One Game

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October 27th, 2009 was the first day of the 2009-10 NBA Season. June 17th, 2010 (or early morning of June 18th, if you're around my time zone) will be it's last. The Boston Celtics were involved in the first (against the Cavs) and will be involved in the last. For only the second time in the past decade, the NBA Finals will be decided in game seven. The Celtics and the Lakers are tied 3-3 in the best-of-seven series, and the Game Seven, the one game to rule them all, will be played in less than two days.

I had predicted earlier that this series would go down to the last game - and now, this Game Seven is going to be by far the single biggest basketball game of my NBA-watching life, maybe closely followed by the 1999 NBA Finals when my New York Knicks lost Game 5 against the Spurs by one point to lose the series 4-1. That was some depressing ish.

But here we are - two of the most succesful franchises in NBA history go head to head again. The Lakers and the Celtics ARE the NBA Finals. The two teams are the last two champions (Celtics in 08, Lakers in 09), they have met each other 11 times before in the NBA finals, and after Game 7, 33 out of 64 NBA Championships would've been won by either won of these two teams. There is a lot at stake on just this one game.

48 more minutes. (And maybe overtime)

If Celtics win, this would be their 18th championship. The 2nd one for their starting five, and Glen Davis, and Tony Allen, and Rasheed Wallace (who won his first won with the Pistons), and of course, Brian Scalabrine. It would be coach Doc Rivers' second victory over Phil Jackson and the Lakers. It would further solidify Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen as future Hall of Famers, and surely propel Rajon Rondo as unarguably the best point guard in the league.

If Lakers win, this would be their 16th championship, and they would become back to back winners. Kobe Bryant would equal Magic Johnson with five rings for the Lakers, and what more, would also join Magic as one of the few Lakers to lead their team in a Finals victory against the Celtics. Kobe and Derek Fisher would also become the active players with the most amount of rings - Tim Duncan and Shaq have four. What is scary is that Kobe is much younger than any of them, and still has fuel in him to go on for three or four more servicable seasons. And of course, he would only be one championship away from Michael Jordan's, although Jordan was the undeniable main man aka Finals MVP in all six, whereas Kobe was Shaq's sidekick in his first three. Still, a win here would cement Kobe's legacy into another stratosphere. The rest of Kobe's crew, in Gasol, Bynum (who skipped the 08 Finals), and Odom would double up their rings. Of course, legendary Lakers (and former Chicago Bulls) coach Phil Jackson would be the proud owner of an unprecedented 11 rings as head coach.

What is perhaps most intriguing that, after just one more game, either Nate Robinson or Ron Artest will be sitting pretty with a championship ring.

There are so many equations, statistics, stories that are going to add up to this one final game. All the history between these two franchises, Kobe's strive to become the greatest of all time, the 'old' Celtics proving to the world that their teamwork and chemistry is the key to success, the Big 3 of KG, Pierce, and Allen, and the future that is Rondo, and Pau Gasol becoming the best big man in the league, and Rasheed Wallace and Nate Robinson and Ron Artest sprinkling their bits of crazy. It would be Artest's redemption after the infamous 'Malice at the Palace' and all the questions that were raised when he was brought it to the Lakers after they lost Trevor Ariza. And Doc Rivers vs. Phil Jackson, and the beautiful Hollywood faces at Los Angeles vs. the passionate basketball fanatics at Boston.

Game Sevens are a myth of their own. They have caused broken hearts, cemented legends, caused embarrasment, caused exultation. Hell, there's even a book about it.

This had already been a classic series, going back and forth, and there still isn't a clear-cut favourite. Right now it's the Lakers because they blew out the Celtics with awesome defense in Game 6. A few days ago, it was the Celtics, as they took a 3-2 lead with great balanced play. A little more than a week ago, it was the Lakers, when they excelled on both sides of the court to win Game 1 in LA.

The Lakers, who hold home court, and momentum, and the greatest closer in the game - Kobe - are probably the favourites now. But the Celtics have shown time and again all postseason that they will never be discounted, never be down. Whether they ended fourth in the East to start the playoffs, or lost by 29 points to the Cavs at home, or destroyed a perfect Magic team in the Conference Finals, or shocked a Lakers squad with a 3-2 lead just a few days ago.

Less than two days to find out what happens. Just one game to make history.

One more game.

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A Clockwork Blue, White, and Orange

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The date was January 8, 2010, when in foolish optimism, I thought that it would be a good idea to talk about how much my New York Knicks had been improving. I had woken up that morning to watch the then 9th place Knicks take on the then 8th place Bobcats. Knicks won the game 97-93, and thus closed the distance between the two teams, inching closer to a playoff spot. I named the post I wrote that morning Knix Jinx because I believed that either the Knicks were going to continue playing positively and up to their potential to make the playoffs, or I would jinx them and watch them settle back into their decade-long seat of poor performances and go fishing in early April.

I had written:

If you believe in jinxes, and the Knicks crash and burn and fail to make the playoffs, and Gallo breaks both his legs and David Lee snubs the team demanding a trade and Nate Robinson starts to worship Stephon Marbury, and our starting lineup next season features Larry Hughes instead of LeBron James, then this is the article to blame.
Until then, I'm gonna stay hopeful.

And guess what? I did end up jinxing my favourite team. Soon after those early glimmers of hope, the Knicks became the Knicks again. The team's record was 15-20 on January 8th, and they finished 29-53, only managing to win 14 of the next 47 games of the season. A clockwork blue, white, and orange, like most years in this miserable decade, the Knicks failed to make the playoffs and ended the season a forgotten team. Hell, we don't even have any first round draft picks come June - thanks a lot, Utah.

The positives: David Lee became an All Star. Gallinari managed to grow himself a pair. Toney Douglas and Bill Walker realised that they weren't awful. Earl Barron turned out to be a surprise. And Wilson Chandler kept up his good work.

The negatives: The Knicks still don't know how to play defense. Defense, as you may know, apparently wins championships. And it is apparently 50% of everything on a basketball court (the other 50% in this pie is something called 'offence', that Coach D'Antoni may be familiar with). The T-Mac experiment gave mixed, if uninspiring, results. Oh, and the Knicks still have Eddy fatass Curry.

So Nate Robinson got traded for Eddie House, and I would say now that despite Nate's inconsistencies, that was probably a dumb move.

We now enter the most important part of the Knick season... the Great Summer of 2010, where everyone from LeBron James to Dwyane Wade to Chris Bosh to Lionel Messi to Sachin Tendulkar to Genghis Khan will apparently become free agents. Okay, so maybe not ALL of those guys, but it is the most impressive list of free agents ever. Here are the top 10, in the opinion of someone over at Scoresreport.com:

LeBron James
Dwyane Wade
Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh
Amar'''e Stoudemire
Joe Johnson
Dirk Nowitzki
Carlos Boozer
Manu Ginobili
David Lee

Look at the last name on the list. David Lee. The Knicks seem to have enough money now to sign two big name guys. What do we do with Lee though, who has been the heart and soul of the team for so many years, giving his all and improving his own play? The worst-case scenario would be that we end up without any of the top three or four big name guys and Lee walks away, too. The best-case would be that the top players in the list suddenly end their thirst for money and decide to accept peanuts to play for the same team. The chances that a) this would ever happen or b) this would ever happen for New York, are ranging somewhere between minimal to none.

Come transfer window time, the league is going to see a techtonic shift, especially considering the news that the agents for the top three guys now work together. Let's hope that 2010-11 is a much better season for the Knickerbockers. Until then, I'll be drying my eyes with my Stephon Marbury jersey.

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108,713. And the rest of the All Star Weekend

108,713. A hundred and eight thousand, seven hundred, thirteen. That's how many people showed up at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas, making it the most attended basketball game of all time. The record was certified by Guiness Book of World Records.

The All Star Game itself didn't dissapointment, with the Eastern Conference taking a close 141-139 victory over the West. Dwyane Wade finished with 28 points, 11 assists, and 5 steals to become the game's MVP. It was an exciting game from start to finish, and it needed to be too, considering the snore-worthy events of the night before.

Let's go back to the first night's events. Some celebrities beat some other celebrities to win the Celebrity Game on Friday night. What was of interest was the Rookie Challenge, which, surprisingly, the rookies won behind great performances by Tyreke Evans (the game's MVP), Dejuan Blair, and Brandon Jennings. The D-League did something somewhere also that night.

Now, All Star Saturday was to be the beginning of the real events. The programme was shown live in India on Sunday morning, but I couldn't catch it until the repeat late on Sunday night. Star Sports decided to skip H.O.R.S.E. for the repeat, which was won by Kevin Durant.

Here are my running notes for the rest of the broacast.

- it begins with the thoroughly uninteresting Shooting Stars competition.
- i don't understand the rules, and i dont want to understand them
- c-webb is alive
- hometown star dirk nowitzki gets the loudest cheer during introductions.
- the commentators are taking this show a bit too seriously. they're actually mad at the competitors for not being as serious about it. Can't say I blame them.
- kenny smith is hilarious
- team 'texas' win. yawn.

Skills Challenge.

- should be fun: Russell Westbook, Brandon Jennings, Steve Nash, Deron Williams..
- i like to have a favourite for each competition... before i could understand and side with the sacramento team in the shooting stars tournament, they were already knocked out... skills challenge? go deron (last year's winner).
- Derrick Rose, who was supposed to be here, suffered an injury. He's been replaced by westbrook.
- nash should be a comedian
- brandon jenning's hair is AWESOME
- jenning's on fire... for most of the time
- even the skills challenge makes kg's emotional
- the vets in the final: deron vs. stee


- steve's got everyone off their feet. STEE!
- oh its over! STEE wins - and he's the oldest guy of the 4... respect

Former US Presidents "Dubya" Bush and Bill Clinton come and talk about haiti support. bush looks like an idiot. haha i can't stop laughing. its great that nba is supporting haiti. but bush is still an idiot.

YEAH!!! 3 POINT SHOOTOUT! GO Danilo!

- this is a good lineup... paul pierce, chauncey, curry, gallo
- i'm talking to my friend about shaq... just realized, that they should put HIM in a 3-point challenge.
- actually... they should put shaq in the skills challenge. i might die laughing. seriously.
- the all star game without game without shaq will suck
- barkley looks stoned. He's talking shit.. well, barkley always talks shit... but more than usual this time.
- chauncey's jump shot is beautiful. sexy, actually.
- stephen curry's got an impressive jumper, too.
- gallo, my great Knick hope, has dissapointed
- curry loses... The truth wins. paul paranoid pimpin 3-pointing pierce ... Arnold The Governator is in the crowd, and he is happy too. So is KG, obviously.

- its fitting that pierce is the first celtic since larry to win this. It's also hilarious that he called himself "One of the best shooters in the world." He is The Truth, after all.

finally... slam dunk! slam dunk! slam dunk!

- two good things about not watching this event live
1. i don't have to wake up at an ungodly hour
2. we get to skip all the misses. no thanks, nate 2006
- i think DeMar DeRozan (who beat eric gordon in the dunk-in) will take it.
- apparently, derozan had his first dunk at 11... sixth grade... awesome...
- take that back--- the misses are not skipped
- all dunks look good in slo-mo
- derozan/shannon are mildly impressive, gerald "crash" wallace underwhelms - i want vince.
- NATE!!! - not bad..!
- im very much against fan voting in this... let's keep the fan bias out of the actual event.
- we have a kobe appearance
- i expected better, shannon
- ok, so i like gerald's 2nd dunk
- barkley is still talking shit

- oh my GOODNESS!!! derozan finally gets EVERYONE off their feet... amazing dunk... that's a 50 isn't it?
- nate: nice
- nate vs derozan for the finals...
- and after missing the 1st dunk a couple of times.... that's it? that's the final dunk?
- nate is bored of this. derozan should win.
- derozan's dunk: not bad, but its been done before.
- now that's a dunk... nate's second ones's good... plus he grabs a pompom from a dallas cheerleader... awesome.
- Ugghhh! this is the worst dunk contest ever. i don't care who wins anymore.
- wow, great time for commercial break. leave me hanging over a decision i dont even care that much about. damn you star sports.
- Nate Robinson wins... 3 times champ. knicks, go! very uncreative... barkley actually added "maybe nobody should win". and i agree.

So that's it. I wasn't impressed by the events tonight, except perhaps that one derozan dunk and by paul pierce. And steve nash's facial expressions. Hopefully tommorow morning's game brings more to the table.

So, I woke up Sunday morning, 7 AM, definately expecting better. The Slam-Dunk contest was embarrasingly bad. The NBA needs to learn from this, and the superstar players need to have less of an ego about participating in this event. I'm calling out Vince Carter, Wade, LeBron, etc. here.

Now, on to my notes for the All Star Game:

- ive always left the player intros... friggin hilarious. Shaq's dance with the Jabbawokeez last year was probably the best intro ever.
- steve nash is still funny.
- duncan is showing emotion, and it seems like he's trying hard doing it. I know he'd rather be on sleep mode
- usher is there from 2004.
- dirk is starting instead of kobe... but joe johnson instead of AI?... where's rondo?
- the crowd of 90,000+ is the largest to ever watch a basketball game... twice more than any other all star game!
- east will win... i know it

1st quarter
- dirk starts with a crowdpleasing jumpshot
- dirk again! - they're really hoping for a dirk hometown mvp arent they?
- wade does a self-alley oop... nice!
- Dwight just hit a three!!! hilarious
- duncan is still taking bank shots
- wade to lebron is a great combo. i'm knick dreamin
- my main man boshasaurus check in


- melo's on fire

2nd quarter
- david lee is in, and he scores...
- rose and horford in for the east too, nice to see new players getting the attention on the big stage. There are 9 first time all stars this year.
- beautiful move by rose
- deron to durant, another alley oop - they did this several times tonight
- wade!!! oh this game is getting great
- durant is showing the world how damn good he is.
- its amazing to think that gerald wallace gets nearly 11 rebounds a game
- "One of the best shooters in the world" is still shooting.


- east make a comeback and take a big lead, thanks to lebron who is doing whatever he feels like, and al horford.
- lebron blocks melo, it's a goldtend, and lebron jumps on melo in celebration
- great passing, lebron to bosh to rose
- bosh is now playing point guard.
- jason kidd is sucking
- dirk is DYING to be mvp, taking every shot in sight
- melo again - 17 points in the half + 8 rebounds... wade has 10 pts and 7 asssists
halftime score: a defensively mindblogging east 76-69 west

- halftime performers are alicia keys and shakira. i'm getting myself a cup of chai to watch this
- rule of life: you cant go wrong with a half-naked shakira in a cage. in barkley's words: "can you say sensory overload?"
- alicia keys is milking that uber awesome empire state of mind chorus as far as she can... we need jay-z... She's changed the lyrics to "welcome to all star..."
- kobe got a bigger cheer/ most fanfare in the team usa player introductions... more than lebron. I'm just saying.

third quarter
- dwight coast to coast
- and just as i celebrate that... the power goes... i think I heard alicia keys singing "welcome to ind-iaaaa". Lame.
- ok, so 8 mins later, power is back. phew! east is up 97-88
- amazing lebron to wade alley oop... seriously, they work well together.
- bron is doing some awesome playmaking now
- wade has 18 and 10
- kobe calls the all star game the "greatest pick up game in the world". he's right.
- deron steal, nice move... he has 14, kicking ass
- nash is on the jumbotron singing the canadian national anthem. legend.
- another three for paul "best shooter in the world" pierce
- the durantula hits a buzzer beating three to end the third.
- attendance is 108,713... AMAZING!

4th quarter
- west are cutting the lead down. It's suddenly a 2 point game
- this looks like its gonna be a good finish. 120-119 east with 9 mins to go
- great sequence of crazy passes between wade, lebron, and rondo, finally getting wade to the free throw line
- CHAUNCEY!
- ah, nothing better than some good ol defence
- rondo to wade alley oop again. Flash has had around 80 of these tonight.

