Running Diary of Western Conference Finals Game 2

(9:00 min remain 2^nd quarter)Getting a pretty late start tonight, but it looks like I still showed up well before most of the Denver Nuggets. Want to quickly point out that when I pulled into my parking lot, I heard the following sentence from my radio “Which he wrote in his book, The Invisible Hook, detailing the economics of pirates.” – I don’t know if this is about Blackbeard pirates or black pirates, but this has clearly shot to the top of my list.

I just realized that the Birdman plays in the mile high city. Not the first brick he’s ever rebounded if you hear me.

(8:02) I hate Lakers fans. They all wear Affliction tees and drive ‘01 3 series.

(6:30) Linas Kleiza left Missouri because his coach slept with his girlfriend. Is that true? I wonder why he left Lithuania..

(5:20) George Karl seems like he would be a terrible person to share a bathroom with.

(4:45) After studying the sample size of Carmelo and Shannon Brown, I am debating braiding my hair only to quickly shave it off and immediately improve in all areas of life.

(3:45) Anthony Carter should go by AC Carter. That guy is going to coach middle schoolers soon.

(2:40) I want this half to end so I can flip to UofA softball.

1-0 Wildcats. I miss Adrienne Acton.

That can’t be a live shot of LA. It’s 7:00. I want to know.

They are being too hard on Nene. He lost a tesiticle. He is doing his best.

(2:21) Great finish by Martin. He finishes stronger at the rack than Peter North.

(1:09) My comments are turning out to be extremely anti-LA. Sorry. I will try harder, but I hate them.

(40 sec) That was a really dumb foul to put Denver in the bonus and allow them to cut it to 3.

-0.06 sec- Someone from Colorado took advantage of Kobe from behind. Justice has been served.

I get 3 calls per day from the Arizona Republic and I don’t know how to get them to stop.

This is incredibly difficult without DVR. I do not have DVR because my roommate whose name our cable bill is under repeatedly refused to accommodate my wishes to upgrade. I have a fantastic TV and no HD except for the antenna I made. It is frustrating and disgraceful.

“An engaging and thorough portrait of high seas banditry that goes beyond the pop-culture stereotypes to argue that though often brutal and always mercenary, pirates were ahead of their time when it came to matters of economic fairness and progressive labor practices.”
(Kevin Canfield Mother Jones )

I couldn’t be more excited about this book.

2^nd half thoughts…. Well I’ve been trying so hard to write things down that I haven’t been able to focus as much on the game as I would like. I’m also kind of sleepy and I have to use the restroom. If I was a baby I would definitely by crying right now. Luckily I am almost deepthroating a pacifier (Canadians call them soothers, which is awesome. I think I generally prefer to be soothed rather than pacified, so I am onboard).

At this point, both in the game and the series, it looks like the overall key is going to be the effort out of Denver’s frontcourt. The Lakers are getting too many second chances and uncontested dunks. I look for this to change in the second half. I think they have the potential physicality and ability to keep Gasol / Bynum / Odom in check, but for whatever reason this has not been happening early (I know these three didn’t score much in the first game, but the rebounding advantage was huge). They need someone other than Bullups / Carmelo to score and Kleiza has obviously filled that void very nicely this half.

LA seems to be playing well overall, with the exception of that last 4 minutes. They need to pretend like it never happened and continue to play their game. Kobe needs to continue to get everyone involved, but also pick his spots because nobody on the Nuggets can check him. And they need to hit like 2/5 of their wide open threes, because we know they will get a lot.

(11:45) Wow Kenyon Martin has worse hands than Kyle.

(10:54) Wow Kenyon Martin has worse hands than Saar.

(9:09) In planning a trip to the summer league, I can only hope Dahntay Jones is there again.

(6:47) Pau Gasol seems like he would be an even more terrible person to share a bathroom with.

(6:33) All this bathroom talk is proving to be too much for me feeble bladder. BRB.

Okay luckily I caught the Ariza dunk. That was ridiculous. I looked it up and his UCLA team was 11-17. Yikes.

(5:10) Kenyon Martin does not play like a 9-year veteran. Probably his mom’s fault.

(4:00) Not the first rock the Birdman’s ever gotten his hands on.

(2:47) Wikipedia-ing during the commercial taught me that Charles O’Bannon’s full name is Charles Edward O’Bannon while Ed O’Bannon’s name is Edward Charles O’Bannon. Perfect.

(2:35) Carmelo’s nickname should be bukakke, because he finishes strong at the rack no matter how many guys are around.

(2:02) Denver’s going to have to start hitting some free throws.

(1:02) Why don’t Europeans have tattoos?

(40) Tough call on Kobe… you’re telling me there were no fouls on any of those Laker shot attempts?

4^th

(11:40) Chauncey with the JR Smith memorial 28 footer.

(10:20) How can none of these young Laker guards stay in front of Billups?

(10:00) You know how the NFL has all those linemen competitions at the Pro-Bowl? Let’s do it with the NBA sometime in the summer.

I’m tired of Biz Markie.

(9:30) Carmelo’s talk about his confidence reminded me of his Cribs episode, in which he presented us with an oil painting of him standing back-to-back with Jesus Christ, and they blended into the same person as the painting moved down. I think it’s safe to say that he is a confident offensive player.

(7:20) Shannon Brown is not Isaiah Thomas, not matter how much he wants to believe he is.

I am excited to see what Carmelo can do when he comes back in. He has been the best player on the floor this entire series. Karl needs to keep him on the floor. There are enough stoppages in playoff basketball that he can play heavy minutes and still be rested.

(7:00) I can’t tell if the DirecTV- French Open commercial is actually Dick Enberg, or just someone impersonating him. Listen carefully next time. It’s impossible to tell.

(5:47) It seems like the Lakers know what things they need to do to win and the Nuggets do not.

(5:37) Committing pointless fouls when you are in the bonus, however, is not one of those things.

(4:50) I guess the basketball gods did not like the foul call on Nene. I typed it before the notorious jvg said it.

(3:42) Trevor Ariza looks like he could be really good soon.

(2:16) Camelo Anthony is really good right now. Where is Gerry McNamara?

(2:00) Yuck. Nice, efficient game from Kobe tonight… 30 on 19 shots.

I'm spent. Nice win for the Nuggets. I expect them to take a 2-1 lead on Saturday and the Lakers to tie it up in game 4.

- Andrew