Posts for category ‘NBA Random’

I’m not really a gambling man. I’ll go to Las Vegas, throw down small-time money on sports futures, sometimes randomly, sometimes not so randomly (thank you New Orleans Saints for winning the Super Bowl — not so random; let’s go Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers! — sorta random). I’ll also frivolously play roulette, hoping to recapture the magic that a run with ‘Red 23′ (the Michael Jordan number, clearly) once brought me … never have. And oh yea, I’ll play poker (usually Texas Hold’em) like any other red or blue blooded American, but haven’t in a long time.

Gambling is an okay form of entertainment. And if you don’t see it that way and don’t stay within your personal financial limits (aka, your entertainment budget) you’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble. Now here are some sports odds involving the NBA and Washington Wizards via Bodog.com … (how about that for a seamless transition?)

The Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Miami Heat have 17/10 odds to win the NBA Championship. The LA Lakers follow with 5/2 odds and the Boston Celtics come in third with 17/2 odds. It drops off after that with the Orlando Magic at 13/1 and the OKC Thunder at 14/1.

The Wizards fall below 17 teams with 100/1 odds to win the title, which is the same odds held by the Charlotte Bobcats, Memphis Grizzlies and New Jersey Nets. Worse odds than the Wizards: the Pistons, Clippers, Warriors, Pacers, 76ers, Kings, Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Raptors — Cleveland, Minnesota and Toronto all having 200/1 odds to win the 2011 NBA Championship. The T’Wolves must feel especially special, if you will, because they didn’t lose a superstar, yet are expected to be as crappy as the Cavs and Raps. Read more »

Operation Sports (a leading news and content provider focused on the sports video game industry) is pretty well connected. Today, 2K Games (makers of not only the No. 1 selling NBA video game two years in a row, but also the No. 1 rated NBA video game 10 years in a row) sent Operation Sports the overall ratings for every player in each team’s starting five for NBA 2K11, which will be released on October 5. Let’s see where some of the Wiz kids stand.

The NBA 2K11 Wizards Starting Lineup:

John Wall — 81 OVR (overall rating)
Gilbert Arenas — 83 OVR
Josh Howard — 71 OVR
Andray Blatche — 72 OVR
JaVale McGee — 59 OVR

As a point of reference, here are the current Wizards starter ratings from NBA 2K10:

John Wall — N/A
Gilbert Arenas — 84 OVR
Josh Howard — 77 OVR
Andray Blatche — 62 OVR
JaVale McGee — 60 OVR

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After the trade, NBA Draft Thursday lost a great deal of luster for Washington Wizards fans … we should be used to this, it’ll be the sixth straight year the team is not retaining a lottery pick.

But don’t worry, as has been indicated, Ernie Grunfeld will be working the trade hot-lines, and there’s still plenty to do:

1) Head over to Bullets Forever and take part in a ‘Darius Songaila vs. the 18th pick’ poll.

2) Brendan Haywood’s foray into blogging has received its fair share of attention. On top of that, it’s a huge contract year for the guy. Be sure and read the previous post, ‘Good Haywood vs. Bad Haywood (and neither are named Brenda)’

3) This site will be taking part in the ESPN True Hoop Network Live Blog-o-Rama-(Rama), organized by the good folks of Hardwood Paroxysm.

‘Cover It Live’ will be embedded here at Truth About It, so you’re welcome to stop by and check out commentary by NBA team bloggers from across the True Hoop Network … while dropping down some thoughts of your own.

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On this night of Cinco de Mayo, the Denver Nuggets square off against the Dallas Mavericks, playing in the second game of their first 2nd round series since ’93-94.

In 1994, Denver became the first #8 seed to beat a #1 seed in the NBA playoffs (they only played a five game series back then). Pivotal game four of that series was played on May 5th. Dikembe Mutombo led the Nugs with eight blocks, to go along with 10 points and 16 boards.

But it was the play of LaPhonso Ellis in game four which allowed Denver a chance to return to Seattle and win game five. Ellis dropped 27 points and 17 rebounds on the squad formerly known as the Sonics. Both those numbers remain playoff highs for Ellis. Of course, he only played in 16 career playoff games, 12 coming that year with Denver, and four coming in ’00-01 with Minnesota.

You want more? Well, that night, and today, Cinco de Mayo, happens to be LaPhonso Ellis’ birthday.

So, in a random tribute to Ellis, who shares a b-day with Harold “Baby Jordan FAIL” Miner, and former Wizards training camp/pre-season participant, DerMarr Johnson, I present a YouTube clip of a LaPhonso Ellis monster block.

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