#thisagoodassgame

The Award Tour

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We are 11 days away from the beginning of the second season. I’m not sure if you watched any ball last night, but Boston vs. Golden State was undoubtedly the Good Ass Game of the Week. Golden State finally got beat at home; losing for the first time in 55 games. Their last loss was January 27th, 2015, against the Bulls, in what happened to be the Good Ass Game of that particular Week. Both games were filled with careless turnovers for the team, and both ended with the team in disbelief as the buzzer ended. The real difference is that the Warriors were a question mark going into the playoffs. This year they are the exclamation point.

The Dubs are upstaging the rest of the league in a year where most contending teams are having banner years. Cleveland has a .711 winning percentage, and are the odds on favorite (except to Alex Knapp) to come out of the East, but no one is really taking them seriously to win the Finals.

The Spurs just won a franchise record 64 games, 38-0 at home, and have a .842 winning percentage, but are a full 4 games back of first place in the West. Toronto has a .671 winning percentage, and no one is confident they will beat the Cavs. While Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers are respectively winning 69 and 62 percent of their games, but both teams will need tons of help to have any remote chance of competing for a Western Conference title.

This is the last full week of games, so let’s hand out a few end of the year awards while we have a chance. I polled a few NBA outsiders, Fullsassers, and avid hoop heads for their opinions and insight. Here are the results.

 

The Drake Award is for the most sensitive light skinned player in the league. Also known as the Jerryd Bayless award, also known as the fake tough guy award.

drake-10-15-2013

Nominees: 

Gerald Henderson for “always yelling at Meyers Leonard for being out of position”

Blake Griffin for breaking his hand over the equipment manager’s face over some jokes that cut too deep.

Austin Rivers for trying to always look hard when you know he is soft as “baby lotion”

Matt Barnes for driving to his ex wife’s crib and whupping Derek Fisher’s ass and giving inspiration to an ad lib in one of Kanye’s best songs in years.

Derek Fisher for getting his ass whupped for being a snake, then snitching on Matt Barnes to the cops. Ironically, this only led to further the perception that Derek Fisher was a snake, and a buster.

Winner: Biege Blake Griffin.

He took an L for going upside the Clippers equipment manager’s head, but the reason he did so, was because of some friendly ribbing. Matias Testi apparently kidded Griffin about the Clippers playing better without Blake, and this got Blake so heated that he punched his 5’9 homie in the restaurant, and then follwed him outside to give him a”two piece and a biscuit” for dessert. Whenever P.J Tucker and Zack Randolph got up on that ass, Blake somehow lost his nerve, but he got real froggy and leaped onto his buddy who apparently took things too far. Que lastima.

 

The Gin Baker All NBA Honors go to the players most likely to show up to a Sunday game hungover.

G  J.R. Smith –You know hit the big time when Miley Cyrus is asking what the post game plan is.

PF  Jahlil Okafor-Homie aint even old enough to drink, and he is trying to start real life fight clubs out in Philly and Boston. He must have grown up watching his pops play Urban Champion on the original NES game system. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he should have been nominated for the “Drake Award” 

G  Ty Lawson for obvious reasons.

C  BOOGIE Cousins- This would explain why he’s so surly all the time.

SF  Nick Young- Oh man. If you thought he was getting it in while he was engaged to Iggy Azalea………well more on that later.

Aside Note: Don’t confuse any of these with the “Vin Baker’s Dozen” which was awarded to Jared Sullinger for gaining the most weight during the offseason. When I was watching the my first Celtics game of the season, I had to do a double take, because I thought that Glen “Big Baby” Davis had resigned on the team without me knowing it.

 

The “Seven Sloppy Seconds or Less” Award goes to the Los Angeles Clippers for acquiring Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson AND Josh Smith in the same off season. THEN getting rid of both of them during the trade deadline. Everyone on Earth thought this was a bad idea but Steve Ballmer and Glen Rivers.

How in the hell does that happen? Do they not have any friends in the league who they could have texted or called, just to throw the idea at them? I know when I’m considering doing something stupid, I at least have 3 or 4 friends who I can message and say “I’m thinking about hooking up with my ex-girlfriend this weekend–you know the one who was in the cult.” I know I’ll get some honest feedback within the next 20 minutes–something along the lines of “Are you that hard up, or are you just a masochist?” Baffling.

josh-smith

Honorable mention:

The Houston Rockets who took back Josh Smith during the trade deadline, after a weird and awkward goodbye last summer. Oh yeah. They also signed post-rehab Ty Lawson who they eventually let go during the trade deadline. I don’t know what the hell is going in Houston (But if you want to hear more about their miserable season, tune into Fullsass.com sometime this week to hear our Rockets roundtable, featuring Phillip Martin and Heath Hamilton).

