It's more than preseason game at the No-Name Arena

Dec. 20, 2011

The Sacramento Kings meet the visiting Golden State Warriors tonight at the No-Name Arena, also formerly known as Arco Arena and never truly known as Power Balance Pavilion.

Yet, the lone Kings' preseason home game likely will be different than any other. This will be the first time Kings fans return to the No-Name Arena since many of them left following the final home game of the 2010-11 season believing the franchise was headed to Anaheim.

Thanks to the efforts of many, including Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the City is attempting to land financing for the construction of a new downtown arena to house the Kings.

That proposition remains a work in progress. However, the Kings are here for the moment and their fan base likely will be highly enthusiastic (read: wild as hell) for tonight's contest as well as next Monday's season and home opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Kings are attempting to fast-forward the compilation of their team in the midst of the makeshift post-lockout training camp and preseason.

Sacramento's plans took a major hit this week when free-agent signee Chuck Hayes failed his physical due to a heart abnormality. The Kings subsequently voided his reported four-year/$21 million contract.

Said President Geoff Petrie, "(Monday) morning, in one of the most heartbreaking moments of my professional or personal life, Chuck Hayes was notified that he failed his physical exam with the Sacramento Kings. Subsequent to that, the contract signed on Dec. 9 has been voided. At Chuck's request, we will have no further comment at this time."

Management informed the team of the situation following Monday afternoon's practice. Coach Paul Westphal's eyes displayed the hurt he felt by the loss of more than just another player.

Hayes, a beast of a man at 6-foot-6, 238 pounds, was expected to bring mental and physical toughness as he had for six seasons with the Houston Rockets. Hayes already had taken a leadership role during his brief time with the Kings.

Westphal said, 'Hayes already had established himself as what you are looking for a man who would give everything of himself for the team and of himself.

The Kings likely will pursue free-agent center Samuel Dalembert in hopes of having him rejoin the crew and provide support in the middle. Suffice to say acquiring Dalembert has become more important and costly with Hayes' inability to play.

Most importantly, Hayes, who had signed the most lucrative deal of his career, now has neither the contract nor a job. Now, he has the questions of how to deal with the heart abnormality and an uncertain athletic future.

All that in a week. Let's hope this serves as a massive lesson to a group of primarily young group of young Kings how fragile their careers and lives are.

Most of the Kings are so young, they did not get the opportunity to play with former Kings shooter extraordinaire Peja Stojakovic.

Stojakovic retired Monday primarily because of back and neck problems at 34. He'd still be, if healthy, the best shooter on most teams.

Stojakovic answered his phone Monday and said, "I feel good physically and about my decision."

He and his family are living in New Orleans, "because the kids really like the area and we're comfortable here."

Stojakovic easily was one of the easiest guys to cover during my stints working the league. He was honest and always available for a comment. As a journalist, one can't ask for more.

Jimmer Fredette looks capable of one day challenging Stojakovic, Eddie Johnson, Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson as one of the Kings' best shooters. What an immediate review of Fredette's game shows is a need to stop leaving his feet 35-to-40 from the basket.

Fredette appears to be the real deal because of his shooting prowess, ballhandling and toughness. We'll see.

Westphal said Monday rookie guards Fredette and Isaiah Thomas are two of the more heady players on the team.

High praise for two players a week into their professional careers.

NBA Comissioner Stern goes too far: Time to go

Dec. 9, 2011

NBA Commissioner David Stern’s ludicrous decision to veto Thursday’s three-team trade between New Orleans, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets is the most bodacious, outrageous, egotistical and ridiculous move in league’s history.

It’s time for Stern to say goodbye. Retire. He’s always ruled with a heavy hand. He’s always been as close to a bully as a brilliant strategist. He’ll probably go down as the best league leader in professional sports.

But for a New York City native, this smacks of stuff we’d hear about the Mafia. It’s like this the National Basketball Association of David Stern.

It’s time to see and hear Stern say, “I was wrong.”

This decision was so unfair in many different ways.All-Star point guard Chris Paul was slated to join the Lakers. L.A. would have sent all-star power forward Pau Gasol to Houston and valuable sixth man Lamar Odom was headed to New Orleans.

The Hornets also would have received guard Kevin Martin, forward Luis Scola, guard Goran Dragic and a 2012 first-round draft choice Houston had acquired from the New York Knicks.

The league said the trade was knocked down because of ‘basketball reasons.”

Presumably, that’s opposed to volleyball or curling reasons. That’s it? Basketball reasons?

No one knows what that means, but there have been perhaps 100(conservative estimate) worse trades consummated in the league’s history. Shoot, maybe since the turn of the century.

Certainly, when the NBA last season took control of New Orleans franchise ownership, the potential for all types of trouble became possible.

The Hornets then were placed into a different category than every other franchise.

The details of that arrangement between the league and Hornets are unknown to the general public.

Moreover, who knows who knows, if anyone knows.

Hornets general manager Dell Demps seemed to have made a pro-emptive strike to prevent Paul, who can become a free-agent following this season, from opting out of his deal and leaving the team with no compensation.

It would seem the league told Demps he couldn’t do his job and did so, after he did his job well.

Looking forward, one wonders where David Stern’s iron fist stops. There were rumors that small-market owners applied pressure on Stern to crush the deal.

So is Demps now incapable of making a trade with any team or just a team Stern and/or the other owners OK.

Stern said Paul was more valuable in New Orleans. Stern omitted to mention to whom this increased value belongs.Stern has made enough money over the years to shut it down, say goodbye and look back at how the league has grown under his management.

Yo, my man, let it go. It’s time.

From this view, it appears he’s lost it. At least, back in the day, he’d have couched his decision with a real explanation.

Basketball reasons?

Really, Dave?

The Kings have more issues than LeBron has haters

The Sacramento Kings have lost five straight and 11 of their past 12 games. They are 4-12 overall and an incredibly poor 2-8 at home.

Friday night, the Kings travel to play the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers who (in the words of late comedian Robin Harris) will be ‘pissed to the highest of pisstivity’ (no, that’s not a word) after losing four straight games.

The next night the Kings host the Dallas Mavericks, who currently share the NBA’s longest winning streak (with Utah) at seven.

Coach Paul Westphal felt the need Monday to kick the team’s first-round draft choice, DeMarcus Cousins, out of practice.

Tyreke Evans, last season’s Rookie of the Year, for the first time of his 21 years, is having difficulty scoring.

Moreover, judging Evans from his words, he’s feeling like some of his teammates think he’s at times playing selfishly.

“I’m thinking team-first,” Evans said. “If I score and guys (aren’t) getting touches then that’s when they just stop playing and think I’m selfish. So I try to go out there and get my teammates involved and to play hard.

“I’m just trying to figure out, whether it’s score or get assists, how to get us going.”

That some of his teammates feel Evans plays selfishly comes as no surprise because at times I’ve felt the same way.

Evans clearly is feeling the weight of the constant losing. Evans is a talent trying to lead when in a best-case scenario he would be the one being led. As we know, though, this is far from a best-case scenario.

Cousins, meanwhile, is another talent attempting to find his way. He’s in a new place and time. He’s a first-time professional dealing with, and seeing new situations.

A lot is made of Cousins’ immaturity and at 20 years and three months he’s hardly a finished product. He’s got a lot to learn and he doesn’t know as much as he thinks.

The kid should be focused only on himself and improving his game. Yet, he thinks he knows so much he feels entitled to question his coaching staff. Looking back on my life, one of the most important things to learn is when to shut up.

And 55, I’m much better at it, but sometimes I falter.

Cousins said Tuesday before the game he’d said nothing to Westphal and the coach had said nothing to him.

“I haven’t said (anything) to him and he didn’t say anything to me,” said Cousins, who then scored 20 points on nine of 16 field-goal attempts and grabbed eight rebounds in nearly 23 minutes of the 107-98 loss to Indiana.

“It’s a new day. I didn’t dwell on it. We’ve got to move on.”

When asked why he didn’t talk to Cousins the day after tossing him from practice, Westphal said with a laugh, “He heard enough from me (Monday).”

That may have been true, but it may not have been the whole truth. There is the possibility that the rookie doesn’t like the coach. Cousins probably doesn’t know Westphal well enough to know if he likes him or doesn’t.

Truthfully, it’s neither here nor there. Cousins is an employee and has to find a way of dealing with his boss respectfully. I haven’t liked each of my supervisors but I never was intentionally disrespectful. That’s unprofessional and learning to be a pro is one of the new obstacles Cousins faces.

It might help the young boy to realize Westphal wants nothing more than to consistently help him uncover more of his talent.

Westphal was asked if dealing with Cousins will compare with any past player-coach relationships.

“Oh, yeah,” the coach said with an incredulous look. “Have you looked at who I’ve coached?”

I hadn’t, but I now have. Over the years while coaching Phoenix and Seattle, Westphal had 3½ seasons of Charles Barkley and 2½ seasons of Gary Payton. Throw in Tom Chambers, Oliver Miller, Dale Ellis, a sometimes intoxicated Vin Baker, Ruben Patterson and my main man, the incendiary Vernon Maxwell.

That’s one special group of players and hardly a mouth monitor between them.

Yeah, Cousins has a long, long, long way to go before he gets into that neighborhood of mind-speak.

Westphal says neither he nor the organization had blinders on when they drafted Cousins. The Kings knew Cousins was a vocally emotional talent.

“I love the guy,” the coach said of the player. “We’re going to have ups and downs and we’re going to have some more downs. We’re going to butt heads.

“We knew that when we drafted him. He’s our guy. We’re going to keep working with him. And he’s going to get better. And someday, we’ll look back, hopefully, and I’ll say, ‘You sure were a knucklehead.’

“And he’ll say, ‘I know, but thanks for sticking with me.’

“I mean, he’s got passion. And he also can be impatient and misplace his passion. And we’re trying to help him.”

But you also have to be respectful.

“I’ve heard a lot worse than DeMarcus has given me, believe me. I love DeMarcus and he’ll either love me know or he’ll love me soon again.”

In my opinion, Westphal Tuesday in that loss to Indiana went way beyond sensibility in the third quarter of the loss to Indiana, to show Evans he had his back during these tough times.

The Kings were going through one of those once a game tough stretches that kill them. Evans was turning the ball over and generally playing poorly. Luther Head scored the team’s only field goals during first 10 minutes of the quarter.

The situation called for Beno Udrih, who made each of his six first-half field-goal attempts on the way to 15 points, to replace Evans. Yet, the coach waited nine minutes before he subbed in Udrih.

Personally, I’d have squatted Tyreke’s butt with the quickness while the Kings were being outscored, 17-2, to start the quarter.

Said Westphal, “How can a young guy get to know how handle situations until he plays the minutes. I’m not going to take Tyreke out if misses a couple of shots or makes a couple of bad plays, like he’s no good., because I think he’s very good.”

Meanwhile, Evans says his team has to find a way to play a solid 48 minutes, and a team meeting last week didn’t help. Yet, he believes the team remains confident.

“Definitely,” he said. “We’ve got the players. (A lack of) execution is what is killing us. We’ve got to stay together.

“We’ve had a meeting, but it was like in one ear and out the other. It was without the coaches. I think it was Sunday.

“We’re just frustrated right now and we’re trying to find a way. It’s tough right now.”


On an entirely different front, Lebron James goes back to Cleveland for the first time and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

If I was James, I’d be trying to get 50 in our victory. If I’m playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, there’s little I wouldn’t do to drop an ‘L’ on his way out of town.

Intense feelings on both sides – not to mention the crowd - should make for a great game.

Fire Westphal? Hold your water!

People are absolutely nuts. Maybe that should read fans are nuts.

I’m reading now how the Sacramento Kings should fire Paul Westphal.

This is after they go 3-3 to begin the season. Hold your water, people.

Granted, I’ve got many questions regarding what the Kings are doing and/or trying to do.

Those things I’m trying to figure out and from the looks of, so are they, coach Westphal included.

One thing I’d ask of those who believe Westphal should be fired. Did you think he should be fired when the Kings were 3-1.

If so, then OK.

If not, then shut up and quit being reactionary to a couple of losses.

One of those came against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The other defeat was by a Memphis Grizzlies team one year ahead of the Kings in the growth process and definitely more athletic and talented at this point.

It doesn’t make a difference if the Grizzlies played two overtimes the night before. If it was six or seven overtimes, then OK, I’d see the point.

These are basically 22 to 30 year-old cats, who played 10 minutes longer than regulation. What? They can’t hoop two nights in a row. People, please?

Often times, I wonder if people who write some of the bizarre stuff they post ever really, truly laced up sneakers and competed. Most of the time, the answer I came up with is hell no.

Did you ever consider how pissed off, motivated and determine that team might be after just throwing away a game they'd dominated the night before? Isn’t that a factor?

You want to fire Westphal? Didn’t the Kings just hire homeboy? Can the man get more than one season and six games before kicking him to the curb?

Can he work with the same group of players for a minimum of two seasons so it’s clear to all what he’s trying to do? Or maybe it won't be clear and that'll also be a revelation.

An organization has to have stability and firing a coach every year or even every other year does not inspire stability.

There is no way a team can become a team without learning its rules and regulations and disciplines. Just because you have 12 players or 14 for that matter, doesn’t mean you have a team.

Teams go through adversity and become stronger as a result of lessons learned. What the Kings have is a nucleus that consists, in part, of Tyreke Evans (21 years old), DeMarcus Cousins (20), and Omri Casspi (22). Include Donte Greene (22, and his status is another discussion point), Hassan Whiteside (21) and there are five players, who still are shy of their 23rd birthdays. Add Darnell Jackson, who is 25 and has six games under his Sacramento belt and there is a collection of characters who don’t really know what they are doing.

They can’t because knowing what you are doing requires know-how. You know, doing it over and over again, like most of us have done in our given jobs/professions. And not when we were 20 or 21 or 22.

Just because these guys are tall and highly-paid doesn’t make them any different mentally or maturity-wise than others their age.

They have differing levels of maturity, intelligence and willingness to accept teaching or even acknowledge the need to be taught.

Westphal surely still is attempting to learn how to teach and reach these guys. The Kings have improved talent and size, but its collection by no means is so commanding that it is dominating.

OK, I could spend another four hours with the questions that surface with Westphal’s actions and decisions.

So, I’ll chill with those for the moment. Some of those might be answered, say, in the second or third weeks of the season. That was a joke for those of you taking this Kings thing a bit too seriously.

However, here’s a couple I hope to get the coach to answer by next week.

How many plays do you call a game? How many of those are pick and roll plays?

The Kings half-court offense often appears to have no direction. Is that because players fail to execute their roles? Or is it because it lacks direction.

How much time during practice does your team spend on defense? Is there a way to improve how stay in between your man and the basket? You know the basic concept of keeping one’s man in front of you?

So far, the Kings should be renamed the excavators since all they do is dig holes for themselves. That’s the most difficult way to win games.

Ahh, we'll get to Greene another day.

Lakers show Kings how far they have to go

The Los Angeles Lakers strolled into Arco Arena Wednesday night delivered all that is real.

Clearly, it was too real for the young Sacramento Kings.

It wasn’t just the 12-point victory margin. It was the team-wide defensive intensity combined with a self-knowledge, championship confidence and swagger combined with a discipline of execution that overwhelmed the Kings’ youthful intentions and desires.

