It's funny that the Heat think acting like princesses is the way to go

There are two plays from Game 3 last night that jump out at me.  The first occurred with 4:50 to go in the 4th quarter.  Ray Allen fouled Lebron in a very similar manner to the no call when Wade hit Rondo in OT of Game 2.  Now I'm not complaining about how Lebron got the call and Rondo didn't.  I just want to point out James' reaction to being grazed in the back of the head by Ray's hand.

His head snaps back and in the direction towards the contact.  That is clearly not a natural reaction.  It's something Lebron has consistently done throughout his career; attempt to draw fouls by acting as if he's been shot, usually when being "hit" by a much smaller and weaker player.  His buddy Dwayne Wade has mastered a different technique that often produces similar results.  Jump ahead to the 2:50 mark of this clip (and if you can identify what language they're speaking I'll be impressed):  

Wade shoots and tries to draw the foul on Pierce, who steps to the side and puts his arms up as if to say "there is NO WAY I'm fouling you here."  As this is happening Wade pulls his signature move, which is to throw his arms in the air as he shoots to make it appear as if he is fouled.  The refs weren't buying it this time, and after the miss Wade stops and again throws his arms in the air, begging for a call in utter disbelief that his tried and true method of acting was unsuccessful.  Meanwhile Rondo goes down the other way and ices the game.  

   Follow @LucidSportsFan

I'm pretty psyched for the HBO show "The Newsroom"

Honestly, I know next to nothing about it.  I just saw this trailer the other night while I was watching an old episode of Eastbound and Down at 3 am, and that was the first I time I had ever heard of it.  But the second I heard "Aaron Sorkin" I was hooked.  All of his shows have an amazing wit and dialogue unlike anything else that's ever been on television.  The West Wing, Studio 60, and in particular Sports Night; which may be the greatest sitcom ever.  Tragically it only aired for two seasons and hardly anybody knows about it.

I am a huge proponent of the smaller goals no goalies idea for soccer.  Also, I could have spent about 6 hours finding Sports Night clips, unfortunately I have to be at work in 25 minutes, so these will have to do.  The Newsroom looks like it could be sort of a combination of The West Wing and Sports Night, which would be amazing.  Plus, anytime a show is on HBO (or Showtime, and to an extent FX or AMC) instead of a network it's automatically way better.

  Follow @LucidSportsFan

Ugh. At least baseball season is looking up.

I've spent the last few weeks constantly talking about the Celtics toughness, and last night's game was a perfect example.  I've also been saying for quite a while that Rajon Rondo can shoot the ball; perhaps now the world will believe me.  Shortly after the game my dad texted me: "That performance tonight by Rondo may have been the most amazing sports effort I have ever seen.  Wow."  And as it turns out, statistically it was one of the greatest playoff games anyone has ever had.

Rondo became the first player in NBA history to record 44 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds in a playoff game.  Not to mention he played all 53 minutes, and had enough left in him to make every shot he took in OT (scoring all 12 of Boston's points), except for the one where he got hit in the face.  The fact the his effort didn't result in a Celtics victory is just sad.  There's no other way to describe it.  I'm not going to try to asses blame, or figure out why they didn't win.  I'll just say that the C's played their hearts out, and it should have ended differently.

I do however have to mention this one play from Lebron James that I think sums him up perfectly:

I've noticed he often tends to dunk the ball unnecessarily hard; seemingly in some sort bizarre effort to prove to everyone how great he is, and on this occasion it made him look like a chump.  I also discovered an incredible nickname for LBJ on twitter last night.

On the bright side, the local baseball team has made up 3 games in 3 days on the A.L. East co-leaders, Baltimore and Tampa.  The last place Red Sox are just 2.5 games out of first.  Yes, you read that right. They're now 26-24, and only one game back of the Wild Card as well.

  Follow @LucidSportsFan

I bet you can't name all the guys from the 2003 draft class in the Eastern Conference Finals

Stephen A. Smith said something on Sportscenter the other day that I'm shocked I didn't realize until now.  Miami's trio of  Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh were all part of the same NBA draft in 2003.  Lebron went #1 to Cleveland, Bosh #4 to Toronto, and Wade #5 to the Heat.  Denver did pretty well for themselves that year too, taking Carmelo Anthony at #3.  Unfortunately for Detroit, they took Darko Milicic at #2.  Ouch.

But what I'm sure nobody realizes is that the Celtics counter Miami's 2003 class with a few of their own: Mickael Pietrus was the 11th pick in that draft, and Sasha Pavlovic was #19.  The Heat's James Jones was also pick #49, and even though he went undrafted, Miami's Udonis Haslem was a rookie that year as well.  That's seven players from the 2003 draft class in the Eastern Conference Finals; weird.  And if the Celtic's hadn't traded Kendrick Perkins (pick #27) there'd be eight, and I'd be feeling a little better about Boston's chances right now.

Oh, and which guy do you think in the picture is the clown in the all white suite?

  Follow @LucidSportsFan

Abraham Lincoln killed vampires. No big deal.

This movie commercial has been running frequently the last few nights during the NBA playoffs.  And I love it.  It reminds me a lot of a film from last summer, Cowboys & Aliens.  I never actually saw that one, but I'm assuming it was pretty bad.  And I bet Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is terrible too.  But I like them both in principle just because "why not?"  Why shouldn't aliens invade earth and fight cowboys?  Why shouldn't Abraham Lincoln make it his mission to protect the nation from vampires?  There's enough crappy movies out there that I have to give credit to anything that is an original and weird idea, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.

Apparently this was a book first, and the guy also wrote one called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Awesome.  As soon as I am done with the three Hunger Games I am totally reading those.

  Follow @LucidSportsFan

Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect

In the winter of 1992-93, I remember playing Rump Shaker repeatedly on my walkman while riding the bus to and from JV basketball games (here's a random tidbit of information: riding that same bus with me were Cosby Sweaters Co-Founder Mike Johnson, fellow Beantown Banter author Dan Clem, and the General Manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sam Presti.  If only we'd known what we had on that team at the time).  I'm also fairly certain that I never listened to any of the other songs on the album, so I must have been constantly rewinding the cassette back to the beginning.  Something I just discovered from Wikipedia, apparently Pharrell wrote a few of the lyrics for Wreckx-N-Effect, roughly a decade before he ever became famous himself.

   Follow @LucidSportsFan

Rajon Rondo can do anything he wants* (when he needs to)

With ten minutes left in the game on Saturday night, the Celtics we're clinging to a 3 point lead.  Ray Allen was dribbling the ball in the corner, directly in front of my seats in Section 8.  At that moment Boston had yet to make a single three pointer, they were 0-14 as a team, and Ray himself was 0-5.  There were rumblings from the Garden crowd as to whether or not he should even be in the game.  But as I watched him handle the ball, he had a look on his face of complete confidence.  It was the look of the greatest shooter in the history of the league, not a guy with a bad ankle who hadn't been able to throw the ball in the ocean all night.  He dribbled towards the top of the key and I nudged my buddy and said "Ray's gonna make this one," just as he pulled up and buried the C's first three of the night.

Later with four and a half minutes to go and Boston still leading by just 3, Paul Pierce was whistled for his 6th foul on a questionable charging call, and a sense of panic took over the building.  The game appeared to be slipping away, and now the C's crunch time go to guy was done for the evening.  But then Rajon Rondo raised his hand and said "Don't worry guys, I got this."  For the next two and a half minutes Rondo did literally everything for Boston, and with just 1:45 remaining the lead was up to ten, and the game was safely in hand.

Rondo finished by making his final seven shots: 3-3 FG, 4-4 FT, and 1-1 3PT (but oh so close to 2-2), while also becoming just the 2nd Celtics player ever to post a triple double in a Game 7.  Which gives me the opportunity to post yet another espn graphic of his triple double antics:

It's also Rondo's 3rd out of 4 total triple doubles in the NBA this post season, the Lakers Andrew Bynum had the other.  Rondo and KG are tied for the playoff lead in double doubles as well, with 9 a piece.

I know it's an obvious thing to say about a team still alive in the playoffs, but the Celtics keep winning every time they need to.  Since the Game 2 victory in Atlanta they haven't trailed in either series, and they have yet to lose two games in a row.  I don't think they have much of a chance against Miami, but who knows.  They play to the level of their opponent, and often only as well as they have to.  But their toughness is unquestionable.

  Follow @LucidSportsFan