Exile on Waveland

He and Ted Lilly are probably "friends."

Wow. You'd think an overtime, golden-goal Stanley Cup winner (albeit as anticlimactic as that could be) would be hard to top as a way to win the Cup. Nope. *That* was insane.

Watching in the same position, on the same couch, in the same apartment as 2010.

I hardly understand how this game is still close. Only two Spurs have played well.

they missed two free throws and had zero turnovers. they lost the lead because the heat made two big balls 3s and got some fortunate bounces on offensive rebounds not because the spurs were scaredy pants. Why you think turnovers would be more indicative of choking than 80 percent and 83 percent free throw shooters missing free throws, I cannot fathom. Moreover, missed 3-pointers almost invariably lead to long rebounds. Those aren't really fortunate bounces, they're typical. But, hey, maybe you're just as right about that as you are about Tim Duncan being a b.

Of course they choked. Saying otherwise is absurd anti-meatbalism that has swung too far in the opposite direction. This is crazy. If ray allen doesnt drill that 3 then the spurs gut out a win a championship. The ball came off the rim like it did and the heatmade the shots when they got the second chance. Lebron missed that first three so bad that good rebounding position became bad rebounding position and Bosh made a nice play to get the board and the ball to ray allen for the game tying three. Two guys going 1-2 from the line down the stretch is not an epic choke job. Compare the likelihood of two guys going 1-2 from the line (which is a probability dead heat with going 2-2) and the unliklihood of what happened on the other end of the floor. Crazy, huh? I'd say 98.6 percent speaks for itself. whatever makes you weirdos feel better. I bet a team leading by two with 1 second left and the other team preparing to heave a 60 footer has like a 99.99999% chance of winning. if the guy makes the 60 footer did the other team "choke?" That is a scenario that bears no relation to what actually occurred. No indefensible miracle occurred. If you are ahead by five with less than thirty seconds left and lose, you choked--short of the other team throwing in 60-footers. It's OK, I get it. "Choke" is a term meatballs use. Meatballs are dumb. Therefore, there is a desire to reject anything meatballs might think. But this is a time their phrase fits.

Pretty odd seeing IU in a meaningful sporting event of any kind that's nor soccer or basketball. Epically bad at every other sport historically. Uh, swimming and diving? National Champions in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973. Dude named Mark Spitz?

Woot!

Of course they choked. Saying otherwise is absurd anti-meatbalism that has swung too far in the opposite direction. This is crazy. If ray allen doesnt drill that 3 then the spurs gut out a win a championship. The ball came off the rim like it did and the heatmade the shots when they got the second chance. Lebron missed that first three so bad that good rebounding position became bad rebounding position and Bosh made a nice play to get the board and the ball to ray allen for the game tying three. Two guys going 1-2 from the line down the stretch is not an epic choke job. Compare the likelihood of two guys going 1-2 from the line (which is a probability dead heat with going 2-2) and the unliklihood of what happened on the other end of the floor. Crazy, huh? I'd say 98.6 percent speaks for itself.

Of course they choked. Saying otherwise is absurd anti-meatbalism that has swung too far in the opposite direction.

I'm not hockey expert, and I realize Kane has weaknesses, but he just keeps scoring goals in clutch moments. At this point, I don't think it's mere coincidence. And it is rather invaluable. I'll trade some defensive weakness for playoff-series-winning-goals, thank you very much.

Tony Parker sure ain't in much of a decline yet. This year he had his second highest scoring average, second highest assist average (second only be a tenth of an assist), second highest field goal percentage, third highest 3-point percentage, and highest free throw percentage.

Exhale . . . Both from that game and the series in general.

Well that's kind of strange . . . and surprising. I thought all the smart kids were all about former top prospects that struggled early. Seems like Brown would have been a great buy-low candidate.

Fun game . . . But having to go to a bar to watch (stupid NBC Sports) is pretty rough coming off this weekend . . .

Shawn Bradley and Gheorge Muresan were drafted for their athleticism and ball handling skills? Shawn Bradley was actually pretty skilled--especially relative to his size. He was a McDonald's All-American in high school and averaged 14.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.2 blocks during his one season in college. There was a reason besides 7-foot-6 that he was drafted second overall; otherwise, all similarly sized players would be drafted that high. They aren't (see the other player you cited). Moreover, while Bradley obviously wasn't worth the second pick in the draft, he did play twelve years with career averages of 8.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks. Muresan was drafted in the second round; as such, he was a flyer. This isn't the NFL or MLB, the second-round has largely been irrelevant. Edit: and, as CCP pointed out, he wasn't completely a stiff. But let's be clear, again: size matters. A lot.

You have created a strawman on top of another strawman, congrats. No one is drafting centers merely because of their height. Not every 7-foot player is drafted. Even the project-type 7-footers drafted have something else besides height. And height matters. A lot.

Rumeal Robinson Travis Mays Eric Murdock Randy Woods Lee Mayberry Bobby Hurley Khalid Reeves B.J. Tyler Brooks Thompson Randolph Childress Cory Alexander Antonio Daniels Bryce Drew Tyronn Lue William Avery Vonteego Cummings Mateen Cleaves Erick Barkley Raul Lopez Jay Williams Frank Williams Dan Dickau Marcus Banks Troy Bell Shaun Livingston Sebastian Telfair Marcus Williams And that's just first-round point guards from 1990-2006. Guess you can't draft them either.

Making decisions is all coaches do That's not true, man-management is extremely important and hard to qualify as "making decisions." Regardless, coaches make numerous decisions and even the best make poor ones sometimes. Not having Hibbert in was inexplicable* and wrong, but Vogel is still a good coach. *Edit: I don't think "inexplicable" is the right word. It is explicable, as in there is an explanation; it's just that the explanation fails to convince.

The rumors were that OKC went to Golden State and Washington first and asked for Klay Thompson or Beal. They were turned down by both teams which is why they went to Houston. Making those two teams maybe even more insane than OKC.

It looked bad the second it was announced. Edit: Just re-read the reaction here when the trade was announced, and haha, wow. (Most) people on this board should stick to baseball.

That sucks. It's difficult to believe that the Big Ten (1) doesn't understand Indiana-Purdue is a big rivalry; and/or (2) could not modify the schedule to ensure they play twice. Disappointing.

While I'm not a literalist about the thirty-fourth pick, I'm with Kyle that such a pick is not worth much. I'd rather just keep DeJesus for next year and hope to win the bullpen lottery and have a couple players have career years (and this coming from someone who thinks the Cubs will stink again next year).

I've always liked Headley; I wanted him before he blew up. But . . . considering what a trade would likely cost, it's not likely to make sense.

I thought the same thing.