The film features Gérard Depardieu, but a little googling shows it was declared a bomb across the board. Tony Parker was so solid in this clip it can’t be long before he moves in next door to Eva on Wisteria Lane.

This video was shot by a Lakers’ fan at halftime of game one of the Western Conference finals.. The game in which the Lakers pulled off a 20 point second half comeback, and crushed San Antonio’s spirit. The Spurs never recovered from the collapse, but was it because of the heckling? Probably not. I don’t think Parker was shook-up over being told to go back to France, and Bowen and Horry already know a lot of people think they’re dirty. San Antonio was simply out hustled by Los Angeles, and outplayed by Kobe Bryant.

Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Tony Parker, video, San Antonio Spurs, youtube

The San Antonio Spurs have eight or nine guys that should take the game tying 3-point shot instead of Tim Duncan. Timmay had four career playoff three pointers and none this season until he lined up and drilled the shot to send this great game into double overtime. I have the Suns winning in seven, so I’ll say blowing a 16 point first half lead, a late 6 point lead, and allowing Tim Duncan to hit a game tying three are no big deal.. It’s only one game. One hard to swallow game.

Video Courtesy of Odenized

Tags: Tim Duncan, Three Pointer, 3+Pointer, overtime, video, youtube

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:
NBA
True Hoop
Watch NBA Playoff Games Online For Free
NBA Highlights From Odenized

Tags: NBA, Playoffs, Watch Free Online, Sports

A marijuana possession case against Damon Stoudamire that I assumed had been handled years ago was dismissed on Friday. Stoudamire was put in the dumb crook hall of fame in July 2003 when he allegedly attempted to walk through the Tuscon airport metal detectors with a half-ounce of the ooowweee wrapped in aluminum foil. It looks like Damon gets the last laugh though because the state of Arizona has thrown in the towel after four and a half years.

Stoudamire’s Tucson lawyer said Friday all charges have been dismissed with prejudice and cannot be refiled.

The misdemeanor possession case took more than 4½ years to conclude, including two appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Under a settlement agreement with the Pima County Attorney’s office, Stoudamire successfully completed a drug rehabilitation program and urine tests proving he was drug-free.

Gotta give Mighty Mouse credit. The Man keeps coming for him, but he won’t go down. First a court rules that cops illegally searched his home when they found a large bag of weed and now this… I wonder how different his career would’ve been if Isiah Thomas hadn’t kissed him..

Looks like Zeke damages everything he touches or kisses..

Former Arizona Star Stoudamire Has Marijuana Case Dropped. Courtesy of KTAR

Tags: Damon Stoudamire, NBA, case dismissed, San Antonio Spurs, video

When DJ Skee’s not droppin mixtapes, he’s working on Skee TV. If I every catch up with Skee, I’m gonna ask him is being a white DJ like being a black QB? I’m guessing he won’t care either way.

The above video was shot during the NBA All-Star weekend of 007 in Las Vegas. The big Hip Hop releases in the 4th quarter of 2006 were Snoop Dogg’s Blue Carpet Treatment, Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead, Young Jeezy’s Thug Motivation 102, and Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come. I thought the Nas album was the best of the bunch, but according to the scientific, 2 man study in this video, NBA players preferred Jay-Z and Jeezy. And Juke… Who, in America, is known as “Joc”.

Tags: NBA, DJ Skee, Interviews, Sports, Hip Hop, Jay Z, Nas, Tony Parker, Chris Bosh, Rip Hamilton, You Tube, utube, Snoop Dogg

The Spurs rolled to their 4th championship in 9 years a little easier than I thought they would. I thought Cleveland had the chance to win at least one game in the series, I predicted two, but San Antonio was too much. The Spurs are a well oiled playoff machine. Even when they don’t win the title they’re in the mix. The Cavaliers are a franchise with a Superstar and a subpar supporting cast. They could be title contenders for years to come but they’re gonna have to shake up the roster.

The Spurs deserve their congratulations.. Tony Parker earned the Finals MVP award. Parker’s penetration, steady jumper, and clutch shots made him the hands down winner. Robert Horry picked up his 7th ring. That’s nuts. Guys are happy to play 7 seasons, Horry has 7 RINGS. Barkley, Stockton, Malone, KG, and Elgin Baylor 0 rings between ‘em. Robert Horry 7. Wow.

Props to the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA Champions.

Spurs/Cavs Game 4 recap. Courtesy of ESPN.com

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Bud Selig wants Jason Giambi to talk to the MLB steroid busters “or else”. Or else what Bud? You’re gonna suspend Jason Giambi for talking about something that happened in the past, that he already kinda admitted to, for what? I’m not even sure where this steroid scandal investigation is going. If every player that ever used steroids came forward today and admitted it, then what? Nobody is gonna shutdown MLB.. And MLB officials might not have been doing the roids, but they were well aware of what was going on. The new rules are in place, so it’s time to focus on current steroid users, the dummies that slip up now. Threatening punishment for Giambi is lip service that really serves no purpose. Let’s look forward instead of living in the past.

Selig may reportedly suspend Yank’s slugger Giambi. Courtesy of ESPN.com 

NBA

Baseball is known as the ”numbers” sport but Jason over at Ball Hype has picked up where Bill Simmons and John Hollinger left off for basketball statistical analysis. Breaking down who was the best player for every ten year period of the league from ‘51-’61 to ‘97-’07 was a great idea and produced some interesting results. The rankings are based on Hollinger’s PER formula and most of the names you would expect to see there are there. If you take a look at the total number of ten year spans dominated by MJ, only centers Chamberlain, Jabbar, and O’neal are in his class. Guys like Olajuwon, Malone, and Garnett have the misfortune of playing in eras dominated by bigger stars.

Passing the torch: From Dolph to Duncan. Courtesy of Ball Hype 

NFL

Pacman Jones’ ill-fated trip and “rain making” at a strip club during the NBA All-Star weekend was one of the reasons he ended up being suspended for the season by new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Yesterday the news broke that Jones’ DNA tested negative, twice, when compared to DNA obtained from a stripper that was bitten during the February fracas. So the DNA doesn’t match and you have Lt. George Castro saying that the police still have not connected what happened inside the club to the shooting that took place outside of the club. If Adam Jones is cleared of everything except for being a 81k idiot, will/should the NFL reduce his suspension?

Agent: Pacman samples come back negative. Courtesy of ABC 7

2ND THOUGHTS

The Wild Wild Central. Courtesy of The Houston Chronicle

Robert Horry says 2007 Spurs better than 80s Lakers, Celtics. Courtesy of Larry Brown Sports

Jet: Dog fights equal horse races. Courtesy of the NY Daily News

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Remember when these “Trophy Love” commercials were all the rage? The thing that always bothered me is that the name of the NBA trophy is the “Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy”… It seemed weird to me that all of those cats were in love with someone named Larry. Anyways…

The San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of capturing their 4th LOCT, and LeBron James is about to have a long summer. In a game that was viewed by many as Cleveland’s best chance to take one from San Antonio, both teams put the scoring on hold and locked down on coughcough defense. Tim Duncan played only 33 minutes and Cleveland still couldn’t capitalize meaning my predicition of Spurs in 6 is gonna need a miracle in order to see the light of day.

Here’s a few other things I was wrong about:

1. “Tim Duncan is the Finals MVP”. I’m not completely wrong on this but Parker is probably the leader for the award right now. If the Spurs wrap up the series in game 4 and TD has a big game, Duncan could still be the MVP.
2. “Cleveland wins their first game at home”. It was all there for the Cavs to take but they couldn’t hit an open shot to save their lives… Or their series. Tim Duncan had the foul trouble that I thought he would, but Cleveland’s scoring trouble was the bigger factor.
3. “We are all entertained”. The ratings suggest that very few of us are entertained but let’s not rush to make this an NBA issue. People just aren’t watching sports the same anymore. You can look at the World Series declining ratings here or flashback to 2006 when game 1 of the World Series flopped. Everyday can’t be Superbowl Sunday.

As for LeBron handing off to Anderson down the stretch of game 3, I honestly believe he expected to get the ball back. Unfortunately for LBJ, Floppy Jao took matters in to his own hands and frankly, he’s gotta make that basket… And LeBron was fouled by Bruce Bowen at the end of the game. There’s no question about it. The continuation call could have gone either way but James should have gone to the line for at least two free throws.

The biggest thing I’m taking away from this series is that if Cleveland’s front office can get LeBron a Scottie Pippen, the Cavs will rule the East for years. All of the players on the Cavalier roster are role players. There’s no Scottie Pippen, there’s no Dennis Rodman. There’s nobody else on the roster that the other team has to truly worry about. Michael Jordan was surrounded by the right mix of players to highlight his talents. Danny Ferry and company need to do the same for LeBron.

Cavaliers And Spurs Final(ly)

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Before I go on and talk about Tony Soprano and the rest of the gang, I’m saying loud and clear, **SPOILER**.

If you’ve already seen the show or don’t mind having some of it ruined for you then go ahead and proceed.