 

The “Adrian Dantley Award” for worst mid season trade/acquisition goes to the Orlando Magic. They traded Tobias Harris for Ersan Illasova and Brandon Jennings. As per Full Sass NBA analayst, Alex Knapp: “Jennings numbers are slightly up compared to the 20 horrendous games he played for the Pistons earlier this season, and yet his numbers are still by far the worst of any season of his career. Illyasova’s numbers are down across the board except for rebounds. The Magic are 8-14 since the trade and dropped themselves out of playoff contention. Horrible trade both short term and long term. They made a mistake, akin to most sloppy seconds choices.”

Conversely, the Mark Aguirre Award  for best midseason acquisition goes to the Miami Heat. Dwyane Wade is going to make one hell of a front office member when his career is over. He already had convinced Lebron and Chris Bosh to take less money to come to his team and win. Now he talked Joe Johnson into coming down and joining forces with him in Miami.

They have the perfect pieces to beat Cleveland in the playoffs–even without Chris Bosh. Joe Johnson is a guy who may not be able to light it up like he used to, but he can still get you buckets in crunch time. They have the best chance out of any East team to knock off the Lebrons, which would essentially make the Western Conference Finals into the NBA Finals.

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Honorable mention goes to the aformentioned Houston Rockets, who strangley enough, signed former (?) blunt rolling specialist Michael Beasley. He has been surprisingly great for them. He is scoring double figures and getting rebounds. Most importantly, he is taking nothing but good shots. Whatever happened to him in China, may have been for the best.

Perhaps Stephon Marbury took him took an opium den, and offered some kindly, sage advice. Even stranger, is the fact that Lance Stephenson is suddenly the best thing to happen to Memphis since the movie “Hustle and Flow” was in the movie theaters. I personally prefer Mystery Train by Jim Jarmusch, but hey, whatever is clever. I just something disconcerting about seeing mid 50’s white women chanting “Whup that trick” in the midst of a Grizzlies’ commercial timeout.

The “Vinny the Microwave” Award goes to co-winners Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who heat up faster than Nina Hartley, girl on girl scene on Pornhub (fittingly this duo’s nickname is the Splash Brothers). I’ve never seen so many games where a team can take a 10 point deficit, and create a 30 point swing in a mere 4 minutes of game time. Klay in particular, has been on a tear the last couple of weeks, scoring at least 30 points in 5 games last March (2 of them back to back 40 point games).  This race wasn’t even close. The best anyone else could come up with besides Dame Lillard, was Will Barton from the Denver Nuggets.

splash

The Drazen Petrovic goes to Nicolas Batum for best unheralded European player. He has started 66 games for the #mesoHornets this year, while averaging 15 points a game, and providing veteran leadership and perimeter defense. It is no accident that he replaces Lance Stephenson and suddenly Charlotte is back in the playoffs.

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Honorable Mentions go out to Rudy Gobert (a French DeAndre Jordan), Evan Fornier, Boris Diaw, ZaZa Pachulia, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Jokic, internet sensation and 9th wonder of the world, Boban Marjanovic,and especially Bucks point guard Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks have been a disappointment this year, but the “Greek Freak” has been toiling away in near obscurity up in Milwaukee. I thought for sure this would be the year they took a step forward, but much like New Orleans, injuries and personnel changes hampered their growth. I like Jason Kidd taking a chance on this experiment of having Giannis play the point. We’re almost to the point where NBA basketball is positionless anyway.

 

The Charles Oakley Award for best enforcer goes to OKC’s Steven Adams. He is a dirty player, but he adds a toughness to a team that is a little soft. Outside of Adams, and Ibaka (who has gradually become a finesse player), the Thunder have no one on the roster to keep a team honest. No one is scared of Kyle Singler or Andre Roberson. He has a way of getting under a player’s skin, that I haven’t seen since Dennis Rodman was in his prime.

steven_adams_of_the_oklahoma_city_thunder_14785_9931

Having Adams on the team allows fake tough guys like Russell Westbrook to act an “ass” on the court without threat of retribution. Russ is amazing, but he can’t lose his shit every time he makes a basket, then get mad at Reggie Jackson because he wants to celebrate the moment.

Shit, I’d probably be the same way if I beat Westbrook in anything. When dudes wanna bring all that extra into anything, I’m gonna amp it up too. I don’t give a damn if its ping pong, Madden, or pickup basketball. I bet it feels damn good giving Westbrook an L.

Honorable mention goes to Andrew Bogut. Bogut doesn’t need to score to feel involved. He is a great high post passer, and sets effective screens. He isn’t afraid to mix it up down low either. It is a different game when he is not in the game. Festus Ezeli is an athletic guy who can explode to the basket and catch a lob or block a shot, and Marreesse Speights is a fantastic change up off the bench. Bogut brings a different dimension altogether, and part of the reason the Warriors lost Friday night, was because Bogut never came back from the rib injury he incurred.

Juwan Howard

The Juwann Howard “Damn you still be going to the Club at Your Age? ” Award goes to Nazr Mohammed, who talked someone into to paying him to sit on the bench and mentor some young folks. This award is for players you almost forgot were in the league. Sometimes this is because they are buried so far on the bench. Sometimes it is just because they play in places like Philadelphia or Brooklyn.

This could have also easily been named the Joel Anthony, the Prigioni, the Sciola, the Tayshuan, or the Kris Humphries, or the “Perk” award.

The “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe Award” for worst locker room presence in the NBA. Which D’Angelo Russell wins by a landslide. We could have easily said “J-Smoove”, or Lance Stephenson, but it is hard for me to recall an event so disruptive and destructive that did not involve Donald J. Sterling. Even Terrell Owens had at least a couple people who rode with him at his worst.

Twenty years ago, this would be called the Toni Braxton Award for the irreparable damage that her love triangle with Jason Kidd and Jim Jackson caused. The locker room tension forced a rebuilding period that put the 90’s Mavericks into a deeper hole that took half a decade to recover from. Russell is only 20, and this is the kind of stupid mistakes 20 year olds make when they are “playing around”,but this has huge ramifications on that locker room.

Even if the Lakers wanted to trade Russell, there is too much heat on the dude for another franchise to bring him into their locker room. The only way he’ll be able to get through this is to play hard, play well, and keep his nose clean for (at least) the rest of his rookie contract. This is the kind of mistake that can jeaopardize a player’s career.

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The other day on SportsNation, Spurs superfan Michelle Beadle was visibly upset because no one was taking Nick Young to task for “cheating” on Iggy Azalea. First of all, it isn’t like Nick Young was openly bragging about fooling around on his fiance (for all we know they may have some strange arrangement that no one is privy to). Russell can be heard asking Young probing questions to get him to admit to his actions.

Taping Young without his approval is the first offense. Secondly, you have to address why Russell would think it would be fly to share Nick Young’s private sex life with other people in the worst possibleway–on social media. If you don’t get that, then there is no understanding why this is such an egregious breach of trust.

Nick Young was secretly taped without his consent, and then that sensitive information was shared with the general public–information that could put his current relationship at risk. Now if you rode with Erin Andrews on her stalker case (which I’m sure Beadle did), then why can’t she understand why this is such a terrible thing to do to someone?

My last point, and this is still uncomfortable, is that Tony Parker had to endure a public divorce because his famous wife found inapropriate texts to his teammates’ wife. I didn’t even know who Michelle Beadle was back then, but I do wonder how she felt about that situation, and what she said publicly about our boy Tony. I’m not saying anything to disparage Tony, because that sounds like a terrible situation for everyone involved. Though I imagine that it raised some eyebrows in that locker room, and among the Spurs management.

 

People who argue that “Nick Young shouldn’t be cheating are missing the point altogether.

 

With the top standings pretty much set, the only games that matter outside of Golden State’s record (they must go 4-1 for the remainder of the season) pursuit are the ones involving middle tier teams.

The Warriors play the Spurs twice this week, and I seriously doubt the Spurs will even dress any of their starters. It hurts to see the Spurs concede that final home game against the Dubs on Sunday, because they could have the only undefeated home record in NBA history. But I get it.

Management planned ahead with the signings of Kevin Martin and Andre Miller for this 20 game stretch where players would need rest, but the team would still need wins. The Spurs understand something that Kerr said the other night; which is “records are made to be broken, while championships are forever.” The Spurs need a healthy backcourt if they are going to wear down the Warriors in the Conference Finals.

This week’s games are posted below in bold.

Peace,

BM

#fullsass #thisagoodassgame

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

Monday

 

North Carolina vs. Villanova

 

“Tap that Vein Tuesday”

 

Detroit vs. Miami

 

Wednesday

 

Oklahoma City-Portland

Dallas-Houston

 

Thursday

 

San Antonio-Golden State 

 

Friday

 

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Utah

 

Saturday

 

Golden State-Memphis

Boston-Atlanta

 

Sunday

 

Golden State-San Antonio (Good Ass Game of the Week?)

 

 

 

Inactive List

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Like Pop, I’m playing the long con. We only have two weeks left in the regular season, and this coming weekend is the Final Four. I originally had plans to go to Lawrence to celebrate the Jayhawks return to the Final Four (and I still might despite their loss on Saturday), but now I may need to rethink my schedule for the week. Anyway, I’ll need more time to develop a well thought out, end of the regular season post–complete with end of the year awards and a playoff preview.

Good Ass Games Posted Below

Peace,

BM

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

tim-duncan

Monday

Los Angles Clippers vs Boston
Phoenix vs. Minnesota (Good Ass Game of the Weak)
Sacramento vs Portland

“Tap that Vein” Tuesday

Oklahoma City vs. Detroit
Houston vs. Cleveland

Wednesday

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Minnesota
New York vs Dallas
Golden State vs. Utah

Thursday

Boston vs Portland
Los Angeles Clippers vs Oklahoma City

Friday

Minnesota vs. Utah
Boston vs. Golden State

Saturday

Miami vs. Portland
Toronto vs. San Antonio (Good Ass Game of the Week)

Sunday

Minnesota vs Dallas
Oklahoma City vs. Houston
Portland vs. Golden State

Buster of the Week Award:

Mike Krzyzewski was not only out of line for calling out Oregon’s Dillon Brooks in the handshake line, but then he had the gall to get persnickety with a reporter who asked him about the incident. Instead of people talking about the great job the Ducks did on putting the smack down on the Blue Devils, everyone was talking about the “handshake line incident.”
Then after getting all types of criticism, Kryzewski comes out with an apology statement mere hours before the Ducks were facing off against the Sooners, saying he “hopes he didn’t create a distraction for Oregon” to take away from their Friday night win. He didn’t say shit about lying about what he “may or may not” have said to Brooks in line.
But the main reason Coach K gets the BOW award, is that he coached J.J. Redick, a player notorious for throwing up the shocker towards opponents fans after getting baskets. Coach K also currently coaches a player by the name of Grayson Allen, a dude who thinks moving your feet on defense means tripping players when they blow by him.
cmon
I love how Kryzewski can talk to other teams’ players about sportsmanship when Duke is known for its dirty players (there is a reason people hate Christian Laettner) FOH with all that crazy talk Coach K. People like Coach K and Joe Paterno kill me with all that fake piety shit.
There better not be a scandal in the next few years, because you know your boy Bmick will harken back to this past weekend and say that I knew he was a snake. Have a good week. Enjoy what is left of the NCAA season.

1 of 82

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This week has seen a great deal of basketball–some good and some bad. The way I feel about the NCAA tournament is the same way Steve Nash feels about the World Cup. It isn’t the best brand of play, but it is the most exciting.

That being said, I’d rather take good over exciting any day. I’ve had more “exciting” girlfriends than good ones. Hell, you can have an exciting ride in a beat up Chevette, that doesn’t mean it is a good one.

On Saturday, the “Good Ass Game of the Week” happened to overlap with the Jayhawks second round game against UCONN. I watched the first half, but after that, I kept up just enough to see the Wayne Selden alley oop.

Rarely will I say an  NBA game where neither team scores 100 is a “good ass game”, but considering the stakes of Saturday night’s affair, I can say without any irony that it lived up to the hype.

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The Spurs didn’t necesarily need to win this weekend, but it certainly eased a lot of Spurs’ fans anxiety concerning the prospect of facing the Dubs in the postseason. A Spurs loss would have ended their 43 game home winning streak, and possibly created a little bit of doubt for the rest of the league as to whether Golden State was capable of being beaten 4 out of 7 games.

