BREAK POINT

Gushin' Russian becomes instant internet celebrity

It looks as if tennis players will do just about anything to make it onto SportsCenter, as Mikhail Youzhny has just become the undisputed face of the sport (albeit bludgeoned), if not for the next few days.

In a third-round match against Nicolas Almagro, Youzhny reacted to his own bone-head play by taking his frustration on his head bone. After sending a backhand into the net, the Russian played Whack-a-Kov with his thousand-dollar racquet and opened up a beautiful head wound, which delayed the match for a few minutes.

But, after forgoing stitches and an ounce of common sense, Youzhny continued and actually won the match in a third-set tiebreaker, proving the old adage “winners never cheat, but hot-headed chumps on a steady diet of nylon and titanium sometimes win” to be true.

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FLIP FLOP, YA DON'T STOP

The seeds, they are a changin'... again

Feeling great in Eight

Another day, another set of games, another change in the Western Conference standings. One night after suffering a monumental and humiliating 22-point collapse in the Valley of the Suns, the Denver Nuggets April fooled the Suns with a 126-120 victory in Denver. After giving up 46 fourth quarter points to the Suns Monday night in a loss that dropped the Nuggets back out of the playoffs for all of one day’s time, the Nuggets reclaimed their winning ways on the home floor with 31 points from Allen Iverson, including 11-11 from the charity stripe. Leandro Barbosa led the Suns with 27, while Steve Nash had 17 points and 18 dimes in the losing effort.

Despite giving up a 14-point lead late in the game, the Nuggets managed to pull out the victory and sealed the win with 37 seconds left on a jumper by Marcus Camby, who apparently does more than just stand and grab loose boards. After cutting the margin and taking a short-lived lead in the 4th, Phoenix failed to convert their baskets at the end, including a missed three by Barbaro with 15 ticks left. Carmelo Anthony sank a free throw to give him 25 on the night, and Nash couldn’t convert a desperation three, before a pair of Shaq missed free throws. The loss moved Phoenix back to a half game behind the idle Lakers in the race for the Pacific Division.

timmay...

The Nuggets jumped back to 8th place in the West race as the Golden State Warriors were completely manhandled by the Spurs at the Alamo, 116-92. The mechanical Spurbots continued to perform in playoff form with their 8th straight victory and 20th straight over the Warriors in San Antonio. The Spurs’ Big Three completely overmatched the Warriors’ Big Three and highest scoring trio in the league. Tony Longoria led the champs with 26 points, while Timmay had 17 and 12 boards, and Manu added 16 off the bench. The Warriors got 19 from Baron Davis and 14 from Monta Ellis, but only got 6 from Stephen Jackson on 2-12 shooting, before Don Nelson emptied the bench with the game out of reach.

The Warriors will look to bounce back as they face Dallas tomorrow night on the national stage, just 3 days after beating the Mavs in Oakland. Dirk Nowitzki , in a surprisingly gutsy move for his standards, was upgraded to day-by-day by the medical staff, and may suit up to in the huge game for the Mavs, who have continued to look mediocre and, surprisingly, slower since the Jason Kidd trade and since Dirk went down just about aweek ago.The Mavs, reeking of desperation, have fallen to 0-10 against winning teams with the loss on Sundayand look to be in danger of hobbling right out of the playoff picture. A Warrior win tomorrow will knot all three teams back up at 46-29, while a Maverick victory will push the Warriors to a full game behind the Nuggets for the 8th spot while holding their spot for 7th.

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GLANCING TO SEPTEMBER

NFL’s Opening Weekend Announced

The NFL revealed the schedule for the highly-anticipated annual “Kickoff Weekend”, set to begin on Thursday night, Sept. 4, when the New York Football Giants officially begin their still-flabbergasting Super Bowl title defense and will look to “stomp out” division foe Redskins at the Meadowlands.

This tradition of launching football’s regular season at the home stadium of the reigning kings of the gridiron seems to be sticking, although the Giants would probably rather start the season on the road, given their almost-miraculous run through the playoffs last year outside of Jersey and their shear mediocrity at Giants Stadium. Plus, the Jets NEVER clean up after themselves and leave the place as an even bigger dump than it already is.

Two teams on opposite ends of the quarterback-stability spectrum will square off on NBC’s first Sunday Night Football telecast of the season, as the Bears will face the Colts in a rematch of the outmatched Super Bowl XLI. The designs and features of the brand-new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will surely be showcased, and John Madden will be dumbfounded by all of them.

Lucas Oil Field, the deathbed of
Marvin Harrison's career

Monday Night Football’s opening day double-header will feature half-man/half-unfair Adrian Peterson and the possible division front-running Vikings visiting Rodgers and the Pack in what might already be renamed Favre Field by the time fall rolls around. Green Bay fans will already be hours deep into reminiscing about the “good old days” when the Raiders and Broncos square off in the nightcap; the rest of us will already be asleep.

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BIG WEST CONFERENCE

One monumental (of several) weekend out West

In a playoff race with more jockeying than Churchill Downs and with more developing plot twists and turns than an episode of ‘Lost’, this weekend is shaping up to be monumental for the teams vying for the elite eight out West. Although, really, this is going to be a statement that will ring true pretty much all the way til the mid-April finish line is crossed. In the Southwest, a mere half game separates New Orleans, San Antonio, and Houston in the standings, thanks to the Bees losing to the Celtics and Spurs taking care of Minny last night. Sunday proves to be an important game for shaking out home court advantage, as the Rockets and Spurs throwdown at the Alamo on the national broadcast, as current #5 Houston looks on from the outside for homecourt.

Los Lakers, on a 2-game losing streak after collapsing to Memphis last night and having just lost 3 of 4, are literally a beaten and battered team right now. Without Pau Gasol, still nursing the ankle injury, and evidenced by Derek Fisher’s torn tendon in his foot and Kobe’s million-dollar mug all bandaged up, karma is rearing it ugly head in Hollywood, with Bob Delaney nowhere in sight. And don’t look now but old friend Shaquille O’Neal and the revitalized Suns, just a half game behind the Lakers despite having lost 2 in a row earlier this week, can climb into a tie atop the Pacific with a win tonight in New Jersey. Gasol, however, looks to return Sunday night against the Wizards, just in time to provide more dramatics and take the load off Kobe’s shoulders.

The bottom of the playoff race is just as dicey with 3 teams, yet again, all within half a game of each other, Fight Clubbing for the last 2 spots. Seventh seeded Dallas is one game away from potentially missing out on their annual Playoff meltdown, as they remain winless against winning teams, and without reigning-MVP Dirk Nowitzki for the foreseeable future. As much flak as the Suns received early on for bringing in Shaq to disrupt chemistry, the Jason Kidd deal was not what the Mavericks needed, and team leadership remains nowhere in sight.

With the Golden State Warriors holding steady at #8 and the streaking Denver Nuggets, having won 4 straight, including Thursday’s matchup with the Mavs, right behind them, Mark Cuban has to shaking in his dancing shoes at the thought of his team topping last year’s first round exit and replacing May basketball with ping pong balls instead. The Mavericks could fall to eighth by the end of the weekend, as the Warriors head to Denver to take on the Nuggets tonight in Denver before flying back to the Bay to take on the Mavericks tomorrow.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ROLLED

Bobcats reject Lakers and refs eject Kobe

JRich or die flying

After completing 2 grueling and exhausting games in as many nights against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers returned home seeking to steamroll a less formidable opponent from the JV Eastern Conference by hosting the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday. Instead, the Lake Show suffered their second straight home defeat 108-95, as the Bobcats cruised to a rather easy-looking victory in Southern California, led by a monster showing from Jason Richardson with 30 points and 10 boards. With the contest decidedly out of reach with 3:40 left, Kobe Bryant decided to take his ball home and check out of the game, hoping to beat the traffic rush out of Staples Center along with the countless fans decked in purple and gold who made their ways to the exits early.

The Bobcats, who lost in Utah last night in the first game of a four game trip out West, jumped out to an early lead and really never looked back. Up 10 in the first quarter before the Lakers cut the lead down, the Bobcats continued to pour on the points and took a 57-44 lead at halftime. Both teams played evenly throughout the third, and Kobe was in typical MVP form, scoring the first 15 points for the Lakers. The Staples crowd went into the final frame expecting a 4th quarter comeback much like the Lakers did, coming back from down 26 points aginst the Warriors before taking a short-lived lead on Sunday.

Sweet Carroll line: 18 pts, 3-4 3's

And, that comeback did happen, as expected. The Lakers jumped out to score the first 10 points and it looked like MJ’s team simply would be no match for the Lakers and Kobe’s will. Slashing the lead down to 3 with a dramatic three by Sasha Vujacic, the Lakers were about to grab a stranglehold on the game. But, a funny thing happened along the way, and the Bobcats played like a veteran team , weathering the Laker storm and closing out the victory. A 16-5 run led by J-Rich and a four-point play by Matt-freaking-Carroll sealed the Lakers’ fate. Bryant, who committed the foul on Carroll, and flustered by the officiating not going his way, asked to be excused early, picking up 2 technicals and the subsequent ejection before the Lakers finally went down for the count.

