Years from now, when people look back on 2010, what will they remember as the defining sports moment? Uh, they can only pick one? We discovered that Tiger Woods likes to play the field and that Brett Favre doesn’t mind sending pictures of his anatomy to hot sideline reporters via text message. We found out that LeBron listens to his friends a little too much and that Ben Roethlisberger needed a serious lesson in humility. But we also learned that athletes such as Michael Vick and Josh Hamilton haven’t blown second chance opportunities (or third and fourth chances in the case of Hamilton). It was also nice to see a certain pitcher turn down bigger money so that he can play in a city that he loves.
We’ve done our best to recap the year’s biggest sports stories, staying true to tradition by breaking our Year End Sports Review into three sections: What We Learned, What We Already Knew, and What We Think Might Happen. Up first are the things we learned in 2010, a list that’s littered with scandal, beasts, a Decision and yes, even a little Jenn Sterger.
Contributors: Anthony Stalter, John Paulsen, Paul Costanzo, Drew Ellis and Mike Farley
Tiger Woods gets around.
We hesitate to put this under “golf” because the only clubs involved were his wife’s nine-iron hitting the window of his SUV and the various establishments where Tiger wined and dined all of his mistresses…over a dozen in all. This was the biggest story of the early part of the year, but it got to the point that whenever a new alleged mistress came forward, the general public was like, “Yeah, we get it. Tiger screwed around on his wife. A lot.” He has spent the rest of the year attempting to rebuild his once-squeaky clean image, but it’s safe to say, we’ll never look at Tiger the same way.
LeBron wilts when his team needs him most.
Say the words “LeBron” and “Game 5” in the same sentence and NBA fans everywhere know exactly what you’re talking about. In the biggest game of the season, LeBron looked disinterested, going 3-of-14 from the field en route to a 120-88 blowout at home at the hands of the Celtics. There were rumors swirling about a possible relationship between LeBron’s mom and his teammate, Delonte West, and there’s speculation that LeBron got that news before tipoff and that’s why he played so poorly. Regardless of the cause, LeBron played awful in that game, and it turned out to be his swan song in Cleveland as a member of the Cavaliers. Talk about leaving a bitter taste.
You can auction off your talented son’s athletic abilities and get away with it.
The NCAA set a strange precedent this season while dealing with the Newton family. The always inconsistent and completely morally uncorrupt NCAA decided in its infinite wisdom that despite discovering that Cecil Newton shopped his son Cam to Mississippi State for $180,000, and that is a violation of NCAA rules, that Cam would still be eligible because it couldn’t be proven that he knew about it. Conference commissioners and athletic directors around the country spoke out about the decision, while agent-wannabes and greedy fathers everywhere had a light bulb go off in their own heads: As long as we say the player doesn’t know about it, it could go off without a hitch. What was Cecil’s punishment in this whole thing? Limited access to Auburn for the last two games of the season. Easy with that hammer there, NCAA. Read the rest of this entry »
What do we think will happen in 2011? Ha! We’re glad you asked. As part of our 2010 Year End Sports Review, we see good things ahead for Duke, the Celtics and the Saints. We see cursed days ahead for the Phillies and Giants, and one Florida Gator-sized reunion in Denver. We also like Carmelo to play for the…hey, why are we telling you all this? Read for yourself below, lazy. (And have an open mind – we had some fun with this section.)
Contributors: Anthony Stalter, John Paulsen, Paul Costanzo, Drew Ellis and Mike Farley
You think he’s gone? He’s not gone. He’s never gone!
Brett Favre has duped us before with his retirement talk, so why should we buy what he’s selling now? Lord Favre says 2010 will be his final season, but after spending a couple of months on his ranch next summer, he’ll get the itch to return. And some team will welcome him back. And the media will torture us with their 24-hour Favre watch. And the dreaded cycle of death will continue. So which lucky team will have No. 4 in uniform next season? While we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Favre returning to the Vikings for one more year now that Brad Childress is gone, that’s not a very fun projection. Thus, what about Da Raaaaaaaiders? Huh? Can you see it now? Lord Favre and Al Davis at the podium holding up their pointer fingers and saying, “Just win baby.” No? Ah, you’re no fun.
Carmelo will be a Knickerbocker next year.
Book ‘em, Danno. The writing is on the wall. He hasn’t signed the three-year extension that the Nuggets offered last summer and has reportedly decided that the only team he’ll agree to be traded to is the New York Knicks. This means that if the Nuggets are hoping to get something substantial for him, they’ll have to move him before the February trade deadline. Since there appears to be only one team in the running, the deal isn’t going to be very good. We wouldn’t want to be Nugget fans right now — the rebuilding process is about to begin. Read the rest of this entry »
YouTube contributor “JayBizzzle” posted this video after Game 7 of the Finals.
