It was a curiously, interesting week in sports and quite honestly, the sports world has been turned upside down and inside out, thanks largely to the New York Giants upsetting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. And if we’re talking curious, look no further than Pau Gasol exiting Memphis and bringing elation to L.A. Some things have remained the same, however. The Memphis Tigers are still undefeated, Georgetown is still dominating the Big East, and the Duke-North Carolina rivalry still gets me revved up. No more hall passes, no more free lunches, and no more interruptions… “Quite Frankly”….
-The Mavericks simply cannot lose to a Garnett-less Celtics team. And yet, they did. Boston got the better of Dallas last Thursday 96-90 without Kevin Garnett, who missed the contest with a strained abdominal muscle. I’m sorry, but a Mavericks squad playing against the Celtics minus Garnett is just a bad loss. Garnett is the only guy Boston has that matches up well against Dirk Nowitzki, and while Dirk turned in a 31 point, 11 rebound, 6 assist performance, the bottom line is that even without Garnett, Boston proved to be the better team, especially at the point guard spot. Without Devin Harris, Dallas couldn’t come up with an answer for Rajon Rondo. All eyes will be focused on the Feb.21st trade deadline, and whether or not the Mavs pull the trigger on a deal for Jasson Kidd.
-Bob Knight still has one good across-the-court chair toss left. He resigned as head coach at Texas Tech on Monday, in my mind, he’s just like Steve Yzerman or Charles Barkley, or even The Rock, formerly of the WWE: they’ve all got one more good run left in ‘em. Though chances are he’s probably done coaching, and at 900+ wins, he doesn’t have to coach another day in his life, I still believe he can muster up one more good chair toss . Don’t ya think?
-That Patriots loss is going to hurt forever. 18-1 is certainly nothing to be ashamed about, but the bottom line is the Patriots’ goal was to go 18-1; it was to win the Super Bowl. It’s a shame that years from now, no one is going to remember their 18 wins, all you’ll remember is their one loss, in the biggest game in sports.
-Georgetown may not be challenged in the Big East. They’re the big dogs atop the Big East standings at 9-1, and 19-2 overall, but at this point, the Hoyas may be their own worst enemy. Winners of 11 of their last 12, Georgetown is starting to put this thing on cruise control in the Big East. Granted, they still have Louisville (twice), UConn, and Marquette left on the schedule, but they’re vastly superior than anyone else in conference at the defense end of the floor. They’re experienced, they don’t panic, and they’re starting to develop a bit of a swagger and poise about themselves. As long as they don’t forget that it’s okay to get Hibbert his touches, there’s no reason to doubt a deep run in March.
-The Lakers flat out stole Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies. Boy, you want to talk about a heist, but it’s difficult to even say that L.A. stole Gasol away from Memphis. Not when Memphis basically left the back door open, told the Lakers when they weren’t going to be home, and gave them a spare key to get in. The Lakers got Gasol for none, count ‘em, none of their top 10 players. The Lakers sent Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton, and two first round picks in exchange for the big man. The West just got a helluva lot better, namely the Lakers, and it’s tough to predict who will emerge from the West in the NBA Finals. L.A. will be a force to be reckon with once injured center Andre Bynum returns. Kobe Bryant has that guy to take the focus off of him during the absence of Bynum. Best of luck to the rest of the West in drawing up a scheme against what could be one of the best trios in the West in Bynum-Bryant and Gasol.
-Just call him Plaxico the Prophet. He predict the Patriots would only score 17 points, but he overshot the landing by three. The Patriots scored just 14 points in the loss, and had the Patriots scored 44 points and dusted New York, he’d look like a gigantic fool. But there’s an extremely fine line between genuis and foolishness, Emphasis on the first for Plax.
-Is there any reason for the Memphis Grizzlies to have a team anymore?. This shouldn’t come as any big suprise that they traded Gasol, the rumor mill has been on-again, off-again spinning about when or if Gasol would be moved and to where. But when in the hell did they get back in this deal? Two first round picks, that probably won’t be in the top 20 the way the Lakers have dramatically improved from 6, 7, or 8 seed in the West to serious title contender now. Not to mention it appears as if the plan is to now pair two draft busts in Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic on their frontline. Two big dudes who can’t move and really have feel for the game whatsoever. Next up on the trading block, Mike Miller.
-I’m still waiting for Ashton Kutcher to show up and tell me I got Punk’d that the Giants won the Super Bowl. I can’t imagine what it feels like to be a Patriots fan right now. How something that was so right turned out so wrong, in the final game of the year. It feels like that someone is going to jump out of the closet and say “got cha” and New England really won the Super Bowl and went 19-0 in the process. But it’s no joke, it’s for damn sure. The Giants won. Eli evolved, winning the Super Bowl MVP, and New England was running on empty. Anyone else see that Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl just off the horizon?
