Ambitionz of a Writer

king.

I said it after the Mavs beat the Lakers, and now, it’s come to fruition.

Dirk Nowitzki, the NBA’s best player.

Hands down.

My logic was and still revolves around the idea that Nowitzki went against arguably the four best players in the league and defeated them all.

What do you get when you beat Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James consecutively, one on one?

You get the title of best player in the world.

Well, that’s not exactly what happened, but damn close.

Dirk took his Dallas team, who people picked to lose against the Blazers, Lakers, Thunder and Heat, and overcame each team that was thought to be better than his.

Not only did his team win, he was the best player in each of these four playoff series, meaning he outplayed Bryant, the reigning king of the league for nearly a decade, Durant, the back to back NBA scoring champion who some had pegged as the league’s best, Wade, a former champion who can make a case for the league’s best player, and James, a two-time MVP and until about a week ago, thought to be the league’s best player.

We’ll get to that later.

Who can say they are better than Dirk?

The thing is, Dirk has been the player we saw in these playoffs for a number of years. But he never really got the credit he deserved, as he was labeled as somewhat soft.

However, what may have actually been happening was a case of reverse-racism.

Basically, no one wanted to crown a non-black player as one of the league’s best.

Well, I don’t see how it can be argued now, as Dirk lined up everyone thought to be ahead of him and knocked them down.

Actually, he knocked them out cold.

Let’s not forget that not only was Kobe the king, he was the defending champ and defending Finals MVP.

Dirk swept him.

Pains me to say that, considering my Kobe fan-hood, but I have to call a spade a spade.

Do I think Dirk is more gifted as a basketball player than Kobe or LeBron? Certainly not. But that’s even more of a testament to his abilities, considering he beat guys that are more talented than him.

In addition, Kobe has Pau Gasol, James has Wade, and Durant has Russell Westbrook.

Dirk has Jason Terry.

In other words, his wingman isn’t as necessarily as potent as the wingman of these other guys. In fact, Dirk’s wingman comes off the bench.

Can’t argue with a sign post, people.

Dirk is the new king.

the heat is on.

LeBron James said Wednesday that tonight’s game was the biggest of his career. So naturally, we all expected the best performance of his career.

We were left wanting more. 

And in the process, Heat fans were left looking for answers, as their team is now one game away from losing a series that should have been over Tuesday.

This year’s version of the NBA Finals has stay true to form with last year’s Finals, as Dallas has won the last two at home, just like Boston did last year, and the Heat will now have to win two in a row to claim the title, just like the Lakers did last year.

First off, let’s address LeBron’s performance.

James dropped a respectable 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. You can never knock a triple-double.

Except when it comes to James.

We’ve seen LeBron put up triple doubles with the points well over 40 and the rebounds and assists well over ten. So while 17/10/10 is good for say, Russell Westbrook, for LeBron, it’s mediocre.

Tack on the fact that James called Thursday’s game the biggest of his career, and unfortunately, LeBron came up well short of the type of performance he and Heat fans alike hoped he would have.

Most glaringly, James disappeared offensively in the fourth quarter once again, only scoring two points in the game’s final period. He also had some crucial turnovers and missed jumpshots towards the game’s conclusion that didn’t help his cause.

There were points during the game where James wasn’t even looking at the rim, similar to what we saw in Game Four. LeBron is an exceptional passer, but the best passers know when not to pass.

LeBron hasn’t seem to grasp that concept yet, and it stands out a lot more considering we’ve seen how offensively potent he can be. He spoiled us with 48 points in Detroit a few years back and that series against Orlando two years back.

Now, we can’t expect anything less, which is unfair to James, but in the end, mainly his own doing.

In short, the LeBron James media circus will be in full-force for the next two days, at least until LeBron shoots out another “Now or Never!!” tweet that has his fans excited for the type of LBJ performance they’ve become accustomed to. 

But Thursday’s loss certainly wasn’t all on James’ shoulders.

In fact, a lot of it was on Dwyane Wade’s hip.

Wade injured his hip on a second quarter collision with Mavs’ Brian Cardinal, forcing him out for a better part of the second and third quarters.

And even when Wade came out of the locker room, he wasn’t the Wade that he was in the first four games. He still ended up with 23 points and eight assists, but he just didn’t look…right.

And the Mavs knew it. 

They stopped doubling Wade, they weren’t doubling LeBron, and the game began to flow in Dallas’ favor. 

This was also Dallas’ first hot-shooting game of the series, as they shot 56% from the field and 68% from three.

Yikes.

However, Dallas still only won by nine, which was only nine because of a few late free throws. Dirk had his normal offensive night, but JJ Barea, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry all had their best games of the series, combining for 51 points.

And the Mavs won by nine, which was really more like six.

Clearly, as we’ve seen throughout the entire series, Miami has the better team. But where Dallas has the advantage is that they understand that they don’t have to be the better team.

They just have to be the better team on four nights.

They’ve already been the best on three, and they have two more chances to be the best once.

However, expect the Heat to come out hot Sunday and for us to potentially see the first blowout game of the series. Remember last year, when the Lakers beat the C’s by 20+ in Game Six?

Should be the same thing.

Then we all get what we’ve been waiting for, a Game Seven, in Miami, LeBron and Dirk’s first title on the line.

The NBA is faaaaantastic.

“Now or Never!!”

I just so happened to see LeBron’s tweet late last night, and after staring at it for a moment, I decided that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Just some late night thoughts, right?

Allow me to quote the illustrious Charlie Murphy…

“Wrong. Wrong!”

I wake up this morning and not only are Skip Bayless and Rob Parker debating over LeBron’s tweet on 1st & 10, ESPN is scrolling the tweet across the bottom line.

And now, I’ve been forced to have some thoughts about this.

Bayless, who LeBron once called the Howard Cosell to his Muhammad Ali, said that James is essentially attempting to talk himself out of his funk. Bayless maintains that LeBron has once again shrunk in the biggest moment of his career and is now searching for some personal motivation.

Skip also said that LeBron should focus on a different set of three words, which are Nike’s slogan, “Just do it.”

I’m not sure how much I agree with Bayless’s initial statements, but as far as advising LeBron to follow the motto of his parent company, I agree wholeheartedly.

Listen, I’ve seen LeBron play huge in some huge games and I’ve seen LeBron come up small in some huge games. But I’m not ready to say he shrinks in the big moments. He has shrunk before, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that’s a staple of his career.

As for right now, in this Finals series, if I had to sway one way, I would say he is shrinking. But I am also aware that the series isn’t close to being over and that there are potentially three monumental games left to play.

So say LeBron has two more poor performances, but has a magnificent performance in Game Seven…what happens then?

All the criticism should fly out the window.

Let’s just stay tuned and see what happens in these next two or three games before we decide to crown James either “The King” or “The Shrink.”

However, one thing is for sure, and that’s that LeBron’s tweet certainly didn’t help his cause.

Mavs’ guard DeShawn Stevenson, on the Jim Rome Show yesterday, agreed with Rome that LeBron “checked out” in Game Four. LeBron’s response was to disregard Stevenson’s comments, saying that Stevenson has been talking for years and he won’t get caught up in that.

I think his exact quote was, “Talk is cheap” or “We’ll let our game do the talking.”

Well, it seems to me that LeBron has in fact been doing a lot more talking than gaming.

Before he even fired out this tweet, there were the clips of him in the pregame huddle imploring his guys to play as if their backs are against the wall and to leave everything out on the court.

LeBron, how come you aren’t buying into your own words?

Your talk is coming off extremely cheap.

And now that James chose to fire out the “Now or Never!!” bomb, America’s eyes will be on LeBron even more closely, if that is humanly possible.

I think it’s safe to say that this is the biggest game of LeBron’s career to date. Dwyane Wade has arrived. Dirk Nowitzki has arrived. Even Chris Bosh has arrived.

LeBron, thought to be the best of the four, is the only one left who is yet to put his mark on the series.

I hate to see a firestorm come at anyone the way it’s coming at James, and I pray that tonight, he has a good game. On the other hand, I’m also praying that Dallas wins just so we can have a better series.

But if Dallas is to win, that would require James to have another sub-par effort. 

Let’s see which one of my prayers gets answered.

Pry-orities.

Apparently, Terrelle Pryor is “selfish” for leaving Ohio State early?

And why is that? If you ask me, he, along with hundreds of other college football players, is the one being thrown under the bus. 

Pryor is receiving a majority of the blame for the resignation of legendary OSU coach Jim Tressel last week, but the question I need answered is, what did Pryor do that was so wrong?

The accusations were the same that they always are, that Pryor received “improper benefits.” But to be more specific, Pryor was getting paid to autograph OSU memorabilia, receiving free or discounted automobiles, and receiving free or discounted tattoos.

And I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the big deal.

Yeah, it goes against the rules, but obviously, since these incidents continue to happen at an alarming rate, the rules need to change. 

Let’s speak in realistic terms. 

Kids like cars and kids like tattoos. The NCAA finds no problem with making hundreds of millions of dollars off of these kids, but when these same kids want to make some money off of themselves, or enjoy the perks of all their hard work, they are demonized by their universities, the NCAA, and the media.

It’s sickening. 

Now, Pryor has decided to forego his senior season and turn pro, either in the NFL or CFL.

Congratulations to him. 

Who cares if Terrelle Pryor was signing OSU helmets and receiving money? Who cares if some OSU fan is giving Terrelle Pryor free tattoos?

Who cares!

If he was selling drugs or something of that nature, breaking society’s laws, then certainly he needs to be reprimanded in a serious fashion.

He’s selling autographed foam fingers!

He’s driving loaned cars and getting free tattoos. He’s not harming anyone.

Several former OSU players and members of the media have come out to call Pryor “selfish” and accuse him of only thinking of himself.

Who should he be thinking about? The team? Because Pryor has performed extremely well for that program over the past three years and just took the Buckeyes to a BCS Bowl game last season, where he won MVP of the game.

So don’t tell me he doesn’t care about the team.

You know who really didn’t care about what Pryor was doing off the field?

Jim Tressel!

He knew exactly what Pryor was doing, he was warned, he was notified, and he didn’t tell. Not because he wasn’t sure how to go about the situation, like he claims, but because he didn’t think it was a serious enough offense to lose his best player over.

Tressel was going to protect Pryor no matter what. 

College football is about money and winning. It’s not about teaching guys to be men or instill ethics or blah blah blah.

Please.

It’s about universities making money, and the schools that win make money, period.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that at these huge universities, the basketball and football programs usually fund the other sports programs. So if OSU football struggles, the entire OSU athletic department struggles.

Think Tressel doesn’t know that?

That guy has the pressure of the world on his shoulders and he acted accordingly, to protect his behind.

He’s the selfish one and rightfully so.

People have also called Reggie Bush selfish in light of USC being stripped of its 2004 National Championship this week.

Bush wasn’t being selfish, he just realized who he was, which was probably the best college football player in history. And if anybody ever deserved to get paid, it was him.

So he did.

Congratulations to him.

Pay the players. And if you can’t pay them, let them legally pay themselves.

Pryor to leave Ohio State

USC stripped of ‘04 title

M.I.A. for MIA

You know what this post is about.

One game after LeBron James was accused of shrinking in the fourth quarter, James goes out and proves that writer completely wrong…by shrinking the entire game.

For LeBron James to have a stat-line of eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the entire game actually offends me as a basketball fan.

I don’t know if maybe he was just spoiling us all those other playoffs series when he was dominating opposing teams like small children, but it pains me to think that the stage may truly be too big for Mr. James.

I stick by LeBron as the best all-around player in the NBA, but it’s getting to the point where I have to be specific and say “best all-around player.” With the way Dwyane Wade is performing in these Finals, I would be a fool to say he isn’t a better offensive player than LeBron.

Hopefully, I’m just being a prisoner of the moment. Clearly, there is something wrong with James’ psyche at this point because he can get eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists on accident. 

Matter of fact, he can get 20, 10 and 10 on accident. 

That’s why tonight’s performance was so egregious. 

I said it before and I’ll say it again, winning a ring is not enough for a player the caliber of LeBron James. He has the regular season MVP’s, he has the scoring titles, he has the title of best all-around player, but now, he needs a Finals MVP. 

Unfortunately, that title has all but slipped his grasp at this point, as D.Wade dropped 30 again and dominated the game on both ends of the floor again.

Save for a big missed free throw in the closing seconds, which I’m not excusing, Wade almost won another Finals game for his team single-handedly.

At this point, I get the feeling LeBron is trying to play facilitator and honestly, teams need facilitators.

But former MVPs and scoring champions, it’s not cool to suddenly transform into a facilitator in the NBA Finals.

Sheesh, I shutter to think what would be happening if Caron Butler was playing, a player who has had uber-success against LeBron in the past. 

And oh yeah, I was wrong about him taking tonight’s game personal because of Jason Terry’s comments on Monday. Jet didn’t have the best shooting performance, but at least he had a performance.

What LeBron did was nothing short of an embarrassment.

big money.

It’s not who he’s fighting…it’s that he’s fighting at all.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced via Twitter today that he will end his 16-month layoff and fight newly-crowned WBC Welterweight champion Victor Ortiz on September 17.

And boy, am I excited. Not for the fight in particular, but for the fact that Mayweather will return to the ring, period.

Obviously, America has been salivating for the Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, and at one point, it looked like it was going to happen. There was a date set and anticipation was at an all-time high.

But then Mayweather had some extra requests concerning drug-testin, requests that Pacquiao wasn’t keen to abide by.

So they went their separate ways, with Pac-Man fighting two or three times a year and Money’s activity hitting a low-point. 

Pacquiao has fought nine times since 2007.

Mayweather has fought twice.

And to be honest, over the past year or so, with all of Mayweather’s legal troubles, I was doubtful that my favorite fighter would return to the ring at all.

Ever.

But now, my prayers have been answered and we couldn’t have a better scenario in boxing.

Here it is: Pacquiao will fight Juan Manuel Marquez in November, a fight that Marquez deserves and a lot of fans want to see. Pacquiao and Marquez already had two hellacious encounters and it’s only correct to finish off the trilogy. Mayweather will fight Ortiz in September, which will not only be a good fight, it will give Floyd a much-needed opportunity to knock off some ring-rust against a good, but not great opponent. 

Then, Money and Pac-Man enter the ring together.

Perfection.

Ortiz upset former WBC Welterweight champ Andre Berto in April, in one hell of a fight that gained Ortiz a lot of fans and a lot of respect. But he’s a brawler, who constantly seeks to press the action. Dodging punches is not the strongest aspect of Ortiz’s game, as Berto floored the new champ twice in the fight.

In other words, Ortiz gets hit. And guys who get hit don’t stand a chance against Mayweather, who simply doesn’t get hit. Money won’t stand in and take punches the way Berto did, and Ortiz simply doesn’t have the speed to get to Mayweather.

It should be an easy fight.

For Pacquiao, no one has tested him the way that Marquez has in the past four years. Many onlookers, including myself, think that Marquez won at least one of their two fights, if not both.

Unfortunately, both of their previous two fights were at featherweight, whereas the November fight will be at welterweight, which doesn’t bode well for Marquez, who has only fought once at welterweight, a lopsided loss to Mayweather in 2009. 

Pacquiao however, is now a true welterweight, having fought at 147 pounds his past six fights. 

The first two fights between Pacquiao and Marquez were at 126 pounds and 130 pounds, respectively.

And putting on 20 pounds in boxing takes a lot of getting used to. 

It will be a good fight simply because Marquez is a warrior, but I can’t see it being as close as the first two fights.

So, after Mayweather and Pacquiao both win, it will really be time for the big show. Both will have a recent fight under their belt and more importantly, there is no one else for them to fight.

Both have spanked Shane Mosley, Marquez, Ricky Hatton and anyone else worth mentioning.

Essentially, they have to fight by default.

And trust me, boxing fans will take it anyway we can get it.

Mayweather to end layoff

i smell trouble!

Well, if the Mavs weren’t in trouble before, they are now.

After their Game Three loss, Dallas players had a little extra to say in the wake of their latest defeat.

And chances are what was said after Game Three will be all that’s talked about after Game Four.

Mavs’ guard Deshawn Stevenson, the thug with all the tattoos who happens to play basketball, said that Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are “great actors” in reference to Wade and James attempting to get fouls called for them.

Even better, when asked about James’ defense on him, Mavs’ guard Jason Terry said: “We’re going to see if (LeBron) can do it for seven games. That’s going to be the challenge. Right now, it’s Game 4. Can he do it again in Game 4? He wasn’t able to do it in Game 2. He did it in Games 1 and 3, so Game 4 is another opportunity.”

Jason, Jason, Jason…when will you ever learn?

I can remember earlier in the season when Terry said something along the lines of Kobe won’t be able to chase him around in the playoffs. After laughing hysterically, it hit me.

This guy is kind of crazy.

Now, I can drop “kind of” and just called Jet straight up nuts.

First off, with the way the Heat look, particularly Wade, it’s not going seven games.

Secondly, LeBron has put this dude in prison for the entire series, so much so that Terry hasn’t scored in the fourth quarter of two of the three Finals games.

Earlier in the season, Dirk Nowitzki said that Terry was in fact the Mavs’ closer, not him. Well, that just makes LeBron’s lockdown defense all the more special.

And for Terry to suggest that LeBron didn’t shut him down in Game Two is even more ridiculous. Terry had 16 points, but it was on 5-for-11 shooting, as Terry was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

In addition, Nowitzki scored the Mavs’ last nine points. So Terry shouldn’t be acting like he had some huge hand in that comeback victory.

That was all Dirk the way I saw it. 

And what is this about questioning if LeBron can guard him for seven games? What, the best athlete on the face of the planet is somehow going to run out of gas guarding a 33-year old sixth man?

Get a clue, Jet.

Better yet, that’s probably the last thing on James’ mind. Issues like scoring, dunking, what he’s going to have for dinner after the game, all more than likely take precedent over James worrying about guarding Jason Terry.

I bet he’s wasn’t even thinking about.

Well, thanks to Terry, now he will be, and we’ll see the best defensive LeBron we’ve ever seen in about 45 minutes.

And Jet has no one to blame but himself. He dug his own grave.

Mavs talkin’ noise

the mad scientist.

Blair Angulo, my former Daily Bruin colleague and now ESPN Los Angeles blogger, got the magnificent start on this Trevor Bauer story about two years before ESPN The Magazine’s Tim Keown finished it off. 

And considering Bauer was selected third in the MLB draft today, and his teammate Gerrit Cole was selected first, it was only appropriate to show UCLA baseball some love.

Daily Bruin SPORTS is where it’s at!

Follow Blair at @bangulo. He’s seriously a very promising sports writer with his entire leg already in the door. 

Daily Bruin: Trevor Bauer

ESPN The Mag: Trevor Bauer

Plax is back.

Former Super Bowl champ and New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was released from prison today after serving a two-year sentence on a gun charge. The question revolving around Burress’s release is whether or not the former superstar can make a comeback to the NFL after having been on ice for two years.

And like anything, there are always two sides to a fence. 

But in this case, I think Plaxico will follow the trend that is beginning to oh-so-negatively build in sports. That trend is the same that occurred with Michael Vick and Tiger Woods and is has frequently been occurring with black athletes over the past five to ten years.

When guys fall nowadays, they aren’t just tripping over a rock.

They’re falling into the Grand Canyon.

What I mean is that the transgressions of these athletes are becoming more extravagant with each passing year.

First it was Kobe with the alleged rape. Then Vick with dogfighting. Then Woods with his extensive adultery. Then Burress shoots himself in a club.

It’s getting a lot worse before it’s getting better.

But, with that said, it seems like guys are even more motivated to come back strong. We all know what Kobe has done since his legal troubles, and Vick has risen back to being the NFL’s most popular player.

Tiger hasn’t quite turned it around yet, but he has shown flashes of his past greatness.

But with the trend of extravagant transgressions also comes the trend of extravagant comebacks, and I don’t think it will be any different with Plaxico.

Regardless of having not played in over two years, prison isn’t exactly the most distracting place in the world. Plaxico was definitely able to keep himself in shape for the simple fact that he probably had nothing else to do. 

In addition, there are two things that you can’t teach in sports, which are speed and size, both of which Burress has in abundance. 

Also, with the positive publicity that the Eagles got from their signing and resurrection of Vick, don’t you think another team will want to do the same thing with Burress?

Possibly the Eagles do it again?

In short, unless Plaxico’s age has seriously caught up to him (he’s 33 now), there is no point to say that Burress can’t make it back to the NFL and provide a team with about two to three strong years.

Here are the links to some great articles about Plaxico’s release:

Burress released from prison

Vick has set precedent for Burress

Rafa closes the gap.

There happened to be two heavyweight matchups in the world of sports today: Heat vs. Mavericks and Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer.

And I can’t say that I was more excited for the NBA Finals.

Rafael Nadal, the world’s No.1, beat consensus greatest player of all-time and current world No.3 Roger Federer, in French Open final earlier this morning, giving Nadal his sixth French Open title.

It was also Nadal’s tenth Grand Slam title.

Uh-oh.

Nadal is only 25 years old and with today’s victory, has now reached the ten Grand Slam mark 171 days quicker than Federer did, who has the record with 16.

It’s not looking too good for Federer’s record.

Not only is Nadal still young, he has a few other things going for him.

For one, he dominates the clay court. He’s won six out of seven French Opens, and a smart man would bet that Nadal will at least win the next three, at least.

Secondly, there is currently only one or two players that can really challenge Nadal, which are Novak Djokovic and Federer on his best day.

And to be honest, Federer can’t really challenge Nadal, which pains me to say considering I’m a Fed fan.

Djokovic has beaten Nadal four times already this season, but that was in the midst of his 43-match winning streak, which came to an end with a loss to Federer this past Friday. So we’re yet to see how much of a mental toll that loss will have on Djokovic heading into Wimbledon later this month.

Lastly, the best thing that Nadal has going for him is his fearlessness, which has helped him conquer Federer 17 times out of their 25 matches all-time. Nadal hits shots that guys are flat out afraid to hit against Federer. And, in Nadal’s case, there is no such thing as an unhittable shot.

He has the ability to get to everything and hit it with force, something that Federer has never been able to quite cope with. 

Federer isn’t quite done yet, but I can’t see him winning too many more Grand Slams with Nadal and Djokovic on the circuit and in their prime, if any. 

So, does Nadal have a chance to become the greatest player ever?

I would have to say so.

Barring injury, it’s highly unlikely that he can’t win six more Grand Slams to tie Federer’s record. And if he only wins six more, leaving the two men in a tie atop the all-time list, who wins the tiebreaker.

Nadal, based on head-to-head matchups, in which he has dominated.

It’s odd to think that just as Fed became the best, someone that has the chance to be better has come along so quickly. 

I mean, LeBron came years after Jordan.

I just can’t write a post without a LeBron reference.

Rafa closing in on Federer