Warning — there is some seriously coarse language ahead. Definitely rated “R”.
He’s obviously taking some heat in the comments section, but to his credit, he fires back a few times as well. I particularly liked his first comment:
“im veeeeeeery drunk in this video”
However, I do agree with one of his points. The officials did call it a lot tighter in the fourth quarter, and that ultimately benefited the Lakers who basically won the game at the free throw line. I don’t mind a tightly called game, but the refs have to stay consistent throughout the entire game — not change things up at the start of the final quarter.
With just five players — Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Glenn Davis, Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace — under contract, their best player, Paul Pierce, with an early termination option (ETO), and their head coach considering a hiatus, the Celtics are certainly in a state of flux heading into the summer.
Pierce has said that he’d like to retire a Celtic, so chances are he plays out his contract or the two sides work out a deal. Pierce might lower his annual salary if it means he can sign a long-term contract prior to the new collective bargaining agreement which is likely to be unfavorable to the players, at least in terms of overall salary.
But he’ll be 33 heading into next season. Is he really a franchise player anymore?
Kobe Bryant was brutal offensively last night, hitting just six of his 24 shots (25%) and turning the ball over four times. But he was great on the glass (15 rebounds) and found a way to get to the line in the fourth quarter, allowing him to score 10 points in the final period.
However, with a few exceptions, he took terrible shots all night long and had a couple of bad turnovers in the second half. It made me wonder — was Kobe’s performance last night the worst ever by a game-winning superstar in Game 7 of a Finals? Here’s a look at the last few comparables:
Kobe Bryant, 2010: 6-of-24, 23-15-2, 4 TOs
Tim Duncan, 2005: 10-of-27, 25-11-3, 5 TOs
Hakeem Olajuwon, 1994: 10-of-25, 25-10-7, 2 TOs
That’s it. There were just three Game 7s in the Finals in the last 22 years. Still, Kobe’s numbers don’t look too good. His shooting percentage was far worse than either Duncan or Olajuwon, but none of these guys had particularly good shooting nights.
Since box score data becomes more difficult to find the further back you go, I decided to look at all Game 7s (not just the Finals) from the ’00s to see how Kobe’s performance stacks up. (Note: I only included the conference semifinals and the conference finals. There isn’t as much pressure in Game 7s in the first round.)
Kobe Bryant, 2009 (WCS): 4-of-12, 14-7-5, 1 TO
Dwight Howard, 2009 (ECS): 5-of-9, 12-16, 3 TO
Tim Duncan, 2008 (WCS): 5-of-17, 16-14-3, 4 TO
Paul Pierce, 2008 (ECS): 13-of-23, 41-4-5, 4 TO
Dirk Nowitzki, 2006 (WCS): 11-of-20, 37-15-3, 0 TO
Steve Nash, 2006 (WCS): 11-of-16, 29-2-11, 4 TO
*Chauncey Billups, 2006 (ECS): 4-for-10, 12-8-3, 3 TO
*Chauncey Billups, 2005 (ECF): 5-of-15, 18-4-8, 1 TO
Kevin Garnett, 2004 (WCS): 12-of-23, 32-21-2, 2 TO (4 STL, 5 BLK)
*Chauncey BIllups, 2004 (ECS): 6-of-16, 22-2-7, 1 TO
Dirk Nowitzki, 2003 (WCS): 12-of-20, 30-19-2, 0 TO
**Shaquille O’Neal, 2002 (WCF): 12-of-25, 35-13-2, 3 TO
Ray Allen, 2001 (ECS): 10-of-18, 28-6-5, 4 TO
Allen Iverson, 2001 (ECS): 8-of-27, 21-4-16, 4 TO
Allen Iverson, 2001 (ECF): 17-of-33, 44-6-7, 2 TO
Patrick Ewing, 2000 (ECS): 5-of-10, 20-10-0, 1 TO
***Shaquille O’Neal, 2000 (WCF): 5-of-9, 18-9-5, 4 TO
I’ll stop there.
* It’s tough to pick the best player from the Pistons during this area, as they were probably the most balanced team in recent memory.
** Kobe shot 10-of-26, 30-10-7, 0 TO
*** Kobe shot 9-for-19, 25-11-7, 2 TO
There are some interesting lines in there. Look at Nowitzki’s lines (37-15-3 in 2006 and 30-19-2 in 2003)…wow. And Iverson’s 2001 line against the Bucks (44-6-7) was pretty epic.
While there have been some pitiful shooting nights — Tim Duncan in 2008, Allen Iverson in 2001 — no game-winning superstar has shot as bad as Kobe did in last night’s Game 7. Not in the last 10 years anyway.
