Empty the Bench

As long as the Los Angeles Lakers survive through the 2008 NBA playoffs, Empty the Bench’s West Coast correspondent Christopher Thell will be submitting a local fan’s take on his beloved Lakers’ postseason trials, tribulations and successes. In this edition: The Lakers take a commanding 3-1 series lead after nearly blowing the game, and they aren’t out of the woods yet.

My feelings on the grand game of baseball have been duly documented in this space before, so you can imagine the utter shock and horror I felt when, upon showing up at my preferred place to watch the Lakers, I discovered that they were showing the Dodgers game on the lone big screen TV instead of Game 4 of the Lakers/Spurs series.

WTF?!

Seriously.

I mean, how can you possibly reconcile showing a crappy regular season Dodgers game over The Western Conference Finals? This was a mortal sporting sin, one that begs the heavens for vengeance.

After this bad omen, I was forced to switch venues on the fly, moving from the cozy hotel lobby bar I had adopted to a high-priced bowling alley in the Hollywood and Highland shopping monolith.

While grossly overpriced and emanating an unfortunate airport bar vibe, the bowling alley at least had their priorities in order, as every TV in the place was tuned to the Lakers game.

By the time I finally finagled a seat at the bar, the Lakers had jumped to a 22-8 lead, and it seemed like everything was going to work out just fine.

And it did. Barely.

The Lakers hung on by the skin of their teeth for a 93-91 triumph, giving them a commanding 3-1 series lead.

How the Lake Show nearly blew it and why a 3-1 lead isn’t safe after the jump…

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Unbelievable and unacceptable.

Those are the only two words that come to mind when I think about the way Game 4 was called between the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. Danny Crawford & Crew did exactly what we here at ETB dislike about too many of the “high-profile” officials in the NBA today: they asserted themselves into the game’s main storyline and made a point of putting their imprint on how the game was to be played.

That should never happen. Never, ever, ever. Never.

Nobody is tuning into the game between these two great teams to watch them shoot free throws. Or to watch one side-out play after another on non-shooting foul calls. Or to see any kind of rhythm or groove for both teams be thwarted by endless stoppages of play because of touch fouls on the perimeter.

And nobody tunes in to watch the officials at work. They are there to be seen not heard, and when they are heard, something is amiss.

And yet that’s what we got in Game 4, a crucial tilt in the best-of-seven series in which both teams tried their damnedest to make entertaining. Despite the lopsided final score, the Celtics valiantly fought from behind for about 43 of the game’s 48 minutes. And the Pistons simply took care of business on the backs of a few thrilling individual performances by Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell, and Rip Hamilton.

Danny Crawford Photo Credit: Icon SMI

It was a fun game when the referees weren’t pulling back on their reins and making it as much about them as about the actual attraction people in attendance and watching at home are there to see. Referees are there to ensure the rules are abided by and to penalize the offender(s) when they are not. To make tough calls. To make the right call. I respect that their job is a difficult one, especially in pressurized situations like tonight’s game at the Palace most certainly was for both the Celtics and Pistons.

I don’t, however, respect the officials when they pull an ego effort like the one that was pulled Monday night by Danny Crawford, Bob Delaney, and Scott Foster. Anybody who’s familiar with ETB knows I’m a Pistons fan, but this column (rant?) was getting written no matter who won the game.

The Celtics were still in the game halfway through the fourth quarter despite shooting 31% from the field as a team; they stayed in it by attempting a whopping 39 free throws after the Pistons were whistled for 32 fouls, by far the most either team has logged this series. Of course, the Celtics weren’t completely let off the hook with 24 fouls of their own. All in all, the Celtics took 13 more free throws than the Pistons, and the 65 combined free-throw attempts 56 foul calls (!!) is a single-game high thus far through both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

Except in the most egregious of situations, outright blaming the officials for a loss in the playoffs is not something I usually support. Sure, from time to time I get fired up about a non-call or a bad call like every other NBA fan out there, but that’s par for the course this late in the season. Title hopes are on the line, and the last thing you want to derail your team’s chances is a little man in a little outfit with a whistle who knows he has the power to change the game.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened in Game 4—the officials changed the game. They made absolutely certain it was played the way they wanted it to be played. And their message to the Pistons and to a lesser degree the Celtics was this: don’t be aggressive.