The San Antonio win was akin to when Rocky finally struck blood on the Russian Ivan Drago, and he realized that the Russian was not indeed a machine (I went on Youtube to link that scene and quickly saw that it is one of the worst boxing scenes in the history of cinema).

All that being said, this is just 1 game out of 82. There are still two more games for them to play against each other. Yes the Spurs were able to bottle up the high octane offense of Golden State, holding them to only 90 possessions on Saturday (thirteen below their season average), but Golden State was also without two of their best defenders in Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguaodala.

The Warriors also were coming off of a back to back against the Dallas Mavericks, which could possibly account for what seemed to be tired legs for Klay Thompson and Steph Curry.  There is just as little to take from this close victory at home in San Antonio as there was for the 30 point loss in Oakland back in January. They don’t hand out the NBA trophy until June for a reason.

 

This week’s Good Ass Games:

 

Monday

 

San Antonio-Charlotte

The #mesohornets will give the Spurs a good run, and then the Spurs will bend the game towards their will. I love these kinds of games.

Milwaukee-Detroit

I think this one falls under the Good Ass Game of the Weak category–something to tap that vein to.

 

“Tap that Vein” Tuesday

 

Houston-Oklahoma City 

Ugh.

 

Wednesday

 

Los Angeles Clippers- Golden State 

Never disappoints.

 

Dallas-Portland

Definitely one of the best NBA games last week. Dirk put in 40 and even Deron Williams put in some work in this overtime affair.

 

Thursday

 

Utah-Oklahoma City

Portland-Los Angeles Clippers

Sweet 16: Texas A &M-Oklahoma, Kansas-Maryland, Duke-Oregon

The results of course necessitate that you watch the next round games on Saturday

 

Friday

 

Toronto-Houston

Dallas-Golden State

Did Dallas have a hand in the Warriors defeat on Saturday? I’d like to think so. It was a good ass game.

 

Saturday

 

San Antonio-Oklahoma City (Good Ass Game of the Week)

This one is on NBATV (WTF?????), so unless you live in the Spurs or Thunder tv market, you will be watching it a bar, on a legal(?) streaming site, or spending time with your people. Then again, you can just watch some NCAA.

 

Sunday

 

Houston-Indiana or you can watch the Midwest and East regional finals.

 

Big Ups of the Week go to the UT Longhorns Men Basketball team for their successful season. The results were not much different this year than last, but you can chart the growth of the team from the beginning of the season to their final game on Friday.

Say what you will about former AD Steve Patterson, but his decision to hire Shaka Smart will go down as the best move he made at UT. Shaka Smart is not only a brilliant head coach, he’s a great teacher and mentor. If you ever have some time on your hands, check out LHN All Access with coach Shaka.

You can tell he really cares about his players becoming better people, and not just winning games for the university. Something I could never understand was how parents could send their children to go play for coaches like Bob Huggins and Bobby Knight. People still to this day confuse yelling with teaching.

You don’t see Shaka showing his players up or demeaning them. When he points out mistakes to be corrected, he uses the mistakes as teaching lessons. If there were ever any doubt about how his players feel about him, just watch the press conference after the loss to Northern Iowa. You can tell his players love playing him.

I said that UT will be in the Final Four within 5 years of hiring Shaka Smart, and I am not budging from that prediction. He is the real deal. Hopefully, he doesn’t leave for UNC before he can prove me right.

Enjoy this week’s slate of NBA games and the Sweet Sixteen.

 

Peace,

BM

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

 

 

 

SXSW and Other Matters

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It’ s spring break for your boy, and I’ll be making my annual trip to Austin, Texas for a little fun, sun, and hopefully no guns. I wish you a week of Good Ass Games.

Peace,

BM

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

#fullsass #thisagoodassgame

Monday

 

Dallas-Charlotte

Portland-Oklahoma City

 

Tuesday

 

Los Angeles Clippers-San Antonio

 

 

Wednesday

 

Oklahoma City-Boston

Orlando-Charlotte

Dallas-Cleveland

 

Thursday

 

Toronto-Indiana

Portland-San Antonio

 

Friday

 

Boston-Toronto

Golden State-Dallas

 

Saturday

 

Golden State-San Antonio (Good Ass Game of the Week)

 

Sunday

 

Portland-Dallas

Stretch Run

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We are pretty much in the 4th quarter of the NBA regular season. After losing to the LOL Lakers, the Warriors need to go 18-3 to pass the 95-96 Bulls for the best of all time. If any team is going to beat them 4 times in 7 games, they will have to take advantage of them on the offensive boards where they rank 27th in opponents offensive rebounds (OKC outrebounded them by 30 two weekends ago).

