SO, Bulls GM John Paxson has talked to Doug Collins about his team’s head coaching vacancy. What, Kevin Loughery didn’t leave a phone number? Ed Badger out of the country? Red Kerr wanted too much power?
If Paxson, who suspects this will be his last hire should the trap door he triggered remain open another season, believes Collins is his savior, he ought to check out what happened to Michael Jordan in Washington.
How Chicago chairman Jerry Reinsdorf can endorse a person he fired in 1989 under shadowy circumstances after the Bulls were evicted from the Eastern finals defies comprehension. Selective long-term memory loss has its benefits, but there are still too many of us around who haven’t forgotten.
Despite repeated evidence to the contrary, ex-coaches and former players-turned-TV-analysts continue to stamp Joey Crawford as one of the NBA’s elite officials. I challenge them to cite a controversy within the past 20 or 30 years he was judged to be correct.
If the league office isn’t calling Crawford on David Stern’s carpet, or fining and suspending him, it’s apologizing for a game-deciding mistake – his non-call on Derek Fisher jumped into Milk Bonespur Brent Barry in the waning seconds of the Lakers’ two-point Game 4 victory.
With the aid of instant replay – and the help of Crawford’s seeing-eye dog – the league felt compelled to admit a foul had been committed for fear its fans would buy into the twisted perspective of those same commentators that the game is whistled differently in the last minute of a game than the first 47.
Naturally, mixed messages lead to confused reception. On one hand, the league boasts that only the highest-grade refs are assigned to work late into the postseason. Then it undermines them by announcing they screwed up.
Nobody can deny Fisher created contact, yet nobody on TNT’s air (or connected with the Spurs) expected Barry to get “bailed out” from behind Joakim Noah’s arc? Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith admonished Barry for not “selling” the foul to officials the way Indiana Bones and Walt Frazier did. Yup, Brent should be ashamed of himself for not kicking his opponent as Reggie was wont to do.
For his part, Gregg Popovich was genius enough to realize his gang didn’t need to get “crew-cified” in last night’s potential elimination game by whining about a verdict that was going to remain unchanged.
For the carbon life of me, I can’t decide what was more amazing, Fisher’s faux pas of epic proportion (I’m advocating his excommunication as union president) or Kobe Bryant’s heated full- court rush to the basket with 40 seconds left in the game – l6 on the shot clock – and L.A. up four. If the Lakers’ two most erudite players can’t think straight how are simple kids kid from Slovenia and Queens gonna figure it all out?
“That’s what separates Kobe from Jordan,” column contributor Len Gilman accentuates. “The main difference is between the ears!”
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ABC/ESPN did a remarkable job last week. Their Bill Russell–Kevin Garnett made-for-TV lovefest could not have been more contrived. Nor could the nitworks find a more complementary cue-card host than Stuart Scott, who adds to the artificiality of half-time features by clueing in the “lost” audience as to how touching and entertaining they were.
When Rip Hamilton left the arena after Game 5 he continued to be unable to bend his right elbow. Even if he somehow plays I can’t see him being any kind of a positive factor. The good news is, the Pistons won two games (one in Orlando) against the Magic with Rodney Stuckey filling in for the injured Chauncey Billups, so it’s not as Detroit has to fight Boston unarmed.
Flip Saunders can cradle its chapeau on this fun factoid: The Pistons hit the glass hard in the final 13 minutes to outrebound Kendrick Perkins, 25-16; though Rajon Rondo‘s six was one higher than any opponent.
Pat Riley originated this saying during one particular season as Lakers’ coach: “No rebounds, no rings”
Joe Dumars‘ private catchphrase to Saunders: “No rebounds, no retention”
Thankfully for Saunders, if he needs some help in turning the series around in the Pistons’ favor, he has Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on speed text.
“Where would the Spurs be with Luis Scola playing 26 minutes instead of Robert Horry?” wonders column contributor Michael Dortheimer.
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What was Kevin Garnett looking down at while at the postgame podium Wednesday night? “He just couldn’t defend his team’s policy in the fourth quarter,” Scott McClellan noted.
I see that a Clark County prosecutor said Charles Barkley is off the legal hook regarding his 400G gambling debt to Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas, and he also paid 40G to cover a bad-check processing fee.
“That didn’t take as long as I thought,” Charles declared. “I’m cured.”
Jerry West turned 70 Wednesday. He’s at that awkward age . . . in between running the offense and running as the Republican nominee.