The Lakers are what every team wants to be and where every team is attempting to get.

They’ve already won back-to-back titles and nothing was apparent last night to reveal they now aren’t on a similar course.

Could they become better this season than last? Only a season’s evolution and development can lead to that determination.

Yet, as the new-and-still improving almost 31-year-old (Nov. 6) Lamar Odom said, “Better? I hope so. That’s our goal. It’s always realistic, when you strive. Being perfect is like a realistic goal for us. That’s our way of thinking, our thought process.”

Can you get to that? Other teams are attempting to get into the playoffs, perhaps get a high playoff-seed, even. Meanwhile, the Lakers have begun the season 5-0 and have yet to put 23-year-old 7-foot talent Andrew Bynum on the court.

The Lakers seek perfection. Odom sounded like Denzel Washington in “Remember the Titans”, but the sincerity in his delivery and eyes, showed the versatile swingman was deadly serious.

Just as Kobe Bryant always is serious when he steps onto the floor, the Lakers carry themselves with an air of invincibility. That quotient never should be underestimated.

In some ways, Bryant’s presence and dominance manifest themselves in each of the Lakers. That goes the same for legendary coach Phil Jackson.

They don’t get shaken and there never is a situation in which they feel a loss of control.

Listen to how Odom and Derek Fisher speak of Bryant, who had off-season surgery on his right knee for the third time.

Said Odom, “Kobe is coming off surgery. He’s going to will the basketball game to kind of go his way. So, this is nothing different than what I’ve seen since I’ve been playing with him.”

Fisher and Bryant joined the Lakers together in 1996.

“I thought he might start off struggling to find some rhythm,” Fisher said of Bryant, “and he might build some rhythm as things went. But to see him playing this well, this early, he’s on my team, so that’s good for me. But that’s not good for everybody else when he’s playing this good this early.

“It’s not surprising. Nothing that he does surprises me. I’ve just seen too much, too many times. He’s capable of doing pretty much anything and everything.”

That’s the sound of reverence, of ultimate respect and confidence. The Lakers are a finished product that somehow still has an upside.

Meanwhile, the Kings are attempting to find their way with games such as the Lakers contest serving as monitoring levels. Sacramento’s leader on the floor is 21-year-old second-year guard Tyreke Evans.

Evans couldn’t stay on the floor against the Lakers and much of it was his own doing. He picked up his third foul with 1:08 left in the first half while defending Bryant’s shot attempt.

Evans’ fourth foul came with 8:42 left in the third quarter. He was caught reaching 20 feet from the basket as Bryant attempted to catch a pass. He was replaced 34 seconds later and sat the rest of the third.

It was no coincidence the Lakers quickly raced to an 82-62 lead as the Kings offense went ka-put.

Kings coach Paul Westphal didn’t mention Evans by name, but it was apparent the guard’s absence during the third quarter’s final minutes was a crucial factor.

“I thought it was an offensive breakdown in the third quarter,” the coach said. “I thought we were missing a lot of shots in the third quarter and let them get out. They’re too good of a team to let them get (into) transition and just miss, miss, miss over and over.”

Westphal knows how much the Kings (3-2) collectively have to improve to even approach the neighborhood in which the Lakers reside.

“The Lakers don’t even know who we are right now,” he said. “We would like to build a rivalry with the best team in the world, but to answer that question as if there’s a rivalry, that’d be an insult to them.

“We’ve got to win some games before there’s a rivalry. They are where we want to be.”

Kings get early test Wednesday against Lakers

It is perfect timing for the world champion Los Angeles Lakers to show up in Sacramento earnest.

No more exhibition games and no more regular-season games during which the Kings could spend the first halves looking like they wanted to give up 80 points.

Sacramento (3-1) gets the Lakers Wednesday night at Arco Arena and it’ll be something serious. Granted, serious and special come in different packages for the teams, Sacramento has an opportunity to prove something to itself.

This will be Sacramento’s first opponent destined for the 2011 playoffs. That’s a bit of a guess, but anyone betting against a Lakers post-season appearance is on for double-double wager at your local cheeseburger establishment.

Those who have watched the Kings win three of their first four games should be aware of how slim the margin can be between winning and losing. The Kings just as easily could be undefeated as winless.

Victories are not to be undersold, no matter the method of achievement. The ‘W’ is the bottom line.

And there is certain strength in being able to come back from double-digit deficits to get a win, even if a similar ugliness exists in the abhorrent performance that takes a team to such depths.

For example, the Toronto Raptors, in Monday night’s Kings home season-opener, literally conducted fast-break drills that ended in dunks and lay ups throughout much of the first half.

It wasn’t exactly the way the new-style Kings wanted to greet their sellout crowd. However, led by Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih, the Kings were able to hang around in the second quarter and eventually outscore the Raptors in each of the final three quarters.

Evans is a statistical phenomenon. He’s perhaps on his way to becoming the most unusual player I’ve had the opportunity to watch.

The guy can look like one of the most devastating drivers I’ve ever seen. Therefore, passing the ball, particularly in a one-on-one situation, is unnecessary, if not even foolish.

Then Evans can attack a defense, either in a half-court situation or on the break, and appear to be one of the most selfish cats ever. He has no problem driving into a group of three or four defenders and forcing up an off-balance attempt that seemingly has nary a chance of conversion.

On a similar possession, Evans can draw all of that attention and somehow find an open teammate he seemingly has no apparent ability to locate and hit for a basket or at the least, an easy opportunity.

And just like Monday night, despite the distractions of receiving his 2010 Rookie of the Year award before the game and missing the start of the second half with an upset stomach, Evans finished the night with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot in nearly 37 minutes of action.

It was another night at the office for 21-year-old.

Not to be overlooked was the contribution/on-the-job training of center DeMarcus Cousins. The 20-year-old is on the early road to becoming a low-post, go-to-guy. Without him they become a jump-shot reliant, Evans-penetration dominated offense.

Cousins quickly is showing his mettle as a beast. Clearly, he’s ferocious on the boards and is capable of getting rebounds the Kings have struggled to get for years. Cousins rebounds in traffic. He rebounds with people on his back or on each shoulder. He rebounds with the hands of others on the ball, at least momentarily.

Yet, on this night, it was possible to watch him grow. He had two low-post moves blocked virtually before they left his hand by seven-foot non-shot blocker Andrea Bargnani.

Cousins, who played just 17 minutes, scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. Ten of those came during the fourth quarter where he played Bargnani like an oboe.

The education taught in the first half already had been eaten, digested and evolved into a learned lesson in the fourth quarter. Cousins is an amazing case. Among all the words of critics heard about him during the draft, I can’t remember any of them mentioning his considerable intelligence.

Its clear Samuel Dalembert is rounding into shape. Dalembert grabbed a Kings’ season-high 14 rebounds in a little more than 22 minutes. His career-high is 23 boards. Dalembert’s tremendous length did not result in a blocked shot on the stat sheet, but if there was a stat for altered shots, he’d have had a couple.

What the Kings have lacked in recent years are players of impact - those who change the directions of a game with intelligence or heart in addition or independent of talent.

Omri Casspi didn’t do much in the first half, but his steal and driving dunk with 1:16 left in the third quarter was dynamic and quickly sent the crowd into a frenzy. Casspi outran the Raptors defenders and quickly forced down a surprising two-handed dunk.

“I just said, ‘(bleep) it,” Casspi said after the game.

Casspi clearly is unafraid of the moment. He scored 12 of his 14 in the second half and nine of those came on three of three three-point shooting in the fourth.

What Casspi appeared afraid of on this night were rebounds. He didn’t have one in nearly 33 minutes. Perhaps it was a positional thing. Toronto small forward Linas Kleiza had just one rebound during 34 minutes.
On a night, where Carl Landry’s jump shot was harassed by Reggie Evans (game-high 19 rebounds, 10 offensive), Darnell Jackson (eight points), Jason Thompson (seven points) and Luther Head (nine points, three assists) made impacts off the bench.

Donte Greene was the lone active player to receive a DNP-CD (Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision). Coach Paul Westphal said after the game Greene has done nothing wrong.

“There is no problem with Donte,” the coach said of Greene, who started at small forward in the season-opener but has been replaced by Casspi. “There are only so many minutes. We had so many bigs out.

“I’ve found out Luther and Darnell can come off the bench with energy and I don’t need Omri to come off with his energy. But it’s nothing Donte has done. Right now, Omri is the answer to the equation. It’s more of the contributions of Luther and Darnell than it is a slam on Donte.”

Greene opted not to discuss the situation following the game.

Artest dismisses haters with tough, clutch performance

It's rare when I have any personal stake in the outcome of the NBA Finals.

I'm 32 years deep in the business, but since I didn't cover the series, it's easy to admit I was rooting hard for the Los Angeles Lakers. There were too many people forecasting doom for the Lakers because they had Ron Artest.

There are many folks who believe Artest to be a bad dude. They believed he'd bring a negative persona to the Lakers that would prevent from winning a title.

Those same folks are the types who would root against L.A. just so they'd be right about their predictions.

You know, true haters.

Some are the type who will never understand Artest or a kid like him in part because they've rarely been around black folks.

I can't blame the haters totally because society's boundaries, visible and invisible, can make it difficult for natural, real and true interaction.

Excluding racial barriers, it's long been my mentality New York City is as racially divided and segregated by neighborhood as any city in which I've been. Forget that melting pot moniker. Yes, there are many types of folks in the city, but often times, their respective neighborhoods are segregated.

'If you are not from there, often times you shouldn't be there.' That was our credo growing up in Jamaica, Queens.

Perhaps the haters never have been around folks like Artest, who is definitely a different breed. There are not many guys anywhere like him.

However, then again, there are guys with personality similarities with whom I (and I suspect) you grew up.

Ron-Ron would have been described as 'crazy' and everyone would know exactly what was meant. He's unpredictable, quirky, sometimes wild and uncontrollable, yet not deemed as dangerous.

Some never will understand the Nov. 20, 2004 night when Artest, then a member of the Indiana Pacers, went into the stands in Auburn Hills, Mi. following a brawl instigated by Detroit's Ben Wallace.

Personally, I understood him losing it when he was laying on the press table and was hit by a cup of ice and liquid. Running into the stands not knowing who threw the cup was stupid, but semi-understandable.

Some can't comprehend Artest wrecking a couple of TV monitors at Madison Square Garden.

Artest, generally speaking, isn't to be messed with. Yet, his teammates have loved him at every stop, including L.A., now. That's because he competes and has major heart.

When the Lakers played Boston in 2008, it was easy to quietly hope Eddie House, then coming off the bench for the Celtics got a ring.

That's because he's a good dude, like Ron-Ron - just nowhere nearly as 'crazy.'

If nothing else, everyone should thank Artest for that post-game press conference, the best-ever, never to be bettered.

Kings and Sixers swap centers and unwanted

The Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers had tired of centers Spencer Hawes and Samuel Dalembert, respectively. So the Kings included disgruntled forward Andres Nocioni and the deal was done.

In Hawes, Philadelphia received a skilled shooter, who specializes in drifting to the perimeter instead of using his array of low-post moves to provide the threat of which most teams dream.

Dalembert, 29, brings shot-blocking, athleticism and rebounding to the Kings, who desperately need each quality.

Nocioni did not want to be in Sacramento any more than the Kings wanted him. He's a good three-point shooter, but he's going from one bad situation to another. It's difficult to imagine him being happy for long, if at all.

Both moves allowed each team to exchange salaries. Hawes is in the final year of his contract, so he'll be looking to get paid at the end of this season.

Perhaps Hawes can develop toughness over the years. L.A.'s Pau Gasol did, even if he gets knocked down more than any star in recent memory.

Don't fall for okey-doke

One of the more interesting phenomena during any sports series is how so-called experts (we prefer observers) react to one game. Most become waver masters.

Certainly, see Boston in the NBA Finals after watching Cleveland blow out the Celtics at home in Game Three of the Eastern Conference semifinals should be a lesson to us all.

Those needing more history should think back or look up the 1984 Lakers-Celtics Finals matchup. Larry Bird's Celtics were spanked 137-104 in Game Three in Los Angeles and the Birdman said his team played like sissies. The Celtics won Game Four 129-125 in overtime and went on to win the series in seven games.

Don't get it twisted. We'd rather be with the Los Angeles Lakers, in this instance, ahead 1-0 in this best-of-seven series with the homecourt advantage.

Simply put, every game won is a huge feather in the Kangol. You need four to win.

Yet, the Boston Celtics will be ecstatic if they can heist Game Two Sunday and go home for Games Three, Four and Five with the series tied 1-1.

That, quietly, was their realistic goal when they came to L.A.

Surely, winning both games would have been greatness personified. However, that was such an unlikely occurrence, realism suggested getting one for the Green would be all good.

The Celtics have made their way to this point by handling what is in front of them. Sunday, the only remainders of Game One will be motivation from how they lost and increased intensity because of necessity.

Boston would rather drink spoiled milk than go east trailing 0-2. That is a larger deficit for Boston than a 2-0 advantage for the Lakers, if possible.

That deficit eliminates any margin of error for the Celtics, not to mention giving the Lakers three shots to win their third game and return to L.A. for two games, needing just one to win.

Game One was viewed as ugly by many observers, Lakers coach Phil Jackson included.

Well, wait until Game Two. It promises to be uglier.

Boston will play with a sense of urgency bordering on desperation. Every movement on each end of the court will be challenged. Every thing that can be gotten away with will be used.

It'll be the two old-head squads playing on Sunday morning at the park and only the strong will survive. That will be strength of mind as well as physical.

Boston appears to need a rejuvenated Kevin Garnett. As he moves about the court, the question is whether he's physically capable of using his quickness and length even in the neighborhood of where he once could play.

Garnett's movements appeared unsteady during the season's second half and it could be the length of playoffs have taken away leg strength. There are movements he can make without thought, but many more he cannot.

In many ways, the limited mobility of Garnett and Laker center Andrew Bynum appear similar. They can be productive still, but fluidity in their current physical states is only a dream.

The Celtics more likely will get amped production from Ray Allen, who received at least two bogus foul calls from the uptight and inconsistent officiating crew of Joe DeRosa, Derrick Stafford and Joey Crawford.

Allen still has the NBA's prettiest jumpers and lethal as well. Boston coach Doc Rivers preaches playing together and Allen suffers most when the Celtics fall short.

As poorly as Boston played, Rivers was accurate when noted there were opportunities for the Celtics to get into the game.

If those openings arise again, both teams could head east tied at the hip with a great, albeit ugly season awaiting us all.

Gasol leads Lakers not named Kobe

Pau Gasol's 23 points, 14 rebounds (eight offensive), three assists and three blocks during a game-high 47 minutes helped provide a base for Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

Gasol produced without having the ball pounded into him. Ron Artest, Derek Fisher and Bynum did the same as Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown off the bench.

The Lakers ultimately put the outcome in the ice box in the middle of the fourth with Bryant on the bench.

The Lakers in Six, maybe Seven

I'm not really into predictions, but what the heck? It's a freebie.

And unlike ridiculous pre-season predictions, looking at two teams two days before the best-of-seven 2010 NBA Finals begin is more realistic. So, it says here the Los Angeles Lakers will go back-to-back with a six or seven-game victory over the Boston Celtics.

The reason: too much Kobe Bryant. To me, it's that simple. However, if the Lakers slip, they easily can be defeated. It wouldn't shock to see Boston coach Doc Rivers and his staff throw some zone at the Lakers.

If L.A. doesn't handle it better, i.e. making perimeter shots, than it did against Phoenix, it's going to be trouble.

It's easy to appreciate the merits of the Celtics and Lakers.

As a New York City native, merely thinking about the appreciation of anything Boston means there has been major personal growth.

New Yorkers are inherently trained to hate Boston and its sports franchises. And that goes both ways.

As I write this today, alleged Boston native Joey Rust, harasses me via text and cell phone with his profane chant about the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets. Rust loves all things Boston and happened to be in my house during Game Three of the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Rust, in a nothing-to-lose prediction, said the Red Sox would come back from that 3-0 deficit to win four straight. They did, and Rust always will have that one to throw at myself and son, Phillip.

In fact, my son said Rust harassed him a few days ago on Facebook about New York sports teams. My son probably would use the word - random.

But it's like that. I understand. Phillip understands (well, maybe not the profanity). But hey, I'll be rooting for the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup. Oops! And oh, yeah, Rust's daughters, Kiele and Gracei, correctly the Giants 2008 Super Bowl victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

My dislike of Boston hardly was aided by seeing adults throwing rocks at black children during busing.

However, meeting two beautiful ladies, Evey and Lola, from Newton, Mass. (I believe) while at Hampton Institute (now University), opened my perspective.

Ditto for meeting my man, coach Willie Maye, the adjunct mayor of Beantown. Maye, originally from North Carolina, a Boston radio personality can be seen representing the Celtics wearing a Boston jersey.

I still love the guy. Hey, he was on the court with me in Portland in 1992 when I tore my Achilles tendon and took care of a brother. Maye could hail from Anchorage and he'd be special.

Nor did it help to see the Celtics wax the New York Knicks like the kitchen floor. The Celtics were so dominant during the early 60's that they were hated in Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington D.C.

Ironically, black americans viewed the Celtics as white america's team. That's despite Bill Russell's status as modern times first black coach in pro team sports. That's despite the presence of Sam and K.C. Jones and Tom 'Satch' Sanders as well as Russell playing integral roles in Boston's success.

For me as a young fan, hating Boston teams was a learned behavior. I always liked Sam Jones because no one used (or since has used) the glass like him.

On the low-low, in 1967 I rooted for Carl Yastrzemski's Red Sox squad that lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Why? I still held it against Bob Gibson and the Cardinals for beating my Yankees in 1964.

Just like I rooted for Detroit in the 1968 World Series against the Cardinals. I still have an affinity for Mickey Stanley, Mickey Lolich, Denny McLain, Dick McAuliffe and Willie Horton. Man, while checking out Baseball-Reference.com, I just found out Milwaukee slugging third baseman Eddie Mathews was on that squad.

Yeah, it's stupid stuff I did as a fan that helps me to understand the misguided thought processes of fans now. Like I said earlier, it's free.

Something non-sports fans can't comprehend is the freedom to root for whomever you darned well choose. I have friends from New York who still root for the Oakland/L.A./Oakland Raiders no matter how badly they stink.

Old habits are hard to break - not impossible - but definitely difficult.

Bunts, blocks and screens

Colorado's 26-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez has an 0.78 Earned Run Average through 11 starts (10-1). His stuff reminds of a young (pre-drug) Dwight (Doc) Gooden. Jimenez has a 96-to-100 mph fastball, drop-off-the table curveball, a dive-bomb splitter and what, an 88-mile per hour changeup. ... In the you-never-know category, Toronto's Jose Bautista will turn 30 in October and was the 599th pick (20th round) in the 2000 draft. He played for Baltimore, Kansas City and Pittsburgh before joining the Blue Jays for the 2009 season. Bautista leads the majors with 16 homers. ... Washington's Livan Hernandez, 35, is still productively pitching. You think rookie Steve Strasburg can learn from talking to this veteran. ... Who the heck came up with the stupid, 'voluntary organized team activity?' The NFL Players Association needs to eradicate this practice in its next collective bargaining agreement. If not, then change the freak'n name to mandatory OTA.

We encourage stalkers on this blog so sign up as followers.

Who you like in the NBA Finals and in how many games?

Those who correctly predict will win win nathan, nada, not a thing.

Hey, we are honest.

NBA playoffs go from sour to sweet

For weeks there were complaints about the early rounds of NBA playoffs being non competitive with one sweep following another.

Never mind that few folks would have chosen the Phoenix Suns to beat, much less sweep the San Antonio Spurs. Or selected the Spurs to defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, for that matter.

There are those observers, including myself, who believed the Miami Heat had a legitimate chance to surprise the Boston Celtics in the first round. Miami had ended the season playing well, while Boston had struggled throughout the season's second half.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have come and gone, but it was just a couple of weeks when that squad looked like the up-and-coming squad that had a chance to throw legitimate fear into the then shaky and injured defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

However, NBA nuts like myself, now have the Celtics holding on to the cliff with every finger and nail as they attempt to hold off the rejuvenated Orlando Magic. The Magic appeared to have thrown in the towel during Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Celtics, meanwhile, were throwing blows with a smothering aggressive defense and a balanced solid offense that could attack from many angles. They were ahead 3-0 and had Game Four at the house.