And that is simply unbelievable and unacceptable.

- Wall Street Journal – A well-deserved tribute to Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson.
- Bobcat Bonfire – The biggest storyline of these NBA playoffs: KG’s Quest for Redemption.
- Raw Sports Blog – True or False: Shawn Marion would put the Nuggets over the hump.
- The On Deck Circle – You made the playoffs—fantastic, nicely done. Now get to work.
- Boston Sportz – Huh: a Boston Celtics fan thinks it would be terrible if Detroit advances.
- Chicago Tribune – Bulls GM John Paxson says that drafting first overall is “grueling.”
- ESPN – Joakim Noah pulls the ‘ol “cannabis cigarette in a tobacco cigarette pack” trick.
- Clips Nation – Draft a Stud Combo Guard Fever is sweeping across Clippers Land.
- The Bratwurst – A few possible homes for Charlie V if he’s the odd man out in Milwaukee.
- Stet Sports Blog – The wheels are (finally) starting to come off the Bruce Bowen Train.
- FanHouse – Steve Nash might be looking at bringing MLS to The Great White North.
- Ridiculous Upside – The Bobcats shouldn’t be making pre-draft promises to anybody.
- Hoops Addict – And just like that, the Spurs’ Giants of Efficiency have awoke.
- The Sports Hernia – As usual, hil-arious hijinx at the NBA Draft Lottery Special this year.
- The Numbers Guy – You won’t see any of the NBA’s top 14 assist leaders until the fall.

Take that, KG.

We’ll have much more on Monday night’s crucial Game 4 win by the Detroit Pistons 94-75 over the Boston Celtics later, but for now the undeniable highlight of the night. Pistons’ reserve power forward Jason Maxiell, who has done things like this before this season, showed why it’s important to always contest shots if at all possible, especially during the playoffs, by chasing down Kevin Garnett and sending it with authority on what at first looked like a easy dunk. I’ve seen J-Maxx make his fair share of dramatic rejections during his first three years in the league, but none was bigger, or perhaps more improbable, than this one.

For the record, this wasn’t all he accomplished in Game 4: in 20 minutes, the Pistons’ 2005 first-round pick was 6-6 FG for 14 points, 3 rebounds, and the block on KG. He tends to explode like this at home, but has struggled to establish himself on the road so far in these playoffs. As impressive as Maxiell’s performance was in Game 4, I’ll be doubly impressed if he can make a similar effect in Game 5.

Related: Jason Maxiell, Kevin Garnett, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics

…who could confidently lay claim to being the “Gary Payton of Poultry.” It’s certainly not a title given or taken lightly in the world of chicken men, so if you’re ever cruising through Seattle and see a Ballard Market, pull over and check out the meat section. Fryers, roasters, capons–they’ll do whatever it takes. Here’s a few more wonderful, low-budget local ads featuring NBA stars past and present.

Whether you’re a Celtics fan or a Pistons fan, let’s all just be honest with each other: that was one of the best fourth quarters of this year’s playoffs and certainly one of the top two or three games period. The flurry of made shots by one All-Star after another down the stretch felt like a tug-of-war match between titans of Roman coliseum battle.

Rip Hamilton sinks a 18-footer.

Ray Allen nails a triple.

Tayshaun Prince spots up a jumper.

Paul Pierce scores again.

Rasheed Wallace hits one in P.J. Brown’s face.

That was intense basketball. Like my fingernails are gone, I need another beer, I can’t sit down intense.

The NBA’s top two defenses pitted against two offenses that can be deadly when they’re clicking—and they were. But there was perhaps no bigger shot than Rip Hamilton’s running leaner with the shot clock ticking down with under a minute to play and the Pistons hanging on to a tenuous four-point lead. It looked like a 24-second violation was inevitable when Hamilton dribbled backwards from the three-point line, Kevin Garnett in his face, with 5 ticks left on the clock.

But like the Pistons were for most of the game, he calmly gathered himself, drove right past KG, and pulled up in the teeth of the Celtics’ defense. Score. That put Detroit up by 6 with 48.2 seconds to go. It wasn’t the game-winner—that honor belongs to Mr. Big Shot for extending the lead back up to 6 points with 18.2 seconds left—but it was a massive shot made in an improbable situation.