- alley oops remind me of NBA 2K5. actually more of NBA Street.
- deron is playing major minutes here.
- lebron playing pg now
- bosh has 21 and 10
- class of 2003 REPRESENT
- but where's melo?
- big shot AGAIN by chauncey.
- bosh misses an easy alley oop from LeBron.
- chauncey again! that shot was so well defended by wade too. game tied at 137, 1 minute left.
- wade steals it with 20 seconds left!!!! game tied at 137
- deron sends wade to the line unnecessarily
- wade hits both 139-137. 12 seconds left
- i agree with reggie commentating right now. give ball to chauncey
- who takes final shot for west?
- dwight fouls nowitzi! 7.7 seconds. two free throws. game tied at 139
- east now has final shot... i say wade
- bosh is tripped, 5 seconds, he gets 2 shots. another dallas native, btw
- bosh hits both 141-139
- my (west-biased) friend thinks that this game would've been over ages ago if kobe was playing.
- melo misses the three...bad shot... east win 141-139... well defended by wade
- bosh's free throws win it
- funny that dallas had to see another d-wade takeover. Memories of the 2006 finals are still haunting the crowd.


Wade is mvp with 28, 11, and 5, shooting 12-16.

So, an exciting end to a fun game. The game was broadcast in 215 countries in 41 languages. 215 countries!!!! They're not many places where it wasn't shown. Maybe Antartica. And Bangladesh.

Another fun fact: This was the first all star game to be played without Shaq AND Kobe since 1997 (Kobe's rookie year). In the end, the West had many options of the final shot-taker, was it going to be Melo, Chauncey, or Dirk? If Kobe was playing, I don't think there would have been any question about it. Actually, a Kobe-less result will always have an asterix with it, won't it?

Great performance by the 2003 Draft Class. Apart from Wade's MVP heroics, LeBron added 25, 6, and 5, Bosh had 23 and 10, and for the West, Melo scored 27 points with 10 rebounds.

Breaking News: The Knicks have a second fan in India

I may not be alone. During the Lakers-Knicks game last night (this morning in India), popular Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor was found by Desi Hits, chillin courtside at the Garden. Ranbir had this to say:

"I did a lot of basketball when I was in school back in India, but I never really got to see a game. I followed the Knicks when I was in school out here but that was seven years back so I'm a bit out of touch with the new players and stuff, but now I'm on the floor at Madison Square Garden and it's great."
But if Ranbir used to watch the Knicks back in the days, he is now a Lakers fan and his favorite player is Kobe Bryant: "I am a big New York Yankees fan but I think I will root for the Lakers today."

Wow. Another Laker/Kobe fan. Shocking.



You need to officially return to your Knick roots, Ranbir. Until then, I will always have your photo with Nate Robinson to console me.

This isn't the first time Bollywood invaded the NBA. Dino Morea and Lara Dutta were found courtside at the Staples a couple of years ago. In a strange coincidence, they too, supported the Lakers.

Hell, if Bollywood doesn't get Indians to watch the NBA, nothing will. Except for Sachin, maybe.

In other news, this was a very Laker-filled weekend for NBA fans in India, with ESPN deciding to show back-to-back Laker games on Friday and Saturday mornings, against the Cavaliers and the Knicks respectively. The Cavs and LeBron were too good in the clutch for the Lakers.

On Saturday, ESPN showed what would be the 2nd and last Knick game on Indian TV this season (unless, of course, they make the playoffs). Ranbir was in attendance but ESPN didn't care.



Knicks have been going through a tough stretch ever since I jinxed them two weeks ago. Kobe and Gasol took over in the 4th against the Knicks to get an undeserved victory. Despite soon to be all star David Lee's awesome 31 and 17 night and a career high 28 by Wilson Chandler, one of the Knicks best efforts this season went to waste.

Knix Jinx

Two months ago, I was in New Delhi, and I had lunch with coach and talent scout JD Walsh, a New Yorker. While talking about several topics, I professed by undying love for the Knicks, started off back when I first followed a full NBA season in 1998-99 (ironic, yes, because that was the shortened NBA Lockout year!), and the Knickerbockers made the NBA finals improbably behind the efforts of Houstan, Sprewell, Camby, LJ, etc, only to go down 4-1 to the Twin Tower-ed Spurs. Ever since, I've suffered stubbornly through all the bullshit - through the Allan Houstan contract and the Larry Brown, Donnie Walsh, Stephon Marbury, Jerome James, Eddy Curry, and the losses, and Isiah and etcetra, etcetra, etcetra...



