Cle. moves back into third with Manny Hatty's loss.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Glittering Garden Party! Thunder Rolls in 4Q to 113-112 Win
Eerie Feeling
From Jan. 3 through Feb. 10 inclusive, the ☠ Gilberts went an astounding 17-1. Tonight, among the ten teams in the East either in the playoffs or the play-in, Cle. is tied with Philly and Chi. for worst record, 4-6 over the last ten games. But it gets worse. They are 4-8 in their last 12; 10-14 in the last 24 games. In the second half of the season they are a middling 19-15. Wait...Their next four games are @ Utah, @ PHO, @ La-La Bron-Bron @ La-La Beard-Beard. They will be favored to win, at most, one, against Utah.
So dumb, only in Cleveland
What Went Wrong In Cavs 29-Point Loss To Nuggets?
The Cleveland Cavaliers' defense struggled in their loss to the Denver Nuggets.
FT Monumental 🧙♂️ 107 🎪🔥 119
Terry Rozier won this game for Miami. 27 points. The "Heat" are .5 game back of Indiana for sixth place and we have a game in hand.
29-29, End 1Q
It's strange, this is the fourth game between these two, tied, looks like it will be close, and the other three games were close, as well: MIA 121-114, MIA 110-102, MW 110-108.
Monumental Wizards 17 "Heat" 22, 3:40 1Q, MW FTO
"Heat" got their first lead of the game at 4:01 on a Scary Terry trey. At 3:42 Heywood Highway made one. Terry has 9 points.
10-10, 7:46 1Q
Spo's starters:
D-Ro. First time back in 4 (?) games.Niko
Jimbo
Bam-O
T-Ro
Who is not there? Caleb? That lineup looks strange.
"Cavaliers" Blown Out Again
Cle. went mile high this afternoon and got laid low 130-101 by the champions. The "Heat" dismounted them exactly a week ago 121-84 at sea level. They fall to fourth in the East.
There's a lot of weird news today
Actor Gene Hackman, 94,
and wife Betsy Arakawa,
62, seen on first public
outing together in 21
years
AT&T says personal data
from 73 million current
and former account
holders leaked onto dark
web
I got an email from them that my account had been breached and my password reset!
Rep. Don Bacon: 'It’s
possible' Mike Johnson
could lose speakership
over Ukraine
Speaking
to NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Bacon said he has a
"commitment from the speaker and the chair of the Foreign Affairs
Committee" that a Ukraine aid bill will get a floor vote.
Rape. Rape?
It seems that you have known this Miguel Ostos for quite some time.
Yes.
- And were you in love with him?
- Yes.
You're in love with the man that raped you?
That what?
Testimony of Georges Duval, gardener. Referring to Ostos, you described him,
and l quote, as "that crazy Spaniard who raped me in my father's field".
He did not rape me.
- He did not force you?
- Well, you see, l tripped over a root, and l grabbed Miguel to keep me from falling, and somehow we both fell. I cried a little bit afterwards but that wasn't because l was sorry it happened.
A Shot in the Dark (1964) script.
Shameful by City, Shameless by Arsenal
City played 690 passes and had no attempts on target in open play, which is probably the best statistical summary of the game. That and, you know, 0-0.
“The lights have been on in his office for a week to make sure that the ultra-Orthodox can continue to evade conscription despite the war. The IDF is begging for more soldiers. They don’t care.
“If a hundredth, a thousandth, a fraction of this organizational efficiency had been devoted to the hostages, or the evacuees, or the management of the war, or the economy, our situation would be completely different [but] there is only one thing that is important to Netanyahu — to stay in office.
“Let the state burn, the main thing is the office. That’s all that matters to him, to remain in office. He destroys the relations with the Americans, destroys the security system, abandons the hostages and helps the evaders to continue to evade. Everything is for politics, nothing for the country.
“This week they are taking the Knesset into recess in the middle of the war. The reservists don’t get a break. The hostages don’t get a break. It doesn’t interest them. Everyone who sits in this government today, the responsibility is on them. Every minister who doesn’t resign, every Knesset member who doesn’t vote against the government, who doesn’t help us send them home, it’s on them. This stain will stick to them for the rest of their life.
“We can’t live like this. We can’t go on like this. We don’t have to either. We can live differently. We can continue otherwise. As long as we are a democracy, there is a tool that changes reality. It is called: elections. Election now.”
“Elections now! Elections now,” the crowd screams in response.
Those extensive quotes are in The Times of Israel from a speech given by opposition leader Yair Lapid.
“If a hundredth, a thousandth, a fraction of this organizational efficiency had been devoted to the hostages, or the evacuees, or the management of the war, or the economy, our situation would be completely different [but] there is only one thing that is important to Netanyahu — to stay in office.
“Let the state burn, the main thing is the office. That’s all that matters to him, to remain in office. He destroys the relations with the Americans, destroys the security system, abandons the hostages and helps the evaders to continue to evade. Everything is for politics, nothing for the country.
“This week they are taking the Knesset into recess in the middle of the war. The reservists don’t get a break. The hostages don’t get a break. It doesn’t interest them. Everyone who sits in this government today, the responsibility is on them. Every minister who doesn’t resign, every Knesset member who doesn’t vote against the government, who doesn’t help us send them home, it’s on them. This stain will stick to them for the rest of their life.
“We can’t live like this. We can’t go on like this. We don’t have to either. We can live differently. We can continue otherwise. As long as we are a democracy, there is a tool that changes reality. It is called: elections. Election now.”
“Elections now! Elections now,” the crowd screams in response.
Those extensive quotes are in The Times of Israel from a speech given by opposition leader Yair Lapid.
City 0 Arsenal 0, 26'
3m ago16.52 BST
22 min Successful passes in the final third: City 58-5 Arsenal.
GOD, do I remember that!
9 min “Shades of Leicester v Man City in 2016?” wonders Zafar Sobhan. “I know Liverpool are nominally top of the table, but if Arsenal win here today, I think it’s game over. The statement will carry them through to the end.”
Personally I wouldn’t go that far. I know what you mean – Arsenal have a rich history of a) seismic wins in the north west and b) irresistible spring momentum, and victory today would empower them so much. But there have also been statement victories that amounted to bugger all. Arsenal had one of their own at Anfield in February 1973, when John Radford scored that marvellous solo goal.
"The Trump Noise Machine"--Dan Rather*
It’s just noise. Manufactured chaos, really, designed to raise anxiety. The large amount of wind coming of late from the presumptive Republican presidential nominee turns out to be nothing more than a distraction, or distractions. If it truly mattered, we’d tell you about it.
Oh my goodness, I am really surprised by Dan! I entirely disagree.
*I repost this from last night with this addendum. That is an odd column. Published yesterday, it doesn’t mention the Biden kidnapping video specifically but certainly seems to refer to it as just part of the Trump “noise”. That video was MORE than that and Rather has been vigilant about Trump violence. Threats against a president do not get dismissed by law enforcement as mere “noise.” This is the United States of Assassination. Law enforcement ignores our history and this man’s history at their extreme peril. The column is also oddly hubristic: “If it truly mattered, we’d tell you about it.” In a democracy, the people decide what matters. We don’t need others to tell us.
If Arsenal is to win the EPL, they must win this match
One point, a massive goal difference, ten matches left, a reputation as chokers. If they lose or draw they will slink and finish third. Liverpool and Man City know what it takes and have what it takes. Do Arsenal?
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Association FTs
Disney Magic 118 9 mm’s 88.
Disgruntled Pelicans 92 Beans 104.
Pigeons 113 Doc's Crew 122
UConn (1) 77 Illinoise (3) 52
The defending national champs had a 30-0 run in this game. The Poodles have won their tourney games 91-52 (Stetson (16)), 76-58 (Northwestern (9)), 82-52 (Dear Adela (5)), and now this. They’ve beaten their four Big Dance partners by an average 27 points.
Trump knows he is going to lose (again)
Trump's motive in posting the video, as with all of his violent rhetoric, stems from that single motive. He knows he's going to lose the election to President Biden if it's a normal, non-violent election.
Juliette Kayyem
@juliettekayyem
All Trump has left as a strategy is violence.
Quote
PatriotTakes 🇺🇸
@patriottakes
·
Mar 29
Trump Posts Image of Joe Biden Kidnapped And Bound With Rope
Trump signals approval of violent imagery targeting his political opponents
https://meidastouch.com/news/trump-posts-image-of-joe-biden-kidnapped-and-bound-with-rope
6:31 PM · Mar 29, 2024
·
301.3K
Views
He has always encouraged violence as part of his strategy. He hopes at least to intimidate his opponent(s) and their supporters.
If bare intimidation doesn't work (and it never has) he has no qualms about making good on his threatening words (Jan. 6). That has not succeeded either.
What if Biden was kidnapped and hog-tied in the back of a pickup truck and assassinated? Since before the 2020 election, Trump identified Biden as the one candidate who could beat him. If Biden were assassinated, who would be his successor as Democratic nominee? For Trump, Anybody But Biden would be better. Trump wouldn't assassinate Biden personally, his low lifes would do it for him, so Trump would not be charged in the assassination.
He has practically dared judges to make good their gag orders and bail conditions of release. It fires up the low lifes, and if a judge or a prosecutor, or cop (Jan. 6), or innocent people, like Paul Pelosi, or supporters (Jan. 6) get hurt, it's all the same to him, collateral damage for a good cause. He'll pardon the perps if he becomes president again, and himself too.
So, Trump looks at all of this in the last year and he sees a miracle: every arrest, every indictment, every civil law suit, and his support hardens and even increases at the margins. Mugshots R Us, he revels in them, his low-life supporters festoon their pickup trucks, front lawns and den walls with them.
Trump sees all of that and posts that video. He doesn't want to go to jail, he really, most sincerely does not want to spend time in the slammer. And seeing the reaction immediately after posting, after hearing from his lawyers, he realizes that this might have been a bridge too far. Pause: I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, low lifes and high lifes, if Jack Smith (in two courts) or Fani Willis or Alvin Bragg, moves on this basis to revoke his bond, legally, it is entirely in the judge's discretion, but if this was the run of the mill criminal, say in a domestic violence case, the defendant would go straight to jail. Unpause. So Trump thinks about that, it's a worrying thought, but what can he do, he posted it. ...And he decides to leave the video up. And he did. He has not taken it down. Because the thought that Trump had after hearing from his lawyers and seeing the reaction was, "I could win the election this way! What's done is done. I don't want to go to jail but jail has its advantages. I can still campaign; I will be a political prisoner; all eyes will be on me for the duration of the campaign, whether I'm released eventually or not," and I may win the election by this means! HAHAHA!"
