W.I.N.N.E.R.S.
The league makes its announcement, which was once most anticipated but now least anticipated
You never know. At about 12:15 A.M. (I think), I was sitting there watching a playoff game that we’ve all seen a hundred times. The Spurs were going to do enough to win, Phoenix would once again prove that offense and aesthetically pleasing basketball doesn’t win championships. I was ready to watch the Spurs grind it out, catch some of Shaq on the postgame, and then prepare myself mentally to watch Heroes.
Well… all of that changed pretty quickly. In a move that could not have possibly worked out better for the NBA, they get to make the announcement they’ve been dreading, and nobody will care. We’re all waiting to learn about who is suspended and fined or who is not. Meanwhile, the NBA gets to officially announce that Dirk Nowitzki is the MVP. This was the news that people were lining up to make fun of. And now it’s just whatever. Congrats again Dirk, but uh… you know.
Last night’s W.I.N.N.E.R.S.
CLEVELAND: LeBron. Mikki Moore woke him up with that foul on Pavlovic. Bad idea.
PHOENIX: Steve Nash. Lost in all of the tomfoollery-shennagians-chaos-madness and the key plays Amare made and even Marion’s D, is that Steve kept the Suns from quitting as he made play after play. The Spurs weren’t just laying down for the Suns, and Steve kept setting up his teammates and making shots. He found Amare twice with behind the back passes with everything on the line, and he had that play where he spun Ginobili out of the way and found Raja, not to mention that even when he was missing free throws, he still hit enough to seal the win. Steve also added tumbling into the scorer’s table to his series greatest hits of getting his nose busted and private area kneed. I thought Dallas didn’t re-sign him cause he was too fragile? Steve and Ginobili should be getting hazard pay for this series, and it’s only been 4 games so far.
42 Responses to “W.I.N.N.E.R.S.”
May.15 at 3:32 pm
Douce says:
first
May.15 at 3:35 pm
Douce says:
how awkward for dirk
May.15 at 3:37 pm
Ryan Jones says:
It is awesome that the soccer players in this series are the ones getting there asses kicked — and coming back harder than ever. Is Jim Rome watching?
May.15 at 3:41 pm
dez says:
O man, what did Shaq say on TNT-Tipoff? Apparently he came out swinging
May.15 at 4:08 pm
Tariq says:
He said “yon know when you come back after a championship–” and then he turned to Charles and said “you don’t know what’s that like!” Then Kenny started laughing so Shaq turned to him and said “hey, all you did was hit open jumpers while everyone was doubling Hakeem!”
May.15 at 4:13 pm
dez says:
ouch
May.15 at 4:15 pm
Dennard says:
LMAO @ Shaq’s response to Kenny, damn I hate I missed that when it happened.
May.15 at 4:40 pm
soyboy says:
i laughed and closed the nba video of the award presentation when mark cuban began to get teary-eyed and emotional…
May.15 at 5:13 pm
Darksaber says:
So Sam, may i say that even with last weeks sappy, emotional episode, i stile hat Sylar? And the episode before that, five years later, that was the shiznit and then some. Not going to spoil it for the international readers but, DAMN. Can’t wait for the latest episode to upload so i can watch it on my pod.
May.15 at 5:15 pm
Darksaber says:
And congrats Dirk, never thought i’d live to see a 7 foot, jump shooting german win basketballs main individual prize. Well done (apart from you know, the golden state part)
May.15 at 5:26 pm
Nadav Mor says:
Sam,
Is it just me, or do Lost and Heores have way too much in common? Different storylines connecting different characters, one story line taking place mostly in a foreign langugae (with subtitles), a Hindu actor with a British accent, really hot chicks…and the list goes on. I’m only on ep 13 of Heroes so maybe Im wrong, but still.
May.15 at 5:31 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
LOST is much more sophisticated than Heroes. I enjoy both on different levels. Sayid is an Arab not a Hindu, but yeah you’ve got some points there.
The season finale is going to be great.
