If you take Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s stats and project them over 48 minutes, the NBA’s most colorfully tattooed player would be averaging about 36 points and 22 rebounds in the playoffs. Of course, “Birdman” is not a 48-minute player, but an argument can be made that he’ll se a serious uptick in playoff minutes as the Miami Heat continue to advance.
And on a side note, Andersen is trying to trademark the name “Birdman” with the U.S. Patent Office — much like Jeremy Lin did with “Linsanity” last season. If successful, Birdman would donate the proceeds from trademarked apparel to underprivileged children.
So Birdman is making a name for himself in these NBA playoffs, as is Paul George of the Indiana Pacers as they make things look easy against the Atlanta Hawks, holding a 2-0 lead. Those two, and Serge Ibaka, have been three of the biggest standout performers through the first five days of NBA playoff games.
And then there is the matter of J.R. Smith’s uncertain future with the New York Knicks.
Put it this way, is it worth it for Smith to risk more than $30 million to stay with New York for an extra season? The Knicks would not be able to match any offer above $5 million and change if Smith declines a player option and becomes an unrestricted free agent, so we could be witnessing his last days in blue and orange.
As for the men in green from Boston? Is this their “last hurrah?”
My answer is below in this interview with CineSport’s Tara Petrolino:
NEW YORK — Well, you can’t exactly call it a landslide.
Last season, the creaky Boston Celtics entered the Eastern Conference playoffs as the fourth seed, having gone 39-27 over the NBA’s lockout truncated season. They ended up just three games better than the 36-30 New York Knicks, who ended up the conference’s seventh seed.
