14 days til Miami bitches…. Retuuurrrrrrnnnnnn of the MACK!!!!!!
June 16, 2009
Glenn Reno talks more basketball… more Lakers
Some questions and random thoughts for the Lakers, Magic and the league next year…
Andrew Bynum was the one to blame during the 08 Finals when the Lakers lost to the Celtics. This season Bynum averaged 17.4 minutes a game and only 6.3 PPG and 3.7 REB. The potential for him to put the Lakers into a bracket unmatched with any team in the league is there, all we can do now is wait to see what happens next year.
Cleveland is looking to make a trade for Shaquille O’Neal to team up with Ilgauskas to get their own version of the ‘Twin-Tower’ effect.
Kevin Garnett coming back healthy to the previous champion and the Lakers arch-enemy Boston Celtics. Two-peat anybody? (Ed. Defending the title next year will never be harder for any team.)
The season has officially ended and Hedo is already talking business. Hedo’s agent has already said that Hedo will be opting out this up-coming season. The 30 year old is in the final year of a six year contract and is expected to make 7.36 million. Hedo is probably looking for about a five year contract at about 12 million per year I would assume.
Dwight Howard needs to work on his offensive post game, this man has less moves than a geek on the dance floor. Patrick Ewing here is where you come in, they extended your contract.. now do something with it. With his team facing elimination the rock of the team was limited to 11 points and 10 rebounds. Not acceptable.(Ed. But who is going to teach him tow in championships?)
Marcin Gortat is a free agent as well for the Magic. Expect him to get overpaid. Compliments go to him for not bending over for Reebok after they told him to cover up that Jordan tattoo on his leg. More Polska Power to him.
“And he wanted us to believe that he didn’t want to win one without Shaq? He never jumped that high when they won the last three times.” — Charles Barkley
What team is going to offer Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza top contracts? Will the Lakers be able to match? (Ed. Come on Glenn….)
Does anyone remember what Kevin Garnett said just not too long ago. He personally guaranteed Celtic championships in 2010 and 2011. How does Kobe, and the rest of the league feel about that?
I just read that some crazed fans in LA messed up a cop car after celebrating their championship win. Unfortunately Shaq isn’t there to pay for it like last time.. but will Kobe?
After watching Kobe win the championship, LeBron immediately went AWOL and we haven’t heard from him since (Ed. LeBron’s been awol since the day he didn’t apologize for not shaking hands… fucking douchebag) .
Dwight’s on the NBA Live cover, Kobe’s on the 2k10 series. ‘Nuff said for anyone who actually plays basketball video games.. for those who don’t, the 2k series is much better and has been for quite a while… so it’s only right to have the best player in the league and MVP of the finals on their cover…. Dwight’s team is 2nd best.. and so is the game.
How upset is Alston for sitting in the fourth in game 5’s elimination game.. better yet how mad is Anthony Johnson for not even playing one minute of the series? (Ed. He pissed off the coach, I bet they’re both gone after this year)
-Sasha Vujacic didn’t make one shot this entire series, it’s safe to say we don’t need him anymore. (Ed. You may not need him; but you owe him 10.5 mil over the next 2 years)
June 16, 2009
On Tap June 16, 2009
On Tap for today:
- Thoughts for next year on the NBA.
What's on tap.
-Thoughts on the NBA draft.
-Favre’s inevitable return.
-Plaxico… as a Jet?????
June 15, 2009
Victory!!!!
(Ed. Please remember, Glenn is an employee of The Squeeze and a Lakers fan…. whatever the hell that means. He has only been getting all this love because, well, I’d be a dick to not let him have it. The point is, say if the Cowboys ever win another super bowl (hehe) Sanel will be posting a lot (I hope). Yankees make the playoffs, me and TC will be here minutely giving you updates. And GOD FORBID THE JETS WIN. You will not escpae this site, at all. We will be OB-FREAKING-NOXIOUS TO the nth degree. I promise, we will cover more teams in the future. However, to the victor goes the spoils…)
One for the pinky Kobe.
