Column: Huge Balls

     by Rob Stiller

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images

Of the two conference semi-finals series that went seven games, neither had inspired a lot of hope for a well-played, closely contested series finale. After all, each game in the Spurs-Hornets series had been decided by double digits, and watching the first six games of Celtics-Cavs had simply been nausea-inducing on more than one occasion. But to the delight of myself and countless other fans, both games met, and, in the case of LeBron v. Paul Pierce, exceeded any realistic expectations for a Game 7.

Rave
LeBron v. Pierce

The NBA could have hoped for nothing better than the epic battle staged between LeBron James and Paul Pierce Sunday afternoon. It was a win-win situation for the league, at least for the guy responsible for the Eastern Conference Finals ad campaign. You either have LeBron versus the Pistons, in which case you show clip after clip of LeBron’s 48 Special from last year’s game five, or you have Celtics-Pistons, in which you incite memories of the glory days of the late eighties and Joe Dumars and Larry Bird. But even for the rest of us, the game was still a treat to watch, and will probably be remembered as the best mano-a-mano game of the season. [Read more]

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

After two games between the Cavaliers and Wizards this postseason, there has been no shortage of media members taking issue with the Wizards’ defense on LeBron James.  But it’s not as though the Cavs haven’t handed out a few hard fouls of their own, and Wizards coach Eddie Jordan is tired of his team being portrayed as the bad guys.  Other Wizards haven’t shyed away from chalking the perception of their team up to LeBron James’ status as the face of the NBA.  Here’s a full article from the Washington Post, naturally focusing on the Wizards’ side of the story.

“Jordan hasn’t commented directly on Haywood’s ejection but he sees a double standard in the way the games are being called and in the way the physicality displayed by both teams has been portrayed in the media.

“Well, if they are like the fouls they gave on us, you have to at least act like you are going for the ball and you can throw your body at anybody the way you like,” Jordan said yesterday. “Just watching the fouls they gave on us, it was, you know, pretend you are going for the ball and throw your body at the guy. So that’s a good technique.”

Haywood said he meant no harm to James and believes that James is receiving special attention because of Brown’s constant complaining through the media.

“If that’s Delonte West I fouled like that, do they throw me out of the game?” Haywood asked. “Probably not.”"

Read the full article here.