The Moonball Blog

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Speaking of foreclosures

Apologies to Ironwood, but it looks like the Pistons can no longer afford to hang with the elite.




The chemistry that defined the Pistons success is now in short supply. Detroit is rebuilding, and that makes for a chunky road. All good teams fade. Gotta enjoy the run when your team is hummin, and take the lumps when the ride is over. Brings to mind a little Run DMC: Its like that, and that's the way it is.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Bad news for the Oregonians


How have we not heard of this before? And now it's too late.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Seeing how the other half lives



I was checking out the Bulls-Wolves game tonight. A tale of two young teams with bright promise and clear problems on a night were the brightness blurred the clarity.

Great game, Sheed style: Both teams played hard. Really hard and pretty damn well.

The Wolves were down by 16 early, and lead for only 4 and half minutes of regulation. Al Jefferson and Kevin Love had outstanding nights, and the Wolves guards made huge defensive plays down the stretch. Minnesota madness!

As noted on this board, Rose is a superb rookie. He is a blue chip supreme. Deng and Gordon both mystify me, though. Clearly they have shown they can win together, but their shared struggle with consistency (and more to the point complimentary play) is mind boggling. If those two would play like the level headed vets they should be, Chicago could be in the conversation with Detroit, Atlanta, and Miami. I like how Noah is coming on. He still needs to get stronger, but his floor game is emerging and he is now a contributor.

I have been watching the Wolves off and on this past month. McHale is finally earning his pay. As also been noted, Foye seems to have blossomed into a dangerous lead guard on both ends of the floor. Jefferson is a beast. So is Kevin Love. (O.J. who?) Guys like Bassy, Craig Smith and the surprising Rodney Carney are all thriving in their respective roles. Minnesota is comin up.

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Friday, January 16, 2009

Karma

#8 on the list of things I have spent time complaining about with you guys.

Friday, January 09, 2009

The day Randy Foye was better than Roy


As a strong believer in the moment, I'd like to take what was the 950th day since the Foye/Roy draft night trade and say that Randy Foye was better than Brandon Roy.

An unfair comparison, because where's Roy? Injured...kind of a bad habit he's gotten into, unfortunately. And Foye? He was the lightning that beats the Thunder every time. His bound feet finally released from the cinderblocks of point guard responsibility, Foye scored 18 points in the Wolves 42-point first quarter Wednesday vs. OKC, giving the Wolves a 20 point cushion that they built upon for most of the game.

In a season marked by another truckload of disappointment added to the dump, the die-hards who showed up finally got to witness a drubbing, instead of a precarious blown lead. Everyone was able to sit back and watch things go right for a change, and soon, everyone was getting into the act. Yelling insults at the Thunder's whiter-than-white guy Robert Swift, and jumping and hooting for the Wolves' offerings Brian Cardinal and Mad Dog during garbage time. Every time Dog would touch the ball, the crowd worked to a fever-pitch until he'd flail up a shot, and clang one for them. When all was said and done, the crowd gave its first standing O since LeBron -- this time for their own team!

Foye finished with 32 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, a block and 2 steals for the BlueState Cee's, and then he sat most of the 4th. I would've liked to see him go for 81. He was 6-9 from 3-point range, and displayed confidence in taking everything the Thunder gave him. This was the summer league Foye, from before we knew how bad the trade was really going to be.

It's a small bright spot for the Wolves, to be cherished. It also represents a shift in the post-Whitman era. By having a glut of semi-talented off-guards, they forced themselves to shoehorn Foye at the point. I think they're finally ready to let it go, along with McCants. He's gotten worse and worse at chucking outside of the offense, which is a shame considering his physical talents and smooth three-point shooting form. To the crowd's credit, they actually boo McCants everytime he shoots now. Amazingly, the Wolves are 6-2 when McCants either doesn't play or doesn't have any points.

The downside of this guard situation realization, is that it makes the Wolves trade of Mario Chalmers that much more egregious. They still have Bassy, who is back in the mix. But now they are reportedly scouring the D-leagues for another point, along with Phoenix and others. How easy would it have been to keep Chalmers instead of believing your own bullshit? It's this kind of single-minded certitude about their building plan that has to go. It's not like they haven't been decisive -- it's that their decisions almost always suck.

As for the Thunder, they're in trouble even worse. Durant isn't a superstar. Season savior Krstic looked rusty in his first game back to the NBA, and that's not saying much against the Wolves bigs. Westbrook looked solid though, for a youngster, and he may soon be looked back on as another missed opportunity for the Wolves at the 3rd pick.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

This sh*t makes me sick

No, I am not talking about the Celtics recent losing spell.

Check this from the "Notes" section of the Yahoo recap from tonight's Blazers-Pistons game:

Wallace played for the Blazers from 1996-2004 and was part of the so-called “Jail Blazers” team that became more known for trouble off the court than for success on it. He had a particular disdain for the Portland media, and often replied to questions with the pat response: “Both teams played hard.” …

It makes me so sad that a player who did so much for Portland fans would summarized in such fashion. All I know is Sheed was an amazing player and beloved teammate. And those alley-oops. Damn.

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Is that Stephon Marbury?

Check out this picture from the last home Wolves game. Who's that guy sitting by the court? Is that Stephon Marbury? -- no, it's me DRESSED as Stephon Marbury.

Even behind the pouting scowl and air of cluelessness, you can probably tell that it's me though.

It's all about having more fun at Wolves games, and this project couldn't have worked out better. Everyone thought I was Steph! Jim and Hanny even interviewed me on the local broadcast. I said some stupid shit about how I want to play with KG again, how the fans still love me here. That shit was funny! The tattoo hurt a little, but it was worth it. Tonight I'll be there again, this time dressed as Brett Favre. See if I can get some QB rumours started!

Saturday, January 03, 2009

KG the Vile (stunning observations from a twisted soul)

monkeyshoes and I were at the Rose Garden monday for the Blazers-Celtics match up. Great game. Really great crowd.

I have been a long time critic of the Portland fan. With the exception of the Shaq Factor with the Lakeshow circa 98-00, I have never seen such a lively, aggressive, hard cheering crowd in P-Town. Folks were not just psyched about the Blazers. They were foaming with hatred for the Green. Most especially for Our Man on the Floor, Mr. Kevin Garnett.


Thanks in part to the Blazer TV and radio announcers, and in part because he is a damn chippy player, KG has reached Arch Villan status here is Portland. Every time he was involved in a physical play, the crowd would arupt with boos and curses. During the 2nd quarter, this Dad who had come to the game with his 10 year old son and pretty good buzz stood up and bellowed 'KG, meet me in the parking lot!.' After the game I got several razing emails taking shots at Garnett for being cheap, including one hoping for KG to get his teeth knocked out. Even Windbreakers is pissed at KG.

So there is me and monekyshoes sitting in the 2nd to last row cheering for Boston. monkeyshoes is all in green. Folks are yelling at us, shouting our cheers down, and generally are going nuts. At least 15 'Boston Sucks' chants. When the game turned and the Blazers took over the lead, the house was in full roar, a mass of exultation and vindication egged on by an electronic scoreboard. Great fun.

Portland has some juice, for sure. Oden and LaMarcus really gave Boston trouble, and that Travis Outlaw is something else when his game is flowing. Hit did this baseline spin move on Pierce/dunk on Garnett that was straight stupid. Portland still has some growing to do--Oden in particular--but this team is trouble for all comers.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Starbury in Beantown?

How do the partisans feel about this story? I welcome it myself. :)