Kobe the nevernude hit the showers early

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NOTHING LASTS FOR-WEBBER

A requiem for the former All-American

As Ringo and Paul continue to duke it out for the last living member of the Fab Four, the fight for last remaining active player from the Michigan’s Fab Five seems to be over. With a formal announcement expected on Wednesday, C-Webb will join other former Wolverine brethren in the ranks of NBA Alumni and leave Juwan Howard as the last man standing.

Webber graciously leaves the hardwood with an impressive resume that may very well land him his own exhibit in Springfield, averaging nearly 21 points, 10 boards and 4 dimes per contest over his career, nearly identical to the numbers Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing put up in their illustrious careers. Webber also won the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1994, garnered five All-Star selections, and appeared on five All-NBA teams.

Over an injury-plagued 14-year career, Webber impacted each of the five uniforms he pulled over his head, arguably experiencing his best and near-championship years at the turn of the millennium with the Sacramento Kings, one win away from playing on the big stage before losing to the Lakers in seven games in 2002.

Webber helped revive basketball in doormant Sacramento, and for several years was the ringleader for one of the most exciting and entertaining acts in the league. But, coupled with back-to-back second-place finishes among the collegiate ranks (including his now infamous meltdown at the 1993 Final Four), Webber has developed the reputation of being a successful impact player that somehow always finished just short of the ultimate goal.

After a less-than-triumphant second stint with Golden State in 2008 (playing in 9 games and lighting up the board with a cumulative 35 points), it seems his career has come full circle as he finally succumbs to years of chronic knee problems which reared its ugly head in 2005. While many Warrior fans were excited about the idea of the prodigal son returning, his signing hardly made the impact of a Gasol or O’Neal, but somehow still seemed fitting.

Coming back to the city he began his career, with the coach he first played under, in a system his skills could have been utilized seemed almost to good to be true. And, it was. The 20 year-old rookie Warriors fans remembered for flushing down a behind-the-back on Sir Charles, making pretty passes for a big man reminiscent of Magic, and leading fast breaks huffing and puffing his way down court returned 15 years older, slower, and long past his glory days.

So Happy Retirement, Chris. I know it may be difficult to come to terms with the end of your playing days, so just think of the next three or four months as just one of your nagging trips to the IR, or just until you can truly accept your legacy. There are so many other horizons in his world for you to explore, and if Jalen can call himself an “analyst”, then so can you. May your “golden” years be relaxing, enjoyable, filled with blunts and void of timeouts.

Here-here!

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FLOP IT LIKE IT'S HOT

Bryant and Lakers seek revenge in Oakland


In what turned out to be an incredible 2 days worth of basketball, energy-filled and with enough electricity worthy of playoff basketball, the Lakers and Warriors took part in the second half of the Battle of California up in Oakland. The Lakers prevailed in overtime 123-119, as Kobe Bryant finished with 30 and 11 boards, while Lamar Odom followed up his 22 rebound performance yesterday with 21 boards tonight. Baron Davis led the way for the Warriors with 30 points with Monta Ellis right behind him with 29. However, the contest, which featured numerous lead changes and a dramatic 10-1 Warriors rally to send the game into overtime, was unfortunately decided on a controversial referee decision.

Down 2 with 4 ticks left and inbounding the ball, Stephen Jackson looked for his teammates to get open. Baron Davis, guarded at the top of the arc, couldn't separate himself from Kobe Bryant's grip. Second option Monta Ellis attempted to make his way towards the ball to receive the inbounds, but found himself tangled and brought down, along with Derek Fisher, to the floor. In what should have been a Bob Delaney no-call, according to the replays and Fisher himself, an offensive foul was charged to Ellis, much to the dismay of the sold-out Oracle Arena crowd. The Lakers escaped with the dramatic victory with a pair of KB free throws to seal the deal, and Jordan Farmer's steal at the end of overtime.

After the game, Derek Fisher spoke about the fateful call that decided the contest:

"I thought it was going to be a no-call, just two guys fall down and the play goes on,” Fisher said. "So when the whistle blew, it caught me off-guard as well. … I don't think anybody was necessarily guilty of anything, but from the angle that Bob had, it looked (Ellis) had his hands to my chest, which he did. But like I said, I wasn't trying to fall down at all in that situation.”

With the victory, the Lakers avoided losing the season series to the Warriors for the first time since the 1994-95 season. If this is indeed a preview for the upcoming postseason, it will be hard to top such an emotional rollercoaster and the flat-out exciting level of play these interstate rivals displayed the last two days. With a healthy Lakers squad with Bynum and Gasol returning, the possibility of an even greater 7 game series is something David Stern needs to figure out how to make a reality.

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