Spurs win again. Everybody on the front-runner bandwagon, next stop: LA. Whee.

Maybe Spurs and Lakers fans can out-cry each other after every play.

Dear NBA: I quit.

Time to start watching hockey.

Well, the Suns decided to show up.

This is the team I saw last year, and it will be very interesting to see what Suns team decides to attend game 5.

I’ll say this, though — at least Spurs fans can put their brooms away. Now you should concentrate on cheering for your team. If the Suns win game 5, this goes 7 games — and the series can go either way.

Coming back from 0-3? Pretty much impossible but there’s a first time for everything. Why not now?*

*I am not on drugs, just hopeful for my team.

The Spurs are a part of the system. They are borne from the 1990s system of hard-nosed defense and crying to the refs.

They find themselves in the new age of basketball — of 120 point games and no defense — and they are clinging to the only thing they have.

The refs.

Two games now I’ve watched flop after flop and fucked up call after another — in the end it amounts to one thing — a Spurs W. But at what cost?

I’m not really going to go into any of it, just see youtube for whatever you need to know. In the end, it just amounts to old guys clinging to what they can to advance in the playoffs. The Suns are a better team, the Spurs are old, and they game the system to get what they want.

The worst part is Spurs fans who never admit their team’s strategy. There will be more videos, more blogs, and the end conclusion is that anybody not already a Spurs fan realizes that this is all wrong and basketball dies a little every time this team wins in the playoffs.

And if you’re a Spurs fan, hey, great, your bandwagon is intact — way to ride to another pseudo-win so you can brag to your pseudo-friends about how fake-good your team is.

It’s not unusual to see Kobe go for 50 on any given night. Unfortunately it’s not unusual to see him go for 50 points and also lose.

Kobe doesn’t make his teammates better, and in the end of games, he is a one-man-show who pretty much insults Naismith and his original idea of basketball as a team sport.

Kobe is a gifted athlete and an excellent offensive player. He should use that to his advantage, for sure, but it doesn’t mean he should miss 12 consecutive shots to close out a game and say, “oh well, they weren’t falling and when I can’t score we lose”. That’s bullshit, man.

I think the mark of a great player is a guy who realizes when his shot is off and makes adjustments to either get himself going (better shots) or just focus on passing. It’s not like Kobe can’t pass — he just doesn’t.

People who are constantly double-teamed in the NBA have no reason to say, “we can’t win when I can’t score”. Because you know what? Most of the time when Kobe shoots fade-away three pointers there is a dude who is wide open watching him do it.

So I am more than amused that after all the hype and the MVP chants in LA no-doubt led in part by Jack and Denzel, Kobe and his Lakers are on the brink of playoff elimination.

Kobe is better than Jordan? Really?

Jordan learned from the greatest coach in NBA history and won championships with the teams he had. He had Pippen and who else? Kobe has Lamar Odom! Lamar is a 7 ft. version of Scottie with better post moves!

In the scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. I could really care less about Kobe and what happens with the Lakers. But it’s good to see that when basketball is turned into an individual game, the superstar typically loses — especially in a 7-game series.

So keep up the scoring rampage, Kobe. Until you learn how to make your teammates better you’ll just be a 40-win team.

Kobe Bryant is the best player in NBA history… in his own mind.

Update: Kobe scored 50 and his team won a spot in the playoffs. He was 18-25 which was a lot better than his 7-26 on Friday. Best of luck in the playoffs, loser.

Interestingly enough, the issue I talked about in my post about how the Pac-10 Refs Blew It in the Oregon vs. Oklahoma contest came to its conclusion today ending up in a suspension for the entire officiating and instant replay crew.

I understand these guys were under a lot of pressure, but there is no excuse when you have instant replay. It becomes less of a judgment call and more of a controversy at that point.

Maybe we should investigate further? Maybe congress will hold an emergency session! They did it for steroids… idiots.

Games shouldn’t come down to this. Period.

This Saturday I went to the UO vs. OU game (Ducks vs. Sooners) at Autzen stadium. The game was awesome, and the Ducks pulled off an amazing come-from-behind victory. Not a bad choice for a first time at Autzen. It was easily the craziest football game I can remember going to (except for Civil War of course).