The setting for what I personally think is the NBA Finals now shifts to Detroit with the series tied 1-1. We’re going to hear a lot over these next few days about how the Boston Celtics have yet to win a road game, about how they let one get away in Game 2, how we’re going to learn a lot about the Celtics.

Horseshit.

The Pistons won Game 2 because they earned it. They beat Boston; contrary to what ESPN or biased yahoos at Yahoo! might say, that win said a lot about Detroit than it did about Boston. It was Boston’s first loss at home thus far in these playoffs. It was the first time Boston allowed 100+ points on their home floor. But guess what? It’s not about what the Celtics didn’t do–for one night, at least, it was about what the Pistons did.

More notes and observations from Detroit’s Game 2 win over the Celtics after the jump…

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- Upside and Motor – The Spurs can’t win this series if Manu Ginobili keeps playing like that.
- Red’s Army – Glen Davis takes a break from the buffet to enjoy the finer things in life.
- Hardwood Paroxysm – The Spurs don’t want to double-team Kobe, but they need to.
- BallHype – Squiggly lines and comparisons have confirmed it: Chris Paul is really good.
- Need4Sheed – Sayeth Rasheed “Roscoe” Wallace: “Ain’t nobody in this joint nervous.”
- West Coast Bias – Was that more “Lakers’ comeback” or “Spurs meltdown” last night in LA?
- And One – Get pumped up, Cavaliers fans!!! You have the 19th pick in the NBA Draft!
- Blog Maverick – Mark Cuban has opinions about things… and is a fan of the IRS?
- Ballin Europe – Don’t expect a ton of Europeans to go in the first round of the draft.
- Blog a Bull – Everything is coming up ping-pong balls for those lucky Chicago Bulls.
- 3 Shades of Blue – Speaking of ping-pong balls, the Grizzlies kind of jinxed themselves.
- MLive – The Pistons’ offense was off in Game 1, but the defense is what troubles them more.

As long as the Los Angeles Lakers survive through the 2008 NBA playoffs, Empty the Bench’s West Coast correspondent Christopher Thell will be submitting a local fan’s take on his beloved Lakers’ postseason trials, tribulations and successes. In this edition: after a lackluster first half The Lake Show comes alive with a special performance by Black Mamba.

Fireworks are like profanity. It’s best to utilize both only on special occasions that truly warrant such exclamations, lest they become drained of their value.

Bearing that in mind, allow me to state the following:

M-V-FUCKING-P!

Wow.

This is why we watch. When Tim Duncan made a 7-foot hook shot to put the defending champions up by 20 (65-45) with just under 6 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, all looked lost: the game, the series, and the Lakers season.

I felt sick to my stomach.

I mean, these are the Spurs, known for their veteran toughness, excellent execution, and clutch shooting. There was no way, no way, that they could possibly squander such a commanding advantage, right?

Simply impossible.

But when you have the greatest player in the universe on your team, the impossible becomes possible.

How Kobe overcame a 20-point deficit, with highlights, after the jump…

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Racine Journal-Times – The Bucks are working the phones shopping Michael Redd.
Detroit Bad Boys – The Pistons lost Game 1 of the series to the Celtics, and that’s OK.
Larry Brown Sports – Lamar Odom says The Lake Show wanted San Antonio all along.
High Five Hoop School – Mike D’Antoni is wishing he had let Chicago make an offer.
Lakers Library – Breaking down the lottery picks after the ping-pong balls have settled.
Wages of Wins – So what happened to Boston? Does Detroit have what it takes?
Deuve of Davenport – The Spurs are the Rappin’ Rodneys of the NBA playoffs.
HOOPSWORLD – Checking out all the 2008-09 player options and who will use them.
Miami Herald – You haven’t lost out on Beasly/Rose yet, Riley willing to deal 2nd pick.
LA Times – It’s getting ugly in Clipperland: Maggette to opt out, Brand might be next.
The Comission – This is pretty awesome. KG vs. ‘Sheed is fun, but it’s not as intense as the old Robert Parish vs. Bill Laimbeer days. After delivering a wicked elbow to Laimbeer’s grill both players not only stay in the game, but Parish amazingly isn’t even assessed a personal foul. The fun starts at the 3:57 mark and continues for a few minutes: