An anonymous NBA player says guys around the league are pissed at Stephen A. Smith because of his column about Allen Iverson’s problems with gambling and alcohol. Smith’s article is titled “Iverson needs more than a prayer” because according to his numerous NBA sources AI is headed for self-destruction.

The combination of alcohol and gambling – and a once-promising career in tatters because of the first two – won’t culminate in anything short of disaster if help does not arrive in short order.

Iverson will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.

His statements aren’t going over well in the Philadelphia 76ers locker room.

From ESPN Insider:

Guys around the league are pissed at Stephen A. Smith right now for his most recent column on Allen Iverson, the one in which he claimed Allen is going to drink and/or gamble his life away. One of my NBA friends in Philly says a bunch of Sixers can’t wait for Stephen A. to show up in their locker room so they can have words with him.

I thought Stephen A.’s article said more about how far AI has fallen than anything else. Nobody takes Stephen A. Smith seriously anymore, but the minute he says something about Iverson it’s treated as the gospel. In April 2009 spokespeople for two Detroit casinos said Allen Iverson was never banned from their establishments. Maybe Stephen A. has some new information. As for the drinking… Look, that’s not the point right now. This is about the Sixers following through with the Code Red on Smith.

NBA Player X: Lay off Iverson [ESPN Insider]

Now that one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history is finished it’s time for the 2007-08 playoffs to take us to the next level. Other than Celtics/Hawks, the match-ups should give us entertaining basketball. All of the series won’t go seven games, but the level of competition will be at an all-time high.

I’m only gonna post my first round predictions right now, but my entire NBA Playoffs bracket will be over at Ball Hype. They’re having an NBA Playoffs Pick ‘Em Contest that’s free to enter, and the top prize is an iPod touch. I have the Eastern Conference sticking to the script for the most part, but deciding the Western Conference was painful..

Here are my first round picks:

Eastern Conference:

(1)Boston 4 (8)Atlanta 0: The Hawks can hang their hat on the fact that they made the playoffs. After getting swept out, they should fire Mike Woodson and start getting ready for next season. The Cs will wanna handle their biz and rest for..

(4)Cleveland 4 (5)Washington 3: The best series in the EC’s first round and you know how it goes.. Same two teams, same result. Gilbert trash talking King James isn’t helping the Wizards’ chances. I was probably leaning towards Washington until Gilbert went off.. But if anybody was gonna back it up, it’s Agent Zero.
(2)Detroit 4 (7)Philadelphia 1: I’m a diehard Sixers fan and I’m pulling for the upset but I gotta be real. This squad is too young to do anything but steal a game from the Pistons.. I might pop bottles if they take two games.

Looking to the future, what’s the front office gonna do about beefing up the lineup? They need to add more firepower and size to build on the gains made this season. Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Samuel Dalembert, and Thaddeus Young make a good nucleus. Willie Green, Louis Williams, and Reggie Evans should contribute to a nice bench. Even though the Eastern Conference is regarded as weak, things are getting a lot tougher and the Sixers need to plan accordingly.

LeBron’s always in contention, the Bulls will eventually figure it out, the Celtics and Pistons have cores they can count on for a few more years, Washington’s group looks like they’ll be staying together, Miami has D-Wade and Marion as a foundation, Dwight Howard is a force to be reckoned with, the Raptors have better young talent, Indiana should be better next year, and the Hawks look like they’re headed in the right direction. Unless the franchise is content with squeaking in the playoffs and making a first round exit, they need to get aggressive in the offseason.. Elton Brand aggressive.

(3)Orlando 4 (6)Toronto 2: Who is this? Oh yeah, the Orlando Magic.. They haven’t been talked about since Dwight Howard did the Superman dunk, but they quietly won 52 games. Howard, Hedo Turkoglu (should be the Most Improved Player), and Rashard Lewis give the Magic one of the best frontcourts in basketball. They should cruise past the Raptors.

Western Conference:

(1)Los Angeles 4 (8)Denver 3 : Can the Nuggets do what the Warriors did last year and eliminate the number one seed? It would be called an upset, but shouldn’t we expect a team that has two number one overall picks, a second overall pick, and a third (shoulda been second) overall pick in the starting lineup to go deep into the playoffs? I see some 130-121 games and Denver’s inability to get key stops hurting them more than the Lakers inability to get key stops.

(4)Utah 4 (5)Houston 3: Man… If there’s ever a pick I wanted to be wrong about. I think the Jazz are the better team, but for T-Mac’s sanity I wouldn’t mind if the Rockets won the series. Last year, I tried to use The Secret to help Houston and it obviously didn’t work. This year, the Rockets should get Benedict XVI to swing through H-Town and hit ‘em with some Pope Juice.

(6)Phoenix 4 (3)San Antonio 3: Either Shaq or Tim Duncan have appeared in every NBA finals since the Bulls sixth championship in 1998, and 10 of the last 14. They’ve both picked up four rings along the way, but with all of that said, Amare Stoudemire will dominate this series. He’s always a beast against the Spurs in the playoffs and with Shaq giving him more freedom on offense I see Phoenix riding Stat to the second round.

(7)Dallas 4 (2)New Orleans 2: The Mavericks get a chance to play the underdog upset role this postseason. It’s not gonna erase what happened last year, and with the competitiveness of the Western Conference this year, it shouldn’t be surprise if the team with the reigning MVP and Jason Kidd beats a team with no playoff experience.

Follow The NBA Playoffs On The Sphere:
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Tags: NBA, Playoffs, Watch Free Online, Sports

In the wrong hands, rap is a bad and dangerous thing. If you don’t know anything about sports in the late 60s and you don’t mind lyrics being completely offbeat then this is the video for you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6K-Sz9c2NM]

They’ve got 99 problems and knowing how to rap is about 98 of ‘em.

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

I’m a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers. They didn’t make the playoffs so I don’t have a rooting interest in this year’s tournament. Since Philly’s out I can enjoy the basketball, but I don’t care who wins the title.. I’m just looking forward to some great series and incredible individual performances although it would be nice to pull for a team on a (every other) nightly basis. 

 I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with “The Secret”, but it’s the latest get rich quick scheme self-help concept spreading like wildfire. It’s a movie/documentary sort of thing that teaches about the Law of Attraction. To put the basic theme of “The Secret” in a nutshell, you are what you think and we all possess the ability to manifest things into our lives. According to the movie, in order to get your dream job, ideal mate, or happiness in general, you need to think positive, reinforce your positive thinking, and of course take action. You can check out the first 20 minutes of the movie below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8&mode=related&search=]

This is the official website for “The Secret” and you can get the wiki11 here. As always, there’s two sides to every story so “The Secret” has a number people that think the whole idea is complete bullshit.

What does this have to do with the NBA and sports? Nothing at all.. Until now. Lemme say thanks to everybody that took part in the “Can You Help A Brotha Out?? leave a number” post. I wanted to involve the masses because A) I’m a man of the people and B) I didn’t want there to be any suspicion about the validity of the team selected.

Here’s what happened.. I put all of the teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs into a hat. I drew the teams from the hat one by one. Each team was assigned a number based on when they were drawn from the hat… For the slow people, I picked San Antonio from the hat first, so they were number one. New Jersey was drawn 2nd, so they represent the number 2,  et cetera. After giving all of the teams their number, I tallied the results of the CYHABO post to see which number received the most “votes”. The numbers 2 and 3 tied with 3 votes apiece. Here’s the breakdown of the votes per number:

1. SAN ANTONIO (2 votes)
2. NEW JERSEY (3 votes)
3. HOUSTON (3 votes)
4. MIAMI (1 vote)
5. UTAH (0 votes)
6. LA LAKERS (1 vote)
7. DENVER (2 votes)
8. CLEVELAND (1 vote)
9. ORLANDO (2 votes)
10. DETROIT (2 votes)
11. DALLAS (1 vote)
12. PHOENIX (1 vote)
13. CHICAGO (1 vote)
14. GOLDEN STATE (1 vote)
15. WASHINGTON (2 votes)
16. TORONTO (2 votes)

To break the tie, I had to flip a coin (and throw the validity out the window). Heads was New Jersey and tails was Houston. The quarter landed on tails.

So… I’m gonna test “The Secret”. Sort of. For the duration of the Rockets’ stay in the playoffs they are my “Secret” team. I’m gonna (and I encourage others to join me) try to only think positive thoughts about Houston. No Jeff Van Gundy humping Zo’s leg jokes… No reminiscing over Shaq dissing Asians welcoming Yao to the league, and definitely no ”Houston we have a problem” references. I will post at least one positive comment about the Houston Rockets everyday until they win the championship.. Or get eliminated. I’m gonna have to be hella positive seeing as Tracy McGrady has never advanced to the second round of the playoffs, and the Rockets are facing a tough first round test in the Utah Jazz. The only glitch I can see with my plan is the “taking action” aspect. There’s no action that I could take that would increase the Rockets’ chances of winning it all. I don’t have 12  Jeff Gillooly’s aka Jeff Stone.

There you have it. I wanted everybody to select a number in hopes of having one number dominate the polling. I didn’t wanna do the lottery on my own, pull SA, Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, or Miami, and then have everyone thinking I rigged the contest. I guess “the best laid plans….”

If you’re a fan of a team that didn’t make the playoffs or you just wanna have some dumb fun, join me in “secreting“ the Rockets to a championship. 

CAN YOU HELP A BROTHA OUT?? (apparently not many people could) Courtesy of You Been Blinded

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE