Milk is bad.

Considering that Vince Carter is now a sad excuse for a basketball player and can barely dunk jump, I'd say stay away from milk.

Vince Carter

I originally intended to write out 5 observations from Thursday night's basketball match between the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic. The above picture is the only thing I came up with. Sure, I can talk about how great it is that I traded for Rashard Lewis in my fantasy league, or how Garnett doesn't look 100%, but Vince Carter's suckitude was just too enormous.

There wasn't a single play that he looked comfortable handling the ball. His first play? Traveling. His last play? Not being able to get open 30 feet away from the basket, forcing Redick to abandon the drawn up play and pass to Lewis instead. In fact, if I was Doc Rivers I would have let Vince Carter handle the ball on the last play.

VC is so washed up now. His offensive repertoire consists of 3 things now.

1. Shooting 3 pointers 5 feet out from the line because he can't get any closer
2. Shoot a off balance shot, even when open (one of his two made shots were of this variety)
3. Drive into the lane and get smothered because defenders know that 90% of the time he's not going to pass

He is the reason why the Magic are struggling. He's been bad this season, and yet he has a usage rate of 26.9%. In yesterday's game, he decided that he should suck some more and and had a usage rate of 31.8, second only to Dwight Howard.

I don't want to seem like an overly negative person so I don't think it'd be a bad idea to list a few things that he did well in yesterday's game.

Paul Pierce tried to post him up and Carter defended Pierce very well, drawing an offensive foul. (The next time Pierce posted up, Carter fouled him)

He dived to the ground for a loose ball. (He didn't get it.)

Carter did not get open for the last shot so someone more capable, aka anyone else, was able to take the last shot. (This wasn't really done on purpose so he only gets half credit.)

I actually kind of like the Magic so I hope VC can start sucking less soon.

Lakers-Bucks Local Announcers

Continuing my procrastination streak...

I thought the Bucks announcers did a decent job avoiding the "homer" tag. The play by play announcer was fair, but the color commentator was a little too biased. Overall they kept themselves in check though. Some interesting notes.

• When the Lakers were winning, they were very, very fair. 
• When the Bucks pulled ahead in the 4th quarter, the color commentator started getting out of control. 
• On the Buck's last shot of the game (a missed Michael Redd runner), one of the announcers yelled 'Michael Reddddd!'. This isn't too bad of an offense actually, it was a very exciting moment.
• On Kobe's game winning shot, the color commentator yelled out 'MISS IT!'. This isn't that cool. 
• At one point in the 3rd quarter, they talked to each other about eating cookies. They just decided to stop calling the game and talk about cookies. (Note: Intense cookie talk starts around the 30 second mark)
  

Truehoop Annoys Me

Busy with finals. Here's a short rant.

Henry Abbot of Truehoop annoys the beejeezus out of me. This guy is a huge Blazers fan and Kobe Bryant "hater" (hater is a bit extreme), which is okay until you bring that bias into your blog that's directed towards a national audience. Abbot respects Kobe, but often goes out of his way to downplay his achievements. Abbot's most recent post about Kobe is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. This is the Truehoop formula for Kobe Bryant posts.

1. Talk about something good about Kobe to show that you are not 'hating'.

2. Immediately discredit that with analysis and stats, which may or may not be accurate/applicable.

3. Finish post by straddling the line between 'Kobe is overrated' and 'Kobe is good' to show that you are not biased.

This most recent post can be summarized like this.

"Kobe hit a game winning shot and did pretty well in the 4th and OT. But stats show Kobe usually is not that good in the 4th and OT, many people are better. Also, he may have gotten a lot of preferential treatment from refs. But who knows, I mean, I'm not saying Kobe is not that good, but the stats show that he is not that good."

This came out longer and less coherent than I had planned. Stay tuned for my rant about Bill Simmons someday.

Chill Out

Hey Joakim Noah, chill out.

Turkododo

This is a few days old but I procrastinated. If this is what Rasheed Wallace really said and not some typo, he is my new hero.

Kobe Is An Asshole

 Kobe: High Five!

Monta Ellis: High Five!

Kobe: Psych.