It took seven years for Kobe Bryant to win his fourth championship and first without ex-teammate Shaquille O’Neal. Phil Jackson won his tenth championship to finally surpass Red as the ‘coachest with the mostest’. Whoever said Kobe would never win a ring without Shaquille… you were wrong. It was a selfish thing to say because everyone who knows basketball knows it takes a team to win a championship not just one person. You can say what you want about Phil Jackson and how each of the teams he’s won championships with has had great players and he’s only coached teams with great players. Stan Van Gundy said it best the game five post game; Stan said something along the lines of Phil being the all time best coach. “The guy has won 51 playoff series now… Check your record book and see how many coaches have even won 50 playoff games. It’s fewer than 20, and the guy has won 51 playoff series. It’s incomprehensible. You look at the guy’s record and it’s undeniable.” And just as a side note I believe he’s 43-0 when winning the first game of a playoff series. Phil Jackson is a god amongst men in the basketball world.
My hat goes off to the Orlando Magic for being able to overcome their underdog status through most out the playoffs, to turn heads and make most people believers. This is a very up and coming team and I look forward to watching them in the future. On a side note I believe Dwight’s post game interview after game 5 was very solid and this coming after LeBron went M.I.A after their ‘surprising’ defeat my compliments go again to Dwight for being truly a good sport.
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Lakers for bringing home their fifteenth title and fourth in the last decade. This is without a doubt the best NBA franchise in the last ten years and through thick and thin overcoming unnecessary controversy, battling egos, tough losses to the Pistons and Celtics in 2004 and 2008, respectively, they were able to overcome defeat and bounce back and make it to the finals six times in ten years.
I’ll break down the series with something short and sweet about each game.
Starting off with game one; which was an absolute blowout. The Lakers came out at set the tone defeating the inexperienced Orlando Magic 100-75. What you were able to see in this game was that the Lakers were hungry. Kobe was not going to be denied a fourth ring and dropped 40 points along with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Orando’s highest scorer that night was Mickeal Pietrus who actually came off the bench with 14. Orlando shot just under 30% that game and for a team who relies on their jump shot more than anything you already know that’s a setup for failure.
Game two was a little different, a lot closer to say the least. It took a rookie to miss a failed ‘ally-oops’ as I say to take it into Overtime instead of the Magic tying the series at one a piece. I believe that this is where experience came into play once again, not to mention the home court advantage and the fact that the Lakers had the best closer in sports Kobe Bryant. Lakers went on to win in overtime fashion 101-96. Kobe scored 29 along with 8 assists and Pau Gasol had a great game with 24 points and 10 rebounds. On the other side Rashard Lewis had his best game of the series scoring 34 points and going 6-12 behind the arch.
Game three; Lakers up 2-0 at this point and this would be the first home game for the Magic of this series not to mention I believe the very first finals home game in franchise history. No better time to win their first game of the series and is exactly what happened. The Orlando Magic shot an astounding 75% at the half from the field and set an NBA record for any half in the finals. The Magic ended the game shooting around 62% for the game and edged a victory winning 108-104. Believe it or not even shooting 62% for the game they still were only able to win by four points and at one point with a little more than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter they were only up two points at which point a mix up between Gasol and Bryant turned over the ball, Pietrus was able to gather it up and hit two free throws opening the game up, extending the lead by four with not much time to go.
Game four; Derek Fisher comes up big again. I can’t even count how many times this little guy has made the impossible actually happen. Fisher forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation and then drilled another with 31.3 seconds remaining in overtime to go as the Lakers were able to overcome again in overtime fashion extending their series lead 3-1. Kobe poured in 32 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists basically cementing his MVP finals award once the Lakers ends the series wither it was in game 5, 6 or 7 at this point. Orlando played HUGE in the first two quarters and most basketball fans thought this series was going 2-2, but then finally in the third quarter the dynamic duo of Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum!! That’s right! You heard me correct was able to score about 20 points total, out scoring the Magic 30-14 in the third eventually tying the game in the fourth and then destroying the Magic 12-4 in overtime.
Game five; I actually said Lakers in 5 all series long from the very beginning. I gave the Magic the benefit of the doubt and figured that they’d come up with the hot hand which no matter what LA did still wouldn’t be able to stop them and it happened in game 3. The Magic had the edge in the first quarter leading by two but the game opened up in the second where LA was able to outscore the Magic by 12 dropping 30 points in the second quarter and really putting the dagger in this series. I felt this way because the Magic were young, inexperienced down 3-1 in the series knowing that if they win they’ll still have to win two more IN Los Angeles none the less and pretty much just gave up all together.
