SH Blog: Grizz screwed in San Antonio; More reactions to the Spurs’ 250K fine
I expect to say a statement from the NBA tomorrow acknowledging the blown call. They issued one of those after the Bargnani non-call alluded to above, but that was a measly Raptors-Bobcats game.
This was a potential Western Conference finals preview.
Just brutal.
Anyway,tonight’s blog has a lot of reactions from a lot of different NBA figures on the fine David Stern slapped on the Spurs for siting four key players Thursday night against the Heat. Start with Chris Perkins’ column, which presents an interesting point regarding who rightfully should be upset with Gregg Popovich and the Spurs. Next, we’ve got Charley Rosen’s Sheridan Hoops debut column, which looks at who comes out of the situation looking worse: Stern or Popovich?
Rosen also had some previously undisclosed insight into why Phil Jackson wasn’t re-hired by the Lakers. We bring it to you via a podcast, and it is a must-listen.
Now, here’s the rest of the latest NBA news:
Here’s Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times on Kobe Bryant’s rant at Lakers practice: “Kobe Bryant is happier now. Slightly. Maybe. He was in an angry mood at Thursday’s practice, calling out his teammates for not being tough enough in games, The Times has learned. It wasn’t a long rant, maybe half a minute, but he left practice in a hurry, stalking off the court toward the end of it, irritated that the first team had lost to the reserves several times. He knocked some items off a table at midcourt on his way to the locker room and did not talk to reporters who were let in after his outburst. ‘It was worth seeing,’ said a person at Lakers practice that day. Maybe it worked. The energized Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 122-103, Friday at Staples Center. Bryant’s message wasn’t light. It contained expletives and hammered at the same theme. The Lakers should not be playing this poorly. Everyone needed to be stronger emotionally and physically.”- Marc Stein of ESPN.com has his Weekend Dime up and there’s this really interesting note about Anderson Varejao: “As one admiring official from a rival Eastern Conference team put it, Varejao is averaging 14.5 points and 14.9 rebounds on his “‘get me out of Cleveland’ tour.” Good line, but is it true? Varejao certainly hasn’t been campaigning for a trade and has established an undeniable on-court connection with franchise Cavs guard Kyrie Irving. Considering that Varejao also earns a very reasonable $8.4 million this season at age 30, with one full season at $9.1 million and a $9.8 million team option in 2014-15 left on his contract, it’s worth asking: Why would Cleveland ever want to trade him? The latest word on the personnel grapevine is that the Cavs won’t discourage offers for the Brazilian, knowing it probably wouldn’t matter anyway after receiving a steady stream of calls from interested teams for the past few years, but it’s worth noting that discussions have rarely progressed because Cleveland has always asked for a lot in return. You can safely presume, with the way Varejao’s been playing, that Cleveland’s price hasn’t gone down.”
All right, now it’s time for the “Restgate Reax”. First up to comment on the $250,000 fine the NBA handed to the Spurs is Metta World Peace, courtesy of Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News: ” ‘It was a smart move from Popovich. But he shouldn’t have come out and said (anything). Just send them home and say they’re sick,’ Lakers forward Metta World Peace said before the Lakers hosted the Denver Nuggets on Friday at Staples Center. ‘It was just too much in the face of everybody. He had a little bit of Ron Artest in him.’ ” Medina also talked to Antawn Jamison, who said this: “I thought as a coach you can do what’s best for your team. … But with the ratings, being on TNT and people seeing the San Antonio Spurs play Miami, David has a different agenda. It didn’t surprise me (Popovich) rested those guys. It surprised me the NBA said something.”- Next up is Doc Rivers, quoted by Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com: “Rivers said he understood but sympathized more with Popovich. ‘I don’t like it,’ Rivers said. ‘I do get the other side of it, but it’s a tough one. You’ve got to coach your team to win in the long run.’ Rivers said Stern and the league made a big deal of it when it happened right away, when the league issued a statement Thursday night.”
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I guess you mised the foul called on bonner where he was pushed from behind by zbo into a a grizzly teammate driving to the hoop. Why dont you talk about all the missed calls.