The Orlando Magic bring out Nick Anderson to hype up the crowd just before player introductions of Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Dwight Howard proceeds to brick two free throws with his team up 3 points with 10 seconds left (and the team shot 22-37 from the line).
Could there have been a worse choice for pre-game festivities than Nick Anderson??? In case you don’t follow, check here.
That means it’s time for Larry the Lawyer. Today, we take a look back at Little Larry.
Enjoy this Matthew Dukes Production.
We caught most of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night. It took us until today to check the box score, but it only confirmed what we originally thought happened. The Magic lost 101-96 in overtime, and there’s one simple stat you need to know that explains why…
Dwight Howard: 5-10 fgs, 17 points.
JJ Redick: 2-9 fgs, 5 points.
In the entirety of the Celevand series, Redick played 9:47. That’s for the entire series, and it was all in one game. Now, he played 27:06 in Game 2 of the Finals! And in the end, had one less shot attempt than Dwight Howard. One. That’s just remarkable.
Last year, following Serena Williams’ loss at the Australian Open, we wrote this:
“When we read that Serena Williams had been beaten in the Australian Open yesterday by Jelena Jankovic, we knew that a few things were certain to occur in Serena’s post-match interview.
(1) She would make some sort of excuse for why she lost, then talk about how she was not making excuses.
(2) She would reluctantly give the opponent slight credit for the win, then top that with a comment about how she handed the match to her opponent.
(3) At no point would she straight out admit she was beaten by a better player in that particular match.”
To read a full breakdown of her rude post-match comments by us, check here.
But guess what? Fifteen months later, Serena is just as poor a sport as she was back then. And our check list still hits the mark. Following her loss today to Svetlana Kuznetsova, here’s what Serena had to say:
—“In the third set I had an opportunity and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her. It was like, ‘Here, do you want to go to the semis? Because I don’t.’ She was like, ‘OK.”’
—“Honestly, I think I lost because of me, and not because of anything she did.”
We’re pretty sure our checklist on post-match Serena is fulfilled with just these two quotes. She blamed nerves, blatantly stated that the loss had nothing to do with her opponent, and the best she could do for praise was saying her opponent said “OK” to the thought of making the semifinals.
It would be really nice for Serena to gain some concept of sportsmanship. Until then, you stay classy, Serena.
When Wally Szczerbiak played for Miami (OH) in college, he once scored 43 of his team’s 59 points in a one-point win over Washington in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Oddly enough, in 2009, Szczerbiak played the role of a Miami (OH) teammate in the Eastern Conference finals. That’s right, one of the guys who only contributed those other 16 points.
We took a quick look at the numbers, and they are quite remarkable - almost sound like a high school team’s production breakdown. LeBron had sugery this week on this mouth, but they should have worked on his sore back as well. At least, we assume it was sore after the carrying of his terrible teammates.
Over a 6-game series, here’s what it looks like:
(1) LeBron scored 231 points, the rest of the Cavs scored 376.
(2) LeBron tallied 48 assists, the rest of the team totaled 64.
(3) LeBron made 75 field goals, the rest of the Cavs made 134.
(4) LeBron made 70 free throws in the series, the rest of the made 57 (and shot 76 - just 6 more than LeBron made!).
If you assume that each of LeBron’s assists led to a 2-point basket, he had a hand in 54% of the scoring for his team in the series. That’s pretty sick.
Our conclusion? It wasn’t that LeBron did not want to shake the hands of the Orlando Magic after the series, it’s that he did not want to mistakenly shake hands with one of his own teammates during the confusion of the crowd. And rightfully so.
The Patriots’ Rodney Harrison announced today that he was retiring after 15 years in the NFL.
Harrison said, “I’m done. And I’m very much at peace with that. Football has been good to me; I worked hard and I played hard.”
After his comments, Harrison waited until the reporter turned his head and then elbowed him in the back after the whistle.
Memphis University claims it has investigated the claims that a star hoops player (aka Derrick Rose) had a stand-in take his SAT a few years ago and found no wrongdoing. The school has stated, according to the AP report, that even if the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions believes a former player cheated, the program should not be penalized because the school was unaware of any wrongdoing.
The NCAA’s response… “Is the name of your school USC? No, it’s not? Then, yeah, we’re pretty sure you should be penalized even if you had zero knowledge of the possible cheating.”
Tennessee Titans current “back-up” quarterback was interviewed by a Baltimore radio station, and he announced some rather groundbreaking news. Vince Young is apparently interested in moving to a new field of work. Now, he did not specify whether it would be accounting or modeling or rocket science., but he is strongly considering something new. Here’s what he had to say: “I definitely want to get back out there playing ball and picking up where I left off, winning games and having a good time with my teammates and with the fans. At the same time, if them guys don’t want me to be in there, it’s time for me to make a career change for myself.”
We will stay on top of this story as best we can to see if Young gives any hints as to what his next career might be. Actually, his scrambling abilities could make him the greatest streaker of all-time.
One other thing that was discovered in that interview is that Young has no concept of how to use the past tense when speaking. For an example, check this quote from the interview:
“I got a lot of people that look up to me. I got a lot of fans that love me and want to see me back out on the football field.”"