May.15 at 5:50 pm
HOOP SAQ says:
YES! Steve Nash - who probably deserved to be a 3-time MVP selection - is paying his dues to be a part of basketball legendary. You know a kid coming from Canada ballin’ instead of playing hockey is like a hockey puck trying to make it into the nba as the official puck. It don’t make sense but then it makes perfect sense. His pure passion for basketball kept him off the ice. But maybe after this series he will return to the ice - atleast in 15 minutes intervals. LOL Big ups to Mr. Nash. Big ups to the Suns. And Charles Barkley is still my hero… Keep it up Chuck!
May.15 at 5:52 pm
Nadav Mor says:
he’s a hindu ACTOR though. oh, and another point. dudes from the UK with cool accents that appear smarter than other carachter. mistaa isaaaak!
May.15 at 5:59 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
Really? Oh. Whoops! Sawyer and Sayid for Pres/VP!
May.15 at 6:23 pm
soyboy says:
LOST>>Heroes Heroes bit LOST… i am not programmed to like Heroes…yeah i’ll speak like Shaq. I’ve never bought a TV series DVD before, but when Lost wraps up in about 2 years–i’ll buy the entire season run.
May.15 at 6:45 pm
Nadav Mor says:
Nikki/Jessica for Pres/VP
May.15 at 7:00 pm
Holiday says:
Congrat’s to all MVP voter’s, just like the so called expert’s that make there pick’s none of you know how to due your job’s! and your all Idiot’s!
May.15 at 7:38 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
^^ OK, professor.
May.15 at 7:53 pm
urbanlegend says:
Sam Rubenstein:
“LOST is much more sophisticated than Heroes…The season finale is going to be great. ” you know whats better then LOST & Heroes season finale?
SMALLVILLE
May.15 at 8:03 pm
MOMONEY says:
you know whats better then both of them… the NBA Playoffs
May.15 at 9:11 pm
urbanlegend says:
and you know whats the best…..Inside the NBA
May.15 at 11:20 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
I said it once and I’ll say it again: people still watch network TV?
May.15 at 11:37 pm
filoballer says:
Gets a bloody nose, kicked in the balls, bulldozed to the scorer’s table… and still leads his team to a 3-2 lead against the supposed favorites… reminds me of MJ’s flu game.. all heart. oh, the german gets MVP…
May.16 at 12:06 am
Sesa says:
Boy, Ali Larter sure is hot off the screen. I’d like to watch Smallville too but I got tired of waiting Clark’s learning to fly.
May.16 at 12:29 am
sixthman6 says:
Can we have a L.O.S.E.R.S. section as well? First up, Shaq going 0 for 4 from the free throw line on the TNT post game show…
May.16 at 1:30 am
sp says:
Lost and Heros are great shows but im wondering why yall are sleeping on Jack Bauer…24 Baby!
May.16 at 1:31 am
Darksaber says:
Lost kinda dragged on for the first 10 episodes of season 3, but it’s picked up lately. That said, Lost beats heroes in terms of hot damsels (Kate, WHATTT!!) honorable mention goes to heroes Simone, that is righteuous there. But i gotta give the beauty crown to smallville. That Kristin Kreuk should be banned.
May.16 at 1:37 am
sp says:
Steve Nash got robbed… No more voting for MVP until after the first round!…Shot out to the Jazz (who knew?)…”J-5″ for Josh Howard’s nickname? I thought we were trying to eliminate these kinds of uncreative nicknames Slam!…Sam Mitchell needs to call better plays out of timeouts…Dont check E-males,check females!!!
May.16 at 3:05 am
Jack says:
Amare and Diaw got suspended anyway… Funny how Horry gets the same suspension for body checking someone OR getting at someones face (two 1 game suspensions, pick your favourite) as Amare and Diaw get for leaving their bench?
May.16 at 3:40 am
Russ Bengtson says:
RE: The main photo. Jack Bauer was named MVP?
May.16 at 4:18 am
Holiday says:
Hey Russ, seriously how many prediction’s did you get right this season? did you even have the Jazz making the playoffs? what about the Miami sweep? where’s your credibility, you couldn’t even tell Gerald Green was 6′8 and you stood next to him, beside’s that aren’t you supposed to know this kinda stuff idiot! Charles Barkley could do your job better!
May.16 at 4:26 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with anything. Are you saying since I’m not psychic that my knowledge of basketball—which I’ve been covering professionally for over a decade and following as a fan for over two—doesn’t count? If you must know, my “professor” comment referred to your abysmal spelling and grammar in the preceding post, which made your calling OTHER people “Idiot’s” (sic) rather funny. And hey, if you can find someone who picked every series exactly right (and predicted every team that was going to make the playoffs), please, by all means have them send their resume to the SLAM offices. P.S. I picked the Bulls to beat the Heat (not a sweep, but still), picked the Suns to win it all (before the playoffs were even seeded—we’ll see how that works out) and correctly predicted that Diaw and Stoudemire would be suspended for Game Five. Do I get a cookie?
May.16 at 4:53 am
Holiday says:
The whole comment was directed at your “Im superior, and I know everything” type comment, and yes I shouldn’t have attacked your credabilty but it served it’s purpose, pissing you off like you did me! (and maybe there was one word spelled wrong in that first comment, big deal)
May.16 at 7:01 am
Boyd says:
Can we instigate a ’switchoff’ if San Antonio win this series? The NBA should be punished for its utterly disgusting idiocy. Seeing as only a few unfortunate individuals actually WANT to watch San Antonio, can we all refrain from watching the rest of the playoffs, thus killing the advertising power of the league and forcing it to lose millions? Someones head should role for this decision, it is completely abhorrent.
May.16 at 7:24 am
Boyd says:
I JUST POSTED THE FOLLOWING COMMENT ON A ‘CONTACT THE NBA’ LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF NBA.COM I ADVISE EVERY ONE WHO HAS A MEANINGFUL ASSOCIATION WITH THE GAME OF BASKETBALL TO DO THE SAME: Your actions regarding the suspension of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw are utterly contemptable. You have rewarded the aggressive and dangerous play of one team by suspending to men who did not throw a punch or even touch another player. I realise rules are rules, but common sense is a virtue, and by taking the destiny of the NBA title into your own hands rather than letting it being played on a basketball court (you are a basketball league, after all) is an excercise in extreme stupidity and ineptitude. I can not expressly strongly enough the profound disgust of many of the fans of the NBA. Should San Antonio win the NBA title, there will forever be an asterisk by it noting that the NBA allowed them to kick, knee, and bodycheck opponents with virtually no punishment, handing them a crucial series through abhorrent decision making. This affair rightly tarnishes the respect many people have for your league, and hopefully will result in a great decline in interest, as it should, given that we expect to see basketball players compete for the title, not front office decision makers. I have followed the NBA for fifteen years, and can say without doubt I have never been more insulted by the ineptitude and idiocy of the league for deciding to judge in black and white an area that was unequivecolly grey. The NBA should be deeply ashamed by its actions. You may have permanently tarnished your reputation if San Antonio go on to win the title, and no extent of criticism and blame is unwarranted. The repugnance of your actions is immeasurable.
May.16 at 8:25 am
K22C says:
@Holiday- Please for the sake of mankind, stop posting, you cannot spell.
May.16 at 8:28 am
K22C says:
@Boyd- They are still playing their own game…. David Stern has nothing to do with who wins the championship.
May.16 at 9:01 am
1hush D says:
K22C, Boyd is correct. These suspensions award the enforcer role. Hockey really is being played in this year’s playoffs.
May.16 at 9:05 am
K22C says:
Not arguing with you today 1hush D, too tired, but you are wroung…
May.16 at 4:13 pm
Connor Peach says:
nash should of got mvp dirk got kick out by the 8th team and they had the best record.
May.16 at 4:39 pm
Holiday says:
K22C seriously show me what I spelled wrong, or maybe we could all concentrate on the sports topic instead of everybodys literacy! Oh and just a side note, I would like to agree with Jim Rome that the regular season MVP is a joke and worthless!