SUCKA FREE 5: Who didn't suck in the NBA last week

Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't suck.
Last Week Average: 29 pts, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Obviously he doesn't suck but 'Bron-'Bron had three double digit rebounding games last week. Averaging 29 points and 13 rebounds, that's just sick.

Check out this video: "Flight 23" and select the HD version.

Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats didn't suck.
Last Week Average: 24 pts, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1.5 blocks
Wallace had a bad-ass game going 31-16 against Portland Blazers and this nasty dunk on Greg Oden.

Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers didn't suck.
Last Week Average: 26 pts, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals
Iggy had a big game Knicks going for 28 pts, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. Philadelphia has won seven in a row.

Jameer Nelson of the Orlando Magic didn't suck.
Last Week Average: 24 pts, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 1.7 steals
Jameer Nelson helped the Orlando Magic win seven in a row scoring 20+ points in his last four games.

The Philadelphia 76ers didn't suck.
Last Week: Won 7 in a row
Philly knocked off a couple of Western conference powerhouses in Portland & San Antonio. The Sixers clobbered Portland by 21 and the Spurs by 22. Philly sits second in the Atlantic behind the Boston Celtics

The Orlando Magic didn't suck.
Last Week: Won 7 in a row
The Orlando Magic went 4-0 on their Western Conference road trip beating the Spurs, Sacramento, Denver and the LA LAkers. Watch out Cleveland & Boston, Orlando is a force to be reckoned with.

Photo credit: (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Cavs spin Raps round, baby right round, like a record baby...

It was like a broken record:
Cavs steal the ball, Lebron slams it home........Cavs steals the ball, Lebron slams it home....Cavs steals the ball, Lebron slams it home, (repeat)

And this game had some broken records as well.

The Raps continued to get bullied by NBA teams on the road and this matchup was another one of those beatings as the Cavs sent the Raps packing with another L.

How did the game start? Lebron with two quick dunks. Ouch. Then, Cleveland takes the time to honour Lebron as he broke the Cavs all-time steals record. As the Raps struggle on the road, the Raps get outscored in the paint falling in love with the jumper and shot 33% from the field in the first.

In the second quarter, Jose continued his consecutive free throws streak going 45 for 45. Parker got the hot hand hitting back to back threes which got the Raps on a run getting within 9. Cleveland got a little clumsy getting 3 techs in the first half. There was another Cavs milestone tonight, Big Z passed Brad Daugherty as the all time rebound leader for the Cavs. With a minute left in the half, Raps pull within 4 but the quarter ended with a Lebron buzzer-beater. Cavs up at the half 59-51 with the Raps outscoring the Cave 32-29.

Third quarter, guess who showed up? Karl Malone.....no, not really but Lebron did make his tribute to him with this dunk.

Again with the broken record this quarter, Lebron steals the ball, Jam, Lebron steals the ball, Jam. The game was over this quarter, Cleveland just took over outscoring the Raps 31-16.

I’d finish off with analysis of the 4th quarter but basically it was just the Cavs starters sitting on the bench watching the second unit finish off the Raps. Final score 114-94.

Raps high scorer? Joey Graham with 17! Bosh/J.O combined to score 17 pts, yuck. Raps drop their 5th loss in a row and are back home against the 7-13 Pacers tonight. This is probably the best opportunity Raps have had for a win in a while

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J.O. - Show or No Show for Wednesday?

According to the National Post, Jermaine O'Neal may be back Wednesday when they face the Bobcats. He's saying his knee is good but it will be day to day. Apparently, he thought if he showed up against the Celtics, it would motivate the team to perform well against the Champs.

Shoutouts to Cuzoogle. There's a contest to predict the date Sam Mitchell will get fired. The winner will get a prize of $25. Raps have a tough schedule coming up with big team opponents like Denver, Utah, Cleveland, LA Lakers, New Orleans and two more games against VC's Nets (ugh) Speaking of firing coaches, Eddie Jordan has been fired as the Wizards head coach according to the Washington Post. The Wizards are 1-10.

According to Out of Left Field, the Red Rocket, Matt Bonner wants to join Team Canada.

Here's props to co-contrbutor Sean and his Bulls, here's the finish to last night's Bull's game. Larry Hughes sealed it with the buzzer beater.

Welcome Back Manu! Manu Ginobili is back in the lineup for the Spurs. The Spurs were able to weather the storm and managed to get wins while Manu and Tony Parker were down and out. He scored 12 points off the bench in the win over Memphis.

Antonio Mcdyess has decided to join the Detroit Pistons again. He will be able to sign with the Pistons on December 3rd. I didn't watch the game two nights ago but where the hell were the Pistons? Losing 106-80 to the Wolves?

The line of the night last night was CP3's triple double, 14, 10 & 17. This was his second straight triple double of the season. His SECOND STRAIGHT triple double....crazy!

According to the New York Daily News, Zach Randolph is officially a Clipper. What are the Clips supposed to do with all those bigs? Randolph, Kaman, Thornton and Camby? I smell a trade....
The latest rumor? Charlotte's Jason Richardson for Chris Kaman, as reported by Hoopsworld.com. The trade would make sense for both teams where the Clippers would fill the shooting guard void and for Charlotte, Emeka Okafor could move to his natural position at power forward. Clips would have a stellar starting 5: Davis, J-Rich, Thornton, Randolph and Camby.


Tonight, Lebron @ NY..it's all the hype. Lebron will debut his "Big Apple" sneaker. Who owns them? Lebron, Ahmad Rashad, Jay-Z and Spike Lee. "Big Apple" Lebrons? Cleveland fans should be worried. Ahmad Rashad predicts 60 pts from Lebron tonight, Gary Payton predicts 35 and Chris Webber predicts 47. We'll see. Lebron NY in 2010 is all the hype.....and it's only 2008.

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Balance Toi drops Cinquante Cinq!

Big night last night in the NBA.

First of all, the Raps-Pistons game was a good one, Jose Calderon kept the Raps in the game down the stretch but the Pistons were just too dominant for the Raps. I also have to mention........I miss Chuck Swirsky. When the Raps are making runs, the Chuck Swirsky calls are what make Raps games that much more exciting. Matt Devlin doesn't cut it, we need more "C - B - 4!!!" or "SICK WICKED AND NASTY!" calls. Chuck Swirsky was as much part of the Raptors as Chris Bosh and I miss the Swirsk and his calls.

Last night had a few 40+ point scorers and...No, one of them wasn't Melo scoring 44 for Obama. He ended up with 28 and an L against the Warriors. And oh yeah, Melo got a haircut!

Amare "STAT" Stoudemire had a sick line last night: 49 points, 11 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks!

Lebron ....also sick: 41 points, 9 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals

And the high scorer of the night:

Balance Toi......Tony Parker!

55 points, 10 assists and 7 dimes in the double OT win. Career high for TP.

As the resident Spurs fan....I was watching the box score and couldn't believe TP's stats but what suprised me more was that the 0-3 Spurs (worst start since '74) needed double OT to squeak a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves?! I never usually worry about the Spurs during the regular season but when I see Roger Mason as the third highest scorer, I'm starting to worry. Manu, we need you back!

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Billionaire Boys Club – Lebron James

After watching the NBA Draft on Thursday, one of the big trades of the night was the trade that sent Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. ESPN also reported that the trade supported the rumours of Lebron James possibly landing with the Nets in 2010 (when Lebron is eligible for free agency). I haven’t even heard of this rumour until that night, so it sparked me to do some research.

Check this Lebron James quote from Dec. 10, 2005 - Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

In the next 15 or 20 years, I hope I'll be the richest man in the world. That's one of my goals. I want to be a billionaire. I want to get to a position where generation on generation don't have to worry about nothing. I don't want family members from my kids to my son's kids to never have to worry. And I can't do that now just playing basketball.

Lebron + Jay-Z + Brooklyn = Kings of NY
It’s no secret that Lebron James, one of the biggest NBA icons today and Jay-Z, one of hip hop’s biggest icons (and part owner of the New Jersey Nets) are tight. They host an event together around All-Star weekend and call it the “Two Kings” party. If you put these two in New York, it will fall in lines with the LRMR Marketing’s vision: “....developing and executing successful partnerships between brands and the world’s most recognized talent.....”

What is LRMR Marketing?
I was reading an issue of SLAM magazine (Issue 116, April ‘08) and read the article on Lebron and how Lebron had fired his agent and decided to take high school friends/teammates to be his representation, creating Lebron's LRMR Marketing. Check out LRMRmarketing.com, this points to their website for Lebron’s own sports marketing/branding company. Just take a look at the Methodology section of his company’s site; they plan to do big things by “uniting entities that will benefit from mutual engagement.” Lebron, Jay-Z, New York and Nike....put them together and they will spell......dollar signs. Lebron’s Nike contract could skyrocket if Lebron heads to NY. If Lebron lands in a huge market like LA or New York, his Nike contract could probably double, leading him closer to that billion dollar goal.

The evidence is there...... articles about the Nets trying to clear up cap space, they unleashed Jason Kidd and now Richard Jefferson is off to Milwaukee for young talent, and draft picks. Even when Lebron signed his contract with Cleveland, he opted for the shorter contract instead of the long-term contract with more money. If Cleveland can’t provide Lebron with the supporting cast that is championship calibre and Jay-Z and the Nets execs can get him that championship cast, it looks like there’s no doubt Lebron will be sporting the Brooklyn Nets jersey.

What better way to introduce the Brooklyn Nets than with Jay-Z in the front office and Lebron James as your star athlete.....possibly bringing a long awaited championship trophy to the Mecca of basketball, New York.

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