They also turn the ball over a lot. With all that being said, it takes a perfect game to even come close to beating the Warriors for one game. Of course, with all championships, teams have to be good and lucky as well. The Dubs are nicked up, let’s see if this plays a factor in how they finish the regular season.

The Spurs are only 2.5 games back of the Dubs with a 53-9 record–and guess what? They have Kevin Martin and Andre Miller added to their bench now. Come playoff time, they will be well rested.

It was a really rough week for the Thunder. Yet for all the doom and gloom coming the way of Oklahoma, the Thunder are 3rd in the west with a 43-20 record. If they finish .500 for the rest of the season, they will still have 50 wins this year. That is not bad at all for a team with 2 superstars and a bunch of scrubs. T

You could say the same thing about the Clippers who have not missed a beat without Beige Blake Griffin. The one glaring *ahem* to the previous statement is that they are only  15-14 against .500 teams and have only 3 wins all year against .600 teams. This just screams pretender to me. But they were suspect even with Blake.

Memphis is trending down despite their 7-3 record over the past 10 games. They just don’t have a way to get easy buckets. Everything is a grind for them. If Mike Conley were playing in the east (and why aren’t they?), he’d be an all-star point guard.

Dallas is just as pesky as ever. I love the addition of David Lee, but they are still a little thin in their frontcourt to make any noise in the playoffs. Mavs (dads) fans should be happy for what many (not me) expected to be a possible lottery season. I think they could take the Thunder to 6 games in the first round if the standings continue to be this way. I’d much rather see them grab that fifth spot and give the world a Clippers/Mavericks first round series.

My boy Knapp is super paranoid about all the love the Trailblazers are getting. The problem they will encounter if they make the playoffs, is that teams will find a way to take away your best options. CJ and Dame won’t be enough to push them into the 2nd round. They’ll need another certified weapon down the road if they wanna go deep into April next season. I think David Lee looks good in Maverick green, but if I’m a Blazer’s fan, I’m not sure I would not thumb my nose up at a 6’7 lefty forward who can get you some easy buckets.

The Rockets are pathetic. I’m going on record now and rooting that Mizzou Quinn can coach the SLC’s into that 8th spot. They at least like basketball. Rockets players just wanna get paid. #cashbeforefame

The Clevelandiers are still a second tier team, but you would be a fool to bet against Lebron in a 7 game series over in the east.

How about that Raptors game on Friday huh? Guess what? I still haven’t watched it yet. We just got internet at my house as of 20 minutes ago. I think the Raptors can give Cleveland a run for their money. Had they one more big man, I’d say they’d have a chance to upend the Cavs for the east title.

The Celtics are standing strong at the third spot. It is an understatement to say they are outpacing their initial expectations. They are one major piece away from being Finals contenders. C’s fans will be happy if they just make the second round this year. Like I said last week, a Hornets-Celtics first round would be a good ass series.

Would anyone outside of Miami and Atlanta be checking for a Heat-Hawks series? This has NBATV written all over it for April.

I would definitely mess with a Raptors-Pacers first round. Pacers are gritty, and I’ll take Frank Vogel, Paul George and Monta Ellis against anyone in the east. Though I have to say, I’m not sure about the Ty Lawson signing. Too many players get into trouble in citiess like Indianapolis and Cincinnati because there is nothing to do except hit the strip clubs and drink. Managment as a precaution, needs to make sure Lawson has Uber on his phone, and never let him drive for the rest of the season.

Will someone please put the Bulls out of their misery? Please? I’m tired of seeing them get beat by Lebron. Let the Pistons have a crack at em. The NBA needs a new narrative. Go to the lottery, trade Derek Rose, and build the team around Jimmy Buckets.

This week will be a slew of good ass games. Conference tournaments for the Power Five, and if I were a betting man, I’d lay money on the Pac-12 being the most entertaining of all the major tourneys. Any combination of  Cal, Oregon, Washington, Arizona,and even UCLA will be worth staying up for.

