6 Thoughts
1) Yeaahhh, that's how we do it over the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics!!! Okay, backup guard Tony Allen was out, but he's been done for the season for a while. Oh yeah, Glen "Big Baby" Davis was out, too, but he isn't so great anwyays. Oh, right, starting point guard and defensive menace Rajon Rondo was out also, true, I'll give you that. What? You say Celtic team leader, defensive anchor, and all-around ferocious competitor, Kevin Garnett, the heart of the Celtics, was out, too? I didn't even notice. You know why? I was too busy watching us beat the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics!!!
2) Season-high 6 games over .500, 35-29. Eighteen games left, 40 wins is the magic number. Brutal five game stretch starting Saturday in Miami against a smoking hot Utah team, then four straight road games against playoff contenders.
3) Also out for the Celtics, former Net great and Plumber fave Brian Scalabrine. You know, this guy: http://www.nba.com/media/act_brian_scalabrine.jpg. Suffering from "post-concussion syndrome." Hit his head on a sandwich.
4) Tonight was just plain old normal Wade: only 32 points on 9-20 (first time under 50% in a couple of weeks), 7 assists, 4 boards, and 4 steals. Oh, plus a game clinching 3 over Ray Allen in the final minute.
5) One of tonight's referees, Steve Javie, once was fined only $1,000 by the NBA for telling then Heat coach, and current Heat president, Pat Riley, that "it is giving us absolute delight to watch you and your team die" during a game Miami was losing. Riley was fined $50,000 for pointing it out after the game. Strange. I'm not making it up, here is a link to an article about it: http://hoopshype.com/columns/officiating_arnold.htm. Brutal how Javie twisted the knife with the "absolute" phrasing - every third word out of Riley's mouth is "absolute." Do you think that before every Heat game that Javie refs, as he and his partners are getting dressed, he tells them the story again, while they silently roll their eyes behind his back? "Yeah, I once told Pat Riley off in this building - eff him - I'll do it again if I have to!" Earlier in the game, M.Minutos noticed him talking to new Heater Jermaine O'Neal during a break in the action. "Hey, J.O., hey J.O. - you weren't here then - did you hear about the time I told Pat Riley off in this building? Eff him - I'll do it again if I have to!"
6) Thor asked me to review track 11 of U2's new album. His review of track 6 coming later in the week. Look, it is the last song on the album, so it is probably unfair, because I think they tend to put some of their slower, less catchy songs back there. It is okay, kind of a slow spoken lament about war, and how effed up the world is, called "Cedars of Lebanon." Let The Captain listen to it, he felt it was fair as well. Thought it might get better with additional listens. Pointed out that hates Bono's activism, a fact of which I was well aware. (Full disclosure: The Captain loves Yes, Rush, and Boston, and is a Republican). Album got five stars from Rolling Stone out of five, which claimed it is their best album since Achtung, Baby - always a bad sign when Rolling Stone starts comparing a band's album as the "best since" - "The Rolling Stones' first effort at a full-on gangster rap album is their best since Some Girls." Look, good rock music is by the people, for the people, but without giving a crap if the people like it. U2 - they are way far away from that, right? I respect them, it could be worse, but I think I will pass on the rest of the album, even at nine cents a track on the Russian website.
