[lethalweapon3]

((The following quotes are best heard while playing a Simply Red song in the background))

First a quip from last week's Bobcats-Celtics tilt, from a man who should know better by now, Stephen Jackson, on his good friend Paul Pierce:

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Add this note to the pile of instances when trash talking gets to be too much. While Paul Pierce attributed it to competitiveness, Stephen Jackson felt it was more personal. "I respect them as a team, they're a great team and they play hard, but when they get to a point where they get to disrespecting people and it's not about basketball, that's where I have a problem," said Jackson, who has had his share of off-the-court issues during his 10 seasons. "Everybody knows me as a basketball player, but everybody knows me off the court, too. So if it's about basketball, I'm cool. I respect everybody on their team, and I respect them as being a good team, but when it gets to the point where you're disrespecting us as a man, that's another problem.

“Certain things were said, quotes by certain people, and there’s no need for me to drop names, they know what was said,’’ Jackson said. “It turned disrespectful when certain things were said. You can be emotional, talk to your teammates and do all that, but when it’s getting personal and you’re directing certain things to people as far as their manhood, that’s when a problem comes up. And I guarantee you, if I wasn’t in this gym, that wouldn’t have been said to me.’’

Now from Sunday, after the Wizards let the Celtics get under their skin and back into the game, Andray Blatche looked forlorn after his encounter with our good friend, Kevin Garnett:

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Blatche was noticeably upset and appeared to hold back tears as he explained his encounter with Garnett, which nearly got heated when Garnett approached Blatche and tried to wrestle the ball away from him. Blatche appeared to throw an elbow as Garnett continued to taunt him. Blatche later flung Garnett into a cameraman and sent him to the foul line for two free throws. Garnett smiled as he was helped off the ground.

"I see myself as defending myself as a player. I'm a man, just like they a man. If a man is talking to me this close to my face," Blatche said, moving his hand toward his cheek. "I'm going to say something back. He has to respect me just like I respect him. I just, 'Get up out of my face.' He was this close in my face - I can feel his lips touching my cheek - I wasn't bragging saying 'Ah we winning.' It was 'Back up.' "

And its not just the wily vets like KG, Trasheed, and Pierce. For good measure, throw in Chris Paul buying wolf tickets from Rajon Rondo, of all people, insisting Rondo "is gonna respect me like a man" as he chases Rondo into the Boston locker room -- again amidst a Celtic victory.

Surely by the time you've reached the NBA you've heard your share of trash, and probably dished a good deal of it out, too. But what exactly is this "manhood-disrespecting" chatter from Boston that has professional players up in arms and sniveling into the nearest microphone after the game? Whatever Boston is doing/saying, it's obviously something that goes way beyond people's mamas and army-boots-as-chosen-attire. And it's obvious that, against everyone aside from maybe the Hawks, it's working. Have the Celtics gone too far? Or are they just taking it far enough?

This stuff makes me appreciate Horford's and Zaza's '08 rendez-vous even more now.

~lw3

[sultanofatl]

Yeah I'm interested too. Actually, it is funny because you basically have two sides of the coin in the east top four. You have the Celitcs and Cavs who talk trash, show you up, and use a lot of gamesmanship. Then you have Atlanta and Orlando who just come out and play. No real personality, but they are talented enough to win. We don't get fazed by the Celtics and the Magic aren't fazed by the Cavs. This makes me think what it really comes down to is you have to punch the bully in the mouth one good time or he'll keep testing you. The bobcats, wizards, bulls etc. all still have the little brother mentality.

[EazyRoc]

The Celtics are that old man who talks junk and gets showed up when they push the wrong person's button.

As an aside, I read that Chris Paul article and have gained a new found respect for him. He's a hell of a basketball player and a person.

[AHF]

He is a hell of a basketball player but as far as being a hell of a person, you'll have to ask Julius Hodges and Bruce Bowen how great man he is while punching other guys in the groin. I am not declaring Paul a saint when he is willing to go that route!

[nbasuperstar40]

http://www.gregorymstevens.com/stuff/n8kg.jpg

[EazyRoc]

AHF, on 10 March 2010 - 10:33 AM, said:

He is a hell of a basketball player but as far as being a hell of a person, you'll have to ask Julius Hodges and Bruce Bowen how great man he is while punching other guys in the groin. I am not declaring Paul a saint when he is willing to go that route!

He's no saint but how many superstar players in the league have the integrity and loyalty that Chris Paul has ? Kobe, Carmelo, LeBron all have done some things that make me question their integrity just as Chris Paul has. Hell, I'm almost certain Kobe has hit more people in the groin than Chris Paul..maybe not as blatantly though.

[AHF]

EazyRoc, on 10 March 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

He's no saint but how many superstar players in the league have the integrity and loyalty that Chris Paul has ? Kobe, Carmelo, LeBron all have done some things that make me question their integrity just as Chris Paul has. Hell, I'm almost certain Kobe has hit more people in the groin than Chris Paul..maybe not as blatantly though.

Yeah, I'm not going to be sending any compliments Kobe's way except something about him being very talented.

What has Paul done to demonstrate great integrity and loyalty? What I saw was an article that he signed a max extension with his team and now wishes he played with a more competitive roster and bemoaned his team's lack of commitment relative to other squads. The puff piece above says:

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Paul’s unselfishness has always spilled out of the gymnasium. He was raised to honor loyalty and still treats his alma mater, Wake Forest, and that Winston-Salem community with incredible generosity. He believed he had a responsibility to be a part of the rebuilding of New Orleans’ pride, its city.

From an empty arena, Paul saved the New Orleans Hornets the way that LSU’s own Pistol Pete Maravich could never save the New Orleans Jazz. He turned David West(notes) into an All-Star and resurrected Tyson Chandler’s(notes) career. No player – not LeBron, not D-Wade – means more to a team, a franchise.

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Every star in the NBA would be crying for help, would be demanding higher payroll and a higher caliber of teammate. Tell Paul about the payroll escalation with San Antonio and Dallas in the Southwest Division and he never, ever bites. There’s enough in this locker room to win, he will tell you, even if deep down he has his own doubts. Yet, he understands he has to convince his teammates that he believes to ever have a chance to get the most out of them.

“Hey, I’m going to be a team guy,” he said. “Anytime something happens, I’m going to have my guys’ backs. …When I talk to Jeff [Bower], it’s all about, ‘What can we do with the guys that we have?’ ”

Etc.

Yet what does Paul say earlier in the article? That he wishes his team had better talent:

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At a time when his twentysomething all-world peers – LeBron James(notes) and Dwyane Wade(notes), Dwight Howard(notes) and Carmelo Anthony(notes) – play for committed organizations with serious owners, the faulty infrastructure of Shinn’s flimsy franchise has undermined Paul’s championship ambitions.

“I’m envious,” Paul said. “I’m very envious. Those guys have been where I want to get to. This is my fifth year in the league, and I’m not trying to wait until I’m an old veteran in this league to win a championship. We’re trying to win now.”

They’re trying, but Paul knows that his general manager, Jeff Bower, has to trim $3 million off the payroll to dodge the luxury tax. The Hornets can’t win a playoff series as constructed, and deep down Paul understands his greatness is born of his passing and playmaking, born of elevating those around him. He can score, but that’ll never be the way the Hornets win with him.

“I’m a point guard,” he said. “I can’t score the ball like Carmelo, LeBron and D-Wade. At the end of the day, it’s always going to be a team thing with us, with me getting guys involved.”

So Paul's championship ambitions have been undermined, he doesn't think his team can do better than scrape into the playoffs as a low seed, and he is envious of the talent on the rosters of some of his peers.

Now I am not throwing Paul under the bus here but I am just not seeing any long suffering nobility that makes him the rarest and most precious of all commodities - the standard for truth, justice and the American way - like the article so lavishly lays on him.

This article paints Paul in the absolute best light. Another article could take a much more negative view with recitations about how his bad behavior was becoming a pattern - how he sucker punched Julius Hodges in the balls in a slimy classless move; how he did the same thing to Bruce Bowen; how he lost his cool and chased Rondo to the lockerroom - a move that took place out of the heat of battle and could have ended in disaster or even involved nearby fans; about how Harrington described Paul as getting a "few jabs in there" when it looked like Paul took a swing at Harrington; etc.

Another article could point out that Paul spoke about his frustration with a reporter in another interview and went to the point of saying he could be traded. When pressed that he couldn't be serious, the Hornets wouldn't deal him, he didn't back off of it and instead stood by the claim - sending a message about what he might like to see happen.

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"In this league, anything can happen," said Paul, at the summer league to watch his Hornets. "I can be dealt." Paul then was asked that surely he can't be serious he could be traded. "It's possible," he said. "It's possible."

I don't see Paul in the same light as the article does - let me just say that. I would love to get the guy for the Hawks and would root hard for him, though - unlike my view on Kobe.

[exodus]

The Celtics are done. First they lose to NJ. Then they have to come from 13 pts down in the 4th to get a come from behind win against the Wizards who have completely gutted their team. Then they lose to the Bucks, getting dominated by Bogut. Now that are getting spanked at home by Memphis.

I am going to enjoy watching those trash talking punks go down. I would root for any team playing against Boston.


Edit: They got boo'd by the home crowd at the half. I went out and missed the third but came back in the middle of the 4th and they are down 25 and are getting boo'd consistently. It is so funny listening to Heinson. It just warms my heart to listen to that clown suffer.

This post has been edited by exodus: 10 March 2010 - 09:44 PM

[wfhawkfan]

smh at these old heads forcing the 3 seed upon us. :laugh:

[AHawks89]

I don't see why people let KG get in their head. He's a tall, skinny man. I couldn't see any of the Hawks players get intimidated by KG. Hey, I think Zaza gets into KG's head now. :biggrin: