So much to talk about.
Where do I start?
How about at the top.
No, not LeBron James.
David Stern.
The NBA commissioner was in Quicken Loans Arena about five minutes ago talking to the media about a number of subjects. First off, the guy had on a sharp tie. Black and white and gray striped. It just looked expensive, you know.
I notice ties. It distinguishes a man from the rest.
Anyway, one of the things that jumped out to me was him talking about the pregame introductions. Anyone who's been to NBA games knows they have the smoke, the fire, the booming sounds, playing the music.
It's like a music video mixed with an action movie.
So Stern starts off by saying, "I know I'm going to get in trouble for this."
Uh oh.
"I think it's ridiculous."
Wow.
Then Stern goes on to say maybe he's from the wrong generation to appreciate it. He mentioned the smoke doesn't go away until near halftime.
A little bit of exaggeration there, David. That's not true, but the smoke does linger for a minute or two.
Then he said it's basically loud rap, smoke, pyrotech and chemicals.
Hold up.
That loud rap you're talking about is what most of your young stars listen to, like LeBron, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and many more. Those young stars are part of the hip-hop generation. The music also is popular and draws the fans into the games.
Then Stern backed the truck up a bit and said the music was fine.
Nice save, David, but he does plan to look into reviewing the pregame introductions.
The smoke can be disturbing, though. It's why Ben Wallace didn't come out during the starting lineups for Game 3 because the smoke messed with his allergies. So when you saw Anderson Varejao coming out for Wallace, that was the reason.
Now back to Stern.
He also talked about the 19-under rule and the D-League helping the NBA. He asked if any of us knew the four players from the D-League that play for the Cavs and Celtics. I knew them, said them and he said I forgot Billy Thomas.
Hey, David, I wasn't done.
Anyway, by mentioning the 19-year rule for players to enter the draft, talk of O.J. Mayo sprung to life. For those who have been sleeping under a rock, it's been reported that Mayo received up to $30,000 during high school years and freshman year at USC from people involved with an sports agency that he recently signed with to represent him heading into the upcoming NBA Draft.
Stern spoke about how this is a good time to talk about what needs to be done to tell kids what to do and what not to do and a good time for the NCAA to look into what it needs to as well. Since Mayo is not in the NBA, yet, it's not really Stern's job to figure out what Mayo has or hasn't done or been accused of, but I can promise you Mayo will get a talk from somebody in the league about how to conduct himself.
Stern is all about image.
Trust me.
Now back to the game itself.
Well, the pregame.
At this point, players are going say every game is a must win so you're not going to get much out of them when it comes to that. So when you're in these situations with a bunch of reporters asking question, you try to ask something away from the game.
So I asked LeBron the last question about Kobe Bryant, who was mentioned earlier when someone asked James about getting votes for All-NBA defensive team. Of course, Kobe made first team and James played with him during the summer for Team USA so you ask LeBron about Kobe to see if that experience in the summer helped him improve defensively.
So I took that and asked LeBron about Kobe's back problems that surfaced in the Lakers losing Game 4. Remember James has back spasms that slowed him down.
James said he definitely knows how it feels and expressed some sympathy for him.
James also talked about how he's changed his free-throw shooting four to five times this season. He's shooting 70 percent from the line in the playoffs. If he could ever get that up in the high 70s or low 80s, he'd really put up some huge numbers.
By the way, he came out three hours before the game to get some shots up. Shooting 22.4 percent in a series will make you do that.
Now although most guys are a little guarded when talking before games, some are loose as a goose.
Enter Doc Rivers and Damon Jones.
Got to love Doc.
The guy just smiles, has fun with the media, calls them out, can talk candidly and get his point across. He's the kind of coach you'd love to cover because he's going to have fun with it, yet make his points.
He was talking about Game 1, which ended with the Celtics winning 76-72. To me, the game was ugly and many others felt the same way.
Not Doc.
He said if Dick Vitale had been broadcasting the game, it would have been viewed as a great game. We all know Vitale just goes crazy and sweats out a shirt.
I know his wife is like, honey, can you please wring out that shirt before laying it on the bed.
Anyway, Doc was great. He said he told his players before the series not to get mesmerized by LeBron. If you watch him and don't pay attention, James will pick you apart with passes, Rivers said.
What coach says that?
Then during the interviews with media, Cleveland forward Wally Szczerbiak walks by. Szczerbiak once played for Boston and Rivers says to him in mid sentence when answering a question, "So you not going to say anything today Wally."
Nice, but got one beef with Doc.
He doesn't allow his assistants to talk. Kind of like Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. I was wanting to interview Boston assistant Clifford Ray.
It's OK, though. Doc is still alright with me.
So is Damon Jones.
Now the Cavalier reserve guard is a quote machine. He's ultra confident in his game even when he's not playing. Jones has played just six minutes in this series.
Today, he took it to another level.
Wearing headsets, Jones was watching a postgame interview he did after a playoff game on his DVD player in his locker.
That's crazy.
On the interview, Jones was sporting black shades and looking too cool. So I asked him how many of those interviews does he have on DVD.
"All of them." he said.
Jones said he watches games he's played to maintain confidence in his game. I think if the Cavaliers advance past Boston, he'll find a way to get more minutes.
Well, let me get to work. I could go all day on this stuff.
See you at the half.
- Duane Rankin