10 Darts at the NBA Board

- The Season's Over -

May 15, 2007

Smile, Dirk: You're the MVP.

- Dirk Nowitzki was officially, quietly named the NBA’s 2007 MVP today. Steve Nash finished 125 points and 39 first-place votes behind him. They should really start handing these things out before the playoffs begin. It’s a regular season award, so why wait to give them out during the postseason? We’ve seen Nowitzki earn–and folks, he did earn it–the MVP (ousted in the first round), Marcus Camby get the Top Defensive Player (ousted in the first round), Monta Ellis get the Most Improved Player (suffering through his worst stretch of the whole season, minutes drastically reduced), and Sam Mitchell get Coach of the Year (ousted first round). Playoff performances shouldn’t cloud the accomplishments of these recipients, but inevitably, sometimes it does.

- The Lakers just can’t catch a break. Mike Bresnahan for the Los Angeles Times reports that Lamar Odom will undergo surgery on his left shoulder, the same one he had operated on two years ago. “They’re going to go in and see what the shoulder looks like, but they won’t know until they open him up,” said Odom’s agent, Jeff Schwartz. Odom may also face surgery on his right knee. Somewhere, Kobe just plunged his face into a bowl of tomato soup.

- A Suns fan is quick to point out that Tim Duncan left the bench last night, too, during Game 4 of the increasingly dramatic Suns/Spurs series. NBA fans the world over have to be hoping that every player for both teams (sans Robert “Hip Check” Horry) is available and ready to go tomorrow night. You want to beat the other team when they’re at full strength, not with the help of a David Stern assist.

- When you’re Manute Bol, it’s hard to blend in. It looks like the woman behind him is struggling to make out where, exactly, the top of his head is.

- As there is every postseason, a lot of attention on NBA officiating. LTD Hoops did some digging to try and prove something that’s been gnawing at him: “the NBA rule changes designed to increase scoring and excitement in the league for fans who aren’t necessarily basketball junkies is hurting the game rather than helping it.” It bothers us too.

- Okay, so, Kevin McHale is pissed off about his buddy John Mellencamp’s comment that he and Larry Bird used to “come over and smoke me under the table.” T’Wolves spokesman Mike Cristaldi has a doozy retort the size of an Amare Stoudemire postgame fib: “After talking to Kevin he told me to pass along that if you assume anything other than cigarettes and cigars then you’d be wrong.” Uh huh. So, these three got together for a Cigarette-a-Thon?

- Before the Pistons/Bulls series kicked off, my dad and I were wondering if the Pistons would resort to the “Hack-a-Ben” strategy they so detested before Wallace went turncoat and cashed in with the Bulls. In Game 4, we got our answer when, sadly, they did it. Of course it didn’t work, and Blog-a-Bull thinks that intentional fouls/hacks should just be illegal. Totally–no one wants to sit there and watch NBA players shoot free throws all night, especially during the postseason.

- Poor judgement by the Utah Jazz marketing department. Shame on you.

- Just a reminder that, yes, the New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers are still toiling away in one of the Eastern Conference semi-finals pairings. You’re trying to watch, and we’re trying to watch, but damn it if we’re not finding it incredibly hard to sit through more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time. It’s just not pretty unless you’re a Cavs fan. Even then…

- Finally, for those of you who are shocked, just shocked, at the physical nature of postseason NBA basketball, we give you a feel-good reminder that none of your NBA heroes–yes, even Robert Horry–are nearly as violent as this boxer from Uruguay posing as a b-baller. That’s one nasty right hook.