The Moonball Blog

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Your Chance for a Championship Ring

To kick of the NBA championship week, I thought you might like to know about a chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals -- and your own championship ring and belt. Just like Chauncey, Rip and Sheed.

Wolves center Darko Milicic and his wife are holding a raffle for his 2004 NBA championship ring -- and NBA finals game trip -- to raise money for the Zorana & Darko Milicic fund for Children With Life Threatening Diseases.

That raffle was originally scheduled to end a few days ago. But the deadline has been extended to June 3...I'm assuming this means they're hoping to raise some more funds, and that raffle chances may be raffley-decent.

I'm not usually in favor of NBA stars selling off their hardware. But in Darko's case, he might as well...he didn't really contribute, and getting rid of the thing might help him to purge some of his NBA demons. Just like a 7 foot Frodo...only by getting rid of the ring will Darko save Midwest Earth. Equally intriguing is the wrestling-style championship belt...and going to the Finals would be a blast! (I really miss being at games that mean something.)

Here is where you can go to get a raffle ticket, which costs $2. Prices are better the more you get....so get a handful!

http://www.celebritiesforcharity.org/raffle/Darkos-2004-Detroit-Pistons-NBA-Championship-Ring-Raffle

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Learning



They say its not a series until someone loses at home. I guess we've got a series.


Thibodeau (did his ancestors steal a vowel or two from the Hyry's?) is so good at figuring out other teams. Throughout the season, the Bulls would struggle in the first half of a game, go to the locker room where Thibs would make some adjustments for the second half win. So far, this took a few games with both Indy and Atlanta but once figured out, the series were over


The Bulls struggled to score last night - and the defense faltered when Omer was bloodied. LBJ took over and that was that. I've been a big Udonis Haslam fan going back to his days with Shaq but he is not going to be the Heat's solution. Maybe Miami will throw a twist by getting Big-Z out of his street clothes.


It's going to take a few games and there will be a heartbreak or two more. That said, I want/hope/believe Thibodeau can out smart Spoelstra and get the Bulls to the Finals.


Monday, May 09, 2011

My Fill of Phil


He brought us Championships in Chicago and we have lots of love for Phil Jackson.



Thanks for everything, glad to no longer associate you with LA.

Dallas Shots Keep Falling - Lakers Gone Fishin'


I was listening to a Laker game two nights before the end of the regular season, and something about Mychal Thompson's tone, and what he was seeing and describing made me think - "these guys aren't gonna make it this year. The thrill is gone."

Then New Orleans steps in and beats them a couple games, and I started dreading how the Lake Show might warm up, dig deep, and pass through the tests that were being thrown at them. Stop me if you've seen this before. Yuck.

Meanwhile in Portland, watching the Blazers fight the Mavs and watching Terry, Kidd and Peja step up and make huge threes in the first two games, I thought, "eventually those shots will stop falling, then the Blazers will win." But the shots never stopped falling. Between Tyson's presence in the middle and the Blazers' failure to post up, quarter after quarter, Dallas ended up being the better shooting team.

Fast forward to the Lakers. Not only did the shots continue to fall (including Dirk's unguardable circus fadeways), but the little guys clowned the aging Fisher and scrawny Blake, the triangle fell apart...and Chandler was roving the paint ready for blocks and oops.

And then a funny thing happened. When the Lakers' backs were against the wall, the shots didn't stop falling -- instead, the Mavs suddenly locked in and hit them all. In one magical, humiliating night, probably the end of the Phil Jackson era...suddenly all the yellow-bellies could do was watch or get ejected one by one...until time ran out, and the storybook ending never came to pass in La La Land.

So now Kobe's gone fishin', and Phil will likely be fishin' for good. I know when it's raining, the fish often bite better. Wonder if that holds true when it's raining threes.