The Big 12 is the runner up for Good Ass Conference Tourney of the year. Kansas has already locked their 12th consecutive regular season title. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill extends the bench a bit and let some players get loose for the Big Dance. Barring a major collapse they pretty much have a number 1 seed locked up. This is the most realistically confident I have felt about a Jayhawks team in years, which means they’ll get uset by Richmond in the first round. I wouldn’t leave a dollar bill anywhere near a tournament bracket this year. The field this year is more wide open than……….. well you get the picture.

Have a great week. The Good Ass Games are in bold below:

Peace,

BM

@clickpicka79

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

 

 

Monday

 

Los Angeles Clippers-Dallas

San Antonio-Indiana

Orlando-Golden State

 

“Tap That Vein Tuesday”

 

San Antonio-Minnesota

Washington-Portland

 

Wednesday

 

Los Angeles Clippers-Oklahoma City

Detroit-Dallas

Utah-Golden State

Cleveland-Sacramento

 

Thursday

 

Atlanta-Toronto

Chicago-San Antonio

 

Friday

 

Detroit-Charlotte

Portland-Golden State

Orlando-Sacramento

 

Saturday

 

Oklahoma City-San Antonio (Good Ass Game of the Week)

Orlando-Portland

Miami-Toronto

 

Sunday

Cleveland-Los Angeles Clippers

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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920x920

 

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

 

 

 

Upon Further Analysis

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What a crazy week eh? Spurs get their asses kicked twice in once week, social media got to witness an epic meltdown in real time by Kanye West, Blake Griffin (Buster of the Week?) broke his hand on a smaller dude’s face, and the NBA did everything it could to ruin yet another All-Star Weekend.

First of all, I’ll be honest, I usually don’t even mess with All-Star Weekend. Rookies-Sophomore game is mildly interseting, but everything else is corny.

The Slam Dunk contest is played out, but I understand why they still do it. The 3 point contest always sounds better than it ever is, and I’ve got no time to watch 2 ball, HORSE, or “Around the world”.

The All Star Game itself is almost as bad as the NFL Pro Bowl (coincidentally being played today), in that no one really tries on defense, and the only time your interest is piqued, is the very last 4 minutes of the game. Even though baseball is boring as hell to watch, they still get it right, in that everyone tries, and no one has to worry about getting hurt. You actually get to see pure competition throught the game from start to finish.

So why am I bitching about All Star Weekend? Because I can. First of all, how you going to have an All Star Game in New York Lite Toronto and hire Sting for the gig?

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This move typifies what the NBA All Star weekend is really about, which is corporate sponsorship and schmoozing. All the corny ass events and games, are really for the owners to drum up money, and make connects with other corporations.

In exchange for the paid trip to said city chosen, players get to hit the clubs and exclusive parties with other all-stars. No doubt Toronto will be lit that weekend, and a lot of money will be made for the city (especially at the strip clubs). As for the groupies, well, let’s just say the hotel lobbies in town are going to look like the Player’s Ball. #don’tgetcaughtupfellas

Back to my point about Sting, this goes to show you just how out of touch the NBA owners are with the black audience. I doubt players are going to be hanging out by tunnels to watch Gordon Sumner sing “Desert Rose.”

They don’t make Beats commericals with Kobe banging “Roxanne” on his headphones to get hype for games. This is for the big check writers, and the potential big check writers, and their wives and girlfriends, who will be sipping port and scotch in the luxury boxes, snapping their fingers off beat (or doing yoga poses) to the performance.

To be honest, I figured they’d let that one light skinned child actor do the show in his hometown. You know that guy who is a poor man’s L.L. Cool J. What’s his name? Drowsy? Droopy? Drizzy? Oh yeahhhhhhhhhh Drake. Maybe that was too obvious, but you can’t say that young people don’t mess with him. People do love his music, I don’t get it, but I’m old. I don’t have to.

As for the All Star selections themselves, I don’t really have a problem with with who made it (for the most part). It stinks that having a not so good this year Kobe Bryant on the team robbed my boy Dame Lillard from a deserving spot.

If the NBA is insisting on letting old guys play the game for their farewell, just create a grandfather spot for them. They can put a rocking chair on the bench, get a little bit of burn to appease the fans, and then sit their old asses down.

The fan voting needs to be curbed. Its obvious that the casual fan doesn’t know shit about basketball, and the All Star voting process only exacerbates this fact. Do you know we almost had ZaZa Pachulia’s ass in the starting lineup?