Two defeats later, the Celtics can't be sure who among Glen (Big Baby) Davis, Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels will be healthy enough to play in Game Six at their gym. Even if they can play, how well can they play or will Davis and Daniels remember playing after suffering freak concussions during Game Five.

And each respective injury speaks to the unknowns attached to merely stepping onto the court. The Celtics began Game Five with a somewhat comfortable 3-1 lead over the Magic and walked off with a tenuous 3-2 advantage and 25% of their squad requiring serious medical attention and hopefully quick recuperation.

When Davis was hurt, he had not left his feet. Dwight Howard drove to the basket and was smacked across the wrist by Nate Robinson in an attempt to block his shot. (For the record, no foul was called.)

What goes up must come down and Howard's arms came down with his left elbow landing on the cheek and nose of Davis.

Perhaps had Robinson actually blocked the shot, Howard's elbow might have missed Davis. No one knows that, but we do know Davis looked like Joe Frazier against George Foreman after the big forward was struck.

Wallace goes to the basket and extends to make a layup and came down like a 54-year-old after reaching for a book off the top shelf of the library. His back was sore as heck and stiff and many of us can speak to that feeling.

Grissom suffered his concussion after when his head bumped into the body of Martin Gortat on a baseline double-team. How flukey is that?

Still unmentioned is how close Celtics center Kendrick Perkins came to being suspended after receiving two technical fouls. One technical was rescinded, but it didn't have to roll like that.

So here the Celtics are having wasted two opportunities to close out the Magic. The Beantown Boys have a shot Friday night at the crib before the world comes crashing down. The last thing they want is a seventh game in Orlando before a maniacal crowd and buoyed, confident Magic squad smelling blood.

Since I believe each game is it's own entity, I believe the Celtics are capable of shaking off three defeats and still winning a Game Seven.

However, that's not the way they are trying to get to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons.

Phil Jackson just the other day was speaking about how losing those two games in Phoenix put them into a situation they should embrace 'because that's the way it should be for a championship team.'

Wonder if he was thinking that when Jason Richardson banked in that game-tying three-pointer right in front of Phil's throne? I doubt it.

Lies, lies and more lies

We're entering a period of NBA life during which there possibly will be more lies, lies and more lies told than ever before.

There are so many lies out here right now, even before I can get started on this topic, I just heard another one.

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson Wednesday afternoon on being tied 2-2 in the Western Conference Finals with the Phoenix Suns after losing back-to-back games in the Valley, "There's absolutely no doubt that we love this. This is what champions are made of. We had this situation with Oklahoma. We had it with Denver last year in the (Conference) finals. It should be like this."

Yeah, Phil. Really?

Why do people feed us this garbage like we're disposals? I mean, you can't just put anything even in a disposal.

He's got a center in Andrew Bynum, who currently because of a knee injury has the mobility of former mountainous Utah center Mark Eaton.

The Suns have used a 2-3 matchup zone of sorts to lure the Lakers into make shooting from the perimeter in the past two games and they've been incapable of handling the responsibility.

The Lakers went to Phoenix with a 2-0 lead and left tied 2-2 and Jackson wants us, somebody, anybody to believe he'd rather be in this position than ahead 3-1 with a chance to move to Finals Thursday night.

Imagine this concept Phil, you wouldn't rather have won both of those game and have clinched a Finals berth?

Yeah, Phil. Let's just say I've got some land in Montana I need to sell. Oh, that's right, you've already got a spread up there.

Jackson's impending contract situation actually was one of the motivations behind this subject. ESPN.com's Mark Stein, whom I hold in high regard, reported the New Jersey Nets indirectly have inquired about Jackson's potential interest in coaching their squad next season.

Jackson's contract is up after this season and word is Lakers owner Jerry Buss wants the zenmaestro to return, albeit with a drastically reduced salary. He made $12 million and it's been reported Buss wants that dropped by roughly half.

Now I have doubts about that. Could Buss be crazy/senile enough to think Jackson, whose lady friend Jeanne happens to be Jerry's daughter and a Lakers exectutive, would take such a deal. For goodness sakes the man could be coming off back-to-back championships.

Jackson says he nor none of his people have discussed potential coaching gigs with New Jersey or Chicago or Cleveland.

So some one or somebody or some people are lying.

Each side can't be telling the truth.

We're told LeBron James had nothing to do with the firing of coach Mike Brown. Yeah, right.

That we've not heard James told the Cavs he'd come back if they retained Brown means the young star had something to do with Brown's release.

Coaches come and go because teams eventually stop wanting to hear their message and the grass always is greener.

Shoot, I loved my late father, but there were days I'd have traded his butt for two slices of Valentino pizza at the bus terminal on 165th street in Queens. No doubt, there are nights my son would make the cheesesteak for dad trade, too.

After having covered the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings, being lied to comes with putting on socks in the morning. Executives and coaches lie to beat writers regularly. It's part of their job and as long as we accept that, it's a free world.

There are times the truth can destroy impending or possible transactions. That's understood.

However, can we keep a little sanity about these untruths. At least work on the falsehood. It's not like you come home and tell the wife just anything. Can we as fans and writers get similar respect, please?