Phoenix loses to guys who looked ugly

Front offices around the NBA most have some sort of filter on their email accounts preventing updates regarding throwback uniforms to get through. The update, of course, is that they went back out of style two, maybe three years ago. Yet, they’re still popping up in highlight reels at least once a week. Last night was one of those nights and also turned out to be a proving night for the Phoenix Suns; you cannot win a championship if you’re giving up 109 points in three quarters to a sub-.500 team. It doesn’t happen. Defense wins you championships; offense wins your players awards. Look at the Spurs and Pistons; they won titles with defense first attitudes. Playing “matador” defense like the Suns do isn’t a way to a title and is also setting a bad example for the kids. Shame on you Steve Nash.

Durant named player of the year

Texas freshman Kevin Durant has been named the NCAA player of the year after a spectacular season where he became a household name and cemented himself as a top-2 pick in the upcoming draft. With the announcement, Durant becomes the first freshman to win the award in its history after receiving 70 or a possible 72 first place votes; Alando Tucker of Wisconsin got the other two. Even with this title around his waist, it’s still going to be a tough decision come draft time picking between Durant and Greg Oden who played the entire NCAA season in third-gear and still dominated. Needless to say, if you have a top-2 pick this upcoming draft, you’re team’s going to be set for a while. Unless the unthinkable happens and they both stay in school for another year which would actually be devastating.

Nomar’s a Papa

Nomar Garciaparra’s wife, Mia Hamm, delivered twins yesterday while Nomar was on a flight from spring training in Florida. Hamm is also a recognizable name in U.S. sports having played on the national soccer team prior to the pregnancy. One thing is for sure, Nomar isn’t going to get much sleep this season so try not to start him in your fantasy league if it’s a day game at home. But it shouldn't be much of a dilemma as he'll most likely be injured on top of that.

OJ Mayo shoots out lights

Well, actually it was kind of the opposite. At the McDonald’s All-American game Mayo, touted as ready-for-the-NBA by some scouts, shot a dastardly 4 for 17 from the floor. This only goes to prove that he could fit in perfectly with some of the lottery teams this year and only goes to discredit the horrible NBA age-limit.

Former Major Leaguer sent to prison

Yesterday, in a Venezuelan court, former MLB pitcher Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty for the attempted murder of five workers at his family’s ranch. He was also found guilty of illegal deprivation of liberty and violating a prohibition against taking justice into his own hands. The incident occurred in October of 2005 and Urbina hasn’t pitched since.

Urbina is most memorable for being the only major leaguer in history to have the initials U.U.U. and for closing out games for several teams like the now-defunct Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies over his 11 seasons. He is currently 30th on the all-time list for saves with 237 and has a World Series ring from his time with the Marlins. It is doubtful that he will be able to add to those accomplishments unless the MLB passes a rule to include to stats from the Venezuelan prison league, where Urbina will most likely be a top-5 pick in the entry draft.

The NBA Last Night

‘Sheed hits best buzz-beater of year

In case you missed it the Denver Nuggets coughed up a game on a double-unbelievable play last night. Firstly, with very little time remaining and up by three, the Nuggets only had to inbound the ball to one of their own team to win the game; that didn’t happen. Next, Rasheed Wallace, you came up with the ball off the inbound, had to jack up a shot within fractions of seconds from nearly 60 feet away and hit it; of course, he did. For sure, this will end up as one of the shots of the year.

Raptors tank it in Boston

Just a few days after the Boston Celtics and their coach Doc Rivers were accused of blatantly tanking a game by leaving their second-stringers in to choke away a big lead, they did an about-face and took out their division leaders. It really helped the Raps franchise player, Chris Bosh, only hit on 5-for-19 shooting but watching their teammate Jorge Garbajosa go down with a bad looking leg injury probably didn’t help either. Toronto better hope it’s only a sprain because Garbo is a key to their style of play this season.

Spikes to the Eagles

In what seems like another one-sided trade towards their opponent’s end, the Buffalo Bills shipped off another one of their few stars yesterday. This time it is LB Takeo Spikes to the Philadelphia Eagles, along with back up QB Kelly Holcomb, for DT Darwin Walker and a second-day draft pick. It’s really starting to look like the Bills have gone into rebuilding mode again and seems like it hasn’t been very long since their last visit. After the exile of McGahee and now, a fan favourite, Spikes, it’s doesn’t look like it’s going to be a pleasant season at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Final 4 are set!

Three out of four isn’t bad for a guy who isn’t as well versed in basketball as most other pundits. By other pundits, I am referring solely to my Intern who only correctly hit 2 out of the 4 final teams.

Next weekend’s game present some good, interesting match ups on both sides of the bracket. In the East/South match up, the phenom Greg Oden faces off against Georgetown’s tenacious defense and big men Roy Hibbert and Patrick Ewing Jr. Georgetown came back against UNC during regulation and flat out destroyed them in overtime while Ohio State beat Memphis by 16 despite Oden playing limited minutes due to foul trouble.

The other side is a rematch of last year’s championship pitting UCLA against the formidable squad from Florida. Both teams didn’t have much trouble in their regional finals where Florida rode Lee Humphrey’s hot hand en route to beating Oregon while UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo led his team to a 13 point win.

While I originally had taken Texas to be in the championship game, that seems fairly impossible now and I’ll have to take a new opponent for my eventual champion UCLA. It seems to me that Georgetown’s two big men could get Oden into foul trouble limit his minutes and take over the game. Look for the Hoyas to roll.

NBA Wrap

Kobe’s wild ride comes to an end

It feels pretty disappointing to see Kobe fall short of the 50-point plateau after watching him catch fire during the past 4 games. His 43 points on 15 for 33 shooting were good enough to give L.A. a two point win over the Golden State Warriors though. It is completely possible that he could get back the 50 point mark in his next game on Tuesday at home to Memphis, a team he lit up on Thursday. It would be seriously beneficial to my fantasy team as well.

Gilbert being Gilbert

In another case of his quirky nature, Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas has been fined by the NBA for admittedly gambling with fans during a game in Portland on Wednesday. Arenas openly bet $10 that he would make the game-winning shot if he had the chance to. Too bad his shot was awful and fell short of the rim. While this entire situation is quirky in itself, the NBA’s reaction was better when they become aware that Gil had posted about the bet in his blog; they actually edited any reference to the aforementioned bets out of it. So much for the freedom of the press.

Arenas also fell far short of his promise to scorch the coaches that left him off the U.S. Olympic team. Finishing with 19 points, he was wildly unimpressive and played below his average. So much for revenge too I guess.