NBA team changes logo

Check out the new (or old) logo that the Golden State Warriors are going for. It hearkens back to the day of when sports uniforms weren't gawdy Star Trek uniforms.

Awesome. I'm so pumped about this. You can read the full story here.

Morning coffee... June 16, 2010

Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers tied up the NBA Finals 3-3 with a 89-67 victory over the Boston Celtics last night.

Is this series over? Do you realize that if Kobe wins this championship he'll have five rings, one short of Michael Jordan? Where does he rank among the greats in the game then?

National News

Switzerland upsets Spain 1-0 in World Cup - The Daily Interlake
And those annoying horns are still blaring.

Izzo not headed to Cavs, stays with Michigan State
Lebron... why are you packing your bags....?

Jerseys are magical

Check out the new threads for Team USA. And as usual, Nike has gone scientific on us.

When the United States men's national basketball team heads to Turkey for the FIBA World Championships this summer, they're going to look pretty cool. It's hard to mess up red, white and blue, and the various manufacturers who have supplied their uniforms throughout the years haven't made very many missteps. But this year, they're also going to feel cool thanks to a couple tweaks by Nike.

Through some kind of clothing wizardry, Nike has eliminated more than 13 inches of fabric from a typical basketball jersey, and probably double that when compared to Allan Houston's tarp-like mid-90s shirt. The back of the jersey will once again feature "Aerographics," which you probably know as those intricately-designed perforations that make it look like everyone has a super sweaty back like Patrick Ewing. And yes, that's two zings on the New York Knicks, who have been the antithesis of on-court aesthetics for two decades running. Make that three.

Aside from the extra tailoring, the jerseys are about the same. The shorts are the big story, as far as international basketball clothing news goes. Thanks to Nike's new Hyperelite design, the shorts are about half as light as a normal basketball short when dry. Get them wet — like, you know, from sweating during a game — and they're even better, weighing less when soaked (10.1 oz.) than a normal pair does when dry (13.6).

Don't ask me how that's done, I think they're defying the laws of physics.

Don't ignore Derek Fisher

This gets me every time when the Lakers are in the Finals. Derek Fisher turns in a clutch performance and the media acts like they've been blindsided. He's been doing this for years! Granted, he has played old and washed-up for most of the season but one thing you can never do in the NBA playoffs is underestimate somebody that has been there before.

Fisher took over in the fourth quarter last night, scoring four clutch baskets to help LA beat Boston 91-84. That gives the Lakers a 2-1 lead in the series and lets them regain home court advantage. He finished with 16 points, second highest to Kobe's 29 on the team.

Now, many people have said he's been playing like a wet suitcase all season. Many people were right, but mark my word, you can always count on Derek Fisher coming up big in the clutch. He's hit big threes, he's caused Sacramento Kings fans to contemplate jump off a building and he's been every bit a staple of the Lakers' greatness as Kobe.

Is he as good as Kobe? Heck no. Not even close. He's a role player for sure. However, Fisher is also a veteran that knows where he needs to be at the right time. When the moment is right, he knows when to pull the trigger. He understands that no matter how terrible he is during the regular season, all it takes is some plays in the post-season to help your team.

That is why, you can never count out Derek Fisher. He'll come back to bite you.

Photo: Adam Morrison before the 'stache

This is from the Sports Illustrated Vault, taken in 2003 of Adam Morrison in his dorm room. Wow.

I'd like to see Lebron make this shot

He'd probably refuse to get into the airplane and just hang out at the three-point line while his team lost by 20.

The ugly face of Steve Nash

Good god man... from college to present... you're ugly.

Yuck.

Cleveland makes a song to get Lebron to stay

For the love of the people in Cleveland, stay Lebron, otherwise they wont stop complaining...

MooseJaw does not approve of Cavs' loss

You may have heard about how the Cavs season is on the brink after a terrible performance by Lebron James. Cleveland-native MooseJaw was so distraught, he had to call into the station in the morning and voice his concern to Danny. Here is the phone conversation.

5-12-10 - MooseJaw Phone Call - Cleveland Cavs by HansentheSwede

Steve Nash scares small children

Ahhh! Steve Nash either just got done with a playoff game involving Tonya Harding's body guard or he just started a royal rumble at a bar. Either or.

Featured Interview from last week: Jason Reid of Sonicsgate.org

Last week we were able to talk to Jason Reid from Sonicsgate.org, a documentary about how the Seattle SuperSonics were stolen from the city of Seattle and it's fans. If you want more info, here is the trailer of the documentary...



You can also watched the entire documentary at Sonicsgate.org. I highly recommend it, and afterward you'll probably want to throw something after thinking about how the Sonics were taken from us. Here is our interview with Reid on the radio show...

5-7-10 SonicsGate - Jason Reid by HansentheSwede

Happy Mother's Day!

From the Locker Room, have a Happy Mother's Day!

Breaking down the All-NBA teams

Breaking down the All-NBA teams for you. Seriously, this is big-time analysis.

First Team
C - Dwight Howard - Shoulders are wider than Rosanne Barr.
F - LeBron James - MooseJaw's mancrush.
F - Kevin Durant - Seattle fans should stay away from sharp objects.
G - Kobe Bryant - Still can't get Kobe's photoshoot out of my head.
G - Dwyane Wade - Charles Barkley should also be mentioned for the assist with this naming. He makes Dwayne Wade in those T-Mobile commercials.

Second Team
C - Amar'e Stoudemire - Now if he could stop calling everybody part of the 12 tribes of Israel.
F - Dirk Nowitzki - I'm glad Dirk Nowitzki is alive and well after his latest choke job.
F - Carmelo Anthony - His first name sounds like a candy bar.
G - Deron Williams - Might be the holder of the "worst hair in the NBA" award.
G - Steve Nash - Wait, nevermind.

Third Team
C - Andrew Bogut - Sadly, his elbow was not named to the third team, since it disintegrated in Bogut's horrible season-ending injury.
F - Tim Duncan - (Staring blankly at the screen with nothing to say)
F - Pau Gasol - If Pau ever comes out with a rap video, we will all be for the better.
G - Joe Johnson - He'd be cooler if his name was John Johnson.
G - Brandon Roy - Wish Brandon Roy was higher on this list. What the hell?

What the hell Kobe?

Kobe Bryant recently did a story with LA Times Magazine and they though that this would be the perfect way to showcase the Los Angeles Lakers star. Um okay.

We interrupt this blog for more NBA playoffs commentary

Lakers win! They advance to the second round of playoffs after disposing of the Thunder, formerly the Sonics. However, Kobe didn't make the game-winning shot to send the Oklahoma City Thunder packing. That was Pau Gasol's move. That obviously means Kobe is old and should probably retire next year. Trust me. He's had it. Completely done for.



Now up for the Lakers? The Utah Jazz. Why am I so excited for LA? Because I want them to eviserate the boring Jazz. Nobody likes them except for the state of Utah. Their players and bland. I couldn't care less about their coach. Stockton is gone. Malone is gone  They have no flashy stars. Even their Fox Sports Net broadcasts are terribly bland and boring.

The sooner they can leave the playoffs the better and apparently Denver wasn't up to the task. That kind of happens when your coach gets throat cancer. If you want to cry a lot, watch the ESPN report they did on George Karl while he's watching the Nuggets from home and getting cancer treatment. If you down shed a tear, you're not human.

This second round should be very interesting, I don't think we're going to get any sweeps.

Time to put your NBA caps on

Hold your horses, the San Antonio Spurs are lurking.

After knocking off the No. 2 seed in the NBA playoffs, expect choke artists extraordinaire Dallas, the San Antonio Spurs move on to play the No. 3 Phoenix Suns in the second round. Now with the Lakers struggling to mop up Oklahoma and the Denver/Utah series putting everyone to sleep, shouldn't we start looking at the Spurs?

Arguably the best team of this last decade, you can never count out a team with a championship pedigree like the Spurs regardless of their regular season performance. They struggled with injuries and finding a consistent lineup all year but those problems seem to have been worked out. Also consider that Tim Duncan is notorious for being unspectacular but steady for much of the season and then finding his moment to explode for monster games. Sure he's older, but nobody saves himself for better moments than Duncan. Parker looks like he's back into the swing of things and Ginobili's nose could probably guard Steve Nash by itself at this moment.

So as much as it pains me to say (and I really think the Spurs are way to dull for my liking), you can't ignore these guys at this point. They're like the wily vet at a poker table - never just assume they're over the hill.

Kobe's biggest fan

Sounds like he wants some Black Mamba.

Photo: I didn't know horror movie villians were allowed into NBA games

(Found this on Deadspin)

If that's a player's wife, SOMEBODY needs to upgrade quickly.

Your weekly awesome Lebron James highlight

It seems like we do this a lot.

Goodbye, Portland's post-season

Things just got interesting for the Portland Trailblazers and not in a good way. It's being reported that Brandon Roy has torn meniscus, which isn't good. Unless of course you like it when your star player is cruising around without knee cartilage.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has a torn meniscus in his right knee and his status for the playoffs is uncertain.

The three-time All-Star is sitting out Monday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and will miss Wednesday's regular season finale against Golden State on Wednesday night.

He will require surgery and will be out from four to six weeks. But he said he may try to play with the injury in the playoffs because doctors told him it cannot get worse.

"I want to play," Roy said. "It's the playoffs. You play 82 games and take a beating just to get to this point."

Roy is the Blazers' leading scorer with 21.5 points per game. He injured his knee on Sunday, 11 minutes into the Blazers' 91-88 victory at the Los Angeles Lakers.

When they say that your injury CANT get any worse, you might have a problem.