You know what the best Pink Panther movie was?
One that doesn't feature the diamond at all. It features all of the tropes, the bumbling pratfalls, the beautiful femme fatale, in this case, young, blonde Elke Sommers, Kato, fights, Dreyfus, murder most foul, and a younger Peter Sellers. A Shot in the Dark (1964) is the best of the series.
Violation of release conditions: “Trump should be in custody.”
Trump is in a uniquely vulnerable position. He is out of custody on pre-trial release conditions and is subject of gag orders in four separate criminal cases. Unquestionably this is a violation of those conditions. I don't know how he gets around this. I agree with all below, a former FBI official, a constitutional scholar, a former United States Attorney, Alabama, political science scholars, Trump should be violated and jailed.
Some MAGA Republicans have been displaying this graphic depicting President Joe Biden bound with rope and laying in the bed of a pickup truck apparently kidnapped.
Trump is now encouraging such imagery.
Trump Shares Video Featuring Image of a Hog-Tied Biden
The social media post reflects the increasingly violent and personal attacks that Donald J. Trump has employed during the presidential campaign
Friday, March 29, 2024
God. 🎪🔥 Beat Portlandia by...sixty points.
Is that Miami's greatest-ever margin of victory? 🎪🔥 remain in 7th, one game behind Indiana Marymount with two extra games, which if they are won, would tie Indiana. I don't know what the tie-breaker is. Miami is two games out of 5th (Orlando) with each club having nine left.
Gilbert ☠, with "talisman" Michell back, prevailed, that's le mot juste, over the Procedure Addressers 117-114. With the loss P.A. falls 1.5 behind Miami who also has an extra game on them.
The Chaparrals upset Manny Hatty in OT. But for this loss tonight Manny Hatty would have to have been a slight fav to overtake shaky Cle. for third. As it is they'e only .5 game behind with a game in hand.
Things are coalescing in the Least. The chalk would be Boston City, already locked up first, Beer, in pole position for 2nd; 3rd and 4th are still up in the air with Cle. and Manny Hatty; Disney is pretty well set in 5th; and 6th and 7th, Indiana Marymount and Miami are still uncertain.
The Next Dynasty blotted out the 🌞128-103. Exceedingly disappointing season continues in the Valley but...they're only percentage points behind Purple Beam although with two more games played and one game short of the Fat Cuban Horse in sixth but have two fewer games to make up ground. 🌞are reasonably slotted at eighth in the West.
Alibaba Nets ran the Male Cows to death 128-103. Both teams are done, Chi. is in the play-in, Alibaba, another disappointing team, is in the lottery.
Team Fat Boy is going to lose to 🧊 a Mile Up; it's 68-89, 2' into the 4th.
Good night and Good Friday, if that is the proper well-wishing.
Why is that “GOOD”?
What the fuck is up with that? Why isn’t it Black Friday? Was that already copyrighted as a shopping day 2,000 years ago? Fucking religion is just so fucked up, it drives me nuts. …Paschal Triduum plays for Toronto? Or he got traded?
Jesus
HT 🎪🔥74 Portlandia 40.
You didn't take my non-advice advice to take the under did you? Apologize for any inconvenience.
North Carolina State (11) 34 Markett (2) 24
The Pack of Wolves are a pack of bullshit. You know where they finished in the Almost Competitive Conference? TENTH. 9-11 record. Pitt beat them DOS. They make the Big Dance, we don’t. You know why? They won the conference tourney. So like in the NBA, the regular season doesn’t matter. Suck a bag of dicks, finish 9-11 IN CONFERENCE, and then get hot in the conference tournament and you wipe out the whole 20 games you played IN THE CONFERENCE and you make the Big Dance and a team that beat your ass twice and, finished FOURTH, 12-8, Pitt, gets left out. NC State could win the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP finishing TENTH in their conference. Worthless pieces of shit.
"Core" Yearly Inflation 2.8%🥳! Powell: “We need more data.”😶
The entire Marketplace show today was Kai Ryssdal’s interview with Powell, and his first question was an expectant, ebullient, “What was your first thought when you saw the data, huh? huh?" Powell: “It was in line with our expectations.” It took the air out of the entire interview. Powell will get inflation to 2% even at the risk of him being happy. What a fun guy to have lunch with. Jesus.
14.5 really? Didn’t think the “Heat” beat teams that badly. Not the “Celtics”, you know. Home court vig? WHAT home court vig?! Don’t have Herro, don’t have Love, the more I thought about it the weirder that line became. Now Portlandia is without their top three scorers lol, but still. In all of our games combined this season we have a point differential of +0.4. That’s worse than the six teams above us and worse than Phila’s behind us in seventh. So then I decided to check, how many of our 39 wins were by 15+, which would make a bet good if you took the over. The answer is five, and three of those were away! We’ve only won tyoo games at home by 15+ points.
I don’t invest in NBA futures, and I don’t insider trade but if I did both or if you do, the rational play tonight is the under.
This is what Republican businessmen and Republican politicians do. They cut deals at the executive level and present them to their board of directors as a fait accompli for rubber-stamp approval.
Why wouldn't it be different in government? You want your government to be run more like a business, don't you? No, actually we don't. We have a representative democracy. You have no experience with that coming to government as a CEO. A business is not a democracy; it's an autocracy, sometimes a dictatorship. Government is not like the military where the general gives orders and his troops say "Aye, aye sir." Your "employees" in government are not "at will" and they are not yours. You have no employees in government, you have independently elected stakeholders in the enterprise of governance who have their own bosses, their constituencies, and their own power loci. You cannot hire and fire, promote and demote, at will.
In government you cannot present a mammoth project that affects each and everyone of those individual stakeholders and their bosses in a massive bill and give them one day to read it all and rubber-stamp your deal. You are not a king and this is not your kingdom.
Yet, this bullying business owner behavior is what Republican governors and presidents and would-be presidents do. It's what DeSantis did repeatedly to Republican state legislators in Florida. "Here, sign here. Just sign it!" at 4:59 p.m. It's what Youngkin did in Virginia. Youngkin didn't grease the wheels then hold the press conference; he held the press conference and then sent the locomotive down the track and right into a stone wall.
Youngkin made the arena project the personal kingdom of him and his business partner, Ted Leonsis. To Youngkin's political opponents it was "Glendom". And so the Army of Northern Virginia, like the repeal of Obamacare, ran right into a stone wall.
The defeat of the Army of Northern Virginia project is a Monumental political embarrassment for Rep. Va. Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
I was incredulous when I first read of it. It was “the single largest economic development deal in Virginia’s history,” or so Youngkin said, and for sports fans in D.C. and the region it amounted to no more than the normal daily commute. It made so much sense. And it was DONE! Press conference on the arena site with governor and owner Ted Leonsis present. Done. And then POOF!
I was incredulous when I first read of it. It was “the single largest economic development deal in Virginia’s history,” or so Youngkin said, and for sports fans in D.C. and the region it amounted to no more than the normal daily commute. It made so much sense. And it was DONE! Press conference on the arena site with governor and owner Ted Leonsis present. Done. And then POOF!
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The continued existence of the city of New Orleans is a pustule on the anus of America. The sooner it disappears the more incrementally rational this country will be. And the NBA presence in this city down under water is an embarrassment to the Association. They wouldn't have a team if the soft-hearted league hadn't insisted in transferring the original Charlotte "Hornets" out of sympathy for the city that deserves none for insisting on existing where only fish call home. But this star-crossed franchise compels, alas, respect, for they are playing good basketball on their flooded floor and tonight beat one of the best in the league, Beer, 107-100. My contempt for all things NOL precludes congratulations, but it is noted as an accomplishment, with continued contempt.
And that's it! FT Pigeons 123 Beans 122
Look at this game graph. These two were Siamese twins all night.
Now THAT'S a game! Neither of these teams is leaving their perch as a result of this, or from their remaining games, but this will be a famous victory for the Pigeons. Both teams played their best basketball for the Hotlanta fans, who got their money's worth tonight. Clap out to both teams.
FT It's Probation Time Again Y'all (6) 77 Hairy Boner (2) 72
IPTAY gets Alabama (4). Illinoise (3) beat Iowa Stste (2). #1 UConn is their reward. The Poodles wasted Dear Adela (5) 82-52.
Crazy Time?
Last night Eleven began running in circles chasing her tail on the bed. I thought of the "Heat" and the "Cavaliers".
I only follow the "Heat". I only paid attention to Cleveland because of their horrible loss to us and now this. It doesn't seem to me that this is a league-wide problem at this time of year but I don't know. I don't know what close observers in L.A. are saying about the "Clippers", or what those in Phoenix are saying about the "Suns." Why has Brooklyn been so bad this season? I don't know, but it clearly is not Crazy Time in Manhattan. Or in Boston. Or Minnesota or Oklahoma City. Nor even in Orlando. The "Lakers" are playing inspired ball after going through a real rough patch. But Miami and Cleveland are just pancaking.
Injuries are part of it, sure. According to Spotrac Miami has lost the fifth-most games this season to injury, Cleveland seventh-most. Phoenix is eighth; Brooklyn is ninth. But Charlotte is third and they just beat the "Cavs". LAL is sixth, right between Miami and Cle. and they're not going through this, at least not at this time. OKC is the least affected by injury, they're third in the West; MN is in the bottom quintile, they're second out there; Boston City is eighth and they're the top team in the whole league. There appears to be a rough correlation between injuries and the standings.
The "Heat" were eighth most-injured last season, not as bad as this season. They won 44 games; they're on track to win 44 with the fifth most-injured team this season. Cle. was 23rd in games lost to injury last season. They won 51 games. This season with the seventh most-injured team they project to 49 wins. So I don't know. I don't know what it is.
Cavs’ frustration builds after ‘really bad loss’ against Charlotte Hornets
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The look on Max Strus’ face said it all. This wasn’t the night to hold back. No sugarcoating this performance. No excusing it either.
The Composer played for the "Heat" for a few years.
“That was a really bad loss for us,” Strus said following the Cavs’ 118-111 defeat to the floundering and directionless Charlotte Hornets. “We just didn’t play hard. Nobody wanted to play defense tonight. That was our problem. …”
Max is quoted extensively by Fedor. It's clear he is a leader among the players.
It wasn’t only because Cleveland fell to the Hornets — an 18-win team that had lost five straight and 12 of the previous 14.
It wasn’t only because the Cavs’ top 5 defense got shredded throughout by the league’s second-worst offense, allowing Charlotte to score 69 points in the first half, 100 by the end of the third quarter and go 29 of 37 (78.4%) on field goal attempts in the paint. Statistically, it was Cleveland’s eighth-worst defensive rating all season. Afterward, players spoke about a lack of communication, trust and being a step slow against a 5-out offense that had them scrambling and unable to contain off-the-dribble attacks. Jarrett Allen characterized the performance as “sloppy.”
To have trust issues in the 73rd game of the season is...not good.
It wasn’t only because the late-game execution on the other end was disastrous, failing to score in the final 3:27 and making just one basket over the last five-plus minutes.
“We dribbled the ball a lot,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. …
“We dribbled the ball a lot”? That’s the coach’s analysis?
It wasn’t only because the same troubling lack of focus, intensity and urgency that has plagued them since the All-Star break once again popped up at the wrong time, costing the Cavs a second multi-game winning streak in the season’s second half.
It wasn’t only because the baffling setback sent them tumbling down to the Eastern Conference’s fourth seed, surpassed by the surging Knicks.
It was all of that.
…
Inconsistent Cleveland is just 6-9 this month — a stretch it expected to be hellish given the missing pieces and unrelenting schedule. Less than a week after seemingly hitting rock bottom in Miami — a lopsided, non-competitive 37-point trouncing — the Cavs found a way to crawl into an even deeper, darker hole Wednesday night.
"Chris, Chris, put the gun down!"
“Tonight is definitely a frustrating game for us because I don’t think we brought the right mental approach,” Bickerstaff said. …
That is not what his players say.
NBA insider Shams Charania, star guard Donovan Mitchell is eyeing a Friday return at home against Philadelphia. …Even when in the lineup during the second half, Mitchell wasn’t himself…before getting shut down because of a nasal fracture and lingering soreness in a problematic knee that required a platelet-rich plasma injection earlier this month.
Same thing Tyler Herro got for his foot
…
“We will figure it out,” Strus said adamantly. “We have had a lot of moving pieces, trying to get a rhythm and flow together. That’s not an excuse. …“We have a great team and a great locker room with a lot of talented players. We have done it before.”
Very "Heat Culture" thing to say.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
FTs
Ice 106 Zollner Pistons 91.
905 101 Manny Hatty 145. Lordy, Lordy, watch out for those Mad Hatters!
Procedure Addressers 107 La-La Beard-Beard 108.
Pigeons 120 Cronin's Disease 106.
Monumental Wizards 119 Alibaba Nets 122.
Disney 93 Peaceniks 101. Asshole Draymond Green got ejected for the fourth time this season, and the second time in the first quarter!
Male Cows blew out Indiana Marymount 125-99.
FT 9mm's 124 La-La Bron-Bron 136
Lebron was back tonight and had a 3W, 23, 14, 12 in 35'. The "Lakers" are playing impressively. They have won five straight and last night survived two OT's in a win at Beer. Anthony Davis played an astounding 52' in that game. It was an heroic, willful performance. He was given the night off tonight. LAL is in 9th place in the excellent Western Conference but only 2.5 games out of 6th and the playoffs.
What?
The Charlotte Bobcats beat the Dead Gilberts 118-101...Man. Cle. led them 43-33 after 1Q.
I am most disillusioned by what is happening to the 🎪🔥. What is happening in Cle. is, I have to think about this and it's getting late so this may not be coherent, it's sorta similar, ain't it. Viz. Last season Cle was the shiny new thing, sparkly regular season record and a face-plant in the first round of the playoffs. ...Ah, it's similar in reverse to the 🎪🔥, who belly flop for the first 82 to sprint in the next 16. Cle. did the opposite last season and, are they doing it again?! They've lost three of four, including getting crushed by us down here, lost to us four days before in Eerie, seemed to right the ship with a blow-out over these same Bobcats Monday, and now blow a ten-point end-1 lead that became 14, to...the BOBCATS?! They don't have Donovan Mitchell, I know; lots of teams don't have Donovan Mitchell, they still don't manage to lose to the Bobcats.
I wouldn't let Chris Fedor purchase any firearms right now. Talking to you, ATF.
No Mo' Army NoVa!😢
The Monumental Wizards were going to move from D.C. to Alexandria but Virginians in the government there couldn’t get a deal done to make the Army of Northern Virginia a reality. Pity that, with a ready-made name.
Oh, Joe Lieberman has died.
Former CT Senator, Gore’s veep candidate. Disowned by Dems but reelected anyway. One of “Three Amigos” with McCain and the cracker Graham. Really liked Lieberman. One of the few who had a “Joe!” bumpersticker on my car when he ran for president.
I KNEW this guy was different.
When Mike Johnson put his hat into the ring for Speaker of the House, I noticed that Republicans didn't immediately go into their rooms and commence firing again. McCarthy, Scalise, Jordan: the cannonading was immediate and unceasing. Then--Who is this guy?--we were all asking that, Dems and Repubes alike, didn't know anything about him, looked like an intern, he was calming. And then the motherfucker gets elected with unanimous or near-unanimous Republican support. No drama.
But then, Matt Gaetz (rhymes with rapes) effused. "MAGA Mike" Johnson, and I thought oh hell. Johnson was a blank slate for all of us, you could have written anything on it and we would have been like, "Oh." But then when Johnson shepherded many early stopgap funding bills through Congress I started reading some Dems, like one of them a Black Dem from the South if I remember correctly, saying things like, "He's been pretty honest, it'd be a shame if we let them (the phascist wing) take him hostage." That guy, if I recall, went on record by name (I don't recall the name) but there were other stories that like a secret cabal of Dems all named Jacques was communicating by hand signals and encrypted notes hidden in flower pots on windowsills, about working with Johnson, saving his Speakership if push came to shove, Gaetz came to Greene, as it were. Last week it almost did, or did, but in a proxy war.
Ahead of a full budget vote in the House, Johnson met with PoJo, Harris, Schumer, Jeffries in the White House and pledged, to them in their meeting and afterwards to the press that the government would not shut down on his watch. He brought the budget to a vote and the damn thing passed and everything :o PoJo signed it into law.
But Johnson did it with Dems. A majority, not a frigging Gang of Eight, not the goddamned Taliban, a MAJORITY of House Republicans voted against their own Speaker's bill. Almost all Dems voted for it, that's how Johnson got it passed and that was the only way it could get passed.
So push came to shove and Greene filed a motion to vacate the Speakership. Here we go agayne, but no, it wasn't the same motion that Gaetz filed against McCarthy that called for an immediate vote. This was like a trap-gun motion to vacate. It set the trigger but the trigger didn't get pulled. Only if Greene (or some other phascist) called for an immediate vote would the weapon fire.
And immediately after Greene did her thing, reporters asked Repubes who had voted to dump McCarthy what they thought and there was no real stomach to eat shit again. Which was surprising.
Now the thinking is, if some phascist pulls the trigger Greene set Dems will vote to save Speaker Johnson if he will agree to some modest demonstration of good faith such as a vote on aid to Ukraine. We shall see but lawd we have come a long way in a year.
Trump is selling ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles for $59.99 as he faces mounting legal bills (AP headline)
Spoelstra the Map Maker
This is "Heat Culture" in answer to one question, from Ira Winderman.
"Different package offensively", meaning the lineup of Jovic, Adebayo, Mills, Rozier, Jaquez, Jr.--a package pretty empty of offensive potential. No Butler, no Duncan, no Tyler.
Did you have "enough", Coach? Enough offense against the Splash Brothers?
Oh, "Yeah, definitely enough".
The "Heat's" identity is defense. Defense creates offense. It all starts on defense.
"We weren't able to do those things consistently enough", that is, make shots.
This is the beginning of a revealing answer.
It has always flummoxed me, this preeminent focus on defense. I know that the adage in all sports is "Defense wins games." The problem with the adage is that it is not true. In every sport the winner is the one who scores the most points. If you play perfect defense and no offense, you don't win, the final score is 0-0. In basketball the other team is going to score points, an average of 115 in the NBA this season. Spoelstra likes his teams to play great scoring defense, which to him is holding an opponent to under 100 ppg. Fine, let's say the "Heat" played great scoring defense last night and held THE GOLDEN STATE "WARRIORS" to 95 points. They would have lost the game 95-92. You have to score more points than your opponent. You have to have players who can score more points than their opponents.
He had it all "mapped out" in his head.
And the "Heat" have won games, hugely consequential games, that he has mapped out like that, games where they hang around, hang around, not letting the opponent get too far ahead, he says in another segment of this answer keeping it to 4-6 points, and then seizing the thing in "pivotal skirmishes". Spoelstra acknowledges that they could never get it to 4-6 points but if you listened to this press conference without knowing the final score you would never think that this was a 21-point blowout loss; you'd think maybe 10, maybe 12; you wouldn't think 21. Nor would you think that they never got close to keeping it a 4-6 point game in the second half.
This is the "map" of the entire game. Look at it! That was not the map in Spo's head.
There was an unreality to the mapping that was going on in Spoelstra's head. The map in his mind did not correspond to the reality that his surveyors, Niko and Patty and Caleb and Jaime were navigating on terra firma. Not once does Spoelstra mention the deficiencies of his surveyors, they were good "enough", "definitely", for him. Not once does he mention the absent, Duncan and Tyler, above all Jimmy. Yet, they are why the real map diverged so sharply from Spo's mental map.
With inspirational defense as the spur, the players just "will find a way to make shots".
Pause, for this is key. The talent that this org demands in players is for defense, not offense. You have to be able to play defense. They want great playmakers on defense. The shots that these offensively challenged, defensive savants take will then just miraculously begin to go in. They "find a way to make shots"--not with shot-making talent (as with, e.g., Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) but through "inspiring defensive plays" that please the basketball gods and lead to divine intervention via earthly instruments named Patty and Haywood and Caleb. Faith in an almighty can be beautiful to gaze upon. An earthly boxscore that reveals reality to be 40.2% shooting with 24.2% from distance is "ugly", and destructive to Faith.
"The moments of truth", i.e. "the pivotal skirmishes".
This is curious to me. It is a repeat of what he said after another one of the brutal recent home losses, either to Washington or New Orleans.
Maybe the home fans booed? Maybe the write-ups leveled the "don't care" charge? I don't know for sure but this is the second time he has said that. I think they care, I think they laid it all out there, I don't think they have the talent.
Ira Winderman Answers a Ticket-Buyer’s Question
Q: Might as well reduce the season down to 70 games along with players’ contracts. If I would’ve called in sick this much when I was working, I would have been fired. Granted, they play a physical game. Then why 82 games with a long postseason? – Pipsy.
A: Except this way the league can still get 82 games of revenue. And the Heat still have listed every game as sellout, meaning whether all their players are available or not, they still are selling all of their tickets. Also, the television ratings still are such that they can support an 82-game product during the regular season. It’s almost as if, as a fan, you have to accept that you will see the complete product only some of the time. It’s certainly not as if the 65-game requirement for NBA postseason awards has changed much if anything.
A: Except this way the league can still get 82 games of revenue. And the Heat still have listed every game as sellout, meaning whether all their players are available or not, they still are selling all of their tickets. Also, the television ratings still are such that they can support an 82-game product during the regular season. It’s almost as if, as a fan, you have to accept that you will see the complete product only some of the time. It’s certainly not as if the 65-game requirement for NBA postseason awards has changed much if anything.
All true. It’s all about the Benjamins. The economic term for this is “inelastic demand”, no matter the quality of the product the consumer keeps on consuming. It’s why billionaires give up their building a better mousetrap companies and buy sports teams.
Tempest in a Pencil Holder
NBC reversed its hiring of Ronna McDaniel after a public revolt by other network preening peacocks. McDaniel was RNC chair from 2017 to just recently. She carried much fetid water for Trumpie, dumped it on the “enemies of the people” at this network and others, and on Democracy in America. Trumpie forced her out at the RNC. NBC’s hiring of McDaniel was so quick she barely had time to pack before she had to unpack. Now she has to pack again.
The hiring decision was unanimous in the C suite at 30 Rock, as was the virulent opposition among the great unwashed underneath the Rock and on air. How this could have been done with unanimity among the execs is a profile in corporate governance tone deaf-ness. McDaniel was a notorious peddler of Trumpie’s lies, a gleeful press basher and a trafficker in election denial. “Okay, so it’s unanimous? We bring Ronna McDaniel on board?” What were they thinking?
FTs
In the game of the night La-La Bron-Bron came from 19 down in the 4TH QUARTER to beat Doc's Brew in doublay Oh-Tee in Beer. The victors are ninth out west while Mil. is an extremely distant second in the East. Two extremely talented teams in late March. It doesn't get much better than that whatever their records.
Down here, two glamour franchises, fraying with wear and tear, the "Heat" and "Warriors". GSW ran away with a close game after half-time. 113-92 the final. Miami didn't have its wounded warrior, Jimmy Butler. Golden State is fighting to stay in a play-in slot in the West; the "Heat" are solidly in that last four group in the East. Ten games left for Miami, eleven for Golden State.
Pepper
Guys, I put pepper in my COFFEE. Just common black table pepper. I put pepper in/on EVERYTHING now. I LOVE it. I'd put pepper on ice cream. It's an incredible spice.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Requiem for a Heavyweight
He just can’t do it anymore. I bet it’s true. This guy's a long time "Heat" reporter. Makes me feel bad. Jimmy is 6’7”, 230 lbs but has a bigger heart. He plays physically and among the biggest, strongest players in the Association. He takes a lot of pounding, fears no one and fears no pain. He never complains. If he can go, he goes, and when he can’t he really can’t. He has been doing it all of his career and at 34 years old…As the Big O says, he’s just worn down and broken physically. This is an important and painful to read report.
The line moved from Peaceniks -1.5 to Peaceniks -4.5
Anthony Slater
@anthonyVslater
No Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson tonight for the Heat vs Warriors
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Anthony Chiang
@Anthony_Chiang
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24m
Jimmy Butler (non-COVID illness) and Kevin Love (heel) are OUT tonight.
5:48 PM · Mar 26, 2024
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Eleven Reading Churchill
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Two articles by 🎪 🔥 beat writers today accentuate some perennial quirks at 601 Biscayne.
Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel answers a reader's question, why the difference between the Katrina "Heat" and the Gilbert ☠ "Heat"?
…there...was more energy and commitment from the Heat [against Cle]. To me, the problem is that the Heat all too often this season have been a “sometimes” team. This Heat roster is not good enough to be a “sometimes” team. And oftentimes, the result is where the Heat currently stand, as a middle-of-the-pack team. That said, sometimes can turn into all the time, as happened with the Heat in last season’s playoffs.—Ira Winderman
So four things there: 1) lack of consistent effort. That's an uncommon criticism. Why there would be less against Katrina when Jimmy Butler put a target on his team's back and when both games, at home, were in the last few during a playoff push is incomprehensible by me. 2) lack of talent. That's an uncommon criticism coming from the local pencils, not elsewhere (including here). 3) "oftentimes...middle of the pack", yeah like for ten regular seasons running. 4) The only thing that matters to this org with this team is the 'loffs. An "eighty-two game league"? They don't accept that. Let the ticket-buying public eat cake.
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald:
The Heat has already set a new franchise record with 34 different starting lineups used this season. The previous Heat record for most different starting lineups used in a season was 31 in the 2014-15 season.
2014/15 was the first season post-LBJ, and when Chris Bosh developed heart problems. That was Year Chaos.
The broader point though is that Erik Spoelstra is a tinkerer at heart. The org has made no major changes to the roster in the last few off-seasons. The team's core has been together for a few years. They are playoff-seasoned. Injuries happen. "Fourth-most this season!" as every local pencil feels compelled to write in every article. "It's not an excuse" as Spoelstra feels compelled to say after every L. Then Spoelstra is tinkering too much or the org's vaunted Culture, "hardest working, best conditioned", is wearing the players down. There are marquee players who don't want to come to Miami because of the demands of "Heat" culture. The 2013/14 Finalists to a man told Pat Riley in exit interviews that they were mentally exhausted after four Finals appearances. Riley didn't accept that.
…
That lack of clarity and continuity could be driving the Heat’s inconsistent play this regular season, ... But those within the organization believe it will turn into an advantage this postseason.
“Yes, you do need continuity and chemistry, which plays a big part. But I think we have that between our guys. …”—Caleb Martin
It's not just this season, it was last, too. Lack of clarity and continuity has been a deal-breaker for some players in past seasons, Hassan Whiteside several years ago and Dwayne Dedmon last season are two who immediately come to mind and two who got a one-way ticket out of town by going public with their frustrations with "lack of clarity and continuity".
“There’s always going to be a benefit,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A lot of guys get to step up and earn the opportunity to impact winning. The more players that can be engaged in a season and impact wins, that helps. Our versatility is super important for our team. So we feel like we’ve been able to weather some of the missed games.”
When anyone uses a categorical such as "always", that person should be met with skepticism and a psychiatric team. Point out the "always a benefit" in these numbers, Spo: 39-32, 45-37. Chiang, not a shrink, meets Spo's pollyannaism with skepticism:
That’s one way to view it, but a look at the Heat’s lineup data shows that injuries have prevented Miami from establishing a reliable go-to combination this season.
That's just 601 Biscayne's talking point, delivered before any article is written and made compulsory reading by those who write them. So let's test the sturdiness of that crutch: What has the team's record been when its new "Big Three" have been able to play together?
…the Heat’s leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Tyler Herro to just 21 games played together this season, with Herro sidelined since late February because of a foot issue. The Heat went just 10-11 in those games…
Oh. Frowny face. Anthony, you just kicked your own crutch away. The crutch then gets broken into pieces with this two-season stat:
Since Tyler became a starter in 2022/23 the "Heat's" record with the "Big Three" starting is at this writing, 36-36.
...
Only one Heat lineup, whether starting or not, has logged more than 100 minutes together this season. That’s the unit of Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo, which has been outscored by 4.2 points per 100 possessions in 115 minutes together this season.
So the Big Three lineup and the most-used lineup haven't worked. That doesn't sound good.
In contrast, the Boston Celtics’ primary five of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis entered Monday with 554 minutes played together this season.
Is there a talent disparity there or do my eyes deceive me? Terry, Duncan, Jimmy, Niko, Bam vs Holiday, White, Brown, Tatum, Porzingis.
…. “You got to have different guys out there. I think coach is trying to figure out who jells well together, so it’s the long game.”—Terry Rozier
That long game needs to produce positive results soon, with just 11 games left on the Heat’s regular-season schedule.
The "Heat" is playing a disingenuous, cynical, and dangerous hand.
Disingenuous: "We have enough". Whoever we have on the roster plus the Wizard in the penthouse who collected and assembled it is enough to win a championship. We haven't had enough since 2013!
Cynical: Because we don't have enough, 601 Biscayne has narrowed its focus to the playoffs at the expense of the regular season and to the expense of the ticket-buying fan. Cynical also because success has been redefined from hoisting the gold Larry O'Brien Trophy to, at best, taking the silver medal in the Finals. In our two recent Finals appearances we have not come close to winning.
Dangerous: The team needed a game-two W in the play-in to begin the playoffs as the eighth seed and make their run all the way to the Finals in 2022/23. They are in a play-in slot now. If they survive the play-in this season they guarantee themselves the hardest or second-hardest path in the playoffs. If they finish sixth they play the three-seed. NBA basketball is not Olympic gymnastics. You don't get points for degree of difficulty. The playoffs are a Darwinian gauntlet in which only the strongest, fleetest, fittest, most-skilled survive. Through *72 games [including the GSW game march 26] this season the "Heat" are 17-24 against those teams, statistically defined here as those that have a record of .500 or better. (Hindsight is always 20/20: In 2022/23 we were 24-24 against .500 and better teams, fourth best in the East. We should have seen it coming.) There is no reason-based expectation that this team will repeat last season's Miami Miracle.
If they don't make another deep run, what becomes of "Heat Culture"?