But while I was very impressed with the stadium, the fans, and the play of the Ducks… I must say the refs sucked, and they did so at the worst times of the game. Not that I’m a Sooner fan or I’m nay saying the victory — but those two calls they botched were pretty obvious on instant replay.

Now don’t get me wrong. I cheered for the Ducks, and it was frickin awesome to watch the stadium erupt. But if I were the head coach of the Sooners I’d be pretty pissed off too.

Bob Stoopes is right — the kick interference should have been called, and the pass interference call was incorrect because the ball was tipped (plus I didn’t really see the PI in the first place). It doesn’t take an expert to see this in the replay.

I wonder what the refs were saying during the 5 minutes they took to review each of the plays. It was probably, “If we change this shit, there will be a 60,000+ riot on our hands.” Hopefully it wasn’t, “But I put so much money on the Ducks!”

But hey, it’s too late now. Even Stoopes and the Oklahoma fans have accepted the loss and moved on.

In the bigger picture, it’d be cool to see Oregon go on and win the national title this year. If they do, it’d be pretty amazing, especially considering they could have lost this game if the refs made the correct calls.

Sometimes instant replay doesn’t help when you’ve got 60,000 plus screaming at you to hurry up.

Chris Sheridan, you should shut up. All of this stupid buzz about USA basketball being a failure and a disappointment needs to end. Critics of USA basketball all have this belief that USA players, from the NBA, are the best players in the world and should be infallible. Oh really?

Just like our economy is perfect, and our diplomacy is always right, and whatever our president says goes?

This undying faith in the infallibility of ourselves is scary. For one, we aren’t indestructible. We aren’t the best. We used to be, until we messed it up with this arrogant attitude of ours.

Maybe we should realize that we haven’t changed, and the rest of the world has worked harder because of us. Certainly we could understand this concept — being a free market economy that encourages competition. Did we expect to have a monopoly on all talent and all championships worldwide?

Are we that naive?

Last night I stayed up late yet again to watch USA lose to Greece. Our players fell victim to poor coaching, in my opinion. Coach K has done a great job with creating a good environment, but they needed a pure coach last night not a mentor.

If you dissect the game, it came down two a couple of things:

• Greece adjusted by utilizing the pick and roll offense
• Coach K didn’t adjust to that — ever

So you really have to ask a couple questions:

• Why were all of our best rebounders and shot blockers on the bench? You sit Dwight Howard and Elton Brand?!?! Are you retarded? No wonder Greece had more offensive rebounds in the second half. No wonder their point guards had clear paths to the basket.
• Where’s the fricking zone? From an NBA coach, maybe I could understand obliviousness and a reluctance to play zone, but what is this stupid belief that, “oh yeah we can guard them one-on-one”, even though in the NBA nobody has figured out the pick-and-roll either except for teams that have played together for years? And from a college coach that actually understands zone defense? Unbelievable.
• What is this Lebron James 1-on-5 bullshit? Don’t we have point guards to bring the ball down? Lebron, please, don’t play 1-on-5 on a zone defense then start complaining to the refs when you can’t penetrate from the top of the key. You’re stupid.
• Where’s the full-court press? We saw it once in their 20 minute run. You have so many players and 20 minutes to catch up so why not press early? Use your depth. Drive them crazy. Don’t just sit back against the wall — fight! God, where’s the fight? Players should have just pressed on their own if their stupid coaches didn’t tell them to.

Overall, it was a good run. I think they will learn from this and move on. I’m sure when they watch the tapes they’ll realize their lack of adjustments and complete obliviousness, which lasted just about 20 minutes — during that time Greece went from 12 down to up as much as 14.

Next time I think they’ll react a bit quicker. It’s okay to go to a zone, guys. Just play the game and stop playing scared. A big part of that might be supporting our team better, and offering constructive criticism instead of the, “you’re a disappointment to your country” routine that is completely uncalled for and detrimental to progress.

They played a good tournament, man. Played hard except for a 15-20 minute stretch when their coach failed them, and they let their youth and nerve get to them. Let’s not crucify them for it.

USA Basketball isn’t perfect, and they don’t have to be. As soon as we start ditching the idea that we are infallible, we can learn how to be better. If we don’t, we will fail and point fingers.