Le Basketbawl

The “Boston Globe” reported Thursday that the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks completed a five player trade before the NBA Trade  Deadline took  effect Thursday afternoon at 3:00 pm EST. The Knicks sent Boston point guard Nate Robinson and seldom used rookie forward Marcus Landry in return for reserve guards Eddie House, Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens. Walker and Giddens are both in their second NBA season and were used sparingly this season by the Celtics.

Boston receives the winner of last weekend’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. He is the the only player to have won the trophy three different times. Robinson who will become an unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the season did what none before him had accomplished. He went into Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni’s ”Doghouse” and not only survived; he became a starter before he was traded to the Celtics. 

Robinson will give Boston good depth in their back-court as Robinson will play off the bench for the Celtics. He has averaged 13.2 points and 3.7 assists per game in the 30 games  he played for New York this season. The Knicks in return get a veteran leader in House who was a key part in Boston winning the NBA Title in 2008. House is in his  tenth season in the NBA and has averaged 7.2 points in 50 games played for the Celtics this season.

New York  Vinnie has told you from Day One that Pro-Athletes should not be role models; and if you are a parent that uses one as an example of what your child should aspire to be then shame on you! The only thing your child should learn from a Pro-Athlete is how to play the sport they play, certainly not life lessons! These are not community leaders or learned men; they happen to be able to perform a physical feat well enough that they get paid for doing it. Dwight Howard’s views on the economy are not worth a rat’s behind to New York Vinnie; that is not his area of expertise.

Would you tell your child that R&B star Chris Brown is a good role model? How about Lindsay Lohan is that who you want your daughter to grow up to be like? These people are entertainers and they earn a lot of money at a young age and some handle it well while others do not. Pro-Athletes are in the same boat young men who are talented enough to get incredible Frickin money to do what most men in the USA would love to do for free; play a Frickin game.

Unfortunately all too often these young men allow the moment to master them rather than them mastering the moment. They get frustrated with a situation and they start verbally lashing out or complaining; the problem is there is usually a member of the media around and then it becomes public knowledge. Athletes live under a Frickin Magnifying Glass and what you or I could say at our jobs could be on the back page of the tabloids when an athlete says it.

The Boston Celtics had high aspirations going into the 2009-2010 NBA season and many thought  including New York Vinnie that they had a very good chance of winning their second NBA Title in the last three years this June. Injuries derailed the team somewhat in January but they seemed to have dodged a bullet with Paul Pierce; as there were reports of him possibly breaking his left foot Tuesday. It turns out it was just s strained foot and his status is day to day.

When a team plays below expectations they get frustrated; they can handle it one of two ways. The proper way of handling it is to keep any problems in house and present a united front to the public via the media. You win and lose as a team that is the Frickin bottom line. If you have problems you handle them behind closed doors.

The other way of handling it is to allow the situation to get the best of you and start airing your dirty laundry in public. That sadly is the case with the Boston Celtics where All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo started airing his grievances to the “Boston Herald.”  The Celtics have been a tight knit bunch over the past couple of seasons but according to Rondo something is different this season.

The Celtics guard said “In the locker room, you can feel it. You don’t feel like it’s the same continuity and camaraderie in the locker room as it was the first year. The first year, it was a crazy spirit in the locker room. But now it doesn’t feel the same. It’s not the same right now. We’ve got to find a way to get that back somehow, some way. It’s a different team this year. That’s our problem. A couple of years ago, we didn’t have the same team. We had the same main guys, but it’s still a team effort, from the first guy to the 15th guy.”

Yo Rajon, things do not stay the same forever and especially not in the modern era of Pro-Sports. Now please tell New York Vinnie exactly what was positive about opening up your Frickin Yap to the media? Do you expect that now that it is out in the open everybody is going to embrace and have a good sing-along around a Frickin camp fire? Because New York Vinnie believes the only smoke you will see My Man is coming from the ears of Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge!

You have a problem you talk to someone who can solve the Frickin problem. Now New York Vinnie has been reading Herald reporter Steve Bullpett’s stuff for a long Frickin time and he is a great writer. But he does not set the Frickin tone in the Boston locker room. Rajon by doing what you did you may have set the Frickin tone for the next few weeks; and New York Vinnie does not think it will be pleasant!

Before NBA Training Camp started New York Vinnie told you that if the Boston Celtics were able to stay healthy and focused that they would be the winners of the NBA Finals in June. The focus has been maintained during the first half of the Boston season but injuries to Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace took their toll on the team in January. Now according to the “Boston Herald“ the Celtics could find themselves without a key player for quite a while.

Celtics All-Star forward Paul Pierce may have suffered a greater injury than originally thought as Boston defeated the Washington Wizards Monday by a final of 99-88. Pierce and Wizards veteran Caron Butler would both dive for a loose ball in the first and Butler landed on the Boston players left foot. Pierce did play in the second and third but was not on the floor in the fourth due to the injury. It now appears that the foot may be broken or that the veteran may have suffered ligament damage.

Pierce had X-Rays on Tuesday but they proved to be inconclusive and he will undergo an MRI on Wednesday. If the Celtics were to lose their All-Star for 4-6 weeks they could very easily fall out of elite status in the NBA Eastern Conference. Although Tony Allen replaced Pierce earlier this season when the forward missed a couple of games he is not strong enough to be a long term fit. The Celtics are really not a team that has a lot of assets to try to trade for a front line small forward. So right now fans of the Celtics are thinking the worst and hoping for the best.

The good news is the Boston Celtics started off the month of a February with a victory over the Washington Wizards Monday by a final of 98-88. The bad news is that they have lost All-Star forward Paul Pierce in the battle. The Celtics team captain got tangled up with Wizards forward Caron Butler in the first and his left for was injured as both players dove for a loose ball. Pierce did play in the second and third periods but sat out the fourth as the injury seemed to bother the veteran. Boston ended a three game losing streak and they had their first losing month as a ball club after acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett before the 2007-2008 NBA season.

The month of January, 2010 was not a good one for the Boston Celtics; in fact it was the first losing month since the team traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the off-season before winning the 2008 NBA Title. The Celtics went 6-8 for the month losing their last three games and they now have a 6-11 record since December 27. There is no doubt as to what the source of the problem is; it has been injuries to key players including Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace.

 Boston fans are not taking this particularly well either. New York Vinnie paid a visit to Red’s Army on Friday and there was all sorts of talk about Garnett never being the same player he was before he injured his knee last season. Now New York Vinnie believes that is Crapolla; the injury was not that severe and the “Big Ticket” is an elite NBA player. Garnett has said it himself; a lot of his problem is still timing missing 10 games puts him right back at square one to get into “Basketball Shape.”

Boston ended the first month of the new decade Sunday against their chief rival the Los Angeles Lakers and would lose 90-89. The “Boston Globe” spoke with the Boston players before the game and Garnett told reporters that his team would have to be pretty much flawless to beat L.A. The starter for the Eastern Conference All-Star Team told reporters “If we come anything less than great we’re going to get our (tails) kicked. We’re losing. I don’t think anybody’s proud of that. We all look at ourselves as a unit and we’re trying to figure out a way to fix this. The words that we want to use you guys can’t write in your columns or put on this television. But we’re going to get better. We’re too prideful, too competitive as men, to go another route.”

Take a look your Eastern Conference All-Star team; the Cleveland Cavaliers the team with the best record in the Frickin NBA has one player on the squad, as do the Orlando Magic, and the Atlanta Hawks. The Lakers have two players on the Western Conference All-Star team. The Celtics are the only Frickin team in the entire NBA with three players on the team. What does that mean to New York Vinnie? It means you have a more complete team which is how the Celtics historically have won. Going back to the days before even New York Vinnie was born back in the era of Bob Cousy and Bill Russell.

The Boston Celtics have too much Frickin talent to go in the dumper. They have to get healthy and get back to their strengths shut down defense and your offense stems from there. New York Vinnie predicted before Training Camp that Boston was winning the NBA Finals in June. If the Cleveland Cavaliers can get themselves what is now being labeled as a “Stretch Four” in other words a Kevin McHale/Karl Malone power forward they may be unstoppable. The Pacers Troy Murphy and the Wizards Antawn Jamison have come up as players who might fill that role for Cleveland. But barring that if Boston has everyone healthy New York Vinnie will stick with the Celtics.

Last week Boston Celtics big man Glen Davis got himself in hot water with the NBA by allowing a Frickin PUD to get the best of him at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Davis was was fined for allowing this Frickin sad excuse for a human being to get under his skin and cursing him as the Celtics lost to the Detroit Pistons. Davis on Friday apologized for his actions and told reporters that he knew better than to react the way he did.

Monday the “Boston Herald” reported that Davis in an effort to show that he is maturing has decided to drop his former nickname of “Big Baby.” Davis said to reporters “I’m not feeling like Big Baby anymore, I need something different. Someone get a blog. I need suggestions!”

Well Davis was provided with his new nickname by one of the reporters; he will go with his uniform number (11) in Spanish and his new identity will be “Uno-Uno.” New York Vinnie told Davis last week he needed to grow up and so I am totally in favor of his new nickname. It shows that he is truly trying to change and did not just make empty promises last week to reporters.

“Uno-Uno” has talent; if you watched him down the stretch last season for the Celtics you saw that he is for real. However what he has lacked is discipline and self control; hopefully the lesson he learned last week will be the wake-up call he needed to gey his priorities straight. “Uno-Uno” can have a long and successful career in the NBA if he just stays focused. And never again let the Frickin PUDS see you sweat!

New York Vinnie took Glen “Big Baby” Davis to task on Thursday for allowing a heckler at the Palace of Auburn Hills to get the better of him Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics lost to the Detroit Pistons. The Boston big man allowed  “The Moment To Master Him” Wednesday night as the Celtics lost their third straight game to the Detroit Pistons by a final of 92-86. According to the report one of the Piston fans at Palace Of Auburn Hills a man by the name of Scott Zack started to heckle Davis during the game. Zack who sounds to New York Vinnie like he is a total Frickin Class Act allegedly called the Celtics big man “fat boy” and “chubs” repeatedly through out the game.

Davis was getting increasingly frustrated through out the game and he finally reached his Frickin melting point and allowed “The Moment To Master Him.” “Big Baby” cursed the guy out; and even worse did it within range of the TV and radio microphones for the entire planet to hear. The Frickin PUD fan then complained to the Arena security so now this Frickin Douche looks like the victim. Thursday NBA Executive Vice President fined Davis $25,000 for his outburst.

Friday before the Celtics took on the Portland Trail Blazers Davis spoke with “ESPN The Magazine” and admitted he was wrong to react how he did. The big man said “I shouldn’t say those kind of words. Even though a fan says anything to me, I shouldn’t say that. I’ve got to understand who’s watching out there for the kids and the parents. It’s just a bad thing to say. You’re frustrated. You’re mad. That’s not what you’re suppose to say. You’re just supposed to play the game of basketball and don’t worry about the fans; that’s what they are there for. When a fan talks personal about you in an emotional game, you know, it kind of gets to you, but you can’t let it get to you. That’s what (fans are) there for, to get you unfocused and frustrated.”

Let’s see if this proves to be a lesson learned for Davis. As New York Vinnie wrote on Thursday you can never let the PUDS see you sweat!