Golden State and the Kevin Durant enigma

No pro basketball fan would doubt Kevin Durant is a great player. The best right now? Maybe. But certainly in the top five.

But the Golden State Warriors are strange ducks. They've won championships without KD, and with him as well.

Let's not forget their regular season win record a few years back was set BEFORE Durant arrived on the scene.

Sure, any team would jump at the chance to have KD on their roster. He really is that good.

But do the Warriors "need" him? That's where things get a little bit tricky.

It's a given that Durant can "take over" a game all by himself. He might put up 40, even 50 points in any given contest. Thing is, while he's doing that, most of his teammates are just standing around watching the one man show. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But when KD is NOT in the line-up, as he hasn't been recently due to a calf injury, it forces the other Dubs to play more like a "team". And a formidable bunch they are when things are clicking.

In the Western Conference semis, most, including yours truly, thought the Houston Rockets would knock off the Warriors in Game 6, which Houston had at home, and GS was fresh without the services of KD. But we all know it didn't work out that way. The Dubs went into Houston and polished off the Rockets -- again.

And now the Portland Trailblazers have faced a GS team without KD the first two games of the Conference Finals. Okay, no big surprise the Dubs came out and blistered the Blazers in Game One.

But the latter had the Dubs down at home throughout Game Two. Including holding a double digit lead with just a couple minutes remaining.

Then bang. GS went on an improbable 14-3 run and it was game over, just like that. It had to be demoralizing for the Blazers.

When Durant will be healthy enough to come back is unknown. Maybe Game Three in Portland. Maybe not.

But when he's in the line-up, the Warriors play an entirely different style of game.

It's almost unthinkable, yet the question needs to be asked. Are the Warriors better off with KD, or without?  A very good argument could be made either way, given the results of how they've played.

It's almost like the Warriors are in constant teaser mode. After all, the LA Clippers beat them twice, on GS's home court, in the opening round of the playoffs. Before the Dubs came roaring back to dispatch an obviously inferior opponent.

And Houston had them right where they wanted them, without Durant, until they looked up at the scoreboard when the final buzzer sounded. Oops.

Same with the Blazers in the above mentioned Game Two of the Conference Finals. They had them, they had them, they had them -- and then they didn't have them at the end.

With or without KD, no way are the Blazers going to beat the Dubs four our of five to go to the Finals. It's over.

But when they face their presumptive opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, for all the marbles, things could get very interesting.

More on that later........

Houston, we have a problem

Well, let's see.

The Golden State Warriors were already without the services of big man Boogie Cousins (out for the year with a torn Achilles), a starter and an All-Star caliber player.

Then Kevin Durant, arguably the best player on the planet right now, went out for at least a few days with a strained calf.

The Houston Rockets were playing at home.

And normally sharp-shooting Steph Curry scored exactly zero points in the first half of the game.

And the Warriors STILL won the game 118 -- 113?

How can it be?

Are the Dubs just that good -- or did the Rockets choke (again)?

I dunno. But it's gonna be another long off-season in Houston.

Houston, we have a problem indeed.

It just doesn't appear to be in the cards.......

The idlest of thoughts

Given Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors suffered a calf strain and will be out for Games 6, and if necessary 7, this is make it or break it time for the Houston Rockets. If they can't beat the Dubs now without KD (and also Boogie Cousins, who was injured earlier in the season), they might as well pack it in and fuhgettaboutit. It just ain't in the cards. We'll see....

I always chuckle when I see one particular show advertised. To wit:  From the Mind of Kobe Bryant.

Never watched it and never will, but one wonders about the thought of same.

Would that be anything like From the Bottom of a MickeyD's Deep Fryer?

From the Attic of My Crazy Uncle Bob?

From the Pants of Donald Trump?

These are not exactly pleasant images to conjure.

And where did Bryant's folks get off naming him Kobe in the first place? Look it up and you'll discover it's a very expensive piece of Japanese beef. The expensive part makes sense. But naming a son after a hunk of meat?

There's a daily sports talk show on TV featuring Bomani Jones and Pablo Torres.

So somebody tell me why, pray tell, they named the show High Noon -- when it airs at 4 PM?

Stupid football things

Should it even matter what an offensive tackle's vertical leap is?

Or how fast a guard runs the 40?

And who cares how many times a running back can bench press 225 pounds?

Are they running place kickers through agility drills these days?

And now comes the latest bit of stupidity from Sports Illustrated. They wanted the world to know how incredibly "ripped" Mississippi wideout D.K. Metcalf is on the eve of the draft. See those eight-pack abs.

WHO CARES??

The only things that matter are -- can he run decent routes? Catch the ball? Especially in traffic? Not fumble too much afterwards? And most importantly -- does he have any brains -- as in -- will he be able to comprehend the massive playbook if and when he gets to an NFL team? And understand audibles?

Do you really think any NFL coaching staff is going to be in awe if Metcalf can do 500 sit-ups? 1000?

Did I mention WHO CARES??

These are stats for morons only.

It would be like putting great importance on how long it takes any given politician to relieve him/herself in a restroom. Or perhaps nailing down the exact free-throw percentage of a cop in a police hoops rec league.

Shouldn't we have more important  things to be concerned with regarding such folks?

One can only imagine what the stat geeks will come up with next.

Maybe it will be hyped as earth-shaking news to rank the Top Ten punters in the NFL regarding how many hot dogs they can eat in any one 20 minute sitting.

And the really scary thing is -- there will be those that give it great weight. No pun intended. Maybe.

Sigh.....

The sorry case of Russell Westbrook

See Russell Westbrook, of the the Oklahoma City Thunder, strut his stuff.

See Russ run up and down the basketball floor.

See Russ dunk and hang on the rim.

See Russ taunt his opponents and otherwise talk trash.

See Russ and his team once again make an early exit from the playoffs, this time at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers.

You'd think he'd learn a little humility after so many failures in the post-season.

But no, not Russ.

Is there any wonder super-star players like Kevin Durant, and James Harden before him, left the Thunder for much greener and more competitive pastures elsewhere? Maybe they'd had enough of Westbrook's nonsense.

Memo to Russ. Keep talking all the smack you want, but until you actually win something, nobody's going to pay much attention.

Yet Russ will no doubt keep flapping his gums, in the same sing-song girlish voice that a boxer named Mike Tyson once had. Close your eyes when either are speaking and I dare you to tell the difference.Even looks a little like Iron Mike in his younger days.

Alas, every time the playoffs roll around, it's like Russell Westbrook climbs in the ring with James "Buster" Douglas.

Bang. KOed.

And why, pray tell, does dear Russ insist on dressing like an uptown ghetto pimp away from the court? Leopard skin, pink, and chartreuse all rolled into one? Really?

The dude definitely needs to re-calibrate on a number of levels.

Cuz what he's done so far just ain't getting it done.

The pathetic Detroit Pistons

See the Pistons barely sneak into the NBA playoffs as the final team in the weak, by comparison, Eastern Conference. What was their reward?

A first round match-up with the Milwaukee Bucks, owners of the best regular season record in the entire league.

See the Pistons get absolutely slaughtered in Game One, to the tune of 35 points worth.

See the hapless Pistons get drubbed again like red-headed stepchildren in Game Two, by 21.

Two games and they were outscored by 56 points?

Ah, but just wait, quoth the local pundits and roundball groupies. Da boys are coming home and things will be different in Game Three.

They were right.  The Pissed-Ons only got beat by 16 on their own court.

With any luck, maybe they get another loss down to single digits in Game Four, but I wouldn't count on it.

This is men against boys. Rambos vs Barney Fifes.

The sorry Pistons have no business on the same court with the Milwaukee Bucks.

And it gets even worse for the Motown morons.

By squeaking into the playoffs, only to get blasted, they forfeited any chance of getting an impact player in the draft. Not that it would make any difference. This is the same club that saw the --cough- gag-barf-wisdom in giving a big slug like Andre Drummond a max contract.

Yep, he's paid right up there with the likes of Lebron James, Steph Curry, and James Hardin. Thing is, Drummond has little talent. He's not a ball handler, by any stretch of the imagination. Doesn't have a reliable jump shot. Is terrible at the free throw line. Shooting from three point range? Please. And slow of foot. His main assets? He's big, can clog up the paint on defense, and muscle a lot of rebounds. And they put their whole salary cap structure in a bind over a big ape like this? Amazing.

Then again, it probably should come as no surprise, given the brain fart mentality owner Tom Gores has shown so far.

He must know something about shuffling other peoples' money around in his day job, because one doesn't get to be a billionaire by accident.

But basketball/NBA wise, he appears dumber than your proverbial box of rocks.

This is the same guy that got the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Pistons, as part of the deal when he bought them a few years back.

The Palace was already completely paid for by his predecessor, the late William Davidson. And out of his own pocket, no less. You NEVER see that happen. The taxpayers always get dinged.

And the Palace was, and remains, a world class facility, located in an ideal location. In a no-crime suburb that has easy access to major roadways for easy fan entrances and exits.

So what did Gores, in HIS infinite wisdom, do? Packed up the team and moved it to the crime-ridden dregs of Detroit, where fans are relatively safe as long as they're within spiting distance of the arena, but not so much if they happen to take a wrong turn somewhere.

Even MORE astounding -- Gores now has to pay rent for moving the Pistons an arena that was built for hockey, specifically, the Detroit Red Wings sparking new Little Caesar's Arena.

Could it get possibly get any more wrong-headed than this?

Oh wait. Maybe. The Pistons claimed to have made a major coup by landing former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

Yeah? Isn't he the same guy that run out of Toronto -- fired -- last year, for his team under-performing year after year?

No matter how one looks at it, this is one clueless franchise, from ownership on down to coach and players.

And there are absolutely no signs, none, that it will get better any year soon.

Tiger mania. Yuck

One would have thought something truly monumental had just happened. Virtually all TV programming was interrupted for an emergency newscast. Same with radio stations. And the internet was burning up at this latest earth-shaking event.

Could another President have been assassinated?

Were nuclear weapons about to descend on us?

Had some alien race invaded earth?

As it turned out, thankfully, none of the above had occurred.

It was merely Eldrick Tont Woods, sometimes known as Tiger, having won a golf tournament. In this case, the Masters.

But oh my, people were going absolutely berserk with the news. I was almost afraid to look outside for fear Tiger groupies would be flogging themselves in the streets in utter bliss.

Such has become the Tiger phenomenon. And all this for a serial wife-cheater, who's as boorish and arrogant away from the cameras as he is charming in front of them. Or at least used to be. Yours truly crossed paths with dear Eldrick at a couple golf tourneys a while back as a member of the gallery.

He and his caddie evidently thought they were royalty. Out of the way peasants. Can't you see His Highness is coming through?

But that was a side of Eldrick most of the public never got to see. His public persona is all spiffed and polished.

So yes, I took a disliking to him.

As a golf fan, I've watched many a tournament on TV. Thing is, I'm the opposite of most. I'd much rather view a tourney when Woods is either not playing in it, or if he is, isn't in contention.That way the coverage is more fairly spread around to the other players, as it should be.

If Eldrick has an early tee time, that means he'll finish his round early, and while the talking heads will still find a way to talk about him, at least every other TV shot won't be about him. See Tiger talk to his caddie. See Tiger take a drink of water. See Tiger lining up his next shot. See Tiger eat a banana. See Tiger scratch his backside. See Tiger still lining up his shot. Tiger this. Tiger that. There's no end to it. Meanwhile, those roars in the background mean other players are hitting great shots we don't get to see. We'll be force fed replays of Tiger strokes, maybe even clips of him in past tournaments. Or a taped interview.

The blatant bias of the media in Tiger's favor is mind-boggling.

They want him to win. They NEED him to win.They openly root for him to win.

While it's true Woods is a black man in a predominantly white sport, consider if this were the other way around.

What do you think would happen if a white guy in a predominantly black man's sport were afforded the same level of attention?

The media and "politically correct" crowd would be screaming racism. Heads would roll at the networks. Congress might convene a special hearing to check into such unacceptable behavior.

But with Eldrick Tont it's OK?

Not for me. Not since I was unceremoniously shoved out of the way at the Buick Open a while back when the "privileged" were approaching. I was behind the ropes right where I was supposed to be. But Woods had hit an errant shot into the crowd and none of us knew exactly what to do. Regardless, there was no excuse for me and others to be treated the way we were, like we were some sort of throwaways. We had paid good money to be there, dammit.

So in conclusion, I'll sum it up this way.

While the legions of Tiger lemmings continue celebrating their hero's victory, there are those of us that would much rather see him just go away.

We are so, so sick of the wall-to-wall coverage of this guy being forced down our throats every time he so much as hiccups.

ESPN's Scott Van Pelt appears to be so infatuated and enamored of Tiger that, frankly, I'm a bit surprised he doesn't volunteer to go to Eldrick's home and offer his services as a pool boy, or doing lawn maintenance, or perhaps shining his shoes. Whatever it is, SVP has a seriously bad case of it.

Nonetheless, I recognize the confounding Tiger groupie syndrome isn't likely to change any time soon

They are what they are.

And I wish them happy flogging -- the poor devils.