What We Are Reading: LeBron’s Fear

When LeBron Fears, We All Learn - NBA Fanhouse

Bethlehem Shoals writes: “Either late last night or way early this morning — who knows the difference in this crazy, mixed-up business — Randy Kim suggested that LeBron James was scared in Game 5. Not “scurrrred” or “shook,” but actually registering fear. That’s not the same as doubt; in doubt, you have yourself to blame. Fear is the awful possibility that you can bring it like mad and still have life thrown back in your face. Fear is to be overcome, just like doubt, and is undoubtedly less humiliating. But LeBron James isn’t supposed to feel fear. It’s human, way too human.”

What We Are Reading: The Team

Celtics Win a Victory For the Game – The Boston Globe

Christopher L. Gasper wrote: “This wasn’t just a victory for the Celtics, it was a win for the sport of basketball. It sends the message that while individual excellence is celebrated, collective and cohesive greatness is rewarded. That’s a message that seems to get lost often times in the NBA, where the Cavaliers don’t play the Lakers, but LeBron goes against Kobe.”

What We Are Reading: Rondo and Nash

Energetic Celtics Outhustle Cavs, Spoil LeBron’s MVP Ceremony Night – 20secondtimeout.blogspot.com

David Friedman wrote: “Rajon Rondo proved to be the most valuable player on this night, setting a record for a Cleveland playoff opponent and tying his career-high (for both regular season and postseason play) with 19 assists; Rondo’s dribble penetration and precision passing shredded Cleveland’s vaunted defense.”

Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash comes up big – The Arizona Republic

Paola Boivin wrote: “Hips don’t lie? Oh yes they do. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs, who felt the wrath of Steve Nash and now trail the Suns 1-0 in the Western Conference semifinal series.”

What We’re Reading: NBA Playoffs

NBA bans Garnett for Game 2 – ESPNBoston.com
Chris Forsberg wrote: “Celtics forward Kevin Garnett has been suspended for Game 2 of Boston’s first-round playoff series against the Heat for landing an elbow to the face of Miami’s Quentin Richardson in a fourth-quarter fracas during Saturday’s Game 1.”

Day 2 – We finally have an upset – NBAMate.com
Ant wrote: “In the last game, we saw Andre Miller and the Blazer’s merry band of misfits tough it out against a Phoenix team that on paper should have won this game by plenty.”

(B)logging, One Sentence at a Time

While browsing the jungle of the World Wi(l)d(e) Web, I stumbled upon a blog which calls out Basketball Daily World. This blogger labels BDW as “public, negative and critical“. He likely read only one article in BDW; if he took some time before he took the pen, he would have found tens of articles which are neither negative nor critical, and I have yet to hear of private blogs as opposed to public ones.  The blogger, who calls himself a sports editor, disregarded the well-established etiquette of online publishing which says that you should provide a link if you mention another online publication. Maybe he will mention it in their PDF version, which he likely refers to as newspapers. You can find this artifact in barber shops in Belmont or, if you are a local zealot, you can even subscribe to it.

This blogger from the Belmont Citizen-Herald seems to have skipped classes where they teach the basic structure of composition:  His Majesty the Paragraph. In his classic booklet, The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. says: “As a rule, single sentences should not be written or printed as paragraphs. An exception may be made of sentences of transition, indicating the relation between the parts of an exposition or argument.” Going by this, this whole blog is a transition of sorts and it takes a great effort to understand where it is transitioning to. After reading it three times, I think this is what the blogger wanted to say:

• The Marauders finished their season 18 – 4, at some point they were 15 – 0, and they won the Middlesex League, therefore WINNING is most important in high school basketball.
• No, wait, this is high school basketball – FUN is the most important thing.
• No, wait again, this is high school basketball – LEARNING is important too.
• The Belmont Marauders are not the Boston Celtics or the Duke Blue Devils and they shouldn’t be confused with any of these two basketball teams.
• This is a free country and people are free to write anything they want; preferably they will write about the Celtics or the Blue Devils.
• It is legal to publicly express opinions in this country, including criticizing the coach.
• By some unknown standards (moral? ethical?), it is not OK to express opinion about high school basketball team if it’s critical of the coach; if the opinion is positive it is OK to express it.
• We are at a dawn of a new age, technology has changed so much, and blogging rules the world.
• Basketball Daily World writers should find new hobbies; Belmont Citizen-Herald bloggers will continue pursuing their hobby of writing – it is unknown if they will master the basics of composition along the way.

My favorite sentence of all is: “This… is… high… school… basketball.” This blogger could really benefit from reading another book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss. Both books may help him understand that shooting sentences in clusters is more effective than sniping them one at a time. Clustering your thoughts, though, requires knowing where you are going. Is it winning, fun, or learning? Maybe all three, but in what order? Judging from the BC-H blog, the priorities are clear: 1) Winning, 2) Fun, 3) Learning. If the team can’t get to all three they must make sure they get to the first one at least – that’s how priorities work. It is justified not playing team basketball and disrespecting the coach as long as the team is somehow winning. All the writers who disagree with these priorities and publish online should be convinced to find new hobbies. Then, we won’t have to be worried about the “dawn of a new age” any more.