Shout outs go to Kobe Bryant for winning his fourth ring and first without Shaquille. Trevor Ariza you are a great player, hope to see you back next season in the purple and gold. Pau Gasol both you and Kobe were the true key to the Lakers this season you were able to overcome and improve on your game yet again and I look forward to watching you next season as well. Andrew Bynum you disgusted me pretty much all through the series where you fouled more than you scored; however I do realize you were matching up against Dwight so you get a temporary pass because you guys won it in the end anyway. Derek Fisher you are the ‘Rudy’ for basketball, small in size, not the fastest but you have experience, your game is mature and you’re a true leader. You kept with your game and your shot and everyone believed and trusted in you. You’re just as big of reason that the Lakers won this championship as any other. Lamar Odom you wanted that title just as much as Kobe and you proved it pretty much all through out the playoffs and specially this series. Creating plays to get to the basket not to mention some key three pointers that put you over the top. Lamar you played good enough for both you and Bynum. Luke Walton youre game was well played this series, you took a limited amount of shots but none of them had me biting my nails and screaming at the TV asking “Why in the world did you just take that F$%#$% shot?!?!” Congratulations. Jordan Farmar I can’t say much but the limited amount of time that you did play was played well, a great role player and I can tell that you’re game is improving. Sasha Vujacic… lol man I bust on you so much on Twitter but you still haven’t responded. You didn’t hit not one shot all series. Please get to the gym this summer, or figure something out because I’m pretty sure the Lakers will be looking for a backup SG this up coming draft.
Once again I got bragging rights for the summer.
Glenn / www.glennreno.com
(One more Ed. Note, i actually have to work this week, so, some changes are coming soon. You have been warned.)
June 15, 2009
Old school at noon
If you saw the buick commercials for the Finals game last night, you KNEW this was going to be the old school at noon tonight…. The squeeze, we da lyrical gangstas…. MURDERER:
June 15, 2009
On Tap June 15th, 2009
On Tap for today:
-Subway Series Recap
-NBA Finals Game 5 and Series recap
On Tap
-Mayweather hurt
-Shaq to the Cavs
-Dodgers
June 12, 2009
Yankees 3-Red Sox…. does it even really matter?
"If only we could play the Yankees everyday"
This is getting ri-god damn-diculous. You mean to tell me that Sabathia is owning these guys going into the 8th inning, with A LEAD, and we still lose to the clowns. Fuck this. The Red Sox are cheating. Plain and simple. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but yesterday was a joke to how bad we got beat. I mean, for Pete’s sake, we got clutch hitting from A-ROD!!!!!! If you take out the 8 times we play each other, we have the same record vs the rest of the AL East. We would actually be up 6 games on them! You know what that means,? We might have to depend on the fucking Rays and Orioles to take care of our dirty work. What else is it gonna take for us to beat these guys? Is it gonna be 2004 all over again? Because if that’s the case, I demand football get started soon.
June 12, 2009
Killing two birds with one stone
Scuttle and the Lakers put a hurtin on the Magic title hopes last night
Ok, so I guess last night proves that the friggen gambling gods are out to get me. Because Orlando had that game locked up, and some asshole at the bar yells out, “Oralando’s going to double Kobe, and Fisher is gonna hit a 3 to send it to overtime!” I silently glared over my sam summer, and as this prediction turned true, I could only laugh (and by laugh I mean go fight that guy at the bar). I guess it’s only fair that I don’t go 100% on my picks, I’ll have to settle for 75% winners.
Coming to the realization that the Lakers are on the brink of another championship leaves me a little too upset to do an actual recap. And then of course when I get home and turn on Sportscenter, they are talkin about seagulls helping the Indians take out Kyle Farnsworth and the Royals. Talk about irony, in the same night Scuttle ‘killed two birds with one stone’.
-TC
June 12, 2009
On Tap June 12 2009
On Tap for today
- Lakers scowl to 3-1
On Tap.
-Red Sox keep taking the Yanks lunch money
-Mike Brown…. not getting canned?
-A couple lists