I told JD that I might be the only Knick fan in India. He joked that, and that given time, I might be the only one in the World!
That was then... Knicks started this season with a franchise-worst 1-9 record, and I had grown cold and disillusioned to checking the box-score and seeing a loss every morning.
But how things change! The Knicks have since gone 14-10, winning 11 of their last 16 games, and growing tremendously in confidence in the process. I've been tempted to write about their improving form (and playoff hopes - goddamn!!) for a while, but I was worried that I might jinx it. But screw all that - the Knicks are playing well and I'm gonna celebrate (with words)!



The reason that this is specifically the best time for me to comment on them is actually extremely simple. ESPN/Star Sports in India, my only outlet to NBA games here, is showing a grateful handful of TWO Knick games this season. The first of them happened to be Friday morning (Thursday night in America). It also happened to be the only game on the NBA calender that day, so ESPN/Star Sports had no choice but to deviate from their Laker/Celtic/Cavs/Magic worship and to (alas!) show us the Charlotte Bobcats play the New York Knicks.
I was up, 6 in the morning, eager to catch a rare chance to watch my team, and the first half left me extremely impressed. Coach D'Antoni has the Knicks running and gunning: They were coming off of a near-record 132-99 win over the Pacers four days ago and another one over the Hawks on Friday night.
Gallinari has developed nicely - hitting clutch 3's and oh, he's got a hell of a killer pump fake, which fooled the D every single time.



David Lee is my favourite Knick and our best chance to All-Star-Dom (it's not happening, I know, but I can wish, can't I?) He's not just a hustle-rebounder guy anymore - Lee is looking like a potent scorer, and at several times, played PG in half-court set-ups, creating shots for his teammates and himself.
Speaking of PG, Duhon is okay, but I'm cringe to think that he's my team's starting Point Guard. Seriously. He played well but come on, seriously? Chris Duhon?
Which brings us to his "back-up": Nate 'The Great' Robinson: brilliant, but occasionally retarded. Nate has the ability to romanticize you with his big plays and minutes later, leave you contemplating suicide with consecutive dumbass turnovers.
Wilson Chandler is developing nicely, and I see him being one to really shake things up in the future. He had a career high 27 in the game, adding seven rebounds and six assists.



I'm not ready to eat up my words about the Jonathan Bender signing yet, but he isn't playing badly...
... And Jared Jefferies... ya, he defends well, sometimes. And he wears Allan Houstan's # 20. And ya...
The Knicks played the Bobcats without their second leading scorer, Al Harrington, and were mostly in control the game. Bobcats took a lead in the 3rd, but a Nate-led run in the 4th quarter, capped by clutch 3-pointers by Duhon and Gallinari took us home safe to a 97-93 win. D'antoni is doing his thing - offence - to full effect, but I read in the Yahoo! Sports recap of this game that the Knicks have now held their opponents below 100 points for the 13th time in the last 15th games. Not bad for a team which was atrociously awful defensively last season.
The Knicks are now half a game behind the 8th playoff seed in the East (which belongs to who else, the Bobcats!) This win brings them closer to that spot, and helps them improve their head-to-head advantage against the Bobcats too. And yes, I know that the very possibility that the Bobcats are a playoff team doesn't exactly flatter the Eastern Conference.
But the Knicks ARE improving and looking hungry right now. They are starting to look (with low expectations, relatively) more like a team that some people might want to play for - someone whose names starts with a LeB and ends with a Ron. Or a Dwyane Wade, or a Chris Bosh. Are you guys listening? There is actually a basketball team in New York.
I may be one of the only Knick fans in India, but I'm hoping that this season will be able to convert a few more before a lot more join the bandwagon next season if we sign a James or a Wade. If you believe in jinxes, and the Knicks crash and burn and fail to make the playoffs, and Gallo breaks both his legs and David Lee snubs the team demanding a trade and Nate Robinson starts to worship Stephon Marbury, and our starting lineup next season features Larry Hughes instead of LeBron James, then this is the article to blame.
Until then, I'm gonna stay hopeful.

P.S.: I'm biased, but I still think that the Knicks should have signed Iverson.