10

That's how many free throws the Lakers took in game 2 of the NBA Finals tonight. And they hit them all. I'm not normally one to do much complaining about officiating, but that's fucking ridiculous. This compared to 38 for the Celtics. You expect the home team to get some advantages, but this is ridiculous. And even with that, the Lakers were within 2 with under a minute to play, when of course, it was decided by the officials as Paul Pierce drove to the basket and Derek Fisher grazed his finger and he hit the two free throws to basically put the game away. Hopefully, the Lakers get the same bullshit advantage in LA, but whether they do or not, they have to play a lot better, especially the bench. The reserves came up huge at times against the Spurs, but they've done nothing in this series so far.

My Bracket

Here's my bracket for this year (click for larger, readable version). I went with Georgetown all the way, though I'm not sure they have it in them. You may notice an overall Big East bias as well. That's because they're better than everyone else.

UPDATE: I was 14-2 yesterday. Of course, after talking up the Big East, the one team from the conference I picked to get upset won easily.

UPDATE: College Basketball sucks. Why does anyone even watch this garbage?

National Boring Association

I haven't really paid any attention at all this season to the NBA. That wasn't surprising considering the Lakers suck, and Georgetown was very good this year which made me focus more on college basketball. But, even when the Lakers aren't even in the playoffs at all, I've always been able to enjoy watching them anyway. But so far this season, I've seen nothing that interests me even slightly. I tried to watch several games over the weekend, and was bored by all of them, including the Lakers. I have a mild interest in the Heat because I like Shaq, but other than that, there's no team out there that is compelling to me, and no individual players that really pull me into a game just to watch them play.

Any NBA fans want to tell me about something great that I'm missing? Because I just can't get interested.

Buckeyes drop Hoyas

I wasn't going to say much about Jeff Green's disappearing act in the Final Four, because they're just kids, and even with all that talent, can't always come through. But then I read the quote below, and it almost made my head explode.

"I wouldn't change anything," Green said. "I didn't want to force anything. ... You've got to credit their defense. They had great weak-side defense. That made it tough on our teammates to try and throw the ball down to me."

Huh? You didn't want to force anything? Why not? Because your teammates were having such success? You were losing most notably because you were not a factor in the game. Hibbert had foul trouble, but still managed to put in 19 points. You went stretches of 17 and 14 minutes without taking a shot. Ridiculous. You need to make your own shots sometimes. Obviously, you already know that, because you wouldn't even have been in the Final Four if not for forcing your way through a double and nearly triple team to hit the game winner against Vanderbilt. Your assertion that it was tough for your teammates to get you the ball is patently ridiculous. I watched the entire game very closely and continually saw you run away from the ball, and in fact immeadiately give it up almost everytime you got it.

And, sure the loss is not all your fault. DuJuan Summers, who has been very good lately only scored 3, but at least he was out there trying, taking 10 shots, and he's a freshman, not the Big East Player of the Year. And the bench was nonexistent. But they're the bench, you're supposed to be the star. If Allen Iverson were dead, he's be rolling over in his grave after that performance by a fellow Hoya in the Final Four.

NCAA Tournament

I know this is late, but I've been sick so I haven't had a chance to post it yet. But here is my bracket, where you can clearly see that I haven't cheated at all getting it up this late. It's also clearly biased with Georgetown winning it all, but fuck it, they haven't been in a position where I could legitimately make that pick for a while, so I'm going with it.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say something about all the people I've seen recently detailing their different records in different pools. Pick one bracket and stick with it, it's way more fun that way. Where's the exceitement if you need one team to win in one pool, and another team in a different pool, and can never really decide who to root for? Half the fun of getting in a pool and picking a bracket is giving you a clear interest in each game, so I don't understand you people with the multiple brackets.

Also, it's come to my attention that my brother picked Duke to win it all, so feel free to use this space to make fun of him.