I’m not saying the league should wrestle the fans’ voting rights away completely. It is after all, for the fans, but too much money is tied up in making the All-Star team. Anthony Davis almost got screwd out of 23 million because of this nonsense. Why not split a  1/3 of the voting power between coaches, players, and the fans? This seems to me the most balanced way to get the All-Star teams right.

Lastly, how is Toronto coach, Dwayne Casey not representing during All-Star weekend? Tyronn Lue had 4 career victories, and has never coached in the playoffs, and he is coaching the All-Star game? #fail

Anyway, enough of the bitchfest. Let’s get to this week’s games:

 

Monday

 

Dallas-Atlanta 

Just go with it.

San Antonio-Orlando

Tough week for Spurs fans. Watching them get beat like they did this week TWICE, is akin to feeling of dating someone for 5 months, and somehow only just finding out that they have no desire to ever have children. This of course is fine, if you are just enjoying the process and don’t care about the outcome. But if you are a fan expecting a championship (or a child if you want to continue the analogy), then you kind of already know how this is going to end.

I alluded to this in episode 4 of the FullSass Podcast when we did a brief NBA preview, when I mentioned I was worried about the health of Tony Parker–and the point guard position in general.

Five of the Spurs’ seven losses have come at the hands of speedy guards with nice handles. They couldn’t contain Kyrie Irving last night (who I’m sure will crack a ribcage sneezing sometime during the playoffs), and we saw what Steph Curry did to them on Monday. Westbrook lit them up for 33 on opening night, and John Wall and Bradley Beal did some damage during that L they took in D.C.

Tony Parker has never been the best defender, his height (or lack thereof) creates mismatches when they are on defense, but now he is old, and can’t even stay in front of dudes.

He is still at times electrifying to watch, but if anyone remembers those “Six seconds or less” Suns teams, Steve Nash would get abused on the defensive end. There is just no hiding Parker against those teams, but “Pops” can’t afford to not have him running the offense. Its a tough spot to be in, and it is something I’m not used to seeing for the Spurs. I was waiting for that other shoe to drop, and it finally did this week. You never know what can happen during a season, but outside of major injury to one of the key Warriors players (Steph, Klay, or Dray), I don’t see this being the Spurs year to get the chip.

 

“Tap that Vein” Tuesday

 

Milwaukee-Portland

This could be fun. I’m already putting aside that money I’m going to lose on the Bucks making the conference Finals. My FullSass partner suggested that maybe Jason Kidd isn’t a good coach. I’m not ready to give up on him yet. We’ll see what they are made of in year 3 next season.

 

Wednesday

 

Orlando-Oklahoma City

You never know with this Thunder team. Their role players are trash, and I feel more foolish by the day that I picked them to come out of the west. Kevin Durant and Westbrook are still fun to watch though.

Chicago-Sacramento

I hope Boogie feels better by this game, otherwise the Kings are going to struggle against the Bulls’ frontcourt.

 

Thursday

 

New York-Detroit

This will be a not so bad game, or it can be a #goodassgame. I’m not sure if there will be an in between.

Toronto-Portland

Two really good backcourts facing off.

 

Friday

 

Chicago-Denver

Don’t be surprised to see the Nugs’ on here. Will Barton has been Gerald Green 2.0, and Mike Malone is coaching these boys. They are going to ruin a team’s playoff chances late in the season.

Memphis-New York

Godzingis vs. the Spanish Bear. I’d buy that for a dollar!

San Antonio-Dallas

Este el noche cuando mi sobrino “El Gordo” le vuelve una aficionado de los Spurs. Buenas suertes “Los Mavs”

 

Saturday

 

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

Hey Russ, is anybody going to show up for this game besides you and KD?

Portland-Houston

“Dame is gonna Dame. Busters gonna Bust. All the Rockets fans. Left up in the dust.”  I almost feel sorry for Rockets fans. Almost.

 

Sunday

Sunday afternoon games should be banned from the league. Anything played before 4pm is usually sloppy and lethargic. Don’t do it. Spend some time with your significant other before you ignore them for 3 hours during the Super Bowl. By the way:

Panthers 45-Broncos 17 

Is this how black people felt when Doug Williams was the QB for the Washington Racists? #dabonemCam

 

Enjoy Super Bowl Week.

 

Peace,

BM

@clickpicka79

#thisagoodassgame #fullsass

thisagoodassgame@gmail.com