Erick Blasco

Nitro! Get better man! You're too smart a guy to have drugs ruining his life. Take care of this. It's good to know you have good friends looking out for you.

They deserve all four. Whether they get all four is a different matter. I'm rounding out my East with Horford, Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo, Deng, and Johnson, with Felton the first alt. I'm rounding out my West with Duncan, Dirk, Odom, Ginobili, Williams, Parker, and Westbrook with Gasol replacing Yao.

First call is a weak call---I didn't see much contact from Radmanovic. Second call Odom drives, barely gets touched, misses a layup---I don't see why there should be a foul there. Third call, did Fisher hit Pierce's arm on the pass? If so that's a foul. Fourth call, Kobe clearly extends his right arm to get separation though it is ticky-tack. Fifth call, Odom clearly extends and shoves Kendrick Perkins. That foul is obvious. Sixth call, I think the Odom foul on Powe is weak. Seventh call, Turiaf crashes into Powe. That's an obvious foul. Eighth call, there's almost no contact and Farmar is attempting an over the head backwards scoop. Why should there be a foul? Ninth call, yeah I think KG pushed Gasol. That should be a foul. Tenth call, just because Mike Breen says Rondo crashed into Gasol doesn't mean he really did. That play looked pretty clean. Eleventh call, just because Gasol thinks he gets hit doesn't mean he necessarily did. There needs to be a better angle to show if KG whacked him on the arm. Twelfth call, Perkins didn't foul Kobe. Thirteenth call, did KG foul Odom? It doesn't look like it. Fourteenth call, KG hangs before shooting causing Odom to make contact with his arms and chest. That's a foul. Fifteenth series of calls. Kobe's arm is in front of Allen reaching around on the first call, the second call is explained above, the third call is an obvious flop job by Pierce, and the fourth call is explained above. Sixteenth call, after the ball is in the air there's no foul by Pierce. Pierce may have grabbed Kobe when Kobe cut. There needs to be a closer angle. Seventeenth call, there's not much contact when Kobe executes his spin or when Radmanovic finishes. You can't expect foul calls there. Eighteenth call, refs missed a Pierce grab on Kobe. What have we learned. Both Kingfish and the dude who made this video are obviously Lakers fans and refs will miss a few calls. There may also be slight bias against home teams by certain refs. I could probably put together a video detailing the Celtics bad fouls and no calls and say the refs were favoring the Celtics. This video is pretty weak.

Aside from the Heat, what good NBA team has built itself through free agency? As of now, the Knicks are the 16th best team in the league in schedule adjusted offensive and defensive rating. Here are the league's best: Boston built its core by trading two young players/picks (one who is fairly talented) for two stars in Allen and KG. Rondo, Davis, Perkins, and Pierce were drafted. Chicago drafted Rose, Deng, and Noah and only signed Boozer (who hasn't made much of an impact so far). Orlando drafted Howard and Nelson, signed Hedo when he was a bit player, and acquired the rest of their core through mostly trades. In fairness they did flip Rashard Lewis in free agency for Gilbert Arenas. The Lakers pseudo-drafted Kobe, Bynum, and Fisher. They traded for Odom and Gasol and signed Artest. San Antonio drafted nearly all of its rotation guys except for Jefferson who was acquired in a trade and Bonner (I forget how he was acquired, if I remember correctly he was a RFA from Toronto) Oklahoma City drafted (or pseudo drafted in the case of Jeff Green) virtually its entire core. Utah drafted Williams, Millsap, Miles, and Kirilenko, traded for Jefferson, signed Raja Bell. Dallas drafted Dirk, and acquired most of his supporting cast through trades. Not many free agency built teams here. Building a team through free agency is one of the hardest ways for a franchise to build a team. The amount of free-agency built superteams in the past are few and far between.

You're absolutely right, I think D'Antoni wakes up in a cold sweat at the possibility he may end up coaching Harrington again. Harrington's not a smart offensive player, he kills ball movement, and he's a poor defender. The Knicks have leverage anyway. They know they can get Melo for free this offseason.

They still need a versatile wing who can create his own shot more consistently than Salmons, and they need starting-level talent at more places on their roster. Jennings doesn't finish well so he's at the mercy of his jump shot and Bogut has regressed back to average status. They have some assets, namely Redd's gargantuan expiring contract. They can get a piece back for him if they're willing to add salary for a year or two after this year---for example, maybe the Pistons want to flip one of their wings, Stephen Jackson could work, though I wonder how he'd deal with Skiles...there are deals the Bucks can make to improve their offense. They're going to be stuck with some bad contracts for awhile, might as well try to get to the second round over the next few years before rebuilding again.

"This is not a highlight filled possession right here" lol

When do you step up as a leader? Why will you fold under pressure? When will you fold under a leader? Why do you step up as pressure? When will you step up on a ladder? Why do you fold clothes under pressure? When will you step under pressure? Why do you fold up as a leader? Why do you pressure the leaders who are stepping up? When will you fold the leaders who are under pressure?

First of all, calm down. Until the doctor comes back with the results, you don't know anything for sure. You may have just caught strep throat or something. Tell your doctor everything, he should keep things confidential, and proceed from there. Also, most std's will have physical symptoms like sores on or inside your mouth which I'm not sure you have. My best advice...don't eat p**** until you get tested.

Korver hits the FT and this one should be a wrap. Give credit to Chicago's defense for the win.

The strategy almost worked, Kidd almost came up from a steal.

Nice going by the Mavs putting both Dirk and Chandler on the inbounder. No way Watson could see over him.

nm, Mavs had foul to give.

Brewer has to dunk that. He can't pull it out. He's not a great foul shooter.

Single coverage and Deng forces a Dirk miss off the backboard. Awesome defense.

The Mavs haven't run too many screen/rolls with Dirk. They've saved that play for the endgame as Rose misses another layup and the Mavs give up another offensive rebound.

You have to gameplan first and foremost for the Kurt Thomas crossover. If you step up too hard...you better hope your ankles are nice and taped up.

Kurt Thomas has really stepped up tonight. Good offensive rebounding, some shot blocking, and a big jumper to stretch Chicago's lead.

Nobody misses more ridiculous looking shots than Rose. His vision isn't great and it means he has to force a lot of wild layups because he overpenetrates and can't see the floor.

Too much dribbling by Rose. He overhandles way too much. The Bulls get bailed out by Thomas working hard on the offensive glass.

Nice pass by Kurt Thomas knowing Rose is going to cut back door and Rose very creative finish which all superstars need.

It's the Bulls vs the Mavs man! Dirk! Rose! Omer Asik! DeShawn Stevenson! Rick Carlisle! Tom Thibodeau! Great defense! Great off...great defense! How can you not be into this game!

Dirk just feels zero pressure from Gibson in the post, Dirk hits another jumper.

Yeah, Rose still line drives his pull ups and can use more arc. That shot was better and he had more arc but he had to shoot over a couple hands to get more arc.

It's a beautiful reverse layup by Rose, but he had a wide open lefty layup. Does Rose even have a left hand or does he have to do everything as a reverse? With a left hand, his FG% would be at least 50%.