What can we glean from this? Well, Kobe is very, very lucky that his teammates played as well as they did. Pau Gasol and Ron Artest really carried Kobe on the offensive end, while Derek Fisher and even Sasha Vujacic hit key shots/free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Moreover, the Laker defense kept the Celtics at bay once L.A. took the lead.
But no matter how poorly he shot, the Lakers won, and that’s all that matters in the end.
One thing is for certain — if Kobe doesn’t get the concept of team play by now, he’s never going to get it.
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: Struggling through one of their worst starts of the season, the Lakers finished with one of their greatest moments ever, climbing back from a 13-point deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics, 83-79, to win Game 7 of the NBA Finals and clinch their second consecutive championship. This is 16 franchise titles, perhaps none of them more difficult. This is five rings for Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, absolutely none of them as hard. This is redemption for the Celtics’ 2008 Finals beating, and can anything be so sweaty yet so sweet? “We wanted it more,” said owner Jerry Buss, simply, perfectly.
Gary Washburn, Boston Globe: In the end, a team that spent all season dealing with — but never solving — their fourth-quarter woes was done in by it. The Celtics fell short in their quest for NBA title No. 18 last night at Staples Center because they couldn’t finish off the Lakers. They watched a 3-point lead with 6:29 left suddenly turn into a 6-point deficit. The Celtics played a brilliant game up to that point, and needed a series of big plays to polish off a masterpiece. Instead, they missed shots, looked confused on offense, and were beaten to rebounds that set up free throw opportunities. They desperately tried holding onto the lead, desperately tried coming back, and then ran out of time. The 83-79 loss will go down as one of the most competitive and fiercest Game 7s in NBA history, but Celtics will take the excruciatingly long flight home realizing they were chased from behind and caught, passed because they ran out of gas.
Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated: The Celtics are willing to wait on Rivers, but there are other, more pressing concerns. Ray Allen is an unrestricted free agent and there are questions about just what kind of financial commitment Boston is willing to make to its soon-to-be 35-year-old shooting guard. Multiple league executives believe Allen will be seeking a three- or four-year deal between $8 million to $10 million annually, with teams like New York or New Jersey looming as candidates to offer it. It’s that potential price tag that had the Celtics shopping Allen at midseason. There could be another member of the Big Three on the market, too. Pierce has a player option for $21.5 million next season. But with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire next summer and a new one expected to significantly reduce player salaries, several prominent players (including Dirk Nowitzki and Amar’e Stoudemire) are planning to opt out of lucrative contracts in order to sign new deals under the existing agreement. Pierce, 32, could leave the $21.5 million on the table with the expectation that he could score a contract worth $50 million to $60 million in the offseason.
Kobe Bryant played a miserable offensive game, going just 6-of-24 from the field, 0-for-6 from long range and turning the ball over four times. But the rest of the Lakers stepped up. Whether it was Pau Gasol’s travel layup with 1:30 to play, Ron Artest’s timely three-pointer with 1:00 remaining or Sasha Vujacic’s clutch free throws to seal the game with 0:11 to play, Kobe’s supporting cast came through when they needed to.
Lakers win, 83-79.
Kobe finished with 23-15-2, which looks pretty good until you realize that he missed 18 shots and forced some terrible attempts. Gasol added a gritty 19-18, and had nine of the Lakers’ TWENTY-THREE offensive rebounds. (The L.A. absolutely pounded the C’s on the glass, which was one area where Boston desperately missed Kendrick Perkins.) Artest had 20-5 and five steals. He wasn’t terribly efficient offensively, but he hit some important shots and bothered Paul Pierce into 5-of-15 shooting. Artest no longer has to live with the specter of Trevor Ariza circling his entire existence in Los Angeles. In his own weird way, he has truly become a Laker.
For the Celtics, Kevin Garnet (17-3, four blocks) played well offensively (8-of-13), but he just didn’t get it done on the defensive glass. Rajon Rondo (14-8-10) had a very nice game, but wasn’t able to push the ball enough to take it over. Paul Pierce (18-10-2) and Ray Allen (13-2-2) combined to go a dreadful 8-of-29 from the field.
It wasn’t a cleanly played Game 7, but it was tight the whole way and it was one of the best defensive Finals games I’ve ever seen. To put this in perspective, the Lakers shot 32.5% from the field and still won the game…and the title.
Say the words “LeBron” and “Game 5” in the same sentence and NBA fans everywhere know exactly what you’re talking about. In the biggest game of the season, LeBron looked disinterested, going 3-of-14 from the field en route to a 120-88 blowout at home at the hands of the Celtics. There were rumors swirling about a possible relationship between LeBron’s mom and his teammate, Delonte West, and there’s speculation that LeBron got that news before tipoff and that’s why he played so poorly. Regardless of the cause, LeBron played awful in that game, and it turned out to be his swan song in Cleveland as a member of the Cavaliers. Talk about leaving a bitter taste.
