Shockingly, all is not tofu ravioli and high def rainbows for Michael Jordan’s Bobcats these days, or any game days, for that matter.
After Sunday nights’ beat down by Boston, Paul (Bearer) Silas did what every self-respecting competitor would love to do (thank you, but we already have a surplus of volunteers) when they see enemies embrace on the battlefield after the outcome.
The 68-year-old drill sergeant, deathly sick three years ago, but always a grunt in body, mind and spirit, gave 25-year-old Tyrus Thomas a piece of his mind for fraternizing with known Celtics. Legendary for taking no prisoners as a radical rebounder and demonic defensive attachment for three championship outfits — two in Boston and one in Seattle — the now-stooping 6-foot-7 coach shoved the 6-foot-9 forward toward his locker stall when he failed to get the proper response.
The two were quickly separated … like Kim and Kris.
Clearly, contact between a coach and a player–regardless who instigates the manhandling–is intolerable behavior. Is it surprising? No. Such conflicts happen more than we’ll ever know. Some we find out about but not until much later, like the Nets general manager Willis Reed-Derrick Coleman to-do.
Teams go out of their way to deal with this stuff internally, even when it gets out of hand.
I’ve always kind of believed, had I not been tipped off to the Latrell Sprewell- P.J. Carlesimo choking incident at practice, and broke the story around eight o’clock on the East Coast, the Warriors would not have been forced to call a press conference late that evening, West Coast time. Once the word got out, a cover-up (black and blue marks on P.J.’s neck and all) was out of the question.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that occurrence was too unsightly to conceal. There were probably too many eye witnesses to keep it under wraps for too long anyway. The fact is, once these things get out in public, the NBA and the Player’s Association are obligated to investigate and take action, if necessary.
In this situation, first reported by Yahoo! Sports and confirmed by Bobcats president Rod Higgins, although it was a touch foul, the league may feel compelled to fine Silas to demonstrate its continued lack of lenience for hand-checking.
Every once and a while, David Stern’s parishioners need to be reminded to curb their enthusiasm and frustration.
At the same time, there are divisions of ex-players joyously celebrating the news that Silas went after a player for socializing with opponents immediately after a game, something we see ad nauseum every single night.
“In my day, if a teammate did that, it’s a fight as soon as he walks into the locker room,” Hall of Fame inductee Mel Daniels said yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and …
Thomas, by the way, is another in the carefully-constructed carousel of can’t-miss acquisitions cashing puffy Jordan-endorsed pay envelopes.
It’s important not to gloss over the ghastliness of the Bobcats, who are on course to finish the 66-game condensed soup season with the worst winning percentage ever.
You’ve got to be special to lap a 16-game losing streak with one that’s 18 and counting. Through Wednesday night, the 7-54 ’Cats with no lives were last in the league in scoring (87.2 points per game), field goals made, shooting percentage from two (41.4) and three-point (29.6) range.
I haven’t seen such a fine judge of talent since John McCain went rogue in ’08.
* So, after a seven-game sit-down, Kobe Bryant and his Shin-dig are ready to resume running and jumping tonight when the Lakers play the Spurs (in San Antonio) for the third time in 10 nights. Far be it from me to suggest Kobe has been away for a while, but the last time he played in Hollywood, Joan Rivers was on her starter face.
* Rather than bother my staff to look it up, I’m going to take a wild stab and say the Knicks’ 55-2 disparity in bench points during Tuesday night’s burial of Boston was the largest in league history.
Paul Pierce’s 43 point-43 minute production Tuesday night should get him into the Hall of Fame a year earlier than the 5-year eligibility once-retired rule.
Largely unreported, though, was Pierce’s dimensional deficit. Carmelo Anthony already had assembled a triple double — 35 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — before Pierce tracked down his first missed shot with 4:18 remaining on the game clock. A minute later, he got his second … and last.
* Insider Al Jefferson (28 points, 26 rebounds) played 54 minutes against the Mavericks in Utah’s 123-121 triple OT victory and did not visit the welfare line once.
Cleveland trailed Detroit 100-50 at the end of the third quarter Tuesday. Would’ve loved to hear Byron Scott’s pep talk between quarters. “Hey, if we can get it down to 30 with five minutes left, anything can happen.”
The NBA has awarded the 2014 All-Star Game to New Orleans … which gives Stern ample time to choose who’s playing where.
Charles Barkley likes President Obama, but is obliged to come out against “The Buffett Rule” on dining principles alone. Food Court is also hoping nobody finds out he once tried to walk out of a grocery store without paying for “free range chicken.”
Column chondriac Richie Kalikow reveals those recalled agents mixed up with Colombian call girls actually were part of Obama’s Secret Cervix.
I’m nervous leaving my comfort zone, but I “noticed” Warren Sapp filed for Chapter 7. By the size of him, he looks like he filed for Chapter 7-Eleven.
Lock the windows, close the doors, Biggie Smalls, err, Jayson Williams was sprung from stir (Tom Rikers Island) last week. As soon as my former NBC colleague finds a team to his liking, his goal is to become the NBA’s first correctional center.