend their players. They know what it is (right Phil?).

 

Wednesday

 

 

Charlotte-Indiana

Mildly competitive, this will be one of the best Eastern Conference games you will watch this week.

 

San Antonio-Orlando

This could be one of those L’s that Pops penciled in on the calendar. The good news is that Boban may get some serious run that night.

Toronto-Minnesota

This will be the Rookie-Sophomore and Slam Dunk Contest all rolled up into one game. Also, I didn’t realize that Kyle Lowry has been in the league so long. It must be that baby face of his.

Los Angeles (Clippers) -Boston

“Get that shit out!!!!” Celtics might fuck around and get a #2 or #3 seed in the East.

Golden State-Phoenix

Its a long season and you gotta take things one blowout at a time.

Houston-Portland

Man, Portland has been a lot more entertaining to watch than I gave them credit for. It is a slippery slope with west coast basketball. One day you’re staying up later than normal to watch C.J. and Dame get buckets, then before you know it you’re dropping all your  plans to watch Oregon and Washington fight it out for the Pac10 Pac12 title.

 

 

“Tap that vein Thursday”

 

 

Thunder-Pelicans

I don’t even think I can stomach this one. I’d like to talk you into it, but as your attorney I advise you to use this as a catch up evening.

 

All Star Weekend

Refer to last week’s post if you are on the fence about this weekend’s activities. I’ll be taking the weekend off from watching basketball in order to catch up with old friends. I suggest you do the same. I’d rather play a pickup game than watch one.

 

Buster (s) of the Week Award goes to the Carolina Panthers offense. Wow. They really spit the bit. Not to take anything away from the Denver Broncos defense–they were animals– but how can you not make any adjustments to get Cam out of the pocket?

The amount of mental errors they made in the biggest game of their lives, was unfortunate. Fumbles, false starts, drops, interceptions, and sacks will do any team in, but this was the wrong time to do that. The last game of the season is supposed to be your best game.

As John Wooden says, “being at your best when your best is needed” is part of being a champion. Too bad. The Panthers’ players will feel nothing but regret when they think about this season, and know they were better than the Broncos–who did just enough on offense to help that savage D. They had a great defensive game plan. On offense, they were meh (Carolina’sD played well.Special teams–not so much).

Honorable mention still goes to Pete Carroll who didn’t give the ball to Beast Mode in last year’s Super Bowl, and now Marshawn Lynch is retiring. Ya’ll some bitches too Seahawks. Don’t think I forgot about ya’ll because the Panther’s played like some busters in a weak ass Super Bowl. That game ending interception was Wackarnold’s for real. Anyway, have a good week, and enjoy the All Star break. If you fumble the ball in life, at least try to get it back. Don’t just stare at your mistakes like you are stuck on stupid.

 

Peace,

BM

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

@clickpicka79

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass