So we were checking out the NBA double-header Thursday night and saw a wonderous sight in the second game.  There were still 99 ticks of the clock remaining.  Score showed the Spurs by 12.  As Al McGuire used to put it, a lifetime, in the world of basketball.  12 points is just 4 possessions, 4 three-pointers.  Any NBA team has someone or someones that can hit 4 three-pointers in a 1:39.  Just requires some stops on the other end.  So what do we see?  The Hornets call Game Over.

Where was Chris Paul, arguably the best point guard in the NBA during the last 1:39?  On the bench.  Did he have 6 fouls?  Nope.  Injured?  No sir.  Did the Hornets give up?  Yes.  What else could we take from what we saw?  The Spurs were playing well . . . well enough to have a 12 point lead.  But it just takes a quick hot hand to bring you back in the game.  Ask any Knick fan of Reggie Miller and their spine tingles.  The Hornets just called Game Over and gave it to the Spurs.  Game Over

Now, I'n not anti-King James and don't player-hate Tim Duncan, but I want to see an "old-fashion" Celtics - Lakers Final.  It's what the NBA needs.  A re-invention, re-establishment of the public power base.  It's okay to see the Spurs and Pistons and other "small-market" teams win every once-in-a-while, but its the storied teams that carry a league.  How else to you explain the Yankees? 

In fact, thats the other element to the equation.  Harkening back to the days of Magic vs. Bird (yes we know Magic was a point guard and Bird small forward), Parrish vs. Kareem, and Worthy vs. McHale with new match-ups led by Kobe and Garnett.  But during that recent series of battles in the 1980's, it also saw the resurrection of the Knicks, first with the acquisition of Bernard King and later the drafting of Pat Ewing (and future coach?) Mark Jackson.  So, my superstious friends, do we need the Celtics and Lakers to resurface as powers in the NBA for the Knicks to do the same?  If so, Let them battle it out this year and I'll take my chances for the future.  Game Over

With all the recent hype (and well deserved) over the Hornets' Chris Paul regarding the last time we've seen a little man commanded so much attention from opposing teams defenses, or when has a little man since "Tiny" totally destroyed defending point guards as he slices and dices them, puts them in a blender and spits them out one by one minus their swagger?  Well here is the "Answer", that's right the Answer, AI, Allen Iverson himself.  For the last 10 years plus, Iverson has shook the dooky out of cats and made help defenders look foolish.  Real ballers will never forget the time he had Jordan grabbing at air or the time he made Antonio Daneils "sit and stay"  at the top of the key as he pulled up for a fade-a-way J.  Iverson, after talking to him one night at the 40/40 club in NYC, I walked away thinking damn he's little, how does he do it?  Iverson and Paul have totally different games, AI is a shoot first, second, and third point guard and Paul does whatever is needed at the time, but you can bet opposing teams pre-game defensive game plans, spend as much time on AI as they do on CP3.  Totally different games, totally dominant little men.  CP3 vs AI . . . .  I smell a Pay per-view event.  D Stern are you listening?  Game Over

In January Game Over had the pleasure of interviewing Christ The King High School star Erving Walker.  E Walker was asked who is his favorite NBA player.  Answer, Chris Paul.  Oh how nice the little man from CTK identifies with the little man in New Orleans.  Now the whole world sees it was much more than that, EW was right on "point", CP3 is the next coming of Tiny Archibald.  In game one CP3 is coming down court on a fast break, fakes a pass to the left by bouncing the ball with his right  hand across his to his left with enough spin that the ball jumps back to his right hand (you had to see it).  The result . . . J Kidd went for the fake and his left lung slid into his kidney while his ankle bone disconnected from leg bone.  If you have a Hi-Death TV, ( The new HDTV) slow down the replay and you can see all this for yourself.  Also turn up the sound and you can hear Byron Scott saying "Take that, Coach Killa".  Game Over

P.S. -  Best of luck next year to E Walker who will be disconnecting bones for the University of Florida.

Check out his interview at the All-City link http://www.gameovernyc.com/basketball/all-city-voting/

I admit it I'm an NBA junky.  I watch the NBA channel during the off season to see what teams are doing.  I really get into the training camp series.  Like "Real Training Camp Denver".  I watched each episode as every member of the new Nuggets made a commitment to defense.  Defense was the key for the new Nuggets, I heard terms like getting stops, defending the paint, deflections, clamping down, so what happened?  Looks like to me Denver has turned into the 76ers of old and it's not Iverson's fault.  Denver's a team in need of structure and leadership.  George Karl needs to crack a bigger whip and demand every player remove one tattoo and replace it with one that says D-Fence (picket fence will do).  Can't wait to see what the Nuggets work on this summer.

Who is the best NBA analyst? Stay tuned, GO will let you know

Monday saw the passing of a true pioneer in the game of basketball, Coach Will Robinson.  Coach Robinson was the first African American head basketball coach at a NCAA Division 1 school when he stepped into the roll from 1970 - 1975.  He joined the Detroit Pistons as a scout where he stayed for 28 years, finding such talent as Joe Dumars (present GM of the Pistons) and Dennis Rodman.  His achievements also occurred in the court room when he joined with one of his former Pershing High School players, Spencer Haywood, in challenging the NBA on its age restrictions.  The case, which is the grandfather of all law that states that NBA cannot bar underclassmen from seeking employment (why players are allowed to leave college early) is still used today.  Haywood later became an ABA and NBA All-Star.  But Robinson's talent was not just in the world of basketball, he also was a part-time scout for the Detroit Lions, finding Hall of Fameer Lem Barney.  A true pioneer for all people, Coach Robinson will be missed.

While our eyes are correctly focused on the action in the NBA, Stanford University had their eyes correctly focused on choosing their next head coach.  When Trent Johnson left the Elite Eight school for the challenges of LSU, there must have been some head banging in Palo Alto.  "if only we knew, we could have had Mike Montgomery, the school's storied coach who jumped to the Golden State Warriors and was available, but who had just signed the week prior to head its rival, Cal."  A week late and the loss of the most natural fit, the return of the conquering hero, the return of a coach who knows how to recruit to an elite academic school.  Chill out Cardinal, you got the right man for the job.  Johnnie Dawkins, right hand man of Mike K (you try and spell it) of Duke, knows the X's and O's, knows what it is to play and coach at an elite level, and knows about academic requirements.  Long rumored as an "up-and-comer", he is the right fit for Stanford and will give headaches to the rest of the Pac-10, especially Mike Montgomery of Cal.