Shootout in Cleveland

I thought of it before Dore mentioned it but he confirmed the legitimacy of my legal flashback. Currently both Wade and LeBron have 41 points each and are close to triple-doubles. On the weekend when Dominique is finally elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the leagues' future superstars play a game reminiscent of the Larry Bird/Dominique Wilkins shootout in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference SemiFinals in 1988. Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts James 45 16-25 2-6 13-14 4 12 10 4 2 0 3 47 Wade 42 18-36 1-4 7-9 2 8 9 1 2 1 4 44

The Best Take the Court...and the Bulls

UCLA and LSU were 10-21 Over/Under and 12-21 Over/Under during the regular season. Currently the total is around 122. With both teams sporting huge under records coupled with the record setting low-scoring regional final between UCLA and Memphis, there may be some value with the over. While UCLA is an underish team, they have scored 70 or more points in 6 of their last 8 games and 7 of their last 9. Take the over here. UCLA has covered 9 of its last 11 games. LSU is a hellavu team but I went 3-0 last week fading the favorites (all 4 dogs covered) so I'm gonna try and keep the streak going. There were some good historical numbers on favorites not covering small spreads- Taking UCLA and the 2.5. George Mason and 6 is hard to resist. They have proven that they can play with anyone, and though Florida should win this one George Mason is the play. The Bulls are 8-3 Over/Under this calendar year and 12-6 Over/Under this season on no rest. A bizzare game against Charlotte tonight where Chicago was in control the entire way, played very poorly throughout, then made some key plays to withstand a Charlotte run. Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense. The Celtics happen to be 22-14 Over/Under on the season when on the road, though 11-11 Over/Under for the calendar year. At 194, I'm going over. This goes against the trend that favors the under after big points scored in the paint in the previous game but the Bulls only consistentcy is inconsistency. - nutlow

Party in Indy

Farfel is taking in the Final Four with all of the fanfare and celebrities that only Indianapolis can be expected to handle. while I am stuck at home watching it on my Plasma in HD, Farfel will be hob-nobbing with Cherokee Parks and Bill Walton. No word yet on whether Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (aka Chris Jackson) will be in the house to watch his alma mater. People will be taking an especially close look at Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Glenn Davis. Thomas has jumped to the number one spot on some people's draft list, buoyed by his dominating performance against Texas. He looks like Stromile Swift to me. Noah and Davis also have been impressive, providing plenty of comparisons to other stars. Some may think that scrutinizing these last few tournament games of a player may constitute an overemphasis on only a couple of games. Others argue the importance of playing under pressure, stepping up as a team leader and other intangible factors at play on the biggest stage. I think I'll have to do a more complete analysis on tournament performance as a predictor of NBA success. For now, a couple of things to note: Dave Corzine scored 46 points for DePaul against Louisville in 1978... And this is a nice site that shows historical NCAA brackets: bracketville -nutlow

Let's review the Garnett situation

Twolves Glenn Taylor stated yesterday that he has no plans to trade Kevin Garnett. Let's think about this for a second - IF Taylor DID plan on trading Garnett, why would he announce that Garnett was tradeable? Such a comment would hurt Garnett's value - see the Vince Carter trade (anyone remember who he was traded for?) or the TMac trade as examples of what happens when a star and owner announce a trade is pending. In short, you hurt your bargaining power. Although, if Isiah Thomas were involved, he'd find a way to trade more than even requested. Patrick Reusse of the Minn Star-Trib weighs in with the below, an outstanding column explaining the Wally trade was terrible, that Marcus Banks isn't a PG (as Boston realized), that Mark Blount stinks (as Boston realized) and that Ricky Davis isn't the 2nd or 3rd best player even on a bad team. Ricky is fun to watch - he has no pulse. The possibility of the TWolves acquiring Marbury is also mentioned, Reusse writing that Marbury is physically 75% of the player he once was - what that means, I'm not sure specifically, I guess an allusion to his perpetual ankle pain, sore shoulder and years of play. Teaming Marbury with Garnett for a 2nd time may invigorate the Big Ticket, giving him a teammate with game, a teammate who ferociously wants to win - unfortunately, Marbury tries to win games by himself, often unsuccessfully as I've personally witnessed. If Isiah Thomas can get rid of Marbury - a miracle in itself - he'll have to take on an equal contract in return. Most likely, that will be a player with another bloated contract, perhaps a Marko Jaric/Mark Blount type deal. While that would rid the Knicks of Marbury, is it worthwhile to get rid of your best player (yes, Steph is the Knicks best player)...to acquire Marko Jaric and Mark Blount? One to think about. --- "Wolves need to rid themselves of dead wood"

My encounter with The Stallion

I signed up to receive picks from The Stallion via this site: http://www.pro-sports-handicapping.com./premium_picks_login_.html Clearly, the guy is maniacal, diluted - and a terrible prognosticator. A note from him is pasted below. ---- 1 year ago i took full control of my service and parted away with any partners...some know this already.. i said it will take 1 year in all sports to develop my patterns...but i also said i will get us there and i have. as of tuesday my patterns are all finished...yes tonite is not good,but im sure we will have days like this the nba and colleg ewas all i had left to finish, and i have to say i am very xcited and honestly love what i see. no the clippers did not fare well..but last nites charlotte +12 play was from this pattern..and they almost won outright. i will use this going into next year as well now from now on in basketball if you see a 5 that means its a pattern play..anything less is still a good play ,but please cut back after what i have done..i honestly feel this pattern can hit almost 70% in both nba and collge..yes 70% thats how sure i am...right now its 1-1..and remember it only fares to 5* plays my football and baseball patterns are set... when baseball starts...everything will be 5*....if the same trend continues as last year..we may cut back a week here and there, because as i said..last year we had 1 losing week in every month...see what happens after the 1st month i was really hoping to hit this clipper play, but thats ok, my work is done, now its time to get this rolling again, gl tomorrow, but please cut back when the units are smaller we got another winner in baseball today, and another easy winner it was..pattern is now 7-0..lets keep it going gl visit my website @ www.pro-sports-handicapping.com or email me @ www.stallion_sports@yahoo.com

To my Atlanta minion from Farfel

if u guys ever set up a $5/$10 minimum mixed ring game (preferably horse), and the schectors agree to play (minimum buyin of $300), ill fly in to play the definition of dead money = schectors in a ring game just like the mouth, im a cash game player ill even donate 5% of my profits if ian plays to: schectors (brucey, stone mountain, big, toddy) cc: greek/tamer/mouth/philip/ricky

The Tamer's Response

Mike the Mouth can talk all he want as long as he continues to not HURT us in our games.....Nick, hopefully we'll play again this Sun. nite (Ricky wants to host) and it will either be 50 entry or a 25cent/50cent ring game.. ..

An open letter from the Greek to the Tamer

Subject: What I can do for you. What's disturbing to me is when I call T up and all I can hear in the background is motor mouth talking about how he out scored so and so. I think even the big guy felt a little bad. "I'm not the sixth man, Todd, I want my respect.". "I played great D and I even had more points than Tamer," was being screamed into my ear as I tried making conversation with toddy. Anyway the point of all of this I know BJ, TJ, and one ofthe JV kids if you want some help with your game. Congrats on the winner take all win on Sunday. Sorry I wasn't there. Is it true that AG, the snake, isn't coming to the ATL for fantasy football? That little jerk, you've visited 2 or 3 times and how many times has he been back to see us. He said that he would try to phone in his picks, but I'm going to tell Tthat's not fair. Let me know when you guys are playing next. Maybe the next time will be $30 entry. Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

At the Grotto - Classic Conversations

AlCantHang: "I used to spank it to you." Julie McCollough: "Was that Growing Pains or Playboy?" AlCantHang: "Both." -Tao of Poker

Update

Nutlow Detroit over 51 = WIN Dallas over 51 = WIN Ind over 52 = LOSS Miami over 57.5 = LOSS Utah under 34.5 = LOSS Philly over 42.5 - LOSS Chicago over 42.5 - LOSS Denver over 49.5 - LOSS Nets over 47.5 - pending Spurs over 57.5 - WIN Farfel Clippers under 37 = LOSS Atlanta over 20.5 = WIN Twolves under 43.5 = WIN Bobcats over 20.5 = WIN Memphis over 42.5 = WIN Miami under 57.5 = WIN Utah over 34.5 = WIN Philly under 42.5 - WIN Toronto under 28.5 - pending Wash over 40.5 - pending

Made several eBay purchases today

4 mets-yankees tix, Friday May 19 - $130 total another 4 mets-yanks seats, same day - $120 total walt frazier bobblehead - $9 total. i cant resist buying bobbleheads. 2 rangers-islanders tix, april 11. $130 total. planning to sell off 1 set of mets-yanks tix, think i can make at least a $50 profit. unsure if its worth the time and risk. i guess i like to gamble. the frazier bbhead went for 99 cents plus 8 in shipping. a great addition to my bbhead collection. will go to the rangers game w uncle blobbie - his first ever hockey game. seats are in the 400 level and i worry he wont be able to see. there were better seats avail in sec 96, obviously much closer to the ice and im sure he would be able to c the puck from there but...double the price...and i fell asleep when it was concluding. another reminder i need to sleep better at night. learning u gotta wait people out when selling tickets, maximize ur money there. the tix i wanted in sec 96 went for $225 including free shipping (odd). could get close to double that today. ill make the mets tix avail for sale in early may make it a 7 day auction. friday nite has to get a premium.